The universe is a competition to see who is the hunter and who is the prey, and in the very end there will be but one left standing. One ultimate predator that has succeeded in consuming all of reality apart from itself. That’s the theory that Unity has developed, and it seems frustratingly realistic.

But then, who says we must obey these natural rules. Gravity should have contained mankind to Earth, but not because it can’t be broken, it’s simply a difficult challenge to overcome. The ending proposed by Unity can be treated the same way. Understand the elements and powers that have set the universe in motion towards this final end, then work towards subverting that ending.

“So, where does the Unified States of Mana fit in all of this?” Adler asks as we ride the ancient city back up to the surface of the alien world. Unity has already absorbed and released the townspeople, the vast majority of which are now lost in their own minds, working through the discoveries forced upon them.

“A civilisation expanding, ruled by an all-powerful god-king who is systematically crushing every world and universe not under his reign… Shit, he’s already at the finish line I was aiming for,” I grumble, leaning back against the wall. “They’ve already subverted the natural order that Unity is worried about. The problem is that with new shards of creation spawning out of control, the king has to constantly put out the fires of revolution.”

“In other words?” Adler asks.

“The current ‘winner’ of this natural game has decided to let civilisation continue. He’s letting us live,” I admit. “Overthrowing him, or killing him, without being able to replace him, would leave us in a worse position. The world eating beasts would be free to grow to the point where they eventually consume everything.”

Adler nods slowly, a frown deeply set on her lips.

“That’s assuming that there aren’t more secrets to the universe, do you really think we understand it all already?” Vii asks, hopping into the conversation without seeming to understand the weight of it. “Like the theory that this universe is just an egg and we’re trying to grow big enough to break out of it, or that this is all a game set up by someone in a bigger dimension.”

“So, we’re still too stupid to know the rules… we’re still just guessing?” I ask, rubbing my brow. “Just like the laws back at the academy…. You know that’s actually the part of the Unified States culture that I despise the most. It’s all so much easier to live comfortably when you know the damn rules.”

“Fight and win,” Eshya says, lying flat on the stone floor. “What else do you want to know?”

“Fair enough,” I grumble. “Technically I’m just keeping you all around because I like you, not because there are rules keeping me from absorbing you all and stealing your power for myself.”

“Maybe there’s a reason the Unified States doesn’t give us the rules,” Adler says, shaking her head at me. “It might give people like you some strange ideas.”

“What, you think people will treat the lawbooks as a to-do list?” I ask. “You know, that might actually make for a fun storybook villain. Be a good way to teach kids about the laws and why they exist, too.”

“You want to get into writing kid’s stories now?” Eshya asks, “A bit of a change in career direction.”

“Is it? A big part of ruling comes from developing and manipulating culture through propaganda. Any good ruler knows to get to the kids when they’re young and impressionable, that way they become fine citizens later in their lives.”

“All to teach them that murder is wrong?” Adler asks, “Only you could make that sound like something evil.”

“Well, I guess it’s because I find it disagreeable in a way,” I say. “I appreciate diversity of thought, and I don’t like propaganda, but I have to recognise that it’s useful to corrupt their little minds with the idea that it’s wrong to murder each other and cannibalise their classmate’s bodies until only one super-kid remains standing.”

“Kyra, have you met real kids before?”

“Yes, they’re feral and cruel,” I reply. “The only thing that keeps them from murdering us all is their flimsy limbs and weak constitutions. They’re like cats, and the only safety we can find is during nap time.”

“Uh,” Vii turns to look at me worriedly, she’s trying to tell if I’m being serious or not. I’m not… mostly. “Adler, are there any good parenting books we could get her. We should be able to get some from the markets without getting into trouble, right?”

“Assuming we return them to the markets after reading them, and in good condition, then we shouldn’t be marked as beastly,” Adler replies.

“Oh? So the entire world is a library and the welfare officers are the librarians? That’s why being overly loud and brash is a punishable offence?” I ask thumbing my chin.

“Librarians on Earth collar people and turn them into useful resources when they continue misbehaving?” Vii asks.

“Now that you mention it, I never did hear from Billy again after he was late on his book return. The school lunch the day after was a little meatier as well…” I don’t even need to pretend to shiver, a few memories coming back to me of the lectures I received.

