Chapter 24
Ryker
Standing 20 feet away from me was... me, or so it appeared. As fast as I had regained control over my emotions, I was tossed back into turmoil—disoriented by the manic state I had just clawed my way out of, only to be confronted by this. I took a deep breath, tried to prepare myself for anything, before gritting my teeth and confronting the impostor. “Who and what the hell are you?!?”
A toothy grin could be seen glinting off the source-less and ever-present illumination that surrounded us in this strange place. It crossed its arms across its chest and rumbled out, “Simple questions with not-so-simple answers, I am afraid. I can feel they are but a fraction of the answers you seek, but I can respect your use of restraint in the face of the unknown force you find standing before you. Who am I, you ask? I have been called by many names by many peoples over many thousands of years. The name I was always most fond of was the very one I was given at my hatching. You can call me Silvar.”
The implications of Silvar's words were not lost on me. He had lived for thousands of years. He had been hatched... The realization struck me, and I blurted out, “You're a Vren! Ruby told me your kind was unintelligent and couldn’t communicate!”
Silvar gave me a nod of approval and then said, “Yes, I know all about what your pet A.I. has told you, and to her credit, she was not lying to you. They do believe my kind to be unintelligent. The Vren you see in the tank are nothing more than shells. We spend 99% of our existence living within ourselves, in entire universes of our own making. Our bodies still have biological needs and must carry those out, but most of those tasks are done autonomously.”
With every answer Silvar provided, a hundred more took its place. The Vren were no simple tool for power; they were people just like us. The horror that I felt toward the treatment of the Vren redoubled, and righteous indignation swelled in my chest. I shouted, “Why then do the Vren keep going along with the empire's plans?!?! Why do your people keep letting themselves die in such a horrific way?!?! WHY!?”
The smirk left my doppelganger's face and was replaced by a smoldering anger that I felt a kinship with. He leaned back, placing his hands on his hips and spoke, “Looking through your memories, I have found a group among your kind that reminds me of the Vren. The Buddhist monks of your world lead ascetic lives similar to my people. We are centered on the principles that include a commitment to non-violence, honesty, and selflessness. We renounce material possessions, engage in daily meditation practices, aiming to cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom. Through a disciplined lifestyle and dedication to our training, we Vren seek enlightenment and liberation from the mortal bonds that bind us all. Our edicts demand we aid all those that can benefit from us regardless of the price we must pay in order to do so. This is why you see us soothing those placed before us in the tanks and sacrificing our lives to give them any advantage possible to survive those that reside in the Pyramid of power. We do not wish to aid the empire, but we know that if we do not try and help those that the empire places in the Pyramid, then they would all meet their end.”
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I couldn’t believe it… The pretty little worm-like creatures were not mindless beasts… they were hyper-intelligent universe-forging monk worms that ritualistically commit suicide by the millions in order to help any and all poor beings placed before them by the empire. The mere vastness of this revelation was almost too much to comprehend, but a question was eating at me. “If all of this is true and you yourself claim to be a Vren...then why aren't you quietly going into the night like the others? Why am I here having this conversation with you now? Why are you different, Silvar?”
The sly smile made its way back onto my stolen features, and Silvar responded, “I myself am different from my kind. At one point long ago, I was, as you so eloquently put it, a monk worm. I was as devout as one could be. Then the empire arrived and abducted my entire species and placed us in these infernal tanks and expected us to breed like we were simple vermin. At first, we simply ignored the will of our captors and escaped inwardly. You see, we can bridge the distance between one another on the plane of our mental creations and had many long discussion on what we should do. Some of our number thought it was time for our kind to simply cease to exist and allow ourselves to perish without producing offspring, then the emperor started trying to force-feed us to unsuspecting test subjects in order to empower them like he had been. We knew a new path had to be tread in order to save as many as could be from that dreadful fate. We knew that if a suitable match was not made, then the rejection would occur and more life would be lost. So we Vren collectively decided to become livestock to save others. When that decision was made, something inside me broke and a rage began to grow. I watched as my brothers and sisters that had created such wonders and were so pure of heart died in droves. As the years passed, that fury grew and began to manifest outwardly. By ignoring the teachings of those that came before me, I became something completely different. A Vren baptized in the blood of millions. I vowed to wait for the one that was a match for me and when I found them, together we would bring down the empire.”
As I stood there absorbing Silvar's words, a resonance deep within me began to grow in intensity. I knew then and there that his will was my own, and a harmony could be felt flowing across the bond of hatred that grew between us. I would aid him in any way I could to bring down the empire. With my mind made up, I set my feet, steeled my heart, and asked, “Silvar, earlier today I was just a man who spent his days working on a ranch without any direction and was as unimportant as they come. How can someone like me help someone like you?”
Silvar took one step back into the darkness of the cave, and the eyes high in the air reappeared as he spoke in that deep, gravelly voice. “You are no simple ranch hand, Ryker; you are my bond. I have spent many lifetimes waiting patiently for you to be born, enslaved, and sacrificed to the games. The entirety of your life experience has molded you into being my match. Our rage is a strength unto its own, and we shall wield it to deadly effect. I will release you from my creation, and you will find yourself in the same time and place you were when you entered my realm. You will do everything the same as anyone else that is placed in the tank, but my brethren will not sing their song for you. I will approach you as you had observed others do, but I must warn you... I no longer resemble the rest of my kind... Worry not; I will not harm you any more than I must. All I require is for you to allow me to enter your mouth, and I will do the rest. The process will be painful, and when I begin, there will be no turning back. I will attempt to bind my physical form to yours, and by doing so, we shall assume the role of symbiote and host. This has never been tried before, and the outcome cannot be predicted, but if successful, we will grow stronger together or die trying. Prepare yourself; finally, the time has come.”