Ian and others returned to the island town just as the sun was dipping into the ocean, the sky painted in long bands of violet and gold. The waves lapped gently against the dock as the submersible was secured.
Ian stepped onto the wooden planks. "Well," he said, glancing back at the sea, "that was amazing."
Neris chuckled as she tied her hair into a knot. "You were quiet the entire dive. I thought you'd gone into some kind of trance."
"I kind of did," Ian said. "Its my first time seeing underwater world after-all."
Varian smirked. "You should see the southern drop. The ocean floor just… ends. You float over it and you don't know if there's ground below you or just miles of black water."
Ian shook his head. "Next time, maybe."
Ian spent one last night at Varian's family home, the soft murmur of tide and lantern-lit streets lulling them into a rare peace. And then, the next morning, they returned. Back to the academy.
Back at his facility, Ian stood once again looking over Axomorphs.
He had been running tests for days, trying to understand their internal process. Now it was clear. When the Axomorphs received new information, they converted it into a simplified internal signal. It wasn't complex, just enough to hold the basic structure of what they had observed. Then they used that signal to try and replicate the behavior.
The process wasn't immediate. They relied on virtual trial and error. They would attempt the behavior, fail, adjust, and try again. With each cycle, they came slightly closer. To support this, they built new neural pathways, pathways that didn't exist before and weren't pre-programmed. They were actively forming new structures to match the signal to the behavior.
In one test, Ian placed an Axomorph in a sealed environment. Inside, he placed two identical food sources at separate locations. One was laced with a mild, fast-acting poison. The other was safe.
The Axomorph explored the environment as expected. It eventually consumed the poisoned food and, after a brief period of instability, died. The body remained intact. Most of its neural structure was preserved.
Later, Ian introduced another Axomorph into the same environment. It followed a similar path but stopped near the spot where the first had collapsed. It paused for a few seconds, then turned away from the poisoned food and chose the safe one instead.
Ian ran a scan. This Axomorph had made subtle internal adjustments. New neural pathways were forming, adaptations specific to identifying and avoiding the toxic substance. It was actively constructing the connections required to support that behaviour.
That alone was significant. The second Axomorph had no prior training or shared memory. Its reaction had been shaped entirely by exposure to the environment and what remained of the first unit. Ian tried this with multiple Axomorph but still the same results.
But the next test was even more surprising.
This time, Ian made sure there was nothing left to examine. He destroyed the body completely, reduced it to fine dust, eliminating all structural and energy-based remnants. There was no biological material, no neural data, nothing left to detect or learn from.
Yet when a new Axomorph was placed in the same environment, it behaved exactly like the previous one.
Ian scanned again. Over time, the same neural structures that had once emerged in response to the deadly stimulus were appearing again. Despite the total absence of any physical evidence, the Axomorph had recreated the behavior, and the neural basis behind it.
Ian stood there, trying to understand it. It made sense if the body had remained, or if there were still trace signals to analyze. But when everything had been destroyed, how were they still building the same structures?
This was exactly the kind of reconstruction needed for Eryndor's body. But even knowing that, Ian couldn't shake the feeling. There was something about it, how they were doing it, that was still completely unknown.
While Ian was lost in his thought, Myrra arrived in the lab. She was wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a thin cami, both light and minimal, just enough to cover. Her legs were bare, and her midriff was exposed. The fabric hugged her body closely, showing her shape without needing to try.
Ian was standing near the terminal, focused on the Axomorph scan. The holo projection was displaying a 3D reconstruction of the last test.
She came up beside him.
"How are things going?" she asked.
Ian turned to look at her. "Stable..... I think this will work."
Myrra stepped more closer. "You've been here all day."
"Yeah."
She didn't say anything after that. Just stood in front of him, then leaned in and pressed her lips lightly against his neck.
"Sister Enira's out.. do you want to....."
Ian didn't wait for her to finish, he picked her up without a word and carried her to his room.
What followed was steady, unrestrained. Their bodies met with rhythm and need, skin sliding against skin, breath catching and deepening with every movement. The room was warm, filled with the soft thud of the bed and the quiet sound of her breathing breaking apart beneath him.
Enira finished her work sooner that expected and returned earlier.
As she stepped into the side hall, she heard something, a soft, repeated rhythm from deeper inside. At first she wasn't sure. Then she heard a faint sound, Myrra's voice, low and unsteady. A quiet exhale. Then again.
Enira stopped. Her heart picked up. She walked slowly to the main hallway and turned the corner. Ian's door was partly open.
She looked, just for a second.
She saw Ian's bare back driving into the softness of Myrra. Myrra's breasts bounce with every thrust, her skin glistening with sweat. Her legs are wrapped tightly around Ian's waist, drawing him closer.
Her eyes drift down to the juncture of their bodies, where Ian was buried deep within Myrra, his hips rocking in rhythm that left Myrra breathless.
Enira turned away quickly, her face flushed. She walked straight to her room, closed the door, and locked it.
She stood there for a moment, her back to the door, breathing unevenly. The sounds from the other room hadn't stopped. Faint, muffled, but unmistakable. She tried to block them out, but her mind had already captured the image, and it played back on repeat.
