Fingers of blue light pinched the heavily radioactive and freezing air of the cave then blinding blue light that drowned it disappeared with this minute movement, sucked in into a grape-sized ball within those fingers before being absorbed by them.
The being from which those fingers belonged became fully visible in the dim cave of Element. He was a naked human male made of pure blue energy, his body was muscular, each muscle group sculpted to perfection, his shoulders were wide and strong, his chest powerful and defined while his stature imposing beyond what should be possible.
His mane of hair and wild beard of blue energy was unkempt yet in a perpetual flowing motion as if in water or being blown in slow motion by the wind. His ethereal skin of the same color was fully translucent letting everything inside be seen, but there were no bones or any organs that might be found in humans.
The only aspects that might remind even of a living organism with flesh and blood were the glowing and pulsing purple and blue nerve and vein-like structures that took the general route of those two organ systems but ultimately focused back to a point of origin that didn't correlate to both to exactitude.
This point of origin was located in the middle of this man of light's chest, it was a comparatively small silvery lozenge with a smaller lozenge within that pulsed with both of these brilliant colors at the rhythm of the surrounding cave like a heartbeat
Then there were his eyes… The feature most distinct of all, they were two balls of pure fiery silver that were utterly alien to anything be it humans or Na'vi yet similar in more ways than one enhancing this feeling of dissonance, these two orbs gazed far beyond what mortals could ever hope to fathom nevertheless understand.
"So this is how it feels to be a Homo Deus or what I can call a being of similar status… To be free of all shackles brought by my mortal shell…", Liam said in his distinctively deep baritone voice that came from nowhere and everywhere at once, it was deep and multilayered and had a light echo to it making it both delayed and yet not.
He was experiencing many things at once, more than he ever did and it was continuously increasing as he rapidly got accustomed to his new higher state of being, one that felt right and earned, all these pains paying off in the sweetest most satisfying manner. He was feeling something akin to euphoria but far more intense, the emotions being deeper than what they would be from basic brain chemistry.
There were no more limitations brought by the existence of his admittedly good organic processing power that was once his brain… It couldn't be put into words easily but it was akin to having hundreds of him before Pre-Ascension working in tandems at full capacity and far above in proficiency.
It was continuously increasing too, not at an accelerated pace but it was, at the moment he was 'weak' compared to what other mature members of his kind could be, but that was normal he was just a 'baby' and as such was fated to grow.
Then there was his perception of reality, everything within the Alpha Centauri binary star system, where Pandora was located, to its last minute detail could be glimpsed, studied, and comprehended on an existential level by him without needing a glance, and like the last point, it was extending slowly but surely.
And that was only passively, promoting the presence of Element, of himself, would increase its spread. That was what he instinctively understood but that wasn't all, he could focus on certain points of the Universe no matter how distant and gaze at it like looking through the most advanced of screens.
His sight, or more accurately perception of the world, was not limited by the three dimensions of space humans could barely perceive with their weak sense and quantify with their primitive machines for what they truly were.
Liam was gazing at spacetime itself and even more letting him see what was and what wasn't without any direct physical limitation however like a human could stare at the Sun he couldn't do so indigently and without strain. Perhaps the comparison to a baby having difficulty gazing at a bright light would be better since that was closer to what he presently was, but in the end, it was the same.
It was only a phase, and like humans, he could have his own method of protection for this sight. The word Homo in Homo Deus was there for a reason, Homo sapiens may not be anymore but he was still part of the Hominidae and wasn't going to change how they became the dominant species.
Being a Homo Deus didn't make him Omniscient, it wasn't a word to be used lightly, and Liam understood it fully. After all, words had meaning for reasons even to a being like him, using them lightly was the greatest sin like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, it will damage them until their worth became null inevitably leading him or the ones he held important great harm.
In any case, partial Omniscience or not, his perception was not simply observing reality as is, but what shaped it such as the Fundamental Forces. His gaze was close to all-seeing in that aspect, quite ironic considering what the Na'vi called him.
He could see what made reality, strands of impossibility weaving it into being, from subatomic particles to celestial bodies. It was a poetic language, a melody, or a painting, the very codes that made the Universe what it was, its rules and history. It was beautiful, complex, and endearing and Liam barely understood it, a problem that he was going to fix.
