Execell

“When the soul deviates their pre-destined end, and it is unable to enter the cycle of life in their world, it is due to the damaged soul.”

“And how is a soul damaged?”

“When something damaged the soul, it is damage.”

“And how is a soul damaged?”

“There are many ways a soul can be damaged.”

“What are…”

*breathes in and out deeply*

I feel like I’m being blown away again. Does he not know how a soul is destroyed and damaged? No. That’s not the case. The more likely case is that he knows the answer but he doesn’t want to share it. It is likely that he either is refusing to share, or he can’t share. This would mean that there must be a reason why he can’t share or doesn’t want to share. What are some possible reason? What would make a god fearful? What would make the info restrictive? More people die in their world? Or, their own deaths. Can God die?

Lets say in theory. Its possible that I may have the same power or ability to do the soul shattering and would become a threat. What becomes of those which has become a threat? What is the limit of the power? Worst case scenario, if I can shatter the soul of humans, can I shatter the soul of Gods?

There too many uncertainty and nothing much is mentioned. On the other hand, there could be too many ways for a soul to shatter, like maybe predestination is never a thing, and we chose to deviate and that itself cause the original soul’s plan to shatter? Maybe? But it would be already predestined that I made the choice and recorded in my life’s journal.

Wait. My head hurts.

“So do mine”

“So do mine”

The both of them said at the same thing at the same time

If I can conclude that whatever action that we take in this world will not affect our soul in our world, then it must be something out of this world. Now that I can see that there are many gods in charge of many worlds, what if the reason for soul shatter was an intervention of someone from someone else’s world?

For example, an incarnate into our world is someone from out of our world. If he manage to kill me, then technically, my soul was shattered due to a death out of our normal world system and out of our normal world predicted death time. Does this mean that, the reason why my soul is shattered is because of an influence of an incarnate.

“Hauuter-Huorld-Inner-Huorld-theory”

Someone spoke. A big silver fox jump in front of me, and walked infront of me. After staring at me for a while, it proceeded to sploot. After staring at me alittle longer, it spoke.

*clears throat* “The Outer world inner world theory. Very good. It is one of a few reason why a soul can deviate from their original path. However, wouldn’t that be amended and corrected if an incarnate does appear into your world and you have interactions with them that led to your death?”

For once, I feel like I could have an intellectual conversation with someone.

“This is all new to me. I do not know what kind of actions can affect the change in the life’s journal. Even if there is changes, if pre-destination should correct the course. It’s like adding 1 pinch of salt into a cake. It doesn’t make the cake salty. How about 2 pinches of salt? When is the tipping point that there was a deviation?”

“You got it wrong. Many things can affect the change, and many things can be corrected. But deviation alone doesn’t cause a person’s soul to shatter or damaged. The death of a person before they reach their appointed death time and place does. You like to give examples for your explanations. Maybe this might be easier for you to understand.”

Is it mocking me? I can understand without any visualization!

“This is a beautiful hourglass. I light tap might knock it abit, but even if its knocked over, it may not break. You know what happen when enough force used on the hourglass. The glass would break. The sand from the hour glass spill out. Taking the sand as the soul, it isn’t that the soul is destroy or shattered but spill and incomplete. Just like how your glass was so damaged, only a small amount of sand left.”

“There are wars in my world. People battle for their sake of righteousness. If an incarnate decide to activate a deadly bomb and killed everyone in the battle field, doesn’t that mean that alot of soul would be damage as their deaths would be before their time, their sand spilling out of the hourglass before their time?”

“That’s one reason why Gods of their world needs to supervise and take care of the souls that are incarnated in their world. This is to prevent an incarnate from harming the beings of their world. The God can intervene when they determine if an action would cause the soul to be damaged. Maybe the God is slacking on the job.”

“I highly doubt that’s that case. Then why didn’t…”

The Nine-layered Nonago of Protection! Still if the God of my world known the events of my life, why wasn’t I protected from an incarnate. The god should been watching the incarnate. It is under the god’s charge. Wait. Wait. Wait. I realized a more pressing issue.

“If I am here, does that mean that the rest of the people in the mansion are in the same state? At the… Latus Nulilo?”

“There are many souls there. It is possible they are there. It is possible they are not. It is also possible that they are incarnated into another world. It is possible that they there are lost in the river. They will be lost forever. Ka Ka Ka.”

I reacted. I tried to punch the fox in front of me. But my body just slide past. Shit! I forgotten that I do not have a physical body. Still, why did I punch it. I would normally just use magic to attack it. That would been my first reaction. Is it because how reachable it is?

