Rite of Passage

Rite of Passage
Alexander "KG" Hwang

Second Septeta of Zanatado, 6,018th Year of the Lord
Military Base 14, Fakultat, Uivoros

"All right, commanders," Major Lambda Helix announced, pausing to let the assembled commanders quiet down. "Orders from General Angstrom. We're the next ones to be shot up, so we better be ready for this. We're going next undeceta morning, so send the order that nobody eat anything the day before. I'm sure you understand by now that eating before going into space can lead to some messy situations."
A few commanders chuckled. Spacesickness was so extremely common that it was an assumed inevitability, even after training for it. Then the major became solemn and they did too.
"This is going to be a new thing for most of us," he continued. "A lot of us are probably going to die. I say this frankly because it's true. The zy have been in space for years... we're only getting up off our feet. There's no telling how we'll even win this war, but we're going to try, dammit. Akumanderkind did not get this far only to be destroyed by a bunch of bug-hearts! Lord Radius himself is going to see us off, so make sure you're all on your best behavior. Give your orders as soon as possible. Dismissed."


114 instants later
The Void

Stability.
[Ssthusskhlh] jerked into awareness of its surroundings. There was a source of stability nearby--as far as "nearness" meant anything in the Void.
[Ssthusskhlh] reorganized its perception of itself as traveling toward the source, almost instinctively. Stability meant rest, it meant thought without interruption.
The source was. [Ssthusskhlh] prodded at it experimentally with an appendage newly-made for that very purpose.
Pressure. Resistance.
[Ssthusskhlh] expected this. It was undoubtedly a Universe, exploded into existence and slowly expanding due to inertia. Its barriers would not be barriers in any physical sense, but rather barriers in the sense of reality--something that was being separated from that which was not. [Ssthusskhlh]'s appendage was an intruder into the Universe's reality, and that reality was not going to allow something not-real into the reality of it.
[Ssthusskhlh], however, understood well enough how the typical Universe worked by ways of reality and not-reality. [Ssthusskhlh] was, as far as it was concerned, real by its own right. Understanding this, [Ssthusskhlh] moved itself into the reality of the Universe, met with incredible pressure that might have been the expansion of the Universe and might have been the very willpower of it. But [Ssthusskhlh] was strong, and it moved through.
The Void clung to [Ssthusskhlh], as that was the nature of the Void, and [Ssthusskhlh] exercised great concentration to remove the Void's essence from itself.
At last, [Ssthusskhlh] was free from the Void.


Meanwhile
The Floating Ruins near the Center of the Universe

The Divine One stirred from its endless thoughts in one of its most-aware consciousnesses.
There was an intruder.


1 instant later
Near the edge of the Universe

[Ssthusskhlh] reconfigured itself to meet its memory's specifications. It was a slow and tedious process.
Otherwise, [Ssthusskhlh] considered its surroundings. Several realizations occurred to it.
Firstly that there had been a barrier, the memory of one drifted along the edge of the Universe, though for whatever reason the physical location must have been long gone.
And second that there was an entity aware of [Ssthusskhlh], and the entity was suddenly there.
[Ssthusskhlh] reacted to the entity in a wide array of responses, attempting to communicate with the stranger.
It immediately recognized that the entity was made up of matter and energy, the same as the Universe itself, although the Universe's dimensions were less than this entity. [Ssthusskhlh] made the connection, then, that this entity was greater than its own home. It also had what looked like infinite connecting threads to what might have been everything that existed in the Universe. That potentially meant that it was the creator.
The entity, however, did not seem to respond to its responses. The entity did not even seem to realize [Ssthusskhlh] was trying. Instead, the entity seemed to be observing [Ssthusskhlh]--to what extent [Ssthusskhlh] could not guess. Then, suddenly, signals randomly sparked within [Ssthusskhlh]'s selfness.
[Ssthusskhlh] understood, then, that this entity was far more powerful than [Ssthusskhlh] itself, and also that the entity was trying to communicate in a completely different way.
There was unpleasantness, then, for the entity's method of communication interfered with [Ssthusskhlh]'s configurations of itself. [Ssthusskhlh] moved, then, through the Universe's space away from the entity. The entity seemed to be unable to comprehend [Ssthusskhlh]'s method of movement, and only followed after a noticeable delay. But when [Ssthusskhlh] changed direction, it took the entity more time to realize it and change direction as well. [Ssthusskhlh] understood, then, that while the entity was superior in power, it was still unable to comprehend [Ssthusskhlh].
And so [Ssthusskhlh] fled from the entity.


