The Grand Void
Path of Reincarnation
A new batch of souls was being transported from worlds across the universe to the hub—a place where all souls must go before being cleansed and prepared for a new reincarnation.
The good get a head start in their next lives, the bad get no advantage, and the average are reborn randomly.
Millions upon millions of souls flowed along the path, their shapes and sizes captivating John.
He looked around blankly at the beings surrounding him—some tiny, others colossal; some with three heads, some with wings—each displaying wildly different temperaments.
"Where… am I? And what the hell am I supposed to do?" he muttered in his mind, feeling increasingly out of place.
He repeated the question until, as if the path were listening, information began to appear in his consciousness.
"So… I'm dead, huh? And how exactly did that happen?"
The memory came like a flash. John had been a computer programmer who hit it big after selling software for 150 million. On his way out to buy a cup of coffee, a car had ended his life.
"Well… I can't complain too much. My parents have enough to last them, and my sister can finish med school and still buy a house."
"I guess I just hope I get reincarnated somewhere… nice," he added with a faint smile.
The path remained quiet—serene—until suddenly, chaos erupted.
BOOM
"Whoa! What the hell is happening?!" John screamed internally.
The path shook violently. Some souls fell into the void, John among them.
"Of course… it had to be me," he muttered, spinning helplessly.
Now, he was an ordinary human soul, powerless to move or speak, drifting endlessly in the void.
"Okay… seriously. God? Universe? Anybody? I could really use some help here!" he yelled in his mind.
Only silence replied.
Some souls that had fallen encountered monstrous beings that devoured them. Others vanished into fissures of space. A lucky few somehow landed on planets.
But not John. Unlucky enough to fall, yet somehow lucky enough to survive in the void.
"How long have I been floating like this?" he wondered, feeling the crushing weight of endless emptiness.
Days, months, years… centuries? He had no way of knowing. He drifted past planets, close enough to see but far beyond reach.
"Looks like I've been here a while… that planet kinda looks like Earth," he said, squinting at a distant blue world.
"But… too many moons. Yeah… definitely not home."
Eons passed, and John had seen what few could ever imagine—planets dying, planets being born, and once, colossal beings so massive they should have been planets themselves. Yet nothing touched him.
"It's been so long… I'm starting to forget things," he whispered, the melancholy creeping in.
"My parents' faces… fading," he sighed, a small pang in his ethereal chest.
Even after witnessing wonders beyond imagination, he was still just a mortal soul—and cracks were beginning to show.
"Maybe I'll get to see the end of this void… since I've already come this far," he murmured, forcing a faint, wry smile.
Eons passed again. John had forgotten he had ever been human; all he knew was the void.
"Huh… what's that?" he said, noticing a multicolored boundary ahead, endless in all directions. He drifted closer.
The colors looked like veins, each wide enough to be a planet in its own right, pulsing with power. The vein he approached was the only one with multiple colors dancing along its surface.
"Okay… hope this doesn't kill me," he muttered, a mix of curiosity and dread in his voice.
Then he touched it.
And for the first time, a soul that shouldn't be able to scream did.
"Aaaaagghhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Fffffuuuuuucccckkk!!!!!!"
A surge of knowledge poured into his mind—from forgotten memories to truths he shouldn't even know.
"My name is John… and I'm dead," he said, staring at his spiritual hand.
"This vein of power… it's a fundamental law of the universe. The Law of Freedom."
The universe, he realized, is governed by laws: minor, major, supreme, and abstract. The Law of Freedom was abstract—capable of being minor, major, or supreme, with no fixed rank.
"So… this is the edge of the universe. Pretty flashy," he muttered with a small laugh.
"And all this information… it's everything about the Law of Freedom," he said, awed.
The law didn't just restore his memories—it strengthened his soul, enabling him to comprehend itself.
"This… this is insane," he muttered, feeling his consciousness stretch.
Then came the pain. A deep, piercing agony that shook him to his core.
"Argh!" he gasped.
"So… I'm supposed to learn it gradually, huh?" he sighed, the weight of the universe pressing on him.
Yes. Though strengthened, he was not yet powerful enough to fully grasp a pure law of the universe.
And now, somewhere in the boundless cosmos, a mortal soul was learning directly from a law of creation. Will it be good or bad? Only time would tell.