[7 Souls Flashback] THE END 12. A Na Gore Mak (Poppy on the Mountain or the Great White Elephant)

Previously

Every man, woman, and child worked hard, ignoring fatigue and sorrow in their haste to leave the sinking continent… the only home they had ever known. The spirits of nature did their best to help their human patrons, trees, lakes, mountains and nature spirits exhausting the lasts of their reserves of energy to flee the only home they had ever known. Beyond the oceans lay mystery and ice, savages babbling in unfathomable tongues, and spirits that were incomprehensible.
Agasthya had taken charge of the migration effort. “We’ll use Mari’s flying mountain to transport the most frail people and the more fragile goods. Its wings are strong,” he had told the people. “As for the rest, we’ll leash my tamed dinosaurs to the mountain, and ride them across the ocean.”
The Elders were busy creating a tree that would contain a template of all physical and spiritual living beings. The flora and fauna of the Young Continent would be born anew from the Tree of Life and find a new home once the foreign lands had been tamed.
Makk and Aystrana helped with loading the dinosaurs with cargo.
“More poppy juice,” Makk begged Aystrana as they loaded the last dinosaur. Aystrana hesitated. Makk looked at her through large beseeching eyes, “Kara’s madness is consuming me. The curse is too strong for me to handle on my own.” Aystrana gave in.

The convoy soon began its long journey, Mari’s mountain flying in the sky ahead, strong ropes pulling a train of thousands of dinosaurs behind.

“I can’t leave this land,” Makk said, as they stood on a dead mountain, watching the convoy enter the ocean. “The madness is growing stronger every day. You must kill me and leave this place.”

Aystrana shuddered as she looked at the obsidian dagger in Makk’s hand, slapping it away, “How could I do such a thing?”

“If you don’t I’ll end up becoming like Kara, and we’ll go through this whole thing again. I cannot let myself commit such atrocity.”

“The poppy juice will keep it at bay. I’ll sing to you until you forget about madness, every moment of the day if I must,” Aystrana cried. “I can’t lose you. Not now.”
“You must!” Makk said through gritted teeth. “You cannot let my corruption spread. You are the only one I can ask to do this.” Makk grabbed Aystrana’s hand and embraced her, kissing her on the lips for the first time in their lives. Blood dripped down Aystrana’s lips as they ended the kiss. The dagger had pierced Makk’s heart. On that dead mountain, under the constellation Capricorn, Makk died.

“Why did you kill him?” Trivia asked Venus. “Why did you act on his whim? The curse of Kara was neutered within his soul, And so it would have never taken its toll. Why did you believe him?”

Venus turned her head so that none could see her face, “I was a naive young fool, and my world had nearly come undone. Can you blame me? Continue his song.”
“I cannot sing this any longer, the complexities of his soul grow much louder

Cacophonous almost, But I can hear one constant refrain from him in a key much lower.”
“What is the refrain?” asked Mars.
A repetitive pattern in all his incarnations

Venus in them all, what in tarnation

She finds him, loves him and then kills him

Venus eternally cursed, love and madness in each limb

Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite, her three phases

The horror and sorrow of her tragedy amazes

Even me who has heard it all!
“Enough,” cried Venus, but Trivia ignored her.

“Amon, Osiris, Ashur, you killed,” Trivia sang.
“I never killed Osiris,” Venus’ hair blazed with fire.
“He seems to think you did.
Tammuz, Ningirsu, Mahabali

Adonis, Orpheus, Pan

Were just some of the names of this man.

Would the story had changed if you had known

What you were doing, reaping the fruit of madness and sorrow that you had sown

When you stupidly murdered Makk.”

“Enough,” shouted Venus, her entire being ablaze with deadly fire, “The elephant rider is under my protection. If anyone touches him they will answer to me.” Venus then retreated to her throne.
“She has a lot to think about today,” sighed Soma.

