The phenomena had occurred approximately thirteen gyra ago.

  Tumbling out of control.

  Distant stars wheeling all around.

  Jagged purple bolts filling all visual fields, cleaving everything they touched.

  The sparking wreckage of uncountable ships venting gasses and flames while spinning in spreading fields of debris.

  Trillions of twisted, frozen corpses drifting in the void.

  Batteries of orbs larger than most terrestrial moons arc through the dark and resolve into patches of grey oblivion that spare nothing in their path.

  Pulses of hyper-gravity pull even the smoking ciders of burnt out stars with irresistible force.

  Overwhelmed and desperate...

  Urgency warps into futility...

  And then…

  Salvation!

  …The intense feelings of being delivered from annihilation by another’s unexpected actions left the Clone feeling pricks of pins and needles along his avatar’s dermatomes. Slowly, they faded and he was once again aware in normative linear-time. A quick check of his surroundings confirmed that he was still situated in the center of Destruction’s Desolation. Sharing the void with nothing but the persistent caustic energies of its past for eighty-two million lightyears in every direction. Still waiting at the agreed location for his and the Original’s prearranged sept-gyro rendezvous. And as had been true for the last three meetings, Zenyak was a no-show. The Clone rolled hooded eyes, Still at his favorite pastime of eradicating Oblivion while increasing the risk of irreversibly destabilizing the cuboidal framework…

  However, right now, Zenyak’s actions of unintentionally increased the probability of the multiverse coming to a violent end weren’t the most important thing on the Clone’s mind.

  Combi, what was the phenomenon I just experienced?

  Your mind and body spontaneously entered a physiologically and psychologically altered conscious state. It involved a rich array of endogenous sensory, motor, and emotional, experiences most commonly occurring during REM sleep for humanoids.

  I was dreaming?

  Negative. You were awake.

  Close enough. The Clone shook his head a disbeliving expression on the factalized shielding over his face. If I’m already starting to crack, we’re in worse shape than I anticipated. What’s the status of my Ka Kernal reserves. Also, check for failures of the UV-gamma shielding. His face puckered considering all probabilities. … Also, take a genetic sample for integrity comparison with the Original.

  Both depletion of his Immortal Ka and or a significant avatar genetic mutation could result in the breakdown of his mentation. Confabulation and hallucinations would be usual symptoms. Reality was that clones just weren’t as sturdy as true spirit beings. Hence the reason for the shielding he wore at almost all times.

  If either of these two failures was occurring he would need to send an emergency signal to Zenyak that his funtionality was ending. The Clone tried not to think about what would happen to the sproutinling of hope for the multiverse he was trying to grow and protect from the hars realities of existence. It would be decidedly…less nurturing for them…much less…

  He would also need to limit his exposure to the likely possible causes until he had completed the last possible acts of support for his two charges before he completely failed. With his avatar’s eyes shifting about him, he couldn’t help but notice the first of these likely causes: the residual degradative forces still present in the morass of ancient corruption Zenyak had insisted that he wait in. The corrosive forces that had been reeleased left behind at Destruction’s Desolation were not to be trifled with. The next most likely possible cause of his breakdown was Zenyak himself. It was undisputed that repetitive exposure to the excessive cuboidal forces the Paramount Immortals carryied around with them like swollen Sumano gravity slappers, was harmful for everyone. The fact that it was the only know offensive weapon against Oblivion itself made this obvious.

  In less than a micro from being given its instructions, the Combi reported back.

  Ka Kernal Energy reserves at 99.78 percent of inception level. UV-gamma shielding at 100 percent integrity. No unanticipated failures logged since conception. Genetic sample remains 100 percent identical to recorded sample of Original.

  Well, there is no identifiable cause for the failure of my faculties. Nor am I internally corroding… Unexpected relief flooded is mind at being able to continue his plans and pull all their bacons out of the fire. The moment passed and he was back to business. So much for a simple explanation of the phenomena. I need facts.

  What was the length of my altered mental status? He sent to the Combi.

  0.000000257 micros from beginning to end.

