[The cover shows a vaguely Greek man holding up a small clay figure of a man and contemplating it, sorrow touching his features. In the night sky behind him, something is blocking or snuffing out the stars on one side.] //|| //^^\\ || || .|. COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS // || \\ || || --X--------------------------------------------- //======================= '|` A Tale of the Golden Age // || \\ || || "A Singular Fire" // || \\__// || || Copyright 2009 by Dave Van Domelen ___________________________________________________________________________ The first thing you have to understand is that you're NOT going to understand. Not fully. You can't hope to. If you're hearing or reading or otherwise experiencing this memory of mine, you're a mortal or at best a Partblood, and the ways of we Purebloods (gods) are barely comprehensible to *us* much less you. I will try to relate it in a way that's at least a shadow you can grasp, though. The second thing you have to understand is that this is a true story, but it isn't The Truth. That gets back to the first point somewhat, but even for Purebloods teasing out a singular objective Truth can be hard. In fact, that's part of why all of this happened in the first place. And why it continues to happen, will continue to happen, will continue to have happened, and any other grammatical permutation your brain can wrap around plus a bunch it can't. The third thing you have to understand is that true stories always contain lies within them, and the best lies contain truth within *them*. This is especially the case when you're talking about the lives of Purebloods, since we tend to transcend linear notions of logic and causality thanks to our mageblood. You might have heard stories about me and my brother, and they're all true and all lies. This one will be as true as I can make it for you, but it will also be a lie. Sucks to be a mortal, doesn't it? The last thing before I actually start telling the story is to remember that even when Purebloods use verbal communication (which isn't often, given all the other ways we can get our points across), the languages we were born to no longer exist except as shadows and phantoms hidden within your living tongues. So on top of all of this being shoehorned down into your linear perspective, it's also translated into whatever language it is you speak. Hey, I'm a Pureblood, it's not that hard to ensorcel a message to do that, and no one ever accused me of being inept. Just, um, lacking in foresight. Yeah, about that. One of those shadows and phantoms is my name, Epimetheus. I get something of a bad rep for being the idiot brother that Prometheus is always having to bail out of trouble, but given how badly the Titans are losing in the wars, I'm lucky to only come across as a wacky supporting character from an obscure sitcom. Wars my *brother* started, I might add, not *my* fault. Okay, a little bit my fault, since I kinda helped.... * * * * "What is it now?" Prometheus asked as I appeared in his chambers. I was polite enough to use the designated entry room, and he was off in his medidation chamber at the time, but little things like physical proximity don't really stand in the way when Purebloods "talk". It is, however, easier to prevent others from listening in if both conversants are at a relatively short range. Which means in-person visits tend to mean privacy is called for. And that, in turn, usually means I've done something thoughtless and need Pro's help to clean it up before too many people find out. "Why does it have to be something bad?" I countered, pretty feebly. "Can't a guy visit his brother to see what's up in his life?" "Did you create another populated world out there?" he gestured at the sky, having relocated to the entry room and sealed it off from observation. "And then forget some important part of the ecosphere, like the one with no decomposition bacteria that ended up choking on waste?" "No, I've given up on that project," I shook my head. "You were right, as powerful as we are, naturally-occurring life just does a better job of it. We can keep a new species or web of species going through raw power, but even entire teams of Purebloods don't seem to be able to magic up a functional world. We can just transplant existing chunks of Earth and nurture them. Pity...I'm just not comfortable lording it over mortal humans. We're too similar, as much as some people like to treat them like cattle." "Or worse than cattle. Isis is rather fond of bovines," Prometheus smirked, recalling rumors about Q'Nos and Isis that had been circulating for a while, with the latter god taking on inhuman aspects as part of sexual play. Isis and her pantheon were big into splicing animal parts onto themselves, it was somewhat disturbing to most of the other Purebloods. "So, you found something else that looked like a brilliant idea and didn't stop to think about the consequences, then?" "Actually," I paused, reluctant to bring it up now that I was actually there to say