The Nature of Souls is a codex that shares the beliefs of the Kelestian people. Sevius has been handing this codex to anyone wishing to learn more about the Kelestian religion.
The high sun of noon baked the dark grey stones of my lookout causing waves in the air above them as if they were alive with some invisible flame. A slight hollow in the cliff and its cool shade is a welcome comfort I ponder often, today and in the long days that had come before. My duty, as has been the duty of all warriors of my tribe, is to watch the ridges and ravines by day. The war bands of Cinera had driven us from our ancestral lands, away from the bountiful game of the plains, away from the lush fruits of the forests. I am forever thankful to the spirits of thunder and lightning who revealed the signs of safe refuge to the chieftains and cloaked our passage with heavy rains and mist. It is here in the Kelestian mountains the spirits led us to a hidden city, hewn from the very stone of the mountain, completely abandoned, and invisible from the lands below. Here the tribes are now one people, we are Kelestians, and we will thrive as long as the secret is kept. No outsider who lays eyes upon our refuge shall live to inform the invader; to this each warrior is sworn.
My thoughts were broken as I spotted my kinsman silently approaching my hollow. With a quick hand gesture, he informed me that the enemy had arrived: a small scouting party of Cinerans at the western canyon. I rushed from my post to follow him. He and I weaved between the stones and came to a halt beside two other warriors who were watching the invaders below. Louder than a falcon's cry, the Cinerans bickered among one another as they begrudgingly wandered closer toward our home. When they were directly beneath us, the four of us leapt from the cliff, bringing our weapons down upon them. The black-haired fool did not see or hear me as my battle axe cleaved his skull, painting the stones with his evil blood. I turned toward my kinsman who threw an enemy's blade to the ground with his axe before delivering a crippling blow. As I charged to his side, I heard the uncanny thwip of arrows being fired. The pain of one, two, and a third one pierced my back, the tip of one protruding clean through out of my chest. My vision blurred as I collapsed onto the dirt. I could only watch as my kinsmen cut down the last of the invaders and hurried to collect their bodies and any signs we were ever there.
I found myself alone in the canyon. After pulling the arrows from my body, the bleeding had stopped and I carefully pushed the dirt to cover where it had
spilled. Once I was satisfied there were no traces of battle, I began making my way back to my post. As I was nearing the hollow, I spotted a woman sitting there. Her long hair fell still in the calm air and she was fully dressed in thin cloth, but most importantly, she was not one of us. I charged her
immediately. As I drew my axe the woman laid herself upon the ground, spread her hands wide towards me and pleaded, "Please allow me to speak with you! I mean you no harm!"
"You are an outsider and a threat to my people. I cannot allow you to live," I replied with my axe held high over her, ready to strike.
"Please. Just a few words first, then you may kill me if you must."
The woman was young. There was no chance she could escape. I looked her over and said, "Fine. Know that these will be your last words, woman. What do you have to say?"
The woman sat up, sharing the shade of the hollow with me. Her eyes met mine as a smile crossed her lips, "Yamin. My name is Yamin." As she spoke I felt a cool, spreading sensation wash across my chest. I looked and patted myself down and realized the arrow wounds weren't just healed, they were completely gone. Even the warrior's tattoo on my breast had disappeared and my skin was new and supple as a child's.
"What sorcery is this! What did you do!?" I barked, readying my axe once again.
"Nothing. You did that yourself."
"Impossible! You must be a spirit of the mountain!"
"I guess you could call me that. My favorite lifetime was when I was born and lived here, but that was a very long time ago. Before the Great Cataclysm."
I stowed my axe in my belt and bowed before her, "Please forgive me great spirit of the mountain! Thank you for giving me the power to heal my body!"
Yamin gently touched my face with her hand and lifted my chin so that my gaze met her ice-blue eyes, "Like I said, that was all you. Besides, 'your' body, as you would put it, is currently being prepared for burial. Want to see?"
"I'm… Dead?"
Yamin snapped her fingers and in a flash of light she and I were standing in the great hall of Kelcata. The pale blue light of net bags full of glowing
mushrooms filled the chamber, casting beautiful shadows upon the faces of the Circle of Twelve. These statues of women in fine garb were one of the great
artifacts found by those of the tribes that first explored the hidden city. Their approving expressions gazing into the center of the room made it the ideal
place for the former chieftains to assemble. Now, the mood in the chamber was sorrowful. I saw my body carefully laid before the council, my kinsmen applying the burial wrappings.
"Don't worry, they can't see or hear us." Yamin leaned close as if she needed to whisper.
At that moment, my sister arrived. She cried out in grief and knelt beside my body, embracing it in her arms. One of the council elders approached her saying, "Weep for his death, my dear, but not for his life as he lived it well protecting all of us from those who would do us harm. His spirit now walks with
those of the ancestors."
I waited for the pang of regret to leave my heart and for my throat to soften. Turning to Yamin, I said, "So this is the afterlife? Or am I some kind of ghost? Why have I not rejoined with my ancestors?"
