Falling into the Abyss

Ethan was befuddled and felt as though he was lying somewhere else.

He didn’t know why, but he could still feel his surroundings, even though he couldn’t open his eyes. His body was floating in a strange medium somewhere between a liquid and gaseous state, and he floated and sank as though he was flowing in an unknown direction. It was an endless and primitive sea, with shining molecules that appeared like stars floating around his elbow, wide and boundless, covered by a layer of dark blue mist from somewhere unknown.

Ethan intuitively felt that this was an incomparably holy and distant place that stood far from him not only in the distance, but also in time. Perhaps it was as ancient as the city he had been to with the emerald sun and strange pointed buildings. Peace and tranquillity permeated throughout his four limbs, making him feel so comfortable that he wanted to sigh.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw many galaxies swirling through the translucent blue fog. They were dyed gorgeous neon sunset colors and wound around each other. Hundreds of millions of stars flashed across the sky, and countless civilizations were born and died out within a single breath.

Surrounding him in the endless sea were many translucent creatures moving slowly that were huge enough to be hundreds of stories tall. There was a large variation in their shapes and sizes. Some of them were like a heavily stuffed basketball, with small hands beating at each other that made crackling sounds. Others were like a ball of entangled neurons, with long, synaptic-like snakes intertwined and twisted around each other. Among them, large bag-shaped creatures covered with black dots kept shaking. They were like hard rocks, and their heavy bodies stirred up huge waves in the sea. Many soft, flesh-colored tentacles stretched out and wrapped around those hard bodies, occasionally changing their shapes. Something was flowing in their bodies. Ethan could not decipher whether it was solid or liquid, and strange worm-like creatures roamed in these living bodies. They looked strange, old, and bulky, and Ethan was as small as a grain of sand among them.

He didn’t know what those things were, whether they could sense his existence or whether they were good or bad for him. He just felt as ifthough his hands and feet were filled with lead and he couldn’t move.

About 100 meters away from him, a slug-like creature that looked as tall as a mountain was slowly swimming past. There are many winding tentacles on its head. On the top of each tentacle, there was something similar to the shape of a melting head. Through its translucent skin, you could vaguely see its internal organs moving around, each as large as an aircraft. On its smooth skin, there were several large areas of raised opaque blobs, which seemed to be slowly squirming. Sometimes, they exuded a thick, yellowish-brown fluid. Ethan felt nauseous.

What were these things? Facing so many otherworldly creations, why did those creatures give him a sense of panic?

It was akin to the smallness one would feel when their fate was grasped by someone else.

“Dirty……” A voice, no, to be exact, a strong thought suddenly invaded his entire consciousness. Ethan quickly turned his head and found that at some time, a flat round body that was covered with hands had moved to stand behind him, less than 50 meters away. Ethan couldn’t see its whole appearance even if he raised his head. It appeared silently, just like a building that had arrogantly popped out in front of him.

“Dirty……corruption……destroy……” One by one, such thoughts burst into Ethan’s mind. The intense pain made him want to scream, but he couldn’t make a sound when he opened his mouth.

He opened his eyes wide and looked at the hand-like organs that were now surrounding his body and waving violently, as though there were hundreds of people waving their hands. Then, one of the hands suddenly extended forward and expanded like a balloon, before it swatted Ethan like a fly! Ethan couldn’t move, and he could only watch as the hand as large as a small house approached him quickly.

Ethan stopped struggling, but he was not willing to blink. His lips and body began to tremble, and he said, “I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“Unfortunately, you are dreaming.” Tanisiel’s gray eyes curved gently, and his soft and curly blond hair fell on his brow. “Your consciousness just went to a very dangerous place. Fortunately, I pulled you back in time.”

The priest gently rubbed the back of Ethan’s hand with his thumb. His touch was so real. How could it be a dream?

Ethan suddenly jerked forward and pulled forcefully on Tanisiel’s hand, which was still grasping onto his, as though he was afraid of Tanisiel running away. The priest did not struggle, and except for his initial exclamation of surprise, Ethan only heard a series of low and dull laughter. Tanisiel lay on Ethan’s chest, his blond hair rubbing against the stubble on his chin. Ethan felt the weight on his chest and took a deep breath.

“You miss me this much?” Tanisiel turned his face, and his moist red lips rubbed against Ethan’s Adam’s apple.

Ethan held his hand harder in a silent reply.

“Sorry, I’m under house arrest, and I can’t come. You……saw Theonile?” Tanisiel reached out to encircle Ethan’s thin waist. Ethan’s body was currently weak. His cheeks had become paler than before, and he lost the healthy ruddiness he once had. His eyes were shrouded with a blue hue, and he appeared very exhausted.

