Author's note

I'll explore the ending more near the end of the story or maybe as a side story.

-Somewhere-

-Sometime-

"Kid, come on. Wake up..." Zach heard a voice that's like coming from far away. "The Bosses are going to kill me, but they said to call him up quickly, so what the hell."

Zach heard the voice say again before he felt something wrapped around his body before he was suddenly pulled up. He tried to struggle against the force but to no avail. He can't even open his eyes. The pull felt like it lasted for an eternity, but it probably only lasted for less than a second. The moment he passed through some kind of barrier, he took a deep breath before opening his eyes. The brightness of the room caused Zach to squint until his eyes adjusted.

"Finally! Took you long enough." Zach heard the voice again, but this time coming from somewhere closer. He turned his head towards the voice and saw a man sitting at a chair beside his bed.

'Who the hell wears a gaudy silver suit.' Zach thought to himself.

"The suit is not gaudy! It's cool! You get that, right!?" The man defended, startling Zach.

"What? You can read my mind?" Zach asked in surprise.

"Obviously..." The man answered confidently before his mood drops down again. "You're not even going to say that my suit isn't tacky, are you?"

Zach took on a sheepish expression before answering.

"Sorry, my parents taught me not to lie too much, and since you can read my mind, it's a moot point."

"You're one cheeky brat are you." The man countered, but Zach completely ignored it.

"Speaking of my parents, where are they anyway?" Zach asked while taking a look around the room.

"It' not my job to tell you about anything that might pertain to that question, but I can take you to my bosses. They can answer any question you have..." The man replied with a stern attitude. "The only problem is if they would..." Zach's overactive mind taught of every scenario that might be able to explain the situation he found himself in, and not many of those bring him comfort. "Don't burn yourself out. You'll have your answers soon enough..." The man said before standing up and walking towards the door. Zach was 95% sure that it wasn't there before. "Come on. We don't have all millennia."

Zach noted the weird expression used by the man for later. If he can't get an answer now, maybe he can figure it out.

"If it's not apparent, I can't walk." Zach said while gesturing to his legs, still covered by the bedsheet.

"Right. You still have no idea what's happening..." The man mumbled to himself. "Wait here a second." He added before leaving the room. Not 30 seconds later, the man returned with a black wheelchair, contrasting the white room and hallway. He wheeled the wheelchair right next to the bed.

"I can take it from here. Thank you." Zach replied gratefully. He pulled the wheelchair closer to the bed before carefully sliding over to it, using his practiced maneuver. For some reason, it's a whole lot easier than he was used to.

The man walked to the back of the chair and wheeled him out of the room towards the hallway. As expected, it's white too. He probably is in some kind of hospital. After five minutes of walking, he noticed that they hadn't made a single turn.

"How long is this hallway?" Zach asked.

"Depends." The man answered nonchalantly.

"What do you mean depends?"

"That's just it. Depends."

After another five minutes of walking through the never-ending hallway, Zach finally saw a massive mahogany door at the end. As they were getting closer, he could see the extreme details carved into the wood. The weird thing is, Zach could swear the carvings are moving ever so slowly. Barely perceptible with the brief look he had.

The man and Zach stopped a few meters away from the door.

"Looks like they're ready..." The man mused. "All right, here's what you need to do. You wheel yourself inside the room. The doorknobs are just for decoration since the doors are 'automatic'..." He added, placing emphasizing the word automatic. "You'll meet the bosses inside."

"You're not coming inside?" Zach asked. He has no idea what's happening, and having someone who knows something with him is a lot better than walking around blind even if he can't exactly trust the guy.

"Nope. No way. I don't want to get some tongue lashing anytime soon." The man answered while slowly taking some steps back.

"Ok. Here goes nothing." Zach said to himself before slowly wheeling himself towards the door. Just like what the man said, the door slowly opened.

Zach could see a black and white minimalist living room without anyone inside. He turned around when he heard the door close the moment he was entirely inside the room. This caused his nervousness to skyrocket.

"Why are you in a wheelchair?" Zach heard a female voice coming from behind me.

Zach turned his head around again and saw a beautiful lady wearing a floral sundress with her most magnetic trait being her golden-colored eyes. His mind didn't register how sexy the lady is since her eyes almost instantly pulled him in.

