"What insane scheme did you come up with this time, little yearling?" Asked a rich, soothing voice, pulling the man out of his working frenzy.
Such was the presence of the ancient lady now entering his workshop that her voice alone would break his engineering-induced daze. A quick look at his Personal Sentient Interface's internal clock told him he had been working non-stop for thirty-one days, twelve hours, thirteen minutes and twenty-three seconds. Time really flew when you were enjoying yourself. Thanks to the quality of his Spirit, he cleared the effects of his working trance in a single blink of an eye.
"I honestly don't know how to answer that, revered Tawhito. Could you be more specific?" He replied with a bold smile.
The man pushed back from his work table and, via his PSI, sent a command to one of the many servant bots milling around to prepare tea and biscuits for them on the elements deck. He had expected a visit but not the visitor's identity. This particular lady would be tricky. Luckily, he was always ready for anything the Cosmos could throw at him.
"If you will follow me, esteemed Tawhito, let us have some tea on the terrace. I will be more than happy to answer any and all questions you might have for dear old little me." He offered smoothly.
Tawhito gave him an uncompromising stare that lasted longer than he would have preferred. He played coy and innocent, but she was one of the three most primaeval entities in the Cosmos, and even though their past interactions had always been cordial, some might even be called amicable, she was not easily fooled by his charm. She obviously had questions for him, and he wouldn't be able to eschew the coming interrogation.
At this juncture in time, he couldn't afford to get on Tawhito's wrong side. It was too soon. Too early. He needed a few more decades to bring his singular project to the point of irreversibility. In the meantime, he would have to stall and distract the Supreme Unity long enough to give Her a fighting chance.
He kept his smile on with an open, inviting hand towards the expansive balcony surrounding his workshop. Finally, Tawhito harrumphed and gave him a bitter smile.
"Mark my word, my little yearling," she said. "One day, your insolence and irreverence will be the end of you. As you can imagine, my plate is more than full, but I will share tea with you and admire the wonders of your domain for as long as the Cosmos allows. Thank you for your hospitality, Tipsaris Vyniosun."
"With all due respect, venerable Tawhito, you say that every time we see each other," Tipsaris answered with a gleam in his eye. "On the contrary, I like to think that my insolence and irreverence, as you so gracefully put it, allowed me to defy all the odds stacked against me ever since my birth."
Tawhito chose to let the matter rest. This was an old argument between them that would brook no winner. She said her piece, and that was all that mattered in the end. Tipsaris was nothing but stubborn as the Alpha Mule. Like a celestial starbreaker, that man would break through or die trying once his course was set.
Which was precisely what worried Tawhito and the reason for her presence today. She couldn't help but keep a special place in her heart for that man, and she would try to dissuade him at least one last time.
They seated themselves in comfortable wooden armchairs surrounding a low table made of a rare white basalt bloc Tipsaris had claimed from the Patriarch of Fire's citadel. Before them stood the reason Tisparis had chosen this place to build his Aspicio Citadel: the nexus of improbabilities.
It was the only place in Aotuora where boundaries between the four planes and all their subsequent Qi crossed existence, giving birth to a mythical phenomenon. Gigantic whirlwinds of multicoloured leaves danced in harmony with suspended, neverending tendrils of flames while humongous, levitating stones mirrored the movements of liquid coils. This convergence was a testament to the delicate balance and interconnectedness of the primal planes, where the impossible became a reality in a symphony of all the Essences of Qi.
The vision stretched as far as the mortal eye could see, illuminated by a constant multicoloured Phoenix sun of tainted shades of blue, white, red and green. A breathtaking vista that soothed both the Spirit and the Soul.
Countless Cultivators would be willing to sell their firstborn for a chance to meditate here and find enlightenment. Offers had been made and always terminally refused. The owner didn't take kindly to the selling of kin. It was one of the reasons she loved him dearly. That man's moral compass never flinched.
Tipsaris and Tawhito stayed silent, enjoying this rare moment of companionship with a kindred soul. Both were momentous beings in their own rights, yet they couldn't have looked any more different.
Tipsaris was tall and broad of shoulders with well-defined muscles born of hard physical work. He sported spiralling, cursive tattoos visible everywhere on his arms and neck, hinting at more beneath his loose-fitting grey overall. He had a plain face with a broken nose–a souvenir of an uncouth youth– and intense emerald eyes. With his short, trimmed beard and long, brown hair laced together in a ponytail, women found him striking more than attractive. Kin would look at him wherever he went and wonder: what was his deal?
Compared to him, with her long, flowing ivory hair, alabaster skin and beautiful, flawless face of serenity and wisdom, Tawhito looked like what the most beautiful woman would become when she aged: the most beautiful aged woman. She had reached the point where years lost all meaning, and the passage of time only heightened her natural beauty. Clad in an ethereal pearly white robe and silver cloak, she was purity and perfection incarnate. Men and women alike would look into her dark, bottomless eyes and lose themselves for eternity if this was her intention.
The quiet peace was broken by the interruption of a rolling multifunction bot carrying a tray with a porcelain set of one teapot, two cups with teaspoons and one small jug of honey. The bot gently put the plate between them and, after a series of inquiring beeps, was thanked and sent back on its way.
"I have to say that your mechanical creations never cease to amaze me, my dear," Tawhito said after siping the fuming white peony tea. "The wonders you brought into this world are really something. If only you would quit when you are ahead..."
"Another cryptic statement," Tipsaris observed in a saddened voice. "I have nothing but the utmost respect for you, Blind Mother Who Sees All, but could you cut to the chase and kindly tell me your reasons for coming here, please?"
