Novel 1-Reincarnation
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/Splash!/
'This is getting difficult!'
The longer they went through the river, the more chaotic the current became, to the point it became extremely hard for Jonathan to keep all of his followers around.
"Don't think I'll be giving up that easily." He said out loud as he looked at the translucent cloud
It had already been several minutes and yet the cloud remained still, as if whatever's around it was inconsequential.
'This cloud… Will it really persevere to the very end? Why?!"
"Why can't you rain on me also?!" He exclaimed out loud as he looked at the cloud
Maybe it was his emotions being amplified or his strange Soul stage, but Jonathan's emotions began to bubble as he struggled to keep all of those around him tied to one another.
"Should be fate be left to the destined ones? Why can't one fight to attain it?!"
"Erm uh… That's all I had to say…"
'What am I even doing? Arguing with a cloud…'
/SHAAAA!/
'Oh shit…'
Although he couldn't see it, he could hear it…
The echoes of a waterfall in the distance.
He pushed himself off the water and there, too close for confort, was the dropping point of a massive waterfall.
'OHHH SHIT, no wonder the current was getting unruly…'
/Drip…/
At that moment, he felt cold droplets of water fall onto his shoulders.
He raised his head, and to his surprise, he saw that the white cloud was still there, and it seemed… Hesitant.
'Come on… What's with one guy not being on your list, just do everyone else and write that off as a your annual mistake or something…'
/Drip… Drip…/
/SHAAAA!/
'Come on… Decide… Will you let us go or…'
/SHAAAAAA!!/
Just when he thought everything was over, the cloud indiscriminately poured everything it held down on them, washing away their colors with great zeal.
'AHAHAHA! It worked!'
The multiple colors on his body were all washed away, leaving behind a few colorful sparks of neon-like light within their chests.
'This must be it, the best of the best…'
/SHUAAA!/
"Damn…"
Just as he marveled at their changes, the world tilted, and they all began to fall.
"?!?!?!"
'AHHHHHHHHH!!'
Trying his best to hold his desperation, Jonathan held onto his two friends, falling together towards oblivion.
…
/SPLASH!!/
"..."
/GASP!/
"Huff…"
'Alright…'
'Where are we now?... Also, where's my Bros?'
At the bottom of the waterfall was a ratter… Peaceful scene.
The mystical floating river was now crossing through a forest of red bamboo trees, their crimson leaves slowly fell onto the water before dispersing like fine mist…
'What is that?... threads?...'
In the sky, between the bamboo, red threads as fine as silk spread from one corner to the next, slowly curving downward and touching the water.
From time to time, individuals would latch onto those threads and carry them with them, and sometimes, those threads would connect multiple individuals together.
'Don't tell me… Are these the threads of fate or something? Love?... But aren't there far too many people interneconected with one another?'
Jonathan thought deeply as the current dragged him further into the forest, and eventually, it was his time to fetch a thread.
'What do I do? What do these even do?... I don't want to end up connected by fate with a maniac… Much less if these are romantic ones.'
'What if I end up matched with a man?... Wait a minute… How do I know I'll be reborn a guy?'
As the realization of his greatest fears manifested, Jonathan's face grew pale… If he had any blood in it.
'All of these Souls are genderless… So its hard to tell who amidst them will grow into pretty girls. Although I'm more concerned about the crazy people.'
'I wasn't the romantic kind of guy in my past life, gave up on pursuing romance when most of the girls in my class started dating each other because it was trendy… And you don't see that many girls coursing Civil Engeneering…'
'Above all, if I am to reeincarnate… Would I have to wait 20 years to find a match? That sounds odd, give all Souls had a past life and all but my morality is sound red alarms at my head… I don't think its good for me to forget who I am.'
'But by the time I'm 20 again, wouldn't I be almost 50 mentally? That sounds… Horrible.'
'Actually, how many lives did I live through? Is this my second one or my third one?... Maybe that's why they clear your memories.'
/Shuaa…/
The current was rather calm this time, so he got all the time in the world to think and look around.
'Well… It seems these threads do much more than just connect people, it seems they also define something greater.'
'There are different trees, and some of them are taller than the others. The threads coming from the taller trees seldom go down, and they are also fewer in number.'
'The threads only seem to go down to their fated ones, and I've already seen a few ones go to me, but they were all… How do I put it… Average.'
'I'll get one of those taller ones, that's for sure… But how?'
