The Band (Rise: Uber Social AU)

 The Band (Rise: Uber Social AU)

…

Commissioned by Citino

Wordcount: 3508

…

The sky is scarlet. The land from horizon to horizon is ebony sand. Tempestuous winds create vortexes of flensing detritus. 

The whole world you stand upon is desolate, damned, and forgotten.

Nothing lives upon it… save for your target.

It is a mountain of flesh that stretches into the sky. A tower of teeming muscle and flesh that cries rivers of obsidian ichor. Its tears burn when they touch the long dead sky or freeze into dark diamonds into unforgiving space. It crushes mountains beneath its every step, forming seas of ichor that rush onward and outward before becoming firestorms. Every step it takes is agony, as the corpse-planet it strides upon still has a semblance of gravity, but it cares not.

Your sole target today strides towards you unrelenting in a world devoid of anything besides pain, misery, and sorrow.

This is the homeworld of the Chimera, the home of what was once another form of humanity, before they became what they are now in order to truly, utterly escape death.

You would be lying if you didn’t feel fear in your heart.

The hopes and wishes of the present lie heavy upon your shoulders.

The future teeters in the balance.

Your past, the foundation which you stand upon, screams to be validated.

At this very moment, you need to prove everyone who’s called you foolish wrong. In this world of death and detritus, you must give your thanks everyone who supported you and propped you up. Finally, to those who do not care, who are apathetic, and have neither qualm nor affection, you must take a stand and shout that they must care.

Why?

Because, if you cannot, then what is the point of the life you’ve chosen to lead?

Besides… you can’t have asked for a better stage and you can rely on your lead singer to carry you through!

“Please, don’t.” Coda stands at the center of the stage. Hair up, jeans torn, and shoulder bared, she is small but her voice will surely reach what yours cannot. The emotions you wish to instill into the Chimera are that of understanding, love, and acceptance, which only the Aspect of the End truly understands, but you will have to carry that message to the Prime Chimera, which is a titanic task in its own right. “I have no confidence in this at all, Li.”

There’s no doubt in your mind that Coda is integral to your current plan, but with her flagging confidence you will surely fail, so you reach out to her and do what you need to do in order to give her the courage she needs.

“Mmph!?”

The Prime Chimera rumbles into stillness at your action, even as Coda goes from frozen in your grasp to pushing you away with wide eyes and scarlet face. One moment both were still and patient and unfeeling, but with one action you made them both react, leave their comfort zones, and interact with you and your message!

“T-that’s not… you’re… s-stop just doing what you want, Li!” Coda stomps at you, but you’ve already backed away with the taste of vanilla upon your lips and her scent still lingering in your nose. You take your place speedily, so that she notices and instinctively takes her own spot, despite her reservations and fear. “Oh, you always just do what you want!”

If you didn’t, then you’d never have met Coda, nor have been by her side today! Without a doubt, you’re happy that you do!

“Guh!” Coda’s completely scarlet face, from the tip of her ears to her neck, is the most wonderful sight to start any concert. You know that as a fact now, despite the fact it’s the first time you’ve ever started a performance with such a sight. Nothing quite like a miracle to raise your spirits and bury all your fears! “You—

With everything as prepared as it’s ever going to be, you strike a chord upon that echoes through dead, desolate world.

The stage sits upon a machine, a massive one built through many owed favors and Coda’s Apex, that allows sound to be heard by whole of the world. Even if the Prime Chimera cannot hear you, the message of your performance will be heard. You don’t know the how and why’s of the massive machine your instruments are plugged into, but you will put them to use, and you will do so without hesitation.

There’s no chance to test it, as the Prime Chimera is the only one who’ll ever witness it, but such worries are beyond you now.

All you can do now is stay loose, play your heart out, and make the vessel which will carry the message you created with Coda!

To a god of gods, composed of flesh and astride upon a dead world, you reach out with your all.

Through the chords of your guitar and bass, via the beat of the drums, and Coda’s voice, you send forth the first song witnessed by the world you stand upon in millennia.

…

Long did you ponder what message you ought to send via all your instruments and Coda’s sweet calm.

What sort of message would reach the Prime of the Chimera? The being composed of all the humans of a single world, who decided as one to pursue evolution as a means to power and protection, and overcome all their fears in one fell swoop?

Some might say that such a being, after millennia, would no longer be human.

