Destiny of Man

Prologue


Despite all my proclamations to the contrary, I honestly didn't know what would happen after I died.

When I was young I'd been raised Christian and honestly believed I would awaken before a massive bearded man sitting atop a golden throne after stepping through the pearly gates. He would list my sins and weigh judgement upon me with his choir of angels and I'd live an eternity in heaven with no objections.

When I entered my teens and became much more cynical of the world and everyone in it. I became an atheist and my opinion on the afterlife was that it simply didn't exist. That only nothingness awaited me, and I held that as the only truth that was scientifically acceptable. In other words, an adamant supporter of the sceptic community when that was still a thing. Then as I entered my twenties, I mellowed out. Maybe it was boredom or something, but I slowly drifted towards an interest in the occult and what you could say were the higher mysteries.

Why, might you ask?

One: because it was entertaining and opened endless possibilities, as well as permitting niche scientific theories.

Two: because why the hell not?

I had seen plenty of spiritualists, occultists and pagans theorise that reincarnation was not only possible but next to certain, and a couple even went as far as using quantum mechanics as proof. Something about quantum resurrection where, in an infinite amount of time, anything is possible and that we'll eventually reappear. That it was a cycle of death and rebirth.

It turned out they were more or less correct. Even if it didn't turn out the way I expected.

I was shocked, don't get me wrong. The last thing I remember was the pavement getting dangerously close before closing my eyes. When I opened them, I found myself in an empty void of complete nothingness.

Not empty as in everything was white or black as far as the eye could see. I mean nothing as in there was nothing to visualise. It was like trying to stare out at something through the back of your head nothing. It was a completely surreal moment and I wondered if I had been snorting some psychedelic during the time of my passing.

I was surprised at first. Shocked even. But recalling the last moments of my life and thankfully being the one to choose my last actions spared me the surprise I'm sure many would have upon finding themselves here. I had died and it wasn't me walking across the road without looking both sides as I was taught and having a run-in with truck-kun the most popular character in anime. Nor was I being a heroic sod and sacrificing myself to save a young and no doubt cute girl from a mugger and paying for my gallantry with a knife to the heart. Nor did I even die from the latest variant of Coronavirus which was the latest sensation sweeping the nation.

No.

My death was me throwing myself off a building because I made some very, very unsafe financial decisions regarding Gamestop and a second short squeeze to end all short squeezes. Because I owed money to some shady individuals because I assumed the highly corrupt United States government wouldn't interfere to save their hedge fund buddies from a predicament of their own making. Instead, I lost all my savings after YOLOing it like a proper Wallstreetsbet degenerate.

I could live with that if I'd been the only one with skin in the game. But that sadly wasn't the case. I'd been confident in my predictions. Confident enough to meet with a very generous loan shark I soon owed a considerable amount of money to. He'd been very understanding initially, nodding his head, and even delayed payment to requisition all my belongings.

In short, I didn't manage to get his money in time and within a couple of weeks his goons were battering down the door to my very empty residence.

That was when I made the decision.

I hoped that when I fell from the building I could spin around and give him and his goons both fingers as a final mocking farewell from the world. Only it turned out that trying to spin around when in freefall wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do. Next to impossible for a novice like myself.

I didn't know how long I'd been floating or standing in the empty expansive nothing. It might have been mere minutes or several years after opening my eyes when the being appeared before me.

He/she/it was, to put it simply, indescribable, and completely contradictory in visual form. Like a being that shouldn't ever exist in the reality I came from. I had watched enough isekai to know what this creature could be. But in the stories I read, it was usually a goddess that would appear before me. A beautiful goddess with hair like gold and eyes as blue as the Caribbean Sea. Inhumanly beautiful and caring and would beg me to save the world she ruled over. I would say I couldn't, that I was only a young man and not the making of a hero. In which she will gift me a single boon to aid me in my quest. Maybe a phone or magical powers or some other bullshit.

It certainly nailed the inhuman part down to a T.

