Do you ever look up at the sky and wonder what is out there? What ancient civilizations and cosmic dust roam through the void? Enyatta did. All the time. It was hard not to really. Anytime she went outside, there was rock and sky. Enyatta lived on an asteroid. Rock and sky- space- was all there was. Not being a geologist or an astronomer, none of it interested Enyatta very much.
Enyatta was bored. Living on an asteroid wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Or, well, maybe it was. Regardless, there wasn’t much to do outside of read, read, and read. Because that was what the asteroid had in abundance: books. The entire asteroid was devoted to the singular pursuit of knowledge. It was in fact the largest known repository of knowledge in the universe, and Enyatta had it all to herself. She lived in the asteroid alone, and read books all day. It got boring.
Growing up, Enyatta had assumed that the sterile walls were all there was to existence. There was the bedroom, the kitchen, and the library. That was it. Obviously, the bedroom and kitchen were tiny, occupying only a small corner of the facility, while the rest was devoted to databanks upon databanks of knowledge. It was only when Enyatta had learned to read that she had discovered that there was more to existence than whitewashed corridors. With growing wonder, Enyatta had devoured the scrolls and texts in the library voraciously, beyond excited about the worlds that were illuminated by shapely calligraphy and standardized typeface.
As it turned out, Enyatta learned pretty quickly that she was only mostly alone. There were plenty of other people out there, it was just that none of them were stuck on the asteroid with her and she couldn’t talk to any of them. In fact, there were millions of worlds hanging by cosmic fates out in the vast void. Millions of worlds and trillions of people. Enyatta’s mind boggled. Like, she knew conceptually that numbers could go that large, having studied some of the newer sciences catalogued in the databanks, but it was another thing entirely to imagine trillions of living, breathing, humans out there somewhere; each with their own fears, desires, dreams, and imaginations. ... ... Enyatta tried not to think about it too much.
Besides, Enyatta wasn’t interested in all of the trillions of worlds out there. She had only ever really cared about four or five of them. Topping that list was a newer world by the name of Earth. The librarian (think inter-dimensional megalomaniacal immortal spirit) had told Enyatta when she was six years old that Earth was where she came from. According to the librarian, she had human parents, a mother and a father, as well as an extended family and all of the accoutrements (cousins, aunts, uncles) that came with it. Ever since she had discovered her origins, and that there were people out there in the universe who knew she existed, Enyatta had made it her secret life’s mission to return to Earth.
Her life’s mission had to be a deep-dark secret because Enyatta wasn’t the only one who had a plan for her life. The spirit of the library had a plan too. You see, Enyatta was alone on the asteroid, in that there weren’t any other corporeal beings with whom she could interact. That did not mean that there was no one that she could talk to. The library was created, maintained, ruled, and ordered by a powerful spirit. The Librarian, as the spirit was known, was (as has been mentioned) rather megalomaniacal; although not without cause.
Having been created by a being in the before time, the Librarian, and by extension the library, had been around since just shy of forever. Originally, the spirit of the Librarian was meant to act as a custodian in the library, cataloguing and managing all of the entries in the overwhelming body of knowledge. Over millions of years though, the Librarian had gradually become self-aware. It had started to wonder, with increasing frequency, what greater purposes were out there in the universe. It had begun to desire power. The problem was that the creator of the Librarian had limited its mandate and powers to observation only. That meant that in order to effect great change, exercise great power, and wield great influence, the immortal spirit needed a proxy. That was where Enyatta came in.
Knowing what is known about the Librarian, its great age, grand delusions, and fundamental impotence, it is to be expected that the librarian would not accept simply an ordinary proxy. And indeed, Enyatta was most extraordinary, in a most particular way: she had some small affinity with the primal chaotic energy that forms the essence of reality. She would, perhaps, be able to wield this energy... even if only a small amount. The long and short of it was that Enyatta was special, and the Librarian had searched long and hard to find someone like her.
Even when the Librarian had finally sensed the emergence of a child touched by chaos, born on one of the smallest, newest, and most obscure worlds (Earth), it had taken the spirit almost seven years to harness the energy to open a small dimensional wormhole through which to snatch the realization of its dreams. For the Librarian, Enyatta was the culmination of millions of years of evolution, dreaming, planning, serendipity, and one action. Needless to say, the spirit was heavily invested in the success and growth of its prodigy.
