Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 52: Overhaul (1)

"Denizens of Destia, I apologize for the interruption." Razznik's voice once again boomed into every soul's ears. The Chaos God evidently treated the adjudicators' elimination like a minor inconvenience as he continued, "Now, where was I? Yes, you all have completed the first half of your tutorial. Now, I will explain what I meant by that."

'Tutorial.' Even though this was Razznik's second time saying this, everyone around Destia still reacted with the same level of shock. How could everything they had suffered so far be considered a tutorial? Thousands had died from all the wars that ravaged the land. What kind of tutorial had such massive fatalities?

Despite sensing the unease, Razznik continued unfazed, "Destia, as is, exists only on borrowed time. In a few years – no, perhaps in just over a year, this world shall cease to exist." Razznik took a moment to allow the bombshell to sink in.

As expected pandemonium broke out all around Destia. The world was about to end!? They would have laughed if anyone else said this, but Razznik was not the joking type. If he said the world would end, then it surely would! What to do!?

"Do not despair just yet. There is yet hope for you all." Razznik's voice temporarily chilled the panic, but everyone now waited on tenterhooks for his next words. "Before I continue, I must first explain the source of your disaster." Razznik took a moment and his gaze seemed to pierce into the heart of every citizen of Destia as he gravely announced, "The Circle's collapse is imminent. And with it, the end of this world."

This time, Razznik did not wait for the world's reaction. His time was limited, so he needed to quickly disseminate the information. "Most of you know the Circle, the metaphysical ring that surrounds this planet. Every soul that perishes returns to the circle until its eventual reincarnation. That is the cliff notes version.

"In broader terms, the Circle is but a physical representation of this world's cycle of reincarnation. Every soul is afforded nine lives. At the end of each life, each soul is judged on their actions during that cycle and given a karmic score. This karmic score influences its next reincarnation. A higher karmic score will generally mean a luckier birth, either as a scion of a rich family, or blessed with greater talents. It is not always exact, but it rarely strays from this rule. At the end of the soul's ninth cycle, its total karmic score determines which deity realm it will spend the rest of eternity."

Many scholars around Destia scribbled notes with rapt attention as Razznik pulled back the veil on some of the greatest ancient secrets.

"You might thus be wondering where the problem lies?" Razznik raised his hand and a projection of Destia's continent appeared, floating on his palm. "The Circle is a delicate process that requires on-hand supervision at all times. Alure, the goddess of Death, and Aethir, the goddess of Life are both critical components of the Circle. When a being perishes, Alure facilitates the transportation of their soul to the Circle. She judges their current lives and assigns their karmic scores.

"Aethir, on the other hand, takes the judged souls and chooses which lives to grant them. She is responsible for implanting these souls in fetuses. Unborn children not assigned a soul will generate a brand new soul. In moderation, the latter is alright, even encouraged. But, each world has a maximum soul threshold. If the number of souls exceeds the world's capacity, it will result in what we call a Spiritual Collapse.

"When the souls exceed the threshold, the excess will implode, leading to a chain reaction that will wipe out at least ninety-nine percent of all souls, living and dead in that world. This Spiritual Collapse is a natural reaction from the world in an attempt to protect itself from complete obliteration."

Razznik paused. He listened to the murmurs rumbling across Destia. The people were not so much scared as they were confused. Some of the smarter ones had begun to piece together the clues, but the information was too vast in scale for many to grasp in the short term.