Darkest of The Dark: The Night's Soul

By Sathvikh Sudhakar

Darkest of the Dark: The Night’s Soul

Short story by Sathvikh Sudhakar

Genre: Fantasy

Prologue

I cautiously walked towards the gleaming door, which strode towards me, just mimicking my pace, like a mirror. I reached out to the door curiously with one hand. Then the other. At this point, I could hear my heartbeat rising up to my throat. Just when I thought it would explode in my mouth, the door consumed me!

Nothing. Just dark…ink dark. I was plummeting into my death just as my fate read down, 

down, 

down 

      and down,

       into the World of Night!

Chapter 1

It was a very normal day in my school, chatting with my two besties, Jack and Sandy, during lunch break. We overheard two grade 11 students discussing a tough maths problem which they found very difficult to solve. I quickly did the calculations in my mind and answered out loud “2114”, and I wondered why they found it so hard. I immediately got an appreciation from a maths teacher who was passing by. Proud of myself, I turned back towards my friends to continue our discussion when I found four open jaws staring at me. 

By the way, I’m Sentain, doing my 7th grade, hailing from an orphanage, as I lost my parents in a car crash when I was 1. I love all subjects, including arts, music, and sports, and participate in every event possible, and have won several competitions and awards especially for science, history, and mathematics. I can also speak more than 7 languages, and can solve problems beyond my age level. I am not sure how I am capable of so many things.

“Sent, Yesterday you said that something important happened. What was that?” Sandy asked. 

“Well, it wa-” before I could finish my sentence, a flock of dark coloured birds flew past our faces, and scratched my nose.

“It was what?” she asked unconsumed with what had happened. HEr face did not show any kind of expression to make me believe what I saw was real. So I asked at her face:

“Did you see the flock of birds?”

“What birds?” they asked. Right now, they should be thinking that this was a prank.

“I think it was my imagination” I lied. The scratch on my nose is definitely real as it hurts. If they didn’t observe it, then it must have already healed. This is no surprise to me as any injury disappears within minutes. The rest of the school day passed by thinking about the flock of birds that ONLY I could see.

On the way back home, I took the subway with Jack. I could share weird things with him, as he doesn't treat me as a weirdo. If it's not his concern, he forgets it in a matter of a day. So I decided to talk to him about the birds.

As I walked along with him, into the train, I had a strange instinct that something would go wrong. My instincts are usually 90% correct. Because of my instinct, the thought to tell Jack about the birds got washed away right then.

Chapter 2

I woke up with a stabbing pain in my head, worse than any nightmare. I knew if I calmed down it would reduce, so I got up and took a few deep breaths.

After I recovered from my pain, I realised I was in pitch darkness all around. Then, I noted that I was sitting on a soft surface with gaps, not the hard one of the train. I heard flapping sounds, after concentrating more. I connected the dots and realised that I was sitting on flying birds. I panicked and tried to recall what had happened.

Jack and I were talking. Deciding to finish homework on the train as usual. While picking up our books from our bags, I heard something like an explosion coming from the front cabin. I looked up to see a blur of orange, yellow and red. Then our cabin exploded. 

My first thought was that I was dead, but I was still breathing. I didn’t know what to do, so I sat up and thought for a while. I managed to link what I saw: The black birds! The more I thought about it the more clear it became. They were not normal birds, but they were bats with properties of an eagle - The Soul Eaters!

Chapter 3

“Soul Eaters, Soul Eaters! SOUL EATERS! You are going to die! Soul Eaters, Soul Eaters! SOUL EATERS! You are going to die!” This thought kept echoing in my brain, for how long I don’t know. But what I know is, that there is a myth on the Soul Eaters, and that Soul Eaters means death. I couldn’t quite place where I heard the story, or read about it. The only sentence I remember from the story is “If you see weird eagle-like, dark coloured birds in shades of grey and blue having square shaped head, a mouth instead of  beak, eyes the colour of their skin making them invisible and disappearing legs, know that you are going to die”

I noted that in this sentence, it describes the Soul Eaters as grey and blue, and not black. To confirm if I'm flying on soul eaters, I observed the flock of birds closely, and to my surprise I’m able to see clearly in darkness. Later, I figured that the birds are very dark blue in colour, not black, but I couldn’t spot any grey. The rest of the details matched these birds that are underneath me, so I concluded that these are definitely Soul Eaters. 

