.5

:::SUPPLEMENTAL REQUEST OPEN:::

INPUT: CROSS-REFERENCE GLIMMERING ERA, COVENANT, AND EARLY DESCRIPTION OF ENTITY "EVERSPARK"

:::PROCESSING:::

IDEAL SUBJECT LOCATED. MALE HUMAN ADOLESCENT ON DAY OF COVENANT ACCEPTANCE, 87 YEARS AFTER DAY OF CURIOSITY, #85S7P53UV0I81EG

INPUT: PREP DECK AND EXECUTE WHEN COMPLETE

:::PROCESSING:::

:::EXECUTING:::

Why did she always have to pester him? Artur's mother had been waving a heel of bread in his face all morning, insisting that he put something in his stomach before the ceremony.

"I'm fine!" He groaned, as she thrust a handful of strawberries at him on his way out the door.

"Oh, shut up," she said, mussing her angsty tween's mop of hair. "They're fresh from the fabricator this morning!"

"And good luck up there today, son. Don't be a bitch like your father!" She cackled after him as he started walking down the village path.

His father -

oh these are good berries

- wasn't around to defend himself this morning, but he would have slapped his thigh in frustration, and reminded everyone, yet again, that it was the *seasickness* from staring into the anomaly - not fear - that made him require a second attempt with the Covenant.

It didn't matter, because today Artur would be seeing the damned thing for himself and deciding if his parents' descriptions of the world were just exaggerations, or jokes to throw him off, or something else entirely. For years he'd questioned them about what he would see when it revealed itself to him.

They did their best to explain it, but they were out of their depth.

They tried to explain why giant meteor fragments were suspended in the sky, with no apparent support, above their new capital city far to the south.

They tried to explain how the colossal meteor in the center of that cluster, also somehow floating in the air, had been holding a piece of their new Emperor when it fell from the sky over eighty years ago.

They tried to explain why the entire region had been encircled with a magical wall that somehow changed the flow of time.

They tried to describe how the Quasians running the village's fabricator were actually machines themselves - and why everything they made was apparently free.

Each time they tried, and each time they failed.

Yeah, but least they tried

, Artur thought to himself. Many parents don't bother when their children pursue these questions. It's easier to simply wait and let the younglings experience it for themselves.

As Artur continued his jaunt down the road, enjoying his last strawberry, he spotted his friend Tobin lolling about on the village green.

"Ayo!" Artur shouted, drawing the boy's attention. Tobin trotted over to him with relief on his face.

"About time you showed up! I figured we'd walk to the sanctuary together."

Neither of them wanted to admit how nervous they were.

Both boys had reached the age when they could see the anomaly inside the Khord'han sanctuary, a structure that had appeared on the outskirts of their village nine years ago. Artur didn't know why, but the anomaly was invisible to children. Though, that hardly mattered, since any child with eyes could tell that *something* was there, just based on the adults staring at the center of the room, seemingly at nothing, with faraway expressions on their faces.

Now, Artur and Tobin could see it too. The roiling, churning, twisting ball of black energy and light hovering in the sanctuary's main chamber.

For most of their young lives, Artur and Tobin had been taught an important phrase: When you can see It, let It see you.

And today, they were going to the sanctuary to "let it see" them, whatever that meant.

They continued on the path as it led out of the village and up the hill. At the top of the hill, they saw the sanctuary. The building never made sense to Artur. He couldn't figure out what it was made of. It seemed like stone or even crystal, but also somehow metal. He also couldn't see how the pieces were put together.

It can't be one continuous substance, can it?

It was bigger, by far, than anything down in the village, and it was where all the Quasians lived.

As they arrived at the entrance, Artur saw a Quasian leaning against the main archway. He was wearing a style of simple jumpsuit that the boys had seen most of the Quasians wear. Artur recognized him.

He goes by the name Gaius

.

"Artur & Tobin! Good morning to you both. You look very purposeful today." He said cheerfully.

"Um, thanks. I guess so," Artur said, sharing a look with Tobin.

"Could it be you're here to see the Covenant?"

"Uh huh." Tobin mumbled affirmatively.