So Enyatta learned early on the purpose of her stay in the library and at the same time became cognizant of the fact that her desire to return to Earth must remain buried in the depths of her soul. At first, the occlusion of her deepest desire from the searching senses of the librarian was easy. Upon her arrival at the library, the Librarian opened up a whole new horizon for Enyatta, showing her both the depths of her potential, and the vastness that lay beyond the hard shell of her new asteroid home. The vision that the Librarian wove was enticing, and for a while Enyatta was drawn in, the new chapter of her life scribing over the secret desire engraved on her soul.
From the Librarian, Enyatta learned the mysteries of the Universe. The different tiers of worlds that hung throughout its void, ordered by significance and power like ornaments on a tree. The marvels of the seven divine worlds, majestic and home to beings of incomprehensible power. The hundreds of major worlds, each filled with beings powerful enough to erase the library from existence. The thousands of minor worlds, each aware of the existence of the greater void. The millions of new worlds, Earth among them, where potential had yet to be realized.
From the Librarian, Enyatta learned the secrets of cultivation. The secrets of cultivation were the secrets to harnessing the energy of the heavens and the earth, the stars and the void, the fundamental forces, and the primordial chaos. Here she read and practiced the techniques from the oldest archives of the library, the techniques from the before. With the assistance of the Librarian, essential to prevent the shattering of her mind, she began to unlock and understand her potential, to sense the barest hint of chaos, and to bring that energy into her soul and refine it.
From the Librarian, Enyatta learned of the Gods, the Primordials, the Ancients, and the before. The before, who had created the librarian, manipulated chaos to kick start the universe, and vanished. The Gods, whose power had expanded from the seven divine worlds to fill the void left behind by the before. The Primordials, beasts born from chaos, capable of breaking mountains and rending skies with a finger. The Ancients, those who had been around long enough to know that the Gods had not always been Gods; that there had been a before.
And yet. And yet there were things that the Librarian didn’t teach Enyatta. Mundane things. Ordinary things. The things that made life worth living. That made life life. How to cook. How to dance. How to do math and science. How to write poetry and play an instrument. For these things, Enyatta had her section of the Library archive: the section dedicated to Earth.
As much as Enyatta was enthralled by practicing cultivation and reading of the wonders of the greater universe, she was equally fascinated with new ideas from her home. The more she read, the more Enyatta realized that the greater universe had managed to freeze time and traditions in the past. It was the emergence of the new worlds, worlds such as Earth, which were creating the future. The Librarian, evolving over millions of years, couldn’t see it; but Enyatta could, and she felt sure that this was the knowledge that would eventually lead her home.
In the meantime though, it didn’t seem as though Enyatta was going anywhere anytime soon. Now approaching her fifteenth birthday, Enyatta had been a resident and a prisoner of the library for over eight years. Not once in all of those years had there been a true deviation in her routine. She would wake up in the morning (0700), eat breakfast, mind meld with the Librarian to continue cultivating, break for lunch (1200) cultivate some more, eat dinner (1800), spend her evening hours of freedom deep in the Earth archive, and sleep. Over, and over, and over again.
The only way that she was really able to calculate the passage of time, besides the umm... changes in her maturing body, was the daily progress that she made in the cultivation of chaotic energy. The refining of any energy was a symbiotic and synergistic process. In order to begin the refining process, some basic level of comprehension was needed concerning the type of energy being refined.
Take the essence of the heavens and the earth, known colloquially as Qi. Every major or minor world in the universe had its own supply of Qi, produced by the worlds themselves. Not only did this Qi make up lower forms of energy, such as fire or wind, but also higher forms, such as gravitation and time. Every manifestation of change in any world was really a manifestation of Qi. In order to absorb greater amounts of Qi, greater comprehension of its various manifestations were required. For example, in order to harness, absorb, and refine the Qi of fire, devoted study and mastery of the Dao of fire was required. The same could be said for wind or gravity, space or life, light or darkness. Thus the system of cultivation and refinement was divided up into levels based on the complexity and power of the Dao and Qi being cultivated. (There is, of course, more complexity, but something must be left to fill later chapters.)
