1. Reincarnation

He awoke confused with a chill going down his spine and a constant headache pounding in his head. He was having trouble focusing as his eyes darted all over the place. He eventually managed to sit up as his vertigo subsided, and when he did so, he gradually became aware of his surroundings. People were sleeping soundly beside him and along his sides.

"Urghh." He thought to himself before getting up to get a better look at his surroundings.

The room enveloped him in darkness, yet his eyes had adjusted enough to make out the shapes and forms within. The amount of visibility he had wasn't as good as it was in the day but for now, it would suffice, watching his step, he walked over till he reached the source of the voice.

"Hey, you! Come over here." The voice called out again.

Was approaching a foreign voice the wisest course of action in this situation, given that it was dark, he didn't know why he was here, and neither did he know who these guys were. The only thing he could value more than his safety was information, so he moved in the direction of the speaker.

He made his way in the direction of the speaker while taking care not to trip anyone up. He mentally recorded the texture of the ground and the number of individuals he crossed as he walked in the direction of the voice. They were undoubtedly joined in the room by another fourteen persons if he included himself and the voice. At least, that's what he believed. He took a seat as near to the caller as possible.

"My voice isn't trustworthy enough?" The voice sighed, "Can't blame ya."

"What do you know? Where are we?"

"Shhhh." The voice stopped for a moment as if trying to see through the darkness if anyone else had gotten up. "I dunno where we are or what's going on, but like ten minutes ago a bright light shined through that area over there." He pointed at an area in front of them. "Someone... something came and took some chick with it."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Gilbert. My friends... umm, call me Gin." The man finally introduced himself.

"I'm Finn." Finn looked around, not hearing anything rustle in the distance. "What do you mean something? Like what... A machine?"

"No no. It's very much human... looks... it looks human. It's not, however, that I can swear my life on." Gin spoke with subtle hints of terror in his voice.

"This is probably a prank or something, probably one of those hidden camera shows." Finn got up feeling around for a wall. "I'm gonna find the exit, every set has one, and when I'm out. I'm gonna sue them for everything they got."

"Shut up." Another voice in the distance said. "This that, that this. Stop your whining."

"I don't suppose you know what's going on here?" Gin asked, wondering why the voice could stay so nonchalant.

"You don't remember?" The voice laughed. "You don't remember the mixer?"

Finn and Gin both cried out in agony as the word reached their ears, the sensation subsiding after a few fleeting moments, yet the lingering headache persisted. Finn clutched his head, and strangely, an image materialized in his mind—a bustling karaoke booth filled with people. Though he couldn't recollect ever visiting such a place before, he found himself uttering, "What's all this?"

"Who's this person I'm seeing?!" Gin shouted. "Explain, what was the mixer."

"Quiet."

A voice as loud as the blue phenomena in the sky spoke, its sound waves alone came with a ferocious intensity and anyone that heard it couldn't deny pissing their pants. 

Gin wanted to ask a question. A simple "What was that?" But his mouth couldn't open, as if sealed shut by a desire to live. Even though he didn't know it, he could feel it in his heart. "If I speak. I die."

Everyone woke up once they heard the thunderous voice, but no one made a word. They all wanted to run but it felt as if their legs were separate organisms.

"All fifteen of you are test subjects. You will soon remember the fate you suffered but until then. You will walk through this door and into a new world." They all looked at the being that spoke to them and it was now Finn could understand what Gin meant. Regardless of its appearance, whatever it was couldn't possibly be human. 

Its presence alone brought light to the room, it had the figure of a man with an average build. Its clothes were white and lathered with what seemed like gold and there was an enormous sword on its back. "Your goal in this world is to defeat its supreme God, EA, of course you are not being forced to do this. However, you will be pulled in that direction for as long as you live. You will understand what I mean when you enter the world."

"...." Finn tried to speak but he couldn't produce the words, he wanted to know what this was. What the mixer was, where he was but to no avail.

The golden being stood in front of them until they all got up, all fifteen remaining people who slept in the cave now looking up at the god-like being that stared them down. "Step through this door if you would like a chance at a new life." The golden being said, his voice strong and his demeanor firm. "I am not forcing any of you to make a decision if you decide to walk through this gate." A giant vertical halo appeared behind him. "You will gain a new life in a new world. Make your decision humans."

"And if we disagree." The nonchalant voice spoke again. 

"You will be sent to your original destination. The bottomless abyss that is non-existence."

"I'm in," The man who spoke about the mixer stood up and walked past the crowd going straight for the gate.

Finn wanted to call out to him, he knew something that he didn't but his mouth wouldn't move and neither did his legs. "Damnit. He thought to himself."

One by one each of them walked through the door with no one saying a word, Finn looked around him and he was the only one left. "What will your decision be mortal?" 

Finn took a deep breath, he needed to know what the mixer meant and it seemed the only way of gaining that information would be to walk through the gate. He took a deep breath in and subtly let it out. "I'm gonna make that bastard pay." Finn ran through the gate.

"Quite the kind guy aren't you? AE." Ueluies floated over the ground the humans slept on. "Wasn't the original plan for this batch to reinvent their souls? I mean they hardly seemed promising. Except for the red-haired one. That one I like."

"Change of plan, they're expendable so why not repurpose them instead? Strong people are needed to tip the scales of EA." AE closed the gate he previously opened.

"Don't want to admit that you're too kind to rip out their souls and transmogrify them into someone else?" Ueluies laughed. "Despite being a supreme God you are surprisingly humble."