Soul Between Lives

Alex had just opened his eyes and noticed the old man talking with another person when the old man turned around and chucked an orb at him.

This time when Alex felt his lungs fill with fragrant air once again he didn't even bother to completely open his eyes and just lay on the grassy field he found himself in.

[Ah, I could have used the sun to find my way back. Unless that planet was tidally locked to its star or something else unexpected... Just how fast was I flying to get that far from land so quickly?]

Alex wasn't paying any attention to his new surroundings and was content to just analyze the situation he found himself in previously as a bird.

[What was with that strange weather? Even the marine life below the water's surface seemed to be swimming away from the storm as fast as they could. Does that mean it was a storm powerful enough to even affect the deeper water? As much as the old man says that it's expensive reincarnating me so much, someone or something else seems to be going to great lengths to get me killed... Perhaps!...]

Before Alex could fully comprehend his sudden realization, the ground started quaking and snapped him out of his thoughts. A loud regular drumming was shaking the ground and building in intensity as if a bunch of horses or maybe cows were running right at him. As Alex sat up and looked around all he could see was the tall grass bordering the flattened area around him blocking his view of everything but the greenish sky above.

[What the H*ll is that?] A strong feeling of dread spread through his heart quickly turning into terror as whatever was coming was getting closer and much louder with every smashing impact among the thunderous rumble.

Alex had barely gotten his feet under him and was starting to stand up when the grass next to him was split apart by a giant hoofed foot that took no time to split his head and send its gooey bits flying.

...

With a gasp, Alex was back in the blank space and the old man was already throwing an orb at him.

...

[Do I really have no other choice but to keep dying?] Alex sat up while rubbing his eyes. He was back in a human form again and it seemed to be his original body. Looking around, he was in a forest with pools of water all around him. [It's almost like a swamp here.]

The memory of his first death after reincarnation came back to him and Alex quickly scooted as far away as he could from the nearest body of water. [I want to yell out and call for help but would that attract my next killer?]

He sat there for a few minutes trying to come to a decision. Part of his mind was ruled by thoughts of survival. But just as dominant were thoughts of dealing with the old man and remembering his partial plan to just keep dying until the old man gave him more of his time.

[Is there really any point in prolonging this new life?] As he thought this he felt it would be a real shame to just kill himself and waste the body he now occupied. He felt sad at the thought of letting all his cells die because of his betrayal. [I'd be letting myself down...]

Wiping his runny nose he thought, [I doubt I'd be part of this world for long anyway and it's not like everything goes to waste. Bacteria and other things will eat me and my flesh will become part of the natural cycle of life and death.]

Alex looked around at all the treetops up above. [These thoughts aren't very comforting... Spilling your Ice cream is still sad. Alex remembered a time he handed a little girl a double triple scoop of her favorite flavored ice cream only to see her excited face burst into huge tears after she dropped it all on the ground. It was a bit of a heartbreaking memory. [I hate feeling sad for others and I hate the feeling of my intentions being wasted.]

"God! Even after I've died so many times I'm still afraid of making mistakes!" He felt slightly embarrassed after yelling that out loud and checked his surroundings again.

[Wait, whats this squishy thing under my palms?] Looking down Alex gasped in horror at what he saw. An army of leeches had been swarming all over his body without him even noticing. As Alex tried to throw them off, he started rolling around but all he could really do was scream as his fluids were drained by these filthy, voracious bloodsuckers.

After a few moments, he still had the strength to roll around but not even the fat leeches that were filled with his blood were letting go even after they were squished and popped like rotten balloons below him. His blood just kept draining as the ground around him was covered by slick, wriggling slugs from h*ll eager for their meal. In desperation and fully knowing it was already his end, Alex got on his hands and knees to stumble over to the nearest pool of water.

...

Before he came to his senses in the blank space, Alex was dry heaving while curling into a ball on his knees. The barest of sane thoughts had only just passed through his head by the time the swirling darkness took his mind away.

It took a long time for Alex to recover his senses. He didn't even take much notice or even care as he was killed and eaten two more times by wild animals. Sometimes the animals would only injure him and slowly eat him while still alive. Alex found that being alive and lucid as a monster takes it's time to eat you was worse than death. Running for his life only seemed to make the fear, pain and mental anguish last longer. To make matters worse, the old man didn't seem any closer to relenting as each time Alex appeared in the blank space, the old man had only taken the time to throw an orb at him.

