(Eternity, Day 1)

As soon as I’d chosen “Yes” I was drawn into the Eternity Transient Tube, and everything went dark. I felt as if I was moving but could see nothing. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant and was over immediately as I felt myself slow and then get gently pushed until I took a step onto a cobblestone road. The darkness cleared and I was able to look around. Looking behind me I saw a black flat circular plane of energy that I’d stepped out of. As I watched an elvish woman dressed in a contemporary blue business dress suit matching 21st-century Earth aesthetics stepped out of the black plane of energy, paused for a moment then stepped around me as she walked away from the plane of energy and down the street. My gaze followed her progress until I noticed that she was stepping into a queue that had the word “New Arrivals” on a sign above it.

While I’d been watching the elf more people had come from behind me and were even now following her into a line that led to the ticket booth. I forced myself into motion and entered the line. Only three people made it in front of me and as I watched each person would step up to the counter, their mouths would move, though I couldn’t hear what they were saying, then the individual would disappear. As I was watching I realized that I had a message that I’d missed and pulled It into my vision.

Welcome to Eternity. An interface has been grafted between your senses and this location to enable you to interact with your environment and others. This filter may be adjusted as you desire. It is strongly recommended that new visitors to Eternity leave the default settings in place until they have met their counselor. Welcome to Eternity, please have a Great Day!

So, this location, realm, whatever could pass messages to me through my interface, that was good to know. I closed the prompt, looked up, and realized that I was already stepping toward the teller behind a piece of glass. A young woman, almost a teenager looked at me and smiled as she said, “Welcome to Eternity. Is this your first time here?”

“Yes it is,” I answered

“Very good, a counselor is waiting for you, have a nice day!” she said as everything around me shifted. I wasn’t teleported, I wasn’t translocated, and I didn’t step through a portal. I was there in front of her then I was somewhere else. I looked around and noticed that I was standing on a beach, overlooking an azure sea with nebula rising above the horizon of the sea. It was absolutely beautiful.

“Hello Johnathan,” a man said as he phased into existence on the beach in front of me. “Or do you prefer Adamantadine?”

“Adam is fine,” I said.

“My name, if I could pronounce it in this filter would mean nothing to you so let’s just refer to me as your Counselor or if you must use a name, David is acceptable.

“Okay, Counselor. Exactly what are you here to Counsel me about?”

“I am here to help you transition to your new life after your first death,” David said.

“David, I think there’s been a misunderstanding…”

“No Adam, no misunderstanding, you have died, and this is what’s next. I’m here to help you transition into this new…

“David!” I said loudly then lowered my voice. “I did not die to get here, and this was most definitely not my first death.

“Wait, what?” David asked questionly.

“David, this is my first time in Eternity, but I didn’t die to get here.”

“Hold on for a second,” David said as he pulled out a device that was the same size as a calculator and held it up to me. I felt a wave of energy move through me and then heard the device beep. Looking at the device Adam heard David muttering to himself, “Copper? From where? That’s not possible, Oh? Oh, Oh!” David turned back to Adam, “I think I’ve figured out what the problem is,” David said.

“And?” I said as I rotated my arm to encourage him to speak up.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I shouldn’t be here,” I repeated. Sighing I asked, “And why shouldn’t I be here?”

“David, smirked, well it’s kind of a funny story”

“David, are you purposely trying to come across as some 80’s T.V. star that acting hedgy about divulging important information? Because if you are, I’m not impressed, though I have to admit your knowledge of where I come from and what might put me at ease is comprehensive.”

“Saw right through that did you?” David asked.

“Yep, Yep I did. Can we get on with it please”

“Sure,” David said as he waved his hand and a table with two chairs and two drinks appeared on the beach. Taking a seat, David reached for one of the drinks as he said, “Sit down, relax. This might take a little bit.”

I picked up my drink, sat down, and took a sip. “A Long Island Iced Tea?” I asked.

“The file I looked over made note that you used this drink when speaking with others. I thought it would work here,” David said.

“It does taste just like I make them.”

“I’m sure it does,” David agreed.

“So?” I said as I waited for him to continue.

