"I'M SO BORED. Something needs to happen! Anything, please," a wall of screens with every show, movie, and game in existence shut off and shattered away.
"Oh, my SANITY. There's nothing to do," for a moment, a phone flickered with thousands of overlapping images. Internet videos, social media accounts, and countless apps all played until the phone was thrown across... well... infinity.
"Oh, my bleeding heart. I'm going to LOSE IT, I'm serious. Absolutely go apeshit if something doesn't happen in, 3... 2...", And just like that, a phone rang. The person who threw their phone, instantly had it back in their hand.
"Is it something interesting? Really, knock my socks off you say? No way. I don't have any on... oh. Wait a sec", the person wiggled their toes.
"Boop. And there we go. Cute little baby shark socks. I am prepared to get them... Knocked off! Send up the surprise," The person ended the call and stood up. They adopted a pitcher's stance and wiggled a finger to a nonexistent umpire.
"Surprise, I choose you," the person threw their phone at the space in front of their floating castle of pillows and cushion. In an intense flash of light, a living, breathing person stepped out of a cartoonish summoning symbol on the screen. The fleshy body of this entrant instantly evaporated and the soul inside of it shattered.
"Wow. ~My presence gave it a fatal hit. ~Too bad, how entirely unexpected," the person rolled their eyes and dropped down into a sea of pillows.
"DEATH. Take this dumb ass soul away. And destroy the multiverse of the bastard who said that this moron would be interesting", the bored entity yelled out loud.
"We are not your maid. Send the little one over yourself...", The lively entity shot up with a smile but grumbled upon finding the demolished soul was nowhere to be found.
"Actually, We've decided against giving you any reason to get out of your self imposed isolation. Good Eons to you."
"Argh. So bored," the pillow person laid back down with an annoyed moan.
"Then do something," a completely new sound jolted the pillow person. A flickering soul and an Observer who was called a Demon, nuisance, or general headache by its peers, stared at each other from across a room's distance.
"You are not THE surprise I was gifted, but you are A surprise. Hail and well met little soul. Congratulations on being the very first mortal to enter this place and not immediately break down in a babbling mess or immediately de- exsistify," Said the demon as it smiled at the fluctuating soul in front of it. The pillowbound creature's praise didn't last long as a tangible and intense interest drifted from a highly conceptual thing and unintentionally drew the soul close enough to smell one another.
"You saw that right," the Demon asked.
"That guy exploding upon looking at you, yes," the soul flickered but not weakly. If anything, being this close lit a fire in the soul's, well, soul. Its body strobed like a flame in the eyes of this Demon.
"And you can actually see me? Like, me, me," the Demon narrowed its eyes.
"I mean, you look like any other person in their pajamas. Comfortable and hostile towards someone who shouldn't be in their room," the soul responded rather nonchalantly.
"So not a little image of what you think I look like to cope with your own feeble insignificance. I'm just going to guess I still look human to you right," the Demon asked.
"A little bit, I mean a lot! I uh, hah. Yes but not really, you know? Something is off," the soul fumbled.
"Interesting. Very. Very interesting," The Demon smiled. Then viciously cackled as it let go of the soul that it didn't realize it had gripped by the shoulders. All of a sudden, the poor soul screamed in a freefall for about a minute before landing in the softest bed of pillows it ever had the pleasure of feeling.
"I'm really rather curious on how you are not breaking down even a little bit? You're unstable to be sure but being around me means nothing to you since you can still meet my gaze," the Demon raised an eyebrow as pillows rose upward to lean against its face.
"I don't mean to question you, but how could I possibly not break down? I'm absolutely tearing myself apart inside," The flickering soul said while waving its hand in surrender. It sat cross legged in front of a volatile being who disintegrated people just by being around them. Obviously, it would try to be respectful.
"Don't be so modest. You really are the first creature in all of your little history to not immediately break down. I knew you humans were interesting little things, but this is just incredible," the Demon clapped its hands and then rested its head once more.
