Universe's End

Rory took a deep breath, double-checking the progress bar at the bottom of his vision.

It was time.

He'd managed to fill the rest of the bar up over the next day and a half; it had been a stretch of stopping and starting as he did his best to acclimate to the sensation of drawing in ascension energy-

There needs to be a better term for that. Rory shook his head, mentally fumbling over the words 'ascension energy.'

-But even as he'd steadily adjusted, he couldn't fully clear himself of the damnable itching, like bugs were crawling beneath his skin after spending long enough in his near meditation. 'Near mediation' only because Rory wasn't sure what mediation actually encompassed. He'd never been the kind to subscribe to all that 'self-introspection' and 'inner peace' stuff.

Regardless, he'd reached the pinnacle of the mountain, one step away from crossing out of what was into what he would become. Rory couldn't deny the tiny budding kernel of excitement forming within the pit of his stomach. It reminded him a tad of when he'd been younger, during his high school days as an athlete. The seconds right before the start of a race were all that was left to give everything he had. What would happen, would happen; nothing more he could do to prepare. He felt those same feelings now as he stared at the progress bar.

Who knows what will happen?

He'd only seen the effects of one ascension, his little hut evolving from a barely standing excuse of a lean-to to the sturdy, almost organic-looking structure he had now.

Only one way to find out.

With one final breath, he 'broke' the seal he'd begun to sense within his mind, the barrier between ascensions.

All at once, he felt the accumulated energy flooding through his body, but more than that, something else was preoccupying his mind.

Pain. Rory collapsed instantly, writhing on the ground. If gathering the energy had felt like ants crawling under his skin, now it was as if tearing through his flesh, chewing apart his body as his mind whited out, blocking the pain that threatened to shatter his mind. He was being unmade, a scarf pulled apart a thread at a time, before those same threads were re-woven into something new.

He couldn't say precisely what that 'something new' was, though, as darkness stole away the last few specks of conscious thought.

"Ow," Rory grumbled, his entire body aching as if he'd had a full-body workout devised by the devil. He was curled up in a ball, several feet from his shelter, and covered in muck as if he had been rolling around in the dirt.

What happened?

The last he had recalled, he had been about to breach the barrier between ascensions when-

"Oh, righth." Rory sighed, his sore body protesting as he stretched out and rose to his feet even more slowly and unsteadily.

Pain. His world had become pain, and then he'd blacked out.

Rubbing at his eye, Rory began slowly running through some of his more favored stretches, massaging the worst aches with a liberal application of deep, circular movements of his thumbs digging into his muscles.

"Hurths," Rory mumbled, tasting blood as he realized he'd bitten his tongue at some point, explaining the lisp. Opening and closing his jaw slowly, he carefully pushed out words, enunciating slowly.

"The quick cat called carefully quivering cockroaches cowards."

Nodding to himself, satisfied that he didn't have a permanent speech impediment and that it was just a temporary injury that only forced him to slow his speech, he took a moment to examine his surroundings.

Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been for nothing to have happened. Sure, he was sore as hell, but that aside, his body felt mostly the same, and he hadn't seemed to have physically changed much, if at all.

So, what then?

If the changes weren't outward, perhaps they had been directed inward.

Gesturing with two fingers like he was swiping tabs on a touchscreen, he pulled up his progress bar, pausing momentarily as he took in the changes.

First, the progress bar was surprisingly not empty, about ten percent filled.

Either I have already done something significant and gained more. Or, more likely, it shows a cumulative progression.

In simple terms, if each ascension required a tenfold increase in total energy, he'd always start at ten percent at the start of the subsequent ascension.

Seems like a solid enough explanation.

Moving on from the partially filled ascension bar, he took stock of several new interfaces. First, there was a diagram of his body. Acting as if he were tapping on a screen, he selected the diagram, which pulled up more detailed information. First, a large eighty-seven percent hovered above the entire diagram.

Eighty-seven percent? Percent what?

Curious, he mentally selected the diagram's head, corresponding with what he assumed was his actual head. It instantly zoomed in, displaying a ninety-five percent hovering over it. Two sets of words were displayed next to the diagram of his head. The first clearly said 'Lacerated tongue'. The next was just a few sets of question marks.

Interesting.

Rory tsk'ed his tongue, wincing as he was reminded of the pain.

I think I've got an idea.

The first eighty-seven he'd seen was an average weighted estimate of his overall health, and the ninety-five was the estimated well-being of his head specifically. The lacerated tongue was an obvious enough explanation; he'd bitten his tongue when he had blacked out earlier.

So, what are the other question marks?

