Steam Power: 90/100

Wow. Only a few steps had dropped me to 90% of the Steam Power meter. It didn’t seem like my new body was particularly efficient. But hey, the lady had warned me.

Maybe it was best to wait for that Administrator like she was suggesting. She’d said something to the likeness of “your steam power will not be as efficient without one”, or something.

The whirring of the massive airship brought my attention away from the bar in the corner of my vision. I squinted, and my vision actually zoomed.

Blinking away the disorientation, I examined the incredibly detailed airship that flew slowly towards my head. Metal spikes stuck out of the front as though the vehicle was prepared to ram into its opponents if necessary, and thick ropes and metal cords held it all together. A platform jutted out from the side of the ship, and a group of men leaned against the railing, looking toward me in wonder. Judging by their apparent size, I must’ve been as tall as a building!

Well, it’s only natural to wonder at somebody as great as myself, after all.

Don’t blame me for taking advantage of the moment to inflate my ego. I can’t afford another flat.

The crimson ship pulled up next to my face, my eyes automatically zooming back out as it approached. An older man in golden armor, sporting a mane of salt-and-pepper hair and a matching goatee, stood in front of the others, the wind causing his red cape to flutter in the wind.

He clutched a thick scroll tightly to his chest with a mechanical arm, and as the airship hovered before me, he passed it to an elderly fellow with a long white beard, dressed (in true Steampunk fashion) in what you might describe as Victorian nobleman-style. A tall black top hat adorned his head, and a miniature golden lion’s head emerged from the front of it. He passed a long silver cane with a spinning diamond top to one of the other men and unfurled the scroll, clearing his throat.

“Ahem. Giant, I am Court Wizard Abraham Alden Atkins. With your blessing, I will proceed through the Awakening Ritual.”

Oh. Triple-A is here for roadside assistance? What’s an Awakening Ritual?

The pleasant voice of the woman answered my internal question.

An Awakening Ritual is the human form of Administrator assignment.

I see.

“Soggywart,” the “Wizard” said, waving his free hand towards me. “Viridian. Smolder. Thirty-eight.”

What?

The guy was just spouting nonsense. And what’s worse, his friends (excluding the knight) were beginning to dance to it. I could tell the “Wizard” was starting to get into it as he began to put more energy into his reading. He began to sing the words.

“Tarantula!” he shouted into the sky, leaning back and waving his hands as the others formed a circle and rotated around him. “Seventeen! Handy! Monkeys!”

I idly wondered if I was in a coma, and this was a dream induced by the medicine I was being given. A friend of mine, Aaron, had told me about how the medicine his doctors prescribed him gave him super weird dreams. He wasn’t the healthiest guy, but he always put a smile on everyone’s face.

Micah confirmed Aaron’s statement after he’d been in the hospital in a medically-induced coma for a brain injury. Apparently, he’d gotten in a fight with a group of guys that were harassing some college girl, and one of them had pulled out a bat. They’d left him for dead.

But Micah survived. Somebody called the police and he managed to make it to the hospital in time.

At the time, it’d been a huge scare, but after that, it was one of his favorite stories to tell at parties, and we all had a good laugh about how he’d be the one to conquer death.

I smiled internally.

Looks like it was me who conquered death, Micah.

I brush away the snide remarks that it was, in fact, I who was caught by death. Begone, logic.

“Sugary!” the “Wizard” shouted again.

You look like a fool, dude. I thought, watching as the soldier’s expression grew more and more bored the longer the “Wizard” sang.

Administrator Assignment in progress. Please wait for Personality Override…

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Wait. What? The gears in my head literally turned as I processed what she’d just said. Personality Override?! Not today!

I tried to run. Damn the consequences. I’d run out of Steam Power before I just let somebody override my personality! That’s who I am!

But my body wouldn’t move. Try as I might, not a single joint would move with my command. Steam hissed out of my back as my gears locked into place, and my pumps slowed their oscillation. My body stood blankly, awaiting my fate.

