War.
Famine.
Plague.
All these cursed roads lead to the same inevitable end: Death. But not the death of the soul. No, the body may perish, but what of the soul?
It's a question that haunts all of humanity, even as we live through the chaos of our brief lives. What are souls?
There is a saying that has been passed down through civilizations for eons. "The eyes are the windows to the soul", but what is the soul? Is it the consciousness that slowly grows over time as a person experiences their life? Is it something that has always been with humanity, proof that humans are destined for greater things even in death? Or are all souls just infinitely small parts of the cosmos that gave birth to the beautiful thing we call life?
As humanity evolved, souls began to have more meaning to entire cultures. To some parts of humanity, once your physical body dies, your soul separates towards a metaphysical plane of existence called the afterlife where your soul would remain for eternity. Based on your life choices of good and evil, you can end up in a place of eternal grace and peace, or a place of eternal damnation and despair. In other parts of the world, it is believed that you are reincarnated into another life, again based on the good and evil choices you make in life.
Yet, despite centuries of wonder and worship, despite all the wondrous stories and teachings done in religions, there was no evidence of souls' existence,
As humans evolved and taught themselves the secrets of their world such as physics, biology, math, and the arts, the answer to the question "What are souls?" became less important.
In 2035 A.D. at the Large Hadron Collider that was nestled on the border of Sweden and France, there was a routine experiment taking place that changed the course of humanity's future for the rest of time.
A black hole had formed.
There were many fears and concerns from physicists and the general population of mini black holes opening due to the incredibly high-speed collisions happening in the Large Hadron Collider, but since the black holes would be so small they would immediately disperse with no harm coming to Earth, experiments and studies had continued.
Until this black hole didn't disperse.
Military officials and the United Nations evacuated the 200-mile radius of where the black hole opened praying and hoping that it would become unstable and disappear before it grew in size destroying Earth.
Weeks went by with the world holding its breath. Waiting for the end of their lives as they know it.
People prayed to their gods or indulged in their sins due to the fear of death looming over them and the world was in chaos. In an attempt to quench the fire the world leaders sent brave men and women to the center of the incident to confirm whether or not the black hole had disappeared, they even thought televising it to the world would be incredibly wise since this was a matter for all of humanity and the world was in chaos.
As the brave soldiers, scientists, and reporters approached the center of all of Earth's worries, once the large group of people came within 100 meters of the black hole, humanity saw that indeed the black hole was still there.
It was as if you could physically hear everyone's heart shatter in despair simultaneously. The world became silent and solemn as humanity stared at their screens.
"Something isn't right." A voice could be heard on the screen somewhere in the background. The camera panned to an old scientist who looked exhausted. He had a frown on his face showing his confusion and concern. The reporter swallowed her despair and said with a choked voice. "What do you mean?"
"The black hole in all reality should have either evaporated by now due to the Hawking Radiation being released or have destroyed the Earth by now. There is no in-between. Even standing this close we should be dead." he replied slowly as if making sure the gravity of the situation should be told to all of the world.
"I am going to approach it." the scientist said hesitantly as he took his first step forward leaving behind his group.
The group of brave humans and all those watching their screens watched his back as he walked through the barren land toward the black hole. The group then seemed to have wanted to satiate their curiosities as well so they followed a few steps behind the scientist. Once the group got within 5 meters of the black hole they were still alive which gave them a breath of relief but to their horror they noticed something else.
There were cracks in the air surrounding the black hole. Suspended in the air with each crack slightly moving in slow motion. Repairing itself then recracking in a different direction.
Then suddenly, as if the black hole wanted to welcome its new guests it began to pulsate.
"RUN!!" the scientist screamed, turning around to run in the opposite direction. The rest of the group didn't dare to listen and immediately began to follow him again. A loud whooshing noise could be heard in the background over the noise of the worried pants of the group of people suddenly a loud crack followed then silence,
The men and women continued running in fear for their lives despite the black hole going silent. Then suddenly off camera, a shout was heard.
"Hey! Why are you guys running?"
The group and the whole world froze at that question. The camera slowly stopped swinging and then panned back to the black hole. Standing in front of the black hole was a man dressed in orange and black robes who genuinely looked confused at why people were running from him. Everyone just stared with no words being spoken.
Finally the leader of the group, the scientist spoke up. "Excuse me, did you just come from the black hole?"
"Black hole? Ohhh you mean the KeyHole?" The young man in the robes asked.
"KeyHole?..." the scientist asked slowly, seeming to be more lost as the day went on.
"Yeah, at least that is what they called it when we all came through at first." the young man said smugly as if he loved being the one to have all the answers.
"Who is they?" the scientist asked.
"Oh man do I have a story for you guys." The young man said with a smile.
As the young man described what happened to everyone in the blast radius it seemed straight out of a story. Every single person and living thing was transported to what he called a higher dimension. Where countless amount of people from different species lived on a planet that was infinitely larger than Earth. As soon as the people from Earth were transported by the KeyHole they immediately were surrounded by millions of soldiers all from different factions, clans, and sects. Once the heads of the armies realized they were not from the same dimension the leaders dispersed their forces and personally described what was happening to the scared and worried Earthlings. A KeyHole typically opens to the higher dimension they call Iridia if a planet or dimension is about to die or collapse. Iridia is a refugee dimension for those about to lose their dimension. In Earth's case, the KeyHole was forced open instead of a black hole forming, thus saving Earth from destruction. The thousands of Earthlings that were in the blast radius were then given the choice to either join other factions, clans, or sects and in this case, the young man telling the story was sent back to Earth to tell everyone about the opportunities in Iridia.
"So that's pretty much the basics so far. There are many reasons why coming to Iridia is a good option, and I don't plan on coming back to Earth ever again after this."
"But why? What about Iridia makes you want to abandon your home?" The reporter asked shockingly.
"Oops, I guess there's something I did forget to tell you about why I am so excited about the potential of this new world and its opportunities. There it's not a question about if souls exist, it's about how you can use it." The young man said with a grin.
As he finished his words he reached out his arms as they became covered in red and orange flames.
"The new world can offer you power, power that comes from your very own souls."