2020. The Cursed Year, as some may say.
Wildfires, hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, oil, and gas spill, humanity saw it all.
Some reports say that the first half of 2020 saw more calamities than the 10 preceding years.
Of course, the highlight of those disasters is the infamous virus Covid-19.
Edric, a young man in his twenties, was unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with this virus.
After 2 weeks of struggle in quarantine, he passed away. His last thoughts were: 'I never imagined my death to be more boring than my life. What a shame...'
******************
Somewhere but nowhere. An endless, boundless space. But can it be called 'space' when space itself doesn't exist there? It's something unknown, incomprehensible. It's nothingness.
This is The Void.
In this vast nothingness, an illusory figure was floating peacefully. After an unknown amount of time, if time even existed there, the figure opened his eyes.
The figure looked around him, puzzled. 'Is this the afterlife? It's not what I expected.'
Edric tried to talk, but no voice came out. He could only think while floating.
In the distance, he noticed a speck of light floating in this endless darkness, just like him. 'Is that where I am supposed to go?'
He was about to try moving to explore this place, when a strange, robotic voice rang in his head.
[System initialization... Complete.]
A semi-transparent window appeared in his vision that said the same thing.
'What is this? A system? Interesting. Is this how the dead are guided to the next stage, whatever that is?'
Before Edric could get more excited, the robotic voice sounded again along with the notification window.
[Warning! The is happening in 10 seconds! It's recommended for the host to observe this event!]
'What the hell....Big Bang? You mean THE Big Bang?!'
The system's voice began counting, giving him no time to comprehend what was happening. He could only guess that the source of The Big Bang is going to be that spec of light, as it's the only thing existing here.
[3...2...1...0]
The spec of light in the distance exploded suddenly. Everything turned white in Edric's eyes. Vast amounts of energy flung in all directions at the speed of light.
[Warning! The energy around the host has passed the limit of The Astral Armour. Activating Emergency Procedure... Absorbing the excess amounts of energy...Complete.]
At the moment, Edric wasn't paying any attention to the system notifications. He was completely focused on the spec of light since the beginning of The Big Bang.
It wasn't until much later that he awoke from his daze. He felt different. Not sure how, but he felt like his mentality changed. It's as if he was enlightened.
[Congratulations! The host has obtained
'Cosmic Awareness? This ability seems familiar somehow. But more importantly, uhm... system? Could you explain what's going on? I thought you were a system to guide the dead or something. Why is there a Big Bang all of a sudden?'
[The host is alive, not dead. But the System has no information why the host is here.]
'Hmm. I heard some stories about reincarnation, but this doesn't seem like one. Is it time travel? to the beginning of time? Or was it that the universe itself has been reincarnated?'
As Edric was contemplating his current situation, the universe already started to form and further expand.
'Where should I go now? How long will I be floating like this? Hey, system? any solution?'
[The system suggests that the host enters a slumber until a planet that satisfies living conditions is formed.]
'You're joking, right?'
[...]
'Right?!'
[...]
'Sigh... forget it.'
After Edric calmed down, he started to think about the ability he obtained, Cosmic Awareness.
'I swear I read this somewhere... Right! I read about this in some Marvel comics before!'
In the past when Edric was bored, he would waste his time reading some novels or comics.
'I wonder if it's the same concept. I guess I'll have to do some experiments. After all, I have all the time in the world, literally...'