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“I can’t. As a Player, we have one rule: never to reveal the truth about all of this and risk damaging a Reboot. If we do, we lose the privilege of reincarnating as a Player and we start our next life as a Reboot.”
“Like me? So I must have broken this ‘rule’? I’d never choose to Reboot.” He lost himself in his memory. “I’ve been a Player before.”
“All I can say is that you now have a choice when you leave here. You can choose to either become a Player or a Reboot. As a Reboot, you won’t remember anything about here in theMediunn… about meeting me.”
“But as a Player, I’d remember you? Get the chance to start againwithyou?”
Leo smiled sadly. “The possibility to, yes. It’s never a certainty that soulmates meet, even if you know the soul like your own. You get the knowledge, the memories from your last past life together, but also the fears that you might never meet in the next lifetime no matter how much you push to find your lover.”
So one with no memories, no hurt, and the other… Both hell and heaven in many ways.
“It’s all Leo can tell you, Quint.” A rub came at his arm off the woman. Quint had almost forgotten she was there. “Are you okay with that?”
He snorted sadly. Whether dream, nightmare, or twisted reality, he didn’t know, in many ways didn’t care. He’d take holding Leo again. He gave a nod.
“Thank you, Ariella,” said Leo, and they almost seemed to talk amongst themselves, giving Quint time to try and sort his head. He’d need another lifetime for that.
“It’s my job,” she said quietly. “And you.. your presence here is always cherished, however fleeting.”
Quint flicked a look to Leo, uncomfortable that Leo knew someone so well without him knowing them too.
Leo gently pulled him over. “This is Ariella. She helps us on our way into our new lives, making sure everybody knows what the two choices are at theGrand Portaland that we’re all aware ofThe Rule. She’s here more for the benefit of Rebootsreally, those that don’t remember, but for Players too.” He cocked a small smile. “Sometimes it’s nice to see a familiar face as we catch our breath, then stumble into our journeys alone.”
That weight hit Quint’s chest: starting alone, of being… alone and losing Leo until if, no—when they meet again..
Ariella smiled his way. “That is my purpose, although, as we know, nothing and nobody remains the same forever. I won’t always be here. But for now, this is my place in the universe.”
Quint turned to Leo. “You knew. I mean, at the end there… you knew and you didn’ttellme.”
“You’re struggling to believe me now,” he said gently. “You wouldn’t have believed me then. Not over this, and I would have broken any chance of remembering who we are as lovers in the next life.”
Quint tried to reply, but that feeling was there: that he knew Leo, that Leo had always looked at him with this mix of love and loss right from the start. He felt guilty in a way. The last time they’d stood here, had he simply chosen to live as a Reboot,not face the hurt, or had he brokenThe Ruleand been forced to forget? Other Reboots and Players came through here, that was clear, so as a Player in some obscure life, had he met with one and taken pity on them: told them what he shouldn’t? Or did it mean even Leo had chosen to be a Reboot at times? No…. He shook his head, He couldn’t imagine Leo running away from anything. Whatever the case, there was nothing he could do to change the past, only heal the future. “So…. It doesn’t come any bigger than this, huh? Reincarnation?”
Leo shook his head and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “No. No bigger than this,” he said gently. “Choose wisely.”
Quint felt it. The universe was always moving forward, and whatever had happened or whatever decisions he made couldn’t be changed. Now a choice could be made. A difference could be made. Neither of them could choose to become Reboots. They could both live love and loss and face this next dance with full knowledge as Players.
“It’s time for you both to make the choice,” said Ariella, gesturing to a portal that begun to materialise. “Will you choose to embrace the dance of physical existence together again? Your souls are entwined in a tapestry that transcends time, and you may choose to carry the memories you have made together to your new incarnations. Or you may not.”
“Wait.” Quint panicked a little as he stared at the portal now he was faced with stepping through it. “Even as Playerswith all this knowledge, how do we even begin to try to find each other in the next life? Will we even look the same, sound the same—even be the same side of the sexuality coin or even gender?”
Leo and Ariella exchanged a look.
“Life is a fine balance of forces and atoms,” said Ariella. “Some atoms are just meant to gravitate towards each other in certain ways. It’s the way life is made.” She nodded at him. “But you can help those atoms along the way. You both subconsciously have a template of each other in your souls. You may not know where, when, or why, just that chance meetings can be forged if the opportunity arises. It’s an incredibly powerful role of the Player, if used properly: attraction… the power of it,” said Ariella. “Just trust your souls, your instincts, and you’ll find each other.”
“Simple, right?” said Leo, with a level of comfort in his voice, a smile.
“If so, then why did it take you so long to find me?”
Leo’s smile fell. “You’re still thinking bodies, not souls. We have the rest of eternity to be with each other. I hope you remember that. The time we spent apart in the last lifetime was but a flicker of a candle flame. Now we have the rarest of opportunities to start the next life together in perfect sync as Players.” said Leo. “Throughout eternity we have both stood here, sometimes at the same time, sometimes at separate times. There have been times when we’ve chosen differently and times we have chosen the same, but now…” He frowned, that sadness hitting is eyes. “Now we get a chance to sync.”
Quint frowned. Just how many timeshadthey stood at this portal? “But I take this knowledge with me as a Player… everything I learned in our previous life together, I keep it? You, us meeting, dying… the skills I learned?”
Leo nodded. “And sometimes, through meditation, you will remember some skills from previous lifetimes, those that have been part of your soul. They will help to guide you and those around you too.”
Quint knew he would have much to discover choosing the life of a Player, particularly during his early years. Living his life alone with the vast amount of knowledge he’d learned would be tough, not to mention having the discipline to keep all of this a secret from Reboots.
“If you choose to become a Player, know that the forces that drive attraction aren’t easy to harness, especially at the beginning. Patience is key,” Ariella warned. “Come, it’s time for you both to make your choices.”
