Hello readers,

This chapter is a transition chapter to get the readers oriented with the flow of the story. It is filled with heavy thoughts and philosophy (some religious), but things will stay lite from this point forward :) . Hope you will enjoy!

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In a formless space, brightened up by gentle pre-morning sun, there is a silhouette of a naked man, afloat. Upon closer look, a tone, young man with silky brown hair looks around confused. This young man has no idea where he is, and he has never been in this kind of place before. Taking in the view around him, even though his heart was eager to be receptive of this magnificent surrounding, his mind was troubled. He touches his left forearm with his right hand, as if, out of habit, but he is startled all of a sudden, and he looks all over his body, touching every inch.

“I see that you have awoken Calb,” a gentle voice sounds. “It is good to see you again.”

Somewhat confused, Calb Colbert tries to orient to the voice, but there is no one to be found! Then, with sudden intuition, he turns to his right and finds a figure standing right beside him. Getting himself back in control from sudden surprise, he looks at the stranger, and he replies, “I don’t believe we have met….”

“I know you don’t remember, but I have known you for a long, long time Calb,” the figure gently smiles. “I have been looking forward to our conversation for a while.”

Even though every cell in his body knows that the normal reaction to a situation like this would be that of a disbelief and obvious, caution, but for some reason, all Calb felt was sense of calmness and tranquility in the presence of this figure. “I don’t understand what you are talking about,” states Calb with genuine confusion. He was confused, but not in a cautionary way, for he felt absolutely safe, as if he knew for fact! How can he not feel as such when he was saturated with sense of peace and everything positive?

“I’ve known you even before you were born, and I’ve known you throughout all your travels and struggles.”

“You can’t mean to say what I think you are saying….”

“I am what I am, and always will be.”

“Are you saying you are God?”

“Some people call me that, yes.”

“Wait, you are not being straight with me. Please tell me who you are.”

“Since the technological evolution of humanity, humans, for the most part, stopped believing in ‘God,’ but, yes, I am that God you are speaking of, though it is not as simple as that.”

“Well, I am sure there is a large gap between what mortals understand and what immortal understand so I will not press further for your explanation and just go with ‘God’ for the sake of continuing our conversation.”

“That is a good answer. I am sure you have much more important things to address with me.”

“Yes, you are right. So let’s start by asking, where are we?”

“We are in the dimensional boundary between the world of science and world of magic.”

“Why am I young again? Where are my…parts?” Calb was thinking about his machine parts.

“Let’s stroll a bit since we do have quite a bit to talk about,” replies God as he gestures Calb to follow. “Now, the answer to your question is matter of the soul. You see, the world you came from and the world I am taking you differs in that in the world of science, your physical body grows 4.5 times faster than your soul. So that means when you crossed over to this side, though technically you are still in-between the two worlds, your physical body simply regressed to adjust to that difference in growth rate. Of course the fact that magic logic applies here instead of science logic is to your advantage, and thus, allowing such regression.

“You just said you are taking me somewhere, where are you taking me and what about the others? Where are they? Why are you not taking them also?”

“In order to answer that let me give you a little history lesson. In the 21st century when the humanity still worshiped me, they had a religious book called Bible or Torah. In those books there are numerous mentions of ‘men of God’ or ‘angels of God.’ The general understanding was that those special beings were an existence that were, somewhat, ‘other worldly,’ and those beings intervened in human affairs when God, me, directed them, so to speak. Those ‘other worldly’ beings came over from this side, and this time, you are the ‘other worldly’ being that will intervene in this world.”

“So, to answer your first question, you will be my ‘vehicle of intervention’ in this world. Now, for your second set of questions, let me answer that by posing you a question of my own. If your physical body grows 4.5 times slower than if you were on the world of science, and magic of this world adjusted your physical age accordingly, how old are you now?”

“If I was growing 4.5 times faster than if I was living here, that means 90 divided by 4.5…would give me…20. I am 20 years old!”

“Correct. Now, think some more, if the same thing would happen to those that were on your ship, how old would they be? Most of them will be in their infancy would they not?”

“Yes, that would be so.”

“Now, ask yourself again, what kind of ‘God’s vehicles of intervention’ would they be as infants? Not only that, they lack something that you bring into this world. No, they are not needed, thus they were sent back to their world.”

“Something I bring to this world? What is it that I bring?”

“Let’s skip that for a while for the sake of congruity. So ask your other questions for now.”

“I understand that I am your ‘vehicle of intervention,’ but what does that mean? Why do you need such ‘vehicle?’”

“Even though the world of science and the world of magic differ fundamentally, people that live in such words do not differ. Every soul desires experience provided by a physical body rather than spiritual body. While soul is bound by physical vessel, it is able to experience things that only such limited body can provide. One of such experiences is the feelings of hopelessness. Then, with that, feelings of hope and then to confidence! If I were to use an old cliché, one can’t really appreciate light until one has experienced darkness. Your mission is to be that light.”

“You make it sound so easy, but you know, I am not a saint. How can I be that ‘light’ that you speak of? From what I have been told of those ‘vehicles of intervention’ from when I was little, those beings were perfect, and I am no where near perfect.”

“Hmph..ph..ph,” chuckles God. “In those religious books that I have mentioned, those beings may have been portrayed as powerful and perfect messengers of God, they were far from perfect. Religion is a man-made institution, and it is meant to promote sacred manners of living. As such, only the positives were recorded of those beings. For example, tell me what hero represents to you.”

After pondering for a while, Calb answers, “Well, simply put, a hero is someone that stands for righteousness and comes to aid those in need. They look out for the little guys and protect the weak…and so on and so forth.”

