I was almost out of time. In just two days the three months would be over and I still hadn't figured out everything needed in order to return to my body. Hunger had quickly returned with the other concepts needed for me to familiarize myself with the remaining creations but rather than help me, the abilities only burned up time as I fought to understand them and to summon their linked members. My little blip inside the relic, the representation of me, was getting increasingly closer to another sphere location and I hoped it would help me in some way.
In two days, the Tela were projected to reach the object that Time had left for me upon his death. If they reached it and managed to retrieve it for study, I had no way of knowing what would happen.
Little did I know the troubles that were taking place, how the armadas had grown exponentially, and how everyone was experiencing horrors and phantasmal ghostlike creatures who made progress through the scattered remnants of the star and system hazardous for everyone's sanity and health. Every burrowing creature that had lived underground around the hole between dimensions had been sucked through during the star going supernova along with a surplus of mud and dirt cr. Now they were all snapping at empty space, trying to blindly find their next meal and clawing or wiggling ineffectively as they tried to find their way home.
They were all slowly starving as they failed to realize that they were no longer within their original galaxy's soil.
Where I was stuck trying to work my head around concepts that were above my understanding, fleets were attempting to make their way toward an object that was messing with reality itself, causing prolonged disturbances in time.
It was almost as though, the closer a ship would get to the gigantic hand, the farther away it seemed. Further, not just in how long it would take, but visually as well, almost defying the readouts of the sensors telling the operators that they were within tethering range for boarding the massive hand.
Other alien races, not just the Tela armadas and U'lennea mercenaries, were gathering around the outskirts of the object's influence. Some even dared to send in smaller ships to see if they could make off with whatever the prize was under the Tela's nose though everyone was restricted to common space propulsion, limiting the speed they could achieve.
One thing that quickly became clear as communication channels were opened was that everyone felt that the secrets that could be gained here would empower whoever managed to seize control and no one was willing to back down.
Some, the more oppressed alien races, were considering a scorched earth strategy in the event that the Tela managed to secure the prize. They would use whatever weapons, their very ships and lives, if necessary, to do all that they could to stop the Tela from succeeding.
---
"Kevin still isn't back," George reported as Invicta fought her way through another heavily inhabited long section of spiraling tunnels that Nurse assured her was to lead to the domain of the Leva King. Of all the six that remained, Nurse suggested attempting to communicate with the Leva King first simply because his abilities were more stable and wouldn't end in a catastrophe.
Hopefully.
Based on Kevin's knowledge, the Hive Mother would have been the worst creation to communicate with, simply because she might simply try to eat Invicta and gain understanding through absorption. It would have been a fight, one that might have led to either Invicta's currently borrowed swarm body getting devoured, the Hive Mother perishing, or mutual destruction as they both unleashed their might on each other.
As for the other creatures... none of them, save the Leva King, seemed safe to approach. Sure, Hunger could have been a potential candidate, but Nurse knew of no way to communicate with the massive swath of gelatinous fanged feeding mouths. Corruption's abilities were understood to be nightmarish in their effectiveness and no one wanted to see what it could do to Kevin's swarm even though it already embodied the concept.
Loss was a dead end simply because there was no way of getting near it. It had no lungs, no eyes, and simply killed by existing. Focus too, wasn't able to communicate through normal means, being a gigantic floating mountain of spikes.
So, they had sent Invicta to track down the Leva King based on the map that they had seen in Kevin's memories. How Kevin communicated to the six was a mystery to Nurse. Nothing that she did could replicate his connection or allow her to send herself to wherever he had gone.
As for the Leva King, they had a little advantage that hopefully would bridge the gap in being able to communicate with him.
Sublimis.
Sublimis, or Ess as Kevin liked to call her, was one of his distant offspring. They hoped that, through an avatar, she might be able to learn to speak to him. When all of this was planned, they knew that they would have to tell her that Kevin was in trouble and that he needed her help. Telling her had required Tutor to teach her a lot about the universe and the state of existence as they saw it, seeing as Sublimis lacked a rudimentary education.
She did understand a surprising amount of useful and rather useless information, seemingly gleaned from the Last Engineers helm attempting to educate her. The more Tutor taught her, the more questions she asked and the more insightful she became. She even became excited to learn that Tutor would be educating her further while they had Sublimis on track heading to intercept the Leva King.
Telling Sublimis that Kevin was in trouble, once she understood the basics of how he was able to exist and move about at will... was handled in the best way that any of the AI or swarm could have handled it. Sublimis's response was strong, to say the least.
No one had known that a Leva could catch fire all the while sustaining their photon bulbs at maximum power for that long. For a while, she may have resembled a new star being born, simply from how much deep indigo radiance she released.