“Ka ka ka! Aren’t you suppose to use your words instead of your fist? that’s the only ‘offensive’ thing you could now, so what do you have to say?”

*Thought communication* *He is provoking you. He is a god that becomes stronger when there are anger and malice in the atmosphere.*

“I thought you were a god, seems like you are a fox. Go lay somewhere and become food for others, or for me. I have not eaten fox meat in my life. The intellectual conversation I would want to have is with a god, not some beast. Run along now. I have no interest in you.”

*Thought communication* *When I meant anger and malice in the atmosphere, it includes his own anger and malice.*

The fox in front of me started to behave differently. Its eyes were getting bloody red. Its body starts to have red streaks. The number of tails it has starts increasing. As everything was becoming a disaster, a whole appeared above the creature.

“Calm down Ciarxfcot”

Water started gashing from the hole over the fox. It’s eye started to return to normal, tail shrunk, and the fur was pure white again.

So the fox name is Ciarxfcot. Why does it feels familiar? Why can’t these Gods have proper names like Jonathan, Victor and Andrew?

“We got the info that we need. It is highly likely that you were killed before your time is up. You either lost your memory or were unconscious when you died and that’s why you do not know the nature or manner of your death. The universal scopes of lie detectors didn’t detect lies from your words. You do not know who killed you. The god of your world was looking after all the incarnates in the world. The universal scopes did not detect any lie as well. This would mean that both side are saying the truth, or their version of what they believe is truth. The issue left is to decide what to do with you.”

“The souls who are drifted here lost apart of them, and thus was removed from their world. Its like a robotic quality check. As long as the soul is complete, it passes. If it isn’t, it will be throw out. The place where you were are equivalent to a trash heap.”

“So you are calling Execell as trash! NiHeeHee! Don’t worry! Even if Pho calls you trash, I’ll treat you as a treasure!”

“Hmph. I don’t really care if I’m a treasure or trash. It doesn’t matter to me”

“I can hear your inner thoughts you know”

“Lets get back to topic Phoph”

That girl is really like Satori.

“Just because it is damaged, and cast out of their world doesn’t mean its the end for them. The gods of other world are able to use them for their purposes. Re-entry to their original world is not possible but entry to another is possible. And so, the gods of other worlds will repair the soul one way or another, and let the soul live in their world”

“An apple. So it’s like an apple. When it is ripe, it will drop. However, if an earthquake happens, the apples will drop before their time. These unripe apple that are dropped are liken to the damaged soul, cast aside due to bad quality assessment and not used for normal purposes. However, unripe as it is, some have use for the unripe apples. It can be left and wait for it to be ripe before it is eaten. It can be made into apple soup and adding with other stuff like dates to make it sweet. It can be made into bitter apple pies and sugar will make it sweet. Japanese curry uses apple for the extra crunch. It can be made into apple cider vinegar. Or it can…

“Yes, you basically get the idea. You can go on now Pho.”

*Thoughts communication* *The rest are getting sleepy with your explanation so I cut you off. You can explain to me more if you want. We got all the time in the world. Ah. Why are you blushing? Ah. So that’s what you are thinking. Isn’t that what  [incomprehensible] called sinful thoughts?*

“Yes. Please continue”

What a troublesome whimsical god she is.

“Let me carry on. You were suppose to come into my world. When you landed here, your soul was was shattered. You did not even have a body. Your soul was shattered. When you had arrived, only 3% of what you currently have. During the time where you were at the shore, Motrisxs saw your soul growing exponentially. He informed me about the situation and the possibility of a restored soul in our realm. This lead to the meeting being held.”

“Motrisxs?”

*Thoughts communication* *The ferryman*

“The ‘Ferryman’. He is the first restored soul in our realm. He proceeded to stay in the realm of the Gods to deliver souls from one place to another using the connecting river. This helped us Gods immensely.”

He was wearing the same robe that Phoph did. This means that what I saw wasn’t his true appearance? Hold up. If it meant that the ferryman was the first to be restored and the possibility of another restored soul…

“Am I the second per…”

“Technically, you were the fourth. The second and the third who regain their soul throw themselves overboard in the river. This caused their souls to be lost forever, in the river between worlds. When we heard of the possibility of the fourth, there was deep urgency to hold this meeting.”

I wondered what happen to the second and third that caused them to jump off. If they were anything like me, they would want to find out more about the situation before doing anything rash. But against many gods in this place, I am reminded of the situation that I was in few moments ago, wishing for a friend, wishing for anything humane. But these aren’t important now.

