SOS CH 59: Two Trees (Patreon)

Venus's words had seemingly sent a shockwave through Noah’s mind by the sheer incredulity they posed.

Throughout his journey inside the Stargate, there had been numerous instances when he had noticed bizarre things, things he felt to be extremely weird and incredulous. However, every single time, he had dismissed them as mere coincidences because otherwise, it would have made no sense.

Noah may have never been as much of a scientific nerd as Vulcan or even Minerva, for that matter, but he was still one of the penultimate creations of the White Room, the height of what a human could be. And due to that, he also had his own share of knowledge regarding some theories of Quantum Physics thanks to all the lessons they were forced to learn.

The many-worlds theory proposed that every time one state, or outcome, was observed and thus made real, there was another world, eerily similar in nature, in which a different quantum outcome became reality.

This was collectively known as a branching arrangement, in which instant by instant, our perceived universe branched into near-infinite alternatives. Those alternate universes were completely separate and unable to intersect, so while there may be uncountable versions of a single person living a life that's slightly — or wildly — different from the life they lead in this world, you'd never be able to know or perceive them.

It was a theory that had been used and reused, countless times, by all manner of science fiction. However, at the end of the day, while it was still on the table of discussion, it was never a theory that was taken seriously most of the time due to its absurd nature and the inability to observe and confirm the postulates that such an absurd theory proposed.

“So you mean to say… when I entered through that wormhole, I was sent to another universe?”

“Indeed. Well, it wasn’t instantaneous, or technically it was I think? Relatively speaking, the time you spent inside the Sea was probably extremely long but for those outside of the wormhole, it may as well have been instantaneous.” Venus scratched her hair, “The channel that connects the different realities was named Sea of Quanta by us. Some people learned how to observe the Quantum realm at a certain level and could thus perceive the different outcomes and reality in a relatively flimsy and shoddy manner. Thus, they became the first seers of humanity. Some other people learned how to enter this sea and well… they died. All of them.”

She shook her head with a sigh, “The Sea of Quanta is extremely corrosive to any invaders of the realm. It’s nearly impossible for one to survive inside the sea as their body would be destroyed, annihilated while they try to find their direction in a place where neither space nor time really mattered in the end.”

“... But, I survived.”

“You did indeed.” Venus fidgeted on her feet as she spoke. Clearly, she had been uncomfortable about what she was about to say next, however, after a small cough she was able to gather her bearings once more.

Taking a deep breath, she finally laid out her thoughts, “You remember each of us has certain special abilities, right?”

Noah nodded in acknowledgment. The thirteen constellations were a marvel of genetic engineering.

All of them were incredible warriors in their own right and exceptional mecha pilots unlike any other before them or after… However, that was not the only reason they were deemed special. The world government wouldn’t have invested so much resources just to give birth to thirteen relatively stronger soldiers and bet their entire future on them in any sane world.

Project Eden had been done with the sole purpose of creating mutants, humans higher up on the evolutionary hierarchy. The project was deemed as the precursor that would allow humanity to reach a greater point of existence, a higher pedestal that would usher in a better future. In short, they had been trying to emulate the evolutionary superiority and rapid evolutions of the Parasites. In a way they succeeded but at the same time, they had failed to achieve what they really wished to create.

None of the thirteen were the superhumans they had been expecting but at the same time, they were much more than anything they could have ever hoped to create. Each of them was born with rather special talents that, while not extremely noticeable from the start, had continued to grow as they fought and grew themselves.

Noah – one of the greatest successes of the whole project, perhaps the greatest creation even – was born with the most unnoticeable ability among them all. After all, adaptability was not something that could be seen and understood easily or even in an instantaneous process. It was reinforced by the fact that… Noah’s ability had not really been as strong as it was at present.

Taurus undoubtedly had the greatest strength in their group, easily breaking records even strongmen were unable to approach in his infancy alone. While this might seem useless when taken in the context of space battles that were mostly done inside Mechas, his innate strength and resilience allowed him to have the highest Dive level out of all of them at first. Even after Noah went on to surpass him and become the strongest, he was still a high second in their group till the very moment of his death at the final battle.

Virgo had been the tactician and generally, the on-field leader who directed all of them to victory many times with her precise leadership. Her ability allowed her to accept and analyze insurmountable amounts of information that was humanly impossible to accept. If her body had been stronger, she would have the highest Dive level out of all of them without the slightest doubt. Even Noah at the time thought that he would be unable to catch up to her level if she had a body capable of withstanding the strain.

Leo had been in a way very similar yet different from Virgo. She was not a thinker. She was a doer, a born predator ready to hunt from her very birth. She had the highest reflex out of every single one of them. She did not analyze, she simply acted on the tunes that her body showed her in real-time. Because of that trait of hers, her movements had always been erratic but useful nonetheless. She had ways of winning that others were never able to emulate due to the lack of the senses she possessed.