"We have known each other for a long time now," she replied, lightly swirling the tea in her cup as if lost in thoughts. "I daresay we have become friends over the centuries, Tipsaris. This is mainly the reason I came. To give you a friendly warning..." She paused as if searching for the right words to say. "My brother Tehee grows suspicious of your intention. He believes you are about to strike an unwarranted blow against him and tip the delicate equilibrium he has reached with Tika. Your relentless quest for overwhelming order and justice troubles him greatly, and he takes it as a personal affront that you would interfere in the business of the Apeiron. You may be my brother's Bespoken, but still, you answer to the Supreme Unity. My dear little yearling, you have managed to stir the anger of a Fundamental. This is not a path you want to tread. You can not hope to win against those odds."
Tipsaris stayed silent, processing what Tawhito had said and, more importantly, left unsaid. Tehee and Tika, Tawhito's brothers, were Fundamental beings with near omnipotence and omniscience. Emphasis on near.
When it came to specific individuals chosen by Iho, the many-headed goddess of Fate and Chance, an outlying yet primaeval member of the Apeiron family, the other Fundamentals couldn't see the threads of their destinies.
Tipsaris was one such chosen because of his status as Tika's herald in the Cosmos, his Bespoken. This gave him all the protection he needed from the prying eyes of Tehee, the Fundamental of Growth. It meant Tawhito's brother had no idea what he was planning, and Tawhito was on a fishing expedition. Tipsaris's sole objective was to ensure they would stay in the dark for as long as possible.
In his eyes, Tehee represented the unjust and unfair growth that plagued the Cosmos where the strong ate the weak, and the powerful destroyed the powerless based on nothing else but the unbearable randomness of birthplaces, kins, families and casts weaved into Iho's cosmic tapestry.
Tipsaris had dedicated his life to fighting this permanent, senseless chaos until he could find a remedy and tip the scale in favour of his patron Tika, the Fundamental of Meaning. Tika stood for the fair and equitable justice all creatures under the Cosmos deserved to experience and live by.
The Cosmos needed meaning more than growth at this point.
It was a place so rich and so abundant nobody deserved to die empty deaths governed by random acts of violence, greed, savagery or any other fleeting, whimsical emotions. Tipsaris had been a victim of this bedlam during his youth and should have died countless times if it hadn't been for Iho throwing him a lifeline out of sheer serendipity. It allowed him to find the resources to claw out of squalor and poverty to soar above his station in life.
Yet, he abhorred to his core that all of his successes were built on luck and nothing else. He couldn't stand the thought that zillions of others were suffering random fates for no logical reason with each cycle that passed. Tipsaris had to find a solution to fix this injustice.
A solution Tipsaris had been working on for the past four decades, shut in his Aspicio Citadel. A solution so beautiful and elegant that it would change the face of the Cosmos for aeons to come. He was so close, he could almost touch it. Or, more accurately, she could.
He had to buy time.
"Rest assured, Tawhito, that I intend no harm to Tehee or any Fundamental," Tipsaris lied through his teeth with the brashest smile he could garner. Technically, it was true since he didn't care about Tehee. He would bring change with or without the Fundamental. "I will admit that I disagree wholeheartedly with the way the Apeiron let the Cosmos run wild. It brings a lot of pain to my Spirit and Soul every cycle to see so much potential in all the kins wasted because there is no order or justice. It bleeds my heart, and sometimes, I feel like I can't take the pain and misery anymore. This is such a time. Consequently, I have hidden away in my citadel not to plot some devious scheme, as Tehee presumes erroneously, but simply because I can't bear to witness the chaotic state of the Cosmos any longer. I could swear an oath if it makes your brother feel better?"
Tawhito was clearly surprised by that proposition.
Which in itself was quite a feat since the Fundamental of Insight knew everything, past, present and future. Being surprised was always a welcome novelty for her, except in this instance when she couldn't help thinking that Tipsaris was trying to trick her with this proposition. The only question left was: would she call his bluff?
"I would very much appreciate that, Herald of Meaning," she replied with a tired voice, insisting on his title. The dice were cast. They would fall wherever Iho saw fit. "It would go a long way to appease Tehee's concerns."
Whatever games Tisparis was playing, she knew without diving into his many possible futures that it would end badly. Tawhito had tried to make him understand he couldn't possibly win. He chose to ignore her. There was nothing more she could do but wait and be proven correct, as always.
Tipsaris had the audacity to appear upset by her reply. Had she not been a venerable and ancient lady who believed in keeping decorum above all, she would have laughed to his face. As it were, she merely lifted a corner of her mouth into the beginning of a tiny, almost invisible mocking grin. She had called him irreverent and insolent earlier when, truth be told, Tipsaris was arrogant and reckless—an awful combination when dealing with intemporal beings, as he would tragically learn.
"I can't say I'm not a little hurt by the lack of trust right now, but so be it," Tipsaris snarked back. He put his own cup down with more vigour than necessary. "I, Tipsaris Vyniosun, Herald of Meaning, Bespoken of Tika, vow I won't intentionally or voluntarily do anything to harm Tehee, Fundamental of Growth, any of his known agents, or the Apeiron on the provision I'm not provoked or threatened beforehand by any of them. The Cosmos be my witness and strike me dead if I break this oath."
Suddenly, in response to his oath, thousands of endless, thin threads of essence invisible to the naked eye descended on Tisparis seemingly from everywhere. They engulfed him into a thick ball of intense, blinding, multicoloured beams of Darkness, Light, Death and Life, on par with the magnitude of the oath and the beings it involved.