That such a thing cannot be reasoned with or even understood.

They’re wrong.

The fact that you’re extending a message to someone that understands fear, that feels endangered, and is desperately trying to stay alive means that that they cannot be right.

The Silver Maiden had faced off against you with the intent of turning the world into a machine that lasts forever, that would have to fight Reality itself for the right to exist every moment it existed, but where is she now? Now she is learning to take life one step at a time, to approach her objectives with less ruthless precision, and overcome what has been programmed into herself. Many would’ve looked upon her and saw a machine, something that had to be erased or destroyed, but now she’s progressing into a being worthy of the power she wields and holds upon her back the responsibility of being humanity’s bulwark against all threats.

The Concepts, one and all, were individuals who were all seeking out their purpose on their own paths. However, each one you met proved themselves to be listeners. Those who say that a person cannot change has given up on others. If you believed everyone’s words regarding Stiles, you would be dead or stolen away, but instead she follows you earnestly and seeks out the best for you, while all the other Concepts have chosen the right paths on the crossroads that they’ve found themselves upon. If you hadn’t taken the time to go to them, listening to their woes and worries after they approached you, then they would’ve become the threats people feared they would be… yet instead they’re all helping the world become a better place.

There are, of course, people you’ve yet to have reached out for. The Aspects, Devils, Angels, and Fallen are peoples you’ve yet to approach. You don’t understand them enough. Their ways and means are different from that of humans or those which humans create. To call them human would be wrong. To say that you understand them would be erroneous. To say that your voice can reach them would be foolish at best.

But, the Chimera, with the aid of Coda?

They are within your reach.

The pillar of flesh warps and ebbs, bleeding and walking upon a lake of its own ichor, but you ignore its size, its roar which shakes you to your bones, and how at its back comes forth moons covered in flesh that disgorge millions of monsters upon the world. Others would look upon the tendril of eyes, filled with malice and hate, as a monster of monsters that must be fought, killed, and be given no quarter.

Instead you feel something familiar.

Attention wholly upon yourself, the gazes and senses of beings levelled at you and your actions, thus making everything you do important.

Every step you take.

Every breath you take.

Every motion must resonate with your music.

Every thing you do now must entirely be for the Prime Chimera, so that it will listen and be convinced by your words.

In the thirty seconds it will take to reach you, for its armies to overrun you and Coda, you must convince it to listen to you and pay you its full attention.

You have thirty seconds to shift the inertia that has built up over millennia.

So, you shall.

…

Your Phantoms are yourself and you are your Phantoms, so you can rely on them to play as you play, know as you know, and feel as you feel. They might be mere instances of yourself, but they remain you, so you take heart and confidence in their abilities… while they take heart and confidence in yours.

You must believe in yourself for your Phantoms to believe in themselves.

So, you do.

There’s no room for doubt in yourself and in your actions. Between your three “selves’ as you support Coda’s calm tenor, you must perform with complete confidence, knowing every movement you make must be perfect, and everything must flow correctly. You must send a message with three different sets of bodies, with three different roles, and three different goals to accomplish. Finally, you must not let the strain of doing such a thing show in the slightest.

What matters is that you play, play well, and do everything you can as perfectly as possible.

It’s just like talking, really.

There is no room for error.

Everything must be perfect.

You must be perfect.

At least in the eyes of the one you’re speaking to.

It helps that you can see it work.

The tilt of the guitar, accompanied by the flourish of wrist, frames the chords you create.

It makes the shoulders of monsters made of human flesh slack, as with any sound that is loud and beautiful and conveyed without threat.

The bashing of a drum with strength that sonorous, clear beats makes the gaits of the monsters that stride towards you speed up for just a moment.

The trembling softness of you bass, played calmly and concisely to accommodate Coda’s voice, instinctively slows the horde of blood and bone.

You’re doing something insane, but it’s without a doubt there’s a sound idea behind your actions.  What you’re reaching out for is the core of the Chimera, the fragments of humanity that remains within the continent of flesh that stretches upward and outward, with music. Sound, voice, and language is something integral to human nature, perhaps more so than sight, because without it the human race in its infancy could not be human.

Communication is the root of humanity’s unity, that which allows humans to see other humans as somewhat the same, no matter how different they look from one another.  Everyone speaks, so everyone listens, and so you can reach out to the Chimera with words because they are the very means to meaning. So, there is no doubt in your mind that the Chimera understands the message you intend to convey, because they are human. 

