So… “Here, There, Everywhere”, I came up with the title(though not very original) after thinking about one of my past stories. The story was called “Just another day”. There is another story I kind of drew from… but that story is untitled. Anyway… on with the story. Err… real quick, the original draft of this was broken up into chapters of sort. So I’ll be using headers for that.
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Here, There, Everywhere / 0
It was an ordinary day like no other… Though really to say that and not have a concept of days to begin with… Well we have Neds. Though it’s kind of different. We don’t have a light and dark period. It’s more for measuring. As you can tell(I’m sure), this isn’t like one of the many worlds below.
Currently we are on the 250th Ned of the current cycle. Every 10 Neds we switch. Switch what? Well, wouldn’t you like to know… we all have work to do you know? Anyway, our duty is really all we have. Sure we have time off during the reverse 10 Neds(when not having to do our duty)... but there isn’t anything to do. I guess sleeping is something to do. You can also drink I guess. Find a buddy and bum at their place. It can be quite boring in the inbetweens… so you’re *totally* helping them out.
Oh right, I almost forgot! A cycle is 1200 Neds. It’s certainly not a year… no one really knows what it is. You see, from the first Ned of the cycle… no one knows what existed before. Or so we shouldn’t. But I feel I’m a little different. You see, what you’re reading right now is from a past version of yourself. By writing down everything that happens, how can you forget? No one knows what happens at the end of the Cycle… but it always comes. What were we doing before? How long will they take to find this? Will they continue the cycle of writing? It’s a journal you see.
As record, it seems some things are constant. Carter and Nox are always best friends, they even use the same “secret handshake”. Anyway. This is all common knowledge to you I know, it seems common knowledge is always instilled in one’s self.
The time has come, someone has arrived.
Here, There Everywhere / 1
Okay, so I might of left some things out… but it’s cool, you already know don’t you? Anyway, as always the abridged memories of their life will flow into our mind. Our thoughts, someone else's thoughts… They’re apparently all needed. And so henceforth when dealing *them*, it’s a special time in which we regain what we’ve lost. Not just us though, they are regian what they’ve lost. It’s a give and take really. Anyway, if I continue monologuing like this, a Ned will pass before we know it and that won’t be good! It’d be a waste, we’d fail!
I wonder why it’s limited to one Ned… I mean, a Ned is pretty long time… anyway… really we need to get on with this! What do we do… well we just talk right? It’s kind of a break for them, we just kind of listen to what they have to say. Allow them to relax for a bit. After all… once that’s over, it’s because into the pool. Reincarnation is a never ending cycle… Maybe that is what happens to us? But again… OFF TOPIC!
We try to help them come to terms with anything they may of regretted. We can’t actually do anything of course… but we can report to the higher ups and maybe they’ll do something if it’s deemed.
So to summarize it's a time where we review their life this time around and they can reflect on it as a whole(all their lifes so far). They can either continue on in their world or be moved to a different one. We are kind of like after life(heh) matchmakers. Anyway I'm sure I've bored you. Let us get on with it(for real this time).
The door on the floor below(I was still currently in my Loft or to sound less fancy I hadn't got out of bed yet...). I got out of bed and looked over the balcony below.
“Ahh… Welcome ba- Ehhh? It’s just you Nae? I was wondering why I didn’t have that feeling of memories bursting into my head.”
“Yeah Yeah, it’s just me. I see you’re still lazy as ever… Some of use are actually ready for work come the strike of Ned…. Unlike some people…” She trails off… I have no clue what she’s talking about of course. I’m always working, yep. Can’t say I ever have a dull moment…. Or could you say that in itself is dulling…?
“Oh shush, I was being productive! I just hadn’t left my bed…”
“I’ll be down a in a few, let me change.”
This was my partner Nae. While technically there was no such thing as “Partners”, but sometimes Nae stops by when I’m on the Ned. Hey man, I’m not going to complain, this’ll go by faster with Nae here! I don’t mean that in a creepy way… I normally just spend my time with An… Who despite being fun to talk to… isn’t cute at all… Well at least he isn’t cute to me.
Having changed into my “business attire”, I head down stairs.
“So have you looked at the schedule for today?”
“Sheesh… can’t even look over their own schedule… But no, nothing fancy. Slow day for death I guess, only 3 today. Might as well take our time.”
“Yeah, makes sense. Though those 7 Neds are going to be a pain… You can leave whenever you want, but I have to stay for the rest of it. This is also assuming we get a Ned out of each of them… Sometimes they want to jump write back in.”
“Oh, I think it’ll be fine. After all, I have some new recipes for you to try out!” She smirks… I have a bad feeling about this. You see, Nae’s hobby is food from lower worlds. She slowly gathers the needed ingredients, and then uses me as a test subject! Not that I mind…
“Ohh! More of Nae’s home cooking! What an honor!”
“Heh, praising me like that won’t change anything… though I can’t say I don’t like it.”
“Anyway, as I was on my way here, I saw they had already started to appear. Our first one should be here soon.”