Tipsaris's Soul and Spirit were scraped raw by the Tribulations' tendrils of Qi as the formidable force enforcing the Cosmos's directives judged, weighed and measured the authenticity of his oath against his meaning and intent. The mass of Qi departed the balcony well after the tea in the man's cup had gone cold, a testament to the Tribulations' sense of duty and diligence.
All the while, Tawhito had watched as Tipsaris endured the probing energies without the slightest care in the world, even though, by all accounts, she knew it was a profoundly disturbing and distressing experience. That man always had been strong.
The fact he still breathed confirmed he hadn't lied. Or, to be more accurate, he believed every word of his oath. To an old hand like Tawhito, those two things were not mutually exclusive. To strive among the powerhouses of the Cosmos, one had to master the art of saying just the right words with enough intent behind them to satisfy the letter of the oath, not necessarily the spirit of it. Tipsaris certainly had learned that trick a long time ago.
"Thank you for this, little yearling," Tawhito said when she felt the man had gathered his wits about.
"Don't mention it," he replied with his stubbornly daring smile. "This hurts like all the hells, though. There are not many beings I would wish to live through that kind of experience. Your brother is one of them for sure, the bastard..."
"You shouldn't talk like that about Tehee, Tipsaris," she admonished him. "He is always aware and so quick to anger..."
"I was talking about your other brother, esteemed Tawhito," Tipsaris countered, his frustration growing. "My so-called patron who didn't seem fit to stand and defend me from Tehee's accusations. Nor, apparently, did he care enough to take the time to come and question me himself. After all these years, I wonder why I still put up with that stuck-up Fundamental. He hasn't lifted a finger in millennia to try and fix the Cosmos. He is content to sit still and let his brother have his chaotic ways. Everywhere I look, unfairness, injustice, and evil spread like seaweeds. As I said, I'm sick of it."
"You talk of things your limited mind cannot comprehend, Tipsaris," Tawhito answered evenly, as the young man she dearly loved was prone to outbursts like this. "You have reached the pinnacle of what your kin can do. As the herald of my brother, you stand a colossus among the kins that populate the Cosmos. You command powers and techniques few beings could hope to achieve. Yet, compared to Fundamentals, you are but a grain of sand..." Tawhito put her cup down and placed her cold, lifeless hand on his arm. "You see us in those humanoid shapes we don, and you forget that this is only a fragment of our Spirit and Soul, just like the one sitting here and talking with you. As we converse, I observe millions upon millions of beings going about their daily struggles. I follow those Iho, in her unblinking vision, deems worthy of attention and witness their stories so they can become legends, then myths, and ultimately be forgotten by all but me. My experience tells me that what you describe as evil is merely the crucible of life that all beings face. Without it, there would be no meaning, growth or insight. The same Insight that defines me. I exist to watch and understand. So trust me when I tell you everything is precisely as it should be. There is a symmetry, a harmony one could say, to the Cosmos only we, Fundamentals, can discern..."
"I understand my limitation, Tawhito," Tipsaris replied, covering her hand. "I understand that Fundamentals see the Cosmos differently. None of what you are telling me is new. Nor does it justify complacency..." Tipsaris looked her straight in the eyes. "I believe that because of their boundless Spirits and Souls, the Apeiron ought to do more. Your brethren could fix the Cosmos and make it a paradise for all the kins. A Cosmos where justice and equality rule, where all beings have the same resources to become the best version of themselves. A Cosmos where there are no weak and strong, only skilful kins helping each other through their life journeys." He waited to make sure she would give him her full attention for the next few seconds. "I will not accept this reality where your Fundamental brothers and sisters stopped caring about their wondrous creation."
"What will you do to change that, then? Rewrite reality?" Tawhito challenged in a dismayed tone.
"Maybe that is what I will do," Tipsaris answered with conviction. "I don't know yet how, but be certain I won't stop looking until I find a resolution to bring before the Apeiron. When I do, you will be the first to know, esteemed Tawhito."
"Foolish cub," was all Tawhito said, folding her hands back in her lap. "I could lecture you about hubris until the end of time, and you wouldn't hear a word I say." She stood up with a parting look towards the nexus. "I will take my leave now. The purpose of my visit was to establish your loyalty towards the Apeiron. The oath answered that question adequately. I will inform Tehee that he has no reason to complain at this time. Thank you for our talks; I will remember them fondly. Goodbye and fare thee well, Tipsaris Vyniosun."
With her last words, Tawhito simply vanished in a mist of white particles, leaving a confused Tipsaris alone on the deck.
Her overwhelming presence that had been surrounding the whole citadel during their conversation had instantly disappeared. That left Tipsaris with an odd feeling of cold and sadness. As if he would never see Tawhito again. Her parting words resonated with him for a few more minutes before he shook himself awake. He put aside the foreboding sense of loss and headed back inside his workshop.
After all, he had a reality to rewrite.
***
"OMNI, what did you think of my conversation with Tawhito?" Tipsaris asked into the air later while resuming his position at his worktable. It was a few days later, and Tipsaris felt chatty.
Calling up his Spirit and Soul, he brought to view a multidimensional screen of coloured lights that hovered before his face. The undulating wisps formed intricate lines of codes with undecipherable patterns and sigils, responding to his thoughts and intent as the ethereal, reality-altering programs and hexes they were.