  That’s the speed of Immortal thought. If the phenomena had occured at this speed, it was either an internal process of his own mind triggered by some external force, or it had been caused by direct Immortal Intervention. The first was much more likely. But all possibilities needed to be considered. There was no deying that Zenyak’s status as Hegemon Emeritus of the Immortal Polar Neutral Realm brought with it more than a fair share of political opponents. Even more than this, the Original was a four-billion-year-old domineering son of a bitch who had always been willing to let a heavy axeblade negotiate the lion’s share of his confrontations. As such, there were many who would want nothing more than to expunge him from the multiverse. Danzil the Hidden, a powerful Karmystic, and the militant forces of the Obsidian Brigade topped the current lists of list of most likely to try and take a chunk out of Zenyak.

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  Combi, at the time of the phenomena where was the nearest Immortal presence?

  Empty set. No Immortals were present in this iteration-

  You scanned for sub quantum null signatures as well as non lamellar flows in Ballance and Reality?

  Affirmative.

  So not Danzil or the Obsidians. Was my physical avatar translocated?

  Negative. Your physical body has not moved since taking up position for your scheduled sept-gyro rendezvous with the Original. This is confirmed by continuous celestial body positioning to maintain desired coordinates.

  That essentially ruled out the outside influence of Immortals. Whatever had attacked him had to have triggered an internal thought process or a memory of some kind... Which did made a strange bit of sense. As he recalled the event again, whatever had caused the nonlucid moment, didn’t seem malevolent… Atleast there hadn’t been any physical or metaphysical harm done to him.

  Was I exposed to an extra-corporeal impetus immediately prior to the phenomena’s start?

  Affirmative. Your prefrontal cortex was intercepted by a pulsitile vector of tachyons.

  Origin

  The corona of a protostar with coordinates nearing the center of X, Y, and Z axis of the reforming Stellae Creaturix.

  Show me the wave pattern.

  His Combi projected a three-dimensional image directly in front of him. Tight packets of wave pulses with no exponential amplification with the passage of time appeared. The amplicfications would have been expected with any naturally occurring tachyon event. They would also have resulted in loss of signal focus and specificity. The Clone waved his hand and zoomed in on one of the clusters of rhythmic pulses. Eyeing the configuration he saw that the energy signature was a very skilled union of iteration-specific Karmic nuances and Solar Fusion-Essence. He muttered to himself. “The instigator has made use of Solar Essence to maintain signal integrity. Star Child Magiphysics…,” his voice trailed off thinking of the implications of an unprovoked insult from his closest allies in the iteration.

  The mental phenomena was triggered by a tachyon pulse from a Star Child. But Why? And what is the meaning of the event? The battle could have been one of several possibilities. Given its magnitude the Clone was betting on one in particular. But exact specifics wouldbe easier to obtain after more facts about the sender and their intended purpose was obtained. It seemed he was going to have to go to the Stellae Creaturix and find out why the sender, whoever it was, had decided to end their existence by beaming a faster-than-light-speed particle transmission directly into his brain. But first, there was one more question that needed answering.

  How did this tachyon transmission penetrate my UV-gamma shielding?

  It didn’t. The Combi replied obtusely.

  Elaborate.

  This Combi allowed the signal through after determining that it did not threaten your integrity or mission.

  The Clone did an internal double-take at that. But he had long ago been forced to accept the reality that the Combi was not a bound to his will. The Clone had no Immortal Ka of his own. The Ethos Combi owed it’s creation, continued existence, and spiritual link and programing to Zenyak’s Immortal Ka. As such, ultimately, the Combi served the Original’s will, or at least what the Combi interpreted Zenyak’s will to be. Regardless of how befuddled or cosmically dangerous Zenyak’s intentions had become.

  Okayyy… The Clone drew out the word with unintended mounting frustration at the tersity of the Combi’s last few responses. For what purpose did you allow the signal to bathe my prefrontal cortex in a possibly hostile force’s tachyons? And then answer the same question of the being or power that sent it.

  Your desired answers are both the same: To allow the triggering of the previously concealed memory.

  So what you are saying, Agitation now clear in the Clone’s mental tone. Is that the tachyon’s purpose was to unshield a previously concealed memory of Zenyak’s… and you determined that, despite his obvious intention to hide the events from me, it was now his will that I should be made aware of them?

  Affirmative. Came the unabashed reply.

