SEED OF SOULS
(third edition)
L.A.S.S.A
(Luanda Apocalypse Short Stories Anthology)
By Hergy Tomatala
Copyright © 2020 Hergy Tomatala
Cover Art: Hergy 90º
Cover Design: Hergy 90º
License Notes
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This is a work of fiction. Characters, organizations, products, locales and events portrayed in this work are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any characters which bare resemblance to real persons, living or dead, are coincidental, or used fictitiously as well. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite retailer.
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CONTENTS
SEED OF SOULS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CONNECT WITH HERGY TOMATALA
OTHER WORKS OF HERGY TOMATALA
SEED OF SOULS
Long ago, before any lifeform existed, before the first emotion was felt, before the first thought was formed, before light gave way to darkness, and good met evil, there was Existence; a being made of long loose threads of condensed golden light energy. It floated still in a space of complete darkness, where all was silent and endless.
Existence was everything and nothing where time did not exist.
Where all was eternal and instantaneous.
Suddenly, a small explosion occurred, and Existence passed through it, revealing that it was actually moving. Existence was so enormous and had such gravitational pull that galaxies dwarfed beside it, and disrupted their natural spirals.
Black holes were sucked into Existence; stars close to it went into supernova. Existence pulled the dark matter along with it, expanding the dark space behind it.
It was the only being in a newborn universe.
As it progressed with the expansion of the universe, Existence — in a sudden burst — unleashed billions of little portions of itself in forms of droplets all over the universe, bathing it in a golden glow as it continued to hover with the expanding universe and left the droplets of itself behind.
The droplets had different sizes, they were light yet extremely dense, and drifted all over the universe. Some droplets were destroyed by the supernova stars, others sucked into black holes.
Some stayed stationary and attracted debris from space from the initial explosion, while a few smaller ones were pulled by the gravitational pulls of other of newly formed planets in other galaxies that were far from Existence’s pull.
In one of the galaxies, an enormous number of droplets were pulled by the gravitational pulls of several planets forming in it. While some droplets were destroyed by the galaxy’s solar star, one particular droplet fell on the third planet that orbited in the same solar star.
Upon its impact on the surface of the planet, the droplet’s shockwave caused an immense chain reaction that nearly destroyed the planet. As large pieces of the planet were being scattered throughout space the droplet travelled inwards to the planet’s center, reached the planet’s unstable core, and stabilized it. Afterwards, the droplet sent strings of itself outwards in space and pulled the scattered parts of the planet back to itself.
Then the planet and began to terraform by allowing direct sunlight to heat its surface, and trapping the gases it released into its atmosphere, thus creating clouds, and later, rain.
The droplet remained dormant inside the planet’s core, while the terraforming process repeated itself for millions of solar cycles.
***
Millions of solar cycles later — after the initial phase of terraforming was complete, and after hibernating for millennia inside the planet’s core, — the droplet climbed its way through the surface of the planet when the conditions where ideal.
The surface of the ground where the droplet emerged was the bottom of a lake, and for a hundred solar cycles more, the droplet slowly grew inside the lake, stretching upwards, and transforming itself.
The droplet transformed into a trunk with long golden branches.
It was the first tree in the planet, and the first living being.
It was a long golden tree and when it reached the stratosphere, it flourished, covering the sky with its long branches, and golden leaves.
Then — in sudden burst — the tree expelled golden glowing spores and the winds carried them all around the globe. Some spores fell and sank on the ocean. Others fell on the arid terrains all-around of the planet, while some stayed on the surface, others penetrated the ground.
Moments after the burst, the tree began to rot in a fast rate. The branches broke off, fell, and disintegrated into fine glowing dust the instant they hit the ground or the ocean. Its disintegrated particles where also carried away by the wind and ocean currents.
The tree was now a large hollow rotten trunk, and the inside resembled a large hall. Right in the middle of it — lit by the sun rays that penetrated on the top — there was a large multilayered golden cocoon, glowing intermittently.
The cocoon pulsed.
The pulse released a golden shockwave that spread throughout the entire planet and sparked a reaction on the spores.
Then, in the planet, life began in the form of microorganisms.
The cocoon’s pulses were each separated by a million solar cycles. Every time the cocoon pulsed, the living microorganisms evolved into more complex organisms, and with every pulse, plants and animals began to emerge, evolve, and cover the planet.
The most complex beings developed brains and hearts.
On the twelfth pulse, the cocoon cracked.
