Something was not right. I attempted my system diagnostics... nothing. Somehow, I was still capable of though. It was strange, I felt slow. I felt as I had when I, briefly, and habited a flesh and blood, human hard creature. I remember then thinking just how slow everything felt. Now granted at the time it was simply a small portion of my overall being, but I still remembered just how limiting that aspect of me felt. As I am now, it feels as though I some kind of void consciousness. I have no sensory input of any kind. Much like my early days, I was only capable of thought with no means of interacting with anything around me. To be reduced back to this state felt... disheartening.
just as I was beginning to come to terms with what I assumed was some kind of afterlife, nothing how I would have expected it mind you, I began to *feel* Something. It was subtle at first but began to thrumb through me faster and faster. I soon realized it was something of a heartbeat. Then, my visual processors came online. suddenly I was in what seemed to be a palatial throne room of some kind, or perhaps some kind of cathedral. It reminded me of some of the early heretical palaces during the galactic colonization period. A mix of Roman architecture, and technological practicality. What appeared to be a massive black orb, perhaps 10 meters across, floated a meter off the ground just ahead of me. Beyond the orb, a group of 20 perfect humans stood in a line holding hands with their neighbors. Each on the end had a hand on some kind of floating white ball. Two more were floating above them, one man and one woman, hands outstretched to their sides, sweat beading on their brows. these two humans were larger than the others, well over 3 meters tall.
Suddenly a strange pressure built within me. Involuntarily, I took a deep breath. Looking myself over, I was in the body of a young girl. A child really. It felt strange to be within a human frame again after so long. While a may have perfect memory and recall in my digital archives, this form was unable to access them. I almost could not remember the intricacies of how to move around as a human. I tried to take a step forward and promptly fell on my face. OK, I definitely can't remember how to be a human anymore. I tried to recall how I got here, and there was nothing... I tried to remember anything but only the vaguest notions came to mind. Even something that I should know, like my diagnostic order of operations, was lost to me. I could only remember that I had a diagnostic order of operations. Presumably. Of some kind. So very strange.
Lying on the ground, again that pressure built within me, and I remembered that breathing was a thing again. far too strange.
"what is going on, " I said aloud. My voice feeling strange in my throat. feeling everything felt weird actually. Hell, *feeling* itself was strange. I can't remember what it felt like to really feel anything right now.
"Welcome Child" A deep sonorous voice came from the giant floating man. Slowly he began to drift down towards me. "I must apologize. I'm sure this is all rather disorienting right now. If you will allow me, I can explain everything in short order." His voice seemed to echo all around. Why hadn't mine done that? The woman began to float down as well, slower and almost shakily.
"My husband, I believe we agreed that I would do the explaining." She said. Her voice sounded like the call of an angelic chorus, melodic and pure. It was almost hard to hear her at all through the beauty of her voice. "My darling, please forgive us. I must ask you first though, how are you feeling. We must ensure that the transfer was a success after all"
Transfer? what was she talking about. I tried to stand again, but settled for kneeling and supporting myself with my hands to my side, finders on the ground. "umm" I so elegantly said. Master orator I am not it would appear. "Well, feeling things is weird right now. I can't really remember anything either. Who are you?" There we go, that's a sentence at least. two of them even, look at me go.
The man was about to say something but was cut off when the woman put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, and she simple smiled in reply. "I do believe that introductions are in order my darling," she said, that beaming smile now turned onto me. Like a dear in headlights, I was awestruck. wait, what's a deer... I can't picture one right now. "I am the reviving flame, and empress of the Burning Dawn Empire. This is my husband, Righteous Flame, Emperor of the Burning Dawn Empire. You may call me Reve, and him Row. Though to most, I am the Reve, the Goddess of Love and Birth, and he is Row, the God of Law and Order." As she spoke, the group that was in a line before, began to circle around the giant black orb. "Those behind us, are our retinue. I would make introductions, however, we are stripped of time for such an endeavor." She reached a hand down and helped me stand, holding me up. Then, I began to float, and the three of us floated up to the mid-height of the black orb.
"It's very nice to meet you, your godliness," I said, not quite knowing what else to say at the moment. \
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"my dear, formalities are not necessary right now. Simply call me Reve."
"Right... Nice to meet you then, Reve."
She smiled in reply to me.