"Thank you. Really, but I really didn't do anything so amazing," The soul threw its hands up to show that it didn't do anything too interesting.
"What did you do to get here? No. Don't tell me...", The odd entity sniffed the soul from atop its peak.
"You've tempted one of my people in a game of chance and won. Escaping the entrapment of your world's laws, immortals, and gods or devils. Sacrificing your own happiness to chase after the one person you…", The entity smiled and created a colorful fog that displayed the story of an amazing hero who fought high and low for her beliefs and "love".
"Stop. That sounds embarrassing…", The flickering spirit gave an empty laugh.
"Do you describe everything like that? I am just a normal person who fell in love with someone that I shouldn't have," The strobing soul rubbed its nose in embarrassment. The imagery changed as the entity displayed the story of an average human female who fell in love with a young man way out of her league. Lost that person because of a dumb mistake and argument, then did everything possible to either get a second chance or get that person back once he died.
"Boring. I thought I could make it interesting. Anyway, how does it feel to meet me? I could never ask a mortal before," the playful entity splayed out across from the soul.
"Underwhelming," The soul sighed and mirrored the entity's relaxed behavior.
"I knew you were going to say that," the Demon smugly spun onto its back and put its free thin arm on its chest and laughed.
"Did you really," the soul said incredulously.
"Yes. I know everything about you. In fact, I was really tempted to look like the little Adonis you chased after. I know everything about everything, the problem is that it changes all the time because of little babies who don't know how to have fun. Well, Life is a bit of a party monster but bleh. It would've been fun to see if you would go for me, but there's no way you wouldn't fall for my perfect self so that would've been boring to mess with you," The Demon rubbed its nose cheekily but was immediately angered by the soul's dismissal.
"Doubtful. I wouldn't be able to fall for you if you looked like the person I love because there is no one like that anymore," The soul's disposition switched as it leaned back in defiance.
"Wanna bet," The Demon said through gritted teeth.
"Absolutely not. I know nothing about you even if I have an idea about what you are," the soul shook its head ''no".
"How about a game then," the Demon hissed. The soul copied the uncanny creature's smile and confidently said, "Do you think I'm stupid? It's obvious that you are a higher being of some sort. So, I will not challenge you or accept anything that I have no chance of winning in."
"Are you sure," the playful Demon sweat like a child caught in a lie. Its demeanor went from unrestrained to defeated at the flip of a switch. Almost instantly a playful smile reached the soul's lips as it replied with a, "Yes". They stared into each other's "eyes" for a while in awkward silence when the Demon narrowed its focus.
"I didn't want to do this, but you forced my hand. Not to mention, the conditions are perfect so...", It pulled out its futuristic phone and made a call.
"Reincarnation... new world …system... game... join... fun," It looked at the smiling and irritating soul that denied it some happiness and smiled villainously. It purposefully only spoke some words out loud as it informed another person of something.
"Tell those two that I want In. As soon as they called it a game a few years back, I knew what they were doing. And since it's a game I'm changing the rules…No you can't play as well…. Because I said so…*tch*, can I even stop you, old goat!", The Demon turned its phone off and smiled at the soul sitting across from it. The soul immediately felt sweat, or whatever the soul equivalent was, pouring down its back. It could see the Demon speak but it couldn't hear anything that was spoken aside from a few select words, even reading lips didn't work as some mouth movements blurred.
"Looks like we're playing a game oh lil'soul," The little demon let out an excited grin and mysteriously poked the air.
"Are we? Should be interesting, seeing as how I don't have a choice," the soul relaxed in the pillows and released all of its tension. The Demon then said, "You don't. Also, you need to work on your poker face. It's enough to fool the other people you are going to play with but not me kid."
"You're the kid", the soul said with an insane and powerful laugh.
