Black. Pitch black. But now something had changed.

What I was seeing wasn't the results of the lights going out. The earthquake didn't cause this. I was in a different place. Although it was 100% dark, I could see myself clearly. I had depth of vision. There was nothing to see, but I could perceive depth.

"What is this place?"

I looked down. Looked down to see myself. And I could. However, there was something off. I was translucent. I was wearing the same exact clothes that I had been wearing before the earthquake. I could move freely. I didn't see any sign of injury.

'Have I died?' I asked myself. I probably have.

Thinking about it logically, that made the most sense. At this point, a sense of incongruity ran through me. Something was wrong. There was something wrong about this situation. Something wrong about how I felt.

I felt calm. Too calm. That was a problem. I just died, most likely. My life ended. My brother, assuming he was safe, would have to find out about my death. He'd have to tell mom. My family and I haven't exactly been on the best of terms, but I normally would have worried about traumatizing them with sudden death. Same with my viewers, many of whom were young, and most likely formed a parasocial relationship with my internet persona.

None of this bothered me too much. It was like seeing some bad news on TV. Regrettable. Oh, that's not good. And that was about it. I should have been having a panic attack. I'd had panic attacks from far lesser events. I should have been obsessed about whether I had really died. A million thoughts should have been running through my head, including inconsequential ones like whether the video I was filming before the earthquake had saved.

"Would you prefer to be having a panic attack instead?"

I heard a voice. Confident, but relaxed. Relaxed bordering on indifferent. Most likely a man's voice, my intuition told me. I turned around to see where the voice was coming from.

The figure was annoyingly good looking. Tall, handsome, perfectly set hair, three-piece suit, watch, shoes, and glasses, without the slightest sense that he was trying. Trying what? Anything. You name it. Trying to get my attention. Trying to be fashionable. Trying to be anything but what he naturally was.

"I'm flattered, but it isn't exactly good manners to judge someone you've just met, is it?"

Huh? I wasn't processing what he was saying.

"But for humans, reading someone's mind is probably just as ill-mannered. Why don't see say we're even and move on?"

I realized what he was saying. This person, along with not being transluscent like I was, could also read minds. Cool, I thought, which was also weird. I'd just been caught commenting on a stranger's appearance. I should have been embarrassed to extinction. That was the kind of person I had always been.

"That's because you're only here in ethereal form. Basically, you're having an out-of-body experience. A ghost having a dream, you could say."

"I've really died, then."

And apparently, I was mostly free of bodily limitations, such as a stress response, release of hormones, and pain because I was, now, a ghost.

"Unfortunately, yes. It's true that your life on Earth is over. That was a big earthquake for a place that isn't know to get many earthquakes."

My life was really over. If somehow, I could get my bodily limitations back, I would be depressing myself by ruminating over how much of my life I had wasted trying to get somewhere, when it would end so quickly.

"Fortunately for us, that is, the corporation I represent, you have a choice. Two choices, to be exact. The decision is yours."

I looked into the man's eyes, expecting him to continue.

"One. You can choose to be reincarnated. Lose all memory of everything and be born again, as a human baby."

Hm. So reincarnation was real. Never would have expected.

"Two."

He unfolded another finger.

"You can choose to come work for us. Keep all your memories─your smarts, your skills, your knowledge─and help us build fantastic worlds for intelligent beings across universes to enjoy."

For the first time in our conversation, he seemed eager about something. Like there was something he cared about.

"If you choose to be reincarnated, you will temporarily be placed in what you might call 'heaven' while you wait your turn. Don't worry, you won't feel much while you're there. You won't even remember who you are. But you will feel good."

The way he described the place didn't sound good. Maybe that was on purpose. Maybe not. Either way, it didn't feel important at the time.

"I'd better let you know more about what we do. We design 'worlds.' These worlds serve as the backdrop to the kind of 'games' other companies create for people like you to enjoy."

While listening to the man's sales talk, I remembered how, as a high school student, I dreamt of working at a video game studio. I started watching coding tutorials. I bought an iPad to learn to illustrate on. I gave up on it all in about six months or so. I kept the iPad and coding tutorials and expensive development environments because, in my mind, I hadn't really given up.

"We're responsible for the environment, the fauna and flora, every sentient being who could make an appearance as a character, the history, and the rules of the universe such as the physics, mana, and divinity."

That sounds like pretty much everything, I thought. What else is left? The UI? The mini-map? The names of the missions?

"You'd be surprised. Let's see."

He pulled out some papers out of thin air.

"You were a MeTuber whose go-to content was playing 'Fantasy Survival.' That was one of ours. But it was Celestial Studios that turned it into a rogue-like survival game. I always thought it was best suited for an MMORPG."

"You made 'Fantasy Survival'?"

That's the game that changed my life, I thought.

A second after, I realized, I also died playing it.

"We're working on a 'sister world' for a DLC. Celestial Studios requested it. If you were to join us, you'd be working on it right away. Isn't that exciting?"

Intellectually, I know that would be exciting for me. Do I feel the excitement in my ethereal, transluscent body? Not so much.

He pulled out some papers, again, out of thin air.

"So what do you think? If you want to join us, just sign the papers here. Otherwise, go through that door over there."

I turned around, looking for the door. And there it was, a perfectly retangular doorway with a bright white light swirling in the middle. Right. Walk through that and I'll forget everything about myself and be born again as a human baby.

Do I want to go through life again? I asked myself.

The answer was pretty clear. No. I'd been lucky to escape the hole of depression I had created for myself in this life. Who knows if I could do it again. I might be put in a much worse situation. I wasn't risking that. Most importantly, I didn't think that the person who walked out that doorway would be me in any meaningful sense.

"Huh."

I turned back around, to see no one there. He had disappeared. The papers─contracts I'm assuming─were scattered on the floor, or whatever it was. The pitch black plane he, I, and the doorway were standing on.

I kneeled down look at the papers. A pen appeared in my hand.

"Hah."

[The signee agrees to be employed at Terra Cube.]

[Sign here. ______]

And nothing else. That was the contract.

What were the other papers then?

[Employee Copy]

[The signee agrees to be employed at Terra Cube.]

[Sign here. ______]

A copy for me.

[Employer Copy]

[The signee agrees to be employed at Terra Cube.]

[Sign here. ______]

Another copy for them.

I chuckled. Still leaning down, I reached towards the "floor," pen in hand, and signed each paper.

And that was the last I remember of that place.

Because the next time opened my eyes, I was lying in the middle of a wasteland.