Chapter 2: Leading a New Life
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As I descended down, like some floating fairy, a young boy stood before me - staring around the infinite expanse of the shimmering rainbow skies. I probably looked like some goddess to him here, an angel sent from the high heavens slowly floating down to grant his wishes of new life. It was a charade, the whole thing. When the waiting room is made to look like some gaudy heaven, they tend to think a heavenly life's more likely to await them on the other side, luring them into a having a false sense of idealism. That was the logic that the higher-ups had, anyway.

The young boy stood looking around. He was an adolescent kid, about 16 or 17, with chestnut skin and a look of wonder in his strong brown eyes. He seemed awe-inspired by the faux world around him. I wasn't going to burst his bubble; if I left him with a good enough reincarnation, maybe he'd carry that idealism into the next world?

My feet softly touched the ground, as I braced for the landing with elegance and grace. It was for show, of course, like everything else in this deceptive realm - but if I was going to play a goddess, I was at least going to try to do a damn good job of it.  

"Welcome, Robbie Chavez," I said. "My name is Malarie, and I have been watching over you for a long time."

I hadn't, of course. His case file had been dumped on my desk at four in the afternoon yesterday and I'd rushed around like a headless chicken trying to put together enough of a plan to stop this meeting from falling apart as quickly as my life had.

"Am I dead?" Robbie asked. "Is this heaven?"

"You could say so," I replied. "This is the realm between realms, where the strands of fate intertwine, weaving between worlds. Here is where we help you to lead a new life once more, to reincarnate you. I am here to aid you with that."

Geez, I sounded like I was pitching a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme to him, I thought to myself. 

"I died?" Robbie said. "Do you know how?"

I'd read his case file. It wasn't exactly the most respectable death, stepping out in front of a semitrailer with headphones on as he crossed the street, and from his file I gathered that Robbie was a kid that tended to act before thinking. 

"You were hit by a passing vehicle that had careered out of control," I lied. "You faded away in the hospital, with your family by your side when you passed."

As he stood there, he shed a tear, staring out across the radiant expanse.

"And that's it?" Robbie said. "No goodbyes?"

"I'm afraid so," I replied. "It's time for you to begin a new life."

As Robbie stared around, he looked at me - with desperation with his eyes. 

"But I have so much unfinished business," Robbie said. "I'm just about to graduate. Mum would've been so proud of me. Can't you at least let me graduate? Can't you let me return, even as a ghost?"

This was always the part of the consultations I hated most. As I stood there, with my hands clutched together behind me, I sighed.

"I can't let you return to your old world," I said. "That is the way reincarnation works. You may not reincarnate into the same world, and you may not reincarnate as the same species. There's no way back... I'm sorry."

Robbie stood there, weeping as he stared around. He reminded me of my son, back in my old world - and I would've approached to comfort him if  I didn't think I'd end up bursting into tears as well. I was the same as him; wishing that I had a way back to the world I'd left behind. As he rubbed the tears from his eyes, Robbie looked upward toward the expanse, dots of vibrant light glistening within. 

"Can I live my next life as a star in the sky then, Malarie?" Robbie asked. "I've always found the stars so beautiful, and my mum... she loved the stars so much."

"A star?" I said, dumbfounded. "You want to reincarnate as a star?"

"Yeah!" Robbie said. "I always used to look up at the night sky and wonder what it would be like to be up there, with them. They're so beautiful. My mum used to point out the constellations to me. I want people to be able to point up at me, just like my mother used to, and be a part of their special memories."

I sighed. I nearly completely dropped character in that moment, but as I stood there, I breathed in - composing myself. All that work pulling together such a nice life for him, in a tranquil mountain village among a tribe of peaceful Goliaths, and he wanted to throw all that away to be a star?

The kid wasn't thinking straight.

"Okay, I'm not letting you do that," I began.

"Why not!?" Robbie interjected, with an exasperated tone. 

"Because you'd be making a huge mistake, Robbie," I said with a sigh. 

"How is that a mistake?" Robbie said. "Being among the stars... they're so beautiful, and I think it'd be so amazing to be able to see them up close, to be with them, to be among them..."

"Do you know how long the average human can function in extreme isolation, Robbie?" I asked.

