Post by darknessry on Aug 16, 2023 16:48:35 GMT
Progenetorum Selendis: Former Visitia Capital system - Euphorion cluster
100 After Passing
Unknown Location - Progenitorus
...
Eyes that had never opened, opened.
They blinked to reflex at the near-total darkness until they had adapted as well as possible to the near-total absence of light in the room.
Lungs that had never been used before were flooded with an intake of vital oxygen, filtered from a thick and oppressive smog of many multitudes of airs and gasses.
Ears that had never heard, heard the inhale of others who had likewise found life where before there was none.
Blood that had been still since its creation, now pumped through veins as if they had never been still.
A Mind that had moments before been void of basest thought, thought, processing the intake of senses it had never known, yet were intricately familiar to It beyond the reach of ingrained memory.
Nerves that had never borne the faintest trace of life now carried signals to every receptor.
Muscles that had never stretched, never compressed, now worked to move a body that had never known life.
And the Body rose from a gray slab of metal, to gaze upon a featureless room filled with more slabs with its Eyes.
With its Ears It heard the movement of others rising from their places of awakening, and turning its Eyes gazed into the blue ones of its compatriot.
And though none had spoken with words or even sounds, it was as though their expressions conveyed their every thought to each other that very moment.
It looked over their form and its mind registered them as a female, and absently some part of It noticed their nudity but that did not matter here and now.
Its Eyes turned to its other compatriots in the room, a mix of Females and Males of identical age, and like with the Female they too had much the same nonverbal exchange of instinctive information with It.
They saw It as their Leader, and It accepted. It did not know why that was, but it did not need to know an answer it somehow knew It would never have.
It looked around the room again, this time gazing up at the only source of light in the smog-filled darkness.
It looked like a green moss, but it glowed bioluminescent, giving off barely enough light for the rooms inhabitants to see where they walked. It started approximately in the rooms center on the roof, where it continued on out the only exit into a cramped hall of darker metals.
It and its compatriots followed the glowing trail, ignoring the half-formed, malformed, or fully formed yet lifeless bodies behind them for the light.
And in the hall it found others more, and they too showed immediate deference to It, and so they followed the rest of the trail down the long, scorched and cratered hall until they reached an upwards stairwell.
They then began to ascend, up and up, until they could not go higher, for the rest of the way was but a melted crater.
So they walked down another hall, turning at points, and marching for minutes on end before reaching another stairwell.
So did it repeat...
Hundreds strong, they mindlessly followed the most different among them, who Itself was mindlessly following a metaphorical trail of breadcrumbs.
And despite their intelligent minds, despite their developed mentality, they ignored all other matters and objects around them.
They did not care then, of the titanic ruins they walked, of the paths they took, the hours they walked, nor the mosstrail gradually withering into traceless dust behind them.
And they did not care for those they left behind, be it from subtle malformation of their body, faulty biology, insufficient endurance, or who walked a bit too mindlessly and were punished for it.
The ones who fell did not cry for help, did not scream, they went merely quiet and still, like puppets whose strings were cut, left behind to be consumed by smog and shadow.
When ascending another set of stairs, though they mentally did not pay this any mind, the air began to lighten, and they found their breath coming easier.
They no longer struggled to take in enough air from the heavy smog below, and could now hasten their pace without causing undue strain on their endurance, even as unnatural chemicals coursing through their body were slowly fading.
So on they continued, walking halls and halls and climbing stairs upon stairs, uncaring of the few more that did not manage to keep up on the hours-long trek, even as they slowed from their previously merciless pace.
Until, eventually they and It found the trail of moss to go no farther in a wide and open hall with paths that reached outward into branches of halls lined with rooms, spaces or entryways into stairs either ascending or descending.
It did not know what to do at that moment, staring upward at the sudden end to the only goal It could see, until the moss’s light died, and it withered away into traceless dust before Its very eyes.
And then It noticed the light.
For though the trail of moss was the only light It ever knew of in its life until then, the hall was not consumed in cloying darkness upon the death of the moss.
Gazing for the source of the light, It found the light came from a large upwards ramp located near the center of a large circular plaza.
And without another direction, It, and by extension the group of hundreds that followed, walked to seek out the origin of the light, and so they ascended.
The Light was much brighter than that given off by the moss, but they and Its Eyes quickly adapted.
And then, they surfaced.
To an endless landscape of gray towers, winding streets, great roads ascending from underground, desolate ruins and empty skies.
