How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
What lives, he thinks, are lived by the men up there?
What do they do?
What do they believe?
What do they see?
Do they see me?
He wonders about them all, all the many lives that have been, and that will be, and wonders why they are not all the same, why they are what they are. It cannot be, he thinks, that when our life is run, we are done. There must be more to man than that, surely?
That we are not just one, but a multitude. (7.3.26-32)
King Eirikr can't quite accept that death is the end either. When Gunnar cuts his throat, will he just cease to be? Or is there something else waiting out there? Another life perchance?
Quote #11
"You cannot kill me," he shouts hoarsely, and yet as loudly as he can. "You cannot kill me. Do you not know my name? I am Eirikr. The One King! Forever Strong, and though you kill my body today, I will live again! I will live!"
He turns to his queen, to Melle, and his voice drops. "I will live seven lives, Melle, this is only my first." (7.3.54-55)
King Eirikr goes out on a high note. He offers himself to die and then refuses to really and truly die—dude will be back. And he's going to bring his wifey along for the ride.
Quote #12
Maybe he knows nothing. Maybe it's that he feels it all, but whatever is happening to him, he understands that he lived before. He lived other lives, in different times. And why not? It's something he has often wondered about, sitting on the train in the morning, looking from the corner of his eye at the other commuters, wondering why.
Why am I not living that person's life? That man, there, with the sharp suit and the slightly stupid tie? Or that scruffy guy with his headphones? Or that woman, a little pregnant?
Often, as he sat fiddling with OneDegree, he has wondered why this life is the one he's had, and not one of the thousands of contacts passing through the device, or one of the countless others that could have been his.
Now he knows. He has been others. (7.5.5-8)
Why have one life when you could have a whole bunch? This is actually closer to reincarnation than immortality—Eric can die, he just will be reborn as someone new. But for how long?