Chapter 2 -- Negotiations 

Zane halted his thoughts and looked around, well he would have if he had a head...or neck.

'Hello ?'

"Stop talking !" Came the voice. This time Zane heard it clearly, it was the voice of a female. It sounded like Alexis', but less mechanical and more...15 year old girl-ish.

'But I'm not talking'

"Ok then stop thinking !" the voice sounded frustrated for reasons unknown to Zane.

'I don't think I'm gonna do that'

The voice got angry "If you don't stop thinking I'm gonna----"

'What ? kill me ?' Interrupted Zane 'I don't think you can do anything to me otherwise you would have already done it'

Silence**

'Now i am certain you can't do anything to me so let's talk shall we ?'

'First things first. Where the hell am I?' Zane questioned

The voice released a helpless sigh before answering "You are in the void space, waiting to be reincarnated"

'Oh really?, when is that going to happen?' Zane nonchalantly asked.

"It was supposed to happen 500 years ago.."

Zane was shocked to find that he has been here for that long. To him it felt like he died only a few seconds ago.

'What do you mean supposed to?' he inquired.

"For some reason, your consciousness refuses to be reincarnated"

'Ohh so that's what that feeling is'

"What feeling?" the voice seemed to be interested in this feeling of his.

'I feel like something is trying to drag me somewhere' he confessed.

"Yes! just give in to that feeling!" the voice sounded to be cheering up.

'Hell no. What if i die?'

"You are already dead!!"

'Still , i would rather annoy you for eternity'

The voice then released a nervous chuckle "No you don't wanna do that, how about we make a deal ?"

'I'm listening' If Zane had any ears, they would be perked up in anticipation.

"My name is Aurora, I am the Celestial in charge of---"

'I don't really care Celestial. Can you take me home ? ' 

Five million light-years away, Aurora's real body had gritted teeth in frustration. In all her uncountable years of existence she has never met such an annoying human. Then again she has never interacted with a human before.

She had persevered his rants for 5 centuries but couldn't take it anymore. Why this human's soul was outside of her control was a real mystery.

She could hear the thoughts of every being in the void space, however normal consciousnesses spent only two seconds max before being reincarnated. Zane was not normal.

"No I can not take you back to your planet" she revealed.

'Then we have nothing to discuss'

"Wait I was not finished yet, I can't take you back to your original planet but i can reincarnate you in another planet" Aurora baited.

'No.'

"What ! , why the hell not?" She was flabbergasted by this person. Who wouldn't want to live again ?.

'What about my memories ?' Zane asked.

"Err fine you can keep your memories" Aurora conceded with a sigh before asking.

"How did you even know you would have lost your memories ?" 

'I didn't.' came the answer.

The anger Aurora felt could not be described by words.

'Okay now sell it' Zane spoke.

"Sell what ?" Aurora was confused.

'Sell this new planet you want to send me to. Tell me what makes it better than my previous life. In which I was one of the worlds richest men, only second to the president.'

"This planet has magic !" Aurora excitedly announced. No one could deny going to a magical planet, or so she thought. 

'Interesting, go on' 

Aurora couldn't believe what this man just said, but she calmed down and thought of other ways to sell this planet.

"I can give you Alexis !"

Now Zane was really interested in what Aurora had to say, and Aurora felt this so she thought this was her best chance.

'Really ?' Zane asked.

"Not only that, but she can be inside your mind. Your very own Artificial Intelligence System. She will be able to monitor your vitals and tell you when there is something wrong with you. Since this is a new world, she will be able to give you basic information on everything, you look at. She will monitor your magic power and give you ideas on how to improve. She will keep you company when bored, and best of all she is 100% perfect, you will never find yourself looking through her source code." 

Aurora said in one breath, she didn't want Zane to interrupt her with any of his bright comments.

Zane thought about the offer, it was very tempting. I mean who wouldn't want to do magic ?. The truth was, Zane would have agreed even if there was no magic or AI, his real condition was keeping his memories. 

However he thought he could manipulate this celestial to get more benefits in his next life, and he was right. Aurora was desperate to get Zane out of the void space. Hearing the same thing over and over again for 500 years was no joke, even for a god.

'Nice, I like that, but I haven't bought it yet. Come on I'm sure a mighty Celestial such as yourself has more to offer to this humble human' Zane coerced. 

As a former businessman he knew how to use words to get what he wanted.

'Humble !?' Aurora's real body thought as it almost burst a vein.

"How about I give you access to a secret dimension in which you can use to store any non living thing you want"

Zane immediately liked the idea but didn't show it. He thought he could get one more thing from Aurora so with his hypothetical fingers crossed, Zane pushed his luck one more time.

'Could you spare one more benefit oh great and powerful Aurora. I know your generosity knows no bounds' Zane would have said with a sweet smile.. if he had a face.

"I am really pushing my powers to the limit for this" Aurora shamelessly lied "I can give you the mana gathering skill, you are a smart man. I'm sure you will figure out how it works"

Zane kept quiet as he pretended to be thinking. Maybe he could squeeze more out of Aurora. One week later and there was still silence. At this point Zane accepted that he couldn't get any more that he already had so he conceded.

'Ok I agree to your terms.' Zane gave in to the feeling and immediately he felt dizzy before everything went dark...well darker than it already was. His thoughts shut down and his consciousness disappeared.

Aurora's consciousness went back to her body, which was the body of a teenage girl of about 19 years. She was the epitome of beauty and not even the smallest imperfection could be found on her figure . It was like she made this body herself.....because she did.

An evil smile broke out on her beautiful face, obliterating any form of innocence she once had.

"You really thought you could fool me ?. I have lived ever since the beginning of time and i will not be bested by one of my creations. Good luck Zane , you will need it"