Ding.
A clear chime rang through the void.
Wren nearly jumped, or well she would have if she had feet.
The sound had no source. No direction. It simply was materializing within her awareness as naturally as one of her own thoughts.
The same translucent blue window abruptly refolded and unfolded itself between her and the other orb.
[SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY REBOOTED]
[Compiling Data...]
[Checking Authority...]
The orb across from her shuddered for a moment.
Its dim light flared brightly for the first time since she'd met it, illuminating the surrounding void with pale geometric patterns that stretched outward like roots of a tree.
The familiar ripple pressed against her awareness. The same sensation she had felt earlier.
Something probing.
Searching.
Examining.
[Access Denied]
[Authority Clearence Not High Enough!]
The ripple withdrew.
Wren stared at the floating screen.
Then looked at the orb.
Then back at the screen.
"What do you mean access denied? Is this some sort of computer..?"
No answer came.
Only more text.
[Checking Authority...]
The message vanished and reappeared.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Each iteration arrived faster than the last.
[Checking authority...]
[Checking authority...]
[Checking authority...]
[ERROR]
[Checking authority...]
[ERROR]
The blue window flickered violently.
Lines appeared.
Disappeared.
Corrupted themselves.
For a brief moment, Wren thought she saw entire paragraphs of incomprehensible symbols scrolling past before the system deleted them as fast as it made them.
She watched in silence. She didn't know whether she should laugh bitterly, or cry.
She settled on sighing inwardly.
Or whatever passed for a sigh when one was a disembodied soul.
"Well," she thought bitterly, "at least death is consistent to my life."
Her death had become a fight with a broken computer.
She wasn't even surprised anymore.
Another notification appeared.
[Requesting Main System Overseer...]
[...]
[...]
[Request Granted]
Wren blinked.
"There's somebody higher up than you?"
The orb remained motionless.
Its light flickered oddly.
Almost nervously.
The screen continued.
[Requesting Authority Clearance...]
[...]
[...]
[Request Granted]
The void became silent.
Very silent.
The kind of silence that felt like something holding its breath.
Wren watched the messages hang in the air.
"What is this?" she whispered unsure of herself.
Is this what the afterlife truly is?
No response.
Then another line appeared.
[Override Successful!]
The orb in front of her suddenly froze.
Its glow intensified tenfold.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The faint geometric patterns beneath the surface accelerated into a dazzling storm of flowing symbols that made her mind go numb.
For a moment, Wren had the unsettling impression that she was no longer looking at the same glowing orb.
The screen shimmered, turning into a deeper clearer version of azure.
Then new text slowly began to appear.
One line at a time.
[Scanning Soul...]
[Verifying Irregularity...]
[Classification Updated]
[ERROR CONFIRMED]
[Soul ######## Improperly Displaced]
Wren stared.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
A cold unease settled over her.
Did that mean her?
Was she the error?
[FAILURE CAUSE: LOCOLIZED REALITY BREACH DURING SYSTEM SHUTDOWN]
[SCANNING FOR ADDITIONAL SOULS...]
[AFFECTED SOULS: 1]
[APPLYING REALITY INTEGRITY PATCH]
Wait..what? Wren blinked at the screen in front of her.
[...]
[PATCH SUCCESSFUL!]
[ERROR CANNOT BE RETROACTIVELY UNDONE]
Wait wait wait..
This whole thing was a mistake? She was the error?
Wren stared at the screen.
Then she laughed.
It wasn't a happy laugh.
Or even an angry one.
Just the exhausted laugh of someone who had finally stopped expecting good things to happen to her.
Of course.
The universe hadn't been content with giving her cancer.
No.
Somehow she'd also managed to sit in the exact location where reality itself decided to tear open.
Out of billions of people.
[AFFECTED SOULS: 1]
Just one.
Wren.
The other orbs light dimmed before pausing.
The messages kept coming.
[Checking relevant procedures...]
[ERROR]
The blue window seemed to hesitate for a moment.
[Procedures Cannot Be Determined]
[System Shutdown in Progress]
[System Shutdown Progress: 98.9%]
[Original Logs Corrupted]
For some reason, that last message felt covered in a sad aura.
Not threatening.
Not ominous.
Just sad.
Like an old man struggling to remember something important.
Wren watched the text scroll by and felt an absurd urge to laugh.
She had spent her entire life drowning in paperwork.
And now she was dead.
Only to discover the afterlife apparently ran on paperwork and logs too.
