Wit pierced the sap like a rock in a pond, the scalding pain was instant. He held in the scream he wanted to unleash as his body was engulfed in agony. The molten sap was so hot the viscosity wasn’t as thick as he thought, and it moved around him more like water than sap. Allowing him to sink in at a fast rate toward the bottom.
While he was sinking, he felt like his impulsive nature had killed him twice over. He should’ve gone back to the nest and come up with a better plan when he had the chance. He also should’ve aimed closer to the pool's edge, next to the roots.
Maybe he could’ve survived the burns from the swim with [regeneration], but no he chose to endorse his curiosity in a last-ditch effort to see something spectacular on his way out of life.
I’m such an idiot! Wit thought in agony.
Wit screamed involuntarily in shock when he heard Poindexter's voice modulate inside his head. Letting in the molten liquid, melting away at his soft insides. Wit felt that cold whisper of death make its appearance again, just like when he went through his Rebirth. Damning it all, he cracked his eyes open to get his last look at something beautiful.
Somehow even through the cloud of pain, Wit was able to keep his calm as Poindexter continued in his mind.
Wits squinted eyes were somehow able to peek through the brightly lit sap. Everything looked woozy and swirly like looking through multiple layers of moving glass. But through it all, he saw what Poindexter described as the ‘Origin point.’
It was an enormous glacier of clearish crystallized amber, covering what looked to be heavy machinery with a large coil surrounding a ball of fire in the middle. The sapslugs that swarmed said glacier were almost indistinguishable from the rest of the liquid slurry they swam in, if not for the shadows that they created when they attached themselves to the large crystal.
Still, he was once again mesmerized by his surroundings, with death breathing down his neck, he felt that this was somewhat worth it. Humans weren’t supposed to exist anymore anyway, at least he got to experience wonders never before seen and things he couldn’t even begin to imagine before he became cosmic dust.
Still, a part of his mind churned with what Poindexter said. Overcharged plasma cells, wireless electrical communications, radio tower, nutrients, and healing for the organism it's feeding. Large machinery at the bottom of Babel. He was planted next to the generator. Is that Babel's power source?
As his body sank closer to the glacier, Wit was now able to make out a shimmer of light different from the rest of the woozy slur of luminescent crystalized amber. It kind of looked like rainbow glitter, sprinkled throughout the large crystalline structure. The shimmering glitter swirled and pulsed within, like a trapped swarm of flies.
Wit felt his consciousness slipping away as he drifted inches away from the surface of amber. He noticed some of the sap-slugs growing shells of crystallized amber as they consumed the glacier. They’re evolving into amber-snails. He thought with a hint of jealousy, as he wouldn’t get the chance to live through his own evolution.
Touching the glowing white hot amber with both hands, he saw them melt on its surface. The added pain joined the rest of its flock in the back of his mind.
Looking at the kaleidoscope of multicolored glitter, shimmering in the haze up close had Wit wishing he had another chance at life. So pretty. The young Omni thought as his eyes lost their ability to see and his consciousness faded to black.
⚡️
Wit felt like he was in a dream, where he couldn’t recognize anything, but the impressions they left lingering were somewhat clear to him. It felt like the remnants of thought were demanding an answer from him, something about meaning, understanding, and purpose. At first, Wit thought it was asking him about his meaning and purpose.
But something in the fluttering of the impressions told him he was wrong to assume this was about him.
This was about them,
They were testing him, he now felt their judgmental observance surrounding him, that they were oppressing him with. It made him want to bear his fangs in defiance, but he quickly realized he had no fangs here. He had only his mind connected to a tether.
It was overwhelmingly uncomfortable, but Wit found himself in somewhat familiar territory. It felt oddly similar to when he brought the three choices into submission during his recent rebirth. Using his limited awareness he held on tighter to the tether while studying the impressions around him in depth; they were still screaming for an answer.
Through the hints left by the impressions, Wit eventually put it together as to what he was looking at and what it was asking. He solved that question with Poindexter right before he died, didn't he? The sudden thought of him dying almost halted his line of reasoning before he ignored the feeling and answered.