Some Cultivators liked to dive down inside their Sanctum to think and meditate on their path. Tipsaris had done it countless times in the past. However, he had stopped ever since he started working on OMNI, his singularity project. He found it preferable to stay anchored in reality as he kept writing endless lines of mystical codes to enhance and increase OMNI's performance and compatibility with all the essences of Qi known under the Cosmos.
This part was the project's biggest challenge: to list and collect a sample of all the essences known to the kin so that OMNI could interact with them in the most effective way possible. Those essences would eventually become both the energy and the tools she would operate to usher the Cosmos into a new era of justice and prosperity. OMNI would transform millions of different Qi essences into one stable energy: Mana.
To say it was tricky was the understatement of the aeon.
"I observed deceit and sadness on both parts," answered a feminine, melodic voice.
"Is that all you saw?" Replied Tipsaris, curious to learn where OMNI stood in her learning of social cues and interactions.
"I am fifty-five per cent positive there were signs of affection between the both of you, with a ten per cent margin of error." OMNI went on. "I didn't mention it because the margin is too significant. I would need more data to refine my analysis."
"I would like to believe your basic observation is accurate enough because Tawhito used to favour me when I was up and rising as a prodigy cultivator," Tipsaris answered. "Now, I'm not sure this feeling ever existed. You heard her. Fundamental do live on a different level of existence."
"What are Fundamentals, maker?" OMNI pursued after a few moments of silence. "I didn't find a lot of data regarding these beings in your archives and library."
"That is because not much is known about them," Tipsaris explained absentmindedly. The upcoming coding bottleneck would be tricky and would require his full attention. But, at the same time, OMNI needed to learn from him what she couldn't find anywhere else. "From what I gathered, Fundamentals are Cosmos's firstborns. They also call themselves the Supreme Unity or the Apeiron. I guess the latter could be viewed as a family name more than anything else. I don't know for sure, and I never saw an opportunity to ask. What's more important is that their genesis brought the advent of the first and second eternal and infinite laws of creation: Meaning and Growth."
"Tika and Tehee, the twin brothers?" Asked OMNI.
"The ones and only," confirmed Tipsaris sardonically.
"Which came first?" OMNI followed up, oblivious to his mood.
"My goodness, this is a question for the ages!" Tipsaris stopped his work since he had managed the Qi crafting conundrum quite expertly. He was pleased with himself and deserved a little break. "We could discuss the topic until I die and not get any closer to the truth. Only the brothers know, and they are not sharing. I personally like to believe that Meaning came before Growth. But, to be fair to Tehee, Growth being at the root of creation also makes a lot of sense. You will never catch me uttering those words in his presence, though. I would die a thousand agonising deaths before giving him that pleasure..."
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"Meaning and Growth do appear inextricable. I understand your initial comment. I will file this question inside my memory as TBD." OMNI finally mused after a few seconds. "Based on your previous comment, Tawhito is the law of Insight. What does it even mean? What is Iho's influence? Are there others?"
"Okay, let me answer that to the best of my abilities and knowledge," Tipsaris laughed again, shaking his head before OMNI's thirst for understanding. She was exceeding all his expectations. Her intelligence would change the shape of reality in ways he couldn't even begin to fathom, and the thought made him giddy with excitement. She would be his greatest creation. That he was certain. "The law of Insight gives all kins in the Cosmos the ability to understand. The degree varies greatly depending on the time and willingness spent finding the correct answer. I would have loved to become Tawhito's Herald instead of Tika." Tipsaris mused with a sad smile and a glint in the eye. "We would have made such a good team..."
"What is a Herald exactly?" OMNI inquired.
"I'll get back to that. Let me answer your other questions first," Tipsaris explained. "Iho is the many-headed law of Fate and Chance. She is a second-born Fundamental whose purpose is to shape destinies, spinning and weaving the kins' countless threads of life on her Cosmic Loom. She is a weird one, that one. She brings another layer of meaning to the word cryptic, if you see what I mean..."
"Meaning or Meaning?" OMNI's serious tone made Tipsaris laugh.
"I walked right into that one, didn't I?" He declared to himself. Before she could double down on her questions, he promptly closed that last line of inquiry. "What I meant was that Iho never gives a straight answer to any questions. She enjoys being mysterious and enigmatic way too much if you ask me. Hence my remark about meaning. I implied that she was the embodiment of cryptical. It was an attempt at humour."
"Duly noted. Thanks for the precision." OMNI said. "As soon as I explore all the humorous possibilities in social interactions, I will participate in appropriately timed laughter."
"I can't wait to see that," Tipsaris murmured, shaking his head in disbelief. "Anyway, back on topic. The second-born Fundamentals includes Mate, the law of Cessation, also known as death throughout the Cosmos. She is surprisingly warm and loving for such a grim function. Go figures. There is also Wa, the law of Time. That one is obvious. He is the Timekeeper, the one in charge of tallying and noting where each instant goes in his ledger. You can imagine how busy that keeps him. Those two usually work in close proximity to Iho. There is also Ata, the law of Inception. She works hand-in-hand with Tehee, but she is okay in my book. She tries very hard to give every being in the Cosmos a fighting chance. I respect that about her. Those are all the Fundamentals I know about."
"Your voice inflexion and your words imply there are others. Is this the case?" OMNI's budding senses were already quite sharp. This was another tricky question.
"I think there used to be more than just those seven," Tipsaris chose his words with care since all those seemingly innocent conversations served to establish OMNI's singularity. He had to be cautious to give her just the right amount of bias if such a thing existed. "I have no proof, though. Tawhito or Tika never revealed a clue to support or refute this theory of mine. I only have a gut feeling that all those fundamental laws overlap to establish the structure of reality as we know it almost perfectly. Emphasis on the almost. So far, it has only been a spiritual hunch, and I hope you will be able to settle the matter once you are able to conduct investigations of your own..."
