You know, I never thought I would die like this. I was currently staring down the barrel of a gun and was quite literally contemplating all of my life choices that brought me to this situation. A bit of background of my character. I grew up in a family that was caring and had a sort of good school life. I mean if you ignore the bullying and being dragged to the back of the school to be forced to fight other kids like me, then yeah it was an alright school life. But then again, I don't think any other kid my age ever had to go through that. But who cares cause right now my life was going to end before it even started.
To start us off it was a month after I graduated High School and I was searching for a job to work at. Now I was walking down the street on my way to an interview for a local bakery when all of a sudden I got dragged into an alleyway.
At first I was shocked, then confused because the person in front of me was someone I think I knew. They were expelled from High School because they were caught in the girls restroom doing some dope. Our school was very strict on drugs and had a no tolerance rule, and so she was expelled. I didn't hear about her afterwards since I thought she was sent to another school or moved away. But seeing her dirty clothes and baggy eyes, I could very much tell that she hadn't gone back to school,
"Hey Martha, how are you doing this fine evening?" I say in hopes that me calling out her name would somehow defuse the situation I was in currently. Martha didn't say a thing as she continued pointing the gun at my head. Of course that changed as she quickly rummaged through pockets looking for something. She pulled out some of my items from my pockets and dropped them onto the floor before she pulled out my wallet. She was at first gleeful, but when she opened it and saw I had no hard cash inside of it. Well lets just say her screaming "where is the money" at the top of her lungs and her pushing the muzzle of her gun at my head was somewhat scary.
"I don't have cash on me" I said quickly as I felt the muzzle getting pushed harder and harder into my head. I then heard her mumble incoherently, only understanding some parts of it such as "debt," "organs," and "chopped up." In her hysteria she didn't notice that she was squeezing the trigger of her gun too hard and well.
Bang*
That was the only sound I heard before my world went black. I opened my eyes and took a quick deep breath. I tapped my face several times with both my hands and continued breathing heavily. Slowly my breathing calmed down and as I began to slowly come back I could only remember the last moments of my life. Martha pulled the trigger and shot me in my head.
"That b-" I said but stopped myself at the last second as I clenched my right hand so tightly that I was so sure I heard something pop. I continued this action for several seconds before just taking a deep breath in and taking a deep breath out. "Alright, let's just calm down and think for a second. She shot me in the head, meaning that I'm dead. But since I can still think that means I am conscious."
I looked around me as I saw that I was inside some sort of dark stone brick tunnel. "Well ain't that ominous" I say as I turn around and see just a stone brick wall behind me, "sigh* well this is unfortunate." I walk towards the stone wall and place my hand on it and as I do I feel something crawl up my spine. And I don't mean that as a metaphorical sense or spiritual sense, no I mean I felt something quite literally climb up my spine. I quickly turned around and saw nothing but the giant tunnel leading to darkness.
"Huh, how strange" I said as I looked closely at the darkness. As I stared at it I thought I could see something looking at me. It sort of looked like two glowing eyes and a smiling face. And it seems to be getting closer?
"Wait it is getting closer" I said as I stared at the smiling face of the child as its body soon left the darkness. Now with the face of a child you would expect the body of a child to accompany it, but no that is not what I got. Instead I got what was the equivalent of nightmare fuel.
As the face fully came out of the darkness I could see its humanoid body. It was so skinny and its body was bloated and unproportional to the point that my mind couldn't comprehend its shape. It covered itself in a black substance and its face was truly that of a child, but it wasn't the only face as across its body I could see the face of the young and old covering its body. To describe this thing further than what I have already would require me to create a new set of words and meaning. All I can think of is that this thing was unnatural and eldritch like.
Suddenly the being's child-like face began to convulse as the face slowly sank into the dark goop until all that was left was a dark blob acting like a head. Slowly small what objects began to come out of this dark blob as I realized that these white objects were eyes of various looks and sizes. When the eyes fully came out of the blob's head, it looked back at me and turned its head to the side. It stared for several seconds, and even though it physically couldn't do it, before smiling at me with a dark grin on its face.
"Perfect" the being said in a distorted voice, "yes, you are quite perfect to become the cure to my illness." The being took a step closer to me and I took a step back. Seeing this the being titled its head to the side once again before walking closer to me and as it did so it said a line that sent a chill down my spine.
"Why is something so small trying to get away from me? All I want is to add your face to my own so I can be cured."
