章 63: 63. Transfer of Consciousness
Deep within the Hallelujah mountains surrounded by a cradle of rib-like stone structure was an old Tree of Souls, the buzzing sound of air vibrating at hypersonic speed was heard.
The large group of Na'vi below gasped in stupefaction as a shiny creature that they never saw before but reminded them of a lortsyal (shimmyfly) and a zize' (hellfire wasp) hovered closer to where one of the giant stone structures grew out.
Its six legs extended and its clawed top dug slightly into the stone as the wings started to slow their beet down revealing their number and shape.
At this moment many understood what it was, it was a machine and the owner of it didn't need to be said as he had already landed on the soft soil.
His helmet absent with Septen on his shoulder Liam gazed and walked toward the crowd of blue people as if looking for someone and he was quick to find this someone as a middle-aged human woman wearing an exopack over her face arrived, she seemed excited behind her a male Na'vi with a large healed burn scar over one side of his body who seemed just as happy.
<Greeting Chief of the Sky People Liam Cram.>, Tsu'tey said cordially, giving his left hand for a forearm handshake, a practice he learned from Jake.
It was a sign of amiability and respect which he had both in plenty for the man who single-handedly made the result of the battle against the RDA end so positively. He did personally see glimpses of what Liam was capable of and his actions are why he was still alive.
There was an awkward moment as the Na'vi saw the bandaged right hand and realized his mistake but the chuckle from Liam made it vanish giving the chance for Tsu'tey to correct his mistake by giving his right hand instead.
Liam, careful as always, gave the outstretched arm a firm shake, the burn scar healed but we're still weak and prone to infections. Being careful was even more warranted here his focus then switched to Grace whose eyes were on his right hand.
"I almost believed you weren't going to come. What happened to your hand?! How did this happen?", Grace asked with confusion, disbelief, and worry as she gazed upon his right hand.
"Fucked around and found out what else? But in a week everything will be as good as new, I'm not indestructible just hardy and heal fast. Got a big fish will at it. But it's not the time to speak of that now is it?", Liam said with a smirk making the tip of his small finger twitch to show he was fine, it had been five days since he tamed Aegis and the same amount of time he hadn't seen her in person.
Both were very busy individuals and speaking through Overseer with concise information was much more practical.
"I can see you doing that and right… Tonight is... I still can't believe it.", she mumbled the comparatively large hand of Tsu'tey arriving, and massaging her shoulder helped calm her down as she massaged it back all the while a smile formed on her face.
It was in a way the equivalent of killing yourself, changing your body means killing the one you are currently in.
It was final, there was no going back, she thought of this in-depth and was ready to undergo the transition but saying she wasn't afraid of potential complications would be a lie adding that she was truly excited like a kid in a candy store about what was going to happen.
That wasn't the only reason behind such an almost infantile excitement, she wanted to take samples and study this marvel of biology that was the Tree of Souls, it was such an incredible plant, a marvel of nature both externally and likely even more internally with the mysteries it had under its bark.
<Grace Augustine it is time for you to be reborn, Mother is ready to begin the ceremony.>, Neytiri appearing from behind suddenly said, her eyes turning fearful and filled with guilt when their focus landed on Liam before switching back to normal. It happened so fast that only he perceived it.
'Hmm… She regrets not having listened.', Liam thought his mind wandering when he first met her and she decided to not even try listening to him and how passive-aggressive she was.
It wouldn't have changed the fact the victory would have been pyrrhic in all points as nobody truly won in such a bloody battle but the death count and the number of injured on the Omatikaya side would have been significantly lower.
It was a fact one she visibly hated to admit but at least she did and this was better than many. People who did this were too few.
But it was the past and it couldn't be changed. However, he didn't really blame her as he wasn't unable to understand the point of view of others and the reason why they would act in such a way. The RDA and Quaritch were the real culprits.
"Don't forget to give me the record of everything. I want it all.", Grace said to him before walking up to the massive root of the Tree of Souls, cradled within thousands of thin furry tendrils was her mostly naked Avatar in a fetal position, the start of pregnancy evident even in that cocoon.
Liam simply nodded before walking farther away up a root of the closest tree, but it wasn't as far as others such as Norm and Trudy who weren't even allowed to come closer until all was ended.
Different status, different treatment as simple as that, and it was a great honor for them to even be given the chance to observe such an event.
The entire atmosphere suddenly shifted, woodsprites that were dancing until now in the air soared away into the safe confines of the Tree of Souls tendrils, all except a dozen.