"I will destroy you if you call me a kid again. I am Old enough to be the great ancestor to your meager concept of time," The Demon slammed its hands down on the floor and protested in anger as a plume of feathers scattered about.
"Fine. Fine. I know we are playing a game from what you said but, do you know what kind of game it is," the soul asked with a raised eyebrow, as if it discovered something for the first time just that second.
"Of course, I know. It's technically my job. I have to know," the Demon started off pridefully.
"Really? If you are so certain, let's make a bet," the Soul said with interest.
"Are you sure? I always win," the Demon was about to lose its interest but stopped when it heard that there was a bet.
"I am absolutely sure."
"What are your terms," the pillow bound Demon said with a curious grin.
"I am betting that you don't know everything as you claim. Like the true nature of this game or all of the information about the other three participants," the soul flickered and then froze its gaze subconsciously. Conflict and uncertainty danced across its entire flowing and fading body. The Demon's eyes flared up in thought but decided to play along in the end. For the first time in a long time, the Devilish thing was excited by the chance of being surprised.
"Alright. I will start with an easy synopsis then," the Demon sat up and created a cute illusion featuring a pie chart, a handful of colorful posters, and little icons that glowed with different colored halos.
"Four 'Sponsors' and their chosen hero's. I'm the sponsor, you're my hero. I can give you quests and stuff in your new world. And like you, all of the other heroes are from similar world cultures and time periods. They all lived relatively normal lives like you...Well...", the Demon seriously recapped the information it had taken from Life, Death, And Reality and simplified it, so the soul knew where they were both at. It chose to monologue to itself for a moment as its chosen soul slowly read the information presented to it.
"This Soul actually managed to interact with the Deity Rhea installed to micromanage its universe. That alone should've been an impossible feat considering there was no magic or machines capable of breaking the barrier that was set up but she still managed it. From what Life has seen, the soul just wanted to know if there was a way to meet its deceased childhood friend. Death's records... let's see... She was just a normal kid but couldn't confess her love before said friend died in a tragic accident. She then spent the rest of her life delving into worthless mystical arts to find a solution. This friend? If I remember correctly, the friend still hasn't found their belief so they were placed in [Redacted]. And there we go, written clear as day. He was cleared by Death so there is no new record. Lie should know what that is all about. Let's go to his previous lives then... that sucks. To die with the same exact regret every single lifetime.... At least it'll count towards finding himself if he can get over it at least once. *Sigh*. Everything checks out. No gimmicks, family, or friends that are special. This soul didn't even use a cheat way to get a meeting with Reality's Deity. It just managed to guess the old goat's password. Everything really does have to happen at least once, not even you can get around that. Old bat," the Demon observed the chaotic soul's incessant shifting, which increased like how a panicked heartbeat would go faster, and smiled even wider as it got back to speaking out loud.
"Every single soul put in game's universe is a set piece except for, [Intelligent Love Magnet], [Winner with Monomania], [The One Target Marksman], [An Intense, Inescapable Addict], [Redacted], [Redacted] & [Redacted]. So, it's exactly the same as when I checked earlier but you wouldn't even understand what any of this means so there's no point in worrying about it," the light halo around the Demon as well as all of the graphs and icons faded away.
"That may be true, I probably don't fully understand what you know, but I can guarantee that I will win", The unstable spirit spoke confidently.
"What do I get and what do you get out of this? I won't accept this bet if I don't like the exchange," the Demon said with a smile.
"If you know 'why?' or 'how?', to what I will specifically say, then you win. I will then treat you with the respect you deserve. By that, I essentially mean that I will be your personal plaything and follow your every command without fail even if I have to take a roundabout way or go against my moral compass. If you can't answer a single question or statement I specify as something you don't know, I win. I would like you to treat me with familiar feelings. By that, I mean treat me as an equal to yourself in personality and being, but not in power as I am vastly inferior to you as I currently am. I know how much I am asking of course, so I just want to protect myself against those of your nature," the soul said succinctly.