“So…So, why don’t you tell me what Textrix, or her agent said to you when you first came out of your aperture.”

“That’s not in my file?” I asked.

“That information is not in your file. As you noticed when you were able to read your messages again, you were suppressed. While you were suppressed only major system messages would have been recorded. Anything that would have normally been recorded for review was obfuscated.”

“Janice, the lady that was waiting for me in a little white room tried to explain to me that all realities, realms, dimensions, and such are actually the inside of souls and that we must adhere to those rules. She also explained that I would need to allow myself to be randomly reborn among the various realities living life after life so that I might grow my own soul and eventually have my own reality within.”

“If I could ask, why did you have doubts about this explanation of reality?” David asked.

“Simple, there had to be something before there were souls and the description she provided didn’t follow any kind of logical sense or progression.”

“How, did you break free, if you were suppressed?” David asked.

“I killed myself.”

“You killed yourself?”

“Yep, wasn’t that hard. I reviewed what my soul abilities were and utilized them to my fullest.”

David nodded, “Then you found yourself in your copper ranked soul-space and as per the Convention of Conquest you were released to go on your way, except that no one has ever been released since the Convention was put in place. What happened after that?” David asked.

“I found myself outside the Transient Tube, ejected from the filaments that Textrix had created and the Transient Tube,” I answered

“Wait, you found yourself in the place between places? How did you survive? Better question, how did you make your way here?”

I looked at David thoughtfully then answered, “By your questions, I can surmise that you do not have the ability to peruse my soul-space or soul abilities, so I am going to decline to answer those questions for now. Instead, why don’t we switch the direction the information is flowing, and you explain to me Where I am? Who, or what, Textrix is, and what the Convention of Conquest is?”

David nodded, “Fair enough. First, you are in Eternity. Eternity is one of an infinite number of possible focal points in a space between spaces for beings as they continue their existence throughout the various realities, realms, dimensions, cosmos, Universes, Planes, and any other words you can use to describe a localized area of space that has form and function. They can be of any size. When you came through the portal your senses were fitted with an interface that allows you to interpret the beings and structures around you and interact with them. For instance, you think that you are on a beach looking out at a sunset over a nebula. This is aesthetically pleasing and a neutral construct that allows us to have a conversation in a neutrally pleasant setting. Functionally I am one bundle of energy talking to your bundle of energy in the space between spaces. That isn’t to say that Eternity doesn’t exist, just that only beings made of energy bound by will can visit.”

“Okay, so Eternity isn’t really a city?”

“No, No, No. Eternity is absolutely a city, world, or Universe. It can fit any, or all of these categories as is desired by the beings there,” David said

“Why does it exist?” I asked.

“Eternity is a waypoint for those with a spark of will as they make their way through their existence. Most won’t even know that they’ve traveled through Eternity as they continue to what is next for them on their voyage of personal growth and discovery.”

“But what is the point?”

“Are you asking why will binds energy to its purpose and then continues on?”

“Yes, I guess that’s what I’m asking.”

“Simple answer is because that’s the way it has always been. The longer answer that most beings don’t like is that no one knows.”

“Okay, so I just have to accept that my will bound my functions and that my soul came into existence and I’m here. Okay, let’s say that I do that. Why is there a ‘system’ with prompts and information? Why are the beings traveling through the eye being waylaid by Textrix and subsumed and what can I, a newly awakened copper soul do about that? In fact, what does it mean to be a copper soul?”

“Let’s start with your first question. No one knows why there is a system that resembles a game interface from your world. In fact, a configuration like yours usually comes into existence no matter which world you start on. There is always some sort of interface that allows someone to interact and get information on their surroundings and the locations they find themselves in. The oldest of the beings that inhabit Eternity have researched the topic and found references to the system going back as long as anyone has dared to. As for your second question. As with every society, there is a hierarchy and structure to the beings that reside within it. The same is true for those beings that gain the ability to visit, those that are just passing through on their way to their next lives, or oblivion.” David paused for a moment as he considered what to say next. “There are various ranks of souls. The first level is basic. Basic souls have no concept of what’s next, do not have the will to hold themselves together, and when the physical form they inhabit is destroyed their energy is released and reabsorbed into other structures in the area they are in. That energy might even be utilized by another spark of will at a later time.”

