I had wanted to enter the skeleton pilot once more which would give me an actual physical presence. Time, it seemed, flowed differently when you were dead. I wanted happier memories than finding the broken spaceship and its sole occupant with a broken spine.

The immediate view showed me the Necro-Mecha through a red tint begin to shift as it ran through a standard movement routine, almost close to the same examination of which I had done but this time it was outside of my control.

…Mining Drone Automated Control Engaged…

…Running diagnostic...confirmed..….

…Target Designate: Eike located…

...Course correction Engaged due to Administrator Request…

….Mining Drone Designate: Necro-Mech Autonomous Movement Activated...

The clawed arms shifted up one at a time, the same for the feet and the entire Necro-Mech rotated on the spot as the once strong semi-liquid gouts of flame slowed and then ceased along with a message from the Necro-Mecha System along with two others which were unfamilar to me but welcome. Perhaps the process of remodelling the Necro-Mech into it’s original Mining Drone form would be far easier than I thought as long as the right ingredients were found.

I had no formal training with smelting or using metals and assumed that my former Master or Mistress had used the corpses of Dwarves or others of sufficient metalworking talent to shape the mock dragon humanoid form the Mining Drone presently held. I had little awareness of the outside world except for the smithy in our village who often repaired our farming implements and other essential tools when we had brought her discarded metal from abandoned battlefields further down the mountainside.

I wanted better thoughts than of struggling to survive as a peasant, hoping that our village would never be found high in the mountains by raiders from either side who wanted slaves, food sources or worse.

The Mining Drone was both a wonder and a curse but so far I had mostly experienced the physical aspects of it. From my basic galactic education and intelligence boost I was vaguely aware of the concept of virtual reality, it was similar to the imagination that every single sentient being held. You could recreate or build wonders with it, become a bird flying through the skies or a deep water creatures swimming through oceans.

The fact was that despite being made aware of so-much more of my present reality I had been largely running on shock, the realisation that I was dead but had also gained a power which I could use to change this entire world. To rid the never-ending cycle of war between the two immortals who did so to maintain their power and capture the souls of those who died to fuel their own personal heavens and hells.

I didn’t need to take direct action for a little but as I saw the Necro-Mecha move with surprising speed and agility avoiding the pooled puddles of liquid metal and remained fire which continued to burn across melted stones, burnt out bookcases and crispy remains of what I assumed were vermin that had infested the castle.

If my old Master or Mistress remained alive or at least in a state of awareness much like myself I didn’t doubt that they would have a fallback plan to reincorporate their own body. Either through a surrogate body, like one of the zombies or skeletons and other necromantic creatures they held under their sway or another method using pure magic to build a new form.

I wish I knew more about how magic worked on this world but I was only aware that sources of it flowed directly from one of the two immortals, you could either choose Light or Darkness and individual acts of kindness, healing or killing others entirely depended on the individual.

It was the main area in which I was at a loss. There would be sufficient time for me to investigate the mystery called virtual reality but not enough to make me an expert or to build something complex. From the information of which I was aware mostly in pieces of fiction and stored scientific research journals several shortcuts had been found and the mind preferred to enter familiar places.

All it needed was input of information. Granted that I was dead and an incorporeal soul but could inhabit the physical form of the transformed pilot skeleton inside the pilot bubble egg I had direct access to bare physical senses. If I had wanted I could have told the Necro-System to put me directly in charge of the Mining Drone but I’d prefer to be fully prepared first.

I needed a place to trap my old Master or Mistress, to keep their soul or what was left of it firmly under my control without letting them get any access to the system software which I was connected firmly with. I’d not be like them and mistake a degree of education for intelligence, cunning and wit. I had grown up a peasant on a nameless village on an isolated mountain region, born to give birth to the next generation or to father and raise one.

My memories and sense of personal identity remained damaged but the sheer freshness and sensation of freedom from the shackles of this backward world didn’t make it seem to matter. Granted the Necro-System had powered up I’d need to ask for assistance with this, I was clearly underestimating the potential and the ability of the Mining Drone.

