The Land of Etherio

Teach Me

"You finished the entire puzzle just while we were talking?" Dreyfus said in astonishment.

"And now I feel sad because I finished it so easily" I replied.

"Okay,Smart Alec.How about you tell me what we should learn today.Be careful,it's only this once"

I thought about it.The chance to learn whatever I wanted.I tried to think of something.Something complexing. Something of great magnitudes of perplexity that it would last long enough to satisfy me.

The Ultimate Puzzle.

"Teach me......everything" I requested.

"I had a feeling you would say something like that" Dreyfus said with an almost sinister grin.

The puzzle that I had completed started to vibrate.I glanced at it and it began to shimmer.It vibrated more erratic.It glowed even brighter.Then it exploded.

I awoke as nothingness.A scattered consciousness in an infinite nothingness.I wandered aimlessly.Then I saw it.

In this abyss there were two spheres.They spoke to me in a dialect so ancient and powerful it felt like the language of the universe itself.Their names were the Chronosphere and the Cosmosphere.time and Space.

The two spheres overlapped and in this pocket,they formed reality.Within this embryo of dimensions I saw worlds beyond my (current) comprehension.I tried see within but then I experienced a splitting headache and then I awoke.

I was panting and sweating.I looked to my teacher and he had a look of amusement on his face.

"You lasted longer than I thought" he said."What..... was that?" I asked.He gave me this condescending look and answered "What you experienced was the Universe from the perspective of an Oblivian".

"What is an...Oblivian?".

"They are called that because they come from Oblivion.In that nothingness you saw was infinite potential.You see,the less something is the more it can become.So,absolute nothingness can be considered infinity.When they obtained consciousness they were able to become anything......able to do anything. What they decided was to create our world but in doing so they had doomed themselves.When they chose to become something they had diminished themselves and slowly became mortal.The potential for other Oblivians being born was eradicated when the world was created.Such a pity".

"So there can't be anymore Oblivians?" I asked.

"Irrelevant" he replied nonchalantly.

"Are there still Oblivians?" I asked.

"Irrelevant" he replied nonchalantly.

"How is it that you know so much about them?" I asked.

He got up and walked towards the exit."Also irrelevant" he replied as he walked.

"Then what is relevant?" I asked,hoping he would finally reply besides 'irrelevant'.

"In a greater scheme,nothing current is relevant" he said.

"And exactly what is your scheme?" I asked.

"As inquisitive as ever" he remarked and then exited the Arcadium.

For a while I stood there,a multitude of questions buzzing in my head.He was obviously a sinister,skilled and methodical genius with some nigh-infinitely complex scheme with keen perceptive skills and a prodigious intellect.

"Okay!I'm back from the toilet.That was a damn good piss.So,I still have another 4 hours.You can do whatever you want,I'm going to get something to eat.You want anything?No,have fun" he said as burst back into the room.He said that and suddenly retracted back into the passageway.He just as suddenly came back into the Arcadium,strutted all the way to me,bent down to pick up the puzzle and said "Sorry,I forgot this" and continued back the way he came.

He stopped,turned on his heel and proceeded another way while exclaiming "I'm supposed to go this way".

He finally left.

He was far more astute than I anticipated.