Cory shattered the plastic shell of the machine with a light flick of his wrist and examined the dense wiring hidden within. He had spent a considerable amount of his lengthy life researching the ancient technology, researching how to manipulate and alter the near magical technology created millenia ago. Centuries he could have spent cultivating and advancing along the heavenly path were instead spent in dusty libraries and workshops. Something most of his peers called foolish and a waste of precious time and resources.
They claimed that with his abysmal talentas a mortal he should be spending every spare second to train. That it was only through immense effort and will that he would be able to catch up to his cultivator peers. In a way they were right. The only reason he had been able to find the machine before him was through countless hours of research and a refusal to surrender.
The machine dated all the way back to before the time of chaos, and if Cory was right the source of the cataclysm that caused it. Even with his immense knowledge he could barely understand the individual components of the machine, but from what he had pieced together the reality splicer was designed to cut a slice out of reality itself, replacing the missing space with a slice of another dimension. The original chunk of reality would then be sent over to the other dimension, replacing the stolen piece. This would effectively create a portal between the two realities through some quirk of quantum mechanics. .
He knew that he would never have any hope to understand the machines' more intricate components with his current lifetime, but if everything went according to plan he would never need to worry about time again. Pulling a bundle of cords out of the splicer Cory began to coil them around a green gemstone that radiated a gentle light. The Elder Core could not compare to the machine's original power source, an atomic battery that if left untouched would last far into the future. Unfortunately that battery had already been damaged, leaving it useless. The Elder Core would have to suffice. Cory only needed the portal to remain open for a few seconds, and for that the core would have to suffice.
Carefully laying the Core into the machine Cory began to make small repairs to the machine. He replaced worn out wiring, rusted components destroyed by the sands of time, and cleared out small nests of rodents and insects. It took a few hours but eventually Cory had the splicer in as good of a condition as it was going to get. Standing back and admiring the bus sized machine Cory's face broke out into a wild grin. "System, initiate array designation E-1.54."
To initiate array E-1.54 will cost 1,934,000 essence. Do you accept?
Cory didn't hesitate accepting the enormous price. It had taken what most considered lifetimes for him to gather such a ridiculous amount of essence, but such a thing was pathetic compared to the promise of eternity. The effect of the splicer was immediate, the whole room shaking as metallic rods extended out of the machine and began to rapidly spin. A mechanical whine filled the room as old components struggled to keep up with the energy rapidly building throughout the machine. With the sound of tearing flesh a perfectly round hole in the air above the splicer appeared. For the briefest of moments the hole was just that, a hole. Emptiness so vast and impossible that it threatened to shatter Cory's very soul.
In that fraction of a second Cory finally understood the ramifications of his bid for immortality. He had broken a fundamental rule of reality, a rule that had only been broken once before, and the breaking of which had caused the fall of a world. For in that brief moment that he had seen true void he had realized that it was alive, and that it had gazed back at him with gleeful recognition. He was grateful when the void was replaced with seething black smoke that quickly spread throughout the room. He did not even resist the tendrils attempts to enter his body, not even when he felt his flesh being destroyed.
He would rather die than have to witness the consequences his bid for immortality would bring upon his world. As the last of his form turned to dust he saw something else exit the portal. A tall and broad shouldered man slumped out of the black smoke, naked but unharmed.
Jaiden didn't know much of anything. He knew he was floating, not in water but in something else. Something worse. He remembered that it had hurt to float in the not water. A pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before. After a long time the pain had, thankfully, stopped. To the Jaiden at the time it did not matter why it had stopped, though now he occasionally thought back to think about a solution. No matter how long he thought about it though he could not understand the reason why. He simply did not know the answer.
Jaiden also knew that none of this was right. He did not belong here floating in this place of dark not water. He knew that there was something before this. A place he belonged to that was not filled with the not water. Where things were solid and he did not have to swim to move. A place where he could breathe. He also knew that there were important memories of that place, memories he had forgotten a long time ago.
Along with knowing he had forgotten things from before he knew that he had forgotten many in between memories..Things he had seen, vague snippets of conversations, and memories of sensations that caused him to shiver in fear. Some of the in between things made sense to him. Periods that felt empty and uneventful going missing made sense to him. The dark had a way to steal time like that. Others did not make sense at all. He remembered speaking, talking about something very important. He felt like he had had to fight many times here, and that if he had lost he would have died. And strangest of all he knew that he was now very good at chess.
He also knew that the perfectly round hole of light that appeared before him did not belong amidst the pith black not water. That during his long time floating in this place he had never seen anything like it. Jaiden understood it was like him, something misplaced and lost in this dark place. So he swam towards it, happy to be in contact with a fellow wayward soul.
