"Token No. 99?"
"Yes, here." For what felt like an eternity of sitting in the waiting lobby alone, the young man's face lit up as he got up and walked towards the door. "Pardon my intrusion."
Opening the warm brown door that stood in the middle of an infinite white space, the young man raised his eyebrows in wonder as he entered a complete different environment.
The Office was normal, finitely yellow compared to the abnormal white infinity just on his side of the door. The walls were easy on the eyes, the light yellow wallpaper contrasting beautifully with the white decors. It was filled pleasantly with posh furniture like a bookshelf in the far left corner, a dresser beside an empty aquarium in opposite right corner and so.
Sitting in the middle of the room behind an table was the main attraction. A mature beauty with red eyes and flowing raven hair in a form fitting office outfit.
'A little too fitting, but of course I don't mind.'
"Thankyou." The lady flashed him a small grin.
'Of course.' The man nodded to himself as turned to compare these two spaces in his head before he headed in, closing the door behind him. "You're welcome, miss. Sorry, about that. It is just that this isn't something you see everyday."
"Understandable, one doesn't die everyday." The lady replied as she gestured for him to take a seat. "If you haven't realised it yet, you aren't dreaming or hallucinating. You died and right now you are in a place called 'the space between gates' and I am Viv, head of the office department specialising in handling special cases like you."
"Oh."
"Oh?"
"So I died huh? Bummer." The man replied flatly earning a blank look from Viv. "Well... It's just that if you give keep someone waiting for so long in the lobby even a random bloke would reach to this conclusion himself."
"...hah. You are right. I'll take notes to relay it to functioning and logistics department later."
"To not spoil the element of shock?"
"To not spoil the element of shock." Viv nodded.
"..."
"Anyways, to more pressing matters at hand." Viv said as she retrieved a file from her drawers and put it infront of him.
"What is this?"
"Details. Information. Data." Viv smiled. "Of the world and of the individual you will be planted in."
"..."
"What now?"
"I kind of figured out that as well you see-"
"Ugh!"
"-it's just surprising that this is going exactly how I had predicted."
"This is why dealing with special cases is so annoying!" Viv groaned to herself as the man just scratched his cheek sheepishly.
"I'm sorry but you see I had a lot of time outside-"
"I get it, I get it." Viv huffed folding her arm. "Why do you have to make my job so hard?"
"Sorry once again." The man smiled gently as he took the file in his arm. "But can you explain to me how does this thing exactly works?"
"You mean the system? How we operate?"
"Yep. I have always wonder what life is anyways."
(A/N : I mean... Who hasn't?)
"Well, I guess I'll tell you briefly." Viv said leaning back into her chair. "This is what you call cycle of life in gist. Individualities are created in the genesis chamber and then after sorting, are sent through the gates and placed in a certain space in a certain time, where they take form as souls giving birth to what you call life. Monitoring department which is the biggest department governs, watching over an infinite number of realities, guiding lifeforms and eliminating anomalies."
"Wow."
"After a soul extinguishes, theses individualities are pulled back and after a morality check are guided to their final residing places depending on their deeds."
"Heaven or Hell?"
"Precisely."
"Is heaven as beautiful as it's said and is hell as bad as I'm being told?"
"What you know is an understatement to what they actually are." Viv said as she sighed dreamily thinking about heaven.
"Damn..." The man shuddered unable to imagine just how bad hell was.
"Hell is just... Hellish." Viv shook her head. "And heaven... Well it's the perfect retiring place for an eternity."
"I see. So..." The man bit his lip as he approached the point. "I'm not going to either of those two right?"
"Yes, otherwise you wouldn't be here in the first place. You would have been already escorted to where you'd belong in an instant."
"Wow... That seems... Awfully better than waiting in a non-existent line for an eternity."
"Ugh. I'm sorry okay!"
"No no. It's not like I'm mad or anything." The man smiled icyly. "Not even a bit."
(AN: Press 'X' for doubt.)
"Moving on." Viv coughed into her hand hiding her annoyance. "You are here because you are a special cases. Think of yourself as a plus ultra super rare lottery winner."