“I do not know what caused my soul to regenerate or recover or remerge to how it is now. I can’t tell you any more info that I already have. There is no evidence or historical references I can back up with. I do not know how I died.”

“What is the last thing you remember?”

“The last thing I remember was playing mahjong with a group of friends in Thailand within the mountainous villa. That doggo became a multibillionaire and invited his close friends stay with him so he wouldn’t be lonely. I missed that guy. I created a nine-layered barrier that prevent anyone we do not know from entering. I called it the Nine-layered Nonago of Protection. The surrounding was erected with forest illusion and memory scrambler magic was cast. Outsider of the barrier was protected by the Direwolves gang and the leader resides in the security room, monitoring the area, and preparing to summon his domain when needed. The castaway penguin worked from within the villa to sell his art and transporting them via magic teleportation tube to a post office that I’m wizard network is affiliated to. The nerdy purple fox works as a tour guide in the FullDiveWebNetworkCocoons, from her room. It’s a place where… You know what, you guys probably won’t understand even if I were to explain. The cafe owner teleport to work daily using the magic circle from the room to the cafe. The white…”

*Breathes Deeply*

“Hurry get to the point!”

“The last thing I remember was winning a really big hand in a game of mahjong. Mahjong is a game where… Explaining what mahjong is will take alot of them, so I’ll skip it… As we were playing, the first barrier was broke. I don’t remember anything after that. If you say a soul can be shattered, you would need to explain how a soul can be shattered.”

“So what’s the issue?”

During the emotional outburst by Spectrum earlier, everyone was quiet. Now that the issue is brought back on the table, the other Gods starts to chatter. Maybe there’s a way to understand what they are saying. Everyone spoke, or rather, made noises in different language but yet it is understandable by each other. Do they have thought communication like the ferry man?

Wait. Where is the ferry man?

Why is he standing at the entrance?

It is now that I realize. Thought communication could not be the case as they made noises earlier. Unlike the ferry man, who clearly spoke into my mind, they made some chatter. So there should be a device or ability that cause them to understand each other, something like that item from that robot cat cartoon.

It brings me to another question. Why are some able to communicate with me and others are unable to? Are they unable to? Or are they unwilling to?

“hljödhr!”

One word from Phoph was enough to shake the cave. The phrase thunderous roar is perfect way to describe Phoph’s action. I feel my core, my soul, shaking from the vibrations.

The aftermath of the shout caused everyone’s chatter to cease. Phoph stepped out from where he was. He proceeded to remove his robe. As though defying physics, his stature grew. The robe that should not have cover the entirety of his body. There are a few possibility.

• He is portraying an illusion to make himself looked big.
• I am under a psychic attack that cause my perception to be distorted
• This is the aftermath from the vibration attack. As my body is dizzy, my perception of a person size is affected
• Shapeshifter. He has the ability to shapeshift into whatever form he wants.
• Gigantification spell that modify his size.
• It is a magic robe that cause a person’s identify features to be hidden and remain as anonymous as possible.

“Close but that’s right. And now and this is his normal size.”

As I hear Iso’s words, I believed. This giant in front of me. Before he grew bigger I caught glimpse of his outlook. He has the tusk of a warhog, horns of a bull, clad in red armor, with powerful stomps liken to an elephant, no, with the fur that he has, its closer to a mammoth, and holding a strange weapon. The length of a spear, if the spear was more than 100 meters tall, and the end splits into many different brunches. I am unable to see what how many branches are there or the functionality, but if I am back in my body, I would pee in fear of what’s in front of me.

“Without further interruption, lets begin the investigation.”

“What do you mean you shouldn’t have accepted me into your world? If I was suppose to go to your world, what am I doing here?” Though I asked the question, I already have a thought in my mind. If I expressed it, or dwell on it, they will be able to read my thoughts again.

“I have no reason to tell you why I chose you.”

“Miss Aopaefia. Wouldn’t a God, like you, hear a request from someone who was suppose to be a member of your world? Isn’t that the purpose of a God? To hear the prayers of people who asked, and answer them appropriately?”

“Don’t assume we have gender. I may call myself a great goddess but we gods do not have a gender. The concept of gender exist your world and a few others. Most worlds evolved past the need for gender association.”

This info is redundant.

“Some has both gender. Some worlds do not have gender differentiation part. There are many other ways new life can exist apart from the traditional way.”

When will she get to the point?

“Some world reproduce by blood extraction and blend them together in an artificial incubator. This allow more species of life to be born. Some worlds allow diffusion of their reproduction cells to another body.”

