Wallace Franklin knew he was dying, there was no question of this. Eighty-two years of life had crawled past him and he smiled. It had been a good life, not one for the record books but one filled with trials and victories. Of his three children, seven grandchildren, and eleven great grand-children all were alive and well. His legacy was alive and well and he had left them with strong character, and better morals and each of them had touched his life in their ways. He had done his best in each phase of his life, soldier, parent, spouse, working man, grandfather, and patriarch. He had regrets for sure, he had struggled to break the bonds of his horrific family legacies. Alcoholism, prejudice, and ignorance were the hallmarks of the Franklin family outside of his direct family tree. He rubbed at the irritating oxygen line plugged into his nostrils, hands shaking with infirmity.
“You okay Papa?” His granddaughter Fern asked from his other elbow.
“I’m okay sweetling, I’m going to sleep now. I love you.” He whispered.
“Okay, Papa. I love you too.” She replied and squeezed his hand.
Such a good girl…he thought as he slipped the bonds of his mortal coil.
——————————————————————————————————
There was a sense of timelessness, a depth of nothing. He could sense nothing, no sound, no light, no anything. He floated there timeless for who knows how long.
A pinprick of light bloomed in the darkness, Wallace could not tell if it was a tiny pinprick nearby or a massive one far away. He could somehow sense that it was both. It grew in size and brightness and approached at the same time. When it drew close enough it resolved into a globe of light. “Oh sorry! I didn’t mean to make you wait!” Can a tinny somewhat effeminate voice. The orb was about the size of a basketball and swirled around him. “How is it that you weren’t claimed? We hardly ever get anyone lost out here.” Said the voice.
“Um, what? I died.” Wallace said. Or thought, or whatever. He could sense that he had no physical body, so how could he have a voice?
“Well yes. That’s why you are here. You are a lost soul. You should have gone to your deity of choice, or off to whatever thing you sold your soul to, or whatever.” The orb replied sounding a bit confused and concerned.
“Yeah, no. Religion is a trash bin, and selling my soul? Not worth it.” Wallace replied.
“Well whatever, protocols for this sort of thing are in place.” A tiny fanfare played and sparkles showered from the orb for a moment. “Seems like you are deserving of reincarnation. Your soul is not exactly clean, but it shows that you were a virtuous man. Grew, learned, worked through generational curses, a patriot, and father. Good work there. How did you not get scooped up by some deity? Oh, here it is. You’re from Earth. No magic there anymore, eww. No gods, wait. Never mind, I see. A moral atheist, yes? Okay.” The orb prattled on, seeming to ignore Wallace as sounds of flipping pages filled the emptiness. It paused and seemed to turn its attention back to Wallace. “Right so, where do you want to go?”
“Wait for a second, what? Reincarnation? Please explain.” Wallace replied curiously.
“You died, are now a lost soul and in your previous life, you lived what the Agreement terms as a good life. Since you are unclaimed, and what is termed a ‘high-value soul’ you now get to choose where you go.” The orb said with a school teacher’s tone.
“So what are my choices? What sort of life do I get to lead?” Wallace asked intrigued.
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“Oh, well I guess we can go through the whole thing. That’s the protocol.” The orb replied. “Let’s start with the where. You come from Earth where there is no supernatural activity of note. Do you want some magic in your life?”
“Magic?”
“Yeah, like wizards and sorcerers and dragons and stuff like that. And on a scale of zero to ten what do you think?”
“Real magic? Spells and rituals and the like…oh shit. Ten please.” Wallace replied, excitement growing.
“All right then, what about technology? Stone age to deep interstellar empires?”
“How about swords and knights and the like? Is that possible?” Wallace asked, he had always liked fantasy novels and movies. He had even spectated as his grandkids played their video games while he babysat.
“Sure okay, so Tier ten, stage three development. I know a few good places. Now for your birthplace, you have several possibilities. Urban, suburban, rural, frontier, tribal, nomadic?”
“How about somewhere between frontier and tribal?”
“Check, okay. Station? Noble? Freeman? Slave?”
“Why would anyone choose to be a slave? That’s horrible. Freeman, please. I’ve always hated politics and being a noble screams politics.” Wallace replied. He noticed that his usual emotional response was minimal, perhaps not having a body reduced how indignant he could get.
“Edge of the frontier, born a freeman. All right. Next on the list, let’s see. Oh, boon. Yes, this world has boons, and you get to spin the wheel of destiny. Hurrah!” The orb said with a flat unamused tone.
“The Wheel of Destiny? What is that?” Wallace asked, again confused.
“Well, this world is a tier ten magic one and everyone gets a magical boon of some sort. A gift from the gods themselves.”
“Gods. What a crock of shit.” Wallace said with some disdain.
“Oh, you might want to review that idea, Mr. Franklin. The gods are very real. Depending on how you live your next life you might just meet one of them.”
“For real? That’s nuts. Well okay. Do I get to pick this one or is it just a random chance thing?”
“Mostly random, the weight of your soul will tip the scales. You ever spin some sort of game wheel?”
“Well yes, I suppose,” Wallace replied with some skepticism.
“Well the stronger your soul, the better the prizes so to speak. There is still a large element of randomness in what you’ll get. That’s all part of the Agreement. Are you ready for your spin?”
“Sure, but what is this Agreement you are talking about?”
“The rules that the gods need to play by. Untold millennia of strife as they fought over souls before the Agreement. Now they have rules they need to play by and the mortals like you get to not fight in their endless wars for power. Now you all get to live whatever lives you get with minimal intervention. Certain souls though are worth more, souls like yours. Unclaimed, strong and now you get a second chance to become even stronger, more valuable. I have little doubt there will be several of the gods vying for your attention.”
“Oh boy, sounds like fun. How about that spin then?” Wallace said, all enthusiasm lost for the prospect of dealing with some mystical sky entities that wanted his soul. He had questions and questions but something held him back from asking them.
“Here you go.” The orb replied and a massive wheel akin to the classic Wheel of Fortune, except instead of a handle to pull the wheel there was an arm akin to an ancient balancing scale with a brass bowl hanging from a trio of chains. Wallace felt a sensation of movement and suddenly he was in the brass bowl. Instead of large spaces with black and white numbers, there were thousands of thin spaces, each with a line of text that Wallace could not read. As Wallace tried to discern the letters the scale dropped, and the wheel spun. The wheel blurred, and then suddenly stopped. The space it landed on blinked and then just as suddenly the wheel began to spin again and two more wheels suddenly appeared next to it. “Wow, thrice blessed. You won three more spins.”
Each of the three wheels stopped one by one in sequence. With each space blinking, the text turned golden and glowed. The words floated off the prize wheels and floated in space before Wallace and the orb. The text was some flowing wavy lettering that Wallace did not recognize. After a moment the letters shifted, changing into something he could read.
***Second Awakening***
***Adept Learner***
***Nine Fold Flower***
“What are those? What do they mean?” Wallace asked after reading them.
“I’m not allowed to tell you. Now off you go!” The orb said brightly.
The bottom dropped out of the scale and Wallace fell away. The wheels disappeared and the orb sped away into the distance, muttering something about “missing an episode...”