'Should I just steal one? It's not that easy though… They often fall very fast and if I'm not right beside them then they'll dissipate soon after touching their target.'
'Sometimes, the larger ones will connect multiple individuals together but its rare… Wait, I know the solution for that.'
Jonathan looked around, and without much difficulty, he found who he was looking for.
'Haha! As long as these two are beside me, I'll definitely get my chance.'
'But… This could be dangerous… Although they helped me so far, I can't tell what their lives will be in the future.'
'Like before and before… This will be a gamble…'
/Shua…/
"!"
'Here it is!'
A red thread began to descend from the tallest trees, it was clearly in course with them, or someone behind them.
But he could clearly fetch it… As long as he raised his hand first…
/SWOOP!/
"?!"
/CAWW!/
Suddenly, he heard the cry of wind being split and with ragging speed, something swooped right above his head, taking hold of the treed before nesting on the bamboo…
/CAWW!/
A massive emerald crow stood on the trees with the red tape on its mouth, its head jerking from left to right as it observed the river carefully.
Its gaze fell upon Jonathan, who was already acting as a statue…
But it soon retracted its attention, flying off into the distance.
'Huff… Damn… That was close…'
'But give me back my fate!!'
/SWOOP!/
"!"
Just as it left, another dozen giant crows swooped down onto the river, and a festival of silk began as they stole dozens upon dozens of threads.
Soon, the reason for that became apparent.
'They… Are they building their nests out of this? What a way to be fancy…'
The emerald crows built giant nests atop the bamboo using the threads, weaving beautiful crimson beds for their chicks and themselves.
The problem was… They seemed to have a particular interest in the highest quality threads…
"..."
'DAMN! Who's in charge of this shit?! All of the quality threads meant to fall onto us are being swooped in by the minute!'
'If this goes on… We'll remain fateless or whatever, no way I'll let that happen…'
Jonathan's mind began to spin, a plan forming in his mind…
'The bamboos don't seem too hard to climb… If I'm fast, I should be able to get up there, grab one of the higher threads and drop down onto the river.'
'The bamboo isn't tall either, they're like a floor or two over the surface, if I'm on a rush, I should be able to get there and return within a single breath… Not that I need to breathe…'
'The problem are the birds, would they attack me if I showed myself too much?...'
Deep in thought, Jonathan began to slowly ennact on his plan, just as a precaution.
He moved them all to the right where the least amount of nests was located, and got ready to act.
…
'... It's been a while… When is this ending?'
If Jonathan were to shoot in the dark, he would say it's been an hour or two ever since they began their journey through the bamboo forest.
But on the flip side, despite all that time, they hadn't got their hands on a single thread of high enough quality, nor did the others around them.
'Shit, maybe this is one of those tricks of fate. Where reincarnation is a roulet, and you pull what you get…'
'We were unlucky… So I'll take my fate this time.'
In the distance, Jonathan saw a red gate above the river, and he determined it to be the very end of his journey.
If he wished to get a thread, it had to be now!
/Splash…/
"Huu…"
'This feels weird…' Jonathan thought with caution as he got out of the river
/Turn…/
Instinctively, hundreds of heads turned to look at him from the river, giving him an incredibly eerie feeling.
'Ignore them… I must move and get my things, that's all.'
/Step… Step… Crunch…/
The beach around the river was mostly composed of fine grains of black and golden sand, with red leaves in between.
As he stepped on them, they burst into light speckles, leaving behind golden footprints in the sand…
'Huff… I feel tired… Too tired…'
'Shit… Maybe staying out of the water is not a good idea…'
He felt a massive weakness overtake his knees, and it was definitely not a good sign, not when he spent the last few hours paddling his feet, barely feeling any exhaustion from the act.
However, he had found his target!
A large nest, bigger then the others above the bamboo next to the gates.
It was jack full of threads, some even glowed, indicating their high quality.
He only needed to fetch a few and drag them through the gate.
'Something I noticed while on the water is that the threads don't really vanish, they only lose their color, becoming nigh invisible to the naked eye.'
'Each individual carries a red thread on their neck, thats where the thread goes once it finds a host. If two people are intertwined, then the thread just goes from one head to the other, albeit its path is… Beyond me.'
'It seemingly vanishes, leaving behind only its tips around the Souls. Maybe that's why the birds aren't stealing them from the Souls, although there's no explanation as to why they aren't stealing from the trees themselves.'
/Grab… Climb!/
Somehow, the bamboo was roughter then it seemed, making the way up rather simple.
