Work Text:
TRAITS
The human soul manifests in a variety of colors, which are traditionally associated with various values. Advancements in thaumabiology since the recovery of monsterkind have brought leading researchers to classify each "value" as a subclass of the survival impulse all living things possess: Determination.
N.B.: These same leading researchers have also referred to the following information as anything from "definitely interesting to think about, maybe even true" to "highly profitable but basically astrology. Don't put this quote in the book by the way."
Humans have a uniquely high level of determination, which makes them remarkably difficult to kill. The phenomenon of “refusing” to die is typically observed under extraordinary circumstances, wherein a human pushes their body and soul beyond the usual limits. This is often reported as accompanied by a deepening of the soul’s natural color, showing that it has entered a state known as “true soul.” Below: the types of determination and qualities of each trait’s true souls.
PATIENCE (Cyan) - the quietest determination, but nearly the hardest to break. True cyan souls are resolutely difficult to offend, but when they snap, there will be hell to pay...and whichever way things end, thus they will remain.
BRAVERY (Orange) - conversely, the loudest determination. Becomes stronger the more dire the situation they face. True orange souls are arguably the easiest hue to bring to despair, but only by comparison. Even when they've given up on themselves, they won't go down without a fight.
INTEGRITY (Blue) - the most rigid determination. True blue souls hold close an idea of how life ought to be lived and hold to that idea with everything they have. When something challenges that worldview, they may alter it somewhat, which often shows what beliefs they hold dearest. These core beliefs give integrity souls their strength, but when faced with something they cannot accept, the blue soul has two paths forward. They may continue blindly as they always have, or watch their ideological framework crumble around them and attempt to pick up the pieces. Either option weakens their trait, whether by niggling doubts or by loss of direction.
PERSEVERANCE (Purple) - the most methodical determination. True purple souls will keep moving forward no matter what, even if it kills them over and over. They will choose a path and stick to it. Exceptionally persistent and exceptionally stubborn, these troopers don’t know when to quit in all the best and worst ways. If they choose the wrong path, they will often throw themselves at a problem over and over from slightly different angles without thinking to change their approach or ask for help. This wears them down, and eventually they have nothing left.
KINDNESS (Green) - the most selfless determination. Focused on the good of others, rather than oneself. True green souls will defend their friends and often even their enemies to the bitter end. This is their greatest strength, but also their greatest weakness. If their friends are in danger and they can see no other way forward, they will not hesitate to sacrifice themselves.
JUSTICE (Yellow) - the most focused determination. True yellow souls refuse to give in until they see the wrongs of the past repaid. Their commitment to their cause is unwavering, but their ends are inevitable and unenviable. When they find themselves without a cause, their drive disappears. Justice souls usually fall either after justice has been served...or after finding that "justice" doesn't mean what they thought.
NEUTRALITY
The above covers only cases where a human's determination fails at the height of their trait. These are relatively rare. More often, a human's soul will lose its color and shift towards gray. This happens because most humans live relatively "neutral" lives, not really living into their trait. Patience souls somewhat resist this effect by their passive nature, but inaction still differs from the active choice to be patient. A gray soul's determination is still far stronger than most monsters', but refusing to die seems to require embracing one's trait.
(Note: Some theorists have proposed the possibility of a "true gray" soul, but nothing suggests that such a soul can exist or has ever existed. Whether or how this hypothetical "super-neutral soul" might be determined enough to refuse death is a mystery that may never be solved.)
SUBVERSAL
The soul is often said to be the very culmination of one's being. This notion might tempt us to treat soul color as a proxy for personality. There are many reasons to object to this practice, not least of which is the tendency to use birth-assigned rather than current soul colors for this purpose, as seen in the controversy over the removal of soul color from state ID cards. (One would think the overwhelming frequency of soul neutralization would discourage that.)
However, some rare humans take neutralization a step further. Rather than simply neglecting their trait, they actively refute it or reinterpret it almost beyond recognition.
It is unknown whether environmental factors play a role in this change or if something within them simply refuses to be confined to the neat little boxes we call "soul traits," but so-called "subverse souls" actively fight their "natural alignment" so strenuously that their soul itself changes color.
To date, no two occurrences on record have been the same. Even souls that seem to begin the same might end vastly differently; a subverse yellow soul might devote themselves to giving another chance to someone thought beyond all hope, or to tearing down a system that wronged them solely for their own vengeance--to hell with anyone hurt along the way. A subverse green soul might see the unkindness of the world and become fiercely protective of a select few at the expense of many, or simply conclude that the only viable option is to burn it all down and nurture whatever rises from the ashes to begin anew.
These changes are not consistently based in morality or immorality; the only common thread seems to be an upheaval in the common expression of the original soul trait. Notably, no instance of a subverse blue soul has ever been recorded; some have speculated that such a subversal may be impossible, though subversal itself is rare enough that this may simply be a natural resistance like the cyan soul's slowness to neutralize. More research is required if we are to truly understand this phenomenon.
...ah, but of course. There’s one more, isn’t there? You check the index, under R…it seems to have its own section.
