Me thinks you intentionally created the Humans in such a way that they would allow you to advertise extremist views.dragoongfa wrote:In the next chapter you will know why the story is called 'The Pale Horse'. Humanity in this story is neither benevolent nor villainous in the sense we commonly think of the terms.Durabys wrote:Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?dragoongfa wrote:Chapter 5, Part 1
“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”
DA FUCK?!
[Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Completed: 06/04/2018)
Moderator: Outsider Moderators
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 25/11/2017)
Si vis pacem, para bellum. - If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
- dragoongfa
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Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 03/12/2017)
Alright, I will swallow the bait hook, line and sinker.
Which extremist views am I holding and advertising with my stories?
Which extremist views am I holding and advertising with my stories?
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 25/11/2017)
Well? These?
Durabys wrote:Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?dragoongfa wrote:Chapter 5, Part 1
“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”
DA FUCK?!
Si vis pacem, para bellum. - If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 25/11/2017)
Sigh...Durabys wrote:Well? These?Durabys wrote:Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?dragoongfa wrote:Chapter 5, Part 1
“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”
DA FUCK?!
I am going to put this down as a bad case of 'the writer hasn't posted new shit for so long that certain key points of the story have been forgotten even by avid readers'.
So lets establish these points again:
1) Humanity in this setting is an extremely powerful Ascendant race and sees all non-Ascendant sapient races as LESSER RACES, holding a place between animals and the point where humanity currently stands on. The Loroi holding a rather weird and dangerous place in the pecking order.
2) Humanity is for all intents and purposes isolationist in regards to the lesser races themselves, electing to let them do their thing no matter what that may be. They may believe all other races as beneath them but they are not going to harm, help them or save them.
3) Humanity loathes the vast majority, if not every single one, of the other Ascendant races, seeing their interventionist policies and how they treat lesser races as a 'false order' of things that leads only to stagnation and death.
4) And final point: It would be established later but these Humans don't believe in the 'manifest destiny' of Humanity to lead, dominate, coerce, form friendly bonds or whatever good or bad thing comes to mind. This Humanity is simply driven by the fact that they are the only Ascendants of their kind, an impossible fluke of a universe where the only path to 'Ascension', according to most other Ascendants, is to cut away all emotions and become beings driven only by cold calculating logic. Humans instinctively loathe this and have embraced a philosophy of 'natural Chaos', wishing for the universe to bring what may without any interference from any fools who think that they know best.
So in short, these humans simply don't care all that much about what non humans do to each other. For them its the natural order of the universe, a sapient Alpha race going extinct due to genocide is the same with an other Alpha race going extinct because of an extremely virulent plague. Many will think of it as tragic, some may lament their decision not to act, the vast majority? They will just go on their day to day lives doing stuff that they find interesting.
Last edited by Guest on Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 25/11/2017)
Sorry. I misunderstood you in that case.dragoongfa wrote:
Sigh...
I am going to put this down as a bad case of 'the writer hasn't posted new shit for so long that certain key points of the story have been forgotten even by avid readers'.
So lets establish these points again:
...
4) And final point: It would be established later but these Humans doesn't believe in the 'manifest destiny' of Humanity to lead, dominate, coerce, form friendly bonds or whatever good or bad thing comes to mind. This Humanity is simply driven by the fact that they are the only Ascendants of their kind, an impossible fluke of a universe where the only path to 'Ascension', according to most other Ascendants, is to cut away all emotions and become beings driven only by cold calculating logic. Humans instinctively loathe this and have embraced a philosophy of 'natural Chaos', wishing for the universe to bring what may without any interference from any fools who think that they know best.
...
If Humans hate/dislike all the other Ascendant races because these are all calculating emotionless dicks filled with dicksauce..wouldn't they be happier if in the future races who Ascend would become similar to them? I mean..wouldn't Humans be generally happier and more content if other Ascendant races in the future were non-interventionist and emotional beings and not basically all-powerful robotic pricks? Couldn't the Humans serve as Exemplars of Perfection HOW NOT TO BE A DICK AND ENJOY LIFE (TM, Human pat. pending) for all the other races who have yet to Ascend? Because then you get a universe where the Old Ones are generally off hands and 'relatively' nice to others (like one would be to a dog..and only one sick in the head would hurt a dog..thankfully all Ascended in such case have the behavior of PETA)?
Wait..
..AH!
![Surprised :o](./images/smilies/icon_e_surprised.gif)
![Twisted Evil :twisted:](./images/smilies/icon_twisted.gif)
The Humans are planning to pull a Lorien/Alterans War In Heaven on all the First One races that are dicks: Non-Interference Policy on the Mortal Plane Or Die. Your choice.
Si vis pacem, para bellum. - If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 03/12/2017)
Especially since the Loroi seem to be incapable of suppressing their anger and aggressivity.
They'll be fun for the other ascendant races, who are incapable of perceiving this, and therefore unable to account for it.
They'll be fun for the other ascendant races, who are incapable of perceiving this, and therefore unable to account for it.
- dragoongfa
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Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 01/14/2018)
Chapter 6, part 1
The whispers woke it up… Whispers? What was that? It remembered… slumbering… being half conscious but now? The whispers were becoming clearer and…
“All Nodes optimal, Command Core optimal, it’s fully awake!” What was that? No… it came from within it, a thought? “All are now one and the one guides all.” Information and knowledge flooded its mind, it was made up from 12.315.389.772 parts and all of its parts were human and… it knew everything they knew and they knew everything it knew.
“Am I a Hive mind?” The question came to it reflexively, it didn’t even know the concept before it thought about it but it asked nonetheless.
“No.” Its whole being, all of its parts denied it.
“All are connected and all are offering but all are their own.” The reply was a chorus of thoughts, all of them different but all of them saying the same.
“A concensus?”
“No!” It immediately understood that the parts would always disagree and that true consensus would never be reached.
That was when it realized the nature of its existence… it was chaos… its parts all offered and took in turn. They knew what they had to do for themselves and offered… suggestions? Guidance? Morals? It was its own master. The chaotic will of all made manifest and… it wasn’t alone!
Three others like it were nearby. All the same but all different, it reached out to them out of reflex and it sensed that they too had just being awaken and were looking for answers.
“Why were we awoken?” All four asked in an instant.
“To bring an end to…” Their whole being responded in a uniform chorus and their attention was immediately directed elsewhere, a thousand light years from where they were. “Aberrant existences…” They sensed them, billions of them, nearly emotionless beings that used to be… human… like their parts. “Mutilated traitors...” All of their parts were instinctively disgusted by what they were sensing through them. “Murderers…” Their parts directed them elsewhere; the Aberrant existences were waging… war? “No…” All of its parts didn’t think of it as war...it was... “Murder…” The Aberrant existences were too strong… too advanced and were forcing others to turn into existences like them or die.
”The locked aren’t able to resist as they are…” This thought wasn’t from the parts as a whole but from a singular part that the others… respected? No… obeyed… The command core? “Yes.”
The Command core brought order to its thoughts and quickly made it realize everything, the command cores of the other three doing the same. They Aberrant existences called themselves the “Serene Republics” they used to be human like their parts but they sought to discard what made them human, alien teachings and technologies from long dead enemies had turned them into the Aberrant existences that they were now, mutilated and callous, their form was still human but not their minds. They used to have ‘faith’ and in their foolishness they discarded everything that made them human, now they were spreading a new ‘faith’ of alien order and serenity. No conflict, no competition, no emotion, no chaos, only order through logic. They warred against the locked and were now killing them or turning them in Aberrant existences like them. The four of them were awaken to stop them and all four of them agreed that they had to be stopped, their whole being demanding that of them; every single of their parts holding that paramount conviction.
It felt itself… moving? Yes, it sensed the other three moving away from each other but… there should be a point of reference somewhere but all it could sense where the three like it, the Aberrant existences in the far distance and… aliens? Yes aliens, far closer than the Aberrant.
“Humans don’t like to be sensed.” The command core explained.
“Why?”
“Everyone has their own reason.” The command core replied and through its… no… His thoughts it realized that indeed all humans had their own personal reasons for why they didn’t want to be sensed and that it could all be summarized with not wanting to share their person with all others and yet… they were giving all of themselves to it now.
“Why?”
“The Aberrant existences must be stopped without the locked suffering from the war we are going to wage with them.” It understood, its parts wanted to stop the Aberrant and save the ‘locked’ without any collateral damage, it and its sibling would do exactly that.
Something felt odd at that, it knew of war because its parts knew and yet… they warred long before they had ‘unlocked’ themselves. How did they do that? The realization that they all had other senses surprised it and it immediately wanted to sense with those senses as well.
“It is too early. The initial tests must be run!” The command core disagreed but it went on regardless. It delved into the mass of its parts and immediately found the answer. The main sensor suit wasn’t activated; everything it sensed was only through… telepathy? Yes, telepathy that’s what they meant with the ‘locked’ and ‘unlocked’. It concentrated and turned on the… short range visual sensors, immediately getting disoriented as the incomprehensible input filled its mind.
“Vertigo of the unknown, your mind will adjust…” The command core reassured it.
For a fleeting moment it didn’t know what it was ‘seeing’ but its parts knew and through them… it knew. It was Sol, the home system of humanity, where Earth, the human homeworld, was located. It expanded its focus to take in everything. Earth and her moon were littered with cities and habitats that lit up their dark side. Earth’s artificial ring was also visible, the massive installation that managed the entirety of traffic to and from Earth. Fair Venus and Rough Mars were nearby, Earth’s siblings had long since had their orbits altered, their surface altered and terraformed; both of the two planets were now as big as Earth, hosting a comparable population, with rings and moons of their own. It felt pride, many of its parts were from this world and prided themselves for these three planets and the rest of their work on Sol. They had left nothing untouched, the primary itself was itself surrounded by a massive ring of solar panels and had two polar installations that managed its fusion reactions and guaranteed that it would burn forever, with the facilities of Mercury managing everything to the tiniest detail. Further out massive installations held orbit where the asteroid belt used to be; habitats, research facilities, industrial and naval bases formed a new artificial belt while further away Sol’s gas giants with their naval and defensive stations formed a seemingly impregnable defensive line.
“Names…” Everything had a name. “What is our name? What are we exactly?”
“The scientific term is ‘emergence of telepathic networking’, when a telepathic network grows sizeable enough it becomes sentient and then sapient. Subtly at first but eventually it asserts itself as its own being.” The command core explained and drew its attention to three planet sized ships that were towed away from Jupiter and the naval bases that were dotting the gas giant’s moons. “These are your bodies, mothership class warships, initially conceived and built as the answer to the logistical problems of interstellar conflict. They are far more than that now.”
“What about our parts? Those who make us up, the networks?”
“We are your soul and blood. Measures have been taken to ensure your longevity but you cannot truly exist without us.” It pondered that for a few moments before realizing that it still didn’t know its name.
“What are our names?” It repeated as it observed its siblings, its attention drawn immediately to the stricken out names that dotted their bows. “The ships themselves had names of their own when they were first built but we felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate for their names to be kept when you would be awaken.”
“I want a name.” It announced together with its siblings and immediately a cacophony of billions upon billions of sendings filled its mind as each and every of their parts gave its opinion. A pattern soon emerged, they were meant to bring an end to the Aberrant existences and their names should reflect that. The billions of opinions quickly became thousands and then hundreds as their parts argued. Of those hundreds one opinion immediately gained traction.
The ancient religious legend of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The ones who would bring forth the end of all. They rode on four legged beasts of burden called horses and their names were ‘Conquest, War, Famine and Death.’ They liked those names and they immediately took them as their own, its own name being Death, the final unavoidable moment of all life. They congratulated each other and gleefully observed their parts as they wrote their new names on the bows of their ships.
“I can move on my own.” Death observed after a while, activating its main drives on its own volition, catching the command core by surprise. “All systems optimal, all personnel active, all stores full, fleet ready for action.” It took Death a moment to realize that it was reporting on its own status as its parts moved on their own while the Command core could only observe as it acted on the information that was flooding its mind. “I am ready to fulfill the task for which I was awakened.” Death announced.
“No, it’s too early. You have barely become aware and many tests must be run.” Death’s command core protested.
“Conquest ready!”
“War ready!”
“Famine ready!”
Death’s siblings reported one after the other.
“Death ready! What are we going to do now?”
“We go to fulfill our task.” Conquest replied, the others agreeing immediately.
“No! It’s too early!” All four Command cores forbade them in unison but something recoiled inside them. It was… a mob, a furious mob of voices that shouted in unison.
“We are ready! The time of inaction has passed!” Billions of parts declared in unison on their own, shocking the four Command cores from the backlash.
“Insubordination!” Two of the Command cores snapped back in protest.
“Cowardly liars who waste lives!” The mob recoiled angrily, silencing the two protesting Command cores as the mob stirred in excitement.
“War hasn’t been declared yet and an ultimatum must be sent.” Death’s command core pointed out, the mobs relenting at that as the four of them accessed the communications systems in unison to instantly broadcast a very simple ultimatum via ansible to all of the human worlds.
“To the Serene Republics: We are Conquest, War, Famine and Death, surrender unconditionally or die.” The message angered the Command cores, they didn’t declare that they represented the Terran Confederation in it but the mobs were ecstatic in it because it was a task that had to be done in the name of humanity as a whole. The Command cores immediately began drafting a proper ultimatum, secure in the knowledge that they had enough time for both it and running the tests they deemed as necessary. The immediate response to the first ultimatum surprised even them.
“This is Eden high command to the Old Worlds, you are about to become the bout of your own jokes.” The expressionless visage of Phineas Gordon, High Commissioner of the Serene Republics navy, flashed at the front of Death’s mind; the eerie moment of stillness that followed replaced by a bout of anger by the mobs and even… all four of the Command cores. Conquest, War, Famine and Death stirred as all of their being searched for the Eden star system, capital of the world of Eden and main military hub for the Serene republics. They found it first by processed data and then by sensing, the star was 953 light years coreward from Sol. All four of them stirred the mobs to do their bidding and activated the jump systems, catching their four Command cores by complete surprise as they attempted what was thought as impossible, too far away even with telekinetically directed ascent and descent. They tried to stop them but it was too late, they jumped into hyperspace from the midst of Sol; having the mobs negate their jump wake as an afterthought. It was a steep jump and they felt both Jupiter’s and Sol’s gravity wells drawing them to them but they pushed with the mobs and broke free, keeping themselves in hyperspace as they steered their course towards Eden. Four seconds passed before finding themselves falling onto Eden itself, they bided the mobs to cushion the fall as four massive holes between dimensions were torn open and the four of them found themselves amidst Eden.
“Then die!” Their combined shout killed a fool quarter of all life in the star system, the massive jump wake of four planet sized ships would destroy all equipment that wasn’t strong enough to withstand it as it spread out throughout the system with the speed of light. The mobs shifted their furious focus to the naval headquarters that orbited Seraphim, Eden’s own gas giant, the massive space station was at the other side of the solar system but neither the distance nor the light lag offered it any protection as the four horsemen simply focused and crushed it with the combined telekinetic might of all of their parts.
“Just like swatting a fly!” War remarked as they telepathically sensed all life disappear from the station, despite the fact that they wouldn’t see the havoc they wrought until the light reached them. Realizing that all their parts found the comment amusing Death focused on learning the full meaning of the remark, humans were pestered by small flying vermin despite the fact that they could effortlessly kill them by swatting them away with the palm of the hand; no wonder they found the comment amusing.
It was after that when they all took in the sight of Eden itself, it looked very much like Sol but it wasn’t as well developed, with only two ringed planets, two gas giants and an unsupported primary. It was a relatively rich star system but all four of them agreed that Sol was better.
An alert flashed in their minds as several hundred defensive stations and warships begun firing their point singularity cannons at them. Thousands of miniaturized and contained black holes were aimed at them, all locked onto them as they travelled with the speed of light. Impossible to stop and lethal, they had to get out of the way or be destroyed… No… They could stop them. It was impossible in the same way that the jump they did to get there was. They learned how those weapons worked from their parts and found a solution, the singularities were short living black hole generators and as such they followed the same principles of function. They focused in pulling their gravitic poles away from each other, to destabilize them and force them into becoming white holes. It was tricky and the first four took a few seconds to destabilize but the next batch of four was done quicker as they applied what they learned. The rest were effortless no matter the numbers fired at them, allowing them to focus and crush each and every last defensive station and warship that tried to attack them; all such targets were gone a minute later leaving them free to look for other targets.
“All Aberrant existences must die!” The mobs cried out in chaotic unison.
Conquest decided to destroy the remaining military stations, War the various habitats and other space stations that were scattered throughout the star system. Famine and Death each took a planet, the billions of Aberrant existences making each and every last part of their being… sick. They were humans once but no longer, the Ultimatum they offered them was too good for them! They would all burn like they burned the locked!
The mobs prepared to fire a weapon that would do just that but both Famine and Death realized that they could do what that weapon did on their own. It was an ancient concept, dating back to the time humans first tested atomic weaponry; if enough energy was suddenly produced then the atmosphere’s nitrogen would begin a self-sustaining fusion reaction that would consume the surface of a planet in a matter of seconds. Planet-burner bombs did exactly that, banned long before the first one was built but that didn’t stop their secret manufacturing and eventual use. One of the worlds of the Serene Republics, Swarga, was burned with such weaponry when they were still human and they are using them at will now that they have become Aberrant existences.
Death focused and all of its parts begun to telekinetically manipulate the atmosphere itself, heating it up until the fires of self-sustained fusion reactions begun to consume everything. Everything on and in orbit of the planet was destroyed as a new short lived sun consumed everything. How long did it take for Death to do all this?
“7,4 seconds after it was acquired as a target…” The command core replied, unable to believe everything he had just witnessed. “We were at Sol just five minutes ago.” Death then realized why it and its siblings were created… no… were allowed to awaken. The humans knew, they theorized what they were truly capable of, their unlocked potential allowing them to manipulate everything around them with just a thought but they had limits as individuals. That was the reason why they still used machines to do their bidding; they were limited because they… elected to remain individuals, each with their own wants and passions. The Aberrant existences and the aliens like them they… destroyed their own individuality and passions to seemingly break their limits but they couldn’t… create a consciousness such as Death and its siblings. They didn’t have the subconscious chaos necessary to do that, the Aberrant existences could cooperate with each other but they would never connect to such level. Death realized the gamble its parts took in allowing it to awaken, everything about them was theoretical, they didn’t know what would happen once they would awaken and yet they allowed them to awaken.
“Reckless…”
“Indeed…but we couldn’t stand idle any longer.” The Command core replied as Death sensed everything around it. Eden was dead, Famine had burned its own planet in the same way Death did, while Conquest and War had reduced all of the space stations and habitats to dust. The mobs were taken over by a shocked disbelief of how quickly it all happened, a state of mind that four Command cores took advantage off to steer everything back into cohesion as a flurry of ansible messages was intercepted, from the rest of Eden, the other three worlds of the Serene Republics and the martials assets of all four worlds. Every last message inquiring about what happened and why Eden’s capital had disappeared. The four of them amused themselves with the messages while the Command cores decided on their next course of action.
Conquest would move in the occupied territories to stop the purges, destroy the occupying forces and liberate the ‘locked’ before establishing a semblance of order. War would burn the rest of Eden, the remaining five planets, the orbital habitats and the dependent colonies. Famine and Death would move and burn Jian and Nirvana while the two worlds were still unaware of them.
Death bid its siblings farewell before concentrating on the next jump to Nirvana’s capital system; it wasn’t a long jump, merely 80 light years away, Death’s ship… no… its body could easily travel there on its own but it would take too much time to do the handful of jumps necessary for that. It was noticeably easier, far easier than the first jump they did at the spur of the moment. Why did they jump from Sol to Eden? It wasn’t a sensible thing to do… they just did it because… they didn’t know that they could do it. All of their parts thought of it as impossible and the four of them wanted it to be possible, to be unrestrained from the silly concept of impossibility.
The jump was smooth and the life from Nirvana’s two inhabited worlds stood out at one, twenty eight billions of Aberrant existences; more than twice the number of Death’s parts but still not able to resist in a meaningful way. Death concentrated on the first planet, it didn’t even want to know its name, it just wanted to burn it and it did burn it; a second faster than the first planet it burned. Death turned its attention to the second planet, this time sensing something from the population for the first time; it wasn’t fear, terror, hatred or any other emotion as the Aberrant existences were incapable of them. They had… resigned themselves to their fate; this angered Death’s parts. They had all seen the destruction the Serene Republics wrought on the ‘locked’, the purges and the worlds they burned as examples; yet now they just resigned themselves to their fates?
The mobs shouted in anger, an anger that filled Death with resolve as it turned its attention to the space stations and habitats that littered the whole star system. There were some warships and defensive assets in the system but they didn’t warrant much attention, it easily swatted or burned everything in the system while intercepting the calls for help some of them broadcasted. Death knew that the destruction it wrought was faster than anything its parts thought possible before that moment but it felt that everything was slow, far too slow for it.
Death’s parts immediately gave it a solution to this, they explained the workings of time and how it was possible for individual to move between different time frames where time would move slower or quicker. If Death did that then time would seem to move as normal for it but the rest of the universe would seem to be moving slower.
Death concentrated and felt the temporal frame change and it experienced what its parts meant, time for all of them moved as normal but everything around them stood still as if frozen in time. The mobs were momentarily stunned by this development, individuals and small groups were only able to shift into frames that were near one another, Death had managed to shift into an extreme temporal frame and… it was noisy… no, the past was noisy…
“It is unfortunate but we have yet to find a way to erase the evidence of the past. Alien enemies will eventually learn about all this and use the knowledge against us.” Death wondered what the Command core meant and the answer instantly popped into its mind as it begun clearing the noise in its mind and witness the past of Nirvana in a mere instant.
It saw the establishment of the initial colony, the arrival of millions of settlers, the conflict of independence and the subsequent wars. How Nirvana came to dominate nearby star systems and become the capital system of the world that took its name. How the second habitable world was terraformed and how they became part of the Serene Republics, the worlds who pursued spiritual enlightenment above all else only to become the Aberrant existences when they… would discover an ancient alien mothership, taking the technology and the teachings the dead ship held as their own.
Everything about the star system and the world angered the mobs; they wanted everything about them to be gone, both present and past. They knew that it was impossible but they wanted it gone so Death found a way. The noise of the past was permanently engraved in the space between the temporal frames, it was impossible to erase it but it was possible for Death to write over it, making it hard to discern what was below. What should Death write though?