Gaius perked up. "That's great news, boys. Why the somber faces?"

Artur shrugged. "Well, honestly," he paused, "we're a little nervous. Any advice, Gaius?"

The thin metallic lines that adorned Gaius' face, crisscrossing in intricate patterns, stretched and curved as he smiled at them.

"Sadly, Artur, I have no advice whatsoever. The Covenant is human business, and if the All-Maker wanted Quasians to know about it, well then, we'd already know about it."

Gaius reassured them. "Don't worry. I understand it's a lot for humans to take in at once, but everything will be fine. The Emperor raised this sanctuary Himself when He passed through the region years ago, and He knows what He's doing. Can you imagine? The All-Maker Himself, standing right here!" Gaius turned around to take in the sight of the building. "The Covenant has never harmed anyone, boys. I suggest you head inside and hear what it has to say."

They took his suggestion and stepped inside. After following the central corridor, they arrived at the large, circular auditorium at the center of the structure. There were concentric rings of big, comfortable seats around the room, each section descending lower until they reached the middle. In the middle was a generous platform where orators could address a seated crowd (though today the room was empty) - and in the center of that platform was the anomaly itself.

The boys carefully took the steps down to the lowest level of the auditorium and regarded the bizarre thing. They had already been told how to engage with it. All they needed to do was walk up to it, and it would... respond somehow?

Artur and Tobin looked at each other with trepidation.

"Ready?" Tobin asked warily.

"I have no idea if I'm ready," Artur mumbled.

"Gaius is right. Let's just get it over with," Tobin stepped onto the platform and approached it.

Artur jumped up to keep pace with his friend. As they reached it, they positioned themselves on either side of it. After a moment, Tobin angled his head to the side so he could see Artur.

"Ok... now what?"

"Shhh!" Artur shushed him. "I think we just wait."

He began to see why his father always talked about seasickness. It looked like liquid, or something even lighter than liquid - like smoke perhaps, but there were ropey strands of it. Whatever it was, it constantly churned and twisted on itself, forming a large floating sphere. Artur could see beams of light breaking through the chaos to dimly show through.

Then, Artur felt a crawling sensation over the back of his skull. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the anomaly began to unfold itself for him. It was like a hole was being burrowed into it, leaving an opening that Artur could peer through. As he leaned forward to see what was inside, he felt an invisible force grip his entire body and yank him forward into the roiling, churning blackness.

He was being pulled in every direction at once. He lost his sense of up and down. All he could see was swirling colors and waves of black energy crashing over him. He felt the presence of something, or someone, take notice of him, and then he lost consciousness.

All of a sudden, he was standing on a hillside he didn't recognize.

He spun around, searching frantically for Tobin, but he was alone.

What he found instead made his jaw drop. He wasn't standing on a hillside, but a cliff.

No, not a cliff. The edge of a crater.

Artur gasped as he beheld the city his parents told him about. The crater's bowl-like shape, miles wide, had caused a large sparkling lake to form at its bottom. Rising out of the water's surface, far in the distance, were huge sturdy pylons made of the same bizarre material as the sanctuary. The pylons supported numerous cantons, each one big enough to support his village fifty times over. It was a city of districts built on a lake inside a crater.

And in the air above those cantons, suspended in the sky, were the otherworldly fragments his parents told him about. Artur's heart skipped a beat.

Revelation.

It's actually real!

"Hello, Artur." There was suddenly an elderly woman standing next to him. Artur leapt into the air and, with a voice that cracked, screeched in surprise.

There is NO WAY she was standing there a second ago. Come on!

"Be welcome in this place, child."

"Motherfu - who are you?!" Artur demanded.

"I am the Covenant."

"Are you real?" Artur's squinted his eyes, leaned forward, and studied her closely.

"That depends on your definition of 'real,' child. I was created by the Traveler Once Lonely to convey His offer to humanity. You can find me inside every sanctuary across Vivasaea. I am the pearl inside every anomaly," she said with a kind smile.

"And you'll answer my questions?" Artur asked warily.

"Yes. That is my secondary function."

