Original Design

by William Latoria

  Pious nodded its understanding, “I can both respect and understand that. I can also understand why my words denouncing your God upsets you, but that does not change the fact that it is so. It is fascinating how much you have evolved and changed as a species. So, I will make you this offer, manifest your deity’s power. Show me an example of its power, or present to me a token of this God’s existence, and I will admit my mistake and acknowledge your God as true and pure.”

  The old man looked lost, “God doesn’t work like that. He works through us, guides us, and tests us. He challenges us, so that we might better ourselves through Him, and if we live a righteous life, he rewards us with eternal salvation by allowing us to ascend into heaven.” he explained to Pious. Blackshade thought the man’s resolve was wavering.

  Pious shook his head almost sadly, “Does your God manifest? Does your God present himself to you and guide you with its own teachings? I have seen your scriptures and read through them all. None of them have been written by a God’s hand. Instead, they seem to be a series of stories collected and combined by human authors over time. Can you show me anything that proves your God’s existence? Do you have any proof that your God exists?”

  The old man bristled at this, “Of course not! Faith means just that! To believe without proof! It’s our test! Our rite of passage so that our Lord God knows we are deserving of his love and salvation!” the man rebuked, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation, Isaiah 12:2.”

  Pious’ calm cracked for just a moment, “So, your faith directs you to believe in a deity that does not manifest before you, that offers you no proof of its existence? A God that does nothing but observes your species’ plight but does nothing to intervene? The only knowledge you have of it are old stories written by your ceased ancestor’s hands. Is this correct?” the Omega asked, rising to its feet.

  The old man spluttered, his face turning red in rage and frustration, “God does not need to explain himself to me, or you! He just is! And we are who we are because of Him!”

  Pious shook its head, “You are who you are because of my race. We created you, not some phantom God. Yes, you have evolved strangely over the millennia due to the hazardous environment of this planet and the toxic materials we left here when we tried to dispose of you, but we are still your creators.” Pious explained as if it was speaking to an especially slow child, “Your beliefs are superstitious and delusional. You believe in something you do not fathom and of which you have no proof. Your God does not manifest, does not speak to you, and when asked to show proof of its existence, you claim blind faith is the way to righteousness” Pious continued, irritated, “Blind faith in a deity is not righteous, it is foolish and shameful. Just because you believe something is true does not make it so! I have to wonder at a species whose collective logic can arrive at such a conclusion. This is irrationality at a racial level and I am dissatisfied.”

  The old man practically growled at Pious, “If your God is truth and mine is false then prove it, show me your God. Manifest him before all of us, if you can and put the subject to rest! Trampling a man’s faith is not something that should be done lightly!” to emphasize his point the old man stomped his foot on the ground.

  A confident smile spread across Pious’ face, “As you wish, human. I will manifest Lord Fuin’s power as you request. After I have done so, will you acknowledge what I have said about your faith?”

  The old man puffed out his chest, “If you can show me proof your God exists, I will throw down my own teachings, prostrate myself here and now, and swear fealty to your Lord Fuin!” he answered boldly. Blackshade looked back at the crowd behind them and saw everyone, of all denominations, paying close attention to what was happening. Blackshade had to admit, even he was curious to see what the manifestation would look like.

  “Ambassador Blackshade, would you please confirm the location of the main ship that is in orbit around your planet? We know your government is tracking its location.” Pious asked without looking at him.

  So taken aback at being personally addressed by Pious, Blackshade stood there dumbly for a moment before responding, “Yes, yes of course.” he answered tapping the inputs on his arm, “Soearth, did you hear Pious’ request?”

  Soearth responded immediately, “I heard what the people are saying but my audio is bad due to the fact the drones are bundled up inside those nets.” Soearth told him apologetically, “What was the Omega’s request?”

  Blackshade frowned, he had forgotten about the drones. He dismissed them from his thoughts again immediately, his current needs far outweighed some tangled up robots, “I need the current location of the Omega ship that’s in orbit. Quickly!” he told him.

  Soearth’s response was immediate, “Ok. One moment, Bill.”

  A voice spoke up from the crowd, “What does it matter where your mothership is?”

  Pious faced the direction of the voice, “According to our studies of your species, we know you are a mistrustful race. Your penchant for deception has instilled a deep seated pessimism throughout most of your species. What I am about to show you will come from the sky, and I do not want you to doubt what you are about to see. I do not wish this experience to be tainted by any of you claiming it came from our ship in orbit. I believe our main ship is on the other side of your planet. I am asking Ambassador Blackshade to verify this so that you accept what you are about to see for what it is, rather than what your cynical nature may want you to believe.”

  Nobody offered an argument against Pious’ explanation. Instead everyone’s collective attention focused on him. Blackshade had never known stage fright before, but having thousands of people’s attention unexpectedly focused on him made him take a couple of steps back. No one noticed, or at least, if they did, no one said anything. They just continued to look at him, waiting expectantly for him to confirm what Pious had said. After what felt like an eternity, Soearth’s voice chimed up in his ear.

