What is a soul?

That is a question many people have asked before. Do we humans even have a soul? I think we do. But, as you may ask next, what is a soul then?

I think it’s a part of life.

Together with our minds and bodies, the soul is what makes life possible. The body is our vessel, a way to interact with the world. Our minds control our bodies, maintaining the various processes needed to keep us alive, as well as giving us the ability to collect information, think, learn and improve over time. But the soul is who we are, the thing that makes us really us. It is what differentiates living creatures from a pile of atoms.

The soul can change over time, affected by events and emotions, but it can never be lost. Sometimes a soul can split, or merge with another soul, but it can never die. The vessel and mind can die, but the soul is immortal. As long as the soul exists, life will too, one way or another.

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Something was stirring underground, underneath the surface of the earth. In the soil, a small earthworm was shocked sensless when something suddenly poked in its underbelly, causing it to rapidly evacute its small tunnel. If the worm had any eyes, it would have been treated to a rare sight indeed.

The loose dirt moved as something was being pushed up from underneath, trying to penetrate the brown surface with all its might. After a few nudges, a small stem finally broke through, its tip still folded, tucked inside a thin membrane. The tiny plant stopped growing after a few seconds, standing still with its roots in the dirt.

“GASP!”

The membrane unfolded as two little leaves presented themselves towards the sky for the first time, sucking up its warmth and sunlight.

“Ah, so bright! What’s happening?! Where am I?!”

The newborn sapling spoke and seemed disoriented by her new surroundings, the poor thing not having a clue as to what had happened before she had woken up in this strange place.

‘Okay, calm down, one thing at the time. Don’t think about where you are, or how you got here or how the grass is freaking huge. Let’s start with the basics. What’s your name?’ She thought.

The tiny plant paused after asking herself such an seemingly obvious question, but after a while she had to admit she had no answer. Her mind was sluggish and her brain felt as if a gorilla had sat on it. She racked her brain, but no name came to mind.

‘Alright, no name, nothing to panick about,’ she thought, definitely panicking. ‘A fresh start, that’s… nice, I guess? I’ll just have to think of one myself then.’

She took a few minutes to think up some names, but none of them seemed to fit her the way she wanted.

‘What about… Ivy? No, too short. Stella? Meh, not so sure about that one…’

Choosing a name for herself proved harder that she had initially thought. She didn’t want a name that sounded too fancy, but neither did she want to settle with some random name either. Names reflected a lot of someones personality after all, so she wanted one that represented herself as best as possible. The little plant wanted a name before asking herself other important questions, so she tried to stir up her sluggish brain to come up with something.

After pondering for a solid ten minutes she finally picked a name she felt comfortable with.

‘Gaia. I like it! It feels… nature-ish I guess? I believe some mythology is involved with the name as well, I'm not sure though.’

For some reason the name had appealed to her the moment it popped up in her mind. It just felt right to her to pick it, and after she did, it felt as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She relaxed a little and started to look around for the first time.

‘So, why is the grass so goddamn big? I’m feeling really small here,’ Gaia pondered.

She had trouble looking in the distance, even though she never had the need to wear glasses before. Or at least she thought she hadn’t, her brain was still a little fuzzy and she couldn’t even remember her previous name, so she wasn’t sure of anything at the moment.

Gaia froze when the grass in front of her rustled softly. Not moving an inch, she kept her eyes on the place were the grass was being pushed aside. Whatever it was that was causing the disruption, Gaia suspected is was about the size of a dog, or maybe larger judging by the movement of the blades. What she hadn’t suspected was a monstrous ant peeking its head through the blades, looking directly at her.

Gaia was still. The ant was still. Then Gaia shrieked loudly.

The ant kept its unwavering gaze fixed onto her, still not moving an inch. Gaia stopped screaming after a few seconds, finally noticing that the ant had remained unmoved despite her shouting. The ant wobbled its antennae and took a step forward as Gaia closed her eyes, expecting her inevitable death by the monster’s long mandibles, but the expected bite didn’t come. When she looked down, she saw the ant slapping its antennae agains her… stem?

“WHERE ARE MY LEGS?!” Gaia screamed, causing the ant to freeze for a second before resuming the inspection of her plant body.

Gaia was taken aback by the fact that she had failed to notice that this wasn’t even her original human body. In fact, she wasn’t even an animal anymore, but a green, earth eating, sunlight sucking plant instead. No skin, no hair, not even a face. Just a small green sapling with two cute little leaves on both sides.

Trying to think of something else, she averted her mind from her sudden and disturbing discovery and focused on the giant ant in front of her again. She stared at its deep red carapace, the two mandibles clicking together without making a sound, the six thin legs and the two large compound eyes. Not to mention the long antennae flopping on her plant body, inducing a tickling sensation.

Observing the ant actually helped Gaia calm down a little for some reason. It’s shiny body was intriguing to say at least, and very mesmerizing to look at, especially from this up close. She could make out every detail, every small hair on its legs and every speck of dirt clinging to it’s exoskeleton. This was probably the best look she had ever given an ant before.

After having inspected her enough, the ant went on its way again, leaving a somewhat stunned Gaia behind. She took a deep breath, mentally speaking at least, and tried to relax again. The fact that she was a plant now was still sinking in, but she wasn’t as shocked as before. Observing the ant had been suprisingly calming for her, and she was already getting herself together.

‘So, if I’m a plant now, how can I, like, see and stuff? Do I have a face or what?’

With a little experimenting she found out that she could see all around her without having a head, basically giving her three hundred and sixty degrees vision. She could move her sight throughout her plant body as well, even through her roots, which sadly only resulted in complete darkness and a somewhat claustrophobic experience. She experimented a little more and found herself quite easily manouvering through her body, as if her stem was a rail and she was the cable car.

‘I wonder if this is what owls feel like,’ she mused, vertically spinning around her own trunk. ‘This is actually quite funny to do, I might get addicted to this.’

Gaia wondered if she could handle being a plant in the long run though. What would happen if she would remain here forever, not seeing people for weeks, or even years maybe, completely cut away from any form of human contact? Thinking about it made her afraid about the future. Would she lose her emotions, her memories, or her sanity even?

‘At least I hope my sense of humor doesn’t leaf me,’ she said, chuckling at her own joke.

No. She would be fine for sure.