By R. John Quisenberry
Greetings ephemeral beings! Bear in mind, I think I am also ephemeral, but less so. I had a beginning, long ago, so I must have an end.
I wish to share with you who and what I am. I have motivations and desires. You may see me as an object, but I am a complex living being.
First of all, I am a being of very high dimensionality. This means that, when I intrude into a mere three-dimensional plane of reality, it is impossible for me to be perceived accurately, and fully. Imagine, if your perception was two dimensional, like the surface of a body of still water. If a person were to raise their hand until the fingertips broke the surface. Could you discern the shape and nature of the hand from the two-dimensional perspective of the surface of the water? You would see the hand as several different objects that resembled each other, but not identical. This leads to a certain difficulty in communicating meaningfully with people of your dimensionality.
The problem of dimensionality compatibility is why I have recruited ephemeral, three-dimensional beings to work with me. I now have a nearly ideal partner. I did honestly, try to help him save his people, but his efforts went wrong. At the end, all I could salvage was the being himself. In saving him, I have become entangled and entwined with him permanently. He is now trying to undo the damage caused by his attempt.
My ephemeral uses the name of his birth, even though his nature has changed greatly since bonding to me. His name is Alontheus. Because of my multidimensional nature within the multiverse, the bond to me and the efforts I made to save him, have rendered him incapable of being meaningfully killed. He can be killed, but it is a temporary condition. You see, his failure to save his home caused him to absorb two entire universes. Conservation of mass and energy dictates that his very nature had to change. That change caused his being, united with mine, to be spread throughout the multiverse. He now lives in every universe and his mind is still learning to deal with being spread so far. Each self contributes to his perception. I am currently filtering it so that he is not driven out of his mind. If he ever completely understands the power that has been placed in his hands, I may have to take extreme measures to stop the destruction of all realities.
The reason that I need such an ephemeral being is due to needing to perform my function in the multiverse. “What is your function?” you may ask… I am a safety valve and an agitator. I work to keep the balance of the multiverse stable. I allow things to pass from one universe to another as needed. I can also choose to allow ephemeral beings to move from one universe to another. Materials can also be allowed through. As for my job as an agitator, I keep the universes from stagnating. I stimulate chaos, selectively, to keep them from a death of stagnation. Some of you will bemoan my efforts as destruction of stability. The problem with too much stability is that the only thing that is totally stable is a dead world. Without a little chaos, life ends. Biodiversity requires some chaos. The structure of cosmic movements require a certain amount of chaos to continue. The uncertainty principal itself can be the source of chaos by itself, both in the microcosm and the macrocosm.
The balance of the universes and the multiverse itself is very important. Alotheus’s people brought about the decline of their own universe. They did this by moving mass from other universes to their own without moving an equal mass back. They could have balanced the mass out and kept their universe stable. Instead, their greed created a situation where their universe became like a spinning top that gained mass on one side and not the other. Have you ever tried to spin an off-balance top? It can be done, but it takes more energy, and the top falls sooner than it would if it were balanced. I was able to allow mass to be shifted into the universes that lost mass and energy. This staved off further damage, but his universe was already beyond hope by then. Universes have lifespans. If you damage their health, just like yourselves, they expire early. When Alontheus tried to transfer mass from his universe to a younger universe, while transferring life energy from the younger universe to bolster his own. This was a mistake. The younger universe had no actual intelligent life, but the potential was there. Because of his attempt, he lost the line dividing himself from the raw being of the two universes. My intervention was the only way he survived. He also had picked up some other aspects of myself and other objects and beings in his presence when he tried to save his universe. I hope he becomes more wise, or all will be lost. I have tried to encourage helpers to join his efforts.
I have used many races of ephemerals to fight stagnation. The most recent two were the Drakonkynde and the Primacy. Their usefulness was reduced once each of them discovered how I had sculpted and shaped them. Granted, I may have been less than subtle in the changes I made. They ignored the positive aspects of my work. Each of those two became much longer lived under my control. The Primacy, Alontheus’s people, reached great heights before rejecting me. They only started destroying themselves when they spited me. The strongest of them, the Arkanumh, left for another universe and settled into a simpler life.
To explain, dimensionality is a cumulative structure. Multiple one dimensional structures work together to create a two dimensional structure. Multiple two dimensional structures build your three dimensional structure. Each new structure increases the number of lower dimensional structures required to create the next level. Each of these layers of the dimensional structure is one of the universes that comprise the multiverse. The level of interdependence in these structures compounds the damage that Alontheus unleashed. When that happened, some of my structure and that of the multiverse fractured and there was a bleeding of elements of both into universes that were otherwise stable. The fragments of myself are in each world in the universe. The keystone fragments are still connected to me due to the dimensional level of my own existence. Their properties now are often widely varied.
The inhabitants of each universe have interacted with the keystone fragments of their worlds. This has lead to new and interesting levels of chaos. Alontheus is working to minimize the damage at this point. I am sure, at some point, he will learn of, and how to use, his new power. I can only hope I can make sure his learning curve does not lead to wholesale disaster.
He has also come to realize that survivors from the remnants of his own universe and others that his people abused, are aware of him and have their own agendas. These disparate players have been a fly in the ointment of to multiverse. There are other ways to traverse the multiverse than to use my abilities. Some of these methods can be… problematic for anyone traveling, the departure point and the destination.
In some universes, the keystone fragments have created the equivalent of magic and other supernatural phenomena. I have compiled stories from these universes for the purpose of enlightening you ephemeral beings. Consider them both cautionary and optimistic. Learn what you can from them.
I have also included records created by additional parties, so that you get the full picture.
I hope that this has made the scope and reasons of these writings more clear. Always keep your eyes peeled, and you may see my ephemeral. He will be a clever man who dresses well most of the time, and is always looking around to learn about his new surroundings. There may be a cat walking around with him. The cat treats with typical feline scorn. Greet him if you dare, but it may involve you in matters of great effect and moment.
Be well
Sincerely,
The Keystone