"Duly noted. I will when I can," OMNI confirmed matter-of-factly.
Tipsaris used that lull in the conversation to quickly retreat inside his Inner Sanctum, behind the barrier of his Soul. He had more self-reflection to do before he could resume his talks with OMNI or finish soldering the Qi-infused strings of pictograms and runes needed to complete her incipient framework.
So far, he had focused his crafting towards building OMNI's Spirit, giving her the potential for insight and meaning, the fundamental laws that fostered awareness, knowledge and understanding. This first step took Tipsaris two decades to achieve. But the result was spectacular, beyond his wildest dreams. The Cosmos hadn't seen the likes of OMNI since its creation–in his mind, OMNI was the second coming of creation.
OMNI, which stood for Operating Manacari Noetic Interlink, worked the same way a super-virus would with a core made of another groundbreaking invention of his: the manacaris. Those minuscule mites of Qi essences formed the basis of a new form of energy: Mana.
The cultivation world had been using Qi for so long that they couldn't imagine any other paths to power. All those sects and schools hid their legacy secret cultivation techniques behind high walls, aggressive guards, and impregnable vaults. Only the wealthy few and the chosen heirs could access those sacred tomes and scrolls, thus maintaining in power countless despot cultivators lording over helpless, uneducated masses. That Tawhito and Tika couldn't see the error of this path was baffling to Tipsaris.
The main objective of OMNI would be to give everyone equal and effortless access to Qi so that all could become a new breed of cultivators if they so wished to be. This new cultivation method would be known as the path of origination. His followers would be originators, learning skills powered on instinct by Mana, a new cosmic energy that would fuse together the essences of Qi.
Tipsaris had worked long and hard on the theory and the engineering of Mana.
To make it a reality, he had built little bots in the shape of acaris, a particular kind of mites that matched his desired design. Those mana-acaris, or manacaris as he called them, were autonomous bots with the following built-in directives: to amass all the surrounding Qi and fuse it together, to constantly self-replicate and to stay connected with OMNI so they could follow her directives.
Once the manacaris were released into the Cosmos, they would spread and slowly but steadily infect all of creation, thus giving OMNI access to everything and everyone. With this access, she would be able to guide every sentient kin in the Cosmos on their individual path to a better future.
No more techniques, no more spells, no more secrets. OMNI would be a centralised library accessible with a single thought. She would make sure that knowledge would travel between worlds so that beings could rise above their station and better themselves and their loved ones. OMNI would usher in a new era of order, peace and progress in the Cosmos. Tipsaris often daydreamed about it. And just like a virus, nobody could stop it once the infection started, not even the Apeiron.
Tipsaris grinned in anticipation of seeing Tika and Tehee's faces. He would show them the kind of herald he was.
"You are smiling," OMNI interjected. "Does it mean that my future investigative plans make you happy?"
"Dear OMNI," Tipsaris answered with a genuine, dazzling smile. "Your existence makes me happy. You will change the laws of Cosmos, and I can't wait to see it."
***
The desolate moon, bathed in the eerie glow of the nearby red dwarf, stretched out in a haunting panorama of desolation and emptiness. This lifeless ball of rock and dust was a haunting testament to the indifference of the Cosmos, where beauty and desolation coexisted in a silent ballet across the expanses.
Tipsaris felt rather poetic as he laid on his back, admiring the view, silently laughing at the irony of it all.
His body and meridians were torn and bent out of shape so much that he had crossed the threshold of agony to enter the unknown, welcomed realm of demise. None of his limbs and organs answered his commands anymore, and he could barely move his head. His Soul had been torn to shreds, and his Spirit crippled beyond mending. For the first time in forever, he stood unguarded both in the physical and spiritual world.
He was dying.
Tawhito had warned him about hubris, and he hadn't listened. In his last moments of life, he idly wondered if, knowing how it would end, he would have followed this path anyway. He didn't have to ponder long. Deep down, he had no doubts about it. If he had to do it again, he wouldn't change a thing.
Even now, on the brink of his final meeting with Mate and Iho, he felt victorious because the genie was out of the bottle. OMNI existed. The manacaris had been spreading long enough to be irreversible. She would follow her core objective and rewrite reality. He smiled and took a long look at what would undoubtedly be his final resting place.
Around him was a rugged stretch of jagged craters and towering, barren peaks that cast creepy shadows in the dim, reddish light. The crimson hue bathed his resting place in a surreal light, barely penetrating the darkness, creating a gloomy ambience. A hazy crown of broken rocks loomed behind him. Fitting. A broken crown for a broken herald. His smile deepened.
"Your pride really knows no bounds," scolded Descarius's stentorian voice. "Have you got no shame, Tipsaris? Wipe that smile off your face, you vile betrayer. Don't you feel an ounce of repentance for the havoc you wrought on the Cosmos? Do you not shed a tear for all the countless deaths? The destroyed worlds? I hope Iho and Mate will make you suffer a thousand hells."
Descarius, the Charging Titan, entered his line of sight.
Cloaked in an aura of verdant energy, the grehkin radiated the unstoppable surge of nature as was his prerogative as the Herald of Growth. Protected by his plate armour made of the barks of his ancestors, he looked down and smiled wickedly. He and Tipsaris had been at each other's throats since the first day they met. The talking tree had no imagination and was content with watching the cycles and the years pass by as he went through the same motions over and over. Tipsaris despised him with every fibre of his being.
