With the speed he built up, Lucas then jumps over the school gate. Ignoring the teacher's orders for him to stop.

Lucas kept sprinting forward without a care. Distracted by his own rashness, he didn't realize the street he was crossing had a truck speeding by. But it was too late.

Now in the middle of the road, Lucas had no time to get away as the truck was about to crash on him.

Suddenly, the truck stopped moving. but Lucas couldn't be relieved as he too stopped moving. And not just him. The pedestrians froze in place. The birds were stuck midair as if they were just paintings. The background noises fell silent. And the air felt unmoving.

It was as if someone hit pause and the world stopped turning. And with no one aware, a young man with handsome features in a military uniform walks by with a carefree expression.

The young man seemed unperturbed by the frozen world as if it never concerned him. His attention only fixate on Lucas, who was frozen with shock and fear on his face.

The young man didn't proceed to do anything however. As he only stood after approaching and turned his eyes to the old man wearing black regal robes who was looking at him.

"Well, this is quite unexpected. I didn't know you guys were after the same thing."

Said the young man with carefree tone. But the old man threw a doubtful look.

"You certain you didn't know? I think this is just one of your harassments."

The old man said. And the young man replied.

"Father-in-law, please believe me this time. I really didn't know you were after Lucas Nicolas here. If I had known, I would've talk to you first about it."

"That is alright. Before we start doing anything, it's good that we are having this conversation after a long time not seeing. But before we digress, what are you doing here, Young noble?"

The old man and young man turn their gazes to another bystander who had the face of a highschooler wearing a prestigious school uniform.

"I am also here for the same thing. Lucas Nicolas here owes me his soul. I've come to reap it before he dies in this accident."

"Oh, dear me, what are the chances!"

Said the young man.

"Never had I thought that I, the Angel God, the Evil God of all demons, and the Son of the devil himself were pursuing a single soul at the same time. Tell me something, although I have much to explain myself here, why are you two after his soul? What grand purpose will he serve under you schemes?"

"Schemes, huh?"

The Son of the devil scoffs.

"I'll tell mine if you tell yours first?"

"Very well. Allow me to explain myself."

Willing to compromise, the Angel God explained with a smile.

"Due to a dookido accident, a certain universe that's under my management is about to go through a grand Civilization Filtering after getting there hands on some highly advance alien technology. Not wanting to let them all die if they were to go the wrong direction and induce their own extinction, I took it upon myself to intervene and I need Lucas Nicolas' soul to save the world. In short, I'm going to convert his ego into an alien Artificial Intelligence to control that alien technology. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I do have one?"

The Son of the devil raises his concerns.

"Why him?"

"Pardon?"

"Why Lucas and not anyone else? In fact, why does it have to be a soul anyway? With your power, you could definitely just conjure an A.I. much superior to any human that's ever existed. In fact, that's the whole point about artificial intelligence. Pursuing perfection humanity can only dream. And yet it is only artificial, not genuine. Just like your personality."

"Hey, I took that personally!"

The Angel God pouted without asking offense by the Devil's son's words. And he replied.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"And you're wrong about artificial intelligence pursuing reachable perfection. That's just fear mongering of those who chose to ignore the true purpose of A.I. Because at the core of every A.I. is only a series of coded languages systemized into a program to enact the most efficient action out of all options viable. Searching for only what's possible no matter how low the chances are. It is the pathfinder beyond humanity's imagination. And the support that every civilization needs to go through the barrier of mysteries. And besides, if I'm gonna create an A.I., then I won't settle for something superior or perfect. I'm gonna make something genuine out of Lucas. After all, he is a person bearing great destiny. That's why I choose him out of the many. Now, it's your turn old man. Why do you want Lucas's soul?"

After the Angel God said his piece, the old man, the Evil God of all demons, started explaining himself.

"I just needed another Demon Lord after the recent one died too early by the hands of the heroes."

"Ah, those pesky heroes always sabotaging dad-in-law's plans. How nefarious of them!"

"Look who's talking?!"

Angel God tried to sympathized Evil God's plight but Devil's son rolled his eyes at his silly acting. Then evil God coughed to gain their attention as he said.

"Well, that's the gist of it. I don't need his complete soul however. Just his body structure and memories will do fine for me."

"Now it's your turn Devil's son. Why do you want Lucas's soul?"

"I have a name you know. So, stop referring to my title."

"Oh, are we so close now that we can refer to each other by our own names? Goodness me, I feel flattered."

"You know what? spare me from it."

Said the devil's son, then he soon explained his part.

"So anyway, I came to claim Lucas's soul because he struck a deal with me. And for how that came to be? Well, originally, Lucas here was suppose to burn in Hell for all eternity but he took the chance to strike a deal with me and reincarnated here with a normal life... Don't worry, I specifically asked your wife that I would buy Lucas's soul at that time."

"Ah. So, that was she was talking about since dinner 17 years ago."

Angel God nodded and the Devil's son continued.

"So, afterwards, I gave Lucas everything normal until he threw it all away in this very accident right now. As for what I'm gonna do with him? I'll just wipe his soul clean as a slate and use that excess energy for another poor bastard who needs it."

"You call this life normal?"

The Angel God raised a brow and the devil's son asked.

"Got a problem?"

"Oh, not really. It's just that, if you hadn't quite catched up yet, poor Lucas here has just experienced his first ever heart break in the most comical fashion."

