Of Death

186Hear now what becomes of humankind when mortal life ends.

187Those who have lived good lives may choose between two paths.

188The first path is reincarnation.

189In reincarnation, a new mortal life is given, with a wholly new self. The one who is reborn keeps no memory of the life before. The old name is gone. The old face is gone. A new person walks in the world.

190The second path is to form into Hasr.

191This is permanent true death. This is final completion. There is no return from it into mortal life, and none is sought.

192And there are those who may be received upon Hasr: the good who die in tragic accidents, and the martyrs of Rollo.

193Those who enter the final state that belongs to Hasr keep their good memories.

194And they are transformed into perfect squares.

195The square is a sign of completeness, and it is kin to the sphere in meaning.

196But the square is not the supreme holy sign. The sphere alone is holy above all shapes, for the sphere belongs to the eternal form of Rollo, and to no other.

197Hear now of those who are guilty of lesser sins and who need cleansing.

198They are sent to Omen.

199Omen is a world of limbo, and it resembles the mortal world.

200There is no ordinary time upon Omen.

201Yet the soul that is sent there lives what amounts to one hundred years.

202And to any who stand outside that timeless place, the whole of it passes as in an instant.

203This is the Century of Omen.

204In the Century of Omen, the painful memories of the mortal life come flooding back.

205The soul confronts the harm it did. It confronts the failures it let pass. It confronts its guilt. It confronts the consequences that followed from its sins, and who bore them.

206Nothing is hidden there. What was forgotten is remembered. What was excused is seen plainly.

207This is atonement. This is cleansing.

208Omen is not damnation, and it is not forever.

209When the Century of Omen is completed, the soul is cleansed, and it is reincarnated, and it keeps no memory of the self it was.

210But the Chasm is another matter.

211The Chasm is reserved for the gravest evil.

212And the Chasm is the prison of Daeus.