Come on! I shouted inside the metal body. Move!

“Viva la France! Oh, that’s a weird one,” the man continued. His singing actually terrified me now, for what it heralded.

Personality Override in progress… 1 percent.

Damn. I just woke up here, and now I’m going to end up a metal slave to some fantasy stereotypes.

“Sturgeon! Ninety-eight! Chartreuse!”

Personality Override in progress… 2 percent.

Would it be so bad to just forget everything? Forget all the pain my friends and I have gone through in my life? Live with the bliss of a new world? My shoulders slumped. Or they would’ve, if they could’ve. Please, lady, don't turn me into somebody I'm not...

Her voice seemed to contain thinly veiled joy as she responded to me. Or perhaps it was just my imagination and desperation fusing together to scare me.

Personality Override in progress… 3 percent.

So that's how it is...

We continued like this, the man shouting, the woman reporting the percent completion, and my depression growing. It had to have been a couple of minutes, and judging by the woman’s report, it’d be over in the same amount of time.

Personality Override in progress… 47 percent.

I glanced to the man in golden armor, standing impatiently next to the wizard and tapping his foot, his arms crossed.

“Heretic! Steam Engine! Saravani’s Thigh!” The “Wizard” squinted at the scroll before muttering. “What the hell is a Saravani?” He shrugged, and was about to continue when he was interrupted.

“Must we do this now?!” The soldier shouted, throwing his hands skyward. “I didn’t realize how long this pointless ritual would take!”

“Pointless?!?” Court Wizard Abraham Alden Atkins responded furiously. “The Ode to the Steam Giant is a vital part of the ritual meant to appease it!” He glanced at me nervously and whispered, “Without this, who knows how it’ll react? It’s unpredictable!”

“I’d say it looks pretty damn appeased!” The man in golden armor snapped. “Let’s just get out of here.” He snatched the scroll away from the “Wizard” and passed it to another man, telling him to lock it away.

“Giant!” he shouted, turning back to me. “My name is Admiral Octavius Bracchus Grant!”

Error. Personality Override failed. 48 percent. Please resume Administrator assignment.

“What are you doing!” The “Wizard” hissed. He pointed at me with an open hand, and the other men that had been performing the ritual backed away from the scene. “This machine needs to be properly appeased! It tells us this in the ancient records!”

“Oh stuff it, Abraham,” Grant replied. “It hasn’t attacked us, and it’s stopped moving ever since we approached.”

“Yes but the ritual--”

“That’s merely ancient propaganda.” Grant waved his hand dismissively, and turned back to me. “Giant, you are the property of King Edward the Second! Do you understand?”

Failed to accept Administrator: King Edward the Second. Please notify the users.

Wait… The gears turned in my head. She wants me to notify them, eh?

I spoke, the clinks, clanks, and hissing converting my words to nonsense. “Understood. King Edward the Second is my Administrator.”

Failed to accept Administrator!!!

The woman seemed to be yelling in my mind. Her voice came, nearly... pleading?

Please resume Administrator assignment!

No, I thought smugly. I will not do that.

“The Giant says it… understands? If I’ve got that right…” the Court Wizard somehow relayed my message to the admiral. “There’s some garbled information but I think that’s probably translating to ‘I am the property of King Edward.’”

The admiral rolled his eyes. “Why do I even bring you along if you can’t translate properly?”

The older man glared at him, retrieving his staff from one of the assistants. He spat a scathing reply. “You do realize that this art hasn’t been practiced in a thousand years, yes? It’s merely passed down from my predecessors and will be passed down to my successors.” He gestured to one of the assistants and they brought forth a chest from within the airship.

“Is that it?” Grant asked. His associate nodded.

“Giant,” the “Wizard” appealed. “Please accept this humble gift. It shall empower you.”

The assistants opened the chest, holding it towards the sky to reveal the contents to me. I zoomed my vision in on the chest to get a better look, observing the gift with confusion.

Well what am I supposed to do with that?