"Ok, good. What's the offer?"

The Covenant replied to Artur in an even tone, "A peaceful life free of material want, and the means to continue it after your death for as long as you choose."

"How can the Emperor offer such a thing?" Artur responded, skeptical.

"It becomes possible if your descendents join the Khord'han Dynasty. If you accept me today, eventually your great-grandchildren will be given the opportunity to either sire or give birth to a Khord'ha - a child in possession of the Everspark's Gift. The moment that happens, the child's Gift will automatically reignite the souls of his or her ancestors, stretching back to those who first accepted me, as long as the generational chain remains unbroken. To be clear, if you accept today, that would be you, as well as your parents."

"However, consider this. You are an only child. If you have only one child yourself, and that child does not accept me, that would break the chain. After death, you and your parents would be lost to oblivion."

"If your bloodline remains faithful, it will one day have the chance to join the Khord'ha. Assuming the links of your generational chain remain unbroken, the souls of you and your parents will reawaken in the paradise of Aetheria, a psionic plane created by the Everspark for discorporated humans to call home."

"When that happens, your living descendants will also be able to call upon you whenever they visit a sanctuary, and you will be able to commune with them. That is the glorious future of these sanctuaries. They will not be boring, gloomy places where one goes to be preached at. They will be conduits to those who have left their bodies behind. They will be the meeting places of the living and the dead."

Artur's eyes widened.

Mum and dad definitely never mentioned that part!

"Artur, you live in a time when the Empire is still new. Your village here in the northern hinterlands only gained its sanctuary nine years ago. The Khord'ha are currently conquering and consolidating political power across the territories - and breeding as fast as possible - but in these early days, it will take time to create enough genetic material for the rest of Vivasaea to join with them. That is why it will take exactly 117 years, 9 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days before your hypothetical descendants can join the Khord'han bloodline."

"Hold on. So you're saying," Artur interjected, "that if I say yes today, and if my kids and grandkids eventually do as well, then we all get to go to paradise and live forever?"

"Precisely," The Covenant nodded.

"Oh, is that all?" Artur laughed.

"No. The Everspark's offer concerns not only a hypothetical event in the future that may or may not occur. He is also interested in providing for the present."

"If you accept today, you will be naturalized, and granted full imperial residency status. You will continue to enjoy the physical protection of the Imperial Legion. For free. For the rest of your life. No tax will be levied, no financial extraction ever made. Quasian advances in human medicine have far outstripped anything that currently exists outside the Glimmer, so you will receive preventative and emergency medical care so advanced it will seem to you like magic. For free. For the rest of your life. Your access to any form or path of education, in any subject, at any level, will be open to you. For free. For the rest of your life. You will be provided clean water, and your choice of diverse food of all types - healthy, hearty, luxurious, and everything in between. For free. For the rest of your life. You will have access to sophisticated mental health resources - among which are sessions for emotional and artistic expression, any effective form of communicative therapy, sexual gratification centers, genetic counseling, and assistance with finding a mate and/or life partner, if desired. For free. For the rest of your life."

Artur was no longer smirking.

"Also, when you come of age, if you decide that village life is not to your liking, you will be provided free passage via airship to the city that lays open before you. When you arrive, you will be granted a private, safe, healthy, comfortable, place to live - so that you can add your vital thread to the tapestry of human life that grows more beautiful and diverse here with each new generation."

"You're saying I could live here?!" Artur asked, staring longingly out at a city he had only seen in dreams as a little boy.

"Yes. For free. For the rest of your life."

Artur found he had tears in his eyes.

Could it really be true?

"It sounds too good to be true..." He whispered.

"Without the Everspark, it would be." She said simply. "This isn't just about having faith in something that *might* be fulfilled after you're dead. It's about providing resources to you now, so you can actualize yourself, and become whoever you wish to be. It's not just about cheating death, it's about building a life worth living."

"You see, He arrived on that," she pointed to the huge asteroid at the center of the levitating fragments, "on what we call the Day of Curiosity. His awakening brought a great burst of energy. However, that burst was temporary and finite. If He had not used it to rip apart time and suspend that behemoth in the sky, this planet would be a cinder right now. Humanity continues to exist because the Everspark allowed it to be so."