"You can rejoin some of them. I know what you've been taught, it's just that they're not all in the same place." Yamin replied, gently taking my hand.
She gestured at one of the other council elders who was standing in attendance.
"That one. He was your great great grandfather."
"Adonis? But he and I are not related, by blood nor marriage?"
"It is time for you to understand the nature of souls, my newly awakened friend." She replied with a knowing smile.
With a squeeze of my hand another flash of light washed over us and she and I were now standing upon the snow-capped peak of the highest spire of the
Kelestian range. The winds blew drifts of snow over the ridge yet I did not feel cold. I started to realize that whatever was happening to me, I was no longer flesh and blood. This state of being was something else.
Yamin stepped forward, gazing out over the landscape, over the city now called Iridine, toward the sea far beyond the horizon. "Across these lands millions of people live out their lives. Some are awakened, like you have been, when a soul chooses to become bound to them."
Puzzled, I ask, "Do we not begin our life with a soul? Where do souls come from?"
"Souls exist apart from this reality, occupying the Beyond which is incomprehensible to you now. Still, I can tell your soul is strong and wants to be bound. That is why you were able to witness your own death."
The rays of the afternoon sun mixing with wind-blown snow made the space around Yamin and I glow with an unearthly multicolored aura. Or maybe it was because I am now a spirit without a body.
"I am no longer alive yet not truly dead? Will I be like this forever? What do I do now?"
Yamin turned and placed her hand upon my chest saying, "You see, the death of the body is merely a stepping stone for the soul. The soul may bind to another body, leave and rejoin the Beyond, or ascend to a higher stage of enlightenment."
"You said my soul was strong. I have fought and won many battles. Is it strong enough to live again?"
Yamin lowered her head and replied, "While violence and strife are necessary to strengthen the body, damage to the soul can cause it to weaken and detach; even to the point of being lost forever. Damaging a soul in this manner is the greatest evil one can commit."
"Greater evil than the Cinerans who pour forth from their own lands slaughtering and taking what they will? All in the name of their warrior god Ereal?"
Yamin paused for a moment before turning away, "Yes and no."
"No because war has always existed and will exist until the end of time. While that causes fear, and loss, and hatred among mortals, the practice itself is not tainted as each side in a war thinks they are true and justified for their own reasons."
Yamin came to my side saying, "And yes because of Ereal's commandments. Most of the other gods and I do not agree with his holy mission and prefer the natural way. Ereal believes that if he can convert everyone to his religion and ferry their souls to a prison realm after death he can prevent them from being reborn, from reaching higher levels of enlightenment, and ultimately from ascending to godhood themselves. This is one way, his way, of preventing the mistakes of the past from being repeated."
I sat down on one of the snow-covered stones lodged near the peak of the mountain, my head in my hands. With a wistful expression, she bunched her dress and sat down next to me. Calmly, I admitted, "I am not sure I understand. Was everything I fought and died for all for nothing? If the Cinerans and their god are so dangerous, you are a god and can do anything, why don't you fight them?"
Yamin once again took my hand and in a flash of light she and I were sitting in a small clearing in a lush jungle crawling with vibrant life. The setting sun
struggled to pierce the thick canopy over small animals and insects which slithered, crawled, and buzzed among the foliage. A small green lizard scampered across the rotting log beside me before flinging out its tongue, snaring acolorful butterfly and bringing it into its jaws.
"That is the beauty of life," she smiled. "Every living thing, including man, lives and struggles and dies and after each iteration is improved."
"You are saying that I will be reborn and can become a god? Could I fight them then?"
"It is true that any soul crossing the threshold of enlightenment may ascend to godhood, with or without the death of the body." She leaned gently on my
shoulder, "What I'm saying is, once you have reached that point, you may no longer feel the need to."
Yamin glanced down at the axe on my belt and then back up at me, "Do you still want to kill me now?"
I couldn't help but laugh, "No, I don't. I think I understand what you mean."
I reached out my hand to touch hers and was startled to see my hand was becoming transparent. Even in the dim light, I could see perfectly. I thought to
myself, "Can I see through things now? Through people?"
Yamin laughed quietly and responded, "No, Atkanata. Our time here is coming to a close. Your soul is preparing to bind to another body. Soon, you will be
reborn into your next life."
"In the next life, will I remember everything? Will I remember you?"
"Normally, no," she replied, "But that is why I came to you. You have a rare gift, especially for someone so early on your journey to enlightenment."
She closed her eyes and touched my forehead. Her soft, warm fingers sent a wave of energy through my being. When my senses came to, I opened my eyes to find Yamin and I sitting in my hollow in the Kelestian mountains. The moons and stars slowly started to shine in the sky as night arrived.
"I have made it so you will remember your past life, and remember everything that has transpired with me here. All I ask from you is that wherever you are reborn, strive to know yourself, open your mind to diverse thoughts and ideas, and encourage those around you to do the same. I will see you again."
As my surroundings faded into darkness, the feeling of excitement lingered within me. It was time for my new life to begin.