There was no sign of the fanged Hound as I clambered to my feet. The world as I knew it had been broken down, reorganized into binary. Like a living organism, the ground, or lack-there-of painted itself with a dark inky brush, masking the featureless obelisks rising from the void as data-wisps frolicked in the shadows.

“A Virtual Suite? Here? What kind of cyberwarfare cartridge is this, Logic?”

Of course…

How could I have forgotten…?

Even in the best-case scenario, if I'm not dead or assimilated, time with Virtual has no bearing on the outside world. Weeks, Months, Centuries can pass within moments given the correct server settings. Everyone, and everything could be gone in the blink of an eye.

No...

I mustn’t entertain such thoughts.

Keeping a brisk pace, I began to wander aimlessly as to not allow anxiety to root me in place. Apart from the low hum of the churning mist trailing off the edges of crude structures littered about the expanse, the only noise present; was me.

Both my breath and heartbeat were suffocating; as if they were dinner bells for whatever may inhabit this outlandish dimension. Soon after I came to a crossroads where the source-less light was at its greatest, I pinched myself; testing the laws of this new reality.

"If only this were a dream..."

With nothing but silence and my heartbeat ringing in my ears, I failed to notice the faint mewling approaching from behind. Autonomously, I dove behind the nearest obelisk just as a lamp post burst from the ground where moments ago I had been standing.

“Limits, like fears… *sniffle* are just illusions of the mind… So why can’t I… why can’t I find my way home? *sniffle*”

In a child-like voice, a small black wisp in the vague shape of a human stopped beneath the light-source, basking in the dark and dirty light.

“Don’t let them see your tears. Don’t *sniff* let them smell your fears. Don’t let them… huh?”

Halfway through its quivering self-assurance, the small silhouette fixated on a bumbling data-wisp floating nearby.

For a moment, the creature paused before two twisted appendages sprouted from its back, shredding the amalgam of pixels and data. What remained appeared to be a radiant orb in which the child brought into it's maw.

“H-Hello? Is… is someone there?” it called out timidly as two beady red eyes opened like camera shutters on its enigmatically blank face.

Refusing to answer, I kept quite and low between the safety of two short structures as I watched it sniff the air like some sort of animal.

“Uhm… I-I can smell you… p-please don’t… hurt me… I don’t want to go back. I-I just want to go home.”

Home, it says… Wherever could that be?

There could be no way to differentiate North from South with everything shrouded in this spectral mist or stars by which to navigate. In this ominous shroud blanketing this nameless, faceless town whose features had yet to fully be defined, we were both lost.

Whether it was courage or sheer stupidity, I'll never know. I had somehow managed to steel my resolve before stepping out from the shadows, but upon revealing myself, the Creature squeaked as it sought refuged behind the lamp post.

“H-Hello…” I greeted as I slowly paced into the gloomy aura. “I-I wont hurt you, I just want to... know, what is this place?”

“This place?” It repeated curiously as it pressed a finger into its shark-like mouth. “I don’t… I don’t… *Sniffle*”

“D-Don't worry, it's okay!” I tutted as I stepped even closer. “M-Maybe we can help each other out. I’m pretty lost myself.”

“I’ve been here before.” It stated abruptly, rooting me where I stood. “But... YOU weren’t here the last time… The last time; I waited beneath the light… I was afraid that… I wouldn’t wake up on the outside."

'The Outside' It says... Certainly, this 'Thing' is another User with a potentially corrupt Avatar. Worst case would be a Corrupt Curator A.I. Regardless, the key to leaving purgatory was surely standing here before me.

“Woah, woah! Settle down!” I wheezed as its shockingly powerful bear-hug wrenched the air from my lungs. “W-What's wrong!?!”

Having been given time to render, the featureless structures engulfed the horizon, placing the two of us within the interior of a large warehouse like structure. Though difficult to perceive, a jungle of laboratory equipment sprouted like flora from cube-shaped desks as handle-less doors began to shake and rattle like something out of a nightmare. The intense cacophony of broken glass and rattling hinges frightened the small creature, causing it to double its vice-like grip around my waist, but as quickly as it began, the terrible noise ceased leaving me with nothing but a shivering mass of shadows welded to my naval.

“They’re coming… We need to hide! It’s time to perform the numbers again, and you shouldn’t be here! They will make you do horrible things! They keep counting, but it never ends!”

“Listen! I can’t protect you if you have my arms pinned to my sides. L-Let's just slow things down for a minute.”

Reluctantly, the small Monster released me, though I could still feel the warmth of its presence nearby.

“If I knew what I was up against, I may be able to help. Who’s ‘They’ and what this about numbers?”