"He is the only one with the means to deliver salvation from death, Artur. He chose to do so, when He realized it was such a foundational desire among humans. Notably, He also provides what those antiquated systems cannot."

She swept her hand out to the city.

"Proof."

"And in exchange, you need only accept the Everspark's government, while committing to uphold imperial law, obey its representatives, and assimilate with Vivasaean culture."

Artur considered her words carefully.

"What happens if I don't accept?"

"Then you will work for a living. Life will carry on, and you will be granted only a small portion of those benefits, and for them, you will have to pay. You will still be subject to the law. Peace and protection are still offered, but death will be the end of you," she said with finality.

"And who is the Emperor? Truly."

"The Everspark is an entity beyond comprehension. To you, it appears as a man, but not just any man. Grim Stone wears the body of a great leader, a warrior who found himself on a battlefield right here, the day that asteroid fell from the heavens. When the Everspark awoke from its slumber, that warrior was the first human mind it touched."

"It subsumed every speck of that warrior's existence, his entire identity. Fortunately for everyone, that synthesis resulted in a 'Him' that liked what 'He' saw. So He chose to contain the explosive blast of this chance encounter with the human species and the fabulously complex, verdant world it calls home. He knew that if nothing was done, He'd bring about the erasure of all complex life here, and according to the Emperor Himself, He 'didn't want to be rude.'" She said pleasantly, making air quotations with her fingers.

"He cast His consciousness across the world, to learn all He could of humanity. He learned your hopes and fears and desires. He learned your strengths and weaknesses, your potential and your limitations."

"Your species is inescapably hierarchical, so He knew you would need a figurehead to follow. He turned to the myths your kind had already generated. His first human contact, the hero that fought here decades ago, is the physical canvas upon which He painted the rest of what humans desire in a leader."

"He saw that human physiology was complex, but inefficient. He knew He could improve upon this inherited structure. Chief amongst the improvements was His Gift, the source of the abilities you've heard tell of among the Khord'ha. However, humanity is not a species easily trusted with power, so He devised checks and balances to control the Gift's spread through the gene pool."

"Wait, wait, wait," Artur said, holding up both hands. "I feel like you're still not telling me what *it* is."

The Covenant sighed. "Oh, child. Does it actually matter? Do you really want to know?"

"Yes. You said you'd answer my questions and this is one of them!" His words came out harsher than he'd intended.

She nodded to herself. "Okay. This part is a shock to most, but just remember, you insisted."

The Covenant took a deep breath.

"The Everspark created the entire universe. He is responsible for the first spasm that gave rise to everything, what some call the 'Big Bang.' That was Him."

Artur just stared at her.

"He is an incomprehensibly old and powerful being that created this universe as a life raft, because His universe was reaching a point of no return, its age of degeneracy."

"However, to pass from one universe to another, He had to fracture His mind into many pieces. This wasn't difficult for Him, because His original form was a distributed psionic consciousness manifested in the physical world by avatars of animated stone, crystal, and phase-shifting nanites that first arose in a place called Genesis. His plan was to use this great spasm of the new universe to seed the cosmos with shards of His mind. He gambled that other sentient beings would evolve, stumble across a shard, and, wittingly or otherwise, provide the energy needed to bring this small piece of His mind out of dormancy. If this happened, He would seek to contact and merge with other reignited pieces of Himself, but only after examining the beings that found Him, to decide if they were worth including in His quest for Reunification.

"He desperately hoped that they would be, because the Traveler Once Lonely was born in a universe that was inconceivably ancient, and was, at that point, empty. In His universe, He was born at a time when most of its stars had already burned out. By comparison, our universe has barely emerged from its womb."

"The only galaxies He could reach were swirls of black holes and white dwarf star systems fading away. Back then, the speed of His thoughts were as slow as the turning of galaxies from our time. His immense cognition allowed Him to extrapolate into the past, to understand that His universe was once a fast-moving, busy place, very long ago. It took Him billions of years to discern that He had been born in a graveyard."