Choice… We make it every day… Some options change our lives insignificantly. And the choice itself is insignificant in the ditch of creation… What will the choice of a person change if, for example, he voluntarily takes a vow of childlessness? Someone won't have children, that's all… And then the magic of choice comes into its own… If an ordinary laborer has no children, so what? There are millions like him, and many of them will have children. So there's no need to be afraid… But what if the King makes such a vow? The Emperor? The last of his kind? Then everything changes instantly… The choice ceases to be insignificant. After all, the King needs an heir, and the country needs a New King and ruler.
Magic, right? An ordinary person chooses, it would seem, their future, and no one cares, for the most part. But the King chooses, and sharp debates will immediately begin… However, Leonid "Lyonechka" Ivanov was rarely bothered by this in life.
Initially… Much later, Leonid realized the choices he shouldn't have made. But it was too late. And would the current Leonid reconsider his actions if he found himself back in his own body, or would he follow the beaten path? He didn't know… After all, his choice in a specific situation had its own advantages. More precisely, he always believed that the pros outweighed the cons… Leonid was born into an ordinary family… Only his parents were not ordinary.
Both his father and mother drank almost incessantly, and when drunk, they beat their son. He never had any grandmothers or grandfathers. The last grandmother didn't live to see his birth by only three years… However, Leonid didn't have time to blame the universe for such injustice. Lyonya always tried to appease his parents, with anything, just so they wouldn't beat him anymore… And this later led to big problems… Taught that obedience and servitude bring peace, in kindergarten, and later in school, he became a kind of servant… And the most important thing is that he physically couldn't force himself. Everyone subjugated him…
"He had no man in him," his father used to tell him. He even tried to kill his own son when he turned thirteen… For which he ended up in prison for attempted murder of a minor. And then his mother also completely drank herself to death… His father later died in prison from tuberculosis, and, naturally, Leonid was taken to an orphanage, where his servitude continued. He tried to negotiate with people, but they didn't listen. The world he found himself in by chance understood only the strong. Not necessarily those who hit hard, but at least those who didn't doubt their convictions. This world didn't even break Leonid… Alas, for Lyonya himself, he didn't want to change.
Or maybe he couldn't? The message ingrained in his subconscious that if you help someone selflessly, they won't hit you, worked wonders. Which almost everyone took advantage of, especially after graduating from the orphanage. Leonid's choice of profession fell on something where he would have minimal contact with people… The second level of his defense, when he realized his problems with excessive pacifism, was precisely limiting contact with people… Especially with women and girls… Oh… That's a separate story. Girls… Or rather, girls in childhood are the most cruel creatures. Scum incarnate… It was from them that the plump Leonid (and it didn't matter about his diet, he was just prone to being overweight) received the most terrible insults.
However, this did not prevent him from remaining a man with a normal orientation… If he even became a man... Although, unlike those whom "real men" call "virgins," he did have sex at least once in his life… Perhaps one of his best achievements, besides his translator diploma. Do translators have contact with people? Not Lyonya, who sits at home and just translates whatever he's ordered. From English to Russian, from Russian to English. He always had enough to live on. Though, sometimes, it was a stretch. This lifestyle further affected his figure, turning him into a fat man with a capital F…
In parallel, Leonid began to familiarize himself with everything that would entertain him and, despite the protests of his neighbor, old woman Nusi, whom Leonid offended by "puffing away at computers for hours instead of meeting girls," he didn't regret it. He became acquainted with a vast body of work by various authors. Anime, manga, comics, games, movies, series… Rejected by society, he began to study what would help him distance himself from this society as much as possible… After all, on the street, he is Leonid Ivanov, a man with an ordinary surname and an unviable character. But there he is… As one author, widely known in narrow circles, wrote: "There he is transported to the place of the Main Hero." He doesn't feel like a pathetic Lyonya-Vanya, as they called him, but another person.
