On the nth hour of that day, a thousand souls landed on the many hands of Illferra. The goddess gently held them as they drifted to sleep, slowly fading away to be reborn anew. Another thousand appeared, and another, and another.

Her many eyes gazed upon those who landed in her hands. Some had died from arrows striking them, others bled to death from severed limbs. Some were decorated with scars and blood, others crushed into pulp. Different deaths, different stories, but all of them had something in common: they were killed by monsters.

A sigh escaped from the goddess. “Maybe I need a break…”

She pondered this while shuffling souls to the wheel of reincarnation. Could she even take a break? Her hands would be full for quite a while with this sudden increase of souls. She had been doing this job for a hundred years now! The weight of her duties pressed heavily upon her, a constant reminder of the chaos below. She felt every soul's suffering as if it were her own.

Hmm. The goddess of freedom wasn’t the type to settle down for long periods of time. Restlessness and movement were woven into her essence and would naturally want to something else. However, this matter needed her personal attention. Her creations were her responsibility, after all. But maybe, the goddess thought, maybe just a quick break every hundred years could be alright?

Would the Sun approve of that? Probably not, but she’ll deal with it later.

“Xyra, I’ll leave for a short while. Please keep the souls in line for a moment.”

One of the goddesses besides her looked up. Xyra was smaller than Illferra, only reaching to her knees when standing up. She was one of the smaller gods, as most gods can reach up to the thigh of a Titan. Despite her size, her beauty made her more eye-catching than the colossal deities.

“Yes mother,” Xyra replied with a smile.

Illferra pinches off one of her fingers. With one of her free hands, she quickly stretched and molded the finger to her liking. A gentle roll formed the limbs, and her sharp nails carved intricate details into the miniature body. A masterful creation, just like every other creature before that. She gently placed it on the ground to assess her temporary vessel.

It was… good, though it was missing some of her arms and eyes. Good enough. She divides her thoughts and sends the half to her temporary body. Even though she was essentially splitting herself, her gigantean soul still had to manage a bit of a squeeze in her tiny vessel.

——

Illferra floated above the many realms of Edia, reaching the end of the universe. At the edge of existence lay her secret sanctuary, a hidden haven she always went to whenever the weight of her responsibilities grew too heavy. The soft hum of the void was peaceful enough that she could take a breather, and the beauty of the worlds was a treat for the eyes.

Below her, the mortal realm churned with war.

The other gods have been taking action in purifying the world. More blessings are being carried out, and the churches are tasked to be more active. But war in itself feeds the darkness. As monsters bleed and die, the dark miasma happily takes in more of their suffering. The only way to cut the production of energy is purification.

It’s a nasty cycle. Though, the goddess of the natural cycle personally thought, it was beautifully crafted.

Oh, the gods knew that all of this was orchestrated. As it was in the past, there shouldn’t have been that much war and suffering to spark the beginning of the process. A lot has been done to warn the mortals; prophecies of the end had been sent to seers and clerics all over the realm. Heroes blessed to cut out the evil. It’s a natural balance that the mortals and the gods cooperate together to maintain. All of a sudden, something weird was happening.

At first, it was a gradual increase. Corruption seemed to spread faster. Nothing new, the greed of man is innate. But as time grew, kings develop more greed and bloodlust. Innocent villages burnt. People create more abominations. A grand conspiracy never once created in a scale like this. They knew who had done it, but they couldn’t do anything.

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And then, it happened. The era of monsters has begun in the living world.

A hundred years ago, dark miasma created from all mortal sin, emotion, and filth, had reached a tipping point This malevolent force whirled and spiraled, drawing in all darkness like a raging torrent. Everything touched in its path were drained. Grass grew paler, stone walls cracked and fell, shadows deepened, and the air grew thick with dread as this energy converged upon a single point.

At its center, man's folly crystallized into a physical form.

[ New Feature: Dungeon created! ]

Gazing down upon the realm, the goddess beheld the destruction wrought by the miasma. Black dots materialized and faded across the world, like sinister stars twinkling in an endless void. Her many eyes slowly welled with tears. Edia’s beauty, whom she molded and shaped with her family, had been permanently ruined by darkness.