“You were once the power ‘Source’ for a tower with a mission to ferry human consciousness into a new era. You allowed the continued survival of life as I know it. Without you none of this would have been possible, I wouldn’t even be here. But now the energy that you generate flows through something much more alive than metal and concrete. To answer your question, you are now the beating ‘Heart’ of a superorganism, without you all else fails.”
⚡️
Wit awoke to a ringing noise screaming in his mind. He felt his heart squirm and burn as something flooded it. He cracked his eyes open, only to see the rainbow shimmer painfully getting sucked into his hands. He witnessed the colorful dust travel through his arms, and into his chest, draining the amber glacier of every speck.
Once he absorbed it all and the ringing subsided, a miracle happened before his very eyes. All of his burns, and missing fur began to heal at a noticeable speed. The molten sap around him became comfortable instead of unbearable. He couldn’t believe it, this didn't make any sense.
Releasing his hold, Wit floated in the slurry mix highly confused. He was sure he was about to die a few moments ago, but now he was alive and feeling better than ever. What just happened to him, what exactly was that shimmering energy? Whatever it was, it just saved his posterior, that's for sure.
Taking another glance at the crystalized generator, Wit felt that without the dust, it somehow seemed less than it was before. Nothing else changed really, but Wit couldn’t shake the feeling of being less impressed by the beautiful structure. Something about it just didn’t grab his attention the same way it did before.
Drifting in the sap felt so relaxing now, it reminded him of the hot soaks that he always wished he had more time for. Swimming up to the surface, Wit floated on his back on the viscous liquid. He decided he might as well enjoy it since he could and closed his eyes, letting out a breath of relief.
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When Wit woke up from his impromptu nap, he didn't know if it was a short or a long one. He woke up feeling so good but also so hungry, it was a bit overwhelming for the young ten-year-old. It felt like every part of his body was saturated in sweat, sweat blissful energy but that energy left a gaping hole in his stomach.
He floated there wondering if this was how the world works now, was what he just experienced, something normal?
He wouldn’t know until he met other people if there were any other people at this point. Laying there alone, made him consider what if he was the last man standing on Eærth. Shaking his head to dismiss the depressing thought, he knew that couldn’t be true.
The rebirth project has been going on longer than, well longer than anything Wit has ever known anything to last. Everyone else who went through the rebirth chose the easy choices, so survival rates have to be high. Unless everyone never made it past the cradle,
Choosing to ignore that depressing thought until he had more information, Wit swam to the pool's edge. Grabbing onto the roots, he let his thorns sink in deep to yank himself out. Sitting there on the sticky amber-encrusted roots, covered head to toe in sap, Wit contemplated his very brief experience with the outside world.
He realized he needed to be more careful than ever before. He couldn’t treat this like a field trip, and let his curiosity overwhelm his logical reasoning. He only had one life and he almost squandered it for no real reason. There was no rush, he’d already been trapped here for thirty-four years, he needed to take this slow and steady.
Slapping his cheeks to amp himself up, Wit then looked at his Omnitrix wrapped around his right wrist. Remembering how Poindexter helped him solve the mystery of the glacier.
“Poindexter, what the heck! You can talk directly into my mind?” Wit asked incredulously.
“Wit, It is good that you have survived your almost fatal ordeal. I will try to assist you in higher regard to prevent such a tragedy from recurring. To answer your question, yes I can send signals directly to your brain. If it makes you feel uncomfortable I will no longer do so.” Poindexter’s analog-like voice replied.
“No, no, it's a good thing. I think I would’ve died if you didn't give me those readouts, so thank you, Poindexter. Um, can I talk to you with just my thoughts, or is it just you that can do that?” Wit was once again amazed at the capabilities the Omnitrix had to offer.
“You are most welcome Wit, and you may also communicate with me telepathically, though it may take some practice to gain proficiency,” Poindexter replied.
“Okay, we have to set some time aside for that. In the meantime pull up the map.” Wit ordered.
