"I've answered a lot of your questions. Can you tell me where Mother is?"

When the First Born suddenly shot this question at Hao Ren, he was still pondering if he was being influenced by the lifeblood that he had absorbed before. His contemplation was immediately broken by the First Born as cold sweat started flowing from head to toe. He was not alone, everyone present got nervous when they heard that one particular question. Vivian turned away silently to look at the crystalline imprints, Y'zaks picked up his daughter to start discussing dinner, Nangong Wuyue bend down to pretend that she was tying her shoelace to find that.... she was wearing crocs, there were no laces to begin with!

"This..." Hao Ren swallowed hard as he squeezed his mind for ideas on how to tell the part where the G.o.ddess had fallen in a very symphathetic manner. "Actually she..."

Vivian softly elbowed Hao Ren at the back. "Be symphathetic."

Hao Ren nodded as he swallowed the words that was just about to come out back into his gut. Rephrasing his sentence, he went. "A war broke out at the Star of Origin and your mother's whereabouts are unknown after that. But we had gotten proof that the G.o.ddess of Creation is probably still asleep somewhere deep in s.p.a.ce..."

Vivian patted her chest as she left out a sigh of relief as she whispered into Hao Ren's ears. "That scared the h.e.l.l out of me. I really thought you were gonna say your mum got blown to smithereens."

Hao Ren gritted his teeth as he tried to kept his best solemn facade on. Cold sweat formed on his forehead. "I almost said it just now...Thank goodness you elbowed me there!"

Vivian's expression changed slightly as she murmured. "Watch that mouth of yours!"

The First Born kept quiet for a moment, it was obvious that it was not satisfied by the answer. "I know that much and you've told me a little before. But I want details.... what happened to Mother?"

Hao Ren licked his lips and before he replied he used telephathy to confirm that status of the station's mainframe and confirmed that all firewalls and security protocols were working as normal, and that the First Born sample in container one and two were dormant before he popped a question instead. "How much do you know of the incident? When did you lose contact with the G.o.ddess of Creation? Did she tell you her situation?"

"I know as much that Mother was at war with someone." the First Born's tone will change to almost child-like when it spoke about its Mother. "She said it was dangerous and forbade me to have a look at the situation there. Afterwards, I received one last message from Mother. That something bad will happen, and my siblings will be attacking the Garden. She said that she no longer have any ability to stop them, and asked me to protect everything within the Garden.... After that... I don't know."

Hao Ren asked a few more questions and was affirmed in his belief that the First Born lost contact before the G.o.ddess' fall. And because of her orders, it never did actively tried to contact the Star of Origin or any other Guardians. So it was clueless about that heinous war. It only followed its Mother's orders to protect the ecosystem samples within its influence and the preservation method that it came up with was in cooperation with the people of Zom.

The First Born knew what sort of firepower its siblings have and if hundreds of thousands of ancient beings like itself were to fall upon Zom, its strength alone is futile against the genocidal tide. Escaping or building defensive structures were pointless, so it decided to protect 'information'.

Information is the blueprint, and the blueprint is everything.

The First Born and its wards decided to forgo the physical form that could be easily destroyed and turn the entire simulated ecosystem and any information gained as data within itself while awaiting for a safe time to unleash the lifeblood to create life again. It was a bold action, as every lifeform in the world could be created with the lifeblood, and thus they became a very unique form of information. And as long as these blueprints were preserved, when the time comes, the entire ecosystem could be completely and perfectly resurrected using new materials.

At the base of the First Born's plan, the Zomnites had compiled something that akin to a 'lifeform index', and catalogued every intelligent living being and evolution levels on the planet. They also created equipments that could extract one's spirit and upload it to the database. While the Zomnites s.p.a.cefaring technology was rather amateurish, they had a very unique understanding of souls and life owing to their communication with the First Born since ancient times. This particular part of their culture was very different from the bulky automatons that they had created.

But if the Aeryms who were essentially forest dwellers could build a s.p.a.ce battles.h.i.+p, what is there to stop the Zomnites living in steel cities to be part of a cult wors.h.i.+pping an ancient being?

The entire plan took about a hundred years to realise and finally all intelligent beings' souls were secured while the plantlife and primal animals were gene-mapped and their ecosystem role recorded. The entire ecosystem of the planet became a blueprint which scale was beyond imagination. After compressing the files and logged into the Ark which simulates the world, as the world came to a halt, the First Born unleashed the final phase of the plan:

It roused the Bloodtide and dissolved the entire planet's ecosystem.

After that, every life on Zom had disappeared, living on the ancient and powerful primal being there while the spirits of every creatures hide within the mental sanctuary of the First Born. This was the perfect ruse, as the crazed Guardians who were on a warpath exterminating the Treacherous Children and pa.s.sed by Zom, what they saw was a cleansed planet. There was nothing but lifeblood and tentacles on it. Not suspecting anything, Zom was left alone, and that was how their civilisation survived.