"Why is that important?" He asked.

"Because, when you're reincarnated, you maintain your original consciousness - your human consciousness," I replied. "The average human can live at most two years in extreme isolation. The average star though? They'll live for billions of years. You'll go insane in a year or two, and by the time that star dies, you will be a sliver of yourself - your soul crumbling to bits in the void as you starve hopelessly for human connection. You'll be stuck in a prison of your own making, one that tears your soul to bits, but never quite puts you out of your misery. It's a fate billions of times worse than death."

My description was a bit visceral, but he needed the reality check. If he had ended up with a case worker like Dalton, he would've been sent into the void no questions asked, his emotional suffering live-streamed for entertainment to any immortal that happened to be depraved enough to watch it - which from experience, was most of them. I probably would've gotten a raise if I'd just let Robbie go along with it. Yet, I couldn't. I wasn't that sort of person.

"I won't let you do that to yourself," I concluded.

As Robbie stood there listening, the idealistic hope slowly dissipated - replaced by a sense of understanding and melancholy. However, he seemed grateful, at least. 

"My mum always said I used to jump into things without thinking about them," Robbie said. "She said it'd get me killed or worse, one day. I guess... I nearly stepped blindly into that 'worse' category, didn't I?"

"We all make mistakes, Robbie," I said.

"Yeah, I make a few too many," Robbie said with a pained laugh. It seemed like he was trying to be lighthearted, but obviously still grappling and coming to terms with the fact that he'd nearly signed himself up for such a horrid life. I wouldn't want to be trapped in his head right now. 

"Look, I've been watching your life closely, and I noted that you have a love for cooking," I said. "Isn't that correct, Robbie?"

His ears pricked up. 

"How did you know that?" He said. 

"Like I said, I've been watching your life closely," I replied. I hadn't of course, it was just included in his file under the "Interests" section. 

"Yeah, I loved cooking as a kid," Robbie replied. "I used to cook a lot with my dad, before he passed. It makes me feel a little closer to him."

As I bent over, I looked through my briefcase, and pulled out a little bit of paper - with a brief description on it. Pictured in a photo clipped to the paper was a snowy tribal village, high up in the mountains, with towering trees all around. Over the horizon, the blue sun edged, and below in the village - a group of tall, pallid, but friendly people wandered around the community, working together to live off the land.

"I wanted to show you this, Robbie," I said.

"What is it?" Robbie asked.

"These are the Drelskin people," I said. "They're a group of wandering Goliaths, a peaceful group of people, who live off the land as nomads in the world of Fresoretin. They live simple lives, filled with music, magic, and merriment, but food is a very big part of those lives - and I'm sure you'd enjoy being a part of that life with them."

I offered him the photograph and the paper. He slowly and methodically read through it, analysing every detail. He might have taken longer, but I was happy with that - that meant he wasn't jumping into it head first at least.

"I heard your dad passed too," I said. "Perhaps, as you wander, you might run into him out there?" 

There was, of course, a near-zero probability of that happening - but I'd been in this game long enough to know that occasionally a false sense of hope can help someone lead a truly meaningful reincarnation. 

"Do you think I'll be able to fit in?" Robbie said. "I've never met these people. I don't know anything about their way of life, about their world... what will I do?"

"Learning is part of leading a new life, Robbie," I replied with a smile. "I think you'll learn that, whoever you are, the Drelskin people will welcome you with open arms."

A large oaken door began to form behind him, manifesting from the air, a world of enchanting tundra visible through the little porthole window. As Robbie walked toward the door, his figure began to change - his humanoid figure growing in size, his skin slowly turning a pale blue, and his tracksuits morphing into a simple cold-weather pelt jacket and pants. As the new Robbie turned around, he gave me a friendly Goliath smile.

"Enjoy your reincarnation, Robbie," I said to him.

"Thank you, Malarie," he replied, opening the door and stepping through. As the cold winter lashed his face, it seemed to barely have an effect on him, as he was cast out into a new world. Stepping through, the winter winds slammed the door shut behind him.

With that, the life of Robert Chavez had ended. 

"Farewell," I said to the empty air, as I rose into that polychromatic sky.

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