Sol III was breathtaking up close.
Literally.
The lack of aether was causing them breathing problems. They had never imagined that the centerpiece of the evolution would be so primitive and lacking, The Creator's vision was truly unique and unmatched, as expected. It found potential in even the drabbest and unexpected places.
Not that the planet wasn't visually pleasing, by any means. It lacked the abundant greenery of home, or the vibrant life force exuding from the surface of their colonies, but it had potential. The potential they were willing to fight for to reach. The potential they were sure was unmatched by any other planet since it had somehow won The Creator's favor.
They had been caught off guard when they received the notification from The Creator.
[YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN REJECTED!]
[YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN REJECTED!!]
[YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN REJECTED!!!]
The message had read, blaring in various shades of fluorescent red and accompanied by a high-pitched alarm of upsetting frequency.
They had been distressed, finding it pressing to learn the reason for their repeated dismissal from their Creator's favor. So they had taken the trip to the next galaxy to pay a visit to Its abode, fully respecting their Creator's insistence not to teleport instead. Their Creator found such behavior upsetting and a violation of their relationship boundary, an invasion of its private sphere, it had explained in very clear terms.
They still found that request to be quite confusing, in all honesty. Why spend days on a ship when they could achieve the same result instantaneously? Nevertheless, the issue at hand was more pressing than they could ignore.
They were having doubts about their position in their Creator's list of priorities.
Had they lost its favor?
Was that why it had rejected the last one-thousand-three-hundred and fifty-seven applications to host the next evolution?
Had it found their home unbecoming and shameful to present?
They had so many upsetting questions, and the visit to the Creator had been the perfect time to clear all their doubts.
Their creator had explained the sudden radio silence in their communication links and the feeling of avoidance they had been beginning to believe was real. It was having territorial disputes with its peers, it had said.
And they were grateful for its explanation, and truly, they were. But they weren't deterred from their mission, they needed to know why their planet wasn't being considered an option for holding the evolution. They had expanded beyond limits and space was becoming an inconvenience. They need a new home very soon and their creator has remained largely unresponsive to their plight.
An evolution would not only give other civilizations access to their home, but it would also give them access to theirs, making it the perfect chance to expand. They had spent millennials researching and making preparations for all known civilizations in their galaxy; this would be the next logical step of their civilization, yet their Creator has remained uncooperative.
Their creator explained that the natives of the planet chosen for an evolution needed to fit certain requirements to be selected, all of which they had unfortunately failed to meet.
Baffled, they had asked what these requirements were but their Creator had replied that they were intangible and unexplainable by mere words.
[YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED!]
[YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED!!]
[YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED!!!]
Their Creator insisted, seeming quite firm in its convictions. So they had opted to spend some time in its abode, hoping to change its mind after a few more presentations and conversations about their progression over the past few millennia, as they were quite impressive.
They were rather idle for a ruler. Everything in their world worked in a systematic manner able to withstand most emergencies without requiring much attention. They could spend at least multiple centuries in other spaces and expect their home to be operating as normal, without a single plant growing out of track. Impeachment and such were problems faced by only inferior leaders.
They were very secure in their leadership. They had no option but to, as they were the hive mind and the hive wind was them. They could feel every thought running through the minds of their creations as they were all connected through an unbreakable link sharing their consciousness.
They could spend a full millennial with their Creator while remaining perfectly aware and in control of every ongoing back on their planet, they had ensured distance wasn't an issue any longer. Their connection had now progressed to the metaphysical plane and they were sure their creators would be pleased to learn so.
Their creator was not.
But after the first few decades of companionship, their Creator had finally relented and offered them participation in the upcoming evolution. It had also demanded they take back the minor city that had sprouted in its abode, complaining that it would soon upend the hard-won equilibrium in the ecosystem. This was not quite what they had desired, but they had accepted it.
They had never participated in an evolution before.
One would expect that as the Creator's first creation, they would have numerous worlds under their control as trophies from the numerous presumed evolutions they had dominated, but the reality was often stranger than fiction and they did not. They only had colonies, since the world consciousness of the planets they had invaded refused to accept them as natives no matter how nicely they had asked.
Colonies were like the home of a very dear friend, you might spend half of your life living in it, but it wasn't your home and would never be your home.
