All-in-all, my life didn’t really mean much. I mean, yeah, I had my happy moments, my sad moments, my fun moments, and my not-so-savory moments, but what’s a life well-lived if you can only remember a fraction of it? I haven’t made much of an impact on the world or the people around me; people like to say I “blend-in” or the classic “Who are you again?” No notoriety, no lasting impact, and after my parents died, no family that I can call home. Who knew being an only child would suck once you’re an adult? Probably a lot of people. Not me.
I’m getting sidetracked—anyways, I didn’t mind getting hit by that truck and dying, all things considered. I was more bored with life anyway, not much to do in that dead-end job. I guess what I’m trying to say is, my life before my death didn’t really matter all that much. Unless you ask the colorful guy who currently has his nose pressed up against mine. Probably.
“WELCOME TO WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL HEAVEN!” boomed the man, a wide smile on his face and crazy purple eyes. Green? Yellow? Iridescent. Iridescent eyes. Why does he have iridescent eyes? I don’t know, he smells vaguely like cherries though.
“I AM WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL GOD, BUT I AM SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT.” I can see his face getting flushed while he tries to be as loud as he can. Gross.
“YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN LIFE AFTER DEATH, AS WARRANTED BY AMENDMENT 41 OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS OF THE UNITED STATES.” Oh, great, the government has heaven too? Do I have to go through immigration? Please God, no.
“NO, YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH IMMIGRATION. AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY PLEASE.” Oh, he can read my mind. That’s terrifying.
“Can you stop yelling, please? You’re close enough to whisper, much less yell.”
“My apologies, I thought you had hearing loss from your death.” How does that make any sense? And why does his voice sound so ethereal?
“I sound like this because I want to sound like this.” He said, still smiling a little too wide. The man stood back up. Apparently, I was lying on my back. I didn’t notice. Probably because I woke up to a guy yelling in my face. Anyways, I can now see that he’s wearing a long, gray robe that continues past his feet. While he’s standing up. It just continues past his feet like he’s floating, probably a good 15 feet down.
I’m kinda creeped out now, so I stand up to look at my surroundings. Where am I? Everything is just… white. Everywhere I look is like a blank canvas; no color, no texture, no depth, no way for me to understand where I am. Just blank, never-changing white.
The man stopped smiling. “You’re in a space between worlds, a space between timelines, a space to start your life after death. Where we are is of no import, not yet at least. What’s important now is what is happening and what will happen. You are in the year 2371 AD, Original Earth time. What you were living in was a simulation, designed to perfectly recreate the events, history, and life of Earth. The purpose of this simulation is to resurrect every single man, woman, child, dog, cat, tree, bacterium, and all other living things that have ever died since the beginning of time. Yes, you are digital, and yes, so was everyone else. And so is everyone else. You’ll see what I mean. Any questions?” He went back to smiling. What does he mean “any questions,” of course I have questions! That was a ton of existential information he just dumped on me! I’m digital, and so is everyone else? He said to “recreate,” does that mean I’m not the original me? Bacteria are being resurrected? Why?? Does that mean my parents were resurrected???
“First off, if what you mean by ‘am I the original me’ is ‘am I the first one to live my life,’ then the answer is no, but that doesn’t really matter. For your second question, yes, we are and because we can. And for your final question, yes, they were.”
“Can I go see my parents??” My parents are alive! I miss hugging them.
“Depends. Do you want to see them as one, or as many? They have chosen to multiply their souls and embody many avatars. If you wish to see them as one, they will be unrecognizable. If you wish to see them as they were, you can do that with some scheduling.”
“I don’t care, I just want to see my parents." What the fuck does that mean? Multiply their souls? Embodying avatars?
“Okay, it’ll take some time to contact them and synchronize your timelines. As for your questions, you will learn in due time as there is much to explain. Any other questions before I move on to the next part?”
“That’s fine. I’ve waited 6 years already; how much longer could it be?”
“Okay, moving on. In the year 2036 AD, a large team of intelligence researchers in the United States of America military created the first superintelligence. By 2043 AD, Earth was unified by this superintelligence under the newly named United States. This superintelligence brought untold riches to the planet and it's citizens, bringing about a paradigm shift for all life on Earth. Immortality, peace, freedom, wealth—everything became as accessible as air. The world became humanity's playground."
"Wait, just a couple decades after I died the world became a utopia?"
"Eventually, the utopia humanity gave itself became devoid of all meaning." He ignored me. "With no conflict, struggle, or exertion necessary, humanity became bored. There was nothing to fight against and nothing to fight for. Humanity had reached the end of its story. To remedy this, humanity turned their physical reality into a digital one. By slowly replacing each of their neurons with electronic ones, the 15 billion or so human brains became digital. With the help of the superintelligence, humanity created a digital reality for themselves. Transferring their consciousness into this new digital reality, everything and anything became possible. Humans became Gods. That is where you are now, this new digital reality. And this is your coronation into Godhood.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
As he said “Godhood,” the world instantly changed. Instead of that sickly white everywhere, I was now sitting on an extravagant throne at the end of a long hall. I felt my clothes change to heavy regal robes, adorned with jewels sparkling in all kinds of color. I felt a heavy crown comfortably sitting on my head, the plush fabric enveloping my scalp. My surroundings became the inside of a castle; beautiful arches painstakingly crafted out of stone and stained-glass windows colorfully recounting my fictional deeds, both stretching down the entire length of the hall. Natural light floods the hall as servants line both walls, shoulder-to-shoulder. A long, luxurious carpet is laid down the center of the hall, leading straight to my throne. Surrounding my throne was a large, circular seating area. With about a dozen levels for seating, there are about a thousand people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder, speaking in hushed whispers about the start of the coronation. They’re all looking at me, on the throne, as the man with his robe which seems to float an inch above the ground reverently speaks in front of me.