Somewhere in the endless void, she imagined her grandfather laughing himself breathless at the irony.
The thought made her smile.
Just a little.
Then another message appeared.
And that smile vanished.
[Alternative Solutions Found!]
[Compiling Procedure Data...]
The orb's light brightened expanding into the void.
The blue screen flickered.
And for the first time since arriving in the void, Wren got the distinct feeling that her fate had just changed.
[Analyzing Remaining Resources...]
[Analyzing Soul Integrity...]
[...]
Ding!
The blue screen flickered a few times, as Wren waited with bated breath.
[EMERGENCY SOUL REALLOCATION AUTHORIZED]
[WARNING]
[Subject Classified As: CORRUPTED UNASSIGNED SOUL ERROR]
[FINAL POWER RESERVES UNLOCKED]
Wren blinked, unsure of what any of this meant.
She was corrupted? Does this mean shes going to hell? Is there even a hell?
Then the screen then changed.
[SOUL REALLOCATION OPTIONS]
[OPTION ONE: SOUL EVAPORATION]
[RESULTS: Memory lost, Identity degradation, Soul dissolution, Nonexistence]
[OPTION TWO: ENFORCED LOCKED SOUL STATE]
[Designation: Persistent spiritual entity]
[Capabilities: Observe physical reality]
[Limitations: No physical interaction, No biological functions, No reincarnation]
[OPTION THREE: CROSS-SYSTEM REINCARNATION]
[Destination: External System World]
[Soul Status: Compatible]
[Risk: Unknown]
Wren stared at all three options at once.
She actually got to pick..?
She slowly moved her eyes to the first option.
Soul evaporation.
Fading away until nothing remained of her.
No afterlife.
No next chapter.
Just a gradual erasure of everything that made her Wren.
Strangely, the idea wasn't as terrifying as it should have been. After twenty-six years of feeling invisible, disappearing entirely felt less like a tragedy and more like the natural conclusion to a very long joke.
The second option was somehow worse.
A ghost.
An eternal observer.
She imagined herself trapped in her apartment for decades, watching strangers move in and out, watching her belongings disappear, watching her grandfather's grave weather and crack beneath passing seasons, unable to speak, touch, or leave. The thought made something twist painfully inside her, and she quickly went onto the next option.
The final option.
Reincarnation.
Wren froze.
She slowly read it again.
Reincarnation.
And again...
Reincarnation.
The word alone sent something fluttering inside her chest. For the first time since waking in the void, genuine excitement broke through the despair.
Actual frickin' reincarnation to another world?!?!
The idea felt unreal.
Dangerous.
Wonderful.
Her mind immediately drifted toward the apartment she would never see again. Toward the overstuffed bookshelf wedged against her bedroom wall. Rows of old light novels with faded covers and wrinkled worn yellow pages. Stories about ordinary people crossing into extraordinary worlds. New lives. New beginnings. Magic. Adventure. Possibilities. Endless possibilities!
When she was younger, she'd spent countless nights reading those stories beneath her blankets instead of sleeping.
She'd dreamed of it too. The sort of dream you never admitted out loud because adulthood demanded more serious things.
A better life.
A new beginning in the unknown.
Another chance.
The thought of actually receiving one made her heart tremble. The possibility felt so wonderful it almost hurt. Which was exactly why she immediately became suspicious of it, nothing in her life had ever been that easy.
More information appeared.
[WARNING]
[ACTIVATION OF CROSS-SYSTEM REINCARNATION WILL EXHAUST REMAINING SYSTEM MANA RESERVES]
[SYSTEM MANA RESERVES: 0.00007]
[PROJECTED RESULT]
[EARTH UNIVERSAL SYSTEM: PERMANENT SHUTDOWN]
Wren's breath would have hitched if she still had lungs.
Exhaust mana reserves?
Mana? Like magic mana?
Permanent shutdown?
Her attention immediately shifted toward the ancient orb. Cracks of static crawled across its dim light. A knot formed inside her chest.
"Would using this hurt Earth..?"
The screen flickered.
[CURRENT SYSTEM STATUS]
[MANA GENERATION: 0%]
[SYSTEM SHUTDOWN: IN PROGRESS]
[CURRENT PROJECTED OUTCOME:]
[All Remaining Mana Will Be Expended during Shutdown Procedures.]
[Remaining Mana Cannot Restore Earths Universal Magical Systems.]
