Beacon from Beyond (Book 1 Complete)

The terror of the dwarves quickly gave way to awe when the entire metal pile moved, Jacob pushing through it easily. Yalda was the first to rush the stage, lifting the man off the ground as she pulled him into a hug and asking how he was alive.

Jacob launched into the tale of how he fell into the sun and what he saw, as well as his time in between universes and crash-landing on a deserted planet before getting picked up by a world-walker that was passing through.

When he brought up Dei, Jacob also said he begged Dei to help the dwarves, to give them enough time to reach The Champion and earn their own guardian. Jacob was hailed as a hero a second time for bringing attention to their plight and the funeral quickly turned into a celebration.

Dei didn't mind Jacob taking the credit, he already had some monstrous reputational Achievements coming his way. If Dei wanted credit to be put on his name, he'd need to make an appearance, and he honestly did not consider it worth it when he already had titles coming his way from Earth and the multiverse at large. What were twenty million dwarves when he had at least eight billion people talking about him?

Thadra went down after Jacob reached her part in the story to join in on the festivities, but Perumah and Dei decided against joining in favor of internal contemplations; Dei was so close to getting his System up, while Perumah turned philosophical next to him.

She was still dead-set on earning all the Sapience affinities, and she currently only missed four: Wrath, Fortitude, Justice, and Love.

He found that she'd earned Abstinence when her connection to Zyz'Ti became fuller, as she could now set it off at the drop of a hat yet chose not to.

The others? He had no idea how she would earn them. She said she was close to earning Justice because it involved a lot of philosophy and understanding one's own moral code for what is believed to be right, as well as a desire to adhere to that. Early signs of her "Justice" were how she believed humans on Earth owed dogs and cats an ancestral debt because they'd grown together, despite not even being involved in the entire thing.

The affinities were based on her belief system, so he didn't offer advice unless asked, which she hadn't yet.

Instead, he brought his attention back to his warring pieces of the system, which finally took shape.

Rather than rigid pieces, Dei found that his touch to the conflicting parts of the System added… joints of a sort. They changed shape and angles frequently, altering the entire construct in a fluid, animated manner.

When he ran entropy through it (in the few seconds it had before shaking itself apart) the System would start thrashing wildly.

Overall, not a good result.

But, it was sustainable, so he tried working on it anyway.

Taking a break from that, his mind turned to the other ongoing study: his sub-mind he'd set up to keep track of his inner world. As he did, he found the strange phenomena of the creatures within him producing mana, but it was… weird. The mana created within Harmonic Sanctuary felt like an echo of what was real, and Dei's experiments with it yielded strange results.

Though it worked within Harmonic Sanctuary, this mana-echo could not be utilized in the real world, which was the very first thing he tried to potentially gain limitless mana.

'I suppose if I could harness the magic of the entire population within me, it WOULD be a bit overpowered…'

Everything to do with his inner world brought another question to mind though: What would happen to them if he became a God? Would they just break off and become their own universe? Would they still remain attached to him?

What if he became an Ascender?

The thought made him pause.

'Is that where they go? Ascenders… are we all sitting within the Earth Primordial's inner world, and those that Ascend gain enough power, enough definition, that they become too real to be left alone? I keep hearing stuff that implies the multiverse is alive, such as with Rights and how it makes reality 'Listen' more, and The Champion saying that Jacob only exists because the universe isn't strong enough to eject him as it wants to do…

'Damn, that'd make a lot of sense. What if the calamity that befell the original universe left it desolate and uninhabitable? I mean, it would make sense if the whole thing was collapsing and flaking off. What if the Earth Primordial turned herself into an ark that saved as many as she could? Now, similar to how I ate a universe to make my own, what if she's making her universes by eating the shattered remains of the previous one?

'Ahh, but it can't be that simple either,' he thought, remembering a particular sentence The Champion told him. "I have no recollection of the Time affinity from the supreme version of The Champion, as it did not exist at the point I broke from…"

That implied there was a supreme version of The Champion which yet lived, and that he was continuously learning, so it couldn't be just the Gods that survived. Unless the Ascenders went there too, and The Champion had memories of speaking with the different Ascenders?

He grunted, there was simply no factual way to find out, unless he got there himself.

