[ WP ] In the realm where souls reside before we 're born , everything is pretty great . There 's no poverty , no one wants for anything , everyone knows their role and purpose . It is , essentially , perfect . But that perfection is accomplished via draconian law : the only punishment is the `` birth penalty ''

`` What possessed you?'' The words rung through my being, pushing out all other thoughts. `` What need did you have?'' Everyone had gathered, a mixture of fear and anger radiated through the crowd. 
 
 `` Need?'' The idea felt foreign to me, `` What is need?'' 
 
 `` What was required?'' His anger grew with my confusion, `` What called you to this?'' 
 
 I reached for an explanation I did not have, `` *It* did, great one.'' 
 
 The crowd's anger subsided to fear. *It? * *What do they mean? * The words rushed from being to being. 
 
 `` Their questions are mine,'' they asked me. 
 
 `` I ca n't give it voice. It is as foreign to me as need, perhaps they are the same?'' It drew astonishment from all. 
 
 `` What is your place?'' The great one inquired. 
 
 `` I stimulate the others with thoughts.'' It rushed from me without command. 
 
 `` And were you doing so when you tried to create nourishment?'' 
 
 `` No, great one.'' 
 
 `` And who's place was that?'' 
 
 I peered through the crowd before realizing it was asked of me, `` I do n't know, great one.'' 
 
 `` Was it yours?'' 
 
 `` No.'' 
 
 `` You knew it was not your place, therefore you knew it was someone else's. Do you wish to breed laziness?'' Their words accused. 
 
 `` No.'' 
 
 `` Confusion?'' 
 
 `` What is confusion, great one?'' More foreign thoughts did it spawn. 
 
 `` Uncertainty?'' He gazed upon my unresponsive self, `` The unknown, mixed ideas of both good and bad, certain is what we are all, uncertain is what we are not.'' 
 
 `` That's *it*! It was uncertainty that called me to attempt sustenance. It was the strangeness of it, it was.... 
 
 `` Curiosity.'' They became discontent. The feeling spread through the crowd. 
 
 `` Did you desire *it*?'' They asked. 
 
 `` More than anything, great one.'' I responded. 
 
 `` Very well. Curiosity has no place here.'' Fear overcame most in the crowd, `` For your crimes against our people, I sentence you to birth.'' 
 
 Blinding light overwhelmed my existence, wailing reverberated in the space around me. A figure, of shape, and size loomed before me.
