Here's the final chapter for Wings of Freedom. Thank you for reading

Enjoy

Chapter 11: Choice

What awaited Remy after getting shot was not what he expected. When his body fell, he remained standing. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation as he clearly saw his body lying there but there he was, standing.

Laura acted as if he wasn't there, just as he was about to scream out, a voice came from behind him, “They can't see or hear you.” Remy turned around and saw an old man. The old man was wearing white robes and had long white hair, white beard. He was skinny and had very wrinkled skin.

He looked at Remy and continued, “You have died, currently you have two options in front of you: Be reincarnated without your memories or with your memories. The choice is yours.” Remy looked at the old man in shock and asked him, “Who are you?”

The old man gave a smile to Remy as he said, “I am just the Watcher. My job is to look over this Dimension and pick out individuals with a strong soul. If the person agrees to be reincarnated with his memories they will become powerhouses capable of protecting this Dimension.” When Remy heard that, he didn't understand. “Watcher? Souls? Dimension? What the hell have you been smoking old man?” Remy asked in a mocking tone.

This didn't make any sense at all. The old man just shook his head and started, “Well, lets start from the beginning shall we. Watchers are people who can tamper with the souls rebirth process. You see, even if a soul keeps reincarnating, it will develop a different persona every lifetime.” He took a breath before continuing. He wanted to let it sink into Remy before dumping more information on him.

“A persona is what you currently are. In your previous life you were a peace loving activist who wanted to make the world a better place through words not violence. In this life you are somewhat an opposite of that as you have killed a lot of people.” The old man stopped again when he saw Remy's pondering face. It all made sense but he had a hard time believing it.

He looked at the old man and asked, “Okey, I understand the soul part but what is the Watcher?” The old man gave a surprised glance to him and said, “Well, a Watcher is an Immortal that has the authority to change the Dimension a bit. I can choose which souls can reincarnated with their current persona's and which not. I can also make gateways between certain worlds if I want to.”

Remy looked at the man and sighed, “Okey, next time, start with the Dimension. I can't make heads or tails of the situation anymore.” The man gave him a laugh and said, “I will remember that but you are awfully calm. How?”

He found it puzzling, Remy just died but he was too calm for a person who just died. In his experience, a person would freak out at this situation not be as cool as cucumber like Remy. Remy looked at his dead body for a second and said, “Well, I can see a hole in the middle of my eyes and no matter how I tried to talk to Laura again, it didn't succeed. So the only explanation is that I am dead. As to why I am so calm, I was a Courier who worked with extremely sensitive information and technology. I was prepared to die the moment I take a job.”

When the man heard that, he was baffled. He couldn't believe those were the words of a 15year old youth. He just cleared his throat and continued, “So that's how it was. Anyways, a Dimension is a place that was created countless years ago and it is made from certain laws. Thanks to these laws that hold a Dimension together, countless worlds were born. In some Immortals exists, in some magic exists, in some only technology thrives.”

Remy listened to him intently and now actually understood everything he had said and it actually made sense. Somewhat. Remy pondered and asked, “Why give the choice, is there some catch?” The old mans eyes flashed as he said, “Well, if you reincarnated with your memories you have to defend the Dimension in a time of need. If you don't, you do not have that obligation.” It made sense to Remy, after all it was a “give and take” situation.

Just as Remy was about to answer, Alex and company arrived, seeing this regret flashed on Remy's face as he asked the man, “Do I have to make the decision now?” The Watcher took a glance at Alex and company before answering, “No you don't. We can stay like this for a few more hours before you have to make the decision.” Remy looked at him and gave a friendly smile, “Thanks, I'll owe you one.”

It wasn't that the Watcher wanted to give him time to make a concrete decision but he had seen situations like this before and understood. They wanted to see what happened to them now. Remy and the Watcher just looked as Alex and company sweeped the whole base and Remy felt regret when he heard Alex say, “I always thought that the one to carry us away would be him, not the other way around.”

Remy had grown to be like a son to Alex. He understood that Alex felt like he was a father burying his son. Remy muttered to himself, “One of the cruelest things in the world is for a father to bury his son before him.”

When the Watcher heard that, regret flashed on his cold face. He had experienced something like this a long time ago and still remembered it. Remy and the Watcher followed Sleeping Dragon back to town and Remy wanted to visit the bar one last time.

What awaited him there were full grown men crying. In front of his body no one showed their tears but now that the body had been handed to the morgue, everyone couldn't hold it in anymore. Remy just gave bitter smile as he asked the Watcher, “You said that if I reincarnate with my memories I am obliged to protect this Dimension when needed. Protect from what?”

The old man looked at him and said, “Our dimension isn't the only one around. There are countless others and for a dimension to take over another there is a method: Dimensional Wars. Both Dimensions send out their strongest members in a battle. The side that is victorious wins the war. However even if the attacking side loses, the defending side doesn't get control over the attacker dimension. If the defending side loses then the attacking side gets control of both Dimensions. There are a lot of if's and but's with these wars that it would be too big of a hassle to go over them now. Have you reached your decision?”

Remy thought for a second and nodded, “Yea, I wish to be reincarnated with my memories. If I become a powerhouse like you said, I will naturally protect this Dimension, however if I die halfway again, don't blame me.”

The man let out a hearty laugh and turned to Remy. He pushed his right index finger between Remy's eyebrows and white light started shining out. As it engulfed Remy, he started feeling sleepier.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was the old mans final words: “I will remember you when the time comes, in the meantime, try to enjoy your new life as much as you can.”