"Uh, hi..." Zach awkwardly greeted. "I guess you're the boss the guy outside always refers to?"

"You mean Gabriel?" The Lady asked, to which Zach only shrugged. "Didn't he introduce himself?"

"No."

"Is he wearing a silver suit?"

"Yes." 'A tasteless silver suit.'

"Yeah. It's really tacky, isn't it?"

"You can read my mind too? Of course, you can read my mind. How can everyone here do that!?" Zach quickly let out.

"Hold your horses, sweetie..." The lady calmed him down until she has his full attention. "Let me answer one of the questions running in your mind right now. It should answer most, if not all, of your questions. But first..." She added while suddenly pulling out a wine glass with a clear liquid inside from behind her. "You should drink this."

"No, I'm underage. I don't drink." Zach replied while looking at the drink warily.

"This is not alcoholic, sweetie. It's fizzy fruit juice." The lady soothed Zach, but he's still wary.

"I don't even know your name."

"Oh, right..." The lady exclaimed. "I'm Alexandria, but you can just call me Alexis..." She introduced herself. Zach can't help to notice that she stopped herself from curtsying. "You're still not going to drink, are you?"

"Nope. My parents told me not to consume questionable drinks or liquids."

"You have some good parents, do you..." The lady, now known as Alexis, commented with a sad look. "How about if I say that I won't answer any questions, and your basically a hostage until you drink this? Keep in mind that you're not a hostage. You won't get any answers from me." She explained.

Zach frowned when he heard Alexis' statement. He really doesn't want to drink the highly suspicious liquid, but he has no cards to play. He can't even think of a plan because everyone he met, although admittedly limited population, is a mind reader.

"Just give it to me." Zach finally relented.

Alexis handed over the drink before walking back away. Zach eyed the glass, steeling his nerve for what might happen.

"Well, here goes nothing." Zach said with a firm voice before downing the drink in one go.

Zach confirmed that the drink is indeed fizzy mixed fruit juice though a little sweeter than what he was expecting.

"Now that's done, I can start explaining some stuff..." Alexis moved towards the couch and sat down before gesturing towards the space in front of her. Zach drove the wheelchair toward the area. "Let's me start by saying that you are already dead..." Zach was understandably shocked by the revelation, but for some reason, the hysteria and panic he was expecting he was expecting didn't cane to be. "By the way, that juice has a little something extra—a drop of Nectar."

"You drugged me?"

"Not exactly. Remember, you're dead. You can't really drug a soul..." Alexis countered. "Nectar is a commonly consumed drink around here. A glass is enough to knock out an elephant, but a drop would just calm down a person. We have too much to discuss for you to freak out continuously."

Zach agreed with Alexis' statement, but he was still miffed about being drugged.

"Let's continue..." Alexis urged after taking a sip from her glass. "I am what you would call a God. Not just a local worldly god or paramount god like the Olympians but The Supreme God. One of the two who's in charge of the multiverse and all of the souls in it."

"Ok."

"Just ok? No shock and awe or an overwhelming feeling of bowing down?" Alexis asked with a tilt of her head.

"What else can I say? It's not like I can form complex emotions." Zach answered.

"Right. Forgot about that." Alexis replied sheepishly.

"Why am I here, anyway?" Zach inquired.

"I'm here to give you a chance that I must insist you take in the unlikely event that you deny this gift..." Alexis started causing Zach to frown. "I want your soul and consciousness to undergo reincarnation..." When she saw the confused look on Zach's face, she decided to continue. "Every soul in the multiverse would undergo reincarnation using an automatic process we created after the soul and consciousness experience afterlife."

"Souls and consciousness?"

"Noticed that didn't you..." Alexis commented with a smile. "Imagine a soul as a computer that can't be destroyed and the consciousness as the hard drive. A computer with a blank hard drive would be placed in a random world where it would be allowed to run independently until it dies..." She added, Zach, appreciating the analogy. "The computer is then taken for maintenance. The level of care given is indirectly proportional to the amount of virus in the system. When everything's clean, the hard drive is taken and connected to the servers, with the computer getting a new hard drive, repeating the whole process..." She ended her explanation with another sip from her glass. "You get that, right?"

Zach took a moment to digest what Alexia revealed. His genius-level intellect is making it reasonably easy for him to comprehend how the system works.