They were in a wide street, lined with a thousand open rooms with a hundred alleys at the base of a dozen giant towers that scraped at the cloudless skies.
And though farther in front of them the road was cut off by the collapsed remnants of a shattered tower, it did nothing to hide their view of the singular Monolithic tower in the distance.
Nor of the dawning sun that had just then risen above the horizon-piercing megastructure, painting the skies the color of seas against an ever present backdrop of faint violet.
To Its awakening mind the sight was like a splash of water to a sleep-addled brain.
Avenues of thought Its brain had discarded at the direction of faded chemical agents, or which were dimmed to the point of irrelevance, now coursed with artificially induced life.
And for what to It may as well have been ages, yet was but a second in reality, its mind unpacked entire lives worth of experiences, life-defining events, and a level of theoretical understanding of a civilizations beginnings, and its rise to the stars, unfitting of a being that had not known life since yesterday and who was not still surrounded by the marvels of technology.
With a mind shaped by dying Biotechnological implants into the epitome of a Leader and Teacher, one whose purpose was to guide a newbornor were they reborn? race on a direct path towards ascending into the void far above.
It turned to behold the Flock assigned to Its guidance.
And as it gazed into the eyes of hundreds it saw not machines of flesh and blood like that which first followed Its guidance, It saw a People -Its people-, whose eyes glinted with that of Intelligence far beyond that of primitives yet lacking of the sheer knowledge It bore.
It knew they would easily grasp all it had to tell them, but here and now was not the time nor place for such a beginning, and it had more than enough time to properly cultivate their growth.
It turned to observe their surroundings in higher detail, and aided by the knowledge hardcoded into its mind, mentally marked out objects and locations of note. From piles of easily-accessed rubble it reckoned could be turned into tools with some work, to a large, wide-canopied tree and diverse patches of greenery atop one of the towers lining the street.
The first matter of the day would be the creation of tools for hunting and foraging, the creation of markers for routes through the urban sprawl to locations of note or to find the way back, and the collection of flammable objects -preferably firewood-equivalents or similar- for the creation of sources of heat and light during the night.
Foraging and hunting for food or water could wait for several days, It and Their bodies were made with enough reserves to last until they had found enough local sources of both to last for weeks, which would be extended further by the establishment of rudimentary farming and rainwater basins.
With an order to things made in Its mind, It opened its mouth, not to breath or utter primitively structured sounds, but to speak words that though their deeper meanings and inflections were utterly lost. The surface meanings of the most important selection of words of which was all they needed, was not.
So did Its people move to follow the plans in its mind, dividing into groups to scavenge, scout or listen to the explanations of their Leader as to the purpose and way to accomplish their tasks.
It taught them how to find pieces of metal debris suitable to be sharpened or worked into a tool, to differentiate between light metals and heavy metals. It taught them how to safely sever the wide branches of the trees, how to use landmarks and markers to easily navigate and mark routes and paths.
And when the time came it taught them how to hunt, to find and prepare fruits and meats, to eat with barest waste, and how to preserve the surplus for as long as possible.
And when the first of Its people died to a predator, It taught them respect for the dead and pragmatism in times of need, leaving the body amongst a fungal colony, later to be harvested for edible fungus.
And when all necessities were met, It began to teach its People their language in full, though not the more complicated words and gestures quite yet, and suggested to them the usage of names. Though some of Its people had thought of easier identification, and thus names, earlier, it had not spread to all its People.
So with a much more expansive knowledge over their language, they quickly made names and identifiers for themselves and each other, and lastly they decided on a name for It. Visiato, for Its Vision for them and the future.
It became saddened then, for It found that it was growing attached to a group of individuals It knew would not live past a quarter of Its own lifetime. But then, was that not the beauty of it? For what better reason could It be given for ensuring Its People arose to the stars as fast as possible in this world of cold uncertainty?
To ensure they would have what it takes to create a bastion against the Great Darkness beyond the violet Night.
So did the first year go by as It made the People move steadily northward to the great Monolith which had greeted their Awakening, where they settled down for habitation, and began wider surveys both downwards and upwards.
For years more they prepared the beginnings of a greater Settlement, and the expansion of their numbers at long last with the opportunity to forage far more food than their numbers required.
And by the fifth year, 3rd month, and 20th day as the sun was at its peak, the first Child was born to much celebration. And of particular note to It was that the child's mother was the Female It’s eyes first saw all that time ago now.
Its Peoples numbers would soon double over the course of some years, during which It solidified into practice families and the trees with which to track them (which It would track to later commit to print), as well as communal teaching of the young for those lessons it had already imparted to the First.
