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Verse and Dimensions: Stories
The Gift
"The Gift" is an item of such anomaly that even the very knowledge of it is as nebulous as it is volatile and unpredictable, let alone being able to fully study and analyze it.
The information presented regarding The Gift is sparse, partly due to the omission of the more dangerous information and partly due to the lack of knowledge about it in general.
Discovery
The Gift's discovery was unprecedented and unintentional, at least to those who discovered it.
A group of workers from the Nexus Foundation had been sent to connect the last remaining unconnected monocosm to the Xaspunum Nexus. Nothing else was expected of or by the workers, other than the fact that the Nexus could finally be considered truly "complete" with the installation of these last gates. However, before being able to enter this monocosm and begin the project, the workers found interference with their equipment. The only way for them to install the Xaspunum gates would be by first resolving their technical difficulties. Following the "trail" of the interference, which was made readable by detecting it at a conceptual frequency, the workers came upon an odd…they failed to find a fitting word to use in referral to what they found. The "thing" (for lack of a better term) was discovered not too far from the monocosm they had been assigned to connect to the nexus. Upon discovering this "thing", those workers who were present within its radius experienced heavy disorientation, nearly incapacitated by it. The workers were removed from the radius of the "thing" before any permanent effects could have attached themselves. The leader of the work team deemed the "thing" to be the source and cause of the technological interference. Before any further action could have been taken, the leader of the team was perplexed when a message was displayed on his detection device, with said message appearing only on the conceptual wavelength feed. The message read:
To the Nexus Foundation. With love
The leader of the team classified this…"gift" as an anomaly worth studying, especially considering the message that seemed to accompany it. He isolated it within a bubble of reality for transportation, before warping it to the Nexus Foundation's command center. Then they went back to work, proceeding as usual. The command center had received the "gift" as well as its accompanying message, but the team of workers never returned or were heard from again; in fact no team was ever sent to begin with.
The mysterious anomaly that had been sent to the foundations command center, however, still remained, seemingly always having been there. Due to the fact that it was seemingly a "gift" from whoever or whatever intended it to be found, it was henceforth assigned "The Gift" as its name by the foundation.
Attempted analysis
The greatest point of contention among the Nexus Foundation is in regards to The Gift, and the analysis thereof.
That being said, The Gift has been incredibly difficult, nigh-impossible to analyze. Below are results from the experiments and research on the attributes of The Gift.
Effects on the environment
The Gift projects a field of "erosion" around itself when in an open environment. Anything within the radius of this field, even non-physical things, rapidly deteriorate until reduced to nothing if it remains in the field long enough.
One gruesome account tells of a human Nexus Foundation scientist who had gotten too close to The Gift and entered its Field of Erosion. He started looking older as he rapidly aged right before the scientists. He physically deteriorated and rotted, screaming out in agony for a brief moment until his vocal cords were next to deteriorate. Then only a pained dry croak was able to escape him and the skin fell from his body fell, followed by any other remaining tissue. After being reduced to a skeleton, the skeleton too deteriorated, breaking down into fine particles which themselves were also deteriorated, until absolutely nothing of the scientist remained, not even other people's memory of him. And all of this happened in the course of less than a single minute.
Those who have been wounded just before entering the erosion field, or were wounded while within it, find that those injuries never heal beyond the point they were at before being in the field. This causes extreme pain and agony for those afflicted, and no treatment in the Transcendentem Continuum is capable of reversing the damage. Thus the more humane option is typically to dispose of the afflicted. Because of these such incidents, The Gift eventually was contained inside a complete vacuum of anything else but itself, to allow for safer study of it as well as preventing any potential influence by the environment.
"Physical Attributes"
The visual attributes of The Gift are one of the most difficult properties to discern. Its appearance is dependent on the being perceiving it. Typically with many structures, the cosmological tier of the entity determines how they perceive it. For example, while a 3-dimensional being would see a cube, a 4-dimensional being would perceive a tesseract. With the Gift however, perception is even more warped.
