Chương 2: I'm dead?

POV Chris, ???...

"-ake up, wake up Chris." I heard a muffled voice say, but still too dazed to focus on it my thoughts drifted...

"Ugh, what?" I opened my eyes... but they didn't quite feel like eyes and as I focused more on that, 'it's not just my eyes, I can't feel anything, why?' I said to myself only to realize that it came out as a thought rather than a sound.

'Wait, why can't I speak?!' I started to feel panicked as my mind came back with more clarity before I felt a stream of images re-emerge that I realized were my memories.

'I-I fell, didn't I? Maybe I survived and I'm in a hospital?' I looked around to see fluffy-looking clouds and a pale yellow heavenly glow.

'This is definitely not a hospital, where am I?' I thought feeling even more confused now than I did waking up.

"Ah, Are you finally awake?" I heard a calm undefinable voice say as I turned in surprise to where I thought I heard the voice.

'Who-?!...' I exclaimed, turning towards the voice.

There, standing or maybe floating(?), it was hard to tell, I saw something, something incomprehensible with an endlessly shifting form making it impossible to observe it.

'-What is that?' I corrected myself somehow knowing that whatever this was, it was not something I could define in a way that would matter with the limiters mind that resided in me.

'Do I even have a brain right now?' I snapped back to confusion as I questioned the state of my body, if I even had one at all.

"No, you do not have a brain and neither do you have a body, you are a soul, Chris." I heard the... beeeiing(?) of whatever it was say as I focused on it again.

'I'm a what now?' I thought reflexively, responding to what it said.

"You are a soul, and unfortunately you are the only soul I could save when I split the land where your high school was located, which I did to vanquish a fragment of a mighty evil that was growing inside of your world." The being explained as I 'looked' at it dumbfounded.

"Unfortunately, I'm not as good as I was in my prime and ended up killing too many people in the process..." It said as the glow around us dimmed noticeably.

'You-you're saying that there some kind of... I don't know, evil creature under my school?!' I thought realizing now that it probably was able to read my mind, I stopped for a second.

'It can read my mind!... or I guess soul?' I thought to myself with shock that slowly faded to confusion as I thought back to what he said moments before explaining how I died, but then an image of someone flashed to my mind.

'Josh... I didn't get to punch him! Hey you, whatever you are, send me back right now!' I shouted within my mind as felt anger boil to the surface at the memory of my lost chance.

I angrily stared(?)... no, focused in his direction still ignoring the dimmer light around us.

"Now calm down, it isn't the end of the world, the whole reason why I brought you here was to make amends for what I did-" It explained in a stern voice as the light seemed to turn from a dim yellow to a more prominent reddish orange, making it look like a sun was setting just like The Being's patient persona seemed to be.

I noticed the change in his voice and the environment now as I calmed down a bit.

'I don't want to make it... no it kind of feels like a grumpy old man now, so him I guess?' I thought as his form seemed to switch into the more consistent shape of a grouchy old man with glowing water-like eyes.

"Oh? So you decided on a form finally?" The suddenly gruff voice said. 'Holy shhh-eeep?' I responded not expecting the sudden change.

"Hah! Always gets'em when they first meet me!" The gruff voice of the now grouchy old man said. "Now brat, I get that you're not happy with this, but you need to accept it."

The old man said, trying to help me process my death even if it isn't the best way to go about it.

"You should be excited because you met Ego the embodiment of your world and every other!" Ego responded finally introducing himself.

'Like 'planet' world?' I asked curious to know what he meant.

"No like 'dimension' world, kid." He said rolling his eyes or at least it seemed like he would but you know... glowing water eyes and all that?

'Well uh, it's good to meet you?' I awkwardly said not sure how to take it.

"Ok look, let's get this out of the way now so your other questions don't take up more time." He said before snapping his fingers, creating a visible wave of something undefinable that I could feel pass through me like a ripple in water before information burst into my mind about what I was specifically here for.

'You want me to become a god?!' I yelled feeling both shock and excitement well up in me.

"Not a god! Those guys are the chumps that do maintenance that isn't important enough for me to intervene for... no, you'll be taking my position." He said as his face went from an annoyed glare to a smug grin in the middle of his explanation before the light changed again to a bright yellow. Looking at the Old man felt like I was looking at the sun as the clouds changed around me, puffing up like the Old man's chest had.

'So are you like, the CEO or something since you're reality as a person?' I asked trying to confirm if I got the gist of what he was.

"Yeah you could say that kid, but I'm not really a person, that's just how you see me." Ego explained as I quickly remembered that he wasn't actually a gruff old man but a gruff old blob(?) of reality that was still blinding me.

'So do I become like that too when I take your position?' I continued to ask questions, trying to ignore the bright light he emitted.

"Didn't I just show you through that information? No, you aren't, you'll be- you know what I'll explain it to you when you need to know." He said, the light dimming again before placing his hand over me as he pulled away what looked to be multiple golden strings.

'What's that?' I noticed something flow down the lines as he pulled away.

"This is part of your training to inherit my position and powers, I'll send you down to different universes to hone yourself into a proper successor, good luck and make sure not to die." Ego explained before I started to feel fainter only noticing something odd swimming away from Ego in the flowing liquid power before I blacked out.