"Let's see how my chosen hero is faring," Life, a being similar to Death, shivered in anticipation and chuckled at its own words as the line that it turned into spun twisted in all directions to fill out space that it had made. Unlike Death, Lie didn't need a constant refresher of a soul's life. Instead, Lie preemptively prepared everything with a single passive thought as a rather large humanoid outline burned itself into existence within the boundary that it had created.
"I thought I was going to die because... of those... little...", the new and very loud soul paused after taking a good look at its surroundings.
"I'm dead aren't I?", the burly spirit looked at its glowing minty green and mostly blue body and pointed at itself. A few spots of yellow, orange, and red danced around the fingers and chest regions of the soul's form.
"You are," Life stifled a laugh.
"Fucken hell. If I ever see them again, I'm going to teach those little bastards a lesson... Whoa. You are a very beautiful miss," the new and very loud soul paused after taking a good look at the person who answered it.
Life smiled and then said, "Did you call me Miss?"
"Oh. I'm sorry. Are you a guy or, um, What would you like me to call you? I'm very bad with these kinds of things. Um, by things I mean, uh, you have a real swell outfit. Also, are you like a magician or something, you keep changing," the soul backpedaled. Life stood up from its crystalline throne and approached the unnaturally large frame of a soul that could be male or female based on its proportions and projected musculature. Life narrowed its eyes with a smile as it trapped the soul against a wall that magically erupted behind it.
"I am not of any particular gender or species until I've chosen to be so. Thus, you may think of me as you wish, and I will be. For that is the nature of life...", lie ran its fingers across the large soul's indistinct face and shapely arms.
"So go wild," it then patted the burning spirits head like a human would a pet an adorable little dog. The soul smiled like a hooligan when the curvaceous body of Life slid right by. The wall was nowhere to be found as space didn't conform to any rules. Life simply sat back down on its throne that looked like glass. The soul smiled goofily and said, "Anything?"
"Yeah," Life replied as it passed by the burly soul. A being beyond a conventional deity and a human soul stared into what could be each other's eyes and smiled like idiots. Life broke the silence. From experience, people couldn't help but picture something or someone that embodied their ideals. More often than not, it was the form of a naked God, Goddess, or totem they believed in or someone they lusted after in their old life so Life simply asked outright, "Did you just picture me naked?"
"Haha, No. I imagined you as a few people who I thought were pretty funny characters. There was this super buff dude flexing in an anime I saw before I joined the military. Then I thought of a few other characters I thought would be funny. It's even better in person," The oddly muscular soul laughed and approached Life's throne like the situation was completely normal.
"Yes. You are my type", Life laughed and gave the big soul a gentle smile. With a wave of a hand, it brought a chair and table into existence so the soul could relax.
"Sorry, but I have a very nice lady back home. Thank you though," The soul said while putting up a hand that meant stop. Life crossed its pristine leg and fixed the light pink (almost white) outfit that just barely covered its human- like body saying, "I know. But you can't say that you've absolutely remained faithful now, can you? I know how you have lived. I even know the thoughts you've had throughout. Having a lady back home doesn't really matter to you, does it?"
"You don't know everything about me, I definitely am faithful," the soul puffed out its chest in confidence but deflated after seeing Life's even brighter smile.
"There has to be at least one instance," the soul shuddered upon hearing life's blanket statement that sounded more like a question.
"Wait a second," the soul put up a finger and delved into the pits of its memory.
"Huh. I guess. Yeah, no. I never cheated on my old lady but it feels weird," The soul sighed and rubbed its face. It thought about the past hoping to find a moment where it could prove Life wrong but instead, it found confusion and a rising sense of dissonance. The weirdness started with the most recent of events. Surrounding him was an old lady with graying hair, four adults and about half a dozen children, which included a baby in the arms of one of the adults. Jack, a muscular giant despite his advanced age, reached out to the baby to give it a kiss and what touched the newborn's rounded stomach was a prosthetic arm.