“Okay, right now, as you were raking your brain to define what a hero should be, you were only focusing on the positive aspects of human traits and characters were you not?” Calb nods. “Why is that,” continues God. “That is because, deep down inside, everyone knows they are not perfect, and everyone is aware of less than honorable aspect of themselves that they have been hiding from rest of the world. As such, ‘Hero,’ then becomes an entity without those flaws, in the minds of those ‘imperfect’ individuals…which is everyone…as no one is perfect. Believe it or not, heroes also have flaws, and as such, what is written about those ‘vehicles of intervention’ also had flaws. It is just that the originators, elders, or spiritual leaders, in their zeal, conveniently left out those flaws to set the standards…to raise people’s aspiration…just as how every parents want their children to do better than how themselves have done.”

“Wow. I am relieved to hear that. It is like a load has been thrown off of me, but uneasiness is still there,” sighs Calb.

“As you should…as you should.”

“But how do you know I won’t turn evil? How do you know I won’t head in the wrong direction?” asks Calb.

“That is a good question, and that brings us to the subject that we skipped a while ago. You are, in a sense, a ‘quality checked’ individual,” wickedly smiles God…if you can imagine anything ‘wicked’ from God. What went through God’s mind at that point were the “made in China” stickers that has QC stamped on them, as if Calb was a product with ‘Quality Checked by God’ sticker on him.

“You see,” continues God. “In your world, you have practically lived the whole life human body normally allows, and though not perfect, you have done splendidly well. You have, in most part, kept your morals and disciplines to the point of setting a good example of a fine human being. How you carried yourself throughout all of your life reflects the temperament of your soul, and that temperament will stay the same in this magic oriented world as well.”

“I see,” acknowledges Calbs, feeling relieved and somewhat proud.

“Ahh, there is one other reason why you were chosen, but I would rather leave that for you to figure out,” smiles God. “It would be better if you find out as they come…for your own soul’s benefit.”

“Speaking of my soul, is it okay for you to reveal all these about soul to me?” asked Calb.

“You don’t have to worry about that, as you will forget much of what we have spoken when you wake up at your destination. It is just that I do want to answer all of your questions even though you will forget all about it later on, and thus, end up asking same questions over and over again. Just think of it as my gesture of respect given to you.”

Hearing such from God, Calb felt he didn’t deserve such praise. “I don’t know what to say…thank you.”

“Oh, don’t mind it. It is something I do for ALL souls…ALL my children. You all are precious to me!” God tenderly smiles.

Hearing of God’s confession of love toward all his children, he thought about his past, and he couldn’t help but ask, “I don’t understand. If we, I, am so precious to you why didn’t you come to my aid in my times of struggle?”

“Good question.” God deliberately pauses. “Calb, it is not that I have been neglecting you. I wanted you to fully experience life. You must experience both ups and downs of life for you to fully experience and FULLY appreciate it. That is the whole point of LIVING! Just think back on your life again. Yes, you have had hardships, and yes, you have had heartaches…lost love….” A hint of sorrow escapes Calb’s face as he, immediately, thought of Christina.

Noting the brief, sorrow in Calb’s heart, God continues, “But you have lived through them all, and deep down inside, you won’t be able to deny that you have gained some things you wouldn’t want to let go of if you were to given a second chance…, and as for your second chance…,” God pauses again as he smiles gently at Calb.

Seeing God pause without finishing, Calb was about to say something, but God lifts up his finger, motioning to stop that thought. Then says, “Let’s leave that for now and talk about something important, as we are almost there.”

Calb looks around, but nothing seems to have changed about the surrounding. The whole time that he was walking with God, it seemed like the scenery stayed the same.

“Listen Calb, where I leave you is only the starting point of your journey. Along the way, you might want to settle in the area that you find peaceful, but you must continue on. At the same time, there will be times when you feel like quitting, but you must also continue on. You may not know it, but I am always with you. It’s just that I won’t speak to you in person as I am doing with you right now. I will speak to you in your dreams as well as through the guides I will send to help you along, but you must know one thing. You must learn to be in-tuned with your surroundings…with nature. Such is important even more so in this world of magic than it is in the world of science. The fact that you were born on a planet is a plus. Those that were born out in the space, like many of your crew, don’t have what you have. Those that are born on a planet, ever since their conception, are infused with the planet’s Mana. Of course in the world of science it would be more correct to say planet’s Chi. That Chi continually fills up in one’s body and evolves over the life of the individual. It is like sustenance for the soul, but in reality, it is a subtle means for souls to comingle with other souls they encounter, whether the body realizes it or not. Some are able to sense it and cultivate a skill in manipulating such bio-energy.”

Calb was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but he tried to hold on. “I think I’ve heard something relating to Chi in the history class in college, but it was a long time ago. I only have a vague recollection, not that I believed in that stuff.”

“This is your weakness, the most important one. Even though I have hinted at you being fortunate for being born on a planet, that advantage is only valid when comparing to those that live in the world of science, especially those that were born and raised in space. Where you are going, every living being is infused with mana, and, unlike your world of science, the manifestation of mana is tremendous to the point of you being an easy prey to the predatory animals. Also the people of this world, due to that time factor I’ve mentioned before, have had a lot more time to absorb and cultivate their mana. You have great potential in you, as you will find out later, but effectiveness of that potential will depend on how much and how well you acquire and cultivate mana, respectively. Remember this point well!”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Okay, we are here my son. Like I have said before, much of soul relating materials will be forgotten by you, but you will remember our little walk…, and enjoy your second chance…,” smiles God.

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Okay folks,

This ends the transition between the world of science and the world of magic, but this is not the end of the world of science…hint…hint…:)

Until next time folks!

----MooShoo----