Void.

That was the last thing I remembered as the cockroach monster consumed me.

Weird, though. I still feel as if I am laying down on my hospital bed. But, without the layers of blanket stacked on top of me and my torso. Rather, I feel rather free right now. Like I am floating.

It was then that my peace of mind was interrupted.

A loud screeching clashed with the sound of continuous booming clicking.

I frowned my closed eyes, then tried my best to cover my ears, crawling up to a ball - trying my best to ignore the upcoming pain from my stomach.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?” I shouted.

I only wished for everything to stop. If I were eaten just now, why still torture me? Is this the afterlife? Granted, I’ve never considered myself a religious person, but how I wish God existed now. Or the devil. Or the grim reaper. Anyone and anything just to end the pain I am getting from these sounds.

I screamed, hoping to blurt out the noise. However, the noise only got louder until it stopped after several seconds.

Sweat covers every millimeter of my body, or at least a pervasive sensation of such. I braced for further impact, but I was fortunately let down by the fact that only silence ensued for minutes.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. I see nothing but my own body lying down in some kind of invisible bed. It was almost panic-striking if not for the violent noise I had to put up with earlier.

[Thought synchronization finished.] A raspy voice whispered. Similar to those ASMRs that I can find online.

I tried to look for the source of the voice, but only the dark occupied my field of vision even as I turned to the front, sides, back, up, and down. It was only then that I realized the voice came from inside my own head.

“Wait, who- what are you? What happened to me? Where am-” I said.

[Only two percent of thought synchronization is achieved. Requiring innate biological and metaphysical alterations of the designated entity for an additional three percent increase in increasing symmetrical communication through thought synchronization.] The voice continued to whisper.

“Answer me!” I shouted.

This has to be the afterlife. Maybe I am being punished for my sins. For not being brave enough and for not doing enough in my life.

[Authorizing limited communication with inferior entity.]

Is that supposed to be me? How ableist, I know I have - or had - cancer before I died, but that doesn’t mean I’m inferior!

What was originally a vast empty space and void started to melt. I fell from my invisible bed to the ground. The environment started to mold into a brown sticky substance. My hand gripped the ground as soon as I fell to the floor, embracing the substance which had the viscosity of an almost-frozen honey. I removed my hand from the floor only to get my feet stuck to the ground as I attempted to stand at the same time.

A drop of the substance fell from above me. I turned to face the sky, or rather what was the sky.

What was vast empty nothingness has been filled with a behemoth of an entity, similar to the previous cockroach-like monster although in a much more absurd proportion.

I see nothing but an obsidian carapace that is stretching across the void like a series of bones, black tendons, and wooden shrapnel that were forced to be stitched together in the shape of an impossibly-large cockroach. Right above me, however, was its antennae. Each strand is as thick as my body, twitching and making clicking sounds. The monster’s mouth opens, gaping an infinite chasm of interlocking and twisting inners.

A gust of vibrations descends from its maw, accompanied by the same combination of clicking and screeching sounds.

“♋︎…←…→?” The monster above said.

Is it saying something to me? I don't understand anything.

[Thought contains unsynchronized elements. Require simplification with pre-existing/synchronized elements.] The voice inside me said.

They’re talking to one another. Two different entities that I can barely comprehend. But if the voice inside me can talk in English, why not the other?

Silence followed. I gulped. I have to accept my fate. Whatever is in store for me, I will just have to accept it. I was unlucky in life. No reason why I cannot be unlucky in the afterlife.

“UNIT… THIS… PRE–BLESSED… NO FUTURE USE IN CURRENT STATE.” The monster above said.

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Unit? I suppose that is supposed to be me. But, pre-blessed? What does that mean? And what does this thing want to “use” me for even if I wasn’t pre-blessed?

[Increased synchronization from thought interaction to ten percent. Intensifying basic conceptualization.] The voice inside me said.

“FINALLY.” The monster above said.

My eyes widened. A tendril from the monster’s maw descends in an instant, stopping just a few centimeters away from my face. A rotten eyeball rotates, observing my physical body.

“H-h-hello?” I said.

