Mistakes were made along the way, that's for certain, but if my, or well… I guess our decision proves to be one has yet to be seen.
A decision I thought so far out of the reach of possibility, it was nothing but a dream of a madman. But that madman was me, and I was desperate, and when you're desperate, you make choices no sane man should. Choices like trying to stitch two versions together to, hopefully, create a new and different version of yourself.
Both of us made such a choice. I was trying to escape this godsforsaken prison, and I was grasping at straws to stay alive just a bit longer, just long enough to make a little difference.
This was fated to happen, I think, we think. Me using this single moment of desperation, reaching across a myriad of dimensions, connecting us, and hopefully remaking us into something more.
The process itself was smooth, way smoother than I expected, but my thoughts were still in disarray for months after, though, and during that time, my brain was trying with all its might to stitch the two of me into one. It was… more confusing than anything, really.
Two lives, two distinct personalities that should and would clash under any other circumstance, and yet, it's as if two pieces of a puzzle finally clicked into place. We complemented each other.
Subject_0, Codename: Omelas, had the power and a goal worthy of pursuing in this world, which was barely hanging on by a thread.
Jacob Krane, a teacher, had the emotions and the necessary humanity to accomplish that goal without wiping out the last dregs of humanity in the process.
Two men from vastly different backgrounds. Living two vastly different lives. Two men who each love humanity in their own way.
But I am no longer only those men. What stands here is something new. Well, not entirely new, but a third me, an amalgamation of everything that made us unique and everything that we already shared.
"Jacob Omelas Krane… or do I just call myself Omelas Krane? Decisions, decisions…" I tapped my lower lip lightly in thought. A leftover tick from my teaching days. It helped me concentrate.
"I am definitely not calling myself the Creator, that's for sure." I scoffed at the thought. The name, even if mysterious sounding, was too impersonal, too clinical, like an item description. I was a person, and I deserved a name of my own choosing, not something assigned to me by others. Not again.
"That can wait for a while longer. After all, what use are names if there is nobody to use them but me?" I said, gazing at the boundary that surrounded this place outside time and space.
Somewhere out there, beyond this place filled with floating pieces of destroyed skyscrapers and bomb craters deep enough to make the Mariana Trench jealous, was Earth, and on it were people who either worship or at least follow some kind of cult dedicated to me.
I can feel them even here in this wasteland, mutedly, vaguely, but they are there, specks of golden light fluttering beyond the boundary. Each burning with desire, with need, with rage, and a few of them burned ever so slightly brighter. Their desires are stronger, more raw.
Then a bitter thought entered my brain.
It was those whom I had to use to accomplish my goals. The ones who had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I would give them everything. I would aim them at the worst problems, on the worst trash humanity had to provide.
"I will guide you till the very end." I whispered, more to assure myself than anything, and with that thought, I cast a last look at my vast prison cell, this ancient battlefield, and offered a sarcastic thanks to those dead scientists who, in their hubris, created the very thing that destroyed them all– me, Omelas.
I won't miss it.
Quietly, I turned around, faced the edge of the boundary, and my movement stilled for a fraction of a second.
I don't honestly know why, because even though I knew for a fact that I would get through, the anticipation of the act still filled me with doubt.
What if I miscalculated? What if the third me was not enough to fool whatever mechanism prevented Omelas from leaving?
What if, What if, What if— Stop. Stupid brain.
"Haah—" I exhaled forcefully, and before my brain had the chance to catch up to what my body was doing, I ran headfirst into the boundary and passed through it like it was never there. Because of course I did. I knew that it would happen.
The next step had to be done lightning fast because there was no ether in this void, and since I was being entirely made out of ether, I had to go directly into a Hollow. There, the ether concentration was high enough to support me. It was a mild annoyance not being able to enjoy the city right away, but once I was set up, I could do something about it.
My choice of a Hollow to inhabit was an obvious one. It was Hollow Zero. It was the oldest, had by far the highest ether concentration, and from what I know, its core has never been reached. So all in all, probably the best spot for me to settle down for a while.
And wouldn't you know it? As soon as I appeared there, the Hollow responded. The ether became excited at my mere presence, kinda like a dog welcoming its owner after a long day.
"Oh yeah, that's the stuff, alright." I inhaled deeply, taking in the oh so sumble smell of the Hollow and of my freedom. It smelled of rocks and ozone. A definite upgrade from where I've been before.
Then I looked at the core, the very thing keeping it all stable, as it slowly rotated along an invisible axis like a small black sun. And just like the sun, the Ether that radiated from it felt so nice on my skin that all I wanted to do was just lie down and bask in it for a while.
It was, after all, the first warmth my body felt in ages. So I did just that.
I lay down right there on the broken and cracked concrete road and started to bask in the warmth. Though the teacher in me screamed that this warmth had to be some kind of cancer-inducing radiation, I put that thought away, I knew better.
It was not cancer that this thing would give you, oh no, it would simply transform you into an Ethereal.
That was the fate awaiting humanity, unless I step in and change it. Unless I made them capable of living in high ether concentrations. Unless I help them evolve.
I know it's possible, I am a living example of that happening after all. I am also the only one capable of doing it without any side effects.
Because I know how the scientists of the last age did it. I was there, you know?
In the end, I have spent at least half a day doing absolutely nothing but lounging around the core. Its low hum and the ever-present warmth even lulled me to sleep for a few hours.
But after relaxation comes work, and I have a lot of work ahead of me. Though thankfully, all I had to do today was make contact with my head cultist. And yeah, it does sound strange to me. After all, I have never met these people, not directly at least.
All of my attempts at communication with the outside world were always just me sending a series of images to somebody with strong emotions, trying to convey a message, with no way for them to respond, and with no way for me to see what they did once they received that message.
Omelas did give a blessing to that one woman and to one more person before that. It was a weak thing, the blessing. It had to be able to slip through the boundary, so it was almost devoid of any of my power. It was mostly just pure ether, woven into a weak enhancing array and attached to their soul.
It did its job, it made her stand above the rest of the cultists, a clear indication of hierarchy. But it made her no less vulnerable against ether or the miasma in Lemnian Hollow.
There were other people I could engage with, of course. Sadly, a lot of them were tied to huge corporations, and I just don't like those, so I'm not going to engage with them more than I have to.
Now I just have to wait for her to fall asleep, and then I can talk to her properly.