Winning the Lottery

You snap awake just minutes before your alarm was set to go off. You shut it off, heart thundering in your chest. What you just witnessed was no dream.

"Congratulations," it had said to you, though you hadn't been sure it had really said anything, the sound apparently coming from within your own brain, "you've won the Galactic Lottery! To receive your gift, please continue to exist for at least five hundred more galactic time units!"

Looking around your bedroom, sweating now, though your heart finally slowed to a canter, you are confident that it was no dream. You really did win some sort of gift -- you can feel it within you. You give a surprised chuckle as you find that the gift was...