"Death is not the end, but rather beginning of another journey. This concept has a more specific and detailed explanation throughout countless mythological texts and religious ancient books where it is believed that after mortal life reaches its end, the immortal soul will be reborn, thus beginning another completely different life."
Seeming to notice Bryan's gaze upon him, Dumbledore continued to stare at the magnificent ring of light. His face now showed layers of complexity in his expression and his voice was no longer clear but had become aged.
"Do you truly think this is possible, Bryan?" Dumbledore asked.
Bryan withdrew his gaze, remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Yes, it is."
Such a certain definitive tone surprised Dumbledore, catching him completely off guard. He turned to look at the calm-faced Bryan with slight bewilderment, and for a brief, trance-like moment, he found himself utterly confused and unable to determine who among them was actually closer to death.
But in the end, he chose not to ask Bryan why he was so certain. Instead, he spoke in a voice tinged with slightly lost emotion.
"Is that so..." Dumbledore murmured. "A completely new life, existing in an entirely different form—what a wonderfully beautiful and hopeful concept. Then do you think we might truly have the chance to see those departed souls again?"
Bryan clearly understood what Dumbledore was referring to with such heartfelt emotion. Like Professor Snape, Dumbledore also had unresolved regrets in his heart.
"That's difficult to say with any degree of certainty, Headmaster Dumbledore," Bryan replied after pondering the question for a moment.
"The land upon which we currently exist, this beautiful but small planet we call home, is certainly not the center of this vast and incomprehensibly immense universe. This endless cosmos, with its billions upon billions of stars and countless celestial bodies, may very well contain uncountable 'worlds'.
Within each of these mysterious worlds, there would exist vast numbers of living beings. Souls surely don't exist exclusively on this single planet called Earth, which we happen to share with our non-magical Muggle neighbors.
The process of reincarnation serves as a shortcut for beings like us who are small and seemingly insignificant against the vastness of the universe to traverse the endless, star-filled sea of eternity. So those who have passed away around us, their souls might be right beside us, or perhaps they're already separated from us by the ocean of stars."
Bryan spoke with remarkable calm indifference. As he continued his calm narration, Dumbledore, who had been staring at him with attention throughout the entire explanation, began to show subtle changes in his facial expression.
He stared at Bryan as if he were seeing him clearly for the very first time.
Behind his half-moon spectacles, those blue pupils overflowed with undisguised astonishment and something that bordered on awe just like an expression similar to that of Muggle-born young wizards experiencing for the first time the sight of the majestic Hogwarts castle standing among the dark mountains and shimmering waters during their opening ceremony.
It was the look of someone whose entire worldview had been completely overturned in a single moment.
"What's the matter, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Bryan asked seeming to be completely unaware of the impact his words had created. Instead of recognizing the earth-shattering nature of what he had just spoken, he found Dumbledore's obvious emotional turbulence somewhat strange and unexpected. "Have I said something that troubles you?"
A tremendous storm of conflicting emotions raged within Dumbledore's heart. He gazed deeply at this outstanding young wizard standing beside him. No, he realized, the word "outstanding" could no longer adequately describe Bryan's excellence—his brilliance was quite simply unprecedented in the annals of magical history.
Looking through all of wizarding history spanning thousands of years, his incredible magical talent and understanding of the deepest mysteries could perhaps only be compared to the legendary four founders who had established Hogwarts a thousand years ago.
Even Tom's power at a comparable age seemed utterly insignificant!
"Those other worlds you speak of with such casual certainty..." Dumbledore's voice had become hoarse with emotion. He experienced the peculiar illusion that he was somehow within his Patronus form which theoretically had no physical organs at all and yet his heart seemed to be beating. "What do you imagine they might be like, Bryan?"
"Who among us could possibly know such things with any certainty?" Bryan replied with a gentle smile. "Absolutely anything is possible within an infinite cosmos, isn't that the truth? If the universe truly extends without end through space and time, then theoretically speaking, all the various forms of worlds and realities that we can possibly imagine and countless others that exceed even our wildest dreams could exist somewhere among the countless stars."
"Yes..." Dumbledore breathed, seeming to understand something. "How wonderful... Souls traversing the infinite cosmos like cosmic voyagers, being born into completely new worlds where everything that happened in their previous existence is permanently abandoned. Oh, but do you think it might be possible that memories could somehow be preserved through such a transition, Bryan?"
"The very nature of reincarnation implies the complete abandoning of everything that came before," Bryan explained, his smile never wavering despite the seriousness of his words. "Retaining memories from previous lives probably doesn't conform to the rules and natural laws of the universe."
"But perhaps there might be extraordinary exceptions to such universal rules, don't you think?" Dumbledore's blue eyes suddenly sparkled with spirit and hope. "Surely in an infinite universe, even the most unlikely possibilities must occasionally become reality?"
"Perhaps there could be such miraculous exceptions," Bryan said thoughtfully, observing with satisfaction as the air of defeat and despair began to dissipate from Dumbledore's demeanor.
Sensing that this philosophical discussion had served its intended purpose, Bryan gently steered them toward more immediate concerns. "Everything we've discussed remains purely speculative, doesn't it? Oh, but I think we really shouldn't delay any longer."
Bryan turned to look behind them into the swirling mists of the Soul Corridor. The memories of Frank and Alice that he and Dumbledore had brought with them from the outside world were floating behind them, each rotating like beautiful spiral galaxies in the deepest of space.
