Damn… the pain in my shattered body still lingered.
I tried opening my eyes, wait… I felt like I was floating. Above me stretched a clear blue sky, with white clouds drifting lazily across it. Where am I?
I glanced around. Empty… nothing at all. Then I looked down, and what I saw shocked me, I had turned into a shining white orb, with no body, just a glowing sphere floating in midair. The ground below reflected the blue sky above, like a mirror.
Was this what people called the afterlife? I thought there would be two gates, with scales weighing my sins, deciding whether I went to heaven or hell. But this… this afterlife was nothing but emptiness?
Damn it! No way I wanted to stay in such a boring place! Someone! Anyone! Get me out of here!
As if the world heard my complaint, the blue sky above suddenly blazed with light. My non-existent eyes instinctively shut from the burning brilliance.
I didn't even know how I was able to "close" my sight, but the radiance hurt so much that I had no choice.
When the glow finally faded, I opened my eyes again. Standing before me was an old man with a long, thick white beard, clad in nothing but a pure white robe.
Who… was he?
"A-are you… God?" My voice trembled, though normally I always spoke with confidence.
"Yes, My Child." His voice echoed like a deep resonance within my very soul.
My heart froze. I had expected God to appear as something incomprehensible to human eyes, a divine form beyond mortal grasp. Yet here He stood, like an old man one might see tending flowers in a quiet garden.
"Your soul would shatter if you beheld my true form." His words rang with calm certainty.
Crap… He could read my thoughts? But… it made sense. What kind of God wouldn't be able to? If He already knew everything in my mind, then I didn't need to overthink.
"Why did You kill me?" I finally asked.
"I…" He opened His mouth as if to answer, but then paused, watching me as though waiting for the right question.
"Ask what truly matters first." His voice carried infinite patience.
That was when I realized, this being really did know everything about me.
"…Will my mother and sister be safe… if I leave them behind?" My voice fell to a whisper.
"They mourned for a very long time after you departed, My Child."
A heavy weight pressed down on my heart. Words caught in my throat.
"That is what would have happened, had I not ended your life first." His smile was gentle.
Even without a face, I felt my soul widen its eyes in confusion.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"My Child, had I not taken you, you would have been captured by the sinner who pursued you. Tortured slowly… until death." His tone carried sorrow, as though He pitied me.
I lowered myself. So… my death was destined after all. I had failed to make my family proud, failed to reach my goals… and now God Himself had ended me, sparing me from a crueler fate.
Then what now? Would I be sent to heaven or hell? Or perhaps eternal peace?
"Fear not, My Child. For I shall raise you once more." His voice soothed like warm sunlight.
My gaze lifted to Him. His face glowed, radiating a light that calmed me, filling me with warmth.
"M-me? Revived?" I stammered.
Revived? Where? Would I suddenly wake in the middle of the road, right where the truck had hit me?
"My Child, you shall awaken in another world, an alternate world." His hand brushed against hair that no longer existed.
"Alternate world…?"
An isekai? With magic and dragons? If that was true… wouldn't that mean I would leave my family behind?
"Do not misunderstand, My Child. You shall rise again in a world almost identical to the one you knew. The same family, the same people. Only subtle differences will exist." His words resounded after He read my thoughts.
Relief washed over me. Good. If it had been a completely unknown world, I doubted I would last long.
"Will this alternate world have… some kind of superpowers?"
"Yes, My Child."
"…Will it be dangerous?"
"Yes, My Child." He nodded solemnly.
A shiver ran down my spine. I had read countless stories of protagonists who suffered, weak to strong… and while I enjoyed them as a reader, facing that reality myself was another matter. Still, if God had willed me into this path, then I had no choice but to survive.
I paused, imagining the possibilities of this alternate world. Would it be a place of towers and gates? If so, then surely there would be some kind of system window. Perhaps I was overthinking because of all the novels I had read.
If not… maybe it was a world where heroes and villains existed, locked in endless struggle.
I glanced at God. He remained silent, merely watching. If He could truly read my thoughts, then He was deliberately withholding the answers. Which meant… I should ask a simpler question.
"…Why revive me, God? Am I the Chosen One, or something like that?"
"A worthy question, My Child." He stroked His long beard. "I shall say this,.you may be the Chosen One… or you may not."
What did that mean? Was He preparing two different paths for me?
"Your life's current, My Child… you alone shall carve it. I grant my creations freedom, to walk as they will."
So… I could be an ordinary NPC, a hero, or even a villain, depending on how I shaped my destiny.
But then… He still hadn't answered the true reason.
"The reason I revive you, My Child… is because I desire a story."
…A story? Was He bringing me back to life simply to watch my journey unfold?
"My Child, tell me… why do we tell stories?" His gaze pierced my soul.
I thought hard. Why do we tell stories? I remembered how my mother used to tell me fairy tales to help me sleep.
"Haha… that too, is a reason." His laughter echoed warmly, after He had heard my thought.
The sky deepened in color, bluer than before. Clouds grew whiter, and the mirrored ground beneath us reflected the heavens until we seemed suspended between two skies.
"They are the essence of humanity, My Child." His voice carried infinite weight.
I stayed silent, listening intently.
"Every era I have witnessed, every person I have observed, every soul I have created… they all tell stories." His golden eyes opened fully now, gleaming like molten suns that pierced into my very being.
"Men trapped alone whisper them to themselves. Ancients carve them upon stone walls. Mothers murmur them to their children. Stories… define humanity." His tone was both playful and solemn, His gestures sweeping like the motions of a cosmic conductor.
He leaned closer, voice rising, resonating with divine command. "You wish to know what separates humankind from beast? I could answer in one word, or ten thousand."
"Tragic tales. Exultant tales. Didactic morality tales." His voice boomed, before softening into a heavy whisper. "We need stories."
If I still had a jaw, it would have dropped wide open.
"Thus, My Child… Rise! Carve your path. Write your tale. Then return to Me, whether with laughter, or with tears, or with a bitter smile. It matters not. In the end, bring Me the story you have written."
So that was it. God wanted me to live, to embark on a journey, and present Him a story worthy of remembrance.
"Without further delay, My Child…" He raised His hand, releasing a golden light that filled the endless sky.
My vision drowned in brilliance. White, only white remained.
"One day… bring Me a tale worthy to be remembered."
Those final words etched themselves deep into my soul.
And so began my life in the alternate world, my prologue.
----
A/N
And so begins the Prologue of our MC. Now, I wanna ask you one thing.
What do you think… will our MC tell his story with a smile on his face? Or maybe with a face full of sadness? Or maybe in the end…he won't even wanna tell his story to God?