The War Hammer ( AOT x Male Reader story)

Chapter 20: Monster

The human mind is that of an improbable wonder. The complex arrangements of nerve cells that interconnect to the brain allow us to formulate thoughts, process pain, and think at a magnitude that is beyond anything seen before. Human beings truly are the wonder that will never cease to truly amaze me.

However, human beings aren't always able to grasp the complete vastness of their own creation. They only ever seem to acknowledge this when they do something they regard as truly incredible, something they could never achieve if they were not at their truly best. And they are right, such things such as inventing devices that could read the time of day, machines that could defy the very laws of gravity and physics, performing heroic acts that put the lives of others in a substantially better positions then they were before. Though, it begs an interesting question.

Are the acts of humanity, man, woman, and child, performed on the will of a higher consciousness.

I am sure those who hold a religious standpoint would say it is the guidance of their gods, those they pray to, their all mighty. And who knows, perhaps they are correct. Their own reality is proof of that, the clean air they breath to live, the warmth that was discovered through fire, the functions of reproduction organs to create more humans, the ability to walk, to run, to see, to smell, to taste. These are all blessings they regard as gifts from their saviour.

On the other hand, however, you have the views of those who hold no such faith, those who believe through the process of evolution that humans came to become so powerful through their own strength and willpower, those who believe in the indominable factor of nothing.

I look upwards to my mother from my book, the classroom of the cadet boot camp empty except for me. Moonlight shone through the windows to float to the desk's barren surfaces, dim lights from the bunk rooms next door dimly glowing through to shine on the pale skin of the creature before me.

"Humans" my mother began and ended. I stared into her eyes, the void of blackness that stared back into me. When I had first looked into those eyes, I was terrified. I relented against them; I hated them. The echoes of my panic breathe playing out in my subconsciousness sounded real, moments before I abandoned them. I was awake now, and forever would be.

"Humans" the void started once more, "Have and always will be the instruments of a greater power. Some call it God, some call it reality, some call it nothingness."

"When humans think of God, they believe in a human. When they think of reality, they believe in the physical facts before them. When humans think of nothingness, nothing comes to mind. Their mind goes dark, their subconsciousness turns blank. No one can grasp the idea that all these things are the same entity. Not a single human being will tell you that the entity they devote themselves to, that the certitude they follow so closely, that the nothingness they hear when they think of their faith, are all the same things. It is something higher than them, smarter than them, stronger than them, an entity that has lived reality infinitely, not since the beginning and not until the end."

I continue to stare into the void of my subconsciousness, at the creature that looks like my mother. I stare into the void through glass eyes, while the void stares back into me.

"Humans" I replied, "Always have, and always will believe in the reality before them , like a book, a picture, a painting, another human. They believe in their own reality before them. The human mind in this moment processes excitement, fear, anger, hatred, joy, and love all at once, before deciding which is truly appropriate, which one suits them best. Can one truly become the reality before others, the item of glorification and the wielder of their best interests?"

"To become the item of apotheosis is to discard all meaning in the idea of life. Humans will never truly be free, but you must not take that mindset away from them fully. You must give them something to latch on to, something they can believe in, something they believe is righteousness in its purest form. Only then, can a person make humanity its contrivance."