Chapter 0.99:
The Light Above
Warmth. Warmth? Keisuke could feel once more, though not in the way he could before. He opens his eyes, and the darkness retreats. Before him, he can make out the figure of a person beckoning for him to come closer.
Am I in heaven? Am I dead? Why am I here? What happened? I don’t remember anything?
The figure calls out to him, “Come closer, young one.”
Keisuke moves closer.
“What brings a fine young man such as yourself to my doorstep?”
Keisuke hesitates in response, and does not utter a word. The figure continues,
“Oh, please excuse my manners. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the one in charge of everything. I am he who creates and he who destroys. I believe you humans know me simply as ‘God’.”
So, I did die. I don’t hold any regrets, but I feel as if in doing so I left behind something important. My humanity.
The person speaking to Keisuke was a male, old in appearance. His face was covered in wrinkles and his voice was raspy. A long gray beard stretched down to his upper torso. They wore long white and oddly thin robes. His story matched up.
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Having listened to the God’s introduction, Keisuke finally decides to introduce himself,
“I’m Keisuke Asahi. I do not remember anything besides my name, and even in death, a weight of sin follows me. Even though I’m here, knelt before you, I do not feel truly dead, nor do I feel truly alive. My mind tells me there is work I have left unfinished, though once again I remember naught but my name.”
God shook his head in dismay. “You are a powerful individual. You hold the latent power to change the world several times over. Your ideologies are in alignment with that of which a divine figure should hold, and your transparent modesty shines through no matter the situation. You’ve been of interest to myself and the others for a long time, and I am personally pleased to be able to speak to you, and so I have a proposal I would like to present to you, here and now.”
Keisuke expressed his interest and allowed God to continue.
“I am aware that you wish for a regular life, one uneventful and free of misfortune, however I must ask one thing of you beforehand. There is a world out there that lacks the freedom you have come to know. It is due to this that I would like you to save this world. One with such strong attachment to both the divine and human worlds shall surely have no problem doing-”
“I won’t.”
“I believe you interrupted me. There is a reason why your power is as strong and easy to detect as it is. Despite it being out of your immediate knowledge, the moment you passed away, you evolved into a divine being which in turn multiplied your baseline spiritual energy and power to that of a god among men. I implore you to assist me on this endeavour.”
“I won’t.”
“Very well then, however I will not allow you to reincarnate until you have fulfilled my request. Please do let me know if this sways your stance on the situation.
“You piss me off, but... fine. I’ll go through with your childish game and save this world you speak of, if it means you’ll allow me to start over in the real world when I’m done.”
The God, seemingly pleased with Keisuke’s sudden change of mindset, spun around and chanted a spell. A bag appeared behind him, which he picked up and held out towards Keisuke.
“Take this, you’ll need it for your journey.” He said, dropping it into the hero’s hands.
As Keisuke picked up the bag, it began to shimmer a deep red colour. God's face turned from pleasure to fear as he noticed what was happening. Then, once more, everything turned dark.