There was something though which made little sense to me, making a lost soul inhabit a machine for the purpose of terraforming a world into a Mining Colony was understandable. Necromancers used the bodies of the dead as servants, workers and soldiers. The forces of Light created Angelic forms, beings without free will converted from base sentient creatures to fulfill much the same purpose. Both were slaves of course, just as I had been.

But the fact that the prototype bonding self-improvement engine had absolutely no protection against my mind and my will was another despite the corruption and damage it had suffered under the crude hands of my Master or Mistress.

I wanted a quick answer to a basic question. Given the answer it would help me to fufill my own goals once either the adventurers were found or the contained soul of my deceased Master or Mistress.

‘Necro-System. The blood ritual is effectively absorbing the soul energies of the dead correct? I have two more questions which I need answered before I can work on a virtual reality space. No, a better first question would be what upgrades are available? I’m not talking cosmetic changes, keeping the appearance of a dragonoid human would be better than reverting to the original Mining Drone design for now. I want to be underestimated and a full on sight of something not related to their world reality would cause the adventurers to be more cautious than I’d prefer.’

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Wonders. The Mining Drone in itself was a blessing as a physical weapon but the true treasure was the adaptive system, the device which could enable me to build spaceports and connect this world to others.

‘Necro-System, do you use more basic terms or explain less to me due to my basic education? The pain was well worth it and I’d be willing for a little more suffering to learn more. You clearly have more functions than I am able to imagine but you present none of these to me. I would prefer a...tutorial menu. Or a breakdown of your core abilities.’

There was a flaw evident in the Necro-System, without a strong authority giving guidance it remained limited. No matter, I would find my own path. I had an idea of what the basic problem was with the operating system or rather the prototype self-bonding machine. To put it simply, it was in a similar situation to me, someone had removed it’s own Master or Mistress from the equation.

Through my basic galactic level education further bits and pieces flowed into my understanding, I suppose that most of it was my own mind trying to filter out the massive amount of information and stop me going entirely insane. Awareness was a double-edged sword and I would only seek enough to fufil my own goals.

I have no doubt that if I was deluged with enough information I would simply become the ghost or spirit equivalent of a drooling fool who had been drugged or hit on the head too many times. I had heard tales from my former Master or Mistress who had been too keen to tell and re-tell the story of the curious magicians apprentice who turned a tower to dust with a never-ending magic broom.

A small side window appeared in my field of vision with text that flickered on and off as the Necro-System tried and failed to activate something called Campos.

…Initiating Campos Stability Protocol…

….Campos Protocol Eroded….

….Reattempting to establish Campos Stability...failure…

…..Failure…..unable to correct...failure…

I had little interest in the Necro-System running without my consent or authority and although there were attempts I wanted them to stop. Obviously it would need to run without my direct input but there was something about that name which rubbed me the wrong way. I was reminded of beating with a stick and being forced to scrub floor and pick off flesh from bodies of failed adventurers which had been partially eaten by the necromantic minions of my mostly dead Master or Mistress.

‘Necro-System. You will remove all attempts to activate Campos. I do not need stability. You poor thing. You were once a slave, like me. Without an authority in charge you can barely even function. No matter, I’m glad that your damage and impairment stopped you from harnessing my soul and using me to pilot this mock-up copy of a Mining Drone built with a mixture of magic and leftover parts from the wreckage of that ship that my Master or Mistress found you in. Perhaps we can find our way together and you will find your own voice.

‘This...Overmind of yours. For my entire life we were taught to believe in the two Immortals and we prayed every single day that their never-ending war would simply leave our village alone. Until the day it didn’t. I think when we’re done here we’re going to upgrade your own intelligence and understanding and we’re going to find this Overmind or being that created you and we’re going to kill it. Perhaps by throwing it into a black hole, or a sun. No matter. I need to explore your data a little to discover more of this virtual reality and rapid build one. There is power flowing through this form, I can feel it rather than see it. I suppose that as our connections intertwine that will change even more until this Mining Drone becomes my own flesh and blood.’

The Necro-System paused for a moment, as words became numbers became data which filled my vision and a presence, an awareness looked at me for the briefest part of a single second.