The dwarves partied through the night, and come morning Jacob bid them farewell, telling them to keep doing their thing with trying to break through to Earth while also warning them of the Cosmic Beasts between realities.

Jacob originally wanted to tell them that they needed to open the gateway at one of the poles, but Dei wasn't sure if that would count as interference from The Champion, and he didn't want to break some old deals and screw over their population, so they decided against it.

The dwarves weren't struggling at least, they would just take some more time to figure things out. He looked over a few of their machines while invisible and was pretty sure that some of them were getting stronger readings when facing north, but they were all outside his expertise and half of them used steam whistles to communicate so it could just be his own bias.

When everything was said and done, Jacob bid them farewell and Thadria carried them both into the sky to meet up with Dei and Perumah somewhere in the stratosphere, where the two had been watching the procession after Dei chucked Jacob down.

Thadria yawned as she came up, looking a bit tired, which is when Dei wanted to facepalm. 'We never got rid of her Dream. I just thought she didn't have one because The Mother didn't exist in Minerali, but it seems like the parasite persists. It WOULD make it a bit strange if some universes didn't sleep, meaning The Dream is likely present within every lifeform as a default with how far back The Mother must've set it up.'

"Thadria, you seem a bit tired, yes?"

"Hm?" she looked at him questioningly, "Yes of course. I don't know how the three of you are not…"

"Ah, yea, about that, apparently sleep was created by some malicious worm Goddess. I figured out how to undo it and make it so people never get tired again."

"..." She looked at Jacob in an unspoken question, and the man laughed.

"You heard that correctly, it was not a hallucination. Dei did it to everyone on Earth, so none of us have to sleep anymore."

"Oh…" she said, looking contemplative for several seconds. "Do I have to?"

"Well I suppose not? I wouldn't mind leaving it with you, nor would I begrudge you your rest. Taking occasional breaks on our adventure won't be too much of an issue, and I can't do it to many people anyway because I don't want The Mother to find out I can, so when we reach Avium again I won't be able to cast it on my other friends either."

"Thank you. I do not need to sleep much… but I would like to sometimes. I enjoy dreaming."

His mind quickly flashed through various traumatic reasons for why that would be, but he said none of them. "In that case, I'm fine with leaving it on you. If I undo your Dream, you'll still be able to sleep, but it'll be more like blinking and waking up mentally rested, with nothing in between. A bit soulless, true, and not an exact upgrade in hindsight."

"Mm, okay."

"Now we just need to find a place for you to rest…" Dei mumbled, but Jacob came in to save the day.

"I got it covered."

"Oh? How?"

"I didn't know you could remove sleep like… always. I thought it was a one-time thing, so I bought a shelter artifact from the dwarves."

"Okay, sounds interesting, do you need any setup?"

"Eh, just bring us back to the North Pole. It's a pop-up tent at the push of a button with enchantments that keep the inside a comfortable temperature."

Dei shrugged, and in a blink they were back.

Jacob held out a weird brass-looking spike, clicking a button on the top and jamming the sharp bottom into the snow. A few seconds later, it unfolded into the aforementioned tent, staying atop the snow as it evenly distributed its weight.

It was too small for all of them, but Dei got to peek inside, seeing a thin pillow and blanket as well.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

'Huh, neat.'

Thadria was flattered by Jacob's thoughtfulness and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, to which the man smiled widely.

Jacob also decided to keep her company while she rested, making both Dei and Perumah leave to mind their own business and look for a place to do their respective inner tasks.

* * *

Eventually they settled on a plateau high above the clouds, overlooking the frozen planet of the dwarves. It was a beautiful scene, which Dei happily enjoyed for a while, knowing he'd have time to train later. His life moved so quickly it was easy to forget that he was a world-walker, getting to experience sights others would kill to have.

He was going to travel the multiverse, why not occasionally stop and smell the roses?

He thought Perumah had settled down to philosophize, there being no difference between her trance and wakefulness with how she didn't actually have eyelids, but she surprisingly broke the silence.

"What does love feel like?" she asked out of the blue, and he gave her a sideways look.

"Already regretting your choice?" he asked, thinking back to the process of sealing Zyz'Ti away.

Vy'Vex called Zyz'Ti's affinity "Twisted Love," because it was made as a facsimile to the Love of the Earth Primordial. That was, of course, not its name, but the purpose and function was still there.