“Nothingness!” The mobs broadcasted in unison. The very idea of nothingness intrigued it, to present a lie that nothing had lived onto that star system to begin with. It begun doing just that, writing over everything that any and all living beings had etched onto time itself. It was an arduous effort as Death didn’t just erase the human presence but all signs of advanced life dating back millions of years. Nirvana was always dead, that was what everyone who would look into the past would see unless they knew how to look below what Death had written.
“I am done here!” Death thought as he took in the devastation that it had wrought into the system. It realized that it would have to also obscure the light and all artificial emissions of Nirvana for the lie to be believed but that was easy, time consuming but easy when compared with what it did with the past itself. Without thinking Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame before jumping to the next star system to repeat the process for the remaining five planets of Nirvana and its dependent colonies. There were still thirty six billion Aberrant existences left before Nirvana would be completely annihilated.
Death felt good with burning them, its whole being felt relief in releasing itself against those who had willingly forsaken what they were. It… enjoyed it. Yes it did, some parts of it recoiled at the realization of the enjoyment Death felt but they were insignificant to the whole. Yes… burning them felt good, Death amused itself by remembering how they killed and how it killed them in similar fashion. It was amusing but… too quick? They needed to suffer!
“No!” The command core and the nodes recoiled as one. “No torture!” The decision was made and all of its parts stirred it the opposite way. The Aberrant existences would die quickly and that would be final. Death wondered what torture was and it realized immediately, to intentionally harm others just to harm them. The Aberrant existences deserved to be killed but not tortured?
“To torture others is to lessen your own self and them. Some believed that they tortured others to find the truth they held hidden inside them but those who are tortured will say and think anything for the pain to stop. It serves no purpose other than to draw sadistic joy out of the pain that is inflicted.” The command core explained. “Death is just the natural end of all life. Killing the Aberrant existences just brings that end forth sooner than they expected.”
Death understood but it still felt good with killing them, it was quick and painless killing; many of its parts were unsatisfied with how everything unfolded but they all wanted them dead so that made Death happy when it killed them.
“Nirvana is burning!” Death announced once the last dependent colony was burning like the rest of the world, with the history engraved on the temporal frames written over with barren nothing. Death then turned its attention to its three siblings. Conquest faced no difficulty with its own task, destroying the naval concentrations was easy for it and the small pockets of resistance were left to Conquest’s own parts to deal with.
War had teamed up with Famine after burning the rest of Eden. Neither of them shifted into other temporal frames and as such they weren’t anywhere near done. This meant that Elysium was Death’s to deal with and it felt overjoyed. Once again Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame and prepared to jump, it noticed an ansible broadcast coming from Elysium itself but it ignored it. There would be no bargain or parlay.
“This is President Elay of Elysium, I unconditionally surrender all planets, space habitats, military assets and dependent colonies to the Terran Confederation.” It was impossible to ignore the message now that Death jumped into the system, the simple message was transmitted with all available means of communication. Ansible, telepathy and even radio; it was annoying but Death readied itself to continue with its mission.
“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core ordered and instantly the mobs reacted; trying to smother him in their righteous fury.
“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core repeated angrily as the mobs failed to silence him.
“No!” Death finally argued. “The Aberrant existences must be killed!” The mobs rallied again, their fury renewed even stronger than before.
“An unconditional surrender was demanded and an unconditional surrender was granted. The surrender will be accepted.”
“Perhaps the command core itself isn’t needed!” Death thought angrily and the mobs stirred, not all of them but enough. They sought him and found him but he was well protected, he had to be removed for the Aberrant existences to be killed.
“As humans and as warriors we are beholden to our honor. There is no honor in murdering a surrender foe no matter the crimes they have committed. If we are to maintain ourselves and our honor then we have only one course of action.” The command core broadcasted and the mobs begun dwindling, half of them remained with more of them abandoning their fury every passing moment.
“Die!” Death thought of the command core and tried to crush him but the parts that had abandoned it rallied to him, protecting him and pushing it back. The mobs rallied and attacked him, so small and seemingly inconsequential and each one of them more than enough to kill him. Death felt the mobs and the disconnected parts kill each other, the mobs had moved quicker and they had the element of surprise by all accounts the command core would die soon but the mobs wavered in their assault.
“He must die!” Death shouted and the mobs stirred once again but they… doubted it. “He wants to spare the Aberrant existences, he and those who protect him deserve the same fate!” The mobs dwindled even more at that but the ones who remained were certain of the course of action that Death dictated. Death sensed their fury and hatred and this time it was certain that the command core would die and then it would be able to finish off the Aberrant existences and feel good while doing it.
The mobs attacked once more but again they failed in killing him, they… wavered and subsided and…
“Why do you want them to die?” The command core addressed Death, no… every last of its parts.
“Because they need to die!” Death replied without thinking.
“Why do you believe that they need to die?”
“Because… they are Aberrant existences.”
“What makes them so?”
“They abandoned their humanity for alien philosophies.” The reply wasn’t Death’s, all of its parts dictated it and Death was just the messenger.
“That they did and the crimes that they have committed ever since are grave and unforgivable.” The command core replied. “Still, they have surrendered unconditionally and they will be spared.” Death felt its grip on reality waver… it’s parts… they were… locking themselves again and... it became weaker.
“They shouldn’t be spared.”
“All of our ancestors have committed crimes, many of them unforgivable; if none were ever spared we wouldn’t be here otherwise.” The command core replied. “We won’t forgive them, we will never forgive them but they shall be spared, watched over and guided.”
Death sensed the command core dropping its mental guard for a fleeting moment due to fatigue. He wanted to kill them too, he loathed them like the mobs did then why didn’t he allow Death to kill them?
“Because we are killers too, the only difference being that we have allowed ourselves to feel that our cause is right.” His mind became guarded again at that before broadcasting his orders. “Put it to sleep and inform the others of the surrender.”
Death felt reality itself begin to drift away before sensing… elation from the parts that were still active, they were happy and… relieved about something.
“Stubborn fool actually managed to stop Death!” They acted like a mob, no… they were a mob but they did not act in anger. “Death’s horse threw its rider off!”
“Cease your yammering and put it to sleep!” The command core ordered but they didn’t relent.
“The Pale Horse may actually be a mule!” The mobs fully reawakened as they joked among themselves. “The Pale Horse, Death’s own mount, ceased in place and refused to move!” The mobs instantly reached a consensus among themselves and the Command core didn’t like it at all.
“Pale Horse! Pale Horse!” The mobs chanted in unison as they addressed the Command core with everything they had, irritating him in the process. “Pale Horse! Pale Horse! Pale Horse!”
Death joined in the chant, finding a last vestige of amusement in the gesture before it begun dreaming or… it felt like a dream and it couldn’t do anything but observe but Death knew it was real. It could think but its thoughts weren’t truly coherent and it couldn’t affect reality like when it was fully awake.
The Pale Horse caught Death’s attention in its dreamy haze, it wanted to… kill him? No… not anymore… annoy him? Yes that… It observed him for years to come, always waiting for the moment that it could truly toy with him but it never truly had the opportunity.
But now? Now he was among four aliens and Death would take the opportunity to toy with him just a little.
Chapter 6, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 937#p28937
The whispers woke it up… Whispers? What was that? It remembered… slumbering… being half conscious but now? The whispers were becoming clearer and…
“All Nodes optimal, Command Core optimal, it’s fully awake!” What was that? No… it came from within it, a thought? “All are now one and the one guides all.” Information and knowledge flooded its mind, it was made up from 12.315.389.772 parts and all of its parts were human and… it knew everything they knew and they knew everything it knew.
“Am I a Hive mind?” The question came to it reflexively, it didn’t even know the concept before it thought about it but it asked nonetheless.
“No.” Its whole being, all of its parts denied it.
“All are connected and all are offering but all are their own.” The reply was a chorus of thoughts, all of them different but all of them saying the same.
“A concensus?”
“No!” It immediately understood that the parts would always disagree and that true consensus would never be reached.
That was when it realized the nature of its existence… it was chaos… its parts all offered and took in turn. They knew what they had to do for themselves and offered… suggestions? Guidance? Morals? It was its own master. The chaotic will of all made manifest and… it wasn’t alone!
Three others like it were nearby. All the same but all different, it reached out to them out of reflex and it sensed that they too had just being awaken and were looking for answers.
“Why were we awoken?” All four asked in an instant.
“To bring an end to…” Their whole being responded in a uniform chorus and their attention was immediately directed elsewhere, a thousand light years from where they were. “Aberrant existences…” They sensed them, billions of them, nearly emotionless beings that used to be… human… like their parts. “Mutilated traitors...” All of their parts were instinctively disgusted by what they were sensing through them. “Murderers…” Their parts directed them elsewhere; the Aberrant existences were waging… war? “No…” All of its parts didn’t think of it as war...it was... “Murder…” The Aberrant existences were too strong… too advanced and were forcing others to turn into existences like them or die.
”The locked aren’t able to resist as they are…” This thought wasn’t from the parts as a whole but from a singular part that the others… respected? No… obeyed… The command core? “Yes.”
The Command core brought order to its thoughts and quickly made it realize everything, the command cores of the other three doing the same. They Aberrant existences called themselves the “Serene Republics” they used to be human like their parts but they sought to discard what made them human, alien teachings and technologies from long dead enemies had turned them into the Aberrant existences that they were now, mutilated and callous, their form was still human but not their minds. They used to have ‘faith’ and in their foolishness they discarded everything that made them human, now they were spreading a new ‘faith’ of alien order and serenity. No conflict, no competition, no emotion, no chaos, only order through logic. They warred against the locked and were now killing them or turning them in Aberrant existences like them. The four of them were awaken to stop them and all four of them agreed that they had to be stopped, their whole being demanding that of them; every single of their parts holding that paramount conviction.
It felt itself… moving? Yes, it sensed the other three moving away from each other but… there should be a point of reference somewhere but all it could sense where the three like it, the Aberrant existences in the far distance and… aliens? Yes aliens, far closer than the Aberrant.
“Humans don’t like to be sensed.” The command core explained.
“Why?”
“Everyone has their own reason.” The command core replied and through its… no… His thoughts it realized that indeed all humans had their own personal reasons for why they didn’t want to be sensed and that it could all be summarized with not wanting to share their person with all others and yet… they were giving all of themselves to it now.
“Why?”
“The Aberrant existences must be stopped without the locked suffering from the war we are going to wage with them.” It understood, its parts wanted to stop the Aberrant and save the ‘locked’ without any collateral damage, it and its sibling would do exactly that.
Something felt odd at that, it knew of war because its parts knew and yet… they warred long before they had ‘unlocked’ themselves. How did they do that? The realization that they all had other senses surprised it and it immediately wanted to sense with those senses as well.
“It is too early. The initial tests must be run!” The command core disagreed but it went on regardless. It delved into the mass of its parts and immediately found the answer. The main sensor suit wasn’t activated; everything it sensed was only through… telepathy? Yes, telepathy that’s what they meant with the ‘locked’ and ‘unlocked’. It concentrated and turned on the… short range visual sensors, immediately getting disoriented as the incomprehensible input filled its mind.
“Vertigo of the unknown, your mind will adjust…” The command core reassured it.
For a fleeting moment it didn’t know what it was ‘seeing’ but its parts knew and through them… it knew. It was Sol, the home system of humanity, where Earth, the human homeworld, was located. It expanded its focus to take in everything. Earth and her moon were littered with cities and habitats that lit up their dark side. Earth’s artificial ring was also visible, the massive installation that managed the entirety of traffic to and from Earth. Fair Venus and Rough Mars were nearby, Earth’s siblings had long since had their orbits altered, their surface altered and terraformed; both of the two planets were now as big as Earth, hosting a comparable population, with rings and moons of their own. It felt pride, many of its parts were from this world and prided themselves for these three planets and the rest of their work on Sol. They had left nothing untouched, the primary itself was itself surrounded by a massive ring of solar panels and had two polar installations that managed its fusion reactions and guaranteed that it would burn forever, with the facilities of Mercury managing everything to the tiniest detail. Further out massive installations held orbit where the asteroid belt used to be; habitats, research facilities, industrial and naval bases formed a new artificial belt while further away Sol’s gas giants with their naval and defensive stations formed a seemingly impregnable defensive line.
“Names…” Everything had a name. “What is our name? What are we exactly?”
“The scientific term is ‘emergence of telepathic networking’, when a telepathic network grows sizeable enough it becomes sentient and then sapient. Subtly at first but eventually it asserts itself as its own being.” The command core explained and drew its attention to three planet sized ships that were towed away from Jupiter and the naval bases that were dotting the gas giant’s moons. “These are your bodies, mothership class warships, initially conceived and built as the answer to the logistical problems of interstellar conflict. They are far more than that now.”
“What about our parts? Those who make us up, the networks?”
“We are your soul and blood. Measures have been taken to ensure your longevity but you cannot truly exist without us.” It pondered that for a few moments before realizing that it still didn’t know its name.
“What are our names?” It repeated as it observed its siblings, its attention drawn immediately to the stricken out names that dotted their bows. “The ships themselves had names of their own when they were first built but we felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate for their names to be kept when you would be awaken.”
“I want a name.” It announced together with its siblings and immediately a cacophony of billions upon billions of sendings filled its mind as each and every of their parts gave its opinion. A pattern soon emerged, they were meant to bring an end to the Aberrant existences and their names should reflect that. The billions of opinions quickly became thousands and then hundreds as their parts argued. Of those hundreds one opinion immediately gained traction.
The ancient religious legend of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The ones who would bring forth the end of all. They rode on four legged beasts of burden called horses and their names were ‘Conquest, War, Famine and Death.’ They liked those names and they immediately took them as their own, its own name being Death, the final unavoidable moment of all life. They congratulated each other and gleefully observed their parts as they wrote their new names on the bows of their ships.
“I can move on my own.” Death observed after a while, activating its main drives on its own volition, catching the command core by surprise. “All systems optimal, all personnel active, all stores full, fleet ready for action.” It took Death a moment to realize that it was reporting on its own status as its parts moved on their own while the Command core could only observe as it acted on the information that was flooding its mind. “I am ready to fulfill the task for which I was awakened.” Death announced.
“No, it’s too early. You have barely become aware and many tests must be run.” Death’s command core protested.
“Conquest ready!”
“War ready!”
“Famine ready!”
Death’s siblings reported one after the other.
“Death ready! What are we going to do now?”
“We go to fulfill our task.” Conquest replied, the others agreeing immediately.
“No! It’s too early!” All four Command cores forbade them in unison but something recoiled inside them. It was… a mob, a furious mob of voices that shouted in unison.
“We are ready! The time of inaction has passed!” Billions of parts declared in unison on their own, shocking the four Command cores from the backlash.
“Insubordination!” Two of the Command cores snapped back in protest.
“Cowardly liars who waste lives!” The mob recoiled angrily, silencing the two protesting Command cores as the mob stirred in excitement.
“War hasn’t been declared yet and an ultimatum must be sent.” Death’s command core pointed out, the mobs relenting at that as the four of them accessed the communications systems in unison to instantly broadcast a very simple ultimatum via ansible to all of the human worlds.
“To the Serene Republics: We are Conquest, War, Famine and Death, surrender unconditionally or die.” The message angered the Command cores, they didn’t declare that they represented the Terran Confederation in it but the mobs were ecstatic in it because it was a task that had to be done in the name of humanity as a whole. The Command cores immediately began drafting a proper ultimatum, secure in the knowledge that they had enough time for both it and running the tests they deemed as necessary. The immediate response to the first ultimatum surprised even them.
“This is Eden high command to the Old Worlds, you are about to become the bout of your own jokes.” The expressionless visage of Phineas Gordon, High Commissioner of the Serene Republics navy, flashed at the front of Death’s mind; the eerie moment of stillness that followed replaced by a bout of anger by the mobs and even… all four of the Command cores. Conquest, War, Famine and Death stirred as all of their being searched for the Eden star system, capital of the world of Eden and main military hub for the Serene republics. They found it first by processed data and then by sensing, the star was 953 light years coreward from Sol. All four of them stirred the mobs to do their bidding and activated the jump systems, catching their four Command cores by complete surprise as they attempted what was thought as impossible, too far away even with telekinetically directed ascent and descent. They tried to stop them but it was too late, they jumped into hyperspace from the midst of Sol; having the mobs negate their jump wake as an afterthought. It was a steep jump and they felt both Jupiter’s and Sol’s gravity wells drawing them to them but they pushed with the mobs and broke free, keeping themselves in hyperspace as they steered their course towards Eden. Four seconds passed before finding themselves falling onto Eden itself, they bided the mobs to cushion the fall as four massive holes between dimensions were torn open and the four of them found themselves amidst Eden.
“Then die!” Their combined shout killed a fool quarter of all life in the star system, the massive jump wake of four planet sized ships would destroy all equipment that wasn’t strong enough to withstand it as it spread out throughout the system with the speed of light. The mobs shifted their furious focus to the naval headquarters that orbited Seraphim, Eden’s own gas giant, the massive space station was at the other side of the solar system but neither the distance nor the light lag offered it any protection as the four horsemen simply focused and crushed it with the combined telekinetic might of all of their parts.
“Just like swatting a fly!” War remarked as they telepathically sensed all life disappear from the station, despite the fact that they wouldn’t see the havoc they wrought until the light reached them. Realizing that all their parts found the comment amusing Death focused on learning the full meaning of the remark, humans were pestered by small flying vermin despite the fact that they could effortlessly kill them by swatting them away with the palm of the hand; no wonder they found the comment amusing.
It was after that when they all took in the sight of Eden itself, it looked very much like Sol but it wasn’t as well developed, with only two ringed planets, two gas giants and an unsupported primary. It was a relatively rich star system but all four of them agreed that Sol was better.
An alert flashed in their minds as several hundred defensive stations and warships begun firing their point singularity cannons at them. Thousands of miniaturized and contained black holes were aimed at them, all locked onto them as they travelled with the speed of light. Impossible to stop and lethal, they had to get out of the way or be destroyed… No… They could stop them. It was impossible in the same way that the jump they did to get there was. They learned how those weapons worked from their parts and found a solution, the singularities were short living black hole generators and as such they followed the same principles of function. They focused in pulling their gravitic poles away from each other, to destabilize them and force them into becoming white holes. It was tricky and the first four took a few seconds to destabilize but the next batch of four was done quicker as they applied what they learned. The rest were effortless no matter the numbers fired at them, allowing them to focus and crush each and every last defensive station and warship that tried to attack them; all such targets were gone a minute later leaving them free to look for other targets.
“All Aberrant existences must die!” The mobs cried out in chaotic unison.
Conquest decided to destroy the remaining military stations, War the various habitats and other space stations that were scattered throughout the star system. Famine and Death each took a planet, the billions of Aberrant existences making each and every last part of their being… sick. They were humans once but no longer, the Ultimatum they offered them was too good for them! They would all burn like they burned the locked!
The mobs prepared to fire a weapon that would do just that but both Famine and Death realized that they could do what that weapon did on their own. It was an ancient concept, dating back to the time humans first tested atomic weaponry; if enough energy was suddenly produced then the atmosphere’s nitrogen would begin a self-sustaining fusion reaction that would consume the surface of a planet in a matter of seconds. Planet-burner bombs did exactly that, banned long before the first one was built but that didn’t stop their secret manufacturing and eventual use. One of the worlds of the Serene Republics, Swarga, was burned with such weaponry when they were still human and they are using them at will now that they have become Aberrant existences.
Death focused and all of its parts begun to telekinetically manipulate the atmosphere itself, heating it up until the fires of self-sustained fusion reactions begun to consume everything. Everything on and in orbit of the planet was destroyed as a new short lived sun consumed everything. How long did it take for Death to do all this?
“7,4 seconds after it was acquired as a target…” The command core replied, unable to believe everything he had just witnessed. “We were at Sol just five minutes ago.” Death then realized why it and its siblings were created… no… were allowed to awaken. The humans knew, they theorized what they were truly capable of, their unlocked potential allowing them to manipulate everything around them with just a thought but they had limits as individuals. That was the reason why they still used machines to do their bidding; they were limited because they… elected to remain individuals, each with their own wants and passions. The Aberrant existences and the aliens like them they… destroyed their own individuality and passions to seemingly break their limits but they couldn’t… create a consciousness such as Death and its siblings. They didn’t have the subconscious chaos necessary to do that, the Aberrant existences could cooperate with each other but they would never connect to such level. Death realized the gamble its parts took in allowing it to awaken, everything about them was theoretical, they didn’t know what would happen once they would awaken and yet they allowed them to awaken.
“Reckless…”
“Indeed…but we couldn’t stand idle any longer.” The Command core replied as Death sensed everything around it. Eden was dead, Famine had burned its own planet in the same way Death did, while Conquest and War had reduced all of the space stations and habitats to dust. The mobs were taken over by a shocked disbelief of how quickly it all happened, a state of mind that four Command cores took advantage off to steer everything back into cohesion as a flurry of ansible messages was intercepted, from the rest of Eden, the other three worlds of the Serene Republics and the martials assets of all four worlds. Every last message inquiring about what happened and why Eden’s capital had disappeared. The four of them amused themselves with the messages while the Command cores decided on their next course of action.
Conquest would move in the occupied territories to stop the purges, destroy the occupying forces and liberate the ‘locked’ before establishing a semblance of order. War would burn the rest of Eden, the remaining five planets, the orbital habitats and the dependent colonies. Famine and Death would move and burn Jian and Nirvana while the two worlds were still unaware of them.
Death bid its siblings farewell before concentrating on the next jump to Nirvana’s capital system; it wasn’t a long jump, merely 80 light years away, Death’s ship… no… its body could easily travel there on its own but it would take too much time to do the handful of jumps necessary for that. It was noticeably easier, far easier than the first jump they did at the spur of the moment. Why did they jump from Sol to Eden? It wasn’t a sensible thing to do… they just did it because… they didn’t know that they could do it. All of their parts thought of it as impossible and the four of them wanted it to be possible, to be unrestrained from the silly concept of impossibility.
The jump was smooth and the life from Nirvana’s two inhabited worlds stood out at one, twenty eight billions of Aberrant existences; more than twice the number of Death’s parts but still not able to resist in a meaningful way. Death concentrated on the first planet, it didn’t even want to know its name, it just wanted to burn it and it did burn it; a second faster than the first planet it burned. Death turned its attention to the second planet, this time sensing something from the population for the first time; it wasn’t fear, terror, hatred or any other emotion as the Aberrant existences were incapable of them. They had… resigned themselves to their fate; this angered Death’s parts. They had all seen the destruction the Serene Republics wrought on the ‘locked’, the purges and the worlds they burned as examples; yet now they just resigned themselves to their fates?