And by the 11th Year Its people came in contact with another People that lived amongst the sea of Lifeless Towers eastward, and It met another Guide like It through which it later met with a third.
In collaboration they created trade and kept each other appraised of happenings, local landmarks and finds. A network that grew and grew as more Peoples and Guides were found and connected, even as the processes and reins were handed over to the People instead of one managed solely by the Guides, though they did interject occasionally still even after teaching them the ways to Read and Write.
By the 24th year It was present to welcome new People not of Its flock who had to migrate away from the rest of their own Flock due to scarcity of reliably available food, even as It and the Others worked to establish the domestication of easily maintained prey animals for farming.
By the 45th year the first of the First began to display the signs of aging that preceded their rapid biological degradation and death, It settled for spending that time of which its other tasks were not paramount by their side to witness the death of those It was familiar with for the longest time.
By the 50th year It watched the last of the First die calmly in their bed, and like with the 400 others It accompanied them into the depths where they were left amongst the cultivated fungoid colonies. It participated in the celebration of the Firsts life, and discussed what hints of philosophy their minds truly understood with the Others as they too celebrated the life of their First as well.
By the 100th year it gazed upon the creations whose existence was permitted by that of the first Kilns its People had made, watching metals be alloyed upon a crudely made anvil before being shaped into a tool. It nodded to the smith in satisfaction before going to inspect the work of the others It was teaching.
…
And by the 199th year,12th month and 30th day, it felt a content satisfaction as it knew the End of its life was near.
As it gazed on the crowded streets lined with towers no longer void of any form for life, but indeed teeming with work converting the empty halls and rooms into homes and various workshops. Work and rooms lit not by meager candles or torches, but by primitive bulbs of light.
And past those silvery towers it spied columns of coal-black smoke rising from smokestacks atop buildings made not by their Progenitors, but by the People. And inside those admittedly crude squares of metals were one of the fruits of 160 years of Its labor, a power plant, and machine shop with the heavy-duty machinery it allowed. All working to the creation of more and better machines and tools, as well as that of Transportation through the many tunnels made by their Progenitors.
In front of it, crowding the central street of their Settlement as named ‘Visiatorum Selendis’ by its inhabitants, was thousands in number, having grown both from marriages, migration and shuffling with some of their fellow settlements -to keep genetic diversity high. Through most significantly from the merging and mass-migration of some of the local settlements, be it from lack of resources or to focus their developments to greater effect.
And among that great crowd, which consisted of almost every being that called Its settlement Home, were Individuals It and the Others had taught all the theory and knowledge by which their civilization would reach the stars.
The secrets of Fusion, of Flight, Gravity, Physics, Quantum Essentials, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Orbital Mechanics, Electronics and Computation, the Basis upon which an interstellar Civilization will be built, all hammered into the minds of what would become Scientists, committed to print in close to a hundred manuals together with instructions for how to best pass this knowledge on.
And to the ones They had deemed the best candidates to take the mantle of leadership, at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom, They filled with knowledge and theoretics of Statecraft, Political theory, Bureaucracy and how to pass that knowledge on to the best candidates with the assistance of the People.
All of them, heeding the call of the most different ones among them, were there to Witness their final moments, and to hear their final Words as to be spoken by It.
So did they gaze up at the podium, where It and five Others of its kind looked upon the fruits of their labor, and found satisfaction.
Behind them hung a tapestry of such size, every watching Lepridian could see the smallest detail of the angular emblem They found to most embody what they were.
“People, My people, Our people. Hear my words, Children of Lepridaem.” It began.
“It is our deepest regret that we cannot be there to guide you further onward, to watch the seeds we have planted grow into a mighty tree. For this will be the last you hear of Us on your journey to the Beyond above, for no longer can we follow you in lockstep. So we have imparted the last of our lessons to those among you We have found best to guide you where we can not.” The crowd was silent, but It could still tell that all were saddened by this, even though some had shared concerns that Their time was soon done.
“And so we must leave you for the Depths, with our heads held high and our given Task complete. But rest assured we will still watch you from down below, to lay witness to the seeds grow from saplings to a great and mighty Tree that will weather every storm that seeks to threaten it.” Its ‘face’, so different, yet so similar, twisted into what could best be called a ‘smile’.
“So rise, Our people. Rise to the stars, and Reclaim what all has Lost.”
...
And on the 200th year of Its life, 300 years after the Passing had consumedalmost all life in the Euphorion Cluster.