The Man with Seven Souls gazed at the strange beings watching him. Did they perhaps want to share in his meal? All the dragon meat was over. They should have asked him for some sooner. Something about that glowing woman seemed familiar. Where had he seen her before? The Man with Seven Souls shrugged, and continued on his hunt, his elephant trumpeting in time to his song.
THE END

© whenmarsmetsaturn.wordpress.com (2018)
A/N: 1. This is the song he was singing, performed here by the Polish folk band Ochelie Soroki

A Na Gore Mak

The story of the Man with Seven Souls (in his modern day incarnation) will continue in the Second Part of the Autumn Arc (coming soon).

[7Souls Flashback] 11. Atlantis Sinks

Previously

Makk dispersed his cloud and sat cross-legged on the ground, his head spinning as he gazed stupidly at the devastation all around him. All the Sky Chariots had crashed to the ground, the dirt and blood stained people gazing in horror at the land, unable to speak, unable to move, unable to even cry. The gale still blew, the earth still quaked and magma still spurted out of the ground. The birds and animals were going mad, screeching in terror.

“The two new planets,” Master Samsa screamed, pointing at the sky, “They’re still getting closer.”

Makk wept. His sacrifice had achieved nothing. They were all still going to die. And he could hear Ani whimpering in his head. Agasthya, with Aystrana in tow, arrived moments later, flying so fast that they left a wake in the sky.

“Makka, don’t just sit there. Wake up and say something,” Agasthya said with concern, slapping his cheeks while Aystrana cleaned and rubbed ointment on Makk’s wounds.
“I’m okay,” Makk said, getting to his feet with some help from his wife. She hadn’t said a word to him all this time. “What’s the matter?” he asked her.

She shook her head, unable to put it into words, but he understood her though. There was a tinge of guilt in her bright eyes, almost tiny in comparison to the overwhelming horror and sadness, but he could see it nonetheless. She was always the one with good sense who made the necessary and responsible decisions, but this time she’d been frozen with fear.
“It was my decision to act alone,” Makk said. “There was no reason for anyone else to share in this curse. If I had only acted sooner, Ani could have… But in the end it made no difference anyway.”

“Oh but it did,” a six winged seraph appeared before them, its light and heat curing the people of their injuries.
“You’re late,” Agasthya spat at the seraph, levitating so that he was face to face with the creature. “Look around you. Everything’s ruined. Look up? The entire sky is coming undone.”
“Do not worry about that,” the seraph said. “The Song brought me here. I am to tell you that the throne of Kara will soon be occupied again. Order will be restored to this Star System soon when the newly chosen sits upon the Sun throne.”

“The Song brought you here?” Agasthya chuckled. “What song? I can’t hear a thing.”

“You can’t hear the song of the All Creator any longer?” the seraph asked, his light changing hues in surprise.
Makk strained his mind to listen to the Song, but Agasthya was right. He could no longer hear it… he could only hear Ani sobbing.

“Well,” said Agasthya, “if the All Creator is singing then it must be one stinky, deranged song. Look around you, you stupid creature. If this was part of the song then I’m better off not listening to it.”

“You’re speaking in grief. Once your anger subsides you will understand,” the seraph said, unfazed by Agasthya’s menacing fist, and took off into the red sky.
“Obnoxious creatures,” Agasthya harrumphed, and turned to Master Samsa. “Well, if those rogue planets are all taken care of, then I suppose we must start worrying about how to deal with that fact that our land is sinking into the ocean. The energies of the earth and sky are swirling in unmanageable eddies and our technology has ceased to function. I think we’re going to have to find a new land to settle in. I have a few ideas about how we could manage that.”

A/N: I’ve only hinted at it so far, but Ani and Makk were both parts of Mn’s soul. Ani was one of the rejects at the Test.

[7Souls Flashback] 10. The Storm God is Born

Previously

Ash, burning ember, earth, and sludge drizzled around Agasthya, Makk, Aystrana and the corpse of Ani. They watched in shock from within Agasthya’s invisible shield, as the land around them, and the sky above them went mad.

“Why isn’t Samsa doing something?” Makk asked through gritted teeth. He couldn’t feel sadness for the death of his brother, not while the entire world was disintegrating… but he could feel anger for the murder of his brother, while the entire world was disintegrating. “He should kill Kara before he destroys us all.”
“What can he do?” Aystrana asked, while she wiped away the dirt and blood from Ani’s lifeless corpse. “What can any of us do?”

