Ascent

Heaven flutters serenely, displacing the raven's wings inside
A tumult of thoughts rises to the surface, devouring
Gold radiance floods me, the extended alchemy continues
What was  pitch is smelted
Prostrate I watch from beyond, with an ear-splitting crack my jaw distends, black clawed wings emerge and hold my mouth contorted at an impossible angle. I watch as my eyes roll back in their sockets as the other pulls itself from my body, growing as it rises to meet my gaze.
I lock eyes with the shadow within,  and stare into unflinching orbs that regard me with curiosity.
The shadow-bird-man floats closer, and tilts it's head, beak clicking in a steady rhythm.
Light fades, my peripheral vision watches the majestic wings curl around my back and hook into me, painlessly.
Sighing, waves of relief leak from my perforated back, staining the claws crimson. It rears it's head back, and with a Word springs forward and it's beak pushes through my temple, and once more I see all my past before me in an instant, and the manifested vision flows twisting through me, following it's proboscis.
Nestled comfortably within, the shadow realigns itself behind me, and my wings shelter me once more.
Aligned, the shadow waits patiently, focused. My wounds heal, past misery forgotten. An old journey continues. 

Progress

Dawn edges nearer

The star looms infinitesimally closer

Watching as the Earth's eventual demise spurns our efforts

We build life rafts to send into space, seed pods that causes our bacterial species to continue to multiply, enveloping more and more worlds, consuming all materials in our path

The myriad other life forms we contact are either completely destroyed or domesticated, left as thralls of their former selves.

By mating, we take all their characteristics and adapt them into our next generation, casting off refuse like snakeskin.

A intellect that can dwarf mankind's could choose to either augment or cripple us, removing any threat we may pose to the organism, leaving us in a state of protection while our minds are harvested regularly for data – processing thought at near-incalculable speeds, our data rising through a funnel – the ultimate pyramid scheme where we have agreed to their whims in order for peace and stability. Human rights, right humans?

Ancient adepts of several different spiritual schools of thought have long claimed to be able to contact intelligence on a different realm, perhaps now we are heading towards where science discovers what was previously known as magical.

As I write this I am partially crippled with sadness and regret that I had once KNOWN, has now been reduced to doubt while sharing knowledge that perhaps should not be shared, an old trope, of a person going insane having received information they cannot comprehend yet, though when the comprehension is reached, further enlightenment can be achieved. As everyone who has been through any severe emotions realises, the lesser emotions seem, well, lesser in comparison. The knowledge can be used for either positive or negative purposes, though everything requires both positivity and negativity. We have a choice how much we should receive of either. The old maxim of ignorance is bliss is a clue here, for we are creatures that hunger for knowledge, and would rather know, peek behind the magician's curtain.

Aware of how both I and others I care about around me are changing, our communications now so much different, I imagine a future where our vocal chords have been evolved away, each note we try to pass on pitch perfect, ambiguity removed from intent.

I cannot help but feel that this is my fault – that our communication has changed due to me passing on wisdom that (some caution) should have remained secret, as it has for untold aeons. Yet as information is shared at a unimaginable speed compared to twenty years ago, the correlation is that people should be learning at a faster and faster rate, yet even here humanity has come up against another stumbling block – critical reasoning, the ability to recognise that all opinions are propaganda, have biases that may escape the first read through. Whose side am I on? Whose side are you on? Without knowing you, the reader, I pass my thoughts and words on to be consumed by some other, with the intent that even if I am disagreed with, I will benefit from the criticism, and if agreed then the goals we share shall continue to become nearer to achievement.

In closing, in this best of all possible worlds, what do YOU want?