I came to myself in a place of nothingness. There was no sense of feeling, sight or smell. There was simply a sensation of existence.

The nothingness extended around me infinitely it seemed. There was nothing physical in this realm, it was like a great deep abyss.

Ah, so this is what it's like to have died.

As I contemplated the idea of still having rational thought as a free-floating soul I realized there was something in the nothingness. I was given the sensation that there was a ray of light shining upon me, from a great distance away.

I guess this is what they mean when they say to follow the light after death. Well, not that there seems to be anything else to do here.

As I willed myself into a state of motion I felt something else. Directly opposite the way the light was shining from I felt the void fracture. Like cracks in an egg I felt a weakening in the stagnation of the void.

Heh. What is this, the same choice again?

I felt it. If I wanted to I could push beyond this fracture, into the unknown. Forward or backward. Try for the easy quick route or take a chance and venture into the mysterious.

My previous choice of moving forward didn't exactly pan out the way I desired, so I think I'll try something different this time. Assuming every religion on the planet held some semblance of the truth of things going forward would result in being judged and passing into some sort of heaven or hell.

Well, not like one decent act would tip the scales in my favor after the life I've led anyway.

Once again I willed myself into motion, towards the fracture. I expanded my senses to the anomaly and felt the sharp edges of the cracks. The cracked subspace area before me was the only thing I could sense in this void that seemed like it could have some density to it.

If this has density I wonder if I can interact with it. Well, here goes nothing.

Focusing my will I push against the barrier in front of me. At first it bends against my will but slowly I feel more cracks appear. Then the breaking point occurs and I feel it give completely.

The crack becomes a tear and I feel myself float through. There's a sense of wrongness as I pass through the tear, like a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you know something is just wrong.

I find myself in what can only be described as another void. This time though I can feel a definite boundary. This place doesn't have the same limitless feel as the previous void.

There's something else here with me. Extending my senses out I find… a man. I cannot see him as I would when I was alive, but my sense still relays descriptive data so I know what he looks like. The man is in his 30s, wrapped in a blanket. By the bruises and cuts on his face and ragged hair its obvious he's wounded.

He's… me. In the state I was just before I died.

“Hello, and congratulations on being the first soul to pass through the dimensional barrier. Well, first I know of at least.” He says with my voice.

I wait to see if he’s going to give me a speech of some sort, but he just stands there waiting for me to say something. I briefly wonder if I even can speak, but the answer comes to me before I have to ponder it.

Souls like he and I can communicate with thoughts and intent. I bet he’s just fronting a verbal conversation to help acclimate me to my new state of existence. These things keep coming to me as I need them, like a child's instinct to walk. Except instead of a slow process of learning its like an expedited crash course of instantaneous comprehension.

Who are you?

He looks away for a moment, pondering how to respond, then back at me and says, “I guess you could say I’m the god of this dimension. The most powerful soul that exists on this side of the barrier.” He pauses after finishing his statement. It seems he wants me to lead this conversation, even though he’s clearly the reason I was able to cross what he called the dimensional barrier.

I think about all the questions available to me, but really the one I most care about is perhaps the rudest one. I’m a little hesitant to ask it to a self proclaimed god, but until it’s answered I know this feeling of unease won’t go away.

What do you want from me?

He gives a wry smile, “You truly are keen, aren't you. That’s good. Having a sharp mind really is the only other thing I could have asked for from you. I wish to offer you a choice, an opportunity really.”

He stops his spiel, frowns and looks away again. Continuing he says, “No, that's not right. Really what I want from you is to ask a favor.” His gaze returns to me, “In exchange I will give you the opportunity to start anew. A chance at another life. Something like halfway reincarnation I guess you could say. If you would refuse this offer I will not obstruct your return to your natural death.”

I realize the tear I had come through did in fact still exist behind me, waiting for a traveler to pass through. That gave credibility to his claim that I was allowed to refuse at any time, but I still didn’t want to lower my guard. I was in his territory after all.

You said the only other thing. What was the first thing, and do you imply that you chose me in particular to ask this favor of?

“You’re exactly right, I chose you for your qualities. I had to watch your world to find one who met my base quality. The favor I mean to ask would only ever be accepted by one who meets the base criteria.”

And that base criteria is?

“The willingness to, no matter the circumstances or situation, sacrifice your life for one more innocent or pure than oneself.”

That statement shocked me to my core. That was why he had chosen me?

Sorry but I think you chose the wrong guy. That was more of a fluke than anything.

He smiled at me, “No, I’m sure I chose a decent candidate. You may think I only see the surface level of that situation but I see more. I know, in truth, you acted less out of compassion than sheer self loathing.”

His words hit me like a blow to the gut.

Then why?

