I was walking down a fairly busy road holding a half empty bag or popcorns, munching on them as I went by bustling office workers out for lunch. I had just walked out of the theatre after watching the first show on the first day of Avengers: Endgame.
Life was good.
I was a pretty big fan of the marvel cinematic universe as well as a lot of animes and manga. I tried getting into the marvel comics but just couldn't.
While walking down the road, my phone buzzed, informing me of the newest chapter of the manga I was currently reading, "That time I got reincarnated as a slime". I thought it was a pretty well written story, with OP but manageable abilities. I liked it, and I got hooked on it.
As I was fumbling for my phone, I didn't notice a man in an office workers clothes walking towards me with a murderous glint in his eyes.
Just as I managed to get out my phone, I felt a hot pain from my side. I looked down to see a metallic object sticking into stomach.
Freeze.
The stabber pulled out the knife and raised his hand to bring down the knife at my chest. I didn't react till the knife entered my chest, just over my heart. Fear filled my body as I grabbed the attacker's arm the pushed it back, twisting his wrist and pointing the tip of the knife back at the stabber. My self-defence lessons that my parents made me take when I was younger finally came in handy. I pushed the knife at the now stunned stabber who didn't think I would react, right into his chest. With a grunt, I pushed my body on to him as the pain wrecking through my body was draining away my consciousness. By the time the sensation of my body falling on his arrived, I had already fainted.
.
.
I woke up on a soft bed in a white room. "I'm alive!!", I thought.
"nuh-uh, you died. The knife in your chest cut into your heart just a bit, causing blood to leak out and you bleeding to death." Said a voice somewhere to my right.
I jolted upright on the bed and turned to the voice, only to see a cloaked figure, wrapped up in a in a cloth so black, as if it had the eternal abyss made into this cloth. A hood covered the face, but I could tell it would be skull underneath cause the exposed palms holding a 4-meter-long scythe and the wings on its back were both skeletal.
Looking at the figure cautiously, I asked "Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing here?"
"That's quite simple you see. You are currently at the border of your world's existence, in a room between your world and the next. As for the second question, I am what you would call Death. I don't really like that name but for convenience sake, I would be a death god. And for the last question, you are here because you accumulated a huge amount of positive karma by dying with that man." The figure, Death God said in an ancient, heavy but a kind, grandfatherly voice.
It was quite a lot to take in. Dying and all. After a few minutes of silence, I finally asked the question that bothered me a bit. "Why did I gain a lot of karma by killing that stabber?"
"Well, you see, you seem to be an anomaly. You were supposed to die on the second stab, and the man was going to run away. That individual was a rising mass murdering cultist, who was supposed to kill a 1000 people for some stupid wish or power or something, total bogus, really. But you, my dear anomaly, you killed him before dying. You saved the lives of 999 people. That is quite a lot. Thus, earning you a huge amount of positive karma" Said Death in his grandfatherly voice.
Another huge dump of info, but I still didn't understand why I was here?
"Well, you get a chance of reincarnation, with 2 wishes, that's why you're here."
"Did you just read my mind? And reincarnation like in those web novels and stuff?" I exclaim out loud.
"Yes, my dear anomaly, you get two wishes to a go to a reality of your choosing." Said Death.
"Really???"
"Really."
"Can reincarnate as that slime from that novel with its powers?" I ask excitedly.
"Wait a second, let me see which one you're talking about. Ah, yes, that cute one called Tempest. That's quite a good one. Yes, you can reincarnate as a slime. That's wish one, and those powers, that's wish two." Said Death in a relaxed voice.
I was so excited to hear that. If one looked at my face closely, you could literally see sparkles in them.
"The wishes are done with, now tell me my anomaly, which reality would you like to go to?" Asked Death.
I fell silent for a while, thinking, thinking about which reality to go for.
I sat on the bed for a few minutes, turning gears in my head, until finally, a light bulb lit up in my mind.
"The Marvel Cinematic Universe, please".