In the strange world.
The strange blob 'Sorken', still wandered and pondered. He had no idea of things happening in the physical world.
If he had told the events that unfolded, he would have certainly first slapped himself to death for acting so foolishly. But alas, he didn't even know that his consciousness was completely separated into two halves and it was leading to devastating events.
For how it happened, those moments the consciousness in his physical body couldn't remember were the key.
In this strange world, where he was stuck in this peculiar form. All he could do was to try his best to glean all the information he could about this world.
He wandered and interacted with hundreds of blobs. This strange space, he didn't know if the concept of time even existed. The space was already in a form that was distorted to facilitate the existence of this world.
Time, which was inevitably influenced by space, should also be affected in some manner or another. The connection with the physical world also posed a different challenge for him.
The expansion and contraction cycle was when the two worlds interacted and thus, a focal point where the space-time in this world was closest to the physical world. If he just counted the number of cycles, it has been months since he came here.
'What happened to my body' Sorken can only hope for things to not go awry, as if it was not already going towards the worst possible scenario.
After hundreds of attempts, he was able to create a foundational image of this world in his mind. This definitely was a different world but it was strangely similar to Earth in many aspects but starkly different in others. What astonished him the most was that unlike what he thought, the people who went past the human limits were so few that people can spend their entire lives without even seeing one.
Most people did know about them, the reason was very simple: these so-called 'Diviners' and 'Onlookers' controlled everything.
On earth, a certain set of people wielded power throughout history. But, every now and then, they would be completely destroyed by the masses. Such was the fate of tyrants in the long run. No power was eternal.
But, in this world. The ones in power or the groups really were eternal. Except for the changes that happened in the 'Great Eon Wars', most territories were controlled by the same people.
He couldn't understand what these great wars were as his meager power only helped him to peek into the lives of common people and they only knew about them as fables told down since their ancestors.
But, given the foundation of the world. These wars must be between these powers that were supported by different gods.
He already knew that the gods in this world were real but he found it strange that a very few gods like 'Zartan' were prayed. Actually it was not just a few, it was non-existent. The only proper religion in this continent from what he could glean belonged to this god.
He suspected that more religions must exist but the memories he saw belonged to people of the same region.
But, a religious organization controlling an entire continent, and with such a tight grip was maddening to think of.
This continent called 'Santara' was truly huge. He had spent some time in memories of a traveler whose life goal was to explore this continent from one end to the other.
He started his journey at the age of twenty-three and could only complete it in his eighties. Considering the almost arriving industrial age and means of communication limited to carriages in his early days, to staying at different places to do odd jobs, this was still a long time.
This continent was certainly huge and it was all under a single organization. He let out a sigh as he remembered the smile of that traveler as he waited for his last breath in a small village at the edge of Santara.
How wonderful does it feel for one to complete what they dedicated their life for? It must definitely be a feeling that cannot be compared or explained right? For it can only be truly understood when you wait for death, slowly losing your sensations as a strange satisfaction creeps into you.
A strange warmth, was it? Sorken contemplated. He felt truly fortunate to experience something that many would never understand even after death and those who do, wouldn't be able to cherish it like he did right now.
'What was his life goal?' Sorken again fell into a pondering state.
The strange contraction and expansion of this world created a strange rhythm, somehow calming him and he didn't even notice when he closed onto a blob of size so humongous that even the strange spatial sense of this world couldn't hide its size.
The sudden occurrence caught him off guard and he was startled. This was one of such consciousness that he has avoided since the start.
He had no idea what to do. Those small blobs could be affected a bit but this one…. There was a high chance, it would be in very big trouble.
As he was thinking about his next move, he found a new cycle of expansion taking place. Unlike the small blobs, the memories belonging to this particular blob could be seen and discerned as they started to gather.
It was the most strange and obscenely beautiful scene. Sorken could never get enough of it. It was as if the stars were falling and he was swimming in them. All sorts of memories appear out of nowhere and then suddenly merge into different blobs.
'Beautiful' this word certainly was not enough to describe it but he knew nothing else could do that either.
In past cycles he had seen that phenomenon multiple times but as he was always around the smallest of blobs, those memory fragments were too small for him to see anything. The weirdness of space here also made it impossible to distinguish the size of memory fragments between different blobs.
This time, he had drifted towards one of the big blobs that he had consciously avoided and thus when he saw the size of memory fragments that were large enough to be intercepted, he felt both astonished and hopeful.
'This may be a chance.' Sorken cake out of stupor and thought focusing all his senses to catch whatever he can. A man can only try…
"Standard procedure... Rationality erased... Those three are really going to suffer. I don't know why the priest chose a method that is considered destructive even for us diviners… Chhh… unlucky folks. I wonder what makes those people more pitiful? Their compatriots being chosen or then being used like fodders?"
"Both. But I still hate this procedure. This makes them no different than animals when pushed to the corner….. I heard they leave a small strand of rationality to ensure they can be manipulated and this expe….."
The cycle of contraction and expansion stopped. Sorken withdrew his senses.
'This is Bad'