Technically speaking, each of the constellations was better than Noah in one special domain. The reason Noah was the strongest was very simple at the end of the day. If everyone had an average of 5 and one stat at 10, the maximum one was able to reach, Noah's basic average was all at 8 or 9.

Then, what was Sagitarrius’s ability?

Well… For one, she was the only one Noah accepted was more beautiful or handsome than him. Her name, Venus had not been for show after all. She really emphasized the title of Goddess of Beauty. However, she was also the proof that the more beautiful something was, the more deadly it could be.

Sagitarrius’s ability was simple in reality. She had the highest coordination and dexterity among all of them thanks to her talent. She had been the combat instructor of the constellations and Noah had no shame in admitting that in terms of pure combat ability, she had bested him far too many times for his liking.

“Apollo was always very smart and his intuition was extremely developed. In a way, his ability was similar to that of Minerva and Diana. He could receive information and intuit things on a metaphysical level at times. Analysis, Reflex, and Intuition, heh~ They were really the golden trio, weren’t they?” She chuckled to herself, “Either way, Apollo’s ability evolved and became far more than just simple intuition, even though it showed metaphysical potential many times.”

Closing her eyes shut for a second, she soon opened her mouth to deliver her next words, “He… became a seer, a true seer. The very first and obviously, the best seer to ever exist. Capable of both seeing and observing realities simultaneously but still his ability was still limited. There was a lot of untapped potential that he wasn’t able to unearth due to his physical limitations. It was only after reaching a level equivalent to that of a Type-III civilization that we were able to build the first true Focus— a gigantic tower in space that was specially developed to allow a true seer to gain astronomical insight into the Quantum world.

“There, Apollo, aided by thousands of lesser seers, managed to peer through the simple future of a single universe and was able to see farther than anyone had ever before him. He then declared that you were surely and undoubtedly alive. Out there, somewhere. In a plane, that was not the same as ours.”

“I guess that bastard was still useful for something heh.”

“He died soon thereafter. The load that came with that action quite literally fried his brain.”

Noah clamped his mouth shut at those words. All the constellations saw each other as a family beyond the simple notions of family. They were the closest, their bonds ran thicker than blood. The death of one of them was always enough for all of them to be unable to function properly for a significant amount of time.

Noah did not know how long it took for Earth to even reach the level of a Type-III civilization but by now, the time the surviving constellations would have spent together should be far longer than they had during the Parasite war era.

“I…”

“Don’t worry. Only his body died we ####.” She stopped and frowned at the limitation that had been put over her voice, “Fuck. Anyway. Apollo dead. We found you survived yada, yada, yo. However, the question was… How the hell did you even survive? After many simulations and hundreds of theories, we were finally able to reach an established consensus. Your ability— your Adaptability allowed you to survive the journey through the Sea of Quanta. So imagine what happened next.”

Noah didn't have to imagine, it was already obvious what the next logical step would be. “New experiments.”

“Yep. They tried. Failed and when we found out about their heinous deeds, we simply annihilated them. Thousands of innocent children sacrificed for absolutely nothing. But still… We were able to learn something new from these wretched experiments. Adaptability hadn’t been the only reason you had survived. Something else intervened in the process that gave you the means of survival.”

“I fused with the Parasite Queen.”

“...”

The silence that followed was heavy and though the two of them were donning calm smiles, there was an unmistakable tension in the air.

Venus opened and closed her mouth many times, trying her best to formulate her words. However, she finally chose to shrug and responded in a light tone instead, “Indeed. We came to the same conclusion you…”

She was about to continue but the facility started vibrating violently. Her form and the whole white room seemed to have become fuzzy as if there was an interference in the signal that connected them.

This was followed by earthshaking intense rumblings which caused Venus to curse under her breath.

“Fuck! I made a mistake. Sorry! I wasted too much of our time. I wanted to tell you so much more but we can't. I am also unable to send information to you because of those fucking protocols.”

She started rattling, rapid firing the words she wished to convey, “Noah! I don't know if you are still the Noah we know and cherish, but I don't really care. The Noah I know would never let himself be swallowed by some fucking alien insect. So you are him, that’s established. Thank you for surviving through your lonely and grueling ordeal. This facility will self-destruct and with it, the entire planet will be swallowed. You need to run! As fast as possible!”

Her expression was frantic, the smile stretching her face now vanished completely. She rushed towards him, hugging him in her tight embrace as she looked at him with sincere emotions in her eyes.

