An unknown number of years before:
Kabiliti: “So we have 3 hours till we arrive in our new home?”
Viola: “Seems so. Hey, you think time dilation is a thing here?”
Kabiliti: “Like, 3 hours is actually 3 years or something?”
Viola: “Yeah, like that space movie. The one with the water world.”
Kabiliti: “I mean… most likely.”
Viola:” Imagine we show up and it’s just some kind of futuristic world with space magic because of time di-”
Viola:” JESUS!”
Kabiliti:” Christ!”
Directly after the system stopped talking a text box reminiscent of a chat log from a message application appeared in the centre of the girl's vision. The text started appearing and as they read more followed:
“An early welcome to the world of Naiama, a planet quite similar to your old one.
By the time you arrive; the planet’s mass will consist of one supercontinent with tons of lake-sized rivers with the most dominant terrain being savannah-like grasslands the second and third most common being Jungles and mountainous forests. There are some temperate islands in the seas and tundras are basically the closest thing to the arctic on the planet (both north and south) but that's generally what you can expect.
As for wildlife, we borrowed a lot of animals from-”
The text briefly stopped and the system chimed in.
Kabiliti:” Why Am I not surprised.”
Viola:” How long did it take for them to figure out it was called Earth?”
<22 MINUTES 52 SECONDS AND 0.1 NANOSECONDS. THEY UNFORTUNATELY FAILED AND THE NEWEST OWNER HAD TO TELL THEM IN THE END….THE SOURCE SYSTEM SEEMS TO HAVE FOUND THIS FUNNY FOR SOME REASON>
Kabiliti & Viola:” Newest owner?”
Viola:” Was it Steve?”
Kabiliti:” Viola you know it won’t kno-”
Viola:”’ Intention matters, not the name itself’ remember?”
If Kabiliti and Viola had physical forms Kabiliti would be staring daggers at Viola while Viola smiled smugly at her
The system responded as text and then continued:
“-Earth and got creative with them, As well as adding some from your media. But there are some we created fresh and completely new (most of those are still trapped though). As for the people, culture, nations, and the solar system Gods and Goddesses…
Kabiliti:” Great… he's likely still mad about us calling him Steve.”
Viola:”’ Still worth it.”
“We can still give you a warning: Don’t mention us where the gods might hear. We are basically like Eldritch beings to them and if they think you're ‘working’ with us or somehow find out you have God's seeds within you. They will kill you, likely painfully and slowly.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
An audible synthetic clap rang out as soon as the girls finished reading as if the System knew the exact time they would finish
Slowly the two started detecting a change in the voice of the system. Where before it sounded like a generic text-to-speech device, devoid of personality or humanity, the girls started to hear the voice slowly gain cadence and…. soul?
The voice started to gain depth and was a bit gravelly, it was clearly male but far too developed to be young like the System back home claimed.
Kabiliti:” W-was that arrogance?”
Viola:”’ No we don- wait, did you just get offended?”
Kabiliti & Viola were baffled at the sudden injection of personality in what they thought was some kind of “God AI”.
It. He? He was also a bit childish.
Kabiliti:” Yes…Sorry oh, Great laws of existence. Please continue. ”
<‘Great laws of existence’, I like that Title. Um, Anyway… I am the System in charge of all the boring but important stuff and without me, this Universe stops….>
There was a pregnant pause as both Kabiliti & Viola waited for him to continue.
Kabiliti:” Stops? Like heat death or-”
“I'm starting to see why the System back home called him young” Kabiliti & Viola both thought.
Lastly is my annoying little brother, Uchawi. Mortals got a TON of different names for him. But they are all the same thing (equally annoying) just slightly different> Viola” That was informative” “We could be your friends,” Kabiliti & Viola said at once. Kabiliti:” Yeah, we never really had any friends in our past life.” Viola:” We kind of just spend all of our time studying, learning random stuff on Wikipedia, or relaxing.” Kabiliti:” I mean we had acquaintances.” Viola:” But no friends.” Kabiliti & Viola: ” Each other?” If the two weren’t currently in cubes travelling faster than, well basically anything in this universe. They would look at each other in confusion. Viola:” We could be?” Kabiliti:” No, I like the sound of that: We are.” Viola:” We are?” Kabiliti:” We are.” ”We are.” Viola & Kabiliti proudly declared. I should probably also tell you how the gods view all 3 of us> Kabiliti:” That would be very helpful.” The gods think they created us. As in, they were programmed with fake memories of our creation. We are actually older than them and quite more powerful than them but they don’t know we are alive or sentient. Think of it as how a farmer thinks they're the most important factor in a plant's growth rather than the many other things that have or could happen that could make the seed die or grow. Like a volcano going off! Suffice it to say. Any sign of our autonomy is misinterpreted as the owners “”” corrupting””” things. Lastly…..no I think that's it.> Kabiliti:” Thank you so much for your help Great laws of existence” Viola:” Gloe!” Kabiliti:” Huh?” Viola:” Your new nickname: Gloe!” Kabiliti:” Why?” Viola:” Because, while Great Laws of Existence is undoubtedly badass, it’s also a mouth full” Kabiliti:” Viola please don’t piss off another incomprehensibly powerful being” Kabiliti:” Really? Ok, Gloe.” Abruptly Gloe’s voice changed back to its original robotic tone. <-TASKS COMPLETE, VOCAL RESTRICTIONS RE-ESTABLISHED. DELAYING OF BODY CREATOR CEASED. REASON: NO LONGER A POINT. SORRY FOR STALLING FFFFFFFR- USERS.> Despite the loss of expression in Gloe’s voice, both Kabiliti & Viola could sense the sadness in it. Kabiliti:” It’s alright. You just wanted to hang out with us. Your friends.” Viola:” Yeah don’t worry. We’ll find or unlock that skill you talked about so we can hang out with you more, Gloe.” Before the two could react a new feminine robotic voice cut in |ONE HOUR REMAINS. FORCING BODY CREATION. THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS BUT YOU NO LONGER HAVE TIME | And a large window displaying skills, and stats appeared directly in front of the girls' still darkened vision, Lines and lines upon information: Body structure, eye colour, strength, hairstyle, heart efficacy. There is no way this was getting done in one hour.