Johan Patel was an ordinary 18-year-old from Valsad, Gujarat—average in school, middle-class, living with his father and grandmother after his parents' divorce. His mother had moved to Mumbai, and their relationship had become strained over the years.
He wasn't a hero. He wasn't special.
But on his 18th birthday, standing on that train platform waiting for his mother's rare visit, he saw a little boy stumble toward the tracks.
No one else moved.
So he did
Johan's sneakers hit the gravel as the train's horn screamed. His ankle snapped on impact, but he barely registered the pain just lunged forward and shoved the child back up into the crowd.
Hands grabbed for him—his father's most of allbut fate had other plans.
His father slipped, and fell next to him.
And in that split second, Johan made his choice.
he shoved his father to the side, pushing him off the rails on the side gravel
The train's brakes shrieked but...
it was too late.
The last thing he saw was his father's hand reaching for him, his face twisted in horror.
Then darkness.
Johan found himself on a hill under a starless sky, surrounded by countless others lying motionless in the grass. Time didn't pass here. There was only the sky, and the memories he couldn't escape. He just layed there he didnt want to confront his own thaughts and remember his fathers face before he died or any memories because if he did he wouldent stop thinking about them.
Like the fight he'd had with his father in 10th grade—the cruel words he'd spat over something as stupid as a phone.
"You don't understand anything! You're just an old man who doesn't know how the world works anymore!"
That night, he'd gone to apologize—only to find his father crying. Not when his own father had died. Not when his wife left. But that night. Because of him.
Now, in this endless field, Johan wished he could take it all back, wished he could talk with the person who helped him grow into a man but no... its to late now.
Then suddenly—silence broke.
The millions of bodies vanished. Johan found himself sitting in a chair before a being of pure light.
GOD'S VOICE:
"You've lingered too long," it said. "why are you still trying to exist knowing you cant change anything?"
JOHAN:
"Where... am I?"
GOD:
"Limbo. Where souls linger when they refuse to move on. It's been millennia since your death."
JOHAN:
"My father—"
GOD:
"Lived he spent his remaining years happy and sad at your early death. The boy you saved became a surgeon he saved hundreds. Your sacrifice was remembered.. then was forgotten. As all things are."
A pause. Then—
GOD:
"You were a good man your death was unjust but also necessory. I'll grant you a new life. Pick any world."
JOHAN:
"Marvel. But I'd be too weak there."
GOD (AMUSED):
"What if I gave you a... system?"
JOHAN:
"Make it luck-based. With a shop. And that universe psychics can't detect it."
GOD:
"Fair terms. Enjoy your game."
Darkness swallows him—