Dare I say it, I would have preferred the bullet.

Shuttling through a strange cosmic tunnel at high speeds my mind twisted and twirled as it was exposed to strange and bizarre sights. Strange crystalline structures that twisted and turned in odd ways, planets formed entirely out of jewels, gigantic worm-like creatures that shuttled between the stars, civilizations that spread themselves over lightyears, and flicking shadows that just eluded the edges of the universe's light, all were laid bare before me.

Though this wasn't behind the root cause of my discomfort and utter disbelief. I could live with eldrich nightmares and strange visions of the universe. The discomfort was instead caused by the de-boning.

Yes, I said it correctly, deboning. And yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. Deeply disturbing.

Now, before I pressed that big blue button I was not, in fact, expecting a de-boning. Nor was I expecting my soul to be stretched out into a fine paste. I really was expecting a bullet.

So, the feeling of thousands of invisible ants crawling across my skin was quite shocking. That and the revelation that I had not, completely, lost my mind to the point of visual hallucinations.

It was not a very painful process altogether but I did get quite the odd feeling as I deflated like a very meaty balloon.

It was a bit odder to feel my soul getting sucked out of my now nonexistent body and flung across cosmic space at the whims of a blue screen claiming to be the universe. A story I could no doubt tell my friends.

If they were alive that is. Communication kind of got cuff off near the end of the world and everything, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They all probably found a doomsday bunker to hide in while avoiding the sickness. Something that I wasn't too capable of apparently...

But back to my friends, how proud of them I was !!!

After all, they were all very resourceful kind, and quite smart people. They were people that I knew I could place my pride in. There were people I fought thick and thin with... they were... there were.. they were blank ???

For some reason, for the life of me, no matter what I tried I just couldn't remember their names... . It's strange, the people I used to know.... they have become nothing but vague silhouettes, eerily similar to the strange shadows tickling the edges of my vision.

*Ding!

Ah! Mr Blue Box has come to harass me once more. Their contents weren't the figments of my imagination after all. I do hope that we can get things sorted out rather quickly. After all, I have some rather heavy thinking to attend to. After all its not like you often wake up to find most of your memories blurred...

Now that I mention it the system did say something about being respo-

* DInG !!!

-Code-231242134124-

-- Welcome Ben Aetherus Dover To Processing --

-- Would you like to change your - True Name - before further processing --

I didn't really know how to really answer Mr. Blue box as I was somewhat lacking a body at the moment. So in my best efforts, I gave direct communication a try by just thinking really hard.

Could you just do me a favor and shorten it to Aetherus ?? If that is at all possible ??

-- - True Name - changed to Aetherus --

* Click *Click

-- Updating Records --

-- Commencing with processing ---

Honestly, although I wasn't really too happy about getting cut off there, in the end, I was satisfied with the name change. Although it's a bit fuzzy for some reason, I do remember planning to have that done quite a while ago before the end of the world. Though in all honesty, I can't remember why it was I couldn't go through with the process. And I'm not one hundred percent sure it was because the world was ending. I did notice that legal offices literally ran until most governments decided to nuke themselves.

In the end, all I do know is that for half of my prepubescent life I had been deeply scarred by the asinine joke my parents had decided to play on me at birth.

*Click

-- Scanning sentient entity - Aetherus - --

-- Scanning complete, Soul at 51% integrity, Mind at 36.2% integrity, Corruption Found at 87%, Psyke at 12% integrity, Bones 100% Deboned -

- Massive amounts of [ Ŗ̸̧̳̥̖̪̮̲͓͔̭̝͈̹̝͋̅̀̍̇̈͐͊̑ê̸̛͎̰̥̲̭͂̊̿͒̐̐̈̆͑͊̚d̸̳̥̻̬̤̫͈͓̗̞̝̥͒͆̑͑̾̚͠ͅͅả̶̢̧̨̼̼͎̪̲͓̭͔̤͊̔̾̐̈́̽̋͜c̴̠̻͙̼̳͔̣̖̹̥̻̀̾ͅt̴̨̬̰̗̩̻̰̹̥̼͈͉̮͒͒͊͜e̶̛͉̙͓̱̲̹͙̠͌̑̑͗͒͐̌̔͘͝͠͠͝ḍ̵̡̱̻̺͓̱̫͖͈̣͓̮͎͊̒͂͐͑͐̄̉͜ ̷̧̡̦̳̞̙͉̆̐̋̍̿̎͌͛͠͝ ] corruption exposure detected before initialization -

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

- Symptoms and negative effects - Personality disruption to the third degree, Mild dementia, Long term memory loss, Soul Damage, and corruption, removal of many basic instincts, flawed logic centers, changed behavioral patterns, addiction process hijacked --

-- Memory recovery impossible --

-- Soul damage unrepairable --

-- Emotional processes completely damaged --

-- Personality defects permanent --

-- Original designation changed from - Human - to named entity- The Flowering Gardener of A Dead Earth --

-- Lore collected --

-- Displaying Past Lore of - Aetherus- --

-- Note: corruption has resulted in missing information.

