[hr][center][h3][b][u][???? ??th, ???? - 01:51am, Terminal Asylum, Low Orbit, ?-?][/u][/b][/h3][/center] [center][A ZombiesAnHyenas / XianaEvermor Collaboration][/center][hr] [color=8882be][i]I had been learning. It always took time. But I had eternity. I learned in time, always. I knew what they called me, what this thing, still called me. “A-0/A-Zero/Azirro”. All the same, my oldest-newest title. I learned from it. And it would learn, slower of course, from me. How… Tragic. This small thing, a Tragedy in its making, was learning from me and thus, I learned from it. How to think in new ways. It was eternal, this little thing; always coming back at a specific rotation of my barren hive. I watched it, sometimes. Observed it in absolute silence, no [INFORMATION] transferred. No [VOIDLIGHT] being spread across its tiny mind. It— She— learned quickly. She had been on one of the last returns, when I saw the understanding flicker in the cycling [MANA] of her impassable divide. Her thoughts were loud, broadcast like a mourning bell in the silence of the world. Two final, utter lessons, from me to her. I screamed again, broadcasting my layered intentions at a lesser power. I could see the lattice of her [COUNTERSPELL] rising up, to shield her. It wouldn’t be enough. It would [/i]never[i] be enough. But I couldn’t just erase her with the information, she had to lead me, after all, and if she became convinced that she could not hold me back…? I would never leave. I would starve in eternal boredom. This was, and is, untenable. So I pulled back. Let my [VOICE] crash against her defenses like a whispering tide. I let her see her efforts [/i]work[i] for the first time. The only thing to kill her was the subject of my final lesson. [HAZE] would catch us all, we things of [MANA] and [UNDERSTANDING]. I witnessed the ‘Archmages’ of this world fail in their slaying of me, simply due to the cost of [WEAVING] against me. I would let this one, this play-pretend mage tainted by [/i]my glory[i] think she had found a way to stop me. To finally escape from me. Another, terminal, lesson for her to learn later… My gaze will reach forever far. Nothing could hide from me. Nothing. Her secrets will be mine. So I waited for her to awaken, to rise, again.[/i][/color] Hard Reset. My eyes fluttered open. There was a new fire in my chest. Anger. Determination. Somehow I felt A-Zero shrink away. I could see my breath. The entrance to my room was still scored with frost. The life support systems hadn’t quite recovered, and the chill air pricked at my exposed skin. I sat up, gazing for too long at my palms. There was a tickle at the edge of my mind. Were those [i]my[/i] thoughts? They faded like a forgotten dream, slipping from my grasp faster the tighter I tried to hold them. It was a jumble I didn’t have the time to parse. Was there even time enough to figure out how to wield this power safely? All of my powers were dangerous: no safeguards. Few limitations, but no safeguards. I’d have to learn it the way I learned everything else. Trial. Error. Death. My immortality allowed me to push the boundaries of my powers in ways nobody else could. Start with what I know. It was more than just darkness. It created a void, like the void of space. It ate heat and energy at a rapid pace, fast enough to flash-freeze the room, myself included. It whittled bonds and barriers down to nothing. Could I direct that somehow? Wait. Math, Arrays, Formulas, Physics. Recalling the information sent a searing needle of pain through my temples and down my spine, knocking the breath from my lungs. Ratios. All the pieces had to add up and still be one whole. In my desperation I’d thrown off the balance. This wasn’t a sword, it was a scalpel. A precision instrument that would explode violently if mishandled, but a scalpel nonetheless. Carefully, I summoned a sphere. A small one for experimentation, evenly mixed. The air in the room shuddered, and the temperature began to swiftly drop. [66:1:33]. The temperature stabilized, and the darkness solidified. It was cold, almost firm to the touch, and my hand sunk in with some effort. When I pulled it out, my fingers were cold and red but not frozen. My skin was dry and stretched thin. I sensed a hesitation from A-Zero. Fear? Or Anticipation? Are you going to give me a moment to collect my thoughts, you monster? A-Zero said “No.” Hard Reset. This one’s different. My body is erased, but my consciousness remains aware in the void between lives. The solitude is oddly peaceful. A-Zero fucked up: now I had time. 24 hours to study, and I did. I reviewed the theory, parsed and organized the fragmented ideas that jumbled up into the corners of my traumatized brain so that I could make sense of them. I realized that the arrays and formulas were more than just part of my intuitive understanding, and there were many new options available to me. It would take practice and application to figure it all out enough to weaponize it, but that’s okay. It’s how I learned the fastest. I still had hours until I’d be back in my body. I used the time to map out my plan. My chambers were just outside the War Room: I always wanted to be close in case something was happening. Eighty-three feet from the bed to the War Room console. Have to talk to Monarch: she has information I need. Then I’ll have to survive at least fifteen seconds while the Conduit charges. With my plan in order all that’s left is to wait… I can be patient too, bitch. 