RE: Reincarnation

God, everything ached...

"Shall I nullify the effects of pain?"

Robotic yet beautiful, a voice rang throughout my head. Reminding of stories about supreme and graceful goddesses, beautiful and elegant heroines, and independent, lovely damsels saving themselves. It offered refuge I sought without thought.

"...yes? But, who are you?"

Desperately, I tried to search for the woman, perhaps a nurse or a friend to that woman, only to find neither. No, I found nothing but shock. I was not in a far too expensive apartment belonging to a witch, I was not under the sterile whites of a hospital room, nor was I met with the comforting smell of rose that my own home would grant. Rather, it appeared that, with coarse, tawny fabric dr.a.p.ed around me and across poles of twisting metal and gnarled wood, I was in some form of makeshift tent. Why would I be there? I could imagine no series of events that could have led my unconscious body to such a place.

"Process completed. Inquiry recognized. Answer, I am System. You may recognize me as a form of sentient AI. I work within you."

Within...? She was acting as though she was part of some kind of UI or something.

"Correct. Altering program, unit will now be recognized as a woman."

Oh, shoot. It seemed I forced a change of something. I didn't want to deny her- them- it! I didn't want to deny it its identity.

"Incorrect, I am simply adjusting to your recognition of me. I exist as an operating system and must adjust to my user's expectations."

I supposed that made sense. Even still, the thought of forcing her(?) to adjust caused a sour taste on my tongue and a curdling within my stomach...

"Understood, locking user adjustment until further notice."

Oh, well that solved that.

Somewhat satisfied with the outcome of the situation, I braced my right hand to the edge of the mat of which I rested and readied myself for the struggle of movement. With a gulp of air, I pushed myself up, almost falling back to the ground at the complete lack of pain. Oh, right, System had mentioned nullifying it, hadn't she? I couldn't help but release a sigh of relief that she worked so well. Relieved of my pain, I could move on.

"You said you were part of a UI?" I inquired, quiet as a whisper. There were likely people beyond the fabric, people I didn't want to alert to my awakening, not just yet.

"Correct," She responded, "Initializing ability, "User Interface"."

It was something straight out of a certain comedic shooter I use to play, loading bars appeared in my vision, generating each piece one at a time. Hexagonal quick slots appeared around health, mana, and stamina bars at the center bottom of my sight. A minimap was located to the top left and quick access icons for some kind of menus appeared to the right. It was as if I were playing a VR MMO. I looked around to test it out, the display tracked well, never switching spots. It felt smooth enough.

Rustling of fabric stole my attention before I could thank System for her help and check out the icons.

And the following deep rumble of a voice stole my heart.

"Ah, you're finally awake."

A large figure had pushed up the tent flap, all tanned skin and muscles. His smile was the most beautiful thing I had seen, apart from the aforementioned muscles because oh mama, were those beautiful. System had to cough to stop me from staring, reminding me that it wasn't time to be a disaster. I took an extra moment to stare at that rough face of his though, covered in scars in simply the most attractive manner, questioning where he (or his family) might have been from.

...Brazil? Or maybe he's Hispanic?

Alright, that was enough gawking. It was rude to make someone wait. I finally gave him his answer, "Yes, I am. Might I ask where I am?"

...My voice sounded different.

"Answer. I took the liberty of creating you a new body."

A new body?!

What was wrong with my old one?

"Answer. It was not up to standard."

Harsh! I quite liked it, I'll have you know!

"Answer. Your new body was modeled after your old one with improvements."

...I supposed that was fine then. I had a flat c.h.e.s.t without my binder so I wasn't too upset about that. It was essentially free top surgery as far as I was concerned.

"Our hunters found you in the woods, you were badly burnt when they brought you back," The beautiful man explained as he came closer and wow, he was big! Eight feet, maybe? God, I was falling fast. "It seems our healers did a good job on you."

He continued to speak but I was a little... preoccupied with looking.

"Is that fine?" I heard.

Dammit I missed something important. System?

System??

She was ignoring me. Was this some kind of punishment? I wanted to cry.

"Yes, that is perfectly fine with me," I told him with a hopefully not wavering smile. God I hoped that sounded alright, I don't know what I was even agreeing to!

Skill gained: Poker Face.

Huh? Skill?

"Alright, I'll bring them along right away," He told me before leaving the tent once again. I wanted to cry at the loss of that beauty, why did he have to leave? I mourned the loss of those flame gold eyes and the warm voice I had already grown attached to. Such a beauty has already ruined me!!

"Please stop," System told me, almost sounding as if she had just heard the lamest dad joke in the world.

The idea of an AI being tired of my antics within seconds was enough to make me laugh and give up on being a gay disaster for a few moments. I supposed I should pay attention for a little while.

And that attention would serve me well as the tent flaps opened once again.