I withdrew my consciousness from Ahrem and thought about the last fifteen years of his life he’d lived. Yeah, he was me technically but I’d been hands, and mind, off for almost all of it. I really wanted to give him a chance to learn everything and then absorb it all at once, except that hadn’t happened. Most of his education had been abstract. From the maps I’d seen in his memories, it looked like he was on another version of the Earth living near where Arrone Italy was. Though the technology level was closer to the 1950’s. Internal Combustion existed and electricity did exist but only in the big towns. When I’d realized that I decided to let Ahrem do the living with his family and dilate time in my soul-space, checking in every year or so to see if there’d been any significant changes.

Up until now there hadn’t been, though I had finally learned a little about the political make up of the world Ahrem was in. It seemed that Europe was comprised of a bunch of Countries that now went by the single moniker “The United Nations.” To ensure that no attempts were made to separate back into the original countries the names of those countries had been declared illegal and if you must refer to your country of origin you did so by saying my country or our country. It was actually a very well thought out bit of social engineering because if everyone was from ‘My Country’ or “The United Nations” there was no chance to get into national level arguments internally, though “The United Nations” was not the only Country on the planet. It seemed that there was an empire down where Southern Africa was and another one across the great sea to the west. “The United Nations reached east almost all the way to China, which had unexplored territories but no actual nations. At least that’s what Ahrem was being taught. How this was all playing out reminded me a lot of Germany and Austria prior to World War I and also Communist Russia except that there was an underpinning of Religion here with “The Choice” that Ahrem would soon make.

Another thing that I noticed is that Ahrem didn’t seem to have access to his personal interface, though I could still utilize mine at well within the soul space. I could even pull up Ahrem’s information and review it as I liked.

Name: Ahrem Bianci

Identity: Ahrem

Age: 15

Weight: 135

Birthday, September 19th, 1985

Abilities: None Chosen

Soul Type: Advanced

Soul Level: Copper, 100%

Soul Projection Level 1 Human

Attributes

Strength 10

Agility 9

Dexterity 11

Endurance 8

Constitution 8

Intelligence 6

Wisdom 6

Willpower 8

Perception 6

Charisma 7

Luck 10

Primary Stats

Carrying Capacity 68 lbs

Hit Points: 1

Base Health Regeneration:

Normal

Stamina 17

Base Stamina Regeneration

3 per minute

Mana: 16

Base Mana Regeneration

19 per minute

Movement

Normal Running Speed: 8 mph

Standing high Jump: 16 inches

Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance.

Base Attack

Unarmed Base Attack: 4

Max Damage: 8

Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2

Skills:

Gardening 1

Animal Husbandry 1

` Math 1

History 1

Reading 1

Writing 1

Football (Soccer) 1

All other skills are negligible

Simply, Ahrem was unremarkable, which worked for me if someone was actually looking for me. I had a feeling this choice that was coming up was a test of loyalty and also a way to test something else. What that something was I wouldn’t know until it happened.

* * *

The day had finally come, he was going to make “The Choice” today and everyone would know that he was loyal to them and the cause, no matter how many silly ideas kept popping into his head when he was dreaming. Looking at himself in the mirror he took in the simple black pants and a white collared shirt he was wearing. Male or female it didn’t matter, all of those going to the Administration facility today to make the Choice today we’re going to be wearing identical clothing. Those that chose to serve would come home. Those that did not, well they were never seen again. Supposedly they made their way... Ahrem shook his head to clear his doubts. He didn’t need to worry about what happened to those that made the poorer choice, he was going to be coming home tonight.

He headed downstairs where his Mother and father waited at the front door.

“Ready to go?” his mom asked.

“Yes mom, but don’t you worry, I ‘ll be home soon.”

“I know you will son, you always make us so proud!” his dad said.

Ahrem gave his mom and then his dad a hug after which his mother straightened his shirt before he stepped through the open door and they watched him eave as he start walking the mile it would take him to get to the Administration building. A few hundred feet down the road Katie came out from her house where her parents also stood in the doorway watching.

“Hey Ahrem, mind if I walk with you?” Katie asked.

“Not at all, I think we’re the only two from this side of town that are walking in.”

“Yeah, everyone else is coming from the North side of the road to the west that leads toward the city, though most of those are just going to the administration building in the next town,” she said.

“Yeah, there isn’t much that way and the next town is only seven miles down the road. Hey, have you ever been in the Administration building?” Ahrem asked.

“Nope, have you?”

“Nope, come to think of it, I’ve only ever seen people step into the building,” Ahrem said.

“Yeah, not that I think about it. We only ever see people go into that building. We have seen some of the older kids the next day but I don’t ever remember seeing anyone leave the building. They must be there late into the night,” Katie said.

