Choice

"What- what do you mean?" I asked.

"Your soul, we can make it alchemically perfect," my mother said, "you passed your alchemy exam, you must know by now that if all seven aspects are mixed to be exactly equal, a substance can be made perfect. The same is true of your soul. That's why we capture all those souls, Gavino. They are the ingredients for obtaining the perfection of us Uomo Universale. All who pass the tests are prime candidates for this process, because while the soul is already naturally a mix of every aspect, most people have one or two aspects that are highly dominant, with the others being relatively lower. Which aspects are most prevalent in your soul can be determined by looking at which skills people possess, as each aspect makes one more naturally skilled in certain areas. Each of the tests is designed to measure your soul's connection to one of six of the seven aspects. That final aspect is measured by your willingness to partake in this system in the first place. In short, changing you will be relatively easy, because you are already so close to perfection."

"But that would mean that my personality, I, would be permanently changed?"

"Yes, but only a little, and only for the better. It will carefully remove every single one of your weaknesses, you'll be the best you you could possibly be!"

"Why?"

"Why? Why? Because what else could you want? What is there to strive for beyond perfection?"

"I've fallen in love. If I could be happy with Gika, that would be enough for me. I would rather want that than become 'perfect' a thousand times over."

"I'm telling you as your mother and as an Uomo Universale: you are not thinking clearly about your future. You would be sacrificing the chance of a lifetime for one relationship. If you are skilled enough, which you will be, you can get whoever you want to be your partner, including other Uomo Universale. Especially since Gika has been offered this same choice. If she becomes an Uomo Universale and you do not, do you truly think you will stand a chance in romancing her?"

"But Gika has refused as well."

My mother didn't say anything for a short period after that, her face clearly somewhat irritated that I had called her bluff.

"Yes," she said, "frustratingly, your guess is correct, she has not."

"It was not a guess, I knew she never would."

"I simply do not understand why you two are so resistant to this idea. I get that me and Gika do not have the best relationship, but we really should be able to agree on this, being mother and son."

"You never treated me like a son though. You always ignored me!"

"That was all to help motivate you to become your best self. I wanted to see you reach your full potential. I thought that if I made sure you didn't feel seen by me, you would hopefully try harder to become an Uomo Universale so that you could get my attention, and it clearly seems to have worked."

"I don't care why you did it, you hurt me! You poisoned Paolo! You have trapped hundreds of souls inside the Municipio, living in constant agony! You're a terrible person!"

My mother sighed.

"Gika said something similar," she said, "but I just can not understand how you can say that when I have done all this as much for myself as I have for you two, being candidates who would ultimately profit off of having their souls be turned perfect. And poisoning Paolo was of course for the greater good as well, I mean, how else would I have been able to obtain the counting machine? Think about how many great things we can do with that machine, he was a worthy sacrifice for that, was he not?"

I had always known my mother was detached, that she had some degree of pride or arrogance that made her look down on others, but hearing her talk so coldly about murdering another person shocked me immensely. I sat with my mouth open for a few moments, unable to formulate any kind of meaningful response.

"I- I thought you'd at least feel guilty about it…" I stammered out.

"Regret and guilt are for when you have made a mistake," she replied, almost offended that I would suggest something like that, "which we Uomo Universale never do. I poisoned Paolo, I get the machine. I kept my distance from you, you took the tests. We built the Municipio, we got the ingredients to create perfect souls. Not to mention that without the Municipio, your beloved Gika's soul would have never ended up here."

"This- this is sick! I knew it would be, I- I don't know what I expected, I just hoped that- that-"

My mother became visibly irritated at this point.

"The choice is not that hard," she said, "become perfect, become my son, become powerful and live the best possible life there is or…"

She paused for dramatic effect.

"...be banished from the city with Gika, as to make sure you two do not spread any of this information."

"And what if we don't leave?"

"You die. We prefer you leaving willingly as otherwise this might get messy, but if you do not cooperate you will leave us no other choice."

"Then I'll leave this city!"

"Really? Think about it carefully! Will you throw away perfection for some girl?"

"I never really cared about your perfection in the first place! Why would I care about how someone wants me to be when they have been actively horrible to me for most of my life! I am already perfect to her, and that is all I care about! Our souls have already mixed to become stronger! I don't need your sick experiments for that!"

"So you choose banishment?"

"Yes."

"Well, no matter. You are not my son either way. By tomorrow morning a number of guards will come pick you up at your father's house. Be there and be ready."

She stood up and pushed me out of the door, into the arms of two guards.

"Get him out of here!" She commanded.

The guards nodded and grabbed one of my arms each, pulling me through the hallways to the exit. I was dragged past a number of Uomo Universale on the way.

"Two rejectors from one batch?" One whispered, "that's unheard of."

Finally, we reached the exit, where we had entered this building more than twelve hours prior. Gika stood before it, waiting for me. Once outside, the guards let go of me, then turned around and went back in without speaking a word. Gika ran towards me and hugged me.

"I'm so glad to see you again!" She said.

"I'm happy to see you as well."

We kissed.

"I don't- I don't really know what to do now," I said, "we should do something about this, right? But what can we do? Both of us rejected becoming Uomo Universale… so how will we change anything now?"

"I've thought about it while waiting for you, but I wasn't able to come up with anything. Really, this may be a little selfish, but- I think I just want to live life with you outside the city walls. We'll spend our last evening here to finish Paolo's masterpiece. Doesn't that sound good?"

It was certainly tempting. I really, truly, wanted that too. How could the two of us really change anything? Would anyone look down on us if we didn't?

Yes. I would never be able to accept myself. This was something that mattered to me. I wanted to be able to die in this world as well, knowing I did the right thing. Think, think, think!

'If the only thing you are good at is using a hammer, then you better make sure to turn all your problems into nails.'

My father's words came back to me. An idea began to form.

"We will paint, Gika! It won't be much, but it will be the best we can! We will paint!"