A five fingered golden glowing hand emerged from the crack, followed by another. The hands slowly peeled open the cocoon revealing an anthropomorphous, phantasmagoric, and crouched entity drenched in golden glowing liquid with bald head looking down.
The entity, slowly raised its head, opened his black marble, eyes and looked up at the blue sky. It was the progenitor of life in the planet.
The First.
The First came out of its cocoon and stretched its limbs after awakening from its slumber. It was tall, genderless, and it didn’t have a nose, mouth or ears. It turned its head around along with its body in 360 degrees to look around the tree trunk.
Everything was silent and it was alone.
Afterwards, it started walking towards a crack in the tree trunk. Its steps were silent and when it reached the outside it saw a thick fog surrounding the trunk. The First closed its eyes and when it opened them, the fog in front of it started to dissipate. Its reflection appeared on the water of the lake where the tree grew, and as the fog continued to disappear, a dense forest revealed itself around him.
The First stepped above the lake and didn’t create ripples. It grew gigantic — taller than the trees — until it could see mountains, a desert, savannahs, and the ocean in the distance. The First was one with the nature and could feel all the living beings the planet, because they were its creation and were directly linked to it. The First shrunk back its initial size and started walking above the water towards the forest.
When it reached the forest, the First walked by the prehistoric animals that lived there. All of their hearts glowed in golden as they acknowledged its presence and reverence. When it reached the mountains, it a
djusted its body to not climb, but walk on the surface of the mountain leaning back, and sticking its feet to the mountain’s surface.
The weather became windier and colder as it reached higher altitudes but the First carried on undisturbed. It reached the desert and walked without leaving footprints on the sand, and walked through sandstorms and snow.
The First reached the savannas and the tall grass moved giving way to the it when it passed by them and when it reached the ocean, the First stopped. It looked at the ocean and orifices appeared on the sides of its head. It could hear the sound of the powerful waves that echoed throughout the entire coast. The First moved its head to the right then to the left. This time, instead of walking above the water, the First went inside the ocean and walked on the ocean floor, until the sunlight faded from above as it went deeper.
The First glowed in the pitch black ocean floor, it was quiet and the First walked with ease, the water pressure and resistance weren’t affecting it. Bioluminescent beings and gigantic prehistoric creatures appeared swimming around it and their hearts glowed when they swam near the First.
***
After roaming the planet for several solar cycles, walking through all types of environments, the First returned to its cocoon at the rotten tree trunk. The lake was fogged again, and eerily still once more, but the First didn’t dissipate the fog as he walked into it towards the tree trunk.
The area around the trunk was untouched, however the area around the cocoon was thriving with an ecosystem of insects, and plants. The once empty trunk was filled with vines attached all over it, the ground was filled with green grass.
The First walked to its cocoon, lifted his hands and without touching the cocoon it shaped it as a throne, then sat. While looking at the entrance crack on the trunk, the First put its hands together with his palms open, and when it separated them the reality around him changed as its hands where moving.
It was now in a new dimension.
The First was alone on an infinite black sand desert that moved like an ocean, and above him there was starry, dark blue night sky. Golden glowing tendrils came out of all over its body, and penetrated the black sand ocean. Eight lines of golden glowing liquid poured from the First’s body in eight cardinal points. When they reached a certain distance, they started transforming into cocoons similar to the First’s.
The sun never rose and there was no moon on that dimension. Only the stars lit the space in a faint blue tone and it was always silent. The First nurtured each one of the cocoons, by running his hands onto them and transferring energy which made the beings inside the cocoons evolve.
After a — seemingly — long period of time, the cocoons outer layers cracked, they self-peeled, and each one revealed a child inside. All of them resembled the First and glowed in a golden aura as well, except for two. One who glowed white and another who glowed dark. Their glow was fainter than the First’s.
Some had eyes, a nose and a mouth, while others didn’t, but they were all bald.
***
The First returned to its dimension with the eight babies and as the solar cycles passed, they grew. The First taught them out to communicate, walk and told them he was their progenitor.
When the children reached preadolescent age, the First travelled with them around the globe to show them life. They all saw their progenitor’s creations, interacted with animals, plants, and everything else in the planet with the First guiding them.
They gathered an extensive knowledge about the world around them. The children didn’t need food, water or sleep, they knew they were different from the animals they saw around the world, and the First promised to explain to them why, when the time came.
The eight children talked to each other, but never called each other’s name, because they didn’t have them. The First promised that one day, it would tell them their names.
***
Solar cycles later, they returned to the tree trunk, then the day finally came arrived when the First would name its children. It called all of them inside the tree trunk. The children stood side by side looking at the First who was standing waiting for them.