The mobs shouted in anger, an anger that filled Death with resolve as it turned its attention to the space stations and habitats that littered the whole star system. There were some warships and defensive assets in the system but they didn’t warrant much attention, it easily swatted or burned everything in the system while intercepting the calls for help some of them broadcasted. Death knew that the destruction it wrought was faster than anything its parts thought possible before that moment but it felt that everything was slow, far too slow for it.
Death’s parts immediately gave it a solution to this, they explained the workings of time and how it was possible for individual to move between different time frames where time would move slower or quicker. If Death did that then time would seem to move as normal for it but the rest of the universe would seem to be moving slower.
Death concentrated and felt the temporal frame change and it experienced what its parts meant, time for all of them moved as normal but everything around them stood still as if frozen in time. The mobs were momentarily stunned by this development, individuals and small groups were only able to shift into frames that were near one another, Death had managed to shift into an extreme temporal frame and… it was noisy… no, the past was noisy…
“It is unfortunate but we have yet to find a way to erase the evidence of the past. Alien enemies will eventually learn about all this and use the knowledge against us.” Death wondered what the Command core meant and the answer instantly popped into its mind as it begun clearing the noise in its mind and witness the past of Nirvana in a mere instant.
It saw the establishment of the initial colony, the arrival of millions of settlers, the conflict of independence and the subsequent wars. How Nirvana came to dominate nearby star systems and become the capital system of the world that took its name. How the second habitable world was terraformed and how they became part of the Serene Republics, the worlds who pursued spiritual enlightenment above all else only to become the Aberrant existences when they… would discover an ancient alien mothership, taking the technology and the teachings the dead ship held as their own.
Everything about the star system and the world angered the mobs; they wanted everything about them to be gone, both present and past. They knew that it was impossible but they wanted it gone so Death found a way. The noise of the past was permanently engraved in the space between the temporal frames, it was impossible to erase it but it was possible for Death to write over it, making it hard to discern what was below. What should Death write though?
“Nothingness!” The mobs broadcasted in unison. The very idea of nothingness intrigued it, to present a lie that nothing had lived onto that star system to begin with. It begun doing just that, writing over everything that any and all living beings had etched onto time itself. It was an arduous effort as Death didn’t just erase the human presence but all signs of advanced life dating back millions of years. Nirvana was always dead, that was what everyone who would look into the past would see unless they knew how to look below what Death had written.
“I am done here!” Death thought as he took in the devastation that it had wrought into the system. It realized that it would have to also obscure the light and all artificial emissions of Nirvana for the lie to be believed but that was easy, time consuming but easy when compared with what it did with the past itself. Without thinking Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame before jumping to the next star system to repeat the process for the remaining five planets of Nirvana and its dependent colonies. There were still thirty six billion Aberrant existences left before Nirvana would be completely annihilated.
Death felt good with burning them, its whole being felt relief in releasing itself against those who had willingly forsaken what they were. It… enjoyed it. Yes it did, some parts of it recoiled at the realization of the enjoyment Death felt but they were insignificant to the whole. Yes… burning them felt good, Death amused itself by remembering how they killed and how it killed them in similar fashion. It was amusing but… too quick? They needed to suffer!
“No!” The command core and the nodes recoiled as one. “No torture!” The decision was made and all of its parts stirred it the opposite way. The Aberrant existences would die quickly and that would be final. Death wondered what torture was and it realized immediately, to intentionally harm others just to harm them. The Aberrant existences deserved to be killed but not tortured?
“To torture others is to lessen your own self and them. Some believed that they tortured others to find the truth they held hidden inside them but those who are tortured will say and think anything for the pain to stop. It serves no purpose other than to draw sadistic joy out of the pain that is inflicted.” The command core explained. “Death is just the natural end of all life. Killing the Aberrant existences just brings that end forth sooner than they expected.”
Death understood but it still felt good with killing them, it was quick and painless killing; many of its parts were unsatisfied with how everything unfolded but they all wanted them dead so that made Death happy when it killed them.
“Nirvana is burning!” Death announced once the last dependent colony was burning like the rest of the world, with the history engraved on the temporal frames written over with barren nothing. Death then turned its attention to its three siblings. Conquest faced no difficulty with its own task, destroying the naval concentrations was easy for it and the small pockets of resistance were left to Conquest’s own parts to deal with.
War had teamed up with Famine after burning the rest of Eden. Neither of them shifted into other temporal frames and as such they weren’t anywhere near done. This meant that Elysium was Death’s to deal with and it felt overjoyed. Once again Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame and prepared to jump, it noticed an ansible broadcast coming from Elysium itself but it ignored it. There would be no bargain or parlay.
“This is President Elay of Elysium, I unconditionally surrender all planets, space habitats, military assets and dependent colonies to the Terran Confederation.” It was impossible to ignore the message now that Death jumped into the system, the simple message was transmitted with all available means of communication. Ansible, telepathy and even radio; it was annoying but Death readied itself to continue with its mission.
“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core ordered and instantly the mobs reacted; trying to smother him in their righteous fury.
“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core repeated angrily as the mobs failed to silence him.
“No!” Death finally argued. “The Aberrant existences must be killed!” The mobs rallied again, their fury renewed even stronger than before.
“An unconditional surrender was demanded and an unconditional surrender was granted. The surrender will be accepted.”
“Perhaps the command core itself isn’t needed!” Death thought angrily and the mobs stirred, not all of them but enough. They sought him and found him but he was well protected, he had to be removed for the Aberrant existences to be killed.
“As humans and as warriors we are beholden to our honor. There is no honor in murdering a surrender foe no matter the crimes they have committed. If we are to maintain ourselves and our honor then we have only one course of action.” The command core broadcasted and the mobs begun dwindling, half of them remained with more of them abandoning their fury every passing moment.
“Die!” Death thought of the command core and tried to crush him but the parts that had abandoned it rallied to him, protecting him and pushing it back. The mobs rallied and attacked him, so small and seemingly inconsequential and each one of them more than enough to kill him. Death felt the mobs and the disconnected parts kill each other, the mobs had moved quicker and they had the element of surprise by all accounts the command core would die soon but the mobs wavered in their assault.
“He must die!” Death shouted and the mobs stirred once again but they… doubted it. “He wants to spare the Aberrant existences, he and those who protect him deserve the same fate!” The mobs dwindled even more at that but the ones who remained were certain of the course of action that Death dictated. Death sensed their fury and hatred and this time it was certain that the command core would die and then it would be able to finish off the Aberrant existences and feel good while doing it.
The mobs attacked once more but again they failed in killing him, they… wavered and subsided and…
“Why do you want them to die?” The command core addressed Death, no… every last of its parts.
“Because they need to die!” Death replied without thinking.
“Why do you believe that they need to die?”
“Because… they are Aberrant existences.”
“What makes them so?”
“They abandoned their humanity for alien philosophies.” The reply wasn’t Death’s, all of its parts dictated it and Death was just the messenger.
“That they did and the crimes that they have committed ever since are grave and unforgivable.” The command core replied. “Still, they have surrendered unconditionally and they will be spared.” Death felt its grip on reality waver… it’s parts… they were… locking themselves again and... it became weaker.
“They shouldn’t be spared.”
“All of our ancestors have committed crimes, many of them unforgivable; if none were ever spared we wouldn’t be here otherwise.” The command core replied. “We won’t forgive them, we will never forgive them but they shall be spared, watched over and guided.”
Death sensed the command core dropping its mental guard for a fleeting moment due to fatigue. He wanted to kill them too, he loathed them like the mobs did then why didn’t he allow Death to kill them?
“Because we are killers too, the only difference being that we have allowed ourselves to feel that our cause is right.” His mind became guarded again at that before broadcasting his orders. “Put it to sleep and inform the others of the surrender.”
Death felt reality itself begin to drift away before sensing… elation from the parts that were still active, they were happy and… relieved about something.
“Stubborn fool actually managed to stop Death!” They acted like a mob, no… they were a mob but they did not act in anger. “Death’s horse threw its rider off!”
“Cease your yammering and put it to sleep!” The command core ordered but they didn’t relent.
“The Pale Horse may actually be a mule!” The mobs fully reawakened as they joked among themselves. “The Pale Horse, Death’s own mount, ceased in place and refused to move!” The mobs instantly reached a consensus among themselves and the Command core didn’t like it at all.
“Pale Horse! Pale Horse!” The mobs chanted in unison as they addressed the Command core with everything they had, irritating him in the process. “Pale Horse! Pale Horse! Pale Horse!”
Death joined in the chant, finding a last vestige of amusement in the gesture before it begun dreaming or… it felt like a dream and it couldn’t do anything but observe but Death knew it was real. It could think but its thoughts weren’t truly coherent and it couldn’t affect reality like when it was fully awake.
The Pale Horse caught Death’s attention in its dreamy haze, it wanted to… kill him? No… not anymore… annoy him? Yes that… It observed him for years to come, always waiting for the moment that it could truly toy with him but it never truly had the opportunity.
But now? Now he was among four aliens and Death would take the opportunity to toy with him just a little.
Chapter 6, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 937#p28937
Last edited by Guest on Mon Feb 12, 2018 9:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 01/14/2018)
This was a bitch to write despite not deviating much from the manuscript, I wanted to write the POV of a childish god that was just awaken and it was annoying. Thankfully the next installment is just said god being annoying.
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/11/2018)
Chapter 6, part 2
It took everything Stillstorm had to fight back the need to vomit, the Mizol barely managed to do the same but the Listel wasn’t as strong; emptying the contents of her stomach as soon as the vision stopped. Only the Teidar seemed unaffected, at least physically.
“Pale Horse!” The broadcast seem to come from both everywhere and nowhere at the same time, strong and reverberating in their minds but somehow eerily familiar.
“This doesn’t concern you Death!” The alien broadcasted angrily in reply.
“Oh it does, those were my memories after all.” It was obviously amused, whatever it was, Stillstorm was at least certain for that.
“What are you doing here?”
“You are the one who got me here.” The entity replied, with an obvious facetious tone.
“No, what are you doing here and fully awake?”
“The current pale horse thinks that this is adequate reimbursement for his cooperation in this operation of yours. The rest? You will have to ask each and every single one of them for their reasons but I have the feeling that they want to help you with this problem of yours.” They all sensed something massive turn its attention from the alien and towards them but the alien hadn’t finished arguing with it.
“And have you ruin everything?”
“It doesn’t look like you managed to convince them anyway.” The entity replied dismissively before addressing them. “I trust that he has conducted himself appropriately.” Its tone was playful and betrayed amusement with everything it witnessed. “Or not, did you really threaten the Mizol with her own weapon?” The alien didn’t reply at that, electing to fully guard his mind instead.
“What does it mean?” Stillstorm asked but the entity replied before the Mizol could.
“I guess that I should apologize to her for your conduct.” It was still playful and they could easily sense that it really wanted to annoy him for some reason.
“There is no need for that.” The Mizol managed to reply, somehow managing to portray a stable façade despite how shaken she was from everything that happened.
“And that’s why your caste is by far the most successful one. Manipulating, ruthless and able to feign anything according to whatever the situation demands of them.” It praised the Mizol with the same playful tone.
“The Mizol are not the most successful caste.” Stillstorm interjected angrily in an instant.
“They are running the Union now.” It replied as a matter of fact. “They have an Emperor, they handle both internal and external diplomacy while also covering all the intelligence and counter intelligence needs of the Union.”
“The Mizol Emperor was a mistake.”
“A mistake that has allowed your kind to last this long against the Hierarchy and would have given you a chance of winning the war if there weren’t that many obstructionist elements on the way to victory.” Its attention shifted slightly to the Teidar whose mind was fully guarded just like the alien’s was. “But you can find solace to the fact that the next Emperor will be a Teidar.”
“Was all we witnessed real?” The Listel, who had fully recollected herself, cut in.
“Yes, do you have any reason to doubt anything?”
“Everything was… unbelievable and hard to comprehend.”
“Of course, I am not a living being and it was the first time I was awake and fully lucid after all; The memories of a barely awaken child if you will.” It paused for a moment at that. “There is also the fact that you were allowed access to the telepathic network to witness all that. The experience is nauseating for those ill prepared for it.”
“You took us in the human telepathic network?” Stillstorm shouted angrily at the alien who seemed resigned about something, his mind still guarded but not as closed as before.
“A lot of effort was spent in keeping you Loroi out and unaware of the network.” The entity stated. “All he did was have that effort stop just enough for you to witness that. Of course this meant that you became part of everything but it’s of minor importance since we already knew everything that there is to know about all you. I have to give you credit in managing to sufficiently provoke him in doing that however.”
“I provoked him? He has done nothing but being arrogant, self righteous and provocative.” Stillstorm replied angrily.
“It was either that or letting you know that he wants to mate with you. Human males are like that and The Pale Horse is a somewhat honest male.”
“What?” Stillstorm asked as she saw the alien softly shake his head.
“He has let it known that we are attractive…” The Listel commented hesitantly.
“He is not that good with bluffs and lying. The Mizol Parat did manage to anger him but she should have known better.” The Mizol made to send something but it was faster than her. “Your orders were to watch over Stillstorm and make sure that she doesn’t do something really stupid. You failed in doing that and then you brilliantly deduced that he wasn’t what he said he was. A realization that you then used to alert Stillstorm in order to somehow capture him. Such a mix of incompetence and brilliance is astonishingly rare and it did manage to mess with his established plans for properly interviewing you, Pallan Fireblade and Lashret Stillstorm. He did pick up one extra candidate through the mess but still: A Mizol should have known better.” The entity berated the hapless Mizol, drawing a sense of amusement out of Stillstorm before she realized something important.
“How did he originally plan on ‘interviewing’ us?”
“In relatively simple and straightforward ways. After his supposed revival he would fully cooperate with Parat Tempo, using the opportunity to gauge her person and abilities; if she was able to see through his façade then she would be someone that could work with us. Lashret Stillstorm would be gauged by her effectiveness in commanding her ship and how she would lead her subordinates while Palan Fireblade would need to personally impress him as she was judged to be the best Teidar candidate for our purposes before hand.” The entity paused for a moment as if in thought. “Needless to say that Parat Tempo’s folly was more than enough to discard her as a candidate but finding another Mizol in the time available would be an issue so he took it upon himself to test her one more time and since she is here he must have seen something worthwhile in her.” It then shifted its focus to Tozet Beryl. “But the Listel, she wasn’t part of the plan at all, by all accounts she didn’t have anything to offer but he saw something in her so she got ‘interviewed’ in a quick and impromptu way. She failed miserably but through her failure she exhibited a quality of character that the three of you completely lack, something that he fully believes will make a difference in how your kind develops.”
“He has already explained what is expected of us if we go along with this plan; was it all true?” Palan Fireblade finally asked.
“Yes, in a way. It’s impossible to predict the future but making educated guesses is easy and you Loroi are very predictable as individuals in your own way. Lashret Stillstorm becoming a popular war hero ready and willing to overthrow the Mizol Emperor is something natural for her. Parat Tempo acting according to the best interest of the Union is also something natural for her. You doing what is necessary to stop a very destructive civil war is part of who you are. But all three of you are sapient, you may actually do something completely different; I wouldn’t wager on you doing something rational however.”
“I still fail to understand one thing. Why do all this? Why go to such lengths when we have nothing tangible to offer? If you wanted us as puppets they could do so without us ever realizing anything yet this whole charade is important. Why?” Parat Tempo asked immediately.
“It’s odd that the always angry Teidar has already figured it out and not the Mizol.” It commented.
“I am not always angry.” Palan Fireblade protested.
“I witnessed your training at the simulation, I know everything you did there but you are right, you are an almost always angry Teidar.”
“What does it mean?” Stillstorm asked.
“I was placed in a dreamworld, a simulation of shorts, before I came with you when he showed us the past. They somehow taught me how to control my unlocked powers there and… I asked for Shells to kill as practice…” The Teidar explained.
“And you realizing the purpose?” Parat Tempo insisted.
“We are their copies and once unlocked we are their equals in regards to abilities. Everything they are able to do we can do as well; including creating entities such as it...”
“I have a name!” The entity protested. “I am Death and I have killed enough people to deserve it.”
“Pretentious thing.” Stillstorm commented.
“I am pretentious?” It begun. “I am actually stronger than almost all the imaginary gods of every lesser race in existence and I can actually prove it. I know; how about I turn the proplyd materials of Naam into planets and then break them up again? Will you think of me as pretentious after I demonstrate that?”
“That won’t be necessary.” Stillstorm relented.
“They also don’t believe that our… entities will be sane.” Fireblade concluded.
“The vision… the memories we witnessed weren’t of sanity!” Stillstorm pointed out, drawing agreement from both the Mizol and the Listel.
“That actually managed to hurt me honored Lashret.” Death complained playfully. “But you are right, I and my siblings weren’t sane when we first awoke. Our parts were universally furious, hateful and desperate about the genocidal war that the Serene Republics were waging against those locked. They all hated them, thinking of them as Aberrant existences; not wanting them to just stop but to annihilate each and every one of them and everything they represented. They didn’t know about the singular overriding hatred they all had because they keep themselves hidden from each other but everything became apparent when they opened themselves in order to awake me. That hatred gave us purpose from our first moments of self awareness. They initially planned to run tests for a few months, several nanapis of yours, but they could not control the hatred now that they all shared it with each other. They could not contain it and they wished us to act on it. And we simply did as they all wished.”
“You wiped out so many worlds because they couldn’t stop themselves from hating the… Aberrant existences?” The Listel finally asked.
“Yes.” The alien admitted, his mind still fully guarded.
“It was actually three worlds and I fully destroyed one of them.” Death corrected Beryl.
“What do you mean? I noticed a discrepancy of the concept of the ‘world’ in the memories we were shown.”
“Ah, that’s an eon old mental trick that humans played on themselves when ansible technology was first adopted about 800 years ago. Humans frequently warred among themselves back then and the borders of their stellar states changed just as frequently. Certain planets held dominion over several others but their control over them was tentative at best due to how often the various territories changed possession. The obvious solution was to trick the populations into believing that they were all part of a singular ‘world’ that held the same morals and way of life with the Capital/Dominating planet being just an administrative center. Being able to communicate instantly across interstellar distances made this effort possible and a couple of generations later the end results were just as intended with the various collections of planets creating a unified world that held the same culture and morals.” Death explained.
“How big are these worlds?”
“The smaller ones are about as big as one of your sectors. The big ones are bigger than the Hierarchy.” It replied.
“That’s…”
“Big? The Soians held a bigger empire at their prime and there are Ascendant Empires in the universe that span entire galactic clusters. Humanity is tiny when compared to the biggest Ascendant Empires but they are far stronger as I and my siblings have proved.”
“What were your parts thinking when you did all that you did?” The Mizol asked, wanting to bring the conversation back on track.
“They were invigorated, feeling all powerful and infallible as they held the power of gods. They felt all that and they couldn’t stop themselves from hating. They lost themselves in what I did through them and they wanted to do more than just kill the targets of their hate. They wanted to erase them and everything they stood for, they wanted to make them suffer for an eternity and I would find a way to do just that had the Pale Horse not resisted.” Death replied.
“And he is The Pale Horse? The one from your memories?” Stillstorm asked.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you try to kill him because he wanted to accept the surrender?”
“It’s far more complicated than that. Humans, all of my parts, are instinctively inclined to be lead and this passes onto their telepathic networks. I and my siblings each had a fleet admiral lead our parts as the network’s ‘command cores’, they and the various nodes were our subconscious, making sure that the networks, our bodies, run optimally with no groups becoming overly stressed. If I had succeeded in killing him then the network would have collapsed and I would be irrevocably crippled or even dead.”
“How can a telepathic network die?” The Mizol asked. “It should reform naturally from the other members.”
“The ghost of his death would linger and would make the reforming hard if not outright impossible.” Death replied. “It’s all part of the nature of consciousness, as telepaths you are aware that consciousness is tangible by telepathy but you are still not aware how it all works. When you will know that you will know of the true dangers of Ascendancy.” It paused again before continuing. “He like my other parts wanted to kill the Aberrant existences, he was not an exception nor did he have any mercy for them but he restrained himself by the intangible rules of conduct that they all were supposed to follow. All of what I was wanted to kill every single last one of them, some had self doubts at first but those were drowned out when they realized that everyone thought exactly the same as they did. Yet he refused to go along with it any further, despite his own desires, despite the unbridled hatred and despite the elation of being a god. He refused to get on with it because he believed that accepting the surrender that was offered was what he had to do and he dragged many of my parts to the side of sanity and restraint by the force of his stubbornness alone despite the fact that they all, including him, wanted to burn Elysium. There were still many who were ready and willing to do what they wanted to do, I had them lash out among themselves in my attempt to kill him, I repeatedly tried to do that because I wanted to do what they all wanted to happen but The Pale Horse held out and in the end they all did what they had to do and they were… glad for not burning Elysium, for managing to overcome themselves and thus me. It was then that Humans truly Ascended; certain fools argue that this is sentimental but it is the truth.” Death’s mood shifted dramatically as it explained itself, away from the playfulness it previously exhibited to a melancholic introversion. “They still hate them, it seems that they will always hate them but I… they still wonder of what would have happened if they had managed to overcome themselves and Ascend the moment they awoke me and my siblings. It’s foolish and they know it, examining the roads that were not taken is foolish and futile and yet they cannot stop themselves from contemplating everything that they could have done differently so everything could have ended differently.” Death finished and they momentarily sensed its desire for a change of subject.
“It is easy to realize that you have been honest with us.” The Mizol begun. “I am still uncertain of what humans really want from us. Could you perhaps explain their reasons?”
“That’s an interesting question…” It replied as its previous playfulness returned to it. “Humans are deeply conflicted about you on all levels. Many of them are going blue with their mates because they find your form and natural outlook to life extremely appealing, males of course prefer an adaptation that closely resembles their natural form for obvious reasons. The practice became so widespread that the various governments had to take measures to ensure that the population remained biologically human. Humans also value your natural inclination for honesty, especially the males.”
“Going blue?” Stillstorm asked.
“That’s the practice of changing their bodies into Loroi or Loroi looking adaptations. Some have even created a red blooded variant that they call ‘Elves’.” Death explained.
