Chapter 55: The Voices I hear
"The Sea of the Soul..."
"Reverse Ascension?"
Cillian repeated the words under his breath, his expression darkened as if the air had grown heavy around him.
Though he had never personally witnessed such an experiment, as a lower god who had illuminated most of his own Sea of the Soul, he understood the concept well. The Sea of the Soul existed in every living being, yet few dared to peer too deeply into it. It was the foundation of consciousness, the core of existence and meddling with it risked unraveling your essence of life itself.
"Go on," Cillian said quietly to the creature before him.
The creature hesitated. Only after Cillian swore an oath upon his divine fire did it seem willing to speak.
"Before I describe the process," the creature began, "allow me to tell you what became of us in the end. Although... I think you already know, don’t you?"
Cillian gave no answer. His silence was answer enough.
"As the beneficiaries of the experiment, we became what you see now," it said bitterly.
"From the depths of our souls to the edges of our flesh body, spirit, and mind fused into one whole. It was... unbearable. To describe it in words would be impossible, but if I must...it was like being blind, senseless, trapped in a fog that never ends. We forgot who we were, what we sought, even what it meant to exist. Time dissolved. Past and future lost meaning. There was only suffering..endless horrible suffering."
The creature’s voice trembled as it went on.
"This agony began the moment the experiment succeeded. And it did not end, not until you arrived and tore the fusion apart with your divine flame."
Cillian’s eyes narrowed.
"The experiment was successful," he murmured, as if confirming something crucial.
"Good. Then tell me everything."
A faint scarlet light shimmered behind his pupils.
"You should know," he said, "you cannot deceive me."
The other heads that adorned the creature’s body flinched in unison, trembling under the weight of his gaze. At last, the foremost head nodded.
"Yes, my lord. We will speak the truth. Please... keep your promise when it’s done."
"The original experiment began long ago," it said. "Several epochs before your divine fire ever touched this realm."
⸻———x——————
In those distant ages, time flowed differently within hidden realms, slower, governed by rules unlike those of the divine world. Over countless millennia, intelligent life arose.
Different species, different strengths, different forms of wisdom yet all shared one truth: they learned to build.
Civilizations bloomed. Some embraced technology, others magic or alchemy, and still others strange sciences that blended all three. Yet unlike most worlds that tore themselves apart, this one found harmony. By some miracle, or perhaps by the guidance of a certain "wise man", the races did not destroy each other. Instead, they began to merge, to complement one another, and to build a united world of shared prosperity.
It was an age of abundance. The skies were clear, the cities gleamed, and progress moved faster than ever before. For a time, it seemed peace had been perfected.
But peace never lasts.
When progress could no longer match desire, cracks began to show. Resources dwindled, and production failed to satisfy every need. A choice had to be made, some would thrive, others would be left behind. And the abandoned, as always, refused to go quietly.
War flickered like fire beneath the surface, it was small at first, then grew. Blood and ambition began to boil once more.
Then came the man they called the Wise One. A scholar of impossible breadth, versed in technology, magic, and all sorts of sorceries, the man who claimed to have found a way to end conflict forever. He approached the leaders of the world and spoke with a terrible confidence.
"Desire," he said, "is infinite. It cannot be destroyed. No matter how noble one becomes, no matter how high civilization climbs, desire will always grow beyond what can be fulfilled. This is the nature of the Sea of the Soul , the endless tide of longing."
He paused, letting despair take root in the room before offering his revelation.
"But what if," he continued, "desire could be turned inward? What if each person could fulfill every craving within themselves, without taking from another?"
The rulers dismissed him at first. Yet when he lifted his robes and revealed the truth beneath, their horror froze the air.
His body was no longer single.
"I have merged," he declared, "with my fellow researchers. Mind, body, and spirit, one entity born from many souls. We share thought, hunger, and will. Each of us satisfies our desires through the whole. No jealousy or division among one."
The fusion spoke with feverish pride.
"To eat, to drink, to love, to think , all are shared. We consume together, dream together. No one suffers want, for we are one."
Cillian’s gaze hardened. "So that is what you became. You followed his path."
The creature shook its monstrous head.
"No... we destroyed him," it whispered. "We called him a blasphemer who spat upon life itself. We sealed his research as forbidden and cast his soul into a circle of annihilation, where it would be torn apart and erased."
A pause filled the chamber.
"But," the creature added, voice cracking, "we were too late. His work had already taken root in the Sea of the Soul itself. His sin lived on...."
"Wait you killed him?"
Cillian’s voice cut through the creatures own. The confession had taken him by surprise. He hadn’t expected that this world’s so-called leaders had executed the one man who had developed knowledge far beyond his era.