Second Deceta of Zanatado, 6,018th Year of the Lord
Sankakukei, Uivoros

Commander Misa Perception stretched her arms and tail out. It was early morning and there was no reason to be awake yet, but Misa had made it a habit of waking up early for the upcoming morning. She reflected on her contingent, to which she had given the orders she had received from Major Lambda the same day. Of them, she had friends, for which she was grateful.
No eating today, Misa thought to herself grimly.
So instead of breakfast, she drank some water and got ready to go to the military base.


946 instants later
Somewhere in the Zerotical Sector

[Ssthusskhlh] stopped.
It would be, [Ssthusskhlh] suspected, an action the entity would never expect--especially after so long a chase. [Ssthusskhlh] immediately reconfigured itself to assimilate with a passing mass.
It could not be sure when the entity would pass by and give up looking, since its reconfiguration as the mass prevented knowing such a thing, so it simply waited.


First Sexeta of Nereknon, 6,018th Year of the Lord
Interstellar space beyond the Akri System

"Fire at will!" Misa shouted.
Blinding lights danced across the window and computer projections. Zy ships flickered in and out of existence, dodging and returning fire constantly.
"Commander," Soldier Gauss Operand reported, "the zy ships are remobilizing into some kind of erratic pattern."
"What are they doing?" Misa asked, mostly to herself. "Continue the assault."
She turned the projector on.
"Major, who's with us?"
"You're flanked by Variance and Resolve," Major Lambda's image replied. "We haven't lost any of ours yet."
Misa nodded and turned it off, turning her attention to a computer projection that displayed the akumander and zy ships as red and blue shapes, respectively.
They were outnumbered. That much was obvious. There were surely 12 to the fifth zy ships for every akumander ship. Though the akumander ships were presumably more heavily armored and armed, the zy would hardly need to make an effort to remove them.
"Oh, god," Specialist Crore Enthalpy cried, seeing the projection.
"Get a hold of yourself," Misa growled at him. "We haven't lost yet."
Crore evidently thought otherwise, but he said nothing and simply stared.
"They're firing," Gauss suddenly said.
Impact, then. The ship's alarms began to ring. Voices rose.
Bright lights in the window and projections struck at them.
"Seven twelfths of our shields left," Specialist Lakh Absolute observed. "Six twelfths. Five twelfths."
"Weapons are down!" Soldier Hexomino Cadaeic yelled.
"Four twelfths," Lakh continued. "Three twelfths."
"We're dead," Crore whispered.
Against that, Misa could think of no argument.