it. "Actually, I'm here because I'm hearing things about you, brother. And I'm worried. Stirring up portents of doom never goes over well." Prometheus sighed. "It was a calculated risk. Even with the Council of Twenty maintaining order, I couldn't just ask other gods what I needed to know outright...there was too much chance someone would intrigue against me. So I invented a false prophecy and sought others to confirm it." "Why? I mean, I'm no oracle myself. I barely have the forecasting skill of a clever mortal, as you're so fond of reminding me. But why would you jerk around the other oracular Purebloods like that?" I demanded. "Time is coming to an end. And fairly soon," he replied. I could tell he wasn't jerking *me* around, and the sense of dread resignation was palpable. "I thought you said your prophecy was false?" "The one I have been spreading around *is* false. It calls for doom and destruction that would take place about a century after the end of time," Prometheus shook his head. "I had hoped someone could see past the end that I foresaw and disprove me. But none of the other oracles I discussed this with could do so. Each assumed they were being blocked by another Pureblood as part of the usual schemes." I nodded. This much I did understand about sight of the future...it was never clear under the best of circumstances, and always muddied by the actions of acausal Purebloods. But while there was no open conflict amongst the pantheons, there was a LOT of intrigue, which meant hiding moves from the rivals' predictions. Oracles got used to not finding their skills of much practical application. "I picked my visits carefully," Prometheus continued. "To the best of my knowledge..." "Which is pretty vast," I snarked. "...no one would have reasons to block all of these oracles in the same time span. One of them should have been able to see the date I specified, if only just to tell that it existed. Total blocks are rare, a haze is far more commonly used in temporal disinformation campaigns." "Maybe someone does have a big push planned," I countered, "and is trying to keep anyone from stumbling across it. There's always rumors that someone on the Council is angling for a higher position, after all. And any one of the Twenty has access to the resources to clamp down on all the oracles." Prometheus nodded. "It's certainly possible. But I've been carefully feeling around the edges of this ending, and it's starting to look far worse than a Council power play. Or far better, depending on your perspective. I don't want to say more, even to you, until I know more. We still have a few decades, after all, no need to rush things...." * * * * It turned out to not even be a full year before Prometheus invited me to a private party that was obviously a pretext to discuss this "end of time" matter. "I've figured out what this is like," he told me. "You know that one time you tried to make a material denser than neutron matter?" "Ow. Yes. I created a singularity. Who knew that reality wouldn't tolerate density above a certain level? And don't answer that." "I wasn't planning to," Prometheus replied as innocently as he could manage. "But what we seem to have here is a temporal singularity rather than a spatial one. Or, perhaps more accurately, a *cultural* singularity." "Huh? A cultural singularity? I mean, some of the other Purebloods are pretty dense in social settings, but..." Prometheus cut me off. "I think we're about to collectively find our way up to the next tier of existence. Centuries of peaceful cooperation under the Council is starting to bear fruit, even against the drag of petty scheming. We're about to make the next leap, become as high above our current position as we are now above mortals. If not higher. We'll find Infinity." "That's great!" I effused, pretty stupidly in hindsight. "Isn't that what everyone's wanted? To not only know if there's a God above us, but to go meet him as equals?" "Think for a moment, brother. Context. TIME IS ENDING." "Oh. OH. So, the price of our ascension is...?" "The end of this plane," Prometheus nodded. "I haven't been able to get close enough to the actual end yet to see things clearly, things are moving very quickly and very energetically in the final years. But it looks like we absorb the energy of the mortal plane and use that to launch ourselves into Infinity. Beyond that, there's nothing. I don't know if we succeed or fail in our ultimate goal, but I do know the reason I can't see past the blockage is because there's nothing TO see." "We need to..." "Need to what? Warn everyone that we're about to attain the ultimate goal? Very few Purebloods really care about the mortals anymore, brother, we both know that. At best, they're favored pets, and I expect most of the other Purebloods will at best shed a tear and vow to make more like them once we attain Infinity. Others may even relish the idea of wiping out our poor benighted relatives more than the prospect of gaining Infinity. No, if we tell anyone about this, it will only