Apraneya, the world before the world

Kannazuki was more surprised by what was happening now than by his premature death, as he observed the scene from another perspective, as though the world was becoming a third-person story being told to him.

His lifeless body and the other people around him, he saw them.

He had noticed a few unusual things: the cargo behind the truck was intact, the driver was dead on impact, and the vehicle had no license plates, meaning it was clearly a premeditated act.

But why here?

To kill random people? Isn't that a bit excessive? he thought. It didn't seem like an accident at all.

He tried to think, but the surrounding screams eventually irritated him.

"You're giving me a headache!!!"

Hmm, they didn't hear me. I guess this is what it feels like to be a ghost, or something like that. I'm dead after all!

But if that's the case, what about the others?

Looking around, he didn't see anyone else in his condition. He was the only one in this state.

The clinking sound...

Wait, a clinking sound. Hmm, just as I thought. Creating such a scene to randomly kill people was pushing it. That means it's not over yet!

The goal must be that building!

He saw the police arriving as they started evacuating the crowd and setting up barriers.

Boom

Everything exploded within a 5-meter radius.

The main building was destroyed, and people nearby were killed.

I wonder what was so special about that building to justify using such a method?

What will happen now?

He had just witnessed an act of terrorism. Yet, he remained calm. The only thing he found unpleasant was seeing the corpses and the injuries they sustained. He was sure he would have passed out if he still had a human body.

13:20

He felt nothing. Kannazuki was somewhat indifferent to his death. It had to happen someday. He just found it a shame.

At the very least, he was happy that there might be something after death. But what? That was the question.

13:33

But this time, he felt as though something was pulling him. Since he had been in this state, he hadn't felt anything like being, but now something was drawing him.

He couldn't explain it. It was strange. His reality—his space—was swirling, creating a blur, and he was being pulled in. The next moment, everything went still. He could tell that his consciousness was reforming, but it was no longer where it was supposed to be.

"What just happened? Was I taken to heaven? I doubt it, but still!?"

He looked around. An exaggeration to describe the place. After all, there was no direction, only an infinite void.

He had gotten used to his state enough to move freely. So, he moved, hoping to find something or some answers.

After moving, he realized it was pointless. A sense of ubiquity persisted. There was nothing here, nothing to explore, nothing to understand.

After all, even when he moved, he could say he wasn't really advancing. The very concept of movement was flawed.

But he saw something—a thing that had been unknown to him until then. Looking inside, he saw something for the first time.

As if answering his desire, he descended—or rather, he was thrust into the place where he had gazed. Now that he was there, he had lost all control and the sense of majesty that had once filled him. It was only afterward that he understood this feeling: some things can only be truly understood after losing them, and that was the case for him.

There, before him, stood a humanoid being, whose body's composition defied all common sense. Was it made of pure energy, of reality, of the world itself? Kannazuki didn't know.

Kannazuki tried to make contact, but the being calmly observed him. Then, a gigantic implosion occurred. The being had released vast amounts of energy, at speeds that certainly transcended light. Space itself formed, a gigantic inflation, and expansion. Kannazuki was witnessing creation.

Kannazuki didn't understand his own state, nor whether he had a body, but he was certain of one thing: none of this affected him, as if he didn't exist. Yet, before it all imploded, this being seemed to be looking at him.

Reality was being woven.

He could see points of light. The more he focused, the more he realized these things were worlds. He saw planets being born and then disappearing, stars forming. But this thing, too, was as infinite and vast as it seemed to have no limit within itself. Everything appeared absurd.

He then decided to explore. He merged with what he had found, and time, frozen for him, began to flow.

Upon his arrival, he had chosen a particular world to verify and try to understand what was happening to him.

He had found forms of intelligent life throughout his explorations. But interacting with them was impossible. It was as though his existence was undefined. To them, he didn't exist.

What was the point of changing worlds if he was to remain invisible to everyone? He was no different from the spirits and ghosts of this world, in a certain sense. Even to these spirits, he didn't exist.

The inhabitants of this world reminded him of primitive existences from one of those documentary films he had seen as a child.

Days passed, and he learned several things about his state and the world he was in.

He had time to reflect and conduct various experiments. He was no longer able to return to his previous state in the void, and for now, his composition was no different from that of the spirits of this world.

Then months, years, centuries passed. He had surely seen countless civilizations rise and fall, explored this world, watched people come and go without ever interacting. Alone, and he probably would be for eternity.

Everything that had happened before, his life, his death, and his presence in this empty space, seemed to have lasted only an instant. That was not the case for his long wait here. He didn't know how to return to that void.