“Thank you for everything you did for us. But this isn't the end. If you wish to come back home, then you need to master the power you have received from your fusion, and to do that… you will have to find…”

Bzzz~! Bzz~! Hints of red started manifesting everywhere in the surroundings, slowly corroding the realm of memories and projection. And in that corrosive red, he was able to see the manifestation of an eerie and vague symbol— an inverted tree with uncountable branches all swaying upside down.



“What’s happening here? Wha…”

Noah could feel his mind wavering, wriggling inside him so much that he thought he was having the world’s greatest migraine. All this started occurring the moment his mind landed on that accursed symbol.

“Don't look! You will be contaminated!”

She placed her hand on his chest and, after giving him one last kiss on his forehead — pushed him away with all the strength in her body.

Noah broke through the white room and the distance between him and Venus continued to increase as he sailed through the endless infinity of the white void.

“Venus!”

He wanted to go back to her. To understand just what the hell was going on here for her to become so desperate. He wanted to help her fend off this threat that was surely the cause of their destruction in this realm. However, he was utterly helpless and could only watch as the distance between them continued to widen despite his best efforts.

The last thing he heard as his consciousness started to slip was—

“Noah! There are more of those white realm gates, they are ###! Find ###, the Queen of the Shadow Fortress, train under her and you will have more answers! Lastly, and this is the most important part… be wary of Apollo and his ilk!”

The last thing he saw was— Venus smiling gently at him as she waved her hand as everything was swallowed in the corrosive red of apocalypse.

.

.

.

Looking at the sight of Noah vanishing completely from cyberspace, the smile on Venus' space slowly vanished as well. In a flash, it was replaced by a cold expression while her body was covered in full armor and an illusive bow manifested in her hands.

The scarlet light continued engulfing the space, corroding the white void till there was nothing but there was no fear on Venus’ face. The corrosive red of apocalypse soon coalesced into a singular entity… an entity beyond the classification of words.

It was such a form that nothing could describe what it truly looked like. All that could be said was that those who saw this form would be bathed in a feeling of facing the most beautiful being in existence and would also feel as if they were enveloped in compassion and benevolence.

“I guess Apollo was right once again. The Tree of Life never gave up on reaching and apprehending this universe.”

A sad smile surfaced on her face at the thought. She wished she could have spent more time with Noah inside this realm. Talk with him like she used to, tell him everything that happened over the countless years of his absence.

It must have been hard spending all that time by his lonesome.

She wished she could have given him a shoulder to cry on… wished that she could share every single one of his hardships.

“You might deny it… but you were always the greatest crybaby out of us all.”

There was not much she could do at the moment. Clearly, they were trying to use the entity she had imprisoned in this region as a relay point to find the exact coordinates of this bubble universe.

All she could do now— was destroy it, preventing them from ever reaching this realm.

“Well, Tiferet, I guess it's time for you to die for real.”

She grinned and adjusted her stance. Her bow was drawn in a beautiful and taut arc, the maximum it was able to be pulled without breaking in half. Her eyes turned a dazzling gold and her voice lost all semblance of humanity that she had willingly bestowed in this vessel. To talk to Noah in a more familiar form.

“Activate the Protocol of self-destruction. Erase the information link. Cut the connection to the Sea of Quanta.”

[Password: ...]

“May the Fruits of Knowledge Thrive.”

[Code Name: Sagittarius]

[Protocol Apocalypse activated. Glory to humanity and the Tree of Knowledge. Awaiting full activation.]

Sagitarrius nodded her head as the form of the ethereal abomination of beauty and benevolence became clearer with time. The entity sealed inside the gate had started to awaken due to the disturbance of Noah’s arrival. The very first thing of such an entity that reached her was the string of information that coalesced into a simple sentence.

{Be not afraid}

For one moment, she felt as if she was an insignificant being facing something of a skill that she would never be able to define or understand. And in front of such an insurmountable entity, all she had to do to avoid being squashed was lay down her weapon and surrender.

However—

“Afraid my ass!! This isn't Eden!”

She released her bow and immediately a blinding trail of all-devouring light followed its wake as it destroyed a quarter of the gigantic being of beauty and abomination. It still had yet to complete its awakening, but it was still powerful enough to withstand her blow.

It was quite sad that Noah couldn't see this battle. A smile befitting the goddess of beauty bloomed on her immaculate and ethereal face as she had that thought.

She would have shown him that he definitely was not the strongest of the Constellations any longer.

His expression would have been quite interesting to witness. Sadly her victory was short-lived as the destroyed remnants of the abominable being started reconstructing at a swift pace, swift enough for the eyes to observe in real-time.

Immediately, she became solemn. It was clear that this unholy bastard wasn’t the only one limited in the power they could bring to this realm.

“You gotta flee fast my friend. I don't think I will be able to hold on for long.”

Things were about to get more complicated than she hoped.