“I wonder why it takes so long. I mean we just have to take an Oath right?”

“Mom and Dad said there are some tests first.”

“Really? My mom and dad didn’t tell me anything,” Ahrem said.

The rest of the walk went pretty quickly and very soon they found themselves in a line leading into the Administration building.

“Good Luck Katie.”

“See you tomorrow Ahrem.” Katie said as she step forward and a woman with a checklist asked

“Name?”

“Kathrine Ajello”

“Proceed”

Ahrem watched as Katie stepped into a building walked around a corner and disappeared from sight. He stepped forward,

“Name?”

“Ahrem Bianci”

“Proceed”

Ahrem stepped into the building and walked around the corner where he expected to see Katie as he felt a tingle run across his skin and found himself in complete darkness.

* * *

Adam had been riding Ahrem’s mind, watching as he stepped into the Administration building when he was shocked by a prompt that appeared in his vision

Warning Human Projection has stepped through a dimensional portal to an unknown location.

Adam returned his attention to Ahrem and started paying close attention to everything Ahrem could sense.

* * *

A male voice spoke out of the darkness. “Please wait for a moment. Your body will adjust and you will be able to see again shortly.”

Ahrem stood still and waited. After a few minutes he was able to see that he was in a small room with very low lighting where a man sat behind a desk. When Ahrem focused his eyes on him the man spoke, “Good,” he said as he rotated a nob on his desk and the illumination of the room increased to normal. “Please have a seat,” he said gesturing to the chair opposite him.

Ahrem sat down and asked, “Umm How did I get here?”

“We’ll get to that after The Choice. First, I need you to place your hand on the desk in the silhouette of a hand”

Ahrem placed his hand over the silhouette of a hand. His hand tingled then a screen popped up in the air between Ahrem and the man.

Projection Strength: Normal Human

Soul Strength: Copper

Allegiance: None

“What is that?” Ahrem asked

“Well get to that in a moment. Display Karmic luck”

The display changed.

Karmic Luck: ERROR!

“Define error,” the man said. The screen changed again.

The Error results from a positive value that has no end

“What does that mean?” Ahrem asked.

“That means that you are exactly the type of person we are looking for. My name is Peter Johansson. I am one of the Administrators that administer The Choice”

“So what is this Choice exactly? Ahrem said.

“The Choice is whether or not you will join the service of another much more powerful being for the rest of your transitory life.”

“You mean like to a deity or a god or something? I thought worshiping any Gods was forbidden? In fact, I know it’s forbidden, Mom and Dad made sure the whooping I got when I came across that contraband book in the factory, all in my file because we turned it in, was taught to me real good. I couldn’t sit right for a week after that.”

“How colorful. The reason the worship of any Gods is forbidden is because once you have made your choice our ‘God’ for lack of a better word does not need you to pay her lip service. She gets everything she needs from your choice. So no one can be led astray and none can fall to the worship of any other false prophets all who make “The Choice” agree that they will never speak of it again and that they will report or punish any who come across such propaganda.”

As Ahrem was listening that little voice in his head whispered something he’d never heard before, Textrix. “Textrix,” Ahrem whispered under his breath as he tried to figure out why that word had popped into his head before he even thought to stop himself. The man across the desk froze for a second and then reached for something under the desk. There was a deafening roar, a feeling of pressure in Ahrem’s abdomen then he was tumbling away from the desk almost blown in half as his vision started to fade. The last thing he heard from the man still sitting behind the desk was “What a waste, CLEAN UP CREW to Suite 7a!”

* * *

The consciousness known as Ahrem traveled into my Soul Space and was absorbed by me as pop-up messages appeared in my vision. There was more going on in this world than I’d been able to learn as Ahrem. What would happen next was completely dependent on what the popup windows said.

Soul Projection Ahrem, Normal Human has died.

Location of Soul Projection is Quantum Locked. Souls may not travel into or out of that Location.

Initiate new soul projection at target location Yes or No?

I chose ‘Yes’

Utilizing previous soul projection material, Would you like to continue as modified to Normal Ascendent Human or switch back to your default attributes as an Ascendant Human?

“Default Attributes”, I thought as I felt my soul surge up from my soul space into the deceased body of Ahrem as it started to knit back together. In moments. My default attributes were quite nice. There wasn’t much I could do while I was healing so I checked my personal interface while I played dead.

