Inpu had clearly expected that Haku meant to ask him questions about his nature and that of the other supernatural beings, because he didn't seem the least bit surprised by the question. However, he didn't hide the fact that he was annoyed either. Even if technically the spirits had to be neutral, and therefore it didn't matter to them who their master was, it was evident that he didn't like being given orders by a dragon, and above all of having to reveal certain information to him. But since Haku now had total control over him he couldn't oppose his will, so he replied sincerely: "We spirits are the souls of those who in life had been our god's most devoted servants, and who after death are been rewarded and elevated to soldiers in their service"
Haku's eyes gave off a strange light when he heard those words, the same light that always appeared in them when he discovered something really interesting. "Souls? So is the soul something real? And so is the afterlife?"
Up until that point, Haku's conception of the world had been purely materialistic. Even though he knew of the existence of the gods and knew that the newcomers all had, more or less, the concept of 'soul', and therefore also of the afterlife, Haku had never found proof that such things were real. For him, the only thing that determined a conscience was the brain: the mind, and therefore the ego, was nothing more than a set of impulses that continuously crossed that particular organ which, even though Haku had studied it carefully, still reserved many secrets. He had never found a sign that mortal bodies actually possessed souls. As a result, he hadn't even found any sign of the afterlife. But now, he was faced with tangible proof that both of these things were absolutely real.
Inpu let out a disgusted noise. "A being who has no faith in any god might actually have doubts about such concepts, but yes, the soul is something real, and so is life after death" he said. Even if he couldn't directly insult his own master, perhaps because he was bound or perhaps simply out of good manners, he hadn't spared himself from making not too vague digs. "Souls reside in the bodies of mortal beings and after their death they enter the divine realm of the god or the goddess in whom they had faith in life, and there they will be judged, rewarded or punished according to the rules of the said god or goddess. My goddess, the goddess Heloisa, allows those who have listened to her dictates to live in an eternal garden of stillness and peace, where all pleasures are satisfied, while those who have distorted her will fall into a pit in the center of the garden from which they cannot emerge and within which there is only boiling pitch, so that they suffer for their misdeeds for eternity"
Haku let out a snort halfway between satisfied and amused. He wasn't familiar with the dictates of the goddess Heloisa, but he was pretty sure Carrion had twisted them to his liking. As a result, at least now he was getting the punishment he deserved. In a way, spending eternity in a pit full of boiling pitch was worse than just vanishing. "Where are these... divine realms located?"
"You could never find them, they aren't in this world. They are on another plane of existence" Inpu replied. "This world, the sun, the moon and all the stars are in the mortal plane, but it is not the only plane. There is another plane which is known among souls as the transcendental plane. I do not know if this is the its real name or if the gods call it something else, but that is how those who dwell in their realms are accustomed to call it.In the transcendental plane, all the divine realms are positioned around this world, but they never touch it because precisely they are on two different realities. It is impossible to access this plane while alive and even when dead, without a connection of faith, it is impossible to reach it"
"Connection of faith?" Haku repeated.
"It is the means by which souls are transported to the divine realm. It is like a rope constantly wrapped around the soul, but the mortal body doesn't notice it. As soon as the mortal body dies, the rope drags the soul into divine realm" Inpu explained. "We call it connection of faith because it is fueled by a person's faith in their god. The weaker that faith, the thinner the rope and the longer it will take to transport that soul into the divine realm. The stronger the faith, the more the rope will be thick and will drag that soul faster, almost to the point that the journey will be instantaneous. This connection of faith is the only way to reach the divine realm, since otherwise the souls wouldn't even know where to go and they couldn't even enter it even if they could find it, since its walls would remain closed to them. Only the gods can move through the transcendental plane without leaning and can enter any divine realm when they want"
"And the souls of those who in life believed in no god? What happens to them?" Haku asked again.
Inpu just shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe they just disappear, or maybe they go somewhere else. Only the gods can know"
Haku rubbed his chin, recalling all the information he had just acquired in just a few minutes of conversation. He couldn't believe it: not only were concepts like souls and the afterlife real, but there was a whole other plane of existence as well! A real alternate world, very close to the one in which he lived, but separated by the barrier between realities! A place that could have had other laws of physics, different thermodynamics, absurd sources of energy, maybe objects that once launched flew up instead of falling down… extraordinary. Truly extraordinary. Even though he had suspected that gods, spirits and other supernatural entities weren't native to the mortal world, since they violated too many laws of nature, knowing that the transcendental plane actually existed gave him a mixed feeling between exhilaration for all that he could acquire from it and concern for the dangers that might dwell in it. Like everything Haku had come across in his life, it could be a double-edged sword. Before making any decisions, Haku had to know more about that different reality. "Tell me about the divine realms. What are they like? What laws govern them? How are they related to each other?"
