Fire doesn't arrive all at once.
First, there's the sound—metal screaming as it folds in on itself, a noise so violent it feels like it's tearing the world apart. Then the heat, blooming outward like a living thing, crawling across my skin, into my lungs. The air itself burns. I remember thinking, in a strangely calm way, So this is how it ends.
The car spun. Glass exploded. Light swallowed everything.
And then—
Nothing.
No pain. No heat. No weight.
I woke up standing.
That alone should have terrified me. I had been burning moments ago. Dying. And yet here I was, upright, unharmed, my body whole. I looked down at myself instinctively. No blood. No burns. No smoke-stained clothes. Just… me.
Around me stretched an endless white void. Not bright enough to blind, not dim enough to feel empty—just infinite, smooth, and unreal, like reality had been scrubbed clean and forgotten to be rebuilt.
"Hello?" My voice echoed faintly, though there were no walls to reflect it.
Something laughed.
Not cruel. Not kind. Just… bored.
The sound came from everywhere and nowhere at once. The white space rippled, folding inward, until a shape began to form—not a body exactly, more like an idea pretending to be one. A shifting silhouette of light and shadow, eyes appearing where eyes didn't belong, blinking in lazy amusement.
"You took that remarkably well," the entity said. Its voice layered over itself, as if several beings were speaking in perfect unison. "Most scream. Cry. Beg. You just… looked around."
"I'm dead," I said slowly.
"Yes."
"That was fast."
"You were on fire. Fires tend to be efficient."
I exhaled shakily. "So. God?"
The thing tilted its head—or at least, the concept of a head. "A god. Not the God. Titles are flexible where I come from."
"Which is?"
"Outside," it replied. "Beyond. Somewhere very dull."
That made me laugh, sharp and disbelieving. "You dragged me into the afterlife because you were bored?"
"Dragged is such an ugly word." It floated closer, eyes narrowing with interest. "I noticed you. You were thinking about fictional universes while dying. That's rare."
"…I was?"
"Yes. Comics. Cartoons. Stories about gods, monsters, chaos." It smiled without a mouth. "You have excellent taste."
I swallowed. If this was a hallucination, it was a vivid one.
"So what happens now?" I asked. "Judgment? Heaven? Reincarnation as a worm?"
"Reincarnation, yes," it said brightly. "Worm, no. I'm feeling generous."
The void shimmered, and three glowing symbols appeared in the air between us—simple, elegant, absolute.
"Three wishes," the entity said. "No loopholes. No trickery. I'm bored, not malicious."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Three wishes.
Every story I'd ever read screamed at me to be careful. To think. To not rush this. And for once in my life, my brain actually cooperated.
I didn't think about money. Or immortality. Or fixing my old life.
I thought about escape.
I thought about power.
I thought about a yellow triangle with a top hat and a laugh that broke reality.
I took a breath. "Okay. I know exactly what I want."
The entity's eyes gleamed. "Oh, this will be fun."
First Wish
"I wish to become Bill Cipher's sister," I said clearly, forcing my voice not to shake. "After the Flat Dimension was destroyed. I survived alongside Bill. I possess all the same powers as Bill Cipher—but without the insanity."
The void went very, very still.
"…Interesting," the entity murmured. "You want chaos without madness. A being of pure lawless potential who can still think."
"Yes."
"And familial connection?"
"I'm not becoming his clone," I said. "I'm becoming his equal. His sister."
Silence stretched.
Then the entity laughed again—this time with genuine delight.
"Granted."
Something clicked inside me.
Memories I had never lived slammed into place—dimensions collapsing into lines, lines folding into nothing, screaming geometry, the sensation of existence ending and restarting wrong. I felt reality like a toy in my hands, felt equations where bones should be, symbols etched into the concept of my being.
But my thoughts stayed clear.
Focused.
Sharp.
Second Wish
"I wish for the ability to travel between fictional universes," I continued without hesitation. "Between different multiverses entirely."
The entity raised what might have been an eyebrow. "Even beyond your own narrative structure?"
"Yes."
"Dangerous."
"I know."
"Then you'll love it.""Granted."
The white void fractured for a split second, revealing impossible colors—worlds stacked on worlds, stories bleeding into one another like spilled ink. I felt pathways open, doors that didn't exist a moment ago now waiting to be used.
Third Wish
I didn't pause this time.
"I wish to be a God," I said. "With domains over knowledge, destruction, death, space, and magic."
The entity studied me.
"No fear?"
"I died once already," I replied. "Fear feels inefficient now."
A slow, approving nod.
"Very well. But power must obey context." The entity waved a hand, and rules burned themselves into my mind. "As Bill Cipher, your power will be limited in certain realities—Gravity Falls, the Third Dimension, worlds that resist conceptual entities."
I nodded. I'd expected that.
"And when you travel to other multiverses using your own ability, your power will scale down to what the universe can tolerate."
Fair.
"But," it finished, smiling wide, "in your original universe, your power will be absolute."
The words hit like thunder.
"Granted."
The white void shattered.
Reality folded in on itself, yellow light and symbols spiraling around me as I felt myself become—not flesh, not energy, but an idea with will. A god shaped by chaos, sharpened by thought, unbound by a single story.
The last thing I heard before the universe snapped into place was the entity's voice, distant and amused.
"Try not to break everything too quickly."
I smiled.
No promises.