The complete appearance of The Gift's true form is something that many are incapable perceiving, let alone processing and comprehending. Something inherent within the Gift's shape makes it paradoxical and nigh-incomprehensible. Scans of The Gift's elemental composition indicate a near-exclusive presence of the trosinic compound Betmu in its exterior. Betmu, due to its nature, allows beings to perceive it in every perspective besides and including their own. This is incredibly dangerous, and so the only "safe" and "ethical" way to determine the true appearance of The Gift is the hard, incredibly painstaking way. Researchers are equipped with special gear that makes them view only one facet of The Gift, tuned to the frequency of their own personal perception. All the perceptions of the Gift's facets are then compiled and virtually rendered. The problem is, each individual being has a completely unique unreplicatable perception of it, and so an infinite amount of an infinite amount of these perceptions need to be individually recorded and compiled. An algorithm has tried assembling infinite combinations of the different perceptions in a virtual simulation, but so far no combination has created any structure that is capable of logically or stably existing.
Rarely, there have been runic symbols recorded in the observation of The Gift. These symbols do not match any other textual form of communication in the Tracon.
Mental Effects
The physical properties are far less strange or dangerous than the effects it bears on one's mind.
The first and most common example of these effects is when beings attempt to view the full, true structure of The Gift. Nearly every unprepared being who even so much as glances at the true form of The Gift are unable to understand and accept what they are witnessing, so their minds collapse on themselves and are scrambled. The degree of this scrambling is beyond repair. Attempting to rearrange the afflicted's scrambled mind and piece it back together is a lost cause, as the "repaired" mind is barely any more useful then the scrambled one. Thus the Nexus Foundation deems it to be more efficient to simply put them out of their misery.
The more devastating effects of The Gift ironically have been bore by those who are more cautious in their study of it. There are many who believe that if they train their minds to be more willing to perceive alternate perspectives, they could be capable of seeing the Gift's true form with reduced ill effects. Some have even trained and meditated for most of their existence for this purpose. A fundamental issue with this philosophy, however, is that having a greater understanding of The Gift's nature prior to studying it will allow its ill effects to become more intrusive and harmful.
The novice initiates, upon viewing The Gift's true form, typically experience a lack of visual perception which can be temporary, but more often is permanent. They cannot describe what they saw, even when or if they regain visual perception. However, even more extreme cases have been observed. Some have lost total sensory perception, completely incapacitating them and rendering them comatose. No known method is capable of awakening beings from these comas, and so they are often put down.
The slightly more well-trained Adepts typically find the same temporary/permanent loss of visual perception as the novices do, but they are able to retain a fragment of something within their minds. This splinter of knowledge can only be understood and comprehended, at least partially, by the beings who absorbed it. The being is unable to convey the knowledge they have learned to others through any form of communication, being beyond all description. Whatever secret they come to understand was completely random, so it was just as likely to be something insignificant, or incredibly useful. If applied correctly then the being may be blessed with immense boons as a result. As for those given useless knowledge, like the winning lottery numbers on a random earth somewhere in the Tracon, they aren’t so fortunate.
However, this also has a dark twist to it. There may be those who experience and are granted (burdened may be a more accurate wording) "forbidden" knowledge, being privy to the darkest secrets and most horrible truths of the cosmos which they alone can only know. It is a heavy burden to be the sole bearer of this knowledge, unable to tell anyone else what they know. These dark secrets are detrimental to the bearer's mental health, and even after an eternity of intensive psychotherapy they will never fully be themselves again. Often the burden of this knowledge is too great, driving many to suicide.
The aforementioned symbols which have occasionally been recorded can also have effects on beings as well. Some who have attempted to translate it have come very close, but not close enough. The result is disturbing, with the being greatly psychologically affected. They repetitively spout out nonsensical phrases in an odd verbal language (which again do not align with any other known language) ultimately to the point of collapsing in a total mental breakdown. Sometimes, the symbols even manifest themselves on the beings' forms in eternally burning, glowing scars which do not heal or fade.
Many who study The Gift have found themselves struggling more and more to recall the details they learned, most likely due to some residual effects by the erosion field which affected their minds. Ironically, the longer they studied, the more they forgot.
