What Happens Afterward

i've got a feeling it'll all work out

i've got a feeling it'll all work out

"So what you're saying is that we're..." he began.

"No longer in your own universe," I replied, "this is a place loaded with fantastic powers, fueled by the very essence of imagination, and I do not mean that with any levity. Your home city was collapsed by a catastrophic cosmic event and the only safe place to bring all of you was here, the afterward."

"How... how are you saying that? However you're pronouncing Afterward makes no sense to--"

"--You'll figure it out soon enough," I said.

Mark handed me a cup of tea and I sat at the kitchen table talking with him. "Look, Mark... I want to be perfectly honest and up front with you."

"I'd love nothing but that," he replied.

I could feel the rolling clouds of a storm of tears, I had to work fast before I broke down at my spot at the table so long ago. "You have been gifted a phenomenal power, I chose you out of everyone I know, because I feel like you are the only person who would understand me and want to help us make the most of our time here."

"Pardon?" He replied, lowering his mug of coffee.

"The afterward is stuck in a loop, every regeneration a new "champion" is picked. They wield an immense amount of power, they can bend the story they live in, they can conjure raw energy, they are... simply put, you are effectively immortal. You can still be killed, but you will not die of age or disease, you have an immense healing factor and can bring someone back from the brink of death, you... are Nephim's Champion. I was their last one, and I lasted... far too long, in my opinion. The story should have ended long before when it did, but now the torch can be passed to you."

"I... I don't know what to say... why me?" he asked.

"Dad? What's going on?" a voice called from the hallway.

It was me. I got out of my chair and walked to this regeneration's Tammy, so distinctly different yet so familiar all the same. "Your father is a brilliant man," I told her, on the verge of tears, "and I want his help in what's going on next in your lives during this whirlwind moment. I'm... I'm so proud of you both."

I hugged this Tammy and did my best to choke down my sobs. "You be good," I told her.

"I will," she replied.

I knew she would.

I turned back to Mark. "There is... one more thing I need to warn you about, Mark. There will be a man who will walk through this door soon. Very soon. He will have a wild story to tell about how he saw a god and has some idea how to make the most of this new world. Do not listen to him. He's--"

As if right on cue, the door flung open. "Doc, I finally have proof of a higher being! It's imperative you listen to me! The Nexus is real!"

We turned towards the man. He was an elderly man in a black suit and porkpie hat and dark round sunglasses, about six foot tall. "What's all this about?" Mark asked.

"The Nexus, part beast, part code, part man, part blight, it's come to offer me salvation, to bring me to the forefront of a new world, become a new... uh..."

He was looking directly at me. I watched what visible skin on his face I could see redden slightly in anger. "What are you doing here?!" he cried.

"Simply put, I am touching base with a new friend, making sure the people who occupy this space are comfortable."

Linus lowered his sunglasses, his sunken-in, discolored eyes piercing me, his crooked, smug smile taunting me. "Oh really?" he said.