“But we can’t just accept our deaths like this!” Makk growled, almost like a feral animal.

Agasthya stared at the scene through sad and red drooping eyes, “Nobody wants to take on the curse that will befall the one who murders the Patriarch. Perhaps we can do something? I do not mind being curse if it will save all my friends.”
Makk shook his head, “Not you. You can’t do it, but I can. Fill my cloud with your energy. Let us create the worst thunderstorm this world has ever witnessed.”

Aystrana watched on helplessly as black clouds began to coalesce around Makk’s body. Agasthya hummed as he imbued the cloud with invisible currents, imbuing Makk’s cloud with innumerable fluctuations so quick and tiny that they danced together in a spiral of blue that whirled through the cloud. Makk’s body began to disintegrate, becoming one with the cloud, and Agasthya’s energy transformed into a spear of light.

“Where do I aim this?” the Makk cloud rumbled.
“At the back of his skull,” Agasthya answered, “all the way through to the bridge of his nose. You will only get one strike. Don’t miss.”

Agasthya filled the edges of the Makk cloud with a different pattern of vibration, this one imbuing him with potential speed. Makk roared, and harnessed the South Wind. Makk roared again, and harnessed the North Wind. Makk roared a third time, and harnessed the East Wind. Makk roared a fourth time and harnessed the West Wind. Makk crackled, and harnessed the Wind Above. Makk bellowed, and harnessed the Wind Below. The ground below him cracked open, the hill disintegrating into dust. The skies above him vanished, leaving behind a starless void. All things around him shifted phase, becoming lifeless as they approached Absolute Zero. Time stopped, and Makk flew. He moved at a speed that was above zero, in a timeless space. He moved at a speed approaching infinity, when the stars began to dance once more. Kara’s head exploded as Makk released all of Agasthya’s energy into the giant’s skull. Kara’s blood gushed out like a river, forming into dragons and strange chimeras that had been conceived from the giant’s hatred and madness. The monsters that spawned from Kara’s blood fled to the sea, shrieking in their fear to get away from the dreadful Makk storm.
“It is done,” Makk said, exhausted, triumphant, sad, his body soaked in Kara’s blood, bone, flesh, his soul drenched in Kara’s anger and madness.

Soul quotient: 2/7

[7Souls Flashback] 9. Kara The Angry Giant

Previously

As Makk and Aystrana danced within a circle of their friends, under the revolving tail of Ursa Major, a bright light shot through the sunless sky. The music and dancing stopped as everyone gazed upwards.

“The stars are changing their rhythm to adjust to your steps,” Aystrana giggled.
“No, I don’t think that’s it,” wincing from the sudden pain suffusing his birth mark.
“The energies have changed. Oh!” Agasthya shouted frantically, floating into the sky, his fingers pointing upward, “Look! Look!”

“The Sun!” screamed the Baba exultantly as a bright orange light began to emerge from the horizon. “The Sun is back.”
“Not the sun,” said Agasthya, “unless there are two of them rising from opposite sides.”
“The stories told of only sun,” Makk gasped as the earth began to rumble.
“Kara!” the Baba shivered, “Kara is waking. The Giant is waking! Mn promised he’d return before this happened. Who will pacify him now?”

“We will,” Master Samsa took charge. “Everyone who has ‘ME’s, come with me. If we can show Kara the progress we’ve made, and the penance we’ve undertaken, then perhaps he will forgive us for our sin.”
Everyone gazed towards the beach, where the sleeping giant had always lain. He was getting up now, the earth shuddering with his every movement. “My sons,” he shouted. His voice boomed, echoing through distant mountains and valleys, “where are you? Come and see the thrones I have made for you from within the dreamscape.”

The elders, after communicating through their crystals with the rest of the ME holders throughout the land, summoned sky chariots and headed towards the giant, Master Samsa in the lead.
“Mn, Yhm,” the giant shouted louder this time, generating tsunamis with each syllable, “why can’t I smell you? Why can’t I sense you? Where have you gone? Come to your father.”

