Humanity has always sought power beyond its means. From the nuclear warheads to the power of genetic augmentation, we strode to the edge of our own means and reached far beyond it. Humanity has worshipped deities for as long as we’ve existed. Many men have sought to become gods in their own right, yet no one has come as close to becoming a god as scientists have today. Genetic modification technologies forged a large jump in human capabilities, elevating ordinary flesh and blood to become something more. Athletes became almost superhuman, but today there was a breakthrough. That breakthrough was performed on me. There have been tales of a void beyond all gleams of reasoning from several cultures, including my own. My people spoke of the infinite abyss through which nothing survives, a point through which even the universe must obey. An all-consuming hunger that devours the world, leaving nothing in its wake. Yet, that was not the only thing I found when those scientists first connected my mind to the unfathomable depths of the beyond.
Instead, my mind was eviscerated into an infinite number of pieces as the entire universe came into view. In a fraction of a second, every force, every element, and every physical process was within my fingertips. The operating table and prying eyes were nothing but mere annoyances. I had become their prized possession. I was their first success. The first to ascend to godhood. The first mortal to reach her hands into the depths of power that we could never understand. Humanity might never know the knowledge that I possessed; the secrets of the universe that men had been seeking for several hundreds of years since the first day my people stared up at the twinkling lights in the sky. My breath carried the very power that birthed the universe. I lifted my hands from the operating table, and the scientists beside me told me to use my power. So, I did. When I outstretch my hands, the first scientist I saw collapsed down to a bouncy ball, bones crunching under immense pressure as atoms squeezed tight together. A second scientist removed a handgun from their holster, firing the gun towards my head. Instinct kicked in as the bullet tore through the air, yanking the bullet straight to the ground. My eyes met the scientist’s and all I saw in her auburn eyes was an unadulterated terror. All of the awe and excitement destroyed in thirty seconds. I had become everything they made me. I had become a god. Yet a faint prick in my neck bore through my skin and my eyes grew heavy as anvils. Whatever they administered was proving rather effective against a fledgling goddess, dragging me under the dreaded tide of slumber.
I awoke with cold steel ensnared around my wrists, the raw strength coursing through my veins bound within my now immortal flesh. We were promised a chance to save the world, yet my power reached far beyond. Violet energy crackled in the air around me, small lightning bolts sparking off my skin. Another scientist grabbed me by the shoulders, pushing me out of the operating room and into the hallway where my fellow test subjects had been living for the last six months. Most of us were homeless men and women that they pulled off the street, though a few of them were volunteers. I wasn’t one of those volunteers. My debtors sold me off, deciding experimentation would be more than enough to pay off my debt.
Perhaps they assumed that I would have died. Certainly, I thought so. Hell, maybe I did die and someone else has taken my body and soul for themselves. The scientists led me into a long and dark corridor labeled “Solitary Confinement,” where the darkness reached the lowest depths in this facility. I was thrown down to the ground, and a scientist spat on me. Heat rushed to my face as I struggled to channel my newfound power and atomize the man’s entire body. However, I could only bring the man to his knees, though his face blanched. Perhaps, I shattered his ankles because the second guard helped him limp out of the cell.
“Good evening, V. I like the new hair colors. That electric blue mixed with the dark purple looks really good on you. It’s good to see you’ve begun to connect with your heritage so much more. Congratulations on being the first of your peers to ascend beyond humanity. I am quite pleased with your performance so far dear,” a voice said through the intercom.
“What do you want doctor?” I hissed. “Haven’t you seen enough today? Was my demonstration too boring for you?”
A prolonged silence made the air stand still, voices whispering in the depths of my mind. Tapping rattled on the microphone, each tap growing louder and louder until the sound became unbearable. I scratched the floor, violet energy flaring out in long filaments all around me. The dust in the air laid suspended, trapped in its frame just like a photograph.
“What an interesting reaction. I did not expect your powers to fundamentally alter reality in such a way. Is time still flowing within that room of yours?”
The void within my culture was the embodiment of the primordial universe. It arose as nothing but an infinitesimal point, lacking all definition and substance. It was nothing. However, when the universe was born, the void lost ground to the eruption of light and matter. The void fled to the thinnest regions of the universe, forming pockets of nothingness. However, as the cosmological principles gained strength and humanity learned more of them, some people began to hear a voice in the dark. This voice called to them, singing of the immeasurable comfort of becoming one with nothingness. Too bad, I did not meet this void. I met a different void, and this void met me within this chest.
“Hello, Vihiara? Are you still there? I asked you if time is still flowing within your room?” the doctor’s microphone crackling in and out.
At first glance, an ordinary mortal would have assumed that time had stood still. Yet to my eyes, the dust had shifted a few micrometers, gravity hitting the brakes on time for my captivated audience. I waved my hands, the dust particles collapsing to the ground as they normally would. In theory, I might have been able to break my shackles with the magic flowing through my blood. However, I knew those people well enough. My twenty-five years had taught me to trust people as far as I can throw them. Though perhaps I’d need to amend that statement because now I could throw someone quite far.
