"At 10:17 a.m. this morning, an Omega Airline passenger plane carrying a total of 719 people experienced an abrupt and unprecedented engine failure. Despite the pilots' best efforts, a crash couldn't be prevented. However, miraculously, despite the entire plane being entirely destroyed, not a single person aboard was injured! Experts have claimed that the pilots, at the very moment before the impact, adjusted the angle of the plane very slightly, just enough to fortunately avoid all damage to the passengers. Once the black box has been successfully analysed, there will be an opportunity to study this manoeuvre, so that it might save more people in the future!"
The newsreader paused for a moment, an exaggerated sigh escaping her lips.
"Alas, this miracle was still accompanied by a loss of life. An unknown bystander was hit by the plane during the crash, and they have yet to be identified. Still, compared to any previous major plane crashes, this death is pretty much negligible. Omega Airlines has stated that they will do their utmost to figure out how such a terrible oversight could have happened and have stopped all flights indefinitely. Until the mystery has been unraveled, they have resolved themselves to endure the losses brought by this deci–"
Annoyed at how easily his demise had been glossed over, but not particularly surprised, John shut down the TV in front of him. Then, he glanced at the unfathomable man sitting not far away, reclining in his extravagant but beautifully decorated throne with a patient smile on his lips.
"Now that you know what happened afterwards, what is the next question you would like to ask me?"
-----
Some time after everything turned to black and his consciousness began to fade, John found himself standing on a plaza in front of a stupendously massive palace floating inside of a pitch-black void. He had never been genuinely impressed with any architectural masterpieces that he had seen, but this one truly opened his eyes, mostly due to the excessive scale of it all. If it wasn't for the lack of any and all clouds here, he could have merely made out a tiny fraction of the megastructure's base from his position.
There were elements of countless cultures mixed within the palace's design, and he could only vaguely recognize a few as being from Ancient Greece or Rome, Ancient China, Japan and Medieval Europe. But when he took a closer look, he realized that he might have been mistaken. While they seemed to resemble elements of those cultures, they were still different. Due to the fact that he had never properly studied architecture in any way, shape or form, he couldn't exactly put his finger on what made them so dissimilar, though.
As someone who had seen an excessive amount of strange things occur during his relatively short life, he soon adjusted to where he found himself, even curiously gazing into the void that appeared to be everywhere beyond this palace. Only after his curiosity was finally sated did he realize that something about him had changed.
Originally, his body had been covered in more scars than unblemished skin. His looks, which should have been outstanding, had been marred by countless lifetimes worth of injuries. Now, however, all of them had disappeared! His age was still the same as at the time of his death, and he was now also wearing a comfortable, new set of clothes.
It took him a while to notice it, but upon closer inspection, everything about him, even his attire, was somewhat transparent, although merely slightly.
"... guess I didn't get rescued by some powerful deity right before my death. Instead, I died and am now in my soul form?"
Muttering to himself, a helpless but fairly intrigued smile played across his lips. He had long since noticed that the will that had haunted him had entirely vanished, for the first time in his life. That alone already made his current state of affairs tremendously fantastic!
"Indeed. I could only invite you here after your unjust demise. Please enter, I'll be waiting for you in the main hall."
Out of nowhere, a majestic yet gentle voice entered the very core of John's being, snapping him out of his thoughts. For a moment, he staggered backwards in alarm, then a self-mocking smile played across his lips and he resolutely stepped forward, intending to climb the practically endless staircase ahead of him.
'If this being wanted to harm me, then I wouldn't have any power to resist them. I might as well accept their invitation.'
The moment his foot touched the bottom stair, he suddenly found himself standing at the very top of the flight of steps. Fascinated by this, he glanced at where he had come from a few times, before continuing onward, following the most obvious path ahead, towards the already slightly opened main door. There were countless engravings adorning it, depicting primarily scenes, events and beings that were utterly foreign to him. He would have loved to lose himself in them for a long time, studying them closely–yet, he knew he shouldn't keep that powerful entity waiting.
As soon as he stepped through the entrance, he found himself in a room far smaller than he had anticipated. Even the door behind him had changed into a completely different–now closed–one. Apparently, he had been transported to some other place yet again.
The "main hall", as his host had called it, was somewhat reminiscent of an ancient throne room combined with a modern luxury apartment. Heck, there was even a TV with multiple game consoles–most of which he couldn't recognize–as well as a PC!
"..."
Not sure what to make of all of this, John remained speechless for a while, then he finally focused on the one who had invited him, who was relaxedly lounging atop a beautiful throne.
For the first time ever, John felt as if he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. It wasn't as if the man in front of him looked 'complicated' in any way, shape or form. But rather, he was extremely beautiful and majestic, to the point where he didn't doubt for a single second that nobody in existence could possibly be more perfect that him. He had pitch-black hair darker than even the void outside of the palace, and golden eyes seemingly containing mysteries beyond the universe itself. Simply looking at him burdened John's mind, as if he was gazing at something truly divine, absolutely beyond a mere mortal like him. And it wasn't just by a slight margin!
