The Soul Factory (title under consideration)

Hi guys, this is one of my first stories on wattpad. I'm mainly a reader but decided to give this a try. PLEEEEEASE comment or vote, advice would be useful, I'm in complete awe of half of the stories here XD. I'll try and upload frequently. Here it goes..

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Prologue

I glance outside and see that it is sunset; I beckon my brethren and we let our spirits condense into semi-solid bodies, therefore enabling us to gather the shimmering chains that were now forming on the water. I let my hand trail behind me, skimming the surface where the sun’s rays hit the ocean and are reflected, thus creating the chains of fate which I hurry to collect.

These bindings can only be gathered at sunset. Different groups are sent for each form of restraint, each manufactured at a different time. The chains of fate are attached to each soul. When someone dies, their soul follows the chain to their new body and the old link is severed. Of course, a piece of the chain is lost each rebirth so after someone has lived for about 12 times, their chain is too short to continue and they are no longer reborn. They should get to live happily ever after in their happily ever afterlife. Sweet, huh? Well, not exactly. They eventually become unstable without a material body and go POOF! into thin air. Their remains are used to create new souls, which need new chains of fate.

Overall, it’s kind of environmentally friendly, don’t you think?

So I collect the chains with my 10 brothers every sunset. I’m the only girl. Technically, none of us are actually related. We all live together though, at the soul factory. That’s where the bindings are attached and where all of the new souls are made.  All of the dryads live there, with our cousins, the sprites. Hello, my name is Cassandra and I’m a dryad.

Ch. 1

Dryads are born of earth and water. We used to live on Earth, in the real world but mankind kept on mindlessly destroying us. Every time a new seed is planted, a new wood dryad is born. She/he will grow with that tree and eventually merge with another dryad, be it of water or of earth. If that tree is destroyed, the wood dryad will die.

Water dryads are also born of a tree. But it is very rare and is endemic to one island in all of Earth; the Coco de Mer. literally meaning “seed of the sea”. It used to belong on Atlantis, but when it changed location due to our impending doom, a few Coco de Mer seeds accidentally got left behind in a place called Seychelles. Luckily, when Atlantis moved to the soul factory, most of the trees managed to survive that little inter-dimensional skip.

When two dryads merge, their essences unite and a little bit of that combined essence breaks off to form one nymph. This way, no two dryads or nymphs have siblings. Yes, it’s strange; two dryads give birth to a completely different species, unreliant on trees to stay alive. But that’s the only difference really, so all nymphs are also called dryads. We’re also the ones that are sent down to Earth to get the chains for this very same reason. When regular dryads that have trees on Earth come to this plane, they become once again reliant on their tree to survive. However, if they stay on the plane of the soul factory, when their tree dies on Earth, it really doesn’t make that much of a difference. On earth we are just spirits. In Atlantis, in the soul factory, our spirits are our bodies.

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As we near the other plane I feel my spirit condense once more. I get ready for the drop into the canyon of souls. It’s really busy there, all of the new souls waiting for their chains and all of the old ones reminiscing about their past lives lining up to go to the beautiful meadow which also serves as a secure dematerialization unit. I visit them sometimes, to hear their stories of the real world (you don’t get to see much of it while collecting chains believe it or not).

The blue landing pad comes into sight. I brace myself, after 50 years my landings are famous for all the wrong reasons.

BAM!

What in the name of Mother Nature is this?! I missed?! This is a new record, even for me. I fell into a discharge puddle instead! EEEEEEW! Do you know what’s in this stuff? It’s like the amniotic fluid that covers a baby when it’s born except for souls. And from the smell of this crap I can tell you it was not human.

My fellow nymphs land (to my shame) perfectly onto their respective landing pads. My ears are burning with humiliation due to their laughter and that of everyone else in Soul Canyon.

-Haha! Epic landing Cass! Must say, one of your best so far. Judges, can we have your ruling please?

-I think I might go for an 8, Mike. Her feet wobbled as she landed and I feel it should cost her.

-I disagree Leo! She deserves a perfect 10, don’t you think, Cass?

My three best friends continued to harmlessly bicker about my mortifying arrival until it got too irritating.

-Mike! Leo! Dante! Shut the hell up or I swear on my essence that I will strangle you each in your sleep and bind you in the nets of eternity! Understood?

I say this last bit softly, with a maniacal smile on my face which I know will scare them into doing my bidding.

I’m right; the rest of the journey to the factory is passed in silence.

The nets of eternity are every dryad’s worst nightmare. While most souls continue to be recycled until their chains of fate have finished, the truly evil souls are removed from this cycle and are kept as prisoners for the same duration of life-spans they would have normally gone through. These prisoners spend their time making the nets of eternity. Whenever there is a volcanic eruption or plate movement in the earth’s crust, magma is exposed to the world. The fierce glow penetrates the depths of the ocean for just a few moments and creates a glowing cord. This can be weaved into what is known as the net of eternity. Only our cousins, the salamanders and the phoenixes can collect the cords, as those born of fire can not be ended by it. When a net is cast, the ancient power of the Earth’s core comes alive and any being, be it supernatural or not, will have its existence extinguished. The only exceptions are the Titans, as they themselves are as old as the Earth. However, they are considerably weakened by the core’s power and thus their prison is the Earth’s core itself.

On our arrival we see many ordinary dryads on their way home from the factory; they’re going to sit in their pots of dirt no doubt. That’s how they sustain themselves. In this dimension, it is currently midday. The dryads need to photosynthesize to stay alive, so during this time all nymphs will take over the jobs of dryads and the opposite will happen at night. We’re a 24-hour factory, what can I say?

We bring our day’s harvest to the factory counter (which is basically just a hut), where a clerk will take note of how many chains were collected and how many souls can be let loose. I’m happy because the clerk is my friend, also Leo’s girlfriend, her name is Kara and she’s a red-head with green eyes. She’s a flower sprite. The contrast between Leo’s massive frame and her short but curvy one is a sight to see, but his love for her is apparent as every time they near each other, they begin to glow. Literally.

“Hey Kara! What’s up?”

“Cassie! Mother Nature, I feel like I haven’t seen you in cycles!” she squeals, grinning excitedly while practically bouncing off the walls of this tiny shack. To be fair though, I’ve seen her when she’s not this wound up and there’s not much difference.

“K, you saw me 2 sunsets ago, remember? Or were you too busy glowing at the sight of Leo to notice the presence of us other lowly nymphs?”

“W-W-What? No.” With a smirk I see her beginning to blush, but as always, Leo her hero comes to the rescue before Dante or Mike can help me on my quest of further embarrassing the young couple.

“Cass, that’s enough, go run along with Mike and Dante now, we’ll catch up with you guys later.” Leo’s commanding voice broke through the cackles of our tiresome threesome and with a sigh we turn to leave the shed. The rest of the group has already left; they just dumped their harvest and went to hang out the light bar most likely. Just before we leave though, Dante dares me to pull Leo’s hair, so while he’s busy shimmering and stuff, I quickly climb onto the counter (yes, he really is that tall), and tug on one of his many brown dreadlocks.

I dart out as fast as I can, but not before we hear him shout, “CASSIE!”