At first, he tried to knock it down, but after failing, he knew he had to act fast, especially since his two 'brothers' were about to pass through him.
"Huff… Huff… Almost there…"
After much physical work, he arrived at the top of the bamboo, and the shining threads were within sight!
/Gaze…/
He entered the nest, but unbeknownst to him, a creature was watching in silently…
'Aha! I got it!'
At the edge of the nest, Jonathan grabbed a handful of near-golden threads "brimming" with power, and with great satisfaction, he felt it was time for him to descend, when…
/Caw…/
"!!!"
He turned around, looking at the giant emerald bird at the other side of the nest.
It stared down at him with a heavy intent, it did not like his presence there… At all.
"Urm…"
'I know crows remember faces for years… Hopefully, this one will forget about me… But maybe…'
/Drop…/
Jonathan dropped a few shiny rocks, which he grabbed on the riverbed and onto the nest.
"..."
The crow looked at the rocks with a heavy gaze, warry…
He then took a step back towards the edge of the tree, right above the river.
'I can jump from here no problem… Yeah, there's bro 1 & 2…'
/Rise…/
"Caw…"
"!"
At that moment, the giant emerald crow rose from its nesting position, and with an intent gaze, it grabbed the polished river rock and… Threw it outside its nest without any care.
"..."
'Come on!'
/CAW!/
/FWOOSH!/
A powerful wind soon came from above, pushing him back onto the water!
The crow wasn't alone, its mate was finally back and it wasn't happy!
But… That was all outside of his discretion as right now, Jonathan was about to kiss the river and an unfortunate bystander.
/SPLASH!/
…
/GASP!/
"Huff… Huff… I'm… I'm alive!"
'Hell yeah!'
He looked around, and then at his right hand.
The bundle of threads was still there, and it was already unwrapping itself.
'I got it all! Me!... I'm tired.'
/Coil…/
The threads slowly unwrapped themselves, rising to the skies before vanishing…
Meanwhile, their other corner wrapped around his arm, reaching to his neck, forming a tight lace as if he were a present.
'Phew, that was hard… From here on out, hopefully, things get a little less hectic…'
/Grab…/
"Huh?..."
But the world wasn't going to let him go so quickly…
'Wh-What are you two doing?!'
Behind him, the two Souls he had made most of the journey with had raised their hands and grabbed onto different strands connecting to his neck.
"W-W-Wait a minute there…"
'I don't know if they're dudes or not!'
But heaven wouldn't listen, and immediately after, their fates were forever intertwined with his…
What a marry day!
'DAMN!!'
/Cross…/
Finally, the trio crossed the red gate, and the next section of their lives began.
…
What felt like hours drifting aimlessly ended abruptly by the parting of the golden clouds in the sky.
"Wh…"
'I was having the nicest of sleeps…'
From high above, light emerged from within the clouds, and a pillar of light cascaded down to the river.
Like the traction beam of a UFO, it slowly sucked in the water from the river, and with it, all on its path!
'What's going on now?!'
However, his desperation soon ended as he looked up, and his mind soothed.
'I see now…'
Mirrored on the hole within the clouds was the image of a large city within green plains…
'That's likely where those Souls are going to be reborn… Good luck out there, my fellas…'
/Part…/
In no time at all, a dozen other holes opened within the clouds, and thousands of individuals began to be sucked up one after the other.
'Alright! This is where I made my stance. The place I choose to be reborn into will directly relate to my quality of life.'
'Of course, even if I choose a bustling modern city, if there's any, there's no guarantee I'll be born as a rich dude as I may instead be born as a poor sod with no parents…'
'Nothing against orphans, but I don't want to live life on hard difficulty…'
'Now, there's something to take note while I'm here… Each path has a different color, intensity, and density of Souls within them.'
'Like the paths before, I should aim for a brilliant path with few individuals, that's my goal!'
/Shush!.../
The river's waters grew chaotically, pushing him around the place chaotically.
'Well… I guess this is goodbye.'
'Sorry Bros, I don't know where we'll meet next, but it was a good run. If fate binds us together, then we shall meet again at the battlefield, not as enemies and hopefully as allies!'
But regardless of his feelings, they merely drifted through the clouds, going further and further down the river together.
"..."
'I thought they would be on their way by now… Could it be they'll be born as my actual brothers instead?'
'That would be sick… But I'm not interested in sharing toys!'
Jonathan was an unusual man, maybe that was why he was in this certainly not conventional circumstance.