“You desired something you considered salvation correct? Just as I can hear them now I could hear the desires of your soul in that moment. Expecting death you wanted to feel like everything you did, all the mistakes you’ve made, actually helped somebody. And I see them, your mistakes. Taking your form and seeing these memories of yours is truly tragic. Rarely have I seen a life so utterly wasted.”

His tirade felt like a rain of blows to my ego. They left me bitter and resentful. Is this truly how he thought to ask for a favor?

And what's your point? Knowing all that, why would you possibly still think I was a good candidate for your “favor”?

“Because despite everything at the very end you chose to stay behind. Had you had a change of heart when that door opened you could have chosen to try and escape with your life. That criminal would have prioritized the girl and you know it. You could have gotten away. Instead you used yourself as a shield and the girl was saved at the cost of your life.”

My mind struggled to process his words.

So what you're saying is… she made it to safety.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He paused a moment in response to that. When he continued he said, “Even without knowing that, you had no regrets about doing it. Even without knowing her fate you felt like you did the right thing. Like doing anything else would have been a mistake even if she failed to escape. You gave your life not for her freedom, but the mere possibility of her freedom. That is why I have chosen you.”

I let his words sink in. Talk about a rollercoaster of emotion. I hadn't really thought about any of that at the time, I just moved before I knew myself what was happening. I still thought he had the wrong guy but I figured it wouldn't hurt to hear him out at least.

So what is it you want from me?

He scratched my chin contemplating his next words. “Hmmm. I guess in simple terms you could say I want you to save another child. Actually maybe it's two kids. It really depends on how you look at the situation.”

Huh?

“Yeah see, these two kids are twins. A brother and sister. Due to some really special circumstances they’ve become orphans and are homeless on the streets of a city that will eat them alive. Well, the brother might have been able to keep them alive but the real problem is his soul has been pretty much blown to smithereens.”

How the hell does that happen? And how do you think I can save him?

“Mmmm… I can’t tell you how it happened. He was involved in an incident with something I am under a binding vow to not disclose information about. To be honest, as it is his soul cannot be saved in its current state. With his soul close to disintegrating altogether there isn't any hope of the body surviving. The only thing that can be done at this point is inject the body with a new soul. That soul of course being you.”

What the hell? That doesn't count as saving him at all. Why the hell would you want to perform this pseudo-necromancy anyway. Also why wouldn't you just use a different soul from this world instead of looking through an entire different dimension for one. What makes these kids so special that you would put this amount of effort into saving them?

I watched my face take a look of displeasure. “Woah, woah. Too many questions at once.”

He sighed, “Starting with the first question. You’re right, it doesn't really count as saving him. Considering he will die anyway I thought of this solution, where a supplementary soul could put his decay into a kind of stasis. With your soul taking over cognizance and body functions his soul would no longer continue to decay. And while the possibility is close to zero, over time his soul could gradually reform itself. To be honest though that isn't the primary goal here. While saving the kids soul would be a nice upside, the real goal is to protect his sister. I’ll tell you this about her; she has zero self preservation instincts. I estimate once the brother passes she’ll be dead or sold into slavery within two days.”

Yikes. It would be nice to pretend I didn't know anybody like that in my previous life, but I did. And I had usually taken advantage of them too. So I knew all too well what he was talking about.

“Continuing, I cant use a soul from this world because I don't have jurisdiction over them. The souls of this world are bound to the Wheel, and messing with the Wheel would end in disastrous results. You can trust me on this, I’ve tried. It didn't end well.”

What’s the Wheel?

He paused his monologue, seeming annoyed he was interrupted, then seemed to reconsider his annoyance. “Yeah I suppose that does need an explanation, your world didn't have a Wheel. I think it might be easiest to show you, we’re pretty close to it after all.”

Close to it?

“Focus. Can you not hear it turning?”

I extended my senses once again, trying to find small signs of difference in the environment. As he said, I could sense something grating in the back of my mind. I hadn't noticed it before but now I couldn't understand how I had missed it.

“I suspect you hadn't noticed its power immediately because it had trouble recognizing your foreign soul. But I think it understands what you are now, so let me show it to you. This is the Wheel.”

I watched as he took my arms out of the blanket that still covered him and made hand signs that I wasn't able to catch. He then chanted in a monotone voice. “Alter Domain. Just as the living can observe all that lives, let the soul observe all that is spiritual.”

Before he had done whatever he just did I hadn't been able to perceive anything outside of this small void we sat in. As I observed him do his ritual my senses became aware of two primary things. The first was a giant glowing ball, vibrant with color. The ball was fuzzy and bright, like a thousand tiny stars bunched up together is a sphere. It’s size made us seem smaller than ants. I could tell instinctually that I was for the first time gazing upon the souls of all who inhabited his world.

Ah, so that's your world.

“Yes, and that is the Wheel.”