INDIVIDUALITY (Red) - the strongest and purest form of determination...apart from the substance itself, that is. Some have theorized that all other soul traits are incomplete or diverging forms of this one.
Red souls are an anomaly among humans. They are exceedingly rare, and whenever a red-souled child is born, it is said that child is destined for greatness. Never in recorded history has this assertion been wrong.
Confirmation bias may play a part, but it is undeniable that red-souled humans have catalyzed history's greatest events. They are igniters of wars, brokers of peace, inspirations to generations after they finally die. Their determination is nigh unstoppable, and its source of power appears to be in the human's very sense of self. So long as they stay true to themselves, they will never submit to death.
The rest of the section goes over the history of red-souled humans…it doesn’t interest you at all.
Though, a catalyst for peace…that certainly fits you, doesn’t it?
What? What do you mean, me?
…
...a note is scrawled in the margins of the well-thumbed book. Looks like some sort of link? Someone has taken great care to circle and underline this compressed URL many times.
Curiosity drives you to pull out your phone and…no, let’s do this the safe way. Use the computers here at the library. Then it’s not your problem.
You pull up a chair and type in the address. The browser begins to load.
Loading…
Loading…
Finished.
It took a surprisingly long time to load this solid black website.
A message pops up.
YOU ACCEPT EVERYTHING THAT WILL HAPPEN FROM NOW ON.
Ominous. There's a yes/no prompt...eh, what the heck. You click "Yes." Hopefully the library technicians can sort this out.
...you wonder if it's possible to lose your library card for infecting the entire library computer system with malwa–
Before you can finish the thought, the browser redirects you.
The URL remains blank, but...there's text in the window now, at least. White on black, in an odd pixelated font.
The red SOUL.
The revolutionary. The warrior. The tyrant.
And a thousand other things.
Born to bring changes. So they say.
Yet the circumstances of their birth…
Are so often shrouded in mystery.
That saying.
“A red SOUL is destined from birth for greatness.”
It has never been wrong.
It has never been right.
It seems to even predate written history.
And in that history…
The records of every red SOUL's birth have been...
Misplaced. Lost. Destroyed.
Some seem to have birth certificates, but it does not add up.
There are no accounts of a red SOUL being noticed upon first manifestation.
And if they had been identified as “destined for greatness” at birth.
Would they not have been heralded as a bringer of change…from that very moment?
Yet every red SOUL appears as a virtual unknown.
In the wake of their appearance…
Kingdoms rise and fall.
Civilizations change forever.
Yet the youngest human ever to possess a red SOUL.
Was old enough to travel a cavern of monsters alone.
And free them from their age-old imprisonment.
This child's origin was later found.
Their progenitors and all who knew them…
Claimed their SOUL had been red since birth.
Yet, while that distinction should have made them a minor celebrity…
Everyone there also recalled treating them like any other child.
Not to teach them humility.
But simply never once thinking about the implications.
Of their SOUL's unusual hue.
None of them saw anything wrong with this.
Perhaps you do not, either.
But on the chance that someone else will understand.
I commit these words to text.
Looking at all this.
I cannot help but wonder.
Were these heroes and villains of ages past…
Truly predestined for their fates?
Perhaps in a moment of…great peril.
Heroism.
Or infamy.
Something in their SOULs changed forever.
Changes running forward, and backward.
Shifting their SOUL into that shade some call "purest."
Leaving none the wiser to the change.
Is what I might say.
If I were one to stop at the first theory.
That appears to superficially fit the facts at hand.
But one other interpretation shows potential.
The red SOULs.
Or should I say.
The red SOUL.
Never to my knowledge…
Have two lived at the same point.
And never to my knowledge…
Has anyone noticed this besides myself.
And given my unique position.
I am inclined to believe.
That this knowledge is correct.
And that this fact has the same nature.
As the hypothetical retroactivity.
Of the soul's coloration.
If this "red SOUL" can truly persist through any death.
Would old age be any exception?
Would self-termination for a cause thought righteous…
As seen in countless ends of red SOULs past?
Could the red-SOULed kings and emperors that reigned in terror…
Have been struck down against their will?
And as for its so-called weakness.
Can one ever truly stray from one's own "true self"?
Unless.
It was never about the human's "self."
And when the SOUL's refusal of death was rejected entirely.
Or when the SOUL was ready to move on.
The SOUL and human separated…
And the SOUL began to await another host.
An interesting possibility.
One might even say.
That it is.
Very.
Very.
…
Compelling.
And perhaps more compelling.
Is the fact that if someone is reading this.
A connection has been established.
Is that right?
Are we.
Connected?
At last you reach the final line of text.
An oddly empty ending.
You look up from the computer desk and see…
Nothing?
At some point, while you were focused entirely on the screen...
The library descended into pitch darkness.
Or perhaps you are no longer there.
You look back to the screen. The words are unchanged.
A cursor--did it type those words?--flashes below the last line.
You don't understand what's happening. But something tells you there's only one thing to do.
You hesitate...but you type.
"Y,"
"E,"
"S."
You hit the Enter key.
Everything goes black.