"Perhaps from hitting my head when I fell?" Rory asked aloud, testing if perhaps the world spirit would appear and explain. She did not, but what did appear were several more words that replaced the question marks.

Head contusion- minor.

So, it could report what was affecting him, but with the caveat that he either needed to figure it out himself or someone else would have to diagnose him; otherwise, they would appear as nothing more than question marks. Furthermore, while the interface was inspired by his imagination of a video game interface, it was clear that the world wasn't suddenly operating purely off of such trite rules as a video game would. He didn't appear to have any health points that one might expect from a game; while the interface could give him an idea of his overall well-being, it still seemed to matter where and how he got hurt.

Easy enough.

It was a convenient little addition, if not directly applicable. While he'd successfully ascended, he'd gotten himself decently banged up in the process, so it wasn't without risk.

Apart from the body diagram, one other major thing stood out to him: what appeared to be a list of sorts with a two-word title.

"Monumental Significance Events." Rory pondered the meaning and, specifically, what was listed beneath.

The first was one he was aware of already— Creation of the Original Shelter.

The world spirit had informed him that his shitty little lean-to had been not just the first shelter built on the planet, but it had been the very first built within the entire universe. Beneath it, something else was listed that raised his eyebrows.

First Ascender*

It wasn't just the proclamation that he had been the first to achieve their ascension, world spirits notwithstanding, that was striking. It was that there was an asterisk indicating that wasn't the end of the story. Curious, he tapped on the asterisk. Instantly, an arrow branched off with a tiny blurb of text.

"Law creation awarded for the achievement of First Ascender." Rory read the words aloud, tapping his foot on the ground.

Law creation. What does that mean?

Now that he thought about it, he could vaguely recall the world spirit mentioning how the world spirits could dictate the creation of new Laws for the universe through Ascension.

Apparently, it wasn't limited to just the world spirits.

Does it have something to do with the instinctual knowledge the world spirit mentioned she had?

Much like how all living things came out instinctively breathing, within this universe, there were certain things one knew, such as when they'd earned the right to create a Law. Now that he'd framed his understanding through the lens of a video game interface, it was how his mind was interpreting it, something unique to himself if he had to guess.

A twinkle lit in his eyes as what could almost pass for a smirk appeared on his face. Rory typically wasn't one for overly silly jokes or pranks, but the idea he'd just had amused him something fierce, such a ridiculous notion that he had to test it. It was the perfect chance to learn more about what a Law creation entailed anyway. Making certain that he was sure of what Law he wanted to create, he felt a static shock at the back of his neck the moment he decided. The display interface winked out of existence, replaced by five words and a spinning circle.

Satisfied with his stupid joke, he settled against a tree with a rather perfect groove for leaning against. Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift, yawning. He could have attempted to gather energy for his second ascension, but based on his progress bar, he'd need nearly ten times as long for the subsequent ascension, something like a week and a half or two weeks straight of pure meditation. If he wasted an hour or two dozing, he was confident it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

And if it was, well, he'd lived through one already.

Perhaps half an hour later, Rory awoke to the sound of a soft ping. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by two things.

First, his interface, which had opened on its own, was now displayed upon what looked to be a softly toasted gold-colored display.

Second was the world spirit, Aelia, staring at him several feet away with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Can I help you?" Rory questioned. He was sure she was meant to be out of commission for at least a little longer, so seeing her standing there was somewhat of a surprise.

"I think I should be the one asking questions." The world spirit frowned, flicking two fingers in his direction. "Care to explain this?"

A second display had flickered into existence, a display that wasn't his display; instead of being on a soft, golden-hued screen, it was a rich, duo-toned fusion of arboreal green and earthly brown.

"Oh, it worked." Rory nodded stiffly, suppressing an amused snort.

"It worked? That's it?" The world spirit shook her head, frowning even more deeply. "What even is it?"

"I was awarded a Law creation, so I used it."

"Yes, I can see that. I'm not sure you understand the scope of your law creation, though."

"What do you mean by 'the scope'?" It was Rory's turn to frown, his amusement at his 'prank' fading. "All I did was set a rule that everyone would interpret things in a way fashioned after video games."

"Ignoring that I don't know what a video game is." Aelia scowled. "Your Law reached further than you intended. The ramifications of it had so much backing energy that it instantly kicked me out of my ascension progress prematurely."

That explains why she seems annoyed with me.

"You're lucky I was nearly done anyway. Perhaps I should thank you; your completed ascension and the others' initiating their ascensions gave me enough residuals to finish early, the effects of which you'll see shortly. That aside, something as simple as what you thought you did wouldn't have that much of an energized effect on the entire universe."

