Chapter 9: I Want To Be Reincarnated

***

While the young man was lost in nostalgia, Kylie continued explaining to them. "Actually, not all people reincarnate on Earth. Apart from those who stay in the Underworld, there are actually some who become similar angels and are sent above. The village chief said it's because those people are like saints..."

"Angels exist?" The old man muttered internally, complaining, 'Why am I not selected?'

The girl hesitated. "I'm not sure if they are really angels, but according to the souls I've talked to before, some souls did go above, to the heaven which our Goddess Anda called Skyworld."

She paused and then acted as if she remembered something. "Among them, there are some popular people or devotees who ascended to that place. The village chief said they are Idols, Deities of The Land, or Anitos."

"... I remember that one of the oldies here said President Marcos turned into an Anito and is now living in that world. Others were figures like Dr. Jose Rizal, Ferdinand Magellan, Cleopatra, Newton, Hitler, Qin Shi Huang, Wu Zetian, Galileo, Marco Polo...." and the girl went on with her long list of known personalities from all over the world. She also mentioned Chinese, Russian and Japanese figures that  Leyte hardly knew. He didn't know whether to admire the girl from knowing so many people from other countries.

"Cute Miss, you seem to be saying that as long as someone is popular, influential, and has made some marks in history, they can become deities?"

"Yes."

"Then what happened when you become an Anito or a Deity of the Land?" the old man chimed in.

"I don't know. I'm not an Anito, can't you see? I'm simply a ghost. Ay, dearest Grandpa, no matter what, Anitos are beings different from us. We, souls, can live forever in the Underworld but we are not allowed to leave this mountain. But from what I heard, the deities have carefree lives and even superpowers, and their world is many many times larger than the Underworld."

Leyte understood what she wanted to imply. It was quite nice to hear that souls could live forever, however, they have memories and the options to reincarnate. Aware of what the mortal world could offer, it was hard not to be tempted to leave. They would just have to make sure they don't turn into wicked people so that after every lifetime, they could reincarnate.

As for those Anitos, he was not sure about what they enjoy as creatures of the Skyworld but surely it wouldn't be mere freedom and popularity.

However, what does it all have to do with him?

The girl said she still had some stuff to do so she bade her goodbye to the two men and then went inside her house. But before that, Leyte made sure to ask if souls had already been like this for so long.

The girl replied, 'Perhaps? Maybe souls on Earth have been reincarnating since time immemorial but people just forgot every time they went back to the Underworld.'

"So to say, in the end, if we choose to reincarnate, we will still forget that this world and the deities exist..." He chuckled as he walked away from Kylie's house.

He planned to tour The Stairway once again and see if he would be able to get more information from the other villages.

"Hey, Ley, do you want to go to the cliff and watch the punished people water the tall trees?" asked the old man.

Leyte replied. "Why would I take an interest in watching those people? Those who always go to the cliff were the victims of those wicked people when they were still alive. They take joy in watching them bleed as they labor to water the gigantic trees of life. Sigh, I understand them but I don't want to join them. You can go if you want. Keep safe."

He had been in this place for quite a while. He knew that souls like them have an infinite lifespan yet they could still be killed and reduced to nothingness.

Immortality doesn't automatically equate to invincibility. He saw one offender angered Anda and at the very next moment, he vanished into thin air. Perhaps only the deities were true immortals. But normal souls like them, they have enough strength to support their existence indefinitely, yet they were still weak in front of beings like the goddess. He knew even the silly looking werehorses could stomp a ghost like him under them to near-death. 

Fortunately, violence was forbidden in the sanctuary. Anyways, good people were not permitted to mingle with people deemed as wicked. Because of this, those who were victims of crimes and circumstances from their past lives could only gloat and stare from afar, but not go down the forest to personally beat up the people they hate.

"You know, Ley, this village system is quite weird. We don't have to work yet we don't need to worry about what to eat. It's really unlike when we're still on Earth. Way back, I used to work as a model, however, of course, because of age I later retired and worked as a writer."

"We don't need to eat. It's quite wonderful to become a ghost."

"We're ghosts?" The old man acted clueless.

"Are you not?"

"I've once talked with the village chief and he said only souls who refused the summon of our current world could be called ghosts."

Leyte just actually wanted to say, 'you still look like a ghost, the clingy type and I want to have you exorcised from my life'.

He never wanted the old man to follow him because he's not good at interacting with the elderly. He preferred the company of his few friends. Unfortunately, all of them were still perfectly living on Earth, probably mourning his death.

He sighed. He wandered around and noticed that from a certain angle, the whole Stairway resembled the famous Banawe Rice Terraces from the Mountain Province, except on every step was not a vast expanse of rice fields, but villages with seemingly endless rows of wooden houses.

The next day, Leyte went to the only two-storied stone house in the middle of the village. He didn't know why, but there were many people there when he arrived and even Kylie and the old man were there.

He briefly gave them each a nod and then searched for the chief. The chief looked like a capitalist because of his squinty eyes and weird smile. But since he was instated in his position, he should be a good fellow.

Leyte only furrowed his brows for several seconds before he informed him of his request.

"Hello. I'm Leyte Baler... And I want to be reincarnated."