Is she deliberately ignoring me even though she can read my mind?

“We gods don’t really have a reason or purpose to choose anyone. However, some gods have preference of the kind of people they want in their world. We each were offered a part of a person’s good attributes and bad attributes. The fundamental duty of a God is to make their world a better place. However, ‘better’ is relative to each of us. Aopaefia’s world has concept of magic and sorcery. While many world advance in technology, Aopaefia world focus on mystic arts, logical magic, spirits magic and …”

“Enough. I’ll continue from here.”

Isophoic turned to me and gave me a wink. I couldn’t contain my thought on how cute she is and am thankful that she is on my side. Maybe going to her world isn’t that bad idea.

“It’s Iso. My chosen ones can call me Iso. Even if you are thinking about me, I would like you to call me Iso.”

“Are you listening?”

My attention was brought back to the Spectrum. She sounded pissed.

“I chose you as you are good with magic. That’s the only reason.”

“And?”

“I don’t need to explain about how I was going to manage my world.”

“Face it. You were going to use him for some grand plan of yours. I see him favorably and will treat him well in my world. If you are not willing to share your plan, there shouldn’t be any objection if it doesn’t matter to you.”

Iso turns out to be kinder than I thought. In my world, if something that benefit you, you would do all you can to have it. That’s what most people does. If Iso didn’t edge Spectrum on, I would have gone over to Iso’s world without a doubt. A life being blessed by the god of the world isn’t so bad. Nonetheless, Iso knows that there would be a chance if I pitied Spectrum here, I might go along with her. Iso still took that chance. She really is a goddess. As I stared at Aopaefia, I let this thought play in my head. Spectrum, Spectrum, since you can read my mind, you should probably know too. If I, a human can understand, surely you, a god, could.

It looks like my message gotten through to her, she decided to speak.

“My world, has advanced to the point where there’s no new life.”

HUH?

“The people in my world does not die. Centuries ago, there was a parasitic disease that sapped the life of the people via their life aura. I sent a revelation to the my devotee, a new spell that would act as a barrier to prevent the life aura from getting sapped. This way parasite will die out. My messenger changed the spell. Instead of protecting the life aura, it protect the soul. As people’s physical body dies, they begin to live as spirits.”

HA! The irony. They live as spirits.

“I sent another of my devotee to spread the true spell however, it was too late. Though the plan was to kill 95% of the world did succeed, the soul of the people still linger in the physical world. As spirits, they begin to live in objects. As they are spirits, they are unable to use magic. They haunted the living and demanded them to build a physical body. Over time, the number of living were reduced and new born are fewer.”

In my world, if a person is growing up in a non-ideal environment, they would have suffered mental health issue, which would led them to have more physical and social issues. A healthy soul resides in a healthy mind of a healthy body. If they are not able to grow up well, they will not be able to live well, and much less reproduce.

“With souls that never die, and lesser life being born, the world’s population dropped. New magic begin to come to a halt as the demand for soul transfer techniques, replication and never-decaying took so much emphasis. It grew to the point where spells learning and research are lost. By pressing a button while providing mana, a new body is created. I have no messenger left in the world. A world who forgotten about their god will reach its doom.”

I looked down and started thinking. More so than thinking, I felt sorry for Spectrum. Some great goddess she is. A great goddess would not let it happen. She still acts almighty even now. She still acts almighty even now. She still… Is she really acting mighty? It must be hard for her to admit all these. As I looked up, I noticed her veil. Ah. Is that why she wore a veil? Was she crying the whole time? Was she worried the whole time? It doesn’t make sense though. Ah, I see. I see now. She focused on talking about how other ways other world reproduced. She must have been thinking ways to bring new life to her world. No. She was looking for ways to save her world. If that’s the case, why does she said she shouldn’t had accepted me in the world?

“There are two issues here. The first issue relates to why we are having this meeting. The second issue is she realized there are many better world out there for you to be reborn in. She did consider giving you to me.”

“What can I do to help?”

I do sort of have an idea what she wants me to do. “I have no messenger left in the world.” I’ll likely be her messenger. Her prophet in a sense. One that tells people of the one who sent me. In the sense, she will be with me and blessed me as well. Through me, her world will be save. Even though I do not know how am I suppose to do that, or if I can do that. The fundamental issue of her world would be to release the soul. As for the method, she would have a plan. Sounds like a pain though.

“As the head investigator, I’ve let the conversation gone on for a while. It’s time to get back to the topic we have on hand, the first issue which Isophoic speak off.”