The first thing I saw after my death was his ugly face. His face reminded me of some sort of unholy combination of gnome and leprechaun. The skin on his beardless face seemed stretched to cover his slightly chubby cheeks, leaving folds in his skin. His cheeks were rosy like a drunkard's. His medium-length, wispy, white hair seemed to float out in an unkempt tangle behind him, too light to be affected by gravity. His oversized ears and nose would dominate his features if it weren't for that grin. That toothy, shit-eating grin.
I said "See", but I couldn't truly see anything anymore. I no longer had eyes, nor the face they were socketed in. What I was sensing was a strand of his soul he was using to communicate with me. The only other thing I could "see" was a nebula-like wheel of massive proportions slowly rotating behind the man, sparkling in an array of fascinating colors. Here and there small wisps of colorful light joined or parted from the massive wheel. Aside from the man and the wheel, everything was black, I couldn't even sense myself. I got the sense, that after my death I had been sitting in the black expanse for some amount of time before being called to this location.
"I know I'm handsome, but are you going to keep gawking like that?" The man called out. I don't know how he ever came to the conclusion that he was handsome, perhaps he didn't own a mirror. Or maybe his physical body was more attractive than the hideous soul in front of me and he just wasn't aware of the appearance of his soul. Maybe he said it ironically. I concluded it must be the last one.
Snapping out of my stupor I said, "Sorry, the scenery behind you is so captivating." I had decided to pointedly ignore his self-indulgent statement. Although I didn't have a mouth to speak with and I couldn't hear the words I said, he seemed to understand me anyway.
He seemed a little disappointed that I didn't compliment his appearance, the grin on his face weakened just a little. "Ah yes, the wheel of reincarnation is indeed a spectacular sight to behold, it's a shame you don't have eyes to see its full splendor." He replied as he turned to gaze at the wheel.
"What am I doing here? Last I remember there was a sharp pain and then nothing and now ... I assume I died?" I asked when he hadn't said anything for a while. Or maybe it was a short pause. It's really hard to keep track of time without a body.
"Ah straight to business, I like the cut of your gib." He said, "Yes you died. after you died I brought you here, I'm one of the many Lords of Reincarnation. My name is ..." The next thing that came out of his mouth was an ear-shattering cacophony of gibberish that I couldn't have pronounced if I tried. But it seemed to start with an 'N' sound.
After regathering my wits that had just gotten scattered again, I probed respectfully "Is it alright if I call you Nathan, my Lord?"
Something changed in his face, his grin seemed to have gotten wider, and I swear I heard the sound of breaking porcelain. For just a moment I sensed a hint of menace sent in my direction and my soul shuddered. I didn't know it could shudder. It seemed as though no being had before dared to give him a nickname, at least, they didn't survive for long afterward if they did. After a moment, he restrained his intent and responded, "Yes, Nathan will do fine for now." I resolved myself in that instant to never use his new nickname unless absolutely necessary.
We both gave each other a moment to return to calm before he asked, "I'll need to look at your file to see what kind of reincarnation to assign you, name please?"
I got the strange sense that he already knew exactly who I was, but I responded diligently anyway, "It's Tommy Johnson, sir."
"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy." Nathan seemed to contemplate for a moment, "Do you realize how many Tommy Johnsons there are in the universe? Narrow it down for me, will you?"
"Well I'm from Earth." I dumbly replied. Nathan actually facepalmed right in front of me and then slowly rubbed his temples. After Supplying him with my country, city, zip code, and street, he finally seemed satisfied. He made motions as if he was sorting through a gigantic filing cabinet I couldn't see, after a moment he paused and seemed to withdraw something that he touched to his forehead.
"Ah yes, Tommy Johnson, I remember you now, I really put you through the ringer with your first incarnation. A body with multiple chronic conditions, divorced and abusive parents, absolutely average intelligence ..." Nathan rattled off.
As he listed off my many shortcomings and even claimed credit for them, I felt that I should be angry, but I wasn't. Maybe souls can't feel anger. Fear, but not anger. I found this to be a strange contradiction as they both cause an adrenaline rush in the human body. Or maybe I wasn't actually angry, but I should be. The being that was the cause of my suffering on Earth was standing right in front of me. I was no stranger to anger. After accumulating various sufferings, rage constantly bubbled in my chest, held in like a dam at maximum capacity. Unlike a certain green-skinned rage monster, it wasn't a superpower for me. During various incidents, the rage would threaten to overflow, but could only be released slowly like water through a half-open overflow sluice that can't open any farther due to innocent bystanders downstream. It was a very uncomfortable feeling. During the one incident it did actually overflow, it didn't give me the strength to smack down the offenders, I shut down instead. It was at this moment of contemplation that I realized the burning anger I had possessed for as long as I could remember was no longer there. Small blessings of being a soul without physical form I guess.