accelerate the process...that much I've been able to see." "There has to be a way to see the face of God without sacrificing all of creation to do it," I insisted. "And there probably is. But for immortals we Purebloods can be awfully short-sighted. And with the prize dangling just out of reach, the temptation to step on a few corpses to get to it rather than finding a more ethical way will just be too great." Prometheus deliberately shook his head, a very mortal gesture. "Given a few thousand years, the mortals might even find a path to Infinity, but we're not going to give them even a few more decades, not with the almost frantic pace we'll soon be setting." "Okay, how do we wreck it?" I asked. "I mean, you didn't just tell me all of this so you could share the burden. And there's Purebloods you trust more than you trust me...oh, I don't take offense, I know I'm not the most reliable of the Titans. But I *am* one of the absolute best at making things stop working, either on purpose or through sheer carelessness. What's the thing I need to accidentally drop into a gravitational singularity to prevent the cultural singularity?" "I don't know the mechanism," Prometheus admitted. "But I don't think that's actually important. Or something we can stop. The specific breakthrough is merely a product of the culture that will arise, an ever- accelerating atmosphere of inquiry and cooperation that will come up with countless plans and theories and devices. If one fails, another will be tried. Again and again until by sheer brute force someone finds something that works...but at a cost no one is willing to acknowledge thanks to the social pressures and the thrill of the hunt. We need to prevent this culture from coming to pass, ensure that the quest for Infinity remains a solitary, careful approach, with every move guarded lest a rival sabotage you." "Ah. You need to break the Council, then," I sighed. "You do know that without the Council, pantheons will go to war, SERIOUS war, for the first time in history? Not right away, but eventually? I mean, even I can see that. Everyone can. It's why we let the Council lay down the law in the first place. Wouldn't a war of Purebloods destroy mortals as surely as your singularity, just more slowly and more painfully?" "I admit the chances are slim for mortals," Prometheus nodded. "But it's a crack in the night. A tiny spark of fire stolen from the gods and given to man. It may well burn them, but they'll have a chance. And we may still reach Infinity ourselves, eventually. We're immortal, we can afford to wait." "Unless they kill us when they find out what we did," I pointed out. I knew he meant a more collective "we" and that he knew full well that immortal didn't mean much if another Pureblood set out to kill you. "Just play dumb, and you should escape the worst of their wrath," Prometheus tried to reassure me. "And who knows? Death may be the only way to reach Infinity, it would be a grand adventure to find out...presuming the other Purebloods allow me to die." * * * * Well, he gave you that fire, and some of you even sort of remember how the story got twisted. I'll spare you an attempt at the details, twisting it down to mortal perceptions would rob it of too much. But he and I, we started a war. It looked like I'd made a deadly mistake, and he took an uncharacteristically rash action to make up for it, setting the Council against itself as they argued the merits of Prometheus's deed. Just as we'd planned, the Council split into factions over it all and lost its moral authority over the other Purebloods. It took centuries to blossom into outright warfare, but it put the brakes on the cultural singularity almost immediately. Of course, Kronos figured out what was going on. By that point the Titans were losing pretty badly to Zeus's spawn and even a few political marriages like my own weren't slowing the skid, so Kronos served my brother up on a platter to Zeus, who had been pretty badly burned by the collapse of the Council and was looking for a scapegoat. Maybe someday Zeus will let my brother die. But as agonizing as the torture has to be, I know Prometheus takes comfort in the fact that every moment he suffers is another moment the universe continues to exist. I strongly suggest you mortals make the most of it. ============================================================================ For all the back issues, plus additional background information, art, and more, go to http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH ! To discuss this issue or any others, either just hit "followup" to this post, or check out our Yahoo discussion group, which can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ash_stories/ ! There's also a LiveJournal interest group for ASH, check it out at http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=academy+of+super-heroes (if you're on Facebook instead, there's an Academy of Super-Heroes group there too). ============================================================================