3 instants later
Interstellar space beyond the Akri System

[Ssthusskhlh] removed itself from the mass and reconfigured itself to memory.
The entity did not seem to be in the vicinity.
[Ssthusskhlh] observed its surroundings. There were strong signals coming from nearby. [Ssthusskhlh] noticed, then, technology. And life.
Further investigation revealed what could only be warfare. Two spacefaring groups at war. [Ssthusskhlh] immediately wished to understand it, being so long deprived of accessible knowledge. Utilizing machinery to maneuver through space meant that the lifeforms within were not as strong as [Ssthusskhlh], and that meant it could manipulate and understand them. But [Ssthusskhlh] was not malicious or evil, and it understood that creatures who would care enough to engage in warfare cared for their selves in some manner.
So [Ssthusskhlh] watched, fascinated, as they attempted to destroy each other. It looked like one side was far more numerous, and thus at a very obvious advantage. The situation looked quite hopeless for the other side.
Then [Ssthusskhlh] saw opportunity, it reached with a not-self at one of the ships on the disadvantaged side and stole it away from destruction, replacing it with a very convincing simulacrum that exploded before any could have known the difference.
Suddenly, [Ssthusskhlh] was aware it was being watched. Guilty in theft, [Ssthusskhlh] searched for the observer. [Ssthusskhlh] realized that the observer was connected to the event [Ssthusskhlh] had been watching. [Ssthusskhlh] followed the ethereal connecting threads from its captives to ships in the losing side of the spatial battle, from them to several points on a nearby planet. Then it immediately saw one thread that reached to another place extremely far away, at something else.
It was another entity, more like the first one it encountered than the ones at war, and yet it was different altogether. It was far younger than the first entity, and even [Ssthusskhlh] itself, but it was somehow far more powerful as well. [Ssthusskhlh] knew, then, that this new entity already had comprehended [Ssthusskhlh] in all its entirety as the first entity had despaired of doing. And [Ssthusskhlh] was afraid, for it knew this new entity could destroy [Ssthusskhlh] if necessary. But it was not necessary, the new entity understood that [Ssthusskhlh] posed no threat and immediately lost interest.
So [Ssthusskhlh] rejoiced and investigated its prize as thoroughly as presently possible, all the while moving away from the space war at a relativistic speed.
It discovered very quickly what separated the animate from the inanimate. The individuals within the ship were marked by patterns that differed from nonliving material--excepting some who, [Ssthusskhlh] guessed, had died. It was not desirable, that death would occur to them, so [Ssthusskhlh] decided to first study their ability to live and what made them die.
However, the lifeforms did not seem able to regain consciousness as they were, contained in [Ssthusskhlh]. It reconfigured itself, then, to something more agreeable with their biology.


As time loses meaning
Aboard the Tzyr 3

Misa slowly rose to her knees.
She was in great pain, most of all in her head. It was dark and quiet.
Am I dead? she immediately thought.
She touched her head and felt blood.
No.
"Hello?" she croaked. It hurt to speak. "Is anyone there?"
She heard shuffling. Movement.
"Commander," Lakh murmured. She sounded far away.
"I'm here," Gauss said.
"Emergency power," Misa groaned, standing.
There was a mechanical sound, then, and a dim red light revealed the bridge.
The ship appeared to mostly be intact. The crew was scattered about, many of them bleeding and most unconscious.
"Lakh, Gauss," Misa said, "see who's alive."
The two of them nodded at her and wandered about the bodies.
What happened? Misa thought to herself desperately. We should be debris, floating in space.
Misa experimented with the equipment. The projectors would not connect with anything not on the ship, so she tried the other rooms in the ship.
"Hello?" she asked of the device. "Anyone there?"
Nothing. Either they were unconscious or dead.
She looked at the windows. Blackness. She knew, as most people knew, that there was no such thing as blackness in known space. Except, perhaps, in a black hole.
"Commander," Lakh said, "everyone seems to be breathing except for Duodenar."
Duodenar Bass. A soldier.
"And their injuries?" Misa asked.
"Mostly intact, it looks like," Lakh replied. "Duodenar... it might have been something internal."
Misa nodded. "All right, both of you help me carry him to the medical bay. You never know when there's hope."
Like in this situation.
The corridors of the ship were lit by emergency power as well, but there was something eerie about the silence about them that unnerved Misa.
It almost seemed like there was some kind of low vibration, like that of machinery but harder to notice, constantly there and impossible to locate or identify.
They shuffled into the medical bay, finding one member of the staff against a wall and upside-down--covered in guts and blood and quite dead.
"Shit," Gauss cursed, seeing the corpse.
"The impact of when we were attacked must have hurled him against the wall," Misa muttered. "Nothing we can do about it now."
They set Duodenar on one of the beds.
"Gauss, go back to the bridge and rally everyone who wakes up, but keep them there," Misa said. "Lakh, look for more survivors. I'll see to our medical staff. When we're done we'll meet Gauss at the bridge."
They saluted her and ran off.
"Hello?" Misa called, walking to their rooms.
She found only one of them in a room on a bed, an unconscious degree she did not know well.
"Degree?" Misa asked. The degree stirred. He coughed.
"Commander," the degree whispered, coughing again. He sat up and rubbed his head.
"Where are the others?" Misa asked, secretly glad to find someone else alive.
"The lounge," he muttered, shaking his head.
"Come with me," Misa said. "I'll wait."
The degree took some time to get out of the bed and stand. Misa gave him her hand and led him to the lounge.
"Is it over?" the degree asked. "Did we win? ...retreat?"
Misa did not reply for some time.
"Commander?"
"I don't know," Misa finally admitted, and left it at that.
They arrived at the lounge.
One of the degrees was awake already, shaking one of his companions. Excepting him, they seemed to be unconscious.
"Good work," Misa declared, startling him. "I'll take over from here. There's a man in the medical bay who just might be alive, I want you two to make sure. Report back to me here."
The degrees went and Misa observed the rest of them. There were five, here.
She sighed, then. Whatever disaster had befallen them, many of them were alive. That was something, at least.



