Souls.

When one sleeps, they can dream of themselves in an alternate life, as kings, warriors,  chefs, or even the opposite gender.

What if these dreams were not dreams,  will that change your view on how the universe worked or will you just not care.

Vell has been having such dreams ever since he was a kid but he noticed that more of those dreams have disappeared,  one by one but he never thought too deeply about it, they are just dreams after all.

****

“Aren't you going to kiss me?” 

A cute short girl with red hair asked, looking at him in a seductive way. He looked at her plump lips and gorgeous red eyes but felt nothing.

“Not today.” 

“....why, we have been dating for a long time and it's been 2 months since you last made me feel alive. Do you not love me anymore? Did I do something wrong?” 

He saw her sad expression which began eating at him. He gently pulled her over, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder.

“Remember when we met,  you were running not to miss the bus. I saw you through the window and I thought ‘wow, she is slow as hell’.”

She laughed softly while remaining quiet so he could continue.

“It was close but you made it on the bus, sweaty and huffing like crazy. Even your hair was messed up but you smiled anyway, I found that charming, a bright smile despite what just happened.”

She smiled as she felt his head leaning against hers. 

“Yeah, I remember that day, people were staring at me with judgemental looks but I was just happy to have made it. If I had missed that bus, my boss would have for sure fired me.”

“It did look that way. After that you looked for a seat and you saw an open space by me so you wasted no time and came to sit by me, still smiling brightly. I remember we hit off really well during that ride and ever since we took the same bus and even ended up dating,  that's how we met.”

“.......i am not sure why you are saying all this all of sudden.” 

She looked up at him, noticing that he was looking weaker than just a few minutes ago. 

“I am really sorry for pushing you away these past months…”

She didn’t care about that, something was wrong.

“H-hey, are you ok? you don't look so great.”

‘Seems another one of them is gone.’ 

He thought looking at his hands as they began shaking.

‘What a terrible fate, ever since i noticed the disappearance of those dreams that i had so frequently, i slowly got weaker. I didn't pay it much thought at first, but after more and more of them vanished,  I began noticing, and not only that, there is also this strange pull I keep feeling. What is going on?’

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He looked at her, on the brink of crying. He forced a painful smile to at least make her believe he is ok.

“I told you that because it's a precious memory of how I met the love of my love, it's a very special memory. Treasure it for the both of us.”

The pull was getting stronger and each pull made his body weaker. He slowly fell on the bed, his body temperature rising fast. 

“Babe! Please tell me what's wrong. What is happening?” 

She could not hold back her tears anymore,  her hands were trembling,  holding him by the head not sure what to do. 

“Please hold on, I will call for help.” 

His vision went dark and the last words he heard were of his girlfriend screaming on the phone telling the ambulance to hurry but it was too late, he had passed away. 

***

His soul found itself in a corridor that had no way in or out. The only thing visible are the black boards on each side of the walls. 

“What the hell is going on?”

He looked at the boards seeing names in white, if he had to guess,  there were probably over a million names. He walked through the corridor noticing that all the names he has seen so far have been crossed out with a red line. 

He continued looking and when he arrived at the end, he finally saw it, right at the bottom was his name, the only one that had not been crossed out.

“W-what the hell, could this be….”

His thoughts went back to the dreams he had, they always felt real, too real in fact, so he wondered if these are the names of those people he dreamt about. 

“Shit.” 

He has always been one to accept reality,  he is dead and what he is seeing right now is not fake, denying it will not make it any less true.

As he continued looking around, he heard a voice echo in the corridor. He stopped to listen but it was silent,  as though the connection was weak. 

Then it echoed again, more clear this time.

[Soul number 1.8 million confirmed,  beginning soul rebirth.]

He felt that pull again but this time there was nothing he could do. He passed out and his soul descended into a new world, arriving in a forest where his soul gently entered a dead monster’s body, fusing with it.

In normal circumstances,  this monster would disappear after it died but that only applied when it’s killed. When its a natural death, they die just like humans. 

[Soul rebirth complete, inheriting soul system……..]

His consciousness slowly came back and once he was fully awake,  he felt….off. 

‘Something is wrong here very wrong. I can’t see or speak, i have no limbs, i can't even feel my heart beat or hear anything,  what the hell is going on now.’

[Inheriting done. Welcome new user.] 

He heard the same voice from before but this time it was in his head. 

‘It's you, who or what are you?’ 

[ I am your soul system, here to help you grow strong.]

‘Soul system, get strong? What are you going on about.’ 

[The dreams you had, they always felt too real right? Those were not dreams, you were seeing the lives of your alternates,  you in another universe or dimension.] 

He listened and accepted it's answer.

‘I see, so the names on the boards…’

[Yes, those are your alternate selves.  They have all died, you are the last one. I have been trying to pull you in this world for a long time. Whenever one of your alternates died, you grew weaker, this was because out of your alternates, you are the only one without a soul barrier so you always suffered the backlash that was sent to all your alternates in reality. ] 

‘I think i get it, you pulled me here because my other selves were dying and you needed at least one to survive.’

[Yes.]

‘But why? Why me? Why in this world and not my original one, why did you have to take me away from her?’ 

[It's simple, you were the closest soul, i didn't choose you because you were special, you were just lucky. The reason i could not let you inherit me in your old world is also simple,  there is no mana in the air, none at all, if you inherited me there, it wouldn't have changed anything.]

‘Whatever.’ 

He knew Something was not adding up but he didn't want to press further,  there were other things to worry about for now.

‘So when are you going to take me to the new world?’

[You are already there.]

‘Huh, then why do i feel so off, i can’t see , speak or do anything.’

[......your soul was too weak to endure entering a different vessel so….]

‘H-hey, what vessel did you put me in?’

He felt like he shouldn't have asked that.

[.....a slime.]

‘WHAT!?’