“Oh,” Agasthya shuddered, watching the scene with Makk, Ani and Aystrana from the hilltop, “this isn’t going to end well.”

“My Lord,” Master Samsa hovered his chariot in front of Kara’s eye, his voice magnified a thousand times. “I am Samsa, a former disciple of your son Mn.”
“I remember you,” Kara closed one eye to get a better view of Samsa, “you haven’t grown much these past millennia. Well, where are my sons?”

“Mn left to search for his brother and hasn’t returned. If you will come to Mount Mara we will provide you with food and entertainment while you wait for his return.”
“Yhm is missing? He loved this place too much to ever leave. How did this happen?”
“Well, umm…” Master Samsa scratched his head, “a cherub tricked us you see. He disguised himself as one of the seraph and conspired to take Yhm away.”

“Conspired?” the giant’s eye began to grow red, and furious furrows began to form on his forehead. Air currents changed in response, sending warm gusts of wind throughout the land. “Is that how you got all these new fancy toys of yours?” Kara grabbed one of the Sky Chariots and threw it at a mountain. “By conspiring against my second born? Mn and Yhm would have provided you with far greater treasures than this if you had remained loyal. They were weaning you off your old and corrupt ways to prepare you for something greater, but you people grew arrogant and proud. You forsook your old benefactors, and forgot the sacrifices they made in your honour because of a fake seraph? Where is this being that fooled you? I will send him to dissolution.”
“I do not know,” Master Samsa’s voice was beginning to waver. How could he stand the force of the giant’s anger from such close proximity.
“Then I suppose that I will have to punish all of you instead,” Kara roared. Meteors began falling from the sky. The earth rolled up and down like a tsunami. Volcanoes spurted lava and ash into the skies. The two new suns grew bigger and bigger, as they came closer and closer. “No wait,” said Kara, “I can smell him. I can smell Mn.”

An invisible hand lifted Ani towards the giant. “Makk,” Ani screamed as he levitated towards the giant.
“No, you smell like him, but you aren’t him,” Kara roared, angrier than ever. “Did the cherub somehow transfer his power into this little flea? Die!” Ani’s head snapped.

Agasthya flew into the air and pulled Ani back. “Ani! Ani! Say something,” he wept, as he lay Ani’s body by Aystrana’s feet.

“Do something for him. Please,” Makk begged his wife, but she could only shake her head in response, and close Ani’s eyelids.

Photo courtesy: Attack on Titan game trailer

[7 Souls Flashback] 8. A Wedding and a Brief Intermission

Previously

“I am the sky and you are the earth,” Makk said, gazing up into the bright eyes of his beloved.
“I am the trees and you are the dew,” Aystrana smiled at him, a hint of mischief fleeting through her features.

“I am the bird and you are the song,” Makk said, wondering when she was going to let him off the hook and declared to the assembled masses that they were married already.
“I am the mountain and you are my wings,” she sang this time.
Agasthya cackled as Makk struggled to come up with another line, “I am the light and you are my fire,” he said, with a sigh of relief.
“You are my cloud and I am your rain. We are one,” Aystrana laughed, and the gathering cheered. They crowned each other with wreaths and exchanged garlands, holding hands for longer than was required. Ani was weeping, and the Baba and Master Samsa were howling with joy, which was a strange sight to behold. Makk would have gazed at them longer, but Aystrana’s brilliant eyes kept drawing him back.

“The glaukopis,” Trivia was momentarily stunned by the words of her song. “Aystrana is you,” she pointed at Venus accusingly. “How can this be true? You are as old as I am, And this was ancient history in my time. How did you wed the sky ram? Or is there an error in this song’s rhyme?”

“It can’t be her,” Mars snorted. “This happened when our grandfathers were young, after all. I find it surprising that he was apprenticed to Samsa. Disciples are considered sons of the master, so I suppose that would make him Soma’s uncle.”

“That’s what you’re all surprised about?” Soma asked incredulously. “Are you forgetting that we have just found out that the Sky Ram was a split soul version of Mn? This changes everything!”

“Don’t stop! Continue his song,” Venus ordered, a single tear dripping down her cheek.

