"Welcome to Universes For All."
"Listen patiently, or you will be left behind in this selection."
"I will only answer three main important questions."
A cold, genderless voice pulsed through the endless black void, vibrating not through air or medium, but through the very consciousness of every reincarnated soul. It was a presence that bypassed memory and flesh, settling deep within the core of their being.
"Question No. 1: Where are you?"
"Answer: Each of you resides in a separate universe. Your exclusive, ultimate task is to rise... and protect it."
"Question No. 2: Who am I?"
"Answer: You may call me a higher-dimensional being. And I have come to select a master among you."
"Question No. 3: Why is your current race different from your former human self?"
"Answer: I chose the human race for their wild imagination. Each of you is now reincarnated as a unique species, each granted a special racial talent."
"Final Advice: A system has been embedded within each of you. Using it, relying on it, or evolving with it... it's all up to you. I hope you do not disappoint me... and that one among you truly rises as the master."
The voice faded, leaving behind no emotion, no mercy, and no answers beyond what was starkly given. A profound stillness followed, a silence that stretched for an eternity within the hollow space where identity once resided.
…
The fourth quadrant... Universe 8888888888.
Somewhere, far beyond the edge of any known deep space, nestled inside a vast, alien galaxy, spun an ancient, silent star system. Its heart, a young, brilliant sun, burned with an unsettling, crimson intensity, its solar winds raging across the surrounding orbiting planets with unfeeling fury.
One of these planets, a barren titan of sand and silence, rotated with agonizing slowness. Endless dry, howling winds, carrying fine golden grains like scattering secrets, swept across towering dunes that stretched to a hazy, blood-red horizon. Life here seemed an impossibility, a forgotten concept.
But deep below one of those dunes, far from the reach of the atmosphere and its harsh environment, something stirred.
A cavern, jagged and vast, stretched open beneath the sand. Its walls shimmered with veins of crystal and rust, entwined like the petrified bones of a forgotten prehistoric beast. Fossilized objects and ancient stones, remnants of an unknown civilization, lay devoured by time.
At this moment,
Crack!
A brittle, sharp sound pulsed, shattering the ancient silence. It echoed through the cavern like a gasp after ages of stillness.
From within a mound of rubble, something subtly shifted. Dust scattered like powdered ash, revealing a rock-shaped cocoon that trembled. Slowly, thin fractures spread across its hardened shell.
Click! Shhhk!
A sliver of metal, needle-thin, pierced out from the cocoon and struck the air. Another needle followed, then two more. Eight razor-sharp limbs in total, protruding outward, twitching with the hesitant movements of a waking insect.
Rrrr!!!
A low, mechanical hum thrummed from within. All eight needles rotated at high frequency, slicing through the rocky casing with surgical precision.
The outer layer peeled away, splitting horizontally. Dust hissed once again into the air, followed by a low exhalation, as if something had breathed for the first time in centuries.
A tiny thing emerged, no longer stone or fossil. To a human eye, it would appear as a unique spider, yet unmistakably inorganic... a miniature marvel of blackened metal.
Its core body was a flattened, double-ringed, spider-like chassis, laced with intricate micro-joints. Each of its eight legs, razor-thin like forged scalpel blades, extended outward with an unnatural smoothness. Faint lines of red energy pulsed across its surface, like veins made of intricate circuitry.
"# # $ % ^ # @ # # $ $ #,"
A digital frequency buzzed into the air, incomprehensible to organic ears but filled with an undeniable command.
Eight round optical lenses... four on each side... snapped open. Crimson beams of light cut through the dimness, projecting onto the surrounding area, meticulously scanning the cavern walls and mapping the terrain.
Information surged into its core like a jolt of electricity, processed in milliseconds. The tiny machine froze, utterly still, observing and learning.
'So... this is me now?'
The thought was undeniably human, yet it echoed from a mind no longer flesh. A soul suspended within a machine, consciousness woven into a network of core and microchips.
'Reincarnated as a mechanical spider? Just one inch tall? This… this can't be real.'
The soul, the very essence of Keon, stared in stunned, disbelieving silence from within the spider's core.
'That higher-dimensional being… It said I'm one of eight billion reincarnations… and we each have our own universe? Eight billion universes? That's outrageous, no matter how one thinks.'
A quiet dread began to settle within his core, not a frantic panic, but a deep, unsettling realization. He tried to sigh, but found no lungs to draw breath.
The spider's legs twitched experimentally. A minor tremor echoed through the cavern floor. One limb stabbed into the ground and pulled forward... awkward, like a child's first, uncertain step.
Then another, and another.
'What the hell can I even do in this body?'
The question echoed once again into his mechanical core, a static current of frustration, but no answer came.
He moved again, slowly, cautiously, his sharp legs embedding slightly into the ground with each deliberate step.
'This is troublesome. I was doing fine in my last life. Why the hell did I get picked for this?'
His consciousness flickered, dragged backward toward the life he was forced to abandon.
He remembered the vibrant, energetic sunlight on Earth.
Flashbacks replayed within his soul's core:
A sprawling villa surrounded by manicured gardens. The rich aroma of expensive wine, the low hum of a supercar's engine. With a master's degree in hand, opportunities stretched before him like an opulent buffet. Cutting-edge technology, neural interfaces... he had been a prodigy, wealthy, respected, adored.
He had meticulously drafted plans for his entire future. And now?
Now he was an inch-long metal spider, trapped beneath an unknown planet, in an unknown cavern, within an unknown universe.
'I don't even have a mouth…'
A bitter, dry sarcasm echoed in his soul's core. But then, beneath the bitterness, slowly, something else stirred.
It was a curiosity. It was a wonderful sensation.
'Wait... If every human was reincarnated into a unique species… then that means I'm the only mechanical species in existence. A true one-of-one.'
His optical lenses whirred, focusing again, meticulously observing the cave, the shimmering crystals, the fossilized rocks and sediments.
'Maybe… that's not such a bad thing after all.'
The consciousness surged once again, a wave of self-assurance awakening a rare, indomitable human trait: the refusal to surrender, no matter the odds.
…