Children Of The Light Ch 01

D'aath looked up at the rather frail beast standing there. The creature had appeared suddenly through a passage between some nearby plant life and caught it during the transform.

D'aath had never been caught completely surprised in it's entire existence. At countless worlds, after countless transforms, this was new.

The thoughts of the Father, and the power of the pod did a lot to assure it remained secure.

In the pod, the only requirement to not be cast into the All was the light, and a trace of mass.

The pod stored the energy of Suns.

Secure in that monstrous power, with the dreams sustained, the Father's comfort was always there.

What was now abnormal was the odd nothingness in it's mind.

The brief instant of confusion during the initial moments of transform was that point of most danger to one of the Children. It was impossible to control anything until completion.

Following the transform, it normally quickly sensed much of the nearby world as it was, fed by those calming thoughts of the Father.

The pod was the key, it held that power of Suns.

But now there was no Father in it's mind, only this strange nothingness.

Then the being was suddenly there.

The life form did not crouch, tense, or prepare to spring, instead it simply held motionless.

Lack of motion should be an attempt to hide for protection, blend in with all that surrouned, yet the gaudy stripes of coloring in what appeared to be a wrapping around the beast's body contrasted completely with the back ground?

That did not make sense, why freeze to hide when colored for display?

The orifice in it's cranium was open, but it was a suggestion of surprise, interest, rather than any threat.

After now countless visits to strange worlds, D'aath had learned the norms of species body language. From the tinest being to the largest and most dangerous, nearly all offered suggestions of their thoughts by reaction.

The steady slight motion of the creature's upper body told it...him?...that this beast drew nutrient, sustenance from the atmosphere.

It was at that moment that D'aath felt the transform complete.

+++

As always, he became a carrier of the seed of a dominant creature of this world.

Then inside, the fierce need for atmosphere, D'aath felt that. He allowed the body he now was to relax, it began to absorb. Soon there was a steady flow, it contained moisture, atoms.

Such an odd sensation, requiring no thought of effort once begun. None of the Children of the Light had any need for atmosphere unless in the form of a creature of some visited world.

The blur of confusion passed. He now also sensed the nagging need for additional nutrient.

The trace of matter carried with the pod held all the nutrient his normal body form required, combined with the light.

Now, in the form of a being of this world, other requirements for sustenance became a pressing need.

D'aath checked the range to the creature, it was sufficient that if defensive motion was required, there was enough.

Once the transform was complete, D'aath inspected himself quickly, while maintaining his attention to the creature.

It still had not moved.

He realized now that this creature was obviously one of the dominants of this world, as he could visualize that his own form was similar to the being that had appeared.

Similar yet vastly different, D'aath visually inspected the beast closely.

The creature must be female.

He knew that he should have already been aware of what the creature was?

D'aath was aware of the mistake, he had allowed the pod to run far too low on energy.

That understanding came as a shock, never before had D'aath been completely on it's own.

Such a odd being this body he had become was? Pitifully soft, no protection of any kind?

There was the feeling of warmth from this planet's tiny Sun on bare skin, D'aath felt grateful for that. It was weak, but enough to maintain the soul.

Soft and no armor of any kind, and he knew he was a carrier of the seed, he could sense that. He could always sense that, in literally thousands of transforms in it's brief lifespan, it was always to male.

The lack of armor meant perhaps, just perhaps he had found what the long search had sought?

No armor meant there was no danger, a lack of need for protection.

D'aath moved the long upper appendages, they reacted readily to the thought of motion, but slowly, so terribly slow?

No armored hide, no claws for defense, no sharp fangs for war? Combined with only the ability for slow and ponderous mothion?

This species must be peaceful then, if so, perhaps they were the ones who could join with the Children of the Light and assist in control of the All.

D'aath felt a sudden pleasant burst of sensation at that thought.

So few Children remained, the need was pressing.

The creature was upright, that alone was odd. The evolutionary requirement for elevation suggested either available nutrition was also elevated, or danger could be close by.

But that also meant it was very slow, another key. Being slow meant it had no need for speed for protection?

The visual was conflicting with his experience of other life forms.

D'aath was now confused, that was another odd sensation.

No Father. That meant disaster, D'aath became aware that he was on his own, at least until the pod could restore. Without that power, he could not sense the Father.

There was only one thing to do, and that would be to continue to seek, discover. Perhaps if promising, pass the DNA.

It was the way.

Of course D'aath knew he must be male to bear the genes to seed quickly, as female there would be all of the trappings of fertilization, nurturing, then separation, as male he could spread genes rapidly and far more diverse.

D'aath's only goal was to find a species, the ones with potential that could join with the Children of the Light. Sharing in knowledge, they could together learn the secrets of the haze surrounding the universe.

It was the way of the people, the duty they had taken as their own.

He looked again carefully at the being, it still simply paused as if surprised to see him.

For the first time in D'aath's entire existence, he had no real idea of what to do next.

+++

BEFORE

{This world the Children had visited before, and D'aath had a fascination with it. Such a tiny little planet so vastly away from nearly all others, yet every visit the self aware were there in monstrous numbers.

Resource, always in short supply nearly everywhere in the universe was abundant here, life overwhelmed the senses.