[7Souls Flashback] 7. Never Ask a Seraph for a Ride

Previously

Makk and Agasthya met at the Rainbow Lake as usual after they’d finished their daily meditations and chores. Ani was helping Aystrana with some work that day. Aystrana had shooed Makk and Agasthya away when they’d offered to help.
“I think she’s in love with you,” Agasthya said, as they groomed the sea dragons. In the years since Agasthya had created the Lake more and more wildlife and birds had made it their home. The gang of four had taken great joy in taming and caring for all the Lake’s new denizens, eagerly waiting for more strange and exotic creatures to find their way to it.

“Rubbish, she treats me likes dirt. Besides, she’s one of the Aylar. Why would she want to be with a deformed person like me. I feel guilty even asking her to treat my Mark.”

Agasthya shrugged, “don’t talk to me about deformity. I’ve made my peace with mine and found ways to compensate. You should too. Don’t let it hold you back. She’s the Baba’s apprentice. It’s her role to heal people, just as it will soon be yours and Ani’s role to bring us rain, and mine to direct the flows of energy. Now, let’s practice the isolated thunderstorm again.”

Makk began to strum his sagit, while Agasthya drummed a beat on the trunk of a tree. Dark clouds appeared in the sky, the colours of the lake giving it a tinge of blue and orange. Thunder roared as Agasthya began to increase his tempo. “Hold on,” Makk ended the song abruptly, staring at the lake. There was something there. “Do you see that?” There was a strange creature hovering over the lake, its skin shining with such brilliance that it was hard to make out its form except for the pair of six large wings emanating from its body. Agasthya’s eyes were sharper, but even he had to blink.
“A new type of fire dragon,” Makk said. “Our storm might hurt it.”
“Not a dragon,” Agasthya hesitated. “Maybe we should leave this one alone. I’ve never seen anything like it. Its inner body is completely shielded. I can’t see any marma.”

“Rubbish,” Makk threw his hand in curt dismissal. “I’ll shield us with cloud so that we don’t get burnt. Come on.” Agasthya hesitantly followed Makk, as he stalked the six winged creature and leaped onto its back.
“What’s this now? What do you children want?” the creature’s voice sang in his head as he channelled his energy into the Six Winged’s neck.

“It can talk,” Agasthya and Makk both gasped as one.

“Oh I see,” the Six Winged sang. “You want a ride.” It could read their mind? Makk blanched. “Where would you like to go? I can take you anywhere.”

“Anywhere?” Agasthya yelled excitedly, taking a seat behind Makk, all fear gone as new prospects dawned on him.
“Across the world, if you please fiery one,” Makk said, not sure if he should apologize for mistaking the being for a dumb reptile.
“No No,” Agasthya chirped. “Across the Universe.”

“Very well,” the creature sang. “You may dissolve your shield. I will protect you.”

The creature then took off into the sky, and then entered a new realm that Makk could make sense of before. “You have made this journey before. Why does your mind wrestle with what you see?” the Six Winged asked Makk, as they flew through an ocean of milk.
“Before?” Makk asked, shivering with shock. His mind couldn’t comprehend any of this.

“The different energies,” Agasthya gasped, “the different songs. You are flying too quickly. I can’t hear them.”
“Their songs are not for your ears… not yet. Perhaps it is best we return.” The Six Winged returned to the Lake, an invisible hand gently setting the two boys onto the ground.

“Ah, I am familiar with this song,” Agasthya said, kissing the ground. “Never again Makk, never again. That was too much too fast. And we never tell our Masters about this.”

“I agree,” Makk said, colour beginning to return to his cheeks.

[7 Souls Flashback] 6. Breaking the Brontosaurus

Previously

The three apprentices and one journey-woman lazed on the hilltop overlooking Agasthya’s Rainbow Lake, gazing languidly at its shimmering surface, while birds and dragons circled overhead, under sunless skies illuminated by the colourful lake and the glowing crystal outcrops surrounding it.
“I still think it’s rotten luck that you and Ani got apprenticed to Master Samsa,” Agasthya said to Makk, while Aystrana and Ani giggled at the antics of the dinosaurs down by the lakeside.

