1 After an End

Abyss - The seemingly infinite space filled with nothing. I had always been curious about it. It which has no past, no present and no future. That in itself is a paradox- How can something exist if it has no present or past? How sure can you be that it has no future? These idle thoughts had always been that, idle thoughts until now that is. If what I see, feel, smell and sense is Abyss, then I cannot explain it. If is not due to inadequacy of my vocabulary but I literally cannot pinpoint a certain sense. What I feel is Chaos. I hear a growl once, a moan sometime after, a roar later. I feel hot one second and cold the very next. I feel breezy and the next moment it is still. I see absolute darkness for a minute and then I am bombarded by seemingly infinite color. I see beasts that could make a Japanese teenager squirm. I see absolute white for a while and then red, yellow, and every color possible at seemingly random times.

After what felt like an infinite and finite time, everything became still. The Temperature dropped, and the sound became non-existent. It smells of Brimstone, Sulphur and Musk?. When my eyes adjusted, I could see that everything in my sight is a black fleshy, squirming outlines. I felt something crawling along my feet and I made no movements. Not out of fear but out of sheer incongruity. I stood there gazing at the black fleshy, squirming lines and curves infront of me. I cannot even sense of depth to make outlines.

A German philosopher once said "If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back." Now I am curious about how he came to that conclusion. He couldn't have seen what I see now. As he would have died and yet somehow make it back to write that. Gazing into this pitch black nothing in front of me and around me, I can say it is true. I did feel something staring at me. I craned my neck(?) to pinpoint what it was. It was then I found something.

Two golden orbs with blood red iris with a pitch black pupils. No sooner had my eyes met these orbs than a vague outline of a mouth appear below them. It curled into a wide smile that even reached those orbs above it. Slowly a face began to form. A pair of curled horns, sharp pointed teeth, upwards pointed ears and skin that looks scalding red.

" Hello my dear guest.", the creature who I think is Devil continued on with the polite expression on its face. "As you are perceptive enough to notice that this is Hell and I am the Devil." He said motioning around me and pointing to himself. " You can call me Old Roger though. I'd like to keep things informal here as well as infernal. "He finished with a wide grin that displayed all its teeth in all their infernal glory.

I had lost my reasoning a long time ago otherwise I would be screaming at the top of my lungs. All that got out of my mouth in the end is just some mumble which turned to full blown cough and my body started to feel weak all over.

My legs started to shake and I keeled over.

" Oh, I apologise for being late. " the devil started without any hint of apology in its tone.

" It's alright. I will take you to my palace, you can get medical attention and the Abyss wouldn't corrupt you there. "

The last thing I saw was the devil snapping its fingers and then everything went dark. _____________________________________________

First, my ears started working, after a long time in that accursed place, the silence with a bit of white noise felt like heaven. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a beautiful chandelier that looks like it's made up of diamonds and illuminated by stars. I was mesmerized.

" Is it beautiful? I got it as a gift from my sister. Her taste is immaculate. In fact this whole room is designed by her. " I heard someone say from my side. I got startled when I thought who it was. I turned to my side and there he was, the Devil. But now he was different. He did not have any horns, they were replaced by raven black bangs and his smile didn't contain any malice. There was no bone chilling coldness but his eyes still carried that same mischievous glint.

"Where am I? " I said voicing my doubts.

" Oh you are in my guest room" the devil replied. And you must be wondering why you are are here. Right?"

I just nodded as that was my obvious question.

" You see, you died. And since you didn't believe in any God, you should've been wandering about the Abyss. " I was about to ask how my faith in God is related to the Abyss, when the Devil motioned for me to be silent.

" No I cannot tell you why. But I will tell you why I brought you here."saying so he snapped his fingers and everything changed once again.

I was placed on a sofa overlooking something like a wheel of fortune that I say in some casinos.

"Your life was interesting for me to watch. Especially your final few years on Earth. " Roger( I've decided to call him that) said as he entered the room in a suit of a gameshow host.

"So, I've decided to give you another chance in life. In a different world where you'll have the advantages that would be chosen by you from this wheel of fortune." He gestured to the wheel in front of me.

" So any questions?"

I waited for a minute, getting all my thoughts in order. I was prepared for Death, but not for a life after it.

" Why?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind. Why go to all this lengths.

" Oh that's simple, its for my amusement. You see, we gods, devils, and all those beings are eternal, powerful and sometimes bored. " He sat before me where a sofa automatically spawned and continued on.

"We fight amongst ourselves, sometimes through humans, and my most favorite, manipulating and observing the life stories of a chosen few to stave off this boredom while we uphold a few responsibilities that come with our power."

That is a lot of information which makes more questions than answers but the most important of those questions is if I am indeed chosen by this devil,

" You manipulated my life. " It was more of a statement than a question which came out filled with an undercurrent of my boiling anger. All those tragedies that struck me in my last few years, the heartbreak, betrayals and my death, everything made as an entertainment for this devil in front of me. I rose up to beat the person in front of me to death, when I became shackled by the very sofa that I sat on. The eyes of the devil turned serious just for a moment and then I came back to my senses. I am powerless here, I am in his domain and most importantly dead. So I resorted to just glaring daggers at him.

" Yes and No. You see, a novel is not so interesting to read when you are the Author. So I don't like to manage each and every detail, I make a move and watch everything unfold. " His eyes are now dangerously shining and his grin threatened to split his face.

"So I only gave you AIDS and then everything was your choices and the corresponding consequences. I neither made you join a gang, kill, extort nor could I change your core values. It is who you are at the core. Power hungry, Selfish and Prideful. "

I don't believe him. What he said might be true yet, I don't have sources to verify. I made that clear enough with my look. The devil's gaze became even wider after my gaze. It gave me a hearty laugh." See, that's why I love smart people like you. You are not easily gullible yet easy to manipulate. So what is it gonna be? Are you in or out? "

I thought everything over once again. Even if he played with my life, I left with no regrets. I made sure all my loved ones are well cared for in my absence. If they are hurt by my death, I wouldn't know. If I want to take vengeance, I am powerless. I didn't want to go back to that dreadful place where everything is chaotic. I looked at the wheel to see what was present.

It had powerful things like 'Supreme Physique', 'All seeing eye', and even a Shard of Divinity. It also had mundane things like Pottery, Painting and Dancing. But what caught my attention were things like, ' Rinnegan', Sharingan, Jinchuriki, 'Devil fruit', and is that Puberty Syndrome?

" What are these? " I asked pointing to the last options.

" Oh you didn't let me finish earlier. You see, it is extremely difficult to send you to some worlds and easy for some."

" Many Literary writers draw inspiration from the worlds that they could somehow perceive. These are the worlds that are in some way connected to Earth, hence easier for me to send you.

" So you are saying there are actual worlds like Harry Potter, One piece and Naruto. " I asked while a few childhood dreams bubbled up.

" Though the names are different, there are worlds similar to those you mentioned. " the devil confirmed.

Hearing that, I became a bit more optimistic. As my boss used to say 'When you are getting fucked, you either change to a comfortable position or fight back'. The second option is not viable so I would go with the first. If I could end up in those known worlds, I'd have a lot of advantages. Plus, it'd be fun.

" I am in." I said resolutely.