That future place... like a precipice.

That future place... like a precipice from which they could see the interlocking patterns and design governing all of our confusions.
And while for many years they were content to just watch and see as we tried to rise above these problems, perhaps seeing how close we were to the appointed hour and seeing how close we were to rising above, took it upon themselves the dubious responsibility of leading us thru without revealing the answers.

The beginning came with that fateful meeting deep within the canyon stretch of Mars. The 2 beings, virtually identical, from the layer of their skin, to the patterns of their thoughts, were taken in that meeting and examined. Thru the seed they saw, from their unique vantage point, how far humanity had to go. and the subtle exercise which they had so finely conceived needed to be rethought. The 2 beings were dead. This state was a final stop for these creatures; their minds were structured with an implacable logic that said dead is the end. And in this realization, the notion that they were aliens to these creatures was never more apparent as well as painful.

The Alien and the dead

The souls of the dead flock to the millenisium light and instinctually build their city with it. And the living come and revere the place of construction as if it were holy ground; a site of reverence. The dead build constantly without constraint of gravity, time or space and do so with the strange ecstasy of a people who have been without home for eons. A Jumble of architectural styles, the rooms and patches of land that make up the construction are each reflections of the soul which inhabits it. If you were somehow to step back and see it as a whole, you might perceive the slight heaving of breath as the otherworldly structure inhales and exhales towards infinity.

An Unseen Hand of Reason

Perhaps they were running from fear and came stumbling into this place for comfort. Or maybe they were drawn to it like groggy eyed dreamers into a light. Underneath all of the seeming improbabilities of their meeting they were all brought together by an unseen hand of reason. It was a presence that they had all known for their whole lives.

It weighed their resolve. Waiting patiently, nudging them when necessary until one day they could be brought together within the presence of the Eschaton.

...and only then would their lives truly begin.

The day came, and it sent out a call. Many came to the city, their dreams giving form to the feeling within their heart. Dreams that could only be fulfilled if they were pursued.

Improv Comic Cypher

This was a fun thing I did with my friend Ted Lange. Its kinda like an exquisite corpse, or like when people get in a circle and freestyle some rhymes (something I will do before I die) or improv acting (another thing I will do before I die). But yea.. he had this one animal character named Patches, and I once drew a bunny probably inspired by his bunny. So yea... the improv thing was part of an even bigger idea... that kinda felt like a role playing game involving drawing. Bye.

Vortex

The world is ending and it is my fault... moment by moment people succumb to the dream spreading like a virus through the imaginary. The vortex holds them in thrall, hijacking their reality. I go now to the end of the world, to the holder of our world's salvation. If it will not listen... if reason does not prevail, there leaves no other option. I will die there and take the dream within myself or our world will die in its sleep... Sounds like a plan.

Awake Corporeal Servant!

Ghosts given form...They are ambassadors from the afterlife selling energy for the price of a few souls. Are they slave or master? Junky or pusher? Without the suit, they are formless and can regenerate anywhere. Without Millenisium they have no power.

Inner Dialogue with an Other Dimensional Diplomat

They spoke through their vessel and interpreter... the child, Daniel, who's mental doorway to the Word was opened from the moment he was conceived.

We watch him with awe and suspicion. Being that he is their mouthpiece, he is still merely a child, and to wield such power is more than any human being should be made to bear. What is it like to be this child? Can he possibly comprehend that with each dialogue, he becomes less human? ... and more alien.

Mental Sparring

There's a game we play in our dreams... We train ourselves to become more than passive observers and mold a reality dredged from the remains of our waking lives... The challenge is knowing it is a dream, becoming one with it, being loose enough not to choke the life out of something already teetering on the edge of existence. It is a competition. Mastery of this game, however, means grasping the utter essence of life itself. Some say its as if you could grasp the mind of God... overcoming the ego, and yet remaining human.

Self-Experiment

Alone with nothing to lose, Randell made up his mind. Life would not be worth living if he could not figure out the mystery calling to him from inside the crystal. It was worth the sacrifice...all he had was his own life. And his mind.

The love of his wife had gone. The respect of his peers... stripped. His children had forgotten him. This work was all he had. It was everything. What damage he would endure in the process of finding the truth, it would be worth it. And whatever accolades would be gained from his discoveries, he would welcome them. He deserved it all.

Recoiling at the thought with fake humility he said to himself, "I give it up to God."

The Experiment

At the Institute, our best scientists performed an experiment on the minds of 7 children, training them to interact with one another in their dreams. Slowly acclimated to that weightless space, conforming the Imaginary to whatever was in their imaginations, the children were slowly being prepared.

Deep within the bowels of the Institute lay a secret, and one day the seven would be the only ones on our planet who would lay claim to understanding it.

House at Dream's Edge

Say there was a civilization that existed in a dreamed up place.. Now imagine a house at the very edge of the dream, beyond which nothing else could exist. What kind of a man would live in this house? Could you imagine him using that telescope there to examine the state of the known universe? What if the dreamer was a child? As he grew older and let go of his dreams, would that universe and that house begin to decay?

(More) Robots

Robots are apparently a big deal in this story. and its only the prologue. Now, instead of a Crystal planet in the middle of some dark nebula, we are now on Mars where a terraforming operation using "Robots" is in effect. This is supposed to be after our astronauts have been mentally 'zapped' by the hyper-intelligent 'crystal' (as pictured way down below), after foolishly trying to cut off a sample (which people exploring planets would probably do)...

Robots & Crystals

So the idea here was that there is a planet made out of these crystals that were actually intelligent in some strange way. So strange that if you went near them, they would amplify your thoughts and cause some kind of aneurysm. But it didnt make sense that these guys would be on this planet. And I dont want to deal with warp speeds and shit. Then I thought it would be cool if they had some connection with, like, the Big Bang.

As you might have experienced, its a headache wrapping your head around this stuff... But I still might. This was the initial idea to the one you see below....

Hi!

The first men on Mars were actually more well known for being the first to come into contact with a documented other-dimensional intelligence. Being the first living things it had seen for a billion years, it attempted to tell them the story of its existence in the multi-layered language it was accustomed to.

It ended up frying their brains until they were in a coma from which they would never wake. But it was a start.

The being was sent back to Earth, buried deep underground, and studied. So begins our story.