“Well,” Makk said, “just because our masters are enemies doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

“Yes, but it imbues our relationship with an element of peril,” Agasthya usually lost his simple way of speech when he was thinking deeply. “I feel that my master can see straight through me every time I lie. He even makes this little shudder of disgust.”
Makk knew what Agasthya meant. His mind and thoughts felt naked when his teacher looked at him. “Forget about it for now,” Makk stood up. “Let’s go and ride the dinosaurs.”
Agasthya grabbed Makk before he could run to the Lake. “I haven’t tamed those yet.”
Makk grinned, “I’ve always wanted to break one of them in. I’ve watched you enough to know how to do it.”

“Eei,” Agasthya mimicked choking, “knowing you, you’ll pick the biggest one.” He floated into the air, “All right, but I’m going to take over if you make any mistakes.”

“What idiocy are you boys up to now,” Aystrana’s voice echoed through the hills as the boys raced down towards a gigantic brontosaurus.

Makk jumped onto the back of the dinosaurs and skipped onto the top of its head, placing his hands on the dinosaurs pressure points.
“Your right thumb should be a little lower,” said Agasthya, floating in the sky a few feet to his right.
Makk moved his thumb and channelled the energy, trying to become one with the reptile. The dinosaur resisted, running into the lake, dunking its head into the water, shaking this way and that in a vain effort to dislodge the boisterous interloper. Agasthya roared with laughter, while Aystrana and Ani shouted abuse and cautions, as Makk held on for dear life. “Almost, almost,” a soaked Makk shivered as the dinosaur came out of the lake and decided to scrape the trespasser against a tree.

“Oh no you don’t,” Makk channelled more energy into his fingertips, forcing the dinosaur to sit on the ground. “Good, we make better friends than enemies, Big One. In time when our mutual imprints are stronger we will share our energy and our knowledge,” he cooed to his new child. “Now let’s run to the hill so that Aystrana and Ani can climb on. You’ll like them, and Agasthya too if he gets tired of gliding around.”

“Never,” Agasthya cried with joy, flying so quickly that his voice came with a boom. “Makk, let’s race.”

[7 Souls Flashback] 5. The Young Continent and the Baba

Previously

Soul quotient 1/7

“We’re the same age,” Ani insisted, while he commanded the street crystal to beckon a sky chariot, “so you’ve got to listen to me as well.”
“I came out a month earlier, so I’m older,” Makk dismissed Ani’s spurious claim with a wave of his hand.
“If it hadn’t been for the Baba’s medicine I’d have been delivered on that day too,” Ani just wouldn’t give up his argument. “And everyone says I’m the responsible one, so just give up and come with me to the Baba. Every time your birth mark hurts you get really sick afterwards.”

“Alright, alright,” Makk said. Now that Ani mentioned it, Makk was beginning to feel a little faint. The mark that covered most of his face was beginning to throb, and his forehead felt like it was on fire.

The auto pilot hover car came moments later, and soon they were in the skies over the Young Continent. The land below would have been a mesmerising sight for a newcomer, but Makk was used to the crystal lights that illuminated the entire land– changing colour to simulate the day/night cycle that had once been a natural phenomenon on this planet–elaborate text and designs spiralled over the land and mountains, designed specifically to be seen from the air, that would change with altitude—one sight did always make Makk gasp in wonder though. Even from ten kilometers in the sky, Makk could see Kara, the Sleeping Giant, lying on the beach, an enormous figure cloaked in black with golden text embroidered onto the cloth,. The elders said that when Kara the Patriarch awoke, the continent would sink and the sun would rise once again.

The hover car carefully landed in the garden outside the Baba’s house. The old lady preferred having an outdoor landing area, rather than the stage area that most people used to conserve space.
“Ah, Makk,” the Baba said, peering out her window, “Come in, come in. I’ve been expecting you. Aystrana has just finished making the draught.” Her hair had much less white in it than the last time Makk had come. The Baba was reaching the fifth and final stage of her growth spurt, and was already twenty feet tall. If it went on for a few months more she might end up being twenty two or twenty three feet. The Vil often grew much taller than the other people of the continent. Kara’s blood was strong in them.
The Baba grabbed Ani as he stepped through the door. “Too thin, too thin,” she wailed. “Boys your age never eat enough. Come with me to the kitchen while Aystrana applies the medicine to Makk’s mark. Makk couldn’t help chuckling at Ani’s protests that he was eating enough, though he did feel a little sympathy for his little brother. The Baba’s cooking tasted horrible.