[That f*cking old man. This is torture. Even trying to stay alive is torture. I've truly had enough of this.] Having been lost in thought, Alex finally looked around and saw a breathtaking view of mountains and meadows with streams and butterflies stretching out before and all around him. "Ugh, such a lovely sight just hurts at this point."

Alex began walking. He didn't care where he went, he just needed something to do as he muddled over his thoughts. He lost track of time, not that time was even relevant to him anymore. He hadn't spent long in any of his recent lives. He found the effort needed to climb up a steep hill satisfying. It not only took his mind off his troubles but let him exercise enough to change his mood and when he reached the top he got the cathartic feeling that sometimes comes when you've accomplished something.

He turned back and looked at the valley he just came from. Its luscious meadows stretched on and on only hemmed in by the mountains along the right and the horizon everywhere else. He couldn't believe how far it stretched. The valley air wafted up the slope he was at the top of and brought with it all the scents of the wildflowers he'd ignored as he walked past them.

It was a steep drop on the other side of the hill he was on. The drop ended in a smaller meadow with another stream running through it. One of the smaller hills within it looked like the kind of place that would be perfect to build a log cabin on.

Alex's ears twitched. He turned his head when he thought he heard something strange in the distance. It took him a minute of looking to spot the movement. A large winged animal was heading right for him with an urgency that declared it was hungry and Alex was its next meal.

"I don't want to get eaten again... I doubt I can outrun that thing. There aren't any good hiding spots I can see nearby. Not even any trees."

"Maybe if I can hide in the water long enough, it'll give up."

Alex surveyed the cliff for a good method to get down but found none.

*Craaawk!*

The flying beast turned out to be a griffon and it was getting closer to him very quickly. Alex definitely didn't have time to get down the cliff safely.

"F*ck it, I'll just jump and hope for the best. Maybe I can land in the water and break my fall. Wait," Alex c.o.c.ked his head to the side, "isn't it still fatal from this high up?"

He looked back again and the monster was almost on top of him.

"I'd rather have a quick ending than being shredded and eaten alive again."

Alex jumped off the cliff. He'd already experienced falling from a great height as an eagle, this was over faster. He passed out as his body collided with the slope beneath the cliff and died as his body tumbled almost the rest of the way down.

He was back in the blank space before the griffon had landed next to his corpse. "We were too late!" the female rider peered down at the lifeless remains of Alex before asking aloud, "But why would he do this to himself?"

**

***Xinghai***

**

****

It had taken too much time for the first groups to gather. It was easy enough to agree for his own group to lead the way and move his people to the front in preparation but then arguments broke out over who would be next and over who would then lead the other two columns. This was understandable but ridiculous to take so much time to get nowhere when their time was so limited. Xinghai made the decision to start his group forward, he hoped this would get people to follow in whatever order they found natural. Who knows, maybe his group would be the lucky one.

He wished he could just open a portal to bypass the entire area but the use of portals had become taboo among the refugees. Xinghai was very lucky when he used his own portals as he was escaping his second home. The enemy had apparently been slow to respond and didn't intercept any of them. There were reports and stories from other refugee groups about entire cities worth of people fleeing into portals and never being heard from again. This is what happened to many of the leading figures of their various kingdoms. The ones that used portals never came back and most of them weren't the type to abandon their people.

There was also a story circulating among the refugees about a servant that witnessed his master opening a portal and being dragged into it by monsters that then began swarming out into the center of the capital. Nobody could say for certain if this actually happened but it was a fact that when refugees used portals, the groups that went through to find food and aid were never seen again. Even scouts that were sent ahead using portals never came back.

Xinghai paid attention and recorded as much detail as he could about every concerning incident. He found a disturbing correlation between groups using portals and slaver attacks against the very same or nearby groups not long after. He began to believe that the enemy was using the portals to track the refugees and weed out the ones that tried to escape too soon. It reinforced his notion that they were all being herded and the most rebellious and troublesome groups were getting eliminated first.

It was also a fact that only the more powerful gods, or groups, could open a long distance portal and the powerful gods were the biggest targets for slaver bands. Using portals to travel was nothing new, but the longer the distance, the more power it took. It was also important to have actually been to the destination before. Having a strong impression of the d.e.s.i.r.ed destination made it harder for outside interference but this was still not enough to stop a stronger more determined power from sending the travelers into a trap. In the past, it was a common story for adventurous gods to open portals to unknown lands only to get intercepted or redirected by dangerous monsters and other malicious gods.