The undecided

t of the orb to listen to the end of the message.

”This experiment as for goal to create beings whose soul can be replaced in a new body after death while conserving their abilities. All so that they can defeat The Dark. Our lord Alexanders goal is noble indeed. ” The voice took a pause there. Maybe for dramatic effect.

Is it expecting me to applaud? That guy is still experimenting on people. No matter how noble his goal is, I don think thats OK.

Maybe Im being too harsh. He did bring me back to life.

”Of course, the great Alexander would not force even the noblest of purpose on the unwilling. You, Subject 294001 have a choice. You may chose to either accept the experiment for an undeterminate but still finite amount of time. At the end of which you will be released. Do note that if death occurs during one of the test, Alexander garantees to replace your physical body on the condition that you accept to be subjected to the experiment again. If you chose to refuse, you will be left free to leave. On condition that you either return all of the materials used during the experiments, including the body that was provided to you. Or that you reimburse us to its full value of 999999999999999999999 rels, the standart currency of the central government. ”

Then a small window came out from the orb. It displayed two options, a green box marked agree and a red one marked refuse.

I was wrong. That guy is the worst. I either agree to his experiments or die. Thats not much of a choice. At least its an easy decision.

Compared to the ones Ivan had to take during his fathers puzzle, that really was an easy choice. There was a clear right answer and even if he chose wrong, he would be the only one affected, so there was no guilt.

All of those pas trauma had otherwise left Ivan pretty much incapable of making a decision. He would get so worried about the consequences that, unless there was a clear, almost mathematical, way of chosing, he would not be able to.

The voice continued its speech after Ivan pressed the green button.

”Congratulation Subject 294001 on becoming a part of history. For the next part, you simply have to pick what you believe is the most compatible attribute or concept with your soul. There are no wrong answers, just chose whatever feels natural. ”

As the voice spoke, a mechanism was activated and an impossibly large shelf sprang forth from the ground.

On it, there were rows upon rows of glass bottle. All containing weird and peculiar items and labeled with the content.

How many are there?

Ivan could not tell. The shelf spread indefinetely in both directions and he could not see the end of it.

I have to chose among all those options?

That simply was not possible for him. Just thinking about it, he felt his heart beat faster, he was short of breath and felt like he would pass out at any point now.

”Can you please reduce the number of options or maybe tell me which one is the best? ”

”Every option is the best one for a different soul. Subject 294001 should just pick his favorite. ”

Fine, Ill try.

Ivan first studied his options. He saw glass bottles containing fire or light. Those were looked good. But were they the best?

Is fire really what my soul is most aligned with?

He had no way of answering. So he kept looking at the bottles.

Some were filled with liquid like water or blood. When he noticed the jar or blood, he truly realised how many choices there were.

Behind the jar of blood, there was another one labelled human blood, then another labelled dragon blood and many more. All for a different species.

Is there every species?

How can I chose?

He checked back. Even the bottle with fire or the one with light had others behind them that contained small variants.

He could chose the wide concept of fire or focus on just one smaller aspect. Or maybe just fire from burning wood.

But he had no idea which was better.

Should I chose a complex and esotheric concept like life or death? There really was a bottle simply labeled death.

Or maybe a simpler one like a weapon?

He thought while observing a katana in one of the bigger bottle.

There also was strange bottle, related to concept like fate or the future. Maybe if he took those, he would be able to see in the future. That sounded good but what truly intrested him was whether or not it was an objectively better choice or not.

In the end, he could not decide on what to chose. The worst part was the orb.

”Once you have chosen, please press the switch on your bracelet and open the bottle containing your choice. ”

It keeps repeating it, as if to mock the fact that I haven picked one yet.

After a long time and the nth repetition of the message. He had not counted. Ivan lost it.

”Fine! You want me to chose! Well Im choosing! ” He yelled while walking to a bottle at random.

That bottle was ironically marked sodium. It was one of the many containing a chemical element. He grabbed it and walked back to the orb while carrying it.

The he pressed his bracelet.

Unfortunately, at that exact same moment, the voice decided to replay the message once again. Which understandably pissed Ivan off.

In his anger, he swiped at the purple orb with his left hand.

He was expecting to go throught it like all the other time he had done it. But since he had already activated his bracelet. Instead of absorbing the content of the bottle he chose, it absorbed the orb.

He watched as the orb turned liquid and entered his body throught his left hand.

Its so painful.

The purple liquid was visible throught the skin. He watched it slowly spread throught his arm, carving what he would later learn are energy vessels.

They went from his arm to his chest. His other arm and down his legs. Each time, it carried the pain with it spreading it all throughout his body. Then it went up to his neck and to his head.

The pain became so intense that he passed out and collapsed on the floor.

A few moments later, a woman arrived at the scene. She was dressed in a long white dress. She also had no discernable figure as her entire body was like the cosmos, a deep dark color and what appeared to be stars shining throught.

”Finally, its a success! ”