  “No wonder I worry for my continued sanity…” The Clone spoke under his breath. His mental tone again bececame steadily sharper as he continued internally with the shameless Combi. Why did Zenyak conceal the memory in the first place. And why have you now determined that he would reveal it?

  It was concealed by Zenyak in an improbable attempt to prevent you from being held accountable for a long outstanding karmic debt. There are many such concealed memories of the Original for this and other purposes.

  The Clone was silent as he accepted this fact. He had long suspected it to be true. There really was no explanation for how easily the Original had made the choices he was making now. Namely to risk the foundations of the multiverse for his personal pride. This would not have been possible unless there was a fundamental difference in previous experiences between the two of them.

  However, on one point, the Clone was in complete agreement. Balance, Karma’s ultimate agent of enforcement, was an all surrounding and inescapable ocean. It was always present, it encompassing every spirit being in the iteration. Most times, Balance only became an actor of relevance in response to a being’s inequitable actions that disrupted karmic equilibrium. Even so, it’s usual modus operondi to enact Karma’s Will would not be to force someone’s hands directly. Subtlety was almost always the hallmark of Balance’s actions when it wanted to impact Reality. Effortless and perfect action had originally been credited to Balance.

  However, this was not always the case. Sometimes it could indeed crash down on a being like a tsunami from the deeps. But, whether Balance’s actions were bold or not, there was little that could be done by its targets when it decided to move. You either conceded to its desires or drowned. The Clone could not argue that fearing the results from failing to meet a Karmic debt was reasonable. Still, True as this was, the Combi had at least one very large and gaping flaw in it explanation. Preexisting mortal debt could not be applied to Zenyak, a Transcended Immortal. Such an application flew in the face of the Doctrine of Severance. The Doctrine, as taught by both, the Walkers of the Kaoshi Path and the Pandit Seekers of Understanding, stated simply that, upon achieving Transcendence mortal Karmic ties were wholly severed and discharged. A fresh Karmic start to the new Immortal’s birth. Transcendence into the Immortal realms was a virtual touchstone of freedom from what had come before. An event that totally cut the old mortal ties. Absolute liberation from all links, cares, and scores of their previous existence. It was why so few of the Immortal beings ever looked back to the mortal realms. Such had been Zenyak’s, and thus the Clone’s personal experience and understanding during his two billion years as an Immortal.

  And yet, even knowing this, Zenyak had taken steps to protect the Clone, and himself, by shielding a mortal based memory to try and avert the Karmic consequences. The Original was obviously concerned that in some unbelievably unique circumstances, perhaps in this one-time-only hapening, total severance was not expected to be the case.

  Logic dictated the Clone accept, that for this debt, the burden was so great Karma would see fit to carry it to the Immortal realm.

  Affirmative. The Combi agreed with the Clone’s rhetorical thinking.

  If the Combi was right, in Karma’s view, two billion years ago, Zenyak had done a runner through the open door of Transcendence. Leaving the Clone on the hook to pay the bill or be the first in line to face the instigation of Karmic backlash that would most probably destroy him before moving on to Zenyak.

  The Combi continued. There is cause for concern that, if action is not taken at this point in linear time, all opportunity to do so will be lost. Thus, this Combi allowed the memory to be revealed to take the necessary actions and achieve a restored equity. Probability predictions are 93.663 percent that your failure will result in unavoidable Karmic backlash against the Original–

  “And right now, the stupid bastard has absorbed enough metaphysical nuke juice to evaporate most of the life inhabited cuboids this side of five Aspect Gateways.”

  “Affirmative.” The Combi verbally spoke as well.

  The Clone closed his eyes and took a physically unnecessary focusing breath. Considering everything he had just discovered, he again thought back to the instant before the memory had been uncovered. It was true that he had no previous recollection of any of the events in the phenomenon. But now, as when it had first occurred, the triggering impulse didn’t feel threatening. Quite the opposite. If anything, it was the gentle guidance an elder would use as it steered an adult child through a crowded room. A knowing, kind, and trusted influence. There had been no attempt to overpower him. Such wouldn’t have been possible in any case as the Clone’s strengths and defenses were more than exponentially greater than whoever had sent the tachyons. It really was almost like a friend’s desperate plea… But what friend… Gaia??