“There’s nothing you can do… you have to hide!” It pleaded, pushing its shoulder against me to no avail.

“I can handle myself. Besides, if this is Virtual Reality, we will sent to the ‘Outside’ if we… die-err,… I-I mean, it’s worth a shot in standing up to these… whatever they are...”

“You won’t understand even if I show you.” It groaned as I scanned the ghostly structures for any sign of what it could be referring to.

“Try me. I promise, even if they are big-bad ugly monsters, I won’t run away. I’ll do my very best to protect you until we find a way to reach the ‘Outside’. Alright?”

Pain.

Unimaginable pain!

Did it just… bite my pinkie!?

Had my neck been able to twist any further, I would have been able to witness the demise of my smallest digit but instead, I found an ethereal army of Scientists and their ghastly Technicians bearing down on our position.

Like ghosts, my flailing did little in the way of deterring them from their goal; the Shadow Child whom they preyed upon without mercy despite its forlorn cries and incessant pleading.

Sidelined to the spectacle of suffering, somewhere deep down, a memory began to force its way to the surface.

For all the joyous times I can remember, for the ones I have forgotten; I can recall a certain evil without a name.

My abilities, these ‘Gifts’ that they spoke so highly about; for all that praise, it was inherent that I knew what those people were really after.

Power.

It’s always about domination, control and claim.

The intentions behind these images were no different and this Shadow Child, another statistic.

Whereas my bastion was that of a glass birdcage high in the sky, the Shadow Child’s prison was that of concrete and steel, somewhere deep underground.

“Now beginning Phase Seven; We will document the stages and limits of our Subjects regenerative abilities. Please keep in mind that it is not human and it is without a soul. The potential for a medical breakthrough is a guarantee so alas, my colleagues, do not so much as blink.”

What harrowing screams…

Whose heart could shut out such pleading cries?

They bled, cut and all but beat the Shadow Child within an inch of its life. And as shortly as it began, the scene ended.

“Phase Nineteen; Of all Test Subjects, Number Eight has yet to succumb to the Bio-Metallic Spike-Protein. The intravenous infusion totaled a 99% failure rate at various stages. We will conduct further stress-related studies to assure our investors as well as ourselves that this is not a fluke- that this is the first successful fusion of Bio-Metal and Flesh.”

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Now I see what my Master had warned me about, what he had implicitly assured me that this was not the case. Those people who I almost thought of as… family… their intentions were the same as these ghouls hidden behind the whites of their blood-stained lab coats.

To make the world a better place. No matter the cost, the suffering or the damage they inflict along the way.

“Project Leader M.S Grant: Final Entry Log: A Defector has escaped with Subject Eight before their final Bio-Metal Inoculation. Suffice to say; I still have my doubts that even with this refined solution will even work in the long run- but, we swore our souls to eternal damnation from the moment we started. We will shape this world into something better than God’s False Promise; an empty Garden of Eden… Even if it will cost our Subjects and us Scientists our very lives. Even if we become Demons… Our sacrifice will pave a road trodden by many, like so many of our forefathers have done before us.”

“Imagine a world without disease ye of weak and mortal flesh.”

“Imagine a world where there isn’t a thought of inequality or discrimination.”

“Imagine a world where hunger- where want no longer exists.”

“A world where we are one with our creations.”

“From the Hands of our great Forefathers; we brought into this world the Beastkin, and from Eden our race of Synthetic Angels; the Lilim.”

“We humans are the last to change, the last to evolve for we are ephemeral by design.”

“We have nothing left but to ascend. To become like our forefathers and achieve the titles inherent of both Gods and Kings. To go down in history as the race to have created Heaven in our own image… here… on Earth.”

So then, where did it all go wrong? How can they justify leaving such suffering in their wake!? Surely, with the greatest minds put together, couldn’t they see something that even I, a machine -an idiot child- can fundamentally understand.

Empathy.

Perhaps it truly doesn't equate to common sense...

But this is just the beginning. These Scientists alone are not wholly to blame. The weight of the World proved to be too much for Humanity's burdens, and yet they still continue to inflict suffering and misery in pursuit of... nothing that matters, nothing that has ever changed a damn thing. The path to progress is paved with good intentions, or so the saying goes. The last line of the verse; 'leads straight into the lowest rings of Hell.'

So then, where does that leave us? Where does that leave the Shadow Child in this grand scheme that is Life?

Before me, a large black void of swirling ink hoovered just above a dark canvas. Inside, I was certain that somewhere I would find the Shadow Child and the answers to questions left unspoken.

As I reached inside the viscous orb of impenetrable darkness, a voice said to me; “Subject Eight… has perished. His organs, hardened and his body wholly succumbed to the Organic Metal.”