Frustrated, not knowing more about what was going to happen to me, I thrust my hand out and accidentally hit one of the birds, and it turned to glowing transparent grey, (so that’s why they were described as grey!) and I could see all of its organs. What surprised me was that it had two hearts. Amused, without lifting my hand, I looked a bit closer at those hearts. I noticed that one was small, around half the size of its brain, and the other about the same size as the brain. But something was abnormal. On further observation, I realised that the bigger heart was inside its stomach, and it was a human heart!

In shock, I fell backwards, and out of the blanket of birds, when the myth of the Soul Eaters finally came back to me: that these birds kidnap children to eat them alive! I was actually grateful that I was to die by falling into nowhere rather than being eaten by these birds. Suddenly, I felt the same soft surface below my feet and I gave out a loud and useless shriek.

Chapter 4

After an eternity of sitting in pitch dark on my deathbed made out of birds, I saw a tiny bit of light coming from below. It looked like a star in the dark night sky, shining white and bright, except, when we got closer, it looked more yellow than white. 

The more closer I got to the light, the further away it looked. I didn’t understand how it could be like that, it broke the laws of physics, and I rubbed my eyes. Then I understood that the light source had started moving downwards. I started to panic, as my only hope of possible escape was going away from me. So I did the first thing that came to my mind: I jumped out of the Soul Eater’s platform, and towards the light. In a matter of seconds, the birds were under me, going slightly up, back to its course. 

But that wasn’t the end of my plan. My next step was to jump multiple times, so I went down and down a few metres every time I jumped, as the birds needed to fly below me. My plan was in action, until I realised the flaw in my plan. Since the Soul Eaters are going front and up at the same time, even if I can travel downwards, how was I supposed to retrace, and go back? After which I gave up.

But, to my surprise, after a certain distance and height away from the light, the birds scattered away, letting me zoom towards the source of light with speed. I landed on a smooth surface with a ‘thud’,  but was not injured. I realised that I was in a pool of golden light. I looked behind me to find its source, a shining, glittering, golden door, a few 100 metres away. 

I got up, and I cautiously walked towards the gleaming door, which strode towards me, just mimicking my pace, like a mirror. I reached out to the door curiously with one hand. Then the other. At this point, I could hear my heartbeat raising up to my throat. Just when I thought it would explode in my mouth, the door consumed me!

Nothing. Just dark…ink dark. I was plumpting into my death just as my fate read down, 

down, 

down 

      and down,

       into the World of Night!

Chapter 5

3 hours. 3 whole hours of falling, according to my watch, into absolutely nowhere. A journey that does nothing to you, but raises your fears of death every second, a terror that seizes your heart, till you surrender to death itself. But I was assiduous, I kept my focus throughout the journey, to stay awake. At one point, I could literally see death come into me, fighting through my brain, to carry my consciousness and soul away…

Just then, at that moment, I felt a stabbing pain inside my head. But it vanished a few seconds later, like it was never there. I thought that this is how death would feel, an intolerant pain, then just, gone. I even decided to double check if I was alive, and realised I was not breathing. Ok, I thought it’s time to check whether I am in Hell or Heaven and slowly lifted my eyes open. What I saw was an atrocious beauty, a bright, wonderful shade of dark red and orange all around me. I sank through this glowing liquid, thinking where this kind of substance could be located, as I realised this was lava. I am in hell! I thought when I reached the bottom, and fell straight through it, to fall yet again, smoothly on a surface just far enough to not go back into the lava. 

No matter how surprising this day could be, with Soul Eaters kidnapping me, throwing me away like garbage (which was good for me, I guess), then with this lava that does not feel hot nor that can drip down like any other liquid. But there is no bigger surprise than hearing a familiar voice after this adventure. “Hey Sent,” it says from behind “dude, turn around!”