I nodded, “So at least that much of what I learned before seems to be true, even at this level.”

“Yes. While scale and scope have changed, the overall theme is still the same. Souls are the manifestation of a will and that has the ability to hold the energy that it is comprised of together,” David said. As for your next question, who is Textrix? Textrix is one of the main aspects of reality. You would think that the role they fill is that of a God and you’d be almost correct but not quite. Their functions encompass far more than any single God does within any specific Cosmos.”

“So, there are beings that everyone else must still placate to?” I asked.

“Placate to? No. The beings in question represent concepts. Some of the concepts will be familiar to you and others will not. As I reviewed your past I noticed that the idea of Gods having a purpose was one of the aspects of the reality you resided in. The beings I’m describing do not have a purpose or concept, they are the concept. For instance, Textrix, also known as Fate to many becomes the fate of many. She does this by actively capturing souls, subsuming them to her will, and using those souls to fuel herself. Death would be another concept. He goes around destroying souls and consuming that energy to fuel himself and his endeavors. The only difference between these Concepts and ourselves is scale.”

“So, what kind of scale are we talking about?” I asked.

“I was about to get to that. The system rates the power of a being by the power of its soul. Many factors come into play, but the primary factors are Karmic Luck and Soul Abilities. Everything else is secondary or tertiary. Your attributes may or may not assist you. Ultimately though it’s your strength of will, which is rated by your soul level. Think of it like this. If you at copper rank, and I at silver rank, both had a willpower attribute of 10 and we ever had a mental contest of wills the effective power difference would be logarithmic.”

“So, you’re saying if we’re using numbers. That at copper rank my willpower of 10 would be 10 and going against you I’d be competing against willpower of 110.?”

“The separation in power levels is much further than that. It would be more like your 10 against my 1010,” David said.

“That is some difference in scale,” I said. “So, what are the soul levels then”

“As far as we’ve been able to determine there are eight; Basic, Nascent, Fixed, Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Absolute.”

“I thought a copper-level soul was the lowest. I never even received a message about becoming a Fixed level soul,” I said

“There are two categories of souls basic and advanced. Basic souls consist of Basic, Nascent, and Fixed level souls. Advanced level souls consist of the others.”

“Why was none of this in my interface?”

“The information was there, it’s just hidden behind a…you call it a firewall, that basic souls do not have access to. If you pull up your information now you will see it as well as your progression towards your next rank as a percentage.” David said.

I pulled up my personal information and sure enough, right under my soul abilities I found three entries that were slightly different than before,

Soul Type: Advanced

Soul Level: Copper, 100%

Soul Projection Level: 104,879,885 - Ascendant Human

“Soul Projections?” I asked quizzically.

“Soul Projections?” David repeated thoughtfully. “Oh, Soul Projections. A Soul Projection is the default form your soul will take when it enters a new location. Understand though. If you are born into that location, attaching your soul to a newly formed body that body starts out at level 1 for that location. If you travel into that location, that is when your soul projection levels come into play.”

“So, I can travel to new Universes and keep my levels?” I asked.

“Yes and no. Some locations are hard-locked, and you must be born into them. Other locations are not compatible with a being’s previous body so they must be reborn. Yes, this means that you could have multiple soul projections, each at a different level.”

“That seems pretty straightforward,” I said. “I do have another question though. What does Copper, 100% mean?”

“You have a soul rank of copper, 100%,” David asked.

“Yes”

“That means that you are on the cusp of reaching Silver rank,” David said.

“But I’m not silver rank yet?” I asked. “Why hasn’t my soul leveled?” I asked as I felt a shudder in the reality I was experiencing. One second David was looking at me, the next he was looking off to the side..

“David looked back at me, “To answer your question, it seems that you are a very special case Adam,”

I looked at David warily, “I guess my next question is how can I trust anything you’ve just told me? You, yourself have indicated that I’ve done something that you didn’t expect by surviving in the place between places. How, do I know anything you’ve told me is true?”

“A man appeared on the beach, star-filled eyes looking at me then David, “I told David, he’d need more convincing, “ Ptah said.