Choices

"Earth."

"Let's call this place Earth," Adam said.

A woman beside him smiled. "Why?"

"Why not? Isn't it a good name?"

***

"Wait, wait, why are you telling me the story from the very beginning of humanity? I don't want to hear that," Sorin protested.

"Oh... you don't want to?" the woman in front of him, long white-haired, clad in a black dress, with a beautiful, beautiful frown, asked regretfully.

"Listen. I just want to know what the fuck was happening here, what the fuck is happening to me, and who the fuck are you."

Sorin had lost his patience.

Even though right now he had changed location to the outside of the decrepit hall he had just been in, Sorin could still smell the rancidness of what he had been through.

"Alright. Maybe you need to at least calm your nerves, and introducing myself could help you with that," the woman smiled.

"My name is Elara. I am what you would call a supernatural consultant," she said slowly.

But once again, she received a stare from Sorin.

"Ahem, please give me time to explain properly," she cleared her throat.

"This cult worshipped a demon named Mammon. He is quite a high rank in hell, and he had asked quite a lot of sacrifices to free himself from the chain and enter this realm."

The woman, who called herself Elara, started to explain calmly, and Sorin tried his best to listen.

She told him how the demon tempted humans with their mental connection to this world, whispering into their brains, convincing them that they were the chosen ones.

He promised them eternal life but never told them it was the promise for their eternal life... in hell.

"Heh, so they were really scammed, huh?" Sorin sneered.

"Yes, but then there's you," Elara reminded him. "You snatched that 'blessing'."

"Oh, fuck. Does that means I'm going to rot away in hell?" Sorin asked.

"Well, thankfully, it seems it won't happen," Elara chuckled. "You reversed their ritual. It might mean that you got something else they believed they would acquire."

Elara explained that despite the demon's success in obtaining the sacrifices for his ascension to this realm and scamming the cult members, the cult members' expectations were still noteworthy.

"And it was the heavenly rule's job to acknowledge that," Elara pointed toward the sky.

He was supposed to be the sacrifice for them to acquire 'eternal life', but because he reversed it, they became the sacrifice instead.

And he acquired 'eternal life'.

"But something doesn't add up," Sorin muttered. "Won't I receive heavenly retribution, too, if that's what you're implying?"

"That is if the heavenly rules are based on the result," Elara closed her eyes, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Heavenly rules judged people based on their choices. It's mysterious how it weighs things and sets boundaries. But just yesterday, you were a normal human."

Elara opened her eyes, staring straight into him. "And that might be why you were chosen."

Chosen.

Not like the cult members who believed they were chosen and started kidnapping and sacrificing people, he was chosen because of his actions.

"It means this gift of immortality... doesn't come from the ritual, the sacrifices, or the demon..."

It came to him because the heavens judged his entire being. Altering cause and effect, bending fate in his favor through his decisions.

Something clicked in Sorin's brain. The voices... the transparent screen... he had gained an unimaginable power.

He groaned.

"What did I get myself into...?" he massaged his temples.

Secretly, Elara pressed her lips together in a bit of a grimace. Her eyes emphatically watched Sorin's every move, feeling bad toward him, knowing that he was just a normal guy.

Or was he?

Even if he wasn't, Elara didn't care. She knew he believed he was just the average person, so he must think of all this mess as a curse.

She felt bad.

"And hence, why don't we entertain another alternative?" she asked softly.

Sorin turned to her, thinking for a moment, and then asked, "To make all of this just a fever dream?"

Elara nodded.

"But by being chosen, doesn't it means I have a responsibility for something?" Sorin asked carefully.

"Well, I am a believer of choice," Elara smiled. "Like how the heavens had chosen you, you have the right to choose otherwise."

Sorin stared at Elara, remembering how she had introduced herself previously. A supernatural consultant.

"Are you some sort of lawyer working in heaven's court?" Sorin asked innocently.

Elara widened her eyes. Her mouth hung open in a speechless expression. Suddenly, she blushed. "O-oh, my, what an amazing title you gave me... no, I'm not someone so great..."

"Anyway, so, should we entertain that choice?" she hid her embarrassment and put her hands on her hips.

Sorin was still deep inside his own mind, not noticing her flustered bit. And when he heard her question, he was slowly able to decide.

"I think if it's possible... yes. I want this all to be a fever dream."

***

"Mammon was done from the beginning, don't you think?"

"And he realized it too."

A low chuckle and a calm, elegant giggle came from behind the screen door.

Long, messily entangled black and white hair on the floor, a man and a woman on top of a fur rug, breathing each other's laugh.

Softly embroidered silks loitered around. Supple, clear, and unclothed skins rubbing onto each other. Kisses exchanged.

"If that boy chose to decline the quest, then one of the sovereigns would be teleported there to handle Mammon, but he chose to accept instead."

"From that moment onwards, he's already..." the long, black-haired man solemnly muttered.

Mammon was aware of the situation and resorted to tempting the boy into worshipping him, deceitfully claiming that he was the one who granted him immortality.

But the boy decided not to believe him.

The boy attacked him, but he deflected the attack... threatening the boy to submit. And immediately, the demon realized it was over.

"Reverse..." the long white-haired woman whispered. "As Mammon attempted to force him to submit, the boy's unique reign reversed the effect on him."

And Mammon was sealed away.

The two knew, despite the boy's broken ability that made him seem unbeatable, it all came from his own choices. Quest rank SSS+ meant that he had to choose extremely wisely in a very short amount of time.

"Now... should we prepare ourselves?" the man stroked his woman's cheek with the back of his fingers.

"Let's see what choice he's going to make next."