"Where am I?"

There is nothing here but absolute darkness.

Alright. First thing first, let's calm down and try to remember what happened before I got caught in these bizarre situations. My last memories were going on a school trip with my classmates. We boarded a jumbo jet to our destination. Where was our destination again? Never mind, that wasn't important. What is important was what happened after. In the middle of our flight, while we were joking with each other, the pilot spoke to us through the speakers. Emergency flight suits and oxygen masks were deployed immediately. For some reason, he sounded panicked and terrified. If I remember correctly, he said something about a dark portal that appeared out of nowhere and told us to brace for impact.

The next thing I knew, I was here.

"Where are the others?"

I spoke my mind in that infinite darkness.

Suddenly—

A red line… no, a red thread appeared before me. It stretches so long that I can't see its end nor its beginning. Next, more red thread appeared before me. From one to two, from two to ten, then hundreds, millions, and perhaps infinites. I'm not good at visual numbering, but those red threads are just so many to count. They're connected to each other. Some brighter than the other while some dimmer than the other.

I am trapped in the middle of those mysteries.

What are those?

… Or rather, what is this place?

Why am I even here?

So many unanswered questions.

"What…?"

I can see floating red words that say, "You have received dharma—power, truth, or teaching of something."

Dharma…

What I say next might be surprising, but I can see a mysterious power within my soul. I never even knew that I have a soul. To me, the soul is nothing but a make-believe concept to scare children. At this very moment, I've been proven wrong.

.

"At the cost of a sum of karma, you can reincarnate a soul (even yourself) with bearings of the previous life."

.

"For every action, there will be consequences. At the cost of a sum of karma, you can rebound any cause or effect below your paid karma."

.

"At the cost of reaping the souls of others, you will receive those souls' karma."

Are those my power?

Karma...

I could see my naked body is tied up loosely by karma. Little by little, I can see my own soul. For some reason, it has value. My soul has a karma value of 30. I'm not sure what that number means though. I'm sure there is a reason for that number.

"What should I do now?"

For a moment, I thought about my past life.

I was a gamer through and through. I have always loved playing video games. To be honest, other than that, nothing is notable about me. Even as a gamer, I didn't stand out either. I had a kind and loving family, some nice friends, and of course enemies as well. Even though nothing is special about me, I was happily minding my own business. In the first place, does one need to stand out among the rest? No, right? Therefore, the notion of being special is not of importance.

There is no regret, however—

I want to go back.

I want to play more games.

… Can I go back?

I'm not dead yet, right?

"Perhaps…"

When I looked around, I had an idea. Some of those threads are tangled, making a mess. That thread of karma is also connected to mine. My power is related to karma, then this karma thread must be broken. Maybe, just maybe, if I fixed this tangled thread, I could gain enough karma points to get back to my own world.

Fine!

There is nothing I can do here anyway.

I will reincarnate with an objective to find my way back home!

… Or find a place where I will belong to.

I raise my left hand around my head and cross my index finger and middle finger. For some peculiar reason, I know what to do. This feeling of déjà vu makes me feel unease, but there is nothing I can do other than moving forward. There is no going back anymore.

"Dharma!"

A mysterious bright red—crimson light envelopes my whole being. I can feel the power flowing throughout my soul, drowning this whole infinite place. The tangled thread of karma that become my target loosens a little. The thread that binds me also becomes loose. I am free…

My thread of karma forces itself to bind with that core of the tangled thread. The crimson light becomes brighter and brighter, blinding my vision with nothing but crimson.

"Infinite Karma Reincarnation!"

And so, I woke up.