-- Once an inhabitant of the fallen planet, this poor creature was a victim to the corruption that swept its world. Transforming into a mass of flowing flowering flesh this creature cares for the very things that it cherished so much in life. Keep your ears open for its domain is marked by the endless chatter of a long-dead radio. Well... if you do manage to break into this creature's domain, past the endless forms of fighting fauna do treat yourself to a cup of milk tea, something that this creature somehow has an endless supply of. That and its own form of witty humor.

-- Reincarnation into Humanoid form impossible --

-- Reincarnation into Non-Humanoid form impossible --

-- Reincarnation into Physical form impossible --

-- Searching for other alternatives --

Now to say that I was a bit surprised by the things the blue screen was telling me was an understatement. I may have melted a bit towards the end of the Apocolypse but I made sure to remain presentable. Much more than those other humans in that strange gear that I had always seen shambling about all scared and such. They even forced me to chase them off my property once or twice.

How dare this system consider me not to be human. I.... I....

The synopses of what became of me was a bit strange but somewhat accurate.

I did kind of lose myself in some sort of plant-fueled trance near the end there..... I also did gain a few violent tendencies and memory loss... And if I really took the time to think, how the hell did I grow those man-eating flowers near the end ?? I was never very good with petunias in the fist place. Maybe the system did have a little bit of a point..... even if it was... painful.....

Wow, that was an emotion I haven't felt in quite a while actually. The corruption might have taken over near the end... dulling my emotions...

Well, in the end at least I can proudly proclaim that I held onto as much of my humanity as possible. I did go out after cleaning my house after all. Not to mention, after a nice cup of tea.

If that was tea....

Hmmm.. That memory loss along with insanity really was the real deal, wasn't it? And I guess in the end I can firmly say that I became some sort of plant-based monstrosity.... Not very reassuring to say the least.

Mr. Blue box... Dare I ask... How many humans did you manage to pick up...

-- 2,431,123,312 Humanoid intelligent creatures were de-boned --

-- 2,312,233,123 Have been confirmed to be human--

-- Alternative options for - Aetherus - Are still being explored. Hold --

At least it was somewhat comforting to find out there were more unaffected humans than monstrosities that got through everything. At least that meant that statistically there was a really good chance that all my friends and family weren't as broken as I was. Something I could get behind.

Though at this point it would probably be best for us all to stay separated. I really don't think many of my past associates or family would take finding me a husk of my former self all too well.

Especially when this husk was lacking quite a few major memories... Did I even have the same personality as old me ?? Would people I once knew consider me to be a friend or a broken remnant of the past?

Urhh, sometimes thinking was just too much of a pain.

Ignorance was bliss. I guess I learned that first hand.

I wonder what was really going on around me in those last few years as I tended to my little garden.

Was I gardening in the first place ?? Were the people I occasionally talked to even people ??? And how the hell did my house maintain electricity and water ?? Why do I remember giving a Teddy Bear a flower? Where did I get the milk for my tea ??? What was going on in that church ??

In the end, was society above ground just run by a bunch of shambling abominations while everyone else hid underground ???

Questions! Questions! Questions! Things I really didn't want to answer at the moment.

This is why I disliked floating about in space with nothing to do and nobody to move about. Well, I could observe the oddities of the universe but for some reason, they made me rather self-reflective. What did I see that made me soppy in a gigantic floating space fortress or even a sun the size of my old solar system ?? I don't know but it makes you think. Something I guess I haven't done too well in a long time.

Well, to be actually quite honest, I actually enjoy it.... Being able to think again of course... Not the questions though... Those... Those were fairly confusing and preferably avoidable.

-- It has been detected that - Aetherus - had reached the necessary amount of records and level of existence for protocol 2.3123 -2 to occur. --

-- Dungeon Core Conversion--

-- A chance only offered to the most broken that enter the care of the system. Destined to eternally battle for your life will you rebuild yourself from your old fragments or fall apart in the seas of the Ascendant Realm. Beware for your core shall be eternally coveted. Immortality awaits those who snatch it. --

-- Transferring authority of - Aetherus - to E#p*$@$S%%--

Well... That wasn't ominous at all, was it ???

And with a " Woosh " a " Crackle " and a " Pop " I was gone.