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A thread of The Construct phased back into the stream of time.

A new species had traveled along the Path. Chance brought them intelligence and passage through the First Gate. Luck brought them civilization and passage through the Second.

Now the Third Gate loomed, and only with volition would they pass through.

The drone did not land. It came in low over the city, hovering above its temples and towers, and from the sky, it deposited The Construct.

As the Construct fell to the ground, in that brief span, Its senses touched upon the new world in its entirety. From the minds of the world’s occupants, the Construct learned all there was to learn. It saw their past; their present; even potential futures. Its knowledge was complete before it hit the ground.

Then the Construct assumed a corporeal shape and designed itself in the image of the world’s dominant intelligence. It appeared before them, titanic and monstrous. From their four-dimensional perspective, the Construct was all-powerful.

The Construct expressed the will of the Creators in a language this world understood. It thrust Its message into their feeble minds. It was the same message other threads of the Construct had transmitted before. A message heard by a million, million species, upon a million, a million worlds.

The Creators’ gaze is upon you. You have been judged. You shall be Judged again.

Then the Construct manifested the Book, from which the species would learn – or would fail to learn. A second copy the Construct hid away in the heart of the planet. In this way the species would have two means of passing the Third Gate – continuity or discovery.

So began the period of observation. 1.5 sextillion radiation cycles of a cesium atom – 5,000 years.

During this time, the Construct waited in the bowels of the world. It assessed technological acumen and cultural advancement. But most importantly it maintained a dynamic map of social structures and divisions. This was of paramount importance. Unity was a primary requirement of passage through the Third Gate, for the difficulties of the Fourth Gate could not be surmounted by a divided species.

And so the Construct kept its watch for thousands of years. Only if the species did not forget, only if they heeded the Book well, only then would they pass through. Would they build the temple? Would they preserve the Book? The language of its writing? Would they forget themselves? Worst still, destroy themselves or their world? Would they stray from the Path?

Each of these things had happened a million, million times before. Any one of them, or a thousand other outcomes, and the Third Gate would become an impassable barrier, as it had for countless trillions of life forms across the multiverse.

At last, the time came. In the final year, the Construct spoke again – a message sent through machines instead of minds.

The Creator Draws Near

But this species did not heed the call. They had been so divided by war, their society in such a state of constant tumult, that they failed to thrive.

If a temple had been built, then six months later, the Construct would have announced itself again. It would have appeared beside the place where the temple ought to have been, activating it. If the temple had been built, the species could then have sent a message. They could have arranged the meeting. And, had they come to the meeting unified, they would have passed through the Third Gate. The Construct would have left them in peace and with the extraordinary knowledge of the dimensions beyond.

But the temple was not built. The second message was unheard. The Book unheeded. The Path untrod.

And so, at the end of the 5,000th year, the Construct eradicated them. As the Creator’s willed it, the Construct scraped the world clean of unworthy life. It fell upon the world as lightning falls upon a pine and sparks a great conflagration. It destroyed the world as flame destroys a forest, tearing down the old so that the new might thrive.

When the cleansing was complete, the stage set for new life to evolve in place of the old, the Construct left. It abandoned its fleeting corporeal form. The thread returned to the whole, outside of space and time. There it waited until another race, on another world, passed through the Second Gate.

In time the call came. Another thread divided from the whole. Once again the drone deposited the Construct above a city. Once again, the Construct understood the world and its people in an instant. Once again it took on corporeal form in their image, and shared the message, and gave them the Book.

And once again, the Construct waited and observed, for 4,999 years.

However this time, when the second message was sent, it was heard and deciphered. Despite their differences this species preserved the temple for millennia. Against all odds they sent the message and arranged the meeting. All that remained was that they appear together at the chosen spot.

As the eleventh hour approached – as their world was racked with spasms of conflict – the Construct – “The Behemoth” – watched and waited, and wondered idly whether humanity would succeed where so many had failed before them.

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READ MORE FLASH FICTION

ACTION	APOCALYPTIC	DARK	ESTABLISHED UNIVERSE	FANTASY
FUNNY MAYBE	HORROR	MISC	PULLIN’ THE HEARTSTRINGS	SAD MAYBE
SCIENCE FICTION	SCIENCE FANTASY	TWIST ENDING	WTF IS THIS?

READ LONGER STORIES

THE DEMON’S CANTOS	INCIDENTAL SUPERHERO
BENEATH	THE HUMANITY SAGA
THE TRAVELER	I, LYCANTHROPE

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