If I could wish for one thing, it would be immortality.
Not because I'm afraid of death. But because I am desperately, painfully curious.
I want to watch things happen. I want to keep watching.
I want to see what my old school looks like a hundred years from now.
Will the paint still peel the same way?
Will the courtyard tree still throw the same thin shade every summer?
Maybe they'll turn it into a tech campus, or maybe they'll knock it down and forget it ever existed.
I want to see what my nephews become.
Will one of them laugh like my father?
Will one of them hate the same things I hate?
Will any of them become kinder than I could be?
I want to sit in a chair and watch a whole city grow.
I want to see markets appear where empty lots were, hear new words become slang, watch fashion change like seasons.
I want to see how love looks when it's different from mine.
I want to see how wars begin and how people stop them.
I want to see buildings that reach up like fingers and then crumble into stories.
I want to watch whole species being born.
Tiny things first... maybe bugs, fish, birds, and then bigger.
I want to watch their first songs and their first mistakes.
I want to watch a language twist and become poetry I can't read.
And I want to watch the sun die.
I want to be there on the day the very last star blinks out, to see what true darkness looks like.
Not because I crave doom.
Because the end matters as much as the start.
I'm not a monster. I'm not mad.
It's a peculiarity— an itch that won't leave.
Curiosity is what keeps people moving.
Maybe I'm only more honest about it.
Maybe I'm no different from anyone else who watches, asks, and can't look away...
...
[You have become a God]
[Feel free to do whatever you want]
Akim stared at the glowing system screen in front of him, his lips twitching uncontrollably.
'…What the hell?'
Just a few minutes ago, he was at the park, trying to show a bunch of kids a cool skateboard trick.
Now, he was... nowhere. Just endless blackness.
The only thing he could feel was cool, dry dirt under his shoes and the only thing he could see was that weird screen.
He looked around, squinting, but the darkness was total.
It was like being buried alive in a space that went on forever.
'Did I… fall off my skateboard and crack my head open or something?'
He thought, trying to make sense of it.
How did he end up standing on cold dirt, surrounded by nothing but an empty void...
The only thing keeping him from total blindness was the faint blue light shining from the system panel.
He was seriously starting to worry...
As he rubbed his temples, another button blinked into existence on the screen.
[Abilities]
Well, he didn't have anything better to do.
With a mental shrug, he focused on it and clicked.
New text scrolled out.
[Abilities]
[Genesis]: The ability of creation and destruction. (Level 1)
[Primordial]: The more complex the concepts in your world become, the stronger you become.
[Spark of Life]: Imbue a tiny region with components of a randomized "life."
[Intelligent Design]: Directly create a custom-designed organism based on previous components of past guided lifeforms. Faster, but may have less "soul" or evolutionary potential.
'…What?'
His confusion only deepened.
Genesis? Evolution? Intelligent Design?
He went quiet. His mind tried to piece together the impossible.
'Don't tell me I… actually became a God?'
The thought alone should've terrified him.
And truthfully, some part of his chest did feel heavy.
Being thrown into an endless world of darkness was not exactly comforting...
But alongside the fear, something else burned inside him—
Curiosity.
His eyes locked onto the first ability: Genesis.
The power of creation itself...
'Hm... there isn't much to do, I guess I can test things first?'
He focused and imagined his cellphone.
He pictured the exact weight, the shape, the faint crack on the screen protector.
A few seconds passed.
Nothing seemed to have appeared...
'…Figures. Too complex?'
Akim scratched his head.
'Level one God, huh? Guess I can't just 3D print iPhones out of thin air.'
He chuckled weakly, then thought harder.
The current thing he needed the most right now... was to be able to see.
He held out his hand, palm up, and pictured the simplest thing he could think of...
A tiny, glowing marble of light, pure and bright.
He focused on that feeling of [Genesis], and he felt a weird sensation, like a small piece of his energy was being pulled out of him.
It left him feeling just a tiny bit tired...
Fwoosh
A soft, warm ball of light, about the size of a very tiny golf ball, popped into existence right above his palm.
It hovered there, casting a gentle white glow that pushed back the oppressive darkness.
'Oh?'
He breathed, a grin spreading across his face.
'Holy shit it fucking works...'
He willed the ball to rise up, and it obeyed, floating a few feet above his head like a personal sun.
The light spread out, illuminating the ground around him.
And all he could see was dirt.
Flat, dry, dark dirt that stretched out in every direction until the light just... faded into blackness.
He tried to push the light further, to make it shine brighter and reveal more, but he hit a wall.
After about ten meters, the light just stopped spreading. It was like an invisible bubble around him.
His energy was already dipping lower. This was his limit.
Still, he couldn't help but grin.
He was standing in an endless void of dirt, holding a self-made sun in his hand.
He had no idea where he was or what he was supposed to do...
But one thing was clear.
'…If I really am a God, then let's see what I can build.'
He tightened his grip on the glowing orb and looked out into the darkness.
For the first time since arriving, he wasn't scared.
He was excited.
Very fucking excited.