“My favorite spot got ruined. I shouldn’t have gone here.”

Illferra sniffled. She turned around to gaze upon the void. She didn’t have to put on airs, be a “dignified goddess”. Her heart never felt godly or omniscient. Her earthly body was birthed from the soils of the earth, like the rest of her creations. She felt every pang of pain that her children endured, every grief, every loss. And yet, unlike them, she had no hand to offer solace, no shoulder upon which to rest. She was bound by her divine nature, separated from the very essence of the beings she had brought into existence. All she can do is give them solace.

Her soft cries went unheard, swallowed by the vast emptiness of the void. Here, in the silent company of nothingness, she found a fleeting solace. Here, she was only with the void.

“All Father, why have you abandoned us…! If only he hasn’t done that, then all of this wouldn’t—”

At the distance, something immediately caught her eye.

A green speck glew faintly, illuminating the darkness around it. It slowly eroded, turning to dust as it flew by the void. It was—

“A soul…!”

Wait, a soul? The green speck was extremely tiny, a fragment of a fragment. It was an extremely foreign energy, a thing unlike anything that she had felt in Edia. Yet when she focused on it, it felt like it was one of her creations. A human soul. In the void.

She racked her memories. This was like something one of the goddesses had said to them briefly. The Astroneer had told them one of her many stories of sitting in the void. A lost object travelling in the void, coming from the other infinite universes besides them. The most rare object in all of Edia…!

“A Stray! A human stray? THERES A SOUL IN THE VOID—”

Illferra nearly jumped to catch it, but she flinched when her hands touched the boundary of her universe. What was she thinking! All things corrode in the Nothingness, it was the first lesson that the All Father had taught them. You will slowly wither as the void eats you piece by piece, until you join the embrace of darkness.

But if that’s the case, why was there a soul in the void? Shouldn’t it be already dead? Illferra watched as the soul drifted slowly into the abyss. Her many hands itched to catch it, but she was scared.

Scared…? Her?

The goddess of liberation leaped into the edge, her arms reaching into the void. As her hands pierced the bubble, she felt it. Nothingness. The very essence of her being, chipped away hungrily by the tendrils of the void. She felt like her arm had been cut cleanly, yet she can still move it. She felt nothing, yet she felt horrified. Still. Clutching her tears, she reached even further.

Further. Her shoulder passed the bubble.

She straightened her dainty fingers, reaching for the speck of life.

Further. Please, let me save this soul.

And then,

Her finger gently cupped the speck of green, and curled back.

Ah—

----------------------------------------

A piece of a cog was added to the grand design.

[ Unknown entity ██████ has entered! ]

[ Warning! Warning! Unknown entity ██████ has entered! ]

[ Processing… ]

The machine shouted, yet no one heard its warnings.

[ Processing… ]

[ Unknown entity ????? has entered! ]

[ Processing… ]

[ Verified! Mortal soul! ]

[ Processing… ]

[ Verified! Alternate soul! ]

[ Processing… ]

[ Verified! Soul type unconfirmed! Looking through data… ]

[ “Trey”, miscellaneous personality cache ]

[ Verified! Foreign memories confirmed! Stray soul confirmed! ]

[ Processing… ]

[ Soul owner “Trey” placed in the stream of Reincarnation! ]

[ Looking for possible existences… Assessing available data… ]

[ Warning! Soul damage beyond repair! Assessing damage... ]

[ Warning! 98% of the soul missing! Locking 243 out of 311 species types ]

[ Warning! Soul damage beyond repair! Continue on reincarnation? ]

[ Consent verified! Essence of Illferra verified! Reincarnation will commence! ]

[ Looking for possible existences… Assessing available data… ]

[ Personality of nature, confirmed!

Personality of persistence, confirmed!

Personality of endurance, confirmed!

Personality of darkness, confirmed!

Personality of faith, confirmed! ]

[ Processing… ]

[ Processing… ]

[ Requirements met! D.E.M. unlocked! Stray soul, welcome to Edia. ]

For the first time, the machine worked tirelessly for days.

☸ ☸ ☸