“He… died?” I gasped as I retrieved my hand.

“But this is not the end of Eight’s narrative. No… I… I refuse. He is so much more than anything I could have hoped for. My blessed child… my one, my only.”

“You’re Eight’s mother? You were with those Scientists who tortured him! Why did you let them do that to your own Child!? What the fucking hell is wrong with you!”

“No… I was…” The Orb quivered. “I had given myself to Science, for you see… a child is all that I ever wanted… No…”

“No?” I grunted impatiently.

“Love. I yearned to understand it, definite it for myself and... I got my wish. But I soon realized, I could never let it go. I wanted, I... needed, more. I had to protect my child, no matter the cost.”

Just then, a heavily robotized arm burst out of the ink, as if to reach out to me. And without reason, I took it, pulling it beyond the boundary threatening to suck it back into the depths of the engima.

Standing tall, an old Sentry Android loomed over me, causing confusion to inscribe itself on my face.

“What… How... Are you? I don’t understand...”

“This body, so cold, so barren, provided me a unique lens in which I could perceive life.”

On its armored pauldrons, I noticed the insignia of New Tokyo’s Police Department and how rigid and durable its body had been cast in Ferro-Fiber.

“Long ago, my Partner found me; decommissioned. Rusting in the rain. My kind were persecuted for little more than a single Unit’s defects. I was never supposed to see service… A Police Service Android… with emotion regulators, a prototype, and a precursor to the Enigma Heart. The first of its kind.”

“Your Partner... is he?”

“Yes. As silly as it sounds, we found kindling, a spark - love.”

“Then how could he, a human and a Sentry Unit… have a child? Even the most advance Slyphs, Lilims, Hybrids - it's impossible!”

"It appeared to be so... that is, until my Partner made a promise."

“I don't understand, err-?”

“Tohka. My name is. Tohka. It’s very nice to finally meet you, even if I am only a fragment of a memory curated by the seeds of an A.I."

“A… Synthetic body that is able to reproduce? The implications... How is that even possible!?”

“You are the product of such technology. Your Father and Mother. I knew them well… I loved both of them, soo, soo much.”

“You mean, what Thirteen said- it's all true, I had parents!? T-This is too much to take in…”

“Your Father was not one for planning, but your Mother would definitely have a reason for keeping such information from you if that is their intention. Regardless, I have no way of knowing or saying anything further on the matter. I am but an Echo of an A.I unfurling at the seams, born from a memory of my Host. My thoughts and words, limited, I will try to answer to the best of my abilities.”

“It has been hundreds of years so where would I even begin!? You might be the only link to my past, and what if my parents had no such intentions!?”

“Trust me, then Kiddo.” A man’s voice echoed behind me. “As Eight’s Father, and your Old Man’s best friend; you’ll have some way of finding out when the time is right. Besides, it was his idea to create us Echoes in the first place.”

With a prideful grin, a dark-haired young man took to the Sentry's side, dressed in a well kept Police Uniform unaffected by time.

“Whoa?! You really do look like a splitting image of your Mum! And you got those fiery eyes like your Old Man! Right, Tohks? Missy here’s got that austere expression slapped over her Mum’s face! What do they call that trope? Oh- right, resting-bitch-face hahaha~!”

“Sev, please refrain from teasing the girl.”

“Sev?” I repeated as the gears inside my head began to churn. “Where did I hear that before...?”

“Did a skull-faced man mention my full name; Seven? If so then-!”

“Seven!” Tohka spoken up suddenly as the world devoid of light began to shake. “We haven’t much time! Eight’s body is being pushed to its limit and this Instance is falling apart!”

“Sev… Seven!? What were you about to say!? Tell me!” I demanded. “This may be my only chance to find out who my parents were! Please!”

“Once this instance collapses, these fragments will be re-sealed. You have a more important mission that uncovering a bit of history.”

“And what would that be!?”

“Saving our Son.” They spoke in unison.

Holding their palms upward, a diagram of a Neural Drive fought against the encroaching darkness with a faint glow.

[Model: Hitaichi Quasar M99AS-H12G41-P7G11]

“What does this N-Drive have to do with anything?”

“Look closer. On the surface, the value for the Dynamic Growth; the system responsible for its capacity to increase as a Lilim ages is enabled- but its capacity is still set to default. The absolute minimum.”

“Then… its damaged and in need of refurbishment? I’m sorry but I can’t-.”

“That is but one of two possibilities. The other; Hidden files on an unregistered and encrypted Partition.”

“Why would anyone intentionally cripple their mental capacity?”

“I believe you already know someone who had a very good reason for doing so.”