Vy'Vex said the Golden Order theorized it was created to mock the Earth Primordial and its emotions for some reason or another, either because she was the only Primordial with emotions or because she felt alone at the time, it was never clear.

Now that The Champion mentioned the Earth Primordial as a woman, Dei had a passing thought that the initial war was not necessarily made in the name of justice but perhaps a… marital dispute.

After all, if the Earth Primordial was female, that implied at least one of the others was male. If there were only three, if their genders were binary, and if they were monogamous, that would leave one as the odd-one-out.

The Earth Primordial.

He could be wrong, the theory did rely on a lot of guesswork, but he felt there was at least a lateral truth to his idea. After all, none of the other Celestial Parasites were based on emotions, by Vy'Vex's own admission. Love was singled out, and twisted by the Moon Primordial.

How cruel would that be? To injure the Earth Primordial with the very thing she was never able to feel returned?

The end result was the same, no matter its history. For Perumah to earn Zyz'Ti's affinity, she could never earn the Love affinity, as the two were mutually exclusive.

She'd feel some version of it of course, but it would be different from the definitions Dei saw it as. It would be something defined by the Moon, not the Earth.

"Hm, no. Just a passing curiosity. I recognize it as the driving force for almost every sapient life. Nature relies mostly on Lust, but sapients are closer to Love. Lust is a very cold emotion, and a necessity of instinct. It is present, but not an active part in life as Love is. I assumed the two were mirrors of the same coin, such as Patience and Sloth, but that does not seem to be the case."

"And you're sure you won't accidentally form a connection?" he said, genuinely worried. If she did, she'd eternally give up Zyz'Ti's power, one of her main ambitions.

"You know as well as I do, that is not possible. One cannot form a connection to an affinity unless you subconsciously desire it, and I keep my subconscience thoroughly in check. I will never give up one ambition for another. I understand that Love is a driving force, and I need no more of that. It is unnecessary, and harmful to my eventual goal."

Some of his worries alleviated, he nodded, and thought on her question.

"It's…"

His mind flashed to his first meeting with Emily, the burning desire to keep her safe and protect her that blinded him from everything else. If he was going to describe it to Perumah though, his own experiences wouldn't be for the best.

He thought of his Earthly father, and his tale of one particular date with his mom when they were still a bit early in their relationship.

They'd been driving up some backwoods path when spikes in the road stopped their car. Before he could reverse, more were thrown behind them as well, and the robbers came.

They surrounded the car with guns and knives, demanding the two get out. Both listened, and his mom hadn't known he was superhuman just yet, so his father played along. He was out on leave at the time, and under strict instructions to never use his abilities.

The moment one shoved his mom though… it was over. His father describes blacking out with rage, but his mom said he moved as a blur. The one that'd touched her was paste before she knew what happened, and the others weren't long for the world afterwards.

When all was said and done, though, his mom described Oscar as… afraid. He was shaking while he held Kaylee, horrified that he'd scared her away and at what he'd done. It was early in his career as well, so he hadn't seen much death yet.

She ended up comforting him, despite not entirely understanding what had happened. She assured him she still loved him, and clearly was not lying if Dei's own existence had anything to say about it.

She said they didn't even call the cops for half an hour as she just held his father.

He wanted to say it was Wrath that drove Oscar to be explosively vicious, but he knew his father, and he knew Wrath well. Alone, it was a cold awakening that seared hot in your veins, but it was not the sudden burst his father experienced. Something changed the Wrath within him, and that was his love for Kaylee.

"...Explosive. There's no other way to describe it, other than as a… magnifier for everything. Joy with a loved one is an unmatched warmth, the loss of it is incomprehensible grief. The fear of losing it can cripple even the strongest men. It makes everything more vivid, more real. That's why a lot of people seek it out, even at their own detriment, because they don't feel like enough unless they have love. You can't experience the heights it'll take you to anywhere else, because nothing can compare."

Dei couldn't help but reminisce on his own experiences with it. Even if his memories of Emily were tainted, he still had many cherished memories with his family.

Perumah simply groaned, breaking him from his reverie as he gave her a confused look. "What?"