The dozen moved toward Liam, one landed on his implant, a few more all around his body, two before his bandaged hand, and the last landed on Septen's beak causing the bird to caw out at first in outrage before its four eyes looked in utter fascination at the floating jellyfish-like seed.
This didn't go unnoticed by many but this equally didn't surprise many, none shared the same level of sensitivity as their Tsahìk with the All-Mother but the air around him was eerily similar to the one they were currently bathing in. Adding that it was known he communed to her in some way.
Grace laid herself in the same position as her Avatar while facing, her expression serene as she looked at what was soon to be her visage forever.
She shivered instinctively as from the roots white filaments grew and covered her exposed back, following her spine up to her nape.
She muffled a scream of pain as it felt like hundreds of barbed needles dug into her skin, then her flesh to go around her bones to meld with her nervous system. It wasn't pleasant but it was normal humans didn't evolve to do this and she had expected this to be painful.
'I want to learn all about you…', she thought with conviction, her eye bags felt heavy as she gazed at the Tree of Souls for the last time from her human eyes before she fell unconscious.
<The ritual may begin!>, Mo'at having seen the woman at the center of this event exclaimed, the flap of her dress spreading with her arms as if they were wings.
At her words, the crowd organized itself, friends, cousins, sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, mates, ones with dislikes for the others or opposite all took in a cross-legged position at equal distance from the other all the while facing the Tree of Souls.
Each took their queue and connected it to the bioluminescent root system of the wheeling willow-like tree below them, fuzzy tendrils grew out of the roots and interlocked with the ones of the People.
Their eyes blanked out for a long second before they grabbed the hand of their neighbors who did the same then the roots pulsed a soft green as their heartbeat synchronized together.
<Listen to us, please, O Great Mother!>, Mo'at chanted, her queue connecting to the pink tendril of the branch giving her all the mobility she would need.
<Listen to us, please, O Eywa!>, the group of Na'vi chanted back in a chorus, their bodies moving at the rhythm of their heartbeat.
<O Great Mother! Please listen to us and help her! Please let her spirit travel through you!>, Mo'at chanted her movement ordered yet chaotic as her voice grew in strength.
<Please help her, O Eywa!>, the chorus chanted back as each beat of bioluminescence from the roots seemed to grow stronger.
<O Great Mother, please let her see the world with our eyes, hear the world with our ears, feel the world with our skin, taste the world with our tongues, breathe the air with our lungs!>, Mo'at chanted in a trance-like state, her eyes blanking as her body seemed to be possessed by an external force.
A few verses before Liam had noticed something crawling up his ankle; it was the furry roots extension of the Tree of Souls, his link to the All-Mother more vibrant than ever.
He had moved his left hand down while his gauntlet unfolded to reveal his sun-kissed skin, he felt and saw the tendril move around his finger as if caressing them before they moved around his implant.
The familiar prickling sensation was felt and his eyes dilated. It wasn't the true deep dive with slinger venom but more of a small dip, one that made the link between him and the All-Mother clearer but far from the point of speech.
And now he was vaguely feeling the Minds of everyone currently in the ritual each with the unique 'aura' he only could guess who they were from their positions, general brightness, and hue for lack of better terms. It was a 'sight' humans didn't evolve the necessary biological accessory to comprehend but he wasn't human by a strict definition.
He could feel much of the flora and everyone from, Mo'at, Jake, Neytiri, and even her unborn child of which he realized with this that it was a boy and similarly, he could feel an even younger nascent Mind in the 'womb' of the mindless and soulless Avatar of Grace.
Compared to his own they seemed weak no matter the species, age, or sex, they appeared small and fragile, and age seemed to be the main factor. The youngest of all, the features in Grace Avatar seemed to get particular attention from Eywa.
This type of relation between stronger and weaker Minds was similar to his tames in a way that if they weren't used or resistant enough to him he could snuff them out or damage them by mistake. His tame which nearly all could be considered sapient so it was even more significant here.
And it must be the same for Eywa but to a greater degree which would explain why she didn't communicate with them directly like with him. The risk of killing or damaging them was too high but in the end, it was all but supposition.
As for Grace herself he was guided by invisible hands to 'see' what was happening, he couldn't understand what he saw but he knew what it was. It was the Mind of Grace but not only as her Soul he presumed was here just out of sight and both were getting separated from her human body.
