The Garden of Souls

Lucky Santini stood frozen, his daughter Grace clutched tightly in his arms. The world around him had dissolved into chaos, screams, ash, and the cacophony of a collapsing civilization. But now, even that chaos was gone.

He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't even blink.

It was as if time itself had stopped, and he was suspended in a void, his body no longer his own,his mind frienzied by what the Voice said, ' Gaiahymn '

What did that even mean. He certainly didn't even have any idea but the resonance he felt, the familiarity almost instinctual. As if that word directly called him out among millions.

'what about Grace? Did she also hear it'

He noticed that his beloved daughter stopped crying .

Panic surged through him, but he couldn't even blink,he couldn't react or even feel Grace's presence.

All he could do was feel the weight of Grace in his arms. He could feel the weight but not the faint warmth of her small body pressed against his chest.

And then, the world shifted.

It wasn't a gradual change, it was abrupt. One moment, he was standing in the midst of an apocalypse, and the next, he was somewhere else entirely.

***

The air was cool and crisp, carrying the faint scent of blooming flowers and damp earth. Lucky's senses returned to him all at once, and he gasped, drawing in a deep breath as if he'd been drowning. His body was his own again, but the world around him was unlike anything he had ever seen.

He stood in a vast, endless garden. The ground beneath his feet was soft, covered in a carpet of lush green grass that seemed to glow faintly in the dim light. Above him, the sky was a swirling tapestry of colors,shades of gold, violet, and deep blue, shifting and blending like liquid light.

It was a beautifull sight, the presence of the place was that of tranquility, serenity and holyness. A place that demanded reverence by all and sundry.

But what truly captured his attention was not the vastness of the sky nor the beautifull tapestry of colors present, it was a tree.

It stood at the center of the garden, towering over everything else. Its trunk was impossibly wide, its bark a deep, rich brown that seemed to pulse with life. Its branches stretched out in every direction, their leaves a vibrant green that shimmered with an otherworldly glow.

The tree was ancient, its presence overwhelming, as if it had witnessed the birth of the universe itself.

And around it, millions of people stood in silence, circling it in rows that expanded indefinitely.

They were packed together, shoulder to shoulder, yet there was no sense of crowding. Space seemed to bend and stretch, allowing each person to exist without touching another.

They were all different,men, women, children, of every race and age but their expressions were the same: a mix of awe, fear, and reverence.

Lucky looked down at Grace, She wasn't in his arms any longer, she was next to him. Her tiny build overshadowed by Lucky's own height.

He tried reaching out, but he couldn't touch her. His sight showing him that she was next to him, but the garden of Souls seemed to have put an ocean between them.

At least that was what Lucky felt.

She was awake, her wide eyes taking in the surreal scene around her. She was enthralled by the vastness of the sky and the colourfull nature of the place.

Looking around, she finally saw Lucky and instantly tried to reach for her father, but it was all for naught.

"Daddy... where are we?"

Lucky opened his mouth to answer, trying to reassure Grace, but before he could speak, the voice returned.

It wasn't a sound that reached his ears. It was a presence, a vibration that resonated deep within his soul, filling his mind with words that were both foreign and familiar.

[ The sins of the people are the sins of the land. ]

[ The land shielded you and kept you from the truth of the universe.]

The words echoed through the garden, and Lucky felt a chill run down his spine. He looked around, but no one else seemed to react. It was as if the voice was speaking only to him. He then looked at Grace but her expression was the same as the rest of the people

[ The truth of the universe is the truth of the Mancers ]

[The land is evolving, but Mancers are extinct, forgotten, and discarded.]

Lucky's mind erupted and his whole being resonated when the word Mancer was uttered.

' Just what is a mancer? What evolution ? '

He didn't understand what was happening, but the weight of the words pressed down on him, filling him with a sense of dread and purpose.

[ Here is my gift, and my hope that you survive the path of the Mancers.]

As the voice faded, a soft glow began to emanate from the people around him. It started as a faint shimmer, like sunlight reflecting off water, but it quickly grew brighter, illuminating the garden in a radiant light.

Lucky watched in awe as the glow spread, enveloping each person in a cocoon of light. The light seemed to cleanse them, washing away the ash and despair that had clung to their souls.

And then it reached him.

The light touched his skin, warm and soothing, and he felt a surge of energy course through his body. It was as if a door had been opened inside him, revealing a power he had never known existed.

Grace gasped, her small body glowing as well.

"Daddy... it feels... warm."

Lucky glanced at her, his mind racing. He didn't know what was happening, but he felt one thing: this was no ordinary place. This was a realm beyond the physical, a place where he felt his soul.

This feeling, it overwhelmed him as well as exposed him. He felt that his entire being was exposed, cleansed and tempered.

The glow intensified, and Lucky felt a strange sensation in his chest, as if something inside him was awakening.

His mind ran amock, Memories he didn't recognize flashed through his mind,visions of ancient rituals, of men and women wielding powers beyond comprehension, of a world where the land itself was alive.

But it was all too fuzzy, all too blurry to take not of anything of substance.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, the glow faded.

The garden was silent once more, the people around him standing still, their expressions calm and serene. Lucky looked down at Grace, her glow now gone, but her eyes still wide with wonder.

"Daddy... are we safe now?"

Lucky hesitated, his mind still reeling from what had just happened. He didn't have an answer for her. He couldn't even believe what was happening himself.

At this point he even thought he was too stumped and high. Seeing things as if in a dream.

Who could blame him, just this place felt like it belonged in a fairytale. Infront of him was a tree surrounded by a garden, flowers of all color present, butterfly like creatures flying as they enter and exist with nector.

He momentarily got lost while looking at a butterfly. Following it's movement up and down, left and right until it landed on the nose of Grace.

Seeing this, tried to call onto Grace, rembering that he had to reassure her .

But before he could speak, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The great tree at the center of the garden shuddered, its branches swaying left and right as if caught in a strong wind. The leaves scattering and landing near the people who circled it.

When a leaf fell, one by one, the people around him began to disappear as if it triggered an action.

They didn't fade or dissolve. They simply vanished, making it seem like they had never been there at all.

Lucky watched in stunned silence as the garden emptied, leaving only him and Grace standing before the great tree.

The voice returned, softer this time, almost a whisper.

[The path of the Mancers is not an easy one. But you have been chosen. Survive, and the land will remember.]

And with that, the garden faded, and Lucky found himself back in the chaos of the collapsing world.

But something had changed.

He could feel it.

A power stirring within him, waiting to be unleashed.