Hearing this I could only step more and more backwards. They are taking more and more steps forward. As we kept this small dance of ours going, I knew it was going to end as I felt something hard and cold touch my back. "The stone wall" was all I thought as I stared at the being that stopped moving. Its face is a couple inches from my own. The cold feeling that emitted from its body made the sense of dread I was already feeling so much worse.
"So the small thing is trapped" the being said as the eyes slowly began to go back into the dark goop and slowly the dark goop began to stretch apart. As it stretched apart it revealed a row of sharp distorted teeth with so many long serpent shaped tongues. "Hopefully your face can help me cure my old body from this illness" it said, its maw getting closer and closer to my face.
As I stared back at the being all I could think was one thing. "Bullshit!" I yelled out, "I died to some crazy homeless classmate of mine by accident and instead of a peaceful paradise waiting for me in the afterlife. All I have is an overgrown deformed baby that has a fetish for faces! This is bullshit!"
I stared at the being that stood in front of me, not moving and just looking. "Fine if I'm dying again" I clenched my right fist tightly and swung at the creature's face, "then I might as well go out swinging in the afterlife!"
As my fist made contact with the creature's face my eyes widened when I saw that my right arm was no longer there. "Huh" was all I could say before something slammed my head into the ground. Before my brain could register what had just happened I felt something kick the side of my rib, causing me to hit the stone wall hard. I coughed several times before I felt something grab me by my hair and pull me up.
I saw the creature's distorted maw looking at my face directly and its cold breath touching my face. "For all my life in existence, I have never seen such a dumb creature like you attempt to fight against a being who is on par with the very gods you lessers pray to" the creature said as it maw widened to such an extent that it was slowly bending backwards, "and so as a last gift to your pathetic display I will allow you to speak your final words."
Hearing this I could only chuckle at this foolish situation. Instead of killing me as quickly as possible and, most likely, add my face to its collection. This creature was allowing me the chance to speak my final words "How dumb" I thought as I opened my mouth, "I wish that I could live once again."
I closed my eyes and waited for the creature to strike its mighty maw onto my face. I stood there and waited for something to happen for several seconds, but nothing happened? I opened my eyes and saw the creature's closed maw and eyes looking at me. It stared at me for several seconds before it began to lightly shake. I was confused at first, but realized why it was shaking.
The creature was giggling?
"Hahahahah, man I can't keep this act up for much longer" the creature said as it took a couple steps backwards and fell on its butt. It placed its hand on its stomach and continued laughing. Slowly the dark stone hallway began to melt away and was replaced by a giant white space. Then out of the white space floor appeared a pure white table and a pair of white chairs. I felt something strange happen to my right arm and when I looked to see; I could see my once missing right arm appearing back again.
The being stopped giggling after a couple seconds and wiped the part of its face where its eyes should be. "Man, after five million years of living in this white void, scaring the shit out of you mortals never gets old" it says as it takes a deep breath out and stands up. It walks towards one of the white chairs and takes a seat.
I stared at the being confused and seeing my confusion the being signaled with its right hand to take a seat. "Come now, I won't bite your head off" the being said after I just stared at the white seat, "well this time at least."
After I contemplated what to do and weighed the chance of this thing actually eating my head off, I decided to sit on the white chair. When I sat down on it, I could physically feel all the weight on my body quickly vanish as if it was water under the hot sun, just evaporating into the air.
The being waved its right hand and a pair of small white cups filled with a light brown liquid appeared on the table. "Tea?" the being said as it picked up one of the cups and took a sip of it before placing it back onto the table, "if not, I could bring us some alcohol. What do you like Brandy? Tequila? Oh how about some Rum, I never tried it but from what I heard it sounds unique."
"No thanks! I'm not old enough to drink alcohol" I quickly said, "I'm still..."
I stopped speaking as something was trapped in my throat. Like a hand just decided to shove itself down my throat and stop what I was trying to say. But that didn't actually happen as it was just me trying to say my age. I should have said my age and yet I didn't? Why didn't I say my age?
"Ah, did you perhaps forget how old you are" the being said as a glass container filled with a brown liquid appeared in its hand, "don't worry about it. It happens to every poor soul that dies and enters The Between. In fact I bet you don't even remember your name?"
I didn't say anything as what this thing just said was true! I couldn't remember my name! Not only that I couldn't remember my parents name or their face, where I was born, or even what my life was before the incident!