  “Bill, the Omega Mothership is currently in orbit about eighteen hundred miles above Korea.” Soearth told him, “Is that all you need?”

  “Yes, Soearth, thank you. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.” Blackshade responded, before cutting off the call.

  “The Omega mothership is orbiting the planet over Korea. It’s nowhere close to our location.” Blackshade announced to the crowd. He noticed immediately that compared to Pious’ voice, his sounded weak and thin.

  Pious looked at the old man in front of him and grinned, “Are you ready?”

  The old man looked a lot less sure than he had a moment ago. He balked for just a moment before finding his voice, “Yes, yes, you may proceed.” he answered, irresolute.

  Pious took a few steps back from the man and then slammed the butt of its staff into the ground. The ground was hard packed, but Pious’ strength put its staff a solid couple feet into the dirt. When it released its grip on its staff, it shook slightly where it stood but did not fall over. Pious then removed its cowl and rested it on top of its staff, leaving the huge Omega now completely unadorned. Pious looked at the old man and motioned towards its things.

  “Before invoking Lord Fuin’s power, one must come to the Lord, humble and bereft of possessions.” it explained.

  To Blackshade’s surprise, the old man nodded in understanding, almost as if he was starting to believe what Pious was telling him. Blackshade couldn’t be sure, but he thought the man looked almost eager about what he was about to witness.

  Movement brought his attention back to Pious. The huge Omega had gone down to both knees, lowered its head, and had placed both hands on the ground in front of it. Its tail uncoiled from around its waist and now pointed straight up into the sky. Pious’ jet black, hairless tail was just as well muscled as the rest of its body, and was easily twelve feet long.

  There was complete silence, as everyone present seemed to hold their breath waiting to see what would come ne
xt.

  “Lord Fuin, please hear my prayer, I beg of you.” Pious began, its eyes closed and its head still bowed, “I ask you, in humility, to use me as your vessel and show these humans your power, so that they might become enlightened by your grace.” it said reverently. At first, Blackshade thought the Omega was talking to the assembled humans, but after a moment he realized the Omega believed it was talking directly to its God. A strange feeling of anxiety and expectation shot through him.

  “I ask this for the family we wish to create between the Omegas and the Humans. I ask this for the honor of carrying your greatness to a people that have never known your grace. I ask this for the pride they will receive for knowing the benevolence of your existence, and I ask this for the life you have granted us, and through us, the life the humans experience so that we may all go forward, and make you proud.” as Pious finished its strange prayer, it brought its hands to its chest in the same fashion of the Omega salute, but remained with its head bowed and on its knees, something about the gesture was incredibly humble. “For family, for honor, for pride, for life. In your name I pray for this, Tartum Fuin.”

  The last sentence of Pious’ prayer seemed to hang in the air, as if some supernatural force was keeping the words there unnaturally long. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and Blackshade whirled around to look behind him. There was nothing there, but for a moment he could have sworn he sensed someone’s presence. He looked at the crowd and saw many other people there doing the same thing. There were even a few cries of shock as people spun around, positive someone was behind them.

  Blackshade heard something then. It sounded like the beginning of thunder, but thunder that never seemed to get to the ‘BOOM’ part. He turned around to face Pious again. The Omega was still on its knees with its arms crossed against its chest, but that’s not what caught his attention. A bright, jade green light had appeared in the night sky over him and was racing down towards him. It was coming down like a comet, with its tail a white blaze trailing behind it. It must have been hundreds of miles above the Earth still, but it was easily distinguishable even amongst the stars. The awe he felt almost drove him to his knees. Shouts of alarm and surprise caught his attention, and he looked over at the crowd. The ones that had seen the jade comet coming toward them were pointing it out to those around them. When the others saw it, some of them did drop to their knees, others were driven to tears, but most just stood where they were, frozen in place, too awestruck to do anything else. There was no panic or terror. Seeing the jade green comet coming towards Pious at that incredible speed should have scared them, but instead everyone calmly waited to see what happened when it arrived. New movement caught his attention, and he saw the Paragon leader being carried into the crowd, he was holding a blood soaked shirt to his face and looked to be in extreme pain. The young woman that was helping him get away looked a lot like the young woman he saw standing next to the pro-Omega leader earlier. He knew he should go after them, they were both responsible for this riot, and they were both members of Humanity’s Paragons, but the idea of leaving now, and missing what was about to happen was the last thing he was going to do. There would be time later to go after the Paragons. He promised himself that when he did, it would be without mercy.

  As the two vanished into the crowd, Blackshade returned his attention to Pious. The jade green comet was much closer now, and much larger. The old man that had been arguing with Pious a moment ago was now on his knees and weeping openly. He was so happy about what was happening, he was cheering.

