“To the Great Alexander, you have done a marvellous victory! I, no we, we all applaud you!”

Aero saw his past self nod and then take a drink with his subordinate. “Much thanks, much thanks.”

“Is it true, Your Great Honour, that you are calling this new city Alexandria?”

Aero saw his past self nod once again.

It was no surprise that he was dreaming of this very life…

Egypt…His past anger to what his friend had done to him had brought him back to Egypt!

Having gone as far as to kill him in the fire at the Temple of Artemis, Aero had been completely angry. So angry that he even felt like he’d wasted his youth with that stupid man!

 

Upon being reborn as Alexander, someone who was even royalty, Aero took great effort into using this power to his own benefit.

He wanted to fight…Fight so hard that he would be exhausted by the end of each day. He wanted to kill, kill his feelings…He wanted to forget yet…Could not bring himself to end his own life…

Having conquered this far…Into lands that he knew so well, Alex looked out into the distance and couldn’t help but wonder what was going on…Out there…

When he came of age to look like he understood something, one of the first things he wanted to know, was what had come of the person that was called ‘Herostratus’, who was the one that put the Temple of Artemis on fire.

 

It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before, where a Unigal prisoner would be born the day of their death, but…This was a first for Aero. He had just been on fire, only to be born moments later, hence why it is a birthing process that he remembers the most in his existence.

Being told that the person known as Herostratus had fled into the unknown, never to be seen again, had only angered Aero more! A law was placed down…That the name Herostratus was not to ever be used!

…But…Why!? Why had Hero gone so far as to try and kill him!? It was an accident…Right? He can’t have gone that far!

Aero, even looking out onto Egypt, could even still see Hero’s stunned face, as the pain had erupted throughout his whole body. Hero’s shock…His burns so open…There had been blood and their clothes had already gone through their fight…How long did the fight go on for? Was it days? It felt like days…

 

Why follow me so far!? He had been doing his own thing, then to really follow so far! Going from Egypt to Greece is not an easy journey…It is long…What about his ‘religion’, what about his ‘karma’ or ‘sins’ or whatever it was that he was doing!?

Yet, all that way, Hero was after him…

If Aero had not been so determined, having waited and waited so long for Hero to snap out of it, he would have just given up but…Since he hadn’t given up and continue to step away from his friend, to have seen him sink so low as to even attempt to kill him…It was like a whole new world had opened up for Aero.

A world that was dark…Like…Like the human world where Unigals didn’t exist, but that of suffering…

Seeing the homeless and weak, the hungry and desperation of his people…He found a new type of calling and found himself wanting to forget completely about being a Unigal…Except of his long-term relationship with Hero…No, he did not allow himself to forget about Hero. His anger…His anger and his want for revenge kept him active, it kept him alive…

 

With a hitch to his breath, as his injury was remembered, Aero tried to forget the pain…Like he tries when taking cities.

Home…

This place…

Without even knowing, Aero felt slightly more at peace, now being back in Egypt. He was slightly more himself, just by standing there at that time, then he had for that existing life.

It was at this time in history that they both dreamt about, where Aero had been living without Hero, even having his first family that didn’t include Hero, and loving another…And Hero, lonely, lonely and full of self-hatred, half dazed and walking around to what people would call today as a ‘zombie’…

 

Aero, at that time in the past, had told everyone that he was looking for the ends of the Earth, the ‘Great outta sea’, but really…He’d just wanted to see his original home again, he’d…

Being this Alexander, a royal, had been the turn around in his existence. He had made his life his own, cutting many strings that had connected him to Hero. He had killed many men, he had taken lives like they were nothing. He had tried to rule, looking after people…Like the history of being a prisoner, a Unigal, someone that reincarnates over and over again was forgotten…Then to finally come ‘home’, Aero finally felt like things had slowed down.

Towards the end of his life as ‘Alexander the Great’, Aero named the feeling that he’d felt for a number of years as…Betrayal.

 

Not just betraying his friend by being with another, but betraying himself because…He just simply could not forget Hero…That was all…

Then, included was another Betrayal, betrayal to what had become his ‘new’ love…Because of how he still felt for Hero…

Aero did not find himself upset upon his death as Alexander…No, he felt like he needed to start again anyway. Being Alex seemed to always remind him of his hatred and betrayal towards Hero, towards himself and towards the woman of that period of time. It was also in that life that he had killed the most people…On purpose.

He was here in Prison because he had killed, why had he felt like it had been ok? What had changed? Or…Did he already have this inside of him? He was standing on so many corpses, so many lives. So yes, perhaps it was just karma that ‘Alexander the Great’ did not live long, there was bound to be some enemies that had wanted revenge, that were jealous…Whatever it was, Aero had just tried to survive with his feelings, with the world the way it is, and he had played with the hand that he had been dealt to him.

 

***

 

“What else can we do…We’re on a bus for crying out loud!” Hero stated in return to Aero’s complain.

“Then let’s do something!” Aero said, putting her head back and puffing out a breath that moved her hair out for a bit then go back to her face.

Hero smiled and tried not to remember Aero who would get bored as well.

Moving the hair out of her face, Hero sighed, “We could play a game.”

How many of those have we played!? Aero thought.

They had played so many games it wasn’t funny…It really wasn’t funny!

Games were invented for obvious reasons but…They can only be played so many times! Even good games that really made you think and how they could pass the time easily would become boring after a while!

 

“We could write a book.” Hero sat back properly and looked out the window. Why was it that he felt like he was doing what he used to do? Trying to help Alex here, it really was bringing him back to Aero too much!