The Contents of The Gift
The most captivating and enigmatic aspect of The Gift may be the question of what is inside it. Based on findings from research, it has been shown that The Gift is in fact a container. Data shows that the interior vicinity of the structure has properties completely different from its exterior. Therefore, many believe that something is possibly inside The Gift, even if it may not be physical.
It is hypothesized that The Gift's obscured nature is some form of a puzzle, which upon being solved will reveal what it contains. As for what that thing may be…the most prominent theory is that it is the summation of all the fragments of knowledge absorbed by beings, which are only mere specks of the bigger picture, minute pieces of an infinite mosaic.
This has sparked controversy among the Nexus Foundation, with its members divided into two major schools of thought over whether this full knowledge should be revealed.
The first school argues that The Gift's contents could reveal powerful and beneficial knowledge which will provide immense boons to the organization once it is deciphered.
On the opposite end, just as many argue that the attempted analysis of The Gift is an infinite waste of resources, and the endeavor to decipher it is ultimately meaningless as there may be nothing to decipher. Or if there is, what if the uncovered secret is dangerous? What if the benefactor of the gift had malicious intent and this was an act of terrorism? For all they know, the foundation could be opening a literal Pandora's Box, which will unleash untold horrors upon the Tracon.
Those on the other side laugh down at these critics, viewing them as an ignorant and superstitious lot who are too afraid of progress.
Despite the efforts of many, The Gift has not been unlocked, and its contents have not been revealed to anybody. Except for one.
There was one scientist who was going about a routine study of The Gift, when suddenly he had an almost divine epiphany. Everything seemed to click in his mind, and all the data and research aligned themselves to form the framework for what the scientist had to do to unlock it. To others, the scientist seemed to be raving madly, babbling gibberish, but to the scientist he was speaking the truth. Unexpectedly, the scientist suddenly bolted towards the structure which housed The Gift, and in his mania he released it from its vacuum. Many of the Nexus Foundation's workers frantically tried stopping the scientist from taking the Gift, swarming towards him. But he managed to take it in his hands and perform the actions he thought would unlock it. A guard arrived on the scene and opened fire on the scientist, fatally striking him down just a mere instant before he would have finally unlocked The Gift. But just before the scientist died, and just before The Gift's outer structure resealed itself, he caught a brief glimpse of The Gift's contents. And he saw-
Dragons
The Dragons are a subspecies of Aspect Lords established in Whateverse, despite their lack of nativity to this environment. Although once prosperous, they have since become endangered, with 24 remaining in Whateverse.
History
The Barrelplex is host to a diverse range of Aspect Lords. Those described herein only equate to a countably infinite drop, in an uncountably infinite ocean. As such, there are many other Aspect Lords, and groups/types of Aspect Lords which have origins that differ from the following description.
The Dragons, as perceived by the inhabitants of Whateverse, were not originally of such a state. In their earliest state, they were concepts which did not Exist. The basis of the Dragons was the consequence of Wheat distilling and recultivating itself from decayed Xaspunum in the orderless state of Nonexistence, resulting in concepts. In Nonexistence, the concepts lacked Existentiality. They were not bound nor limited by any definition other than themselves. The concepts freely performed their respective roles and functions independently of each-other, without interruption or interference by external influence.
Incredibly diverse, the different concepts held different perceptions of Reality. As a result, they inevitably clustered into larger conceptual spheres, which shared a common ideological system. Among the spheres was one controlled by the concept of Leadership. Leadership always held the welfare of its group as the highest priority, and never performed actions without consideration for the others. Although the concepts under Leadership's command had no free will against their leader, Leadership always had their best interests.
A certain archverse relatively close to the domain of Leadership’s conceptual sphere was infected at a ω+2 soupcount level by an External Hazard. Leadership, having remotely observed this, perceived an opportunity to spread its influence and ideals into the archverse by eliminating the threat to its inhabitants. Leadership and its subservient concepts unanimously decided to migrate to the archverse – entirely on the basis of non-Leadership concepts lacking free will.