"So, what did I do?" Rory asked with a hint of unease in his tone.

"That is what several of your peers and I are investigating. To speed things up, I will peek into your mind."

"I thought you said you don't read minds."

"I don't, but I won't be as gentle about the process as I have been."

As soon as she finished speaking, Rory felt as if she had begun hunting for answers from within his mind. She hadn't been lying, either. Whereas before, it was like a gentle breeze caressing his ears, now it felt as if a savagely cold winter breeze was scouring the grooves of his brain. It held him clamped in place for several minutes before it vanished as abruptly as it had started.

"Well, I think I have a better understanding now." Aelia sighed; her frown had lessened, but she still didn't seem entirely pleased with him. "I don't think it would have been possible under average circumstances, but as the universe is still young and the number of Laws established is still so few, you managed to sneak in a major Law addition."

"Major Law?"

The world spirit was silent, her display reappearing as she tapped something a few times before looking at Rory.

"Take a look at yours."

Doing as he was told, Rory opened his interface. In addition to the fact that it was now on a proper display that anyone could see, some new things had appeared. Most glaring was the flashing red exclamation mark next to what seemed to be an envelope.

With a mental nod, the envelope opened, and a small text block appeared.

"What's a world tier?" Rory paused, looking at the world spirit.

"I don't know! I figure it means it is information that normally only those on the level of a world spirit would be permitted to learn automatically."

Being one of the first life forms comes with its perks, then.

Pushing the thought aside, he glanced back at the information, quickly reading it.

"Oh." Rory understood why the world spirit was so worked up. Laws were the 'reward' of the universe, something rarely given to those leading the Ascension rat race. Meant to be boons that, while impactful, were limited in their scope, Minor Laws were likely meant to be the 'common' reward. Whatever he'd done had crossed into the Major Law territory, and it had come far too soon; ascending from zero to one was hardly a monumental accomplishment.

"So, why was I awarded a Major Law?"

"I've got one idea." The world spirit curled her wrist as a large thicket of bushes instantly sprouted, twining around each other until they formed a living chair she promptly sat upon. "It's because you, as well as the others, did achieve something huge, given that you weren't of this universe, you achieved an ascension. Aside from planets which began at ascension zero, living things all begin at ascension one, if they're born of this universe."

"But we aren't."

"Yes, and you were the first from outside this universe to ascend. I might add that you were the first by only half an hour. Regardless, you led the pack and achieved a major ascension milestone."

"Excuse me." Rory raised his hand, feeling like a student again for a moment.

"Yes?" The world spirit raised an eyebrow at him. It was impressive how much she'd changed in only a few days. Their first interaction, she'd given him the impression of an eager teenage girl, and now she had the poise and grace of a woman well into the prime of her life, no longer held back by lack of life experience and raging hormones.

I guess that's what exposure to the conscious life experiences of eight collective individuals would lead to.

"Are all ascensions supposed to be that painful?" Rory was worried they'd only get worse if that were only the first ascension.

"No, I highly doubt that. What you all experienced, or as three of your peers are currently experiencing, was the physical matter of your body being replaced, atom by atom. You were all effectively exotic matter life forms. The nature of your exotic matter bodies would result in your bodies rejecting the larger amounts of ascension energy needed to reach higher, which would likely lead to you all dying a rather gruesome death as the quantum forces holding your atoms together finally gave out, rejecting the incompatible energy of this universe."

Someone on the planet is feeding her more advanced knowledge than I can. Quantum forces? Really?

"Got it. Back to the matter at hand. What does this Major Law entail? It's clear that it has gotten a little larger in scope than I meant." Rory questioned, feeling a tad sheepish.

"You imposed a Law that interweaves every living thing of this universe under one encompassing system. A self-learning, self-adjusting system that can create and apply micro-laws at whim, and that's just the beginning. It can grow just like I can, except where I can only rely on you all; it can rely on everything."

Aelia stood up, walking over to stand next to him.

"Dismiss the notification. I've already established with several others that others cannot directly interfere with your interface unless explicitly allowed."

Again, doing as he was told, he dismissed the notification message regarding Laws.

"There, you see that?"

The world spirit was pointing toward the Significance Events, under which only a single thing was listed now.

"Architect of the Precursors?" Rory looked at the world spirit, hoping she might have answers.

"Select it." She commanded.

Rory did so as an off-shooting arrow opened a sub-section.

Rory folded his arms, taking in the message. "It's a little more…. Flowery in description than I expected?"

