Chapter 619 Aidos I (Evan’s POV Start)
[Consciousness of the 'Prime World' "Aidos", at your service.]
It wasn't that I didn't have that little suspicion in the corner of my heart somewhere, but hearing it was still a tad bit surprising.
[Surprised?]
'She' asked me as 'she' sat back down on 'her' seat, waving 'her' hand to summon a tea set, and pouring some tea for both of us.
Though I wondered If 'she' needed to even drink it—I mean, could planets even drink tea?
I looked around as 'she' poured the tea into the cup that had appeared in front of me, redirecting my gaze towards the giant ball of golden energy in the sky.
"Where is this?"
[This place? Well, I wouldn't say it's a 'physical' place…but at the same time it also is.]
"The heck?"
My obvious confusion must have made 'her' see that I did not make any sense of 'her' words, and after a moment's pause, 'she' spoke once more.
[You are approximately 45,000 kilometres beneath the planet's surface, but you're not at the same time because this is kind of an alternate Dimensional Space.
Besides, it's just your consciousness—your spiritual body—that's here, and not your physical body.]
As soon as I heard the distance 'she' called, a terrifying conjecture bloomed in my mind. My gaze slowly trailed up to the giant orb of golden energy that I thought was a 'Sun', and as if seeing through my thoughts, Aidos spoke up.
[It is exactly what you're thinking.
What you're looking at…is the core of the Planet Aidos.]
"You gotta be kidding me…"
The last thing I recall was devouring that dragon's—Faldo's heart, and when I regained consciousness, I was suddenly at the planet's core, having tea with the consciousness of the planet.
"What a day…"
Somehow, despite the absurdities of the current situation, I was a lot calmer than I thought I should be.
[Would you like to have a touch?]
"I don't think Planetary Cores are things mere humans should be touching with their hands, so no, I do not want to."
At my rejection, 'she' simply shrugged and uttered a line that gave me chills down my spine.
[Oh good, because if I removed the barrier that's above us, you would instantly melt into a puddle due to the sheer amount of energy emitted from it.]
"…"
For once, I think I finally understood the exasperation others felt when they had to deal with my antics.
"Leaving aside things that I clearly don't want to make sense of. Why did you call me 'Mr Bourne'? How is that name known to you?"
[You're a Hero connected to me; would it not be weirder if I did not know what your actual name was?
Your title as a Hero and the benefits it gives you–except Artemisia's little tweaks that work based on other Authorities and bits of reality warping you don't need to know about—come from me after all.]
"I feel like I heard some very concerning things in that statement of yours just now…"
[It's your imagination.]
'She' calmly sipped the tea after saying that, despite clearly saying something even a ten-year-old would not believe.
But from 'her' facial expression and that 'smile' 'she' wore, it was clear as day that 'she' wasn't going to be speaking further on this.
'In that case…let's ask about other things…'
"You called yourself a 'Prime' World. Is that some type of 'High-Level World' or something?"
Artemisia did tell me that Aidos was a High-Level world, despite it being particularly weak for High-Level Worlds, so I was curious about that.
[That's a World Classification stage that's much, much higher than the 'High Level'.
It's like Sovereignty and Transcendence, except, the gap is more like a Grandmaster to a Transcendent.]
'Her' eyes seemed to shine as 'she' spoke, and I couldn't help but get the feeling that 'she' was looking 'through' me.
[The World Classifications are: Low, Middle, High, Prime, and one other you really don't need to know about.]
If I were to believe what 'she' was saying, then this meant that Aidos was pretty high up the chart. And as if reading my thoughts, 'she' continued.
[I'm pretty high up the charts, aren't I?
Sturdy enough to have gods walking about casually without issue, unlike Middle-Worlds that could be destroyed If a god kicked the ground a bit 'too hard'.]
Aidos casually spoke about how fragile a planet of billions was with a smile on 'her' face, leading me to my second to last question.
"Your appearance. How did it come about?"