No answer.

“S-so, are you God or the Devil?” I said.

Still now answer. The eyeball still appears to just be observing me. I might have to take the initiative. What’s the worst that can happen?

“I mean, I-I figured either one of you must have existed, you know. I wasn’t a complete agnos-”

[Increased synchronization from vocal interaction to thirty percent. Intensifying grammatical and metaphysical thought processing system symmetry.]

“GOD.” The monster said.

This is… God? All along? Out of all mythology, predictions of the future, of rapture, and everything else, this is what God looks like? A giant roach?

“Wow… I mean, I never e-expected anything from the physical appearance of the Supreme like you… but I just never thought that you would be a roa-”

“NOT YOURS.” The monster said. “WE EAT YOURS ALREADY.”

“What?” I exclaimed.

[Increased synchronization from vocal interaction to thirty-five percent. Maximum threshold achieved for quasi-transversal coherence of respective intra-dimensional concepts.]

“INFERIOR,” The monster said. “COMMUNICATE YOUR PRE-BLESSING.”

“My… what?” I said. “I don’t understand. My blessing? What blessing?”

The tendril moved. It slithered around my body like a puke-worthy vortex covering almost my entire body in the viscous substance, before stopping in the area of my belly. It presses gently against my belly button. I winced reflexively.

I half-anticipated for the pain to kick in, just like usual, instead no pain expressed itself.

“THIS REGION,” The monster said. “EXTRA…ORDINARILY ALTERED.”

I panted.

“I-I have…” I stuttered. “or had… cancer.”

“CANCER...?” The monster said. “DELICIOUS… SHOULD HAD MORE.”

I think this monster-god ate my cancer. I can’t believe it. A roach-god who enjoys eating cancers. But, aren’t I dead? What does it matter if this entity ate my disease away or not? I remember vividly the cockroach consuming me whole before I had woken up in this space. If that is truly the case, then more importantly, what does this monster-god want from me?

“So-sorry, roach-god, but what do you want from-”

The tendril withdrew in an instant into the main body in the pitch black sky. I flinched, utterly disgusted at the sight of this gargantuan roach-god.

“THIS.”

The mouth of the roach-god releases a plethora of colored smoke, mimicking a giant exhaust pipe of a broken car. I hear a hum from the inside of the maw.

A series of clunks becomes louder and louder until I am forced to cover my ears. Each clash fills the void with a thunderous boom of metal.

That is it. Metal upon metal heading downwards. Some kind of giant object.

Wait, it’s heading in my direction?

I ran as soon and as fast as possible in a random direction.

I was surprised that I managed to make - at least by my estimation - half of a football field in less than half a minute. Once I realized this fact, I turned back to see the spot where I had just previously stood after I fell from the invisible bed.

A giant body, or the remains of a body, in the form of a rusty metallic mega-humanoid was ejected, followed by a variety of scraps singing a hollow chime as it peels away and spirals into my direction.

As it crashed into the ground, cracks run deep through its armor, and from within those ruptures comes a robotic resonance as though the final whispers of its decayed power still tremble within the core of the fallen body.

“☺,” The roach god said. “UNSAVORY, BUT STRONG.“

I couldn’t even think of anything to say. The sheer scale of everything that is happening makes me think that I was an ant in the middle of a cosmic chasm that I am not supposed to even comprehend.

“EAT?” The roach-god asked. “♋︎…←…→?“

“There’s that last part again,” I said. “Erm… eat? But how-”

[Maximum integration request accepted by inferior.]

The metallic robotic corpse began shining.

[Inferior will be reborn with post-integration capabilities. Chosen designation: Seer-Master. Chosen reincarnation subject: Random]

“What?” I said. “Wait, reborn? I am dead, then, hang on-”

“☺☺☺” The roach-god said. “PITY…♋︎….MEET AGAIN...FUTURE!”

“What?” I said. “Wait, reborn? I am dead, then, hang on-”

It is as if someone turned the brightness of the void. Gradually. I start to lose my sight of the roach-god. Then, my consciousness entered into another nothingness. A white void.