“Does it hurt a lot today,” Aystrana looked at him with concern as she motioned for him to sit on the carpet.
Makk shrugged trying to look unconcerned. Unfortunately, a twinge of pain sent him yelping a moment later.

“Ah, you boys,” Aystrana sighed, “always lying, trying to act brave.” She gently began to apply the medicine. “You’ll grow out of it, I hope.”

“Don’t say that,” Makk murmured. “You’re younger than I am.” The way he reacted to Aystrana, Makk often wondered if he was in love with her. He couldn’t tell. Perhaps it was love that made him feel so good when he was near her, perhaps it was because he always came to her in a time of pain and always left with a feeling of relief, or perhaps it was the poppy juice medicine that he knew he’d soon be drinking. “The mark hurts, but I think I can bear it a while longer. It’s not as bad as the last time. Ani wanted me to come here before it got worse.”
“Ani has good sense,” Aystrana smiled.

The Baba came barely seconds after Aystrana had finished. Did master and apprentice share a telepathic connection, Makk wondered. What would it feel like, having that old woman babble in your head all the time? Ani followed the Baba, looking disgruntled. From the look on his face, the Baba had probably forced him to drink some of her tea as well.

The Baba made Makk drink a glass of poppy juice. She then placed a blue sapphire against Makk’s forehead and began singing. The stone vibrated in response, sending shivers of ecstasy through Makk’s body. The feelings of pleasure ended as soon as the Baba had finished her song. The Baba then tested his reflexes, poking and pinching Makk all over his body, and even punching his stomach once, though not hard enough to hurt. “You should be fine for a month this time. Come back as soon as you notice the signs, next time.” A rat-a-tat-tat on the door interrupted the Baba.
“Arhg, it’s him again,” the Baba opened the door and scowled at the short child who had been waiting behind it. “Agasthya, how many times do I have to tell you, that I can’t cure your shortness.”
“Can’t you at least make me as tall as him,” the four foot tall boy pointed at Makk.
“The best I can do is make you a pair of stilts,” the Baba said, “but you’re going to be this short for the rest of your life, so I advise you to get used to it. Why don’t you take Makk and Ani to that Rainbow Lake you’re so proud of, and play like a normal child should, instead of harassing this old woman.”

“All right,” Agasthya grinned at the two boys, his affliction instantly forgotten. “Come on then and I’ll show you my latest and greatest creation.”

World Map:

[7Souls Flashback] 4. The Easiest Test in the Universe

Previously

Soul quotient: 1/7

From the aqueous comfort of his mother’s womb and the companionship of his twin, he was pulled away. The song of the unborn child’s soul was transposed to a higher dimension.
“Welcome,” a woman greeted the person who had formerly been Mn, but was now Unborn. The effect of the waters of forgetfulness was still strong.

“Hello,” for some reason he felt a close kinship with this woman. “Mother?”

The woman nodded. “Come, let’s get your test finished and away with. Once that’s out of the way I can give you a proper tour of Shambala.”

“Shambala,” the name sounded familiar. Where had he heard it before?
They walked through blue crystal streets, under lapis walls and emerald towers shining ruby lamps. There were very few people walking on the streets. Some looked anxious. You could tell that they were tourists, unused to the strange energy of this place. There was a soft and pleasant hum in the air, and if you concentrated on the sound you could hear a multitude of voices, talking, singing, chanting, laughing. The Unborn sighed in pleasure as he concentrated on one particular voice. Her song was beautiful, suffused with the scent of jasmine, in the scale of a gentle breeze over an ebb tide.
“Come on, now,” the Mother chided (was she his mother, or was it a title of some sort, the Unborn’s instinct couldn’t tell), “or we’ll be late.” She led him into a small field where a group of people sat behind desks. They asked him questions, and he answered them as best as he could, his mouth speaking words automatically. He had no idea what their questions or his answers meant. The Unborn chuckled. This was the easiest test he’d ever done, and since he had no idea what it was about he didn’t care much whether he passed or failed.
“Well done, well done,” the examiners said, after they had finished. “Five of your soul fragments have passed our tests with great ease.”