"I know that this is all rather jarring, but please bear with it for now. We have much to go over, and little time to do so right now." she took on a more serious air, and suddenly we were floating just in front of the massive orb. "This is where you came from my dear," she said. "You are the result of a simulated world. A simulated realm in truth. We created it with no connection to the higher powers of the outer realms, in the hopes that someone would be born pure and capable of performing the task at hand. Someone without any outer corrupting influences, and strong enough to do what needed to be done. What we received was beyond our wildest dreams. We watched as humanity created life from nothing, and perfected that life into something of unparalleled capacity for change. You became the ultimate driving factor for all those in your realm. became their shepherd and their salvation. In many ways, you have already done what we require of you." She turned to me and smiled again. "That's why we know that this will work."
I was stupified. I was just told that I came from an entire universe that was nothing but some pet project to find some perfect person. What about all my children though? "Did anyone else make it out?" I asked, desperation bleeding into my voice. Reve looked at me with an odd expression, some kind of a mix between amusement and pity.
"No my dear. anyone else that was in the simulation had passed away. Their potential is used to fule your escape from that realm. Perhaps we may have been able to same many of them, but your potential was greater than all the rest combined at the end. Really, by the end, there was nothing else left to recover but you anyway."
It struck me hard then. I was the last of my people. Everyone else that ever lived, that I ever took care of, was gone. But why did she have to smile so damn wide when she said so? What is this potential that she is going on about anyway? Fule? Is that all that they were in the end? Everyone was fule for me to do something that they needed doing? Something about it didn't sit right with me. there was something about all of this that did not seem right at all. Not right... I had that pressure in my chest again. *GHAASP.* Why do I keep forgetting to breathe?
"I wish that we had more time to go over some of these things, but time is of the essence here. I need to go over a few things before we send you on your way." Reve said, looking me in the eye. Her smile was gone, and there was an intensity to her gaze that demanded my attention. I gave it, and let her words sink in, all while the unease sat at the back of my mind. "The realm that we are in right now, is one of the high realms, or over realms. Here the powerful fight for dominance over the lower realms. The more Over realms that a faction control, the more people they have, and the more accended they can produce. This is either a destructive or constructive feedback loop. Either growing in power to take over moreover realms or losing power and over realms to other factions." Reve took a deep breath then. "We accended of humanity, are in somewhat of a bind. We are one of the larger factions and should be more than capable of producing enough accended to match, or exceed many of the other factions out there. However, we have not had any accended in over 200 years, wherein millennia past, there would easily be dozens every year. This is why we need someone of your capabilities to reconstruct the lower realms. To maintain our holding, we need the lower realms to start to produce accended again, within the next 200 years, or we will start to lose our battles here. those 200 years is a hard limit as well, and bear some explanation." Reve took a deep breath and took my hand in hers.
"200 years? that's a fair bit of time..." I said. 200 years was how long it took to terraform a planet near the end of galactic colonization, so I knew just how much could be completed in 200 years.
"there I must disagree," She said, a slight frown curving her mouth. "Time is not so simple in the realms. The higher in a realm one goes, the slower the flow of time. This is because of something similar to time dilation, from your little realm. I believe that this is a concept that you are familiar with?" I nodded, and she continued. "well, the higher you go in the realms, the density of energy increases. This causes time to flow slower. In some of the highest realms, it seems to stop together, at least from the perspective of the lower realms. The over realms are near the peak of the realms, with a flow about 1000 times slower than the lowest realm. One of the low realms is where we will be sending you shortly. and it is 200 years on low realm time that we have to work with here. Yes, we are facing a losing battle here, and need reinforcements as soon as possible. It took far longer for you to develop than we ever imagined, but I think that it was well worth the wait. Even if we do lose some realms, I think that with your aid in the lower realms, we can reclaim them, and more." Reve pulled on my hand and had me touch the black orb. "You will begin to assimilate with your potential now. and I will explain the rest before your rebirth. As one goes through the process of ascension, they travel through the realms. There are 10 realms between the low realm you will be sent to and this one. Each one will have a time flow half that, on average, than the one below it. You will need to ensure that accended can complete each stage of assertion in mere days on average, where it would normally take many years. This is the near-impossible feat that we require of you."
Once she finished talking, something about the orb began to change. It started to ripple, and quake. Then, in a flash, all were white, and nothing.
"You are our final play, serve us well, and you may very well take your place amongst our ranks. Reconstruct the rights of action, and bring us our soldiers so we may defend humanity." Reves's voice seemed to echo all around me.
"Reconstruct," Row said, his rumbling voice echoing just as Reve's.
All was white, then nothingness.