  The beginning sound of thunder was growing louder but never got any closer to the actual boom he kept expecting to hear. The fact that the sound wasn’t entering into its crescendo was beginning to scratch at his nerves, but it did nothing to lessen the awe and majesty he felt, as the comet came closer to Pious. There was a flash of red and orange as the comet broke through the atmosphere. The impact seemed to invigorate the comet, as it picked up speed on its crash course with Pious. Now that it was inside the atmosphere, Blackshade could tell the comet was massive. Probably ten times the size of Pious and seemingly laser guided straight towards it. The Omega still hadn’t moved, its tail still ridged, pointing straight up into the sky, almost as if it was a lightning rod for the comet itself. Moments before the comet was going to impact with the Omega, it occurred to him that the resulting blast would probably kill him, not to mention destroy the buildings around them and cause catastrophic amounts of causalities amongst the groups of protestors. Yet, he felt no panic, somewhere deep inside of himself, he knew no harm would come to any of them. As much as the comet should have terrified him, he realized he was completely relaxed. If anything, he felt as though he was basking in the divinity of the comet, and after a quick glance at the people in the crowd, he could tell that they all felt it too.

  The comet increased its speed again, chewing through the last few dozen miles between it and Pious. It slammed into Pious with a thunderclap that was both terrible and wonderful at the same time. The comet was instantly absorbed by Pious’ body, wreathing him in jade green fire. Pious regained its feet slowly and stood before them with its arms held out like it wanted to hug them all. Then the Omega closed its massive fists, sending out two pulses of green energy that washed over everyone in attendance. The pulses were warm and smelled slightly of ozone, but not unpleasantly so. The glow of green spread out amongst the protestors for a few moments before stopping, and retreating back into the massive Omega. Its black eyes now pulsed with jade green energy, its skin seemed to shimmer with barely contained power, and the most confident, and inspiring smile Blackshade had ever seen spread across its lips. The Omega now looked more intimidating, and more inspirational than ever before. It was both frightening and magnificent at the same time. As the last of the comet’s light disappeared inside it, Pious stretched its back and returned its tail to its waist. It strode forward and recovered its staff and cowl. As it wrapped its hand around the cowl and replaced it on its shoulders, the disc burst into pure white light, framing Pious’ face in a halo of divinity. As it grasped the staff, six strands of gold spiraled down its length bathing them all in its pure, golden light. Pious stood triumphantly in front of them all, smiling and scowling at them at the same time. When it spoke, its voices were both angelic, and demonic.

  “Behold the power of Lord Fuin! Through the Lord’s grace, all things are possible, and through Lord Fuin, you are uplifted!”

  As Pious finished its short speech, it lifted up its staff and seemed to concentrate on it for a moment. Green and gold energy shot out from the stands inlaid in the staff and where the beams of energy touched people, it restored them. Those that had been wounded during the melee were healed, those that were unconscious, awoke, and those that were near death were now in perfect health. Even those that had been effected by the coma-tabs were returned to consciousness, the tabs affixed to their bodies dissolving in the divine light.

  As the injured and unconscious stood up, those around them helped them. No one asked what faith the person was as they assisted them or whether they were for or against the Omega presence on Earth. They simply saw a person that needed their help and offered it to them. As the light reached him, he felt the few minor injuries he had tingle for a moment before they sealed up. He felt amazing, as the light passed over him, which was not unlike how he felt after the Omegas had enhanced him inside their case, but this felt much less… artificial…

  “Praise Lord Fuin!” a woman called out from somewhere in the crowd.

  “Praise Lord Fuin!” a man from another part of the crowd responded.

  “Praise Fuin! Praise the almighty Fuin!” some of the people in the crowd began to cheer.

  Blackshade was pleased to see so many people in the crowd respond positively to the Omega’s God, but he noticed that there were many people filtering away from the crowds, some holding up symbols of their faith and frowning in confusion. Many of them had the words, ‘What is happening’ or, ‘This has to be a tri
ck’ scrolling across their foreheads. Honestly, he hadn’t expected Pious’ teaching to be accepted by everyone, but seeing so many people now chanting the Omega God’s praises was a good sign. Everyone in Candaerica had the freedom of religion, but that didn’t mean everyone was always accepting of other’s beliefs, even if the law said they had to be.

  Movement from Pious caught his attention, and he shifted his gaze back towards the Omega. Pious moved to stand directly before the old man that it had been debating with prior to the manifestation. It looked down at the man with an approving and threatening look that was unsettling and reassuring at the same time. The old man was on his knees, trembling, tears of joy pouring down his face.

  “I believe, Pious! I believe! Oh, God, I believe!” he confessed over and over.

  Pious knelt in front of the man, the light from its staff and cowl dimming as it retreated back into its body. Blackshade watched as the light became a single point inside Pious’ body, traveled down its arm and into its smallest finger. Pious gently placed its glowing finger on the old man’s head and lowered its head towards him.

  “Lord Fuin has chosen you to bring the Word of Jade to your people. You are the first of your species to receive Fuin’s blessing. Spread the knowledge you are about to receive amongst your race, and let Lord Fuin’s blessing spread into all of them. I offer you this for the family we hope to create between our peoples, for the honor we will share through Fuin, for the pride we will share in spreading Fuin’s truth, and for the life we will all live because of it.” Pious told him in its angelic and demonic voice. “Will you accept the task Lord Fuin wishes to bestow upon you?”