As suddenly as Its mind and body had realized the embrace of Life, so too did It find the embrace of Death, with Its one purpose, accomplished...
100 After Passing
Unknown Location - Progenitorus
...
Eyes that had never opened, opened.
They blinked to reflex at the near-total darkness until they had adapted as well as possible to the near-total absence of light in the room.
Lungs that had never been used before were flooded with an intake of vital oxygen, filtered from a thick and oppressive smog of many multitudes of airs and gasses.
Ears that had never heard, heard the inhale of others who had likewise found life where before there was none.
Blood that had been still since its creation, now pumped through veins as if they had never been still.
A Mind that had moments before been void of basest thought, thought, processing the intake of senses it had never known, yet were intricately familiar to It beyond the reach of ingrained memory.
Nerves that had never borne the faintest trace of life now carried signals to every receptor.
Muscles that had never stretched, never compressed, now worked to move a body that had never known life.
And the Body rose from a gray slab of metal, to gaze upon a featureless room filled with more slabs with its Eyes.
With its Ears It heard the movement of others rising from their places of awakening, and turning its Eyes gazed into the blue ones of its compatriot.
And though none had spoken with words or even sounds, it was as though their expressions conveyed their every thought to each other that very moment.
It looked over their form and its mind registered them as a female, and absently some part of It noticed their nudity but that did not matter here and now.
Its Eyes turned to its other compatriots in the room, a mix of Females and Males of identical age, and like with the Female they too had much the same nonverbal exchange of instinctive information with It.
They saw It as their Leader, and It accepted. It did not know why that was, but it did not need to know an answer it somehow knew It would never have.
It looked around the room again, this time gazing up at the only source of light in the smog-filled darkness.
It looked like a green moss, but it glowed bioluminescent, giving off barely enough light for the rooms inhabitants to see where they walked. It started approximately in the rooms center on the roof, where it continued on out the only exit into a cramped hall of darker metals.
It and its compatriots followed the glowing trail, ignoring the half-formed, malformed, or fully formed yet lifeless bodies behind them for the light.
And in the hall it found others more, and they too showed immediate deference to It, and so they followed the rest of the trail down the long, scorched and cratered hall until they reached an upwards stairwell.
They then began to ascend, up and up, until they could not go higher, for the rest of the way was but a melted crater.
So they walked down another hall, turning at points, and marching for minutes on end before reaching another stairwell.
So did it repeat...
Hundreds strong, they mindlessly followed the most different among them, who Itself was mindlessly following a metaphorical trail of breadcrumbs.
And despite their intelligent minds, despite their developed mentality, they ignored all other matters and objects around them.
They did not care then, of the titanic ruins they walked, of the paths they took, the hours they walked, nor the mosstrail gradually withering into traceless dust behind them.
And they did not care for those they left behind, be it from subtle malformation of their body, faulty biology, insufficient endurance, or who walked a bit too mindlessly and were punished for it.
The ones who fell did not cry for help, did not scream, they went merely quiet and still, like puppets whose strings were cut, left behind to be consumed by smog and shadow.
When ascending another set of stairs, though they mentally did not pay this any mind, the air began to lighten, and they found their breath coming easier.
They no longer struggled to take in enough air from the heavy smog below, and could now hasten their pace without causing undue strain on their endurance, even as unnatural chemicals coursing through their body were slowly fading.
So on they continued, walking halls and halls and climbing stairs upon stairs, uncaring of the few more that did not manage to keep up on the hours-long trek, even as they slowed from their previously merciless pace.
Until, eventually they and It found the trail of moss to go no farther in a wide and open hall with paths that reached outward into branches of halls lined with rooms, spaces or entryways into stairs either ascending or descending.
It did not know what to do at that moment, staring upward at the sudden end to the only goal It could see, until the moss’s light died, and it withered away into traceless dust before Its very eyes.
And then It noticed the light.
For though the trail of moss was the only light It ever knew of in its life until then, the hall was not consumed in cloying darkness upon the death of the moss.
Gazing for the source of the light, It found the light came from a large upwards ramp located near the center of a large circular plaza.
And without another direction, It, and by extension the group of hundreds that followed, walked to seek out the origin of the light, and so they ascended.
The Light was much brighter than that given off by the moss, but they and Its Eyes quickly adapted.
And then, they surfaced.
To an endless landscape of gray towers, winding streets, great roads ascending from underground, desolate ruins and empty skies.
They were in a wide street, lined with a thousand open rooms with a hundred alleys at the base of a dozen giant towers that scraped at the cloudless skies.