"Seeing how you're freaking out I'm guessing you're realizing that you don't remember much about your life before you died and that is completely normal. Just the fact you remember how you died is a miracle in itself since everyone who enters The Between can't remember anything at all and just become a blank canvas" the being said as it chug down whatever it was drink and toss it away. A loud noise entered my ear as the glass bottle shattered across the white ground and the being just leaned forward, "I know you're curious about what I am, where we are, and even about The Between. So go ahead and speak, I'm not going to stop you."
I just stared at the being in front of me before swallowing my saliva and speaking what was on my mind, "what are you?"
The being just leaned back in its chair for a couple seconds, "I am what you would call a God or a Demon, maybe a Primordial? The term that describes me doesn't exist yet nor will it ever exist, just know I am a being that is the physical embodiment of two words, Known and Unknown."
Hearing what it just said sent a shiver up my spine that made me stare at it wide-eyed and made me contemplate my next question, "where are we?"
"Ah, the most common question. Man you mortals, as those God's call you, are so predictable, but since you asked I might as well answer. We are in a space outside of reality and also inside of it. It is both between and not between the worlds around us and acts as a space for those who have died to enter a new world to enjoy their new life. Many call it many names, but since I was the first to be born here I call it The Between" the being said as it stared at my confused space and just sighed, "just think of The Between as a space where the dead go to have their memories wiped, their souls healed, and is where they are sent before the worlds decide where they are meant to go and what life they shall live."
"What do you mean by worlds? Are there more worlds other than my own?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Oh yes, there are probably close to an infinite amount of worlds outside your old one. Each one is exactly the same as or completely different from your own. Hell, there are even worlds out there that mimic this space, but aren't really the afterlife for those who have died."
I lean back at my chair as I stare at the white ceiling, sky? Whatever it was I was just staring up at something white. And as I stared up a thought just entered my mind as I quickly faced the being that made two cups of tea appear on the table, "you said that this space was meant for those who have died to pass on, but what about me?"
The being just sat in its chair as it picked up the tea on the table and took a sip of it. "Ah, I needed that" the being said as its dark blob head faced me, "to answer your question you're going to need to answer my own."
The being set the cup of tea onto the table before taking a thinking pose and staring directly into my eyes. Its gaze felt like it was piercing my soul and exploring every nook and cranny that it had, trying to find something inside of me.
"Are you happy with the way you died?"
I stared at the being for a bit, contemplating what it had said. Was I happy with the way I died? Did this being just ask me if I was happy with the way I died???
I slammed my hand onto the table before saying "fuck no! I'm not happy with the way I died! I was supposed to live comfortably and retire with a family and instead I got killed on accident by an ex-classmate of mine who turned into a druggy with no trigger control and you ask me if I'm alright with how I died!"
Seeing my outburst, the being just sat there and stared at me. It grabbed my cup on the table and looked at the contents for a bit, "next question, are you happy with how you lived your life?"
I paused for a bit. I don't really remember much about my life except the memory I had before I died. I remember myself getting bullied and being dragged at the end of school to fight some kids who were also probably dragged to fight. But at the same time I did have a nice family life with my parents.
I didn't say anything for several seconds and after a bit of thinking I opened my mouth and said, "no."
"Oh, you're not happy with how you lived" the being said with a bit of shock in its voice, "do tell me why?"
I took a deep breath in before saying "I might have had a nice life and I might have been bullied. But from whatever memories I have left of my old life, I never truly felt alive. Yes my parents were nice to me and yes making money was nice, but at the same time it didn't feel right." I paused for a bit, thinking on what I was going to say, "but when I was in a fight with those kids at the back of the school and when I won. The feeling of beating someone who you thought was stronger than you or defeating a group that outnumbered you, it made me feel... alive."
The being just stared at me for several seconds before sitting up straight on its chair, my cup still in its hand and its gaze still on the contents of the tea, "so you only felt alive when you had some sort of fight?"
"No" I said immediately, which made the being take its gaze out of the contents of my tea and stare at my face, "no, I didn't feel 'alive' when I was fighting those kids. I felt alive when I did something that I thought was impossible to do and proved myself wrong. Sure fighting people did help with making me feel alive, but at the same time it didn't feel the same when I was constantly beating up the same kids over and over again. It only felt incredible when I was able to beat someone who others thought would be impossible to beat and prove them wrong."
I tightened both my fists as I remembered the rush I felt when I knocked out a kid who was bulkier and taller than me. The feeling I had at the back of my head and the tingles I would get on my spine made me feel so alive.