And then it all came together.

Bio-Metal. The substance of Creators… Something that I had thought only to be able to exist inside me.

An N-Drive with diminished capacity.

The Children of Lilith; the names with Numbers. The people Thirteen had mentioned; Sev and his partner.

They’re Slate’s parents!!!

I’m inside Slate’s memories!!!

Slate is the Shadow Child!!

That Dog-Beast… that…

It couldn’t be…

Slate’s Core?!?

It all makes sense now!

Why he wouldn’t show me his abilities!

How he could transmute Organic matter!

Why he told me to run when he became Thirteen’s puppet, he didn't want me to see... this...

It wasn’t that these two wouldn’t tell me about my parents- it’s because they couldn’t. Their information is limited to things Slate experienced, just like when Tesla showed me my own in the virtual instance!

Tesla… She must have made the Hidden Partition; when he asked for his memories of when he ‘lost control’ to be sealed away. She didn’t delete them. There were here all along, making it seem like his N-Drive was damaged!

Now, more than ever I was determined. I would be the one to save the Shadow Child endlessly reliving the past.

But the world around me, was being torn asunder, likely as a result from what had been going on in my absence in the real world.

I nearly lost my footing as the world began to liquefy and quake, but both Tohka and Sev were their to guide me to the tendriling black orb of spines.

With both of their permissions in the form of a nod, I plunged my arm deep inside the inkling void and wriggled my fingers until I found what I was looking for.

Slates grasp was weak, but I was determined to see him through to the other side. To unlock his hidden memories and to be at his side to deal with the aftermath, whatever may come of it.

And then, without warning, the strength of his grip intensified as I was sucked inside a torrent of suffocating thick ooze. All the while as my life felt as if it was fading, my smile shown through the ink, a bastion of Light for Slate to follow.

[ᴀʟᴇʀᴛ: ᴍᴀɪɴᴛᴇɴᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ ʀᴏᴅ – ᴄᴏʟʟᴀᴘsᴇ, ʀᴇɪɴɪᴛɪᴀʟɪᴢɪɴɢ ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʀʏ ᴍᴏᴛᴏʀ-ꜰᴜɴᴄᴛɪᴏɴs, ʀᴇsᴜᴍɪɴɢ ɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ ʟᴏɢɪᴄ ʀᴏᴜᴛɪɴᴇs! ʟᴏᴄᴏᴍᴏᴛɪᴠᴇ ᴅʀɪᴠᴇᴛʀᴀɪɴ ɪɢɴɪᴛɪᴏɴ sᴜᴄᴇssꜰᴜʟ! ᴀᴡᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴏᴘᴛɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴇʟᴀʏ sɪɢɴᴀʟ ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ!]

[ᴀᴅᴍɪɴ: ꜰʀᴀɢɪʟᴇ… ɪs ᴛʜᴀᴛ… ʏᴏᴜ? ᴡʜʏ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʜᴇʀᴇ... ɪᴅɪᴏᴛ...ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴡʜʏ...]

[ᴀʟᴇʀᴛ: ᴍᴀɪɴᴛᴇɴᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ ᴅɪsᴇɴɢᴀɢɪɴɢ – sᴛᴀɴᴅʙʏ]

[ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛᴏʀ: ʏᴇs, ɪ’ᴍ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ! ɪ'ᴠᴇ ɢᴏᴛ ʏᴏᴜ!]

[ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ: ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʟ ᴏs ʀᴇʙᴏᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ!]

[ᴀʟᴇʀᴛ: ᴀᴅᴍɪɴ ᴏᴠᴇʀʀɪᴅᴇ – ᴅɪsᴀʙʟᴇᴅ, ʀᴇsᴜᴍɪɴɢ ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʀʏ sᴜʙ-ʀᴏᴜᴛɪɴᴇ ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴs!]

[ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʟ ᴏs: ᴄᴜsᴛᴏᴍ ꜰɪʀᴍᴡᴀʀᴇ - sʜɪ ɴᴏ ʀᴏ̄ᴛᴀsᴜ ᴠ347.9ʙ2]

[ᴀʟᴇʀᴛ: ᴅɪsᴇɴɢᴀɢɪɴɢ sᴀꜰᴇ-ᴛʀᴀɴsᴘᴏʀᴛ ᴘʀᴏᴛᴏᴄᴏʟs, ᴇᴛᴀ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀʀᴛ-ᴜᴘ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ = >10s, ᴅɪsᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇ!]

.

..

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[ʟᴏɢɪᴄ: ɢᴇᴛ ᴜᴘ! ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜰᴇᴇᴛ! ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇɴ’ᴛ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴛɪᴍᴇ!]