The language used for Tek was created from it. It wasn't a mere copy though far from it, it was an adapted version of it, more of a still incomplete cheat code using Element shaped in certain ways within Tek to interact with the original code. The goal evident, was to change its tunes or what shade or whatever is desired to result in direct change in reality.
It might sound powerful and almost divine because it was in more ways than one but in its true essence, it wasn't so much different than a caveman who had learned to make fire with sparks from hitting rock together hard above dry plant matter. It was the same yet it wasn't, it was just that the medium was different giving an infinity of possibilities.
It was one of the reasons why sapiens meaning wise for Homo sapiens had become Deus meaning God for his new level of existence, even if Liam didn't agree and that it was an incorrect term to use but he knew others won't see it this way without the alteration of the mind being used in some forms.
Just like his mate Eywa wasn't a Goddess but an eons-old genderless Psionic hive mind yet for the Na'vi even if they would understand it didn't matter. It was a process that had already begun for Liam anyway, humans and sapiens being in general to things like him was in a lot of cases very binary.
All this new knowledge and understanding made Liam comprehend how deep his arrogance had been, he knew nothing before and still didn't, there was oh so much to learn. With this also came many insights that would drive the vast majority to true despair if they could comprehend it like he was and not just barely imagine it.
The true reality that nothing mattered had never hit him this hard, it was an obvious truth but none could truly grasp it like him and Eywa as he came to learn.
But this mattered none either, so what of it if everything didn't matter? There was no point in wasting the smallest amount of time upon it, and why need a reason to exist? Such pointless thoughts were born out of insecurities and a desperate wish to look for satisfactory answers that did not exist. Sometimes questions simply didn't have answers.
Then there were his memories, everything in the highest of detail, from his time in the womb of his past mother to his childhood at the farm, his graduation from culinary school, the years he had lived here, and even fragmented memories that this body came from.
With this came how he was here… And there was no definite answer, it was beyond his grasp and current understanding. It was the same two possibilities, either a random cosmic event or a random transdimensional eldritch abomination having fun.
Either way, it didn't matter, it wasn't like his opinion on the matter would change things. Thought going to look for his point of entry light years away with the movement of the Milky Way might prove insightful to find how to potentially know where his original universe was and at the very least give data on universal travel.
"This is incredible…", he mumbled, flexing his fingers one by one then his limbs and body in general, there were no muscles he shouldn't be able to move them but he did.
His body thrummed with a virtually infinite well of energy obeying his will, though it was more of a blob of Elements he was instinctively shaping than a body in and of itself. He wasn't a material being anymore after all and had none of their limitations which also means he lacked many of the pros that went with it.
But it was a minor inconvenience compared to bigger ones like the largest that was solved already and why he had been so pressed to finish Project Obelisk.
Those structures gave him a place to reside and a way to stabilize his presence in a regular three-dimensional space even if that could be seen as essentially a partial 3D shadow of what he truly looked like.
'The Nexus will need express work and so will the Obelisks. They are less than stable, and in five years fatal errors will happen… I knew there would be mistakes that flesh couldn't have seen no matter the time put into it but to see how it's on the higher end of my estimation… Is disconcerting.', was one of many of Liam's thoughts wired to the immediate problem to fix, his typical frowning habitude while in deep thought not having disappeared with the Ascension even if was having many more at the same time.
Work he would need to do, and a lot of it.
What he made while very impressive was hasty and faulty, it was only going to work without error for so long, he couldn't do one of the most impressive pieces of technology from a hyper-advanced civilization by himself in a bit more than a decade even with limited knowledge of their technology.
But since he knew his work was going to be defective in some form he made it so it was easily fixable by someone smarter than him, this someone now being the 'him' Post-Ascension and he couldn't be more thankful for his past self's wise decisions.
'Enjoying your new self, hubby?', the dreamy voice of Eywa suddenly reached his mind with a clarity and intensity never felt before, smiling at her words Liam gazed at where the Avatar of the All-Mother was and reappeared right in front of her by means none bit him and she could understand.
Like someone picking a jewel in a box from a 2D space without opening it, he could do something similar for a 3D one. Terrifying at first but not as much as it sounded since 3D objects were needed to effectively affect 3D space. It was far more complex but that was essentially it.