"I'm fine you bunch of morons. I just fell down a few steps, this is nothing," Jack said with a smile. He patted his fleshy bicep with the prosthetic arm.
"Hey! I'm not a moron, I'm smart," one of the children puffed.
"Yes, you are", one of the other kids in the corner of the room said with a roll of her eyes. The youngest child, aside from the newborn, stayed quiet at the side of Jack's hospital bed but the silence only made one of the other kids feel like something was off.
"You aren't going to say anything big mouth, what are you doing over there," the kid grabbed the little child's shoulder and was surprised to see dentures way too big for the child, stuck in his mouth. Already blue in the face, the adults scrambled to get help or take the stolen dentures out. In the madness, someone hit old man Jacks IV drip and revealed a problem that wasn't noticed by the nurse who set it up. At the top of line, there was a cut just large enough to open up if the line moved anywhere other than downward.
Jack, being at the center of the family circle, didn't notice the bump on the other side of his bed as he stood up with a wince and pushed himself to the front of the panicked adults. Delicately, the old man removed the oversized dentures and placed them back inside of a cup that had fallen over in the struggle. As one of the two elders of this small family, Jack roared at everyone to be quiet as he hummed a small tune for his freaked out grandson with a smile. Everyone could now see the second set of prosthetics going all the way down his left hip, replacing his entire leg. Once the song ended the family wanted to go back to talking but how could they. One of the kids noticed small bubbles in the Iv and some liquid dripping onto the floor. Before anyone could even be prepared, Jack's body slumped over to the side at the end of the song. It was right about now, that the soul got angry about dying again.
"Damn....", the soul shouted in frustration and stood up.
"The little brats. But what can I do besides never having children ever again. Hmph," the soul settled down. It only took a few seconds to reminisce and yet another second to be distracted as another memory burrowed its way into his mind.
"Hello darling," A short man who wore a pink apron that said "kiss the cook" smiled from a doorway that bore a pull up bar on its topmost crenelation. He wielded a mug that said 'The worlds #1 bestest dad' scribbled on the side in permanent marker. His fluffy bunny slippers wiggled to a stop as he leaned against the door frame with a helpless expression. He soundlessly motioned toward a shadow that stood by his legs. The soul didn't remember this event but considering that the perspective was locked onto a child, it could only assume that this was one of its memories from when he was younger, possibly asking his mother, "Are you leaving again mommy?"
With a gentleness someone would not expect from such a rough hand, the soul watched a massive woman rack her weights then lift him up so he and the woman could see eye to eye.
The woman asked with a waver in her voice as she attempted to avoid answering the question directly, "Do you think mommy is strong?"
"You are the strongest ever and daddy is the bastes", the soul remembered having squished his mother's face with chubby little hands and wiggled them.
"Ewy. Mommy's all sweaty"
"Oh yeah, then how about this...", the baby laughed like a bell because of the woman's relentless tickles.
"Do you know why mommy is so strong?"
"Cuz you're really big," the soul extended her little arms with a laugh. The soul in the current moment felt something off about how he remembered the past.
"Yes. Because I'm big. And you are small...", the woman pinched the soul's cheek hard enough that he remembered the pain as she was sent into tears. The soul felt an off-ness, a disharmony, a wrongness with his memory.
"Which means that I have to go because there are other small people like you that don't have strong moms or the best dads to protect them," the soul furrowed its nonexistent brows and tried to reconcile this memory of the distant past even if something felt super wrong with what he was remembering.
"I'm pretty sure that I was a guy growing up huh. Pretty lady, do you know why I'm remembering the life of a little girl," Everything mingled, details so small and innocuous that they melded and confused the soul to the point where it thought there was something wrong with its memories. Lie did not state anything and instead leaned forward with a half smile and frown, unsure of whether to be intrigued or worried about its new champion's identity crisis. In the meantime, the soul was bombarded by yet another confusing memory.
"Yay. Park. Park. We're going to play in the park", Jac ran rings around her father as they walked through the grass towards a playground.