"Fine. I get it," the Demon laughed at the soul while holding its stomach. As It did so, the Soul cleared its throat.
"Before I ask you the questions: Why haven't you wondered about how I knew that there were three other contestants before you even released the details," the Demon's smirk froze and then its eyes opened wide. It couldn't find the right words to speak and just stared at the chaotic soul in shock.
"Just because you know all about a game doesn't mean other people should...", the soul stood up and grandly pointed at the images of several other people.
"So, the question that I am asking for this bet is, where do you think I learned about the information I know," the soul paused once more as the intense thing in front of it went over all of the information it had at its disposal. It could not find a suitable answer and actually took its very first legitimate defeat to a mortal very calmly.
"I will let you choose your first blessing rather than help unlock something at my discretion if you tell me how you know," the Demon calmly assessed the soul in front of it with a higher regard.
"That sounds nice…", the soul smiled at the puppy dog eyes the Demon gave it.
"But since you can't figure it out, I'll tell you if you also throw in an amazing starting point for my reincarnation and a safety net for If I fuck up. These changes will probably apply to everyone if you make an exception for me though. And before you try to haggle, I'm not going to tell you what you want for anything else...", The soul spoke from a position of power.
"I cannot do all of that...", the Demon measured what it could and could not do to change the game that Life and Death started. It knew the extent of its power and understood that it was impossible to interfere too much, especially since Reality joined the fray.
"It can be done. Just ask...", The soul picked its nonphysical nose and flicked a star like booger to the side.
"Ask? Ask who?"
"The judge obviously," the soul said with a grin that made the Demon feel sick.
"G. Is. What. This. Soul. Spoke. Possible," the devilish entity shivered as it spoke out loud to no one in particular. The entity that it spoke to was always there and if it wasn't, it already knew what would be asked or said and already had something in place. As such, the Demon received a quick response.
"As long as what you do is done to make something new and more interesting, you can do anything," a voice that transcended time and space actually appeared in the Demons memories as the first thing ever said to it.
"I can't even. Wow. I did not expect you to know that bastard. You must be the very first, anything, to actually meet it. Other than myself and the others obviously," the Demon exaggerated its surprise to hide how taken aback it actually was.
"That would be one of four anything's my dear Godly sponsor. The other souls and I have met with the Judge before being sent off," The soul said triumphantly.
"I assumed so based on what you said," the Demon and chaotic soul smiled at one another and immediately had the same thought.
"I can work with this," rang out in both of their messed up heads.
"I will give you and the other heroes the option to choose their first blessing and give the other busy bodies the right to forge their champions' settings. I'll change the actual plot of the game a bit as well to make things a bit more interesting. Now that I know that the bastard is involved, I will make sure that you all get what you deserve." The Demon said with an increasing sense of insanity.
"I will have you win and take your soul from Life and Death and do anything I want. You think you can just play me hah. Hahaha. No. Tiny soul, I was doing this before your existence was even conceived. Before even the garbage matter making up your physical body even existed. Do you really think you won," the Demon didn't say this, but the soul roughly knew what it was thinking.
"Since you won, you want me to follow you right? Treat you as an emotional and mental equal, only separate by the depth of our existences? Why not? I will treat you as one of my people," the Demon smiled as if it would make the Soul's experience a living hell but leaned back in surprise after hearing what it had to say.
"No. I will only allow you to follow through on our bet if your preset plan for me in this game goes off without a hitch. If it doesn't start off as you imagine, I want you to at least hear what I have to say before making any decisions for me. Also, this one is more a thought than a request, but I would love it if you could and assist me whenever you feel like," the soul asked with an unreadable expression. Even the Demon could not figure out what it really wanted by going back on a deal that helped herself almost exclusively.
"Fine. It's not like you can mess up my plans anyway. Even the others can't completely ruin my decisions...", the Demon replied as they both smiled like psychopaths in the middle of getting away with murder.