"I said I did not wish to experience it, but you make it sound tempting. My entire existence is defined by striving to feel what others are born with, a natural… inferiority," she said, struggling to force the word out, "Complex. Seeking an emotion out because you feel as though you are not enough is precisely what I have done through my entire journey, and now you tell me there are even further heights which I will not be able to reach?" she said, clearly scandalized.

Dei couldn't bring himself to laugh, as it truly was a tragic thing. "It's the one emotion that the Moon Primordial singled out to mock, it's going to be important to life. Didn't you mention Zyz'Ti felt love though?"

Perumah scoffed, "She felt what she believed was love, but clearly it was something else. I don't see your mother consuming your fathers flesh any time soon."

Before he could stop himself from voicing his intrusive thought, he heard himself say "You clearly haven't invaded their privacy thoroughly enough then…" before gagging on his own words.

'They are my PARENTS,' he thought, shivering at the mental imagery he was forced to invoke.

Perumah, for perhaps the first time ever, looked utterly horrified. "What!?"

Now Dei couldn't stop himself from roaring with laughter.

"What do you mean?! They do?!"

Dei rolled over, holding his sides as he struggled to breathe.

"Does that not hurt?! I thought… they don't want to harm each other!"

Every word she spoke left Dei more helpless to his own lungs.

"I remember errant thoughts passing through your fathers head of potentially harming Kaylee! He would smother them viciously, treating them as parasites! He was terrified of hurting her! How… is it…. is it… only… the women?"

"Perumah stop!" He begged her mentally, "You're killing me!"

She finally paused, reassessing the situation. She felt the explosive amusement he was drawing from the situation through his Meaningful spell, and it froze her.

She wasn't able to glean this kind of emotion using her Heart affinity, never to this much detail.

She couldn't feel this much. She couldn't feel this level of happiness.

Several seconds of silence later, Dei's laughter wound down enough for him to see through his tears, and her expression made him choke.

"Inferiority."

It was wound through her body language so tightly, the smile died on his face.

"Perumah, what's wrong?"

"Do you love me Dei?"

His mind stuttered for a moment, but he collected himself quickly. "Not romantically, but yea, you're one of my closest friends. How could I not?"

"Because I do not love you."

He sighed, "That's never been a problem. Even when you saw me as little more than a tool, I still cared deeply for you and your safety."

"You… don't help. I feel lesser."

"You're not, and you never were. Feeling things isn't indicative of being a person to me."

"What is? Where do you draw the line?"

"Wherever I want!" he exclaimed, "Anyone is a person to me if I say they are, their emotions be damned! I don't need a reason to like you Perumah, and you don't need to give me one. Stop comparing yourself to others, because everyone will be lesser and greater in some metric. I can't see mana in the air, can I? Does that mean I'm lesser than you?"

"...No, I guess not. But emotions are different. They are… integral to people. It is the measure of personhood."

"Then is Clever not a person? Do you see him as just a creature?"

"No he… is? A person?"

"He doesn't have all the sapience affinities though."

She said nothing, so he continued.

"You don't need to feel everything I feel to be my equal. You already are my equal. Everyone is different, and that's fine. Where one is lacking, another excels, and nobody will ever be perfectly on the same footing, so never use others for your own metric, use yourself.

"If you want to see whether you're a person to you, just look backwards into your own past. By your definition, you're more real now than you've ever been. You have almost every emotion except for three, and the last one you'll get handed to you with an unfathomable ancient power. By your measure, that's complete success. By my measure? That's pretty damn cool."

"But… am I? Will you see me as real when I am different to any entity you've ever known? When I am an abomination the universe itself hates?"

"What do I matter?"

"Uh?"

"I'm not you, Perumah, and I never will be. I'll never treat you like myself, I'll treat you like you. If you're hungry, I'm not gonna hand you a salad and call it a day, because that'd be inconsiderate. You have different needs, different opinions, and a different life. That will never make you inferior to anyone, but if you're concerned about whether I'll still be there for you in the future? You don't even need to ask, It's a given. Even if the Gods themselves try to kill you for holding a Celestial Parasite, I'll rip em' limb from limb, because we're friends."

With the end of his animated spiel, he dropped back down into a sitting position, watching the purplish glow of the sun slowly crest the horizon.

"...Thanks," she huffed quietly, and he smiled.

"Any time."