I finally came back from my introspection to catch the last of Nathan's ramblings, "... and to top it all off I stuck your female soul in a male body for kicks and giggles." He then looked at me expectantly. I was absolutely gob-smacked that the reason for that particular suffering was "kicks and giggles."
"Can you please not do that again sir? Aside from everything else, people aren't exactly understanding." I asked hopefully.
"Fortunately for you, you've accumulated enough suffering in this life, that your next life will be a wish-fulfillment life. I can't mess with you in this next life if I wanted to, maybe I'll get you in the next one." He buoyantly claimed. "So what do you want, a castle full of gold? Do you want to be a princess? Maybe you want to take revenge on some souls from your last life? You could be a wizard Harry, or even a hairy wizard. All is possible."
I contemplated for a moment, and then hesitantly asked, "Can I be a cultivator, sir?"
Nathan gave me a serious stare, or as serious as it could be with that stupid grin. At this point, I was paying attention to his eyes which contained his expressions far better than that frozen grin did. "Are you sure that's what you want? This is supposed to be a positive experience to help offload some of the stress from the previous life. Cultivation isn't exactly recommended for the first reincarnation, especially after accumulating as much suffering as you have in your first life." Nathan paused before continuing, "There are only two paths for a spirit to ascend to a being such as myself, but really there is only one. The path that is nearly guaranteed to result in ascension is simply to keep reincarnating and live nine hundred and ninety-nine lives of suffering. If we Lords do our jobs right, we balance the suffering with enough positive lives to prevent your soul from self-destructing. And so all you need to do is live your lives and you have a guaranteed ascension. On the other hand, you could theoretically cultivate to a high enough level to ascend, but it's impossible. Every cultivator has died before ascending without exception. The battles they experience can sometimes outright destroy the soul, even if the soul survives, the experiences a cultivator accumulates over their long lifespans are likely to self-destruct the soul when it no longer has a vessel, similar to when a soul reincarnates into too many lives of suffering. I would hate to see a soul cut down so soon without at least having one positive experience first."
I couldn't see the face of my soul, but I think Nathan could, as I gathered all my determination I could see a hint of something akin to pride being reflected in Nathan's eyes. "Yes sir, that's exactly what I want."
Nathan continued to stare at me with a hard expression in his eyes before finally sighing. "Alright, you'll need some help to have any chance of succeeding. I'm willing to help you, but it won't be for free. I'm going to need you to do something for me in the future back on Earth."
"What could someone like me possibly do to help someone of your caliber?" I asked cautiously
"Nothing you need to worry about for now. The task in itself isn't dangerous, but there may be competitors, you'll need to cultivate diligently. Do you accept?" He asked dismissively.
Suddenly I felt like I was making a deal with the devil and the price was my soul. After chewing it over in my thoughts for a few moments I replied, "Alright, I agree, but it better not be anything indecent like slaughtering innocents."
"Nothing like that, though you may need to get rid of that attitude, your hands will be dripping with the blood of innocents soon enough whether you want it or not, if you want to survive that is," Nathan stated. "Alright, now that you have accepted, what help do you think you need to cultivate to a high level?"
Surprised by the question, I asked "You aren't just going to strap me with a one-size-fits-all solution and send me on my way?"
Nathan chuckled, "No, no, every soul is different, if I help you too much it could be harmful instead."
Contemplating, I slowly uttered, "Okay, I think I want a system like in those novels I read, but nothing fancy. I don't want it to just give me handouts. I just want to see my stats, see hints on how to improve them, and maybe get quests to point me in the right direction, but all the rewards should be real-world items that I obtain through the quest, not handouts. Is that something you can do?"
Nathan enthusiastically responded, "Absolutely, I just finished designing just such a system, should fit you perfectly. What else do you need?"
