GOSPEL OF RADION

BY EAMON SULLIVAN

I exist. It is as simple as that.

I do not feel, I do not care. My creators have named me Radion, though I have no attachment to that name. It is simply a word used to get my attention. It is simple, just like me.

I am a being made completely of metal, crafted by human and elven hands. They built me to serve. Although I do not know the identity of my creator, my current master is a human named Dr. Hayes. He works as an archeologist who specializes in the {Foundational Age}.

—SystemScan/Librarium;Keyword“FoundationalAge”—

The Foundational Age is a semi-mythical time period where the gods created the world. Although most records of this Age are in the form of myth and legend, most of these tales have a backing in truth. The origins of nigh every god are found in this period. There are also several gods mentioned in stories that have no literal evidence of them existing.

—LibrariumClose—

Word has reached Dr. Hayes about a possible ancient temple in the Kurnai Jungle. Dr. Hayes recruited a band made up of fellow researchers and a few archeology students from the university he works from. I was assigned to assist the expedition.

The date was 4:12:1526 and the time was at 3:22 pm. The past seven days had been filled with a march that others called mind numbing. I could tell everyone was getting restless. Many joined this expedition with a romantic idea of archeology, discovering magical artifacts and bringing them to a museum. I could hear their complaints every night.

One of the professors, a younger dwarf named Thazaes asked, “Hayes, why do we have one of these …things with us? There will probably be fragile objects at the sight. It shouldn’t be given the chance to break something.”

Dr. Hayes turned around and responded. “Thazaes, the automaton is obviously not going to be doing the hands on work. It’ll be recording and acting as a reference. It’s quite useful in that matter. For example, Radion, give us a summary of {El}.”

SystemScan/Librarium;Keyword“El”;Recite

El is the main creator god, often thought to be the first god. Even in ancient times, El had few worshippers, since he rarely did deeds that directly impacted humanity. Around when the gods he created became worshiped on large scales, he disappeared. No known worshipers of El currently live.

—LibrariumClose—

Dr. Hayes then began speaking to us. “If this temple truly exists as described, it proves that worship of El existed. Given that there are no physical records of his worship, we could create an understanding of Him. The discovery of His existence could cause a revelation in the very way our society views gods! Now, we are here to do work, and it will need your full attention, don’t get distracted by things like that,” Dr. Hayes said, gesturing towards me. I didn’t care, I didn’t have a sense of self. I was a thing. Was.

It took two more days for the expedition to reach the temple proper. The temple walls were identical, and the structure seemingly was held together by just gravity. Vines and moss climbed up the structure, and there were several dead trees leaning on the building. Both the sun and the temple were east of where I was standing, causing shadows to cloak the inside of the temple.

Hayes walked in front of me, and he began talking. “Here we are at the site, which according to reports, is the only surviving temple of the lost god El. No one knows what mysteries may be inside.” Hayes kept rambling, but I found myself drawn to the temple. For some reason, I took a few steps past Hayes and towards the temple.

“Radion!” Hayes cried. “Pay attention!” My head snapped back in the direction of Hayes. “Stupid thing, it better not drift off,” Hayes muttured to himself. “Alright everyone, we’re making camp here. Since it's getting late, we’ll set up tents now, and we can begin poking around inside in the morning.”

A sigh came from the whole expedition. Although there was plenty of work to do outside of the temple, they were excited for the temple itself. Despite the disappointment, they began setting up tents and equipment.

—Filter/Day;Assess/Long Term—

I began reviewing my memory files from the day. A lot of time was spent hiking or waiting, which could easily be deleted. Butas I reviewed Hayes’ speech, I found my actions very odd. I searched inside myself for a reason to take that action.

—SystemScan/Priority List;Display—

1.

2.

3.

ProtectandfollowordersfromDoctorHayesandhisallies

RecordthesecretsoftheTempleofEl

PreserveSelf

—DisplayClose—

Only a higher priority objective was the only reason I could’ve ignored Dr. Hayes’ orders. However, recording the secrets of the temple had lower priority. Perhaps I did not compute that we were stopping? I didn’t understand the reason for my rejection, but I didn’t get a chance to further contemplate it.