'Verily my love… More so now that I can fully hear and feel you without filters… Your voice and everything are truly beautiful.', Liam said through their empathetic link now an integral part of both of them as he placed his forehead upon the one of her Avatar, Psionic making the interaction possible before they kissed.
'You as well… You are the most beautiful being I have ever had the chance to be in contact with.', she answered, ending the kiss as she stared into his eyes, her pale pink iris glowing mesmerizingly with Psionic he was now able to see.
'Hmm, it's not like either of us could see a lot truthfully, not that I put in doubt the veracity of either of our statements.', he answered with a sly smile that earned a deadpan before both chuckled.
"It's time to grant a favor that is long overdue as my first action…", parting his head he said, the one for which the favor was for not of this world anymore.
"The human that died while helping the chosen to be Toruk Makto escape?", she asked more rhetorically than anything, still curiosity lashed her voice.
"Yes him, his action and sacrifice, while not an absolute necessity for our victory, were decisive in reducing the number of casualties and damage.", Liam said matter-of-factly, uncaring how cold he sounded.
"We suppose my presence would be of help?", she said and as his approving humm she continued, "Let's give back what was taken from him, he is under your jurisdiction We do not have problems with such action."
And so what followed took under two days as the All-Father and All-Mother and something that was nothing short of godly both giving equally important parts.
The All-Mother provided the Soul, Mind, and Consciousness, for short the Engramic Matrix of the individual that was to be reborn. She had kept everything safe like for all other humans that had died on her surface even if the level of preservation varied vastly depending on how and where they died and if they were worthy. Though they were all to be given to her mate once the Nexus was finalized for him to take care of.
As for the All-Father, her mate that she was standing next to hovering lazily he was gazing at what was held in levitation in a modified Tek Cloning Chamber.
It was a sleeping brown-skinned man of visibly Indian heritage kept in a standing position, he looked around to be in his early thirties and was very fit with clear muscle definition but also a healthy amount of body fat percentage. His only piece of clothing was a pure white pair of bulletproof boxers.
Two things stood out in the man's appearance, however.
The first was a metallic lozenge the size of a fist with no remarkable feature that grew out in the middle of his chest, between the two pectoral muscles, and around where the thymus was in position.
The second and most shocking of all, skin color, hair, ears, height, and many immutable features of his face like nose shape were the carbon copy of a man who had died thirteen years ago by an anti-personnel bullet to the neck.
The_Bip_Boop2003
Hello, now death is not a problem for Liam and that's one of the most powerful things about Homo Deus. Bringing back people from the dead.
Bye-bye!
My Patreon if you want to give me money and have chapters I have finished in advance, around 23.
SpoilerThank High Simp of Mephala, Atlas Des Glücks, Alhis, Andres Saavedra, Jeffrey Iverson, Dragon Cross, KO.Dragon, Tyler, Mickael Burcak, TheSuccDragon, THE SAVAGE KID, BlazeZavage, Eins Mensch, No_Rez, Victor Gonzales, scifighter, Krawn, Dkj224,Nicolous Ramirez, SirDep, Max Brown, Djinn wolftthrone, Chase, Kyle Sorensen, Pilot Pirx, Laplase, Nateica Burlock, Deathknight134, Young Dexter, Greenboy676, Jackietron201, Vasyl Čopyk, Victoria, Jen Jensen, Ein Mensch, WhataGreatNamelol, Bryan, Ryan Roberts, Naga, moon's sin, Darien Fields, Darrens Francois, nathan, Darth Bane, Zenith, N0T0B0K, kekk047, David, Scarletmenace, BIGSHOTSWAG, Carlos, Topher Daisy, Khetsun XD, enriv125, Saxon Bartlett, Alexender Haneke, Timothy Scholze, Xbox On, SamStrike, Icha, player1jannik, Aom Rattanapham, Djinn wolfthrone, Muhanad Ibrahim, Vaiolelai, Trollerw, SirDep, Doliliisgamming, Coolgye1801, NickDatBoy, Jordan Mckay, michael schiff, cocobum, Thomas Deyl, and everyone for the support.