"Why me?"

"I can't tell you why but I guarantee that you would know the reason after your reincarnation."

"If I can't know about it, what can I know now?"

A brilliant smile appeared on Alexia's face before placing her wine glass and raising her right hand, causing a holographic image of Earth to appear in her hand.

"This right here is your Earth..." Alexia said while turning the world around. She then raised her left hand, causing another globe to appear. "This is where I'm going to send you."

"They're the same." Zach commented with a confused look.

"Of course, they're the same. These two are only a few million universes away from each other." Alexia answered like it was common sense.

"I'm sorry..." Zach apologized while dropping his head. "I don't know how it all works."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that..." Alexia replied. "Anyway, this world has basically the same history until 2017, so you've got that going for you. Even after that, most things would remain the same."

"What's the difference?" Zach asked

Alexia dropped her right hand and reached for her wine glass. She took a sip from it before continuing.

"I know for a fact that you have not watched any animes, so let me explain the gist of it..." Alexia said with absolute certainty. It was understandable, though, since Zach focused on his studies and watching basketball games. His only source of entertainment is his NBA 2k games and some shows. "You're going to be reincarnated in 1998, Tokyo, Japan. This because there would be a group of extraordinarily talented people that would gather there 13 years later. I'm hoping to add you to that group."

Zach took a moment to think about what Alexia's statement and the underlying meaning. He had to say that he's liking the hypothesis he's coming up with, but he had to be sure.

"What is this group supposed to be talented at?" Zach inquired.

"Basketball, of course!" Alexia answered, causing Zach to perk quickly up. "You would be reincarnated in a random family and with a healthy body. Your consciousness would come in when you're three years old to make sure your brain won't meltdown with the knowledge you already have. It goes without saying that your family does not exist in this world, or they would not recognize you."

Zach had to stop himself from crying due to the conflicting emotions he experiencing. On the one hand, he would finally be free of the confining body and play basketball. On the other hand, he would never see his family again.

"Zach..." Alexia called out. Zach looked up to see her showing an understanding smile. "Don't worry about your family. I can guarantee that they would live happy and fulfilling lives. Besides, you would meet them again."

Hearing Alexia's words relieved a lot of tension from Zach's shoulders. If he could go through life again doing the thing he loves and meet his family again at the end, there's nothing left to think about.

"What are we waiting for!? Let's get this reincarnation started!" Zach exclaimed excitedly.

"Hold up a second, Zach!" Alexia shouted, freezing Zach's excitement. "I'm not going to send you off without a gift or three..." His eyes widened in surprise. "I thought long and hard about what I should give you and decided to go a little old school..." She was deliberately extending Zach's excitement. "Your biological mother was a fan of anime during her childhood. Her favorite was a shounen anime called Naruto. There are three 'legendary' eyes..." She said the last part with a scoff. "That has a bunch of powers. I decided to give you a weakened combination of these eyes..." She raised a finger. "Let's start with the blandest eye, the Rinnegan. This eye would typically be the strongest of the three, but for our purposes, it would only give you heightened physical attributes..." She raised another finger. "The next one would give you one of the traits you had before you died. The Sharingan portion would give you three things. Eidetic memory, which you already have before, superhuman reflexes, and to copy other people's movement instantly..." Zach couldn't believe what he was hearing. Those are practically superhero powers already. But Alexia raised another finger. "Finally, the Byakugan. This one would give you 360 vision and the ability to see through objects partially."

Silence overwhelmed a few minutes after Alexia was done with her explanation. Zach's mind practically froze in that period until the Nectar did its work. He also feels that there's something inside him slipping away.

"Not that I'm ungrateful with the gift..." Zach said with a soft voice. "But isn't that a bit of an overkill?"

"Overkill? Maybe but I'm too lazy to change it, and it feels wrong not to complete the set..." Alexia replied before she noticed something. She looked at the wall clock on the far side of the room, causing her to frown. She stood up and suddenly hugged Zach, surprising him. "I wish we could have more time, but it's time for you to go..." He heard her say before he felt an overwhelming level of sleepiness. "We will meet each other again. Maybe then I could tell you everything..." Zach's body started to turn into golden dust, but she kept her hug on him until he completely disappeared. "my son." She finished with tears rolling down her cheeks.