As Johnny's physical form dwindles into single cells, the bond to his essence finally dissolved away, leaving only the essence of his life force. There was no longer the makings of a new life and the essence drifted away from the eagerly coupling Simon and Kim, now a childless young couple. Freed from the ties to a human physical form, Johnny's awareness grew stronger and some memory returned. He had been human, grown to an adult, then somehow reversed and been returned to the pool of life.
There were multiple tugs on his essence now, tendrils that reached out to him, trying to draw him towards new prospects for life. There were many individual essences around him, sparks of life being pulled towards new existence. None of them had identity or memory, only a sense of being that would form the basis of a new existence. They drifted freely and appeared to be snared by the first tendril that touched them - tendrils that drew them not just into human wombs, but also into eggs of birds, larva of insects, wombs of countless beasts.
Johnny discovered he knew what each tendril that brushed against him meant, which living thing it would pull him into being. None of them could quite connect, and he also found he knew why - his awareness was more than it should be, and there had to be willingness. He could choose! There were human lives - a male child of Indian descent, a Chinese girl, a copper-haired boy, a female child of African lineage. But there were also animals, insects, birds. One tendril would pull him into the womb of a sheep, another into a housecat, yet another into the form of a maggot. There were many to choose from - a thousand fish eggs called out, as did hundreds of spider eggs, dozens of chicken eggs, the fertilized eggs of dogs, cattle, horses, pigs, squirrels, snakes each trying to ensnare an essence that would provide the core of life. And he could choose any of them! What was confusing to him was the sense that all of them were equal - the maggot, the horse, the human, the fish, all of the tendrils seemed to have the same importance.
And he had to choose - quickly. The sparks around him were constantly replenished, none remaining ensnared for more than a few moments. Only he seemed to be unclaimed, and his energy was starting to dim. It seemed that awareness could only last so long without physical form, and if he delayed much longer he would simply cease to exist at all.
The tendrils around him kept changing - so many choices! He felt the flickering of his final energy and made the choice, willing a tendril to snag him and draw him into a new life as a: