“Welcome, penitents.”

  The concepts of the two words were imprinted on Berto's consciousness in a clear and defined way. Unequivocal.

  “Are you… God?” Berto asked. The linguistic particles propagated in space without sound, and he was certain that Vanni and Quintino had also perceived them.

  The entity laughed. “You can call me that if you want.”

  No, that wasn't God. It was something that filled him with awe, but it wasn't God. Berto wouldn't have ever met God. Not in the way he was able to conceive the word “ever”.

  Yet there were no words other than "God" to name the entity standing beside Berto.

  “But let's get to the point. The Soul Fragment KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 should have died in the time coordinates A(1473)B(1178)C(4328)D(4764)E(5537), in the space coordinates UD(231237883283289238938329491) WE(324748273847238423213313) NS(32653491734892274322) of the GAIAN system ver. 173.00475.3. In other words, the man known as Quintino Liberatore should have died the day before yesterday morning, along the banks of the Sangro river in an existential plane different from the one from which Gilberto Calabrese and Giovanni Brevellini (known as fragments ARKAZEL:SLOTH ver. 173.00475 .5.017 and MOLTEKE:SLOTH ver. 173.00475.5.009) come. However, an unfortunate event occurred. At the time of death KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 coincidentally found itself in the same spatial and temporal coordinates as KYZDKYU:SLOTH ver. 173.00475.5.007, who was out fishing in that exact spot, causing a disturbance of the spacetime lattice. The fragment KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 was transported into the GAIAN system ver. 173.00475.5 and synced into the body of KYZDKYU:SLOTH ver. 173.00475.5.007. To maintain the homeostasis of the DAMNATIO program, the material body of KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 was transported into the GAIAN system ver. 173.00475.5. As you can imagine, this single event generated four system errors. To begin with, KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 escaped the reincarnation cycle at GAIAN ver. 173.00475.3. Furthermore, KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 began his penance at GAIAN ver. 173.00475.5, a system that does not belong to him. These critical errors have now been resolved, as the Fragment has been traced back to me and can be returned to the system he belongs. However, two logical errors remain. In GAIAN 173.00475.5 the death of the man known as Quintino Liberatore cannot be explained, in GAIAN ver. 173.00475.3 the disappearance of his body cannot be explained. I am afraid I will be forced to reset the DAMNATIO program for the one hundred and seventy-fourth time because of these two small inconsistencies. Do you understand?”

  However convoluted God's explanation turned out to be, Berto understood it. He didn't exactly understand the consequences of a reset, but he had the impression that it would mean the end of the world. Not with an apocalypse complete with rain of sulfur and flames, but with a clean and irreparable break. In all likelihood, his soul (known as ARKAZEL), after the reset, would no longer play the role of Berto in his cycle of reincarnations. Berto would simply have ceased to exist.

  Quintino stepped forward. As much as he tried to hide it, he seemed angered against God. “Oh Lord, excuse my impudence, but how could such a disaster have occurred? Shouldn't the Divine Plan be perfect and infallible?”

  “Oh, don't blame me, KYZDKYU. I wasn't the one who had the brilliant idea of ??free will. This shit happens all the time.”

  “If we're here, I suppose there's something we can do to avoid the reset,” Berto observed.

  "Correct. I will allow you and MOLTEKE to travel in the system GAIAN ver. 173.00475.3 in the form of Soul Fragments ARKAZEL:SLOTH ver. 173.00475.5.017 and MOLTEKE:SLOTH ver. 173.00475.5.009. Your goal will be to prevent the event that generated the system errors from occurring again. You are free to conduct the operation as you prefer, the important thing is that KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 is not killed in the same coordinates.”

  “He won't be killed at all, Lord. I will do everything possible to save my friend Quintino,” Vanni stated proudly. Now that he saw his soul free from all its impurities, Berto realized how noble his old and crazy friend was.

  Quintino let out a moan of emotion.

  “Okay, I'll do my best too, Lord,” Berto confirmed, “But is that all? Is it enough to save Quintino? It doesn't seem very complicated to me."

