Chapter 3 – I am what now?

"'For the love of me, I waited for bloody ages to find someone who could comprehend my book… but the hell is this, you are bloody dead'" said a figure that was walking out from light. "'Haah this idiot actually got himself killed after understanding my book, gaining the capacity to succeed me in the future.'" the figure said as the surrounding light dimmed.

Julian just blankly stared at the figure as it continued to ramble, the being had no face or any other feature, it was just a humanoid being with a mouth and a pair of ears, no eyes or nose was visible on the being's face.

"Wait a second, who even are you, and what book are you bloody talking about? I definitely don't remember signing up to become anyone's successor. Also, why do you care if I am dead, I feel bad enough about being killed by one of those god-damned lizards, I don't need your presence to rub salt and pepper on the wound, and by the way how are you even here, I'm fucking dead so… wait where even am I?" Julian's questions flowed out without any sign of stopping, leaving the figure at a loss for words.

"'Ayayayay stop right there, shut up, you speak too much, too many questions.'" the man(?) said, as he snapped his fingers that made it so that Julian couldn't open his mouth no matter how hard he struggled to open it. "'Well, you do need an explanation regarding whom you have become, so I will go ahead and introduce myself to make it easier for you to understand your own circumstances.'"

"'I am the personification of the void, you may call me Nihil. Hmm, uhh you are now the successor to my knowledge, i.e., you probably read a book named 'void',and thought about it long enough that you understood a part of it. As for what this means… you must make my life interesting. That is it, you get strong, you fight people yadayadayada, but now all of that has gone to shit because you went and got yourself killed by one of those god-damn lizards. Oh! Before I forget, since you technically died as my successor candidate, your soul is now a part of the void so that should have answered all your questions right?'" saying, so he once again snapped his fingers, allowing Julian to speak once again.

"I am WHAT NOW? What do you mean, like just because I read a book and manged to understand a portion of it, you mean to say that I am your successor? The fuck kind of logic is that?" "'Uughh umm yeah sooo umm I waited for a long time for anyone to actually go through a trial that I had planned, but no one ever even managed to clear the first phase, so I just gave up and spread out a few copies of the book you just read all across the universe, that didn't sit well with the other primordial personifications but well it is what it is, and it isn't like you get nothing out of this right.'"

Julian was just stunned, by Nihil's shameless response. Rubbing his forehead, Julian questioned, "You mentioned I get something out of this, what can you possibly give to a dead man? And if you say reincarnation, I will flip over the imaginary table in front of me."

"'Well good new you won't be re-incarnated, ill simply send your soul back in time, obviously with all your memories. Also, when you go back, becoming my successor will give you 2 great benefits, a) you will be able to harness the power of the void, and b) you also won't have any limits to your strength. Neither will help you immediately, but they are going to be great assets for you in the long run.'"

"So what you are implying is that if I try hard enough I can get stronger, and screw those lizards over right." nodding at Julian words Nihil replied "'Well I am not explicitly saying that you can do that, but it definitely can give you a fighting chance, at least more than you had before, but there is one caveat, I can't offer you anything more because even doing so much for you is putting me at the receiving end of a lot of pressure from the other primordials. So after I send you back, you will be all on your own.'"

"Well then there isn't really much left for us to discuss if that is all, and as long as I get a chance to screw over those lizards I would happily sign a deal even with a devil." looking at the anger and determination in Julian's eyes, Nihil nodded and asked his final question, "'So at what approximate point in time do you want to be sent back?'"

Pondering upon the question for a bit, Julian replied, "I think the best bet would be to go back approximately 4 years before the death of my parents, so around the time when I was 10 years old."

"'Ok cool cool cool, let's do that, i shall send you back around 26 years in the past, which is when you were about 10 years old.'"

After he was done speaking, Nihil clapped his hands, which released a bright light that enveloped both him and Julian. Slowly the light began to disappear and when it did, Julian was nowhere to be seen.

"'Phewww , damn that took a lot of energy, I hope he makes the next couple of years enjoyable.'" even before Nihil could complete his thoughts, a different bright light appeared before him. "'For the love of us, why in the world did you decide to temper with the space-time continuum you damn idiot Nihil, you know causality is going to take its toll on you for doing this right. Was entertainment so important that you had to put yourself at risk??'"

Shrugging his shoulders Nihil replied, "'You see Eternity, unlike you and the other primordials who actually have had duties since the beginning my job ended after the universe was made, for billions of years I have done nothing, it has started to bore me and I almost want to quit. For you and the rest this may seem like an idiotic thing for me to do, but to me, it is really the only way to continue, look around you… there is nothing here, absolutely nothing, it was natural that I got bored. As for the backlash I will gain from the laws of causality, you don't need to worry about that, it is a small price to pay, if it means I can stop this never-ending boredom.'" Eternity looked at Nihil with a sad face and replied,"'The others won't be happy with this Nihil, especially not Ignis.'"

"'ENOUGH! We shall speak of this no more, and if anyone has issue with what I have done, they can come and speak to me.'"

The conversation between the two ended with Nihil's shout. Meanwhile, in a room inside a brightly colored house in a small town…

**********

Beep, beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep.

Hearing the sound, Julian opened his eyes to the light coming from a window on his left. "H-o-l-y s-h-i-t"