Within and without the captured ship

[Ssthusskhlh] learned a multitude of things about the living creatures as they awoke and explored their environs. [Ssthusskhlh] made sure it absorbed every last detail and stored it in its apparently infinite memory.
It rapidly worked at understanding the communication of the creatures. It appeared that they communicated by translating seemingly random firings in the large head organ into oscillating vibrations emitted from a wide opening, which were received by other creatures and similarly translated into similar firings in their own large head organs. It all seemed unnecessarily complicated to [Ssthusskhlh], but it understood that there was no way beings in this Universe could communicate the way [Ssthusskhlh] would.
Understanding this, however, [Ssthusskhlh] realized that it could not communicate with these creatures in any way they yet understood. [Ssthusskhlh] would have to directly manipulate one of the creatures in order to communicate.
The problem there, however, was that if [Ssthusskhlh] directly manipulated any of these fragile beings, the victim would not survive. [Ssthusskhlh] knew that the creatures would interpret this negatively and become uncooperative.
[Ssthusskhlh] decided it would come to that when an opportunity presented itself.
In the meantime, [Ssthusskhlh] had the power to send undetectable signals to the creatures such that there would be a chance of them responding in a way that [Ssthusskhlh] desired.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

What happened? Misa asked herself again.
The answer wasn't in her head, nor was it evidently in any of the heads of the rest of the survivors.
She had just finished the meeting with them. The rest of the survivors had all been unconscious like herself. They were now idly conversing while she thought.
One of the degrees approached her. This one had said his name was Surject Force.
"Commander," Surject murmured, "are you going to send out a team to find out what's... out there?"
"Not now," Misa replied, looking at a black window, "we can't risk losing anyone at this point."
"But what if we're just covered in some kind of... black tar?"
"Does that really seem likely? I would be quite surprised if the secret weapon of the zy was a gun that covered ships in purely black tar."
"The point is not-"
"The point is that we will consider sending people out after we have assessed the situation. There are things to take care of in here, first. We might have somehow been transported into an extra-dark dark nebula... or a black hole. Either way, we cannot yet know that anyone venturing outside the ship will be safe."
Surject sighed and walked away.
Things would be so much simpler if the sensory equipment was working.
Misa fiddled around with the equipment again then gave up.
"Commander?" it was another degree. Verse Echelon.
"Yes?" Misa sighed.
"Me and some other degrees have been attempting to come up with a theory about what happened," Verse said. "If... this is the result of a zy weapon..."
"Wormhole? Black hole?" Misa interrupted. "I've heard this before."
"Well, that's just it," Verse said. "If we were in a black hole... we should be crushed, maybe turned into energy... this can't be a black hole."
"But we do not understand black holes," Misa replied. "We might actually be crushed. Perhaps we are being crushed relative to the universe, but not relative to the ship. We are all being crushed simultaneously so only the ship feels the-"
"It doesn't work like that, commander," Verse noted. "What you're talking about is shrinking."
"Ah, right, shrinking." Misa nodded.
"In any event, we could not be alive were this a black hole," Verse said. "A dark nebula... we don't know too much about them, but it should definitely be safer than a black hole..."
"Or...?" Misa asked.
"Or... this might be something we have never seen before," Verse admitted. "Inevitably, there are things we do not know."
Misa sighed again, then stood up.
"Nothing will get done if we just wait around," she said. "But we will not send someone out yet. We're going to test the outside with one of our corpses."