John's gut feeling was telling him that if there was truly something akin to 'a god' out there... then it was definitely this man!
He only barely managed to suppress the instinctive urge to worship this otherworldly being, closed his eyes and took a heavy breath. When he opened them again, he stared at his host with deep wariness in his gaze. While the impression that he got from him was decidedly different from that of the intangible will that had accompanied him throughout his days, from his life-long experience, he knew not to trust anything at all.
"Thank you for your invitation. May I inquire as to who you are, Sir? Are you perchance one of the deities those religious folk believe in?"
Putting on a polite smile, John decided to first beat around the bush for a while, so as to indirectly figure out exactly what situation he now found himself in.
It was a pity that nothing that he did could be hidden from the divine entity's eyes. Yet, with an amused smile flickering across his lips, the man chose to play along.
"I'm definitely not one of those. After all, they don't exist. To answer your question properly–I'm the Heavenly Emperor."
Suppressing the instinctual reverence he felt whenever he interacted with this existence, a frown stole itself on John's face, as he noticed a certain contradiction in his host's words.
"Excuse me, but did you not just claim that the deities that people believe in do not exist? Isn't the Heavenly Emperor also one of these? Admittedly, belief in the Heavenly Court is extremely rare nowadays–practically non-existent–but still. Something doesn't add up here?"
Nodding patiently, the Heavenly Emperor released a sigh, then he unhurriedly began to explain.
"I'm not the Heavenly Emperor that this world's humans once worshipped. All religions, mythologies and cults that have held sway over others are simply toys of the World's Will. There is no basis behind them, other than the World's Will orchestrating their creation. Speaking of, that is the entity that was bothering you all your life."
Not particularly surprised by that last revelation, John nodded. After all, he had always thought of it as the will of the world. Its nature hadn't changed in the slightest, only the exact term used to describe it. There was still something that perplexed him about the rest of the statement, though. But before he could voice his question, the Heavenly Emperor continued to elaborate.
"The reason as to why a Heavenly Emperor exists in those myths is because I exist. To put it as nicely as possible, the World's Will used me as 'inspiration'. Other than the core concept of a Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Court existing, though, it filled in the rest with its own fanciful, yet profoundly lacking imagination..."
John didn't know if it was all just in his head, but he felt as if this being truly looked down upon the World's Will. It was akin to an educated scholar encountering a country bumpkin blathering nonsense, but mixed with a hefty dose of personal distaste on top of it.
"You're right, I do not particularly respect this World's Will. Its ignorant delusions of grandeur are reminiscent of quite a few old acquaintances that I personally exterminated. I'll explain more about my past later. For now, all you need to know is that I currently am at my lowest possible point, even less than what some would call a remnant spirit's vestige. Less than an echo in spacetime, less than even a fraction of my being. I simply could not, without endangering my very existence, interfere with anything outside of my cosy little realm here."
Compared to his prior relaxed state, when he justified his inaction, the Heavenly Emperor's bearing changed to a serious, completely genuine one. John felt as if he truly meant what he said and wanted to ensure that there were no misunderstandings between them. Yet, he still wondered: Why would a being as supreme as this man care about some small little oddity like him? Surely, he wasn't that extraordinary in the great scheme of things, right?
"I won't tell you for now. You'll automatically find out by yourself later, if you do agree to what I'm about to ask of you."
Seen through yet again, John showed a wry smile, then shrugged helplessly.
"I didn't expect an answer. In all stories I've read, mysterious, powerful beings are usually never straightforward with anyone."
Chuckling softly, the Heavenly Emperor nodded, calling to mind events of the distant past.
"Indeed. I myself encountered quite a few of such deliberately vague seniors during my early days. Rest assured that, contrary to most of them, I will do my best to answer any and all questions that you might have. There are a few matters that I won't be able to tell you about without negatively affecting you, though. Just like the one that you wondered about earlier."
Having got such an assurance out of the blue, and sensing the respect that the Heavenly Emperor seemed to harbour for him, John felt a little conflicted. A part of him wanted to hope that he truly held a fate so extraordinary that even unfathomable beings couldn't help but treat him as their equals. But his more rational side cautioned him to not get ahead of himself.
While there might truly be something great waiting for him in the future, life was a constant give and take. Clearly, the Heavenly Emperor only treated him like this because he wanted to obtain something from him, or for him to fulfil some kind of mission. He had to carefully weigh his options before agreeing to anything.
"Sir, you said that you would answer all of my questions. Then... what happened after I died?"
Admittedly, despite how badly he had been treated throughout his life, John didn't particularly wish ill upon people, especially innocents. The thought that the World's Will would go to the extent of using hundreds of lives to extinguish his own simply didn't sit right with him, making him feel ever so slightly uncomfortable. At the very least, he felt like he needed to know what happened to these individuals.
"Perfect timing! Instead of telling you myself, let me show you."