(Cosmic Occurrence Two - Start)

As Adam touched the ‘job’ board, for lack of a better descriptor, he was plunged into the darkness of his soul space as prompts filled his vision.

>>> Random Rebirth chosen.

>>> Copper Soul detected

>>> Checking Soul Abilities

>>> Number of Soul Abilities exceeds the soft limit.

>>> Checking Karmic Luck.

>>> Karmic Luck???

>>> ERROR

>>> Number of Soul Abilities within allowable limits

>>> Projection N/A

>>> Rebirth will commence Shortly.

NOTE: Copper Level Soul Abilities compatible with targeted Cosmos: Perfect Memory, Pansophical, Inviolate, Chaos Forged, Adaptable, Willed-Movement, Incessant, Resistant, Open to New Ideas, Convergence, Spellweaver, Soul Storage, and Affluent.

NOTE: Rebirth resets all physical attributes to new racial starting minimums. Abilities that utilize mana and stamina are limited to the current physical body.

NOTE: The physical attributes of your projection in your Soul Space default to the highest possible of your projection types. Current number of projection types: 1 of 4: Projection Types: Ascendant Human.

New Projection Type: Human male.

Entry Type: Birth

Entry type Birth? Adam guessed that meant…Oh, this was gonna suck.

Searching for a gestation candidate.

Candidate found, soul, attached.

Memory Wipe of new body and Copper level soul memory detachment until death…

ERROR – Soul Ability Perfect Memory Prevents Memory Wipe

ERROR – Chaos Forged and Adaptable Soul Ability Synergy prevents soul memory detachment.

ERROR – Adaptable, Chaos Forged, and Inviolate synergy override genetic writing. Adjustments to body made.

WARNING – Adjustments to the body are not compatible with the gestation candidate’s body. Gestation of the body will lead to the termination of the candidate. Would you like to limit attributes to local norms during gestation and birth? Yes or No?

Adam chose “Yes.”

Note: All physical attributes are artificially set to local norms for size and age of the physical body. Attributes can be adjusted at any time in your personal Interface.

WARNING: reducing your attributes in this way also reduces any resistances provided by higher-level attributes. This body will be more vulnerable than your default projection.

Soul Attachment Success.

Welcome to your new Life.

Time to Birth 9 months.

Adam closed the last prompt and then floated in darkness. 9 months of this, then going through a normal growth cycle was going to take forever, or was it? Utilizing his senses, he reached out and felt what he expected. Cells, multiplying and growing. They had no sensory input at this point so that link was a dead end. He wondered if his mind would be forced into the baby’s body as it was about to be born then disregarded the concern. He was in his soul space. Here his soul was inviolate, and it seemed like he had all the abilities he’d had before. He needed to test that.

Adam concentrated and imagined his Soul space as if it was his Place of Power and willed it into existence. Moments later he stood in the entryway of his Place of Power. Turning around he opened the door which did not open into a courtyard but instead opened into darkness beyond the door. He reached out and his hand passed into it, still visible. So, the door was an exit but just into his normal Soul-Space. Good to know.

Adam tried utilizing his chaotic nanites here and was pleasantly surprised when a glass of Long-Island Iced Tea formed in his hand. Taking a drink, he mouthed, “Yep, that’s the stuff,” as he walked around inventorying everything he had. This was the version of the Place of Power after he’d upgraded it. Fully functional with electronics, computers, and everything else he could want. The only thing he didn’t have was access to his nanites outside of this space. He could feel them all within it, holding everything together, forming anything he wished. They would change as he desired but he had no access to any nanites anywhere else. Not like when he was in the place between places. If the Apertures or the Eye for each Cosmos was a hard lock that made sense.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The next thing he did was try to dilate the time in his soul space so that it would pass by a little slower inside than it was outside. A very limited trial. He wanted three months to go by. Adam willed his Soul Space to adjust. It worked! He reached out with his senses and felt his new body and the small mind there already reaching for his mind. He could feel that he was still in the womb and that he, the knew he, was dreaming. Instinctively the mind of the baby had tried to connect to him. As he looked closer he noted that there seemed to be a void in the mind of the child, like the brain was in a null state except for autotomic functions. Adam realized that by holding his mind away, this body was showing no signs of intelligence.

Adam retreated into his soul space and minimized the link as he thought about it for a moment then went to work. There were a couple of ways he could handle this but the most efficient he could think of would be to keep his primary mentality in his Soul Space while he let his body live its life. For that though the baby would need a mind. Also, he needed to be able to relate to the local conditions so the body would need a mind that didn’t know everything he knew and could inform him about what he was being born into. Much like his Thor aspect, but not. Adam removed everything he knew from the mind he was creating but tried to place some fundamentals that would become active as certain milestones were met. He also set up a back door into the mind that he could utilize to download or connect to so he could check on the mind without taking over or being noticed by the consciousness that would be forming.

Adam went to work creating a reduced version of himself. It would still be him because he’d need to be able to absorb the memories and eventually take control of the body but at the start, he wanted the new ‘him’ to be as normal as possible. It didn’t take long and he allowed the mind that was reaching out to latch onto and draw the constructed ‘soul’ he’d created to fill the void that was the mind of the child that was still in the womb. Adam made sure it integrated properly and then withdrew from the connection. Now all he had to do was wait.