Enyatta did not cultivate Qi however. Instead, she meditated on the Dao and Qi of Chaos. Recall that every world in the Universe has its own supply of Qi; the Chaos that Enyatta cultivated was the energy that existed in between these worlds from which the Qi as drawn. Basically, a simple analogy is that of Plato’s cave. Instead of trying to absorb and refine the energy of shadows, Enyatta was attempting to draw straight from the sun. At the level of Chaos, Qi (energy) and Dao (wisdom) were merged together so closely as to be indistinguishable from one another. Concerning the Primordial Chaos, the cultivation of the Qi was the study of the Dao, and the study of the Dao was the cultivation of the Qi. The Dao of Chaos was the most powerful, most complex, most real thing in the universe, and the only beings known to have mastered it were those from the before.
So, expressing a great talent for understatement, it can be stated that what Enyatta was attempting to do was quite difficult. Even so, she was possessed of several unique advantages: her affinity for chaos that let her perceive something of its nature, the help of the Librarian, and the presence of very little of the more mundane types of Qi on the asteroid to distract her. After eight long years of effort, Enyatta had managed to refine a small core of chaotic qi within her dan’tian approximately the size and shape of a twenty sided die. She could sense it at every moment, flaring and angry at points, calm and quiet at others. It was chaotic qi after all.
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Although small, this energy was immensely powerful. Enyatta had once coated her fork with it and used it to slice straight through the reinforced diamond of the library door. The chaotic qi didn’t just cut the door; it unmade the very reality of the door in the first place, creating a brief tear into the void until reality reasserted itself, rushing space in to fill the gap.
Sensing the connections between her core and the chaotic qi underlying the fabric of reality around her, Enyatta could tug on that fabric in an attempt to adjust reality to her desires. This required an astounding amount of mental fortitude though, and was generally only something Enyatta attempted to do when she was mind-melded with the Librarian. More practical and beneficial by far was using the chaotic energy to refine her soul and her body. By manifesting chaotic energy at her eyes, Enyatta was able to see. She could see how the chaotic energy bound together the nucleus of an atom, as well as how it bound together the worlds of the universe. Using the energy as magnification to peer at the atomic forces that bind reality was fun and made physics a blast, using the same energy to perceive the entirety of the universe had almost broken her brain the single time she had attempted it.
Using chaotic energy to refine the less physical aspects of her body yielded results that were just as impressive. As the Librarian slowly guided her in the merging of her soul with the chaotic qi, Enyatta could sense the strengthening of her mental faculties. Her memory slowly developed to the point where it became photographic, and she felt that she was able to learn and process new information increasingly quickly. Not only that, she also discovered that she was able to merge the chaotic qi with the energy of her soul to strengthen and enhance it many times over.
Looking at the cultivation of chaotic qi and the comprehension of its Dao from the big picture, it was obvious that the power and process was a bit akin to cheating the system. Instead of having to work her way up through the minor Daos, to the major Daos, to the grand Daos, and finally to the Dao of Chaos, Enyatta was set on to the path of ascendancy right from the beginning. While at the moment she was only at the beginning of the path, as she ascended each switchback, her power would grow exponentially and inexorably. On the good days, when Enyatta was able to intuitively grasp some new application or manifestation of Chaos, it was as though she could see her path ascending to the heavens in front of her. There weren’t very many good days. Mostly, Enyatta felt like she was learning a couple of cool party tricks and practicing them over and over.
Today wasn’t one of the good days. As has been mentioned, Enyatta was bored. She and the Librarian had recently been trying to explore the connections between her chaotic qi and the chaotic qi that was underlying reality, attempting to conform reality to her will. It hadn’t been going well. They hadn’t made any visible progress for the past week except for the progression of Enyatta’s headache from mildly painful to torturously debilitating. Regardless, at this moment Enyatta was lying on her bed staring through the viewport into space because doing anything other than staring into the void was too painful for her poor head.
Suddenly, in the space above the asteroid directly in Enyatta’s line of sight, a golden portal split the void. “Great, now I’m hallucinating,” Enyatta thought grumpily. She blinked a couple of times to clear her vision. The golden portal stubbornly remained where it was, hanging in the void. Then the portal slowly began to widen as the prow of a ship attempted to force its way through. “That’s it. Chaos has officially broken my brain,” Enyatta thought incredulously. “I could swear there is an old fashioned sailing ship trying to push its way through a golden portal in the space outside my asteroid home. Hold on, maybe I’ve always been crazy and the last eight years have been a hallucination and this headache has been caused by my brain finally waking up.” She nodded decisively. That had to be right.