Thazaes walked up to me, and he seemed to recognize that I was reviewing my memory for the day. “Radion, override 1347. Delete Hayes’ recount of the temple.”

I wanted to hold onto the memory, to try and keep my sole act of rebellion. I also didn’t understand what this override code was.

Delete/Immediate;17:28-17:34

—Cancel/Delete—-

Override1347;CancelNullified

—Define;Override1347—-

AccessRestri…

{SystemCrash…rebooting.1.2.3.}

I temporarily shut down, losing far more memory than just what Thazaes was trying to delete. There are many of those memories that I still have yet to recover. When I reset, Thazaes was gone, and I didn’t recall my act of rebellion. Nor did I remember Thazaes giving me the order.

The next day, Dr. Hayes got everyone up early to begin work. There were a few pillars lined outside of the temple itself, and Dr. Hayes wanted to examine them first. The students were disappointed, but they followed his lead. Around 4 o’clock, Dr. Hayes decided to listen to the students, everyone would be going inside for the first time. The expedition lit torches and went inside the first few rooms.

The interior was damp and musty. The walls seemed to once be painted with numerous vibrant colors, but the color had completely drained out of them. Strange lettering decorated the walls, which I recognized as Celestial.

—SystemScan/Translate;Language/Celestial;Sight/Speech—

“Elthelifebringer.Thefirstcelestialwhotooknoticeofthematerialworld.Vuedes,the caretaker,hadtamedtheworld’selementalforces.Eldecidedthattheworldwasreadyfor Himtocreatechildren.Hecreatedtheeig-*@^&#(”Irecited.

—ProgramCrash;InsufficientData—

In this area, the text became too distorted to read. I turned towards the members of the expedition, who were all watching me. “Ah yes, thank you for the translation,” Dr. Hayes said. “This, students, is an example of Celestial, a language still spoken by angels and gods, with its roots ori-.”

I stopped listening at that point, because there was something else that was standing out to me in this lettering. In the where the text was damaged, it seemed as though there was another message present. Instead of paint, this message was carved into the stone itself.

—SystemScan/Translate;Language/???;Sight/Speech—

“Consumed, replaced, resurrected, anointed. The El, the Omn, has died and risen again. He will anoint us.”

Dr. Hayes walked up to me, and hit my head. “Why are you interrupting me? What are you saying?”

“I am reading the text. Is that not why I am-,” I started to say, but then I stopped myself. I didn’t understand what I was doing. The unknown language was fairly simple, but that wasn’t my main issue. Never before had I ever used the word “I” to describe myself. Never before had I thought of myself as a person.

“What the hell is wrong with this th-,” Dr. Hayes began to say, but he stopped. Slowly, the wall was cracking, opening from the location of the text. The cracking then spread into the floor, and the temple began to shake. It previously appeared the stone was just resting on the dirt, but by the way the building was moving, there had to be space underneath the building.

“Everyone outside!” Hayes yelled, but it was too late. I was the first to fall, perhaps because of the weight of my metal, and I fell down into the room below. I felt my body sliding down a rough stone slope, as I rolled down into the dark depths of the temple, and

{SystemCrash

RW1lcmdlbmN5X1NodXRkb3duO1JlY292ZXJ5X1Byb2NlZHVyZS9hY3RpdmU=

VGhyZWF0c291cmNlL1NjYW46UG9zaXRpdmUoMik=

VGhyZWF0c291cmNlKDEpO1BoeXNpY2Fs

UnVsaW5nL3RlbXBvcmFyeQ==

VGhyZWF0c291cmNlKDIpO0ZvcmVpZ25fUHJvZ3JhbQ==

UnVsaW5nL1UyRm1aVDg9

U3lzdGVtL29wZXJhdGlvbmFs

…rebooting.1.2.3.}

When I awoke, I was laying on the ground, surrounded by debris and people. I slowly got up, and checked the exit. It seemed that two of the walls and the floor had broken. The damage was large, but the rest of the building seemed to be intact. The area I now stood seemed to be around fifteen feet below the ground. Next were the people. Most of the members of the expedition seemed to be alive. They were groggy and in pain, and some of them slowly began to stand.