The First Born had responded to Hao Ren's every question in detail, its innocence and straightforwardness was surprising, but this was the first time Hao Ren spoke to a real First Born, and he was not sure if this being would always be in such a state when awake.

As the First Born completed its tale about building the sanctuary, Lily asked curiously. "After the virtual world was created, did any other Guardians pa.s.sed by Zom?"

"A few did, but they simply just went by." the First Born said. "They probably thought my other siblings had already came here before."

Y'zaks immediately added on. "Then what's with Zom cras.h.i.+ng into the sun? A planet should not deviate from it's...o...b..t unless due to external force?"

"We ran into a column of s.p.a.ce dust cloud. That was about seven thousand years after I started dreaming. A ma.s.sive dust cloud pa.s.sed by our system, and every planet's...o...b..t speed fell. Some of my nervous system, and many of the facilities on the planet's surface was subsequently destroyed as many other things happened... After that I could not really control my dream anymore, and I could not even wake up to warn the rest."

Hao Ren rubbed his chin as he fell into deep thought. He could fell that the First Born was still emotionally unstable. Despite escaping death, all it could think of was its 'Mother'. It clearly thought that these 'humans' before it know more about Mother's whereabouts and in truth, Hao Ren and the rest do know what happened, it was just... No one knew how to put it to words.

Vivian threw a wink at Hao Ren while Lily was talking to the First Born. "Can we hide this?", was the message.

Of course, Vivian could have meant other things but Hao Ren felt that if he could act like he could read Vivian's intentions from that complicated glance he would have looked cool.

He gently shook his head, indicating that the truth would need to be told sooner or later.

A lie would need ten other lies to cover it, and the distrust caused by a lie would need ten times the effort to restore confidence. As this First Born no longer needed to use its mental strength to maintain the 'Dream Ark', it might come up with its own conclusions with its now idle mind. Rather than needing to clean up that mess, Hao Ren rather that he settle this once and for all.

Seeing that this First Born did not personally saw the fall of the G.o.ddess, and was not linked psychically to the berserking guardians, its reaction after knowing the truth would probably be measured, as long as Hao Ren keep a tab on his words and the atmosphere, he could still manage the situation.

"On the matter of the G.o.ddess..." Hao Ren's voice caught the First Born's attention. "We do know something about her, but we are probably not the best people to tell you this. Wait a moment, I'll let you meet somone... You may even know each other."

He had decided to let the Guardian meet the First Born.

The Beginning and the End of the Dream Ark

"I've answered a lot of your questions. Can you tell me where Mother is?"

When the First Born suddenly shot this question at Hao Ren, he was still pondering if he was being influenced by the lifeblood that he had absorbed before. His contemplation was immediately broken by the First Born as cold sweat started flowing from head to toe. He was not alone, everyone present got nervous when they heard that one particular question. Vivian turned away silently to look at the crystalline imprints, Y'zaks picked up his daughter to start discussing dinner, Nangong Wuyue bend down to pretend that she was tying her shoelace to find that.... she was wearing crocs, there were no laces to begin with!

"This..." Hao Ren swallowed hard as he squeezed his mind for ideas on how to tell the part where the G.o.ddess had fallen in a very symphathetic manner. "Actually she..."

Vivian softly elbowed Hao Ren at the back. "Be symphathetic."

Hao Ren nodded as he swallowed the words that was just about to come out back into his gut. Rephrasing his sentence, he went. "A war broke out at the Star of Origin and your mother's whereabouts are unknown after that. But we had gotten proof that the G.o.ddess of Creation is probably still asleep somewhere deep in s.p.a.ce..."

Vivian patted her chest as she left out a sigh of relief as she whispered into Hao Ren's ears. "That scared the h.e.l.l out of me. I really thought you were gonna say your mum got blown to smithereens."

Hao Ren gritted his teeth as he tried to kept his best solemn facade on. Cold sweat formed on his forehead. "I almost said it just now...Thank goodness you elbowed me there!"

Vivian's expression changed slightly as she murmured. "Watch that mouth of yours!"

The First Born kept quiet for a moment, it was obvious that it was not satisfied by the answer. "I know that much and you've told me a little before. But I want details.... what happened to Mother?"

Hao Ren licked his lips and before he replied he used telephathy to confirm that status of the station's mainframe and confirmed that all firewalls and security protocols were working as normal, and that the First Born sample in container one and two were dormant before he popped a question instead. "How much do you know of the incident? When did you lose contact with the G.o.ddess of Creation? Did she tell you her situation?"

"I know as much that Mother was at war with someone." the First Born's tone will change to almost child-like when it spoke about its Mother. "She said it was dangerous and forbade me to have a look at the situation there. Afterwards, I received one last message from Mother. That something bad will happen, and my siblings will be attacking the Garden. She said that she no longer have any ability to stop them, and asked me to protect everything within the Garden.... After that... I don't know."

