An Atypical Reincarnation

In the darkness, close to a billion lights were flickering on and off in the far distance. Some of these lights were round, some were flat, some were dim, etc. The main point was in this vast plain of light and darkness, there was no light that was quite the same. Some have called it similar to fireflies, while some have compared it to a candle. This space was quite special, there were a million and one different ways to simply perceive your surrounding in accordance with all of the mindsets of the souls that entered. Some after seeing the plains have later seen grand gates that towered to the clouds themselves, while some saw a cottage on the verge of breaking and collapsing in a heap on a jungle floor.

Yes, this was the afterlife. A place best described as a mirror, a mirror that reflects the soul to be precise. If your heart is filled with the vile, disgusting, and evil for example, then you would be the victim of those treacherous thoughts. Even if your heart was pure, the cycle doesn't take pity upon you. It at best just offers you an immediate wash of memory with a cleansing light equal to that of their virtue. It's not even doing it because they are good people, simply because pure personalities are easier to erase than corrupted ones. What's that expression again?

Ah, 'Life is unfair.'

The afterlife could be summed up into that expression entirely. Or rather...

'Existence is unfair.'

Yes, that fits rather well, don't you agree? In any case, our dearest Aria has succumbed to the fate of all the souls that have come before her, a complete memory wipe.

With a sudden jerking erratic movement, a blinding beam of light swept across Aria's soul. In an instant, the entirety of Aria's life was spewed out before her eyes. Weirdly enough, the length of the full memory purge was longer than usual.

The will of reincarnation looked upon the girl's soul a bit longer than necessary.

'No matter, a slightly stronger soul means nothing in the grand scheme of things.'

No longer looking at Aria, with a surprisingly gentle touch the light transported her toward the famed wheel of reincarnation. Cupping her bright soul in the will's equally blinding hands, the will took another glance at her before hesitating.

'Although by the rules I'm not supposed to recommend any more apostles for this century, it wouldn't hurt to give a soul this pure and strong innocence would it? Eh, I won't get in that much trouble.'

The light shook its make-believe head and shrugged,

'It's not like just the recommendation will let her get innocence anyway.'

Without further ado, the will lacklusterly pushed the soul into the wheel of reincarnation, and without a word moved on to the next soul to be reincarnated.

The soul began its journey. It clawed and twisted its way through the thorny path, never giving up. This was a marathon against the other souls, and whoever came out first would live in the best social conditions. Kings, queens, princes, and princesses were no longer mere flights of fantasy. If all the souls had awareness they would have fought tooth and nail in order for this chance, but alas all that was left was instinct. The bright soul had it instinct screaming at it; this was necessary for survival.

Indeed it was, for in this world starvation is not a faraway scenario. For the poor, it is a war that repeats itself every day.

Where other souls took rests and breaks, the bright soul pressed onwards. It trekked through snowstorms, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes of gigantic proportions. It went through mountains, streams, and rivers. No matter what, it never stopped. The soul was the first in this race for the future.

Suddenly, the ground collapsed inwards to reveal a gigantic spike trap. The soul could only use its limited ability to float to towards a safe spot between spikes. The soul fell upon the ground with a soft plop, its instinct directing it towards the only way out of this trap. A long and winding tunnel that seemed to contain infinity. The instinct seemed to waver for the first time, becoming indecisive. The burning feeling from deep within its deeps came back at full force. The wavering was no more.

The soul continued down this detour and gradually started to fall in the rankings. By the time it got out of the hole, it merely ranked no 138. It was barely enough to be in a knight's family. By the end of the wheel, it only managed to bring itself up to 112 which allowed the soul to be born in a baron's family.

The vague instinct cried out in dismay. It knew instinctively that something was wrong with such a result. What it didn't know was that the Will was inwardly astonished. It had almost never seen such a soul before that had such a strong instinct and willpower before. If it wasn't for the spike trap, then the clever soul would have been first!

The Will flickered in agitation.

"Who's the bastard who dared to put that trap in the wheel?! Was it Loki, or maybe..."

Its beaming light trembled in revulsion. One soul was not worth dealing with that guy, if he was the one who did it.

"But, this may not be bad for this soul. It trekked so much in the wheel, that the soul was tempered to a ridiculous level. The intelligence level it will be capable of bringing out will be astonishing!"

All souls had around the same level of intelligence, but they were limited by the body. If the body was a bottle, and the soul was gas, then the gas could only fill up so much of the bottle before it was full. The tempering process state is essentially turning that gas into water. Tempering can only happen in the Wheel and some rare cases in life.

The bright soul had received something worth much more than the first place. The ranking only determined what family you were born into after all. If you were stupid, then there was no way you would inherit the throne. If you were smart, even if you were a farmer's son, you could still get to a higher social strata. Intelligence is one of the greatest and most useful gifts of all.

The soul was pulled by the Wheel, finally being reincarnated into another life. Lights flashed in such a frenzy as if God himself had descended into the mortal world. One rather radiant beam fell on a similarly radiant soul. The soul flew up and up until it could no longer be seen.

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In the living world, a baby let out her first cry.