Apotheosis
[Meditation +1]
Again the system voice narated the fact of his next level in meditation. How helpful. On a whim he opened his system again.
[Profile
Name: Jim
Species: Non-determinate
Physical: 1
Mental: 1
Spiritual: 1
Talent: Meditation [3]
Skills: None
Skill points: 0
Mutations: Plasma Membrane
Neutral biomass points: 0
]
Something new appeared. He now had a talent. Sighing Jim tried to look on the bright side.
'Isn't meditation a really hard skill to acquire? There aren't that many people who are really good meditators. Maybe back in my old life I could have become rich teaching people to meditate. Yeah. Wahoo...'
Jim's sarcasm came to the front. But, it really wasn't a talent that he thought was very flashy. It wasn't going to win him any awards. It wasn't going to help him eat anything. That was for sure.
[Meditation +1]
'There it is again. Big whoop. I wonder how many more minutes until I die?'
In the darkness he gave up and gave into his ennui.
[Meditation +1]
[Meditation +1]
Some notifications were announced, but Jim could care less. Continuing to stay in the moment and letting it all happen he decided to enjoy his last moments. I mean why not? In his previous life... What was he thinking? Less than three hours ago he was alive and pondering whether living was worth it.
[Meditation +1]
[Meditation +1]
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next thirty minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
'Wow, has it already been half of an hour?'
It was crazy how he died in the end. In the very act of thinking about killing himself some dude had walked up to him and started teasing him about how tight his pants were.
"Only gays were tight pants! Are you gay?" The guy had said and then pushed Jim.
If only I had stood up to him. I wouldn't be dying as a unicellular organism in some weird world having my death announced by a too happy system voice.
'Oh, well. This is the breaks, right? I don't even like tight pants! My girl friend three years ago bought them for me. I don't wear them unless all my other pants are in the wash!'
Floating as a cell in whatever this was, all of that self hate and confusion seemed disconnected. Even though it was only a couple of hours ago, it was also a life time ago, a universe ago. None of the desires, hates, responsibilities, or even the fun mattered right here in the moment of dying.
'It was some crappy luck to start in this environment. Did I have to choose the flagella in order to survive. Can't we have some parity? Can't a cell get an opportunity to survive no matter what their choice was?'
Even though Jim's mind was saying these things. He didn't really feel it. His unicellular body didn't care. It had so little ability to embody emotions that even his mind which had stayed relatively intact between incarnations couldn't influence anything.
'In the face of death, what matters anyways?'
[Meditation +1]
'Oh, thank you. I don't know why I am being rewarded with levels for the most basic of understanding.'
Anyone in Jim's position would have to face the fact of death as a monolith. Compared to death everything else is nothing and means nothing. It all comes down to this approaching moment.
'And I can't even care about my own death. This is crazy! Hello, Universe! Hello System Voice! Please save me!'
Yet again there was nothing. No answer from the darkness and weirdly enough, no answer from his cell body either. It didn't seem to care about its own life or death.
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next fifteen minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
With the competent, happy voice of the system announcing his death once again a strange feeling came over Jim. It was like all of his original body's experiences lost their meaning. For the first time he could flash back on everything that had happened to him dispassionately. His memories that were opening in his mind no longer had any emotion attached. They were just experience.
'Oh, shit.'
As each memory came and then went it seemed to slough off and fade to the side. None of them were happy or sad. Instead Jim saw the experience either give pleasure, pain, boredom, or any number of other emotions as if those emotion were happening to someone else. It was all happening to someone else. And then it was done.
'Is this what death feels like?'
There was nothing left for Jim to say. Everything was gone. In the place of all that memory there was only a cell and what might as well be an infinite darkness for all Jim knew.
Time passed.
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next twenty minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
...
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next ten minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next five minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
Still no miracle of food arrived and yet Jim was oddly fine with it all. The cell itself had no ability to process higher emotion. It had no ability to retain a memory. It had nothing. Well perhaps it had a slightly more advanced plasma membrane.
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next four minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next three minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next two minutes your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
[Warning: You are approaching dissolution. If you don't eat within the next one minute your cell body will no longer be able to maintain homeostasis.]
[59]
...
[49]
[48]
...
[Meditation +1]
[27]
[26]
[25]
As the counter neared the last digits something began to change for the cell. One thought shared between cell and soul synergized. Perhaps it was because it was the plasma membrane which received an upgrade. It was able to connect with and resonate with the soul to any degree more than the rest of the cell. Taste. It wasn't taste like Jim was used to it from his old body, but it was some sort of sensory ability to distinguish what could be digested or not in the environment. The body of the cell had been in a completely uniform location. There was absolutely no difference that the cell could tell in the fluid it was in from one moment to the next. Whatever media the cell was in was good. That was as much as Jim was understanding. Good in the way that it wasn't damaging, at least. But there was no food, no sustenance.
Until there was a difference. Something impacted the cell. Big, small, heavy, light? The cell could tell none of it. All it could tell was that whatever this something was it was anathema. It was pure poison. And suddenly in this moment of complete focus on the fact that the object was being rejected the Jim as a soul and the Jim as a unicellular organism found shared purpose.
[6]
[5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]