Hao Ren asked a few more questions and was affirmed in his belief that the First Born lost contact before the G.o.ddess' fall. And because of her orders, it never did actively tried to contact the Star of Origin or any other Guardians. So it was clueless about that heinous war. It only followed its Mother's orders to protect the ecosystem samples within its influence and the preservation method that it came up with was in cooperation with the people of Zom.

The First Born knew what sort of firepower its siblings have and if hundreds of thousands of ancient beings like itself were to fall upon Zom, its strength alone is futile against the genocidal tide. Escaping or building defensive structures were pointless, so it decided to protect 'information'.

Information is the blueprint, and the blueprint is everything.

The First Born and its wards decided to forgo the physical form that could be easily destroyed and turn the entire simulated ecosystem and any information gained as data within itself while awaiting for a safe time to unleash the lifeblood to create life again. It was a bold action, as every lifeform in the world could be created with the lifeblood, and thus they became a very unique form of information. And as long as these blueprints were preserved, when the time comes, the entire ecosystem could be completely and perfectly resurrected using new materials.

At the base of the First Born's plan, the Zomnites had compiled something that akin to a 'lifeform index', and catalogued every intelligent living being and evolution levels on the planet. They also created equipments that could extract one's spirit and upload it to the database. While the Zomnites s.p.a.cefaring technology was rather amateurish, they had a very unique understanding of souls and life owing to their communication with the First Born since ancient times. This particular part of their culture was very different from the bulky automatons that they had created.

But if the Aeryms who were essentially forest dwellers could build a s.p.a.ce battles.h.i.+p, what is there to stop the Zomnites living in steel cities to be part of a cult wors.h.i.+pping an ancient being?

The entire plan took about a hundred years to realise and finally all intelligent beings' souls were secured while the plantlife and primal animals were gene-mapped and their ecosystem role recorded. The entire ecosystem of the planet became a blueprint which scale was beyond imagination. After compressing the files and logged into the Ark which simulates the world, as the world came to a halt, the First Born unleashed the final phase of the plan:

It roused the Bloodtide and dissolved the entire planet's ecosystem.

After that, every life on Zom had disappeared, living on the ancient and powerful primal being there while the spirits of every creatures hide within the mental sanctuary of the First Born. This was the perfect ruse, as the crazed Guardians who were on a warpath exterminating the Treacherous Children and pa.s.sed by Zom, what they saw was a cleansed planet. There was nothing but lifeblood and tentacles on it. Not suspecting anything, Zom was left alone, and that was how their civilisation survived.

The First Born had responded to Hao Ren's every question in detail, its innocence and straightforwardness was surprising, but this was the first time Hao Ren spoke to a real First Born, and he was not sure if this being would always be in such a state when awake.

As the First Born completed its tale about building the sanctuary, Lily asked curiously. "After the virtual world was created, did any other Guardians pa.s.sed by Zom?"

"A few did, but they simply just went by." the First Born said. "They probably thought my other siblings had already came here before."

Y'zaks immediately added on. "Then what's with Zom cras.h.i.+ng into the sun? A planet should not deviate from it's...o...b..t unless due to external force?"

"We ran into a column of s.p.a.ce dust cloud. That was about seven thousand years after I started dreaming. A ma.s.sive dust cloud pa.s.sed by our system, and every planet's...o...b..t speed fell. Some of my nervous system, and many of the facilities on the planet's surface was subsequently destroyed as many other things happened... After that I could not really control my dream anymore, and I could not even wake up to warn the rest."

Hao Ren rubbed his chin as he fell into deep thought. He could fell that the First Born was still emotionally unstable. Despite escaping death, all it could think of was its 'Mother'. It clearly thought that these 'humans' before it know more about Mother's whereabouts and in truth, Hao Ren and the rest do know what happened, it was just... No one knew how to put it to words.

Vivian threw a wink at Hao Ren while Lily was talking to the First Born. "Can we hide this?", was the message.

Of course, Vivian could have meant other things but Hao Ren felt that if he could act like he could read Vivian's intentions from that complicated glance he would have looked cool.

He gently shook his head, indicating that the truth would need to be told sooner or later.

A lie would need ten other lies to cover it, and the distrust caused by a lie would need ten times the effort to restore confidence. As this First Born no longer needed to use its mental strength to maintain the 'Dream Ark', it might come up with its own conclusions with its now idle mind. Rather than needing to clean up that mess, Hao Ren rather that he settle this once and for all.

Seeing that this First Born did not personally saw the fall of the G.o.ddess, and was not linked psychically to the berserking guardians, its reaction after knowing the truth would probably be measured, as long as Hao Ren keep a tab on his words and the atmosphere, he could still manage the situation.

"On the matter of the G.o.ddess..." Hao Ren's voice caught the First Born's attention. "We do know something about her, but we are probably not the best people to tell you this. Wait a moment, I'll let you meet somone... You may even know each other."

He had decided to let the Guardian meet the First Born.