The blending of the atoms that created water, balanced precariously in the only form where it could flow readily?

In vast amounts? This was the most rare of all worlds visited, no other visited planet had held flowing water in such volumes. Rather they were solid matter, frozen, or simply a gaseous ball.

Life was also everywhere on other worlds, but nearly always completely engrossed in basic survival. Very few lifeforms had any other function.

This world also retained a unique atmosphere that created oxidation, the combination meant life in forms more vast than any other ever visited.

The tiny planet held a fascination, it was balanced precariously between the bitterness of the universe and the hellish energy of it's tiny Sun.

It's rotation allowed for continuous bathing in energy, the constant change of it's angularity created a world that was unique. There was even a moon, it's gravity causing an ebb and flow of the precariously balanced liquid water, nutrition then abundant at the shorelines.

More creatures, vast numbers and shapes, sizes in nearly unbelievable volumes lived in those seas.

+++

[[In the beginning everything was a turmoil of nothingness. Order came eventually to the birth world.

With one smaller Sun close, the giant one far, mass formed to a tedious balance.

The giant Sun lay far from the closer smaller one. They blended into one periodically in the birth planet's sky, the larger one peering out creating seasons before retreating out of sight again.

There were no self aware to witness that beginning, it only was.

D'aath had not been witness to that solar system's final blending with the All, the first world had passed eons before as the gravitational mass of the twin Suns joined. That blast of energy consumed the home planet, nothing remained as before.

The visual of that was placed into it's mind by the Father.

On that one single first tiny little speck of mass, bathed by the power of the twin Suns, the accident of life occurred. Lacking an atmosphere of any real consequence, the main source of energy was light, and the basic nutrients of the tiny planet itself.

That world, once settled into a near perfect lock with it's Suns, had a thin band that was safe from the utter cold of the dark, and the all consuming heat of it's Suns.

That thin band moved continuously as the birth world rotated ponderously, with close to imperceptible motion.

In that thin band, life began.

The Children of the light could not at first withstand the cold, and could not bathe directly in the light.

Trapped, unable to traverse since all were embedded in the rock, evolution brought the ability to move as the planet's slow rotation forced the blessing of motion.

To survive, motion was an evolutionary requirement, the side of the slowly rotating planet facing the dark was in constant progression towards the light.

To not move was to blend into the All.

At first the motion was slow, the feeding tendrils reaching into the planet's mass to draw nutrients.

Ponderously slow, the bitter cold side of the planet approached the Children, their deep tendrils reached further, then drew their accident of life further towards the light.

Life that was aware without fail contained that urge to survive, first the Children evolved motion, then understanding, thought.

With thought came awareness of self, with time came the ability to control the need for new rooting, until finally the Children needed only to stop periodically and send down tendrils to feed.

Motion granted freedom, evolution's end result was only the requirement of light to survive, plus each of the Children carried a small bit of mass for nutrition. That bit of mass contained huge energy, and any mass would of course serve.

Life. While it is an accident with odds beyond imagination, the seeds are constantly sown to even the most inhospitable planets, ready for those keys that start it all off.

Everything in the Universe came from the same beginning, thus everything was a source of nutrient for some type of life.

Life began everywhere, evolving over time. Yet time is simply a perception of what the self aware are at any given now, thus it did not matter how long it was before life began.

With there being no ending to the perception of now, life formed nearly everywhere in the universe, as more worlds and Suns began and spread across the vastness of nothing.

The Children were well aware that the universe, though vast, was only one of countless others on and on into infinity.

The Father was the one that found the key to renewal, the way to survive in only the light, no illnesses, no ending with a blending into the All.

With that knowledge there was never again a natural separation of one of the Children.

Except for D'aath.

D'aath was the very last of the Children of the Light.]]

+++

[[[The Children were the very first in all of the universe to be aware of self, and through completely impossible luck survived, learned.

They evolved as other worlds gained life, then those worlds passed to rejoin the universe, the All, and begin again.

The People now did not die, and could not, unless by error once transformed. They lived by light and a touch of mass from any source, as long as there were traces, the soul was sustained.

The final end result of evolution, they became beings that needed nothing else to live, fully self aware.

Immortal, invulnerable, and all powerful, encased for travel within the pods created by the Father.

While investigating a world for self aware, the Children used local molecules to become a dominant life form, such a simple and easy thing to do.

Some self aware did think of them as Gods.

With the ability to control mass in a simple way using thought and the monstrous energy of the pods, the people felt a duty to search, the Children felt a duty to control that which they could.

It was the way. D'aath was the very last, blessed with all of the power that the Father had remaining to reproduce. The most powerful of all of the Children, that power then amplified by many orders of magnitude by the pod meant it was the last great hope.

He could not completely understand, but the Father was somehow getting old, thus all hope was now with D'aath.

The concept of age was one of the few things there was no understanding of, as an immortal no such thing could exist.

Yet it seemed it did?

And D'aath was flawed.

D'aath was completely aware of time.]]]

+++

At first the Children allowed life discovered to continue, even flawed. But each self aware discovered, then taught and carefully attended had failed.