“Then we don’t have to worry about this Unity character anymore?” Eshya asks. “I have nothing to fight?”

“That pretty much sounds right,” I reply. “Unity is going to eat this world and its people, and I don’t feel like stepping in. I don’t have the resources to give the townspeople another choice, which is the only thing I’d do for them if I could.”

“So, we stumble on into the next battle,” Eshya says, grinning as she sits up. “Or we find another friendly monster, you know we didn’t actually achieve anything here?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We didn’t change the fates of the people here, we didn’t suddenly make the dark god into a good person, we just came here, were pulled along on this pilgrimage and now we’re heading back. It’s like we’re just visitors being shown around their house, getting frightened of the mutant kid they keep locked in the basement only to find out they’re actually a pretty nice kid.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Well, it’s not inaccurate exactly…”

“Except for one thing,” Vii says. “Why do the slugs have more elvish features after they’ve met with unity?”

“If you don’t mind me stepping into the conversation, I can answer that.” Gehnna slides into the room with us, much calmer now than she was before.

“I won’t throw you out,” I say, waving her in.

“To explain the elvish features, we are aware of the Unified States and its current powerful position and influence,” She explains. “We discovered the schematics for the elvish form imprinted into our very being and have been acclimatising to it ever since to develop a better rapport with the elves.”

“Where does that fit in Unity’s life plans?” I ask, curious now that she’s brought it up. I could only take a small fraction of the thoughts from the mind of the being, and now that I’m me again it’s nice to discuss these things in a more relaxed setting.

“The same as our interactions with you,” Gehnna replies, smiling at me. “We support and encourage the development of cultured peoples out in the greater reality. They will one day lose themselves to the struggles and burdens of life, and we will be there for them when they wish to set those burdens down.”

“You think that the Unified States will collapse?”

“It must,” she replies matter of factly. “I do not know how soon, there are too many unknown variables even considering what we’ve learned from you, but its very nature is ephemeral. It will one day collapse, the warriors will falter, and they will lose.”

“Then you will rise?” I ask.

“Or perhaps you,” Gehnna says. “It is most important that the survivor of this reality is one that understands and values life.”

“You don’t think that we can maintain a civilisation like the Unified States?” Adler asks, “Something like it at least?”

“No, it is not possible. Not for eternity.” She shakes her head gravely. “We must one day unite our strength as one, else we will tire and be beaten by the beasts.”

“You reconnected with Unity, didn’t you?” I ask, noticing the subtle changes in her, the way her emotions are more controlled and the way that she meets my eyes with more confidence than she had before.

“I did, yes,” Gehnna says with a smile.

In some way the Gehnna that we knew before is already gone, replaced with this one that has been altered by the larger being known as Unity. Is it different from how I have changed? Does it matter?

For that matter, is there any real value to the person that was, the person now gone? Is it just because of my own limited sensibilities that I feel sad that she’s gone?

Gehnna doesn’t even notice my worry, slipping into a discussion with Adler on the topic of Unity-like alternatives, bringing up the idea of a matrix, a dream world where individuals can continue to live on in the mind of a being such as unity.

“It would be highly inefficient,” Gehnna resists Adler’s suggestions. Unity was made to survive, to win this competition of the gods, so it makes sense that an aspect of the great being would be loath to waste energy on such an idea. Yet, it still holds onto the ancient city that it once considers a home… Does it see that as a contradiction? Or is it one of the few luxuries it permits itself?

Is it wrong to act like this?

What morals and ethical boundaries do we hold onto when the world closes in on us? What values do we cling to when it would be most pragmatic to let go?

I know that I’ve done regrettable things, I’ve embraced cruelty for the sake of victory, and I will again, but the longer I look upon the challenges before me, the less convinced I am that I’ll ever see an end to these predicaments. I don’t know what to take from that realization, but it bothers me.

Our conversation with Gehnna slowly turns to new topics, and this fragment of a godly being cheerfully discusses favourite foods and local festivals. She is truly still a person, and not simply a tool. Participation in culture, games, conversation, getting to know strangers, and connecting to people through art. These things give us character, give us meaning.