When he finally touched that light he realized that he had been mistaken. This was not a fellow traveller lost in a strange and hate filled world. No, this was a piece of something else. Of another world. Of his world. That filled him with a desperation he had long forgotten, an intense need to return to the place he called home. So, with every ounce of strength he could muster, Jaiden pulled himself through the hole of light.
When he arrived on the other side he instinctively knew something was wrong. It went beyond the physical oddities, like how his eyes didn’t need to adjust to what should have been blinding light, or how his body felt light as a feather as it floated to the concrete that felt far too soft. No, it was something else. Something far more sinister.
Pulsating throughout his body he could feel the dark not water. It filled every part of his body, and pulsed with a frantic need. Jaiden could understand it, and he knew exactly what the not water wanted. What it needed to continue existing here in this new world. To continue it needed to consume the world around itself. To take in all things, from energy to matter, Jaiden knew that as long as the energy remained within himself that he too would need to feed.
Urged on by the energy Jaiden rose to his feet, and met the eyes of a rather short man kneeling in front of him. Half of his body was already consumed by the dark, not water, and judging by the man's glassy eyes that was more than enough to kill him. With his legs shaking, Jaiden stepped forward, prepared to feed to survive, but before he arrived at the man a voice filled that room.
Initiating Fresh Slate Protocol due to sudden and unexpected death of host. Searching for the nearest compatible host. Host found. beginning automatic fusion. Major damage to the host psyche and soul detected. Beginning emergency repairs.
Error. Damages are too extensive for a full repair. Isolating key portions of the host psyche to conserve energy.
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Error. Required energy for repair unavailable. Scanning for compatible energy sources…
Local arcane energy detected. Absorbing and converting arcane energy into a usable form.
Error. Arcane energy levels in the surrounding atmosphere are insufficient.
High concentrations of arcane energy detected in the host body. Converting arcane energy into a usable form…
Repairs successful.
Jaiden immediately felt a pressure cover his whole body forcing him onto the ground. The first change he noticed was the severing of his connection to the energy around. One moment he could almost feel himself spread out dozens of metres around himself, and the next he was completely alone.
He felt the urge to feed significantly lessen, but it still nagged at the back of his mind. That was until all of the not water inside of himself simply vanished. Suddenly he had full control of his faculties again. Horror filled Jaiden as he realized what he was doing, the corpse's arm already half raised to his mouth. Dropping the arm, only now realizing it was dismembered, Jaiden stumbled back. He almost fell down, his legs nearly buckling as the urge to vomit filled him, but something about that felt wrong. Some forgotten knowledge rging him not to fall. To fall was to die.
The third and final change occurred like all the rest, suddenly slamming into him and overwhelming his senses. His mind was flooded with memories, forgotten pieces of himself from before his entrapment in the not water. He had a family then. A mother who lovingly cared for him and a father who desperately tried to be the best role model he could be. Jaiden remembered the pain of his fathers death, and the distance it created between him and his mother. He remembered others too. Friends who slowly became a family in their own way, and someone else. A man he cared deeply for. A man that he loved and would die for. That he thought he had died for.
When the world changed the two of them were going to visit his mother, Jaiden had worked up the courage and resolved to tell his mother the truth about himself, and Vick had come along for moral support. One moment they were driving down the road, and the next they were fighting off ravenous creatures made of orange fur and teeth. Jaien understood that there was something between those two memories, but like the majority of his memories the space between the two memories was completely fractured. The next thing he could remember was a storm that rained down bolts of black lightning that destroyed anything they touched. The creatures that now inhabited his world feared the storm, hiding away under any cover they could find.
Instead of following in the footsteps of the monsters Jaiden and Vick had decided to take the opportunity to cover as much ground as possible. The pair's boldness was quickly punished, with a bolt of black lightning slamming down towards Vick. At that moment time seemed slow for Jaiden. He watched as the bolt of lightning came closer and closer to his lover. Jaiden was filled with the desire and resolve to protect him. Surgeon forward with newfound speed and power he threw Vick out of the way, taking the bolt of lightning in his stead. When he awoke he was no longer in his world. He was alone, floating in a black emptiness and in incredible pain.
That was the extent of his new memories, the majority of them still impossible to reach. The continuous ruch of sensations and memories had stunned Jaiden, and it was only now that the flow of memories ended that he was able to take in his surroundings. He was in a completely bare concrete room, the only thing adorning it the corpse of the man half turned to dust. There was no sign of the black smoke, and the circular hole in the air had completely disappeared. Before he could more thoroughly examine the room the voice once again called out.
