A Monster Walks Throughout Infinity

I awoke to darkness. I was not inside anywhere though. I was in a...large hole. I stared into nowhere for a while. Until the darkness was banished by light. I could see out of the hole now, as well as around. I sat up, and looked around. I saw objects and things that looked to be made for beings smaller than me.

Knowledge from somewhere entered my mind. Then I knew that somewhere was actually within me. Knowledge left behind for me.

Now I know why everything looks small to me. It is because I am big. I climb out of the hole with my hands and feet. My hands are clawed and my feet are taloned. I easily climb up. Once above, I stand and take in my surroundings.

There is nothing. The land around me is barren. The sky is cloudy and ominous. I do see a lake nearby. I walk to it in heavy, thudding steps.

When I reach it, I look down at my reflection in the lake. The water is still. I see myself, tall, lanky, gray-skinned, no eyes, no mouth, no ears, no reproductive organs visible.

What am I?

Then I am hit with another flood of passed down knowledge.

I am...

A monster.

The product of an eccentric man of great ability. A product that never worked. How am I working now though?

As for the reason behind my design? I am to be a terrible weapon of nightmarish abilities. A monster the enemies of my creator.

Who the enemies are was not knowledge within me. I then feel hungry. I do not eat food though. So what do I hunger after?

Then I begin to "see" wisps of misty lights that follow dim balls of light. I suck one into myself from where my mouth would be by instinct. My hunger is satiated a bit.

I receive...fractured memories from what I now know was a lost soul. It was not enough information though. I starting to suck in the other souls I see floating around. I want satiate my hunger and my desire to know what is happening.

As I continued to "eat" souls, I gained more information. I even felt myself gain power.

However, the souls were extremely fractured and each one only gave me some words or a single image. I don't know how much time I spent walking. I passed mountains, hills, wasteland after wasteland, ruins of civilization and crumbling skeletons. Until I could feast on souls no more.

I finally had some sort of picture. Some understanding of my creation. I even understood in what way I am becoming powerful.

I was heralded as the finest creation of this planet's advanced civilization. Only to become the greatest disappointment after I could be "turned on". Soon after my completion, my creator died along with his people.

My creator and his people used the power of souls for their abilities. I was to be made as a living weapon with the grandest soul, the most powerful soul. They had succeeded with making artificial people with souls in the past. They thought it would be enough for me. They were wrong.

The soul they gave me wasn't nearly strong enough to power my body and its capabilities. So I did not turn on when they wanted me too. Instead, I remained dormant as my soul grew into this body of mine. A body built to be able to have the properties of a soul. A peculiar line of thinking.

My abilities are...uncommon when compared to even this Soul Civilization. I can stand between the dimensions of life and death. The dimension souls cross to get to the afterlife, or get back to life. There, I can be intangible, unseeable, undetectable by all except the uncommon. This in between place is called Limbo. Even then, I feel I can make myself even more hidden. It was this ability that truly excited my dead creator. A giant monster that eats souls no one can detect. I even know my size now. I am exactly 2000 ft tall.

The other ability was to use Limbo to cross any distance imaginable. Planet to planet, city to city, solar systems, galaxies, it was theorized I could even jump between universes using Limbo. As for what will my guide through Limbo? The souls themselves. I am instinctually attracted to them. Allowing me to have some sense of direction. Until I understand Limbo more.

My soul eating ability isn't even as evil as it sounds. I act as a sort of living purgatory. Souls go in, are cleaned of impurities, and regrets. Then I take power from the souls, not enough to destroy them. Finally, They move directly into the realm of death from within, pure. The Soul Civilization was ethical despite any obvious misconceptions.

I think I will use Limbo to leave this planet now. There are no more souls around, the planet is dead, and all is barren or still.

As for my name, they gave me one even if they officially declared me a monster.

My name is...

...Surga

My name also happens to mean "monster" in dead language of this planet's history. Perhaps it was meant to be humorous?

Regardless, it is time to leave. I switch into Limbo like it is first nature. Now the world around me looks like it is covered in a light mist of different colors. The mist takes on the color of what it comes off of.

I then try to find a soul in any direction. My eyeless gaze is directed up. I can feel it, them, beyond the clouds. I wish to go there. I am suddenly moved.

No, I am not moved. The world moves for me. As I just stand, as the planet moves away from my feet. The clouds come at me, then past me. The starts then shoot closer to me, past me, as I get closer to where the souls are. Existence goes past me, and then I find myself on another planet during the night.

I am right outside a small city. I can tell that I did not travel far. Merely the next few solar systems over. The city was...how do you say?

Ah, a lost soul is floating in front of me. I will eat it and see what I can learn.

Ah right, it is a city made with architecture that typically belongs to traditional cultivation civilizations. This is a planet belonging to "immortal" cultivators. Beings that use an energy known as Qi to gain strength and lifespan.

From that lost soul, I now consider them strange. A common character trait among them is haughtiness. Which isn't gained at birth, but developed over time without fail. The trait is a...social contagion that their entire civilization is infected with.

As there are other lost souls floating around, I suck them all up. I leave the souls that are not lost, and on their way to the realm of the dead alone though. The knowledge I have of the strange beings of the afterlife is scarce. I know that they do not like it when a soul's journey is interrupted. Which is why I deigned to not step on the toes of these mysterious entities. If they have toes, that is.

I learn a great deal more about this place, and city. Although the emotions I read are not understandable to me. The concepts of anger, love, hate, and joy are still foreign to me. Perhaps it is due to me still being a newborn. The concept of entertainment is also foreign. I was made for a purpose, but now the purpose is gone. I have no secondary directives or objectives and no protocols to call upon. I am aimless.

Then an explosion occurs. At a tall pagoda tower. A few human cultivators then fly out onto the street. One is injured though.

I step closer to hear what they are saying. As I am intangible, the buildings I step through are not affected by my legs.

I get close to pick up on their shouting. This human male wants this human female as a sexual partner. She refused and now he wants to take her by force. With the help of these other cultivators at his side.

The female then does something unexpected. She takes out a dagger and stabs her own heart with it. I am surprised by this. As even I know that taking your own life is insane. The Soul Civilization knew this to be an insane act. As they proved that it severely taints the soul and leaves an ominous mark on it.

I find this...sad?

I then get the idea. What if I eat her soul? Could I remove the taint and the mark?

As the soul leaves the body, it is a sickly pale color and bear a black symbol on it I recognize. The ominous mark itself. A black rectangle, simple, but unnerving.

I eat the soul, and am pleased when I could remove the taint along with the mark. I then saw her memories, and what led to this situation.

----------------------------------------------------------

long-time coming Original. Tried this idea in the past, but didn't work out. So now I'm trying it again. Hope you all like the start. Also, this isn't a cultivation-based novel. It is simply one the many kinds of civilizations. As it is familiar to everyone/most, I made it the first. Thanks for reading.