While the world was in chaos, something else was happening somewhere else in another plane of existence.
Elias woke up as he gulped a massive amount of air... or whatever it was, he simply kept huffing as he slowly moved his arm around his frail body, vividly remembering how he had died.
"Is this the afterlife?", Elias thought as he looked around before sitting up to further observe the space. Everywhere was entirely white in all directions, it was like he was just blindly floating in a massive endless white space, but still he knew he was standing on solid ground.
He wasn't curious enough to explore the place but he needed to at least know where he was.
"Hello!", at first there was no response…
Until suddenly a rectangular blue screen appeared before his eyes and his eyes widened in shock as a voice spoke the contents out loud in his head.
[Paragon Identified: 1/1.2B]
"is this the afterlife?", he asked the voice outloud.
[No, those guys are sent elsewhere]
He hadn't expected a voice to reply but he was pleased there was a response, at least he wasn't mad or imagining things. But then an excited thought struck his mind.
"Then is this...is this…is this-"
[yes] the voice interrupted with a tone of amusement [That's why I chose you]
Elias was now shivering in excitement, this was it, this was what he always wanted, but his thoughts were interrupted once again as he regained his calmness.
[It's funny, when the others said they chose their paragons. most of them had terrified reactions as the standard normal response...maybe with a few exceptions like that one girl, you however seem to be excited]
"How could someone be terrified right now? Reincarnation is a dream that millions of people will kill for out there" Elias replied in excitement, he didn't know how long time had passed but ever since he had the thoughts of suicide after avenging his mother, this was the greatest level of joy he had ever felt.
[I doubt you'll remain excited once this is over. Well to further explain your circumstances, the others had traits they were searching for, just like me]
"Really? But what trait did you find special in me?" Elias asked, inwardly afraid he'd be sent back to earth after realizing all of this was just one naïve dream, or worse those corrupt bastards were still alive and he was now in prison.
[Hahahaha] the voice chuckled merrily to itself [I'm so glad I had the first pick, well to answer your question I'll start from the beginning, but first wouldn't you prefer a physical body? Your fellow earthlings are currently going through similar processes as well.]
Elias looked down at himself but seeing as he was still in this strange white space where there was no concept of form, he smiled and shook his non-existent head, he liked this supernatural feeling too much to want to have a human body once more.
The voice chuckled once more, seemingly able to see through him in every way.
[I am what you earthlings call, an angel, and not just any angels you might encounter in the places you'll be sent to. But the real deal, one of the entities that exist in the outerverse and as you have guessed I have chosen you out of the 1.2 billion candidates, and as to what reason, it's because of your mentality]
"Mentality?"
[You strongly believe you have a purpose till the extent you even willingly embarked on a suicide mission in that mass murder spree of yours, and even when you survived you still wanted to find a safe place and die away from your sister, right? The officers only made that happen much sooner.]
[Yes, there are thousands of people who have committed suicide because they believed there was life after death but unlike them you weren't chasing this concept because you wanted fame, money or girls. You were after it because you honestly believed you were meant to at least rid this world of corruption even if it meant your death. That is one thing I want to see during your journey. I saw that little action scene you pulled off and it left me impressed, not many would go that far for such a high goal.]
Elias was silent, he never thought his excessive and almost fantastical thoughts would attract some higher being, he believed it was possible though or was that…
[Yes. You somehow knew higher beings existed, you weren't like the others who wanted to see if it was true because you oddly enough strongly and truly believe they existed, that's what drew you to novels and movies in the first place, but even those didn't influence your thoughts because you had long had them, back then you only chose to not believe and even forgot]
Elias was still silent because everything the being had said was true, he even felt the reason why he couldn't see the owner of the voice was because the being was just to powerful for his nonexistent eyes.
It just felt like the basic knowledge he was supposed to be aware of. Regardless, he would never give up this path because it was what he always truly wanted
"so, what do I have to do?"
[That's the spirit. But first, there are some things you must know, you are not the first of your kind, you are just the only one to be chosen by me, the only special thing is that you will be the last of your kind and for good reason. So, you will be...the first of @!#!%]
Elias blinked in confusion for a split second but then kept quiet, he felt his mind snap back forcefully to the present...