Aero and he had even written a book together, they…They had done so much…

And, all these ideas that Hero was stating right now to Alex, they had originally been Aero’s…

 

With Hero’s sudden quietness, Aero looked at him.

No doubt, he’s probably remembering me…Right?

Does that make me narcissistic, or just right?

But…Why else would he go quiet?

“Game…Let’s write a game…” Alex stated, almost like a robot…

She didn’t like Hero like that, but also didn’t know what to do either, so, she had just placed both of the ideas together like it was nothing…Like she had thought of it beforehand, when she really hadn’t! Not in the slightest!

 

Hero looked at her for a moment and then smiled. “As in the idea of a game…Like the games on computers or consoles?”

Is that what I’m referring to? Aero asked herself.

Shrugging, Aero hid her slight smile to her own idea and let out a breath.

This was new, they might have made up a game a long time ago but these days the games were different…Maybe this would really be awesome!

Again, Aero was just happy to finally be with another Unigal, one that remembered. Even if it was Hero, she finally found that she should be entertained for a while! Imagine it, the two of them, with thousands of years behind them, what kind of game could they come up with!?

 

“Did…Do you play new age games then?” Hero asked.

Aero nodded, “Yeah, different types too. That’s probably why I feel like I needed to get out and do something in this life.”

The beginning years in a prisoner’s life are normally stress-free times. You grow up, you ‘learn’ to speak and walk and just take your time to get your bearings in school.

‘What am I going to do in this life?’ That was the burning question! It wasn’t ‘I want to be a doctor’, if you already were one. It wasn’t ‘I want to be an astronaut’ when you had a feeling that you shouldn’t leave the planet! No, the burning question really did make you think and sometimes, just playing the piano to pass the time is all you can do!

 

School has changed, well, there was even a time there wasn’t such thing as school but…In this modern day and age on Earth, it really was easy to lose yourself and just not do anything at all, even if you are a prisoner from Unigal.

Some reincarnations haven’t been easy though, as you might be born to the homeless or a hungry, desperate country…But then, as well, you might also be born with a lot.

If you have lived both types of lives, you do tend to sometimes want to help those in need…Yet, at the same time, you just what to forget and make the most of what you might have…Times change, places change and so you can’t keep up with it all…I mean, if you give money to the hungry and poor place that you had died at last time, who’s to say you’d go back? The Earth was a huge place and one can be born just about anywhere now! Human’s…They ruled nearly the entire surface of the planet!

Aero had once been born on an atoll right in the middle of the sea! Luckily at that time it wasn’t like he was meeting up with anyone because…It would have been quite hard to get away from there! It had been quite nice to live there though…

 

It was the same as for colours too. There had been quite a number of times that they had both been reincarnated as black. This time they were ‘white’, as in Caucasian, but yes, having the black skin colour was nearly a normal thing to them. To a certain degree, being ‘black’ was better, that’s if you were out in the sun a lot or were an assassin…It comes in handy then but…There were some cases it wasn’t so great…

Same too with country. You could have died in Egypt but born the next country over…Do you live as an Egyptian or live as another?

That’s why, when continents started to be named, the Unigals started to get confused…Especially when speech and accents became a thing. Suddenly, the way you talked…

 

“Me too.” Hero stated.

Aero breathed out and then nodded, “Alright then, let’s do this!”

Silence overcame their immediate area as they wondered what to do next.

“Do you know much about computers? Consoles?” Aero asked, thinking this was probably an important starting question. They had lived life’s upon life’s, surely, they should know something about computers and consoles…Right?

Hero frowned, “In my last life I was looking into them but…I guess I got lazy. They were old then too, so it’s probably better to say no.”

Aero raised her eyebrows and sighed, “Very well. I know more about computers then consoles. I also prefer computers, especially since laptops came out. So, we’ll do a computer game…Yes?”

Hero nodded. “Sounds good.”

 

Once again, silence overcame their small area at the back of the bus, and they wondered what to do next.

Aero narrowed her eyes and then was annoyed to the fact that she didn’t have a notebook, nor a pen with her.

“I’ll remember.” Hero suddenly stated…Almost like habit.

Aero swallowed, trying to stop herself from looking at Hero. Even if she is a she, and not a he, how did Hero suddenly know what…

Whatever…

Nodding, Aero then sat back, “What are we going to base the game on? What would be the story line? Will it be a multiplayer? Shooter?”

Hero smiled, “I like all of that.”

Of course, you never bloody help!

 

Aero tried to stretch her neck, as to try and come to a good idea upon where to start talking again.

They had been sitting now for a few hours, so of course they weren’t really comfortable…It was no wonder that her neck was getting sore…

“Uncomfortable?”

Aero didn’t stop herself in time and found her eyes on Hero.

For a short moment they stared at each other.

Stop it…Please stop reading my mind Hero…

With one nod, Aero looked away, “There’s an idea…A game with no way to be uncomfortable!”

Letting out a breath discretely, Aero tried to calm down. She let out a short noise, that was supposed be a laugh at her own joke, but it didn’t sound like a laugh, at least to her.

Hero, on the other hand, went into thought upon Aero’s words.

 

“I don’t think that’s been done much before. We can start with that!”

Aero frowned, “Start with what?”

Hero laughed, “Your idea!”

“What idea!?” Aero asked.

She had only just stated the first thing in her mind to distract the fact that she had been read once again by Hero!

“The game could start where you have nothing, perhaps you need to go to places to obtain like…Stuff.” Hero said.

Aero went quiet, going into thought.

Don’t you start every game with nothing? Hero, you look like an idiot right now!