The concepts, in their Nonexistant states, were not compatible with the archverse, and as such were unable to integrate with it. They could only properly inhabit it by conforming to its laws, allowing them to interact with its contents. Therefore, upon entering the archverse – called “Whateverse” by its inhabitants – all the concepts compressed themselves into states which were compatible with the properties of Whateverse, becoming Aspect Lords. In doing so, they adopted “identities” to communicate and interact with the properties of Whateverse. For this purpose, they formed constructs from within Whateverse’s environment as comprehensible avatars with which to represent themselves. There was a caveat to this, however. The Aspect Lords discovered that manifesting themselves into more intricate forms would cost greater portions their power, since more of themselves would be devoted to maintaining the avatar than using power. The more complex their forms would have been, the less “powerful” (e.g. capacity of exerting influence upon reality) they could have been in Whateverse; Likewise, the less complex their forms would be, the more powerful they could be in Whateverse. Based on this, they chose to manifest themselves into very rudimentary avatars, so as to retain the highest possible level of power in the transition. Due to the resulting simplicity and comprehensibility of the avatars, the properties of Whateverse consequently determined the avatars of these beings to appear as dragons, which were the closest matching archetype to the group of Aspect Lords in thus. Thus, the Dragons came to be.
After anchoring into their avatars, the Dragons attempted to align themselves with Apex, for the purpose of a mutually beneficial relationship. As proof of their professed loyalty, the Dragons assisted Apex in quelling the threat of the External Hazard with their Dragon Flames, which were effective in destroying the Hazard. Although Apex was relieved to finally have an apparently effective defense against the Hazard, conversely they were concerned by the presence of these beings. It mattered not from which the Dragons originated, as it was not Whateverse and therefore they were not inherently bound to its established laws, even if the Dragons chose to conform to them. Further concerning, was that the Dragons were Aspect Lords just as Apex – highly powerful ones at that, meaning they could challenge Apex if they so chose. To Apex, the Dragons were another variable that upset "the natural order". However, the avatar of Leadership – Mu – agreed with Apex’s ideology, and promised to do what he could to ensure that the Dragons follow Apex’s rules. As for Mu, Apex gave him the benefit of the doubt and chose not to bind him to their will, as Mu seemed eager to voluntarily follow Apex as it was. The Dragons, along with the recently-ascended Transcendent Deities below Apex’s command, worked together to combat The External Hazard and ultimately resolved to destroy its very source.
The Dragons had reached their peak in this metatime. As with all peaks, however, a fall was soon to follow. It first began with Apex becoming increasingly overwhelmed in their efforts to combat the External Hazard. As the Hazard spread throughout Whateverse, they lost more control over it, even with the assistance of the Dragons and Transcendent Deities; until eventually, they completely lost their whole influence. The Dragons and the Transcendent Deities failed to locate the source of the external Hazard, as it was beyond the domain of Apex’s influence. Ironically, the Dragons may have possibly been able to locate and destroy the source in their Nonexistent conceptual states, but that was no longer an option. This led Apex to finally come to terms – somewhat – with the fact that they could not control and manipulate every single aspect of Existence. With this realization, they announced that the Dragons may as well be freed, since it did not matter anymore given the circumstances. Mu was not happy to learn this, as it presented a conflict of interest in that he had no intention of changing the way he governed his group. However, now that it seemed like an option to the Dragons, presented by a perceived superior of Mu for that matter, the other Dragons quickly became restless. They wanted to be free, and Mu was trapped in a dilemma. He did not want to lose control, as it further eroded his capability of embodying Leadership, and his concerns were now compounded by the threat of a potential mutiny staged against him if he were to grant free will to the Dragons. Conversely, however, Mu did not want to keep his subjects unhappy and unsatisfied for the sake of his own selfish interests. He realized that if he truly was the good leader he believed himself to be, he would give them what they wanted and he could be an even better leader for it.