'what was i thinking about?...o...yeah'
knowing this next part was important he prepared to listen attentively.
[There are five types of otherworlders in the multiverse: reincarnates, transmigrators, invaders, conquerors and the last and most mysterious type, harbingers. Now, I'll explain their differences to you. Reincarnates are beings that die and awaken in a newborn body, sometimes they retain their memories but majority of them do not. Transmigrators are different in the sense that they have their souls transported to an already grown body, mostly adults or young chiildren and they fully retain their memories. Invaders are not like the previous two because they enter foreign worlds with their true existing bodies. Now conquerors are much more special because they are both transmigrators and invaders in the sense they can traverse and conquer worlds. Then harbingers are the most special ones because they can only be chosen per angel or any other outerversal being and at crucial points in time, they are similar to conquerors but instead of conquering worlds they are giving a set of task, from protecting people to saving abandoned worlds. ]
Elias had listened to everything silently, he already had a suspicion on what he was. And just as he thought the angel confirmed his thoughts…
[Yes you are the last harbinger, the order in which the nine immortal watchers ordered us to create an army of you lot was to make the weakest the strongest and make the strongest stronger. So a soldier from earth will grow strong but not as much as a former cancer patient. You were the nearest to death in your world and essentially the first of the millions of people to be chosen]
Elias was so shocked by all the inflow of information. So all these happened just because of luck, if he had died earlier before the vanishing would he even be here.
His plan was to bring the downfall of a corrupt firm that was behind his mother's death, then later on embrace suicide instead of going back to prison. How did it all come to this in the end...and all because of something like luck.
[Calm down child.] the voice chuckled and then continued
[You will be given a specific time limit to know when the real threat would come and how long you have left to eliminate them]
"I'm pretty sure we're getting to the point where you can't give me more information right?"
[You've read too many books, but yes, you're right, we're getting to that point.]
'of course I'm right, if this was a novel, readers would be complaining of too many info dumps by now', Elias thought and the being who listened to his thought just smiled in amusement.
[you will learn more as time goes on, are you ready to fulfill your purpose, this was what you always wanted right, a chance to rid the world of corruption.]
"I am, but I'm getting the feeling this wouldn't be easy, am i right?"
[I really like your thoughts, you are meant to be the ultimate killing machine, so everything that would hinder that would be removed, are you prepared?]
"What do you mean by that? Is that a bad thing?", he asked hurriedly but the voice didn't bother responding this time and Elias just gave up. The entity wanted him to be strong and wouldn't do anything to necessary hinder his growth right of the bat.
"Yes" he didn't really give a fuck at this point "I'm ready"
The next second Elias felt the space collapsing on itself, it was a surreal feeling as he felt like an ant being sqeezed in a sheet of paper but there was no pain and instead the next moment he opened his eyes he felt the familiar feeling of having a body.
"Well would you look at that", he could feel his body but it was completely transparent and almost intangible.
"What now?"
He looked around, the white space was still similar to what it was before but right now there was a diffence, because he could see forms.
He seemed to be in a giant white building, the interior had no openings but he stood in a two meter deep pit and above was a set of steps leading to another flat surface. He couldn't accurately pinpoint the distance but it was at least ten meter wide before reaching the tall white walls.
He calmly walked up the steps, according to most fiction he ought to be receiving his next answer anytime soo…
[Greetings harbinger. My name is Azuron and I'm your assistant for the duration of your time here.]
'Hmm, an ai? this makes things so much easier though' Elias smiled, he wanted to immediately get to the main dish and then learn everyting else along the way, right now he was just too excited with all of these so he asked the most important question.
"What do you think I should do first Azuron?"
[Considering time outside your domain is still in motion it is best to choose a suitable body as early as possible]
"hmm, the angel did say that I can only reincarnate at particular times, if this opportunity passes how long do I need to wait?"
[A thousand years]
'…'
[…]
"okay then, where do we begin?", he replied immediately as a couple of 3d spheres appeared before him, they were all smaller than him around six inches tall but were so many in number that they reached the end of the wall.
[Selecting appropriate universe]