He stopped speaking and stared out towards the black sea — which swelled and bucked with angry waves — lost in thought. His hands were coiled into tight fists and his body rigid with the strain of what could only be countless horrific memories.
I didn’t know what to say, for some reason the mention of The Sorrow had filled me with a sense of dread that was gnawing away at my insides. I squeezed my eyes shut; trying to replace thoughts of an unstoppable soul eater and the grizzly show I’d just witnessed with images of the Earth from space and the gorgeous beach. It didn’t really work. I re-opened my eyes. Faru was still in the same position, staring across the angry sea.
“Faru?” I said gingerly, walking forward and placing a hand on his arm. He snapped out of his reverie. Turning towards me, he gave a smile which convinced no one.
“I apologise Alexander. I have seen many atrocious things in my time in Pandemonia. Please speak your mind.”
I swallowed, my throat dry. It felt like years since I had eaten or drunk anything. “Well I err…it’s bad about The Sorrow and the war and everything, but well…I just don’t see what any of this has to do with me.”
Faru placed a hand on my shoulder. “You will Alexander. What comes next will make it all easier to understand. I think it’s time to move on.”
It was the words I’d been hoping for. I couldn’t wait to get out of this hellish place, vision or not. Faru clapped both hands together and the world began to tear off from itself. Little pieces flaked away and dissolved into nothing as though the whole setting was wallpaper being stripped away by the hand of an invisible deity. In the spaces left by the flakes, there was nothing but a pure white glow.
Soon we were surrounded by nothing but pure brilliant white. It was nonexistence; the blank canvass between life. There was no horizon, no background, no sky, no floor, nothing but endless white. I was upright as far as I could tell, but there was no way to know if I was standing or floating — I couldn’t feel anything beneath my feet. The brightness took a while to adjust to, like switching on a lamp in the middle of the night. For a few disturbing seconds it appeared as though Faru had two holes in his head, due to his glowing eyes blending in with the background. Thankfully the effect passed. I waited, but the Seelian didn’t say a word. He simply folded his arms across his chest as if he expected something to happen.
Then something did.
A point a few feet away began to shimmer. Frowning, I stared at the patch of nothingness. It continued to waver like heat in the desert. Then out of nowhere a blue ball of energy formed. It started out the size of a marble and grew until it was roughly the size of a tennis ball. Then it hung motionless, releasing an electric blue glow.
A small moan of wonder escaped my throat as I gazed at the orb. I had never witnessed anything so glorious in all my life. It was better than the beach, better than the view of Earth from space. Better than everything. Tears spilled down my cheeks. I wiped with the back of my hand, unable to stop staring at the divine orb. When I managed to locate my voice and use it, the words were soft and dreamlike. “It’s…so…beautiful. What…is…it?” I whispered. “This is a human soul Alexander. “Soul,” I repeated slowly, mouthing the words.
I reached out to touch the shining orb but was dismayed when my fingers glided right through as if it were a mirage. The soul shimmered for a second, then solidified again and drifted away from me. I cried out and tried to snatch at it, but Faru placed a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. I dropped my eyes to my fingers in disappointment, and drew in a sharp breath; the tips were glowing blue like oversized matchsticks.
I breathed a sigh of awe and looked back up. All around, more souls appeared, unfurling and growing in the emptiness of the non-world. Soon there were hundreds, gliding around us like atoms under a microscope. They seemed to radiate peace and happiness. I felt calmer than I could ever remember being in my life. It seemed that nothing else mattered, just these precious little souls.
Faru glided around so that he was facing me. “Souls are the life force of all species,” he said. “A miraculous, eternal energy which cannot be destroyed. In humans, a soul unites with a new-born child and stays with them until death, before moving on to another.”
He scooped a hand through the air and caught a soul, much to my jealousy. It lay sheltered in his cupped palms, shining rays of neon light from the cracks between his fingers. Faru widened the space between his two thumbs and gestured for me to look. I discovered that I could move forward without actually walking — a sort of glide. Once in front of the Seelian, I peered into his cupped hands. Inside, amongst the glowing blue, I could see flashes of cycling images, like short videos on a slideshow. A young boy clothed in rags running from a bakers — a loaf of bread clutched in his grubby hands; a middle aged man with curly hair driving a red American convertible, holding hands with a smiling brunette sat next to him; an elderly lady lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by family. A young woman standing by a Faru dropped his hands away and I pulled back my head. Then he gently released the soul and it floated off to re-join the others.
“Snapshots of past lives,” he answered before I could ask. “The existence of souls is nothing short of a miracle and impossible to explain. Because they cannot be seen by the human eye, it has often been debated that they do not really exist. But I can assure you they do and if you could see them, they would look like these here.”
“Wait, you can see them?” I asked.
“I can. Although I am blind by normal standards, my unique style of vision allows me to see things that do not exist on the relative plane. I can also manipulate them.”
“So you could touch a real soul?”
“I could yes, not that I could think of a reason to. But I digress.”
He raised a long index finger and tapped it once in the air. “Now, to explain how all this fits together. As I already explained, the Veil had broken down and with this, its repelling effects diminished. As the ageless war raged on, countless died on both sides. Many grew weary of the battle, of the constant fear. They wanted to escape the bloodshed. They hid anywhere they could to avoid fighting, in caves, underground, and those that could, underwater. Desperate to escape and presented with a greater threat to life than the diminishing Veil could present, it was only a matter of time before someone stumbled into your world. Before long, word had spread of a solace away from the war, a safe haven where one could seek refuge.”
“That doesn’t seem too bad,” I mused, wiping a bead of sweat from my neck. “A kind of inter-dimensional asylum seeker.”
Faru gave a chuckle. “Yes, I like that. And indeed that would have been fine had all those coming through been peaceful. Alas this was not the case. As I said the sentient creatures of my world are subject to character flaws, just like humans. Not every visitor to Earth was friendly.”
“Oh.”
“Oh indeed my dear boy. Many realised they could exploit the weaker life forms of this world, namely humans. Your kind went from being the dominant species to a low link in the food chain for some very dark and powerful creatures.” He furrowed his brow over his white eyes. “As much as I am dismayed to admit, it was not only Umbra who did this. Luminar were just as much to blame.” His unhappy face brightened and he clasped his hands together. “However, this unbalancing of the equilibrium was not without its consequences. The act of Pandemonians coming through triggered a truly miraculous reaction in certain human souls. A process referred to as The Awakening.”
Faru turned and gestured to the sea of souls. Many of them started to vibrate. They shook so hard they became a blur. I watched as the light they emitted grew brighter until it became difficult to even look at them. When they settled, their mass had expanded by at least a quarter. Small tendrils formed in their centres and stretched out like little feelers, searching the air. More and more appeared. I tried to count them, but there were too many. I guessed around fifty or so. As their appendages snaked around, the tips crackled with bursts of electric energy.