When I do, I find my bud Jack standing just a few feet away!

Chapter 6

“Are you real?” I ask, not sure what else to do. At this rate, anything could just be an illusion.

“Yes! Have you gone mad?” he asks, in a joking manner. I can sense that his character is still the same, but I still double check.

“What was the answer to the maths riddle I solved this morning?”

He thinks for a while, does something with his hands, and says “2114”. 

I finally broke up. I ran up to him and tackled him with a huge hug and asked him “Do you have any idea how happy I am to see you?” I expected him to ask the same thing back to my surprise, he didn’t.

Instead he said “I don’t know how happy you are, but I know where we are” he stared at me for a long 10 seconds, then realising that I don’t believe him he added on “I also know why I am here and why you are here.”

***

We started walking underneath the lava ceiling into a set of shining black hallways, then turned left, and we were met with a board that said “World of Night”. I looked at Jack for an explanation, but he just walked past that board like it was a daily thing to see. We continued to walk on a single path for a very long time, which led to a humongous circular room, with an obsidian-lava throne in front. It was alluring, and pulled me towards it irresistibly, and then a loud chant of someone’s name erupted around me,  my name, snapping me back to the rest of the room.

 I could see silk like black fabric robes all sitting in a stadium-like seating arrangement, with different amounts of jewels layering the robe. The one with the most jewels glided from next to the throne and came to face right in front of me. He examined me, and when he was satisfied, he put his cold hand of smoke on my chest. An intuition told me to do the same to him, and saw a small glow from my fingers enter its body. The glow slowly parted the darkness from its body to reveal its organs, and its two hearts! Before I could react, a cheer echoed throughout the room with bursts of brown and red confetti all over the room. I looked at Jack in betrayal, realising he had sacrificed me for him to live.

I heard him murmur after looking at me “Thunder after Lightning” smiling. He signalled me to look down at myself, and it paid off. I saw a blue wisp of smoke come out of my heart and settle above my head. It moved back and forth from me and towards the lava ceiling, then settled on my head, in the form of a solid lapis crown.

Chapter 7

“Woooooooooooooooosssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh!” millions of memories charged into my head; Events from many centuries; Moments that are still crystal clear, like photographic memory. At one point, I could even see myself as a baby, then as a toddler, a kid, and the current year! But what stood out the most was the very first memories, from 100 centuries ago.

***

I opened my eyes for the first time, 100 centuries ago, to see flashes of colours, which then transformed to white; coming from a huge star, the Sun, which was disturbing. Though behind me, there was one colour I had seen forever, before my eyes worked, before I could breathe - BLACK! Darkness! A homely feeling. I flew towards it and found a place to rest in the core of the moon.

I woke up and saw some world bigger than my resting place in the distance, something blue and green. Too afraid to go there to explore, I made myself home at my current spot, which I then called the World of Night.

A few years later, I had developed the power to give life to any object. Catching tiny objects passing by, I sculpt them into something that could fly like me and give me company. The sculptures started to make other sculptures, and after a decade, I had over a trillion tiny bird-like creatures. I became their king. Tired and bored of all the work, I slept a sleep which I never woke up from.

***

20 years later, Generation 2

***

This time I was born on Earth - the blue and green structure. I see millions of eagle-like creatures charge towards Earth from the moon, which made the villagers go crazy, except for me. I feel some desperate look in the eyes of the birds, like they are missing something. When the creatures found me, they lightly took me up and slowly and carefully separated my soul from my body to another they brought, as they took me back to the Moon. The whole of my civilization witnessed this.

When my soul was successfully transferred into the other body, it felt as if I was struck, and empowered by a flash of lightning. Just like that, the memories from my past life 20 years ago came back to me. I was reunited with my billion friends again. I realised that my soul had come into my past body, as per the plan of my birds. The desperate look vanished off and the birds were happy.

Few years after roaming between Earth and the Moon, I found a copy of the book called “Soul Eaters”, and noted that the humans thought that my soul was eaten by my birds and thus they have named them as Soul Eaters.

