Chapter 0: the deal

Two men are talking to each other. A tall man wearing all black looks down at the other. He has a wide-open smile, from cheek to cheek. He has a long white beard with short white hair almost completely covered by his wide-rimmed black hat. 

The most striking thing about this man is empty, never-blinking white eyes, no pupils, no irises, just empty space.

The slightly shorter man wears an all-white office shirt with a tie and black pants. He has short blond hair. His muscles are so big that said shirt has a difficult time containing them. He wears opaque glasses, which make it impossible to see his eyes. 

The man in black begins the conversation all the while having a jovial, cheerful tone of voice.

"John, do not worry yourself about a singular grain of sand. Ohohoho...why these few seconds of me speaking to you, many worlds have been eaten by the void, never to be seen again ohohoho."

The man in white, "John," folds his arms and looks up to the man in black. "I don’t care. I’m sick of seeing it happen again and again. Even if it takes everything, I will change this one singular world."

The man in black shakes his head. "John, listen to reason. Asking me to directly intervene was already a lot. But there is still hope. If the world crumbles, you need not pay your debt... but if the world does not, you will pay it. Fate will make it happen."

John stays silent, and the man in black speaks again. "Even with your plan directly intervene yourself, guiding the new soul you have convinced to go into this world. He may still die, and if he does, his soul will be lost."

"I told him the risks, and he still accepted! I can not back out now. If I lose, this world, and all its souls will be gone, never to have the chance of having their paradise."

The man in black slightly bends down and is face to face with John. "But if you win...you will pay the price." John does not flinch; he is determined.

"Ohohoho very well John do as you like. You have my full support, as always." The man in black taps John on the shoulder and disappears behind him.

John stands in his office alone. He sits back down in his chair and rings the bell on his table. A woman appears before him, and he gets back to work. Sending souls to their paradise, to find a world from an infinite catalog of worlds that will specifically cater to this soul and so many others, except for a man named Carlos Viega. That soul is on a mission to save the world of Etherius.