As for her catching fire, Meditati could only theorize that it had something to do with the energy that the Leva cultivated inside their bodies while baking inside the sun during life as an egg. Hearing that her parent was lost and in danger had caused her considerable stress that had led to her energy leaking from her skin involuntarily. It was only after a while of Tutor holding her and caressing her burning head that Sublimis had finally managed to snap out of it and calm down.
After she had regained control, she immediately headed to the closest star to circle it, basking and absorbing its energy while she and Tutor talked about what she would need to do to help them get him back.
All of this had led to this point in time, when Meditati had the cargo ship holding the Skii in position, holding just outside of combat range of the encroaching vessels neighboring the supernova, and Sublimis making her mad dash towards the distant Leva King in the next dimension. They knew that Kevin had wanted the Skii nearby when he claimed the object that Time had left for him, but they also knew that there were some ancient weapons at play in the field that were in the possession of the most destructive and vile alien races hired as mercenaries by the Tela. They simply could not risk those weapons being used, thereby either damaging the object in question or, if they got close enough, used to kill the Skii in Kevin's care. Meditati knew that Kevin's imitation vessels had to appear to be weak and commonplace, lest the U'lennea catch on that they were in danger and not in control as they thought.
Then there was also the issue of the artifact clutched in the grip of the desiccated limb. It was wreaking havoc on everyone's perception of time and from their distant vantage point, all of the vessels nearest to the epicenter rushing to claim a position of dominance were at a standstill. Their broadcasts were delayed, as though they thought they were still in transit when in reality they were simply sitting unmoving.
"I am nearing the first marker," Invicta reported as she flew through the air like a rocket. She continually dodged, almost instinctively by this point, as random spitting, dart-blowing, and leaping creatures targeted her as an oddity and their next meal. Traversing on the ground was out of the question this far away from a spread birthing location. Not many denizens had much in the way of intelligence, choosing mainly to fight and exist using instinct. Those that did have intelligence were the true dangers and had proved to be a great challenge for her while setting up their first outpost. Monsters in this dimension could hurt and kill her avatar. This had made her have to up her game and put forth every effort simply to survive, lest her avatar become overwhelmed and the swarm that it was composed of was forced to resort to self-destruction.
Thankfully it hadn't yet come to that. Even when pinned and at a disadvantage for some reason the local denizens were repelled when they tried to eat her, making her think that it had something to do with the changes that had occurred when Kevin had absorbed the additional concepts of the seven.
This made her a bit overpowered, not invulnerable, but definitely able to survive most creatures that stood at the top of the food chain in this dimension. The problem the further you went turned out to be the size creatures could achieve, turning her power into nothing more than the peskiness of a tiny nearly unkillable fly. Most creatures that were planet-sized tended to not even see her, but those that did were best avoided at all costs.
"I see something." She said as she flew upwards, trying to find the center of the passage she was in and to avoid the spread that had managed to exist in the sky. Some areas seemed to have weather or clouds, when in reality they were just masses of floating spread, waiting for their next meal to come along. Most didn't fly per se, simply existing by creating thinner gasses within their bodies. Due to these clouds and her considerable height, Invicta couldn't see the ground clearly anymore, simply seeing just a blur of colors and the occasional jutting mountain in the distance. The passages expanded the further you traveled from the birthing offshoots. It was almost as though this universe was designed to accommodate the growth of life. Sure, there were passages branching off that mega creatures couldn't traverse, only serving as continual spread development areas and food options for those that did grow powerful and wander farther than their brethren. In the distance, she could spy something dark and undulating through the sky. "I think I can see its tail. Start prepping Sublimis while I transform into a Leva hatchling." She said as her body had already started its quick transformation into a small version of Sublimis.
"I am ready..." she uttered as the world turned white for a solid second.
"Wow... that big boy has some range." She muttered as color quickly returned to the world around her. The Leva King had used his photon bulbs and had flooded the expansive passage even though he was a vast distance away.
"Alright, I am letting go of control and letting Sublimis take over whenever you are ready." She said as Tutor, Nurse, and George all worked together to port what Sublimis could see and feel through her helm, letting her take control of the smaller avatar of herself.
"Just be careful, there appears to be a powerful wind in this passage." She said as Sublimis took over and got used to being in two places at once.
"Wind?" Sublimis said as she released control and the propulsion that Invicta had been using to force herself to remain stable. Sublimis started to tumble, feeling the effects of the atmosphere being cycled and dragged in strange eddy currents around her. She wasn't in danger of striking anything, seeing as any ground was an immense distance away. Even mountains looked like pebbles at this height.
"Sublimis, I believe that this is caused by the simple movement of your ancestor moving through this passage. His slow movement causes ripples in the environment around you." Tutor said, teaching the young Leva and showing her the difference between outer space and places where gasses propagate like astral bodies.
