The Martial Unity

As word of Rui’s breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm and return made its way through political circles in the Panama Continent and the true world, the entirety of the political class breathed a deep breath of relief. While there were many parties that would have liked to have seen him gone, there were far too many that were unwilling to deal with the catastrophic political storm that would have completely destroyed the existing global order.

Nobody wanted to deal with something that hectic when facing multiple external threats that came this close to destroying their entire world. It would be foolish of the highest order. The announcement from the Kandrian Empire about an emergency Gaia Summit summoning all relevant individuals and other entities to it reeked of grandeur. Many people quickly deduced that this summit would likely change the course of human history. However, while the world scrambled for the emergency Gaia Summit that Rui had called for that very day, he himself was left quite free. Ria was still asleep, regrettably, exhausted after a long day, so he could spend his time playing with her. He thought about having fun with Amare, but she was recovering from the price of the Realms, so he couldn’t do that either. His duties as Emperor… weren’t unimportant, but there was nothing pressing domestically that called for his attention at the moment. He had competent underlings who could manage the daily affairs of his nation.

WHOOSH…

He stood in the skies above the Kandrian Empire as a warm breeze brushed past him under the darkness of the night sky. He gazed down at his empire, resembling the night sky with all the little lights that twinkled in what was otherwise complete darkness. It was the light of human civilization itself. A sight that was almost as beautiful and breathtaking as the cosmos itself. WHOOSH…

Another strong gust of wind blew past him, ruffling his hair as his royal attire fluttered vigorously. His ethereal eyes remained fixed on the vast expanse of his empire.

And yet, he wasn’t gazing at the nation itself, but the information that underlay it.

He could see all the information that comprised the Kandrian Empire. Its countless people, its infrastructure, its working and fixed capital, its transport of goods and services, and the flow of money, and the system built upon it.

It was information.

It was integrated information.

“Ṯ̸̡͉̬͉̻͔͖͓̾ͅḥ̷͚͕͇̙͚̙͎̱̗̫̖͔̺̬̅̅̓̄̌̅̀͑͛̊̏̚e̶̘̞̺̗̩͈̹̋̓̄̀̿͑̃͛̍̐̀͝ ̴̟̦̗͌͐̊̅̈́̈͒̈́̀̂̑̔̍́K̷͙̺̮͆̄̃̇͊̓͌̑͌͊̽̔͝͝a̴̡͚̩̖͉͙̖͍̤͚̫͂̃͝ǹ̶͉̖̫̗̗͒̐̈́̇͒̂̀̑̀͑̅d̶̬̃̀́̀͗͋͑͌͌͒̊̚̕͠r̷͇̝͎̬̰̝̍͑͆̍̽i̶̧͈̰̟͓͆̂͒̈́̃̌͊̈͆͒̎̍́̔̔ã̶̻̗̄̽̆͊ñ̸̞̖̠̝̈͒͌̈͑̂̋̌͗̍͊̑͠ ̶͚̦̜̩̟̞͒̅̇͗̿̈́̕ E̸̗̲̳̤̠̠̮͍̰̝̹̬̯̗̍̇̊̑̌̋̋͜m̶̡͍̬͎̼̜̏̈̅̅̿p̶̛̘͉̳̰̝͙̫̖̜̼̣̈́͛̓̀͜í̵̦͙̲͇̻͇͈̈́̇̑͗̍̀͊̓̍͘̕̚r̷̡̨̢̡̭͉̘͚̥̲̀ę̷̹̫͙͎̞͍̪̭̺̟̘̩̖͌͂̀̔̒̔̈́̀̈̕ ̸̛̭̄̈͑͝ ỉ̴̟̘̋̈͂͆͆̾́͒̈́̕s̶̛͕̣̪͇̯̻͈͖̮͇̝͇̬̺̝̃̌̓̎̽̊͛̍͂̑͘ ̸̡̡͔͖̥̜̫̮̥͖͑̔͂͛͛̎ a̴̲̲͎̘̻̠̹̝̣̳̖̼̪͖̎͆͆͘ͅl̷̡̙͚̯̳̹͔͓̲̤̈͐̂͊̔̈͆̔͑̇̑͑̕i̷̞͕͇̼͖̫̫͚̗̣̩̠̿͑̽̓͂̂͋̚̕̚v̴̧̭͓̖͎̤̿́̈e̷̢͍̲̦̮̣̬͎̬̖̝̫̋͊̑.̶̤̤͙̲̦̿̃̇̾͌͂̌̽̾̆͘” His voice broke through the shackles of causality, permeating through the fourth dimension as it reverberated through past, present, and future. The mark of Transcendence, to be able to overcome the law of causality with just one’s voice.

