Soul Lock

The House of Reincarnation I

 Wen Lan

Ox-Head and Horse-Face brought Wen Lan into a circular room which consisted of five red doors and a golden ornate red throne in the middle. Although Wen Lan was still shocked and extremely sad about the previous incident, he still checked the golden plates on the doors which went like Ghost, Animal, Plant, Human and Deity.

"Her Majesty?" Ox-Head called out in the empty room and half of an incense stick of time later, a figure appeared on the red throne.

"I am sorry to be late, but you were an unexpected death, you know."

Wait, what? It was a girl?!

Wen Lan finally raised his head, hearing the soft female voice and saw that the figure sitting on the throne was a young girl around fifteen-year old with two black holes rather than eyes. Her extremely long, transparent hair was sailing around her as if she was underwater. Her ash colour skin was matching perfectly with the cerement-like garment she was wearing.

She looked so creepy that if Wen Lan wasn't already dead, he could die with the sight. Therefore, he dropped his gaze immediately, being afraid of offending her.

"Don't be afraid, I don't bite," she said softly and Ox-Head and Horse-Face exchanged a weird look, so she added, "at least when I am happy."

Wen Lan gulped and Horse-Face gave her a thumbs up.

"So, let me see," she opened her palm, "Hong Ben, come here please."

A red light appeared above her head before an object fell to her hand gracefully. It was a thick red notebook with golden pages. Yawning, she opened a random page and dragged down her unnaturally long index finger on the page. "Aha, I found you! Wen Lan, right?"

Wen Lan could only nod.

"You are very calm, don't you wonder what's going on?" she asked, fixing her black holes on him.

"Her Majesty is the Master of Life-and-death and here is the House of Reincarnation," he said very politely. Before his mother died, she used to read him about gods and goddesses, so knew everything written although in the books, the Master of Life-and-death was a red giant with black beard.

The Master of Life-and-death clapped her hands merrily, "very well, little human, no wonder you knew about Soul Lock."

Hearing it, Wen Lan got tense. He didn't know if it was real or not, but he still had to try. As his first life ended, he could seek the reason behind Ju Xin's betrayal in his second life. "So, is it real?" he asked with hope.

"Look at your pinky," she commanded and he obeyed immediately. There was a transparent silver knot on his pinky. "Congrats, you managed to lock your soul with the general... wait a second," she traced her finger down on the page again before saying "I found him, Ju Xin! General Ju Xin." Then she closed the notebook with a pat, "do you know what it means?"

Wen Lan shook his head in negative as it was better if she explained.

"It means you will be able to find him in every reincarnation as long as you keep the knot. He won't know but whenever you are near him, the knot will shine, giving you the signal. You two will keep the same names and the appearance as long as you are reincarnated as a human again. Is that clear?"

Wen Lan nodded, looking at the knot, "thank you, Her Majesty."

There was a silence in the room after that until Ox-Head feigned a cough.

"Oh right!" She patted on her white forehead, understanding his implication, "one more thing before we see which door you will take," she pushed her sailing hair back and clapped her hands.

A red cloud slid in from the entrance where Wen Lan came in and landed on her open hand before it transformed into a clay cup with a red liquid in it. She showed the cup to Wen Lan, "this is the Tea of Oblivion, in case you choose to drink it, you will start your new life anew without remembering a single thing from your previous life. But as you used Soul Lock, I believe you won't drink it, right?"

"Yes Majesty, I won't drink it," Wen Lan replied firmly.

"Very well, then let's see your door," she threw the cup behind and the cup disappeared in her hair. Then she ran her hand through her hair and five red cards appeared on her grip. She threw them into the air and the cards disappeared. A second later, the door whose plate was HUMAN illuminated with a red light.

"Congrats little Lan, your previous good deeds enabled you to be reincarnated as Human again. Work hard and become a Deity next time," she gestured to him to go to the Human Door.

Wen Lan bowed his head respectfully and opened the door. A bright light enveloped him completely and he entered the Mortal Realm back as a new person but the same soul.