I followed a trail of souls leading away from the planet and found I was met with the sight of a great wheel rotating around some sort of circle. Both the wheel and the circle were blinding to my senses. The color of the souls from the planet was dazzling to be sure, but they were like fuzzy puffs of pollen compared to the solid iron wheel. I could see the scattered souls all gather around the edges of the circle while the wheel slowly rotated. When the wheel treaded over the discarded souls I could see them get crushed, and the pieces scattered in a pattern back down onto the planet below.

What's the circle called?

“That's the Focus Point. Just as matter in your universe can neither be created or destroyed, souls are in a perpetual state of transformation in this world. The souls of the deceased are pulled into the wheel and the particles are scattered. Those particles become mana, and when mana condenses a new soul is born.”

Mana? Like magic?

“So many differences to remember between your world and mine. Yes, magic does exist in this world. Unlike your world, which I believe is maintained by a higher being, this universe's creators abandoned their creation. To maintain a perpetual cycle they created the system that is the Wheel. I believe we’ve gotten off track. Let’s go back to our previous conversation.”

He did more hand signs, the inverse of what he did previously I think, and intoned, “Revert Domain.” The void blocked out everything it had revealed on his previous incantation. Even though they were no longer visible, the grinding sound of the wheel stayed in the back of my mind.

“We’ll have to hurry this along. The Wheel feels the presence of a foreign soul and is attempting to bind you to itself. If it does, the choice will no longer be your own to make. You asked what made these kids special, but they themselves aren't that special. Usually I could manifest myself and guide them to a place of safety, but their parents were important people. This makes them important via association. Due to another one of my binding vows I am unable to interact in almost any way with people the world deems important.”

Hence why you needed me.

“Exactly. If you agree to do this favor for me we will enter a binding vow. The conditions of our vow will be thus: In exchange for the participant devoting their entirety to the safety of the individual ***** ******* until the age of 17 the participant will be given the body of Arnstein *******. Once the participant fulfills the conditions of the vow they will freed of the vow and will retain the body of Arnstein ********. If the participant breaks this vow their soul shall be cursed to never reform and be immediately freed of all material attachments and bound to the Wheel. Both fulfillment and void conditions must be agreed upon by both parties for the termination of the contract except in the case of the death of ***** *******.”

So basically I have to be her guardian until the age of 17? Is that the coming of age in this world?

“You’re basically correct. I phrased the vow in such a way that you don't necessarily have to be there for her the entire time. If for instance you repeated the circumstances of your previous death you would still be freed of it.”

Devoting my entirety huh? Why can't I understand their names besides from Arnstein?

“Binding vow of information restriction, another one I’m under.”

Can you explain what exactly a binding vow is?

“A binding vow is an agreement between two souls. A proper vow should always be agreed upon by both parties but is not always necessarily beneficial to both parties. They must also be specific and detailed, otherwise they can be terminated or go on infinitely unintentionally. The most extreme penalty for breaking a binding vow is the binding the soul of the participant to the Wheel. Basically, death. A binding vow cannot be circumvented because the conditions for its fulfillment must usually be agreed upon by both parties and the voiding condition is determined as true or false by the participant themselves.”

So you would judge yourself guilty? Couldn't people with no interest in being subjected to the penalties simply make up a self justified excuse?

“Binding vows are written upon the soul, and it is infinitely harder for a soul to lie to itself than the mind. There have been cases where individuals rewrite portions of their own soul to get out of binding vows. It never ends well. I’ve altered ours so that both the fulfillment and void conditions must be agreed upon by both parties.”

You mean in case I mess up and blame myself, but you don't think I was at fault.

“Pretty much. I like to be considerate with these things. Now, I think the point of no return has come. Will you be the participant in this binding vow, or do you wish to return to your own dimension?”

If I choose to leave will you look for another soul in my place?

“I may have the power of a god, but even that power is not infinite. The mana I have expended to bring you here is already enough I fear repercussions. I will not invite definite misfortune upon this world for the sake of one girl.”

In all honesty I think I had already decided before he raised the big question at me. I had no attachment, no love, for the world I was leaving behind. I had a small inclination to help a girl who had lost everything, but to be honest most of my reason was that I was absolutely fascinated with this world and its systems. And maybe this time I can actually lead a life worth living. Maybe this is my second chance, a chance to have a life I can look back on and smile at the entirety of it.

I’ll accept that binding vow.

I saw my own face break out into a warm smile, a smile I was sure I had never worn even once in my life. That would be my first goal, to get to a point where I could smile that genuinely. To be able to honestly wear an expression of such happiness, that would be my start point.

“I’m going to start the soul transference process. You won’t remain conscious while this happens so I’ll tell you this now. If you have questions you can't ask the people around you for the answers to, come to the church and pray. I’ll answer to the best of my ability.”

I felt the hole between dimensions behind me close, leaving no trace that it had ever existed.

“Good luck,” my body said to my soul as the void faded into nothingness.