"Where are we going to play first? I'm partial toward a nice game of catch," her father dropped a huge bag of sports equipment by a park bench and raised a hand to scout out a good location.
"Dad, I actually thought I would play at the playground with the other kids today," Jac said with a little bit of embarrassment.
"My little baby. Of course, go make some friends", her father held back his tears and sat down on the bench.
"If you need anything at all, just call my name and I'll be there in a blink," the poor dad crossed his arms and attempted to look strong, but his blubbering just made him look like a child.
"Okay," Jac ran off to the playground where some kindergarten friends played around as well.
"First time your kid didn't want to play with you?", some other parents congregated around Jac's father and offered some advice and simple companionship as they all bonded over being parents to some of the children at the park. Jac, in the meantime, ran over to the children who grouped up on the far side of the park, away from the parents. Some of the children were familiar, but most of them were slightly older kids who had the freedom to walk over to the playground by themselves without a guardian being nearby. They led the games using playground rules, they were older and knew more games. Classic games such as tag, freeze tag, zombie tag, hide and seek, cops and robbers, and God knows how many other running or tag based games that were ruled by the most experienced and fastest of the children.
Most of the day passed by in what felt like minutes as Jac stomped and jumped around without ever stopping for a moment. The most important thing about this set of memories is, Jac didn't know when it started but throughout the day some kids picked on the slowest runner on the playground. Jac, unnaturally in tune with social dynamics pulled the little girl aside so she wouldn't get purposefully hurt. After playing together for a bit, Jac found her to be a very cheerful person, much like themself. Needless to say, they instantly hit it off.
Even though they were kindred spirits and tried to stay away from the main group of kids after the bullying started, the small girl could not get away from it. The older kids somehow turned bullying the slow running child into a fun little game. The bullies even extended their ruthless behavior to Jac, disguising their pushing and blatant hitting as accidents and childish clumsiness. By early evening, the kids had already repeatedly pulled Jac's hair, and knocked her new friend to the ground "accidentally" more than a dozen times. Every time Jac brought the small girl to her dad so she could get a band aid. Despite the constant scrapes, Jac's new friend always went back to playing around, seemingly oblivious to the torture. Despite knowing their time would end, Jac stayed by the girl's side and tried her best to make sure they both had fun at the park. Late in the evening was probably the worst part about this memory for the burly spirit.
"I'm going home right now, are you leaving too?"
Jack shared a PB & J sandwich and a juice box with the girl who was being bullied for no apparent reason. All of the food that his father prepared was shared between the two children throughout the day and this is all that was left as the girl responded with, "I can't leave. My mom told me to stay here until she comes to pick me up."
"Okay. It's getting late though so be careful. And stay away from those big meanies," Jack wanted to say something else but he didn't know how to say what annoyed him... that feeling. It hurt. As far as Jack was concerned, it felt like being sad, but it was more like when his mother left to go protect people. Just as Jack was leaving the park with his dad, he caught sight of some older kids leading the slow running girl away from the playground. Jack didn't know why but that crying feeling in his heart turned into a deafening roar. The soul remembered what happened next vividly since it was a major part in how they grew up, the issue was that two sets of the same memory burned into their mind.
"Jackie, where are you off to!"
"Jacqueline, where are you going!"
Caught off guard, Jac's father dropped his equipment and chased after his child who suddenly darted off after a group of kids. The soul remembered two sets of the same moment as his form tore and doubled unnaturally as two versions of herself overlapped. The soul watched as the older children in its memory beat the little girl away from the eyes of any adults.
"What do you want, little boy, girl?"
"We'll beat you up too kid. Get out of here, we are doing something"
"Scram, leave..."
The third kid didn't even have a chance to speak more than a single word before two baby teeth were sent flying. In both sets of memories, Jack punched the third kid in the face, mimicking some punches that they saw their mother do as a warmup every morning. The burly spirit frowned at this violent childhood memory since it felt really off, just wrong.