My question had 'her' looking down on herself, at the white dress 'she' wore before looking back up to me and replying.
[Imprinting.]
"Imprinting?"
[Yes.]
"Mind explaining further?"
I decided to take a sip of the tea after asking, and Aidos placed a hand on 'her' chin for a few moments before speaking.
[When I first came into being as a Middle-World a couple billion years ago, I only had memories of everything that had transpired both 'ON' me and within my gravitational field, as well as knowledge of the reason for my existence.
That was how I came to know that I'm in the first group of planets in Orithyia.
However, despite all these 'memories' I possessed, I had never personally 'Met' anyone before then.
Objectively, I probably looked like a floating mass of multicoloured light or something, and I remained that way, until the first group of beings to ever surpass Transcendence from me, discovered 'My' existence.
They found their way to this alternate space we are in right now, and the first one of them who stepped in here, was a woman who looked exactly like this; so, I took on 'her' appearance.
That's why I called it Imprinting.]
'Her' explanation was quite lengthy, but I learned a few things from it. The first was that Aidos was REALLY old.
Secondly, the name of this Galaxy was most likely Orithyia.
[The Gender Classification does not apply to us Celestial Bodies, so we usually just imprint like this and stick with whichever appearance we take up first.
If you are not comfortable with it, I could change it.]
"Nahh. I have a feeling you might change to something that I would end up NOT being comfortable with so don't bother."
I didn't really care much about 'her' appearance; I was just curious as to why it was a female one. As soon as 'her' answer came, my curiosity was sated and I decided to move on to the last question I had for now.
"So, Aidos.
Why exactly is it that you called me here?"
When I asked that question, the look on 'her' face changed, as if 'she' had been waiting for me to ask this for a while now.
'She' silently set down the teacup in 'her' hands and leaned forward with a smile as 'she' spoke.
[You may not be aware of this, Mr Bourne, but we Celestial Body Consciousnesses are '100% Logical' existences.]
"…"
[Simply put; no matter how we may act, no matter how cherry and smiley our attitudes are—]
All expressions on 'her' face disappeared, the light in 'her' eyes dimmed, and 'she' spoke with a flat voice that showed zero emotions.
[—behind it all, is a calculated, logical and emotionless thought process with only our Survival as the main priority.]
Despite having met a literal goddess before, I don't think I felt as intimidated as I just did by the complete change in 'her' temperament.
Without regard for my thoughts, Aidos leaned forward and continued speaking.
[I, most of all, am aware of the threat to my existence that that bitch Gozon poses. I know the 'REAL' reason why Gozon's Demons conquer other worlds, not the bullshit that those Demonic Hand idiots think.
Well, I understand their intentions of wanting to 'Save' me, but they're greatly misguided, at least some of them are.
The rest are just vermin that need to be exterminated; that's why I designate them as 'Enemies', after all.]
From what 'she' was saying, I had the feeling I'd be meeting with Demonic Hand members who were NOT 'Enemies of Aidos' in the future.
[Ah, I digressed.
I was talking about Gozon, right? As a fellow planet, I understand why, but that does not mean I would accept it, especially as I am the target of the Demons.
And as the target, I had plans to ensure my survival, even if it meant more than 60% of my population would be wiped out.]
The detached manner 'she' spoke was enough for me to know 'she' genuinely did not care even if over 5 out of the 7+ billion beings living on 'her' perished.
[However, one random day, I sensed the entrance of an existence from a planet somewhere else in the Galaxy, sent here by the goddess who just so happens to manage this Sector of the Universe.
Not only did 'she' introduce a variable into my plans, but this variable just so happened to have the makings of a 'Singularity'.
An uncontrollable 'Bug', in the 'Code' of the very Universe we exist in.]
Aidos got up from 'her' seat and placed 'her' hands on the table as 'she' leaned in even further; so much that I began wondering if 'she' was going to fall as 'she' concluded.
[Artemisia threw a wrench in my plans, and that 'wrench', is you; 'Irregular Evan'.]
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