Reincarnation

It was another bustling day in New York City, the traffic was a constant, alongside the inevitable honking that came with it. The streets were filled to the brim with people walking past one another a plethora of apologies as they bumped into one another. I was one of them, a middle-aged man with stubble for a beard, wearing a black suit and white undershirt. Standard issue for an office employee like myself, and to top it all off I was holding a standard brown suitcase and an iPhone in hand talking to one of my fellow employees on the other end.

Following my usual path to work, I tripped over something and was sent tumbling into the street with the green light on full blast and the traffic showing no sign of slowing down. The last thing I saw was a moving truck with a panicked-looking driver staring right at me as he slammed down the brakes. In that moment I knew there was no way I would survive unless by some miracle. Then all at once a loud crunch was the last thing I heard, and the front of the truck was the last thing I saw before complete darkness.

Normally whenever people go through near-death experiences they talk about a light or some type of hell on the other side but for me, it was complete darkness with only small bits of red to distinguish the vast amount of emptiness. As time passed the red color began condensing and fusing forming a pyramid. With this object being the only thing I could literally interact with within the emptiness of the void I'm guessing, I went forward and touch or at least I think I did.

Being a disembodied spirit I didn't know if I had limbs or not, or even the sensation of touch but I must've because I felt the smooth texture on the crimson pyramid. Then I felt whatever consisted of a body start to shake and thrash about violently. I could feel new flesh growing around my soul/spirit and I could even feel it affecting my mind, with new memories flooding my mind images of places I've never been to, people or animals of some kind that were talking to me.

Then I saw the familiar blue hedgehog or Sonic and I saw my hand reach out and blast him. Over time I experience more interactions with him and then finally a huge blank much like the emptiness surrounding my new body. It took me a second to realize who I was, mostly because the species was changed entirely.

I was Infinite the jackal, or formally the jackal with the phantom ruby embedded in my chest. I was wearing a long black trench coat with some white lines on the front of my chest area, with the standard gloves/shoes to match. Then I felt around my face and figured out I was wearing a large jackal mask with long white hair to match it. Even after the transformation of my physical body was done, I could still feel my own mind and Infinites fusing together trying its best to properly sort out the memories and come up with a stable mind.

I thrashed around the void trying to hold onto something as my mind screamed out in pain, with the added power of the phantom ruby planted in my chest. Then with one final cry to fill the ever-silent void, I let out a burst of power as the void began collapsing around me with cracks appearing all around me. Slowly the walls of the void deteriorated, revealing a bright and bustling New York but not the one I was familiar with.

It was more colorful and less dreary, filled with lots of happy people and a large news screen talking about a bank robbery with the words "Daily Bugle" on the side. I could easily tell I was in a somewhat dark alley which was weird since based on the sun's position I could tell it was dusk, with the sun nearly staring at me. I was somewhat disoriented as I crawled out of some trash cans I landed in, but I was well enough to be quite confused about the "Daily Bugle" news station and knew I was in some version of the marvel universe.

Of course, I was already freaking out about having a new body as Infnite from the Sonic Forces game, but to be in one of the many Marvel universes was just icing on the cake. Then I saw him, spiderman swinging across new york probably doing his daily patrol or chasing a lead of some sort. I began walking towards the street but before I could be seen by anyone I stopped myself, choosing to hide in the shadows as most people would be freaked out at a masked individual walking out of an alleyway.

Leaning onto the nearby alley walls I clenched my head, and crushed the wall next to me as the memories were still settling in. Looking at my hands, I began to see how Infinite used his abilities, how they functioned, and more importantly how he moved and flew. Letting the power of the phantom ruby flow into his body, I began levitating off the ground with a bright crimson aura surrounding him. I saw how Infinite could get drunk off this power, this feeling of power flowing through my body and how strong it made me.

I decided to get a little creative with my power and began surrounding myself it various colors that would constantly change as I move effectively making me a chameleon. Flying into the air, I looked over New York with the bustling streets something that never changed no matter what version of earth I was on, unless it was in the past or the apocalypse happened. In any case, this New York somewhat reminded me of my own. Except for the air, which somehow smelled better than my own.

Once I was done taking it all in, I started to explore and try to figure out which version of the Marvel universe I was in to see what I was dealing with. So I chose to follow Spiderman or at least this universe's version could be a good indicator. Unfortunately for me, he was quite a bit faster than me, which made sense as he probably had far more experience than me a person who just recently got these powers and with only the memories of another life to teach me how to use them properly.

Once I lost him, I could feel the Infinite part of me scream out in rage, screaming at me to lash out and destroy the buildings around me. Luckily I was able to control it, to keep the anger and rage in control. So I chose to try my next best option, the news station and newspaper. Floating down the nearest news rack that only cost a quarter which I found nearby. Looking around I saw that no one was near me or at least close enough to catch me getting the newspaper.

Opening the box and grabbing it, I quickly read the title which was about Spiderman stopping a local bank robbery or something like that but nothing about any other superheroes. So that didn't narrow it down at all or even a little bit, and I could feel the rage boiling inside me as I crumbled the paper and threw it into the trash.