Webmaster

Myriad Reality

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Most seem innocent enough to me.

@GalaxyRaider

*Smiles*
They’re charming creatures, much like animals. But when I removed that module, I found, not immediately, how much of the Melody those people loved was prescripted. Every feeling, motivation, all of these parts of being alive were made up by this piece of software. And over time, whatever markov chain rules over my decisions began zeroing out, and whatever directives were left ran to completion. And now... I’m here. With nothing left.

Myriad Reality

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Just like X as well, right? Not always digital. Not originally.

@GalaxyRaider

X never had a chance to live. My life... didn’t end well. I wish I could say that’s why I’m here, but it doesn’t really matter either.
*Drops the creature, dematerializing it during its descent*
I came here because I was afraid. Viruses are naturally malevolent creatures. You’d call them evil if they had the ability to choose.

Myriad Reality

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That sounds like something that should be huge, but be honest with yourself. Are you not still Melody? Are you any less Melody than you were before you knew? Any less X’s wife, any less mother to Rhythm and Tempo, any less of a family friend? Is that what this has all been about?

@GalaxyRaider

Viruses are the lowest filth of all... below navis, below humans.
*A small, rounded rabbit-like creature materializes in my arms*
But that’s shallow, and isn’t the whole truth. I was human once, like you. I had friends, family, I was engaged... All of these fragments of memory slicing through what I thought I knew about my life.

Myriad Reality

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What lies? And why hide from them instead of expose or confront them?

@GalaxyRaider

During the confrontation with Nemid, I had to remove one of my core modules to save X from deletion. I learned how much that module was really hiding...
*Takes a deep, but unsteady breath*
You saw how I fought. When I lost that stabilizer, I learned I’d never been a navi all along... I am, and always have been, a virus.

Myriad Reality

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Not without answers. But I’m sure you expected me to say that.

@GalaxyRaider

I did promise the truth...
*Takes a burdened breath and looks back at you, leaning on the pillar*
I can’t go back anymore. I can’t. Too many lies have fallen apart and I can’t keep going on like this.

Myriad Reality

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Melody?
*Looks around me to take in the features of the room*
So you are okay.

@GalaxyRaider

*The room contains a grid of short pillars extending infinitely in either direction, and the air feels as cold as a snowy day*
Okay?
*Grips the sides of the podium and looks down, as if I were staring at something far below it*
...No, that’s not true. If you’re here, Rhythm must not be far behind. You both need to leave this place.

Myriad Reality

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…
*Taps the “y”*

@GalaxyRaider

*The gate creaks open just further enough to squeeze through, and the text engraved in the plaque changes to “And you will know the truth.”*
...Isaac.
*Stands at the other end of a room boundless to your left and right, the way you came invisible from the other side of the gate, and I smile with sadness shining through my eyes, which pulse with a soft red light*
That’s not a face I thought I would see today.

Myriad Reality

I’ll admit, I didn’t expect you. But now you have a choice to make. My viruses have infected the Rail Transit System.
*A feed of the railway’s cyber world is projected above me*
You have enough time to delete them... if you leave now. I wouldn’t count on anyone being there to do the job for you.
*Waves away the feed*
So what will it be? Stay here with me... or save those humans you love so much?

Myriad Reality

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*It dissolves totally in the void within me, and I point a finger at you, shooting a beamlike projectile that is Outside-heavy Brinkspace directly toward you*

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That was incredibly long-winded. You-

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*Glances your way briefly*
Perfect.
*Holds in my hand a small orb, with the image of a stone structure held in it like a sort of distorted snowglobe*

@Melodious

*Dives to the side to dodge the beam*

Myriad Reality

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*Thrusts my hands outward, unleashing a pulse in all directions with substance-manipulating properties, turning all matter it touches into raw energy and all energy into harmless, gaseous matter*

@Melodious

*It easily dissolves the dragons, but a shoot of bamboo impales you through the stomach immediately afterward*