Undeterred by Enyatta’s mental chatter, the ship continued to push its way through the portal. The first mast was now visible, as were some of the crew members, astonishingly handsome men and women dressed in traditional robes with immaculate embroidery. Each person had an immensely powerful aura, often connected with at least one grand Dao, although no aura quite touched on the chaotic spectrum. As Enyatta reached out with her soul force to examine the newcomers in greater detail and prove her theory of insanity, she found her presence blocked, contained, and blanketed by the overwhelming majesty of the spirit of the Librarian.
“L, what’s going on?” Enyatta asked as she tried to slither tendrils of her soul force out from under the blanket of the Librarian’s presence.
“Quiet,” the Librarian responded. “Try to make your presence as small as possible and for the before’s sake, quit it with the soul force. I do not believe that these guests will prove to be very benevolent. Also, please do not refer to me as ‘L’.”
Enyatta stilled her mind, retracted her soul force, and watched with interest as the rest of the ship emerged from the portal. From bow to stern, the entire ship was just over 15 meters long and 3 meters wide. It looked like it would slice through the water like a knife. Instead, it was slicing through space. Runes and characters were engraved in every visible surface and they burned with the golden fire of spacial qi to Enyatta’s chaos enhanced eyes. At the stern of the ship, just behind the massive wheel on the raised poop deck was an elaborate and imposing golden throne. Seated on the throne was one of the most handsome men Enyatta had ever seen. (She hadn’t seen very many men, or humans at all so she was comparing what was obviously the leader to the rest of his crew.) He looked to be in his mid-twenties, although within the worlds that practiced cultivation, such a detail was cosmetic at best. His hair was a pure white with golden highlights that fell to his ankles. His face was impossibly perfect and radiated what could only be described as beautiful masculinity. His eyes were distinctive, being pure golden in color and lacking any pupils whatsoever. It appeared as though someone had dropped two miniature suns into his eye sockets, and they burned with a fire all their own. His robes were exquisitely detailed, decorated with golden dragons that moved across the fabric of their own accord. Even his skin was perfect, creamy and soft. The bored and apathetic look on his face said that he knew he was perfect, had come to terms with the fact, and had moved on.
By his side were seated two fair maidens, twins, each identical to the other making it impossible to decide which was the loveliest. Both had raven dark hair that fell to their ankles and wore robes decorated with blood moons, obscured from time to time by silvery clouds. Their eyes were dark whirlpools of red and black swirled together and of disconcerting depth inside such finely carved faces. One woman carried a black scythe, the other carried a golden lute. At their feet were two golden winged tigers curled up but keeping vigilance over their surroundings. All in all, the master, the maidens, the throne, the tigers, the ship, and the crew, all made for a blindingly imposing picture. Enyatta had to reach up and physically snap her jaw shut.
As the ship continued to make its way toward the asteroid, another man, only marginally less impressive than the one occupying the throne, stepped forward beside his master’s chair and unfurled a golden scroll. (Enyatta was beginning to sense a color theme.)
“His most divine Imperial Highness, master of the celestial 天 world, 1st among gods with dominion over all who came after, weaver of fate, ruler of all heavens and all earths, eternal progenitor, master of the grand Daos…(this went on for a while)… greets the primordial Spirit of the Library,” the herald finally concluded his introductions. Silently Enyatta added another title to the already impressive list “King of those who take themselves too seriously.” The herald continued “knowing the rules of non-interference by which you are governed, my master has come to claim your soul stone, engrave it with his soul essence, and through you behold the infinite majesty of the Dao of Chaos. I must remind you what a great honor it is that my master has even deigned to take interest in such an old relic as yourself.”
As the herald continued his monologue, Enyatta’s mental sense of the Librarian grew more and more disturbed. “Hey L,” Enyatta said thoughtfully, “this soul stone wouldn’t by any chance be that rock that you had me hammer at with my soul power when we were just getting started with our lessons would it?”
The Librarian grimly indicated its assent. “Indeed young one. That which his Imperial Majesty seeks has already been given to you. Thus, we are confronted with something of a dilemma.”
“How say you?” the Herald spoke, his thunderous voice now enhanced with the qi of air. “Will you allow my master to access your soul stone peacefully, or must we who serve him claim it by force?”
“I greet his Imperial Majesty, and welcome his Celestial Presence to my humble abode,” the Librarian spoke respectfully, and slowly, stalling for time. “I am afraid that my soul stone is already bonded with another. However, if what interests his Imperial Majesty is the Dao of Chaos, I have several tomes of knowledge from the before that might aid his pursuit. I would surrender these tomes gladly, for it is always an honor to be of service to so august a presence.”