Ethan’s voice was hoarse and tinged with intermittent weakness, “He told me something, but I think he’s lying to me.”

Tanisiel propped himself up a little and stroked Ethan’s cheek pitifully. “What did he say?”

“He said I am not my father’s biological son.”

Tanisiel seemed to feel very sad for him, and he revealed an upset look on his face. Then, he sighed softly through his nose and said, “No one can erase the past when you lived with your father. Not even DNA.”

Ethan nodded with a wry smile.

“Listen, Ethan, I don’t have much time. If you and I stay here too long, then someone will find out about the special connection between us. I need to tell you something.” Tanisiel’s eyes wandered on Ethan’s bloodless face as though he was deeply reluctant to leave. “I think the head priest would have let you directly come into contact with the God of Order’s egg, correct?”

Ethan shivered at the memory of the severe pain he felt and nodded.

“Theonile has always had a conjecture that the God of Order’s eggs are not gifts from God of Order, but on the contrary, they are bombs that would trigger when they reach certain limits.” Tanisiel briefly told Ethan about the conjecture of how the God of Order’s eggs were used to detect and destroy the power of Disorder in the universe. “Therefore, he will want to use you to test the limit of the God of Order’s eggs. Although you won’t ignite an explosion in the God of Order’s eggs now, the forces of Disorder in your body will still be sensed by the God of Order’s egg. That is to say……” Tanisiel pressed against Ethan’s shoulder. “That is to say, the God of Order has probably sensed that there is something in the universe that shouldn’t exist.”

Ethan recalled the endless ocean formed of the fluid that he wasn’t sure was in a liquid or gaseous state, the countless rotating galaxies, and the giant translucent creatures moving past him. Was……was that a projection of the God of Order’s world in his consciousness?

“I am……something that should not exist……” Ethan placed his hand over his eyes and chuckled.

“This recognition is obviously a two-way street. When you feel like you can see them, then they can see you,” Tanisiel said seriously, “It’s very dangerous. However, as long as you’re not mutating, they shouldn’t be able to touch you.”

“So I have to control my emotions and try not to show anything that shouldn’t be seen by others, right?” Ethan removed his hand from his eyes and asked calmly.

Tanisiel nodded. “The head priest and many of my views……are different. So you should be careful of him. When talking with him, don’t look into his eyes, especially his third eye.”

“I understand.”

Tanisiel reached out and gently brushed Ethan’s long hair away. His eyes were as soft and mellow as an intoxicating wine. “I’ve got a plan, and I’ll pick you up soon. Hold on, protect yourself, and don’t let others notice you.”

Then, he leaned down as his ruddy lips touched Ethan’s.

Tanisiel disappeared, and Ethan opened his eyes again.

He was lying on the bed in the room where he had been previously arranged. There were dim lights on the ceiling, and surrounding him was stationary furniture. There were no translucent monsters and no Tanisiel.

Ethan felt his legs go numb and didn’t know how long he had been lying here. He hesitated for a moment before pulling on the railing beside his bed and sitting up. He reached up with his right hand and touched his lips.

The sensation brought about by the kiss was so real that he could almost taste Tanisiel’s lips.

As soon as he woke up, the sleeping cabin monitoring his brain waves sent a signal to the guards escorting Ethan and Theonile. After a while, the door opened, and a guard carrying a gun stared at him. “The Eve priest asked me to take you to see him and prepare for the next phase of the experiment.”

The experiment site was still located at the strange building in the heart of Mars. It was white everywhere, and even the clothes of all the researchers were white. If one looked at them for a long period, one would receive heavy psychological pressure from the sight of them.

Looking at how huge the space was, Ethan suspected that the Hadron Collider used to make antimatter was here.

Ethan was brought into a hall. This time, Theonile was no longer the only one facing him. Ethan also saw the doctor named Bruno introduced by Tanisiel when he came to Mars the last time, who was the main researcher of Project Zero.

Now, the old man was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity, bewilderment, and even repulsion. It was as though he was not looking at a person but a strange-looking animal that he had never seen before. Ethan intuitively felt that he probably knew that there were three sets of chromosomes in his genes, but he chose not to report that to the higher-ups.

Because if the higher-ups knew he had mutated, they would have isolated him, just like how they treated Adam.

Ethan was pressed on the chair again, and even his collar was firmly attached to the back of the armchair. His heartbeat accelerated, and he didn’t know what kind of torture he would be facing this time.

Theonile gave Ethan a gentle smile. In his open right hand, he still held the incomplete God of Order’s egg.

“Today, I will begin to teach you how to activate the God of Order’s eggs without being gasified.”