It’s is what separates us from the wild beasts, even if it doesn’t necessarily make us better or superior, it is something that I do not want to let go of. I want to go see new plays, not simply stew in the stories that I tell myself in my mind. I want to try new foods, crafted by excited chefs working hard to create something wonderful, I don’t want to cook my own meal every day from here until the day after eternity.

I don’t want to be alone in this reality. That’s why we can’t let the chaos win, and it’s what forms the bond between us and Unity. None of us want to be alone.

The same must be true of the god ruling over the Unified States, too. Perhaps there is the slightest chance that he can be bargained with, perhaps he would be willing to listen. Maybe we can survive alongside each other instead of murdering each other for supremacy.

I can hope.

The rest of our time here on this world is spent relaxing and training. Much of the knowledge that I’ve gained from Unity I have to leave alone for now, there isn’t enough mana here for me to try and push my adaptions to their final state, and the Skills just get added to the long list already stored away in my mind.

Eshya is still stumbling on occasion, but she’s much more confident in her step now than before. I thought she might be bothered that there’s nothing here for her to fight, but it’s the opposite really. She’s been her usual self, which is relieving.

Our trip is starting to feel like a proper holiday by the time our ship arrives in ‘port’. Gehnna sees us off with a cheerful smile, but it’s a fragile thing twisting on itself as she struggles to maintain her composure.

“This can’t be your first goodbye,” I say, waiting for the ship to come down to us.

“Excuse me for being only a few years old,” Gehnna says, rubbing at her slimy arms as her voice wavers. “I don’t usually say goodbye. Everyone I meet joins with Unity.”

“Then, will you be here the next time we visit?” I ask. “You’ll be part of Unity, but will you still be around, or will the fragment called Gehnna be forgotten?”

“I’ll be remembered,” she says, nodding slowly and rubbing her eyes. I’m not sure if she’s crying or if it’s just the natural slime covering her. “I’ll always be here within Unity.”

“Then I’ll see you again when next we visit, be it a few decades or centuries. Just don’t get yourself killed in the meantime.”

She nods slowly, “We will survive until the end when the rules might be rewritten to make a better world.”

I nod a quiet goodbye as we step onto the plank and leave behind the mist-covered world, not so terrifying as it once seemed. Not so evil when the mists fade, and you get to know the slug beneath the slime.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stats and Skills

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 42,391 / 60,892 units

Current mana volume: 21,073 / 30,271 shards

Mana volume at crystallisation density (Max. mana volume):

Kyra: 30,271 shards

Kyra’s armour: 20,777 shards

Kyra’s throne: 1,109,298 shards

~Forms

Mana Canon

-Annihilation Heart (Adapted)

-Blood Fuel (Adapted)

-Bone Magic Storage (Adapted)

-Nail Shifters (50,000 mana shards)

Dancer

-Flash Nerves (Adapted)

-Quick Perception Mind (Adapted)

-Burst Reflex Muscles (35,000 mana shards)

-Layered space Muscles (80,000 mana shards)

Turtle

-Rebinding Tissue (Adapted)

-Catalyst Sweat Glands (140,000 mana shards)

-Repulsive Skin (Adapted)

-Prehensile hair (Adapted)

-Fatty Tissue Blood Storage (100,000 mana shards)

Investigator

-Wide eyes (Adapted)

-Wide ears (Adapted)

-Sharp nose (Adapted)

Misc.

-Clean bowels (Adapted)

-Mana Drive (Adapted)

~Favourited Skills:

Magic:

-Annihilation Magic (Customised)

-Fire Magic (Functional)

-Space magic (Broken)

-Force magic (Functional)

-Ice magic (Broken)

-Wind magic (Broken)

Movement:

-Hand-to-hand casting (Functional)

-Mana surge movement (Functional)

-Stealth (Functional)

Senses:

-Eyes of an Empire (Customised)

-Combat Awareness (Functional)

-Watchmen (Functional)

-Hidden bug (Mastered)

-De-tagging (Mastered)

-Anti-stealth sight (Mastered)

Special:

-Spirit Transformation (Broken)

-Conformity (Broken)

-Training mana form (Functional)