Prologue: A Thief in the Crowd
The subway station was fairly crowded. Just another evening in New York City: people returning home from work, others going to work for night shifts, youngsters loitering around. She had just entered the station when she saw the guy standing near the stairs. He was eyeing passerbys with a calculcating look on his face. She raised a dark eyebrow when upon noticing. Pickpocketing in such a public place? Bit cocky.
It wasn't any of her business though, so she just passed him and stopped to wait for her train at the other end of the underground tunnel far away from the pickpocket. She didn't want to take any chances by standing near the guy.
After roughly five minutes of waiting, she could finally hear the train arriving. She corrected her shoulder bag and stepped closer to the edge in preparation. That's when she heard the yells.
"Stop! Thief! He stole my purse!"
Several things happened at once.
She turned around to look at the person yelling, when the guy from before dashed towards her. "Move!" the guy hissed as he pushed past her and ran towards the stairs. In the commotion, her feet missed a step. She tipped over the edge.
It was like everything was happening in slow motion. The blinding lights of the oncoming train and the screeching sound of the tracks made the fall last seemingly forever.
Her last thought before the impact was ridiculously predictable and clichéd:
'Oh god, let me live, I'll do anything!'
Everything stopped.
She found herself in an endless white space. A vaguely human shaped being sat in front of her, surrounded by blurry dark mist. It grinned widely, showing off perfect, white teeth.
The thing spoke. "Anything, you say?"
She blinked. "What...?"
The being tilted its grinning head. "You said you'll do anything not do die."
She frowned at the obvious statement. "Yeah, I don't want to die."
"Good!" it said and laughed. The voice was like several people talking on top of each other. Even though its tone was almost childish, the sound made her skin crawl. "Those inpudent idiots have been getting on my nerve with their plotting. Become greater than God? Hah! You'll create some problems for them, I bet."
"What?" she repeated. "Who are you?"
The being grinned.
"I am the the World. Or maybe the Universe. I am God. I am the Truth. I am everything. I am one." The Truth pointed its finger at her. "And I am also you!"
She stared, her mouth slack. Why did this seem so familiar?
There was a bellowing sound behind her, and she slowly turned around, a foreboding chill slowly creeping up her back. She saw a huge stone gate opening into darkness. A massive eye opened up and stared straight at her. Black hand-shaped tendrils grabbed her arms and body and started dragging her into the abyss.
"Wait, stop!" she screamed as she was dragged inside the Gate.
"What's the matter? I thought you wanted to live?" the Truth asked, grinning widely. "Of course, there will have to be payment."
Her eyes widened as she stared at the Truth. Payment?
"I'm going to enjoy watching you... Rita Yu."
She screamed.
The Gate closed with a bang.