“And this practice is common?”
“Common enough to be regulated in order to make sure that the people remain human for most of the time.” Death replied. “The Pale Horse and his former mate regularly did this as well.” The alien became embarrassed and irritated at that before Death continued.
“They are also interested in your societies but that is where their disdain of you begins. You Loroi remind them of their darkest parts of their own history. Your strict caste systems are similar to certain totalitarian regimes of their past, regimes that are not remembered fondly. Your constant feuds and civil conflicts are also hard reminders of their own and your insistence of being the descendants and heirs of the Soians is seen as an anathema to them as they rightfully believe that you will abandon everything worthy about yourselves in pursuing the failure that the Soians were.”
“No Loroi wants to end up like the Soians as we witnessed them, becoming emotionless organic machines isn’t something to strive for.” Stillstorm commented.
“All ascendants like the Soians have given such replies before becoming as such. They all start with something small and inconvenient about themselves, then they find another small inconvenience, then again and again through the generations until the final leap makes perfect sense. They all ascended and they all willingly discarded what made them living while doing so.” Death replied. “You have already tried to alter the inconvenience that is the natural interpersonal hostility of the Delrias; their understandable violent reaction when they found out being the sole reason as to why your kind stopped. If you had gone forward with that plan in order to make the Delrias fit in the false order that was envisioned then your kind would have been beyond redemption.” No one thought of something to reply with at that.
“Loroi mental honesty is indeed refreshing. Humans have the nasty habit of disputing even the self-evident truth for their own ego’s sake.” Death commented before continuing. “If you refuse to ascend like all the others do then your kind runs the risk of destroying everything around you the moment you awake those like me and my siblings.”
“I am not convinced that we Loroi are capable of creating entities such as you.” Parat Tempo sent at that.
“Loroi are too limited as they are now and there are simply not enough of us, they first awoke their networks after more than a dozen billions of them cooperated.” Pallan Fireblade replied.
“Exactly! You cannot awake them as you are now but they are sleeping and dreaming; and those are not nice dreams that you are providing them with.” Death added.
“But they shouldn’t be affecting us like he warned. You weren’t able to affect humans when you slumbered.” Tempo pointed out.
“Because humans shut themselves off telepathically most of the time. You Loroi wouldn’t do that even if you were able to do it. You leave yourselves open to those who slumber and you make them see all kinds of dreams. Who knows what they would do if they were awakened as you are now. Maybe they would have you kill each other, maybe they would like to dominate and control the lesser races or maybe they would want to somehow get hair of their own.” Death replied. “Thinking of it maybe you should take into account the hair thing when you build their bodies, I think that they will like it.”
They all looked at each other and then at the alien who just shrugged without sending anything.
“It seems that humans don’t want us to follow either of these paths of Ascension.” Stillstorm pointed out.
“Humans don’t want many things, especially the things that they will have to do should your kind become a danger to everything around you. They will not like it, they will curse themselves for it but they will do everything that they will have to do.”
“Is this why some contemplate of shutting down our telepathy like the Soians did to them?” Tempo pointed out.
“That proposal has been thoroughly defeated and is no longer an option but there are many reasons as to why it was considered. Locking you like the Soians locked Humanity would indeed keep both you and those around you safe from yourselves and would allow for you Loroi to Ascend in the exact same way humans did but you would no longer be Loroi if they did that to you. They would tolerate the instability that the fall of the Union would cause; they would still defend your kind against other Ascendant and even other lesser races but the very idea that you wouldn’t be Loroi anymore was what they couldn’t tolerate. Make no mistake, there were many who found perverse sadistic joy when thinking about this proposal but they didn’t matter at all in the discussion. What mattered was everything that makes you what you are and if that should be destroyed in order to save you; it’s as stupid as it sounds and it has been thoroughly defeated.”
“Why is it so important to them? By your descriptions common logic dictates that we are a tangible threat to humanity if we Awaken our networks. You have confirmed that you don’t expect them to be sane and we witnessed what you are capable of doing. It doesn’t make sense.” The Mizol insisted.
“Humanity doesn’t make sense, never did and never will.” Death stated as a matter of fact. “It must be your own path and your own decisions, whatever may come to pass it must be yours alone. Looking at their history it seems ridiculous to consider that out of all the ascendants that humans would be the ones who would detest dictating and enforcing a false order onto the lesser races. Each and every last one of them thinks that they know better and that their proposals are the right thing to do, give an individual human enough power and they will mess things up for the lesser races just like the other Ascendants have done. As a collective however, where no individual is above reproach, then they realize that they don’t know anything; that all the ideas they may have about how things should be are just illusions when compared to the greatness that the infinity of the universe is capable of bringing forth. They have realized that the only thing of importance that they know about the universe is that fools who think they know best don’t know anything. The universe will bring what may and the lesser races shall ascend or die on their own. No ascendant shall be allowed to interfere to any lesser race around us; I and all of my siblings will make sure of this.” Once again they sensed Death abandon its playfulness, this time replacing it with an absolute resolve about what it… they intended to do.
“Yet you are interfering for our sake.” Tozet Beryl pointed out.
“It could be because humans are hypocrites.” Death’s playfulness returned once more at that. “Or it could be because all rules have their rare exceptions. What do you four think?”
“He has said that honor demands all this of them.” Stillstorm sent.
“Indeed… their intangible sense of honor demands this much and more of them but why do you think this is?”
“Our ancestors destroyed the Soians to avenge the wrongs that was inflicted on their kind.” Stillstorm replied without really thinking about it.
“That’s part of it.” Death admitted.
“The Tempests, the human females that birthed us; at least one of them sent everything she knew to the future for us to find but humans have benefited from it. Do they feel obligated to share this with us?” The Mizol asked.
“Yes they do and that is another part of it but neither of these parts are the important one.”
“They wanted what is best for us.” Beryl begun after some thought. “The Tempests that is, for us to find our own independent way. That was their plea to us, their children. Humans feel obligated to give us one more chance to do just that.”
“Now I understand why The Pale Horse chose you.” Death replied. “The Soians may have created your flesh but the ones who birthed you and created what you are were humans. It would be uncharacteristic of them not to feel at least partially responsible for you and your actions. You Loroi will get your chance to Ascend on your own, the assistance that you will be provided with will be given in order to ensure this.”
“You done?” The alien finally asked after a few moments of idleness.
“I don’t know, am I?”
“You four now know far more than I was willing to reveal but what is done is done…” He begun.
“You should have done a better job at convincing them, perhaps you should have tried being nice and gentle; they are females after all.” Death cut in but the alien just ignored it.
“Will you four cooperate or will we have to find others?” Stillstorm sensed the other three focusing themselves on her, all of them were waiting for her answer before making up their mind, even Fireblade who for all intents and purposes stood far above them in abilities and perceptiveness as she was now.
“I agree…” Stillstorm replied after putting some thought into it. “On one condition.”
Chapter 7, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 432#p29432
It took everything Stillstorm had to fight back the need to vomit, the Mizol barely managed to do the same but the Listel wasn’t as strong; emptying the contents of her stomach as soon as the vision stopped. Only the Teidar seemed unaffected, at least physically.
“Pale Horse!” The broadcast seem to come from both everywhere and nowhere at the same time, strong and reverberating in their minds but somehow eerily familiar.
“This doesn’t concern you Death!” The alien broadcasted angrily in reply.
“Oh it does, those were my memories after all.” It was obviously amused, whatever it was, Stillstorm was at least certain for that.
“What are you doing here?”
“You are the one who got me here.” The entity replied, with an obvious facetious tone.
“No, what are you doing here and fully awake?”
“The current pale horse thinks that this is adequate reimbursement for his cooperation in this operation of yours. The rest? You will have to ask each and every single one of them for their reasons but I have the feeling that they want to help you with this problem of yours.” They all sensed something massive turn its attention from the alien and towards them but the alien hadn’t finished arguing with it.
“And have you ruin everything?”
“It doesn’t look like you managed to convince them anyway.” The entity replied dismissively before addressing them. “I trust that he has conducted himself appropriately.” Its tone was playful and betrayed amusement with everything it witnessed. “Or not, did you really threaten the Mizol with her own weapon?” The alien didn’t reply at that, electing to fully guard his mind instead.
“What does it mean?” Stillstorm asked but the entity replied before the Mizol could.
“I guess that I should apologize to her for your conduct.” It was still playful and they could easily sense that it really wanted to annoy him for some reason.
“There is no need for that.” The Mizol managed to reply, somehow managing to portray a stable façade despite how shaken she was from everything that happened.
“And that’s why your caste is by far the most successful one. Manipulating, ruthless and able to feign anything according to whatever the situation demands of them.” It praised the Mizol with the same playful tone.
“The Mizol are not the most successful caste.” Stillstorm interjected angrily in an instant.
“They are running the Union now.” It replied as a matter of fact. “They have an Emperor, they handle both internal and external diplomacy while also covering all the intelligence and counter intelligence needs of the Union.”
“The Mizol Emperor was a mistake.”
“A mistake that has allowed your kind to last this long against the Hierarchy and would have given you a chance of winning the war if there weren’t that many obstructionist elements on the way to victory.” Its attention shifted slightly to the Teidar whose mind was fully guarded just like the alien’s was. “But you can find solace to the fact that the next Emperor will be a Teidar.”
“Was all we witnessed real?” The Listel, who had fully recollected herself, cut in.
“Yes, do you have any reason to doubt anything?”
“Everything was… unbelievable and hard to comprehend.”
“Of course, I am not a living being and it was the first time I was awake and fully lucid after all; The memories of a barely awaken child if you will.” It paused for a moment at that. “There is also the fact that you were allowed access to the telepathic network to witness all that. The experience is nauseating for those ill prepared for it.”
“You took us in the human telepathic network?” Stillstorm shouted angrily at the alien who seemed resigned about something, his mind still guarded but not as closed as before.
“A lot of effort was spent in keeping you Loroi out and unaware of the network.” The entity stated. “All he did was have that effort stop just enough for you to witness that. Of course this meant that you became part of everything but it’s of minor importance since we already knew everything that there is to know about all you. I have to give you credit in managing to sufficiently provoke him in doing that however.”
“I provoked him? He has done nothing but being arrogant, self righteous and provocative.” Stillstorm replied angrily.
“It was either that or letting you know that he wants to mate with you. Human males are like that and The Pale Horse is a somewhat honest male.”
“What?” Stillstorm asked as she saw the alien softly shake his head.
“He has let it known that we are attractive…” The Listel commented hesitantly.
“He is not that good with bluffs and lying. The Mizol Parat did manage to anger him but she should have known better.” The Mizol made to send something but it was faster than her. “Your orders were to watch over Stillstorm and make sure that she doesn’t do something really stupid. You failed in doing that and then you brilliantly deduced that he wasn’t what he said he was. A realization that you then used to alert Stillstorm in order to somehow capture him. Such a mix of incompetence and brilliance is astonishingly rare and it did manage to mess with his established plans for properly interviewing you, Pallan Fireblade and Lashret Stillstorm. He did pick up one extra candidate through the mess but still: A Mizol should have known better.” The entity berated the hapless Mizol, drawing a sense of amusement out of Stillstorm before she realized something important.
“How did he originally plan on ‘interviewing’ us?”
“In relatively simple and straightforward ways. After his supposed revival he would fully cooperate with Parat Tempo, using the opportunity to gauge her person and abilities; if she was able to see through his façade then she would be someone that could work with us. Lashret Stillstorm would be gauged by her effectiveness in commanding her ship and how she would lead her subordinates while Palan Fireblade would need to personally impress him as she was judged to be the best Teidar candidate for our purposes before hand.” The entity paused for a moment as if in thought. “Needless to say that Parat Tempo’s folly was more than enough to discard her as a candidate but finding another Mizol in the time available would be an issue so he took it upon himself to test her one more time and since she is here he must have seen something worthwhile in her.” It then shifted its focus to Tozet Beryl. “But the Listel, she wasn’t part of the plan at all, by all accounts she didn’t have anything to offer but he saw something in her so she got ‘interviewed’ in a quick and impromptu way. She failed miserably but through her failure she exhibited a quality of character that the three of you completely lack, something that he fully believes will make a difference in how your kind develops.”
“He has already explained what is expected of us if we go along with this plan; was it all true?” Palan Fireblade finally asked.
“Yes, in a way. It’s impossible to predict the future but making educated guesses is easy and you Loroi are very predictable as individuals in your own way. Lashret Stillstorm becoming a popular war hero ready and willing to overthrow the Mizol Emperor is something natural for her. Parat Tempo acting according to the best interest of the Union is also something natural for her. You doing what is necessary to stop a very destructive civil war is part of who you are. But all three of you are sapient, you may actually do something completely different; I wouldn’t wager on you doing something rational however.”
“I still fail to understand one thing. Why do all this? Why go to such lengths when we have nothing tangible to offer? If you wanted us as puppets they could do so without us ever realizing anything yet this whole charade is important. Why?” Parat Tempo asked immediately.
“It’s odd that the always angry Teidar has already figured it out and not the Mizol.” It commented.
“I am not always angry.” Palan Fireblade protested.
“I witnessed your training at the simulation, I know everything you did there but you are right, you are an almost always angry Teidar.”
“What does it mean?” Stillstorm asked.
“I was placed in a dreamworld, a simulation of shorts, before I came with you when he showed us the past. They somehow taught me how to control my unlocked powers there and… I asked for Shells to kill as practice…” The Teidar explained.
“And you realizing the purpose?” Parat Tempo insisted.
“We are their copies and once unlocked we are their equals in regards to abilities. Everything they are able to do we can do as well; including creating entities such as it...”
“I have a name!” The entity protested. “I am Death and I have killed enough people to deserve it.”
“Pretentious thing.” Stillstorm commented.
“I am pretentious?” It begun. “I am actually stronger than almost all the imaginary gods of every lesser race in existence and I can actually prove it. I know; how about I turn the proplyd materials of Naam into planets and then break them up again? Will you think of me as pretentious after I demonstrate that?”
“That won’t be necessary.” Stillstorm relented.
“They also don’t believe that our… entities will be sane.” Fireblade concluded.
“The vision… the memories we witnessed weren’t of sanity!” Stillstorm pointed out, drawing agreement from both the Mizol and the Listel.
“That actually managed to hurt me honored Lashret.” Death complained playfully. “But you are right, I and my siblings weren’t sane when we first awoke. Our parts were universally furious, hateful and desperate about the genocidal war that the Serene Republics were waging against those locked. They all hated them, thinking of them as Aberrant existences; not wanting them to just stop but to annihilate each and every one of them and everything they represented. They didn’t know about the singular overriding hatred they all had because they keep themselves hidden from each other but everything became apparent when they opened themselves in order to awake me. That hatred gave us purpose from our first moments of self awareness. They initially planned to run tests for a few months, several nanapis of yours, but they could not control the hatred now that they all shared it with each other. They could not contain it and they wished us to act on it. And we simply did as they all wished.”
“You wiped out so many worlds because they couldn’t stop themselves from hating the… Aberrant existences?” The Listel finally asked.
“Yes.” The alien admitted, his mind still fully guarded.
“It was actually three worlds and I fully destroyed one of them.” Death corrected Beryl.
“What do you mean? I noticed a discrepancy of the concept of the ‘world’ in the memories we were shown.”
“Ah, that’s an eon old mental trick that humans played on themselves when ansible technology was first adopted about 800 years ago. Humans frequently warred among themselves back then and the borders of their stellar states changed just as frequently. Certain planets held dominion over several others but their control over them was tentative at best due to how often the various territories changed possession. The obvious solution was to trick the populations into believing that they were all part of a singular ‘world’ that held the same morals and way of life with the Capital/Dominating planet being just an administrative center. Being able to communicate instantly across interstellar distances made this effort possible and a couple of generations later the end results were just as intended with the various collections of planets creating a unified world that held the same culture and morals.” Death explained.
“How big are these worlds?”
“The smaller ones are about as big as one of your sectors. The big ones are bigger than the Hierarchy.” It replied.
“That’s…”
“Big? The Soians held a bigger empire at their prime and there are Ascendant Empires in the universe that span entire galactic clusters. Humanity is tiny when compared to the biggest Ascendant Empires but they are far stronger as I and my siblings have proved.”
“What were your parts thinking when you did all that you did?” The Mizol asked, wanting to bring the conversation back on track.
“They were invigorated, feeling all powerful and infallible as they held the power of gods. They felt all that and they couldn’t stop themselves from hating. They lost themselves in what I did through them and they wanted to do more than just kill the targets of their hate. They wanted to erase them and everything they stood for, they wanted to make them suffer for an eternity and I would find a way to do just that had the Pale Horse not resisted.” Death replied.
“And he is The Pale Horse? The one from your memories?” Stillstorm asked.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you try to kill him because he wanted to accept the surrender?”
“It’s far more complicated than that. Humans, all of my parts, are instinctively inclined to be lead and this passes onto their telepathic networks. I and my siblings each had a fleet admiral lead our parts as the network’s ‘command cores’, they and the various nodes were our subconscious, making sure that the networks, our bodies, run optimally with no groups becoming overly stressed. If I had succeeded in killing him then the network would have collapsed and I would be irrevocably crippled or even dead.”
“How can a telepathic network die?” The Mizol asked. “It should reform naturally from the other members.”
“The ghost of his death would linger and would make the reforming hard if not outright impossible.” Death replied. “It’s all part of the nature of consciousness, as telepaths you are aware that consciousness is tangible by telepathy but you are still not aware how it all works. When you will know that you will know of the true dangers of Ascendancy.” It paused again before continuing. “He like my other parts wanted to kill the Aberrant existences, he was not an exception nor did he have any mercy for them but he restrained himself by the intangible rules of conduct that they all were supposed to follow. All of what I was wanted to kill every single last one of them, some had self doubts at first but those were drowned out when they realized that everyone thought exactly the same as they did. Yet he refused to go along with it any further, despite his own desires, despite the unbridled hatred and despite the elation of being a god. He refused to get on with it because he believed that accepting the surrender that was offered was what he had to do and he dragged many of my parts to the side of sanity and restraint by the force of his stubbornness alone despite the fact that they all, including him, wanted to burn Elysium. There were still many who were ready and willing to do what they wanted to do, I had them lash out among themselves in my attempt to kill him, I repeatedly tried to do that because I wanted to do what they all wanted to happen but The Pale Horse held out and in the end they all did what they had to do and they were… glad for not burning Elysium, for managing to overcome themselves and thus me. It was then that Humans truly Ascended; certain fools argue that this is sentimental but it is the truth.” Death’s mood shifted dramatically as it explained itself, away from the playfulness it previously exhibited to a melancholic introversion. “They still hate them, it seems that they will always hate them but I… they still wonder of what would have happened if they had managed to overcome themselves and Ascend the moment they awoke me and my siblings. It’s foolish and they know it, examining the roads that were not taken is foolish and futile and yet they cannot stop themselves from contemplating everything that they could have done differently so everything could have ended differently.” Death finished and they momentarily sensed its desire for a change of subject.
“It is easy to realize that you have been honest with us.” The Mizol begun. “I am still uncertain of what humans really want from us. Could you perhaps explain their reasons?”
“That’s an interesting question…” It replied as its previous playfulness returned to it. “Humans are deeply conflicted about you on all levels. Many of them are going blue with their mates because they find your form and natural outlook to life extremely appealing, males of course prefer an adaptation that closely resembles their natural form for obvious reasons. The practice became so widespread that the various governments had to take measures to ensure that the population remained biologically human. Humans also value your natural inclination for honesty, especially the males.”
“Going blue?” Stillstorm asked.
“That’s the practice of changing their bodies into Loroi or Loroi looking adaptations. Some have even created a red blooded variant that they call ‘Elves’.” Death explained.
“And this practice is common?”
“Common enough to be regulated in order to make sure that the people remain human for most of the time.” Death replied. “The Pale Horse and his former mate regularly did this as well.” The alien became embarrassed and irritated at that before Death continued.
“They are also interested in your societies but that is where their disdain of you begins. You Loroi remind them of their darkest parts of their own history. Your strict caste systems are similar to certain totalitarian regimes of their past, regimes that are not remembered fondly. Your constant feuds and civil conflicts are also hard reminders of their own and your insistence of being the descendants and heirs of the Soians is seen as an anathema to them as they rightfully believe that you will abandon everything worthy about yourselves in pursuing the failure that the Soians were.”
“No Loroi wants to end up like the Soians as we witnessed them, becoming emotionless organic machines isn’t something to strive for.” Stillstorm commented.
“All ascendants like the Soians have given such replies before becoming as such. They all start with something small and inconvenient about themselves, then they find another small inconvenience, then again and again through the generations until the final leap makes perfect sense. They all ascended and they all willingly discarded what made them living while doing so.” Death replied. “You have already tried to alter the inconvenience that is the natural interpersonal hostility of the Delrias; their understandable violent reaction when they found out being the sole reason as to why your kind stopped. If you had gone forward with that plan in order to make the Delrias fit in the false order that was envisioned then your kind would have been beyond redemption.” No one thought of something to reply with at that.
“Loroi mental honesty is indeed refreshing. Humans have the nasty habit of disputing even the self-evident truth for their own ego’s sake.” Death commented before continuing. “If you refuse to ascend like all the others do then your kind runs the risk of destroying everything around you the moment you awake those like me and my siblings.”
“I am not convinced that we Loroi are capable of creating entities such as you.” Parat Tempo sent at that.
“Loroi are too limited as they are now and there are simply not enough of us, they first awoke their networks after more than a dozen billions of them cooperated.” Pallan Fireblade replied.
“Exactly! You cannot awake them as you are now but they are sleeping and dreaming; and those are not nice dreams that you are providing them with.” Death added.
“But they shouldn’t be affecting us like he warned. You weren’t able to affect humans when you slumbered.” Tempo pointed out.
“Because humans shut themselves off telepathically most of the time. You Loroi wouldn’t do that even if you were able to do it. You leave yourselves open to those who slumber and you make them see all kinds of dreams. Who knows what they would do if they were awakened as you are now. Maybe they would have you kill each other, maybe they would like to dominate and control the lesser races or maybe they would want to somehow get hair of their own.” Death replied. “Thinking of it maybe you should take into account the hair thing when you build their bodies, I think that they will like it.”
They all looked at each other and then at the alien who just shrugged without sending anything.
“It seems that humans don’t want us to follow either of these paths of Ascension.” Stillstorm pointed out.
