Another Stupid Isekai

Chapter 713 T.D.O.N.B: Hope

Through the eyes of my mind, I saw hundreds of thousands of people marching out every day out of a city, in some ways similar to Arc. They would hunt, and gather crystals, to sell them and get stronger, but also upgrade their sapling.

They were of alien descent, similar in appearance to The Great One. Some were different, but most definitely of his race.

Those were memories of his early childhood. He would go out too, despite his young age, and complete tasks given by flying around orbs. Some were simple, others very hard, but none were ignored. All challenges were faced, but some, indeed, ended in failure.

The life out there was weird, because after the hunt, upon return, when the task was done, the aliens would somewhat regain their sense, and go on with their lives. They would cook, eat, play, and work, but with the next sunrise, the need to go gather the crystals would overwhelm their minds once again.

Once in a while, a ship would land, and different aliens would come out, to check if everything was progressing in the right way. They naturally assumed the position of rules and were heard by the population, who obeyed every order.

It lasted for years until the population became too big to be sustained in that place. Then a different ship landed, and some of the aliens, The Great One among them, would leave on that very ship to a different, barren land, to plant a new seed, and struggle on the first day to grow it, to build a proper city, and then live out there, pursuing the same goal.

It was like they were robots, only gaining consciousness for a few hours to experience a mirage of a normal life. It went on and on for years until suddenly, the spell was broken. The young The Great One, woke from this like from a dream, and he suddenly had to face his own freedom, like many similar to him.

They were among other alien races, who didn't experience the same event, but they immediately knew that something changed in those few. A bloodbath started. All-out war of creatures with power, densely packed in a city center of an unknown to me place. Flashes of light, explosions, blood, and body parts everywhere. It was a slaughterhouse. In the end, it was The Great One, and a few of his brothers, who survived. The rest died.

They spoke after, deciding to stay and grow in strength. Eventually, a ship landed, to check on the city, and they faced the crew, killing them, and taking over their ship. Even though they now had the means to escape, they still decided to stay and grow in strength.

The situation repeated itself a few times until a whole armada appeared in the planet's orbit. Then another battle happened, and miraculously, from those who survived, only a few remained, achieving a victory despite the vast difference in numbers.

They boarded one ship, and left, traveling through space for many years, investigating the origin of this madness.

They would catch other travelers through different worlds and prob their minds to look for answers, and finally found out what happened. Then the moment when their split came. Most decided to run away, but The Great One knew that there was nowhere to hide. To fight for freedom, not only for himself but for everybody else, was the only option.

He followed the trace, at some point arriving close to a massive dark world, but then memories got blurry, and we couldn't understand what really happened. He came out with seeds, ready to plant, and begin his journey to build an army.

The vision then ended, and we witnessed the response of the entity. It flooded our minds with pictures of megacities, covering one-fourth of a whole planet, with mindless hunters chasing crystals, and growing in strength, to prepare for battle. There were many of them. The numbers were so great that I could barely wrap my mind around them.

We were the entity, pursuing the goal of finding a sentient species to coexist with, but what we found was a war machine, ready to enslave and destroy everything. So massive, that it frightened us. We escaped, observing from far away, as they conquered new worlds, overtaking the minds of new species, or completely destroying them.

It was devastating, cruel, and washed of any emotions. Lika machines in biological bodies.

We couldn't accept it. There had to be a different side of this coin. A place where intelligent creatures would build together for the purpose of creating a better environment, not to create a more powerful war machine. So the quest continued. Many years flashed through our minds like a blink of an eye, and then we all felt the echoes of a battle the three of us participated in.

We were scared, to witness the same sad view, but we had to go and check. Then the stream of thoughts came to an end.

Everybody, including the entity, seemed to be too overwhelmed to say anything, or project anything through their mind. We stayed there for a long while, digesting the overwhelming amount of information, that we received. Both sides did.

- So... What's your name? - at some point, I asked.

I did it because the amount of data was simply too big to go through. I noticed it was pointless to contemplate something so massive, because my mind, despite all its power, was unable to achieve such a goal.

The response was confusion and a never-asked question. This feeling lasted for a moment, then I felt the entity wanting the name.

- You want me to name you? - I asked.

I was using words, but at the same time projecting my thoughts.

"Yes", suddenly I heard in my mind.

The voice was deep and strong. Yet calm and peaceful. Like the ocean when there is no wind.

- I will call you Hope. Because you've never stopped looking, even facing devastating odds, and finding only something which ruined your expectation. Despite all of that, you pursued your goal, and you finally found us. I believe we are what you were looking for - I said.

At first, there was no answer.