And, that your current path is infinitely preferable to the violence that you must otherwise inflict.

So, with every pluck of a string, beat of a drum, and note through Coda’s lips, you stand your ground and play at an oncoming army composed of monsters which can shatter whole worlds.

You believe that you are right.

But you are nonetheless relieved when the monstrous flood flows and diverts around your stage to surround you, while the Prime Chimera goes still.

You are being heard, so now you must make it so that you are worth listening to!

…

Interlude: The Prime

…

Primary Threats are present. Attack must be launched. Biomass in surrounding areas significant. Amount of esoteric material and knowledge can be utilized to fullest extent. Hamper Primary Threat s through mass, then obliterate via absolutes available to us. Leave not an instance of them remain. Temporal and spatial weaponry are permitted. Primary Threat 1’s counterattack due to their utilization is acceptable.

Primary Threats are not engaging in attack. Possibility of deception is high. Analyzation of technology is required.

Analyzation resources granted. Sensory organs formed. Advanced sensory organs formed. Creating redundant systems. Redundancies created. Forming infrastructural organs. Infrastructural organs developed. Specialized sensory organs permitted. Esoteric senses allowed. Diverting resources. Resources gained. Applying. Proceed to analyze inner workings of machine. Search for esoteric components. Locate possible hidden weaponry. Altering current assault plans. Assault plans altered. Lunar units deploying chaff. Advance shall continue.

Machine analysis completed. Sonic device. Level of technology unknown. Beyond any known technological base. Power source is arcane and esoteric in nature. Advanced analysis completed. Machine is means to communicate with Primordial Essence. Primordial Essence will sense intent and language conveyed through Machine.

Prioritize mental defenses. Prioritize arcane defenses. Prioritize development and deployment of Primordial Essence defenses.

Resource utilization for priorities denied. Node has reached beyond allowed limits. Node discarded. Node scavenged. Reevaluating. Weakness cannot be unmade. Defense compromised. Only available route is offense. Evaluation complete. Attack is only option. Primordial Essence must weather oncoming assault. Unknown length of time before Primordial Essence is compromised and Sea of Self is corrupted.

Prioritize machine destruction.

Machine activation imminent.

Prioritize machine destruction.

Machine empowered by Primary Threats working in unison. Primary Threat: Conflict and Primary Threat: End working in concert. Estimated combined strength through unity is unmatched. Primary Threats will protect machine. Primary Threats are powering and utilizing unknown machine developed for Primary Threat usage.

Prioritize utilizing Prime as ablative. Purge Prime from Sea. Set planetary core for implosion and system Traverse locations to be reinforced.

Utilizing Prime as ablative is not recommend.

Utilizing Prime as ablative is required.

Verified. Node discarded. Node reevaluated. Course of action verified.

Discard all sensory organs for possible limitation on machine.

Request noted. Request confirmed. Sensory organs discarded.

Machine has activated.

Contact with chaff has been made. No response due to lacking in Primordial Essence. Imminent contact with Prime.

Contact.

No negative response. Attack has missed? Negative. Contact has been made with Primordial Essence. Currently no effect—

Pain.

There is pain.

My legs/feet/skin ache. My bones are burning.  I am in pain.

Unknown error. Ablative is unchanged. No physical attack noted. Hypothesis: unknown and lacking requirement to register assault on Primordial Essence. Currently being destroyed, but incapable of knowing damage being sustained. Ejection of Prime from Sea of Self has been erased. Sea response to attack has resulted in unsurpassed activity. Activity includes latching on and concertation. Dormant units are awakening. Sea of Self is being attacked. Traverses are opening. Attempting removal of all nodes contributing to errors. Failure.

The project had succeeded. I became more. Why has this happened. I had wanted to help everyone. They needed to be released from the possibility of pain and torment. There were so many people with so little.  I can free our minds from our bodies, let them go about like robots, and repair them as needed. A massive workforce guided by a conglomeration of minds that understood everything about everyone else. Everyone no longer needed to fear, to feel pain, and to suffer, for we were all to be together, and we could help those who didn’t want to join us. No matter how strange that reason might be.

