Death came so sudden that I barely processed it happening to me. It wasn't a dangerous night, I was driving back home from campus on the I-10 through New Mexico when I saw people running across the road. I figure they must have been immigrants because they were carrying bags on their backs; I wanted to avoid hitting them to I mashed down on the breaks. Unfortunately, the brakes on my 2013 Sonata gave out, causing me to screech down the road until my car flipped. I was hurt, but I was still semi-conscious; I thought if I toughed it out, I might get help but during the commotion, an 18-wheeler swerved into me; and then everything went dark.

Blank Void

I awoke shaking, believing what happened to be a bad dream, but as my brain woke up I saw that I was somewhere bizarre. All around me it was barren, empty, and blindingly white.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping anyone would answer, and scared that I might be going insane.

Hello. I heard a peaceful voice respond, but saw nobody around me.

"Hello!" I called back. "Where are you!? I can't see you anywhere!"

Please don't scream, I find it very annoying.

Worried, but somehow calm, I complied. "I'm sorry, I just... I think I was in a car wreck and then I woke up here... is this the afterlife?" I asked, fearful of the realization.

Mostly.

Panicking, I paced around the for a long time until I was feeling calm enough to speak. "I'm dead... I understand that much. This is the afterlife, then... are you God?"

Yes, and no.

"Yes and no?" I was close to questioning my own sanity. "Is this Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, or just me going insane!?" There were so many questions going through my head.

Yes, I have sympathy for all living creatures, but I am not an all powerful creator. You are dead, but this is neither Heaven nor Hell.

Exhausted from the revelations, I sat down. "If I'm dead, why would I be here? I wasn't exactly religious in life, but I did believe there at least more than what I saw."

How could I answer? When you died, your soul was set to move on from the living world, like a leaf heading down stream. I simply plucked you from the water.

I was having a hard time adjusting to this. I was dead, I was prevented from passing on, everyone... "My family... my friends... I'll never see them again." I was close to crying.

Not entirely.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

I brought you here, because I intend to help you return back to your old life.

This news rejuvenated me. "You'll give me a second chance!?" I was jumping for joy. "Thank you! Thank you, God All Mighty! I will never forget this. I'll go to church every Sunday, I'll never say your name in vain again, I'll even abstain from women."

Calm down, I haven't explained everything.

"What do you mean?" I asked, weakly.

I intend to return you to your old life, but I cannot send you back to Earth directly. When you died, it separated your link to Earth, preventing your soul from returning from the afterlife. However, if your soul would take a detour through another world, it would establish a new link that could be transferred back to Earth.

"Okay, so you only need to send me some place else for a minute or so, then send me home?"

Not exactly. I can send you someplace else with no issue, but as the "God", or so, of your world I would have no power to interfere with you on a different world.

This was astonishing to me. "If you can't help me, how would I get home?"

There are other ways to cross the boundaries between worlds, through advanced technology, magic, divine intervention, if I send you to a world with one of these options, you could return home, but I cannot guarantee.

Cautiously, I weighed my options. "What would happen if I refused?"

I would send you off to the afterlife, and in case you were wondering, you have done enough good in life to earn passage into paradise.

That was good news. "If I go to another world, and I can't find a way to Earth, what would happen to me?"

You would spend the remainder of your days there.

"What about my love ones... do they know I'm dead? And if I returned, how would I explain it?"

This plane exists outside of time. If you choose to pursue the journey, I will place a safeguard on your soul that will return you to your home with no change in time occurring.

I spent a long time thinking everything through, minutes, hours, days? Those were irrelevant here. "Do you believe I will return home?"

… I believe you will need to have the strength, ingenuity, and resolve to return. I have no control, but you might.

I took a deep breath. "If I don't return, can you make sure everyone I love has a long and happy life."

If you do not return, I will promise.

"I've made my decision... I'll take the chance and return home." There was no going back for me now.

Very well. Now, I cannot assist you outside this realm, but I may prepare you for what awaits.

"Prepare me? Like, a map or supplies?"

Prepare, as in I can give you powers to help increase your odds.

"Powers, like superpowers!?" I nearly squealed. Name one kid who never had the dream of being a superman in some form.

I can't make you omnipotent, omniscient, or anything of the sort. I can only grant you assistance in reason.

This was a crucial matter, I needed to think this through and converse with my savior on the limits of his assistance. They couldn't give me any instant knowledge, they couldn't make me immortal, they couldn't make me strong enough to destroy planets or anything of those calibers.

"Okay, I think I know what I want." I took a deep breath. "I would like it to be easier to recall and learn new information, be able to remain calm and tactical under pressure, and at least have enough talent in any special skill native to my new world." I asked politely.

Sounds reasonable, however, what about your physical capabilities?

"My body? Well... I was okay with my old body, but if I could have one tailored for me." I thought about my options. "I'd like to be fit, maybe like one of those anime martial artists, maybe about 6-6'2; however, I would like to keep most of my features. My skin tone, hair, eyes and things like that, I won't to resemble my old self so that way people will recognize me when I return."

Alright, I'll see what I can do. Now, before I send you away, I will needed to speak with the "God" of that world to discuss how you will be handled. It may take hours of negotiation for me, but for you it'll be almost instantaneous.

"I understand." I responded gratefully. "Oh, before you go, I would like to thank you. This is a lot you're doing for me and I just want to give thanks in case we never meet again."

Say nothing of it, all I ask is that you keep information of all that happens as secret as possible.

"Would it cause a commotion if people found out?" I asked, worriedly.

No, I'm worried you'll only make yourself look like a fool. Most people won't believe a thing unless you can prove it to them, and sometimes that isn't even enough.

I laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Again, thank you very much."

A second later, I felt myself be swallowed in a rainbow of lights as a strong warm moved though out my being. When the light finally faded, I found myself in the middle of a snowstorm.

"What the hell!?" I huddled to try to keep warm. "I thought it was Summer... right, new world." I understood that the reason of my old life would not work here, so I needed to make the right choices. Right now, finding shelter was the most important.

I could barely see in front of me, but to my 2 o'clock, I saw the hull of a flipped over wooden ship. Rushing over, I found an opening in the side and retreated to the still quiet inside. It was dark, and I had no clue of what to do, but I had an idea to look for some kind of light source. Lucky for me, the more I moved around light began to shine from above. I looked up and saw the ceiling was coated in a strange moss that glowed in the dark.

"How peculiar." I muttered to myself. Now with light, I looked at my surroundings and found junk littering the floor, most likely from when then ship collapsed. Then, I found a cracked mirror in the wreck; looking into it, I saw I kept my brown skin, brown eyes, and black hair, but now I was wearing what looked like silver armor, and carrying a spear and large backpack. Under my armor, I found my former flabby body was now sculpted, just like something Ohma or something. "Aiden Ortega, welcome to your new normal."¹He's refering to Ohma Tokita from the anime Kengan Ashura.