Having a Full ride scholarship to MIT meant that I was set for the next four years.
All I had to do was keep my grades up, and I’d have a roof over my head and food in my stomach.
At least, I would once I got to Boston.

But the getting there was the problem.
I ended having to Hitchhike into Fort Wayne to meet the Greyhound going east.
And there I was settling into my seat with a whole fifty bucks in my pocket after bus fare.

The bus was near empty as it wend its way into the Appalachian mountains.
I had the two seats on the left of the isle to myself.
The only other passengers a couple who had gotten on with guitar cases a few stops ago.
They’d been huddled together and trading quick kisses for at least the last hour and showed no signs of slowing.

Public displays of affection bothered me.
Not because of some moral principle, mind you.
No, they bothered me because I was jealous.
Traveling alone sucked.
Not that there was anyone special waiting for me back home.
Small towns sucked for keeping secrets, so I’d let no one in on mine

Boston would be different.
Once I had a degree under my belt and a good job, I could be myself.
I closed my eyes for just a moment.
The next thing I knew I was standing on an endless plan of polished stone, beneath an endless sky of midnight blue filled with stars beyond counting.
Before me stood a throne and on it sat a girl in a gossamer gown which contrived to cover everything that propriety demanded.

"welcome mortal," the girl said.
Her voice that reverberated in my head until my vision blurred.

I looked down. I was still in the jeans and tee shirt I'd winnowing I got on the bus.
Everything looked clean and pressed. Too clean.
"I take it, the bus crashed."

The goddess smiled at me. And crossed her right leg over her left knee, leaving her sandal dangling from her toes.
She extended one hand with a flourish and pulled a manila folder out of thin air.
"Lets see your permanent record shall we."

I waited, shifting from leg to leg out of habit more than discomfort.

"Um, you are a goddess right?"

"Your question does not bode well for you," she said, " according to this record you have not once visited a temple, not even on the holiest of days.
I may be a minor deity, when compared to my Grandmother, but still a little recognition would be nice.
Indeed, it says here you never even prayed."

"I mean I used to, when I was little," I objected.

She closed the folder with an audible slap.
Her face grew stern, the eyebrows drawing down until
they were straight lines above her glowing eyes.
"Newsflash junior, you where praying to the wrong gods."
"How, how was I supposed to know that?"

She sighed and lent forward, resting her forehead on her open palm.
"You are only human, honestly so few of you get it no matter how frequently get everything republished."

"So, um, the Jews where right?"

"Heaven's no. None of the big five religions are right!"
She said, making quote with her fingers in in the air.
"You'd think the divine word would carry more weight with you humans, but no you just keep inventing your own."

"But you said you had books?"

"Yes, we do.
Ever heard of the Voynich Manuscript, or the Codex Seraphinus?
If you'd bothered to read either of them you'd find things we explain things in detail.
I can tell by your vacant stare that you haven’t read either.
Anyway enough theology, we are here to discuss your fate.
You have not qualified for the forest of eternal joy."

"Obviously."
I said, not daring to point out that neither of the documents she mentioned had ever been deciphered. Hell, I was sure that second one was a work of visual art.

The goddess ignored my interjection.
"Now I could just send you to hell, but then again you wheren't exactly evil.
Sure there were some odd fantasies, but all humans have those.
Considering what goes on in those heads of yours,
I don‘t know why you keep inventing such prudish gods."

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry at the mention of hell.
"So, what do you propose?"
She switched her legs and lent forward, smiling at me, her left cheek dimpling.
"How would you like a second chance, I'll send you to a world that is threatened by darkness."

"So I'm supposed to what, defeat the darkness, save a world, or go to hell."

The goddess's laughter was like ringing bells.
"Silly mortal, I don't expect that much of you.
Fighting the darkness will suffice.
Give it your all, and when you lose you will earn your reward"

She waved her hand to produce another object out of thin air,
This time a familiar hardbound book, decorated with the image of a warrior fighting a dragon. Flicking it open, she began to page through it, "Hmm, but what powers to give you."

"Rogue, Make me a rogue."
I said without a moment's hesitation.

"That's not very heroic," she said.

I scratched my head. "I've never been one for straight out fights.
Why go in guns blazing when you can get the job done nice and quietly.
After all evil overlords end up just as dead either way don't they?"

"Fair enough, a rogue it is." she said, flicking through the book again.

The next part would be tricky, after all I was speaking to a goddess.
Was she all knowing?
Did she already know my wish?
“Do I have to be reborn as myself?"

She looked up, her hand resting on the open page.
"No my hero, we can make adjustments, after all the world I am sending you to isn't exclusively human.
Elves, Dwarves and Halflings are all possible options.
I'd recomend Dwarf, quite a hardy race Dwarves, and their culture."

I stood straighter, arms by my sides and hands clenched in fists, “Dwarves aren't really my thing.
Could you?
Could you make me a girl?"

She laughed again, slapping the book shut, then caressed the cover with her fingertips.
"Oh, my, that is an interesting request.
Still, I guess it's in keeping with those fantasies we mentioned earlier."

I stepped towards her, already thinking I'd been a little too rash.
If she changes so much would I still be me, "will I remember?"

"Oh yes. If we wiped your memory, how are you supposed to learn?" Her right hand still resting on the Handbook, she pointed her left index finger at me. "Know me as Katia, my daughter.
I'll give you the potential to be the trickiest and sneakiest rogue Gardoth has ever seen.
See that you bring glory to my name, and visit the temples now and then."

The goddess's eyes grew brighter and brighter, shifting from those of a human girl to those of a cat.
Then everything faded to white.
Just before I lost consciousness again, I thought I heard Katia giggling. "My dear brother will be livid."