Start of a Story
What would you say… the meaning of life is
That is the ultimate question, isn't it?
If it comes down to it, isn't it just surviving? Don't you need to survive for your life to have any meaning? If you think about it, the difference between life and something not alive is their ability to consciously make meaningful changes. If someone were to be murdered 1000 years ago, it wouldn't have caused any meaningful change to the modern world, but if he were to live for 1000 years, he is sure to cause plenty of changes and have the full potential to become something meaningful.
At least that's what I told myself when I ran away….
***In another world***
"Ha ha, pfft hahaha hahaha, I've finally done it, the equation to solve everything, to calculate the relation of everything in this world forwards or backward in time, I'm practically omnisciece"
A small girl with messy silver hair could be seen laughing maniacally by herself in front of a blackboard filled with complicated equations that seemed like meaningless scribbles.
"With this, I can do anything, I could…"
[Hold on there young lady…]
Before the little girl could turn around, she realized that she could not move.
[Huh, this is some incredible stuff that you've come up with.]
[I wonder how you've achieved it despite being only 5…]
[It would seem like your action of creating this equation has created me, amazing huh?]
'You're…'
[Yes, I'm God, at least the representation of it]
[I'm as close to omniscient and omnipotent as it gets]
[I guess the only thing I don't know is the reason behind my creation]
[Hmmm, the creation of this equation shouldn't have caused supernatural things to happen according to the laws of this world]
[Maybe…]
Before the disembodied voice was able to voice its hypothesis, it stopped.
[I get it, so that's why]
[Sorry girl, I've got work to do]
From that moment on, the world was thrown into chaos with the abrupt appearance of magical abilities and mythical creatures.
*********************************************************************************************************
'I ran away…'
'Is that so abominable?'
'Am I a good person?'
'Do I have an obligation to anyone because I'm strong?'
'To sacrifice myself to save the world? What a joke…'
'Without me, there would not be a world to begin with.'
'I mean it may sound like I have not developed object permanence, but with me not being here to observe the world, would it even exist in the first place? There's no proof that the world continues to exist without me, right?'
'So in a way, I did save the world, but I guess there's not much to live for anymore haha… The world is close to destruction due to the demon king. With me not severing the heart of the demon king with my sword in the last battle, he is sure to recover in time and take over the world.'
'But hey, as long as I'm strong, I'll be able to live a quiet life somewhere and think of a way to deal with the demon king without getting killed.'
'Well... With my party gone, it will be difficult, but not impossible, I can live unreasonably long anyway, so it wouldn't…'
*Crash*
Before he was able to finish his inner monologue, he realized something had crashed next to him.
"Hahaha… Who knew the world-renowned hero was a coward? With the death of your pathetic excuse of a party, what is your plan from now on?"
"You really should've taken the chance when you were inches away from severing my heart, tsk tsk tsk."
The young man looked at the demonic beast behind him and calmly said "Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? You're trying to blow up the entire continent with me in it, right? God, what are you thinking?"
The demon king scoffed, "It would've been poetic don't you think? The hero and the demon king died together in a brilliant embrace."
The young man creased his eyebrow, "First of all, don't call me a hero. Second of all… You should've learned that I care about my life more than anything in this world." The hero continued, "So knowing that I can confidently kill you even with my party gone, would you just leave me alone and we can go our separate ways?" The young hero bluffed.
The demon king stared at the hero without saying anything, as if contemplating something. So the hero calmly walked away. But after a few steps, he sheepishly added, "Oh, I know your purpose is to make this planet explode into thousand pieces or whatever, but can you not do that? for even I might die in that situation. So uhh… raze some city, kill people, I don't care, just don't bother me, alright?"
*splat*
Startled by the sound, the hero looked back and paused.
"What the hell?"
In front of him, naturally, was the demon king.
But the most powerful demon king in history had been dissected into pieces and had flopped to the ground unceremoniously.
The hero braced for impact, as he knew that the death of the demon king would mean the release of a billion units of magical particles causing an explosion that could wipe out a continent. He learned of that during the final battle.
But to his surprise, there was no explosion at all; instead, a disembodied voice rang out.
[Huh, this is perfect.]
And before he could react, he was already sent flying hundreds of meters away from where he was standing.
Before he passed out, he saw a man walking toward him, but due to the sudden impact, his vision was blurry, and he was unable to make out any distinct characteristics.
[Enjoy]
As the hero heard the word uttered by the unidentified man, he breathed his last breath….