Songs in the Void

In a higher dimension, a tall, well-endowed, mature woman with loads of feminine charm wearing an ornate white kimono that she wore loosely, allowing her shoulders and cleavage to be seen, with a purple obi and a yellow string tying it closed sat upon a throne in a large hall. As she rested her right cheek on the knuckles of her right hand, her long, straight, purple hair cascaded down, covering her shoulders and neck. At the same time, her sharp, purple eyes stared at a glowing orb of light emanating a black and purple shine that floated above her left palm with a melancholy expression on her face.

"*Sigh* This is our ninth and final chance, my child." The purple-haired woman said to the orb floating above her palm in a monotonous tone that somehow held an infinite amount of tenderness. "It is finally time. And this time, you will not be alone on your journey. For I shall accompany you. Though, I shall only be sending an avatar to do so."

With that, the woman straightened up on her throne. Then, using her right hand, she reached into the center of her chest. A moment later, after pulling her hand from her chest, a second orb emitting a black and purple light was held in her right hand.

"I can only pray you will have the opportunity to grow into your full potential." The woman said as she once again glanced at the orb in her left hand. Then, with what seemed to be a great amount of effort, she pulled her gaze away from the orb and raised her head to speak. "Samsara! It is time. Are the preparations complete?"

A few moments later, the sound of footsteps approaching the door to the woman's throne room could be heard. After that, the door was opened and through it an old man with a long white beard, long eyebrows, and a bald head wearing a finely-tailored white suit with a black dress shirt and a white tie stepped into the room.

"Everything is ready, Your Majesty the Void Empress." Samsara, the God of Reincarnation, said respectfully as he bowed his head. "The Worldline Department has crafted the hub world to your specifications."

The woman on the throne, referred to as the Void Empress, is the ruler of a multiverse situated in the void of the vast omniverse. And while there are many multiverses in the omniverse, each with its own ruler, she is unique among them all, as she was the omniverse's first void dragon and has the power to expand her multiverse, though it takes a tremendous amount of her power to do so.

However, once she became the empress of her multiverse, she created a department that would be in charge of using her power to expand her realm. And she named this department the Worldline Department.

This Worldline Department was responsible for creating new universes, any parallel versions of new or existing universes, and combining elements of different universes to create unique parallel universes, as well.

"Well done, Samsara." The purple-haired woman, the Void Empress, said in that same monotonous tone. "Now, prepare for the integration."

However, Samsara did not respond immediately. Instead, he looked at the Void Empress with a hesitant gaze.

"Why do you hesitate, Samsara?" The Void Empress asked without changing her expression.

"Pardon my impudence, Your Majesty." Samsara said as he lowered his head once again, this time even further than before. "But is it really a good idea to separate a part of yourself to accompany the prince? It will weaken you for a time. And what if those who wish for the destruction of---"

"There is no need to worry." The Void Empress said, interrupting Samsara's concerned questions. "This portion of myself is only as strong as the average human. I will recover from this loss in less than a year. So, there is nothing to be concerned about. And once this avatar returns to me, after a lifetime of training, my power will only increase."

"I understand, Empress." Samsara replied with his head still lowered. "Also, the mechanism you asked us to implement so that the prince may track his growth was also completed not too long ago. All the features have been implemented, along with the seals and conditions to release the seals are also in place"

"Very good." The Void Empress replied with a nod. Then, she flicked her fingers, causing the two glowing orbs to float towards Samsara. "Then, it truly is time to begin. I leave the rest to you."

With that, Samsara raised his head. When he did, he saw the two orbs floating towards him. However, instead of catching them, he raised his hands and opened a small gate, a gate leading to the cycle of reincarnation. However, both these reincarnations would be different from the usual, where the souls would be wiped clean of all their memories.

Instead, the prince would keep his memories from his past life while the empress's memories would also remain intact with a connection to her main body, so that she may monitor the progress of her son and send information to her avatar.

Once the two soul orbs entered the gate, Samsara waved his hands, closing it. Then, he once again bowed respectfully before turning around and leaving the throne room.

"For your last eight incarnations, I made the mistake of giving you too much power, too early." The Void Empress said. "As a result, none of your past eight lives lasted even as long as an average human life. Hopefully, this time you will have the opportunity to grow. And as a descendant of the void, much like me, you will eventually have access to everything this multiverse… No, the omniverse has to offer. I only hope that the despicable man who helped give birth to you does not find out about you too soon. Otherwise, everything will end for us."

Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.

In Sasazuka, a young man, one day shy of his fifteenth birthday, stepped out the bathroom connected to his bedroom in the penthouse apartment he shared with his mother and her two attendants while drying his hair with a towel.

The bedroom was rather large, evidence that the family was quite well off. In the bedroom, there was a king-sized bed, a dresser, a desk, an expensive gaming/computer set up, a walk-in closet, the aforementioned bathroom, and a white, grand piano.

"*Sigh* I'm almost fifteen." The young man said to himself as he used the towel in his hands to dry his hair. "I'm almost as old as I was when I died in my last life. Hopefully, I can make it two more years. But I'm honestly not sure about that."

In his past life, the young man was born paralyzed from the waist down. On top of that, he was completely unable to move his right arm, as well. As a result, he was not able to do many of the things he wanted to in that life. So, most of his time was spent watching anime, reading manga and novels, and listening to music. And he truly came to enjoy all these pastimes. Unfortunately, because of an accident, he lost his life shortly after he turned seventeen.

"Well, at least I got the opportunity to be active in this life." The young man continued talking to himself as he pulled the towel off his head while stopping in front of a full length mirror. Then, he pulled his t-shirt up and looked at himself in the mirror. "I mean, look at these abs."