It was like a heart transplant, he could see what was happening from point A to point P and point Z but the in-between was incomprehensible and it was even more pronounced here with the seemingly impossible complexity it was executed with.
It was quite literally a Mind and Soul transplant from one Body to another or a Body transplant depending on the point of view.
He didn't know how it was being done but it wasn't like his implant which was strange as it was him, there wasn't any kind of extremely advanced technology in use here.
He couldn't understand how it was even conceivable with the brain difference, there evidently was more than biology to this. He wasn't going to call it divine or magical per se as he had in his memories knowledge of equal impossibility for others but it was exceptional all the same.
And there was the fact as to how the All-Mother knew how to do this, it's not something done on the fly and it wasn't the only thing strange, the Na'vi.
He wasn't a biologist but neither was he blind, the Na'vi stood out like a sore thumb compared to other native animal life forms.
They broke the pattern, Pandoran vertebrate but with four limbs instead of six, a single pair of eyes, the presence of hair, and no operculum to breathe.
Yes, they were from a movie and their appearance was to garner attachment to the audience, but here it was real life and they really looked human, too human in fact or it was simply the randomness of evolution.
Only Eywa held the answer to that anyway.
Speaking of, he knew why Eywa was showing him this, it was his curiosity toward this aspect the most likely reason. Curiosity and as such emotions in general have different shades, each shade associated with something at least how he saw it with the link to his tames and basic logic.
Again all was supposition, feelings weren't objective reality and he wasn't quite sure it was even possible to quantify this type of thing with how inconsistent they were. It was to the point he was beginning to realize as things were, it was a pointless endeavor.
Studying Psionic was going to be a hard and lengthy process and it gave him a new sense of respect for Eywa as he couldn't even begin to fathom her experience and knowledge on this anomalous part of reality and also for the many Tsahìks and tsakarems as they 'studied' this even if not directly or even knowingly.
It wasn't his domain of expertise either, he could only do so many things at once but it was an eye-opening experience of what it was aside from the obvious being telepathy.
Grace was currently in a strange state, it was akin to being in a lucid dream while drunk but she was aware enough to 'see' or more precisely perceive her surroundings in a sense she never had before.
She felt watched, bare before all as an impossibly large godly presence manipulated her 'body' toward one direction and she was powerless to stop it.
It's not as if she would have even tried to do that, she had a vague idea of what it was, it was the giant root network of this moon, it, no, she was Eywa, the Great Mother, All-Mother, and a plethora of other titles.
And all of a sudden the perception of the Na'vi about this ancient being made so much more sense, she wasn't only a planet-wide neuron network, it was an insult to consider her this, she was more, so much more.
She was facing the closest things to a goddess as much as it was hard to accept, a goddess that Grace could but comprehend a fraction of her magnificence.
All she could see was a ball of white watching over her in a way only a mother would to her child and what she was seeing was but had one eye in the form of a ball of white energy.
But it wasn't the only things she could sense, there were the hundred of Na'vi, the echoes of their chorus keeping her from falling into eternal slumber, however, what took her focus was in the far distance a smaller presence than Eywa but considerably more massive than any others was also here.
It was sharp, organized, and calculative like a machine, almost how she would imagine an AI would be if she were to sense one, and it simply observed her from where it was and seemed content to do so. And she was as well but the general feel she got from it was eerily familiar.
Though her mind became muddled as the world started to spin and she felt like she was both falling and being compressed as well as being sucked in and that was her last thought before this strange hallucinogenic dream came to an end.
<O Great Mother, please hear us and let her be born anew as one of the People!>, Mo'at chanted with conviction, her body was sweaty as she almost fell to her knee showing how much it was taxing her.
<Let her walk among the People, O Eywa!>, the chorus chanted back reaching new heights, their bodies moving in rhythm.
<I lose myself before Eywa!>, all started to speak in unison seeming to enter in an epileptic fit, Liam felt them getting weary at the same time until Mo'at snapped out of it first causing a scene reaction that calmed everyone.
<It is finished!>, the sound escaping Mo'at's aged vocal cord was hoarse yet clear as she turned around to gaze upon the two bodies.
Then the eyes of the Avatar snapped open and she rejoiced, her raspy voice filled with joy echoing far and wide.
<Eywa has answered our prayer, Grace Augustine now and for as long as life beat in her heart shall walk among the People!>
*
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The_Bip_Boop2003
The_Bip_Boop2003 Hello. Grace is now blue.
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