Ravens of Eternity

463 Dark Communion, Pt A sense of deepening horror spread across Freya and Raijin’s mind. It occurred to them that their earlier assumptions about Godeater was both incredibly close and incredibly far away. Whatever it was encompassed more than a mere antivirus or antibiotic.

They realized that it was actually some kind of complex defense mechanism that was anchored multidimensionally through every universe. It existed solely, or at least primarily, to ensure some kind of balance within every universe.

It was literally protecting something that neither of them could fully comprehend or understand – something far larger than themselves. As it said, it was correcting something that was infinite and encompassing.

Both felt as though they were infinitely small against a vast presence, as though they were ants standing next to a human.

How it even attempted to communicate with them now was by itself a mind blowing realization. For all they knew, it could have simply wiped them out without a second thought and continued about its duties.

Still, they both identified with Godeater to some degree. Freya understood that it had a connection to life itself, that its primary goal was to preserve it. Raijin understood its pragmatism and dedication towards its nature.

And although they certainly could stand alongside it and agree with its purpose, there was no way either of them could allow their galaxy to get erased. They simply couldn’t stand there and accept the wholesale destruction of human and drogar life.

Godeater might see people as some kind of corruption that’s infecting reality, but the fact was that people chose their destinies. They had the capacity to change their natures individually, and as a whole.

Both believed that had to count for something.

.....

“Alright, so maybe we are cancerous,” said Freya and Raijin. “And maybe our actions are affecting multiple galaxies across all kinds of universes. But we’re also capable of fixing our wrongs – that’s what makes us what we are.

“Simply deleting us from existence takes away our agency, our ability to choose what’s best for us and for the galaxy around us.

“You say that we’re what… we’ve got a Tier 3 Awareness… How are ever gonna get above that if you genocide us? And besides, we understand cancer. We’ve got all kinds of procedures that cut out malignancy, or reduce their effect, or completely turn them around. Why can’t you start from there, instead of outright annihilation?”

Godeater looked back at them with its piercing pink eyes. It seemed to peer at them as individuals, despite looking through shared eyes.

There was a sad look in its gaze, though neither were sure if it was attempting to emote, or if that was its natural state.

“The manifestation of corruption is not the same as carrying the potential of corruption,” it said after a moment. “Malignancy is easily cut only when the corruption manifests itself beyond repair. The problem is simply that your species is a breeding ground for corruption. The potential of it is so great, that the only solution is removal.

“All of you carry this potential deep inside, as a feature of your natures. It is inextricable from your instruction set.”

“Again, we come back to the fact that these instruction sets were generated by the universes themselves,” argued Raijin and Freya. “Deleting our existence won’t remove the system’s capacity to create more.”

Godeater angled its head as it processed what they were trying to tell it. Then nodded.

“Agreed,” it said. “You are all the product of the system, perhaps as a way to keep the system itself in an unknowable kind of balance. Perhaps you are all necessary to its function.

“However, you must also realize that so am I. As you function based on your nature, I too am called towards mine. I cannot behave outside of my nature.”

Godeater’s albino form reached out towards the two of them with one hand, as though to grasp them. But they both automatically hopped backward defensively.

Not that it mattered much – shadows spread from all around them even as they sailed through the air. It shot at them from every angle and every direction, and pierced their skin as though the shadows were made of needles.

Their scream echoed all around as the pain seeped into their fused body.

Everything around them began to vanish and disappear as Godeater’s darkness descended on them. The blue skies, green grasses, brown soil all faded away slowly. The dandelions came to a standstill as the winds receded to nothing.

Their vision faded to black even as they were swallowed up.

Outside, Godeater’s reflection spread across Thanatos’ black hull. Despite both being black as ink, there was an emptiness and coldness to the void that made it absolutely distinct. And of course, there were the tendrils of dark purple energies that bordered between Godeater’s shadow and whatever it was consuming.

Its darkness swept across the omnitronium-laced chitin with ease, even as it dug deeper into the exoframe below. The absolute void sank down further and coursed through Thanatos’ liquid circuits and consumed its numerous modules and systems.

That dark void crept across the devastator’s walls and ceilings and floors and literally bathed it all in shadow.

Freya and Raijin could easily feel Thanatos’ existence get erased plate by plate, section by section, atom by atom. They felt the ship slowly vanish as the moments ticked on. Whatever awareness they had was eroded bit by bit.

And at the same time, both Freya and Raijin were also taken and consumed. Not just physically, but mentally as well. Because they were telepathically linked to each other via Thanatos, Godeater spread through them all equally as fast.

They felt a wholly unique pain that swept through all three of their bodies, as Godeater consumed Thanatos’ hull and Freya’s body and Raijin’s nanites with equal speed and fervor. Their screams echoed up and down the passageways as every atom of their bodies were torn away and turned to shadow.

