1 Birth Of Death

In the midst of a boundless empty void, countless souls are floating around.

Some of them are wandering around without any particular goal in their minds. This way they are merely delaying the inevitable... insanity. Those souls will sooner or later lose themselves in clutches of despair and boredom.

Another group started 'fighting' among each other. Of course, since they don't have bodies or some special abilities, they cannot do any harm to one another. In most cases, whole quarrels began without any particular reason. It could be stated that they yell at each other like misbehaving youngsters.

Some lost all hope and chose to fall into a deep slumber from which they will never awaken.

Amongst them is one unusual soul which does not care about this whole situation. The reason behind it is extremely easy to comprehend. It came to this place so long ago that it barely even recalls anything from that time.

The moment this being appeared inside the void it was completely alone. There was no one else with whom it could share its grief, confusion and fear, but alongside all of these negative emotions brewing inside its head appeared uncontrollable thirst for knowledge. This forced it to make a risky and courageous decision. It chose to obtain more knowledge, and the best way to start doing it is to explore this scary yet interesting place.

This soul very quickly lost its sense of time. The reason is a fact that in this place there are no clocks or any other means of counting it.

So after a span of (probably?) a few days, new souls started to show up. Initially, the being was reluctant to getting near those new 'neighbours', mostly because it was afraid that those unknown souls might want and what's even worse, be able to harm it. After a while, curiosity appeared to be stronger than fear, which caused it to talk to newly arrived souls. During the discussion, it understood that those souls are strikingly similar to itself. Just like it, they are frightened about the current reality and empty place they found themselves into.

During the talk, it understood that these souls still remember who they were and where they lived before arriving here. Regrettably, it appears that this knowledge disappears from their minds with time.

At this point, it perceived its purpose. It's gonna acquire knowledge from newly arrived souls to obtain answers to its several questions. How did they get here? Why are they here? How to get out? And many more. It has so many questions and almost zero answers. With that in mind, it began its mission which it relentlessly continues to this day.

Right now this floating grey orb is thinking about a few intriguing pieces of information it was able to gain through years.

Foremost, it was capable to deduce that every single being came from one of three various worlds. It gained such comprehension simply from the manner of speaking, thinking, naming or even scientifical terms unique to them.

The first one is inhabited only by intelligent but physically weak beings, which resulted in their high technological development, thanks to which they even managed to harness the power of nature and populate many exotic planets.

The second world is completely different. The only intelligent beings inhabiting that world are balanced in terms of bodily vigour and their ingenuity. However, they are unable to develop too much because of their constant struggle with extremely aggressive and violent animals.

The third world is almost completely enveloped in ice and is inhabited by a few very strong creatures. Unluckily, because of their lack of intelligence or modest population, their civilization has also not developed considerably.

Another discovery is the fact that none of these worlds possesses any religion or other doctrine that represents the concept of the afterlife. That is likely a reason why souls are getting trapped here in an infinite emptiness and it also means there are probably many more worlds.

And that took it to probably the most shocking conclusion.

'If everything that I deducted is the truth then that means that gods, afterlife and myths are real!'

With that thought, the soul starts dreaming about it becoming a god and saving others from this cursed place.

'Even if I wouldn't be able to aid those already in here, I might be capable to save the following ones.'

And then, something totally unexpected happened.

"Then let me help you fulfil that ambition."

For the first time since it remembers it heard someones voice. A deep voice full of authority and pure power that could shake the whole void.

In order to find a source, the soul started looking around. It noticed that besides itself not even a single other soul heard it. That means that whatever this being is, It doesn't wish to speak with anybody else.

While it was still looking around, a strange black portal emerged a few meters before it. When it appeared the soul started being sucked inside of this portal with unimaginable force.

Without enough strength, despite its whole resistance, the soul was pulled inside.

The next thing it saw was a place similar to the void it was in before. If not for the fact that this place was truly empty, without any other soul it would think it's in the same place as before and the whole portal was just a hallucination.

Before grey orb was able to get out of its confusion a flash of blinded it.

After a few seconds light completely dimmed and in its centre a golden humanoid being appeared. Soul started looking cautiously at the being. The reason behind it is sheer power and energy emanating from it.

While the orb was looking at it, the being started talking.

"Ehm. Hey, you don't have to be so tense, calm down. I know you have a lot of questions. Unfortunately, I don't have time to answer most of them, but I'll do my best. You can call me Spark."

"Okay, So... What do you want from me?"

"Very well. I guess you understand why that void exists, so I'll skip the unnecessary explanations. I plan to establish a new world. I've selected you as one of the 'managers' of this world. More precisely, your job will be to manage the souls of dead beings who will die in that particular world." Spark answered.

'The offer sounds attractive but too beautiful to be true.' Grey soul thought not fully trusting this 'uninvited guest'. So it starts asking questions not even trying to hide its lack of trust towards this mysterious being./

"Why can't you take care of it yourself? Why me?"

"The answer is simple and at the same time extremely enigmatic, but for the potential ruler of death like yourself, it is purely instinctive. I am dying... The price for constructing the world is all the energy I have, and as you know, when spiritual beings lose all their energy in some way, they simply disappear without leaving any trace behind. And as for the second question... Do you know how long you have been over here?"

The soul started contemplating this question. It indeed does not know the exact answer since the feeling of time in this void is completely messed up. Due to that, it answers with no time, but the first event that it remembers.

"I have no idea. I was here before everyone else."

The golden being smiled, clearly expecting those words.

"Exactly. You come from the oldest world that ever existed, which, by the way, was created naturally, in other words, was not created by beings like me. You, on the other hand, are the first creature that ever died in that world... perhaps you can estimate what I signify."

The orb is not stupid so it understood, what this means.

"So I am the oldest soul of all worlds?"

"Exactly, you're extremely clever, I can see that I chose correctly. All right, now, for real. As I said, I will be creating a new world. I appointed you to manage and take care of the dead and possibly this world. Apart from you, there will be three others. You don't need to worry, each and single one of you will have completely different roles so they won't take your position as the ruler of the dead. There are several rules you would have to follow, but you'll find out about them later. So, deal?"

'Since there will be more than one 'manager', what about internal strife? Or knowledge about taking care of the world?' The soul was clearly thinking having a lot of questions but so little time.

"And will I learn how to do it and will others be my enemies?"

"Let's say you'll have a 'helper'. And as for the others, don't worry, one of the rules is not to confront each other." Spark nonchalantly answered probably one of the most important questions being asked during this conversation.

The orb started contemplating about possible pros and cons and after a while, it made a decision that changed the fate of countless worlds, galaxies and gods.

"Well, I have nothing to lose anyway."

"Good luck."

After saying those words Spark simply disappeared into nothingness.