“Humans don’t want many things, especially the things that they will have to do should your kind become a danger to everything around you. They will not like it, they will curse themselves for it but they will do everything that they will have to do.”
“Is this why some contemplate of shutting down our telepathy like the Soians did to them?” Tempo pointed out.
“That proposal has been thoroughly defeated and is no longer an option but there are many reasons as to why it was considered. Locking you like the Soians locked Humanity would indeed keep both you and those around you safe from yourselves and would allow for you Loroi to Ascend in the exact same way humans did but you would no longer be Loroi if they did that to you. They would tolerate the instability that the fall of the Union would cause; they would still defend your kind against other Ascendant and even other lesser races but the very idea that you wouldn’t be Loroi anymore was what they couldn’t tolerate. Make no mistake, there were many who found perverse sadistic joy when thinking about this proposal but they didn’t matter at all in the discussion. What mattered was everything that makes you what you are and if that should be destroyed in order to save you; it’s as stupid as it sounds and it has been thoroughly defeated.”
“Why is it so important to them? By your descriptions common logic dictates that we are a tangible threat to humanity if we Awaken our networks. You have confirmed that you don’t expect them to be sane and we witnessed what you are capable of doing. It doesn’t make sense.” The Mizol insisted.
“Humanity doesn’t make sense, never did and never will.” Death stated as a matter of fact. “It must be your own path and your own decisions, whatever may come to pass it must be yours alone. Looking at their history it seems ridiculous to consider that out of all the ascendants that humans would be the ones who would detest dictating and enforcing a false order onto the lesser races. Each and every last one of them thinks that they know better and that their proposals are the right thing to do, give an individual human enough power and they will mess things up for the lesser races just like the other Ascendants have done. As a collective however, where no individual is above reproach, then they realize that they don’t know anything; that all the ideas they may have about how things should be are just illusions when compared to the greatness that the infinity of the universe is capable of bringing forth. They have realized that the only thing of importance that they know about the universe is that fools who think they know best don’t know anything. The universe will bring what may and the lesser races shall ascend or die on their own. No ascendant shall be allowed to interfere to any lesser race around us; I and all of my siblings will make sure of this.” Once again they sensed Death abandon its playfulness, this time replacing it with an absolute resolve about what it… they intended to do.
“Yet you are interfering for our sake.” Tozet Beryl pointed out.
“It could be because humans are hypocrites.” Death’s playfulness returned once more at that. “Or it could be because all rules have their rare exceptions. What do you four think?”
“He has said that honor demands all this of them.” Stillstorm sent.
“Indeed… their intangible sense of honor demands this much and more of them but why do you think this is?”
“Our ancestors destroyed the Soians to avenge the wrongs that was inflicted on their kind.” Stillstorm replied without really thinking about it.
“That’s part of it.” Death admitted.
“The Tempests, the human females that birthed us; at least one of them sent everything she knew to the future for us to find but humans have benefited from it. Do they feel obligated to share this with us?” The Mizol asked.
“Yes they do and that is another part of it but neither of these parts are the important one.”
“They wanted what is best for us.” Beryl begun after some thought. “The Tempests that is, for us to find our own independent way. That was their plea to us, their children. Humans feel obligated to give us one more chance to do just that.”
“Now I understand why The Pale Horse chose you.” Death replied. “The Soians may have created your flesh but the ones who birthed you and created what you are were humans. It would be uncharacteristic of them not to feel at least partially responsible for you and your actions. You Loroi will get your chance to Ascend on your own, the assistance that you will be provided with will be given in order to ensure this.”
“You done?” The alien finally asked after a few moments of idleness.
“I don’t know, am I?”
“You four now know far more than I was willing to reveal but what is done is done…” He begun.
“You should have done a better job at convincing them, perhaps you should have tried being nice and gentle; they are females after all.” Death cut in but the alien just ignored it.
“Will you four cooperate or will we have to find others?” Stillstorm sensed the other three focusing themselves on her, all of them were waiting for her answer before making up their mind, even Fireblade who for all intents and purposes stood far above them in abilities and perceptiveness as she was now.
“I agree…” Stillstorm replied after putting some thought into it. “On one condition.”
Chapter 7, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 432#p29432
Last edited by Guest on Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:17 pm, edited 6 times in total.
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/11/2018)
That's the end of Chapter 6 and the next few entries should be considered as an extended epilogue.
I really hated writing this Chapter, I wanted to make the first part intentionally 'hard' to follow but not too hard but it seems that I failed at that. I hope that the second part adequately explains some things.
I really hated writing this Chapter, I wanted to make the first part intentionally 'hard' to follow but not too hard but it seems that I failed at that. I hope that the second part adequately explains some things.
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/11/2018)
SpoilerShow
dragoongfa wrote:Chapter 6, part 2
[...]
“I It was either that or letting you know that he wants to mate with you. Human males are like that and The Pale Horse is a somewhat honest male.”
[...]
“No Loroi wants to end up like the Soians as we witnessed them, becoming emotionless organic machines isn’t something to strive for.” Stillstorm commented (I think there's a dot missing at the end of this paragraph)
[...]
“Loroi mental honesty is indeed refreshing. Humans have the nasty habit of disputing even the self-evident truth for their own ego’s shake sake.” Death commented before continuing. “If you refuse to ascend like all the others do then your kind runs the risk of destroying everything around you then the moment you awake those like me and my siblings.”
[...]
“Humanity doesn’t make sense, never did and never will.” Death replied as a matter of fact. “It must be your own path and your own decisions, whatever may come to pass it must be yours alone. Looking at their history it seems ridiculous to consider that out of all ascendants humans would be the ones who would detest dictating and enforcing a false order onto the lesser races. Each and every last one of them thinks that they know better and that their proposals are the right thing to do, give an individual human enough power and they will mess things up for the lesser races just like the other Ascendants have done. As a collective however, where no individual is above reproach, then they realize that they don’t (is there a "know" missing?) anything; that all the ideas they may have about how things should be are just illusions to the greatness that the infinity of the universe is capable of bringing forth. TheThey have realized that the only think of importance that they know about the universe is that fools who think they know best don’t know anything. The universe will bring what may and the lesser races shall Ascend or die on their own. No Ascendant shall be allowed to interfere to any lesser race around us; I and all of my siblings will make sure of this.” Once again they sensed Death abandon its playfulness, this time with a absolute resolve about what it… they intended to do.
[...]
“He has said that honor demands all this of them.” Stillstorm sent (again, a dot missing?)
[...]
“Will you four cooperate or will we have to find others?” Stillstorm sensed the other three focusing themselves on her, all of them were waiting for her answer before making up their mind, even Fireblade who for all intents and purposes stood far above them (this seems wrong. a "the" seems to fit, but I'm not entirely sure and confident in my knowledge of the English language details in this regard, as I see also other solutions to making sense of the sentence while leaving "them" as is.) abilities and perceptiveness as she was now.
[...]
Also, I will take a quote out of context, just because I like it (the quote says truth):
“Humanity doesn’t make sense, never did and never will.” Death replied.
Also, in this chapter you alwas say "The Pale Horse" (all words capitalized).
In the first part, it's mostly "Pale horse". Shouldn't "horse" be capitalized too?
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
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- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/11/2018)
Yes, he is The Pale Horse. Death's first 'mount'. All the other commanders after him are also described as a 'pale horse' but he was the first and the one who was the reason for the adoption of the name by his successors.
Re: [Fan Fiction] The Pale Horse
The name became a tilte.
Just like Caesar became a title after Gaius Julius Caesar....
That much I understood.![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Anyway, thanks for sharing. I like your stories. (Although not necessarily chapter 6, too much bloodshed/aggression/overpowered artifact/... after the Mindnetwork singularity took over.)
BTW: in part 1, the planet Elysium nearly avoided destruction....
I just started reading Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds.
Nice coincidence....![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Just like Caesar became a title after Gaius Julius Caesar....
That much I understood.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Anyway, thanks for sharing. I like your stories. (Although not necessarily chapter 6, too much bloodshed/aggression/overpowered artifact/... after the Mindnetwork singularity took over.)
BTW: in part 1, the planet Elysium nearly avoided destruction....
I just started reading Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds.
Nice coincidence....
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 04/09/2018)
Chapter 7, part 1
It seemed hopeless; there was no conceivable way to turn the situation around. Most if not all of her Strike Group’s ships would end up destroyed regardless of what they did. They could easily weather the first Shell division but the second and third divisions with their Super Heavies would reach them while they would still be dispersed, destroying her ships one by one.
They couldn’t run, the Shells had the speed advantage; it would take too long for her Strike Group to accelerate to the speed necessary to outrun the Shells, they couldn’t even dodge the attack as the second and third waves would easily adjust their course to hit the 51st straight on.
Their best chances of survival laid on a suicidal charge of the 51st into the first division all for the sole purpose of building up speed, trusting their relative speed, screens and luck to keep some of her ships able to disperse in all directions and try to flee with their newly built up velocity. It was the only decision she could take on the matter, she damned first the Shells and then the damnable alien who must have tricked them, whatever they would get out of him and his ship wasn’t worth her entire Strike Group but there was nothing she could do about this anymore. She drew a deep breath to prepare herself for giving the last order of her command, having decided to keep Tempest charging against the enemy even after the 51st would disperse, the last of the Vortex ships offering itself as a target in order for some of the rest of its comrades would survive. She signaled Rune-Laurel to activate her command channel but the window that opened soon after wasn’t that.
“This is Senator Alexander Jardin of the Terran Confederation to the Hierarchy ships. I am currently hosted aboard one of the Loroi Union’s ships. Any aggression against these ships will be seen as a hostile act against the Terran Confederation and will be treated accordingly.” Stillstorm just stared in shock at the holographic window which closed the moment the alien stopped.
“Who authorized that?” She shouted angrily.
“It was sent by all ships using Parat Tempo’s admiralty authorization.” Rune-Laurer replied.
“I want her and the alien…”
“Incoming transmission, audio only, unknown sender, location of origin cannot be pinpointed.” Rune-Laurel interrupted her.
“Understood.” A deep voice said before the transmitted message ended. She wondered for a moment what all that was about but the incoming Shell armada brought her back to the here and now.
“Rune-Laurel, my command channel!” Stillstorm ordered and this time the holographic windows of all of her squadron commanders popped up instantly.
“Full acceleration towards the enemy, concentrate all firepower into breaking through their torpedoes and formation, hold nothing back and break through their first wave. All ships are to scatter and disperse after that. Get all ships that you can back to Azimol and report on what has happened.” She ordered without waiting for their reports.
“Understood.” There was no hint of a complaint from the four of them, they knew that the Shells had them at a severe disadvantage and that the only thing that they could do was to save as many ships as possible. They all knew that most of them wouldn’t make it and for a brief moment Stillstorm wondered if that was one of Sunfall’s last orders at the height of the Semoset disaster, a desperate attack to break through the encroaching Shells when everything was lost.
“The first of the Shell divisions is cutting loose their gunboats.” Rune Laurel reported. “They are launching torpedoes.” Stillstorm just stared at the display, preparing herself to give her final order to open fire as they closed in with the enemy, she knew that whatever would happen would happen quickly but she wasn’t prepared for what unfolded.
The first sign that something wasn’t right was when all of the Shell torpedoes just exploded in unison, as if someone had given a self-order. The Shell gunboats and warships just kept coming but they had ceased accelerating towards them.
“What’s going on?” Stillstorm asked without really thinking.
“Energy readings on the Shell ships have fallen!” Listel Tozet Antimony begun reporting a moment later. “Detecting no ECM emissions, electromagnetic screens have been deactivated and their engines are offline. Remaining energy readings suggest that life support systems are the only things active on all their ships!” Stillstorm just stared first at the Listel and then at the bridge encompassing display before an other holographic window opened in front of her.
“I don’t particularly enjoy getting shot at.” The alien begun, the broadcast once again done under the Mizol’s authority.“Especially when I don’t have the means to shoot back, I think that certain someones need to experience such a situation in order to understand why I don’t like being in such a position.” The alien finished, his holographic window closing an instant after that; leaving Stillstorm to stare dumbfounded for a brief moment at the spot it held.
“Belay my last order, cease acceleration and engage all Shell ships at will, disengage immediately if they become active again.” Stillstorm ordered her squadron commanders after collecting her wits.
“Open fire!” She ordered Tempest’s gunners as she raised her arm, cursing herself for not giving the order the instant the Shells had come in range. Tempest fired first, the ship’s eight pulse canons finding their mark in an instant, a single Heavy ship that simply exploded a moment later. The rest of the 51st immediately joined in, all of their shots hitting their intended targets, Heavy and Medium ships exploding or left crippled from the punishment they received. They were completely defenseless and unable to do anything, without screens, without ECM and unable to maneuver; all of them were just targets waiting their turn. It wasn’t a battle, it wasn’t even a slaughter, it was…
“Target Practice…” Stillstorm thought and Rune-Laurel chuckled, to be followed immediately by most of the bridge as the earlier tension from what seemed to be Tempest’s last charge disappeared. Moments later another Heavy was foundered by Tempest’s eight Pulse Cannons and heard Torret Ashrain and Mazeit Moonglow argue about that wager of theirs again. Moonglow teasing that since Tsunami had eight Pulse Cannons to Black Razor’s four then they would have to cease their count in order to keep things fair.
“Or perhaps Tsunami’s kills should count as half for the time being.” Stillstorm cut in. “If of course Torret Ashrain agrees that the amount of firepower one has at their disposal does matter.”
“It’s not the number of canons that matter; it’s how you use them.” Ashrain replied confidently as Black Razor took out another Heavy.
“My Lashret the alien wishes to speak with you.” Rune-Laurel sent to draw her attention from the… target practice.
“On screen.” Stillstorm replied as she sat to her station, the holographic window depicting the smiling alien appearing in front of her.
“After much thinking I have come to the conclusion that luck is a very fickle force of the universe.” The alien begun. “It is not a fair force and it is not random, its favor and disfavor shifting from individuals like the pattern is the product of a whimsical child. I believe that luck works self-indulgently, all of its shifts in its favor done so with the sole purpose of gaining a short of perverse entertainment out of the unfolding situations. It enjoys watching us come to terms with everything it threw at us and sometimes it begins favoring those it willingly hurt before in order to see what happens. It seems to me that luck has taken a favorable interest to you Torrai Lashret Stillstorm, make sure that it enjoys the spectacle.”
“Is this all your doing?”
“I merely put certain things into motion because I don’t like getting shot at. They shot at me and nearly killed me, would have succeeded in doing so if not for you and your ship. Now you are doing to them what they did to me as a result of everything, unless you find everything about this to be distasteful.” The alien replied.
“They would use the opportunity to do the same to us if given the chance. I don’t like my actions to mirror theirs but I don’t show mercy to those who never showed mercy to mine.” She replied as she observed the target practice session that the 51st was pertaining in.
“Never believed otherwise.” The alien said with a nod. “In a few moments you will receive a transmission with all of the Shell ships that are of interest to you for one reason or another, your Teidar will certainly want to visit them for some answers and to greet the Stray in person.”
“The Stray? It was in command?”
“Indeed, he would play a key role in the offensive that they expected to end the war but something unexpected forced the Stray in a course of action whose results you are now witnessing.” The alien replied and smiled once again.
“One thing strikes me as odd in all this.” Stillstorm begun. “Why would a Senator ride alone on an unescorted ship in the middle of a warzone and allow his ship to be shot at by the Shells?”
“I expect this conversation to be deleted from your records one way or the other so I will be as candid as I can while considering the circumstances we are all in. The Confederation isn’t really united in thought and the time you had left was too limited for a consensus to be reached about a course of action. I simply decided to take a roundabout route to my destination in order to force the issue back home. I… miscalculated in my approach to the situation and I was nearly killed but I don’t think either of us have a reason to complain with the end result we are finding ourselves in. The Union will be aided in the war by a Terran Confederation that will unanimously agree that an attack on me could not be left unanswered.” The alien explained.
“I don’t understand why you would personally take such risks for all this.” He just shrugged at that.
“No real reason. Perhaps I am a really superficial person who finds your kind to be prettier than the Shells.” Stillstorm couldn’t help but laugh at that but for some reason she knew that the alien was hiding something important from them. She would have to have a long talk with him later but for now she had to make sure that they would get every last Shell in Naam.
“For how long can we expect this target practice session to continue?”
“For as long as I am onboard your ship and I see no reason to leave just yet.” He replied before continuing. “Of course I have to mention the important issue regarding the equipment your salvage teams took from my ship. I expect everything to be eventually returned to the Confederation when time and the war permits, a lot of our portable computer systems are ansible capable so I will know where they are and who is fiddling with them at all times. I will even make sure for you to get a set of basic instruction manuals so you know what you will have to eventually return.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Stillstorm asked.
“It’s important that my equipment be eventually returned Lashret Stillstorm. Everything is keyed with my Senatorial access privileges to our information network, it would be improper for a foreign power to get accidental access to it and all the privileged information contained within especially since the last thing I did was to check the real time Shell naval asset positions as I plotted my ship's course. The Confederation will of course provide all the help that the Loroi Union needs in order to win the war but it would be improper for your kind to get privileged access to said information before my government makes a final decision in a few nanapis.”
“I see… I will make sure that all of your equipment will be returned to your government, eventually.” Stillstorm replied after realizing what he was implying, making her wish that a Mizol would be nearby to save her from looking like a fool.
“I am glad we understand each other Lashret Stillstorm. Now I think that your duties are far more pressing than my diplomatic obligations and I am still in the middle of a Crossfire game with Parat Tempo. Enjoy your target practice.”
Chapter 7, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 171#p30171
It seemed hopeless; there was no conceivable way to turn the situation around. Most if not all of her Strike Group’s ships would end up destroyed regardless of what they did. They could easily weather the first Shell division but the second and third divisions with their Super Heavies would reach them while they would still be dispersed, destroying her ships one by one.
They couldn’t run, the Shells had the speed advantage; it would take too long for her Strike Group to accelerate to the speed necessary to outrun the Shells, they couldn’t even dodge the attack as the second and third waves would easily adjust their course to hit the 51st straight on.
Their best chances of survival laid on a suicidal charge of the 51st into the first division all for the sole purpose of building up speed, trusting their relative speed, screens and luck to keep some of her ships able to disperse in all directions and try to flee with their newly built up velocity. It was the only decision she could take on the matter, she damned first the Shells and then the damnable alien who must have tricked them, whatever they would get out of him and his ship wasn’t worth her entire Strike Group but there was nothing she could do about this anymore. She drew a deep breath to prepare herself for giving the last order of her command, having decided to keep Tempest charging against the enemy even after the 51st would disperse, the last of the Vortex ships offering itself as a target in order for some of the rest of its comrades would survive. She signaled Rune-Laurel to activate her command channel but the window that opened soon after wasn’t that.
“This is Senator Alexander Jardin of the Terran Confederation to the Hierarchy ships. I am currently hosted aboard one of the Loroi Union’s ships. Any aggression against these ships will be seen as a hostile act against the Terran Confederation and will be treated accordingly.” Stillstorm just stared in shock at the holographic window which closed the moment the alien stopped.
“Who authorized that?” She shouted angrily.
“It was sent by all ships using Parat Tempo’s admiralty authorization.” Rune-Laurer replied.
“I want her and the alien…”
“Incoming transmission, audio only, unknown sender, location of origin cannot be pinpointed.” Rune-Laurel interrupted her.
“Understood.” A deep voice said before the transmitted message ended. She wondered for a moment what all that was about but the incoming Shell armada brought her back to the here and now.
“Rune-Laurel, my command channel!” Stillstorm ordered and this time the holographic windows of all of her squadron commanders popped up instantly.
“Full acceleration towards the enemy, concentrate all firepower into breaking through their torpedoes and formation, hold nothing back and break through their first wave. All ships are to scatter and disperse after that. Get all ships that you can back to Azimol and report on what has happened.” She ordered without waiting for their reports.
“Understood.” There was no hint of a complaint from the four of them, they knew that the Shells had them at a severe disadvantage and that the only thing that they could do was to save as many ships as possible. They all knew that most of them wouldn’t make it and for a brief moment Stillstorm wondered if that was one of Sunfall’s last orders at the height of the Semoset disaster, a desperate attack to break through the encroaching Shells when everything was lost.
“The first of the Shell divisions is cutting loose their gunboats.” Rune Laurel reported. “They are launching torpedoes.” Stillstorm just stared at the display, preparing herself to give her final order to open fire as they closed in with the enemy, she knew that whatever would happen would happen quickly but she wasn’t prepared for what unfolded.
The first sign that something wasn’t right was when all of the Shell torpedoes just exploded in unison, as if someone had given a self-order. The Shell gunboats and warships just kept coming but they had ceased accelerating towards them.
“What’s going on?” Stillstorm asked without really thinking.
“Energy readings on the Shell ships have fallen!” Listel Tozet Antimony begun reporting a moment later. “Detecting no ECM emissions, electromagnetic screens have been deactivated and their engines are offline. Remaining energy readings suggest that life support systems are the only things active on all their ships!” Stillstorm just stared first at the Listel and then at the bridge encompassing display before an other holographic window opened in front of her.
“I don’t particularly enjoy getting shot at.” The alien begun, the broadcast once again done under the Mizol’s authority.“Especially when I don’t have the means to shoot back, I think that certain someones need to experience such a situation in order to understand why I don’t like being in such a position.” The alien finished, his holographic window closing an instant after that; leaving Stillstorm to stare dumbfounded for a brief moment at the spot it held.
“Belay my last order, cease acceleration and engage all Shell ships at will, disengage immediately if they become active again.” Stillstorm ordered her squadron commanders after collecting her wits.
“Open fire!” She ordered Tempest’s gunners as she raised her arm, cursing herself for not giving the order the instant the Shells had come in range. Tempest fired first, the ship’s eight pulse canons finding their mark in an instant, a single Heavy ship that simply exploded a moment later. The rest of the 51st immediately joined in, all of their shots hitting their intended targets, Heavy and Medium ships exploding or left crippled from the punishment they received. They were completely defenseless and unable to do anything, without screens, without ECM and unable to maneuver; all of them were just targets waiting their turn. It wasn’t a battle, it wasn’t even a slaughter, it was…
“Target Practice…” Stillstorm thought and Rune-Laurel chuckled, to be followed immediately by most of the bridge as the earlier tension from what seemed to be Tempest’s last charge disappeared. Moments later another Heavy was foundered by Tempest’s eight Pulse Cannons and heard Torret Ashrain and Mazeit Moonglow argue about that wager of theirs again. Moonglow teasing that since Tsunami had eight Pulse Cannons to Black Razor’s four then they would have to cease their count in order to keep things fair.
