The darkness presses in, thick and suffocating. My lungs burn with each desperate breath, the air around me so dense it feels like it's trying to choke me. I can't move, can't see, can't even feel... anything. Then, a sudden jolt—a sharp, violent BAM—and my senses snap back. But instead of relief, there's only pain.
My head is on fire, an agonizing throb, like it's being torn apart from the inside. Wam. Wam. Wam. It's all I can hear. It won't stop. "Ugh..." I try to move, but nothing happens. My body is... gone. I'm gone.
"Am I dead?" The question bubbles up from somewhere deep inside me, but even I can barely believe it. The thought is too much to handle, but it's the only answer that makes sense.
Wait—what's happening? I reach out, though I have no idea where I'm reaching, or if I even can. There's nothing. No floor. No walls. Just endless, consuming void.
"Is anyone there?"
The silence answers me. And then... a voice. Cold, distant, like it's speaking directly into my mind.
"Don't bother trying to look, you won't see me."
I froze. This... this thing, it's aware of me. My heart races.
"Who are you?" The question bursts out of me. "Where am I?"
I force my voice to stay steady, but deep down... I'm terrified. Something about this presence feels wrong. Like it's not just watching me, it's studying me, in a way that makes my skin crawl.
The voice hums, amusement—or maybe something worse—lacing its words.
"So, it's you. Hm. You'll work just fine."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I snap, but it's a weak defiance. I feel small. Vulnerable. "I'm not into whatever you're offering. Please—just..."
UEGH
The pressure hits me then, like the weight of an entire universe crushing down.
"WHEN I SPEAK, YOU WILL NOT INTERRUPT."
I bite back a scream, my body threatening to break under the force of it, and I can't even move. Not even an inch. My heart is hammering REALLY LOUD
"Make it stop.....Please" I whisper through clenched teeth.
The pressure lifts. I take a shaky breath, my mind reeling, trying to make sense of what just happened. But the voice continues.
"Now, to answer your question," the voice echoed, somehow more powerful, more certain. "I am the one who was, who is, and who will be."
I try to piece it together, but I can't. The words don't make sense. "Wait... are you God?" I can't help but ask. The word God tastes strange on my tongue, like I shouldn't even be saying it. But I have to know. "Like, the real God?"
.
.
.
.
A long pause.
"If you must. I'll allow it." The voice sounds amused. "But there's more to it than that. You see, I brought you here because you weren't supposed to survive. You weren't meant to be part of that world. Not after your birth."
"What?" My mind is spinning. I have to be hearing things. "What are you talking about?" I try to understand, but the understanding escapes me. Too far away.
The voice sighs, almost regretfully. "You should have died. A long time ago. You slipped through my daughter's -Fate- grasp. You survived, and for what? A pitiful existence. A meaningless life. Years of suffering, of pointless struggle. Do you understand how insignificant your life was?"
The words hit like a slap. The anger rises inside me, fast and hot, fueled by the years I've spent battling, surviving—only to be told now that I wasn't even supposed to be...to go through all that.
"No. NO." My voice cracks, my eyes burning. "You don't get it! You don't get what I went through! I survived! I fought to stay alive, even when the world was falling apart around me! And now you're telling me I wasn't even supposed to exist?!"
The floodgates break. I choke on a sob, unable to contain the emotion that's been building in me for so long. The apocalypse, the endless pain, the loss. It was all supposed to be pointless?
"Tell me!" I scream. "Tell me whose fault it was that I even survived in the first place!"
There's a long pause, and when the voice finally speaks again, it's calmer, kinda helpless too
"You're angry. I understand. But listen carefully," it says, as if it's finally ready to explain. "I know you don't care about this world. But there is a danger... Forces are rising—powers on the same reach as mine but with reaches far beyond my control control. Earth is slipping, and I cannot do much to intervene."
The words don't quite hit me at first. Powers beyond the entity's control? Earth slipping? I blink, struggling to keep up.
"What's happening to Earth?" I ask, a hint of fear creeping into my voice. Something about this makes my stomach twist.
"There are entities... they plan to clear your planet. They have their own designs for it, and the world will burn unless something is done."
I scoff, dismissing the whole idea. "And why the hell should I care? I hated that place. Everything about it. You're asking me to fight for a planet that doesn't give a damn about me, a planet that only brought me pain?"
There's a shift in the air. The voice grew more sharper, cutting through the dark like a blade.
"What if..." The voice lowers, almost teasing, "...what if this chance could let you save your family? Your parents... your siblings?"
My breath catches in my throat. "Mom? Dad? Eunice? Elizabeth? Jeremiah? Daniel...?"
I feel a spark, a flicker of hope, a thing I haven't felt in... forever. I want to believe. I need to believe.
The voice, sensing my hesitation, presses forward.
"I will give you the power to change their fate. To undo what was lost. You won't be alone."
For a moment, all I can think about is them—my family. The chance to see them again... to save them from the disaster I couldn't stop. It's too good to pass up.
But then doubt claws at me. "But what if I fail? What if I'm not strong enough?"
"You won't fail," the voice assures me. "Not this time. Not when you have everything you need."
I hesitate for only a moment before the decision burns through me, unstoppable.
"Alright. I'm in."
The voice hums with approval.
"Very well." It's almost a whisper now. "Let me explain your... new advantages."
And I brace myself. This is just the beginning.