"Oh, I think I get it. Is it like what father was falling through in the movie that he showed me? When he met Sela? Also, why do you call me Sublimis? Father always calls me Ess."
"Yes, indeed, it is like when Kevin was skydiving for the first time. As to why we call you Sublimis, that was what Kevin named you when you were first hatched. Ess is your special shorter name. A "nickname" or shorter version of your full name even though I don't understand how Ess is a shortened Sublimis. Would you prefer us all to call you Ess instead?"
Ess thought for a moment before answering. "Mmm... So, when Father calls me Ess, it is special?"
"Yes."
"Then only he can call me Ess."
"As you wish, Sublimis."
"So this Leva would be my grandpa?" She said as she looked at the black dot in the distance. She wasn't using any magnification like Invicta had been using so the Leva King was barely visible off in the distance. Sight, even though she was currently tumbling around, wasn't something that would have been an issue for a creature born with eyes. She saw with her whole body, making orientation irrelevant.
"Yes, though I am unsure just how many generations or how much time has passed since he released his offspring into our dimension. After we secure Kevin and get him to safety I would love it if you would ask him some questions for me." Meditati said, jumping into the conversation as the young Leva started to play with the violent currents in the air. Her vision range was so wide in spectrum that she could see the air currents like a sailor would observe the waves while at sea.
"Oh right! Let's go save Father!" She said, immediately becoming laser focused and abandoning her moment of play. It said something to Tutor about the novelty and sheer wonder the young Leva must have been experiencing to have been able to experience a place that wasn't dark and that had atmosphere.
Meditati sent a private message to Tutor, apologizing for ruining the moment of freedom that Sublimis had been enjoying. Tutor had been working very hard to try to keep the youngling stable and calm ever since they had revealed Kevin's plight. Sublimis was extremely protective of Kevin, and they didn't want her to come to harm while in their care, either mentally or physically through self-harm caused by her breakdown. Her state of extreme distress seemed to weaken her earlier and Tutor was unsure what had truly happened.
Sublimis straightened out and began moving rapidly towards the distant receding shape.
A wash of white flooded the passage for a second as Sublimis continually increased her speed. "He sees me," Sublimis said as she flared her version of indigo light, trying to answer back to the distant figure.
Her light must have done something, set something off because the normal roiling and turbulent atmosphere gradually calmed down.
Everything became completely and utterly still as though the very wind was holding its breath.
For several long moments, everything in the passage froze before a sudden massive shudder rippled through the vast distance. Following the shudder came a change, the atmosphere everywhere surged in chaos and violence like the very air was bashing itself apart.
"Something... something is wrong!" Sublimis shouted as her small form was smashed to and fro while she pressed into the chaotic headwind that suddenly seemed to fight her.
White strobes of light washed down the passage repeatedly, barely letting any color return to the massively distant ground. The Leva King was strobing rapidly and Sublimis was beginning to understand speech in the rapid flashes of light.
"Evil! ... Abomination! ... Tormentor!"
She had gotten the Leva King's attention and it seemed that he had turned around in the passage and was rapidly heading her way.
"Uh, guys... I don't think he is happy!" Invicta shouted as they watched the ground, vast mountain ranges in the great distance, start to rip and tear like the tectonic plates were made from tissue paper simply from the pressure and speed that the gigantic being was causing by accelerating towards the youngling.
"Sublimis! Run! Escape!!!" Invicta screamed as death raced toward the little Leva's avatar.
---
The world had changed.
Dean had tried to stay on top of the news each month after the Event happened but after a while, the chaos simply was too much to handle. Initially, prices had skyrocketed rapidly as the world dealt with the stress and panic purchases made by everyone. Then, like a miracle, the prices quickly dropped as the aliens worked to fix things. People all over the globe were fed daily and it was the strangest thing to hear discontent from the elite as they tried to frame it in different negative lights.
"The aliens are just trying to fatten you all up."
"They will feed you, clothe you, and then make you sign your lives away as their slaves."
"Nothing is free. Every last one of you should shun whatever these aliens give you!"
These quotes were just some of the commonly broadcasted opinions spread by those who used to be in charge. Sure, to some, they seemed like they were still in charge due to the size of their bank accounts, but to those who could see the handwriting on the wall, times seemed to be changing.
The thing was, the food that was given freely to those who had lost their jobs after the event was actually good. Each packaged meal came with labels stating that the food had been grown under perfect conditions, without pesticides, or cancer-producing agents, and even had a barcode as proof. Anyone could watch a video recording when they scanned their food's barcode that would playback a complete lifecycle, from seed batch all the way to the door where it was delivered in the end.
The aliens were completely open about so much of what they were doing.