It was this that kept the person everyone calls "Ordinary Geek" from acting illegally with his life… Yes, others could joke about him, and he wouldn't say a word. His "boss could almost literally screw him over," disregarding the contract and adding only a couple of rubles to his salary. And he would swallow it… But here, at home, his computer awaited him, which he diligently updated every three years. Before, his finances simply didn't allow it… Yes… The environment around this very computer was unpretentious… Bare walls, which he periodically had to clean of various fungi. A TV, standing on a nightstand in an apartment provided by the state, seemed to still remember Joseph Vissarionovich and the nineteenth party congress. There was only one living room… It seemed he was deliberately given the worst option…
The sofa, which he unfolded, creaked and was living out its last days… And its days were not long, considering Leonid's weight category of "over one hundred and forty kilograms." The kitchen was as primitive as possible, with only a gas stove, a table with a stool that miraculously withstood Lyonya's weight, an ancient refrigerator, and a new microwave that stood in the corner as if asking "what am I doing here?" By the way, his girlfriend asked the same thing when he brought her here. The visit to the apartment became their last date. And it's not that the girl was impressed by the standard smells of a bachelor's dwelling, or the clutter… No, Lyonya was a fairly clean man. And before the girl's visit, like any normal man, he cleaned and polished his apartment until it shone.
And Nadya was a more or less average girl, the kind who doesn't marry oligarchs. She was average in all respects. Black hair falling to her shoulders, height of one meter seventy, figure… More prone to being overweight. An average face, unremarkable. But even she was affected by Lyonya's apartment… And what did she expect? Orphans get apartments, but not penthouses! In any case, what was, was past… Lyonya had long forgotten Nadya and everything connected with her, returning to his routine. To his life…
The computer screensaver habitually appeared, showing a standard picture for men of a similar type. And what's standard? Geeks can be joked about, but if a beautiful woman sunbathing in a rather revealing swimsuit is on his screensaver, then not all is lost. He's still a man, not a faggot…
"The project seems to be done," Leonid muttered to himself. "So, today I can rest and play something…"
Leonid considered the volume of memory to be the main advantage of his PC, after the graphics card and processor. Five terabytes, what can't you fit on such a volume! So many games, books, movies, and series… Porn, for God's sake. Is he a man or not? It's women who, if they "haven't had it for a long time," start throwing themselves at everyone, but men! Men know about alternatives, and the most important thing in a man's body is the absence of limitations in the form of a menstrual cycle. But Leonid didn't launch the PC for porn. Cursing, he shut down the mining program (you can't play games much during mining, the program itself was set to auto-start), Leonid opened the notorious "Games" folder and began to choose… What to play was the eternal question. It was incredibly hot outside, the Sun seemed to want to completely melt Moscow into lava.
And what does summer mean for a gamer? That's right, games are rarely released in the summer. So, you have to choose from the backlog, like "play when there's time"… Or replay. So, you have to choose… Hmm… "Star Wars"? No, perhaps today it's better to choose another space saga, less famous, but also legendary… Putting aside his doubts, Leonid clicked on the Mass Effect 2 folder, immediately wondering who to play as… Or return to an old save?
Before he could even launch the game, the doorbell announced the arrival of guests.
"Who the hell is it?" Leonid grumbled angrily, approaching the front door. "Who's there?"
"Lyonya, open up!" a demanding voice was heard. "It's me…"
Leonid squinted, looking through the peephole. The face of the person, a man, was vaguely familiar. Square, flat… A bandit's face… Nevertheless, he clearly recognized Lyoshka Nechaev, his "comrade" from the orphanage. After hesitating for a moment, Lyonya opened the door…
"Lyonya!" Lyosha tried to hug his old "comrade," but his arms weren't long enough. "Hey, how's life? I see your clothes have changed, is it because you've gotten fat? You can't do that, Lyonya… Ah, never mind. Guys, I told you Lyonya would let us in!"
"What are you…" Lyonya began, as five… Or maybe six people rushed into his apartment.
"They're with me, Lyonya. We decided to hang out with friends, and imagine, the cops started bothering us, so we ran away. And then I remembered that you live nearby. So why not hang out at your place?"
Lyosha hadn't changed: with an unattractive face, he had the same skinny figure. With him came three more women of average appearance. One was even a bit too fat, the second was skinny, and the third was more prone to being overweight. There were two men, on the contrary, quite muscular… Although it's strange that the one with the belly is hanging out with such people. Maybe they're just a work team…
"Make yourselves at home," Lyosha waved his hand, as if in his own house. "Lyonya, what's in the fridge?" he asked his friend. "I'm hungry. Got anything for beer?"