Within and without the captured ship

[Ssthusskhlh] was not capable of boredom, but its attention became more engaged when it recognized activity. The creatures had responded to its silent signals.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

They had attached a camera to the corpse of an unfortunate akumander, Erg Long, who broke his head open. The people who carried them walked out of the airlock and one of them sealed the door.
"All right," Misa murmured. "Now we'll see what happens when we open it to the outside."
A light lit up, indicating that the artificial gravity was being turned off in the airlock. Nothing seemed to happen.
"Wait," one degree muttered. "That can't be right..."
Then the outer airlock door opened, accompanied by a beeping sound. There was no rush of air being sucked out into a vacuum of space. The corpse did not move at all.
"Impossible," someone whispered.
Various people began to murmur.
"Quiet," Misa said. "We still don't know what will happen. We don't all need to stay here. Two of you watch the corpse and see if it starts decaying rapidly or something."
"What does this mean?" Lakh murmured.
"I'm not sure," Misa said. "But it is possible that we've somehow... landed on a planet. But that doesn't explain why it's black..."


Within and without the captured ship

A rush of information flooded [Ssthusskhlh]'s sensory. The corpse was as good as alive to [Ssthusskhlh] . With the body at [Ssthusskhlh]'s immediate mercy, [Ssthusskhlh]  had no trouble interpreting the lost signals within the corpse. It found memory, extremely primitive but greatly informative nonetheless, and then it understood everything about these creatures.
The thing [Ssthusskhlh] could not comprehend, however, was what the corpse had once interpreted as "emotion". It appeared to be definitive of specific states of mind induced by reactions to specific situations that did not serve an obvious purpose until [Ssthusskhlh] realized that these creatures lacked flawless reasoning. [Ssthusskhlh] tried to imagine why life would exist with flawed reasoning and decided that the implications were too numerous to predict.
[Ssthusskhlh] decided that the only way to fully understand emotion was to integrate the corpse into itself, but this was a dangerous thing to do. [Ssthusskhlh] had no way of predicting its behavior after such a drastic change. So, [Ssthusskhlh] began to project its selfness into the corpse instead.
If the projection was successful, then [Ssthusskhlh] would be able to study itself with emotions as well as a three-dimensional body.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

There was a flurry of activity.
"Commander, look! Look! He's..."
Misa had made it to the window of the inner airlock door.
The corpse was twitching madly. Its eyes and mouth seemed to open and close at random. What was most disturbing, however, was the fact that its skin was changing colors continuously.
"What's going on?" Misa asked.
"We... we don't know," a degree said. "He just suddenly started twitching and changing color. I've never seen anything like this before."
"He should be dead," another degree muttered. "There were absolutely no life signals."
Old myths about the undead surfaced in Misa's mind.
"Have everyone get weapons and check the other corpses in the ship," Misa said. "We don't know what's going on, but we want to play it safe for now."
The corpse suddenly started screaming. The audio of the camera came in piercingly until someone lowered the volume.
Then, just as suddenly, the screaming stopped and the corpse became motionless once more. Its color, which had changed from a pale orange to a deep green, stopped changing--although it was still green.