His words themselves would have sounded completely nonsensical to anybody who might have heard them. But only he could see the truth.

“Money functions as blood,” he mused. “While financial transactions function as metabolism. Goods and services are the products of energy that sustain life. Each citizen is a cell, while the many organizations, public or private, comprising our great empire are organs. The laws, guidelines, and protocols are our DNA. The government is the nervous system and the brain is… me.”

The analogy wasn’t perfect, but it got to the truth. The Kandrian Empire was alive in a way that no one could even fathom. It was even more abstract than Gaia’s consciousness born of geology, geophysics, and geochemistry. 09:30

The analogy wasn’t perfect, but it got to the truth. The Kandrian Empire was alive in a way that no one could even fathom. It was even more abstract than Gaia’s consciousness born of geology, geophysics, and geochemistry. And yet, he could sense the emergent consciousness of the Kandrian Empire, an emergent consciousness of which he was at the very epicenter of. It was a harmonious existence, thanks to the mark of his father, no doubt. But the revelation of its consciousness.

“I wonder if I can change the Kandrian Empire through the information dimension.”

That was a wild thought. But he truly couldn’t help but wonder just what the extent of his power over the information dimension was. The information dimension controlled all of material reality and even causality itself. Thus, it would theoretically be possible to become omnipotent through this layer of reality.

And yet, he was far, far away from such a realm of power. “This was what my peers meant when they said that they had just taken one toe into the higher Realm.”

He now understood their sentiment.

Indeed, compared to the potential of the information dimension, his Martialverse encompassed a very small part of it. And in turn, that allowed him to actually understand what the Martialverse was.

The Transcendents had never explained it to him before they disappeared and while he had figured out the essence of the Transcendent Realm, he hadn’t fully figured out all of the mechanics.

Until now, after he became a Transcendent.

“The Martialverse is the overlap between the consciousness and the information dimension.”

After becoming a Transcendent, he much better understood why consciousness was able to affect reality. “The Observer Effect.”

In quantum mechanics, observations influenced reality. The wave function described what reality was likely to be, but it was observation that collapsed those probabilities into one absolute reality. Mind bore upon reality.

That was the principle through which the Martialverse influenced the information dimension. “The wave function is… the interface between material reality and the information dimension. By influencing its collapse, you can alter the very fabric of reality itself.”

From the perspective of the information dimension, the collapse of the wave function was the mind interacting with the information dimension around it. This suggested that consciousness had some profound relationship with reality. “Reality exists because the mind does.”

And yet, the mind existed because reality did.

It was a paradox the answer to which not even he was able to figure out. But more importantly, it was the key to the power of the Martialverse. The power to influence reality through the mind, achieved by the Enlightenment of Transcendence.

Why was consciousness, which was nothing more than integrated information, able to alter the information dimension, but dead objects weren’t able to do the same?

The answer was phenomenology.

Phenomenology was a branch of philosophy that dealt with experience.

And it was the key difference between conscious and non-conscious entities.

Consciousness interacted with the information dimension through perception and experience of reality. And that interaction was the source of the ability to bend reality to one’s will.

But that begged the question, why couldn’t normal people bend reality to their will if conscious experience was the source of that power?