It feels like I'm falling for an eternity
How long has it been?
Minutes?
Days?
Years?
I am unable to feel any sensations
It feels like I'm falling even though my clothes nor my hair are flapping wildly in the wind
What happened with everyone
Who was that guy?
Should i even call him a "guy"?
Aunt Oris is dead
I have to accept that fact. Whatever she told me that day, I have to follow it to the word or else itll all be useless.
I don't care how I got into this situation but that doesnt matter right now. What matters is somehow I am able to be defined.
4 hours ago
I can see that Aunt Oris has finished off weeding the rouges in the Whole Number Set,
Surely she has to to be a bit fazed righ-
Nope she's literally licking the blood off of her hands.
Sometimes i forget she is a battle maniac who enjoys the thrill of being inches close to death.
"Hey Decey give me a few minutes. I'll brief you on what you have to do today okie?"
" mhm mhm sure take your time "
I feel bad for Atlas. I couldnt see much but weeks before he left for Zahl Academy, he had undergone intense training with the "Savant" herself. Everyday he used to come back with scars to cover his scars. Unironically, Aunt Orsis knocked him up so much he got inspired to use his Function in a remarkable manner. He'd slow down the impact to the point where the effects would show hours after the initial impact. He practically became invincible. I wonder if my Function would be as equally useful.
Aunt Oris sits beside me after her shower and takes a deep breath.
" To be frank, Noone knows what happens when we go *there*. We dont even know where *there* is. All we know is one simple instruction-
"Impress them unless you want
you want your mind to get stuck
in ***** "
That one symbol, almost came out distorted from her mouth: almost as if mentioning it saps one's life.
Even though our memories seem to get erased coming back from there, there's a part of me that feels like Aunt Oris unconciously remembers what happened when she went there. Does she even know she's shaking?
Or is she choosing to believe she forgot what she experienced back then.
>>
Zahl Academy
"Expressions are our way of manipulating our domain into a sort of magic. Except it's not magic. Thousands of years ago, a mathematician challanged God himself, Into a sort of Duel you could say . The duel was simple. Each had to take turns writing numbers bigger than the previous one. Whichever number is overwhelmingly larger, the writer wins. There are rules too:
1: They cannot use the same method as the previous submissions.
For example, if one uses combinatorics, factorials, exponentiation etc etc., the other cannot use it.
2: They cannot reuse the previous submission.
3. They cannot use wordplay that causes loopholes for example:
Whatever number the other person gives
+ 1
is not allowed.
The challanger started off by writing 1.
God wrote 2.
The challanger had to do something new now.
So he wrote a long chain of 1's
111111111111111111111111111111111111
God smirked. He came up to the blackboard with no chalk in his translucent fingers, and simply erased a small portion from 33 of the 35 1's
"11! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"
This is a number that cannot be described by humans. 11! in itself is around 39 million. So imagine all of those factorials…
God thought that he had won. He'd exhausted a very powerful weapon. He didn't need to use that..
The human, unphazed, came up to the board, erased the entire blackboard, and started writing.
Whatever he wrote down was a mystery.
But,
The sheer magnitude of that number was so stupidly big, the universe had begun to shake.
The number far surpassed the number of atoms present in our universe..
Now, since the beginning, and til the end of everything.
Every thought that could've been thought of,
Every possibility that could've occured in an infinite amount of time,
It is all meaningless compared to
this monstrosity of a value…
The number was so incredibly huge that God himself was shocked.
The language in which this human wrote in, gave God chills through his spine.
How does he know *********************
He said to himself…
God faced a landslide of a defeat and asked the human:
What do you want…?
The mathematician , an uncowering man, shrouded in deeper mystery than God himself asked-
Give me the power to create .
Give us the power to rewrite the laws .
Let it be limited by our imagination
and-
Save us from ø…..
This is how we can use mathematics as a form of " magic ". Our domains, our ranges, everything has been passed onto us by that one man who single handedly faced God and beat him in his own game.
Ø has been sealed, but as we all know the seal is weakening…
Monsters…Unhinged creatures made by loopholes have been spawning endlessly in the ℂ Realm.
This was why the Sets have been made.
They are our defense force against these creatures. The highest ranks, the ℂ Set, are the ones who get sent to the ℂ Realm and fight them off right there.
Everyone in Zahl Academy came here to become stronger, or richer, or are just curious of how the world came out as how it is right now.
But know this. Peace never lasts.
It is a warning.
That something will happen.
Will you run away?
Do you want to defy the shadows?