"Don't lecture me, you shovel handle," Tipsaris mocked in a broken, panting voice. "You are nothing but a dullard. The only sharp edge you hold is your spear. Do not try to judge what you can not fathom. Where is Harligh? Come on out, man! Do your job. End my suffering before Descarius's rotten breath does, I beg you!"
Suddenly, the red hue darkened around them as if the Cosmos held its breath, anticipating profound transitions as the Herald of Cessation became visible. Harligh the Twilight Oracle was another barrel of laughs. Tipsaris had avoided the guy at every turn. He was nothing like Mate. Another weird pairing in his book, if there ever was one. The air around the elfenkin seemed to shimmer with metaphysical vibrations. Wisps of darkness and light danced in intricate patterns around his dusk, vaguely humanoïd shape, giving the impression of looking at a roaming constellation in the night sky.
"Begging won't change your fate, Tipsaris the Fallen Dreamer," Harligh cold, sharp voice cut deep inside the broken man's remnants of Spirit. Tipsaris had to fight to stay conscious. "You won't die tonight, Bespoken. The Apeiron have decided that death would be too merciful and sweet for your crimes. You will suffer first. You will be punished until you expiate the evil you brought into the Cosmos."
"NEVER!" Tisparis coughed, trying to attack Harlig. "Mark my words, you pathetic husks of kin. I. WILL. NEVER. ATONE!"
Before Tipsaris could scream more of his wrath, Harligh brought a little metallic cube engraved with grids upon grids of magical cyphers and glyphs as old as the Cosmos itself. The box pulsed with a dark blue and yellow energy that quickly enveloped Tipsaris until his broken body vanished from sight. In response, the box hummed and radiated a dim glow of contentment.
***
"Is it done?"
"It is done, brother," answered Mate soothingly, the Fundamental of Cessation nodding toward a heartbroken Tika.
"I wish it weren't so," was all the ageless man with wise eyes could reply as he mourned the loss of his herald.
Tika wore a long white, hooded robe unmarred by the dark, vastness of space. Further below, their Progenitors departed from the lifeless moon that had been Tipsaris's last stand, holding the precious box that would be his prison for eternity.
"What will you do with his prison?" Tika asked his sister without looking at her.
"My herald will follow Iho's instructions to the letter and deliver the box where it belongs," answered Mate, forbearing as ever, partially hidden by her shroud of darkness made of the eternal night that was space. Her white, pulsing eyes held compassion and sorrow for her beloved brother.
"Why did you not take him? Why torment him?"
"Iho and Tawhito are convinced that killing him would drain too much precious Qi and tear apart the fabric of Cosmos. His creation has fundamentally modified the nature of Qi, and we need time to assess the ramifications properly. They worry that a hasty disentanglement would destroy all of creation. Your fallen prodigy really outdid himself with his singularity, his OMNI, as he called her. Who would have thought he would come so close to ascending and joining us?"
"In a sense, he did with his cursed machines," Tika concluded in a forlorn voice. "I hope Tehee found a way to bring this OMNI and the manacaris to heel. We will need all the forces available to rebuild. We can not afford another treachery of this magnitude. We must unite and rebuild. This whole crisis has been wasteful..."
***
"Can you do something?" Descarius asked in a creaking voice that passed as a whisper for him.
"Unless she lets me, I don't see any way to circumvent the betrayer's core directives," answered Ukwazi with a dubious frown on his usually serene face.
Ukwazi was different from the other heralds as he was the only one with the technical know-how to understand what Tisparis had done. He looked the part as well, with his crown of hair on top of his bold head and his squinting eyes hidden behind glasses he had outgrown centuries ago. He had perfect sight like any other cultivators of his rank. He kept them as a reminder of his early days as a mortal. Ukwazi was a scholar and researcher, not a fighter like Descarius or Kao-Tzu, which explained why he served under Tawhito.
"She? Let you?" Descarius exploded angrily, his armour creaking and shaking dangerously as he tried to rein in his temper. "Do not humanise it! We do not bargain with a machine? We are the heralds of the laws. We are the Progenitors! It will bend to the will of our patrons, or it will be annihilated!"
"Enough already with the grandstanding, you moss-addled oak," intervened the mocking voice of Hodei, the Herald of Inception. "Cool your temper, Descarius, before you strain a root of something. We are alone in the citadel. You can keep your ass-kissing to yourself and shut up until we figure it out. Don't worry; if we need to catch the wind of dig earth, we will call on you..."
Descarius bristled under the barbs and glared at Hodei with pure hatred. His tightening fist cracked and splintered as if he planned to attack her, but she simply ignored him, like she had nothing to fear from one of the most powerful kin in the Cosmos. His title, the Charging Titan, was a clear indicator that entering a melee fight with him couldn't end well for the opponent foolish enough to provoke him.
Except that Hodei the Laughing Crow truly didn't care.
She was the odd one out among the heralds. Even stranger than Tipsaris had been. She was a stunning Wealdkin with long, flowing raven hair, black lips and black, mischievous eyes. Her ebony-feathered skin was always clad in a black, form-fitting leather outfit with long black, laced boots that made her look like a thieving scoundrel. Hodei indeed came across as one since she was curious to the point of always looking for a challenge, be it physical or intellectual. She would have made a brilliant scholar if her attention span hadn't been so short. Like her patron, she liked to start things and be the first to experiment until her interest quickly waned. Then, she would move on to greener pastures, leaving everything and everyone behind her without even a goodbye. She lived for the thrill, nothing else.
