Tales of the Old World Demon Lord
Chapter 8 – Endgame
[Eternum Calendar 1971]
Morgant stared quietly at the contents of the folder for solid few seconds before snapping himself back to reality. He took a deep breath to regulate his exhilarated heart; contemplating how his life would change once he chose to walk the path of the ancient humans. The ‘Kinesis Enhancement Project… Sovereign’s next step in human evolution,’ a plan that should have long died out and buried beneath the sands of time. Yet here he stood, a young boy trying to uncover what was once greatest lost secret of ancient man.
A power created for the sole purpose of taking control over humanity’s own destiny. Ancient humans were weak, no, it wasn’t just the ancient humans but even now they were weak. Every day the elements of nature would take hundreds of lives; they had to live at the mercy of their world and their own limitations. Thus to rise above the rules of nature, to rewrite the entire chain, Sovereign created this power, yet…
“[The power of Ancient humans, ‘Psychokinesis’ was usurped by nature.]”
As if she had read his train of thoughts Ingrid had interrupted him. ‘What did she say?’ Morgant tried to quickly retrace her words.
“[Usurped by nature? What do you mean by that?]”
“[The product of this world, ‘Magic’, surely this phenomenon too would have its origins somewhere. The desperate power of ancient humans, without a host it was warped by nature and took on a different form.]”
Morgant was a quick witted boy; he instantly understood what Ingrid was trying to say. His eyes widened as he took a look at his own hands, the hands of this world. ‘The origins of magic…’ now that he thought about it, if such power existed in the old world then there wouldn’t have been any point in creating psychokinesis. At the very least, what he understood through his vision was that there was no such thing. ‘Then when and where did it first originate?’
“[It can’t be… but magic has existed since time immemorial!]”
Why was he so angry at this small and insignificant revelation? Morgant himself could not accurately answer this question, perhaps it was because magic caused great strife in this world and he felt tangentially responsible as Sovereign’s reincarnation.
Or perhaps it was because what Sovereign had once painstakingly created was stolen and bastardized by this world. Twisting and turning the dimensions into a form no longer recognizable even to its original creator. That too was an understandable rage; if an enemy took your weapon and made it their own, it would be no less of an exaggeration to call the ensuing emotion as ‘mortifying’.
“[Psychokinesis is a power created specifically to enhance biotechnological synthesis. However even after the old world was lost the power continued to exist. Without the complementary conduit of technology the remains of that power was stolen and adapted by nature; Magic. This is also why fictitious creatures of myth have been spun into reality; through psychokinetic hyper evolution even minute animals were imbued with more power and mutated into law defying beings. Elves, demons, dragons and so on, they are all the result of psychokinetic hyper evolution.]”
Ingrid explained, for a computer it seemed as though she felt actual disgust and contempt at what nature had done to her creator’s work. Or perhaps it was the through untold ages she had to herself that she developed these personalities and formed her own opinion.
“[So then everyone already has psychokinetic enhancement within them? Then there is no point in me partaking in that potentially life-threatening surgery; I’m a resident of this world also. I too should have the ability to channel magic.]”
Morgant responded, for some reason feeling more and more desperate as he learnt about the two worlds.
“[That is incorrect, magic and psychokinesis may have had the same point of original but they have divulged too far apart and now can be seen as two completely different powers. As you already know, the purpose of psychokinesis was to augment technology, not to replace it as magic has.]”
Morgant lifted his head and stared numbingly towards the blackened abyss that was the sky of the ancient city of Gladsheim. He could feel the pride of his former self seeping into his mind, slowly but surely corrupting him. Or rather it was himself that was amplifying the ideologies of Sovereign within him; as an orphan, even when surrounded by allies and friends he often felt lonely. A quiet approaching fear that one day everything he ever loved will leave him, thus he felt a liberating satisfaction as he stood amidst the apparitions of the old world.
To Morgant there was no greater feeling than knowing that he was once part of an incomprehensibly large and dominative entity. He didn’t need to feel alone because what now had his back was not merely ‘friends’ or ‘allies’ but the entirety of an ancient power. As he understood these a quiet but arrogant smirk etched across his face.
“[Truly he could be called ‘Sovereign’. ‘Evolution is merely adaptation to better suit the environment, but ‘Technology’ is mastery over those very elements. Because Psychokinesis was created with a specific purpose in mind, when it was developed into magic it turned into a concept that contradicted its core thesis.]”
Morgant grinned, ‘yes’ he thought as he nodded to Ingrid’s exposition. A strange and overwhelming surge of emotions rushed throughout his body as he heard those words. The old world of [Earth] was no more and the world he was left with was this one; the new world, [Eternis]. This world was a horrific world where magic wielding lunatics run rampant and distort the world to their liking; ‘savages’ that do not understand the very origins of their own gift.
In all honesty it was the first time that Morgant had felt this harshly about magic. It could be that the mere act of standing in the sanctum of the old world was reinvigorating the spirit of Sovereign within him. It rapidly consumed him with both pride and anguish yet it was not a feeling that at all hated. In fact the pride of his old world flared brightly from within as he decided to follow the impossible steps left behind by his former self, by ‘Sovereign’.