“Or perhaps Tsunami’s kills should count as half for the time being.” Stillstorm cut in. “If of course Torret Ashrain agrees that the amount of firepower one has at their disposal does matter.”
“It’s not the number of canons that matter; it’s how you use them.” Ashrain replied confidently as Black Razor took out another Heavy.
“My Lashret the alien wishes to speak with you.” Rune-Laurel sent to draw her attention from the… target practice.
“On screen.” Stillstorm replied as she sat to her station, the holographic window depicting the smiling alien appearing in front of her.
“After much thinking I have come to the conclusion that luck is a very fickle force of the universe.” The alien begun. “It is not a fair force and it is not random, its favor and disfavor shifting from individuals like the pattern is the product of a whimsical child. I believe that luck works self-indulgently, all of its shifts in its favor done so with the sole purpose of gaining a short of perverse entertainment out of the unfolding situations. It enjoys watching us come to terms with everything it threw at us and sometimes it begins favoring those it willingly hurt before in order to see what happens. It seems to me that luck has taken a favorable interest to you Torrai Lashret Stillstorm, make sure that it enjoys the spectacle.”
“Is this all your doing?”
“I merely put certain things into motion because I don’t like getting shot at. They shot at me and nearly killed me, would have succeeded in doing so if not for you and your ship. Now you are doing to them what they did to me as a result of everything, unless you find everything about this to be distasteful.” The alien replied.
“They would use the opportunity to do the same to us if given the chance. I don’t like my actions to mirror theirs but I don’t show mercy to those who never showed mercy to mine.” She replied as she observed the target practice session that the 51st was pertaining in.
“Never believed otherwise.” The alien said with a nod. “In a few moments you will receive a transmission with all of the Shell ships that are of interest to you for one reason or another, your Teidar will certainly want to visit them for some answers and to greet the Stray in person.”
“The Stray? It was in command?”
“Indeed, he would play a key role in the offensive that they expected to end the war but something unexpected forced the Stray in a course of action whose results you are now witnessing.” The alien replied and smiled once again.
“One thing strikes me as odd in all this.” Stillstorm begun. “Why would a Senator ride alone on an unescorted ship in the middle of a warzone and allow his ship to be shot at by the Shells?”
“I expect this conversation to be deleted from your records one way or the other so I will be as candid as I can while considering the circumstances we are all in. The Confederation isn’t really united in thought and the time you had left was too limited for a consensus to be reached about a course of action. I simply decided to take a roundabout route to my destination in order to force the issue back home. I… miscalculated in my approach to the situation and I was nearly killed but I don’t think either of us have a reason to complain with the end result we are finding ourselves in. The Union will be aided in the war by a Terran Confederation that will unanimously agree that an attack on me could not be left unanswered.” The alien explained.
“I don’t understand why you would personally take such risks for all this.” He just shrugged at that.
“No real reason. Perhaps I am a really superficial person who finds your kind to be prettier than the Shells.” Stillstorm couldn’t help but laugh at that but for some reason she knew that the alien was hiding something important from them. She would have to have a long talk with him later but for now she had to make sure that they would get every last Shell in Naam.
“For how long can we expect this target practice session to continue?”
“For as long as I am onboard your ship and I see no reason to leave just yet.” He replied before continuing. “Of course I have to mention the important issue regarding the equipment your salvage teams took from my ship. I expect everything to be eventually returned to the Confederation when time and the war permits, a lot of our portable computer systems are ansible capable so I will know where they are and who is fiddling with them at all times. I will even make sure for you to get a set of basic instruction manuals so you know what you will have to eventually return.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Stillstorm asked.
“It’s important that my equipment be eventually returned Lashret Stillstorm. Everything is keyed with my Senatorial access privileges to our information network, it would be improper for a foreign power to get accidental access to it and all the privileged information contained within especially since the last thing I did was to check the real time Shell naval asset positions as I plotted my ship's course. The Confederation will of course provide all the help that the Loroi Union needs in order to win the war but it would be improper for your kind to get privileged access to said information before my government makes a final decision in a few nanapis.”
“I see… I will make sure that all of your equipment will be returned to your government, eventually.” Stillstorm replied after realizing what he was implying, making her wish that a Mizol would be nearby to save her from looking like a fool.
“I am glad we understand each other Lashret Stillstorm. Now I think that your duties are far more pressing than my diplomatic obligations and I am still in the middle of a Crossfire game with Parat Tempo. Enjoy your target practice.”
Chapter 7, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 171#p30171
Last edited by Guest on Sun Jun 03, 2018 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/11/2018)
And this is the reason as to why I didn't want to break my rule about posting new stories before finishing the previous one. I will try to finish 'The Pale Horse' before continuing with 'Reforged'
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 04/09/2018)
Thank you, once again.
But killing several divisions which are unable to defend themselves?
I wonder why Senator A. Jardin allows the Loroi to continue...
But then, he maybe just is a superficial being, just liking the beauty of blue space elves over the insectoidal Umiak.
But killing several divisions which are unable to defend themselves?
I wonder why Senator A. Jardin allows the Loroi to continue...
But then, he maybe just is a superficial being, just liking the beauty of blue space elves over the insectoidal Umiak.
Re: [Fan Fiction] The Pale Horse
Just for reference, Caesar was a title before Julius, just not one implying Imperatorship (which didn't properly get invented until Augustus anyways, Julius was playing at being a King, or "Rex"). One of his ancestors earned it for something or the other, I think in a war.Krulle wrote:The name became a tilte.
Just like Caesar became a title after Gaius Julius Caesar....
It apparently means "hairy".
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 04/09/2018)
Gaius was his given name.
Julius his family name.
Caesar a nickname denoting his family branch within the Julius family. (a "Cognomen")
By the time Gaius Julius was born, the Caesar had become hereditary too for this family branch.
(wikipedia's list of Roman cognomina, alas without an explanation of the meaning of Caesar)
Julius his family name.
Caesar a nickname denoting his family branch within the Julius family. (a "Cognomen")
By the time Gaius Julius was born, the Caesar had become hereditary too for this family branch.
(wikipedia's list of Roman cognomina, alas without an explanation of the meaning of Caesar)
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
- Location: Athens, Greece
Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 06/04/2018)
Chapter 7, part 2
The instant of opening one’s eyes after a long foray to the past was always off putting, the sensation of her own skin not fitting quite right passed quickly but its memory lingered for many solons, especially if they witnessed something that brought strong emotions forth. The ‘truth seekers’ with her, the most capable of the Nedatan seers and archivists, didn’t usually come out of the trance as well as she did but they persevered, eagerly seeking and absorbing everything that the Tempests had to offer.
The human never told any of them but the orange haired Tempest of Deinar was one of many who attempted to reach their descendants in the far future, all of them sending the truth forward into the unknown, hoping that one day the truth would be caught and fully grasped so those that would inevitably follow would learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.
The males that made the ‘truth seekers’ could now look into the past on their own; they were by far her best students but they were still limited and exploring the past was dangerous. She couldn’t allow them to venture back alone, she couldn’t let any harm come to them; they were the ones who would guide their kind’s souls and heal the self-inflicted damage on their collective self. Unlike most of the warriors these few brave males understood the importance of knowing one’s true past so they could know themselves.
She waved away her assistants as she stood up from her recliner and walked among the four recliners on which the males sat; their caretakers making sure that the four of them were well before allowing them to stand. All four of them were well and they greeted her despite their grogginess, she smiled at them and bid them farewell before leaving the room; her ridiculous entourage of assistants caretakers falling suit behind her as soon as they saw her.
She liked spending time with the ‘truth seekers’, discussing about everything they observed and how all little actions subtly reverberated throughout eternity. They were among her closest confidantes but they were still so limited in all aspects and always in awe of her; to a degree that rivaled the warriors of her cult, it was annoying but she couldn’t hold it against them, it was just how things were for the time being.
She entered her personal chambers with her horde of assistants in tow, she stood still and spread her arms as four of her caretakers undressed her with machine like precision while others prepared her bath and towels before every single one of them left her chambers; leaving her completely naked to stare at the mannequin that now wore her imperial armor.
All of the previous Emperors loved their hordes of servants, gossipy lackeys and manipulative sycophants but they were just noise to her. Tiring to even look at, the fact that she still used the Imperial palaces and that she still followed the established protocols regarding how the Emperor should not wear or take off her armor by herself were the only concessions she gave on the matter and the later was only because she hated wasting the time it took to put on and take off the extravagant design that was her office’s armor.
She slowly entered the pool sized bathtub and relaxed herself in the warm water as she emptied her mind. Such moments of idle relaxation were rare for her and she only ever allowed three others to join her in them. They were the only ones who knew but all three were nowhere near Deinar at that moment. Tempo was touring the Delrias territories to discuss the final details of their ascension from a subjugated race to full Union membership. Beryl was at Historian space, the first Loroi to be allowed full access to a Pol enclave and Stillstorm was on Taben, sailing alone with her small sailing boat, searching for peace within her. She only allowed these three to keep her company in such a time but the unannounced and uninvited visitor she sensed also knew and was growing impatient.
“How long do I have to wait before you address me Emperor Fireblade?” The human asked as he remained out of sight.
“All foreign dignitaries who desire a meeting with the Loroi Emperor have to follow the official channels and procedures in order to schedule said meeting for when the Emperor’s schedule allows. This includes the advanced and enigmatic humans who aided us in the Great War before shutting themselves within their borders.” Fireblade replied with a machine like telepathic tone, making the human laugh as he remained out of sight.
“I am afraid that I no longer hold an official position and as thus such avenues remain closed to me for the time being.” He replied playfully. “Yet I wanted to pass along my pleasant surprise as to how things have come to be since the last time we met.”
“So you are now just Fleet Admiral Alexander Jardin, retired, also known as The Pale Horse.”
“Indeed although our telepathic monikers are never used in any form of identification.” She knew that but she enjoyed the feint mental recoil that mentioning his moniker caused him.
“Won’t you and yours be in trouble again? For coming in contact with me despite your probation for breaking the ‘no interference’ laws?” His mind betrayed his surprise at that. “I didn’t look only at my kind’s past when I ‘learned’ how to do that. I know that your kind’s intervention was done solely on your behest despite your laws. You were the one who forced the issue of the ‘Loroi Question’ with your actions. I should be angry of you putting us in danger of having your kind’s other 15 dreadstars and their collectives do what the Shells were about to do.”
“I was… desperate.” He admitted after a few solons.
“It was a calculated risk but your kind is full of fools even greater than you. I know that such an event will never come to pass without a justifiable cause so the act has been postponed indefinitely until said cause is provided by us.” Fireblade replied. “And for this… I am thankful.”
“Not many would be so… understanding of such a threat against their whole race.” He replied in surprise.
“It’s because your kind is an odd kind of fools. I used to think that your kind was wise and all-knowing but I realized the truth about you after observing your past.” Fireblade replied before chuckling.
“And what is the truth about us?” She recited his question before he could even form it in his mind, pausing for a moment so he could recollect his wits.
“I know that it is the one question that lingers at the back of your kind’s minds. It lingers on everyone’s minds but your kind places a lot more importance to it than others realize. Your Old Worlds have been aware of us for over three of your generations, more than a century before the first of you Ascended. You simply weren’t looking at this side of the Great Wasteland, electing to focus your efforts at the riches that were at the other side. All this time you knew about us you praised us and loathed us in equal measure, we were and still are too much like you. We weren’t truly alien to you; the Mizol, the end product of the Soians, would be alien to you but we Loroi are not them. You see yourselves through us despite the glaring differences; you see everything that you love and hate about yourselves on us and you simply can’t help it. The only reason as to why your Old Worlds didn’t approach us and elected to hide us from the rest of your Worlds was because you were afraid of them, you were weaker than them at the time and they would have defeated you had they known and elected to expand in our territories. Your leaders elected to protect your Old Worlds and by extension us by propagating the lie that you humans were all lone, the same lie that ate at your kind’s soul as it sought someone else, anyone else, to just look at you and make a judgment. All alone and unchallenged but driven to compete and fight; you had no other recourse but to compete and fight among yourselves as you sought answers to questions you didn’t even know how to form. Thousands of conflicts, millions of battles and uncountable dead in the singular millennium you have been traversing the stars. Unprecedented speed of technological mastery, feats of engineering that few other races among all the galaxies have ever achieved, breathtaking works of artful expression; a people we would gladly accept as our template had we known about you and yet you were never truly challenged. Always alone and always in conflict, with no other sapient race in position to ever test you as you expanded to the cosmos from Mother Earth.”
“Mother Earth?” He asked.
“We have always called Deinar, Perrein and Taben the ‘Sister Worlds’, sisters have to have a mother.” Fireblade replied as she rose from the giant bath, put on the robe that was prepared for her before sitting to dry her long red hair at one of the hair dryers. “We Loroi were repeatedly tested. The Delrias tested us as warriors and we overcame them. The Mannadi tested us as warriors and we overcame them. The Shells tested us as warriors and we failed; the price of that failure would be death if not for your kind. Some would say that you were lucky in being left to thrive alone, to peacefully explore the secrets of the universe but I know that this is not the case. You weren’t lucky because in the end you only had yourselves to test your kind’s prowess and when all these tests were over and done with you looked first at your blood soaked selves and then at the cosmos that was now suddenly full of other sapient races that were all totally alien to you. Backward races whose advancement seemed stagnant when compared to yours and emotionless machines of flesh and blood who sought to control everything that was around them. You were truly alone; none of them were like you and worse of all there never was anyone like you before. In the billions of years that the universe existed only you had reached the summit of true ascension and despaired when you realized that there was no one else like you and there would probably never be someone you could call your equal. The fragmented nature of your kind gave you some solace, you were just the Old Worlds, a minority among your kind; the rest of your race lagging behind but were approaching the pinnacle in their own pace. Perhaps they would find some answers about your kind as they too would in turn Ascend but then one of their nations found a Soian Dreadstar with everything that entailed. You witnessed them forsaking their humanity as they elected to become like the Soians, beings of cold order that would finally bring order to chaos. In disgust you witnessed them butchering your lesser siblings, they ignored your pleas and warnings, fully set in the ways of the Soians until your hatred was unleashed. True hatred, the kind that consumed dozens of planets and three of your kind’s Worlds before you alone made a stand against it; not out of a sense of weariness or forgiveness but because of the principles that you had elected to follow to the end of your days. Your crew flocked to you and together contained your kind’s hatred and brought an end to the war but a question still lingers at the back of your collective minds: Do you hate them for the right reasons?” Fireblade finished drying up her hair and spread her mind in search of him but was unable to find him. She contemplated looking for him in the labyrinth that were her private chambers, she knew he was close but she couldn’t pinpoint his location.
“Indeed.” He agreed, happy and relieved to have someone non-human come to that conclusion.
It was then that she remembered their first and only honest discussion and where it took place. She went to the nearest balcony and telekinetically flew upwards to the rooftop, finding him sitting at its very edge, with his legs hanging over the precipice of the long drop as he took in the view.
“You still wonder if you hated them for what they were and not for what they weren’t.” He just nodded in agreement as she sat down next to him, letting her bare legs and feet hang over the edge like his legs were.
“A very important distinction that very few who hate ever consider.” He sent after a few moments.
“Indeed, I understood this when I fully understood what you meant back onboard Tempest, when you chastised us for killing for the wrong reasons. We indeed killed for the wrong reasons because we hated for the wrong reasons. We hated and tried to wipe out the Mannadi because they weren’t obedient in defeat as we wanted them to be; yet we resisted in the same ways they did when the Shells occupied our worlds.” She involuntary chuckled at that, the realization was painful but it had a sense of morbid amusement. “Being able to fully engross myself in events long past was… a revelation of shorts. What was the difference between what we did to the Mannadi to what the Shells did to us when we were occupied and resisted? I witnessed both first hand and the only difference was the foolish technicality that the Union was still at war! We Loroi would have resisted anyway and we would have found prideful solace in striking the Shells in the same way the Mannadi did when they stroke at our warriors.”
He nodded in silent agreement at that, his mind betraying a deep and personal conflict within him.
“What troubles you with what I sent?” She asked him.
“My foolishness, I sanctimoniously believed that no Loroi would ever realize this when I was aboard Tempest. I was convinced that your society… no, that all of you were too far gone for anyone among you to ever realize this.” He replied.
“Yes, Tempo and Beryl both informed me about your outlook and demeanor towards us after they remembered but I understand that your principles guided you in making certain that we were truly irredeemable and unsalvageable even as you thought so in certainty back then. Tempo took some time to understand this but Beryl is still conflicted despite the fact that she wasn’t a recipient of your ire.” Fireblade replied.
“She wasn’t meant to be a part of what happened.”
“Yes, we have all figured that out and I deeply appreciate your choice to include her; she has proven herself invaluable to me countless times.”
“High praise coming from the Emperor.”
“I was a Teidar before becoming the Emperor, I only ever learned to pass on the truth!” She joked before continuing. “She has been a solid voice of temperance and understanding even towards aliens who fought besides the Shells. A rarity among the generation that was born and raised to fight in the Great War.”
“Was she part of the reason of how you came to be on the throne without any of the usual violence?” He asked without thinking.
“We both know that Stillstorm just wanted to spite you.” She reminded him. “Why else would you agree for her to remember everything so soon after the fact?”
“That happened due to an equipment malfunction!” He protested, his mind passing the answer as truthful but she knew better.
“You are a very adept liar.” She chastised him.
“That’s a painful insult to come from you… but I have to be.”
“I understand and I appreciate it.” She replied before continuing. “Stillstorm was certain that a Loroi civil war would inevitably occur if she accepted her ascension to the Diadem council. She had the popular backing to become the next Emperor despite Greywind and the Mizol voicing their concern about her; she could have fully cooperated with the Mizol but in doing so the Loroi Axis would feel betrayed and would revolt anyway. She realized that the Union needed a shock before a reformer could take control and she didn’t want that shock to be a civil war so she just denied the honor; publicly chastising the inept and corrupt politicking of the Diadem and the inherent inefficiency of the caste system as she did so.”
“I found the after effects of her vehement denial to be promoted amusing.” He replied.
“Yes… It was refreshing to have a popular war hero speak up in favor of not just her own warrior caste but in favor of all Loroi as a singular people; that the system had failed us in the Great War and that we owed our existence as a race not to her prowess as a commander but to a race of aliens that helped us. She hit our pride as a supposed warrior race and she was right. We Loroi needed something new to guarantee our place in the cosmos.”
“And your Cult was strong and loud enough to draw attention to you just as the rank and file of both the Warrior and Civilian castes questioned the capabilities and morals of their collective leadership.”
“I always hated their adoration as if I was a demigod.” Fireblade cut in.
“You mean you aren’t?” She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “How was it? Being interviewed by the Emperor and the full Diadem while they secretly plotted to dispose of you because of the danger you represented to the wavering status quo?”
“Like being a fat Miros in the midst of a feral and starving diral band that wanted nothing less than to butcher me with whatever sharp object they had available. They didn’t expect what I showed them.”
“What did you show them? We never really found that out.”
“Parts and pieces of the greater truth, much in the same way you did. How weak we Loroi really are and the kind of enemies that we would eventually have to face. I kept humanity’s true nature secret from them but they learned of all the others near us and what they intend to do once they stop arguing about what happens after we Loroi are dealt with.”
“Clever girl.” For some reason Fireblade just smiled at that, she would have found it insulting if that remark came from anyone else but she was happy to receive his praise.
“Keeping the façade of me Ascending on my own at our time of need was a necessity.” Fireblade admitted. “However they still couldn’t accept all of it. They believed me but they are all too entrenched in their way of thinking, unable to endorse the solution that even they admitted of being a necessity.”
“Reshaping the caste system is a tall order.” He commented.
“It is but it is necessary, we Loroi were born to fight; many will recoil about what our ancestors did so long ago but we Loroi will have to fight as a whole if we and ours are to survive.”
“I don’t think that you Loroi will take part in what is to come.” He commented.
“That’s optimistic of you. You humans are alone in what you are, alone against all others out there. You are stronger than them, wielding weapons and abilities that they don’t but you are still alone. They will take the logical solution the moment they grasp the truth about your kind and that solution will be to set aside their differences and destroy the only force able to destroy the stagnated status quo that they have settled themselves onto. Your kind cannot fight all of them alone.” Fireblade pointed out dryly.
“You Loroi have a lot of work to do before you can protect yourselves, how much too actually wage war against them.”
“We were slightly ahead of you technologically just a thousand of your years ago but here you now are. We won’t take that long.” Fireblade replied.
“Really? You do realize that we advanced so fast technologically because we wanted new and more inventive ways for killing each other?”
“Not really, if the need for new tools of war was what truly drives technological advancement then the Delrias empires would still be the dominant forces of the local bubble. Your kind advanced because some of you embraced the pursuit of technology above all else. I want to believe that it was the manifestation of a deep seated need of wanting to repair the damage that the Soians had inflicted on you.” It was his turn to chuckle at that.
“It has been a lot of time since a human thought like that.”
“Being alone does poison one’s mind.” Fireblade replied. “When I and Tempo remembered I wanted to understand why you were so conflicted about us, loathing us with such intensity and yet caring about us, in your own way. Tempo thought at first that you were just an insane individual who ended up helping us but I wasn’t convinced. We Loroi have committed plenty of crimes, it’s justifiable to loathe and hate us but I still looked for answers in our own past. In the end I realized that we were alone as well, not like your kind was but as the only telepaths among those who had yet to Ascend. We could sense everything about them and what they thought of us but we never saw them as our equals. We Loroi were alone among all those we thought of as inferior and we were more than ready to act like the Soians if we were allowed the time necessary to do that. We Loroi are the only ones who are able to match you and we were more than prepared to throw it all away in our own perverse pursuit of ‘order’. I felt disgust once I realized where that path would inevitably lead because all those who wanted to enforce their ‘order’ on those they deemed lesser had walked it before us. It was the self-centered disgust of those who didn’t like the multitude of answers of ‘what gives us the right to enforce our will to others?’. How did our ancestors dare to position themselves as lawmakers, judges and jailers of those weaker than us? We have no right over them as they have no right over us. Those who think and act otherwise are the worse kind of scum for there is no depth they will not sink to in the pursuit of their sense of ‘order’. All of those that came before us destroyed everything worthwhile about them and their victims in their pursuit of ‘order’, lying to themselves every step of the way to damnation. I saw us at the precipice of that path and the only thing I felt was disgust towards my kind’s folly. We weren’t truly alone but we shut the others away because we thought that they were either a stepping stone or a hindrance to our ‘true glory’, there to only serve us or be swept aside by us.” Fireblade just stared idly at the distance as she finished, knowing that he too was doing that same.
