1 The Power to Create

Tao Jue, aged twenty-six, suffering from an incurable condition with no family left alive, laid on a hospital bed, defeated.

He had both mentally and physically had enough of this world, wishing to be moved on to greener pastures; the next life and all it contains.

Slowly raising his hand with difficulty, he pressed it onto the nurse's hand that looked after and favoured him throughout the years, he did not wish for her to be sad about his passing, but happy he no longer suffered.

The nurse, attempting to hold the tears in, nodded her head in understanding. She knew her patient better than his own family did when they were alive, as she spent almost every day with him.

Holding his hand, he slowly passed into the next life, hopefully a better one. But not before he wished it in prayer. "If there is a God, allow me a better life in the next"

Closing his eyes, he fell into eternal sleep.

----

Tao Jue woke up feeling strange, his intuition told him he was moving at a very fast speed, but unable to open his eyes, he could not confirm it. There was no wind, no physical feeling in his body, and nothing he could see, but he knew he was somehow alive and well.

Unsure what to do, he decided to rest his senses and sleep, hoping to have an answer by the time he awakens.

Little did Tao Jue know, the 'little sleep' he had, left him unconscious for years.

Just as he woke up, his eye lids slowly opened to witness the sight before him; void, all around. A black space filled with nothing but himself, in his original body with no ailments or pain to speak of.

Just as he was in confusion, a multicoloured element in the form of string materialised within his fingertips. Now even more bewildered, he looked at his palms only to see a foreign energy seeping from within his body, seemingly alive and moving, wriggling through his body like thin worms.

"What the..."

He attempted to study this energy, aiming in a direction of space and pointing his finger, producing nothing.

Unsure how this energy works, he experimented with it without any success. A few hours later, he was able to circulate it throughout his body but still had no idea what it was used for.

With nothing to do, he decided to take his time figuring out his new life. Although this was not what he had expected, he thought if this is where everyone goes in their next life, he should be able to figure it out like them too, he just needed time.

Tao Jue wrapped himself in a ball position, falling asleep once again.

In his sleep, he dreamt of meeting another person, being so lonely in space was taxing on the mind, even more so than his previous life in constant pain. He thought about the characters in typical religious afterlife theories, Lucifer, God and the archangels. 'Where were they? Perhaps I've sinned too much? I did swear frequently' He thought.

As Tao Jue was dreaming about meeting others, the foreign multicoloured power within him started flowing from his core region towards his fingertips. Unconsciously, he pointed in a direction within space and an object formed. The outline of a goat-human hybrid, with wings twice the size of its body behind him slowly fading into existence. Behind him, was four other silhouettes of various sizes, one had a female-looking body while the others were males, all of different species.

----

Another few years had passed since Tao Jue fell asleep, and he woke up in a similar manner as the last. Slowly, his eyelids opened, and his sense came back to him.

After opening his eyes, he once again saw a black void. He planned to take his time to master the foreign power dwelling within his body. That was, until he sensed movement and turned around. Five silhouettes were coming into creation, with inhuman-like features and some hybrid human and creature monsters.

"D-Demons?!" He yelled in panic. He had no idea what was happening nor what these things were, but there were a few he could directly recognise, and instead of a sigh of relief, made him sweat even more. This was because the giant seven-foot-tall demon with blue and black wings resembled a demon named in Christian mythology; The great sword-wielding fallen angel Azazel. On top of that, he spotted others he faintly recognised, but could not confirm without their facial features. Afterall, he wished for any chance of his conjecture being untrue.

Whilst watching these beings come into existence from the feet upwards, he found something in common with all of them.

"D-Didn't I just dream about these beings?" He thought in perplexity.

He looked down towards his hands in confusion, spotting a tattoo depicting each of them on his right wrist.

"This power... IS CREATION?"