[collapse]
Fingers of blue light pinched the heavily radioactive and freezing air of the cave then blinding blue light that drowned it disappeared with this minute movement, sucked in into a grape-sized ball within those fingers before being absorbed by them.
The being from which those fingers belonged became fully visible in the dim cave of Element. He was a naked human male made of pure blue energy, his body was muscular, each muscle group sculpted to perfection, his shoulders were wide and strong, his chest powerful and defined while his stature imposing beyond what should be possible.
His mane of hair and wild beard of blue energy was unkempt yet in a perpetual flowing motion as if in water or being blown in slow motion by the wind. His ethereal skin of the same color was fully translucent letting everything inside be seen, but there were no bones or any organs that might be found in humans.
The only aspects that might remind even of a living organism with flesh and blood were the glowing and pulsing purple and blue nerve and vein-like structures that took the general route of those two organ systems but ultimately focused back to a point of origin that didn't correlate to both to exactitude.
This point of origin was located in the middle of this man of light's chest, it was a comparatively small silvery lozenge with a smaller lozenge within that pulsed with both of these brilliant colors at the rhythm of the surrounding cave like a heartbeat
Then there were his eyes… The feature most distinct of all, they were two balls of pure fiery silver that were utterly alien to anything be it humans or Na'vi yet similar in more ways than one enhancing this feeling of dissonance, these two orbs gazed far beyond what mortals could ever hope to fathom nevertheless understand.
"So this is how it feels to be a Homo Deus or what I can call a being of similar status… To be free of all shackles brought by my mortal shell…", Liam said in his distinctively deep baritone voice that came from nowhere and everywhere at once, it was deep and multilayered and had a light echo to it making it both delayed and yet not.
He was experiencing many things at once, more than he ever did and it was continuously increasing as he rapidly got accustomed to his new higher state of being, one that felt right and earned, all these pains paying off in the sweetest most satisfying manner. He was feeling something akin to euphoria but far more intense, the emotions being deeper than what they would be from basic brain chemistry.
There were no more limitations brought by the existence of his admittedly good organic processing power that was once his brain… It couldn't be put into words easily but it was akin to having hundreds of him before Pre-Ascension working in tandems at full capacity and far above in proficiency.
It was continuously increasing too, not at an accelerated pace but it was, at the moment he was 'weak' compared to what other mature members of his kind could be, but that was normal he was just a 'baby' and as such was fated to grow.
Then there was his perception of reality, everything within the Alpha Centauri binary star system, where Pandora was located, to its last minute detail could be glimpsed, studied, and comprehended on an existential level by him without needing a glance, and like the last point, it was extending slowly but surely.
And that was only passively, promoting the presence of Element, of himself, would increase its spread. That was what he instinctively understood but that wasn't all, he could focus on certain points of the Universe no matter how distant and gaze at it like looking through the most advanced of screens.
His sight, or more accurately perception of the world, was not limited by the three dimensions of space humans could barely perceive with their weak sense and quantify with their primitive machines for what they truly were.
Liam was gazing at spacetime itself and even more letting him see what was and what wasn't without any direct physical limitation however like a human could stare at the Sun he couldn't do so indigently and without strain. Perhaps the comparison to a baby having difficulty gazing at a bright light would be better since that was closer to what he presently was, but in the end, it was the same.
It was only a phase, and like humans, he could have his own method of protection for this sight. The word Homo in Homo Deus was there for a reason, Homo sapiens may not be anymore but he was still part of the Hominidae and wasn't going to change how they became the dominant species.
Being a Homo Deus didn't make him Omniscient, it wasn't a word to be used lightly, and Liam understood it fully. After all, words had meaning for reasons even to a being like him, using them lightly was the greatest sin like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, it will damage them until their worth became null inevitably leading him or the ones he held important great harm.
In any case, partial Omniscience or not, his perception was not simply observing reality as is, but what shaped it such as the Fundamental Forces. His gaze was close to all-seeing in that aspect, quite ironic considering what the Na'vi called him.
He could see what made reality, strands of impossibility weaving it into being, from subatomic particles to celestial bodies. It was a poetic language, a melody, or a painting, the very codes that made the Universe what it was, its rules and history. It was beautiful, complex, and endearing and Liam barely understood it, a problem that he was going to fix.
