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104. Red Obelisk
🕑 Added 2023-11-05 08:16:02 +0000 UTCA brilliant beam of red light shot to the night sky, the heavy dark cloud parting on its way letting the Obsidian Valley be bathed in the starlight of the Milky Way for the first time in hundreds of years.
This beam had for point of origin a massive tower of organic metal piercing from the largest volcano of the valley in which it had been constructed.
The crimson red lozenge loomed over hundreds of kilometers square like the piercing eyes of an evil overlord gazing down on his territory, and for a minority, this was the case. A Devil controlling the world around him, bending matter and light to his will, a Tyrant of Metal that dictated all that should and shouldn't be.
Once the beam emitted reached close to the border between space and the limit of the atmosphere it suddenly froze, the very tip concentrating into a sphere then in a shower of crimson light equal to a small sun it exploded from its hexagonal plates of light interlocking to one another.
This hard light traveled at incredible speed in the sky blocking the two suns, and all other astral bodies in its wake as it covered a third of Pandora, turning the world into total darkness with the sole light source the bioluminescence of the primeval forest, ancient plain, and massive coral reef.
At the same time, the Green Obelisk within the Hallelujah Mountain shot a sphere of green light, the organic metal between smooth silvery surfaces pulsing to the rhythm of an unknown heartbeat, glowing brighter than ever.
Simultaneously within the Cove of the Ancestors the Blue Obelisk acted in this similar unusual way, its arctic blue light emitting a sphere of this color, then all three Obelisks show their light intensify to the point no matter where on the moon someone was at least one of their light would be seen and also the sky turning completely dark plunging the moon in total darkness
The next instant all three Obelisk turned off, their light disappearing before the millions observing the phenomena, then the sky reappearing all of a sudden as the shield dissipated into motes of light.
It was followed ten seconds later by each Obelisk turned on again in synchronization, the losange on their upper part turning into miniature stars as they fired their respective colored beams again, this time with an intensity never seen before.
The air around them thrummed with unknown energy as each beam exploded at the same height creating the very same hard light from before that spread in rolling waves covering the entirety of Pandora in only a few seconds.
The sky morphed into a sea of hexagons darker than any material known to mankind, the only noticeable factor was the pure white line between each of them and then like a massive screen, it shifted giving the sight of the sky back to all.
Then like a screen being turned on the sky shifted back to what it once was, the night sky, midday, dusk, and more that had been blacked out came back in their full majesty as the planetary shield became completely invisible, camouflaged into the background with only precise equipment could detect.
Within this volcano from which the red beam was at the base of the Red Obelisk a muscular human taller than most Na'vi in highly advanced and sophisticated power armor.
His helmet was off showing his strained breathing and trickling with dark blood from ears, eyes, mouth, and nose as he slowly recovered his strength on one knee.
"Finally… Fucking finally… We did it… Fourteen years of work and so much effort finally bear fruit. It's an addictive feeling.", Liam said with a large grin past the maniacal and far too wide for a human.
All of his efforts, the blood, sweat, and tears poured into this singular goal, the horror he caused, the Element extracted for hundreds of hours from his body, months carving the Tek Replicator, and the innumerable sacrifices he made.
It felt great beyond words, the constant agony in his body a footnote in comparison.
Relief flooded his being, all the fear that had been brewing in his mind evaporating at the sight of the Red Obelisk. The magnificent tower that he could feel like any of his body parts, the vein-like structures growing within beating to his pulse.
The Obelisks had been built and now the reasons for their creation had come into being, each of the three was connected creating a sort of perpetual motion machine with a positive feedback of energy thanks to intricate uses of the Element, the ambient Psionic and magnetism vortex products of the high concentration of pandorium.
This virtually infinite source of energy was used to power the planetary shield, a construct weaved of hard light, monitored magnetic field, and controlled gravity in the shape of a bubble close to Earth in size.
From supernovas, meteorites for all that was natural to attack such as explosives orders of magnitude stronger than any fusion or matter-antimatter bomb, biological weapons, or space debris manually thrown at the moon.