I developed a system that improves my World of Night, the federal system. You get better jobs (promoted) if you do your best in the previous job, and demoted if he/she did not obey an order from me. I led a very unsatisfactory generation of life.

***

15 years after 2nd death

***

Yet again I was born on Earth.

“The Soul Eaters! The myth was true!” I heard someone yell and point up into the night sky, towards the moon. I ran into my hut and locked the door, in fear. Everyone in the town did that. But it was a surprise to me when all the birds flew into my straw ceiling and flew away with me, like they already knew why and who they should kidnap. I fainted in fear.

When I woke up in my World of Night, the memories from my past lives came back to me. I was reunited with my billion friends again, in my 1st body. I realised that it was only possible to be born on Earth, as that is the place where people are ‘born’. In this generation, I managed to correct the kidnapping system of the person on Earth with my soul. Now, no one will know the person being kidnapped. But in this process, I accidentally burnt my body while testing a way to cleanse the impacts from Earth. So from the next generation, the original bodies of the kidnapped person stayed. It was a very stressful generation of my life.

Chapter 8

“Woah!” I exclaimed. My brain connected the dots on what I saw inside my head and came to the conclusion that I have the king’s soul that lived on the moon. And also that the written myth about the Soul Eaters is wrong.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked. I had completely forgotten him and wondered why he was here. Like Jack read my mind, he said “Oh, I was brought here to give you company as you are the youngest soul so far!”

I digested the information. Suddenly, a thought came in my mind and thought out loud “But what do I do? I have no idea of how to be a king, or the purpose of being one.”

“How can you say this? Did you not know that a meteorite-” the cloaked figure, who is the person in charge of the king (me), Holeb started.

A memory popped into my head from my last generation 12 years ago, and I completed the sentence “ is heading for our solar system from the andromeda galaxy”

“Then?” he asked. “You know that it has already crossed the Kuiper Belt, the belt around our solar system! The king’s power and intelligence is needed to stop it from destroying the Sun, else it will consume the entire solar system.”

I roared with authority at him “Why didn't you atleast plan the procedure out? Then I could have just followed it and stopped it in a matter of a few days! You had the intelligence to kidnap me, but not stop a meteoroid?!”

“That’s our king!” I hear proud murmurs from all around my throne room, in joy to feel the power of their king.

Holeb kindly replied “Lord Sentain, if you don’t remember, we Soul Eaters can only take your orders.”

I realised the truth and apologised to him. Jack suddenly handed me a paper that had the velocity and direction of the moon, sun, and the meteoroid. In a minute I calculated the location and time it should be stopped before it could collide into the sun. Then I realised that only if we manage to create a heavy missile in the next 15 minutes, we will be able to destroy the meteoroid. I told this to Holeb.

“Sir, great news for you! With your power, the missile can get ready in 10 minutes!”

Chapter 9

3 month Later, Earth

‘BREAKING NEWS! All the crimes that happened when the moon was up have completely stopped and the culprits were caught red - handed! These events have challenged the biggest terrorists to plan a crime at night, which led thousands of them to be arrested. Not a single time has any person succeeded to commit a criminal offence. But the most surprising part of these sets of unusual events is that all arrested criminals have a burnt mark behind his/her neck, a crescent moon which looks like a ‘S’ and a dollar cent inside the moon, the sign of Sentain. The police are 100% sure these criminals did not have the mark before the night they were arrested. The world’s crime rate has reduced by 75%, and is still dropping!

2 months Earlier, World of Night

Even after my successful mission in saving the solar system, I was not satisfied that I had contributed enough for this generation. I wanted to do more. The first most important problem that I thought needed to be solved was the frequent rise in crime on Earth at night, in which I lost my parents. So I constructed a plan to stop all criminal acts that happen during the Night. Here’s how it goes:

My Soul Eaters mark the criminals with the sign of Sentain. This makes the criminals fail their attempt in their crime by confusing them. This makes them leave a lot of evidence behind.

After the success of this operation, I was satisfied. I led a peaceful and satisfactory king's life, happily ruling and developing my World of Night,and also helping the people of Earth!

By Sathvikh Sudhakar