Death. I'd entertained notions of heavens and hells, childish fancies of reward and punishment. But this? This was not in the script.
A colossal eye. No, more than an eye. A singularity containing the totality of existence. The damned universe swirling within its iris... and there, a pale blue marble, my former world.
What is this? The question reverberated, a useless echo in the face of such immensity. The core query, however, was far more pressing: Why am I here? How did I even die? Useless questions. Knowledge is what matters.
The Celestial Eye lived. This was no passive observer, but a conscious entity. As I stared, transfixed, I sensed… something. Someone?
My vision burned, but I could not avert my gaze. It was as if this ocular leviathan held the key – the core truth of existence itself. The purpose. The why.
A ravenous hunger seized me. The truth, I needed it. The burning intensified, a searing torrent of forbidden knowledge flooding my mind.
The living forms… not native. Humanity, merely tenants on this stolen world. Technology, pilfered, not created. God… a fabrication, a puppet show orchestrated by "Guardians" – usurpers masquerading as benevolent deities. Lies upon lies!
One eye burst, consumed by the influx. This was all I gained for such a sacrifice? Pathetic.
More. I needed more. With my remaining eye, I focused, channeling every iota of my being into the pursuit of this elusive truth. But this time, not knowledge, but a warning.
[Truth Awakened: First Living Entity to Awaken From Lies]
What? What absurdity is this?
My very essence unraveled. My body – if it could even be called that here – ignited, consumed by an ethereal fire. An achievement? A mocking jest from a universe that reveled in deception?
Dead. Again? Was I ever truly alive? I gazed upon my form, or what remained of it – a spectral echo, burning. Was this the soul, then? My soul? A fitting end, perhaps, to be consumed by the very truth I sought.
The end? Oblivion?
No.
Even in this apparent annihilation, I refuse to be silenced. I will not be consumed. The truth, however painful, however destructive, is a tool. And I will find a way to wield it, even from beyond the grave. This is not the end. It is merely a… transformation.