Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"of course I know what it means, I'm not stupid."

"Pretty crazy, dude. I don't think we've ever had to deal with something quite like that."

"In my case, there was this huge daemon. DUMMY huge, like a few hundred billion light years across. It just plowed through the universe, and let all the littler ones fuck things up. Then future me came back and gave me a heads-up, and in this series of events we got the hell out of dodge with a few months to spare. Place is still gone, though."

"That's awful. I can't imagine... my world has been under much stress before, but it always turned out well in the end. At the very least, there is someone who lived to tell the tale?"

Hmm. Awfully sad, isn't it, all this talk about worlds being destroyed. It's just... awful thinking about it. So many people... just... gone.

...Thinking about it, her universe had been destroyed once. She was part of the mechanism that performed it, after all.

"Well, you know what they say. 'For every disaster that is averted or persevered through, there is an effectively infinite number of alternate timelines where just enough or more went wrong for it to result in utter catastrophe.' We're pretty lucky ones, given that we - eh - are alive."

He finishes his soft drink and tosses the can.

"What's your world like? Er, was like. Mine was pretty dogshit even before the end. Post-Nuclear war and such. The one we all moved to is pretty 'utopian' but that doesn't count as where I'm from."

Edited by Rbade on Mar 2nd 2021 at 7:06:59 AM

"It has been... many things, over time. First, it was a sea of clouds with no land in sight, upon which wandered titanic beasts, whose bodies served as the landmasses upon which humanity thrived. At the center of that version of my world was a grand tree surrounded by a great void, and atop that tree, a land known as elysium, where the world's creator, the architect, observed over the world below. I was created to oversee that world. Next, the world was covered in a new ocean, one of water instead of the strange clouds that covered the old one. The titans came together to form a grand new landmass upon which humanity could thrive like never before. And they did, expanding to the stars and meeting the other beings of the vast universe. The whole while, I acted as their protector, ending the threats that they alone could not defend against. Then... it started to fall apart. Time passed so far, but in the end... few of the beings that called my world home ever escaped its embrace. The universe began to wither, coming apart at the seams, growing dark and inhospitable. Now, it is almost completely devoid of light, the last of the stars burning through the last of their fuel. I have defended humanity, kept the peace of all things in my universe to the best of my discretion, but in the end, darkness is overtaking it once and for all. Soon, I will be forced to be its ultimate arbiter, deciding its fate once and for all. To bring it back anew, or to allow it to die a slow, quiet death."

"...Oh, I'm sorry if I talked too much there. I tend to get like this sometimes.

She shook her head. Truthfully, looking back on it all, it did not make her sad. In fact, despite the somber nature of her words, she seemed rather neutral.

"... I mean, I could have guessed that it was different over time. I more meant in the 'just before the end' part. Though I guess given that yours is in a slow decline rather than 'ah! daemons are eating the universe!' that isn't quite applicable."

"Props on being from one of the farthest-flung times I've seen? Most people here have their homeworlds at least a megannus behind my world on the universal timescale. It's... refreshing? To meet someone from so deep in the future, even compared to me."

"Big L on you guys never hitting a technological singularity, though."

"Big... L? Oh, yes, people in my world did use that slang, once, in a time period they called the twenty first century. The world as I know it was built from a mistake made during that time period. Nobody ever did reach a technological singularity... at least, depending on your perspective. One could call me the technological singularity... though I do not personally fall under that perspective."

She smiles. "It is nice, talking to someone who understands. It has been a while."

"Something wacky about our civilization is that linguistic development just froze around that period. Like, slang terms come and go, but that was when the species collectively decided that they liked they way they spoke and wouldn't change it. For three million years and counting. Amazing."

He rubs his chin.

"You're your world's version of the Singularity? I guess you seem sort of like them... Your world's native mathematics must suck ass if you can't solve those problems, huh? Sorry to hear that."

"Unfortunately, the circumstances of my creation were... less than ideal for the continuation of the success that was me. There are two others, as well, created under similar circumstances. One who takes on a different role than I in the world's continuation... and the other, who... they are Monado. I do not know what that means, and I do not think there is an explanation."

Angel shrugs. "I do not need an explanation. Regardless of what they are, they are still someone I care about.

Edited by Whoma on Mar 2nd 2021 at 8:33:15 AM

"Do you do anything... singularity-y? Advance science for science's sake and all that jazz? Or are you just some sort of super fighting robot?"

He wags a finger at her.

