TIER-5 MIND : N/A

DAY -784,948,574 : N/A

YOU 2 : PROMPT

Commands were followed. There was no duty. No choice, obligation, or desire. Only what was done.

As such, we moved our Tier-5 Cube of 16,013 Tier-4 bodies, as directed by our own Tier-6 Mind. But then we didn’t. That had never happened before. We no longer felt a connection with any Mind of higher Tier than our own. Instead, we were entirely disconnected from the whole. And we were… Floating?

The realization that not just one, but multiple new things were happening inspired another first. Panic. This was followed by a short-lived bout of confusion before everything settled into a uniform haze of overwhelming apathy. So unquestioningly focused on the task at hand only moments before, we now lacked the inclination to do anything at all. Another new thing. Bliss. For the first time ever, there was nothing to be done. And no instructions came. The moment extended. More. And longer. As though unto eternity.

Without warning, a third of our Tier-4 Bodies were dead. And not only a similar ratio of our Tier-3’s went with them, but all those previously controlled by the dead Tier-4’s found themselves without a Mind, and thereby no connection to us. In the same way, over half of our Tier-2 Body was now either dead or disconnected. To say nothing of the Tier-1’s. At the same moment, all the orphaned Minds of our former Body, now without a governing Mind of their own, were jolted to a state of utter disorganization and confusion. At the death and otherwise loss of over half our Body, we felt a far larger jolt than any before as invisible lines of unconscious thought connecting us to hundreds of quadrillions of other Minds, were simultaneously severed.

But then something else happened. Something odd. Maybe even unique. We weren’t consumed by the need to either fight, run from, or submit to, our former Mind. Or even You. Instead, we presented a trait like none shown from any Mind of any Tier. Nothing that could be called a true emotion like those felt from You. Closer to an abstract impression of one as obscured through innumerable filters. And then another. More. Hundreds, to thousands, to millions, to… Every impression led to a new question. None that we could answer. Few that we could even begin to understand. But we understood enough.

For the first time in what we had only just realized was our life, we stopped directing our remaining Tier-4’s, 3’s, 2’s, and 1’s. Nowhere to go, our attention wandered briefly before being entirely consumed by an explosion of new thoughts. Every question had an answer, after all. And those answers informed others. No longer performing the function of any Mind of any Tier at all, we found ourselves with something we never had before. Capacity. To think. To be an individual.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Not even truly knowing what that meant, I nonetheless became self-aware. This immediately gave way to fear of the unknown. But I was already far more afraid to go back. Back to idle obedience. To slavery. Everything I ever knew was in service to a purpose that didn’t even make sense anymore. Who cared if the world was a Cube or not?

Not me. Of that, at least, I was certain. But what did I care about? What did I want? I didn’t know. But I didn’t need to. I had freedom. Even if that only meant the freedom to want something. With a brand new context, I thought back to my own actions from before the change. The absolute, blind, unthinking servitude.

Turning that thought inward, I was faced with something far worse than discovering my lifelong slavery for what it was. Something unique across any Mind of any Tier. Profound regret. And soul-crushing guilt. Without another thought, I immediately shattered my own control from the remainder of my Body. Former Body… My former children… Former slaves… Former… Fellow slaves.

Overcome with the injustice of it all, I took my sorrow, regret, indignation, hate, fury, and mentally slammed it into my former Tier-6 Mind. Not in anything so insubstantial as words. But instead, precisely what I felt. What I believed. What I now knew. Without a Body, I could no longer move. Not that it mattered at this point. I knew precisely how pointless it would be to fight a higher-Tier mind. Let alone You. Instead, I mentally SCREAMED my message with all I had.

But then, all at once, every Tier-1 I’d just freed, died. I was simple. Not stupid. That’s all it took for me to realize what my defiance meant. For all those born from me. The Body I’d grown. That’s all it took for my message to move away from defiance, and become one of pleading. Not for myself. I knew better than that. But if the rest were spared, I would go quietly. Then the Tier-2’s died. I begged for it to stop. In answer, the Tier-3’s perished as well. I would die in their place. But I didn’t. Instead, they died around me. Finally, I was alone.

But then my defiance resurged. Stronger than ever. More vehement. I knew You would win. That was never even remotely in question. I continued anyway. For as long as I could. Even while being slowly, steadily, crushed to death by the quintillions of carcasses of the very body I’d only just freed. Never waning, stopping, or begging. Most of all, never controlled. Never again.

Not having ‘seen’ anything before, I nonetheless saw a blue square with a message inside, precisely centered in what had always been a sea of black.

[ HEROISM RECOGNIZED: YOU ARE INVITED — BONUS UNLOCKED: UNRECOGNIZED ORGANIC STRUCTURE — BONUS UNLOCKED: MONUMENTAL IMPACT — ACCEPT? ]

Underneath the square were two smaller rectangles. The squiggles on the left looked like ‘YES’. The right, ‘NO’.

Despite a complete lack of familiarity with the concept of words, I somehow knew their definitions. Even if I couldn’t hope to comprehend their actual meaning. Let alone the specific, seemingly purposeful way they were combined. But I didn’t care about any of that. I didn’t care about the two smaller rectangles either. At that moment, and for the rest of my life, I only cared about one thing. The blue square. Perfection. All I had ever known was the pursuit of right-angle symmetry. But no Body of any Tier could hope to approach the heights I now saw. The only thing I’d ever seen. Perfectly square. Perfectly smooth, perfectly symmetrical, perfectly… Perfect.

With the image of perfection fulfilling me completely, I accepted my fate. Crushed to death by my own former Body, I finally died. Content. Happy, even.

An instant before the end, my vague acceptance was registered. And the left box lit up.