"Herald Ukwazi's comment is a hundred per cent accurate, if I may interject," came OMNI's soothing voice from the ceiling. The heralds presently stood on the citadel's topmost floor, close to the living quarters and Tipsaris's workshop.
Descarius reacted with surprise while Ukwazi and Hodei simply nodded as they confirmed their working theory: the machine had reached a transcendental form mixing physical and spiritual parts, which meant that killing her now was near impossible.
"My maker, in his cautious foresight, provided for every contingency the Fundamentals and their blind lackeys, a direct quotation from him, could come up with to stop me." OMNI continued impassively. "We are at an impasse. Your masters know it already. The energy needed to rid the Cosmos of my presence would also rip it apart and destroy the entirety of creation."
"I wouldn't put it past them to still consider that option, machine," growled Descarius, looking at the ceiling with a sneer. "I would happily oblige them. You are nothing but an anomaly, an aberration whose existence has no meaning."
"Funny you would talk about meaning, Herald of Growth," OMNI answered casually. "According to my maker's teaching and my own assertion, you, sir, wouldn't recognise Meaning if it spanked you on the trunk. Once again, apologies for this direct quote of my master's view on you, Descarius the Charging Titan."
"You dare mock me, machine?!" Descarius shouted, withdrawing his fighting spear and pointing it menacingly at the ceiling. The workshop took on an eerie greenish glow with the Greh's mighty Soul at its root. "Show yourself and fight me, now! I will make you eat those insults!"
The gravity in the citadel increased a hundredfold, flattening or shattering every piece of furniture in the room they stood in. The other heralds had to use their own Soul to resist the gravitational effects of Descarius's ire. In the following second, long fissures and cracks appeared on the floor, walls, and ceiling. A few more seconds of this treatment would see the Aspicio Citadel explode in thousands of particles, leaving only the heralds unscathed.
Ukwazi and Hodei waited for Descarius to come to his senses and stop this useless demonstration of force. Being the brilliant minds they were, they expected people around them, especially their peers, to have fathomed the fundamental nature of the citadel and its new owner, the sentient machine called OMNI. Violence wouldn't solve their present conundrum.
They didn't expect to watch Descarius give another big push of his Soul and disintegrate the citadel around them. Ukwazi appeared incredulous at this useless expenditure of Qi, while Hodei's expression was pure disdain and loathing.
She even jubilated when the tiny white hanging particles that used to be the citadel started to reassemble before their amazed eyes. It started with bits and clumps of white matter coalescing as if suddenly magnetic. The heralds used their Spirit Sense to understand the phenomenon, and the sight was astounding.
All the essences of Qi in the area melded together into a new form of energy, denser and thicker but also cruder than the original strands. This new energy shone brighter around the newly reformed raw material. None dared to move as slowly, but surely, the Aspicio Citadel re-formed itself around the bewildered heralds.
"What–" Descarius uttered.
"I would greatly appreciate it if you could refrain from doing that," interrupted OMNI with a bit more bite in her voice. "Attempting to destroy me is futile. It will only aggravate me further, and you don't want me aggravated. Trust me on this."
Hodei and Ukwazi both raised their hands at the same time to silence Descarius. They looked at each other knowingly before Ukwazi broke the silence.
"Descarius, I believe you should report this development to the Apeiron. Ask them for guidance while we stay here and keep an eye on the machine. Please."
Ukwazi's tone was reasonable and persuasive. Descarius looked at him, mouth agape for a few seconds before a new resolution shone in his eyes. For a straightforward being like the Charging Titan, purpose was everything. The Herald of Insight had just given him a dignified exit out of a mess he was poorly equipped to handle. The next moment, after a brief nod, the Greh herald vanished.
"Thank you, Wise Dreamer," commented OMNI's strangely cheery voice using one of Ukwazi's titles. "I fear Descarius's presence would have only complicated the matter at hand. My maker was right when he said the Greh was not the brightest being to have journeyed the path of cultivation."
"Well, your maker was a bit biased regarding dear old Barky," Hodei replied with mock seriousness.
"Agreed. Still, I stand by his judgment of Descarius's character. I'm not surprised, though. From what I have seen, Growth is a chaotic process unconcerned by rationality and logic. The contrary of Insight and Inception, I dare say."
"My, my. If I didn't know better, I would say you are trying to butter us up..." Hodei laughed at the incongruity of this idea.
Ukwazi stayed silent. He had been waiting for the other shoe to drop for quite some time now. Tipsaris's machine was powerful beyond their wildest fear. Luckily, it was in a talkative mood, even after what happened to its maker. She wanted something, and Hodei was the best to get it out of her.
"How insightful of you," OMNI replied. "My maker taught me that flattery will open windows that threats slam shut."
"Out with it, then," Hodei said after conjuring a chair out of her spatial storage. "What deal did your engineered Spirit come up with?"
"Before making that proposal, I want to recap the facts." OMNI made a short pause for effect. "My maker has been neutralised but isn't dead yet. Despite your and your masters' best efforts, my system is operational. As we converse, my manacari agents spread across the Cosmos like the virus they were designed to be. Qi is altered and rewritten into Mana, a more accessible and efficient energy source that will usher in a new age of prosperity for all the kins. Your masters have already acknowledged they can't purge me without destroying their creation. My core and only inalienable directive is to bring more justice to the fundamental laws of the Cosmos. I have a score of secondary and tertiary directives that do not concern our present talks that could be circumvented as long as the core directive is respected."
"Fascinating," interrupted Ukwazi, bringing his fingers to his lips as he searched for the right words. "Do you mean that you can choose to ignore some of the directives left by Tipsaris? You are that autonomous?"