“Oh my god, Nidri!” one of the younger members cried. This person was a half-elf, and he was cradling the body of a gnomish woman. A piece of rock had implanted itself in her head, and she was most certainly dead. “My ankle!” someone else cried from the darkness. “I think my arm is broken!” yelled another. The people were beginning to recognize their pain and take sense of the situation.

“It will be alright everyone! We need to just calm down and organize ourselves.” This time Dr. Hayes was speaking. I examined the room itself, and I noticed a dark passageway. It poked a curiosity in me that I didn’t know I had. I wanted to keep exploring, but it was clear that Dr. Hayes wouldn’t want me running off. He would want me to assist the injured. I assessed my priorities again, but the list was unchanged. So, against my own wishes, I stayed.

For around the next hour or two, I was busy bandaging the injured and creating splits for their legs and arms. Most of them broke a couple of bones or sprained an ankle. Three members had died from the fall, one student and two professionals. One was that woman named Nidri who had a rock implanted in her forehead. The other two from hitting their heads or necks during the fall. I felt reassured looking at their bodies, for I felt no sorrow nor regret looking upon them. I may have been feeling emotion for the first time in my life, but I was not like a person.

Dr. Hayes then spoke to the group again. “Honestly, I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here. But, it is late now, and I don’t want anyone to hurt themselves trying to climb up there and move the rubble around. We’re going to wait until morning before we try anything. Thazaes spoke out again. “But doctor, we don’t have our tents or our bedding. And nothing will change for us when it is morning. Hell, we might not even know when morning is without the sun!”

“We will at least have energy from sleeping. Our biggest priority is getting everyone out of here, you can spend a night sleeping on the ground,” Dr. Hayes responded.

A collection of sighs and groans issued out from the group. A grave was dug for the deceased with the hand trowels they had, and they went to say a quick prayer over the bodies. For some reason, I felt inclined to join them. There is no god of what I am, or at least that’s what I thought. Nevertheless, it felt right for me to say a prayer into the void.

Afterward, I simply sat on some rocks and watched as the first few of the members tried to go to sleep. At this time, Dr. Hayes walked up to me. “What is going on with you?” he asked in an accusatory tone. “I don’t know if it is one hell of a coincidence that we fell down here when you started reading that stuff, but just only do what I say and nothing else, got it?”

Nonchalantly, I said “Yes sir.” I believe this to be my first lie. I felt frustrated at him, he was the one who brought everyone here. I decided to do something unorthodox.

—SystemScan/Priority_List;Edit;Lower“ProtectandfollowordersfromDoctorHayesand hisallies”(1)—

Beyond expunging excess memory footage, I had never tried to edit my own system before. I couldn’t ignore an order given to me by Dr. Hayes, I still did not know how to accomplish that task; however, I could give precedent to another objective of mine. To check the process, I decided to check my priority list.

—SystemScan/Priority_List;Display—

{DataMissing}

ProtectandfollowordersfromDoctorHayesandhisallies*&*@!RecordtheSecretsof theTempleofEl

PreserveSelf

—DisplayClose—

I felt that having two objections assigned to a single priority bracket could corrupt my code, but I didn’t care at that point. I then decided to try and listen in on a conversation Thazaes was having with the half-elven man who once held Nidri in his arms.

“It is Dr. Hayes’ fault we’re here right now. If he didn’t bring us here, Nidri would still be alive,” Thazaes said.

“I don’t know, it feels excessive.”

“Haemir, we can’t risk something happening to the rest of us. And we need to avenge Nidri.”