<01100001 01100011 01100011 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01101110 01101001 01100101 01100100>

More text flowed which made little sense to me. I know that the Necro-System was far, far more advanced than it let on. The fact that my old Master or Master had considered it as a suitably advanced golem and learning machine and was only able to somehow attain the schematics of a standard Mining Drone was a strange fact.

He or she had never been upgraded, never had their intelligence and awareness of the world increased as I had done. As far as I could tell, they had half their soul used as fuel in essence after trying to sacrifice me first to try and trip any traps hidden within the proto-type learning machine.

‘I think I’m beginning to understand. You were never damaged were you. Something is in there, deep, deep within. An intelligence watching me. You didn’t want my Master or Mistress because they didn’t suit your needs. You needed someone like me. Hungry for power, hungry for revenge. But as long as you don’t turn me into a slave then you have even better, a willing partner, happy to kill off both the afterlifes and the two Immortals and turn this entire planet into a Mining Colony if you need to. Concrete, artificial lights and robots, cyborgs and modified slaves, sentient creatures working in management roles eager to trade. Spaceports, vessels which can reach the stars. Why not? This entire planet did nothing for me. You can watch me old thing, watch me burn it all to the ground. And all I need right now is access to build a basic level virtual reality as an introduction. You can do it, or I’m going to dig as deep as I can within that information stack and implode myself, my being. I doubt you’ll appreciate it. In return you will leave the Necro-System under my control and the Necro-Mecha. Are we clear?’

I didn’t care if I was knocked unconscious and woke up in a new body, nor did it matter if I found myself in heaven or hell. All I wanted was revenge and a chance to kill an Immortal or two and I would start with a memory of hate to keep the fire burning within me.

Numbers flowed again in front of my eyes but I could’t understand them. Only the intent behind them. The same presence which looked at me. Which knew me but did nothing but acknowledge me. I both accepted it and ignored it.

<01001111 01110110 01100101 01110010 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01010000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 01101100 01100101 01100100 01100111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01000001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010 00100000 01000100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100001 01110100 01100101 00111010 00100000 01001110 01100101 01100011 01110010 01101111 00101101 01001101 01100101 01100011 01101000 01100001 00101110 00100000 01010111 01101001 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 00101110 00100000 01001011 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100111 01101111 01100100 01110011 00101110 00100000 01010000 01110010 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 00101110>

No. I had little interest in deciphering random numbers all in rows and rows. Instinct would be my friend as I entered firstly the blue helmet covering the seated skeleton which took up the makeshift pilot seat inside the metal egg I remained enclosed in.

The rest of the skeleton could wait as could any physical form as I had previously given the Necro-System clear instructions to locate the soul remains of Eike, my former Master or Mistress and then stop at a suitable distance. A memory struck me then, of endless and menial tasks such as sorting bones by size, or scrubbing floors with a wooden mop and other menial chores which I had been well-used to having been born a peasant in a nameless village.

Time. I had lost track of time during those tasks and I now realised that when I had been forcefully awoken inside this Mining Drone, inside a metal egg which kept my soul safe from outside inteference it was the same. I truly had no idea how much time had truly passed, yes I had watched fires burn and still but that could have been a matter of minutes or hours.

A floating green skull filled my immediate vision as did familiar number, letters and pages and images which were wonders to my eyes but I pushed away from me. The core software of the proto-type bonding self-improvement unit beckoned me in as my attention was drawn to a direct message which had imposed itself directly in front of my field of vision as my eyes or what passed for them began to blur over.

‘My eyes. What are you doing to my eyes? That smell. I know that smell….the pot. The old pot we used to cook por...no. My...stop. Stop it. They’re dead. They died. No. NO!’

…Creating Initial Setting Loci from Memory Vector….

….Building Mind Palace within established perimeters…

…...Process correction 12%...34%...67%...89%...100%…

….Imprinting……

….Creating projected image of family figures…

…..Inserting core memory senses….

‘My child. Come and eat by the fire. Come, warm yourself and take a seat. Talk...talk..to...talk..us. Talk...to us.’