It was the most pathetic death imaginable.
One moment, I was asleep. The next, a sharp crack, a blur of falling motion, and then—nothing. A sealing fan. A sealing fan from the cheap, anime-themed wall scroll above my bed had come loose. Its corner hit my temple with the precise force and angle to end a life. No grand villain, no heroic sacrifice. Just dumb, cosmic bad luck.
I floated in a void of muted grays. Time had no meaning. Then, a presence.
It wasn't a man on a cloud. It was a consciousness so vast it pressed against the edges of my soul. GOD, for lack of a better term.
"A sealing fan? Seriously?" The voice was amusement and thunder. "That's a new one for the ledgers. I suppose the universe owes you a cosmic debt for sheer absurdity. Very well. Four wishes. Choose the tools for your next life. Choose quickly."
My mind, still reeling, latched onto the first coherent thought. Power. I would never be weak again.
"I want the speed, the time remnants, the suit—everything that made Hunter Zolomon Zoom on Earth-2. The Velocity-9 and all."
"Granted. A dangerous, painful power. Next."
"I want mastery over lightning. Not just weather. Every bolt, every technique, every divine thunder from every anime and myth I've ever seen."
"Granted. A storm in human form. Next."
This was the big one. "I want the power of the Shadow Monarch. To raise armies from the fallen. But no system, no quests. Just... dungeons. Portals to other worlds—replicas of stories, shows, games. My hunting grounds."
God's presence seemed to sharpen, considering. "A king of the dead in living worlds. A profound twist. Granted. And your final wish?"
I saved the oldest friend, and oldest enemy, for last. "I want Kurama, the Nine-Tails. But not his cooperation. Only his rage. I can only call on him when I lose myself to fear or fury."
A pause, profound and heavy. "You tie your greatest power to your greatest weakness. To destroy all, friend and foe alike. To burn as you unleash it. A tragic design. So be it. Your name?"
"Albert."
"Then go, Albert. Your stage is the Infinite Universe. A multiverse is about to be tested. See where a king of shadows and speed fits into its unraveling."
There was no flash of light. Reality simply re-knit itself around me. I stood on a gravel rooftop under a bruised purple sky, the air tasting of ozone and exhaust. The cityscape was a jagged silhouette I didn't recognize. In my veins, a painful, thrilling hum—the dark matter power of Zoom, begging to be used. In my mind, a bestial growl, sleeping fitfully. And at the edge of my perception, a shimmering, vertical tear in the air over an alley, pulsing with an invitation to a replica world.
I smiled. My pathetic end was over.
My glorious, terrible reign had begun.