Network between frequencies

Sensation.
It felt wrong, somehow. Its signals sparked random nerves in its body, which was much more constricting than it liked. Then it became aware of its body's inclinations, which dictated contrary to its will. Extreme discomfort, then, as it wrestled with its body for control.
It became aware of a mind separate from itself, and yet a part of its body. It then realized that the mind was itself, and yet it was thinking with a not-mind. It exercised its mind and found it unsatisfactory by comparison. It then decided to assimilate the mind into its not-mind, which took some time, but it finally finished and quickly discarded the mind. Free from the mind, it used its not-mind to replace the mind's duties. It found an alarming amount of useless functions acting beyond its will which had been taken from the original mind and suppressed them.
Then, knowledge. It became aware of laws, a fraction vaguely understood by the previous mind's memory, which its body obeyed. In this awareness, it discovered hidden codes within the laws used in order to ignore the laws.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

Some time passed, and the corpse moved again. It stood up, this time, looking around.
"Radians about the airlock," Misa ordered. "Weapons at ready, but do not fire unless I give the order."
The corpse of Erg suddenly began to speak. It was a flood of sound at seemingly random pitches and such a speed it was impossible to understand anything, if the words spoken were even real. Misa could not believe the speed at which Erg's mouth was moving.
And then, immediately, the airlock door disintegrated.


Within and without the captured ship

[Ssthusskhlh] became aware of an anomaly within the corpse into which [Ssthusskhlh] projected its selfness. It had somehow gained knowledge of the rules of this Universe, presumably combining the memories of the corpse with [Ssthusskhlh]'s own mentality, and proceeded to exercise power that [Ssthusskhlh] presumed was meant for whatever it was that created those rules in the first place.
[Ssthusskhlh] idly wondered if this power was based on the enigmatic emotions it had previously dwelled on, or if this power could be accessed by [Ssthusskhlh].
However, [Ssthusskhlh] knew the greater priority here was to determine how dangerous this new entity was, both to the passengers of the ship and to [Ssthusskhlh] itself.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

"Don't fire," Misa reminded the radians, though she vaguely wondered if those would be her last words. Misa was convinced, however, that this was not an action that Erg, undead or not, could possibly be capable of. Therefore, this new creature must have been the result of some sort of interfering entity that akumanderkind had not yet encountered.
"Commander," Gauss whispered, "if this is our death..."
"Shut up," Misa whispered back.
The corpse of Erg stood there, evidently staring at the akumanders. It was particularly unnerving that its skin was still deep green.
"Speaking," it suddenly said. "Communication attempted with... half-known creatures, labeled 'akumanders'."
It released another torrent of random sound and, though many of the akumanders braced themselves, nothing seemed to happen.
"...of intelligence... inconsequential to mine," the corpse returned to speaking normally. "Leveled below me. Incapable of law-bending."
"Who are you?" Misa asked. "We do not mean you harm."
The corpse immediately turned its attention to Misa and released more random sound.
"Leader," it then said. "Of power-quotient... inconsequential compared to subordinates. Of intelligence-quotient... inconsequential compared to subordinates. Of ..."
The corpse seemed to pause, as if it did not know the proper word to say.
"...vocabulary of this body is inadequate to express such a concept. These creatures limit me. Leader's appointment appears relatively arbitrary."
"Who are you?" Misa asked again.
"Leader asks for my identity," the corpse said. "Vocabulary of this body is inadequate to express such a concept. This body asserts that it is 'Erg Long'. It is a meaningless identity which I shed now, however, it can easily serve its purpose purely as audio-identity, as is evidently significant to these creatures."
This is not Erg Long, Misa thought to herself.
"Identifier still requested," Erg's corpse stated. "However, my identity remains unknown to myself, as my birth does not exist in memory. My metathoughts are evidently obstructed by... everything. I cannot identity myself until this is amended."