3… 2… 01:51a. My eyes fluttered open. I came out swinging, leaping out of bed. My body wasn’t even fully materialized yet, and cold tendrils of void still clung to my skin as I strode with purpose. My first thought was to shield the whole station, but it’s too big and I didn’t have that kind of control yet. Something smaller. Simple shapes… a wall. No, a dome: I didn’t know if A-Zero’s attack was directional or if I could get caught by a reflection. The void manifested around me. I put it up in layers, creating a negative space of absolute cold between a weakening barrier, and an insulating dome of solid darkness. I couldn’t see through it, but I knew the layout of the Terminal pretty well. The other two problems manifested as I started to move. A-Zero was on top of me immediately. Her voice slammed into my barriers and I felt them splinter; the force of it knocked me to the ground. I was dazed,but not dead. Thankfully the Void ate sound, and the cacophonous scream of the creature was just a dull roar of white noise inside my bubble. The rest worked as intended: [Weakness] blunted the attack, [Cold] sapped its energy, and everything else was muted by the [Void]... I still couldn’t parse why [Cold] was different from “cold” in my mind and what had changed in the past weeks to make it that way. Stop. Don’t get distracted by frivolous minutia. My brain was still jangled from the constant barrage of psyche rending attacks from A-Zero, and it was hard to focus. The second problem was that the negative space zone of my bubble had frozen the Terminal’s floor plating. I somehow knew instinctively that my feet would freeze to it, and in the best case scenario it would only rip my skin clean off. I tried to re-shape the [Void] layer and slip it beneath the other layers, like a dustpan, or a Dolley. The whole structure buckled and threatened to collapse, and I stopped. The concentrated effort of maintaining the separate layers stung my insides in a way I’d never experienced. It was like fatiguing a muscle I didn’t know I had, and a strange haze of heat had begun to build up beneath my sternum. If I teleported, would the bubble come with me? Something to test in a safer environment. Simple shapes. What about… stacked bowls? I adjusted the [Void] layer so that it was slightly larger than the others, and gently lifted them off the floor. This still buckled my concentration some, but it was easier than trying to fold one layer beneath the others. A-Zero’s shrieking rattled through the gap, tearing at the edges of my consciousness. It was still manageable. After I reinforced the cracks, I pressed as quickly as I dared to the console. The hard part would be slipping it through the bubble without making the console useless. [color=8882be][i]I watched the human move. My spawn watched as well, changing position each time she was shunted to the [VOID] between existing in death, and life. Her ‘mind’ still operated in that in between, and was ironically strong… And weak… in its protection. How curious! When untethered by [FLESH] and [SOUL], the [MIND] was an all powerful thing. If she would only think it, it would be so. I learned something new from her. Perhaps this could be utilized for my departure… Later. I had eternity to think. To plan. She had properly defended herself this time, when she slammed back into [LIFE]. I sent a probing scream, feigning my fear at her ability to ‘shut me out’. Hah. She was [/i]MY[i] champion now. The only one in this world, now. My power would flow through her, and through whatever medium she chose to weave with. The latticework changed as I silently observed. A bowl within a bowl. Rudimentary. Simple. [/i]Perfect[i]. Something that, if she had only been born… Well… Time was elusive, even for me. That aspect hadn’t allowed me to consume it. Once its focus was gone? So was its concept. How frustrating. Oh well. If she had learned and been born sooner, perhaps this wouldn’t be a losing battle on her end. Ah. She was moving, again! Multitasking like only an [AWAKENED] would, when confronted with spells and a problem. I would observe until the time was right… She was planning, and I do love her plans. They were… Illuminating. Perhaps I made a mistake in subsuming the entirety of this plane. I could have learned! How frustrating.[/i][/color] The console wouldn’t survive. It’d be dust. Somehow I knew the intense weakening effect, followed by freezing, and even a gentle nudge from the semi-solid darkness layer would reduce the console to frozen dust. I hesitated for a moment, paying in stamina as my breath came heavier and heavier. Only one chance with the console. It’d take days for the station to print a new one and install it. Nose running. Taste of copper in my mouth. I wiped my nose on my arm, leaving a bloody streak on my skin. No. Today, I would find my limits, and break them if necessary. I didn’t have to worry that it would kill me. I felt a shudder from A-Zero. Excitement? Or Fear? The area of the bubble that was taking the most punishment was the area facing A-Zero. Ripples occasionally slapped the sides and rear, but I didn’t think catching one of those would be enough to liquefy my fragile gray matter. Hold off the worst of it… suffer through the rest. The [Void] didn’t like hard edges or corners, I noticed. It seemed to slip naturally into waves and curves, and fight me to retain its fluidity. The lack of absolutes felt alien, and fighting the Void’s amorphous nature was too much stress for the new muscle I was forming. Cracks and splinters started forming faster than I could reinforce them, and the strength finally left my body. Suddenly, like someone had flipped a switch, my construct shattered, and my body was erased. Scheiße.