Everything around me was pitch black.

  After I had died this was all that had been presented to me, nothing but an endless void.

  Sadly for me though, my mind was still intact and while I didn't have any strong belief in any religion, I considered my current state to be a hell that would only worsen.

  Trapped with nothing but my mind, it was only a matter of time before my sanity was gone too.

  I already didn't know how long I had been in this state yet it felt like forever.

  The longer I was there, the more I was reminded of a time my life looked similar to this.

  It was back when I first arrived at Dark Cove.

  Compared to other trainees who managed to adapt quite quickly, I was doing badly in both training and studies.

  This resulted in me frequently having mental breakdowns that blended the nightmares in my mind with the suffocating solitude of my reality.

  Like many things in life however that did not stay the same.

  All of my suffering crescendoed until I became numb enough to stop caring about luxuries like comfort and friends.

  Instead, I found an ideology to latch on to and a purpose to pursue.

  A reason to keep living and a reason to keep improving.

  It was to repay the kindness of Dark Cove for taking me in when all others had abandoned me.

  Years later, I was among the most promising students and my goal was getting closer to my grasp.

  While many others decided to engage in friendships and hobbies, I spent all my time bettering myself for this goal of mine.

  I thought I was completely ready to take on whatever was thrown at me by the end of it all.

  But then came the day of the mission.

  I still didn't know why since it was so out of character for me, but I decided to interact with someone else for the sake of my curiosity.

  After all, what could be the harm?

  When I was presented with the perfect opportunity, the harm revealed itself.

  I hesitated because of that interaction, otherwise everything else was set and I would've been done.

  Regardless, my loyalty to the organization at the time was very evident so they gave me a position even in my mostly useless state.

  The position also came with much fewer restrictions on my freedom because I was no longer seen as an agent, in other words, a threat.

  This came in handy later as my constant flashbacks to the mission made me obsessed with the game device that the child was using.

  In time I acquired one and without much to do as a record keeper I immersed myself in its intricacies.

  Later I wondered what else I was missing out on, so I researched and found much more than I ever thought was out there to interest me.

  The messages sent through all these things painted the pictures of two specific roles, the villain and the hero.

  One was the leader of evil and the other the leader of good.

  I had become familiar with the nature of Dark Cove's business after looking over the records for so long but the connection between them and the villains wasn't made until later.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  One day I decided to look over the record of my mission and I found that my targets weren't actually who they were made out to be.

  First off, I noticed that the current president who came across as a very powerful authority in Dark Cove's hierarchy had personally ordered this hit.

  A little more research showed that the two targets were planning on running for president and vice president together.

  I had to accept Dark Cove were villains, and if I still chose to follow them, I would be evil.

  The position of hero presented itself more and more clearly to me, but I still resisted.

  A hero was a leader, and I was not.

  All my life I did what others told me and avoided people every chance I got.

  Plus, I was still indebted to Dark Cove for taking me in and raising me.

  To me not repaying a debt was greater than any other evil that someone could commit, so I held off doing anything for a little longer.

  That was until my knowledge of what a normal life looked like grew, and I realized I didn't owe Dark Cove anything.

  I found out all agents were taken right before they could be put into orphanages, and the life promised there was magnitudes better than life at Dark Cove.

  The debt I'd been trying for so long to repay had actually never existed, so in the end I had to take action.

  Even if I wasn't a leader, I would at least stop being a follower.

  The torture that came after gave me second thoughts but after all was said and done, I couldn't feel prouder about my decision.

  My actions probably helped the world by a considerable degree, so even though I didn't have the best life out there, I made it better for everyone else.

  An admirable end for one in my position.

  With not much more to think of, I continued floating in the void for what I thought would be eternity, before something changed.

  In the distance of my vision, a speck of white light appeared.

  At first, it was so small I thought my eyes, or whatever I was looking through since I seemed to have no body, was playing a trick on me.

  Then it got bigger, and bigger, until it looked to be swallowing the entire void whole.

  Before long I realized the mistake I had made in my earlier observation.

  It wasn't getting bigger; I was just getting closer at what seemed like incredible speeds.

  Then, like a flashbang, everything went white.

  *****

  "Wake up Mr. Williams."

  My surroundings had suddenly changed, revealing a vintage office with mahogany furniture and leather seating.

  Standing before me was a man whose attire did not match the vibe of the room at all.

  He was dressed in a long white robe which could be best described by the word "angelic".

  Being less surprised or as cautious as I should have been, I asked the man the first thing on my mind.

  "Who are you?"

  Without any visible change in his expression, he answered in a calm and amicable tone.

  "I am an afterlife administrator, and I will be guiding you through the special circumstances you have found yourself in."

  'Oh good, there's more to life than floating around in an empty void' I thought as my interest peaked at the mention of the so called 'special circumstances'.

  None of what was happening displayed any semblance of normality and under normal circumstances, I would've no doubt been greatly astonished, however the extended stay in the void had really exhausted my emotional output, and a happy thought was all that I could react with.

  "As you may have noticed already, your body is not quite there which may be a bit disorientating," The afterlife administrator continued explaining, "That is because you are currently in your spirit form. For a bit of background, after death, you automatically revert to your spirit form, which normally means you lose all memories that you gathered and wander your world for another body to occupy."

  "And I assume I'm not normal since I remember everything," I added.

  "Correct, due to the enormous influence you exerted onto your world, you are now what we call an ascender talent."

  'Oh yeah... that whole situation happened.' I thought before asking another question.

  "Speaking of my world, what ended up happening over there after I released that information?"

  I was curious about being an ascender talent, but I felt that knowing of Earth took precedence over that.

  "Ah, well you see it has been about 60 years since your death and much has changed since your unfortunate end,"

  '60 years?' I thought, 'Was I really out there for that long?'

  It made me feel weird knowing that my age had quadrupled, but before I could think any more deeply about the subject, I was immediately taken out of my thoughts hearing what the man had to say.

  "The information that you leaked fueled the start of a Civil War in your country after a man pretending to have been the whistle-blower, in other words; you, gathered the masses to attack your nation's government."

  "..."

  It wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I did what I did, but ultimately I believed it would be good for the people.

  I told myself that over a long span of time, a strong and uncorrupt government would be worth the chaos that the war would've caused in the short term.

  However, the afterlife administrator was not finished there.

  "After a few years, the global economy of Earth was doing very poorly so the other nations, figuring that a swift finish to the war would help recover it, joined in on the war. Unfortunately, that led to the war being scaled up in terms of technology, from guns and tanks to the city erasing nukes."

  'Definitely much worse than I expected, but then again the effects of a strong gov-' and before I was able to finish the thought, the afterlife administrator said one last thing.

  "Your world is now a wasteland with very few and dispersed survivors."

  "..."

  I couldn't believe it, my efforts to help the world had led to maybe the worst possible outcome.