Presumed Afterlife

As Elias' eyes became listless, his face devoid of any expression invoked by emotions, the crocodile he assumed dead wiggled, but this time from the inside the collapsed body as it tore its way out.

A small crocodile, the size of a finger, came out.

Its body was composed of many colours, brown on top of its head, white on the side, and gold patches everywhere.

The body is soft and can be squashed with a step. But the things that will impede anyone from achieving that are the imposing pressure it has and its fast speed.

Turning around, it moved fast to where Elias was and was about to bite his feet despite its small figure, but smelling the Ram's hair, in a flash, it ran back into the water, trembling.

In what seemed like an hour, it came out again and began eating away its former body.

What the crocodile has gone through was a complete Rebirth. From being an adult crocodile to a baby crocodile that has its bloodline refined many times above its grade and has all its weakness removed and its strength improved

The small crocodile ate away its former body in just a minute and that didn't change its size. It went and dragged the jerky Elias made into the water and soaked them, then it ate them too.

When the next day came, the daily mission kicked in and without Elias to select direction, the island chose on its own.

Seeing a serpent on the coming island, the baby crocodile jumped in happiness like a child, as it was going to have a snake breakfast.

While the baby crocodile was preparing to battle with a serpent, Elias' mind was absorbed into the white chest.

The chest was plain white with no inscription whatsoever, but when Elias sat, it lit up and fourteen swirling carved spirals formed. And when the crocodile glanced at them, its mind went dazed for a second before it managed to break off.

As for Elias, he found himself sinking into darkness.

His body clung to an imaginary rope and the rope was silently sliding him deep through the darkness.

The way Elias behaved was there was no fear or anxiety, it was just like an empty shell. Or it was just him waiting to see what would happen, passively.

Elias refused to ask or think of any questions, as he vaguely understood, subconsciously, whether he speaks or thinks, it's all the same.

One thing he knew was every journey was bound to come to an end. As long as he is alive... if he is alive. And if this is death, then it's peaceful!

Elias held on to the rope, by wrapping both his hand and legs around it. His imaginary limbs. And the rope keeps going down. After what seemed like days, a light appeared in front of him. 

A fraction of his life was shown. Without thinking, Elias watched, until the light disappeared.

Deep subconsciously, Elias braces himself for this place to be the afterlife and retribution is coming. And he accepted everything that comes his way.

From time to time, moments of his life will be shown, in a fast pace, slow mode, reverse fast pace or reverse slow mode. 

Sometimes some part of his life will be shown numerous times. Especially the part where he exerted cruelty and death!

Elias is no saint! Before he climbed to become an agent, he left in his way a plethora of dead bodies. Not anybody, but his comrade's bodies. The ones he had grown up with.

His sense of self didn't ignite until he impersonated Elias Gabriel. And that was attributed to the loving parent he met with. 

It was then, he began to question his existence and the meaning of life. It was then, he began to consciously access his talent and others' talent. Before it was just a race on who was better.

Of all the organizations in his batch, he was barely in the top 50. That isn't high but if one considers there are over 600 agents in that batch, he was not bad!

And when all the batches were considered. He was barely in the top 500.

Elias understands one thing: Impersonators don't rank up high. The highest was a girl, and she was in the top 300. 

While the other departments have high level than them.

Amidst the Chaos of Genius Agents, he realized his strong suit, something that he was better than most. He can even claim he might be the best or second best. And that was his ability to lock away his desires and emotions.

As desires and emotions are the driving factors of all human life. Even in the organization, the ranking was there to make them work hard and move forward. Because they desire to be the best.

And that allows him to sit on the throne of Patience. Yes, patience. He never felt in a hurry to achieve something, except if he was forced to.

Locking off his Desires while activating his Patience are great tools in Impersonation. And all Impersonators have those traits. But he was exceptional among them.

And now, as he descended into oblivion, he was nonchalant. What he can't change with intellect and strength is pointless to struggle. Except if it will be meaningful.

The concept of time stretched and Elias felt a week has passed, then a month watching his life flashing before him. In his 25 years of life, there was a lot to watch. 

And he watched everything in this presumed afterlife!

He left no regrets as he had achieved the two things he ever desired. 

One he fled the organization and lived an ordinary life. In this ordinary life, he felt anger, jealousy, pride, lust and fear. Everything that was to experience, he experienced and almost got lost in them. On top of that, he was acting like a good person in that short life. 

And he enjoyed every bit of it, without regret. 

So, even after the countless bodies, he stepped over, and hundreds of households he ruined, there were no regrets!

And the second thing was Helen. His wife. He has her as a wife without scheming whatsoever ever. Yes, he worked hard to speak to her normally as she is his crush. But obtaining her was just a twist of fate.

As good as he is at reading people, he knew she loved him. It was not a fake.

With these things, Elias believed to have lived his life to the fullest and whatever the afterlife brought, he welcomed it.

His only hope is that it is Just.

After what seemed like years, his life movie was turned off. There was no sigh, just in an apathetic mode, waiting patiently for whatever the future brought.

And then the eerie silent darkness consumed everything! 

Bit by bit, the years passed, going away with Elias's memories and further dulling his sense of self. Until his mind became an empty sack, deep down though, there was a light that blazed with single meaning…

I'm alive!

I'm still me!

Centuries may have passed and the try to flames flicker with more meaning.

Soul is eternal!

I'm still me!

*Woop*

The listless body of Elias shifted and raised its head toward the sound. He can now feel the surroundings!

His mind was already devoid of thought and memory, everything he did was just instinctive and came from his core being!

Unbeknownst to him, a few meters away, there was a creature floating around him, trying to enter him, but didn't have a chance… for centuries or just… a few days!?