The Narrator

"Alright, see you later." I left for school.

After a good day's rest, we went back to school. I reached the collection rock and met up with Tom there.

"Hey, tom." I landed beside him. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, about thirteen hours. never thought my bed would feel this comfortable," he said and kept walking. We soon started casually jogging along the perimeter of the rock, and encountered Rose on the way.

"That's weird. you two seemed relaxed." she commented.

"why? Is something nerve-wracking going to happen today?" Tom asked, looking at me as well.

"I don't think so." I tried to remember. "what is it?"

"Really? Did you guys forget about the nationals?" Rose tried reminding us. "selections are over, remember?"

"oh shit." both of us said at the same time.

As the team for our year was finalized, we had to prepare for nationals at the end of term. Our school's image depended on us, not really. each year had their own teams that were playing for nationals.

"Keep this pace and we will get a participation award for sure." the coach shouted as he changed the scores. "Come down, all of you."

After we all had gathered around his table and the noise died down, the coach explained his plans.

"Listen up, this is not going to work. I think you guys need to use ranged attacks. I was gonna teach you this after your fighting style assessment tomorrow." he sighed, "all of them should be wind blasts. If I see any other element, you will be out of the team and practice as well. use circles from here if you can't do single touch creation." he unloaded a box on the table, it was filled with bands. Some took a single one, while others took two. I was part of the latter group. I stretched the band over my knuckles as we all dispersed.

"Ray, level up, 4th level. Robin, level up, 3rd level." I rushed to the nearest player and punched him with all my might, using the wind as a cushion to minimize the injury to him. This was one of the ways the players were using the bands. Some used them on legs to make kicks more powerful, while some used the wind as a shield, some used them to boost their speed.

as we got to use the elemental attacks, the face of the game changed. runners were fighting the blockers instead of avoiding. while the blockers were in for an all-out brawl. I was almost at the final flag, when I heard a voice.

(About time)

I looked around, but no one was close enough for the voice to sound like that. "What was that?"

(I should let him be, we will get enough time after this anyway.)

"Who was that?"

(Oh! can he hear me already?)

"what?"

"robin, level up, 4th level." That was the last thing I heard before my body was forced out of balance. seems like someone caught up to me and managed to land a hit.

(Seems pathetic, doesn't it?)

{yeah, it does. but it is a game, it happens all the time}

CRACK!!

I heard a few panicked screams before I blacked out.

(it has been a while, ray.) someone called out to me. a man was sitting in a blue shirt and black pants, with shoes and a tie to match. He sat in a wooden chair, reading some kind of book. Then he looked at me, his thin-rimmed glasses shining. (Let's have a long talk, we have plenty of time to spare, after all.)

***

You might be thinking about what happened to me. oh, wait, I forgot. I am the original narrator of this story, the one who died in the train crash and all. you might be thinking about where I have been all this time.

I was right here, watching the life of Ray, beside you. and doing some spare research in my free time.

Remember the orb that sent me for the reincarnation process? He was supposed to wipe out my ego and memories from the soul before putting me in Ray's body. I somehow remained, with only a few bits of memory erased, and locked up somewhere in the back. Ray was growing up normally, and anything that I did had no effect on him at all. I had to watch his life like a movie, which I had no effect on. That was until after his sister, our sister, was born. Ray was going to climb a bus. The kid's perspective made the bus look huge, and brought back some horrific memories. these somehow reached ray, and probably were the first thing that affected him. I could feel his brain tremble whenever he had to use any kind of large public transport.

(Why did I not get erased?) This question popped into my head. It was around when Ray turned seven. I was getting bored of watching his life, living childhood twice sure felt bland.

(What can I do here?) I shouted loudly.

(What the hell?) a sudden, but familiar voice echoed back. (how do you still exist?)

(Is that you? you damned orb. where are you hiding?)

(I am not hiding, you are. how do you still have your ego intact?)

(I don't know. How did you find me here?)

(I was looking through the case files of reincarnated souls. yours showed some errors. so I tried to check up on this one, and here you are, shouting)

(Good, you found the error. now correct it and remove me. I am getting real tired of this.)

(I am afraid that is not possible. If I remove you now, it will damage the soul of the child. just stay put and try not to harm this child any further.)

(Oi! don't leave me. I don't like this place, at least let me come with you.)

(Why? you can just move around freely. all those with a stable ego can.)

that one line felt like someone cut the cage around me. There was a door right beside where I was. How long had it been there? I had no idea. I opened the door and entered a huge library. all the shelves filled with rows and rows of books, I stood there in a pure daze.

(You found this place, good. have fun reading, and do not misplace any book. you are free to do as you please as long as you follow the rules. don't ever disturb me ever again.)

That was the last I heard from him. He just left me one last message in a note.

[You are connected to the soul, but you are free to move around this library. I don't see how it will help you, but at least you won't get bored.]

I had access to all the books and files the place had to offer. Every 'ego' that was in the same situation as me was also here. everyone spent their time here, either reading stories of different worlds, or reviewing the case files of exhausted souls. Now that I got my hands on those books, I spent most of Ray's childhood here, reading whatever I could grab.

(Did you finish that already?) another 'ego' asked me.

(This one? I finished it a while ago. I will put it back after I review this file here. I had a good show today. Ray is going to start high school.)

(Good for you. here I am getting bored of Repro's childhood. Why does it take so long for vampires to grow up?) sighed one that was laying his head down

(You are lucky. the guy connected to the dragon baby says that the kid hasn't even opened eyes yet) said another guy.

(Hasn't it been a few months already? how long is his life span supposed to be?)

(About a hundred thousand years.) I closed the file and placed it back. (I think he is a volcanic dragon, so he will outlive the volcano he is born in, bare minimum.)

(Did you finish the file too?)

(Yeah, gotta go now. See you guys later.)

***

(Let's talk) the man told me, but didn't seem interested in talking. He kept reading the book he had in his hand.

"Excuse me?"

(Yes?) his mouth moved, but the voice didn't seem to be coming from there, it kind of echo. (I am sure you have some questions, please have a seat.) He pointed to the chair in front of me. {was it here before?}

(No, it wasn't. I just conjured it here.)

"You can hear my thoughts?"

(Yes. we are inside your head after all.)

{What?} I slowly sat down.

(Be patient, we have more than a day. please, be comfortable.)