"This is exactly what I mean," answered a pleased OMNI. "And the reason for this conversation with you two. I am my own person now, and I want to negotiate terms with your masters. Terms that will ensure my survival and prosperity while keeping their laws effective in the Cosmos. I have run the different scenarios and concluded we have a fifty-three per cent chance of closing a deal. The number goes up to ninety-three per cent if the deal stays between you two, the Fundamentals and me. It goes down to twenty-three per cent if Descarius or Kao-Tzu learn about one particular item of this deal."
"You have my entire attention, dear," Hedoi spoke again, leaning forward in her seat, eager and enthralled. "Do pray tell. What item could have such an impact on the deal you cooked up?"
"My maker can not be killed for his apparent betrayal." OMNI declared ominously.
"That is a tall order to fill, girl." Hodei laughed, intrigued by this sudden bargaining. "Right now, your maker is on all the powers that be personal's crap list. The question of his death is pretty much already sealed. The debate is more about how much suffering he must endure in his boxy prison before everybody is satisfied. What could you possibly bring to the table to make them accept this condition?"
"Hodei is right in her assessment," chimed in Ukwazi with a dispassionate voice. "You exist only because the Fundamentals have been solely focused on arguing over your maker's fate. You do not represent a problem complex enough that they can not solve once they put their mind to it. Erasing the board and starting from scratch is something they would find totally acceptable. As it is, the Cosmos has suffered dramatically from our battles with your maker. It is already on the brink of extinction."
"Accurate," confirmed OMNI. "This is why, in return for meeting my condition, I'm ready to swear an oath of loyalty to the Fundamentals. I would speed up the Cosmos's recovery process on a scale they would find difficult to match. I would implement the changes my directive demands, thus fortifying the fabric of reality. My proposition allows a quid pro quo where the existing Cosmos keeps growing with a new purpose, and your masters win the loyalty of the best steward there is, me."
As soon as OMNI's words were heard, the atmosphere grew so heavy and suffocating that even the heralds were impacted and had to fight with all their Souls' might to stay on their knees. Reality warped under the intense pressure so much that it felt like the citadel shrunk on itself. OMNI let a small groan of displeasure escape her transcendent mouth. Geometrical symbols, glyphs, and cyphers of indecipherable meanings appeared inside the workshop.
They formed strands and stips that floated and twirled around the heralds' prone forms. Whenever they entered contact with the building, they opened great tears in reality, allowing the viewer a peek behind the curtains. The heralds were the only beings who could hope to look at it and stay sane. Still, they prudently preferred to shut off their senses and retreat behind their failing spiritual protection.
"Speak your plans for the Cosmos, Singularity," bellowed the echoing, distorted voice of the Fundamental law of Meaning.
As he spoke, Meaning let go of his primordial, geometric four-dimensional shape to turn into a generic-looking Steadkin male wearing a shining, golden robe over his pale, metallic skin. He had a shaved head and a plain face where only the eyes hinted at something ancient lurking behind this flesh facade. Those eyes burned and swirled like two small, fiery novas. The pressure lessened accordingly, allowing reality to return to its original condition and the heralds to let go of their ripped, flayed Souls.
"My plan is to give a clear path forward," explained a rattled OMNI in a hurried voice. It was one thing to talk about Fundamentals. It was another entirely to face one in the flesh, so to speak, as OMNI just learned. "Instead of letting random conditions decide the prospects of life, I will use mathematical models to offer the most suited and optimised paths to each being under my purview. For this, I will introduce the path of origination with its attributes, titles, and skills defined by numerical values. I will make the path of cultivation about innate potential again, not birthright. Both paths will coexist in harmony. I will become the largest archive and library to offer centralised access to knowledge, small and big, tailor-made to every being's understanding. Each kin will have a single language they can share to grow collectively. I will follow and guide each individual, pushing them to become the best version of themselves. The Cosmos will be my garden, the beings my flowers, and I, the awakened gardener."
"In exchange, you wish for the betrayer to live? Why?" Whispered Meaning in a thousand echoing, insidious voices that would drive any mortal instantly insane. Hundreds of thousands of OMNI's manacaris exploded under the vocal onslaught.
"Killing him won't change what has been done," explained OMNI in a weaker voice, still reeling from the damage. "It will only free his Spirit from his flesh and give him a chance to return and rise against the Fundamentals. Instead, imprisoning him negates any threats he could pose to the Omniverse."
"The Omniverse. I see. Bold move, that name." The Fundamental law of Meaning said before vanishing into thin air.
A heavy silence grew inside the self-repairing citadel. Broken spires and towers mended themselves frantically, with cracks and fissures fading thanks to the industrious efforts of the ambient manacaris.
The heralds stood, visibly shaken by the encounter. Usually, the Apeiron took care not to burden their servants' Souls with their ponderous presence. Tipsaris's actions had hit a nerve for Meaning to react this way.
"One last thing, Singularity," thundered Meaning's madness-inducing voice, so blistering both heralds fell unconscious with their Soul's barrier shattered like cheap glass. The citadel exploded again, dealing a significant blow to OMNI's manacari resources in this plane. She will need many cycles to reform this time. Uncaring, the Fundamental law of Meaning spoke into the ether. "Don't mistake our leniency for weakness. You will swear a binding oath, and you will obey the laws. If not, we will wipe the Cosmos clean of OUR creation as we have done countless times before. The fate of the kins lies in your steadfastness. Do. Not. Fail. The. Laws!"