“Did that answer your question? It was an example of Einstein’s theory of special relativity doc. Gravity slowing down the speed of light for outside observers. Does that sound familiar to you?”
“I suppose so. I’m a biologist, not a physicist. You, however, seem like you know a great deal about physics. Did you ever study at a university?” the doctor said.
“You have all of my records up there doc.”
“Well, it seems like your people have found their deity after all. You’ve become the embodiment of the void, though I wonder what the limit of that power truly is. That will be all for tonight, Vihiara.”
The intercom went silent as the isolation of my cell crept in. The suffocating darkness stifled anything within the room, but my magic sent sparks of violet electricity all around me. Despite the new enhancements, my eyes fluttered under the blanket of darkness. I cupped my hands together, forging a ball of violet light about the size of a golf ball. As I shut my eyes, pure darkness consumed my mind. Images of cosmic threads collected in my dreams, black hole accretion disks swirling around and burping out material in violent bursts. A scorching hot, blue dwarf blasted the surrounding gas clouds with multi-wavelength emissions. Then, voices screamed in the back of mind, my eyes darting open as the cell door opens. Two scientists and three guards walked into my cell, each guard carried automatic rifles for some reason. Maybe they felt that the guns brought them some comfort because they couldn’t protect them from me.
“What is that orb on the ground?” one of the scientists’ mused.
The scientists reached for the orb, but I stretched out my hands, unleashing a small current of violet lighting. The orb disintegrated, all of its particles flowing straight into my hands. The scientists glared at me, so I followed the guards out of the room, fluorescent lights bathing my face for the first time in half a day. My colleagues watched as the guards led me through the corridor. Excitement and wonder lit the faces of my colleagues, but I doubted that life would remain if they didn’t awaken their divine powers soon. This event was likely to be a testing event. The scientist sought to evaluate my vitals, my new power levels, and the limits of my mental acuity. Too bad for them. The shackles didn’t bind my power as much as the scientists believed. All I needed was the right test to break free, but I’d play it safe for now. Despite my power, I still had a heart, unlike the ones responsible for this project.
My last six months included weekly genetic treatment, two unnecessary surgeries, and the occasional psychological torture or two. Honestly, I’m surprised that I didn’t lose my mind through it all. Killing those doctors was a knee-jerk reaction. I never touched a gun nor pointed a real weapon at someone, but then again, this whole experience wouldn’t have happened. Life outside this place was a lottery. People had to be able to afford to live on actual landmasses without bumping shoulders with their neighbors or joining the local gangs. Otherwise, you’re living in bunkers under the surface or floating on the ocean surface. Only the richest could afford to have green spaces outside of the public parks. Earth lost the ice caps a long time ago, and we’ve had to reap the consequences of that for two long centuries.
Nobody believed people two hundred years ago when ice caps were still present. Unfortunately for us, the pollution has only got worse since then. Smog drowns out the sun on the worst of days and there are entire radiation zones thanks to a group of trigger-happy patriots of the past. Now humanity has decided to create new deities to save them from themselves, and somehow, I’ve managed to become the first of them. Isn’t it funny how the very being these scientists created to save themselves is bound in handcuffs. Talk about irony. The greater public will never be told that me or my companions were ever ordinary humans by the company responsible. That would open up too many ethical complaints, and the pr crews would kick their gears into overdrive.
The testing room looked the same as always. Walls made of the strongest reinforced material humanity has ever created, a titanium-alloy mixture, covered in a thin sheet of super-dense steel processed on the moon. Apparently, the smithing process worked a lot better in a vacuum than on Earth. The usual obstacle course, robotic army soldiers, and some other unimportant thi—
Oh, they brought turrets equipped with laser rifles and missile launchers, that’s a new feature this time! I assume that they’ve calibrated these things to be very potent. How considerate of them! To think, they prepped so much multimillion-dollar equipment for me to break. How many people could the money spent on these projects feed if it were spent on humanitarian aid?
A scientist approached me, his hands trembling as he held my handcuffs in his hands. He inserted the key, releasing one of my hands. He had darted to the “safe door” by the time I managed to destroy the other cuff, so I left him alone. I spied a few scientists taking notes on their clipboards out the corner of my eye, conjuring a miniature black hole in my right hand. In my left hand, I summoned a globe of violet flames, feeding it to the black hole. The black hole burped so to speak, blasting out a torrent of radiation into one of the turrets. The mechanism melted like a candle, red and orange metallic syrup streaking down what little remained of the frame. I waved my hand, dispelling the black hole and unleashing an immense burst of violet flames all over the arena. In my final coup de grace, I clenched my fists, crunching the rest of the obstacles into tightly wound balls of metal.
I spun around, looking straight back at the scientists responsible for making me. I flashed a simple smile, but there was a warning laced behind these teeth of mine. A solemn vow to anyone who would dare chain me again. I am Vihiara, goddess of the void and I’m done playing someone else’s games!
Leave a comment