And though farther in front of them the road was cut off by the collapsed remnants of a shattered tower, it did nothing to hide their view of the singular Monolithic tower in the distance.
Nor of the dawning sun that had just then risen above the horizon-piercing megastructure, painting the skies the color of seas against an ever present backdrop of faint violet.
To Its awakening mind the sight was like a splash of water to a sleep-addled brain.
Avenues of thought Its brain had discarded at the direction of faded chemical agents, or which were dimmed to the point of irrelevance, now coursed with artificially induced life.
And for what to It may as well have been ages, yet was but a second in reality, its mind unpacked entire lives worth of experiences, life-defining events, and a level of theoretical understanding of a civilizations beginnings, and its rise to the stars, unfitting of a being that had not known life since yesterday and who was not still surrounded by the marvels of technology.
With a mind shaped by dying Biotechnological implants into the epitome of a Leader and Teacher, one whose purpose was to guide a newborn
It turned to behold the Flock assigned to Its guidance.
And as it gazed into the eyes of hundreds it saw not machines of flesh and blood like that which first followed Its guidance, It saw a People -Its people-, whose eyes glinted with that of Intelligence far beyond that of primitives yet lacking of the sheer knowledge It bore.
It knew they would easily grasp all it had to tell them, but here and now was not the time nor place for such a beginning, and it had more than enough time to properly cultivate their growth.
It turned to observe their surroundings in higher detail, and aided by the knowledge hardcoded into its mind, mentally marked out objects and locations of note. From piles of easily-accessed rubble it reckoned could be turned into tools with some work, to a large, wide-canopied tree and diverse patches of greenery atop one of the towers lining the street.
The first matter of the day would be the creation of tools for hunting and foraging, the creation of markers for routes through the urban sprawl to locations of note or to find the way back, and the collection of flammable objects -preferably firewood-equivalents or similar- for the creation of sources of heat and light during the night.
Foraging and hunting for food or water could wait for several days, It and Their bodies were made with enough reserves to last until they had found enough local sources of both to last for weeks, which would be extended further by the establishment of rudimentary farming and rainwater basins.
With an order to things made in Its mind, It opened its mouth, not to breath or utter primitively structured sounds, but to speak words that though their deeper meanings and inflections were utterly lost. The surface meanings of the most important selection of words of which was all they needed, was not.
So did Its people move to follow the plans in its mind, dividing into groups to scavenge, scout or listen to the explanations of their Leader as to the purpose and way to accomplish their tasks.
It taught them how to find pieces of metal debris suitable to be sharpened or worked into a tool, to differentiate between light metals and heavy metals. It taught them how to safely sever the wide branches of the trees, how to use landmarks and markers to easily navigate and mark routes and paths.
And when the time came it taught them how to hunt, to find and prepare fruits and meats, to eat with barest waste, and how to preserve the surplus for as long as possible.
And when the first of Its people died to a predator, It taught them respect for the dead and pragmatism in times of need, leaving the body amongst a fungal colony, later to be harvested for edible fungus.
And when all necessities were met, It began to teach its People their language in full, though not the more complicated words and gestures quite yet, and suggested to them the usage of names. Though some of Its people had thought of easier identification, and thus names, earlier, it had not spread to all its People.
So with a much more expansive knowledge over their language, they quickly made names and identifiers for themselves and each other, and lastly they decided on a name for It. Visiato, for Its Vision for them and the future.
It became saddened then, for It found that it was growing attached to a group of individuals It knew would not live past a quarter of Its own lifetime. But then, was that not the beauty of it? For what better reason could It be given for ensuring Its People arose to the stars as fast as possible in this world of cold uncertainty?
To ensure they would have what it takes to create a bastion against the Great Darkness beyond the violet Night.
So did the first year go by as It made the People move steadily northward to the great Monolith which had greeted their Awakening, where they settled down for habitation, and began wider surveys both downwards and upwards.
For years more they prepared the beginnings of a greater Settlement, and the expansion of their numbers at long last with the opportunity to forage far more food than their numbers required.
And by the fifth year, 3rd month, and 20th day as the sun was at its peak, the first Child was born to much celebration. And of particular note to It was that the child's mother was the Female It’s eyes first saw all that time ago now.
Its Peoples numbers would soon double over the course of some years, during which It solidified into practice families and the trees with which to track them (which It would track to later commit to print), as well as communal teaching of the young for those lessons it had already imparted to the First.
