Chapter 155 Conversations With The Other Guy

'Do you enjoy living a passive life?' The other Guy mocked. 'Rolling with the flow, avoiding conflicts, living a life devoid of meaning. A negligible existence.'

Guy remained stoic at the barrage of criticisms.

'You don't deserve this second opportunity. You don't deserve The Church. MY CHURCH!' The other Guy continued. 'Look at what you've accomplished with its power? Absolutely nothing!'

'I've assisted my students-' Guy pointed out, however, he was immediately interrupted by his counterpart.

'Have you?!' The other Guy jabbed. 'You were handed a supercomputer capable of mapping stars, yet you use it to perform trivial arithmetic. You've barely scratched the surface; there is so much more to the extent of The Church's power. Does it satisfy you to wander near the periphery?'

'I'm trying-'

'You're surviving, when you could be thriving. This is the kind of person you are, weak-willed, submissive, compromising.'

'I am not like that,' Guy tried to rebuke weakly.

'Aren't you? Look back at your life. Not just this one, but the one before,' the other Guy urged. 'Given all that you've done, have you achieved anything substantial?'

'I have!' Guy responded. 'Our work has positively affected so many people across the world.'

'You tried to curb the flow of the river with a dam when you could have rerouted it entirely,' the other Guy commented. 'You were the son of one of the most powerful families in the entire world. You could lobby for substantial change on a global scale. However, you were unwilling to square up against parties that opposed your agenda to bring about this positive change. You were unwilling to put your foot down and demand a revolution. You compromised, Guy!'

'That was the best way. Introducing disruptive change to a foreign environment isn't long-lasting and sustainable. And if the local government and organisations oppose the changes, there is little guarantee that they will be propagated,' Guy reasoned. 'I had to take a gentle approach.'

'What do you think happened after your departure?' The other Guy sighed. 'Just like water flows from high to low, the places you left after introducing your non-disruptive change most likely reverted to their old ways.'

'You're saying that I should have been more imposing?' Guy retorted. 'Enforce my so-called "revolutionary" and "right" views to the culturally diverse places I visited? How different would I be from the colonists of the past who did the same and devastated the indigenous and blooming societies? It isn't right to foist my values upon a society that nurtures another set of values.'

'Those that cannot adapt to change must succumb,' the other Guy highlighted with a disdainful sneer. 'That is one of the Absolute Truths of the world that has sustained through millennia. It is what caused the extinction of dinosaurs, and pushed humans from one of the weakest to the most dominant species on the planet. These people that you talk about cling to the old ways mired in falsehoods and lies, wasn't it your responsibility as the enlightened to disperse this treacherous fog?!'

'At the cost of losing their heritage and traditions?' Guy retaliated. 'I don't think so.'

The other Guy walked over to the family of three, frozen in greyscale, and nudged his chin towards them, 'What about them? You promised that you would save them, didn't you? You promised to help them live a better life. What of it? Aren't they also victims of the so-called "traditions" you're so desperately trying to preserve?'

'They...'

'THEY ALL DIED!' The other Guy bellowed. 'Borne in an environment where women are viewed as inferior, meant to serve men, what did you expect would happen? Your attempt to bring in law and order through the established systems accomplished nothing. The wife died the day after the surgery due to accumulated internal injuries from years of withstanding domestic abuse and lack of proper healthcare in such a remote region. Left with no other guardian, the young girl was sequestered with her abusive father who killed her in a fit of drunken rage. The baby girl was then drowned in the river, killed within weeks of birth.'

'It is the result of a regressed mentality. An exception rather than the rule,' Guy tried to argue without conviction.

'Are you trying to justify the death of three innocents?' the other Guy retorted in disbelief.

'No! I...'

'Take a look at yourself!' The other Guy scolded.

'But the man was punished by the full extent of the law.' Guy flinched lightly as he finished that statement. The other Guy had unearthed a memory that he had forcefully suppressed a long time back. Although he had promised Grace to protect the girls and their mother, ultimately he had failed to uphold it. Multiple factors contributed to this failure, most if not all had to do with the remoteness of the village and the scarcity of proper law enforcement channels that let the abusive husband and father slip through the cracks.

Back then, Guy felt completely useless and weak. His conscience attacked him constantly, and to remedy it he had thrown himself into charity work like a possessed individual. But all that distraction could not revert a loss of life.

'You see! You recognise the kind of failure you are,' the other Guy mocked.

'What could I have done differently?' Guy said in defeat.

'Grow a spine!' the other Guy egged. 'Flex your influence. Implement changes on a global scale. If people don't succumb, then bear down on them with the full extent of your power.'

