More than a piece of earth

chapter 7: the middle world

( _ _ _ _ ) = translation/clarification
<< _ _ _ _ >> = dialogue
{ _ _ _ _ } = thought
<{ _ _ _ _ }> = extraneous voice that is not the character's thought but hears it as his thought even if it is not
* _ _ _ _ * = onomatopoeia/ word that describes a sound
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Æměđěų§ pov

I don't know how long I've been here;
It's always night, but there are no stars or moon.

I can't get my bearings;
Here it's just trees and plants of unnatural colors, some even have eyes, teeth, limbs of various types... No matter how much I walk I will always end up in the same plain where I woke up the first time.

I haven't met a living soul;
But not in the sense that I didn't meet anyone, but that everyone I met are dead!

Well kind of...

I think they're in a coma, because they talk about feeling like they're here but somewhere else at the same time, and I doubt this place I'm in is the real world.

Some of those who say they feel more on the other side find themselves in front of a portal of light which closes when crossed and leaves a flower in its place.

Those who say they feel more here, can see a star in the sky and has little marks appear on their back, until a pair of wings grows from those marks and flew away towards that star, which I have never been able to see.

Souls don't have a definite shape, they almost look like they're made of water, huge floating puddles of water that can't hold a shape for more than a second.
The only differences they have between one and the other are the colors, each with a precise color that I think represents its state of mind.
Guilt, repentance, anger and all negative things are of dull and faded colors.
On the other hand, good deeds, good mood, happiness and all good things are of bright colors.

I talked to many of them and came to the conclusion that there were not only human souls, but all living beings. Animals, plants, microbes...

I don't know how long I've been here, but I know it was long enough to meet, hear and know billions of thousands of souls.

One soul in particular attracted me.

Unlike the other souls it has a shape, it looks like a kind of bird and it has eyes, two golden spheres to be exact.
Souls usually don't have eyes, just a sphere in the center of their mass, which can be light gray or dark gray, depending on the kindness of soul I think.

That soul gets behind the souls who claimed to feel more on the other side and waits. When he sees the marks on theyr back appear to that soul he was following, he leaves for another. When the portal opens it tries to get inside before the other soul, but it never succeeds.

One day that soul noticed me, not that I spied on him or anything, I was quite in plain sight, but maybe it was the first time he saw my face.
He looked at me for a while, then he came to me and said:

<< you are like me! >>

Me << what? >>

<< yes, the eyes! You have eyes! >>

I've never actually seen what I look like, but if this soul says I look like him that might be true, I don't see why he would lie to me after all.

<< I absolutely have to call her! >>

Me << who? >>

<< Thálas! >>

Me << who's Thálas? >>
Before I can get an answer, the soul vanishes into thin air. It's something I've recently discovered, that souls can teleport, but they don't get very far.