What the young man saw in the mirror was an extremely handsome, brown-skinned young man with Japanese facial features standing at 6' tall with shoulder-length purple-tinted black hair and bright purple eyes with a lean, muscular build.

"Still, I really don't think that being kidnapped when I was six, constantly drugged to ensure obedience, and forced to train as an assassin was worth it to get them.' The young man said as he let go of his shirt. "On the bright side, though, I'm fluent in ten languages, I've got a university undergraduate-level education, I'm a pretty damn good pianist, and I've got a pair of kick ass daggers."

As the young man said, when he was six, while out with his father, an African-American man and an active Navy SEAL, he was kidnapped by the organization that trained him. Unfortunately, his father lost his life that day, as well. Despite the fact that, thanks to his Navy SEAL training, he managed to kill more than half of the twenty men who were sent to abduct his son.

During his time in captivity, the young man was trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat, cold weapon handling, and firearms handling. He was forced to learn Mandarin, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Bengali, and Arabic, and became fluent in all of them. On top of that, he could also speak English and Japanese because of his parents and past life. And lastly, he was made to learn a skill not related to combat, and he chose the piano. And he was trained to be at a world-class level in that, as well.

"I'm glad Mom was able to find me, though." The young man said while furrowing his brows slightly. "The next day was when I was supposed to make my first kill. Honestly, I'm not sure I'm ready for that. But to think Mom was once a part of that organization, too."

As the young man said, his mother was once a member of the assassin organization that trained him. In fact, that was the whole reason why he was kidnapped. On top of wanting revenge against an escapee, she was at one point the top-ranked assassin in the organization. And after taking into account her potential, as well as the potential of the man who impregnated her, the organization deemed the young man capable of becoming their greatest weapon, ever.

However, the young man's mother ended up falling in love with his father while on a mission. Though, that was not of much concern to her, as keeping her relationship a secret was a simple matter. But when she got pregnant, she knew it was time to leave. She did not want her child to be forced into the same life that she had been forced into, after all.

Unfortunately, when the young man's mother helped two other young ladies escape from the organization, she ended up leaving a trial. Though, she was unsure how that happened, she chalked it up to advances in technology since she left. Either way, that led to the organization finding out about her new family, and the tragedy that tore it apart.

"Honestly, though, I'm still blown by the fact that they managed to cram all that shit into me in only eight years." The young man said in a bewildered tone. "Then again, I guess this has something to do with it. [Status]."

As he spoke the word, [Status], a purple, transparent window with black and silver edges appeared in front of him with the following information.

[Personal Information]

Name: Soramoto Tatsuo

Age: 14

Race: Human/???

Title: ???

Coins: 476,586

[Physical Attributes]

Comprehensive Physical Evaluation: E+

Strength: E+

Agility: E+

Dexterity: E+

Endurance: E+

Intelligence: E+

Perception: D

Energy: N/A

Charm: B+

[Skills]

Language: E+

Pianist: D-

Singing: E+

Vale Tudo: E

Weapon Mastery: E+

Dagger Master: D-

Firearms Mastery: E+

Cooking: F+

First Aid: E-

[Note: The average values of an average adult are F+. Trained Athletes have values of E-. Those at the peak of their field have values of E. Those at the peak of humanity have values of E+. Anything D- or higher is considered supernatural, usually requiring the infusion of mana or an equivalent energy to achieve.]

"*Sigh* If it wasn't for that note at the end, I would be pissed about my stats. I mean, a bunch of E+'s? Seriously?" The young man, Soramoto Tatsuo, asked himself while shaking his head. "And I've had this system since the day I was born. But I don't even think I have all its features yet. I mean, what the hell are these coins for? There isn't even a shop feature."

The coins mentioned were gained daily since the day Tatsuo was born. He was allowed to spin a lottery wheel for points once a day. And over the last, almost fifteen years, he has averaged eighty-seven coins per spin, resulting in the number shown above.

"*Sigh* Whatever." Tatsuo said while shaking his head. "At least I have something that shows me how strong I am, or how good at something I am. Also, because of that note, I know that mana, or magic, or chakra, or whatever exists. So, there's something to look forward to, I guess. But what in the world are those question marks about? They show up in both [Race] and [Title]. Does that mean I'm not just a human? How is that even possible. I know that Mom and Dad are both human. And what kind of title could I possibly even have? Eh… Whatever, it's probably some kind of glitch."

With that, Tatsuo walked across his bedroom while shaking his head as he approached his grand piano. Then, he took a seat on the piano bench and flipped the key lid before stretching his fingers.

"Well, at least the music culture in this world is a little backwards." Tatsuo said as he placed his fingers on the keyboard. "So, I'll have no problem making money as a musician if I really need to. And the best part about that is, out of all the things I was forced to learn, the only two things I got to choose for myself were the piano and the shape of my daggers. So, I'm okay with making money off of something I was able to choose for myself. And I promise that even if I never have to take a life, I'll never do it for money… Ever."

With that, Tatsuo shook his head to get the thoughts of the day he may have to take a life out of his head. Then, he began playing a song from his past life on the piano.

{BGM: "Ordinary People" – John Legend}

As his fingers danced across the keys, Tatsuo seemed to get lost in the music as he started singing.

"Girl I'm in love with you~~. This ain't the honeymoon~~. Past the infatuation phase~~." Tatsuo sang, his tenor vocals blending smoothly with the sound of his piano. "Right in the thick of love~~. At times we get sick of love~~. Seems like we argue every day~~."

While he continued to sing, getting more into the song as time went by, Tatsuo did not notice the sound of his bedroom door cracking open. And through the crack in the door, a slender, fair-skinned hand held a smart phone, its camera pointed at Tatsuo while he played the piano and sung to his hearts content.