"Umm…" Lyonya stretched. "But I wasn't expecting guests…"
"Yes, Lyonya," Lyosha pulled him aside. "Calm down… So what if you weren't expecting them… Don't fuss. We'll hang out and leave. Sorry, there's no beauty for you. But we'll pay for everything, and money is never a bad thing, right?"
"Is that a computer?" asked the plump lady. "And what kind of processor is in there? And the graphics card?" (Author's note: "Processor" is slang for the CPU, graphics card is the video card)
"Hey, don't touch it!" Leonid protested, breaking free from Lyosha's embrace, and, approaching the computer, put it into sleep mode, pushing the woman away rather rudely.
"Whoa-whoa," she waved her hands, "acting like a complete loser and a fag. I might be interested."
"Vera," a man addressed her, "don't start. We came to relax, not to work."
"Alright, Vasyan," she smiled at the man.
"And is there a table here?" asked the skinny woman.
"I saw one in the kitchen," another replied. "But there's only one stool, and it's almost broken."
"Eh, Lyonya, Lyonya," Lyosha sighed heavily. "A bit weak. Well, never mind. We'll move the table to the living room. And everything else, I presume, is available, Sofia?" he asked the woman.
"Yeah, everything's fine. There's a stove, there's a microwave…"
"The main thing is that there's a computer," the fat woman continued. "And everything else is secondary."
"This is my computer," Lyonya objected. "Not yours. And don't claim it."
"Wow," the fat lady marveled. "And shouldn't you, as the host of dear guests, share everything with us?"
"Be quiet, Vera," one of the men replied. "Leonid is right. It's his computer, and you have no right to touch it without his permission. Whether to use it or not is a purely personal matter."
"You're so rude, Valera," the woman retorted. "Talking back to a woman."
"He's just putting her in her place," flashed through Lyonya's mind. "And he should have done it. But I can't… For some reason."
"Okay, fine," Lyokha smiled, barely squeezing into the room. He was carrying his kitchen table with another man. Sofia followed behind, carrying his stool. "We've got everything… Let's sit down… Lyonya, you too, you're the host. Help your comrade and friend organize a banquet to celebrate your first vacation…"
"Why aren't you holding the banquet at the 'Yar' restaurant?" (Author's note: one of Moscow's most elite restaurants) "You boasted that once you got a job, you would. In the end, nine months have passed since you became a physical education teacher, but you haven't taken our entire orphanage group to 'Yar'. A braggart," Leonid thought maliciously, but only smiled and went to help. "It would be ugly to kick them out, I have to help. They'll get drunk quickly and leave quickly," a plan formed in his head. "Or turn them in to the cops, they mentioned them… And these are all teachers?"
"Well, to my first vacation and my first vacation pay!" As soon as they had somewhat arranged everything on the table, the men immediately poured themselves a shot of something strong. "That went down well!" Lyosha said. "So, to new beginnings, colleagues?"
"Let's do it," Vera supported.
"Good thing the skinny one sat on the stool. Vera definitely weighs more than me, and she would have finished that stool," a thought flashed through Lyonya's head.
Lyonya downed the vodka… Definitely, his body had an incredible advantage, namely – incredible resistance to alcohol. He could easily outdrink this whole company… And then throw them all out onto the street…
"By the way, Leonid," the skinny one said. "I turned on a portable grill in the kitchen, an electronic one, it seems. Will you help me take it down later?"
"I'll help… STOP!" he jumped up abruptly. "How did you turn it on? The wiring in the kitchen is terrible. You can't turn on more than three appliances at once there! The refrigerator, the microwave… The gas stove! Damn it!"
He ran into the kitchen…
"Hey, you fool, wait. Your house has grounding!" Lyosha exclaimed.
"You're the fool! Our house has been in a state of disrepair since Medvedev left, if not earlier!" Leonid ran into the kitchen, hoping to save at least some of his kitchen appliances.
Quickly finding the grill with his eyes, he grabbed the cord and tried to pull it out of the socket… "Damn, I should have told them to f*** off from the very beginning," a thought flashed through the adult man who was being electrocuted. No ordinary person can withstand such voltage…
***70 years before the Battle of Yavin IV. Ninth month, tenth day. Tustra, Maternity Ward
The day began as usual for all sentient beings. Tustra – a majestic and beautiful city, bathed in the golden light of the star Sephi, named Tustra-Prime, awoke after another night… On the outskirts, the roar of speeders gradually began to be heard, however, the city center was calm due to its huge pedestrian zone. Incredible parks, recreation areas, crystal-clear lakes, and entertainment centers – that's what was in the center of Tustra, and also the Royal Palace. The Sephi live and have lived on this planet. In essence, the Sephi were very similar to humans… In appearance… They had similar bodies, arms slightly longer than humans', and the same fingers. However, for the vast majority of Sephi, everything was so similar to humans that most wouldn't notice the difference. If not for their pointed ears and incredibly long lifespan.