As if on que, the doorknob rattles and with a slight ping, memories come flooding back to me. Along with the old, come what could be considered a selection of what was apparently important in their newest life. I’m not sure whose job it is to pick what is important, but I try not to rely on it to much, I enjoy hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. Nae I’m pretty sure doesn’t get anything… I mean, it makes sense, she’s not on the Ned.
“Welcome back Jonathan, or should I say… Marry?”
I say this with a smug look on my face as a Twenty-something male walks in seemingly cringing at the name “Marry”.
So you know, many different, lifes, many different forms. Here they are allowed to pick what they want. If they want to be who they were as Johnathan when they worked a desk job, go for it! We don’t kink shame judge here. This time around seems to have been a little more whimsical. You see, last time he was here, he jokingly went on about wanting to try out being a girl. Guess the higher ups went along with it.
Here, There, Everywhere / 3c (Yes we did skip 2 and there is a c on the end. To quickly explain it… I kind of somehow skipped 2 when writing… as for the “c”... my backup some how spawned their different versions of chapter at different points throughout. The one I marked “c” was the complete one, hence why I call it “3c”. Chapter 2 is unrelated to the story at hand, so it won’t be included here. Maybe another time. It’s about “Hero Hunters”, and how Heros are chosen. How worlds can ask for a hero. It’s kind of cheesy and also kind of based off certain things from DnD.)
"Urggh... Don't get me started man! I didn't know it was going to be that much effort. I mean, sure at the time I didn't have a inkling of who I was but still! Looking back it was to much of a pain! ...Though I did like the dresses. They were cute."
You see normally when someone reincarnates they don't remember their past. Of course I'm sure it's happen before that someone remembered something from a past life. Well that is to say... Outside the dream world. Within that space their true self normally pops up from time to time…. How else would you explain dreams? They’re just retellings of the past, nothing to magical.
"Well, I'm sure I can have something made up for you Marry~ You could wear a dress her all you like. I'll even call you Princess if you like."
I say chucklingly. You see within our the job we have freerain within reason. So I can bring something like clothing into existence easily. Though if where to be taken out of this room it'd disappear(I don't have that much power).Not to mention, the soul can’t really take anything with them.
"You know I might take you up on that, but for now... Nae would you mind making my usual?"
"Certainly, though if you two are done clowning around, maybe you two could get down to business?"
"Sheesh, we were getting to that... Don't be such a stick in the mud."
"So Jonathan how was it over all, have fun, meet anyone charming, start a family?"
Though I of course had some highlights, As I said, I liked to rely more on them then some memory. Not to mention I'd miss out on anything that might of fit in a bigger picture(something deemed not important for a highlight).
"Actually... I didn't really have much down time this time around. I was never really in one place for very long. Much less my actual home... Where I called *home* wouldn't last for more then a year or two tops."
Come now, I might know but the reader doesn't...! It's time to spill the beans, Jack!
"I'm not mad about it really, I was never lonely, I always made new friends but it sucked having to say goodbye to old ones."
Huh... Fine. I'll reveal it.
"So you somewhat enjoyed going to different worlds?"
Taking this moment to sip from the cup Nae had left on the table, they had gone back to the kitchen. Seemed they were making something... But not important I'm working(Though I'm kind of interested still)!
"Hmm... I wouldn't say that, they were a total pain in the ass!" He says with a shit eating grin. "But they could also be greatly relaxing." His grin turned into a soft smile.
"In one world, I was summoned to defeat the Demon King, but it was nothing like I expected. The 'Demon King' was a giant tree towering over the town. Over the years it had been sucking up more and more of the nutrients from the surrounding fields. Not to mention it was taking up farmland."
"Huh, that's interesting. So, what'd you do? Just spend your time chopping?"
"I wish it had been that easy! The tree regenerated! So no simple axe could take it down... Not to mention they'd break in no time. So I was sent on a quest to find a way to defeat it. Though... That world I wasn't in for long... You see, I got with the guys and we dug big tranches around it and then hired a traveling Mage to fill them with water. Then we set it on fire. Done."
"...You expected a few water trenches to hold up to a 'Demon Lord' tree?"
"Yeah, it was kind of a miscalculation on my part. Really just a stop gap for Stage 2." He starts laughing... This isn't a laughing matter. "You see once it started to burn we had planned to try pushing it over, away from the remaining fields... But well... The tree didn't last as long as I expected and ended crumbling forward towards us."
"Hah... So you set the fields on fire?"
"I would have if the Mage didn't stick around. Thankfully we hadn't done so exactly after filling the trenches. We waited a few days for low winds. You see, in this worlds mages can only use their magic X amount of times per day, they didn't seem to know what 'Mana' was either. They strictly worked of a '3 a day' system for example. Anyway, the Mage as if having seen this coming released a spelled they had apparently spent the day preparing. 'Rain Cloud'."
Man... I'm enjoying your hand gestures but they can't see you.
"Anyway, with the tree falled and burnt up it revealed the innerads of the tree! A highly valuable softwood. I'm not sure of its usages but the village chef thanked me many times. It was at this point I was sent back to my own world."
"Uhuh... Truly thrilling. Why hadn't anyone think to tried that to begin with?"