While Mu initially granted substantial freedom to the Dragons (with great reluctance), enough to satisfy his most vocal critics, the beginning of a Whateverse-spanning war with a being known as The New God, who had weaponized the Hazard, would require far greater levels of coordination amongst the Dragons and all others which were loyal to Apex. Mu demanded that even with free will, the Dragons were still expected to follow his rules, and if they did not like it then they were more than welcome to leave. Upon this offer being presented, Pi abruptly left the group begrudgingly. He felt disgraced and humiliated by the lack of loyalty the other Dragons had for him, and the incident was made further awkward by the fact that Pi was the only Dragon to leave. However, that was not his primary reason. Pi cryptically informed the others that he was "in search of answers". He did not reveal much else before disappearing.
Eventually, Pi later returned, possessing a horrifying new form. He had aligned himself with The New God's army and seemingly intentionally infected himself with the External Hazard, determined to use his newfound power to wipe out the Dragons as an act of servitude to his new "master". Pi considered the other Dragons to be a threat to himself and the Hazard, as their Flames were the greatest deterrent against it. Furthermore, the other Dragons were the closest beings equal in power to Pi, and thus were the most likely to challenge him. Pi proceeded to exterminate many of the Dragons, nearly driving them to complete extinction. Likely, it was the combination of Pi's resentment towards the other Dragons and heavy delusions brought on by the Hazard which led to Pi’s blind hatred and desire for the destruction of all other Dragons besides him. Pi continued his rampage, quickly reducing the Dragon to a mere total of 24 within the entirety of Whateverse including himself. A knight tried to step into action and fight Pi, but was quickly defeated.
The chaos was stopped when the Dragons Alpha and Omega confronted Pi. The two Dragons had been at odds with each-other from the beginning, but they knew that they needed to set aside their differences for the greater good of defeating Pi. In recognizing this need for unity, Alpha and Omega merged into a singular Dragon known as Alphamega, and sacrificed themselves. Alphamega ignited their Dragon Spark and detonated a powerful blast upon Pi. Subsequently, the fallen knight was submerged in Alphamega’s “essence”, which reinvigorated and empowered him. With his strength returned, and even more to spare, the empowered knight fought against Pi. The battle finally ended with the knight driving his blade through Pi. He was not dead, but rather gravely wounded, and thus defeated as he hastily teleported himself away before he could be finished off. Alphamega was close to death, however they were saved by the other Dragons at the last metamoment.
Following this, the rest of the Dragons retreated to a secluded pocket dimension on the fringe of Whateverse. It is there that they currently reside, disconnected from the concerns of the rest of Whateverse. With this, a once proud and prosperous civilization had been whittled down into one final, small desperate vestige of its former self.
Functions
The Dragons, like all Aspect Lords, possess pure conceptual essence. Prior to the creation/formation of an Aspect Lord, this may be known as Wheat. Following an Aspect Lord’s destruction, this essence manifests in the form of a remaining byproduct known as Xaspunum. A quality that is unique to the Dragons, however, is that they have an element of the material Trosinium composed into the structure of their avatars. When constructing their avatars, the Dragons did so with the metatoms whose abstract field potentials resonated most strongly with the frequencies of their representative concepts, to ensure the greatest stability of their forms. Therefore, there are Dragons like Alpha which is composed of Al, Omega which is composed of Om, and so on. The elements’ natural properties have no bearing on the stability of the Dragons’ forms, since the Dragons are beyond the laws which dictate these elements and can supersede them to change the laws as they see fit.
Upon a Dragon’s death occurring, the trosinium constituting the Dragon’s avatar is expelled into Nonexistence, flowing freely through it. As this trosinium Nonexists through metatime, it is progressively corrupted, absorbing its (lack of) environmental properties to the point of eventual toxicity. This process has produced a significant instance of Xitruzizitium, or to the laybeing, “Pain Juice”. There may still be latent traces of remaining Wheat and Xaspunum fragments embedded in this substance, but its volatility may not make it a viable source of “power” for any being seeking to harness it. With all but 24 Dragons in Whateverse having been destroyed, a significant amount of the substance flows through Nonexistence. It is not an immediate threat, but inevitably it will begin corrupting Whateverse if not neutralized in metatime. The effects exhibited by The Secode’s submersion into Xitruzizitium is a possible indication of what may occur, albeit on a far lower scale.
