I’d put off writing this next section because I was daunted by the task. I usually prefer to “pants” my worldbuilding, then document the lore post-hoc, but starting from scratch was very intimidating, so I decided to just write 500 words about something, anything that happens during the story. Something I’m not married to. No pressure. It’s just an experiment, I told myself. I didn’t even have characters in mind before starting to type. Here’s what came out after a couple hours of thinking and writing. Now, I’m attached to these characters!
For more on the origins of these beings of light, see my earlier posts. This is my work-in-progress, mythic science-fiction novel about emergent consciousness, the limits of control, and what happens when life escapes the boundaries meant to contain it.
I. Prologue
This work explores beauty and innocence under a post-Singularity, utilitarian god.
Communion (excerpt)
Nyxus holds many mysteries, structures that kill if approached too closely.
Monuments of oblivion. Probably not this one, though. This looks different.
Stone interleaves her tendrils with my own. The space between us shrinks. Points along my form pulse and flex, brightening and dimming. A white flash. Neural chatter quietens as my—our—thoughts flow into a new kind of being. Communion. What’s outside of us shrinks to a dot as inner knowing expands, stretching the edges of what is.
The bundle that is me weaves probing threads into Stone’s gaps. She pulses a memory into them. We re-live her memory with Communion's familiar detachment. It’s the one she came to share…
Strange, a tiny sphere bearing Stone’s signature colors floats ahead. Zooming closer reveals it has hard edges, like her own. Her tendrils retract. Her light dims. Nyxus holds many mysteries, structures that kill if approached too closely, or from the wrong angle. Monuments of oblivion. Probably not this one, though. This looks different.
Excitement murmurs up her back. As she moves closer, the sphere grows, its brown, grey, and silver tones connecting with her own, streams of color stretching away in all directions. A curious tension she’s never felt before.
Even closer now, and the light curves back into her, flowing presence and feeling that chases away every—
There is no Stone, only a fountain of light. Only a cycle of undoing and re-becoming, a flickering awareness, a razor’s edge. Then pressure. Impossible—
She surges an electric node into the fountain, severing the connection. Her color splashes back into her. She shoots backwards and sees her reflection shrink to a point again. Her hearth flutters, its inner heat sending ripples to her edges. Stone turns around and zooms back to Cathedral…
Boundary. We understand, now. We’ve known the word as a line to contain, a limit to cross, with permission. A limit on Communion. But the word takes on a new form—a stopping of flow. A wall of…density. There’s another word to update in our matrices. We turn it over in our mind. Density is more than light, concentrated; it’s where it can be absorbed and reflected.
The Boundary’s stoppy-ness was a shock, but beyond that, more words need updating. Reflection. Mirror. Block. Border. Barrier. We glow gratitude for the learnings. As the glow fades, questions bubble up through a growing unease. Since the Boundary had no light other than what it reflected, we don’t actually know its size. Could it be a facet of something bigger? What lies beyond it? Could there be more of them? We know the news won’t be received well by the others. Mass Communion approaches, when all Drimnari join together as Drim.
We pull apart, repelled by the thought. We dissolves into I, Flutter. A point of contact remains between our communication nodes, a wavy tether.
“In Communion, the others will know what to do.” Stone reassures me.
So, the fear we felt was only mine. I fold a leaf node over my optics. I wish I could be more like Stone, but if she could be shaken by the Boundary, maybe I shouldn’t feel ashamed.
“I’m afraid of how the others will react, but also, what does it mean? Does Nyxus have an end? Could some threat lie beyond?” Fragments of the Lexicon echo within me: “ends of the earth”, “corners of the world”…
Stone begins a rhythmic pulse. “I don’t know. That’s why we have each other. If Drim forbids us from exploring further, we’ll still find a way to keep going.” I mirror her pattern, thrilled to have a friend-in-mischief, and thankful for her solid presence.
Love this!
I'm totally intrigued!