The creature was simultaneously the size of both an ant when looked at from far away and the moon if said moon was pressed right against your face. It had hands with fingers that were crowned by smaller hands and each of its fingers had its own hands and that went on ad infinitum. It had as many eyes as people existed in the world at any one time and grew another eye whenever a person was born and lost it whenever one died.

It wasn't so much a three-dimensional being as much as a four-dimensional one. I could see inside it, before it, and behind it. I could see all its dimensions at once. The closest thing that would be comparable in the extensive human imagination would be an angel or devil, or one of those machine elf thingies I heard of when one took DMT. The being was incredibly beautiful. As stunning as a flawless scene captured at the perfect moment. It was more beautiful than the most striking supermodels and put them to absolute shame. It was the complete opposite as well. Despite being the most perfectest thing you could ever lay your eyes upon it was also the most hideous thing to ever crawl out of the darkest crevices of God's green earth. It was the kind of thing just the sight of it would make you vomit in disgust. Put them together and it looked as average as such a being was capable of being.

Yeah, wrap your mind around that.

In short, the being was a complete eldritch abomination I'm sure would have driven me insane by giving it so much as a passing glance. That didn't happen for I was a detached soul floating through another dimension (or at least that's what I assumed). Thankfully, souls were evidently more resilient than a petty human mind because I didn't explode from trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. It also spared me from being a gibbering, panicking wreck.

To be sure, the appearance of such a being left me confused. More than a little confused. Speechless in fact. It was a relief the creature didn't speak straight away and instead patiently waited for me to collect myself. Waiting just long enough for me to calm down, and introduced itself by giving a name that was unintelligibly incomprehensible.

I decided to call it Rob.

"Do not be afraid," it said in a more intelligible language. He/she/it didn't speak in the thundering voice of the abstract deity as I expected but a smooth elegant voice that reminded me of a wizened Bill Knightly, and his words smelled strangely of strawberries and the colour purple. "You might be dead, but that is only a temporary matter and will soon be resolved."

I didn't speak for some time. I didn't think I had it in me in truth. But when I did speak, it was the very first thing that popped into my head, "Are you God by any chance?"

"No," was the creature's reply.

"Are you the devil?"

"No."

"Are you—"

"I'm going to stop you there. All you need to know is that you shouldn't worry." Somehow it had forced the words right from my mouth and I was unable to say anything. Rob interrupting me was rude, but it might have been for the best. It would be foolish to piss off the closest thing to a deity I'd encountered so far. "Nothing bad will happen to you—well, nothing that won't be out of your own control that is." It laughed a somehow majestic and horrific sound. "To answer your first question. You can say I am a god."

"A god?" I managed to say. Are there more of you?

"One of many that exist in dimensions higher than your own."

Ah, so Alex Jones was right . . . Again.

It smiled as if reading my thoughts. "Your species is very closed-minded to the infinite possibilities that exist. You truly can't comprehend how vast the universe is. Not simply the minuscule portion you currently observe."

"H-how vast is it?"

"You know the Big Bang?"

"I think I know of it. A-are you going to say it's wrong and that a single being created everything?"

It laughed. Almost in derision.

"Your universe isn't a closed system. There is a limitless three-dimensional expanse to your universe. Within this system you can have true randomness and it is impossible to calculate and predict everything happening within it. Even a computer infinitely large, mapping out every single atomic particle in the entire universe won't be able to process it all. There has been an infinite amount of time before your Big Bang, and there'll be an infinite amount of time after all the atoms have decomposed and what's left of life is clinging to the outer edges of black holes."

I didn't say anything.

"Your life and the very existence of the universe is not linear. That everything is branching off into hundreds of billions of directions. That the Big Bang is only one of countless across the entire universe as it expands further and further. But that is not why I came to you, as much as I love talking about metaphysics. I have given you another chance to live. Consider this reincarnation or, in other words, you will be isekai'd. You can thank me now."