"I could've sworn I made a roundhouse kick then punched the second kid in the face after hitting the first kid," the soul whispered. Life raised an eyebrow then laughed since the soul didn't even realize it was reminiscing out loud. Jac, beat the children to a pulp. The soul, however, scratched its head as the memory darkened and nearly split its mind. In one set of memories, one of the kids kicked Jack in the crotch while in the other one of the kids hit her with a baseball bat. The scenes varied with two of the three kids being bloodied and all three being on the floor with a broken wooden bat scattered on the floor. In both memories, however, Jacq's father showed up a few moments too late and immediately called some other adults over for help. The next thing the soul remembered from that time was being in the hospital, but the memory darkened beyond anything it could truly make out. Just barely, the soul could see their father's face, as pale as a sheet of paper and the doctors. The doctor's relaxed smile said that the kids only had a broken rib or arm, but it didn't match his body language and facial expression as if a different prognosis was being shared.
"Did someone die there? I remember everyone telling me I sent those bullies to the hospital, but they didn't die. I saw them at the park later on," the soul went forward in its memory a few more weeks and saw the kids on the playground in casts. Not realizing it spoke out loud, Life shed some light on the soul's memories.
"No one died. You just remember it like that because you were just a child, it was a bad experience. Just like how those kids remember you beating them as a nightmare rather than something that actually happened. It's actually very similar to what happens on one's deathbed. Take yours for instance. You probably remember it as chaos and something you did in the moment but everyone in your family has, is, and will remember it as a beautiful moment before you died suddenly."
"Bah. Enough about those idiots. I'm here, so let's focus on that. You can make me better at fighting in my next life right. I lost my arm and leg because I couldn't get out of a fight in time, I don't want the same thing to happen," the soul practiced some punching and kicking moves and desperately tried to look good. It failed miserably but then stopped for a moment when a move or two came out with an odd near perfection.
"Silly child. Who ever said you were getting another life?", Life laughed at the soul who desperately tried to avoid talking about its new situation.
"I am here to be reincarnated right? Or sent back to my world years in the past or something like that right?", the burley soul froze with childlike innocence.
"Straightforward, full of vigor, and delightfully silly. Definitely my type...", Lie licked its lips and stopped thinking to itself.
"It's as you stated. I have brought you here to do something grander than you could ever possibly imagine," A holy and bright glow expanded like a halo as sparks danced around like fairies. Life's speech was cut short by the souls' increasing demands.
"Then, I actually want to be a godly berserker," the soul swung imaginary twin hammers.
"Okay", slightly amused despite the fact that its grand opening failed, Lie covered its stunning smile.
"No. I want a great sword and immortality...", Once again, the soul swung an imaginary two-handed weapon. Lie could only stifle itself and accept the ambition and energy its chosen warrior emanated.
"OH, wait. I want that spear weapon from that one popular movie quitology, Reach, beach, ah, it was named after some famous drink. Damn, I forget the name of the guy who has it…The bald one, Ichi-something," The soul looked here and there while jumping every time it had a "new" idea. The demands continued to increase by leaps and bounds until the things it asked for cycled. Though, even while asking for the same thing, the soul somehow managed to make it look and feel entirely different. It was around this time that Death called Life.
"Our champion is asking about the viability of...*Recounts*...their reincarnation. This is your job so what do we say?"
Det didn't make any promises or decisions since reincarnation was not in its job description or even something it liked to do since it went against its main job.
"Don't worry about it. I'll go through the usual steps just give me a second…"
Life closed the channel it had with Death and linked to someone, something, else. A few seconds later, Life's (Womanly or was it manly?) voice, cracked. Death heard Life curse for the second time in all of conceivable and inconceivable time. The first time Life said it, living things evolved a new way to procreate, "Fuck…"
Concerned, Death asked, "What happened?"
Life struggled to say, "...Those two want in."
A few minutes later, the soul stopped rambling about all of the insane and overpowered skills it wanted and asked, "Are you okay? You look sick?"