“So what is next for you Loroi?” He asked after a few long Solons.
“We need a new purpose, something worthwhile to look forward to.”
“And what may that be?”
“I first thought that we Loroi should open our minds and not feel so lonely when we are surrounded by so many sapient races but I don’t think it’s enough, then I thought that your kind has suffered enough of being alone but that wasn’t enough either. We Loroi are responsible for the member races of the Union and all those we have subjugated; they are not pawns to be used as we will but our collective responsibility born through our collective actions. We Loroi will try to find a way to properly work with all of them and perhaps together we will find the answers each of us seeks from the cosmos.” Fireblade replied.
“That’s… an interesting answer.” He replied, his mind betraying his genuine surprise.
“It will be a challenge but we Loroi will not shirk from our responsibilities.” Fireblade replied. “Besides, I don’t think that you Humans will be satisfied with just us to be your equals.”
“First you want to help us with the false Ascendants and now you want to Ascend with all the others!” He laughed at that. “You Loroi are even greater fools than us.”
“Maybe so but no one has done it before.” Fireblade replied.
“Indeed, no one has.” He agreed before remembering a question that he felt was awkward to ask.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.” He replied truthfully.
“You are a truly amazing liar.” He flinched at that
“Fine…” He recollected his wits before he continued. “I had expected you to have given birth at least a couple of times by now but you have elected not to. Why is that?”
“I know for a fact that your females would hate to have that question asked but it isn’t something my subordinates and cultists haven’t asked already…” Fireblade begun. “I usually answer them by pointing out that I don’t have enough time for that but I doubt that you will fully satisfied with this half-truth.” She sensed his regret for asking that question. “I insisted on you asking so I will answer, it’s no fault of their own but they are too limited. I sense their kindness and outlook towards me, gentle and comforting like a Loroi male should be but they are too limited. I cannot truly relate to them, nor can I find solace with any of them.”
“I feared that was the case. I could arrange for one to Ascend like you did.” He replied. “One of the initial plans was to have a group of highly influential males Ascend and take a role of spiritual leadership so it isn’t something that it hasn’t been considered already.”
“You didn’t go forward with that plan because such a group of males would be unable to truly relate with any of us females. They would inevitably isolate themselves due to this and all would be for naught. That’s why you included the others, alone I would inevitably isolate myself and wither away but Tempo, Beryl and Stillstorm know and have been broadened enough for me to relate to. A lone Ascended male would still be alone as I would be his only solace. I won’t accept a male to suffer like that so I could bear children.”
“So you will be forever childless? You are aware of the gossips about you being mentally ill due to your desire to be left alone in your limited free time, it would be best for everyone involved if you proved these gossips wrong before your mental stability itself comes into question.”
“I am aware of the gossips but as I said they are too limited and I won’t accept the lifetime of lonely torment of a male so I may bear a child or two.” Fireblade replied.
“There are artificial means of getting impregnated.”
“And have the gossips be about me being unwilling to mate with a male?” Fireblade pointed out.
“You can lie to everyone and you can hide at will, just sneak out a day or two and return impregnated by an unknown male. It’s not like high ranking Loroi haven’t done that before and everything else can be arranged.”
“Wait a moment, why are you so insistent of this? It’s not just because you are worried about how your plan may be derailed due to my decision on the matter.” She asked in order to change the subject.
“I… don’t try to change the subject.”
“Answer me so I may answer you.” Fireblade insisted.
“Stubborn female.”
“I am still waiting for an answer.”
“You and the others have far exceeded my expectations and I feel responsible for putting you…” Her spontaneous laughter cut him off at that.
“Says the human who is known for ‘going blue’ with his mates.”
“Alright, I deserved that.” He replied with clearly felt embarrassment at that.
“Still, it’s painful to know that my childlessness may prove a hindrance to everything. I have already adopted six children from both the warrior and civilian classes but I know that they are all waiting for the birth of my child. Loroi are fools like that and fools have the habit of causing trouble over petty things like this.” Fireblade continued.
“I am sorry.”
“For what? Someone has to lead and I was in the best possible position to serve both as a rallying point and a necessary reformer for my kind. I don’t want to feel indispensable but there are times where I don’t see how anyone else would be able to guide them peacefully.” Fireblade replied dismissively. “Besides, your own ‘Pale horse’ cult gives you enough trouble as it is, worrying about me and the others is foolish when there is so much. This is the best possible outcome we could have considering how everything could unfold.”
“So you know about my cult?”
“Hard to miss when you are able to look at the past. The man whose stubbornness tamed a hateful collective of billions. Wise, infallible, a peerless leader who ended the war and somehow salvaged humanity’s soul while doing so. They are almost as ridiculous as my own cultists.”
“You want to change places?” He teased her.
“No, I had enough trouble coming to understand mine, I don’t want the headache of understanding yours.” She replied with a laugh before sitting idly next to him for a few long solons. “So what do we do now?”
“We do what every sentient being in the universe does; we keep going the course until we are no longer able to.” He replied.
“That’s as good a plan as any.” Fireblade replied just as he disappeared, undoubtedly teleporting to a ship in orbit. She stared upwards to the nightly sky, knowing that he would be somewhere there looking down to the planet. “I will make sure that you won’t be alone for long.”
Epilogue: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 172#p30172
The instant of opening one’s eyes after a long foray to the past was always off putting, the sensation of her own skin not fitting quite right passed quickly but its memory lingered for many solons, especially if they witnessed something that brought strong emotions forth. The ‘truth seekers’ with her, the most capable of the Nedatan seers and archivists, didn’t usually come out of the trance as well as she did but they persevered, eagerly seeking and absorbing everything that the Tempests had to offer.
The human never told any of them but the orange haired Tempest of Deinar was one of many who attempted to reach their descendants in the far future, all of them sending the truth forward into the unknown, hoping that one day the truth would be caught and fully grasped so those that would inevitably follow would learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.
The males that made the ‘truth seekers’ could now look into the past on their own; they were by far her best students but they were still limited and exploring the past was dangerous. She couldn’t allow them to venture back alone, she couldn’t let any harm come to them; they were the ones who would guide their kind’s souls and heal the self-inflicted damage on their collective self. Unlike most of the warriors these few brave males understood the importance of knowing one’s true past so they could know themselves.
She waved away her assistants as she stood up from her recliner and walked among the four recliners on which the males sat; their caretakers making sure that the four of them were well before allowing them to stand. All four of them were well and they greeted her despite their grogginess, she smiled at them and bid them farewell before leaving the room; her ridiculous entourage of assistants caretakers falling suit behind her as soon as they saw her.
She liked spending time with the ‘truth seekers’, discussing about everything they observed and how all little actions subtly reverberated throughout eternity. They were among her closest confidantes but they were still so limited in all aspects and always in awe of her; to a degree that rivaled the warriors of her cult, it was annoying but she couldn’t hold it against them, it was just how things were for the time being.
She entered her personal chambers with her horde of assistants in tow, she stood still and spread her arms as four of her caretakers undressed her with machine like precision while others prepared her bath and towels before every single one of them left her chambers; leaving her completely naked to stare at the mannequin that now wore her imperial armor.
All of the previous Emperors loved their hordes of servants, gossipy lackeys and manipulative sycophants but they were just noise to her. Tiring to even look at, the fact that she still used the Imperial palaces and that she still followed the established protocols regarding how the Emperor should not wear or take off her armor by herself were the only concessions she gave on the matter and the later was only because she hated wasting the time it took to put on and take off the extravagant design that was her office’s armor.
She slowly entered the pool sized bathtub and relaxed herself in the warm water as she emptied her mind. Such moments of idle relaxation were rare for her and she only ever allowed three others to join her in them. They were the only ones who knew but all three were nowhere near Deinar at that moment. Tempo was touring the Delrias territories to discuss the final details of their ascension from a subjugated race to full Union membership. Beryl was at Historian space, the first Loroi to be allowed full access to a Pol enclave and Stillstorm was on Taben, sailing alone with her small sailing boat, searching for peace within her. She only allowed these three to keep her company in such a time but the unannounced and uninvited visitor she sensed also knew and was growing impatient.
“How long do I have to wait before you address me Emperor Fireblade?” The human asked as he remained out of sight.
“All foreign dignitaries who desire a meeting with the Loroi Emperor have to follow the official channels and procedures in order to schedule said meeting for when the Emperor’s schedule allows. This includes the advanced and enigmatic humans who aided us in the Great War before shutting themselves within their borders.” Fireblade replied with a machine like telepathic tone, making the human laugh as he remained out of sight.
“I am afraid that I no longer hold an official position and as thus such avenues remain closed to me for the time being.” He replied playfully. “Yet I wanted to pass along my pleasant surprise as to how things have come to be since the last time we met.”
“So you are now just Fleet Admiral Alexander Jardin, retired, also known as The Pale Horse.”
“Indeed although our telepathic monikers are never used in any form of identification.” She knew that but she enjoyed the feint mental recoil that mentioning his moniker caused him.
“Won’t you and yours be in trouble again? For coming in contact with me despite your probation for breaking the ‘no interference’ laws?” His mind betrayed his surprise at that. “I didn’t look only at my kind’s past when I ‘learned’ how to do that. I know that your kind’s intervention was done solely on your behest despite your laws. You were the one who forced the issue of the ‘Loroi Question’ with your actions. I should be angry of you putting us in danger of having your kind’s other 15 dreadstars and their collectives do what the Shells were about to do.”
“I was… desperate.” He admitted after a few solons.
“It was a calculated risk but your kind is full of fools even greater than you. I know that such an event will never come to pass without a justifiable cause so the act has been postponed indefinitely until said cause is provided by us.” Fireblade replied. “And for this… I am thankful.”
“Not many would be so… understanding of such a threat against their whole race.” He replied in surprise.
“It’s because your kind is an odd kind of fools. I used to think that your kind was wise and all-knowing but I realized the truth about you after observing your past.” Fireblade replied before chuckling.
“And what is the truth about us?” She recited his question before he could even form it in his mind, pausing for a moment so he could recollect his wits.
“I know that it is the one question that lingers at the back of your kind’s minds. It lingers on everyone’s minds but your kind places a lot more importance to it than others realize. Your Old Worlds have been aware of us for over three of your generations, more than a century before the first of you Ascended. You simply weren’t looking at this side of the Great Wasteland, electing to focus your efforts at the riches that were at the other side. All this time you knew about us you praised us and loathed us in equal measure, we were and still are too much like you. We weren’t truly alien to you; the Mizol, the end product of the Soians, would be alien to you but we Loroi are not them. You see yourselves through us despite the glaring differences; you see everything that you love and hate about yourselves on us and you simply can’t help it. The only reason as to why your Old Worlds didn’t approach us and elected to hide us from the rest of your Worlds was because you were afraid of them, you were weaker than them at the time and they would have defeated you had they known and elected to expand in our territories. Your leaders elected to protect your Old Worlds and by extension us by propagating the lie that you humans were all lone, the same lie that ate at your kind’s soul as it sought someone else, anyone else, to just look at you and make a judgment. All alone and unchallenged but driven to compete and fight; you had no other recourse but to compete and fight among yourselves as you sought answers to questions you didn’t even know how to form. Thousands of conflicts, millions of battles and uncountable dead in the singular millennium you have been traversing the stars. Unprecedented speed of technological mastery, feats of engineering that few other races among all the galaxies have ever achieved, breathtaking works of artful expression; a people we would gladly accept as our template had we known about you and yet you were never truly challenged. Always alone and always in conflict, with no other sapient race in position to ever test you as you expanded to the cosmos from Mother Earth.”
“Mother Earth?” He asked.
“We have always called Deinar, Perrein and Taben the ‘Sister Worlds’, sisters have to have a mother.” Fireblade replied as she rose from the giant bath, put on the robe that was prepared for her before sitting to dry her long red hair at one of the hair dryers. “We Loroi were repeatedly tested. The Delrias tested us as warriors and we overcame them. The Mannadi tested us as warriors and we overcame them. The Shells tested us as warriors and we failed; the price of that failure would be death if not for your kind. Some would say that you were lucky in being left to thrive alone, to peacefully explore the secrets of the universe but I know that this is not the case. You weren’t lucky because in the end you only had yourselves to test your kind’s prowess and when all these tests were over and done with you looked first at your blood soaked selves and then at the cosmos that was now suddenly full of other sapient races that were all totally alien to you. Backward races whose advancement seemed stagnant when compared to yours and emotionless machines of flesh and blood who sought to control everything that was around them. You were truly alone; none of them were like you and worse of all there never was anyone like you before. In the billions of years that the universe existed only you had reached the summit of true ascension and despaired when you realized that there was no one else like you and there would probably never be someone you could call your equal. The fragmented nature of your kind gave you some solace, you were just the Old Worlds, a minority among your kind; the rest of your race lagging behind but were approaching the pinnacle in their own pace. Perhaps they would find some answers about your kind as they too would in turn Ascend but then one of their nations found a Soian Dreadstar with everything that entailed. You witnessed them forsaking their humanity as they elected to become like the Soians, beings of cold order that would finally bring order to chaos. In disgust you witnessed them butchering your lesser siblings, they ignored your pleas and warnings, fully set in the ways of the Soians until your hatred was unleashed. True hatred, the kind that consumed dozens of planets and three of your kind’s Worlds before you alone made a stand against it; not out of a sense of weariness or forgiveness but because of the principles that you had elected to follow to the end of your days. Your crew flocked to you and together contained your kind’s hatred and brought an end to the war but a question still lingers at the back of your collective minds: Do you hate them for the right reasons?” Fireblade finished drying up her hair and spread her mind in search of him but was unable to find him. She contemplated looking for him in the labyrinth that were her private chambers, she knew he was close but she couldn’t pinpoint his location.
“Indeed.” He agreed, happy and relieved to have someone non-human come to that conclusion.
It was then that she remembered their first and only honest discussion and where it took place. She went to the nearest balcony and telekinetically flew upwards to the rooftop, finding him sitting at its very edge, with his legs hanging over the precipice of the long drop as he took in the view.
“You still wonder if you hated them for what they were and not for what they weren’t.” He just nodded in agreement as she sat down next to him, letting her bare legs and feet hang over the edge like his legs were.
“A very important distinction that very few who hate ever consider.” He sent after a few moments.
“Indeed, I understood this when I fully understood what you meant back onboard Tempest, when you chastised us for killing for the wrong reasons. We indeed killed for the wrong reasons because we hated for the wrong reasons. We hated and tried to wipe out the Mannadi because they weren’t obedient in defeat as we wanted them to be; yet we resisted in the same ways they did when the Shells occupied our worlds.” She involuntary chuckled at that, the realization was painful but it had a sense of morbid amusement. “Being able to fully engross myself in events long past was… a revelation of shorts. What was the difference between what we did to the Mannadi to what the Shells did to us when we were occupied and resisted? I witnessed both first hand and the only difference was the foolish technicality that the Union was still at war! We Loroi would have resisted anyway and we would have found prideful solace in striking the Shells in the same way the Mannadi did when they stroke at our warriors.”
He nodded in silent agreement at that, his mind betraying a deep and personal conflict within him.
“What troubles you with what I sent?” She asked him.
“My foolishness, I sanctimoniously believed that no Loroi would ever realize this when I was aboard Tempest. I was convinced that your society… no, that all of you were too far gone for anyone among you to ever realize this.” He replied.
“Yes, Tempo and Beryl both informed me about your outlook and demeanor towards us after they remembered but I understand that your principles guided you in making certain that we were truly irredeemable and unsalvageable even as you thought so in certainty back then. Tempo took some time to understand this but Beryl is still conflicted despite the fact that she wasn’t a recipient of your ire.” Fireblade replied.
“She wasn’t meant to be a part of what happened.”
“Yes, we have all figured that out and I deeply appreciate your choice to include her; she has proven herself invaluable to me countless times.”
“High praise coming from the Emperor.”
“I was a Teidar before becoming the Emperor, I only ever learned to pass on the truth!” She joked before continuing. “She has been a solid voice of temperance and understanding even towards aliens who fought besides the Shells. A rarity among the generation that was born and raised to fight in the Great War.”
“Was she part of the reason of how you came to be on the throne without any of the usual violence?” He asked without thinking.
“We both know that Stillstorm just wanted to spite you.” She reminded him. “Why else would you agree for her to remember everything so soon after the fact?”
“That happened due to an equipment malfunction!” He protested, his mind passing the answer as truthful but she knew better.
“You are a very adept liar.” She chastised him.
“That’s a painful insult to come from you… but I have to be.”
“I understand and I appreciate it.” She replied before continuing. “Stillstorm was certain that a Loroi civil war would inevitably occur if she accepted her ascension to the Diadem council. She had the popular backing to become the next Emperor despite Greywind and the Mizol voicing their concern about her; she could have fully cooperated with the Mizol but in doing so the Loroi Axis would feel betrayed and would revolt anyway. She realized that the Union needed a shock before a reformer could take control and she didn’t want that shock to be a civil war so she just denied the honor; publicly chastising the inept and corrupt politicking of the Diadem and the inherent inefficiency of the caste system as she did so.”
“I found the after effects of her vehement denial to be promoted amusing.” He replied.
“Yes… It was refreshing to have a popular war hero speak up in favor of not just her own warrior caste but in favor of all Loroi as a singular people; that the system had failed us in the Great War and that we owed our existence as a race not to her prowess as a commander but to a race of aliens that helped us. She hit our pride as a supposed warrior race and she was right. We Loroi needed something new to guarantee our place in the cosmos.”
“And your Cult was strong and loud enough to draw attention to you just as the rank and file of both the Warrior and Civilian castes questioned the capabilities and morals of their collective leadership.”
“I always hated their adoration as if I was a demigod.” Fireblade cut in.
“You mean you aren’t?” She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “How was it? Being interviewed by the Emperor and the full Diadem while they secretly plotted to dispose of you because of the danger you represented to the wavering status quo?”
“Like being a fat Miros in the midst of a feral and starving diral band that wanted nothing less than to butcher me with whatever sharp object they had available. They didn’t expect what I showed them.”
“What did you show them? We never really found that out.”
“Parts and pieces of the greater truth, much in the same way you did. How weak we Loroi really are and the kind of enemies that we would eventually have to face. I kept humanity’s true nature secret from them but they learned of all the others near us and what they intend to do once they stop arguing about what happens after we Loroi are dealt with.”
“Clever girl.” For some reason Fireblade just smiled at that, she would have found it insulting if that remark came from anyone else but she was happy to receive his praise.
“Keeping the façade of me Ascending on my own at our time of need was a necessity.” Fireblade admitted. “However they still couldn’t accept all of it. They believed me but they are all too entrenched in their way of thinking, unable to endorse the solution that even they admitted of being a necessity.”
“Reshaping the caste system is a tall order.” He commented.
“It is but it is necessary, we Loroi were born to fight; many will recoil about what our ancestors did so long ago but we Loroi will have to fight as a whole if we and ours are to survive.”
“I don’t think that you Loroi will take part in what is to come.” He commented.
“That’s optimistic of you. You humans are alone in what you are, alone against all others out there. You are stronger than them, wielding weapons and abilities that they don’t but you are still alone. They will take the logical solution the moment they grasp the truth about your kind and that solution will be to set aside their differences and destroy the only force able to destroy the stagnated status quo that they have settled themselves onto. Your kind cannot fight all of them alone.” Fireblade pointed out dryly.
“You Loroi have a lot of work to do before you can protect yourselves, how much too actually wage war against them.”
“We were slightly ahead of you technologically just a thousand of your years ago but here you now are. We won’t take that long.” Fireblade replied.
“Really? You do realize that we advanced so fast technologically because we wanted new and more inventive ways for killing each other?”
“Not really, if the need for new tools of war was what truly drives technological advancement then the Delrias empires would still be the dominant forces of the local bubble. Your kind advanced because some of you embraced the pursuit of technology above all else. I want to believe that it was the manifestation of a deep seated need of wanting to repair the damage that the Soians had inflicted on you.” It was his turn to chuckle at that.
“It has been a lot of time since a human thought like that.”
“Being alone does poison one’s mind.” Fireblade replied. “When I and Tempo remembered I wanted to understand why you were so conflicted about us, loathing us with such intensity and yet caring about us, in your own way. Tempo thought at first that you were just an insane individual who ended up helping us but I wasn’t convinced. We Loroi have committed plenty of crimes, it’s justifiable to loathe and hate us but I still looked for answers in our own past. In the end I realized that we were alone as well, not like your kind was but as the only telepaths among those who had yet to Ascend. We could sense everything about them and what they thought of us but we never saw them as our equals. We Loroi were alone among all those we thought of as inferior and we were more than ready to act like the Soians if we were allowed the time necessary to do that. We Loroi are the only ones who are able to match you and we were more than prepared to throw it all away in our own perverse pursuit of ‘order’. I felt disgust once I realized where that path would inevitably lead because all those who wanted to enforce their ‘order’ on those they deemed lesser had walked it before us. It was the self-centered disgust of those who didn’t like the multitude of answers of ‘what gives us the right to enforce our will to others?’. How did our ancestors dare to position themselves as lawmakers, judges and jailers of those weaker than us? We have no right over them as they have no right over us. Those who think and act otherwise are the worse kind of scum for there is no depth they will not sink to in the pursuit of their sense of ‘order’. All of those that came before us destroyed everything worthwhile about them and their victims in their pursuit of ‘order’, lying to themselves every step of the way to damnation. I saw us at the precipice of that path and the only thing I felt was disgust towards my kind’s folly. We weren’t truly alone but we shut the others away because we thought that they were either a stepping stone or a hindrance to our ‘true glory’, there to only serve us or be swept aside by us.” Fireblade just stared idly at the distance as she finished, knowing that he too was doing that same.
“So what is next for you Loroi?” He asked after a few long Solons.
“We need a new purpose, something worthwhile to look forward to.”
“And what may that be?”