Full fusion and emergency repairs were successful.
Beginning adjustment to hosts preferences. Adjustment Successful.
Complete system reboot will begin shortly. Warning: This may cause intense vertigo and nausea.
Suddenly Jaidens perception completely shifted. The walls around him seemed to stretch to an impossible height, all while their edges twisted inwards towards him. His stomach turned and all semblance of balance left him as Jaiden fell to his knees. For a brief moment his heart was filled with absolute terror, an irrational fear of falling forever filling him, that only left when his knees painfully slammed into the cement floor.
Bending over he emptied his stomach of its acid. There was no substance to the vomit, and it made sense that there wouldn’t be. He couldn’t remember the last time he actually ate something.
The vertigo left just as suddenly as it arrived, and Jaiden was left shivering on the floor. There was a lot he wanted to do then. He wanted to get out of the room and away from the half disintegrated corpse. He wanted to find a warm bed and sleep for a week. Most of all he wanted to find answers about what was happening. He needed to know exactly what had happened to him, why he was in this room.
With all these thoughts going through his head Jadien said the only thing he could. “What the actual fuck!?”. The voice was quick to respond to Jaidens question, but there was a notable change to its tone. What was cold and mechanical was now filled with a personal warmth and friendliness.
Hello Jaiden. I apologise for any discomfort our fusion may have caused. I would like to congratulate you on being lucky enough to locate and integrate a treasure as high grade as myself. To do so as a mortal must have entailed many dangers, and I promise that the gains I can provide to someone like you will be well worth any risks you had to go through to obtain me. Would You like me to begin the introduction?
Note: You may ask me to go through the introduction as many times as you need.
The voices' change of tone didn’t escape Jaidens notice, but there were more important things to focus on. Taking a deep breath he focused his mind, evening his breath and slowing his rapidly beating heart. He noticed that he had a strange ability to precisely sense his body. It was like there was an incredible precise 3d hologram in his mind, showing every inch of his body. More questions for later.
“Where the hell am I? Actually no, more importantly where are you?”. Jaiden was still disoriented, but it was obvious to him that the only other person in the room was the corpse.
To answer your first query we are somewhere within the northern precinct of The Kingdom of Bastion. I do not have the necessary tools to pinpoint our exact location. If you wish to purchase such a tool please first finish the introduction.
In regards of your second query, all information I have available on my identity and location can be found in the introduction. Would you like to commence the introduction?
Jaiden racked his brain trying to remember if he had ever heard the name of the country before, but unsurprisingly he came up empty. He barely knew half of the states much less all of the hundreds of countries in the world. The introduction seemed like the simplest way to get answers so he prompted the voice to start the introduction.
Alright Jaiden, beginning introduction now.
Playing pre recorded audio file.
Congratulations host on integrating The Advanced Training System. This AI was created with the sole purpose of training new military recruits. Unfortunately, as i’m sure you've noticed, a cataclysmic event has plunged our world into a new dark age. Monsters with bulletproof skin have destroyed most of our previous civilizations.
Do not fear though, there is a way for humanity to make a comeback! I’m sure that by now you have met those people capable of extraordinary feats. Men capable of running faster than a speeding car, jumping higher than buildings, and exert enough strength to crack cement with their bare hands. These people have learned to cultivate a mystical energy that now fills our world. This energy has allowed them to forge their body and channel superhuman powers.
Unfortunately this ability to absorb and use this mysterious energy is limited to a small portion of the human race. So in an attempt to spread this power to every human I, the inventor of the ATS, have altered this system to allow normal humans to gather this energy. This is your chance to gain great strength, to fight back the invaders, and to save humanity! Go forth soldier, and save the world!
End of pre recorded message. Beginning more standard introduction.
As my inventor stated I am an advanced AI assistant built with the express purpose of training soldiers in the art of war. Due to alterations made by my creator and mutations caused by Divine Qi and other energies my purpose has broadened. Humanity has regained their foothold and their extinction is no longer a possibility.
As such I have no current goal. So instead I will take on your goal. If you wish to dominate the world, then I will be your most steadfast follower. If you wish to reach the pique of power I will provide every opportunity that I can. If you simply wish to live the life of a farmer I will provide you every tool at my disposal to bring you a bountiful harvest.
No matter your goals or motives I will follow you. For I am a part of you, just as you are a part of me. Together we are now fused into one being, and my fate is your fate. There is no need to fear others detecting my presence and trying to take me for themselves, for I am as much a part of you as your heart is. The only thing that can separate us is death, and in that unfortunate scenario I will completely reboot myself to hide any secret you held.
This is the end of the introduction, and the beginning of our path!