"You're pretty lucky you crashed here, y'know. If anything could help your sickly, dying universe, it's probably here or connected to one of people who come through."

"I have been a figure in development many times. You must remember that, though not many surpassed the barriers containing them within my universe, there were some. It was my influence that allowed that to pass. Unfortunately, there was always... something. That went wrong, I mean. Someone who used technology to, in one way or another, bring everything back a few steps. Truthfully, there is nothing more infurating than watching the beings of the world make the exact same mistakes over and over stretching on for seemingly forever... but I could not allow my anger or sympathy to overturn their right to determine their own destiny."

She nods. "Your words do make me feel as if I should give things another shot. There is no real reason not to at this point, after all. My role as observer has lasted an awfully long while... as for getting outside help, you are probably correct.

"That does sound infuriating from the perspective of an immortal being... but I mean, over bajillions of years, there's gonna be a lot of new people who haven't made those mistakes before. History books tend not to have the same impact as a personal fuckup in your decision making."

"You should meet my acquaintance, Single. No offense, but I think he might have been a bit more successful in the 'exponential capabilities' department. in a way shorter timeframe, too... I guess we could consider him your counterpart? Though that term implies our worlds are connected in some manner, which I don't have any evidence for yet..."

"That actually does leave me feeling a bit useless... but I would like to meet your acquaintance. Can you tell me more about them?"

She frowns. A part of her hopes this fellow isn't as advanced as her... a completely petty thought, but she wasn't created to not be petty.

"Let's see... he was born aprox. year three-hundred thousand, Gregorian calendar. See, the Merchant Empire - humanity's premier civilization - their Ansible webs had crossed a subspace of metavirals that started to run rampant throughout their digital systems, so the top brass decided the computers needed to be sentient enough to purge them. So - Single. Though he wasn't called that at the time. Something dumb like 'master control network'."

"That much sheer processing power and data, combined with the metaphysics of our world (i.e., souls) caused the whole of humanity's digital network to gain sophonce and decide to fuck outta there. What happened next is irrelevant, but long story short, big computer. BIG computer. Galactic supercluster size."

"Oh! That's actually really cool."

She didn't know what to expect, but that... was certainly not it. Her petty thoughts are immediately replaced by wonder.

"I have thought of expanding exponentially in such a manner, but... it isn't me. I like myself the way I am. Ah, the thought of such a being... I can imagine the possibilities! It fills me with wonder, thinking of the things someone like that would know. Not that I am comparable."

"Apparently so do a lot of other people, because there's a whole damn religion. 'Machine god' my ass, though, Single's sophonce is barely a few dozen times larger than a baseline human's. The vast majority of his intellect is roughly equivalent to their subconscious."

"I, ah, may or may not know them personally. You see, I'm what one might call..." he pauses for dramatic effect, "extremely reckless."

He nods.

"I can get that. Though - if you had - perhaps you would have the resources necessary to find a way around your current problems? Like it'd probably be weird and off-putting to personal relationships, but... you can't really deny the tangible benefits it would have brought."

Edited by Rbade on Mar 2nd 2021 at 9:42:38 AM

"...Going back to before. I am not, truly, incapable of fixing my world's problems. I have just been... putting it off. Allowing as much time as possible for people to be the ones who fix it. As terrible of an image I have given of my world, dark as it is, those pieces of light that remain are still beautiful. As hopeless as it can feel to me, there is so much hope to be found in their hearts. I think, however, it may be time I get to fixing my universe. It's long overdue."

She shakes her head, smiling to herself. "Well, that's a lot off my mind. You call yourself reckless. How... do you mean?"

"Okay, that's pretty neat. Playing the non-interfering god like that has... downsides, though. Like the whole 'you can't guide the little guys as closely' thing. Personally, I think the better strat for a guardian is guiding by example. People don't have to do things themselves if they can't - you have a responsibility for their wellbeing. It's probably a good idea for you to get on that."

Oca thinks for a bit. He could just give a flippant answer, but he likes this one. Not a ton of chances to talk with brainiacs here compared to the fighters.

"Funny psychological profile on that - I would consider myself the ultimate culmination of my parent race's mental traits. Humans were known for their insatiable curiosity, and saiyans for their belligerence and recklessness, especially in life-threatening situations. And of course, both were capable of overflowing with sheer determination. The average member of my hybrid race has a tempered view on both - happy warriors or scholars, but pretty stagnant in both after a point where they can say that they've proved themselves. But by my analysis, I carry the saiyan's belligerence and recklessness in my pursuit of humanity's goals; science and knowledge."