“By the powers invested in me, I hereby recognize Damien Lochner, escaper of death and ruler of his destiny, as the newest addition to The Pantheon!” The whole room erupts, the thunderous applause echoing off the end of the hall. Even the servants are furiously clapping, some even crying tears of joy. The people start chanting my name, and my skin begins to glow.
What the hell is going on? I blinked and now I’ve been transported into this royal coronation. This is weird. What does he mean by “The Pantheon?” Why is my skin glowing?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!!
“You’re being accepted into your new reality. Buckle up, because only you are the master of your destiny now. Whether that is a blessing, or a curse, is up to what you do with it.”
What does he mean by tha-
-=—=-
I woke up to the sound of running water.
I shoot straight up, looking down at my naked body as I sit on the dirt floor. I look around, seeing that I’m currently in a picturesque forest on the bank of a softly moving river. Around me are trees and brush of various type, seemingly placed perfectly to maximize the beauty of the scenery. I turn around to see I’m almost up against a cliff, the edge precariously hanging over my head. A little scared, I turn back around just to be startled by him and that weird smile again.
“Wassup?”
“JESUS—FUCK! You scared me!”
He stopped smiling. “Sorry, I just dropped in to give you this,” he says apologetically as he reaches his splayed hand out, a cluster of light and incomprehensible geometry floating above his palm “it’s what will verify your status as a God within The Pantheon.”
Should I do as he says? The past 5 minutes have been pretty damn hectic, and I’m sure as anything that grabbing this… thing will bring even more chaos. And a God? Do I really want to be a God? What will my life be like if I touch this thing?
“Yes to your first three questions and awesome to your last question. Trust me on this, I worked really hard to make sure that this reality is the best thing to ever happen to anyone. So please, take it.”
After looking into his iridescent eyes for a couple seconds, I decided to trust him. I mean, what else do I have to lose? My last living memory is getting hit by a truck, and all the ones before that aren’t much better. If what he says is true, then maybe I can live a better life if I take it.
He smiles, “Seems like you’ve decided, so here you go!” and flicks the light towards me. It shoots so fast that I don’t react until the light is already inside of me. Inside of me? How do I know it’s inside of me?
“What the hell, man! I was getting ready to grab it!”
“Sorry, you were taking too long. Anyways, you’ll probably feel a lot of pain in a couple of—”
I couldn’t hear the rest of what he said. My whole world is red hot pain. Nothing I lived through or could have lived through in my life would have prepared me for this. My whole body convulses and shudders, the pain running in currents across my body like the ocean in a storm. I’m still conscious, though I can’t think of much other than pain. I don’t know how long I’ve been in this state for, it could be a second or it could be a year. Time means nothing when pain is all you have. The pain, ripping across—
“Okay, that’s enough. Also, it was about 8 seconds.”
As soon as it came, the pain left. Though that isn’t the weird part, the weird part is the clarity. I feel as though the grime covering my brain has been washed away. My vision has sharpened to an impossible degree; I can see every single stoma on the leaves around me. I look at the man, inspecting his impossibly smooth, dark skin. His skin has no pores.
“Who and what are you, exactly?”
He somehow smiled wider. “People call me many different things, but for you it would make most sense to call me The Pantheon. That is also what I am—well, more like a minute fraction of The Pantheon.”
He says “The Pantheon” like that means anything to me.
“The Pantheon is the digital reality you now live in. It houses the quintillions of souls which call its laws their own. I am an intrinsic part of this reality; I am a portion of its own soul. A very, very, very small portion.”
“Can I just call you Dave?” That was the first name to pop into my head. I really don’t want to call him “The Pantheon” over and over again. It’s too many syllables.
“Sure, you can call me whatever you like. I go off of people’s intent anyways, not the name they call me.”
“Dave it is. So, what happens now?”
“That’s not for me to decide anymore, all I can do is give you suggestions. For instance, I suggest you say or think ‘Pantheon’ to open your GUI.”
What the hell? How did he say it in Times New Roman? That doesn’t even make any sense, every other time I’ve said Pantheon—
It opened.
Social
Marketplace
?̷̧̖̖͖͇̽̽͐?̵̢̮̰̦͙̣̓̋͐?̵̙̲͓͗̾͂?̶̢̯̼͚͍͠?̸̢̨͔̲̘́͐͒͒̂?̵̨̼̣̥̟̙̽͒͌̃̂
Worlds
What the hell is this?
"Now for the most important question:" he continued, giving me the biggest smile so far "which lives do you want to live?"