The language used for Tek was created from it. It wasn't a mere copy though far from it, it was an adapted version of it, more of a still incomplete cheat code using Element shaped in certain ways within Tek to interact with the original code. The goal evident, was to change its tunes or what shade or whatever is desired to result in direct change in reality.
It might sound powerful and almost divine because it was in more ways than one but in its true essence, it wasn't so much different than a caveman who had learned to make fire with sparks from hitting rock together hard above dry plant matter. It was the same yet it wasn't, it was just that the medium was different giving an infinity of possibilities.
It was one of the reasons why sapiens meaning wise for Homo sapiens had become Deus meaning God for his new level of existence, even if Liam didn't agree and that it was an incorrect term to use but he knew others won't see it this way without the alteration of the mind being used in some forms.
Just like his mate Eywa wasn't a Goddess but an eons-old genderless Psionic hive mind yet for the Na'vi even if they would understand it didn't matter. It was a process that had already begun for Liam anyway, humans and sapiens being in general to things like him was in a lot of cases very binary.
All this new knowledge and understanding made Liam comprehend how deep his arrogance had been, he knew nothing before and still didn't, there was oh so much to learn. With this also came many insights that would drive the vast majority to true despair if they could comprehend it like he was and not just barely imagine it.
The true reality that nothing mattered had never hit him this hard, it was an obvious truth but none could truly grasp it like him and Eywa as he came to learn.
But this mattered none either, so what of it if everything didn't matter? There was no point in wasting the smallest amount of time upon it, and why need a reason to exist? Such pointless thoughts were born out of insecurities and a desperate wish to look for satisfactory answers that did not exist. Sometimes questions simply didn't have answers.
Then there were his memories, everything in the highest of detail, from his time in the womb of his past mother to his childhood at the farm, his graduation from culinary school, the years he had lived here, and even fragmented memories that this body came from.
With this came how he was here… And there was no definite answer, it was beyond his grasp and current understanding. It was the same two possibilities, either a random cosmic event or a random transdimensional eldritch abomination having fun.
Either way, it didn't matter, it wasn't like his opinion on the matter would change things. Thought going to look for his point of entry light years away with the movement of the Milky Way might prove insightful to find how to potentially know where his original universe was and at the very least give data on universal travel.
"This is incredible…", he mumbled, flexing his fingers one by one then his limbs and body in general, there were no muscles he shouldn't be able to move them but he did.
His body thrummed with a virtually infinite well of energy obeying his will, though it was more of a blob of Elements he was instinctively shaping than a body in and of itself. He wasn't a material being anymore after all and had none of their limitations which also means he lacked many of the pros that went with it.
But it was a minor inconvenience compared to bigger ones like the largest that was solved already and why he had been so pressed to finish Project Obelisk.
Those structures gave him a place to reside and a way to stabilize his presence in a regular three-dimensional space even if that could be seen as essentially a partial 3D shadow of what he truly looked like.
'The Nexus will need express work and so will the Obelisks. They are less than stable, and in five years fatal errors will happen… I knew there would be mistakes that flesh couldn't have seen no matter the time put into it but to see how it's on the higher end of my estimation… Is disconcerting.', was one of many of Liam's thoughts wired to the immediate problem to fix, his typical frowning habitude while in deep thought not having disappeared with the Ascension even if was having many more at the same time.
Work he would need to do, and a lot of it.
What he made while very impressive was hasty and faulty, it was only going to work without error for so long, he couldn't do one of the most impressive pieces of technology from a hyper-advanced civilization by himself in a bit more than a decade even with limited knowledge of their technology.
But since he knew his work was going to be defective in some form he made it so it was easily fixable by someone smarter than him, this someone now being the 'him' Post-Ascension and he couldn't be more thankful for his past self's wise decisions.
'Enjoying your new self, hubby?', the dreamy voice of Eywa suddenly reached his mind with a clarity and intensity never felt before, smiling at her words Liam gazed at where the Avatar of the All-Mother was and reappeared right in front of her by means none bit him and she could understand.
Like someone picking a jewel in a box from a 2D space without opening it, he could do something similar for a 3D one. Terrifying at first but not as much as it sounded since 3D objects were needed to effectively affect 3D space. It was far more complex but that was essentially it.