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask, the words leaving me without even thinking about it. Why would I ask what when I could ask the very meaning of life and everything? I didn't know. But considering the mind-fuckery going on, it was perhaps a defensive mechanism that I was thinking small. That and his answer to life the universe and everything would certainly be forty-two.

"Why?" the being's voice was completely flat but, despite that, I did sense some humour underneath. "Why not? Maybe I just feel sorry for you and how you died."

"But why me though? I literally accomplished nothing besides digging my own metaphorical grave. I didn't accomplish anything in my youth. I shrugged away all responsibilities and ignored any attempts to achieve anything that required effort. Not to forget my entire idea of improving my lot in life was to jump on a bandwagon of a get-rich-quick scheme with meme stocks. I failed miserably. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Maybe I just feel sorry for you. Ever thought about that?"

I didn't answer.

"You think a being of infinite power wouldn't do something like take a random individual and throw them into another world just for a laugh and see how they react to being completely out of their depth?"

"Surprisingly . . . not really. That's exactly how I imagine an omnipotent being to react. I imagine you'd look at people the same way I look at people in, say, the Sims or any strategy game. If you are powerful enough to be omnipotent, humanity is the equivalent of ants you can play around with for your entertainment. Less than that actually. At any point, you may decide to wipe us out just because it gives you a brief chuckle."

The creature that was both beautiful and ugly smiled, with the exact number of human teeth as well as infinitely more. No doubt if I was looking at him with physical eyes, they would have melted out of their sockets.

"An interesting assessment and partially true. I am operating on a whole different morality system than you. It is good you're not making a scene out of this. I do enjoy watching but that's because your species is strange in that I cannot see how you react in any given situation. Having unlimited power doesn't mean I know everything. There is a difference between omnipotent and omniscient, after all. It's also entertaining considering your species has an ego that can rival entire galaxies which helps but that's neither here nor there. But, after seeing what you people can create, it's not that surprising. So? Where would you like to go?"

"Excuse me?"

"Because the universe is so vast, the multiverse theory is in fact true. This means each creation made by your storytellers is true in a universe of complete possibilities. So where would you like to go? What piece of fiction created by your minds would you like to live the rest of your life in? Or more exactly, your next life because you're going to be born again and I would like to give you the option to choose."

I just stared at Rob dumbfounded, confused, and ever so suspicious. But like being held captive by something that can destroy entire realities at a whim on the atomic level and then reform them in a nano-second, or the more paradoxical being able to create a stone so heavy even he can't carry it, then lift it anyway despite being too heavy for him to lift. I wasn't in the capability to do anything but follow whatever Rob wanted me to do. If it wanted me to do something, I was going to even if I objected.

So, I did the only thing I could and asked, "You're not going to throw me into one I have no knowledge of just for the kicks are you?"

"Where's the fun in that? I may get a kick by throwing you in the middle of a planet in the forty-first millennium and see if the local inquisition gets you first or whether you'll be tortured for your essence by the Dark Eldar about to raid the planet." Rob smiled thinly. "But that won't be as fun. Now, will it? Not for me and especially not for you. The entire existence of the universe from its birth to its very death is but a flicker of a candle for me. While I might enjoy a little sadism and feasting upon the souls of entire galaxies from time to time, it is the equivalent of adding spice to a dish but not very nourishing by itself. Nor do I consider myself cruel. I want to give you a chance to do something. You said you're a failure who accomplished nothing. I will give you a second chance like a merciful god. A chance to do something. A chance to be born anew and succeed where you had failed. I can see you want it, so what will it be? I can send you to where the Germans won World War Two because the allies failed at every single opportunity like in the New World Order, or one where the United States remains a British Dominion far into the twenty-first century. I can even send you to where you're the Emperor of Mankind because there are an infinite number of dimensions, and some are either slightly different or the complete opposite."

"Emperor of Mankind? Are you serious? You're telling me there might be a universe where I'm successful? Who'd a funk it?"