Inpu hesitated, as if he didn't quite know how to answer, then he tried to be as clear as possible: "The divine realms... well, seen from the outside they are like bubbles that sometimes are enormous and sometimes are smaller than a grain of sand, but they all have the same size, and they are composed of an ethereal material which has no size or thickness. And there are no connections between the various divine realms, there are no bridges or tunnels or anything like that: each divine realm is closed and separate from all the others, and often the distance between it and all the others is such that it can be considered almost an approximation of infinity, but at the same time it is very close. Only the gods can move between the various divine realms or allow some souls to go with them, no one else can"
Haku had a lot of trouble understanding what Inpu was saying to him. Apparently he hadn't been wrong: the transcendental plane indeed had completely different laws of nature from those of the mortal plane. Concepts such as distances and dimensions were completely distorted: if the divine realms always had the same dimensions but at the same time they went from being huge to very small, and if the distance between one divine realm and another was both very short and infinite , then it meant that even the most basic rules of the mortal world did not work the same way in the transcendental plane. Concepts that were totally opposite in the mortal plane coexisted in the transcendental plane. By now Haku would no longer be surprised if Inpu told him that within the same divine realms there was everything and nothing at the same time. At least he had managed to obtain a first and most likely not very accurate map of the transcendental plane: a sort of absolute void, similar to an endless ocean, with tiny bubble-shaped islands that were precisely the divine realms. "You said that the divine realms look like this from the outside. What are they like inside?"
"Inside, they have no boundaries. If on the outside they look like closed bubbles, inside there is no sign of such a bubble and they seem infinite," Inpu replied. "Inside them is an entire world that mirrors the will of the god who commands that divine realm. There may be forests, mountains, palaces, towers, cities, places of torture, deserts, starry skies, gardens, oceans, or even completely meaningless in the mortal world, for example worlds where you walk upside down or waterfalls that go upwards. It is the god or the goddess who commands that divine realm who decides how it is, and can change it at any time as he or she wishes"
Haku narrowed his eyes. He had initially assumed that the divine realms were presided over by the gods, or at least owned by them, but it seemed that he was wrong: if indeed a god could modify his divine realm to his liking, then the relationship between them was likely to be much deeper. More than a place commanded by a god, the divine realm felt like an extension of that god's will. Just as a mortal could alter what went on in his mind at will using his imagination, so a god could alter his divine realm with will alone. "So, does the divine realm have the form its god wants it to take, and souls dwell within it? Are there any rules or laws or something?"
"The rules and laws of the god realm are also chosen by its god, so they vary according to what that god's personality is like. However, there are some general rules. The most obvious, of course, is that the god of that god divine realm rules everything and that everyone must obey him. Then there is also a hierarchy among souls" Inpu answered. "Let's say, the stronger a soul's faith, the higher its place in the hierarchy. Most souls are ordinary souls, and therefore spend eternity simply enjoying the pleasures their god's realm offers them. Then there are some souls whose faith is particularly strong, generally they are those who were legendary levels in life, but they can also be ordinary people. After death they are elevated to a higher degree and become spirits, angels, demons or ghosts depending on what kind of god they served"
"Interesting. So you were once a mortal too?" Haku asked.
Inpu nodded. "Many, many centuries ago I was. After my death I ascended to the divine realm of the goddess Heloisa and there she rewarded me for my work by elevating me to a minor spirit"
"She elevated you? How would she do that?"
"I'm not arrogant enough to wonder about the power of the gods, I just accept it. When I came to her divine realm, she brushed her divine fingers over my head and I felt her essence flowing through me, and I become what I am now"
"Why only a minor spirit? Hadn't you done enough to deserve the title of major spirit?"
"Not at all, my contributions in life were more than worthy. All those who are elevated by the goddess after death become minor spirits only. From that moment, our job is to serve the goddess in her divine realm and serve those who summon us in the mortal world, since they can only do so by using the magic our goddess has taught them, and so… almost always… are executing her will. If a minor spirit performs feats worthy of note, then the goddess can decide whether to reward him further and ascend him to a major spirit. They are the elite of the elite in the divine realm, second only to the goddess in the chain of command, and represent the most powerful forces at her service"
Haku thought carefully. He now had a clearer understanding of supernatural creatures; in fact, it was probable that even for angels, demons and ghosts the rules were not too different from spirits. He should have delved deeper into the matter, but he had more pressing questions first. "Since you like to talk about your goddess, tell me about her. In fact, tell me about gods in general. What exactly are they?"