"Oh they had! But no one was crazy to go through with it. If they failed the whole village might of burned. Not to mention the Mage alone cost the Village's savings. But as I was the *Hero*, they apparently put faith in my words. I think the softwood helped them though, they should be able to recover if it’s as great as they said it was."
"So how many worlds did you travel to?"
"58!"
"Wow, that's a lot... How'd you even survive in your actual world?"
"Yeah... That was a bit of an issue... Though this didn't start till I was 24. And after the first time, I key'd my parents in on the key details and moved back in with them. They'd take care of my assets and the sort(I barely had use for them) and when someone asked where I was, they'd say I was traveling."
"I see, so two questions, what'd you do after their unsightly death, and how did the summoning happen?"
"Well that's the thing, there was a total time difference. 10 years in other worlds was 1 year on earth. So it'd only be almost 6 years. So not much time had passed."
"Ah, that makes sense... But what about your body? Didn't it age in other worlds?"
"About that, it seemed in other worlds I was normally summoned into a body or medium. With my body staying on Earth. From what I was told, it looked like I was just sleeping."
"Ahh, so how'd the summoning work? Was there a summoning circle or what?"
"We'll you see, I'd always have this feeling like something was going to happen and not till my final few times did I notice that there was someone who seemed to be doing this."
"Oh really? Huh, I guess there are hero scouts in the vast worlds."
“Anyway, as you were almost 30… how’d you die so young? Was it in another world? Does dying their result in actual death?”
“No, it wasn’t anything as cool as that, I had a meeting with Truck-kun… though like the Meme, it didn’t send me to another world… but would you consider this place another world? I guess I would of come here any way I died…”
“Not true, not every soul comes here. There are certain conditions in life one most meet. You just happen to keep getting lucky.” I say with a chuckle. It’s true, it’s even possible their soul could be snuffed out, not to return to the pool of reincarnation. But you have to do some pretty fucked up shit for that to happen… but really, who decides what is what?
“So is that all? You’re not going to tell me the full story?”
“Fine… I mean, you already know don’t you? You’ve told me about the †˜Sparknotes’ of my current life that you hold.”
“True True… but I like to hear it from you.” I tilted my head with a smile.
“Okay, so as I had said, on my last few times, I had noticed a pattern. And on my last time, I had figured it out. There was always this girl near by when it happen. So this time around, I tried to run as sun as I felt it leaving the store. I of course… rushed past a stop light and got hit by oncoming traffic…. But In that moment as I flew through the air as my bully was torn apart… she mouthed something and I was somehow able to tell… well assuming I didn’t imagine it. She said †˜See you soon.’ Is this going to be a normal part of my lives now?”
“Heh… yeah, that expression on your face of sheer terror as a little girl smiled at you. Who knew you were that afraid of a one haha….”
“Heh… that’s a weird moment for them to pick, don’t you think? I’m sure there were more important times.”
“Who knows man, I don’t even what they do… So anything else on your mind? Want to go on th hunt for this little girl?”
“Well I say that, but even if you wanted to… you won’t remember any of this in your next life… when you get reincarnated. Assuming it’s in the same world…. What if it’s in one of your fantasy worlds…. You have ties to them now… what if you’re summoned to something like Earth Alpha and you’re the offices last hope to finish up the report before the deadline…!”
“Wouldn’t that be quite the summon?”
“Please don’t joke about that… I just want to live a normal life…”
“But what *is* normal…? Also back on topic, I guess maybe if you were to have a dream, maybe your true self would project something of the past to you? But would you believe it? It is *just a dream*, ya know?” Smirking as I finish up that line… “Just a dream”, yeah right, it’s certainly more than just a dream….
“Anyway… all this talk about my next life is getting my excited. You think I can go now? I mean, I know we normally bull shit more… and sorry Nae, I won’t be able to try whatever you’re cooking.
“It’s fine, there is always next time.” She winks at him, heh, it’s true though, there is always next time they come here… I wonder what adventure life will have put them through…. I can’t wait to write about it.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to save the dress-up for next time then… A proper send off is the only way… yep yep. Totally the only way to not send you off in a pretty frilly dress.”
“Please no... “
“See you soon.” I wink at them.
“You’ll be back before you can even blink!”
“Please… I haven’t even started my new life… let me live it up a little…!”
“One last thing though… will you tell me your name?”
“Hmm… Nae? Does next time seem fair?”
“You said the same thing last time!”
“Then then time after that maybe?”
“You revealed your own intentions?!”
After “properly” sending them off, I look at the schedule. 3 Neds till the next one? Man, really spaced out today… Guess some side-work is in order.
“Nae, Wake me when you’re finished cooking if you would.”
“You’re going back to sleep?! But you’re on the Ned! That isn’t allowed!”
“Well, it’s currently down time… I don’t think it’d be to frowned upon... though there may be an emergency… I guess it’s why we work longer shifts when the maximum 3 Ned.”
“Not to mention… I won’t just be sleeping… I’ll be Dreaming. I have work to do after all.” I wonder what outfit I’ll wear today?