“I first thought that we Loroi should open our minds and not feel so lonely when we are surrounded by so many sapient races but I don’t think it’s enough, then I thought that your kind has suffered enough of being alone but that wasn’t enough either. We Loroi are responsible for the member races of the Union and all those we have subjugated; they are not pawns to be used as we will but our collective responsibility born through our collective actions. We Loroi will try to find a way to properly work with all of them and perhaps together we will find the answers each of us seeks from the cosmos.” Fireblade replied.
“That’s… an interesting answer.” He replied, his mind betraying his genuine surprise.
“It will be a challenge but we Loroi will not shirk from our responsibilities.” Fireblade replied. “Besides, I don’t think that you Humans will be satisfied with just us to be your equals.”
“First you want to help us with the false Ascendants and now you want to Ascend with all the others!” He laughed at that. “You Loroi are even greater fools than us.”
“Maybe so but no one has done it before.” Fireblade replied.
“Indeed, no one has.” He agreed before remembering a question that he felt was awkward to ask.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.” He replied truthfully.
“You are a truly amazing liar.” He flinched at that
“Fine…” He recollected his wits before he continued. “I had expected you to have given birth at least a couple of times by now but you have elected not to. Why is that?”
“I know for a fact that your females would hate to have that question asked but it isn’t something my subordinates and cultists haven’t asked already…” Fireblade begun. “I usually answer them by pointing out that I don’t have enough time for that but I doubt that you will fully satisfied with this half-truth.” She sensed his regret for asking that question. “I insisted on you asking so I will answer, it’s no fault of their own but they are too limited. I sense their kindness and outlook towards me, gentle and comforting like a Loroi male should be but they are too limited. I cannot truly relate to them, nor can I find solace with any of them.”
“I feared that was the case. I could arrange for one to Ascend like you did.” He replied. “One of the initial plans was to have a group of highly influential males Ascend and take a role of spiritual leadership so it isn’t something that it hasn’t been considered already.”
“You didn’t go forward with that plan because such a group of males would be unable to truly relate with any of us females. They would inevitably isolate themselves due to this and all would be for naught. That’s why you included the others, alone I would inevitably isolate myself and wither away but Tempo, Beryl and Stillstorm know and have been broadened enough for me to relate to. A lone Ascended male would still be alone as I would be his only solace. I won’t accept a male to suffer like that so I could bear children.”
“So you will be forever childless? You are aware of the gossips about you being mentally ill due to your desire to be left alone in your limited free time, it would be best for everyone involved if you proved these gossips wrong before your mental stability itself comes into question.”
“I am aware of the gossips but as I said they are too limited and I won’t accept the lifetime of lonely torment of a male so I may bear a child or two.” Fireblade replied.
“There are artificial means of getting impregnated.”
“And have the gossips be about me being unwilling to mate with a male?” Fireblade pointed out.
“You can lie to everyone and you can hide at will, just sneak out a day or two and return impregnated by an unknown male. It’s not like high ranking Loroi haven’t done that before and everything else can be arranged.”
“Wait a moment, why are you so insistent of this? It’s not just because you are worried about how your plan may be derailed due to my decision on the matter.” She asked in order to change the subject.
“I… don’t try to change the subject.”
“Answer me so I may answer you.” Fireblade insisted.
“Stubborn female.”
“I am still waiting for an answer.”
“You and the others have far exceeded my expectations and I feel responsible for putting you…” Her spontaneous laughter cut him off at that.
“Says the human who is known for ‘going blue’ with his mates.”
“Alright, I deserved that.” He replied with clearly felt embarrassment at that.
“Still, it’s painful to know that my childlessness may prove a hindrance to everything. I have already adopted six children from both the warrior and civilian classes but I know that they are all waiting for the birth of my child. Loroi are fools like that and fools have the habit of causing trouble over petty things like this.” Fireblade continued.
“I am sorry.”
“For what? Someone has to lead and I was in the best possible position to serve both as a rallying point and a necessary reformer for my kind. I don’t want to feel indispensable but there are times where I don’t see how anyone else would be able to guide them peacefully.” Fireblade replied dismissively. “Besides, your own ‘Pale horse’ cult gives you enough trouble as it is, worrying about me and the others is foolish when there is so much. This is the best possible outcome we could have considering how everything could unfold.”
“So you know about my cult?”
“Hard to miss when you are able to look at the past. The man whose stubbornness tamed a hateful collective of billions. Wise, infallible, a peerless leader who ended the war and somehow salvaged humanity’s soul while doing so. They are almost as ridiculous as my own cultists.”
“You want to change places?” He teased her.
“No, I had enough trouble coming to understand mine, I don’t want the headache of understanding yours.” She replied with a laugh before sitting idly next to him for a few long solons. “So what do we do now?”
“We do what every sentient being in the universe does; we keep going the course until we are no longer able to.” He replied.
“That’s as good a plan as any.” Fireblade replied just as he disappeared, undoubtedly teleporting to a ship in orbit. She stared upwards to the nightly sky, knowing that he would be somewhere there looking down to the planet. “I will make sure that you won’t be alone for long.”
Epilogue: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 172#p30172
Last edited by Guest on Mon Jun 04, 2018 8:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.
- dragoongfa
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
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Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Completed: 06/04/2018)
Epilogue
The children were restless, they were always restless but more so now that the day’s lessons were about to end but this last lesson was by far the most important one in shaping the future generation’s outlook to the cosmos.
“Now children, who can tell me what the divines are?” Most of the children turned their attention to their teacher as he said that.
“The divines are the ones who destroyed the Enslavers and restored our minds and bodies.” A perky and cheerful child replied.
“That’s true, the divines are those who destroyed the Enslavers and repaired the damage they inflicted on our kind’s minds and bodies but that’s not what I asked.” The teacher replied. “The question was ‘What the divines are’, not who and what they did for us. So can anyone here tell me what the divines are?” All of the children looked at each other and then at their teacher with a dumbfounded expression at that.
“Our Iron Age ancestors, right after our liberation and restoration, thought of the divines as omniscient and omnipresent gods. All powerful and infallible beings who descended from the skies to free us and help us. Eons passed and numerous religions rose and fell, all of them depicting the divines with a different light and all of them believing that their own depictions were the one and only truth. They inevitably warred with each other but the divines never descended to help any single one of their so called champions, the many miracles claimed to be as such throughout the ages being either freak coincidences or just plain trickery. In time the religions subsided and the divines became myths, ancient stories that no one pain any particular attention to until we roamed the stars and found them again. They weren’t anything like the stories, both greater and lesser but they never had forgotten about us and the ancient war against the Enslavers. The remaining believers of the ancient religions gloated at the irrefutable proof of their beliefs but they also asked why they had been abandoned by those who they believed in. The divines answered by explaining who and what the Enslavers we so hated were.” The teacher noticed that all of the students were paying attention now and smiled before continuing.
“They taught us of the Tregons, an alien race much like ours who were born on a faraway planet. They had risen humbly and slowly, from the Stone age to the Space age and beyond. They were a passionate race, warring among themselves and other children of the stars until they were the lords of a stellar domain far greater than out own. The explained the Tregon ideals of all life being worthy and how strife and material needs separated us from other children of the stars. How they took steps to preserve all life around them, even their former enemies and they showed us how all thrived under Tregon rule. For uncountable millennia the Tregon empire stood strong but the Tregons themselves had changed in that time, they sought perfection in themselves and they slowly altered their minds and bodies to become something they considered superior but in doing so they discarded everything that made them who they were. They soon sought to implement their ideal perfection and harmony onto those they held dominion over, to cut away and discard everything that they deemed superfluous and distracting. The Tregons were no more, they were just beings who held onto an ideal of perfect harmony, dictating onto everyone what to do and how to do it, violently subjugating all in their path even those who passively disagreed with their vision of perfection.”
“The Enslavers!” A child cut in. “Were the Tregons the Enslavers?”
“Yes indeed they were and they did everything because they truly believed that it was for the best. They truly believed that only through cold and impartial logic would they be able to lead everyone into a new era of perfect harmony within their domain and they turned themselves into beings of cold and impartial logic to make their vision a reality. They shaped their domain and their subjects as they saw fit and in time all imperfections among their subjects were cut off and discarded. Whether those imperfections were essential parts of the minds and bodies of their subjects bore no consideration. They wanted to make things perfect and so they did.”
“But our ancestors hated them and struggled against them!” Another child pointed out.
“Yes they did but only at first since they were unable to care afterwards, the Enslavers made sure that the mere thought of dissent was impossible to be formed in our minds. In the end our ancestors were alive in body but their minds were not, they were biological automatons that simply lived in a seemingly utopian society without any wants or passions. An existence where they were simply taken care off by the Enslavers.”
“It doesn’t sound that bad, they must have played all day!” Another child commented and the teacher couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“Our ancestors weren’t playing all day because they were rendered unable to have fun.”
“How can that be?”
“Imagine a dreamless sleep, your body is alive but your mind slumbers and is unable to think of anything. Now imagine your body moving on its own, taking care of its needs and doing everything that the enslavers deemed necessary for you to do but with your mind still in a dreamless and thoughtless sleep.” The teacher explained.
“That’s no fun at all!”
“Indeed it isn’t little one. Life wasn’t fun, it just was. A stagnant life, an Utopia without hardship and pain but also without excitement and enjoyment. This continued on for countless millennia until the divines destroyed the Enslavers, restored the minds and bodies of all the Enslavers victims before leaving us alone because for all their strengths, abilities and all of the immeasurable debt we owe them they never succumbed to the temptation of dictating how we as a race should or should not go on living our lives. All of the triumphs, mistakes, tragedies and accomplishments of our kind are ours and ours alone. Others may in time learn from us but what is ours is ours and no one will take it from us. That is the creed they live by, they protect the young children of the stars from those older than them who seek to cause harm but they don’t interfere because our lives are our own. Whatever hardships and glories we as a race live through will be ours alone and they will never allow anyone else to take this freedom from us.” The teacher paused and looked into the eyes of each and every child in the classroom before continuing. “Now, can anyone of you think of what the divines are?” The children just looked at their teacher with dumbfounded expressions for several long moments before one of them replied.
“Are they like the Tregons but without making the same mistakes that turned them into the Enslavers?”
“A good answer but not the right one, the divines explained that they too used to be subjugated by an advanced race that was very much like the Enslavers. The divines are also a cooperative of three distinct alien races: The tall and lithe Selen, the small winged Erux and the stout Glavianhy. All of them represented in the three distinct forms of the divines that our religions worshiped. They explained that they too had been freed and helped by others who they too had in turn been freed. They showed us how all of the ancient races made the same mistake of discarding their passions for cold logic and how in turn they tormented the younger races for an infinite variety of reasons.”
“So the divines are like us?”
“Indeed they are, people that they too were enslaved and forcibly altered in their past. They too were freed, healed and in turn looked upon those who had freed them with worship in their minds.” The teacher replied.
“Is this the reason why it’s forbidden to worship them?”
“Indeed that’s the reason and there is also the fact of them asking us not to worship them or even to consider their actions as anything other than what was necessary of them to do. They are like us, if not in mind and form then in the common aspects of our history and how our ancestors suffered. We still call them divines and look upon them in wonder because that’s how advanced and wise they are compared to us but we don’t worship them because we will eventually Ascend to where they stand and join them as equal children of the stars; eventually we too will strike down an enslaver and help those who suffered under them.” It was then that the teacher noticed that it was well past the time that the class should have been dismissed but the children had yet to point it out.
“If the divines were enslaved like us and were liberated by others who had also been enslaved and liberated does that mean that there is someone who started everything?” One of the brightest children asked, pleasantly surprising the teacher who had planned to broach the subject in the next class.
“The universe would be a sad place if only the Enslavers and those like them stood over us but the divines have their own legends in which the universe was indeed lorded over by enslavers, a cosmos where everyone either stagnated or became such. That was the universe until the First arose. These Legends have been passed along from liberator to liberated since time immemorial, there are many variants, many of them confusing if not downright contradictory but many common themes exist in all of them. They all begin with a race that naturally held all powers that we associate with the divines, they lived in peace until an enslaver race discovered them, stole their powers and stroke them down, leaving them for dead. The enslavers then made another race using the powers and image of those they had destroyed but their new creations saw the injustices that their creators were committing and stroked them down, freeing themselves and the other enslaved.
However the race these Copies were derived from wasn’t dead. They came close to extinction but they persevered and in time thrived; however their lives were ones of solitude, cursed to exist in an area where no other sapient race had risen. Their loneliness drew them to extremes, striking at each other and waging endless wars against one another; thriving and advancing through the blood of their own kin until they Ascended to Divinity.
They stood as the First Divines atop the broken remains of their own kin, hating themselves for what they did before finally turning their attention outwards to a universe that was suddenly full of life when previously it hold nothingness. They witnessed the sick order of things where countless of enslavers did as they thought best to the countless of the enslaved they held dominion over.
And amidst everything they found their Copies dominating others as an enslaver would while waging a desperate war against a young race that sought to become an enslaver in turn. The First were conflicted, some seeing their Copies as an affront to their own existence, others were terrified of seeing their own selves and mistakes mirrored by their Copies while others held gratitude towards those that had destroyed the enslavers who had harmed them.
The First Divines were indecisive on what to do but a small number of them acted on their own and aided their Copies in their time of need. For all their prowess they couldn’t properly explain why they aided them but the Copies saw the sickness of Solitude within the First and decided to help them in turn, vowing to the First that they wouldn’t be alone anymore as the Copies and their alien allies Ascended to Divinity. It didn’t take long for many of the ancient enslavers to challenge the First and their new companions only to be soundly defeated, their domains destroyed and their slaves liberated and repaired like we were, thus starting the many cycles of liberation and Ascension that continue to this day. The Legends of the First all end with a pilgrimage of the newly Ascended to the birthplace of the First, to pass along their appreciation and show them that they are not alone anymore and that they won’t be alone until the moment that the universe itself comes to an end.”
The children were restless, they were always restless but more so now that the day’s lessons were about to end but this last lesson was by far the most important one in shaping the future generation’s outlook to the cosmos.
“Now children, who can tell me what the divines are?” Most of the children turned their attention to their teacher as he said that.
“The divines are the ones who destroyed the Enslavers and restored our minds and bodies.” A perky and cheerful child replied.
“That’s true, the divines are those who destroyed the Enslavers and repaired the damage they inflicted on our kind’s minds and bodies but that’s not what I asked.” The teacher replied. “The question was ‘What the divines are’, not who and what they did for us. So can anyone here tell me what the divines are?” All of the children looked at each other and then at their teacher with a dumbfounded expression at that.
“Our Iron Age ancestors, right after our liberation and restoration, thought of the divines as omniscient and omnipresent gods. All powerful and infallible beings who descended from the skies to free us and help us. Eons passed and numerous religions rose and fell, all of them depicting the divines with a different light and all of them believing that their own depictions were the one and only truth. They inevitably warred with each other but the divines never descended to help any single one of their so called champions, the many miracles claimed to be as such throughout the ages being either freak coincidences or just plain trickery. In time the religions subsided and the divines became myths, ancient stories that no one pain any particular attention to until we roamed the stars and found them again. They weren’t anything like the stories, both greater and lesser but they never had forgotten about us and the ancient war against the Enslavers. The remaining believers of the ancient religions gloated at the irrefutable proof of their beliefs but they also asked why they had been abandoned by those who they believed in. The divines answered by explaining who and what the Enslavers we so hated were.” The teacher noticed that all of the students were paying attention now and smiled before continuing.
“They taught us of the Tregons, an alien race much like ours who were born on a faraway planet. They had risen humbly and slowly, from the Stone age to the Space age and beyond. They were a passionate race, warring among themselves and other children of the stars until they were the lords of a stellar domain far greater than out own. The explained the Tregon ideals of all life being worthy and how strife and material needs separated us from other children of the stars. How they took steps to preserve all life around them, even their former enemies and they showed us how all thrived under Tregon rule. For uncountable millennia the Tregon empire stood strong but the Tregons themselves had changed in that time, they sought perfection in themselves and they slowly altered their minds and bodies to become something they considered superior but in doing so they discarded everything that made them who they were. They soon sought to implement their ideal perfection and harmony onto those they held dominion over, to cut away and discard everything that they deemed superfluous and distracting. The Tregons were no more, they were just beings who held onto an ideal of perfect harmony, dictating onto everyone what to do and how to do it, violently subjugating all in their path even those who passively disagreed with their vision of perfection.”
“The Enslavers!” A child cut in. “Were the Tregons the Enslavers?”
“Yes indeed they were and they did everything because they truly believed that it was for the best. They truly believed that only through cold and impartial logic would they be able to lead everyone into a new era of perfect harmony within their domain and they turned themselves into beings of cold and impartial logic to make their vision a reality. They shaped their domain and their subjects as they saw fit and in time all imperfections among their subjects were cut off and discarded. Whether those imperfections were essential parts of the minds and bodies of their subjects bore no consideration. They wanted to make things perfect and so they did.”
“But our ancestors hated them and struggled against them!” Another child pointed out.
“Yes they did but only at first since they were unable to care afterwards, the Enslavers made sure that the mere thought of dissent was impossible to be formed in our minds. In the end our ancestors were alive in body but their minds were not, they were biological automatons that simply lived in a seemingly utopian society without any wants or passions. An existence where they were simply taken care off by the Enslavers.”
“It doesn’t sound that bad, they must have played all day!” Another child commented and the teacher couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“Our ancestors weren’t playing all day because they were rendered unable to have fun.”
“How can that be?”
“Imagine a dreamless sleep, your body is alive but your mind slumbers and is unable to think of anything. Now imagine your body moving on its own, taking care of its needs and doing everything that the enslavers deemed necessary for you to do but with your mind still in a dreamless and thoughtless sleep.” The teacher explained.
“That’s no fun at all!”
“Indeed it isn’t little one. Life wasn’t fun, it just was. A stagnant life, an Utopia without hardship and pain but also without excitement and enjoyment. This continued on for countless millennia until the divines destroyed the Enslavers, restored the minds and bodies of all the Enslavers victims before leaving us alone because for all their strengths, abilities and all of the immeasurable debt we owe them they never succumbed to the temptation of dictating how we as a race should or should not go on living our lives. All of the triumphs, mistakes, tragedies and accomplishments of our kind are ours and ours alone. Others may in time learn from us but what is ours is ours and no one will take it from us. That is the creed they live by, they protect the young children of the stars from those older than them who seek to cause harm but they don’t interfere because our lives are our own. Whatever hardships and glories we as a race live through will be ours alone and they will never allow anyone else to take this freedom from us.” The teacher paused and looked into the eyes of each and every child in the classroom before continuing. “Now, can anyone of you think of what the divines are?” The children just looked at their teacher with dumbfounded expressions for several long moments before one of them replied.
“Are they like the Tregons but without making the same mistakes that turned them into the Enslavers?”
“A good answer but not the right one, the divines explained that they too used to be subjugated by an advanced race that was very much like the Enslavers. The divines are also a cooperative of three distinct alien races: The tall and lithe Selen, the small winged Erux and the stout Glavianhy. All of them represented in the three distinct forms of the divines that our religions worshiped. They explained that they too had been freed and helped by others who they too had in turn been freed. They showed us how all of the ancient races made the same mistake of discarding their passions for cold logic and how in turn they tormented the younger races for an infinite variety of reasons.”
“So the divines are like us?”
“Indeed they are, people that they too were enslaved and forcibly altered in their past. They too were freed, healed and in turn looked upon those who had freed them with worship in their minds.” The teacher replied.
“Is this the reason why it’s forbidden to worship them?”
“Indeed that’s the reason and there is also the fact of them asking us not to worship them or even to consider their actions as anything other than what was necessary of them to do. They are like us, if not in mind and form then in the common aspects of our history and how our ancestors suffered. We still call them divines and look upon them in wonder because that’s how advanced and wise they are compared to us but we don’t worship them because we will eventually Ascend to where they stand and join them as equal children of the stars; eventually we too will strike down an enslaver and help those who suffered under them.” It was then that the teacher noticed that it was well past the time that the class should have been dismissed but the children had yet to point it out.
“If the divines were enslaved like us and were liberated by others who had also been enslaved and liberated does that mean that there is someone who started everything?” One of the brightest children asked, pleasantly surprising the teacher who had planned to broach the subject in the next class.
“The universe would be a sad place if only the Enslavers and those like them stood over us but the divines have their own legends in which the universe was indeed lorded over by enslavers, a cosmos where everyone either stagnated or became such. That was the universe until the First arose. These Legends have been passed along from liberator to liberated since time immemorial, there are many variants, many of them confusing if not downright contradictory but many common themes exist in all of them. They all begin with a race that naturally held all powers that we associate with the divines, they lived in peace until an enslaver race discovered them, stole their powers and stroke them down, leaving them for dead. The enslavers then made another race using the powers and image of those they had destroyed but their new creations saw the injustices that their creators were committing and stroked them down, freeing themselves and the other enslaved.
However the race these Copies were derived from wasn’t dead. They came close to extinction but they persevered and in time thrived; however their lives were ones of solitude, cursed to exist in an area where no other sapient race had risen. Their loneliness drew them to extremes, striking at each other and waging endless wars against one another; thriving and advancing through the blood of their own kin until they Ascended to Divinity.
They stood as the First Divines atop the broken remains of their own kin, hating themselves for what they did before finally turning their attention outwards to a universe that was suddenly full of life when previously it hold nothingness. They witnessed the sick order of things where countless of enslavers did as they thought best to the countless of the enslaved they held dominion over.
And amidst everything they found their Copies dominating others as an enslaver would while waging a desperate war against a young race that sought to become an enslaver in turn. The First were conflicted, some seeing their Copies as an affront to their own existence, others were terrified of seeing their own selves and mistakes mirrored by their Copies while others held gratitude towards those that had destroyed the enslavers who had harmed them.
The First Divines were indecisive on what to do but a small number of them acted on their own and aided their Copies in their time of need. For all their prowess they couldn’t properly explain why they aided them but the Copies saw the sickness of Solitude within the First and decided to help them in turn, vowing to the First that they wouldn’t be alone anymore as the Copies and their alien allies Ascended to Divinity. It didn’t take long for many of the ancient enslavers to challenge the First and their new companions only to be soundly defeated, their domains destroyed and their slaves liberated and repaired like we were, thus starting the many cycles of liberation and Ascension that continue to this day. The Legends of the First all end with a pilgrimage of the newly Ascended to the birthplace of the First, to pass along their appreciation and show them that they are not alone anymore and that they won’t be alone until the moment that the universe itself comes to an end.”
Last edited by Guest on Mon Jun 04, 2018 5:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.