"Yes," the creature answered grimly. "Because his research terrified them. To those in power, what he proposed was not evolution, it was the erasure of individuality, to dissolve every human soul into a single collective will, meant they would no longer be themselves "
The beast’s many heads trembled at the memory.
"That kind of vision had value... perhaps even brilliance. But back then, the idea of fusing minds was unthinkable. The leaders saw only horror in it. Their morality and understanding were too primitive to grasp what such a thing might bring. And so, they decided to kill him, to erase his work before it could reshape the world."
Cillian said nothing. He understood the fear of mortals. Those who live short lives cling to the familiar, even when it kills them. Without that instinct for caution, no civilization would survive its own ambition.
After a long pause, he asked, "Then why did you end up like this? You killed the man, destroyed his research, and yet you became the very thing he wanted."
The creature’s main head lowered, its tone dark and heavy.
"Because war came."
It spoke as if reliving an ancient nightmare.
"Behind every shining city, there are shadows where greed festers and grows. The harmony we built could not last. The divisions between rich and poor, the powerful and the abandoned, they deepened until they could no longer be ignored. The war that the Wise One predicted finally arrived."
Its voice trembled as the memory unfolded.
"Races that once stood united turned on each other. Those who followed the paths of steam, magic, and alchemy turned their inventions toward destruction. Death engines burned the earth. The skies filled with the stench of curse-fire. The oceans turned red from the spill of alchemical waste. Our paradise crumbled overnight."
"The great alliance shattered," another head whispered. "And the world became ash."
Cillian’s eyes narrowed. "So after destroying his work, you turned back to it... hoping to stop the chaos you created?"
The heads shook in unison. "No. Not at first. The world may have burned, but not all life dies easily. Even after the war, we still believed we could rebuild. It wasn’t desperation that drove us back to the experiment. It was... temptation."
"Temptation?"
"Yes. During the war, fragments of the old research were rediscovered. And within them, we found something new, a side effect. When several souls merged within the Sea of the Soul, not only did their wisdom increase and their desires lessen... their very essence strengthened. Their vitality grew. Their consciousness rose to a higher state."
The creature’s tone turned feverish, as if repeating a once-sacred revelation.
"If an ordinary being’s life essence was one, and the divine was a hundred thousand , then a merged being of several souls could reach twenty. And with each additional fusion, that value continued to rise, with no upper limit. A collective of minds that could rival gods themselves."
"In other words," another head murmured, "even if we could not awaken our own divine flame or illuminate the Sea of the Soul like you can, my lord, we could still build something divine. A god born not through ascension but fusion."
The main head lifted its gaze, eyes burning with ancient madness.
"We called it Reverse Ascension, to rise not upward, but inward, diving into the depths of the Sea of the Soul. To become a being of boundless wisdom, limitless power, and eternal life. A true god created by countless minds joined as one."
It smiled, a grotesque, almost childlike smile.
"When that day came, our civilization would know no death, no suffering, and no greed. All would share in the god’s wisdom. All would be part of a perfect whole. That was our dream, a world without pain, hunger, or war."
The other heads joined in, voices trembling with longing.
"Yes... that was the vision! A divine unity! An end to sorrow!"
But Cillian only sighed, his disappointment cutting through their euphoria. "I see..."
He lowered his gaze, his tone turning cold. "But I see no greatness in what you’ve done"
The chamber fell silent. its many eyes fell uncertain again.
"Tell me," Cillian said, "this god you sought to create, who controlled it? Who decided its will? You, the ones in power? Or the countless others you stole and sacrificed for your experiment?"
One of the heads began to shake violently. "How... how do you know that?"
Cillian’s eyes burned with divine light. "Because I can hear them."
He raised his hand, divine fire flaring between his fingers. The flames plunged into the creature’s soul, piercing deep into its Sea of the Soul.
Then p the sound came as a whisper, a low, fractured cry, and then erupted into a storm of agony. Screams, wails, curses, prayers. Every voice twisted with pain, despair, and hatred. The palace shook under the weight of their torment.
Outside, soldiers collapsed to their knees, clutching their heads, weeping and trembling as the chorus of madness washed over them. Their bodies began to twist, their souls breaking apart.
And yet, the demons of the Abyss only smiled. They closed their eyes and listened, to them, the screams were a symphony.
"They have been trapped in the depths of your Sea of the Soul," Cillian said, his voice echoing across the hall. "Cursing you. Cursing the world that made them. The sound of your ’Reverse Ascension’..."
He stepped closer, his expression dark and distant.
"That is the sound of your god, screaming."