Death... and me



"By the way," Roan thought about something else, "how long has it been since you sent the Soul Gem Orb to the other side of the Universe? Could it be that the Orb stayed there until it found a specific target? As far as I remember, the Soul Gem Orb was located inside Rean's soul when we first met after his death."

Gem shook his head. "That I'm not sure myself. What I'm sure about is that a huge amount of time passed between the moment I sent the Orb to the other side and the moment it entered Rean's soul. If I were to guess, I would say yes, Rean was selected on purpose."

Naturally, Rean got curious. "Why is that? Other than my soul being unable to express emotions, I had nothing different from other people. Let alone something different from any other race in that part of the Universe. Not to mention that my lack of emotions was because the Soul Gem Orb was inside my soul, so it was the culprit."

"That's the part I believe is connected to the real reason," Soul Gem immediately replied. "The Soul Gem Orb should have no power whatsoever to prevent your emotions from working."

"What?!" Rean was taken aback. "I've always thought that my lack of emotions was a byproduct of the existence of the Soul Gem Orb inside my soul."

Roan nodded. "I thought the same thing. I read all his portfolio until the moment of his passing since I was a Death Spirit. He hadn't expressed a shred of emotion all his life until the point of his death. The only moment it changed was a few seconds before his body finally shut down."

Soul Gem pondered a bit and continued. "What if the Soul Gem Orb considered your lack of emotions as some kind of requirement? Or perhaps it was the Soul Gem Orb itself that fixed your soul. I mean, if it wasn't there, perhaps you would never feel anything until the day you died."

"You saying that the Soul Gem Orb fixed my soul and the lack of emotions?" Rean asked back.

"It's a possibility." Soul Gem knew that it was probable. "The only question is why. I created the System, but the Orb is, after all, part of the Universe's sentience. Perhaps it was the same as that time with me. It wasn't me who selected you, but the Universe's Sentience itself."

Now that Roan heard that, he thought about something. "You did say that the Universe's sentience was bleak. It had long since stopped caring about anything and didn't really mind if it was destroyed by the Extinction Sphere. It even considered that it would be a liberation from its shackles of existence. Simply put, it lacked any emotions. Maybe it saw in Rean what it saw in itself. No emotions, bleak existence, completely useless, no one cared with reason, nothing mattered, the perfect choice."

Rean's mouth twitched a bit. "Why do I feel like you are cursing me instead?"

"It's your imagination," Roan answered straight away. Rean didn't believe that at all, though.

"Ahem..." Suddenly, Kentucky raised his hand. So far, he had been silent, so Rean, Roan, and Gem had even forgotten about him. "Why did Roan come with Rean, then?"

That question immediately damped Roan's mood. "Because someone didn't know how to peacefully pass away."

Rean felt like giving Roan a beating. "Peacefully pass away... your ass! If you didn't insist on sending me into the Path of Reincarnation, why would you get involved in this? You could have simply let me alone. Do you think I would want to come with you? If anything, it was your fault for being too careless."

Soul Gem shrugged his shoulders and paid no heed to the twins' bickering. "It wasn't supposed to be two people, Kentucky. The System that I created with the Control Orb almost got destroyed when it detected two souls in its range when it activated. Simply put, Roan was extremely unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Roan couldn't help but sigh, but it was too late to complain, so he didn't.

Kentucky just nodded. "Oh! So that's how it is. Thanks."

Suddenly, Roan remembered something. "Forget that. Soul Gem, is the Soul Gem Orb made with a Universe's Fragment?"

Back then, Rean and Roan wondered if the Soul Gem Orb was a fragment. After all, considering its powers, it seemed a probable conclusion. However, now they know that the Control Orb came into existence before the Extinction Sphere was destroyed. It was the destruction of the Extinction Sphere that caused the Universe's Foundation Pillar to be damaged, so the timings didn't match.

Gem obviously understood what Roan was thinking. "No, it is not... or so I wish I could say."

"Why is that?" Their attention was immediately caught. 

"Well, the Soul Gem System only works due to the Orb's amazing abilities. The Orb was given to me by the Universe's Sentience, right? It should have the power to extract a piece of the Universe Foundation Pillar to make it. Perhaps the entire Orb is a huge fragment itself," Gem explained. "At the same time, it might have nothing to do with the fragments at all."

Rean and the others nodded. "In any case, we will find out once we gather at least 13 fragments. If we go to the Foundation Pillar and it allows us to get close, that will mean that the 14th fragment is the Soul Gem Orb. If it doesn't, then we will know that the Soul Gem Orb is not part of it. Or, at least, not a part of a damaged area of the pillar like the other fragments."

Celis, who was still inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, was also listening to the conversation through their connection. "Still, I have to admit that System AI you created is really impressive. If we didn't know Sister Orb was part of the System, we would definitely think she was a real being."

Soul Gem looked at them with confusion. "System AI? What is that?"