The subconscious might be able to reach him here but that was okay. When the child was sleeping was when he’d connect and read his memories. Once he was born he could probably force-grow himself, but he didn’t know what kind of cosmos this was and he didn’t want to set off any red flags. Textrix was still out there somewhere, and he was sure she hadn’t forgotten about him. Eventually, he’d have to address that, but he wouldn’t kid himself that right now he didn’t have a chance in hell of being able to stand up to that kind of power. Also, he needed time to think about everything David and Ptah had told him. What he’d been told seemed more true than what Janice had told him, but he couldn’t help but feel there was more going on than he was being told about. Setting up the child the way he was would hopefully keep anyone looking for him from finding him. He needed to grow stronger, in the shadows if possible, but grow he could and would do. Adam was betting that if he displayed his powers for all to see, that ripple would be noticed. Better not to make vibrations on the threads of fate, vibrations on a web always brought the spiders.

* * *

“Come on Ahrem, they’re about to start,” Katie said as she hurried to the edge of the roof.

“They said not to watch Katie, we could get in a lot of trouble if we’re caught. You have to be 16 years old to watch the Judgements of Fate” Katie said.

Ahrem looked at Katie. They’d grown up in the same neighborhood. Gone to the same schools and soon they’d be sixteen. Then they’d have to make their choice. A choice Ahrem wasn’t looking forward to but one that he’d have to make regardless, “Look, Katie, we’re going to make our choice soon. The executions that are about to happen are for those that failed to keep their promises.”:

“Hurry up, I want to see what happens,” Katie said in a whining tone that was only going to get worse.

“Mom said the longer we don’t have to witness things like that the better. It can get kind of messy,” he said.

“Messy how?” Katie asked.

“Messy in that stuff that’s supposed to be inside you comes out of you. Mom says when you die, if you have to go, you go. That doesn’t include the mess you make from bleeding either.”

“Still, we’re about to be adults and we’ll have to make our choice so come on, let’s get to the edge and watch,” Katie said.

“Okay, but it’s going to be gross, I just know it,” Ahrem said.

Ahrem led the way and they dropped to their knees then crawled up to the edge and looked over the top of the three-story building they were on. The building he’d chosen overlooked the town square where a guillotine had been placed. Five gagged people with their hands tied behind them stood in a line. The gags had been tied in such a way that there was a knot at the back. Standing around them were four guards and more were stationed throughout the plaza as the mayor stood at a podium and addressed the gathered crowd. Both Ahrem’s and Katie’s mom and dad stood at the front of the crowd with stoic expressions on their faces as they looked up at the mayor.

“We are gathered here today to help those that refuse to stay true to their choice and serve their community and nation meet Justice! There is no place in our society for those that fail to keep their promise to stay true to their Choice. If they had been honest when they made their choice, they would have been shipped off to the border and allowed to make their way into the world. Instead, they lied and schemed to subvert those that believe in our Country, whose cause is just and our goals sound. One day the world will be united under our flag. These five will never see that day though. May everyone that looks into their dead eyes as their heads are passed from city to city be reminded that once the choice is made there is no turning back!” The mayor looked off to her side and nodded.

The first prisoner was picked up and forcefully placed on the guillotine face down then moved into position. A box with a glass bottom was placed face down with what looked like a mold in it and the female soldier grabbed the knot at the back of the prisoner’s head. A hush fell over the crowd, except for the muffled scream until there was a ‘shick’ and the soldier lifted the head out and away from the guillotine which was already being raised. The soldier placed the head in the box and closed the back which had the face in the box with only the neck stump dripping blood. The box was turned over so the faces were visible. Ahrem and Katie looked down through the glass into the open blinking eyes of the head in the box. Eventually, the eyes stopped blinking. As they watched the head the body was pulled away, another prisoner took its place and a 2nd head was put in a box and turned over.

The third, fourth, and fifth heads were placed on the ground, allowing the necks to drain. Eventually, that stopped and a panel was added so that the boxes were completely enclosed. The boxes were lifted and carried to a vehicle that had the sign “Traitors” at the top of the window with all five boxed heads below looking out on the street. Two soldiers entered the driver’s cab of the vehicle, started it, and slowly drove north out of the city.

The Mayor looked out over the crowd, nodded then said, “That concludes the ugly business of the day. The disposal crew is to take care of the bodies and the clean-up crew is to clean the equipment and then return it to its storage area. On a much lighter note, the town gathering for next week is still on, we hope to see you all there!”

After the mayor stopped talking the crowds dispersed as two crews of people went to work cleaning up the bodies and the mess. Ahrem and Katie backed away from the edge and then made their way back downstairs. They didn’t talk until they walked down one of the back streets towards the park they were supposed to be at with the other children. They made their way to their favorite tree sat down and sighed. They’d made it and hadn’t been caught.

“It didn’t look all that gross,” Katie started.

“That’s because you like stuff like that,” Ahrem said. “You didn’t even make a face when we dissected that frog a couple of weeks ago.”

“Yeah, because it was cool. Learning how animals and people work is neat. If I’m going to be a doctor someday, I need to know this stuff, at least that’s what my counselor says.”

“Well, I thought it was pretty gross, and then putting their heads in boxes for everyone to see, that seems somehow wrong,” Ahrem said.

“None of that out of you,” Katie said. “They betrayed our Country, they lied to all of us, they got what they deserved!”

“I guess,” Ahrem said hesitantly, “It just seems like there are easier ways to kill people. Plus, won’t this turn them into Martyrs for those that think the way they do?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ll all get what’s coming to them. The Country will make sure of it!” Katie said.

“If you say so.”

“I do!” Katie said with conviction.

They sat there for a little bit until they hear Mrs. Rigwall call out, “Ahrem, Katie, time to head back!”

“We’re coming,” they both replied in unison. They stood brushed themselves off and headed back to the rest of the children in the center of the park. Ahrem wasn’t quite sure what to do about his feelings but something about what he’d just witnessed felt wrong to him. He hoped he wouldn’t have another one of those dreams where everything seemed weird. They were getting more and more frequent as his 16th birthday came closer and closer.