Name: Adamantadine

Identity: Ahrem

Age: 15

Weight: 135

Birthday – September 19th 1985

Soul Abilities (Minimized)

Soul Type: Advanced

Soul Level: Copper, 100%

Soul Projection Level 104,879,885 Ascendant Human

Attributes

Strength 8.08E-11

Agility 8.08E-11

Dexterity 8.08E-11

Endurance 8.08E-11

Constitution 8.08E-11

Intelligence 8.08E-11

Wisdom 8.08E-11

Willpower 8.08E-11

Perception 8.08E-11

Charisma 8.08E-11

Luck 8.08E-11

Primary Stats

Carrying Capacity 7.27E-12

Hit Points: 3.59E-22

Base Health Regeneration

4.84E-27 per second

Stamina 8.98E-23

Base Stamina Regeneration

8.98E-21 per second

Mana: 1.80E-24

Base Mana Regeneration

1.20E-22 per second

Movement

Normal Running Speed: 1.62E-10 mph, 2.37E-10 fps

Standing high Jump: 1.35E-10 Feet.

Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance.

Base Attack

Unarmed Base Attack: 1.80E-22

Max Damage: 7.18E-22

Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2

Skills: See Fundamental Ability “Pansophical” above

It seemed that my age weight and birthday had changed to that of Ahrem. Everything else though looked like it’d stayed the same. I could read my Soul Abilities but they hadn’t changed so I’d minimized them. I already knew that the synergy of a couple of those abilities had made it possible for me to do what I was doing right now. I didn’t need to double check that information. What I needed to do was see exactly how much of my normal abilities I still had access to. First things first I tried to connect with my nanites and found that connection did not exist here. Not unexpected nor unfixable. Utilizing my Spellweaver ability I speed time up for myself to a ridiculously ludicrous speed so that years would pass before a single second did for Peter. As I continued healing, I stood up. Well, magic worked at least. Next I willed my chaotic nanites into existence with the instruction set to accept the body I was in, infiltrate, convert and create the mechanisms I’d need to be able to communicate and direct them as necessary. I also had the nanites start infiltrating all inorganic matter in the room I was in. That would take a little while so I tried pulling up the Universal Interface, no luck. The Cosmic Interface? Still no luck. It looked like the Cosmos had all of those functions locked out. So no really quick way to take over everything. That was going to make figuring out what was going on a little harder, but hopefully not Impossible.

The nanites finished their infiltration and I received a shock. I was no longer on Earth. Also, spells were in place to simulate gravity. I set the nanites loose though any that left the temporal field around myself moved back into the normal passage of time and slowed right down. I wasn’t going to be able to get the information I needed that way. Looks like I was going to have to go Sith Lord on the asshole that had just killed Ahrem. I had my nanites start their infiltration, clean and repair the chair I’d been sitting in then picked it up put it back at the desk and sat back down. To anyone watching it would appear as if I’d been on the floor then sitting in the chair normal the next instant. I don’t think there was a time-lapse camera that could have caught my movements at the speed I was moving at, which would just add to the mystery of what was happening.

I had my nanites breakdown all of the ammunition in the shotgun that had blown me almost in half then slowed my personal time back to normal speed as I looked up into Mr. Johansson’s supprised eyes as he dove for the shotgun and pulled the trigger again which made a loud “Click”

“Is there something wrong Mr. Johansson?” I asked innocently as he pulled the trigger again and again. “Its not going to work, would you like to sit down so we can talk for a bit?”

“But, But, But…”

“But I’m dead? Yeah, that was true, but I’m not now. So pull yourself together and let’s have a chat,” I said as I used my nanites to double-check and see if there was any technological surveillance in the room. Surprisingly there wasn’t. Next, I willed my favorite version of True Sight into effect and looked around. Sure enough, up and behind Mr. Johansson there was a scrying portal through which I could see a woman reaching for something on the desk in front of her. With a thought, I force teleported her to me with my hand around her neck and snapped it with the twist of my thumb then dropped her to the ground. I also teleported some nanites into the room she’d been looking in on us from and had them start mapping it out.

Peter looked at me, looked at the women on the ground at my feet then jumped at me. I caught him with telekinesis and then locked him in a force bubble with only his head sticking out, unable to move. He hovered over the desk, his arms outstretched towards me as I casually got up and conjured a cup of coffee into my hand. I took a sip as I looked around. I probably shouldn’t have killed the lady. It had only been a minute or so. I reached down, placed my hand on her head, and released my nanites into her skull with orders to stabilize and repair brain function while keeping her in a coma. I’d fix the rest of her in a minute or two. So long as this didn’t take too long, she’d be okay, I just needed to keep her brain alive.

“Leave her alone, you monster!” Peter screamed.

“Me the monster? You just blew a sixteen-year-old in half. I’m sure this wasn’t the first person you killed and probably won’t be your last so shut up and know that if you answer my questions honestly I will revive her and you both might live.” I said with a hint of anger in my voice.

Peter smiled and bit down on this tooth, a moment later a nuclear detonation went off at my feet.