To do that,
Face the darkness
it casts.
>>
"Headmaster.."
"Yes Professor Ash?"
"You always used to give a motivational speech from the past 50 years..
Why did you suddenly decide to tell them now?"
Professor Ash graduated from my Academy years ago with flying colors. He could easily joined the Complex Set, but he chose to become a teacher and I had no reason to decline him.
His function is absolutely brilliant, a clear one-in-a-million: the Deviant Modulus. He can completely counter external subtraction and instead use that to buff him up, due to how the modulus graph works.
The only restriction he has is that his initial damage isn't as boastful as his other abilities. That is why he has come back as a professor to gain even more knowledge. Truly one of my gems.
How should I answer him?
Do I tell him the truth?
Although I'm a 6th degree Transcendent, my age caught up with me. It becomes increasingly difficult to fight. Maybe that also has to due with my function.
" I am afraid we have less than 6 years til the Nullification"
I can see entire body shaking in fear.
It is okay Ash…
I would've called you insane if you weren't afraid.
" Sir, we need to start Practical Classes for the first years "
" Will you oversee the class then? Who knows, you might gain the insight you needed to get to that stage "
" They will get bloodied up. You know that Sir"
"Better you than what we are fighting against."
>>
I stopped falling. I still don't feel any sensation.
All I see is white and white and white-
Suddenly my mind went blank for a second or two…
" Lost !!! Get your ass over here this instant."
Who's Lost? Wait wait wait…
These hand's aren't mine-
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT-
I find a wall mirror and definitely do not see myself.
WHO THE FUCK AM I?
This pasty-ass white boy who looks like he studies about what ants eat for breakfast- his name is Lost. From context clues I can determine I am a 26 year old math enthusiast.
Wait so does that mean I can use my Function…?
Wait that doesn't matter. What matters is what I have to do.
.
.
.
What do i do exactly …?
A week goes by and I acted as if I fell on a rock and currently have memory loss. Somehow they believed me. This feels super familiar. It's like the pictures I've seen in my textbooks. The houses look super antique, built with birch wood and smells very nature-y. The air smells super fresh. Nobody is using stuff like newspapers and everyone is happy with even the poor. I believe I am at the time period before Functions existed. This looks to be Ophera Town, judging from the very big statue in the middle mentioning The Hero of Ophera.
The roads look very well maintained and they all seem to look in awe when they see me. I wouldn't doubt it- I am a mathematician!
My current family situation: My mom, my dad, and my sister Nera. We all live in a really comfy house. It feels so surreal living with actual parents. I know this is meant to be a test, but
I have no family. This way I can atleast feel parental love.
The town looks like a trade centred town, built with really long fields of crops and around the North side,there's this mineshaft where they mine diamonds from. Its decorated with stuff like fountains and the architecture is all made up of really shiny marble.
I have been visiting the library from the past 3-4 days. My mom told me that I could probably regain my memories. All of these books: I've seen their titles at the ends of every single book I've read in the real world. Classics, every single one of them. This is an absolute goldmine.
After going through these books for 4 hours, here's what I've learnt:
1. For general problem solving skills, one thing we can do if we are ever stuck in a problem is to list out everything that seems relevant.
2. It is easier to turn problems from algebric to geometrical. This makes it easier to visualise it.
3. Graphs are more important than meets-
the-eye.
I don't know who to impress but I feel like this is important and relevent information.
Dinner with the family after a long day sure feels great!
" Lost, do you feel better now?"
Mom's cooking is so soothing. Sure Aunt Oris cooks better but-
Oh…
She's dead..
"Lost?"
She was like a mother to me…
I couldn't help her at all..
God Atlas must feel horrible..
"Lost, can you hear me??"
My dad's pleas hollowed out in the slowly settling realization.
Aunt Oris is dead.
The one who took care of me all these years.
The one who I looked up to for her sheer willpower and strength .
In the beginning I was unphazed but now that the adrenaline rush is non existent…
God…
I can't stop crying.
My family tried to con-
No..
They aren't even my family…
I don't have any family…
Please let this end…
Heet and Uncle Oris….
I don't even know if they're safe or not…
Please end…
Nera inches closer to me, the 7 year old girl tries to give me a hug.
Heet…
I need you Heet..
You and your dumb fucking jokes gave me unusual amounts of joy…
I look upto the roof and to myself I thought:
Is this what you wanted?
Well I'm at rock bottom.
Don't think this is entertainment
I'll slit your goddamn throat even if You're the shadows themselves.