"Oh, I see." The man rubbed his chin. "So, I'm guessing this 'plus ultra super rare lottery winners' must appear a lot and-"
"Huh? Not at all. Like the name suggests, it's plus ultra super rare."
"-it must be very taxing-"
"Huh? Not at all. This job is fun actually."
"-as it must be keeping you busy all the time, I bet you don't even have to time to rest."
"Wha-? Not at all. There's line an eternity of gap between every special case-"
"Then why the fuck did you keep me waiting for this fucking long?" The man asked in a blank tone, his eyes void of any life.
"I'm very sorry for my action and my inability to be a competent good angel." Viv bowed in apology.
"I lost count after counting 47184571 hours. I was going insane and each time I tried to open the door it would electrocute me into oblivion. You have no idea... No fucking idea." The man ranted on and on like a broken record.
"I'm really, really sorry." Viv apologised as she looked up as she presented him a file. "I'll make it up to you for this."
After calming down the man looked through the file and his eyes widened more and more as he read his file. Viv grinned as she saw his expression, finally getting the reacting she was expecting.
"So did you like it? I know you like it-"
"Umm, did you come up with this?"
"Damn right I did! I'm quite proud of myself-"
"Are you insane?!" The man nearly lost it as he slammed the file into the table as Viv winced.
"How to you expect a normal blob of flesh to survive in a hell like this?! Resident Evil?! Dying Light?! Highschool Of The Dead?! All Of Us Are Dead?!"
"But-"
"Was dying once not enough?! Do you want be to die again and become an undead this time?!"
"But-"
"Do you have any idea how hard, frustrating, agonising fighting Nemesis in a VIDEO GAME was?! And you want me do that? In real life without a power up?!"
"But think about all the waifus from all these universes. Saeko, Yuriko, Rika, Shizuka, Alice, Ada, Claire, Jill, Sherry, Rebecca, Lady Dimitrescu, Sheva, Helena, Excella, Ha-Ri, On-Jo, Nam-Ra, I-Sak! Look so many waifus!"
"Oh?... It's alright then, I guess." The man hummed to himself relaxing as he thought about it.
"Really-"
"No!"
"Ack!" Viv winced as she braced herself for another rant.
"...Hah... Y-You... Look, A-All I'm saying is that, there's no way, I'm going to survive this world without any aid." The man huffed as he finished ranting. "Also, what good is having bitches and not having the time to fuck 'em."
"Yes, I understand." Viv said as she cleared her bleeding ears with a handkerchief. "You dropped some philosophical gems at the end by the way."
"Good." The man huffed completely ignoring the later part. "There isn't even enough information as how this is going to happen or how this is going to play out, what are going to be main event or anything. I just know that I'm going to be planted in Takashi's body and I'll have a five year preparation time."
"Well, the future is ever changing and it depends on your present action and five year is enough time to-"
"Why don't you go down there and try to fight Mr X, Nemesis, Lady Dimitrescu, Volatiles, Banshees and Revenants without any of your powers."
"..."
"I knew it."
"I will give you a single powerup please choose wisely."
"One punch-"
"Denied!"
"Super Sentry-"
"Denied!"
"Sharingan-"
"Denied!"
"Spider-Man's-"
"It's already taken!"
"Huh? Wait what?! Someone else beat me to it?!"
"Yeah, he was the one before you. He has a ridiculous past so I planted his consciousness in Peter Parker's body and wiped his memory of most of the stuff upon his request."
"What kind of a dumbass would do that?"
"The one that does not want to live under the pressure of knowing that he's being watched 24/7. Especially the paranoid and regretful kind of people."
"I guess that makes sense." The man nodded. "Anyways, magic-"
"Denied!"
"Chi-"
"Denied!"
"Chakra-"
"Denied!"
"Fuck you, man."
"Rude and denied!" Viv shook her head adamantly. "Can't you chose something more realistic?!"
"Like what?!"
"Like... Like! Skill to craft guns or to mow the lawn or-"
"Who the hell would care about their overgrown lawn in the face of a fucking apocalypse?!"
