The Cathedral of Void [pic2016]

My name is Adam. I used to live inside an old cathedral somewhere in eastern Europe. I grew alone - there was not much people left after the Bottleneck. The cathedral was abandoned, void of life, but its walls had survived the Bottleneck - and that was enough for me.

The Bottleneck is the nickname humanity gave to 2036 - the year where Earth burned. There had been so much deaths, most species on Earth experienced extinction - and Earth was plunged into an Evolutionary Bottleneck.

My cathedral was mostly empty, except for a small library, a few rubbish, and the statue an angel.



I spent long hours just gazing at the statue, wondering what it meant. A legend as old as the empty Cathedral says that the angel's name is Kyyryel, and that Lucifer bound him to the ground with a chain made of solid lightning. Maybe the angels have forgotten me. Or maybe they are just as weak as men.

I have removed all the cherubs from the Empty Cathedral. The Cherubs have been of no help during the Bottleneck.



This world has burned. How could they let this happen? Were the servants of God unable to even carry out His omnipotence? Maybe that in their conflicts with one another, no angels could be trusted with God's power, lest the world would be torn apart. But then, if that was the case, what made angels any better than Men?

I walked to the wall. There was a round window, and a spider had woven a web there.



I watched the world through the web. It was grey and bleak. There was no longer beauty left on the physical world. Maybe this is why I dwell in the metaphysical. All those philosopher's books I have read, they did not just weave a web in some window - they weaved entire worlds in everyone's minds.

The kingdom of ideas was the most important of the two worlds. When you think about it, territories were run by political ideologies. Revolutions were created when some man founded a new ideology in his mind. This ideology would gain metaphysical territory by propagating through other minds. The man who created the idea became the highest authority over this expanding ideological kingdom. It is ideas which motivate men to take arms. True enough, history is a testimony of how the physical world would then change to match that of the metaphysical. The intentions became actions, the metaphysical territory materialised into a physical kingdom with borders of stone, and the highest ideological authority became king over the new physical domain.

Maybe the ultimate weapon is not one which is physical, but one which targets the mind instead. A virtual missile which no physical devices can fend off. A missile with a body of ink and paper, a warhead of words, and an idea at its heart. The last weapon Man will ever make.

Maybe such weapons already are yielded by the angels. Maybe this is why their conflicts never end - their weapons cannot be destroyed.

Darkness is falling. I think I will go take a look outside. The Cathedral's doors are shut but I care not, I can pass through them. There are some trees outside.



My it is beautiful. It has been years that no sap has ever flowed through the trees though. The ashes has burned all the leaves long ago. But the trees nevertheless stood, as shrines of their former selves.

I went back inside. It was getting pretty dark now. Ice was beginning to form on the Empty Cathedral's columns and its windows. But I felt not the cold. Souls have many weaknesses but sensing cold was not one of them.

I looked up at the heavens, this fifth night of the year 4059 A.D. Maybe one day I will have the courage to ascend there. But for now the silence, the emptiness of my cathedral was the better companion.

I had eternity to wait anyway.

a reply to: swanne

Nice writing!!!

Good job! Really enjoyed this!

a reply to: swanne

I also found the juxtaposition cool!

a reply to: swanne

Hey swanne!

Really good story...very interesting!! I enjoyed it.

Loved this line: "But the trees nevertheless stood, as shrines of their former selves."

S&F
I think I've read all the new entries now. Really impressed with what everyone's done with the pictures. This competition should be fun to watch now.

jacy

Good story.
As I read it i not only enjoyed it, it gave me ideas.
Good stories do that,
they spark the imagination.

a reply to: swanne

Enjoyed the story, swanne!!

- AB

a reply to: Quantum12

Thankss! The immobile clash between the physical and the ideal was a fun concept to explore.

a reply to: swanne

So good, hopefully not a premonition...

a reply to: swanne

a warhead of words

Everything comes from thought, everything. I love pondering that concept and I'm so glad you're writing again, swanne. Brilliant tale, beautifully written.

S&F

B x

a reply to: Night Star

Thanks, I enjoyed writing it!

a reply to: Quantum12

Juxtaposition? No, it's one storyline. Adam's physical life ended in 2036, and have been a mere soul ever since, clinging onto the silence of this Earth for two thousands years.

a reply to: swanne

S/F my friend! AH, the power of words! The power of creation behind the words spoken. That's why I like ATS and the amazing writers who participate here. I sat this one out because I just had a friend die and just can't muster up the energy to write something new but I hope to read everyone's stories and comment. b

My sincere condolences.

What was his/her name? I hope you remember him/her forever - for I am convinced there is another world out there, a world which eludes physical perceptions, a world where you shall meet him/her once again at the end of your own time.

a reply to: swanne
Thanks swanne. Her name was Mari and she died due to a rare auto immune disease. I look forward to taking a walk with her in the future. She loved to walk!

a reply to: grayeagle

"Time is the school in which we learn
Time is the fire in which we burn"

Here's to Mari - the woman who escaped Time.

a reply to: jacygirl

Thanks.

I'll let you a little spoiler:

As you know, all (well, most of) my short stories are somewhat interconnected to one another (and to my novel). In the far, far future, Adam grows to become a super-villain - at one point, he gets to threaten the balance of the entire universe.

This short story is an introduction to this awesome character. He's the philosopher villain - the kind of which uses weapons of thoughts and forces the good guys to be really, really clever.

a reply to: Errollorre

Thanks! You're quite good yourself!

a reply to: AboveBoard

Thanks!

It interconnects with most of my other stories, fyi.

a reply to: swanne

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