"Through this corridor, we need to send these memories to their souls," Bryan explained as he began the process.
As he spoke, he raised his right hand with concentration and effort, attempting to lift one of the slowly rotating "galaxies" of memory. The strain was immediately apparent in his face, and he looked noticeably tired from the action.
Only when Dumbledore moved to assist him by lifting the other galaxy of memories did he begin to understand the true source of Bryan's apparent physical strain and fatigue.
In this magical place, memories seemed to possess actual weight and substance, creating a certain pressure and resistance against Bryan and Dumbledore in their current spirit forms.
The two men, walking side by side through the ethereal landscape didn't engage in further conversation during their crucial journey. They focused entirely on moving forward, concentrating all their mental energy on maintaining control over the delicate memories they carried.
Their steps weren't particularly fast or hurried, but the thin mist floating throughout this pure white world was rapidly retreating beside them, clearly indicating that their actual speed through this place was quite remarkable, they had already traveled a long distance.
The "sun" that had seemed distant when they first entered gradually became clear in their field of vision.
It wasn't a single ring of light as it had initially appeared, but rather two separate rings emitting gentle, warm white radiance that were pressed together in perfect harmony, appearing from their previous distant vantage point as if there was only one luminous celestial body floating in the ethereal void.
When they crossed a certain invisible boundary within the Soul Corridor, both Bryan and Dumbledore stopped their movement in perfect unison.
The magnificent ring of light, still maintaining some distance ahead of them in the swirling mists, didn't appear to draw the surrounding clouds and mist toward itself with any gravitational pull. However, it was already beginning to exert a subtle influence on Bryan and Dumbledore themselves, as well as on the memories they carried.
Reaching this crucial point in their journey, Bryan finally allowed himself to breathe a deep sigh of relief, his tense expression gradually becoming increasingly relaxed.
"From my previous experience with that unfortunate Muggle, Pastore, whose mind I was able to heal through similar methods," Bryan began to explain,
"I came to roughly understand that individual differences come from two parts. The first part comes directly from the soul itself—each individual's soul is completely unique and irreplaceable, possessing its own distinct radiance. Then, acquired experiences and memories throughout the course of life cause that soul to develop different personalities."
As Bryan delivered this explanation, he slowly released his mental control over the galaxy of memories he had been carrying, allowing that swirling constellation of experiences to float freely toward the ring of light under its own attraction. Dumbledore also immediately followed suit.
"Simply sending these memories directly into Frank and Alice's minds would mean they would remain forever as nothing more than detached memories—foreign experiences that feel like they happened to someone else,"
Bryan continued. "But by sending these memories through the Soul Corridor to make direct contact with their souls, those souls will naturally generate completely new personalities within the sea of consciousness—this is my hypothesis."
Dumbledore nodded slowly and thoughtfully, his eyes tracking the movement as the two galaxies of memories gradually approached under the rings pull and were completely absorbed and integrated.
The period of waiting that followed didn't last long.
A gentle breeze suddenly began to ripple through the ethereal Soul Corridor. Under their gaze, the previously static white radiance emitted by the twin rings suddenly began flowing and moving like liquid waves of light.
The mysterious gray void at the center of the light formation also began to pulse with increasing intensity, as if something was brewing within its depths. The fluctuations grew more intense building toward some kind of cosmic crescendo.
Boom!
In an instant, two magnificent torrents of varied colors surged forth from the gray void heading straight in the direction from which Bryan and Dumbledore had originally come.
The previously quiet Soul Corridor also underwent subtle changes at this moment—it was hard to describe, but the entire place suddenly seemed filled with vibrant vitality and life force.
The powerful torrents of consciousness reached the initial end of the Soul Corridor in what seemed like the blink of an eye, piercing through the mystical barrier with irresistible force and flowing smoothly into an equally pure and flawless space that lay beyond.
Dumbledore gazed with wonder and growing understanding at the distant world visible beyond what appeared to be a gap formed by beautifully shattered space. After pondering the sight briefly, he understood what it was—it was Alice's mental world he had just visited.
The scene that stretched in front of them was like witnessing the sky shattering into countless fragments, allowing the entire Milky Way to pour down to earth in liquid starlight.
The pristine mental space rippled like the surface of a perfectly still lake disturbed by a gentle stone, and in front of their amazed eyes, a completely new, unpolluted sea of consciousness began forming with breathtaking beauty and grace.
Every single inch of the surrounding space became filled with an almost tangible atmosphere of jubilant celebration and joy, as if the soul itself was actively rejoicing at this physical body's miraculous return to complete normalcy.
"According to the theories you said in Professor Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Bryan," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "do you believe that the Killing Curse specifically attacks what we're currently experiencing and existing within—this Soul Corridor?"
"I believe so," Bryan nodded with conviction. "And regarding Horcruxes... I must say honestly, that branch of magic is even more complex and disturbing. Only by analyzing and understanding the essential nature of the soul itself to a considerable degree could any wizard possibly achieve the horrific feat of soul splitting."
"Tom Riddle, who became the monster known as Voldemort, will never truly understand or appreciate what he actually gave up,"
Dumbledore said with joy and satisfaction as he observed the now-vibrant Soul Corridor surrounding them. He seemed to sense that the newly substantial sea of consciousness was successfully reviving the main consciousness of both Frank and Alice.
"Let's return," Dumbledore said with a warm smile. "Alice and Frank would certainly have many questions waiting for us to answer."
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