Aubrey Valentine had dark skin, black hair always just slightly out of place, and the kind of tired eyes you only got from juggling two jobs and a full college schedule. Another long shift. Another day survived. He walked the familiar path back to his dorm with his hood up, earbuds in, and sleep on his mind.
The streetlights flickered. A car honked distantly. The world blurred at the edges.
And then—
Nothing.
No pain. No warning. Just blackness.
When he opened his eyes, the world was gone.
No streets. No buildings. No sky.
Just... a void. Endless. Blank. Weightless.
Aubrey blinked. "What the...?"
He was standing—floating?—in a white expanse that stretched infinitely in every direction, as if someone had painted over reality in Photoshop and never clicked save.
"Hello?" he called, voice small in the nothing. "Anyone here?!"
His words echoed, but there was no response. Panic itched at the back of his throat. He turned in a slow circle, searching for... anything. A sign. A door. A shadow.
Instead, a voice rang out from everywhere and nowhere at once:
"Tch. You humans are always whining."
Aubrey jumped. "Wh—what? Who said that?!"
"You die. You scream. You ask stupid questions. Ugh. Every. Single. Time."
The voice was neither male nor female—just there. Ancient and amused. Bored, maybe. Definitely smug.
"Die?" Aubrey echoed. "Wait. What do you mean die?"
"Exactly what it sounds like, genius. You're dead. Poof. Splat. Finito."
He stumbled backward, even though there was no ground to stumble on.
"I... I don't understand."
"You're not supposed to. That's the fun part."
The voice let out a long, theatrical sigh.
"So anyway... turns out you weren't supposed to die just yet. Kinda jumped the gun on that one. My bad."
A pause.
"Got a little ahead of myself—occupational hazard. So… sorry. Or whatever."
Aubrey blinked, the words barely registering.
"What do you mean not supposed to die? Are you saying this was a mistake?"
"Yep. Big ol' cosmic oopsie."
The voice didn't sound particularly sorry. More like someone who dropped a sandwich and decided to just make a new one rather than clean up the mess.
"Anyway, to make up for this little commotion, I'm just gonna put you somewhere else. New world, new chances, yadda yadda. Trust me—you'll love it."
Aubrey furrowed his brows. "Wait, so… I can just go back to Earth then? Back to my life? School, work, dorm room, all that?"
The void was silent for a moment—almost offended.
"Pfft. No. Don't be boring."
The voice practically sneered the words. Aubrey crossed his arms, unsure if he was more confused or offended.
"So I can't go back."
"What part of 'oopsie-daisy death' didn't register, Valentine?"
That made Aubrey flinch. "Wait. How do you know my name?"
"I know everything about you. Born on a Tuesday. Likes your fries crispy, hates soggy cereal. Thinks you're average but secretly wishes the world would notice you. Lives like a background character—"
"Okay, okay, damn," Aubrey muttered. "I get it."
"Oh, you will."
There was a long silence. Too long.
"So… this other world?" Aubrey ventured. "What's the catch?"
"Who said there's a catch?"
A pause.
"Okay fine, there's a catch. But you'll find out eventually."
Aubrey stared into the void, as if it would offer answers. "You can't just send me somewhere with a 'surprise, you're screwed' kind of energy."
"Why not? You people love surprises. Ever had a birthday party?"
Aubrey groaned. "You are literally the worst."
"Flattered."
"But look, I'll be generous. You get three wishes. That's more than most people get when they die prematurely. Usually I just drop them somewhere and let the wolves handle it."
"…Wolves?"
"Metaphorical. Sometimes literal."
Aubrey swallowed. "Right. Great. So I get three wishes."
"Mm-hmm. Three whole cosmic do-overs. Pick wisely. Be clever. Be bold. Or be dumb and entertaining. I win either way."
Aubrey rubbed the back of his neck, still not quite processing the absurdity of it all. "Okay... so if I get three wishes, then—"
"Allegedly," the voice cut in.
"Right. Well then… I want a system. Something like a game, but not just levels and stats. I want it built around monsters and aliens—transformations, evolutions, powers, all that."
"Huh."
The voice went quiet for a beat.
"That's… ambitious."
Aubrey blinked. "So? You said three wishes."
"Yeah, and I also said I screwed up. You think coding a living, breathing, reality-bending evolutionary system is cheap? That's a two-wish minimum, buddy."
"What?! That's not fair! You said—!"
"Three wishes. Not three fair wishes. Big difference."
Aubrey threw his hands up. "You didn't say that before!"
"Should've read the terms and conditions. Oh wait—you were dead."
Aubrey groaned. "You cosmic cheapskate."
"Flattery will get you nowhere. Now stop whining. You've got one wish left. Use it or lose it."
Aubrey crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes, and smirked like he'd cracked the code.
"Alright, fine. For my third wish…"He paused for effect."I want OMNIPOTEN—"
"Denied."
The voice cut him off before he could even finish the word.
Aubrey blinked. "Wait, what? You didn't even let me finish!"
"I heard you. You were gonna say 'omnipotence.' Don't try to be cute."
"But why not?! That solves everything!"
"Exactly. And it also makes you boring."
The voice sighed like it had been through this exact argument a hundred times.
"You humans always reach for the god-tier cheat code. Omnipotence this, multiverse dominion that. Snooze-fest. You want to be all-powerful, write your own fanfiction. This is my show, kid."
Aubrey scowled. "You are so stingy for a divine being."
"Tell me something I don't know."
A moment passed. Aubrey exhaled.
"Alright... fine. Let me think.
Aubrey crossed his arms, grumbling under his breath. "Fine, no omnipotence. Whatever."
"There we go. Embrace that disappointment, baby bird."
He rolled his eyes. "In that case... I wish to understand the world around me—on an instinctive level. Like... feel when something's wrong, sense danger, read people, know things I shouldn't know yet."
"Ohoho..."
The voice sounded genuinely amused.
"Look at you, trying to be clever. Not bad, not bad. A gut feeling wish with cosmic teeth. Instinct, intuition, danger sense... yeah, yeah. I can work with that."
A pause.
"...Gonna be hilarious when you walk into Gotham though."
Aubrey squinted. "What does that mean?"
"Nothing. You'll find out."
The voice was quiet for a moment—eerily so.
Then, with a smirk you could feel, it spoke:
"Well… bye-bye. Good luck down there. I'll be watching~"
Aubrey blinked. "Wait, that's it? No instructions? No tutorial?! No—"
But the world was already unraveling.
The void around him dissolved like ash in wind, light folding in on itself until there was nothing left but black.
A single thought rang out as the darkness swallowed him:
"I'll be watching."