Arc 2 Chapter 10 A Cycle of Origin and End

Oh how I wish that I would have studied theoretical physics in the past. With a specialisation in repairing the room time continuum. Around me the people die, their soul is being ripped out of their bodies. The first thing I should do is enclosing this freakish thing and deny it the soulmist it is sucking in to grow. To do that I surround it with a blanket of my soul. But soon the pressure rises. As more and more soulmist tries to pass this improvised blockade I begin to struggle.

My solution is the same I once found in the corridor. I take it all in. I begin to grow. Faster and faster. But I am still hopeless against this doorway to the limbo. How did that idiot create it in the first place?. As time passes I try different approaches to seal this misfortune of an apocalyptic scale. I also continue to write down my history. Because if this thing ends me I want to at least warn the ones that come after us. With my growing soul this multitasking is rather easy.

Maybe the thing that created it can give me a hint how to close it. I begin to study it. Meanwhile I check for any survivors in the area. Someone I can entrust my legacy to. But even with my ever growing soul-sense all I find are empty bodies. I have to hurry or this world will die. One thing is for sure though, the soulless die like the flies. A lot of their souls gather at my location. Every soul that comes here is soon becoming dust though. It strengthens me even further. Thankfully there aren't many human souls coming my way. Seems like the distance keeps them save for now. But everyone I once knew is dead now.

The price for this fools dream is so unbelievable high. The only ones from my family that are still alive are those we left behind.

What could have been the day this absurd conflict came to a halt, a day filled with celebrations, became the saddest day of earth for me. A lot of those humans soul still linger around me. They are sturdier than the 'souls of the soulless'. But it won't be long until they will begin to fall apart. I wrap them in my own soul, protecting them from the crushing pressure.

Finally I find a hint how I can close this gateway. I need to go to the other side of it. Only from there can I mend the tear in the room. I will have to collect the fringes of the hole and twist them together. Only on the other side the room has a physical embodiment. The walls of the corridor are that embodiment, so right now there is a hole there. A hole that isn't there only for those who have the right compass, but is open for everyone.

The bodies of those I protect are most probably dead. I will take them with me. But before that I destroy this dumb sculpture. I tear it into tiny fragments. For whoever reads this gem, I beg you don't ever let this happen again. I can feel that the world once again changed, the once abundant soulmist isn't there anymore, only the bound mist is still here, I doubt that another one like me will ever exist again. Nobody will be able to stop it when it happens again. Farewell.

What a strange coincidence, that the one who found this stone is one of the few that can still feel the world, a rare gift that becomes rarer with every generation. Maybe it isn't such a big coincidence, this thing shines as bright as a sun when I look at it with my soul, but its outer appearance is that of a simple rock, one among many that cover the ground of the lake I found it in. Maybe a little shinier and prettier than the others, but I ain't a specialist with rocks. In the past a big explosion is rumoured to have occurred here, but those that researched it didn't find anything that could have caused it. The one thing we know about it is that five hundred years ago a big city has existed here. On all of the few maps that still exist and show this area there is a capital marked on this location.

The age of shadows, we call this time period by that today. Our lives today are akin to those of the people that lived before the first apocalypse, at least from what we can guess from the found relics of the past.

“Michael turn off the lights already. We have to wander for five hours tomorrow to return to the city, you will need the rest.” My teacher says as he passes my tent. “Not much use in opposing a good argument, I guess.” I think to myself. I turn off the light and get ready to sleep. My last though is about the second stone containing the knowledge about Oliver's techniques. This night I dream of being a hero. A hero with the strongest soul on this world.

Oliver's POV ( five hundred years in the past)

In a place with a blurred meaning of time and room Oliver, to be exact Oliver's soul floats among the souls of the dead, carrying with him the souls of strangers and those he once hold dear. This time there doesn't exist a way to return, their compasses shattered once they willingly entered this place.

“I guess it is time to finally find the reason for the soulstorm.” I think to myself. I begin to move with the stream, not fearing the friction and pressure that once threatened my very being. Once again it feels like decades until I reach my destination. Here there exists only soulmist, no other souls than me and those I protect can exist here.

My destination is simply described as a crossroad between six paths. Right next to the tube I came from is another similar sized one. But the soulmist flows into it not out of it. Curios I follow it. Soon we aren't alone anymore, more and more souls are here. They are born here. Strangely it seems like they grow bigger than what the soulmist enables them to. Does it also happen with our souls? Curios I observe mine and the souls of my companions. Indeed they grow and they grow faster than the newborn ones. Is this growth exponential? Strange.

I further follow the stream and soon the newborn souls begin to merge with the corridor leaving this place. Are those souls actually newborn humans and animals? So this is the cycle of souls. It makes sense now that the amount of souls grows, if that wasn't the case then at one point there would be a lack of souls. I return to the crossroad. Long lost is my sense of time.

Those three pairs of tubes now look like the entrance and exit of three worlds. Or dimensions? I don't think I will ever know that. I inspect the pair closest to me. Strangely there isn't any flow from them. I enter them, but this fact doesn't change even as I follow them. Driven by curiosity I get close to the wall and try to see beyond them like I did with the compass in the sculpture. After some tries I finally see something.

It is a dead place. I can't describe it in any other way. All I felt was the lack of life. Could it be that this is the reason for the soulstorm? That one world died and its souls flooded this place and overflowed into our world? If that is the case, could it happen again? I hurry back to the crossroad and get close to the smallest pair of tubes. There is a strong flow coming from them.

As I inspect them I notice that the tubes are slowly growing. If the size of the tubes symbolize the amount of life in their respective worlds does that mean that those belong to a young world? Is the amount of life growing there. I quickly check on the dead tubes. Sure enough those get smaller, but very slowly. Just how fast is this new world growing?

A new fear dwells in me. If a surplus of souls can have an effect on the worlds then a lack of them surely isn't good either. If the new world continues to grow at this rate, then it will surely cause problems. But how can we increase the production of souls?

We need some strong souls that remain here! They grow faster than the newborn ones. I will have to protect them for a long time for them to get strong enough to survive on their own. But the time will become our enemy in this place, even now I can feel how my comrades and even I myself slowly loose our sanity. This bodiless existence isn't good for us. I attempt to link my mind with that of the others and sure enough we can converse via our souls. This eases our minds but it isn't enough.

We dream, we dream of a world, we create one for ourselves and begin to live once again. I collect more and more souls of the deceased. With them our dream grows. We grow while we dream and a part of our growth is constantly released to feed the ever growing cycle of origin and end of souls.

Finally I will go to rest, I slowly erase my personality from my soul, giving away my very being to create a foundation for our afterlife. In this place where time is but a twisted illusion I lived many lives. I even had some families and children. We created new souls and implemented the concept of childbirth in our world. All that remains now is fatigue. Others will follow and join me as the foundation of this world of dreams. We will forever protect the balance of the souls. Now I finally will embrace oblivion. Farewell.