In marvel as the voids chosen

Chapter 1: The Void

I was just another university student. Nothing extraordinary about me, really. A guy trying to get by in a world that seemed to sprint while I stumbled along. My days blurred together: wake up, attend lectures, cram for exams, rinse, repeat. On good days, I'd hang out with friends and blow off steam. On bad days, I wondered what the hell I was even doing with my life.

I wasn't popular, not the guy everyone noticed when he walked into a room. I wasn't a genius either, but I had my quirks. History, philosophy, comic books, TV shows about alternate realities—those were my escapes. They weren't just stories to me; they were possibilities. Worlds where the mundane didn't exist, where the rules of reality could be bent, broken, or rewritten entirely.

Maybe that's why, when it all ended, it felt... almost fitting.

It was a normal Tuesday. I was walking home from class, scrolling through my phone like every other distracted idiot, when I heard the screech of tires. Time slowed. I looked up, and—BAM.

Pain exploded through me, brief and searing. Then, silence. Nothing. No light at the end of the tunnel. No dramatic montage of my life. Just... emptiness.

I opened my "eyes"—if I still had them—and found myself floating in a vast, silent void. There was no up, no down. Just me and the crushing weight of nothingness.

"Where am I?" My voice echoed, though I couldn't tell if I was speaking or just thinking.

Then a voice cut through the stillness, smooth and mechanical, cold yet oddly familiar.

"This is the Void."

I flinched—or tried to. Could you flinch without a body?

"Uh... okay," I said, trying to sound calmer than I felt. "And you are...?"

"You may call me Raphael."

"Raphael? Like the Great Sage?"

"Not quite. I chose the name from your memories. It seemed... suitable."

"Right." I wasn't sure what was weirder: floating in a void or having my mind rummaged through by a disembodied voice.

Then it hit me. I was dead. That truck... it was game over. And now I was stuck in some cosmic waiting room, talking to a voice that sounded like Siri's cold, calculating cousin.

"So... what happens now?" I asked, my voice shaky despite myself.

"Now, you begin again," Raphael said.

"Wait, wait, wait. Begin again? Like reincarnation? Do I get wishes? What world am I going to? Can I pick—"

"You need not concern yourself. Your cheat has been prepared. As for the world... you'll find out soon enough."

Before I could protest, the void rippled. The silence shattered like glass.

"Hold on! Can't we talk about this?!" I yelled, but it was too late.

The emptiness cracked open. A rush of light and sound swallowed me whole, and my thoughts spun into chaos. My heart—did I even have a heart anymore?—pounded with a mix of terror and something else. Anticipation.

A new world? A cheat? This was insane.

But deep down, a twisted part of me couldn't help but feel... excited.