What was worse was that they were still connected telepathically and digitally to Godeater itself, and could feel it consuming them.

They distinctly felt its vast void spread and grow while their own bodies and consciousnesses diminished and vanished.

The excruciating sensation of being destroyed atomically came with a kind of calm relief after the fact. And perhaps it was that feeling that horrified them the most – that their pain and suffering was easily mended and easily removed.

But it came at the cost of who they were, what they stood for, and everything that defined them.

Something deep inside the both of them couldn’t abide by that. They didn’t suffer through the worst moments of their lives only to be taken away so easily. They didn’t grow past those struggles and conflicts simply to bend over and die.

Their actions and their lives had meaning – nothing and no-one could take that away from them.

Arcs of purple energies lashed at Freya’s body and slowly converted her into shadow. They lashed at her physical self and tore it apart wherever they fell. Each time they struck her painfully, they left ink-black gashes on her body.

Those shadowy scars seeped deep into her skin, sunk down into her muscle, and bit right into her bone with excruciating pain.

But she was having none of it, even as more of her body vanished into darkness.

Freya poured every ounce of energy she had left into her Ascendant Form, and absolutely maximized everything that she was. Her body hardened, her pace quickened, her mind sharpened, and her resolve became unwavering.

Thanatos followed suit as it always had, and strengthened its own body and systems.

And equally as critically, Raijin too was caught up in their energies. She felt an extra dimension of energy flow through her nanite swarm. This caused her to almost immediately activate Machine Trance on top of Ascendant Form, which completely synchronized their biological and digital natures together in near-perfect harmony.

Their combined strengths poured through their minds and bodies and flowed through every atom within themselves. Together, they steeled themselves against Godeater’s advance, and pushed against it on every level possible.

Time slowed significantly down to fractions of a nanosecond, even as their overwhelming energies cascaded out of them.

Their minds and bodies literally resisted the encroaching shadow and held back the dark purple tendrils of energy. At the same time, they slowed the darkness that had already begun to creep into their minds and hearts to the point where it all came to a near standstill.

Both fought hard against Godeater’s void with everything they had, everything they could summon from deep within.

And both felt a wave of surprise from Godeater’s vast consciousness, as though it was amazed by their temerity and resistance to it.

In truth it had never experienced such defiance. It was encoded into the system itself, and nothing had ever given it pause. Not like this.

Yet somehow, these individuals were able to slow it and stope it. Not just once, but twice now. The first simply to observe them. And now, in direct opposition to its nature.

It felt a kind of awe and also dismay at their capabilities.

“Stop,” it told them. “All of you are only delaying the inevitable. Every nanosecond that passes only causes greater and greater harm to your galaxy, and to fractal galaxies. You must acquiesce quickly, or damage to the system may become permanent.”

“No!” screamed Freya and Raijin. “You’re wrong! We might be eroding our galaxy, but we’re also saving it! We are a self-correcting system that if anything needs guidance, not erasure! And we’ll do everything we can to prove that to you!”

“Do you honestly believe you have the wisdom and the knowledge to correct a system you barely know anything about?” Godeater refuted. “That is the talk of a foolish species that does not understand its own limited capabilities and capacities.”

Freya and Raijin’s energies flared out at that exact moment, and pushed back against Godeater. And for a brief moment, completely halted its advance.

“You said our existence is fractal, right?” said Freya and Raijin. “Well, that means if we do fix ourselves in our galaxy, that means that our mirror selves up and down the system would be doing the same, don’t you agree?

“Proof of our abilities are happening right here, right now. If we can fight against your nature, something far more advanced than us, then we can easily fight back against our own nature! We can reverse the corruption! We can undo the damage we’ve caused!”

Godeater paused once again as their truth sunk down into it.

Not that it was ignorant of their capabilities in the first place. It was always aware of the potential that people were capable of, for good or ill.

“It no longer matters, no matter how much I empathize,” Godeater replied. “Your attempts at self-rehabilitation are futile against your species’ long history. You have all run rampant for too long and are far beyond reclamation and redemption. More than that, you few cannot possibly hope to change the rest.

“No, the only recourse is to dissolve your instruction sets and redistribute them back into the system. There, you will all be remade as required. All we can hope for is the removal of your corrupt natures once you re-emerge.”

Godeater’s presence then grew significantly. It was as though it activated its own versions of Ascendant Form and Machine Trance, whose energies were so powerful that Freya and Raijin were completely overwhelmed by it all.

Despite everything that they were, and everything they accomplished, both seemed insignificant when pit against an unending infinite.

Godeater’s void swept over them in an instant and consumed them on every level, completely. Not even their screams remained, only darkness.

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