She was born among all beasts.
In the primordial chaos, She awakened at the very first roar of a beast, ascending to godhood through the dependence and reverence of countless lives. Later, She left Her original world, stepping into the vast sea of stars and wandering across countless realms.
She once reached out to stroke the warm antlers of a spirit deer, watching forests spread like green waves beneath their hooves. She had also sunk into the depths of the ocean, lifting a suffocating whale and returning it to the boundless blue.
In every world She visited, She did only one thing—
To make animals happier.
Their happiness turned into gentle light, flowing into Her divinity, making Her ever stronger.
Until one day, within the sea of stars, She sensed something different—
a powerful torrent of negative emotions.
It led Her to a planet known as Blue Planet.
For the first time… She stopped.
There was no warm light.
Only overwhelming pain.
Like tides.
Like cries.
Like torn souls echoing endlessly in the dark.
She saw pairs of eyes deep within iron cages—clouded by extreme fear.
She saw scalpels slicing through warm flesh, dragging out trembling whimpers that were forcefully silenced. Beneath the shadow of what was called civilization, life was compressed, priced, and discarded like trash into the cold night.
For the first time, cracks appeared in Her divinity.
Not because She was weak—
But because She could not bear it.
"…Why?" She asked softly.
No one answered. Humans could not hear Her.
But the animals—those who had died, those dying, and those yet to die—
They heard.
Countless fragmented consciousnesses gathered before Her.
Fear. Despair. Grievance. Anger… and a faint, unextinguished longing.
She closed Her eyes.
When She opened them again, the sea of stars seemed to rise and fall within Her gaze.
"I can give you a choice," Her voice carried a chill for the first time.
"—Exchange your fate."
The world seemed to freeze for a moment.
She extended Her hand toward those souls.
"Are you willing to exchange bodies, exchange circumstances—exchange everything—with the humans who harmed you?"
Silence.
Then, a tiny voice spoke.
It was a white mouse that had spent its entire life trapped in a glass box.
"…Can we?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
Like sparks igniting dry grass, more and more voices rose—
"I want to live… not the kind where I'm cut open."
"I want to see the sky…"
"I want to know… what it feels like to be treated gently."
"I don't want to hurt anymore…"
But there were other voices too.
Faint—yet resolute.
It was an old yellow dog, its ribs clearly visible. Its rough tongue mechanically licked the child in its arms—the last warmth it had protected with its life.
It looked up at the goddess.
There was no hatred in its eyes.
Only a stubbornness, almost dull yet unwavering.
"I don't want to become them… Even if they are cruel, I don't want to become that kind of existence."
She fell silent for a moment.
Then spoke softly:
"You may choose not to exchange. I will not force you."
She raised Her hand.
The power of the stars condensed into countless faint, glowing marks.
"Then switch," She lowered Her gaze, voice cold.
"Since they enjoy this 'game' so much—
let them experience the cages themselves."
"Those who refuse… I will grant you another destination."
At that moment—
The laws of Blue Planet were quietly rewritten.
No one noticed.
Yet no one could escape.
On the first day, nothing seemed unusual.
On the second day, people began having nightmares.
On the third day—
The tremors arrived.
A researcher woke up in a laboratory.
He lowered his head.
What he saw was no longer his own hands, but a small body strapped onto a metal frame.
A cold needle pierced mercilessly into his spine—
Something he had done countless times to other living beings.
Now, a searing pain tore through his nerves, rampaging wildly within that tiny body.
He tried to scream—
But what came out was a sharp, short, almost ridiculous cry—
"Squeak—!"
A sound that trembled down to the bones.
At the other end of the city—
A white mouse that had once been experimented on stood before a mirror.
"She" raised a hand, touching the world for the first time in a human form.
Standing by the window, watching towering buildings and flowing traffic, watching light slide across glass—
"She" felt, with her own body, the unfamiliarity, the noise, and the coldness of the human world.
Those once-clouded eyes were now unnaturally clear.
There was no ecstasy of revenge.
Only a deep, lingering exhaustion—soaked into the marrow by suffering.
"She" could finally stand upright.
Yet she did not know where to go.
The change began to spread.
Not to everyone—
But to enough.
Those who once inflicted pain began to understand pain.
Not through reason—
But through experience.
Some broke down.
Some went mad.
Some begged for forgiveness in despair.
And some, in that very moment, finally understood what they had done to other lives.
Meanwhile, the souls who refused to exchange were taken away by Her—
across the sea of stars, into another world.
There were no iron cages there.
No human-imposed hierarchies.
No fear born of domestication.
The sky hung low and gentle, like breathing blue.
Grass grew freely beneath every step, unconfined.
Water flowed clear and unrestrained, reflecting all things as they truly were.
Predation still existed—
But only followed the most primal law.
No cruelty.
No torment.
No unnecessary suffering.
It was a world without "human rules"—
and the closest thing to nature itself.
She stood beyond Blue Planet, watching its chaos and reconstruction.
Upon Her divinity, the crack slowly closed—yet never disappeared. Instead, it hardened into a cold mark, like a scar of ice.
It was not a loss of power—
But the first time She had questioned the order of all life.
She had once believed that life would tend toward gentleness.
But Blue Planet had shattered that belief.
That scar was the mark She left upon this world.
She no longer tried to embrace it.
Instead, She withdrew Her wings and watched coldly from above.
No longer pure compassion—
But a silence laced with judgment.
"Is this your answer?" She asked softly.
Blue Planet did not respond.
Yet one day—
Beside the ruins, a child carefully lifted a bloodied stray cat.
Her fingers were gentle, as if touching something fragile and irreplaceable.
"Don't be afraid… I won't hurt you."
At that moment—
In a night filled with violence, a faint warmth rose from this scarred planet.
So faint it could have been scattered by the wind.
But She saw it.
She remained silent for a long time.
Then slowly raised Her hand.
This time, She did not pass judgment—
She bestowed a blessing.
A wisp of faint fortune fell like wind, landing upon that child… and upon all those who chose to treat life with kindness.
Her will had never changed.
Only Her method had.
If kindness was rare—
then let it be amplified.
If gentleness was scarce—
then let it echo.
In the next instant, Her divine power spread once more, covering the entire Blue Planet.
Silent—yet irresistible.
The giant screens of neon-lit malls, office computers, even the heated phones in people's hands—
All fell silent in the same second.
Static flickered.
Then—
Red text on a black background burned into every retina like molten iron.
Every device capable of receiving information lit up simultaneously.
No signal source.
No trace of intrusion.
Yet impossible to shut down.
On every screen, a line slowly appeared—
[Fate Exchange: Live Broadcast of the Abusers]
A pause.
Then more lines emerged—
——
[What you have inflicted will be borne by you]
[What you ignored will be replayed upon you]
[The pain you deemed insignificant—will become your entire world]
——
And not only on screens.
In remote mountains where electricity could not reach.
On isolated islands without signal.
All birds folded their wings at once.
All beasts bowed their heads.
Their low growls gathered like a tide, vibrating through the air as a divine decree.
Even murky well water reflected blood-red light, words surfacing upon its trembling surface—
[The choice has never ended.]
That night—
The entire world stayed awake.