'Verily my love… More so now that I can fully hear and feel you without filters… Your voice and everything are truly beautiful.', Liam said through their empathetic link now an integral part of both of them as he placed his forehead upon the one of her Avatar, Psionic making the interaction possible before they kissed.
'You as well… You are the most beautiful being I have ever had the chance to be in contact with.', she answered, ending the kiss as she stared into his eyes, her pale pink iris glowing mesmerizingly with Psionic he was now able to see.
'Hmm, it's not like either of us could see a lot truthfully, not that I put in doubt the veracity of either of our statements.', he answered with a sly smile that earned a deadpan before both chuckled.
"It's time to grant a favor that is long overdue as my first action…", parting his head he said, the one for which the favor was for not of this world anymore.
"The human that died while helping the chosen to be Toruk Makto escape?", she asked more rhetorically than anything, still curiosity lashed her voice.
"Yes him, his action and sacrifice, while not an absolute necessity for our victory, were decisive in reducing the number of casualties and damage.", Liam said matter-of-factly, uncaring how cold he sounded.
"We suppose my presence would be of help?", she said and as his approving humm she continued, "Let's give back what was taken from him, he is under your jurisdiction We do not have problems with such action."
And so what followed took under two days as the All-Father and All-Mother and something that was nothing short of godly both giving equally important parts.
The All-Mother provided the Soul, Mind, and Consciousness, for short the Engramic Matrix of the individual that was to be reborn. She had kept everything safe like for all other humans that had died on her surface even if the level of preservation varied vastly depending on how and where they died and if they were worthy. Though they were all to be given to her mate once the Nexus was finalized for him to take care of.
As for the All-Father, her mate that she was standing next to hovering lazily he was gazing at what was held in levitation in a modified Tek Cloning Chamber.
It was a sleeping brown-skinned man of visibly Indian heritage kept in a standing position, he looked around to be in his early thirties and was very fit with clear muscle definition but also a healthy amount of body fat percentage. His only piece of clothing was a pure white pair of bulletproof boxers.
Two things stood out in the man's appearance, however.
The first was a metallic lozenge the size of a fist with no remarkable feature that grew out in the middle of his chest, between the two pectoral muscles, and around where the thymus was in position.
The second and most shocking of all, skin color, hair, ears, height, and many immutable features of his face like nose shape were the carbon copy of a man who had died thirteen years ago by an anti-personnel bullet to the neck.
The_Bip_Boop2003
Hello, now death is not a problem for Liam and that's one of the most powerful things about Homo Deus. Bringing back people from the dead.
Bye-bye!
My Patreon if you want to give me money and have chapters I have finished in advance, around 23.
SpoilerThank High Simp of Mephala, Atlas Des Glücks, Alhis, Andres Saavedra, Jeffrey Iverson, Dragon Cross, KO.Dragon, Tyler, Mickael Burcak, TheSuccDragon, THE SAVAGE KID, BlazeZavage, Eins Mensch, No_Rez, Victor Gonzales, scifighter, Krawn, Dkj224,Nicolous Ramirez, SirDep, Max Brown, Djinn wolftthrone, Chase, Kyle Sorensen, Pilot Pirx, Laplase, Nateica Burlock, Deathknight134, Young Dexter, Greenboy676, Jackietron201, Vasyl Čopyk, Victoria, Jen Jensen, Ein Mensch, WhataGreatNamelol, Bryan, Ryan Roberts, Naga, moon's sin, Darien Fields, Darrens Francois, nathan, Darth Bane, Zenith, N0T0B0K, kekk047, David, Scarletmenace, BIGSHOTSWAG, Carlos, Topher Daisy, Khetsun XD, enriv125, Saxon Bartlett, Alexender Haneke, Timothy Scholze, Xbox On, SamStrike, Icha, player1jannik, Aom Rattanapham, Djinn wolfthrone, Muhanad Ibrahim, Vaiolelai, Trollerw, SirDep, Doliliisgamming, Coolgye1801, NickDatBoy, Jordan Mckay, michael schiff, cocobum, Thomas Deyl, and everyone for the support.
[collapse]
