The Hand of God Would Smother All

At the end of a life spent meaninglessly there is a brief moment of respite in the thought that it will all soon be over, and yet with the quick tightening of a finger the world does not fade. When Henry awakens in another world he is not met with purpose, but rather an all-consuming hunger for a life he was previously unable to live and the power necessary to take what he feels should always already have been his.

Yet he possesses no strength upon arrival in this new world, only lapses of memory found in an inability to die. There is no forced compulsion to consume or to destroy, and yet the feeling of elation at the thought of growing stronger, of becoming unopposable, of satisfying his every whim, eventually becomes something more. This fate is avoidable, and yet Henry would greedily continue to part ways with what was once his self.

This story isn’t about coming into power, even if it does occur. That has been approached and reapproached far too many times in exactly the same ways. This is about the aftermath. The lingering effects of what happens when power is allowed to pool and fester, to grow and choke out those who would oppose it in the endless quest for more. The point of this story is to explore what it means for someone to take all without satisfaction and the consequences of an endless lust for power and the growth that accompanies it even despite acquiring immortality on day one.