Seeing his sleek, obsidian black form reflected in the chamber wall, a thrill of excitement coursed through Kai, pushing back the lingering tendrils of panic. "First things first," he muttered, "get used to this new body."
Taking a tentative step, a metallic clang echoed as his knee joints protested the unfamiliar movement. Yet, they obeyed his will.
He rose slowly, deliberately, the rhythmic clicks of his metallic could be heard with each movement.
Reaching his full height of three and a half meters, Kai felt strangely small despite his new stature in front of the sheer size of the room, which was likely to be around twenty meters.
He raised a hand, the gunmetal surface catching the dim light with an otherworldly sheen. It was undeniably his, yet utterly alien. His fingers, long and tapered, flexed with a surprising fluidity. No longer flesh and blood, just the cold, unyielding metal.
He clenched and unclenched his fist, a satisfied hmm escaping his lips. "All metal, sure, but it feels... right. More responsive, stronger, feels like real limbs."
His gaze landed on the source of his recent confinement. It resembled a life support pod from the movies, but clearly not designed for humans or anything with flesh and blood.
Wires snaked out from the machine, some frayed and sparking, and mechanical limbs, some broken and mangled, lay discarded nearby.
A shiver-like sensation ran down his metallic spine. "That's… high up," he murmured, eyes tracing the distance between the pod and the floor – nearly half the room's height.
he murmured, "How did I not get even a single scratch? Ugh, but these pesky wires digging into my head are driving me crazy. I wonder what would happen if I just…" He hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing his face.
"Hey, voice! Whoever you are, can you take these things off my head?"
A metallic hand drifted up, instinctively seeking a familiar gesture – a rub against his chin. "Reincarnation, huh?" Kai mused, a humorless chuckle escaping his lips. "Seems that's off the table for now. Can't very well be reborn if you weren't dead in the first place."
The amusement died abruptly as a jolt of electric current ripped through him.
It was like a thousand tiny hammers pounding in unison from the inside of his skull. A surge of information flooded his system, overloading his newly acquired senses.
Pain, a phantom sensation in his non-existent nerves, flared across his metallic form.
He crumpled to his knees, hands instinctively flying to his head as a torrent of images assaulted his mind. The bitter fight with his girlfriend, fueled by anger and stinging words.
The door slamming shut, the sound echoing in his ears like a gunshot. His escape into the cold night, anger a burning ember in his chest. Then... a child. The screech of tires. Sound of horns. an explosion of blinding light.
And then… silence. A crushing, deafening silence. He remembered the crash, he remembered his death.
This was the aftermath, but where was the pearly white heaven or fiery hell he'd expected? This sterile chamber felt more like a cold, metallic purgatory. Was this… a second chance?
Kai clutched his head, a robotic groan escaping his lips. The information overload continued coming. It was as if a firewall had crumbled, merging his consciousness with the intricate code of the mecha.
both his Memories and the machine's coding flooded his mind with a torrent of chaotic data.
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After what seemed like an eternity, the agonizing surge subsided. Kai lay sprawled on the cold floor, eyes squeezed shut.
"Ugh," he rasped, "so I really did die. A second chance, huh? Better than oblivion, at least. But why am I still stuck with this… pain? Stuck in this metal shell? I guess cyborg or mecha is better than being nothing, but this isn't exactly the paradise I had in mind,...I don't want to move now."
Then, the metallic voice from before echoed through the chamber, devoid of any emotion.
[The mind integration is complete, removing the support system.]
As if on cue, Kai felt a cool sensation spread across his scalp. Glancing back, he saw the previously glowing wires attached to his head lose their luminescence and detach with a soft hiss.
They fell limply to the metallic floor, leaving behind a phantom tingle on his nonexistent skin.
A new voice, deeper and laced with authority, boomed through hidden speakers.
[The full authority transfer is complete.]
[ the last surviving Xerion is now in command.]
Kai lurched to his feet, a primal urge to understand his situation propelling him forward. He looked around, taking in the vastness of the metallic chamber. "What the heck is going on?" he shouted, his voice echoing off the cold walls. "Where am I?"
A disembodied voice sputtered to life, its initial clarity fracturing into static with each passing word.
[This is a Xerion starship... Model Moon Beta...n..no..Twelve-B... call..ca..ca]
The voice trailed off, replaced by a disturbing crackle that filled the chamber.
Kai squinted upwards, trying to locate the source of the malfunctioning voice. Confusion etched itself onto his features. "Uhh, what's happening now?" he muttered, a tremor of unease creeping into his voice.
Kai's mind reeled from the cryptic AI pronouncements. What did "last surviving Xerion" even mean? Just as confusion threatened to drown him, a blinding blue screen materialized in front of him, jolting him out of his inner turmoil.
Lines of text scrolled across the screen at an alarming rate:
[Host successfully detected, binding with host]
[Binding successful, welcome to the Evo System]
Kai blinked his metallic brow furrowing. "A system?" This was getting weirder by the second.
Then, another chilling announcement:
[Detected host energy core levels reaching zero, refilling a small amount of energy to avoid shutdown].
A white beam of light erupted from the screen, slamming into Kai's chest. He yelped, momentarily stunned.
"A system, of all things?" he muttered, his voice laced with a hint of bewildered amusement. "Is there anything more shocking here?"
Determined for answers, he addressed the system directly. "Evo System, was it? Do you have any information on my situation? Anything at all?"
His words barely left his lips when the blue screen pulsed with renewed activity. Multiple smaller windows materialized around him, each filled with a barrage of summarized data. Kai stumbled back, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of information.
A disembodied voice filled the chamber, its tone flat and emotionless.
[According to your request I can only provide basic info]
[According to analysis the host has died in his previous life form, reincarnated into the survivor of a species called Xerions]
The words hit Kai like a physical blow. A Xerion, huh? The system explained his new existence.
[Accessing Historical Archives: Xerion Extinction Event]
[The Xerion is a species born from the mix of energy and machine-like organisms.] 'Energy and machine?' Kai thought 'So, I'm some kind of living machine now? This is starting to feel too real. '
[ that emerged thousands of years ago in the galaxy Aion] 'Thousands?', it dawned on him 'Wait, how am I even understanding any of this?'
[ these beings possessed an intellect surpassing all known civilizations.] 'No way, that can't be true. How advanced were they really?' Kai thought.
[However, their rapid evolutionary potential triggered fear across six surrounding galaxies and formed the 'Supreme Glatica'.] 'Fear? That's an understatement! These galactic idiots were terrified of their progress?' Kai's metal fist clenched involuntarily.
[An alliance made up of more than a thousand interstellar species united under the banner of the Supreme Glatica, perceiving the Xerions as an existential threat for their species. In a tragic turn of events, the Glatica launched a preemptive strike] 'Preemptive?' kai thought 'They wiped out the Xerions based on speculation? Unbelievable!'
[ against the Xerions, obliterating their colonies and ultimately destroying their homeworld.]
[This act of galactic warfare nearly eradicated the Xerion race entirely.]
[But the host or the body host is in was launched prior to the destruction of their home planet in the starship we standing. By the "Mother Frame," the progenitor of the Xerions, facilitated this escape. ]
[And sending it in the dark matter clouds in the galaxy krion, a neighboring galaxy with relatively less life and many barren planets and dwarf stars known for its desolation. ]