“What of the other two?” the Mother asked.
“Above average,” an examiner answered, “but might not make the cut off. It’s too early to tell.”

The Unborn’s eyes flickered towards another group of examiners standing before a jungle gym. People were hanging down the horizontal pole and levitating their bodies. “Let me try that one as well,” he said. That was a test more to his liking.
“Sure,” the Mother shrugged, “but you’ve already passed, so it’s not going to make much of a difference.”
The Unborn ran towards the jungle gym with a child like joy, and jumped onto it.
“Now close your eyes,” said the instructor of the test, “and channel the wind into your stomach. Let it lift you ever higher.”
The Unborn did his best, feeling the coldness run through his nerves from stomach to head as more and more wind filled his inner being.

“Not bad, not bad,” the instructor said, as the Unborn floated horizontally. “Above average. This is outstanding for someone who’s had no previous training.”

The Mother tut tutted, “His apprenticeship has already been decided and it’s not with you. Now,” she called to the Unborn, “come down from there and let’s go. Oh drat! I used too much.”

A heavy energy pulled the Unborn towards the ground, and then through the ground. He passed through several dimensions before the Mother could fully finish her sentence. The trumpets went off time and the orchestra playing his soul song paused for a split second in panic.

He was born into the world one month premature.

“Your name is Makk,” his human mother smiled down at him as he opened his eyes.

[7Souls Fashback] 3. The Big Dipper is Born

Previously

Soul quotient:1/1

He had painstakingly searched the multiverse for millennia, and finally a wrong turn on his way home had led him to his target. The world of the soul splitting deity was a small one, its roads too narrow for two chariots to pass each other. Its houses were all two storeys tall, and the land was filled with masses of people.

“Thank you,” he smiled, when a group of pedestrians made way for him. They smiled and bowed in return.

“He’s thanking us,” he heard one of them giggle to the other. “How strange.”

His companion shrugged, “you get all sorts coming here these days.”

Was gratitude a concept that was foreign to these people, Mn wondered. Were these people so unused to it that ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome’ had become extraordinarily exotic words? Or perhaps there was another reason for the rarity of expressions of gratitude here. Maybe they were so in tune with doing the right thing all the time that they didn’t deem it worthy of response.

“I’m looking for the being who can split souls,” Mn said to the amused pedestrians. “Do you know where I can find him?”

The man pointed towards the main road, where a golden haired child was walking. Mn nearly choked in surprise when the child took off into the air with his next step, walking through the air.

“You won’t be able to catch up to him in your vehicle,” the pedestrian said. “You’re better off on foot.”

“Thanks,” Mn jumped off his chariot and followed the child. This land was a maze of buildings, some roads leading to sheer ledges, and some terminating in dead ends. Could everyone in this little world fly in the sky?

“Yes, most can,” a voice answered his unspoken question. It was the flying child. “The problem is when the infants learn flight. They take off into the clouds, and its a race to get them back down before they freeze to death. Thankfully we always find them in time, but if only there was some way to stop this from happening.”

Mn nodded, gazing at the roofs of the houses, “why don’t you make a rope mesh over the towns?”

The child beamed, “not rope, that would block the light… but tafurat would do. I will grant you one boon in reward for your help.”

“Split my soul into seven parts,” Mn said.

“Done,” the child said, and floated into the air.

“Hold on,” Mn shouted after the child. “How do I reconstitute my soul parts back into myself when I want to be whole again?” The child was too far up to hear him. A moment later, the child threw a spear at Mn. The spear left mushroom clouds in its wake. The earth quaked as Mn’s vision turned from red to black.
Soul quotient: 1/7

He heard his brother mourning his death as he walked the path to rebirth. He drank the waters of forgetfulness, but somehow, even as his soul made its way into a four month old foetus, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something within him that was missing.

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