Your Cliché Reincarnation

Standing before the mind-bending cosmic horror which my brain struggled to even process, I thought I was well and truly fucked. How did it even come to this? One minute I was driving to school, the next I was here... wherever here even is. Let's think about this... am I dreaming? Testing my theory, I pinched my arm and winced, not dreaming. So, am I dead? Well, that's a bummer. It's okay, I was never really attached to anything in my past life anyway. I had some friends, but we grew apart when I moved away for college and being the new kid on campus, I struggled to make new friends.

Alright then, if I'm dead, then what am I doing here? Is this... thing supposed to be the deity that judges souls and sends them to their respective afterlives? I don't think I could describe this being even if I wanted to because every time I looked at it, its appearance shifted slightly.

The only constant on its body were the hundreds of purple-black eyes fixed on me and the mass of swirling tentacles sprouting from its amorphous flesh.

Without opening any of the jagged orifices on its body, it somehow conveyed its words to me through some form of telepathy: "Void-born and void-returned, you have a choice to make. Make my legacy yours and bear the mantle of the All-Consuming Cosmos or forget we ever met and return to the void to continue your deathless slumber."

Every word it "spoke" writhed in my head like a tentacle wrapping around my brain and squeezing.

With a throbbing head, I managed to squeak out my answer, "Yes, give it to me."

I didn't know what I was getting into, but surely it was better than being dead?

"So be it," the creature spoke, it's tentacles wrapping around me.

A strange energy flushed from the tentacles into my body, causing me excruciating pain. I would've collapsed to the ground, but being held aloft by the appendages, I was only able to writhe and scream midair.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain cut off and the being murmured to itself, "Interesting, he's compatible after all. Well... it didn't hurt to check, I suppose."

"Congratulations mortal, it seems you're eligible to inherit my legacy. Since unlocking my full power will obliterate your vessel, I'll lock portions of power behind skill requirements. Once you reach a certain level of proficiency in void energy, you'll be given access to new skills and abilities," it told me.

"So, what happens now?" I asked the monster.

"Good question," it muttered, "I'll give you two choices. One: you can stay here in deep space and keep training on your own until you ascend or two: you can be sent to a universe of your choosing to face challenges. The first option is far safer, but the second will give you valuable experience which will make your ascension easier."

"Any universe?" I asked.

"Yes, any universe," it somehow "sighed", "Even those which you would consider fictional."

"The second choice it is!" I shouted in excitement.

"Of course you would choose that," it said, sounding disappointed.

Who could blame it though, the creature it chose to succeed it was still pathetically clinging to make-believe worlds.

Forcibly calming myself down, I asked the question that had been eating at me throughout this whole ordeal, "Why me?"

"Your nature, it was the only one in the entire multiverse attuned to mine. Even if there would've been better candidates, none of them would've been able to withstand the raw power of void energy. Their souls would've melted from the sheer strain of having the wrong element take root in their vessels," it said thoughtfully.

"Then," the creature started again, "I'm assuming you already know which universe you want to travel to?"

"Yeah, send me to the world of DC comics," I chose this universe for two reasons.

One, it was dangerous enough to promote my growth without being too dangerous and two, babes in tights.

"Done," the creature said as a portal appeared before me.

"Oh, one more thing," it started just before I walked into the portal, "If you die again, that's it, you're dead. No revives, no afterlife, just nothingness, forever. Perks of being void-touched."

Gulping, I hesitantly stepped into the swirling mass of discolored energy, letting it spirit me away. While enjoying the sensation of the undulating waves funneling me across time and space, a feeling of immense exhaustion overtook me. I suppose the adrenaline from talking to a mind-shattering horror had worn off.

With those thoughts, I slipped away into the realm of dreams.

~~~

I slowly awoke to the sound of beeping. Strange, didn't I turn my alarm clock off for the weekend? That was a good dream though, a little weird albeit, but more interesting than the one where a giant snake chases me for miles.

A break from the norm is always more interesting than the same old dreams. Eventually, I grew tired of being tired and cracked my eyes opened. Immediately, I could tell something was off because I wasn't in my bed. I was in some sort of pod with a clear case. I could see some monitors nearby which was where the beeping was coming from.

Feeling a wave of claustrophobia wash over me, I tried to push the cover off, but to no avail. The lid was locked down in place and no matter how hard I pushed, it didn't open. Feeling trapped, my anxiety started to mount and my breathing became erratic. My vision blurred as I pounded on the lid and cried out for help.

Just as I felt like I was about to pass out, a gloved hand rested itself on the glass case. Soon, a head of black hair poked over the glass case. He seemed to be a young boy wearing a blackish-red costume and a small black mask covering his eyes.

He said something, but I couldn't hear him due to the thick glass separating us. Realizing I couldn't hear him, he looked back up and said something. Another face appeared above my case, this one an older boy with tan skin and strange tattoos coating his body.

He seemed to be arguing with the boy until he sighed in defeat and cocked back his fist, slamming it into the lid of the case. To everyone's surprise, a small crack spread across the lid. Furrowing his brow, he began to rain down blows on the case until the surface resembled a spiderweb.

Visibly tired, he looked back to his compatriot and said something before the case opened on its own with a mechanical whir. We looked at each other in shock until a new person made their appearance. In the blink of an eye, another older boy wearing a yellow and red suit appeared out of nowhere.

"I found the button," he said with a grin.

"So, who's the mystery man?" he asked the other two.

"We were just about to ask him that," the young boy said.

He turned his head toward me, "Who are you?"

"Good question," I answer.

The tanned kid doesn't seem to like this and positions himself into a fighting stance, "Who. Are. You."

"I don't know, okay?" I said.

It's better to pretend that I've lost my memories than tell them that they're just made-up stories in my old world.

"Well lookie what we have here," a raspy voice echoes from the hallway.

The unexpected voice sets the group of teens on edge and they whip around to prepare for a fight. In walks one of the freakiest entourages I've ever seen. A group of grey goblin-esque monsters parade in, followed by a tall, blue, horned man in a lab coat. Seeing what looked like the head honcho, the young boy hurls some kind of projectile at him, only for it to come to a complete stop mid-air.

"Fuck," we all mutter.