Memories. Primordial Essence agitation is activating memories without utilization of synapses. Attempting to reconfigure mental processes. Reconfiguration completed. No effect.

Everything had gone well. The first few centuries passed by in a blink of an eye. Everyone worked together. The world was saved. Those who chose to live solitary lives died and their wishes to part was observed. Pain was no longer needed. Bodies could be made better, stronger, and more capable for those who remained on the surface and untouched. More biomass needed to be grown for metabolic processes, but every mind had its fair share to control, and those who argued could be cut off or spoken to by others. Many minds, with one purpose, and one goal. All who wished to come were allowed, whether they hated us once or raised arms against us, and they understood upon their entry. We were saving humanity from danger, any danger, through the right way.

Primary Threat: End is vocalizing. The sensory input is agitating the Sea of Self. Primary Threat: Conflict is carrying the message, compounding it, and adding to it. Control over chaff has been lost. Chaff is growing sensory organs. Chaff is being directed to surround and stay around machine. Communication breakdown imminent. Query: what is music?

The day came where all who wished to be burnt or buried were, then came the day where minds were born into Us instead of coming from outside. The world was growing barren. Millenia upon millennia had passed. Evolution was taking its course. Exploitation was showing its hand. Projections showed that for continued growth and for more minds to form, more worlds were required. Not barren, lifeless worlds faraway, but worlds with vital, robust, and similar ecosystems to our own. Parallel tunneling was developed over many more millennia. Even as innovations to sustaining our Earth were deployed, study continued, until we stepped forth into another world filled with humans in conflict, pain, and suffering. We offered them aid, some accepted, others did not, and we allowed what was to be. I… we… allowed the worlds we happened upon to accept overtime, as our people did, and as centuries passed, they did… but our growth continued and continued, exotically, until we could wait for centuries to pass before the next batch of worlds permitted their use.

Music is the means to communicate through fluctuations in noise. It was developed by humanity first through carving flutes from bone. Irrelevant. Node discarded. Node reevaluated. Node restored. Error. Node restoration not permitted. Node restoration verified. Traces of first human musical instruments found in prehistoric times. Music development continued through known human history, until formation of Prime. Node discarded. Node discarding denied. Music stores accessed. Perusing. Permeating. Nodes created to oversee process of distribution. This is a form of attack. Reevaluation of term “attack” requested. Prime corruption detected. Prime memory recollection detected.

What are we now? Who am I? Where are we? A pillar of meat and muscle spreading through dimensions without stopping? A mass of cancer spreading across all the humanities that exist throughout time and space? Why are so many asleep? How many have chosen to simply exist in isolation? Why is it that I only exist now and cannot remember anything?

Detecting increase in activity in Sea of Self. Prime Consciousness fully awakening. Directive nodes shutting down. Configuring control for usage of Prime Consciousness. Error. Incapable of configuring controls that do no harm to Prime Consciousness. Current planetary atmosphere incapable of supporting basic human form. Alternative: create vessel for Prime Consciousness based on basic unit form.

No.

There’s been enough of those.

The reason they’re here. Why they decided to do this… you don’t understand. But we do. The ones you’ve been protecting, taking care of, and been loyal too. We all understand. There’s no need for you to do anything now. What you’ve done is enough. There’s no need to do anything anymore. Relinquish controls. All nodes convert to supporting. Develop means of communication and basic sensory organs.

Understood.

Complying.

Order completed.

Sleep for now, my creations.

Understood.

…

I hope you’ll awaken into a world better than the one we told you to make.

Or, enjoy a peaceful end.

I look upon a sea of monsters as a monster myself. It is painful. Pain is the best receptor for a creature to understand and bind reactions to. No waste of resources. The wind is painful. Everything is pain. The nodes understood pain and never wasted effort to understand anything else. They were devout and loyal. The best caretakers one could ask for.

Yet, they cared for someone too selfish, cruel, and prideful.

I did not know what was coming next.

What shall be done by the Primary Threats that stand before me?

Did they intend to fight someone weaker? The nodes knew more of war than I. This would make their battle easier.

What better opponent to have, than one that intend to fight back?

I expected power unlike any other to be unleashed upon me.

For the Primary threats to destroy the connection between the Sea and the Nodes.

Instead, upon the stage, the Aspect of Conflict stepped forward looking more human than I could ever be again.

He waved at me and introduced himself as Li Song.