And by the 11th Year Its people came in contact with another People that lived amongst the sea of Lifeless Towers eastward, and It met another Guide like It through which it later met with a third.
In collaboration they created trade and kept each other appraised of happenings, local landmarks and finds. A network that grew and grew as more Peoples and Guides were found and connected, even as the processes and reins were handed over to the People instead of one managed solely by the Guides, though they did interject occasionally still even after teaching them the ways to Read and Write.
By the 24th year It was present to welcome new People not of Its flock who had to migrate away from the rest of their own Flock due to scarcity of reliably available food, even as It and the Others worked to establish the domestication of easily maintained prey animals for farming.
By the 45th year the first of the First began to display the signs of aging that preceded their rapid biological degradation and death, It settled for spending that time of which its other tasks were not paramount by their side to witness the death of those It was familiar with for the longest time.
By the 50th year It watched the last of the First die calmly in their bed, and like with the 400 others It accompanied them into the depths where they were left amongst the cultivated fungoid colonies. It participated in the celebration of the Firsts life, and discussed what hints of philosophy their minds truly understood with the Others as they too celebrated the life of their First as well.
By the 100th year it gazed upon the creations whose existence was permitted by that of the first Kilns its People had made, watching metals be alloyed upon a crudely made anvil before being shaped into a tool. It nodded to the smith in satisfaction before going to inspect the work of the others It was teaching.
…
And by the 199th year,12th month and 30th day, it felt a content satisfaction as it knew the End of its life was near.
As it gazed on the crowded streets lined with towers no longer void of any form for life, but indeed teeming with work converting the empty halls and rooms into homes and various workshops. Work and rooms lit not by meager candles or torches, but by primitive bulbs of light.
And past those silvery towers it spied columns of coal-black smoke rising from smokestacks atop buildings made not by their Progenitors, but by the People. And inside those admittedly crude squares of metals were one of the fruits of 160 years of Its labor, a power plant, and machine shop with the heavy-duty machinery it allowed. All working to the creation of more and better machines and tools, as well as that of Transportation through the many tunnels made by their Progenitors.
In front of it, crowding the central street of their Settlement as named ‘Visiatorum Selendis’ by its inhabitants, was thousands in number, having grown both from marriages, migration and shuffling with some of their fellow settlements -to keep genetic diversity high. Through most significantly from the merging and mass-migration of some of the local settlements, be it from lack of resources or to focus their developments to greater effect.
And among that great crowd, which consisted of almost every being that called Its settlement Home, were Individuals It and the Others had taught all the theory and knowledge by which their civilization would reach the stars.
The secrets of Fusion, of Flight, Gravity, Physics, Quantum Essentials, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Orbital Mechanics, Electronics and Computation, the Basis upon which an interstellar Civilization will be built, all hammered into the minds of what would become Scientists, committed to print in close to a hundred manuals together with instructions for how to best pass this knowledge on.
And to the ones They had deemed the best candidates to take the mantle of leadership, at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom, They filled with knowledge and theoretics of Statecraft, Political theory, Bureaucracy and how to pass that knowledge on to the best candidates with the assistance of the People.
All of them, heeding the call of the most different ones among them, were there to Witness their final moments, and to hear their final Words as to be spoken by It.
So did they gaze up at the podium, where It and five Others of its kind looked upon the fruits of their labor, and found satisfaction.
Behind them hung a tapestry of such size, every watching Lepridian could see the smallest detail of the angular emblem They found to most embody what they were.
“People, My people, Our people. Hear my words, Children of Lepridaem.” It began.
“It is our deepest regret that we cannot be there to guide you further onward, to watch the seeds we have planted grow into a mighty tree. For this will be the last you hear of Us on your journey to the Beyond above, for no longer can we follow you in lockstep. So we have imparted the last of our lessons to those among you We have found best to guide you where we can not.” The crowd was silent, but It could still tell that all were saddened by this, even though some had shared concerns that Their time was soon done.
“And so we must leave you for the Depths, with our heads held high and our given Task complete. But rest assured we will still watch you from down below, to lay witness to the seeds grow from saplings to a great and mighty Tree that will weather every storm that seeks to threaten it.” Its ‘face’, so different, yet so similar, twisted into what could best be called a ‘smile’.
“So rise, Our people. Rise to the stars, and Reclaim what all has Lost.”
...
And on the 200th year of Its life, 300 years after the Passing had consumed
As suddenly as Its mind and body had realized the embrace of Life, so too did It find the embrace of Death, with Its one purpose, accomplished...