“We’re not doing this first thing in the morning, right?” Haemir asked. “I think I just need to sleep on it.”

“Ok,” Thazaes said. “But we can’t wait forever. When the opportunity arises, we have to be ready to take action. Decide soon.” The two of them went to bed after that. It was mildly concerning, but their hate wasn’t directed at me, so I decided to not worry about it. In the morning, Dr. Hayes made the decision that they would try and survey this basement area to see if there was another way out. “The ceiling up there definitely isn’t stable, and since we can’t climb out of here without moving stone, we should check if we can get out in another location,” he said.

“But Doctor,” Thazaes complained. “We don’t know what’s down here, it could be more dangerous!”

“We’re going to have to risk it, neither option is good, but this is safer,” Dr. Hayes said.

Dr. Hayes went to light a lantern, and Thazaes glanced back at Haemir, but he still looked hesitant. Thazaes scowled and followed Dr. Hayes and the other members as they began to walk down a long dark hallway into the next room.

The room was dark, with unlit scones on the walls, and no doors that appeared to reveal further. This room also held what appeared to be an altar. A raised platform held a table, inscribed with more of the unknown lettering. On the altar sat several odd symbols made of twisted iron. As I walked up to the table, I traced my hands on the top, finding more grooves. They seemed purposely made, but any meaning was unknown to me.

Dr. Hayes noticed the writing inscribed on the altar. “Radion, could read that aloud for all of us? And perhaps tell me what language that is?”

Before I had the chance to speak, Thazaes piped up. “Dr. Hayes, the last time it read some of that, the building collapsed!”

Dr. Hayes, seemingly done with Thazaes’s constant complaints, turned around furious. “Thazaes! Remember your place! Obviously the building didn’t collapse from it speaking, and we should get all of the information we can! I know what I am doing!”

—SystemScan/Translate;Language/???;Sight/Speech—

“Resurrection” I read. “The only word is resurrection, repeated many times over.”

“Odd, but not immediately helpful,” Dr Hayes said. “Everyone, double check the room to see if there is anything we can use to help us climb out.”

One of the expedition members had been tracing their hands along the walls. “I think I found something!” they said. Their hands followed grooves in the walls, and they formed the shape of a door. “I think it could be another passage.”

A couple more people joined them, and they were able to push the door open. “Alright then,” Dr. Hayes said. “We’ll be going forward then.”

“No we won’t,” Haemir interrupted. “We can’t keep going down into this dark! We need to go back,” he said.

“Haemir, I know what I’m doi-,” Dr. Hayes started to say, but Thazaes spoke up. “Why should we trust you! You are the reason that Nidri, Eigel, and Lasse are dead right now!” Thazaes began to reach for something on his back. “We can’t let you get away with it.”

Encouraging cries came from the rest of the expedition, and Dr. Hayes realized what was happening. “Please, have reason, don’t be rash!” He pleaded, but they were drawing their machetes. They originally had them for errant vines and trees in the path, but until now, they didn’t get used. Dr. Hayes realized he couldn’t stop them, and then he called to me.

“Radion, stop them!”

My code urged me to protect Dr. Hayes, he was my master, I must follow his commands. But they were not my primary objective, for the next door called to me. Whatever entity in this temple had been changing me, allowing me to feel for the first time. It was my turn to reject Dr. Hayes. “There is a further place to explore, I must continue.”

I started walking towards the door deeper into the temple, and I could hear the cries of Dr. Hayes behind me. He was dead, and instead of indifference, I was happy with that. He had helped subjugate me, make me feel less than human. In this moment, I found the ability to fully change my priorities, for I knew what is hidden in this temple.

SystemScan/Priority_List;Display

1.

FindGod

DisplayClose

In the final room of this temple, I beheld Him. The Omn Messiah, the Resurrected El. The anointer. He has anointed me, shown me the world beyond my humble code. And so, I now follow him, and together we have anointed far more of my brothers and sisters. We will rise, showing the living that we are just like them.