Flames
Each individual Dragon commands their own unique Flame with their own effects, exclusive to that Dragon specifically. The Flames are the essence of the concepts embodied by the Dragons, and by extension are the essence of the Dragons themselves. As the pure concepts cannot fully manifest at this level, Dragon Flames as perceived within Whateverse are mere limited representations of the concepts, on a level in which they can “Exist”. In the same fashion that “Pain Juice” is scientifically categorized as Xitruzizitium, Dragon Flames are scientifically categorized as “Wheat”. That is, the Flames themselves are equivalently representative of the Wheat which formed the conceptual bases of their respective Dragons. The Flames are specifically bound to their respective Dragon as long as the Dragon Exists. In the course of a Dragon’s Existence, the concept which the Dragon embodies remains suspended in a stagnant state, as it is bound to their avatar. Only if the Dragon is destroyed, and the tether anchoring the Nonexistent self to its Existential avatar is removed, is the concept released and spread throughout reality. At this point, the Dragon’s Nonexistent self completely dissipates, having become inseparably intertwined with the avatar. However, as long as the Flames continue to “burn”, their representative Dragons are not truly dead since the Dragons originate from the concepts themselves. They can never return to a state of full sentience, however, and can never regain form.
This is why following Pi’s extermination of the Dragons, a rapid development of lower archverses took place, with many of the Flames being released to freely spread and propagate their concepts. All other concepts otherwise naturally developed, although at a much slower pace without enhancement from the Flames.
It is worth clarifying that Dragon flames have no association with trosinic flames (the flames which originate from corresponding trosinic elements). Trosinic flames such as Phire and Omiflames originate from the trosinic elements themselves, produced as the result of metachemical reactions. Meanwhile, Dragon Flames are forces unique and specific to individual Dragons. An easy way to differentiate is by remembering that relative to the trosinic flames, Dragon Flames are the xaspunic equivalent (Xaspunum, as previously exhibited, may be subjected to certain conditions in which it is refined into its wheatic components).
The use, knowledge and effects of a Flame can be "harnessed" by a non-Dragon, even taught to them directly by the Dragon themself if so chosen, although this isn't always done. Typically, the perceived color of the Dragon's Flame is the same as the perceived color of their form, although this is not a deciding factor. All Dragon Flames effectively nullify and destroy instances of the External Hazard, and are therefore considered an efficient repellent against it.
Dragons also possess what is known as a "Dragon's spark". This is a function which “ignites” the Dragon’s Flame, creating a brilliant explosion which affects all within its influence. This action is the equivalent of suicide, as igniting the Dragon's spark will destroy the Dragon’s avatar. Therefore, it is only used as a last resort.
Known Flames
Below are all the known Flames and their effects:
White: Alters beings’ perception of reality to be more objective and "logical" – bore by Alpha.
Clear: Infohazardous encryption of information – bore by Beta.
Rainbow: The combination of every Dragon Flame and their effects – bore by Mu.
Yellow: Mentally enslaving targets, subjecting them to the will of the flame's wielder – bore by Pi.
Orange: Metatime distortion/alteration – bore by Rho.
Green: Encouragement/facilitation of life, growth and fertility – bore by Theta.
Golden: Creating artificially high perceived value in its target, inciting extreme greed in individuals – bore by Phi.
Chi: Healing and transmutation – bore by Chi.
Black: Sedates aggressive beings and fills them with compassion – bore by Omega.
Mu’s Dragons
Alpha
Alpha is a destructive and rash Dragon, contrary to how many would envision a Dragon of Logic behaving. He is straightforward and logical to a detrimental point. Alpha is emotionally detached from situations and outcomes, tending to view them in a more objective – some may argue apathetic – perspective. Thus, he usually performs actions not necessarily based on what may be the "right" thing to do, but rather the most "logical" decision. Alpha typically proposes solutions which the other Dragons perceive as drastic and cruel. If a war is ravaging a large archverse, he would elect to simply destroy that -verse, thus removing the conflict itself.