These Chosens are so oblivious to what is being woven behind the curtains. Energy bustles through their forms as they fall for the intoxicating feeling of power like moths to a flame.
Though I shan't blame them. The very power they wield is corrupted, tainted with damnation. Oh yes, you heard me. Every single Chosen is a vessel for Corruption.
The passive trait is merely a façade; a mask to bring forth the madness of those who have openly chosen Corruption.
Yes, from the very beginning, every single Chosen was destined to lose themselves to the intoxication of power. Even if not to the sudden rush, then to the slow encroachment of their innate Corruption.
You won't feel an immediate change. Slow, natural, pacifying–the insanity eats away at rationality in silence. You will find explanations to justify the illogical. Like a child growing up, the changes appear inevitable and natural. A child must grow; this is the nature of Corruption.
And as you'd expect, they are unaware of this fault, this great flaw in the force they wield. But time will bring answers. The inevitability of this breakdown reoccurs.
Slowly, we watch these Chosens, as they came, wink out of existence… or so it would have preferably been. Unfortunately, it is not so. They will burn everything and burn themselves. They appeared, heralding a calamitous change, and they will depart, fulfilling that prophecy.
It has only been three days, and the casualties are mounting at an alarming rate. Military forces of various countries are throwing everything they have at the problem, yet they fail to make any meaningful dent.
The people are still dying. The Chosens rampage like feral beasts on drugs, and nothing seems poised to improve anytime soon… only to worsen.
Can the military be blamed for their failure? Personally, I say no. The forces they contend with are too… unnatural. Mundane weapons, however advanced, fail to inflict significant damage on those living calamities.
To be fair, a well-designed human arsenal of specialized weapons might have sufficed, if not for one fact: most Chosens were so terrified of death that nearly eighty percent have Regeneration as one of their two abilities. Given the absurd nature of Regeneration, killing a Chosen is only possible when caught utterly unguarded… and that ignores the second ability many possess.
A large percentage of Chosens have Adaptation or Rift as one of their powers. At the end of the day, practically all Chosens are extremely hard to kill.
All in all, Chosens are like cockroaches: torturous to kill, always surviving the most preposterous scenarios you can imagine… and all thanks to either innate battle IQ or Corruption.
Yet not even half of the initial number of Chosens remain. Somehow, something is killing them off.
What could potentially slay a godlike being, you ask? Another godlike being, of course. I don't think that's hard to deduce.
What do you expect when you hand unimaginable power to teenagers? Not even teenagers, humans in general?!
Do you expect them to be cooperative, tranquil, refined? To know they can do anything and choose restraint? To prefer the simpler path and not sin?
What is your definition of humanity, then? Haven't you seen what they do daily, the absurd horrors they cause while utterly powerless? And now, when you've given them the one thing humans always get drunk on–power–you expect them to be refined, to preserve tranquility?!
You seriously expect a man elevated to the realm of a god to align with good?
How fucking naïve could you possibly be if you'd think so?
Wait… you also believe that you–the average human, living the most average life, with the most average experiences–are something special? That you are special?
Wow. I'm stunned. Speechless.
Chosens are clear depictions of what man becomes when given power beyond comprehension. And what would you expect of them? Their very first instinct is to find the lethal nature of their power. Although incomprehensible, lethality is still a language every human understands.
Most people don't even know how nuclear weapons function, yet they certainly know they can kill with it, a whole lot of people, and that's all that matters. Chosens are the same.
I think we keep forgetting that Chosens, though godlike, are still human in essence. Power drags the worst to the surface, because once you know you stand above others, you no longer fear the consequences of your actions. No order to contain the madness, no rules to obey, no punishment to dread–for they are beyond law and order. A Chosen is the embodiment of that free spirit.
And you know how selfish humans can be. Irrationally selfish, relentlessly self-centered. Of course many want to hoard all that power for themselves, to be the only one above everything else. They've tasted the intoxicating feeling of superiority and now crave the absolute… to be above all.
Indeed, Corruption is a gift, albeit a dangerous one. But it isn't something you can reject. It's part of the kit: the moment you become a Chosen, you are automatically Corrupted.
And Corruption merely amplifies the innate insanity and profanity of man. What do you think will happen?
It's obvious. The world is already the canvas, bleeding as it paints what happens when a horde of mad abominations, each wielding the force of God, runs free.
You still don't have a good grasp of Corruption? Fret not, child.
Corruption, as I mean it here, is simply the drastic alteration of an original nature. Its effect differs from person to person, but one trait binds all Chosens: the creeping insanity they share.
In the description it's called the insanity of a god. What more can I say? Expect the worst. Expect the most bizarre. Everything has a price, and the price for the power of a god is precisely that insanity.
I nearly forgot to write this down.
They are watching.
The veil of reality merely hides their true form.
Those otherworldly beings have begun to stare in this direction.
The noise is growing unbearable. They have searched for so long in darkness, hunting something even I cannot name. But it seems a beacon has been lit here.
It is only a matter of time before they come.
Sorry—
they are already here. They've always been here.
Yet… they are not. They are beyond and within, simultaneously.
Ah yes, the contradictory nature of those "things": the simultaneity of irrationalities.
I've been writing this journal for so long now.
Yes, do not be deceived by the numberings. I've probably written this exact part a thousand times, if not a million.
Whoever is reading this, I only hope you eventually grasp what's happening, because trust me, you might not.
Not your fault, though. This reality is a blurry mess.
*****
You know, everyone tends to believe that because we exist beyond logic and the mundane workings of reality, we must be stripped of anything mundane.
They think we don't feel.
They think we've achieved some pristine emptiness.
They assume we have no desire.
Desire… that is the only thing still tethering us to this world. When you have transcended everything–death, mortal ailments, the pull of emotions, worldly attachments, the petty necessities of existence–the one spark that continues to burn within is desire.
Passing beyond the mundane does not erase our mundane nature. We have merely stepped over it; we have not lost it.
So no, entities like me are not hollow. We are not soulless apparitions who transcended and shed all remnants of being.
We are every bit as needlessly complex as any Suv'rian–our complexity is simply less needless, distilled but still infinite.
—Zakaria.