"So, you felt alive when you were able to beat someone that others thought was impossible to beat" the being said as it tightly clasped both its hands on the white cup. It waited for my response and I didn't plan to keep it waiting as I answered with a, "yes."
The being stared at me for a bit before a smile crept on its dark face. "Alright, that's good to hear" the being said as it placed the cup back onto the table, "for my last question before I answer your question."
It leaned forward as its smile seemed to grow by the second, "if you were to be put in front of a God and was forced to fight it and the consequence for losing was the eradication of your existence. Would you run away?"
I didn't need to think as the same feeling I felt when I fought someone tougher than me rushed throughout my body, "no. I would not run away as I would charge at the God and continue to fight even if I was nothing but a pile of bones and flesh."
The smile on the beings face reached its peak as it stood from its seat and laughed. It laughed and it danced around the white space as it said, "YES!!! After thousands upon millions of years of searching, I have finally found someone who can become my champion in the new world! Hahahaha!"
The being grabbed both my hands and stared at my face with its dark eyeless face. "You have passed my test and so I shall answer your question" the being said as its dark body spread across my own, "you shall head to a new world that the other Gods have been trying to conquer and you shall live a life of your choosing. You can become a simple farmer taking care of the fields, you can become an explorer who travels to uncharted lands, you can become a politician who ensures the safety of their kingdom, or you can become a king that rules over the lands and has an undefeatable army close to none! All I ask for in return is for you to create a story that I will enjoy!"
I stare at the being for a couple moments before smiling. "Alright I agree, but I have a few questions I want to ask you before I fully agree."
The being let go of my hand before walking back to his seat as I did so as well. Once we both sat down he grabbed his cup of tea and so did I. "Alright go ahead and ask me your questions" the being said as it drank its tea.
"Alright, first question, what is the name of this world? Second question, what is this world like? Third question, what do you mean by 'the other Gods have been trying to conquer'? Fourth question, will I get any benefits from agreeing to this? And my final and most important question, will I have fun in this world?" I said to the being bringing up one finger up for each question I spoke.
"For your first and second question, the name of the world is not known to us but I call it Pandemonium and from what we can see it is a world that has the properties of magic and seems to exist in an age similar to the old Steel and Sword age of the past. The third is easy to answer as it can also answer your fourth answer. We Gods, or beings of higher power, are able to explore the vast infinity and turn worlds into our own. Allowing us the right to rule over them or just simply watch them do their daily lives. But Pandemonium isn't like the other worlds as it was created when two greater unknown powers clashed against one another and created the world from the debris of their combat and the life with their blood. If this world was like any other world, the Gods or Higher beings would have been able to control the world with no problem, that is if Pandemonium was like any other world. For you see, whatever lives inside that world somehow discovered our existence before we discovered it and created a some sort of dome that would keep those of greater powers from entering the world. Of course we could bypass it by simply sending an avatar with a small percentage of our strength, but we quickly lose contact with them after a couple moments and only gain a small amount of information about the world. Because of this the only thing we know of that world is that it has magic, is in the age of Steel and Sword, has beings that we have never seen before, and has some sort of continent that is so dangerous that our avatars die before they can even approach its land. Of course since it is a dangerous world where even we Higher beings can't enter I will be giving you an ability that is most common in that world. It is called 'Birth Magic' a form of magic that is unique to a person once they drink a golden liquid called Ichor."
The being drank his tea once again before sighing out in relief, "to give a brief rundown of what I mean by its uniqueness to a person, let me explain. From what we saw in that world, if a person drank Ichor and awakened their Birth Magic, what it is and what it can do is shaped by what the person desires. For instance if a person was a thief in his life and wished to become the best thief in the land and they drank the Ichor, their Birth Magic would most likely allow them to either create physical clones that can aid them or allow them to manipulate certain things like the physical construct of a object or something along the lines of that. Birth Magic, in truth, is just a person's desire given physical form."
The being placed his tea down and said, "for your last question, if it's fun or not is completely up to you as all I am asking is for you to do is just to make a good show for me to watch."
The being stood up and reached its right arm out towards me, "so do we have a deal?"
I stare at the hand for a bit before standing up and accepting the handshake, "we have a deal."
My vision went fuzzy as my mind went dark and all I can see is darkness.
"Ah, right I forgot to introduce myself! My name is The Keeper."