The Court of Souls?

“Max Tegmark's four levels:

Cosmologist Max Tegmark has provided a taxonomy of universes beyond the familiar observable universe. The four levels of Tegmark's classification are arranged such that subsequent levels can be understood to encompass and expand upon previous levels. They are briefly described below.

Level I: Beyond our cosmological horizon

A prediction of chaotic inflation is the existence of an infinite ergodic universe, which, being infinite, must contain Hubble volumes realizing all initial conditions.

Accordingly, an infinite universe will contain an infinite number of Hubble volumes, all having the same physical laws and physical constants. Given infinite space, there would, in fact, be an infinite number of Hubble volumes identical to ours in the universe. This follows directly from the cosmological principle, wherein it is assumed that a given Hubble volume is not special or unique.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Semper Fidelis***

***Shade***

“Are you sure that we are assigned to this post together? The deployment of our forces makes no sense.” I mumble while studying the sheet of paper in my hand. The one who distributed us among the city, assigned Elona and me to the same location. Everyone else is on their own.

“It makes perfect sense. What do you think is wrong about it?” Elona asks with an expression of pure innocence on her face.

I can already imagine her, blackmailing Aswang to draft the deployment plan according to her ideas.

Oh, and there are so many things wrong with it. Mainly for the fact that I can't run off and hunt on my own. “First, we are two strong higher immortals. Maybe the strongest fighters in this town. And we are stationed in the same spot.”

“I can explain that. We are the hunting squad, all the others are just scouts for us. Once they find the enemy and alert us, we will swoop in and save the day with overwhelming force,” Elona answers cheerfully.

It's night though, and raining! Why would I want to sit out here and wait while others have to search for the spirit? “Okay, then what about the fact that each of us could probably take down the spirit on his or her own?”

Bashfully, she places both hands her cheeks. “You are so considerate. But what if the enemy is stronger than expected, or if there are more than one of them? Would you really let your hopeful wife take that risk without you at her side?”

“I have long since given up on keeping you out of the fighting. That's the one memory that's as clear as day to me. Though I wish that you would stay out of it. You know, baby and all...”

Yeah, I was about to make that my third point. But apparently she doesn't see it as a problem. Whatever. I sigh and watch the rain pearl off of my mana shield. The blue, shimmering bubble around us isn't very strong. Just enough to deflect the rain.

Our post is fairly close to the palace at an empty square. There aren't many people around and there are no street lights. Most of the night-life is restricted to the ring streets at this hour. There are some lone people who are returning to their living quarters after a day's work. But they clearly have other business than watching a pair of love birds sitting on a bench.

“Lift your coat,” Elona commands. I do as told and she snuggles up to me. I chose a large, long coat of black leather. It's the best I found against the nasty weather. I don't really need it because of my magic, but one never knows.

“That's better. Much warmer,” she sighs with her chin against my chest, amazing me anew with her ability to ignore dire situations. “You have to make up for a lot for that life when you were Ascathon. I never had such a horrible husband.”

I frown. “Can't be. I cast environmental protection on both of us. The spell automatically regulates our body temperatures. And you also had a few nice lives so far! Not every reincarnation can be rosy.” At least mine were not. Okay, I guess as Gideon I had a pretty good time with her.

“Spoilsport. You know why I want to hug you. And besides, waiting here gives us another chance to do a little catching up regarding our memories,” she answers.

“Okay. You can choose the topic,” I reply.

She starts with the most depressing topic. “Did you remember anything new about how our last reincarnations died?”

I shake my head. “No, sorry. Total black out on that point. The last thing I remember is playing with one of our grand-grand-grandchildren in the royal garden. At least I think that's the last memory.”

“Seems like we had a long and fulfilled life as Angrod and Celes. My last memory is similar.” Then her tail snakes around the both of us and settles around our hips. “So what is your earliest memory?”

I wet my lips and try to put everything in a chronological order. “Our first life together must have been as Ascathon and Celestial. We knew nothing about gods back then. Just the reincarnation process was known to us. It was also the time when we had that accident with the soul bonding.”