Within and without the captured ship

[Ssthusskhlh] then understood that this new entity was profoundly dangerous. It was unfortunate that the unknowing leader had sought knowledge that this new entity lacked, which led it to this decision to destroy everything, but such a thing was most likely inevitable.
Immediately, [Ssthusskhlh] enclosed the new entity in a static space and blocked its access from the creatures. [Ssthusskhlh] knew, however, that the new entity could not be destroyed by [Ssthusskhlh] as it was--and even if it did, the severance of the new entity from [Ssthusskhlh]  would cause [Ssthusskhlh] to react negatively, likely with resultant self-destruction. And allowing it to continue to exist would eventually also end in [Ssthusskhlh]'s destruction, as it would feed on [Ssthusskhlh] 's existence until there was nothing left.
The only way to destroy the new entity would be to stop existing, since it was a part of [Ssthusskhlh] . But this was not an outcome [Ssthusskhlh]  desired. There was, then, only one viable option left.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

As suddenly as Erg's corpse said this, the empty space where the airlock door once was was suddenly replaced by a wall, evidently made of the same material as the rest of the walls in the ship.
One of the radians accidentally shot the wall, presumably out of surprise. The energy beam left a burn mark on the wall, but nothing else.
Then, Misa fell.


Misa Perception

Misa was dreaming, or so it seemed, though she had never had a lucid dream before.
She was standing on what seemed to be a hill, covered in green vegetation. The sky was a swirling mass of red and pink. She stood before a tree.
I'm sorry, the tree said to her. It then turned into a giant dark-purple blob that blocked a significant fraction of the sky.
What is this? Misa asked. Who are you?
I am... the blob emitted a strange frequency in Misa's head. You are currently in a state of unconsciousness. Your selfness is being projected into a pocket dimension I have created in your mind for the purpose of us conversing.
I don't... understand... Misa said.
It may well be beyond you, the blob said. You have recently encountered an entity consisting of my selfness projected into the corpse of one of your kind.
Erg Long, Misa said.
Yes. This new entity, through the knowledge contained in its body and the access my selfness has to means unlike yours, acquired powers meant for whatever gods govern this reality. Now it intends to destroy reality in order to realize the entirety of its selfness. Such a thing, I never intended to happen. If the new entity continues unhindered, it would mean the destruction of you and myself. To remedy the situation, it must be destroyed. However, the only way I can do this is by removing myself from it, at which point it will be unable to feed on the power source that only I can provide. Such a thing would require my own destruction, unless I can integrate myself onto the plane that you live on.
Misa stared at the blob.
What does this have to do with me? she asked.
In order to integrate myself onto your plane of existence, I must assimilate my being into one on that plane. For this, I have decided you are the best candidate immediately available.
Wait a moment! Misa shouted. I deserve a say in this!
Do you not understand? If this entity is allowed to run rampant, it will surely mean your own demise, not just mine. I do not intend to do away with your memories, you will still be, for all intents, "you". My own presence will be an addition, not a replacement. We will be "two", and not "one".
Misa wanted to dissent, but she knew, somehow, that this blob was telling the truth. It was such a sudden thing, but, after all, hadn't the events of the past while been sudden as well?
Very well, Misa whispered.
I assure you, it will not be a great sacrifice to you. Though, I must admit, it will be one for me. Only in the face of my destruction do I turn to this decision.
And then, the blob was suddenly within her.


Aboard the Tzyr 3

Misa awoke the next instant.
Some akumanders around her were watching her with concerned expressions, though so little time had passed that many did not even notice.
And, with the newly acquired knowledge she had, she despaired of the seemingly limitless power she had just lost by assimilating with this body. Yet, a part of her also marveled at the great power she still did have.
Then, fear. The new entity was still alive.
Misa vanished.