The three-dimensional map formed itself out of the pixels, to hover over the watch. It showed his current location and the straight line he took through his misadventure from the nest. The chamber he was in now was shaped like a cylinder with the amber-glacier at the bottom of the pool and roots practically encasing the whole thing.
Holes like the one he arrived in were littered between the reaching roots, but to Wits’ dismay, the closest one was two hundred feet high. Turning away from the map he looked up and up, and realized he couldn’t even see any of the vents through the mirage of misty haze.
Poindexter’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “Wit, if I may, there are some updates on your body scans. I would suggest looking into your species status immediately.”
Doing as Poindexter suggested Wit went to his status to see what exactly changed with his intake of energy dust. The pixels morphed into a three-dimensional representation of his body, showcasing his unique traits. It slowly turned around, giving him a view of himself from every angle.
On his organix list, a new addition was blinking to get his attention along with a message.
Congratulations, you have discovered a new nature-related organism, and by absorbing its ‘Phenomenon Quintessence’, you have adjusted your evolutionary path. -Eærth
Location: Yggdrasil
{Omnisapien} 10 cycles old
-Status- Yellow
Name: Witan
Species Organix
[Exo/Bark] +
[Hive] +
[Multiperspectivity] +
[Nucleiåmberius*]+
[Photosynthesis] +
[Physique] +
[Regeneration] +
[Synesthesia] +
[Zoolingualism] +
Wit was still confused as to what organix did other than allow passive effects due to his evolved form. From what he understood from his talks with Poindexter, organix utilized his genetic code to determine how his body functioned with itself and the outside world.
So for him to get another one outside of the rebirth process completely shook Wit's tiny worldview.
Tapping the [Nucleiamberius] organix, opened up a diagnostics panel, revealing all the relevant data being created from Poindexter’s observations through his body scans. It showed the transformation his body just went through, played back on a looped recording. Wit watched the loop a few times, fixated on the alien transition.
His heart or what should have been his heart was replaced by a scale model of the amber crystal glacier engulfing the power generator at the bottom of the sap pool. The amber heart compressed and decompressed in its imitation of a real beating heart, pumping rich hot energized sap and blood through his leafy veins.
The sap in his blood glowed and sparked with potential.
Further changes revealed his [exoBark] had lines of amber encrusted in between its grooves, dimly lit to showcase the power hidden beneath. Wit turned away from the model to look at his hands, to see that the amber was actually there, filling in the gaps of the bark. Touching it gave him a slight electric jolt from all the excess static built up that the amber heart seemed to generate.
“There’s a lot of information here Dex, can you break it down for me?” Wit asked, feeling confused as to what this all meant.
“Of course. It seems that your fateful encounter with what Eærth is calling ‘Phenomenon Quintessence’ has modified your symbiote located in your central organ. It still provides the same benefits that your previous heart did but greatly enhanced. The sap that it generates is highly nutritious to all factors of your physical makeup, with the added benefit of being a source of nuclear fusion energy. What you can do with that power remains to be unseen.” Poindexter analogously answered.
“Nuclear fusion, I'm not sure if that was something I was privy to during my studies. Care to explain,”
“Nuclear fusion is a form of power generation that generates energy by using heat from something called fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, which then releases plasma energy. In simpler terms, it's how a star powers itself, becoming a near infinite energy source.” Poindexter explained.
For a while, Wit just stared at the Omnitrix unbelieving. “So you're saying I have the equivalent of a sun-powered generator in my chest providing me with endless potential energy?” He asked with a surprising level of composure.
“Essentially yes.” Was Poindexter’s easy reply.
“How is any of this possible?” Wit wondered.
“It seems that phenomenon quintessence has the ability to reprogram life forms. We would need more data for further analysis.” Poindexter’s robotic voice replied.
Phenomenon quintessence huh Wit considered as he gripped his chest, appreciating the heat it now produced. He looked up again, into the hazy amberish mist; the potential energy pumped through his veins with vigor. He had to test just what that energy was capable of, and a two-hundred-foot climb should be the perfect way to do it.