Novels2Search

Chapter 1

Avakian Gray was born to a feeling of immense discomfort, the sense of forgetting something incredibly important, yet not understanding why it was so important in the first place.

His introduction to the universe was jarring; after all, one wouldn't normally expect to suddenly simply exist. Wasn't there usually some kind of due process for this?

He opened what he instinctively knew to be his eyes, and basked in the wealth of information gifted unto his naive mind; he was lying prone in some kind of pod or casket, with straps restricting his wrists and ankles. A piece of medical apparatus lay on his face, with a tube connecting to somewhere outside his vision, he surmised it would be a bad idea to take it off.

"I clearly exist in some capacity now, wouldn't want to make any decisions that might jeopardise that." Thought Avakian. "Although I suppose not making a decision is a decision in itself".

A clear glass screen in front of him allowed him a glimpse of the world, mostly the abject darkness of space, contrasting several thin strips of land dotted in places with bright lights; one of which appeared to be growing in size. In the bottom-left of the glass were a series of back-to-front letters that read 'AVAKIAN (GRAY) / 26-14-7018'.

As Avakian focused on the growing land mass in the distance, several strings of digits entered his mind, seemingly correlating to both the size of the strip of land, and its relative velocity. He instantly realised that it was not growing in size, but instead was approaching him at an increasing speed.

"Either that or I am speeding towards it." Thought Avakian sagely. "A ridiculous notion; clearly the universe is centred around me."

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He noted that whatever the case may be, it would be a considerable amount of time until they made contact. Avakian did not object to the wait, for all he knew living in a pod in space was an existence enviable by all, and leaving the pod would be a decision he would regret for years. He was content to drift through space, a pod-bound pariah, alone with nothing but his thoughts for company.

Avakian closed his eyes and entered into his thoughts, enjoying creating, manipulating, and destroying at a whim within his own mind. He created vast cascading sequences of polygons, and made them dance around, changing in size and form as they did.

Hours passed by and Avakian had grown slightly tired of moulding shapes within his mind. He thought back to the world he had seen when his eyes were open, and tried to manipulate this world as he did his thoughts.

To his endless frustration no matter how hard he tried, this world would not bend to his convictions, the only thing he could manage to manipulate were his limbs, and even those were constrained by straps.

Avakian immediately decided that living in this pod was not the type of existence he wanted; he wanted to act on, and be acted upon by the world around him, and it was clear that this was not achievable in his current situation.

The sense of discomfort inside Avakian grew as the countdown grew closer to zero, but with it grew a boding sense of excitement.

"Perhaps this approaching strip of land has new experiences to offer me." He mused. "We can trade techniques on how to manipulate polygons!"

Avakian calmed himself, lessons he had never learned telling him that slowing his breathing would relax his nervous system. First impressions were important after all.

He felt his nerves rising as the land mass approached him, and realised that he had assumed it would be sapient. This assumption was reasonable to Avakian, as he was sapient, and also the only thing in the universe he knew of.

If these assumptions were incorrect, and these 'laws of classical physics' inside his mind were accurate, then their encounter might be more destructive than Avakian had anticipated.

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