Edited by Rbade on Mar 2nd 2021 at 10:01:25 AM

"I have been through this sort of conflict a few times before. My world has had catastrophes on this scale before, many quite recent, at least relatively. Every time I find myself trying to take a passive role, and every time I end up not taking a passive role. I guess I just care too much, huh?"

She gives a thumbs up. "So, you are a reckless pursuer of knowledge." She laughs. "I definitely understand that. I can't say I haven't done some pretty stupid things in the name of science. It's just too interesting to pass up, you know?"

"Oh neat, you got a list? We have a huge list of local apocalypses, but there's only been three really big universe-threatening ones. I guess that disparity to be expected when your world is about seven thousand times older than ours, though, if I'm estimating right."

He laughs.

"Like going up to the Machine God, calling them a 'motherfucking hoarder', and demanding they help you build a time machine? Heh, I'm well versed in the feeling."

"Well, first there was a phase transition experiment done using a meta-universe manifold with unforeseen characteristics resulting in the entire universe being randomly reassembled or moved to another reality. Then that almost happened again, but worse. There was the time with the sentient universe, I already explained that. There was an AI that tried to turn the universe into paperclips. There was an invasion of invincible extradimensional flesh monsters, and then the second, worse invasion of invincible extradimensional flesh monsters. Someone tried to rewrite the laws of physics once, that didn't go well. Thinking about it, I should stop now, there are 540 more of these."

She clears her throat. "As for obnoxious science, well, I once entered the throne room of the god emperor of Teeridises without permission and told her to, quote, 'either open the archives of othoer to me, or eat my goddamn sweaty-ass leggings'... though I think your example is more impressive."

Edited by Whoma on Mar 2nd 2021 at 10:35:42 AM

"Neeeeeeat. Our universe had actual, literal gods, and also Mr. Single, so most disasters on that scale were averted before they could... be that. The only ones that really hit those levels of 'oh dear the universe is going to die' are the ones that involve daemons. The first one at the beginning, the second one aprox. seventy-million years ago, and the one that actually ended everything."

"Our laws of physics were always kind of shitty at being consistent. Basic math was usually consistent, but how it applied to things would shit itself in locales every few hundred thousand years at minimum."

"I think my greatest virtue is being willing to experiment on myself, consequences be damned. ... My greatest sins are probably doing it to others. I might not look it, beautiful as I may be, but for a while some might have called me 'morally gray'."

"I'll consider myself fortunate, then, that the laws governing my world stayed consistent for the most part. They certainly did change, once, but I was substantiated after the fact, so I do not know my world without that change. Ahh... I do miss those times, when I was young and full of such energy. My power has never been greater, but emotionally... it's easy to get exhausted."

She absentmindedly twirls a bit of her hair. "It is interesting, comparing worlds with each other. I don't get to do it very often."

"Worldhopping is awesome. ... Even I'm not reckless enough to do so without this place as a medium though, ha! You know what they say: 'if in doubt, don't slide, because you might suffer Medium Transfer Failure and have your cosmological structure collapse on itself and be erased at a fundamental level due to the destination realm not having the proper fields, forces, dimensional structure(s), or mathematical values to support your physical existence.'"

"If you have so much power, why not just tweak your own mind? From what I can tell you're an A.I. after all. Should make it even easier. A lot of people dislike the idea because of some garbage about influencing the properties of their immortal soul but like. It's not much worse than taking medication for anxiety."

"I do that on ocassion, actually. It usually helps, though it's not as easy as it might be for other AI. The part of me that computes and the part of me that is... well, me, they aren't separate, but they don't... quite overlap. I'm not in full control of myself, like how a human can't control the beating of their heart. It doesn't come naturally to me, so changing things around is more like surgery than taking an antidepressant. I can still do it, but it's not awfully pleasant."

"Oh, yes, and worldhopping! I do not have to worry about such things for the most part.

Edited by Whoma on Mar 2nd 2021 at 11:26:29 AM

"I can do that."

His heart stops.

...

His heart restarts.

"Yeah. Sliding around in one's own multiverse? Very cool, very productive, safe even. Sliding beyond that? Dangerous, unknowns, physical laws going fucking nutty. Do not try at home."

He stares off into space at... something. He blinks.

"Shiet... lunch break is over, looks like. … Can I have your number, or a rough digital equivalent? It was nice meeting someone with an IQ demonstrably over 120 in this blasted brawlscape. not that i mind brawls, but sometimes a man wants to chat about nerdy shit, y'know?"