The Innkeeper

"This is my second life," the creature began. "In my first life, I was just a normal human, a soldier working for his country. I lived, I fought, I… I died in that country… without ever experiencing something so strange as… the universe. But when I died I… I don\'t remember what happened. All I knew was that one moment I was dying, the next moment I was waking up with my face buried in the ground. When I picked myself up… I had become this monster."

"Are you sure you didn\'t have any strange, unexplainable encounters in your previous life? Such as some kind of magic jewelry, or discovering an ancient treasure, or entering a strange domain. Maybe you had a dream that did not really feel like a dream?"

Lex was asking a question, not because he was familiar with reincarnation - he was not. It was something he had not considered too seriously, but now, with his knowledge, he knew that it was only a matter of preserving the soul. Well, there were probably a few extra steps involved that Lex didn\'t know, but basically he had seen enough to believe it. No, instead, the reason he asked was that he clearly remembered how significant the event of receiving a system was for himself. He had been literally assaulted by a shooting star, after all. He was searching for any similarities whatsoever to his own experience to determine if a system was involved. This was but one of the multiple strategies he had thought of.

"Ah, no, I don\'t think so. I mean, I don\'t remember. I was not… superstitious in my past life, so even if I did have a strange dream, or encountered something unusual, I would have believed it to be a scam or trickery, and would not have paid it much mind."

The creature paused to see if the Innkeeper had any more questions, but he didn\'t, it continued. The only problem was, it didn\'t know how to say what it wanted.

"I… what… the thing…" the creature became flustered, unable to form the question that he wanted.

"Do you want to ask how this happened?" Lex asked gently. "Or perhaps, is there something you want?"

"No, I don\'t want anything. No, I mean, yes, I do want something, but that\'s not it. Was it… was it even real? My past life, everything I remember, did it even happen? Can I… can I go back, somehow?"

The last question was uttered using all of the creature\'s strength, for in its heart, metaphorically speaking for it did not have a heart, the creature already suspected an answer.

Lex contemplated his words carefully before he spoke.

"Do you have a name?" he asked first, his voice calm but gentle.

The question also woke the creature up from its stupor, reminding it that it had yet to introduce itself.

"Ming Jie! I mean, in my last life, I was called Ming Jie."

"Well, Ming Jie, I\'m sure everything seems very different to you right now. But as strange and fantastical as it is, some things will stay the same. Like I\'m sure you know from your previous life, nothing happens without a reason. Crops will grow if you tend to them, and will die if you ignore them. Gems and precious stones can become valuable if polished, or become nothing more than a pretty rock in a child\'s collection if ignored. Light comes when the sun rises, and darkness falls as the sun sets. If you eat, you will satiate your hunger, and if you do not, you will starve. Some causes and effects are more complicated than the examples I have stated, but the principle remains the same.

"Believe it or not, even as vast as the universe is, reincarnation is not so simple a matter, especially with one\'s memories of the past. So, if this happened, then it was not an accident. It happened for some reason."

Lex paused. He had been building up to his second probe about the system, but his own speech resulted in him having a realization about something completely unrelated. Everything… has a reason, whether you understood it or not.

Ming Jie, however, mistook his pause as the Innkeeper having completed what he wanted to say.

"Are you saying that I reincarnated… for some reason? To fulfill some grand purpose? Was it perhaps… the will of God?"

"Whether there is a purpose or not, only you can decide that. As for Gods… I wouldn\'t put too much stock in them. No, what I meant was, since your question is about your reincarnation, to get an answer, we need to understand how it is you reincarnated. For like I said, it is no common ordeal. Only then can we begin to answer questions like if it\'s possible for you to go back to your world. Though one thing, unfortunately, is almost certain. Even if you find a way to return to your own world, you will not be able to return to your old life. After all, we cannot even say for certain how much time has passed since you died."