Nothing but the extreme force of the physical universe could hope to crack it open, but it wasn't only this… The shield had more function than protection against the outside. It could emulate the effects of stars on the moon's surface, giving light and energy to life on it in case a change of orbit is needed.
But the shield and what it could do are but a fraction of what the hyper-advanced towers of living metal could do, their equally important goal could be started for his Ascension.
"We will survive together, We will live and thrive.", an entrancingly beautiful white-haired Na'vi said, lovingly placing herself against his armored back, her clawed hands moving as she helped him stand up while she gazed worryingly at his form.
"Yes, we will… We will forever and ever. Nothing will separate us for we are one.", the post-human said softly accepting his mate Avatar's help, he was exhausted beyond the limit of his genetically engineered body but contradictorily he also felt the exact opposite, his being pulsating with energy, his blood no more in its almost entirety.
Calling him human with only his physiognomy would be a very wrong assumption, this was due to one of the many sacrifices he had made and by his very biology. The Element had accelerated the process of his body transformation by hundreds of times forever altering him but it was better than many dark futures.
His alienation from what he once was evidently expended far more than his mortal shell. Still… He had kept as much as he could, his adoption of Miles, his friendship with Grace and Jake, the irreplaceable of what made him have consciousness and connection to 'mortals'.
These relations were true, he didn't fake them or lie in his sentiments to them, but they were not irrational, they held purposes born out of a need for self-preservation out of the fear of walking too deep into the rabbit hole, this was more applicable to Miles than all others.
What made him human might be gone but he kept what was necessary to not turn into a monster. One by his standard, that is and that would make already one by others with far less meaningful opinion for they were far less intelligent.
Eywa could not stop this phenomenon, neither did he want her to, and neither did she, and neither could she even do so if both desired it.
It was inevitable, immutable, you can't be what you aren't on such a fundamental level and so as something beyond inhuman, he couldn't play the human because he simply wasn't one anymore and didn't delude himself in thinking so.
"Liam, thank yo-Oh my Eywa what the fuck is happening to your eye?! Are ya alright? How are you alive!", the panicked voice of Grace reached his ear and he stood up to his full height looking down at her state of disarray.
There was little to no crowd this time and Grace was of course part of it, it wasn't the place for such an event adding to it the local Na'vi population's current state or lack thereof. The cemetery of crystal status seven hundred meters away was not considerable in the equation.
"Huh… It's not organic anymore. How peculiar, I barely feel any difference. The qualitative change has not yet taken effect.", Liam mumbled his little analysis looking at his face from the perspective of a Drone, the cracks on his skin had grown beyond what it once was, a third of his face was gone, and half of his hair had turned into thousand flowing blue tendrils and his left eye was now a burning constellation of silver with the ghost feature of an iris.
"Yes and no but you can consider it as yes. I won't permanently die due to this bodily situation. You don't have to worry.", he said, trying rather badly to reassure the xenobotanist.
"The heck you mean by 'dying permanently'!? This isn't a video game where you fucking respawn! And why are you so happy!", Grace cried out, her worry clear, merely the hand of Tsu'tey on her shoulder hushed her down.
"I do not understand what this 'vidoo kame' is but I agree with Doctor Augustine, if not as engaged, my friend. For us, a great portion of your head is missing… Now ever ever-shifting motes of light. You are dying, that is clear to us, this ailment… Why does it seem to harm you yet it doesn't bother you,?", Akwey the aged Olo'eyktan of the Olangi explained with calm.
Unlike Liam or Eywa their mind couldn't comprehend this form of his and as such their mind simplified it or completely ignored it leading to a strange and probably horrifying sight, adding the blood pouring from his orifices and his very sickly tone with baggy eyes and everything else.
He didn't look healthy and that would be a correct assumption.
Though ultimately they were calm thanks to Eywa, hysteria was unwanted and a waste of time so she created an effect of global serenity for all that were sensible to Psionic, Na'vi, and Avatar. It wasn't to stop all emotions however and outbursts to a lesser degree were very possible but it helped immensely for what was before them was so far out of any norm though possible.
