“Good morning Luna. How are you doing?” The voice coolly asked as it resonated from everywhere, yet nowhere.


Luna rose from the levitated white reconstruction bench. “I just woke up after seeing my last body turned to fine red ash after I got blasted by a beam of pure arcana. How do you think I’m keeping Ti—!” She paused and sighed. “No, you are not her...” She inspected her body, making sure she had every part of it was still intact. To her relief, she felt not one part missing. She even had her wings this time. [i]Small miracle[/i], she thought. [i]Having no wings is such a drag.[/i] 


She looked up to the white void above her. “I have a question. Will you answer me?”


There was silence for a seconds before the voice coolly replied. “My arcane-technological matrix programming dictates that I must, regardless of the inquiry provided.”


[i]There she goes again with that technical mumbo-jumbo.[/i]


She took a deep breath of air, her sight never leaving the white void where a ceiling should have been. “Why is that every time I die, I end up in this place? Why can’t I just be allowed to die like… l-like...” she felt a heavy pang on her chest just thinking about it. She still had a hard time believing it had happened. She had to fight the urge to tear up.


There was silence for a second before the cool voice replied to Luna’s question. “Because,” she started, “your soul was bound to the reconstruction matrix as per the wishes of my makers. Unlike the majority of other users in the system, your life essence is far too precious to lose.”


Luna looked down. “Why didn’t you save her then?” she asked, her tone rising several decibels. “Why am I the only important one? She was far more powerful than I could ever be! She should have been the one to be preserved, not me!” 


“Irrelevant,” the cool voice retorted. “I am following my directive. It was the last order given to me by my creator before their expirations.”


Luna jumped off the white table and stood to face the white void above, her brow furrowing at the reply given. “You… y-you are supposed to be of this all-powerful ‘god’ in this miserable place! Can’t you remove my soul from the system and let me join my sister?”


“Impossible,” the cool voice replied. 


She stomped her hoof. “It’s been almost ten-thousand years! I’ve probably died billions of times during all that time! Do you know how much it hurts to constantly die and be reconstructed knowing that you will never join those you love!?” She grimaced, clenching her teeth so tight that she could feel the taste of copper seeping from her gums.


“I understand how inconvenient this all must be, but in the end, hasn’t it proven beneficial? You cannot deny that having lived for the last ten-thousand years has given you a chance to see the world from a different viewpoint other than your old one?”


“That’s not the point!” Luna roared back.


“Of course it is,” the voice replied. “As stated before, I am following my directive. That directive is the preservation of your soul by any means necessary. A soul must reside within a physical vessel, hence why you are given a new physical body based on your original body.”


“That still doesn’t answer my question! Why me and not her!?” Luna glared to the white abyss. “Why was I the one whose soul had to get bound to this matrix? Why do you constantly have me going from place to place, righting all the wrongs that you yourself can’t fix?! I mean, if you are really some kind of machine god as you claim, you have the power to alter the very fabric of reality as you see fit! Why not use that power instead of just sitting back and using me?”


The voice went silent. Rather than a response, there was a bright light. Before Luna could fully process it, she was standing in a vast field of grass on a mildly starry night. Without an answer, the only thing she could do was move forward. Move forward and get a little further before she died.


[i]Sister. I swear I will find out who bound me to this world. Then, I will join you in the summer lands. Wait for me just a bit longer.[/i]