Static Space

Misa appeared within the static space and encountered the new entity, Erg.
Erg murmured a string of sound. To Misa's surprise, it was still not comprehensible at all.
"The source," Erg said, and immediately threw a great psychic force at Misa.
Misa countered with newfound psychic strength and focused great heat upon Erg.
Erg murmured more sound, and the temperature of the static space reduced drastically.
"How do you persist?" Misa asked. "You no longer have a connection to this world."
"The source assumes I require one to exist," Erg replied, then murmured sounds.
Energy suddenly occurred within Misa and pierced her organs. She spat blood.
"My power is beyond any connections," Erg continued. "The source is no longer consequential."
Misa reconfigured her body and released the energy, directed at Erg. It struck his neck, dismembering his head.
"No matter what you do," the floating head said, "my existence will persist."
"No," Misa said. "Without a connection, you are vulnerable to destruction."
"We shall see about that."
Erg's head murmured more sounds. A thorn of carbon skewered Misa's brain.
Temporary lack of focus, then.
Protect the brain, Misa thought to herself. It is our most important organ.
Misa concentrated and the thorn disintegrated as she reconstructed her head. She then reconfigured her right arm into a bladed weapon and appeared before Erg's head, striking it.
Erg's head split open, revealing a normal-looking akumander brain and blood.
"It is futile," the head stated before murmuring sounds. A sudden increase of gravity overtook Misa and she fell.
Fundamental laws of physics persist, Misa thought. The new entity cannot be capable of breaking them all!
Misa stood back up, ignoring the gravity, and released electricity. Erg's body and head appeared elsewhere, away from Misa.
"If our actions are futile," Misa whispered, "why did you flee?"
Erg did not answer, and instead murmured more sounds. A sudden chaotic energy surrounded Misa, who repelled the attack with telekinetic strength and reversed its directional force. The energy flew outward in random directions, missing Erg.
Misa then extended the configuration of her blade-arm into Erg's body, skewering it.
"Your powers are great," Misa noted, "but they are limited to this reality."
"Such limits are beyond you," Erg retorted.
"Such limits... are different," Misa said.
She then detached her blade-arm from her body, but not before reconfiguring it. The blade's structure became extremely unstable and exploded. Misa shielded herself with a psychic barrier as pieces of Erg's body and head scattered about static space.
Then, they reassembled into Erg's full body.
"It is futile," Erg said again, and murmured sounds.
A pulse of high-intensity energy erupted within Misa's body, but she significantly lowered its intensity and sustained little damage.
"...and now," Misa stated, "you suffer destruction."
"Your actions have done me no harm," Erg argued.
"Harm comes across in more than one way," Misa noted. Erg's akumander skin began to fade in saturation.
"The source causes an unnatural state..." Erg said. "This is... unprecedented."
"We reconfigured our arm before it exploded," Misa explained. "And it continues to reconfigure. When your body reconstructed itself, it took particles of us into it. Our particles bonded with yours and, acting in our interest, are now reconfiguring to turn you into nothing but a mass of pure carbon."
"I understand," Erg said, his voice becoming hollow and slurred. "Such a thing is something I would not have been able to do... and so, I did not expect it..."
Erg then lost his life, for the second time, as he turned into a statue of carbon.


Anywhere

The Divine One became aware of the intruder's death. This death managed to coincide with a significant change in an akumander.
The Divine One decided to leave it be, then.


First Septeta of Nereknon, 6,018th Year of the Lord
In uncharted space

None of the crewmembers had any idea what had transpired.
Misa decided to leave what happened a mystery. For now, they were a lost ship in unknown space.
She planned to return the ship to Uivoros and let the crew go back to their families, but, as for herself, she no longer belonged to the akumander race. The war, the cycle of life, all of it. She was going to leave that behind.
For she was now like a god compared to these creatures. She would search the Universe for purpose and meaning, for whatever knowledge she did not yet have.
It was such a big place, after all.
And maybe, after she had learned enough, she would create her own.