An evolution gave them chance to create a new home with the climate and conditions needed to hold their civilization on another planet. It was akin to going to a friend's house and changing the wallpaper, rugs, and everything else within the building till it met the requirements necessary to qualify as your home.
They were very different concepts and depended largely on the attitudes of the world's consciousness.
They were very excited to be given this chance. They were excited to expand and excited to meet the other creations of their Creator. Many civilizations they had met were blessed by the Creator, but weren't created by it. They were rather excited to meet others like themselves and expand their range of contacts.
They had asked the creator multiple times to meet their next of kin, willing to establish friendly relations with those they had found willing, but it had remained largely unresponsive, often ignoring the questions at large. But they were sure they had next of kin; numerous, advanced, more suitable next of kin the Creator had found more qualified to hold or participate in these evolutions than them.
No other option made sense, else they would have to accept that their Creator found them lacking, deficient, and flawed.
And this guess alone was as ludicrous as it was false. They were made in the creator's perfect image and in every moment that passed they were growing into their most perfect self. Their creator made them strive for growth and thirst for expansion, and as it had intended, they complied.
They had expanded until they covered every surface of the home planet, expanded until they owned every inch of their colonies, and in this new evolution, they would expand until every surface of the chosen planet glowed the verdant green of their existence.
This was a new step in their history, a new step that would change their entire trajectory of projected growth.
They were VOP, and they were the future.
The month had started out well enough for Adrian.
Some villains broke out of jail and tried to seal the moon, a new underwater civilization left isolation to warn against a foreboding event, and two heroes operating under the commands of two opposing countries got into a fight that almost led to another world war. Okay, so maybe things weren't exactly going great. But in comparison to usual, it was honestly pretty tame. These events would have normally warranted a shit ton of stress from Adrian, an active duty member of the hero association tasked with protecting world peace, but this month was different.
This month, he was on spaceship duty. And that meant no stress, no work, and double pay because no one else with a secret identity was willing to make the concessions needed to suddenly disappear off the grid for an indefinite amount of time. People became suspicious when their friends or loved ones suddenly went missing. They usually called the police to file a missing person report and that was just a can of worms nobody else wanted to upend. Midnight Madness, their usual spaceship sitter, was called back home for an emergency and the role was suddenly empty.
Adrian was getting ready to spend the second week of the duty like he had done the first one; binge-watching trash TV till his eyes closed from exhaustion, the proper way to pass your time unproductively. He had a checkup last month and his doctor had mentioned his rising blood pressure, recommending a less stressful lifestyle for an indefinite amount of time or drinking less caffeine. Adrina preferred the former. He had the show picked out, (Some nonsense about a love polygon), had his tray of healthy, vegan-friendly snacks at arm's length, and had his remote in the palm of his hand preparing to turn on the Tv and start another day of binging. Then, the alarms suddenly started blasting at full volume and the lights turned red; since on the second week he was finally selected for spaceship duty, some aliens actually defied all conceivable odds and decided to invade the planet.
Midnight Madness had been on spaceship duty for ten years and had only encountered three invasions. Three, in one hundred and twenty months. All he wanted was a month of peace, just three more weeks and any alien in the galaxy could invade for all he could care. Twenty-one days, was that too much to ask for? Was it?
Adrian collapses into his makeshift blanket fort, holding back the choked sobs threatening to escape his lips. He had taken a leave from his day job in preparation for spaceship duty. He had told everyone he was going to attend his made-up sister's wedding in Hawaii. He had made up a back story and everything, he had even bought fake souvenirs and hired someone to take wedding pictures of some brunette possessing a passing resemblance to his appearance. That was money he was never getting back, all that work, down in the drain.
Alien invasions were never quick or easy, Adrian could just imagine it spilling out of control all over the next six months. Adian was going to lose his only vacation in the past three years to some alien overlord trying to conquer the planet. He had so many regrets in life. So many.
He should have listed to Mom.
Medical school had never looked so tempting. He should have listened to Mom and become a dermatologist, they didn't have to work two jobs both paying minimum wage. They made a good salary and were well respected. He could have had a nice house while saving shallow people, two birds with one stone. Who cares about dreams when you're too tired to chase them?
Adrian had so many regrets in life.
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This is a system apocalypse. The Creator is the system and VOP is the first decision they wished they never made.