Yes. Normally a simple, mortal soul starts off with remembering past lives. The more memories it manages to hold, the stronger it becomes until you finally manage to ascend to being a god. In the multiverse, you got a huge boon from that. Almost limitless mana and the ability to travel through the pathways. But here in Dedessia, there are no pathways and the mana boost wasn't as strong as I remember it.

She nods. “Yes, we ascended to godhood and lived our lives among the Ascended Ones. It was a long way with many trials, but in the end we entered the circle of rebirth again. One can take only so much of memories before you get bored to death just by living.

“Afterwards comes a blur of short lifespans until we rejoined as Stella and Azir, though we never remembered being gods in that one.”

“Yes. And the existence as Gideon and Cyla must have been afterwards because we found relics from our previous civilisation in those lives. Like the seed ship and, later on, their cities. Though since we couldn't remember our past lives in that reincarnation, we never made the connection,” I muse.

She raises a hand to her chest. “Though I wonder why there are such long time dilatations between those reincarnations. We lived for a long time, yet we didn't ascend. Do you think that something-”

“No. I think there is much more to remember. But those lives must have been relatively short ones. So far, I remember only a few lifespans as a normal human. Dying after fifty to ninety years takes a toll on the strength of your soul. But living as Azir, Stella, Gideon, and Cyla must have brought us back on the track to godhood.” Though there is more to consider.

“So what about living as Angrod and Celes? There are some inconsistencies between those first three lives and the last one.” Elona gestures with her hand. “Take the Ancient Ones for example. Right now we remember our lives as them, but as Angrod and Celes we had no such memories. When we found the crystal city, it was completely new to us.”

I scratch my cheek. “I've thought about that point. I think that it might have something to do with me resetting the multiverse. Think about it. The theory behind the reset was that once there is only a single intelligent observer left, the multiverse will automatically orient itself according to that observer's quantum interference.”

“Yes, I remember. But you wished to return the multiverse back to its original state, didn't you?” She asks confused.

“Yes and no. The reason for me attempting the reset at all was the Calamity. That monstrous being which endangered all of existence. Ascathon, the Bright One, created a curse to wipe the Calamity from existence. And I don't mean just a wipe, I mean complete eradication with no possibility of retrieving the data.

“The curse worked as a sort of decision maker which I cast on myself. Normally time travel isn't possible. But by resetting the multiverse I could start over and over again until I achieve the desired result. The curse would force me to take different steps towards the ending, forcing me to reset the multiverse each time the result in our war wasn't satisfying. I would reset the multiverse and re-roll the dice until the perfect outcome is achieved. There is just one problem. If the multiverse reshapes according to the ideas of the last observer...”

Elona nods slowly, understanding flickering in her eyes. “You didn't reset the multiverse just once. You did it hundreds, maybe millions of times. The Calamity wasn't an opponent we could fight and hope to win. The chances were impossibly small. But the curse ensured that we would get the chance to try again and again.

“The multiverse reshapes according to the perception of the last observer. And if the observer doesn't have all the information, the multiverse tries to fill in the blank spots on its own. So it was impossible to reset the multiverse without recreating the Calamity as long as you had an exact idea of what the Calamity is. You had to forget about how the Calamity came to be, to even allow the dice to fall in a way which would erase the Calamity's existence.”

I nod. “The curse played on the hope that with each reset a small amount of memories would be lost. Until I would finally forget about the Calamity in my final attempt. If I don't know how exactly the Calamity came to be, the multiverse would automatically try to correct the data. Eventually completely erasing the Calamity because of the inconsistencies. And that also explains all the inconsistencies in our memories. I am not even sure if those lifetimes took place in the same time frame, or if they belong to very similar ones.”

“So what is Dedessia then? I thought we had defeated the Calamity and the multiverse would finally go on from that point in time. Did the multiverse reset on its own? Or is Dedessia really something like a DOS version of the multiverse, where all our past memories can be recovered. Something like a backup server? The accepted theory of Dedessia being a world between reincarnations sounds a little strange by now,” she mumbles and reaches for her head.