'That's... immoral,' Guy muttered while shaking his head.

'Lies, deceit, treachery, bribery, racketeering, felony, homicide and so on, if performed in pursuit of the Truth, the Absolute Truth, do not count as immoral as they are ultimately for the betterment of the world,' the other Guy recited piously.

'What?!'

'If you want the world to bend, you cannot coax it. You must grab it by the ends and force it to bend,' the other Guy expounded. 'It is acceptable to lie if the goal is to enlighten the ignorant masses to the Truth. Should certain interlopers resist against the Absolute Truth, it is morally acceptable to purge them, after all, we cannot let a few rotten apples spoil the bunch.'

'You're a monster!'

'Compare me with a man who killed his daughters and sent his wife to her death with his own hands, and THEN felt absolutely no remorse over those actions. Who's worse?'

'Nonetheless, I couldn't have done any of what you said back on Earth,' Guy shook his head immediately. 'I couldn't have killed that man, not could I have let Grace do it. It is illegal and against basic human rights.'

'Ah,' the other Guy exclaimed. 'But that was back on Earth. Those rules don't apply here, do they?'

'What are you saying?'

'This world is primitive and backwards. Its people are blind to the Absolute Truth of the World. You've carefully holed yourself up in this small corner, safe from the madness that lurks in the distance. Are you feeling good right now?' The other Guy mocked.

'I-'

'This world is a hundred times worse than Earth. Class dichotomies, martial segregation, death, destruction, false rituals and superstitions, famines, droughts and disease. This world is in dire need of enlightenment, you know it, I know it. Do you feel comfortable sitting here in a bed of flowers, while others - children - are suffering the unspeakable horrors of society?'

'No, but-'

'We must spread the Absolute Truth! We need to push ourselves, grow stronger, and save this world from itself. We have the tools - The Church. We must use it to its maximum capacity to break through cultivation realms. We must grow our flock!'

As the other Guy started orating with crescendoing vigour and fervour, an encroaching, parasitic sentiment slithered into Guy's mind. It started as a gnawing sensation, slowly decaying parts of his consciousness.

'The only way to raise this world from its stagnant state is by raising the suppressed masses and revealing the Truths of the world to them. We need to espouse free thinkers, inventors and artists. We need to eradicate all the lies that poison the mind of the common folk. We must exert our influence until the world is reborn, stronger, and more adaptive than it ever was before.'

The parasite branched out exponentially, attempting to consume every mote of his consciousness, cleansing it and turning it into a corrupted sentience

'We aren't shackled by poorly implemented laws and regulations. If we have the power, we can cleanse those that fail to adapt to the rapidly changing world, because that would be the right thing to do.'

'SHUT UP!' Guy bellowed. 'You're a maniac! A fanatic of the highest order! Do you not see the inhumanity in your proposition? You're encouraging mass genocide of those that fail to accept your truth-'

'Not MY Truth, THE Truth. The Absolute Truth,' the other Guy interjected with gritting teeth. 'And of course! I've justified why such measures are completely within moral limits.'

'But you said the Truth is never guaranteed to remain static. That is Science!'

'That is correct and incorrect. The Truth isn't a word, phrase, or scripture. It is a frame of mind. To be able to freely debate, evaluate and modulate one's belief based on proper reasoning and thoroughly supported processes and data. THAT is The Absolute Truth. After all, no single fact can remain true all the time in perpetuity, thus everything must be permitted in search of verifying what is the truth at any given point in time.'

The other Guy paused before accentuating, 'Don't lose track of our goal. Our aim is the same: to create a goal where no person has to worry about losing their loved ones for reasons apart from natural causes. Neither of us wants to see another baby or child dying a premature death. This vessel has such potential, yet it is wasted on a man such as yourself.'

The parasite which had encroached into a large portion of Guy's consciousness activated all at one, stabbing into his sense of self. Guy crumbled under the multi-faceted attack and grasped his in pain.

'Get out of my head!'

'You should just give up. You failed in your first life, let me handle this one. I can accomplish so much more with your body.'

Guy grunted while clutching the sides of his face. He plunged his nails into his skin and latched onto a hard metallic surface.

'GET! OUT!'

Guy tugged frantically. He was slowly losing his consciousness and sense of self. Thoughts of bloody crusades to spread the Absolute Truth and save the ignorant masses from the dangers of ignorance started sprouting in his mind.

'STOP!'

'Give up.'

Guy's consciousness started to fade slowly. His sentience was dissipating. His hard-earned second life was on the verge of cessation.