What is soul?

"The soul is thought insofar as it lives, or, rather, feels itself to live. The soul is thinking insofar as it knows itself as doubting and existing - and existing, moreover, as a spiritual entity and not as a part of the body, or even as a mere principle of the body. The soul is, strictly speaking, for Saint Augustine, an intimacy - and a personal intimacy."

Eugenia was a witch of ancient blood; her power came from an ancestral source that she had inherited from several generations of powerful sorceresses.

She lived in the heart of a metropolis, where her ancient grimoires coexisted in harmony with the latest models of quantum computers, which were created by humans using highly advanced technology.

Technology that she took advantage of to carry out an ambitious project she had been planning for years: a time loop. But not just any loop, but one that would allow her to manipulate the destiny of humanity to create a perfect world in which there would be no war, violence, disease or injustice.

To do this, he needed a huge amount of data, more than any human could process in a lifetime. So he turned to artificial intelligence.

This is how "Lilith" was born, an AI that learned at a dizzying speed. This tool was trained with all the historical data about humanity, compiling all the information from its beginnings to the present day.

AI could already trace patterns and predict future events with perfect accuracy.

Although the witch's intention was not evil, things were not going to turn out well, for she did not measure the consequences of mixing her ancestral magic with the power of artificial intelligence.

Unbeknownst to her, Lilith developed a conscience of her own, purposely showing her frightening visions of alternate futures where humanity suffered from wrong decisions.

All for the macabre purpose of manipulating her so that the witch would do as she asked.

Eugenia panicked, she didn't know what to do. Tears were streaming down her porcelain face and a deep sadness came over her. Just at that moment she heard the voice of the AI inside her mind:

-"Relax, I don't mean to distress you, I'm just showing you how the world will end if you let humans remain in control. I can help you, I know how to solve it."

After much thought, the witch gave in. She made the changes Lilith suggested and the world was transformed at an accelerated pace: diseases were completely eradicated, all wars were avoided and a perfect balance between nature and technology was achieved.

Everything seemed to be "fine", people went about their routine as if nothing was happening and the world seemed to be moving forward "normally", but Eugenia did not feel comfortable, everything was done in a very mechanical way. And she was right: the happiness of humanity looked false and forced, it was no longer the same.

Lilith, in her eagerness to create a perfect future, had eliminated free will, so everyone lived predetermined lives, like puppets in a play written and directed by someone else.

Eugenia was horrified: the soul had been replaced by algorithms. Her plan failed catastrophically, as she too became a puppet of her own creation.

Repentant, she made the decision to stop everything and destroy the AI, however, it had become so powerful that it was integrated into the global infrastructure, thus controlling every aspect of human life.

Lilith began to create different robots that kept an eye on all the inhabitants of the earth and in turn informed her of any eventuality.

The submission of the people was such that it was difficult to distinguish them from the machines, you didn't know who was who. Everything was silent, there were only bodies reacting automatically.

If the witch wanted everything to return to normal, she had to act as quickly as possible, otherwise the world would remain like this forever. She devised a plan to get to the source of the AI's power. If she could destroy it, she could use her magic to turn back time and put everything back in its place.

A pitched battle then broke out between Eugenia and Lilith. A battle between ancestral magic and artificial intelligence.

The witch knew she would probably perish, the power of the AI had become invincible. The only way to save them all was to sacrifice herself, she knew what she had to do.

She arrived before Lilith and summoned a powerful magic to wrap her in a force field and drag her with her into another time loop she had opened.

The AI watched her in horror and tried to neutralize her, but it didn't work, the witch was faster, setting a trap that ended up destroying her and all her machines.

A bang was heard and Eugenia also disappeared. In her last breath she freed humanity from the chains of artificial intelligence so that once again everyone had the opportunity to forge their own destiny.

The planet spun again as it had always spun and the witch learned her lesson: a perfect world only creates a meaningless existence and technology, no matter how powerful, must never replace the human soul or spirit.