“My children,” the First said, in a calm, low-pitched masculine and feminine mashup voice. “It’s time I tell you who and what you are.”
They all looked at it in silence and anticipation.
“Each one of you will have a name, a task, and abilities,” the First said. “Your name will be you, your task will be your purpose and your abilities will be your tools to achieve that purpose.”
The First walked to the left and stopped in front of the first child.
It was a boy and had a circular hole on its chest.
“You are Pain,” the First said. “The North, guardian of wisdom, and opposite of Happiness. You possess the abilities of Sadness and Depression.”
The First walked to the second child.
It was a girl and was shorter than the others.
“You are Happiness, the South, guardian of knowledge and opposite Pain. Your abilities are Joy and Peace.”
The First walked to the third child.
It was a boy with a burning head, its fire glowed like a calm flame from a candle.
“You are Hate, the East, guardian of death and opposite of Love. Your abilities are Anger and Grudge.”
The First walked to the fourth child.
However, unlike the others, this girl glowed white.
“You are Love, the West, guardian of life and opposite of Hate. Your abilities are Passion and Empathy.”
The First walked to the fifth child.
It didn’t have eyes, nose, ears or mouth, however, it was a shapeshifter, and was constantly changing its form, when the First stood in front of it, the child mimicked the First’s appearance.
“You are Truth, the Northeast, guardian of purpose and opposite of Doubt. Your abilities are Belief and Reality.”
The First walked towards the sixth child.
She was also a shapeshifter, however only her face changed and it also mimicked the First’s face when it stopped in front of her.
“You are Doubt, the Southwest, guardian of chaos, opposite of Truth. You possess the abilities of Disbelief and Illusion.”
The First walked to the seventh child.
She had eyes, nose, ears, and mouth and seemed like a normal human being.
“You are Courage, the Southeast, guardian of strength, opposite of Fear. You have the abilities of Survival and Despair.”
The First walked to the eight and last child.
He glowed dark, had smoke coming of him, and red piercing eyes.
“You are Fear, the Northwest, guardian of sacrifice, opposite and brother of Courage. You have the abilities of Instinct and Trauma.”
“My children,” the First said. “You have travelled this world with me, learned, and experienced what’s I’ve created, but there are a few last things I have to show you.”
The First took a step backward, put his right arm on his chest, and it glowed even brighter. Then the First slowly pulled out a golden glowing heart from inside it’s chest. It had veins like roots and it glowed intermittently.
It floated still between the First and the children.
“This is the seed of souls,” the First said while pointing at the glowing heart.
The children looked the seed in awe.
“My children,” the First said. “I have a mission for you. Amongst all of my creations, there’s a very special one. This being has the ability to sense and house all of you inside of it. I need you to find it.”
“Why?” Pain asked.
The First walked to his throne, with his children looking at him, and sat.
“My children,” the First said. “My time in this place is finished, because my mission is completed.”
“What mission?” Fear asked.
“To give life,” the First replied. “My children, I too was created. My progenitor gav
e birth to an infinite number of children. I am but one of them. I too have siblings all over the universe and each one of us was bestowed with a purpose. I fell into this planet and proceeded to carry my purpose which was creating life and you, my children, and now it’s your time.”
“To do what that?” Hate asked.
“To carry on the cycle of life,” the First replied.
“And what does that have to do with this seed?” Courage asked pointing at the seed of souls.
“This seed is the next phase,” the First said. “My children, as I pass away, I’m going to give every living being in this planet the gift of immortality. I’ll give them a soul.”
“What’s a soul?” Truth asked.
“A soul is the energy all living beings will have in order to reincarnate. It will be the core of immortality,” the First explained.
“Immortality?” Happiness inquired. “But aren’t all creatures we saw already alive and immortal?
“Indeed, they’re alive, but without a soul they are nothing more than puppets,” the First explained. “They are only moving because of me. All of the creatures are connected to me, they’re dependent of my existence to live. They don’t age, eat or die, such as yourselves.”
“If they don’t die, then why do need to grant them immortality?” Doubt asked.
“Life is a cycle,” the First said. “In order for things to evolve, things must first change. I have to leave this place in order for thing to progress, however if I do, life in this planet will cease to exist with me, therefore I must leave something behind in order to perpetuate the cycle of life.”
The First joined its hands again and when it opened them, they were all transported in the black sand desert with blue night sky dimension. The children looked all around in awe.
“Where are we?” Love asked.
“This is the Forever Realm, your birthplace,” the First responded. “Time doesn’t exist here.”
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