She sat down at the edge of her bed, trying to shake it off. But the memory stayed. Her hands began to explore her body, tracing the ample curves of her thighs and the swell of her breasts. The distant sounds grew more pronounced, fueling her imagination.
Enira reclined, placing one arm over her stomach, her hand continuing its descent. She envisioned herself entwined with him, his palms caressing her wide hips as his breath whispered over her skin. His erection buried deep within her, filling her complete.
Her hand reached its destination, and she began to pleasure herself, her mind fully engrossed in the imagined scenario. Her breath grew ragged, her body responding to the rhythm of her touch.
Her hand danced over her sensitive folds, her plump figure rising and falling with each stroke. Her skin glistened with a fine sheen of sweat as her fingers delved into her wet warmth. Her eyes closed, she let out soft moans that filled the quiet room. Her breasts heaved with each breath, the peaks tightening into firm points.
Her other hand squeezed her breast, kneading the soft flesh as her thumb circled the sensitive tip. The pleasure grew more intense, and she could feel the coil of an impending climax in her belly. Her thighs quivered, and she spread them wider, giving her hand better access.
She picked up the pace, her hand moving faster as her breath grew more ragged. Her plump figure arched off the bed, the muscles in her abdomen tightening as the wave of pleasure crested. She pushed herself closer to the edge, her hand a blur of motion between her legs.
Finally, the dam broke, and her body was swept away in a torrent of ecstasy. She bucked and trembled, her back bowing off the bed as she came. Her hand stilled, her body slackening into the bed. She lay there, panting, her heart racing as she savored the aftermath of her release.
Later, after the rush faded, she lay still. Her body relaxed but her thoughts far from it. She stared at the ceiling in silence, no expression on her face.
Why did I…?
She didn't finish the thought. She just turned onto her side and closed her eyes.
Eventually, she fell asleep.
The next day, Ian visited Yeonelyth. He had questions, mainly about the Axomorphs.
He explained what he had observed: the neural reconstructions, the behavior, and the memory replication, even in complete absence of physical remains. Yeonelyth listened quietly.
When he finished, she looked at him and smiled, clearly intrigued. "Well," she said, "what do you think consciousness is?"
Ian didn't answer right away. The question wasn't new, it was something that had puzzled philosophers, scientists, and scholars in his previous universe. Ian himself didn't have any concrete idea regarding the concept.
Yeonelyth watched his silence and tilted her head slightly. "Don't tell me you think it's related to soul."
Ian turned to her. "But don't soul-based paths exist?" He didn't necessarily believe in a soul as an abstract concept, but there were ascendency routes, recognized and real, that were based on the concept of souls.
Yeonelyth nodded. "Yeah, you're right. There are certain soul-based paths. But those aren't evidence of an actual 'soul.' They're just pathways that reflect consciousness. You see, intelligent, sentient beings beings don't have 'souls' as separate, eternal things. That's just a model."
She stood up slowly, walking toward a nearby shelf, her fingers brushing across the spines of several books before pulling one from the collection.
"Let's talk about matter and energy" she said. "I'm sure you already understand the basics of fields. The vacuum isn't empty, it's a field. The matter you see around you? That's just the result of vibrations in that field. Excitations."
Ian nodded.
"In the same way," she said, "there's another kind of field. You can think of it as an information field. Everything you observe is just interaction between the vacuum field and the information field."
She paused to let that settle. "And consciousness, your awareness, everyone's consciousness, is essentially a self-referential structure in the information field. It's like a loop, a kind of feedback system that reinforces itself. It's how you perceive yourself, how you know you exist."
Yeonelyth continued. "The Axomorphs can't form that kind of loop. That's why they aren't considered truly sentient. They don't have the same self-awareness. But what's fascinating is that they've figured out how to tap into the information field in a way that allows them to reconstruct their neural structures. Even if their physical body is completely destroyed, if there's nothing left but ash, they can still access the information that was once contained within it. They don't need the body to maintain the structure. They've found a shortcut to that information."
Ian was silent. His thoughts were circling now. "How do we access this information field?" he asked.
"You can't. Not yet," she replied. "It's too soon. But as you progress, almost every path will intersect with the information field. You're following the Architect's lineage, it's mental-energy based. So you'll encounter it sooner than most."
Ian glanced at her. "What if I want to access it now?"
Yeonelyth considered for a moment, then something appeared in her hand, it looked like a bound tome, dark cover, marked with faint geometric lines.
"Then you'll have to study it," she said simply. "Start with this. It's only an introduction, but it's a good foundation."
She handed it to him. Ian took it with both hands, quietly grateful.
Yeonelyth added, "Oh, and in case you're still wondering about the 'soul,' it's just a self-referential structure in the information field, organized in a particular way. That arrangement gives broader access to the field. That's all."
Ian paused, absorbing everything she had said. He gave a slight bow of thanks and turned to leave.
As he walked out, Yeonelyth watched him go, a quiet thought crossing her mind. "Maybe I should have waited a little longer....."
But then she shook her head and let the thought go, her eyes returning to the books in front of her.