"I don't know! Just pick a realistic one!"
"You-" The man's eyes widened as an idea hit him. "So... You can only give me one ability."
"Yes."
"But nothing outlandish."
"Yes."
"Not magical or mytical in nature."
"Yes."
"And it has to be as realistic as it can be."
"Yes."
"Then will you give me skill to craft?"
"Yes."
"Yes!"
"What-Wait! Nononono!"
"Yes! You said yes!"
"No this can't be!" Viv shook her head but then the file in the man's hand glowed startling him. But before he could react Viv had already snatched the file form his hand and aggressively flipped the pages.
"Please don't-No... No!" Viv said as she slammed her face into the table. "I am such a dumbass! Stupid! Stupid!"
The man scratched his cheek awkwardly in guilt as he watched the beautiful mature woman infront of him turn into a mess as she slammed her face into the desk repeatedly.
"Umm... Miss I think you should stop or you might damage-"
"Shut up! You tricked me!" Viv looked up with an angry pout as the man just smiled dryly.
"-the desk." He finished causing Viv to stare at him blankly.
"You are an asshole."
"Says the woman who kept me waiting for no reason for an eternity."
"Ugh! Is this all for revenge?!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Ugh." Viv rubbed her forehead as she looked down in the file. In the bio section appeared his skill which simply said 'Crafting System' and Viv was dreading it. "Ugh. Stupid! Stupid! I just said without decided on limitations, requirements, process or anything!"
"Well... Its not that bad. I wished for a crafting ability that would be good enough according to the world without it being an overkill." The man said reassuring Viv as she looked at him with in suspicion. "Relax. I am a considerate and reasonable man-"
"I... Thank you." Viv said as she straightened herself.
"-unlike you."
"Ugh!" Viv groaned slamming her face into the table once again. "Can we just get over this."
After calming down, Viv had no choice but to grudgingly let the matter slide and hope that the crafting ability he got wouldn't be broken.
"Look, you don't have to do anything special, no goals, no missions. You can do what ever you want and your fate is in your own hand." Viv said as the man reached for the door to leave.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"So I can do anything from questionable to bad to pure evil right without being probed by your team right?"
"Sure. Anything below jeopardizing the infinite realites is alright. But if you do bad stuff don't blame me if you fail in the moral check after you inevitably die once again." Viv said with a small smile. "If you do I'll happily escort you to hell myself."
"...scary." The man shuddered but nodded to her words. "Do you even get that big threat in the first place?"
"Every once in a while." Viv shrugged. "But most of the times manager's son, Val takes care of them before they get out of hand."
"I see." The man nodded in understanding. "So no overly bad stuff, huh?"
"Yep. If you know what's good for you."
"Alright, I'll be in my way then. Thanks for taking care of me." The man smiled at Viv which surprised her ar first but she smiled none the less.
"Are you sure you want to keep your memories about this place?"
"Mmhmm." The man nodded. "Goodbye."
"Goodbye." Viv smiled. "And please don't die early this time."
"I won't." The man smiled as he opened the door and stepped out into a bright white, illuminating space. The light engulfed him and as it died down the man had disappeared and the door closed shut automatically by itself.
Viv's smiled to herself as she streched her back and turned to sit back in her seat only to stop as she heard her door creak open.
Turning around she was surprised to see a handsome young man with wild raven hair and blazing azure eyes pokes his head into her office.
"Val?"
"Hey, Viv." The young man smiled sheepishly.
"Is everything okay?"
"Umm, yeah totally." Val chuckled fully entering her office. He looked around and shuffled a bit as Viv stared at him as she folded her arms. "Well... Not entirely. Something happen and well... Mom is mad."
"Really." Viv giggled to herself as she turned to sit in her seat. "And I thought something new happened. What did you do exactly this time?"
"I well... I told her that I'm quitting starting now."
"Argh!" Viv missed her chair as she fell face first into the floor.
"Viv?! Are you-"
"You what?!"
"I... ahahaa... I quit."
------
Yo, so new book. Let's see how this one turns out.
Anyways, I'll see you in the next one.