Blessed with the DNA of the Children, that created the ability in a species to learn quickly.

Yet nurtured with hope, all had ended the same.

As eons passed, and the number of Children dropped due to incidents during transform, logic suggested the process be accelerated.

With failure after failure, the Children began to make the choices. Life forms doomed to destroy themselves were simply ended quickly. Any life that was obviously doomed to failure served no purpose, it became a duty of the Children of the Light to eliminate, allow it all to begin again.

Allow hope.

All it took to cause a planet to be renewed for another try was the permission of the Father. Thought was not restricted by the laws of the universe, the Father's were always there, absorbed and relayed by the pod.

The Father never failed to grant permission.

+++

Once before D'aath allowed the pod to weaken too far, and was chastised gently by the Father as it made it's way to the nearest Sun to bask.

D'aath was most vulnerable when the energy of the pod was allowed to run low. Without enough energy stored, he could meet a self aware during or after transform unprepared.

With the eagerness of youth, D'aath once again made that mistake.

This time there was no Father at all in D'aath's mind.

It was odd sensation of being free, even excited when finding himself suddenly on his own, no Father in his thoughts. That feeling was also mixed with another strange sensation, but D'aath was young and very self assured.

He glanced once again at the creature standing there, it simply stood and watched. It still made no move to attack.

Only rarely in the visits to hundreds of thousands of worlds was there an incident, and those times he had barely avoided becoming one with the All.

D'aath felt some strange kind of pleasure in thinking of that. It created a feeling in him that he could not quite fathom.

He did not completely understand that it was fear.

+++

Sensation. Hunger, thirst. Below, something solid, the drawing of a weak gravitational field. More sensations, then the shock of temperature as a sudden discomfort.

There was never any feeling of anything like that during the drifting, weightless with barely a trace of actual mass.

The pod faded, becoming one with the surrounding light, appearing as only a shimmer, nearly hidden within the weak rays of the Sun.

D'aath could feel that also, the pod began to bask, renew in the frail light.

He felt the awareness, but it was different. The pod was absorbing, but struggling to do so.

Always before, the thoughts of the Father stepped in, took control. There now was no Father, an odd feeling.

The sensation, that wonderful sensation of freedom. The thrill? It coursed through the body he now became.

D'aath tried to use his perceptions to sense this world as it was, but all felt clouded and dull.

The creature suddenly turned and withdrew into the nearby plant life.

D'aath looked around, it took a few moments for him to focus. Then he glanced again at himself, the being he had become.

He was not particularly impressed.

There were two upper appendages, and two lower. He wriggled the appendages protruding, they seemed to be functional. He noticed the cleverness of the digits, the ability to grasp. That was interesting, digits like that were typically capped by sharp weapons in many species. The outer hide was thin and soft, there was no armor or protection of any kind.

This world was far cooler than the last time he had been here, many millions of it's years before. He remembered it very well, it had teemed with life.

That visit had been carnage, it was not a pleasant place.

D'aath had ended it quickly.

+++

Another time long before, this planet was covered with some kind of oily blob, D'aath knew that the beings thought but all they did was lie there and absorb their surroundings. The thoughts were very weak and hard to fathom. They had motion, so slow as to be nearly imperceptible.

The thoughts he got from them were only regarding feeding, there was nothing else at all.

For a brief period that gave D'aath hope, it's own species had no carrier of seeds, no female to receive, they just were. They mated by blending of the soul, then a separation.

Perhaps this beginning life form was similar?

D'aath had even attempted to blend with one of them, allowing itself to be drawn partially into the being.

Mating was often done by the Children once transformed, in an effort to speed the evolution of the dominant species.

That was only the first of the few times D'aath had felt pain, the being did not wish to mate and instead had began to absorb him.

Nearly too late he had realized each larger did not actually mate. Rather, by absorbing the smaller oily trails of tiny blobs were left behind as a by product of the feeding.

With a shock D'aath had understood that these beings fed on each other. That was the first time he became aware that not all was known by the Father.

Not completely understanding, D'aath had barely escaped the grasp of the blob. Very nearly he had become a part of the All.

He was very young at that time, less than 100 million of this planet's rotations around it's Sun, but he did learn from that. When working on a planet and becoming one with them, he was vulnerable to that world.

Those were not a type of being that could join the people, and share in the joys of the light.

Not if they could feed upon the self aware.

Feeding upon the self aware was the most taboo of all of the restrictions the Children of the Light had.

After only a few hundred Earth years, D'aath had given up and gotten permission from the Father.

It was not the first time D'aath had ended a world.

But it was the worst one.

It was only when the fires began that D'aath felt the thoughts. No longer dull, those thoughts were like screams in the mind, it had bothered him for a brief period.

It had bothered him enough that the Father had sent him on a very long slow drift to a different very large emerging world, deeply in dreams.

The dreams did their job, the sensation of sorrow was no longer with D'aath upon arrival.

There he found beings that were gentle. They had powerful legs and could transport themselves swiftly as ground beings even in the tug of the planet's massive gravitational forces.

D'aath helped them along, gave them knowledge, lived as one with them.

They fed on small plants and worms, their sharp beaks constantly picking at bits here and there.