“So you’re telling me I’m dead?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
It had not been too long since waking up in a dimly lit motel room. The TV ran a black and white viewing of various moments in his life. As he came about he had noticed a familiar creature was sharing a seat with him on the couch.
“And now I’m in the afterlife.”
“Also true”
“Watching TV with C’Thulu”
“You can call me God if you’d like”
“If you wanted that you probably should’ve chosen an appearance less Eldritch.” Looking around the furniture was in obvious disrepair. The curtains were visibly stained even given the room’s dimness. The bed itself was missing its mattress, revealing several books littered underneath. He had considered taking this conversation more seriously, but the details of the setting were getting in the way. After a pause, the man reached for a bible placed on the table in front of him.
“… so everything up until now is according to your plan?”
“I suppose.”
“So you’ve planned for me to die like that”
“Unfortunately. It was your fate.”
The man winced. He had died on his way driving home. Prior to his end, he had helped a friend with some maintenance around the house after getting out of work. It was reaching the end of her first month living alone and her pride refused to ask her parents for help. Tired after hours of various tasks around the house, he deemed himself awake enough to drive home. The thought of dying alone on the mountain roads lingered in the back of his mind.
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“What happens now?”
With a sigh, C’thulu turned his body. The TV had turned off, as if on cue. “I need to borrow you for a bit. You’re needed elsewhere”
“Here in the afterlife?”
“No, I guess the term for it is in another world”
He was familiar with the concept of parallel universes, but the man still needed a moment to process how the physically unprovable was casually confirmed. C’thulu had gotten up and headed towards the door. The man promptly followed. They had come to a wide hallway, consistent with the motel theme. The hallway was quiet, a surprising detail for one packed with hundreds of what he supposed was recently departed souls who shared his bewilderment. Upon closer inspection, everyone was walking in pairs, which he assumed was also God in various forms leading them around.
“I’m not too sure I understand anymore what happens on Earth. Daily life is too complicated, especially with the time wasted on needless things. Eventually, I inspired to create new worlds, according to the various fantasy worlds that populate the media in your time. It seems that it is your fate to partake in one of these worlds. You have been summoned.”
“You keep mentioning fate, but I'm not sure I understand its meaning anymore”
“I’m sure you’ll understand in this new life.”
“And will I return here when I’m finished with this world?”
“I’m sure you will when you discover your fate, just don’t go asking me about your destiny”
The man was confident he was being bullied for his ignorance of the difference between fate and destiny. With a sigh, he hunched his back. “Do I have any choice in this?”
Before he realized it, they were alone. The hallway was ending, it now led into a large mass of light.
“It’s unfortunate. You can change your fate, but you can’t your destiny. Also, you’d really be helping me out here. I really screwed up.” As if to banish the mood of an epic adventure C’Thulu continued while scratching his head. “This whole fantasy business is a real pain when I allowed meddling with spirits. I didn’t know summoning and banishing spirits would give me so much work to do. If this goes on I might have to flood this world too and start all over.”
“That sounds a bit too drastic” The man waved his hand. The stakes escalated quicker than he prepared for. “That won’t be necessary I guess” With a delayed sigh he reluctantly accepted his fate.