  “It is, trust me. If you interfere too much with the system GAIAN ver. 173.00475.3 you may generate new logical errors.”

  “In what sense can we not interfere? How are we supposed to save him without interfering?” Vanni asked, bewildered.

  The boundless wall that Berto had identified as “God” grumbled. He was bored by that stupid question.

  “As you know, the DAMNATIO program advances in parallel on seven different existential levels, driven by the free will of the soul fragments that populate them. You can act on the other soul fragments and their free will without problems. In fact, that's exactly what you are supposed to do. However, not all humans living in an existential plane have a Soul Fragment within them. There are also SOULLESS, the NPCs of the existential planes. Their behavior is deterministic, and simulated by the system. If you influence the behavior of a SOULLESS in an existential plane to which you do not belong, you will generate a logical error. Well, you have to avoid that. This doesn't mean you can't show up or talk to SOULLESS, but you can only manipulate them to a certain extent before you irrevocably change their lives. Do you understand?”

  Berto nodded. “I'm no longer so sure we can do it. It's impossible to save him without making a mess."

  “It's complicated, not impossible,” God replied, “Or I wouldn't have entrusted this task to you. You will be in debug mode and you will have twenty-four hours to save KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012. Every time you commit a logical error, you will start again from the moment before the error from the spatial coordinates of arrival, and everything up to that moment will have happened as if you had not acted at all. This means that every time you fail the time you spent in the previous attempt will be lost. But you will have a whole series of advantages, linked to the fact that you are Soul Fragments not belonging to that system. For example, you will be able to enter the body of the SOULLESS, read their mind, and direct their movements. You will be practically invulnerable. You will be material and immaterial at the same time and you can make yourselves invisible. Furthermore, the Celestial Emissaries will not hinder you. Finally, you will be able to locate KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 at any time and you will know at any moment how much time remains until the event occurs. Is everything clear?”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “It is,” Vanni confirmed.

  “Good, then you can go. Good work."

  God and all the small spheres of souls surrounding him faded until they disappeared, and Berto was immersed in white again. Then its spherical body shrank until it became a point, then re-expanded until it took on human form. The white became a glow, which faded until the world appeared again in its usual spaces and shapes.

  *****

  When he had control over his body again, Berto rolled his eyes at the sky of system GAIAN ver. 173.00475.3. It was red, as Quintino had described it. The sun was high and white, proving that this was not the color of sunset, but the true color of the sky. It was cold and there was a smell of petrol and smog.

  Berto turned around and saw Vanni on his left. They were on the edge of a busy road, and in front of them, there was a disused IP gas station. Berto didn't need a map to figure out where they were. That was the straight segment of the road to Lanciano. But there was something different. The road was narrower than it should have been, and the distributor should have been of a different brand and fully functional.

  The field at the edge of the road was full of weeds, and in the distance, he could see the industrial area of ??the Sangro Valley. That view, once modest and drab, had become intricate and claustrophobic. The rows of low warehouses had given way to hundreds of iron towers and tightly barricaded chimneys, which incessantly spewed lumpy trails of thick black smoke.

  The distressing vision of that alternative reality distracted Berto for only a few moments. He thought back to the last instructions God had given him and Vanni.

  God had claimed that there was a way to locate Quintino immediately. Berto tried to focus, and white writing appeared in his field of vision.

  11:32 am. 23 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds remaining. KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 is heading to the TECNOSAT AMMUNITION factory to sell a batch of cocaine.

  The writing was not in the Latin alphabet, but Berto could still read it. As the writing dissolved, a light blue cursor appeared in the west, and it moved eastward. The hill covered the tip of the cursor, but Berto guessed that it pointed approximately to Atessa. He concluded that this must be Quintino's position.

  “Right now Quintino is going to sell his drugs. We still have time to stop him!” Berto observed, ready to take action.

  “Huh? How do you know?” Vanni asked, confused.