Then she looks up. “Just imagine how much we could learn. Do you think we can remember all the iterations of the multiverse while we are here?”

“You are right and I think Dedessia is more than that, maybe something else entirely. But I hope that it doesn't turn out that way. Remembering different variations of my past personas would suck big time. Once I read up on an idea that every decision ever made would create a new universe. What we are describing is very close to that.” I shudder.

“Imagine living the same life over and over again, just making a small thing different each time. I am not surprised that the Calamity chose obliteration in the end.”

“As for the nature of Dedessia, I have a few ideas, but naming them without any proof would be too early. The soundest one is connected to the way Ascathon created his curse. From what I remember, the functionality of the curse implies that the multiverse, existence itself, is subject to a cycle. It may be that the multiverse simply reached its next stage. Though I don't understand why Dedessia has no web of pathways. They were an integral part of the multiverse.”

Both of us are silent for a while, then Elona has another question. “So what about turning this shithole into a decent world to live in? Can't you start building useful stuff like you always do?”

I snort in frustration. “I would, if I had anything to build with. But there are no resources, no metals. People are hoarding the few items they have like treasures. Even if I take all the stuff from the palace and use it for my purposes, I would barely get a laboratory going.”

I gesture at the palace. We call it a palace but, with my memories intact, it looks more like a watered-down castle. The stones are built with a high amount of craftsmanship, but that's it. There are no golden decorations or something like that.

“What about the crystal technology? Can't you bypass the need for resources by using mana crystals?”

I nod. “If we were back at full strength, or had a mana generator, that might be possible. But creating a mana crystal takes a lot of energy. I could create a seed if I had full access to Angrod's power. Or if I use a better controlled process in a mana generator. But I neither have my full powers, nor the tools to build the generator.”

I growl dreadfully, being reminded about how lacking this world is. “All I have is wood, stone and the occasional piece of metal. Tell me, how much did our rings cost?”

She turns red in embarrassment. “I didn't think too much of it. This world has no currency, so I paid with five nuggets of gold. I found them on one of my scouting trips long ago. They were my biggest treasure. When I was in my teens, I often ventured out into the wilderness to search for pretty stones.”

I nod, understanding her misconception. “For you and me, it isn't hard to leave the safe zones. We can defend ourselves since we are higher immortals. But everyone else would get eaten by a beast or a spirit as soon as they encounter them. That's why almost everyone hides in the safe zones. Your five nuggets of gold are worth more than a mid can earn in a hundred years. Simply because there is no easy way to get your hands on gold or other metals.”

And there is also the point that Dedessia lacks resources. Parle had an iron mine which was worked by their slaves, but even that mine didn't yield a high amount of metal per year. We shut it down since sending people down into those tunnels is simply too dangerous.

She bites her lower lip. “I haven't thought about it like that. Of course I understand the value of various items from my work as Doreen's secretary. But I guess that I didn't realize that I am one of maybe twenty people who can roam the environment without fear of certain death. Compared to that there are thousands who are confined to the safe zones.”

Suddenly her voice turns sour. “I paid the goldsmith too much for those rings! Once I find him, I have to get my money back!”

I furrow my forehead. “Apart from that, the rings are really good work. It was hard to examine the spell construct inside them. So you were only cheated about the price.”

She squints her eyes at me and I have to chuckle. “Oh, please. Do you really think that I would let someone put a magical artefact on me? Without examining its functions to the smallest detail?”

“Sounds more like you were trying to take it off,” she mumbles.

I clear my throat. “It's only reasonable to research ways to take it off. What if it gets stuck somewhere? You don't expect me to rip off my whole finger, do you?”

Her answer gets interrupted by a mental alarm from one of the scouts. Both of us jump to our feet. Elona unfolds her wings and takes off into the air. I follow her by casting levitation magic and we orient ourselves towards the call.

It came from the outskirts of the city.

.