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He felt a powerful accord with his ideology.
“[To place the destiny of humanity in our own hands… I see, Ingrid, I’ve decided I’ll partake in that operation.]”
“[Of course Director, then I shall commence with the preparations for the surgery. In the meantime director, there is one other place that you might want to visit before we begin.]”
“[And that place is?]”
“[It is merely a storage room, however in it is still one fully functional Mk7 Gigandoll Power Frame. As you’ve heard countless times, our power was constructed to facilitate the synthesis between man and machine; as such that Power Frame will become an indispensible tool for your augmentation.]”
It didn’t even take a moment for Morgant to answer.
“[On my way.]”
Guided by Ingrid’s navigation he then left for the storage room.
…
Upon opening the doors to the large storage facility, ancient dust flew out from the inside as the cogs of time started to move once more. With the Sleeping marvel of Sovereign’s inventory disturbed it was unfortunate that Morgant could not witness its full splendor. Almost everything inside had decayed to time to a point where not even its former glory could be understood.
Morgant walked through the halls of the storage room filled with a mass of unidentified mess. He wanted to ask about what each of these objects did and how they were created but doing so would sap too much time thus he conceded. Perhaps another day he could come back and ask those questions, for now he was here only for a single purpose.
Making his way to the end of the hallway, encased in glass was a pristine, fully intact set of the Mk7 Gigandoll Power Frame. As Alice had pointed out beforehand the completed set looked a lot like a human skeleton, but once he thought about it the reason was probably because of the surgery he was about to undertake. Most likely the suit will be infused with him, no longer being an ‘exoskeleton’ and formally becoming his ‘endoskeleton’.
“[Ingrid, is this it?]”
He asked just to make sure he was looking at the right thing.
“[Yes director. Please wear the Power Frame and make your way to the surgery room.]”
Ingrid confirmed.
Without hesitation Morgant pressed a small red button on the side that lifted the glass shielding that prevented his union with the Power Frame. A subtle white gas was released as a result but Morgant paid no mind to it. He then looked at the partially completed Power Frame arm on his right shoulder and touched for a bit.
“I guess I can save it.”
Morgant spoke to himself as he took it off and gently placed it back on the floor. It was now useless to him but it was a reminder of what he could accomplish with his friends.
He then stepped into the completed Power Frame set and placed the partially constructed right arm into the pod as a replacement. Though the Power Frame was supposed to be at least a ton or so he felt nothing as he walked with even greater stride towards the surgery room. His body felt weightless as a feather, he could feel the power of ancient humans at his fingertips; the sheer destructive force that he could no unleash was almost thought provokingly dangerous.
As he was about to exit one more thing came to his attention. Just outside the corner of his eyes was a cylindrical tank filled with translucent orange fluid. Stopping in his tracks he walked over to gaze at what was inside. As he drew closer he spotted several black insects swimming inside, though they seemed neither alive nor truly dead. As though they were in a comatose state they simply continued to ‘exist’ within the translucent fluid which had been their entire world.
Placing his hands on the glass he asked Ingrid.
“[Is this also part of Sovereign’s work?]”
“[You are correct in that assumption, Director. [Specimen 6623A9B4] A living computer virus that is capable of rewriting an entire person’s DNA, effectively changing them from the very core. That being said this project was left unfinished due to economic and technological constraints. At its current form the most the specimen is able to do is render a person into a drone.]”
“[Isn’t that still completely amazing? To turn someone into a mindless puppet, just how many people would kill for the chance of such ability?]”
“[As is everything in Gladsheim, you are free to take them as you wish. However I suggest doing so after the surgery.]”
Morgant stared back at the small bug that seemed to stare right back at him with its bulging red eye. ‘To change them from the very core… huh,’ Morgant could only imagine how terrifying that prospect would be. ‘Sovereign…’
“A God or a Monster… I wonder which category you’d fit better into.”
Morgant asked rhetorically to himself as he took his hands off the cylindrical tank.
…
Lying naked with his back against the cold metallic table, Morgant looked up towards the blinding white light. Naked as the day he was born, with the faint scent of disinfectants in the air he closed his eyes as anesthetic was quickly introduced to his system. With his fading vision he could hear the voice of an older man playing the background. At once he understood that this was Sovereign’s voice; a recording left behind only to play when this specific situation came to pass.
“[It appears that I haven’t erred in my judgment when I made all of these recordings. You, my successor, have made the correct choice; by undergoing this operation you will be reborn with the full capacity of our epoch. Though I will never get to know what kind of world you live in, I do sincerely hope that this power is enough to help you accomplish your goals… as it has… as I hope it has with my own.]”
With those fleeting words Morgant’s world shifted from the bright flare to an all encompassing darkness. Much like the interior of a womb, all he could feel were the coursing life of the old world. Accepting the mantle of the old world he himself no stands to be reborn through its technology. It no longer matter that ‘Morgant’ was an orphan, the identity of his parents or why he was abandoned, because now he had a new origin.
He was reborn as the Sovereign of Eternis.