03. Deciding on your own makes a difference

Mati's father knew he was about to die with the last sound he could hear being cat's meowing, which now felt sinister to him.

This might have been a misunderstanding, now that he thought of it. This weird situation in the train likely messed up his logical thinking. Still, it was too late now, no turning back. He could do nothing now, no control over body, only thoughts.

How come a cat managed to kill him? Such a small, cute-looking cat.

"Wait, now that I think of it, this cat looked similar to the one I saw at the train station, the one that followed me. Mati said it was Darek's cat? Who is Darek?"

"How about you finally stand up so we can talk?" a voice talked to him. It was one of a man.

Mati's father blinked and managed to see dark room with a man sitting on a fancy-looking armchair. When the father walked closer, he noticed the armchair looks more like a throne made of a combination of bones, wood and swords.

The figure sitting in the armchair, or whatever this seat could be, was a tall man of strong build with a pale face having long hair, long triangle beard and pointy ears.

Despite that person being a man, and Mati's father being the straightest man that can be, he honestly felt this is the most beautiful entity he has ever seen.

"Who are you? And where am I?" the father asked.

The man moved in his armchair, taking a cigar out of his mouth and putting it away, then drinking some red liquid from a glass.

"Dimensional Architecture Room Eternal King" he said with dignity.

Mati's father was confused.

"What?"

"You asked me who am I" the man spoke again, putting away the glass with red liquid "What I said is my title, but for ease of communication, let's abbreviate it to the name friends use when addressing me. You can call me DAREK."

"Wait, you mean Darek? Do you have anything to do with that cat?"

"Yes, Cat is my loyal servant. I left it with Mati so it can monitor the situation in your world. Of course, Mati gets perks for helping me."

"Wait, but that creature, it killed me! And why do you say 'it'. Shouldn't you say 'he'?"

Darek shook his head, reached to one of pockets of his perfectly fitting, black suit and passed a cigar to Mati's father.

"Here, have a smoke to calm down" Darek told him "We can continue when your head cools off."

The father was not much of a smoker, but given the circumstances, he did as he was told.

"Wait, so you are a God?" he asked after a moment "I was catholic through my whole life, hetero, had a wife and children. I should go to heaven, right?"

"First of all, I'm not a God. I told you, you can call me Darek. I'm a completely different entity, so I shouldn't mix God in here. God is an even higher entity. I'm here to help you out, so God is not pissed at you."

"What do you mean? I was doing everything well, I obeyed the rules."

"Sure, you thought you are doing everything right, but it was not the case. You might have been a believer, going to church, having family, being a nice guy in your opinion. But what about your approach towards others?"

"I did argue with people sometimes, but is there anyone who didn't?"

"Actually, there is. More than one. Gandhi, for example. But that's not what we are talking about now. It's about you having no idea what you were doing wrong. You lived enougn years to learn, and here you don't know how to be tolerant, to have respect for the other beings."

"I do respect others."

"You do? What do you think about homosexuals, transgenders...?"

Darek listed many more after that.

"Your face says everything. You also failed our small test."

"Test? What test?"

"Cat. Cat led you into the situation in your world, and here we are."

"One moment, so it was you who made me die?"

Darek shook his head, and smiled.

"No, it was you who made yourself die. We created a scenario for you, allowing multiple choices and you selected one that led to your death. Cat delivered the sentence."

"I don't get it, why should I tolerate something unnatural."

A buzzing sound echoed. It was Darek who did that.

"Sorry, I had to" he smiled as he hid a big, red button "You are just a mere mortal, so it's obvious it's hard for you to comprehend, but everything in the world is carefully planned, even the exceptions from the general rules. Get your shit straight, you think that if God didn't allow something it would be possible?"

"So, what's going to happen to me? If it's not going to heaven..."

"You need to change, and your way to change is in front of you."

Mati's father looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You sure are slow. Your son is much faster to understand, so I guess he might have gotten it from his mother, not you. Whatever, I will repeat: Dimensional Architecture Room Eternal King. We are in a place called a 'Dimensional Architecture Room'. In other words, we can build things. We create worlds, we set rules, we can adjust parameters."

The father nodded, but his face looked confused.

"Okay, I still don't get it."

Darek sighed.

"I'm going to send you into a different world. Does it make sense to you now?"

"How? As in reincarnation?"

"Yes, precisely that. And your job will be to learn about being tolerant."

"Is learning a lesson from you not enough?"

Darek shook his head.

"It's not that simple. You don't just need to know, you must understand. You will be having a fresh start."

"Does it mean I'm going to lose my memories?"

"You will, but since the place I'll be sending you is quite specific, I'll grant you a privilege of selecting and adjusting your skills. It's a pretty big deal, you know. The usual is lottery, so your start in life may be quite different."

Mati's father looked resigned.

"Ok, so what now?"

"Since you are ready, have a seat."

"Where?"

Darek pushed yet another button and additional seat popped up out of nowhere.

Mati's father took a seat as instructed, and billions of skills appeared in front of him.

"And I'm to pick from these? It's going to take forever!"

"We have that much, don't worry!"

The father was looking through the list and asking one question after the another.

"Pissing power? You seriously have something like that in the list? What else do you have?"

"Everything. All of these are parameters we have for every intelligent entity. Choose wisely as for this specific world your traits will also determine your race"

Mati's father did as instructed, applied the settings and was embraced by white light once choices were confirmed with Darek. Despite knowing his memories are going to be erased, he felt unusually at ease.