[Remaining Mana Cannot Restart System.]
[Remaining Mana Will Be Lost during System Termination]
[Alternative Use Identified: SOUL ERROR TRANSFER]
Wren didn't know what to think with all this information.
What did any of that even mean? Earth had mana?
Wrens eyes moved to the last message, and she stared at those final words.
Alternative use.
The shutdown was continuing even now, Earths mana wasn't being saved no matter what happened. The System wasn't dying for her, the mana was already gone; it was simply finding one final use for resources that would otherwise prolong the inevitable.
She stared at the final option before her.
A tired laugh escaped her.
She was being offered reincarnation because reality had experienced a clerical error during a system shutdown.
It was ridiculous.
Completely ridiculous.
The screen dimmed.
[DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?]
Fade.
Watch.
Live.
The three choices hung silently before her.
But Wren barely looked at the first two. One was another death. The other was an eternity spent alone, watching life move on without her. Only the third option made her heart race.
Reincarnation.
A new world, a new life, and most importantly a second chance.
Her mind drifted to the light novels scattered across her apartment bookcase. Stories about ordinary people being given another chance when life had already taken everything from them. She used to read those stories late at night when she couldn't sleep, quietly imagining what it would be like to start over with a healthy body, a future, and the freedom to actually live.
Then she thought about Earth.
About the endless overtime, the whispers behind her back, the looks of pity, and the loneliness.
Twenty-six years spent surviving instead of living.
What exactly was she leaving behind?
The answer came far too quickly.
Not enough.
A memory surfaced.
Her grandfather sat across from her, a steaming cup of tea resting between his hands.
"I don't care if you become rich or important, Wren. I just want you to live. Really live. And if that happens to take you on a different path, no matter what it is, take it."
"Take it and don't look back."
The memory hit harder than anything else.
Because she'd never gotten that chance.
Not once.
Life had ended before she'd figured out how to be happy.
To live.
But now?
Now the universe was placing another future directly in her hands.
A future without her illness, without the pain, without constantly waiting for things to get worse..
For the first time in her long twenty-six years of life, tomorrow wasn't something to fear.
It was something to be excited for.
A breathless laugh escaped her.
Why was she even pretending this was a difficult decision?
She wanted this.
Desperately.
Her gaze locked onto the third option.
Not with hesitation, not with caution.
But with the hunger of someone who had spent her entire life watching happiness through a window and had finally found the door.
"I choose to live."
[CHOICE LOCKED]
[. . .]
[SELECTION CONFIRMED]
[CROSS-SYSTEM REINCARNATION AUTHORIZED]
[BEGINNING TRANSFER]
[. . .]
[. . .]
[GOODBYE, AND GOOD LUCK.]
The final words lingered.
Simple. Plain. Somehow, in a way, it was unexpectedly human.
The ancient orb flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then its light diminished.
Not suddenly. Not dramatically. Just quietly.
Like a candle finally allowing itself to go out.
The surrounding void trembled.
Wren felt a tug deep within her soul.
A pull. Gentle at first. Then impossible to resist.
The darkness around her folded inward.
Reality bent.
Space twisted.
And a tear opened, a wound, in the colorless void.
A tunnel of impossible light stretched before her.
Not a tunnel. Not really. It was the closest thing her mind could compare it to.
Colors she'd never seen flowed past her in vast rivers.
Constellations formed and dissolved.
Whole worlds big and small appeared as fleeting sparks before vanishing again.
Every sphere pulsed with enormous rivers of semi-transparent light flowing through them like veins.
And for the first time, Wren realized how small Earth had truly been.
For an instant she thought she saw millions of tiny lights scattered throughout the darkness.
Souls. Other worlds. Other systems. Other possibilities. A seemingly endless sea of realities.
Then everything vanished.
The sensation of movement returned.
Not through space.
Through existence itself.
Wren's tiny orb of light was carried forward by forces so vast her mind struggled to comprehend them.
Suddenly she understood why the screen had listed the risks as unknown.
This wasn't travel. This was being uprooted from reality and planted somewhere else.
The wormhole narrowed, and the currents accelerated.
The lights became blinding, and thoughts became difficult.
Heavy and slow.
Her awareness flickered.
The last thing she remembered was a distant feeling of falling impossibly fast.
Then everything went dark.
When awareness returned, her first feeling wasn't relief.
It was dread.
The void was back.
Colorless, silent, endless.
The exact same nothingness she had just escaped.