Nothingness – that’s all I can feel. Is that even a feeling? But I’m not scared, I feel so calm. Like nothing matters anymore. Really, since I’m dead, I guess it doesn’t matter.

A sweet force appears to be tugging at me. I start to feel things slowly leaving me, a weight off my shoulders. It feels so nice.

What weight was there though? What’s being let go? I’m starting to worry about what’s leaving me. My emotions are getting weaker. I can’t seem to remember some things. I don’t know what, but I miss them. What am I missing?

The tug is still there, but I’m resisting now. I’m losing less, but a new force is starting to tug at me, this one much more irresistible. Up. I’m going up?

“Hmm. We have a variant. What should I do with you?” –unknown

Who’s talking? What’s going on? Who’s there?

“Looks like it’ll take two dips for this to work, but If I put this one back in, there’s a chance that it’ll still retain some of its self by the time it reaches the end of the stream.”

What stream? I don’t want to go back in, I’m not losing anything up here. What’s going on?

“I could force it out, but that may damage this soul. Also, the karma attached is mostly positive, and a fair amount. If I forced his memories out, his karma may disappear too.”

Karma, as in karma? That stuff was true? Damn, I shouldn’t have done….. what was it again? Damn…… I feel like I have so many regrets. But what are they? Who am I? Matt. At least I remember that. And Rose – the one that got away. Wait, taken away? Why do I feel so much anger? What happened? WHAT HAPPENED!

 “I’m not one to remove past accomplishments from someone who deserved them, it goes against the grand flow. But since the interruption, wherever it was going before has definitely changed. I need to minimize the change in the overall flow.”

-- POV Noble House – fantasy --

“nooooooo….  huff…. sniffle….. “ A woman sobbed, as she cradled a small baby boy in her hands.

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“Helen, I’m sorry, but the nurse needs to take it away.” Her husband quietly spoke to her.

 -- Man POV --

Why did this happen? Up till yesterday, the midwife and the court magician could feel a strong life in my wife’s womb. Then that blasted witch showed up. The Oracle, pledged to no God, but could still somehow see the strings of fate.

Rose. How I detest that name. She’s only 20 years old, and every marriage proposal I’d arranged for her she’d shot down. She had always given the excuse they aren’t good enough for her, and that eventually one would show up that her fate was tied to. Thinking she was better than all of the nobility. Yes, she had some power, and that was the only reason why when she visited that I agreed to her proposal. That she be wed to the baby that we just learned was conceived. With her in the family, my status instantly shot up. Using her influence, and a few tidbits of information that Rose gave me, I finally reached the position of a High Noble. Everything was going perfectly

Last night she showed up drenched by the recent rain, crying at the door. Of course I offered to let her in, she helped our house attain a position it could never have before. But she just stood there, and said the words that I wish never came true, but I knew, from the bottom of my heart, that what she said would come true.

“He’s gone. His fate has disappeared from here. Our contract is dissolved. ‘hic’ Goodbye”

“What are you saying. The court magician was just here, he’s fine. Go home, take a rest, come back tomorrow.” I denied her, but she was already deaf to my pleas. I shut the door as she slowly walked away.

Immediately I walked to my wife’s room, and her beautiful smile blew my worries away.

The next morning, “It’s coming!”

“Push my lady, push. The baby isn’t moving, we need to get it out as soon as possible”

After that all we had were tears. But I had to stay strong, for my wife, and the future of my house. We’ll try again, and hopefully our next child would live.

-- end Man POV –

“The best solution would be to have the soul go somewhere and die really quick, weakening it’s grasp on its current memories. Karma would remain relatively unchanged, but I can’t knowingly affect reincarnation like this without giving it a chance. I’m not a soul judge. Let’s see what this soul retained…. Ooh, interesting.  I know just the thing for this guy, and he’ll definitely have a chance if he uses what he knows from his past self.”

What did he see? I don’t want to die again. I want to live. And love again.

“Short lived… Some potential… Same world as original destination… Will benefit from his knowledge… Hmm… It’s not ideal, it has a little too much potential, but the highest rank this organism has managed to evolve to is some thorny weed before the original was killed. Hear that soulie? Strive to be a thorny weed hya hya hya.”

At the end the imagined appearance of my captor was ruined by bad tasting humor. He should stick to his day job. Or was it she? Does it matter?

I feel myself being lifted up, relatively, and I feel myself also moving backwards.

“Okay, here… you…. GOOOOO!!!!”

With a sudden acceleration, I’m launched towards a dim light that’s getting brighter and brighter each second. I’m starting to burn as I get closer, it’s trying to rip my memories away, but I’ve learned from before, I hold on with everything I have.

“I knew it. He survived the soul furnace at the end of the stream. Well, his reincarnation should fix that. Hya hya. It’s been so boring lately, he’s the first one in a long while (thousands of years) that I’ve had to pluck out and fix.”

A 2D screen appeared in space showcasing Matt’s new reincarnation, a small seed sitting an inch below the dirt.

“Dance for me, let me see you struggle. Live hard and die fast, I’ll be seeing you soon.”