Book 7, Chapter 100 - The Aware Universe

s.p.a.ce warped and a group of humans was deposited in Southern Capital .

In the moment before they teleported Cloudhawk saw someone take the hit meant for him . Escape had only been possible because of them . If it’d failed the consequences would have been fatal .

But who? Names raced through his mind .

Selene? Dawn? Maybe Legion?

But when Cloudhawk saw the truth it stunned him . His was the last face he expected .

The Cloud G.o.d slumped to the ground with a cavity in his back . Its edges burned with crackling energy . Fissures were spreading through the armor . Like a clay pot he was breaking apart, in a slow but inevitable process of collapse .

In the last few seconds Legion barely fended off a Supreme and Dawn was badly injured . Selene protected her while the others were entangled with soldiers . The only one there with the power to protect Cloudhawk was the betrayer G.o.d .  

But why?

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He was the only one of this earth’s Supremes to bend to Legion’s coercion . Forced to join their ranks . Never had he bowed to Cloudhawk’s whims because he saw himself as superior .

So why, at that crucial moment, did this G.o.d use his own body to s.h.i.+eld him? Why sacrifice himself?

Cloudhawk didn’t understand . No one did .

But there was no time to wonder . The Cloud G.o.d was a priceless link to the minds of the G.o.ds . He was the only one who could track Sumeru’s movements . He was their intelligence . If they lost him the Alliance would be deaf and blind, easy prey .

The Cloud G.o.d was steadily edging toward death . His injuries were too great to save this body . There was only one course .

“Legion, get ready . ”

Cloudhawk’s mind fixated on the knowledge he knew Legion had, the ability to reincarnate . If they could save his consciousness before the body failed, maybe he would survive .

“It’s too late . ” Legion was powerless here . Yes, he had the power of reincarnation . But it wasn’t like surgery, and even surgery needed preparation . The Cloud G.o.d would be gone in minutes . There was no time to find a suitable body and complete the process .

He was beyond saving .

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The Cloud G.o.d knew it . His will was growing hazy . Scattered . To G.o.ds there was nothing to fear from death, it was a cycle like countless others . Their species was indifferent to individuality . Yet the Cloud G.o.d felt fear . He shouldn’t be, but he was .

He wasn’t repulsed by the feeling . On the contrary, it was a gift to feel . Wasn’t that the sign of really living? Only recently could the Cloud G.o.d say he was living . Now he was going to lose it . He mourned for what he would be leaving behind .

Why did he use his body to protect Cloudhawk? Truth was the Cloud G.o.d felt driven to do it, as if by instinct . An instinct to protect even the smallest mote of light in a dark and vast universe . Cloudhawk was that light . He was hope . Any hope, no matter how small or insignificant, had meaning just with its existence .  

The Cloud G.o.d spoke through their minds . “Please help sever my connection to Sumeru, once and for all . I want my spirit to return to the universe, not to the G.o.ds . ”

“Is there really no chance?” n.o.body wanted to lose the one true G.o.d on their side .

“None . ” There was nothing Legion could do, and Belial was even less equipped .  

The G.o.ds had deployed their Last Judgment . They equipped their G.o.ds with weapons that worked without resonance…

The Cloud G.o.d’s injuries went deeper than the body . Fragments of his spirit were splintering along with his form . Not even the greatest artisan of the G.o.ds had a way to stop the process .  

From nearby, the Shepherd G.o.d extended a finger . From it shot a beam of light which struck the Cloud G.o.d’s forehead . He quaked and spasmed and the light in his eyes dimmed . His life force was fleeing, but there was a sudden sense of comfort . She’d helped him disconnect from Sumeru . From this second forward he was entirely free . They would never get him back .

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Cloudhawk approached him . “Any final requests?”

“Final requests? Burden the living with the wishes of the dead?” He seemed to have trouble understanding the concept . “The past is irrelevant . In this conflict we are compatriots . We owe our lives to see our goal through . ”

Compatriots? For a brief instant the Cloud G.o.d’s eyes flared brightly again . “Two wishes . First: I wish more of my people are freed . They are not G.o.ds, they are slaves . Every sentient creature deserves freedom . Second: As I am doomed to die, It is time to choose a successor . . . ”

He was weakening by the moment . His voice came in intermittent bursts through the humans’ minds until it fell silent . But Cloudhawk understood . He drew his eyes toward Legion and nodded .

“Then we begin the ceremony,” Legion ordered .  

It was a brief period of enlightenment, but the Cloud G.o.d had long enough to ponder the meaning of life . What was life? A profound and serious concept to explore . In the end the Cloud G.o.d could not come up with an answer . Perhaps there wasn’t one .

What he did know was that the greatest thing about life wasn’t that it existed but that it continued . From the smallest, microscopic amoeba to a creature like Cloudhawk . All through that process there were tribulations, hopes, successes . Life was pa.s.sed down, and each time it grew better .

The Cloud G.o.d knew he would not survive, but as a powerful Supreme he could grant the resistance his abilities . Autumn, a G.o.d like him, was who he decided to empower . In this way he would continue into the future .

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Perhaps the loss of his little spark meant nothing to Sumeru . But the Cloudhawk now believed that even the smallest light – no matter how frail – had the power to light up the darkness .

They brought him to the altar as his mind was slowly slipping away . All sensations of the outside world had ceased . He would soon pa.s.s . Shortly after, in the instant before his death, he felt his mind leaving his body . It rose up, pa.s.sed the planets and beyond the solar system to the universe beyond .

He thought it felt it . Some greater consciousness out there in the cosmos . It transcended matter, thought, will, s.p.a.ce, time… It was greater than the universe, beyond any words to explain . Neither existing or non-existent but greater than both . And all of this struggle on a microscopic planet were merely illusions of life and death .

The Cloud G.o.d thought that if there were ever any real G.o.ds, this was one .

He was gone, having died without even a proper name . For G.o.ds names were unimportant . They were, after all, just extensions of Sumeru’s will . At best, a cog in the machine . The Cloud G.o.d was just a t.i.tle the people of Skycloud chose .  

The Green Alliance had lost its one G.o.dly ally . It was the painful consequence of a humiliating defeat . They killed some soldiers and captured a Supreme, but what did that matter to the G.o.d King?

Cloudhawk had lost two Elysian masters and his only way to know what the G.o.ds were doing . Mankind’s war for survival had just begun, but it started with a wrenching blow . Maybe it was true . The G.o.ds were too great for a bunch of smart monkeys to get the better of them . Under Last Judgment there wasn’t even a way to fight back .

What was the point of fighting on?

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