I see! I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Hmpf! Hrm. Yeah that's what some people tell you, when they are close to death.

But its not really anything dramatic or religious inspiring if you think about it. It's a memory to make it short.

A deja vu! Of what, you ask?

Well think about it! Its really not that hard.

What's the one thing, that happens to you in almost every incarnation? And should be always the same?

So you are almost sure to have some sort of collective phantom memory of it?

Well yeah. Being born of course! You get pushed out of the warm and dark place inside your mothers womb into the light!

And that's it! Really messy and dangerous stuff. There are some beings in the multiverse which I like way better in that regard.

Like laying eggs, or being built, or just growing!

Ents are surely superior beings in that regard, they are those smart talking trees in case you don't know.

Unfortunately almost all forms of life, which are able to hold a soul, are mammals!

Don't ask why, when I was a god I wasn't all knowing just almost all mighty hehe.

Back to the topic, it seems I am just being born again. Oh how I hate this.

Its nothing pleasant in case you don't remember your own birth. Uhh!

“Press harder your Majesty!” -unknown person. “Its almost out.”

Oh I can understand them, that's convenient! One thing less to worry about.

“Its a son! My King and Queen! Like we all prayed for!” -unkown person.

Ugh, that was exhausting! But worth it! Seems like Seria messed the whole punishment thing up!

YES! It seems like I am the son of a King. Obviously not a bad starting point in life.

If I would punish someone in their next life, I would obviously do a better job!

First of all giving him a world with a new language, he doesn't understand.

Second making him born into slavery or something like that.

Swapping his gender just for the fun of it! There is a lot of shit out there in the Multiverse.

“hi hihi hi hi” - my baby voice. Damn that mad laugh didn't come across like I wanted!

“What a healthy child! Laughing first thing he does in the world! Strange almost all others cry at first.....”

-unknown person.

“Wahaha! Come here my son! You can't believe how happy I am!” -other bearded person.

The bearded guy scoops me out of the unknown persons hands. I will call her Maid for now, going by her dress.

Bearded guy seems to be the king – or dad, I will judge later if he is worth ….. uuuugghh

The king just held me into the air and turned three circles with me!

I get that you are happy, but you can't do that to a newborn mad king.

Be happy that I didn't have anything in my stomach!

I would have barfed all over you!

“Give me my child! You can't do that with a baby!” - Queen.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Here you go.” -King.

That didn't sound sincere in the least! Oh, at least my mother sounds like a sane person.

Ugh, I still feel like I just got out of a roller-coaster.

Ow, mother presses me to her face. Haah, I am not a pet you know.

Well for now I guess its better than being in the clutches of the mad King.

Seria seems to have messed up big time with my punishment.

This reincarnation isn't all that bad? Of course, the mad king could go with more sanity.

But until now it seems really good!?

Oh, mother holds me in front of her and all three of them look at me with sparkling eyes.

Am I out of gold guys? What's with those stares?

“MY HERO!” - “OUR SALVATION!” - “THE KEY TO PEACE!” - all three of them.

WHAT! Nonono, I get a bad feeling about this! This cannot be one of those annoying realities with a prophesied hero?

HEY, Seria? What's up with this?

Mother pets me again. Aw! Damn this baby body can't speak. Only baby gurgles come out, when I try to speak.

GIVE ME A GODDAMN EXPLANATION!

“Oh, he is so cute!”, Mother has some strange fire in her eyes.

“I will be sure to teach him properly, so he doesn't come up like his father!

There is a lot of education to do.”

I don't like that look of yours Mother? What are you planning? Don't tell me you are one of THOSE parents?

“I am not all that bad, dear? By the way....”, Mad King.

Oh now they start talking about matters of state? What busy people they are.

Seems like I can't get an explanation out of them for now.

Sigh, well. It will take a while to make some sense out of this, so let me tell a bit more about my divine self.

On the other hand I am not so divine any more. Damn! So cut the divine.

I already told you about the River of Souls and the whole reincarnation thing right?

Well I have come a loooong way in that regard.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In the first incarnation, that I can remember I was a monk on your world. That's right! I come from earth!

But don't think that gets you any bonus points with me. There isn't much to say about that time.

I lived a live of seclusion and training my mind in a Tibetan monastery. Lived in peace, died in peace at the proud age of 102!

Oh how often did I wish I hadn't done that by now. I could still be one of those blessed Souls, who can start every time with a whole new lookout on the world.

It's true that not knowing some things lets you live a happier life.

By training your mind through meditation and study, you obviously strengthen your Soul.

And like I told you, strong Souls can take the time inside of the River of Souls better than weak ones.

So when I reincarnated the next time, my memories came slowly back to me.

Inspired by my memories I lived my second life in a similar manner. Becoming scholar, learning magic studying mystic arts and science.

There wasn't any religion in my second world, so I went for the job that was most similar to my previous life.

Like you can tell, my second life was in a world with a strange mix of science and magic.

Like my first life, it was a peaceful place too.

Well that went on and on, sometimes good and sometimes bad. I found out that every time I end one of those lives you get weakened.

The time inside the river of Souls eats at your essence. And your essence are your memories.

So if you live a long live and have lots of knowledge and memories its easier to carry some of it into the next one.

So if you are doing a good job you get stronger and better at remembering, through every cycle.

And the stronger your soul gets, the higher you climb the ladder.

Obviously there is also some kind of Karma, you carry on to your next life.

The better you did in your previous one, the better your starting point gets in the next.

From being born as a peasant, to some type normal citizen, to being a noble or celebrity.

But it doesn't end there. If you get strong enough you can be reborn as some kind mythical being like Dragons, Angels, Demons and so on.

It doesn't have anything to do with being good and nice! Just you know.

Being an asshole or mass murderer is perfectly fine.

The only thing that gets you is if you are unlucky and get on the bad side of a being, that is able to fiddle with your soul. Weakening it or worse, somehow killing you off while you are still young. Dying young gives your soul a real headache for the next life.

I went through a BIG number of those cycles. Sometimes you meet others who remember their past lifes.

But its not all that common. Meeting one is like winning the Jackpot in the national lottery twice in a row.

I doubt that there are more than ten people like that on a whole world at a time.

Most of them gods, so that makes it less likely that they would concern themselves with you.

If you aren't a god yourself.

When you get to a certain level of power you have to join the ranks of gods.

The Council of Gods is something like a collection of the real bad asses throughout the whole multiverse.

If a normal small god like me can easily smash his own world to pieces, they smash a universe instead.

So you get that there is no way you can tell them no, if they want something from you?

And they are control freaks! They swoop up everyone who gets powerful enough and restrain them in their big society.

Giving them a world to play god for, and having them look out for other potential Gods.

If you do a good job and have a lot of followers you can even make your way up into the council.

But I never managed that. Having that fight over power with Myrm surely made a big fat red spot on my file.

Laying waste to a world surely didn't look good either uuh. I mean, I met them only once, when they enslave... erm were so nice to give a proper occupation to a being like me.

Sure I killed a lot of innocent bystanders in that fight. But shit happens!

Don't expect that nothing bad will happen, when two divine beings trade blows with each other.

We cultivated our hate for each other over several hundreds of years.

Better for it to happen sooner than later. Bwhahaha, and I will never forget his face, when he got that last fireball to the chest.

Stood there like he could take it without problems. Never underestimate a God.

It was more like a nuke, that blew him to tiny pieces.

Self-righteous bastard underestimated me.

Unfortunately he had already made a bag, with all too many holes, out of me by that time.

But I really get tired by now. Hey, mother! Stop that swaying thing you are doing with me, I still have to tell about......*zzzzzz*