'That said… There aren't that many around us anymore…'
From the sea of people to just a few dozen here and there. But they had features in familiar…
'Everyone here has distinctive Souls, most of us… Maybe we'll be each sent to our own zones?'
Jonathan wasn't resisting the current, he was willing to accept its decisions… For as long as it matched his conditions.
But so far, he didn't even feel a tug.
/Pull…/
"!"
At that moment, he felt a weak tug on his shoulder, and with great surprise, he saw one of his bros be slowly drift into the distance toward a pilar of water.
'Woah…'
The light emanating from that waterfall was so blinding it almost rivaled that of the sun, causing him to squint his eyes as he tried to figure out the outline of the region within the clouds.
But the best he managed to see within the light was the outline of a pure field of white.
'Snow?...'
/Grab…/
The weak tug again…
'...'
Although the Souls seemed emotionless and clueless of their circumstances, merely reacting by instinct to the world around them, the Soul next to him still held his arm as they drifted appart, as if unwilling to separate from him.
'How… Touching. But above all I… Won't take away your golden future.'
"I know man… It was fun. Thanks for the ride but… It's time we part ways." Jonathan said as he pushed the Soul's arm away
"See you around, in our next life. Grow healthy and strong!"
/Hand…/
The Soul still tried to reach to him, but in the end, it was sucked onto the vortex.
Soon enough, the golden light coming from the sky receded as if waiting for this very moment.
It was a one person trip, and Bro number 1 was its passenger.
"..."
'What a strange place… Is this the natural order of things, or was this made by someone else?'
'God?... Is God here? Can he hear me?... I'm sorry for my sins! Maybe I shouldn't have dried my balls on my younger brother's towel because he was annoying to me, I'm really sorry…'
/Pull…/
Then, amidst his delusions, another tug…
"..."
'Number 2…'
Yeah… It was time for them to move on.
'I can't see it very well… It's too bright… But if this is your fate… Then embrace it.'
'This time I cannot do much to help you, this fate is yours alone and the heavens to dictate.'
/Push…/
With a light push, Jonathan let them go on their way, and like before, the golden path soon closed, leaving him alone with a few others at the edge of their path.
"..."
/Splash splash…/
'Something's wrong… The river's growing serene… And dark.'
A terrific cold sensation reached his stomach as Jonathan saw himself stranded.
This feeling kept increasing as more and more lights descended from the sky, and with a heavy heart, he realized that the heavens…
HAD NO PLANS FOR HIM.
'Shit! What if I can't reincarnate? What will happen to my Soul?!'
'If there isn't a destination for me… Then where should I go?!'
'Unless… Whatever path I once had was diverted and now… The Heavens have let go of me?'
'I won't accept this!'
He looked everywhere, but whatever's path above were too far for him to reach, so he had to focus.
'I have a feeling that if I miss the next one… I'll never be able to see the sun again.'
/Shine…/
Just when he thought of that, a golden path shone from the heavens!
Like the ones before, it was far too blinding for him to read what laid at its end, but it didn't matter as Jonathan immediately swam to it with intent!
"?!"
'A competitor?!'
In the distance, he saw as another Soul fast approached the light, too fast in fact…
'No way… I'm not losing this chance…'
/SWIM!/
Jonathan began to swim like a tireless professional athlete, surpassing the Soul and reaching the light first!
/Pull… Close…/
'AHAHA! I did it!... Hm?...'
The Soul underneath him soon reached his feet, but unlike him, it did was not pulled over…
The Soul raised its head, looking straight at him.
The Soul was white and brilliant, quite odd but pretty.
Its silent stare drew a hole down his chest…
'I'll be dammed…'
/PULL!/
With a heavy grab, Jonathan pulled the Soul onto the dissipating pillar of light, and by the mercy of the heavens, the Soul was soon drawn onto the attraction of the clouds as well.
"Well… Phew… I did it."
/Turn…/
"Good luck out there pal… Consider your debt repaid."
"If I get a good life… I'll come looking for you to pay my debt, otherwise, consider ourselves…"
/Shine…/
But before he even had the chance to finish speaking, the golden light devoured him, silencing his words as his consciousness drifted far away…
…
/Beep… Beep…/
"#####!… #####!"
"Huff… Huff…"
"####!!!!"
In a dark night under a full moon, life was once again…
/Cries…/
"####!!"
"###!"
A baby's cry in the night, welcomed to the world by many, the start of a new tale.
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