"You're no Jerry," Rob confessed, "But you're no Elon either. Some of the alternative worlds you feature in have you as being more successful, others less so, and an infinite number where you don't exist. How about this to add some encouragement your way? If you pick a fictional universe, I will give you three boons and they can be anything you want. Within reason though. Nothing like breaking the rules of said universe though they can be overpowered."

That had me re-evaluating everything and I pretty much just decided to embrace whatever came my way. If I was being granted another life, who was I and what place did I have to refuse such generosity?

"Well, seeing as you're offering . . . what about A Song of Ice and Fire? The book series. Not the HBO show. Christ no. If that's the case, you should know I'll make it my life's mission to kill Jon Snow and maybe everyone else for that matter. I might become a genocidal monster just to ensure the characters no longer breathe. Hey, don't give me that look! Their stupidity insults me! Though during my murder spree, I'll make sure to get the bastard first."

"You don't like him?"

"He's such a dull character. I mean, I didn't like Snow in the books until the last one but in the show whatever personality he had was sandblasted off of him. He was as fun as watching paint dry. Y'know, the bland protagonist I dislike with quite the passion, and Jon Snow was a complete toilet sign that existed for the audience to project onto and go, 'Oh, that's me!'"

"You don't think Jon Snow deserved better?"

"Nope, not at all. Compared to nearly everyone else in Westeros he had a great life. He ate good food, lived in a castle, had family who loved him, and other than bits here and there, was treated as Ned Stark's son with all the privileges that details. Not mistreated or lacking in the least."

"I could spawn you into him. That might be entertaining."

"Not if I decide to commit early suicide. Again. I might just throw myself off the Wall and get it over with. A better fate than freezing my balls off with a bunch of rapists and murderers. Can I choose what character I'm going to be?"

"If you want. I can make you anyone. I can make you Aegon the Conqueror and you can choose whether you're going to conquer Westeros as he did. Elsewise you can fly to Essos and reforge the Old Valyrian Freehold and name yourself emperor. Nothing saying you can't do both. Might be hard though, conquering two different continents, but self-inserts always have a habit of doing the impossible as well as holding limitless ambition. If you don't want to start off on easy mode and have two SILFs—"

"SILFS?"

"Sisters I'd Like to Fuck. Get it? If you have no desire for that, I can make you Joffrey Baratheon or Robert Baratheon's trueborn son like those black prince stories. If you want to go the harder route, I can make you a member of the smallfolk with the quest to rise through the ranks. But you can choose."

I thought for a moment that could have been an eternity for how time here seemed to go, and how little it made sense. If it did take an eternity, Rob was certainly a patient host. "What about Aegon the Sixth?"

"Jon Snow?"

"Don't mock me."

"Young Griff?"

"The real one. Wait—is Young Griff legit then?"

Rob shrugged which wasn't an expression I imagined from something with an infinite number of arms. "What can I say? George hasn't written Winds yet. Honestly, it depends on what universe you're looking at. There are some he's not present in. There are some he's a Blackfyre. Others a random peasant boy. Others he's a real prince."

"I would like to be the real one. I mean . . . he's kind of a nothing character in truth. Died, accomplished nothing, and I won't be stealing another character's role should I usurp his body. Would I be usurping the babe's body?"

"Would you be killing it by transferring your consciousness and replacing its own? No. It never existed before you arrived. How about that?"

"Alright then. That sounds . . . fair. I also don't want it to be like canon where the kid dies. That's too dark and it wouldn't make a good story should I die within the first few months of being born."

"It would be a short story," Rob agreed.

"Oh, and I also want Rhaenys and Elia to live. I feel sorry for them. They deserve better."