"And the problem here being?"

"The love his life decided to dump him over a trash who bullied him ever since middle school. If that's not fucked up, what is?"

"And your point?"

"... Oh, I forgot, you're his son! Geez, I knew that bland, apathetic personality of yours was just genetic."

"Shut up!"

As the Devil's son felt irritated getting deeper into this discussion, the Evil God mediated between the two as the situation was getting a little tense.

"Alright, enough you two. Metatron, stop provoking Lord Akira and let's get back to the topic at hand."

"Whatever..."

"It's not like don't pity the poor fella... She'll regret the day dumping Lucas."

After the two muttered to themselves, Angel God then moved on the topic.

"Anyway, since we all came her for the same thing, let's make some compromises here, small we?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"How about we cut the cake into three? that way, we all have a piece of it ourselves."

"Your suggesting to split a single soul into three? Then the value of the soul will just decrease. Not to mention that's a human soul. It's not strong enough to exist in fragments."

"Not to mention, for the plans we have in reserve for Lucas's next life, we can't have a weakened soul bear such heavy destiny."

"I understand your concerns, gentlemen, but hear me out, we all know what a human soul is mostly composed of. The ANIMA which is the shell of the soul, the EGO, which is the bearer of the consciousness, the MEMORIES, which is the forgotten experiences and dreams of the incarnation, and AURA, the emotional flames of the soul. Any of these parts has value on their own but they're not irreplaceable. And if I only take the EGO, the soul will just grow another one to compensate the missing parts. Same goes for the MEMORIES and AURA. Only the ANIMA needs to be completely intact to have any value left."

"I see your point here, Metatron. And indeed, perhaps it would be the best for us to split Lucas's soul here into three."

"Are you sure about that, Old man? What if something goes wrong for your next Demon Lord?"

"Then I'll just have to find another one who equally has great destiny to bear. Besides, I'll only be taking the MEMORIES and copy his constitution. You can have the rest, Young Noble."

"Alright, that sounds like a good deal to me."

"Fantastic! I'm glad we're all agreeing here."

Said the Angel God with a smile.

"Alright, then on a count to three, each of you pull out the piece of what you want from Lucas at the same time... Ready? okay, one, two, three!"

The world then resumes from its frozen state and the truck crushes Lucas's body with the force enough to shatter his bones and squash his insides. His body collapses as it gets run over underneath the truck in a gory fashion.

Lucas died. Age 16. Born on December 23, 1997. Died on August 13, 2014. Cause of death was traffic accident. Declared dead on arrival.

As a family will mourn a loss of a love one, a silver feather sways slowly to the droplet of blood at a center of a star marks the beginning of a destiny far greatly than any mortal will achieve.

***

Lucas right now was inside a dark place... No...

Lucas right now was sitting on a cold, damaged throne made of marble stone... No...

Lucas right now was staring up a dark night sky lit up brightly by the moon and stars...

[What is this place...? where am I?]

Said Lucas seeing nothing in this dark void.

"What... The hell? auditory hallucination?"

Said Lucas as he massages his temples and scans the dark dilapidated throne room.

(Who... Who's talking right now? Who are you?)

Thought Lucas with confusion, staring up the night sky, paralyzed as every inch of his body felt numb and burning at the same time.

[Hmm... Is someone here? hello?]

"Okay, this is getting creepy. Who are you and where are you at?"

[I don't know. It's so dark here. As for my name... Give me a moment.]

(Wait, who's talking right now? Are there two of you... In my head?)

"Who's head? Who are you?"

(Who are you? And why do I hear you in my head?)

"What are you talking about?"

(I'm talking about you? Who are you?)

"Me? I'm... I'm Lucas Nicholas... I think?"

(Huh? You're Lucas Nicholas?)

"Yeah, I think? what about you?"

(I'm Lucas Nicholas!)

[Guys...]

"Eh? A coincidence?"

(Maybe... What a minute, what's your birthday?)

"December 23, 1997... What's your mother's name?"

[Guys...]

"Kaeda Shizuhara... Your father's name?"

(Aaron J. Nicholas... Your sister's name?)

"Iori Shizuhara... Is she?"

(That's my sister...)

[Guys...!]

"Who are you?"

(Me?! Who are you?!)

"I'm Lucas Nicholas!"

(NO! I'M LUCAS NICHOLAS!)

"NO! I'M LUCAS NICHOLAS!"

[Guys!!]

("WHAT?!")

[We're all Lucas Nicholas.]

(Who's Lucas Nicholas?)

[All three of us, idiot!]

(...)

After a moment of confusion between the three entities, silence ensued.

A little while later...

"What's going on? What's happening to me?"

Lucas's voices his deepest concerns. He tried his best to calm down. And to his surprise, he was calming down as if the raging tidal wave of emotions never existed inside him.

[Alright. Give me a moment.]

A moment after Lucas spoke, the three were then subjected to a supernatural sensation their five senses could perceive in the physical reality.

Windows populate his vision filled to the brim with images, graphs, values and parameters attributing to themselves and their situations occurring real time, perceptions that overlap and divide as they see and feel inside and outside perspectives, sharing thoughts between the three as if their minds were linked like one solid triangle coordinating seamlessly from different places and times.

Lucas was experiencing what the other Lucas was experiencing and so were the other Lucas in their own way.

The three Lucas Nicholas were now becoming one.