"You do not have to worry, trust me. With the Green, Blue, and Red Obelisks, no one has to worry, even less so for me. The sentiment is appreciated and acknowledged but unneeded.", the post-human added with a wide smile his left gauntlet disappearing to show his hand and specimen implant, roots and sinews of blue and purple energy mixed with his vein while flesh, skin, and bone were in majority of this same light that was his hair.
His hand was half gone diagonally from pinky to the index, the Tek Gauntlet the only way for him to interact physically he was a ghost possessing plate armor. And it was the same case for his left foot and most of this half of his body, the Tek Armor was the only reason he wasn't bedridden or in a wheelchair.
"Dying would be correct to what I'm living through but only partially… Passing, a transition, a rebirth… All these words and their synonyms would be more apt.", he pressed further on the Tek Gauntlet getting back on.
'And you're not the only ones that will worry… Better now than later.', Liam thought microseconds before the sound of air folding echoed, the sound of the Tek Teleporter being activated echoed.
Miles and Kiri had arrived from Hell's Gate after having pestered Culpa for hours, of course, Liam knew this from the start. Their arrival wasn't a surprise, it was he who gave the go-to for the cybernetic alien otter to teleport them here.
And so Liam's eyes shifted to an athletic tanned thirteen-year-old teenage boy taller than most adult human males running in his direction with all his trained body all the while screaming in horror, shock, fear, and despair with one single word as he had his eyes locked on him.
"DAD!"
At such a sight Liam crouched down for otherwise he would be far too tall, then with his arms spread wide open he formed a soft hard light shield above the Tek Armor to avoid injury and grabbed the cannonball of a boy in an all-encompassing hug.
"Dad, what is happening to you? Are you dy-dying? Please don't leave me! I-I do-don't! Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone!", the boy began to mumble incoherently between tears, hiccuping, and shaking voice, his panic rising without visible limit.
"I'm not going to, Miles. I will not disappear and neither will I die. I'm beyond this physical limit.", Liam said reassuringly, ruffling the boy's hair softly and staring right into his eyes, Miles not even flinching or looking away from those inhuman eyes that looked at him with care and storge.
"But… But… You are bleeding! Posterior epistaxis, pulmonary hemorrhage damaged lung, ruptured vein! And you are disappearing! You are dying!", the boy tried to argue, his mind having a hard time comprehending what was said. This made Liam proud for it was what he taught Miles but logic needed context to be applicable this was what was lacking here.
"Good observation, but inaccurate conclusions. What you are seeing… You can compare it to the metamorphosis you have studied biology or even puberty that you are going through. I must go through it, I cannot stop it. I will not abandon you even if the present me is to change.", Liam said the blood never stopped flowing while he stared into his adopted son's very soul, it wasn't a metaphor, he could feel it through a weak but growing extrasensory sense.
Liam's eyes widened in horror, a burning hot stake of pain stabbed him in the liver from nowhere, and his concentration slipped, a lapse in the control of his body. The careful hold he had turned into a crushing vice for a fraction of a second with enough force to crush the sturdiest hardwood tree trunks.
At the exact same time, the hexagonal shield of Miles Tek Belt flared to full power, fissuring and cracking in many places but before it shattered the lapse in control ended. It happened so fast that only Liam and Eywa comprehended what just happened, for the others it was just a flash of blue light with seemingly no meaning.
'I almost killed him… If I didn't make the belt or it was in a building where he took it off. Or I had put more force behind it or had my full strength.', the post-human thought mortified, ending the hug and standing up as naturally as possible, one wrong move and someone would die by his hand.
But there was something both more horrific and an incredible miracle by all standards, if he had killed Miles, crushed the boy's cranium, ribcage, and spine like a ripe grape with no hope of healing him back together… It wouldn't have been the end, Liam wouldn't have accepted it.
Grace held little understanding of how erroneous her words about respawning were and how death was nothing but a parameter for Liam to fiddle with.
Comments
Muhanad Ibrahim
Ohh how wrong Grace truly is, and funny she mentioned video game XD. Also as this earth is just a couple years in the future, wouldn’t they be able to search on the Internet “ark survival evolved” and find everything about it? Or some guy takes a picture and does a quick image search to see the old video game called ark. It might be interesting if this eventually happens and they discover that he is from a video game for real.