"It has to do with your Law establishment. You painted the universe in a new color; everything will be markedly dramatic, as you might expect from those 'video games' that existed within your universe, specifically your species. That means even simple descriptions will be vague and largely unhelpful, as you can see."

"Right." Rory nodded. He hadn't played many games in the last few years, but he could at least remember his college years, where he'd occasionally spend his nights playing whatever game had caught his attention. "So, what does it mean? Is it just a fancy way of saying that I built a shelter, was one of the first here, and established a Law?"

"It's impossible to say for now. It's too new to be certain. I'm more curious about this mention of a 'Vocation.' Two of the others have also earned a Vocation."

Clicking off the pop-up, a new area on his display, unsurprisingly titled 'Vocation,' appeared, displaying the same information.

"I'm not sure what any of this means." Rory finally sighed.

"And neither are the rest of us." The world spirit said flatly. "As I'm bound to the system as well, thanks to you, I seem to have my own distinct version."

Twisting her hand like she was turning something around to show him, her display swiveled. He noticed that, unlike his display, which showed a diagram of a body, her display showed a slowly spinning globe of a planet he didn't recognize.

So that's what Aelia looks like from a space-eyed view.

Not only that, unlike how he had a section for Vocation, the world spirit had a section labeled 'Expansion.' Under it, it read 'Settlement status: Zero Percent. Population: Eight. Dungeon Count: Zero. Rift Count: Zero. Solar status: Independent.'

"I'm not sure I understand yours any better than mine," Rory admitted with a shrug.

"I didn't expect you to." The world spirit sighed. "Your little 'Joke' was far-reaching; now, who knows what any of it really means. I expected grand things from my chosen eight, but I didn't expect it quite so… soon."

"So, now what?" Rory questioned honestly.

"The same as before. Ignoring that there is now some new element to account for, the overall goal is pursuing my ascension, and your ascensions to fuel that growth remain the same. Within the next twenty-four hours, you will begin to see the fruits of my ascension labors. You must overcome them and use them to push yourself to grow even more. How and in what direction do you take it? Well, that is your prerogative. I've reached the limit of my intellectual growth possible through the osmosis of the eight of you. At the very least, with the establishment of this System, if you have questions, you can direct them there instead. I can focus inward rather than fragment my consciousness to interact with the eight of you. The System is connected with all living beings -I and the other World Spirits included- which means it has a more expansive web of interactions than I do. Now, that may not mean it will be direct, but as you all, or rather as we all learn more, it will grow right alongside us, capable of answering questions I cannot even if I wanted to."

"Oh. Um, sorry?" Rory offered.

"Never mind." The world spirit brushed his half-hearted attempt at reconciliation aside. "I'm not angry; it is what it is, and it's not exactly harmful from what I can tell. I simply wasn't expecting to be ripped out of my work in the fashion I was. Can you imagine what it feels like to be an existence as broad as a World Spirit, only to be handled as easily as you might a child? That's what your System foundation was; it reminded me of how small I am in the grand scope of things."

To hear the living embodiment of a planet refer to itself as being small was an irony that wasn't lost on Rory. Still, he decided it was wise to refrain from mentioning as much to the World Spirit, whom he'd already annoyed by his attempt at a stupid little joke meant to test what a Law was.

See, this is why I stopped telling jokes. Always fell flat.

Rory had always thought he was at least a little funny -he cracked himself up enough- but that didn't always seem to translate to others.

Such as now.

He often found himself the recipient of blank looks upon cracking a joke. It was almost as much of a Law as the one he'd just created: humor was not his wheelhouse.

No, surely it's not me. Everyone else doesn't get my razor-sharp wit, I swear.

"Everything isn't all serious and black skies, though." The world spirit interrupted his side-tracking thoughts. "As much as your Law creation came out of left field, the fact remains that all eight of you have achieved your first ascension, with the last two emerging from their pain-induced blackouts just now, all before the deadline I'd presented. For that, a reward is deserved. As for how long it takes you to benefit… that's up to you."

Rory stared at her, uneasy, as the planet's manifestation smirked like a child who'd told a rather clever joke. She clearly thought herself clever in the same way Rory thought himself humorous. Still uneasy, Rory opened his mouth, intending to interrogate the World Spirit about what she had in store. However, before he had the chance, the spirit of the world vanished without a trace.

"One of my more eventful evenings..." Rory wasn't sure if eventful described it, but it was the best he had for the moment.

What is this reward, then?

Sighing, Rory shuffled over to his little shelter, lying down on a pile of moss and leaves he'd bunched together in imitation of a cot. Closing his eyes, he let the aches of his body win out.

Whatever the reward was, he could investigate it tomorrow.