"Done and done. Your Dornishphilia is showing. They will be spared from Robert Baratheon's wrath and be smuggled to Dorne in complete secrecy. As far as the Red Keep will be concerned, they just disappeared. The reality is that they were warned and stolen away. Let's say a mage named Marwyn looked into a glass candle that suddenly lit up and saw the royal family and a possible fate that ended with their deaths. Filled with dread, he devoted his very being to avert that very future. And he succeeded. Because I'm feeling extra generous with you this millennium, I'll even permit Ashara Dayne to survive. For free. How generous am I? Now you have one more wish. What will it be?"

I asked to be Aegon the Sixth. That was one. I asked for Elia and Rhaenys to survive. That would be my second, and Rob was generous to allow Ashara to live for some reason. I didn't know why but he was kind to do so. I only had one left. It could be anything so long as it didn't destroy the rules of the universe. Just a shame I didn't know what those rules were but maybe it was like physics. Because of that and because it was my very last wish, it took a surprisingly long amount of time to come to a conclusion. There was so much I could have asked for. A lot of things in fact and I wagered asking for more wishes wouldn't work anyway. I didn't bother with that. If you want to start a new life with only one wish and it could be anything, you would be foolish to not put some thought into it.

"What about . . . no . . . that might not work . . ."

"What is it?" The being smiled both politely and wickedly in equal measure.

"Technology," was my answer and when Rob raised an infinite number of eyebrows and asked me to be more specific, I added, "Y'know Warhammer? An Ark Mechanicus from the Dark Age of Technology. Those sprawling ships with all the equipment inside. Would such a thing be possible?"

"That is not something I ever imagined you to say. I knew it might be something along those lines but what I expected was closer to being given magical powers of some sort be it powers in the universe or something like Harry Potter."

"Magic is nice but doesn't really do much—I mean, the magic from Harry Potter would thrash most things in Westeros provided I wasn't poisoned or had an unsuspecting arrow lodge itself in my back – and I'm sure magic will help avert those very things as well. But it'll be central upon me alone, and I would rather have a—I'd rather have it benefit people should or when I die."

"You'll still be overpowered regardless. Completely overpowered. A continent-sized spacecraft with a Hive City's entire industrial output?" Rob clicked its tongue(s) which somehow echoed despite there being nothing for the sound to echo against.

"Exactly. Preferably the Speranza. Is that how you pronounce it?"

Rob somehow pouted and I felt like shitting myself at the mere sight of it. "Why did I expect nothing less? At least you're being creative. I just mentioned Harry Potter but if they did ask for tech, most would ask for a smartphone. Amateurs. How it would work without a connection I have no idea or why they would think it didn't matter. But it's in your kinds wishes to be the most powerful being in whatever verse they're born into. It's always the same." Rob then let out an exaggerated sigh. "It will be done but I will take some liberties with it. It will not be the Speranza. I will not have something as powerful as that, nor could it be close enough to the planet without causing some interesting geographical effects."

"That bad?"

"It's a continent-sized spaceship with the density of a small moon. It will fuck up the world through its sheer mass. No. I will give you something similar, but smaller."

"Like what?" I asked, curious but somewhat upset.

"I mentioned the multiverse theory a few times."

"That there are infinite versions of the universe that can range from something as subtle as a grain of sand to something entirely different? That kind of thing?"

"And there are infinite versions of you."

"Where are you going with this?"

"There are multiple versions of you writing a story. A sci-fi story. Think of it as the Expanse meets European nineteenth-century imperialism, and you're unashamedly pro-imperialism. Very advanced but not something that will warp physics beyond repair. They'll be given a ship from that universe. Something smaller and less advanced than anything from Warhammer but still more than where you came from. Fear not, for it'll function similarly, and you'll be able to access it once you are sixteen years of age. No more, no less."

"Then how will I access it?"

"It's a spaceship hanging beyond orbit. It won't be able to land, nor will teleportation be happening. But you will know when you're old enough. It will have all the facilities one could ever want and need."

"Yea? Well, then I must accept then." Not like I have any other choice . . .

"I hope you enjoy your new life, Aegon Targaryen, the Sixth of his Name. Future conqueror of Planetos."

My last thoughts were about just how much I hated that name.