  “Concentrate! It was God who told us we can do it! Ask yourself where he is and you will see it too!”

  Vanni looked around with wide eyes and then fixed his gaze in the same place where Berto was looking. Berto realized that he too was following the cursor.

  “It’s… it's so far away! We'll never make it on foot!" Vanni exclaimed desperately.

  “Then we have to hitch a ride,” Berto replied suggestively.

  A motorcycle rumbled closer on the road. A slender guy rode it, and a curvy woman hugged him from the back, her long raven hair swaying in the wind. Instinctively Berto knew that they were two SOULLESS. Trying to read their minds, Berto discovered they were heading to Vasto. Not exactly their destination, but they'd make do.

  “You remember that we can be hosted in the SOULLESS bodies, right?” Berto asked Vanni.

  “Yeah, but I have no clue how to do it…”

  “Me neither, but I suppose it will come naturally to us like everything else. You take the woman, I'll take the man."

  “Hey, why should I take the woman?”

  “Because you're a slug!” Berto said, then darted to the side of the road and reached out. A tentacle-like protrusion emerged from his palm, sank beneath the motorcycle driver's helmet, and his conscience was then sucked into the man's body.

  Berto immediately pressed the brake lever to give Vanni time to reach him.

  The girl elbowed the driver, “Luca, what the hell!? Don't brake like that!”

  “Sorry, honey. I think I got distracted for a moment,” the man justified himself.

  Berto had felt the nudge, but his host responded spontaneously. His control over the SOULLESS was not complete. As the motorcycle picked up speed, out of the corner of his eye Berto saw Vanni imitate his movements and get sucked into the girl's body.

  Being sure that they were both on the motorcycle, Berto accelerated.

  He launched himself down the straight road, then took a bend, and on the climb that followed he stepped on the gas even more. He downshifted the gears, passed the tobacco shop, and kept at full throttle until the Sant'Onofrio crossroads, overcoming every vehicle on his way.

  "Luca! What the fuck is wrong with you now?! We’re just going to my parents for lunch!” the girl shouted angrily.

  “Don't bust my balls, Martina! I feel like having some fun! Is that a problem?!” the man shouted in response.

  Berto agreed. He was having a blast. He braked again once he reached the sharp bends leading down the hill, and veered dangerously to stay on track. Then he reached the straight before the Brecciaio bridge and hit the gas again.

  He sped past a speed monitor, and the red message “Slow down!” flashed ominously on the sign. With the icy wind shaking his jacket, Berto didn't care, and accelerated even more, taking the bridge at almost one hundred and thirty kilometers per hour.

  Over the bridge, there was a fruit stand. A girl was sitting in front of a crate of oranges, and Berto noticed she was hot. She had a light pink jacket and her busty breasts almost made her checked shirt explode, in the slits of which her white bra showed off.

  The fleeting apparition wasn't enough for Berto, who turned his head back to look better before the fruit stall disappeared from his vision.

  “Luca, what the fuck are you looking at?! Pig!" Martina yelled and elbowed Luca again.

  The blow came unexpectedly, and Luca lost control of the motorcycle. He tried aimlessly to regain control, and the bike crashed at lightning speed into the underpass wall right after the bridge.

  Berto felt Luca's body crushing against the concrete and the sheets of metal from the motorbike piercing it, and then everything slowed down and jerked forward and backward as if the whole reality was glitching. The walls and beams and asphalt lost their materiality, turning into geometric shapes and then deformed, recreating a guardrail, a straight road, and a disused petrol station.

  Berto and Vanni found themselves on the road to Lanciano again.

  Debug system activated. Logic error solved.

  11:51 am. 23 hours, 39 minutes, 27 seconds remaining. KYZDKYU:WRATH ver. 173.00475.3.012 has reached the TECNOSAT AMMUNITION factory and is waiting in the car park for the workers to come out for their lunch break.

  Vanni, breathing heavily, turned to Berto with a trembling voice, “I may be a slug, but there’s no way you’re driving next time.”