Ideally, a Sephi can live for four hundred years, and with proper care, even six hundred… Although one should also remember the Force-users… Some of them can live for a thousand years. At least there are rumors about a Jedi named Fay, who travels the Unknown Regions, and according to rumors, has been traveling there since the Ruusan Reformation.
Despite having a King, the Sephi are quite free. King Alaric is wise and old; unlike many kings and dictators, he does not enslave his people. And the people pay their wise King their boundless loyalty and love. During Alaric's reign, not a single civil war has occurred, and Tustra itself has hardly participated in any conflicts.
The silence of one of the most elite maternity hospitals this morning, however, was literally destroyed by the screams of a woman in labor. The woman was Mayla Flaingstar, the head maid at the palace, now on well-deserved leave due to pregnancy. The medics reacted instantly… The woman in labor, who had only gone to the toilet after sleeping, was escorted to the ward, where a droid promptly delivered the baby, immediately proceeding to calm the child.
Mayla Flaingstar, a rather tall, beautiful woman with dark hair and eyes of the same color, breathed heavily.
"A boy," the droid said. The new inhabitant of the planet could still be heard crying. The first breath is incredible pain for every infant in the world. "Perform standard procedure," the droid announced, pricking the newborn's vein and taking a small amount of blood. "Fourteen thousand one hundred and thirty midi-chlorians detected in the blood of the newborn."
Naturally, the woman, recovering from childbirth pains, did not hear this, although later the parents – Mayla Flaingstar and Dennis Flaingstar, a simple technician from the Royal Palace hangar, were informed of their child's results, which made Dennis sigh heavily. Such a result will certainly attract the Jedi, which means their cute child with black hair and purple eyes, inherited from his father, will become a member of this Order… On the one hand, it's an honor, but on the other… Whispers have already begun in the cantina that the Jedi have become weak. However, such things are always said about representatives of power.
Although, if you say that about King Alaric, you'll get punched in the teeth one hundred percent of the time… The Flaingstar lineage originated from humans… Humans who migrated to Tustra in their time and interbred with the Sephi. Because of this, their descendants were mostly similar to humans, namely, they had a predominantly standard height, while many Sephi could grow up to two meters (Author's note: the metric system will be used). Well, and the Flaingstars didn't have such long fingers, and their hands were standard. Light, as the newborn boy was named, will also correspond to this description in the future… If he lives to see it, as Mayla has hardly let him out of her arms since he was given to her. It seems she will even fight a Jedi when he arrives for the child, and their protocol droid has advised a couple of times to count the number of ribs after Mayla Flaingstar's hugs… And now they need to find a new protocol droid, not count ribs.
"Damn these freaks," was the thought that flashed through my mind (from the moment of transmigration, the narration begins in the first person) as electricity convulsed through me. "Why did I die so stupidly? I mean, I could have done everything differently! Completely differently! But no, I had to go and pull everything out. Only the fat guy from 'Jobless Reincarnation' died more stupidly. And now… I'm dead, what now? Where is hell or heaven? Did I not deserve at least something?"
And then something grabbed me, by the stomach it felt, and lifted me up… It spun me around, lifting me higher and higher… And I saw… A strange golden energy pouring from a sphere… I don't know what affected me, but I ran… Or flew? It doesn't matter, I started to approach this energy, and as soon as I touched it, I was thrown back… Bright dots, like stars, flashed before me… Strange pieces of land… I was carried at an incredible speed until I felt a strange deceleration… Or not? Didn't I slow down? Because I found myself near a giant, fiery ball… The Sun? I could only glimpse the object, realizing it was a giant fiery ball, and then I was thrown down. I fell, and my world plunged into darkness…
The last thing I felt was incredible pain in my chest. And also – the cry of a breaking child.
"Why is there a child here?" a belated thought appeared in my head.