Ages ago, there was no time, and energy flowed everywhere.
Space was without borders and beings of all kinds resided there.
On one of the floating islands, there lived a goddess-like being. She was beautiful, with a pretty face, long, light brown hair, and a slender, petite body.
Her appearance was similar to that of the human beings who lived on planetary realms.
She wore a flowing, green and peach-colored dress and floated in the air, never actually touching the island's rocky ground.
The island had a few white pillars supporting a roof under which sat a strong marble table.
One of the goddess's powers was manipulating crystals of many colors and shapes.
These crystals were the souls of beings who had completed their lives on other realms.
They were like fragments of completed souls that had finished their missions.
Because she had never experienced the sufferings or blessings of those realms, she didn't understand the importance of her work.
She played and danced as she floated among her collection of crystals around the pillars.
Scrolls lay on the stone table, along with a flower given to her by her former master.
Her master had left, entrusting all responsibilities to her and the flower.
She had to care for it, and the small potted flower never changed.
She waited for her master, but she never returned.
One of her playful moments on the island marked the beginning of a new path of existence.
This very moment brought something the being, or goddess, never expected.
While playing with the crystals, they slipped from her slender fingers and fell into a purple vortex beneath her island—the same vortex that sent souls to complete their lessons.
But these few crystal souls were not supposed to undergo another lesson. Their lives and lessons were complete, and this was a mistake that could not be easily fixed.
A brilliant light appeared in the space she occupied, and a powerful voice and force pushed her into the vortex, commanding her to retrieve the crystals.
GO! Bring them back!
She slowly fell into the same vortex, crying and begging to be spared.
Her cries echoed emptily into space, and she knew she had to complete the lessons and bring back the souls.
But there was a catch: she had to relinquish her powers and all her knowledge.
For each soul she had to retrieve, she needed to help them, or guide them through, all the life lessons they needed to experience; lessons she, too, needed to feel.
These experiences were necessary for her to better understand all souls and to develop respect for all small things in existence.
The start of her journey was a classic birth on a planet of mermaids.
The entire planet was covered in water. There was little light, and most of the creatures in the water had strong bodies and sharp teeth. They lurked in the dark water, waiting for the next meal to swim by...
She opened her eyes and...
When a siren-like creature swims among the dark underwater plants, it must always be careful of any movement around it. Losing focus could mean its life. Swimming and finding anything edible is difficult when sunlight barely penetrates so deep. The waters are deep everywhere, and the little light that filters down only provides a meager semblance of life.
There are few creatures in these deep waters of the vast planet, and it seems to be filled with only cold, thick darkness. The creatures that reside in this darkness have sharp claws, and their tails have sharp-looking fin spines protruding from their scaly bodies. Their bodies are dark-colored, almost blue or purple. However, the shades are so dark and graying in these waters that you mostly see their body shapes and little else.
Diversity of life is low, and even what remains is engaged in a constant struggle for survival, with creatures preying on each other. Few conscious beings would willingly live here, and even those who seem to possess awareness are slowly succumbing to a survival mentality.
Morality, wisdom, or compassion are gradually sacrificed for the sake of feeding and living. Every creature must feed to survive. But those who retain a spark of compassion begin to feel sadness, and they slowly fade into thin creatures who die and are swallowed by the water.
Through the eyes of the goddess who forgot her powers and memories, these waters are filled with sadness. She felt as though she were both the water and the creature she was at that moment, as well as the creatures she saw around her.
She felt a longing for warmth and something she couldn't grasp, something missing. Someone to talk to, a companion to swim with, or something to break the loneliness.
Then, another creature swam up toward the light, but with less life energy than the others. Its fin movements slowed, and its body gently stopped, conveying a sense of sadness. The body floated, face toward the water's surface, while another, lighter-colored siren creature stared at it with what seemed like love and longing for signs of life.
Every creature met its end. This one was searching for a last hope in the light from the water's surface.
Thoughts raced through the goddess's mind as she felt the cold water around her siren body, the cold scales, and the sad feeling of giving up. She looked, and there was another siren swimming toward her. She felt hope, though she wasn't sure what it meant.
Having forgotten all that gods knew and felt, these new feelings made her like a newborn soul. Pure hope, even while surviving in this harsh, cruel world, flowed through her.
The siren swam to her and tried to give her something that looked like a headpiece. The headpiece, or crown, had spikes and bone-like sharp shells, and the other siren quickly placed it on her head. Surprise overwhelmed her, and she didn't know how to react. The siren gestured with her hand, which had sharp nails and long fingers, toward the floating dead body, conveying unspoken words of claiming that piece of territory.
How this creature established some kind of hierarchy was beyond the goddess's comprehension, as she was still gazing into the mostly empty waters.
She slowly swam, and the other siren followed. This was what she had longed for: companionship and something that, now as a creature experiencing this, made her feel better. She swam in the waters and found food, which gave her more hope.
One of these days of swimming turned foul when her companion donned a hunting face, and a survival madness seized the creature. One moment there was a smiling face, and the next, a gray-eyed hunter. Sharp claws embedded themselves into her body, and the madness and hunger in the creature's eyes signaled the end of their companionship in these deep, dark waters. Her soul felt a light blue shine that pulled her into a soft feeling of existence. Pain, fear, and survival instincts were muted into peace and serenity, but not for long...
Copyright © Dionida Rachel 2025.
This story is an original work of fiction written by Dionida Rachel. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the author's prior written permission. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental.