In Bartholomew's Hospital for Unknown Terminal Conditions, Unknown Small Valley somewhere in the United States, on Earth:
Pain woke him up, he thought, "It feels like every single one of my cells is ripping themselves apart." This was not far from the truth. The patient on the bed in the best room of the hospital was Tobias Matthew Mortson, and he was dying from some unknown and incurable disease. After a few minutes of intense pain, one of the machine’s alarms went off. A nurse with worry etched onto her face ran into the room and seeing the patient seizing up pushed the button to call the doctor.
The pain Tobias was feeling increased as the seconds ticked by. He started concentrating on the pain and pushing it away, which helped him very little. When the doctor rushed in and saw the patient, his face paled, “I think this might be it,” ran through his head as he started working, only to stop about a minute later as Tobias opened his eyes.
“Thank…” he panted between words, “you… … … Doctor, … but this … is it…. Tell my… fami…ly I … love the….” With those words, a geyser of blood spewed from his mouth and drenched the doctor’s face, who had leaned over to hear what was said more easily. As the doctor and hospital staff did the work and documentation necessary from his death, Tobias entered a dark void.
*****
Formless Black Void, somewhere in the infinite Multi-verses:
Tobias was bored, there was no longer any pain to be had and was surrounded by a whole lot of void. There was no way to tell how much time had passed, or if time even existed in this place, so to keep insanity at bay he began to recount all the lessons he had learned, and all the games he had played. When he got about halfway half way through his life, he had learned hundreds of years worth in his mere fifteen years of life, there was a change. A small screen with words on it appeared in his vision, which caused him an immense amount of joy.
“Systy, is that you?” he asked in what passed as out loud in this place.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
System Notice: Yes Tobi, it is me, sorry about your painful demise. I probably should not have stitched all those extra pieces of soul onto yours.
“Oh,” this was the first he had heard of this, “so then why did you do it?”
System Notice: Your new soul, was incomplete and I did not want to see it disappear into nothingness.
After a small amount of thought, Tobi responded, “It’s ok, and thank you. You gave me fifteen years of love and life, plus helped me in all the games and education exercises.”
The system notice screen turned a slight red color around the edges, before it started moving away, it’s corners flapped at him, to indicate he should follow. In the distance, a small pinpoint of light appeared and started to grow as the time passed. After another unknown amount of time as they were just able to tell the white dot was some sort of doorway a voice entered his head.
“I have decided, this current personality shall be your system interface from now on.”
“What? Who? I mean I like Systy, so that’s fine but…” Tobi said confused.
Personal Interface: System Notice: That is the Supreme Being, as some cultures on your planet would have called it, God.
“Thank you for the introduction. Yes I am the Supreme Being, and I am going to allow you into the Divine Diversions program, or as many of the Higher and Lower Beings like to call it, The God Games. You will be able to attempt to become a higher being yourself if you like.” Came the mind voice of the Supreme Being.
“Thank you, umm, can I see how my family is doing before we go?”
“They are waiting for you past the doorway, but first you have to go through ‘character creation’ process, as I don’t want them to influence any of your decisions.”
Tobias Just nodded as they approached the doorway. He stepped in and found himself in a large light colored room, he stood not far from what appeared to be a hybrid magic and technological computer. With a smile on his face, he approached.