Chapter 365
- Overthrowing The Creaton was an impossible task, so they started to create an impossible army. An army that was going to be incredible in every aspect, but to have this, they had to make sure of one thing. Absolute loyalty of their soldiers. To get that, they needed to take their free will from them, and a way of doing it existed. They could either bend the minds themselves using immense psionic power or do something more efficient. Bind the subject to the device, that would do this for them. In this way, they weren\'t losing anything, just gaining.
- I know where it leads. You want me to help the Creator. You are one of the original gods, aren\'t you?
- No. Let me finish the story. Binding works only if the mind is undeveloped and very weak, which is in the early stages of life, and it requires a master. That place was taken by several beings, as you named them, gods.
- That\'s what Yashasvee\'mies did to his people...
- Yes, but please, don\'t interrupt me, Peter. This way it will take much longer.
- Ok. I\'ll be quiet for now.
- The creation of the army took eons, but eventually, the forces of theirs were discovered, and an all-out war started. It was taken by The Creator outside any world, to not destruct anything, and very little was left in all of those universes. The creations were left alone without their gods, the slaves mostly went to war, but some were left, to provide even more soldiers, although now they couldn\'t get to the front lines. With time though, they got back on their feet, overtaking new planets and worlds.
- Is that what you want to fight? The leftovers?
- Yes. Let me continue. I was that leftover, but my race had great luck, as our master had to be slain very soon, and we were freed. It was twelve of us, but my brethren didn\'t want to fight. They decided to run away. I was different than them. I couldn\'t just go. Even if we have practically no chances of winning, I want to try. The grand war might end someday, but what was left here, might consume everything before that happens. We need to stop it. I tried many times already but failed. Each time I start creating an army, they decide to run away or just grew content with themselves. I thought Yashasvee\'mies was different, but he wasn\'t, and I couldn\'t lose what I sacrificed so much time for.
- What did you do?
- If something is bound to the Sapling or Tree it functions differently to a normal, free-willed creature. If you kill that something, the energy possessed will form a crystal, which can be used. That\'s what\'s happening in the wastelands.
- I think I know what your plan is... You want me to kill the ghosts.
- Yes, I do. I was sick when Yashasvee\'mies wanted me to give him a way, that would prevent betrayal from his own people. It made me sick, but I gave it to him.
- Wait, wait, wait... Why didn\'t the other Bahumdabars go free, like you, but instead turned into ghosts?
- Binding doesn\'t take your mind from you. You still can think, you just think in a certain way. For example, if your master wants you to build them an army, that is what you will focus on. If the master dies, the thought process goes to normal. But there is a different type of bind, that makes The Sapling you are bound to, your master. And that\'s what I told Yashasvee\'mies to do because I was suspecting he will turn his back on me. When he officially did it, I just gave Xuvi a way to turn all of his people into monsters that had one purpose. To kill him, and they did. Then my backup plan started.
- Xuvi?
- Not exactly. I wanted to try one more time, and pick up where I left. I let Xuvi live as a way to fight fire with fire because they would create the same mindless army that would consume everything. Finding another race was my backup plan, and I found you, humans. I studied you for a long time and decided you are not worth the try...
- Then why the hell are we here?
- Because you have interesting mythology. Normally a race doesn\'t divide itself as you did, but the effect was an astonishing number of stories and myths. Your culture was so different from what I was used to that it consumed me, and then I read about the battle of Thermopylae. This made me chose you. But I couldn\'t take just anybody. I needed people with proper motivation. Willing to work hard. People who suffered and wanted change.
- So you picked miserable losers like me?
- I took whoever didn\'t want to live out there. I picked whoever wanted a second chance.
- So we weren\'t just random people...
- No.
- Ok... But why Xuvi? Why not Uhm\'s? They have strong bodies.
- And no will to fight. They are a peaceful race, and that\'s why I saved as many as I could, and allowed them to live in peace.
I sighed.
- So what\'s the plan? I know you want me to kill ghosts, but there is no way in hell I\'ll be able to do that.
- Not all of them is as strong as the one you encountered. I\'ll lead you to the weakest ones, and you will eventually get strong enough to kill them all. Then we might start thinking about spreading our wings.
- Our wings? There are no \'our wings\'. You didn\'t have to pull me into this. You didn\'t have to pull anybody into this. You could have cloned yourself and there would be no problems.
- Even if I cloned myself, by race is also a peaceful one. I\'m very different. My clones would probably escape, just like the eleven others. I needed somebody with a will to fight, to conquer, to survive.
- Bullshit.
- Think whatever you want, Peter.
- I still can\'t understand one thing. Why the hell did you tell me all of this? You suddenly don\'t think I might betray you as Yashasvee\'mies did?
- I know you won\'t betray me, because you are very different from him. He was very proud and wanted to rule. I thought I need somebody like that. A true conqueror. The truth was very different, but I didn\'t know it until I attempted to wipe you all, and pull a different group of humans.
- You will pay for that one day.
- I will gladly do, but right now I can\'t.
- I have another question. How many cities are out there with humans? How many projects are you pursuing?
- Several. I didn\'t want to put everything on a single card, as I did with Yashasvee\'mies, but you were the first ones, and that\'s why you landed here.
- How are they doing?
- I\'m not gonna talk with you about them. Instead, we will talk about something else....