They had factories, massive underground growing plants, textile machines, and clean production lines that produced foodstuffs and necessary items for those in need.
The last three months had proven to the world that something was in the works with the aliens and the moment of truth was about to happen. Yesterday there was even a live announcement, stating that one of the aliens running the Event had decided that it was time to move forward. Whatever was going to happen was due to occur in less than an hour around the globe.
Dean was still working at the Blazing Bean coffee shop and his shift still required his efforts for the next three and a half hours so he knew that he would get a front-row seat of everyone's responses to the changes that were about to occur.
"Dean! Get ready for the rush! I predict that everyone will want their drinks for this event." His boss said, even coming out of his office to don an apron to help.
"What do you think they will want?" Dean asked as he started to pre-prep shots of ground coffee beans into little cups. He didn't bother using the commercial equipment, choosing to simply rely on the "gifted tool" that the aliens had given to everyone on the planet. With his whatever-he-wanted-tool, he could grind beans into the finest powder simply by creating a funnel and dumping the coffee bean can into it. From there, exact amounts of the perfectly shredded beans would be released into each cup as he moved it along with minimal effort. He didn't even have to wash his tool, finding that it could atomize any foreign matter on its surface with just a command. All he had to do was to talk to it and tell it what he wanted it to do and it would show him the best way to go about doing it.
It was truly a cheat that saved him so much time and effort. These days, he used his tool for everything. He left his keys at home and simply commanded his tool to copy them for him. It worked as a watch, radio, cell phone, lighter, and could do anything he could practically think of. Sure, nefarious minds had tried to use their tools for evil purposes but they all quickly discovered that there were consequences to their actions.
The tools were smart and aware and they didn't like people who tried to harm or steal from others. This was how some people had lost ownership of their tools. It seemed that too many willful infractions led to those who didn't listen to the warnings to simply have their alien tool taken away from them.
This behavior quickly identified those with character traits that sought their own gain to the detriment of their fellow man. The interesting thing was, some people who had lost their tools had managed to get them back. It seemed that there was a program set in place that allowed those who had lost their tools to regain them, they simply had to prove that they had changed.
"Oh, honestly, I have no idea." His boss said as they both started to work in sync together as the little bell above the door started to get abused by the increasing number of customers coming in. They had worked together for so long that they could chat easily without breaking stride as they fulfilled every order.
"I couldn't imagine what they would or could want. They have already demonstrated that they have the power to do anything that they desire. Remember the news that they removed all the higher-ups of the cartels, war criminal generals, even political figures, and that they all were being held in some prison somewhere? I know that they did that to try to improve everyone's lives."
"Any news about the gang and military members in the chain of command?"
"Sort of. The aliens seem to be trying to reform them, even in front of their command structure. The funny thing is, none of the gangs can do anything to any member that chooses to listen, seeing as they still have the "no violence clause in effect." If anything, I bet that the change will have something to do with that. Mark my words!" Dean's boss said as he started to use his tool's cheating effects in earnest, using it to help him prepare professional-tasting coffee with minimal effort.
Yup, everything had become insanely easy the moment the aliens had given Earth these tools. No one needed to buy much anymore. Sure, things like lumber, nails, and common building supplies were needed but the alien's gifts had decimated the tool, cutlery, accessory, and personal appliance markets. People could literally drink pure water from any contaminated drinking source simply by asking it to filter out the bad materials.
Health and wellness, globally, was improving as never before seen.
"Have you noticed that everything is a lot more green than before?" Dean asked as he served a group of four their drinks. The tables were just about full and the overflow outside had started to fill up as well. It looked like it would be a full crowd today.
"Yes, I asked the aliens why that was happening and they said that it was due to them fixing the soil or something. Aeration I think was the word that it used."
"Huh. I wonder if it is why my allergies haven't bothered me much recently." Dean said as his boss simply shrugged.
"Maybe. They have changed so much, the food, engines, and even the factories don't pump anything harmful out anymore. It could all have something to do with it."
"It is just too bad they only gave each of us so little," Dean commented to himself as he thought about what he could do if he was able to get more of the magical stuff.
"Hello. My name is Meditati, and I am in charge of Uplifting Earth." a voice spoke clearly into Dean's ear as he heard several people gasp in the restaurant. Quickly everything became uncharacteristically silent as the alien known as Meditati spoke to every person on Earth at the same time in their own language. Everything that might have proven to be a distraction had turned itself off a moment before she had started speaking.
Dean's mind was a blur with amazement upon realizing that the alien overmind had finally deemed it time to reveal... her... name. He couldn't believe that the voice in his head was speaking with a female tone and accent.
The alien overlord was female?
"I am here to tell you that the time of peace has come to an end." the female voice announced.
"Wait, what?!?" Dean couldn't help but shout, joining the chorus of other voices.