While the Herald relayed the Librarian’s words to his master, the Librarian turned its attention to Enyatta. “Quick girl,” it said urgently, “Obtain my soul stone from its resting place, go to the ritual circle in the heart of the library and await me there. We must send you away from this place before you are discovered.”
“Wait… what do you mean send me away?” Enyatta was stunned. “Where would you send me?”
“There is no time to explain. Hurry and do as I have asked. I will attempt to keep our guests busy, but I won’t be able to distract them for long. Go!”
Meanwhile, a horde of angry activity had broken out aboard the rune covered ship as the full import of the Librarian’s words were understood. “Another?! What do you mean another? I demand you tell me who could have possibly discovered your location and bonded with you before my Master,” the Herald expressed the fury evident on faces throughout the ship. “We will be sure to prepare a painful extermination for the individual in question. Once he or she is dead, my Master will be free to bond with you himself as is only right and proper.”
“I am afraid that I cannot answer your question,” the Librarian said regretfully.
“Do not lie to me! One examination of your soul stone will tell us the truth. We know it is here. We can sense it. If you will not give it to us we will be forced to go through you to get to it; a process I will find most enjoyable and you will find considerably less so.”
The Herald’s threat only seemed to stiffen the resolve of the Librarian. “You are welcome to try your luck,” the spirit said, its aura flashing dangerously.
In response, the Celestial Emperor gave a single nod. The woman seated to his left got slowly to her feet, her massive scythe gripped casually in her hand. Taking a single step forward, she twirled her scythe twice above her head before slicing it in the direction of the asteroid. Space flashed with a brilliant red light as massive scythe fully half the size of the asteroid and made of what appeared to be condensed blood smashed into the ball of rock and minerals, tearing a massive jagged gash in its side. The Librarian screamed in anguish.
Inside the asteroid, Enyatta jumped as she heard a ringing crash and felt the corridor shake under her feet. She ran faster, turning the corner and finally reaching the dais upon which rested the Librarian’s soul stone. Enyatta paused for a moment upon seeing the stone, stunned. What once had been a smooth sphere covered in complex blue runes now looked like something had taken a jagged bite out of it. A good eighth of the sphere was just plain gone.
“L, are you alright?” Enyatta asked anxiously.
“Not really child. No time for that now though. Get to the sanctum and--” the Librarian was interrupted as another crash shook the asteroid. Before Enyatta’s eyes, the sphere seemed to lose another eighth of its mass as another jagged crack appeared on its surface. Enyatta scooped it up, clutched it to her chest, and ran deeper into the asteroid, past the glowing databanks, toward the sanctum.
By the time Enyatta reached the sanctum she was gasping for breath, clutching her shoulder, and another quarter of the soul stone had vanished. The latest strike by the scythe-lady had shaken the asteroid so much it had momentarily thrown Enyatta into the wall of the corridor. Undaunted, Enyatta burst through the diamond doors of the sanctum and ran for the ritual circle lit with blue flames in its center.
“Okay L, I made it. What do I need to do now?” she asked, bending over to catch her breath.
“I have a plan. No time to explain. Just do exactly as I say,” the Librarian ordered through the mental tether that was growing more tenuous by the moment. “Take what is left of my soul stone and break it in half. I will open a gateway to a different world. Take one half of my stone and flee. Leave the other half here.” Even as the Librarian spoke, a glowing blue portal split the air. It grew larger quickly until it assumed the shape of a circle with a diameter of approximately three feet.
“Are you sure you want me to break it?” Enyatta asked cautiously. “I mean, isn’t this stone part of what makes you, well, you?”
“There is no time girl! Just do it!” the Librarian shouted urgently.
Wasting no more energy on useless words, Enyatta coated the edge of her hand in the chaotic qi and slashed down toward what remained of the soul stone, slicing it neatly in half. The Librarian screamed in pain as the ceiling of the sanctum split open, revealing the smooth edges of a straight slice that cut from the heart of the sanctum all the way to the outer edges of the asteroid and into space.
As the winds and suction of the void, previously held at bay by the rocky exterior of the asteroid, began to howl through the sanctum, Enyatta clutched her quarter of the soul stone to her chest, got down on her knees, and scrambled through the small portal to the unknown. She fell as the portal winked shut behind her.