“From there, it did not take long to find out that any task approached by a [conscious] system was reducible to a single task. Admittedly, this explanation stretches the truth to some degree in order to draw a parallel to computational terms, but it is sufficient for a basic level of understanding.”
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The exhilaration of flying isn’t quite like any other experience. These were the thoughts that ran through Poldus’s head as they soared through the air. Sadly, they hadn’t achieved total flight yet. A scaffold of a light brown material shot out from their front paws, slowing their landing. They landed on a cliff next to their partner. Together, they looked at the plains below them gravely. A swarm of giant insects, each larger than elephants, stretched to the horizon, as far as the eye could see. And the swarm, some stood out, soaring hundreds of feet in the air.
“If we can survive, I will switch over for the next ten years in order to honor you,” Naldor said.
Poldus shook in excitement. “Do you really mean that?”
They knew the chances of survival were remote, but changing roles was not to be taken lightly. It was a long transition, and everything about their physiology shifted. Right now, Poldus was in the role of a Giver, since that was what the tribe had assigned them at their twenty-year ceremony. But they craved to taste the other side, to be a Receiver, to bear children.
“Yes,” Naldor said. They had already borne Poldus five children, and their resolve was firm. “But let us plan. What you are suggesting is fighting fire with fire, and you have no idea whether it will work.”
Poldus shifted their weight in affirmation. “Yet it is our only chance.” Not wanting to discuss further, they once again shot up into the sky. This time, though, they rose, higher and higher, shooting brown scaffolding down at a rate that would make any of the rest of the tribe concerned about energy consumption. But Poldus was different. They had a recklessness and daring that the rest of the tribe lacked, and, as much as the others didn’t want to admit it, that was the only thing that had gotten their tribe to this point.
They only stopped when they had reached the clouds, dark gray and covering the sky completely. It was the same as every day, but somehow, Poldus felt, the clouds were even darker today. Poldus spread their paws out, six limbs and beak making a 7-pointed star. They started falling to the ground, accelerating faster and faster. But as they fell, so fell with them brown raindrops. Except they were not raindrops, but rather shards of chitin — sharp, brown darts shooting towards the ground. And when the raindrops landed, the shells of the giant insects combined with them to become vices of wrath, crushing the bodies that they were designed to protect.
Exhaustion bore in, but Poldus dropped down and climbed upwards again, at every step creating deadly rain. And it was working. Surge after surge of energy entered their body. Within the swarm of insects, hundreds of thousands lay unmoving, and the ones scaling the cliff towards their tribal home began to fall. Slowly, gradually, they beat back the wave.
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Alex’s attention shifted back to reality. His vision was covered with System prompts, but he had no time to look at any of them. It seemed that the vision had only taken a few seconds, but he was at the verge of unconsciousness. Out of sheer desperation, Alex did the only thing he could think of. The memories of the feeling still fresh in his mind from the vision, a shard began to form between his hands. As the shard formed, his channels burned, a searing pain that felt like his entire body was on fire. He kept forcing the energy out, pushing, and the pain reached a degree he had never come close to experiencing before the integration.
A torrent of energy hundreds of times larger than he had ever summoned over the past few hours surged into the shard. The brown dart became corporeal between his hands. With the last vestiges of his mental fortitude, he willed it, as hard as he could, to blast forward, to relieve the pressure, to let him get a single precious breath.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The shard was not nearly as large or impressive as even a single one that Poldus had summoned in the vision, but there was an element of perfection contained within it that Alex knew he would not have been able to create if he had waited even seconds after the vision dissipated. And that was the important part. The shard shot forward at a speed he would have missed if not for his heightened mental speed. It hit the first kaphdor just inches away from his head, and it looked like the insect just dissolved. The exoskeleton of the insect was flung to the side, crushing its body and shifting the mound of kaphdor. The piece of the exoskeleton that the shard had driven through combined with the shard, increasing its size.
Relentlessly, the shard drove forward, spearing kaphdor and then snowballing with more and more kaphdor exoskeletons until it reached an enormous size. The mountain of kaphdor began to collapse as a hole was driven through it. Through that window, Alex saw a remarkable sight. The shard had grown to the size of an entire kaphdor, yet was still as sharp as a spear. And then, suddenly, through the hole, Alex saw a dark sphere. But the shard kept going, driving through the sphere and deep into the belly of the giant beast, before it stopped about a third of the way through. Dark liquid splashed out of the sphere, melting the ground that it touched.
An impossibly loud boom shook the entire landscape. The sound was indescribable; it was an otherworldly mix between a screech, a buzz, a rattle, and a groan. The mountain of kaphdor collapsed and the individual kaphdor scrambled away, relieving the pressure on Alex. He fell to the ground, another buzz of notifications lighting up his vision. But in his current state, he was completely incapable of focusing on them. A steady stream of energy trickled into his body, about half the width of when he normally killed kaphdor, but seemingly unending. He knew he had something important to do, but he couldn’t remember what. Then he remembered: he needed to level.
[Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that for you.] The reassuring British voice of his assistant sounded into his ear. Gratitude welled up in his chest. There was no way he would have been able to remain awake to do that. He was beginning to like this Siri-sounding guy.
[Requesting permission to manage leveling.]
His voice was barely a whisper. “Permission granted.” Unable to fight off unconsciousness any longer, his eyelids drooped, and darkness finally swallowed him.
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“Oh my god. What the hell is this?” A female voice with a Midwestern accent sounded in the air. There was a trace of sternness to the voice despite the excited exclamation, and it sounded confident and smooth.
“Are these human bodies?” A gruff male voice, this time. It sounded older, and the uncaring phrasing of the question masked an undertone of urgency.
“We’ve seen these ants before. Even talked to a guy who fought one of them.” A third voice, this time a younger male with a distinctive Indian accent.
“But what could have killed all of these? And can you believe the size of that monster corpse over there?” The first woman asked.
Alex felt a stick prod into his chest, and he coughed.
“He’s alive!” A new, high-pitched female voice screamed, her voice echoing into the forest. Alex opened his eyes to see what was going on. A young woman had dropped her stick and was scrambling away from him, tripping several times over the sea of kaphdor corpses. The others were in various places in the clearing, looking up from the ground. It looked like they had been rummaging through the mess.
“Hey guys! I’m Alex. Nice to meet you.”
Alex’s voice was still weak, and he barely managed to eke out a whisper. He went to sit up, but a wave of dizziness overtook him, so he lay back down.
The four newcomers exchanged glances.
“How did you end up here?” The first woman asked. She was a middle-aged woman with a hard face, brown hair, and piercing brown eyes. Like himself and everyone else, she was clothed in a tight gray bodysuit.
“Long story. But I mean you no harm.”
The travelers looked wary, but the older-looking man came over and reached out his hand. Alex gratefully took it, and he was hoisted up to a sitting position. The man had a beard with traces of gray and a weathered face, but kind-looking eyes.
“We have time,” the man said, his expression cautious but open. Alex relaxed a bit.
“Do you think you can give me a few minutes? I have a lot that I need to review.”
The others once again exchanged glances, but nodded. Alex skimmed through his notifications, and his eyes widened.