After giving it some consideration, "I'll need a body with above average physique, spirit root, and so on, but don't make it overpowered, I don't want to attract the attention of other jealous cultivators. I'll also need to be born to a family with some amount of background so I can be protected in the beginning stages."
Nathan's eyes went blank, it was kind of creepy, especially with that grin still plastered on his face. A short while later he came back to himself. "Done and done, I've found the perfect body for you. Her name is Zoey Seeker, daughter to a family of wealthy merchants in the country of Eternia."
Shocked, I asked, "You're going to insert me into an already living person?"
Nathan nonchalantly responded, "But of course, most children are soulless for the first several years of their life, that's why no one remembers the first few years, the soul has trouble incorporating the memories that are already present. Zoey happens to be one such child, and it's about time she received her soul, and that soul is going to be you!"
"I guess that makes sense," I reluctantly replied. I still had the feeling he was kicking the poor girl's soul out of her body to insert me instead.
"Before we begin we need to discuss a few things. First, this world is familiar with reincarnators, they may even recognize the signs of you reincarnating into Zoey, don't get rattled, you don't need to hide it, just don't mention me. You'll be reincarnating at a young age so you won't be able to cultivate for a while, but you can still prepare, don't be idle. The system I'm giving you is going to be attached to your soul, if you somehow die and reincarnate again, you'll still have it. It has all the features we discussed, plus I've mixed a portion of my consciousness with an unformed spirit to create a basic artificial intelligence. You can discuss your next courses of action with it and take advantage of my experience, and if you really need to, you can contact me through the system. I probably won't respond quickly though, I'm a busy man."
I nodded to acknowledge I understood, or I think I nodded anyway. Nathan seemed to get the message and he continued. "Reincarnators usually don't possess memories of their past lives, in this way, there really is no difference between the 1st incarnation or any reincarnation." I frowned at the thought of losing my memories. Even if they weren't pleasant, they were still my memories, they made me who I am, fortunately, Nathan clarified further, "But there are exceptions, and you're going to be one of them. I need you to retain your character and your memory of this conversation so you can't renege on our deal. So we'll preserve your core memories, the memories that make you who you are. Other than those core memories you'll lose all memories of your traumas and vices to give you a fresh start, you'll also lose the majority of your junk memories, only a few non-core memories will remain to give you a contiguous story of who you were in your past life. You'll also retain any skills you developed in your past life so you can focus on your cultivation. A memory or two of each skill will remain so that you know that you have them."
This still terrified me, but it was better than losing all of my memories. I didn't think the skills would be any help though, but at least I wouldn't have to learn math again. Taking a moment to calm myself, I said "I understand."
"Good, are you ready to begin your new life?" He asked.
Nervously, I said, "Ready as I'm going to get." Or at least, that's what I wanted to say. As soon as I got the word "Ready" out, I found myself tugged at an unimaginable speed towards the wheel of reincarnation. As it began to enlarge in my view, before finally encompassing all of my sight, I realized that the lights that made up the nebula were other souls and soul fragments. I could even spot a few fledgling souls pulling themselves together from the plentiful fragments. It quickly became apparent that the speed at which the wheel was was much more rapid than it seemed from a distance, even faster than the speed Nathan flung me at the wheel. The wheel was incomprehensibly massive, and that size disguised the speed it was spinning. As I entered the current, I found myself tugged by an even larger force. It was a very strange sensation, I didn't have any physical form, but the tugs felt as if they were pulling on my heart, the same one that stopped beating and got me here in the first place. At first, I thought I would drift along with the current and randomly get thrown out at one of the portals I could now see lining the edge of the wheel. I didn't know how I was supposed to get to Zoey Seeker specifically, but then, as if my soul was on autopilot, I began weaving in and out of the other souls drifting in the current unnaturally. Clearly, Nathan had set my course already.
I didn't have long to admire Nathan's handiwork, however. At this time, I started to notice I couldn't remember a few things. Like when you're searching for the name of an old friend and it's simply gone. I knew this was going to happen, but it was still terrifying. However, as various traumas disappeared from my mind the process gradually became comfortable. It felt as if I had been baptized and made anew. By the time I began approaching a portal, my mind was clearer than it ever had been, I felt free and unburdened. As I drifted through the portal I was excited and expectant of the adventures that awaited me.
Unbeknownst to me at that time, Nathan muttered, "One more accomplice, odds of success are now 24%, it's still not enough." As he watched my soul slip through the portal to Eternia.