Dawnsreach sanctum
Stuart Domain, AKA Bastion Pass
Sol Continent
Terra, Gaea, solar system
Luminary star sector
Milky Way Galaxy
19th Vetraeus cycle, 50 New Solaris Prime
Emily watched in silence as Ginny adjusted the Mystical goggles on her face, the lenses glowing faintly as they focused on the armored automaton before them. The intricate gears and mechanisms of the automaton hummed softly in the still air, its polished surface reflecting the dim light from the torches lining the dungeon walls. The sense of ancient craftsmanship emanated from it, though it felt far beyond the reach of ordinary creation.
Ginny's hands moved with precision, her fingers tracing the joints and seams of the machine, her eyes narrowing in concentration as she pieced together the secrets hidden in its form. The goggles, powered by an arcane energy, scanned and analyzed the automaton's intricate design, revealing a network of runes and enchantments that seemed to pulse with a life of their own. It was a breathtaking sight—mechanical and mystical in harmony.
Emily stood just behind her, her gaze lingering on Ginny's movements with a mixture of awe and frustration. As a master crafter, Emily had spent years honing her skills, carving and forging with materials both mundane and magical. Her understanding of Crafthood had made her a skilled artisan, able to imbue items with power and create objects of great utility. But this was different. This wasn't mere crafting—it was something more.
Droid engineering, as Ginny had once called it, was a field that had always eluded Emily's grasp. It went far beyond the bounds of traditional crafting, merging mechanical artistry with a depth of magic that was almost like Creation magic itself. Only the most gifted, those with an innate understanding of both the material and the ethereal, could venture into this realm where life could be artificially crafted. It was a kind of mastery Emily had yet to touch, and she could feel the weight of that limitation pressing on her.
Despite her years of training, Emily found herself in awe of Ginny's expertise. She could see it in the way Ginny handled the automaton—like a symphony conductor coaxing life from an instrument far older and more complex than anything Emily had encountered. This was not merely a machine. It was a marvel, a piece of forgotten history. And somehow, Ginny seemed to be unlocking its secrets piece by piece. Emily let out a quiet breath, acknowledging her own limitations but also a spark of admiration for Ginny.
"Incredible," Ginny breathed, her voice tinged with awe. "This...this is beyond anything I've seen."
"What do you mean?" Emily asked, her curiosity piqued.
Ginny's eyes widened as she took in the automaton once more, her fingers delicately tracing the intricate markings along its armored form. "This level of technology—it rivals that of the Federation's," she muttered, her tone a mix of disbelief and fascination. "How is it possible for something that looks so ancient to possess technology on par with the most advanced systems we have today?"
Emily blinked in shock, struggling to wrap her mind around what Ginny was implying. The Divine Federation was a galactic powerhouse, known for its cutting-edge technology. It was a force to be reckoned with across the stars, its innovation rivaling even the Ganymede Empire, a technocratic society famed for its own technological prowess. To hear Ginny suggest that something from an ancient era of Terra—long forgotten by most—could compare to the Federation's might was nothing short of astonishing.
Ginny leaned in closer, her hands moving across the automaton's surface with a mixture of reverence and curiosity. "This metal... it's unlike anything I've encountered," she murmured. "It seems to be composed of nanoscale materials, seamlessly interwoven at a molecular level. Each rune... it's not just an inscription. It's part of a self-sustaining system, woven together like a living magical system. This is beyond even my understanding." Her voice faltered slightly, the weight of the discovery sinking in.
Emily's mind raced as she tried to process Ginny's words. Her gaze fell on the automaton once more, the glow of its runes flickering as though the machine itself was alive. "So you don't know how it was made?" Emily asked, her voice tinged with doubt.
Ginny paused, her fingers hovering over the automaton's surface as if uncertain whether to delve deeper into its mysteries. "No... but," she began, her expression hardening as she glanced up at Emily, "I can tell you this: you were lucky to get rid of it when you did. From what I've observed, this automaton has a built-in feature—it's capable of adapting, of evolving. The more it learns, the more it changes. This could have gotten dangerous."
Emily's brow furrowed as the implications of Ginny's words sank in. "Are you saying it could have become self-aware?" she asked, the weight of the thought settling over her like a heavy fog.
Ginny nodded gravely, her voice low with the gravity of what she was suggesting. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
The Automaton—the ninth race—has the potential for far more than simple mechanical function. They weren't like the other races. They were not organic creatures as they were built from inorganic substances, metals and alloys. But their evolution were a slow, generational process. The second generation, the Droids, were little more than complex machines, programmed to execute specific tasks. But the third generation—their descendants—became sentient, self-aware. They achieved what was known as artificial intelligence, and with that, they transcended their original programming.
Emily stared at the automaton in a new light, her mind whirling with the possibility of what it could become. The implications were staggering. If this was truly one of the early models of such a sentient race, what kind of power, intelligence, or even consciousness could it have reached? A chill ran down her spine.
"I dare say it might have achieved Ascendance, given time," Ginny remarked, her voice distant as she removed her goggles, the lenses fading to a dull glow. She exhaled a long breath, clearly lost in thought. "You should go ahead with your plans; this might take me some time to analyze fully."
"Fine," Emily replied, her voice laced with resignation. "Just send me a message if you make any breakthroughs."
Ginny nodded absently, engrossed in the data streams flashing across her monitors. Emily turned and made her way out of the lab, heading toward the familiar walls of the Dawnsreach abode. The door to her living room slid open, revealing the soft glow of ambient light and the comforting presence of her personal space. She let her white jacket fall from her shoulders, carelessly tossing it across a nearby chair before walking toward the bar at the far end of the room. Shelves lined with bottles of various spirits and liquor caught the light, and Emily's gaze lingered on them for a moment before she reached for one.
Her fingers moved with a practiced ease as she poured herself a drink, the liquid catching the light in a fleeting shimmer. She stared at the amber fluid swirling in the glass, her mind far from the present. Emily took a long sip, the warmth of the alcohol spreading through her, but it did little to soothe the weight she carried.
She thought back to the Federation—the place that had once been home. She had been banished fifty years ago alongside Leon, and while her resentment for Terra had been fierce, something had kept her from leaving when the Exile was lifted. Leon had returned to the Federation, but Emily had remained behind. She had chosen to stay, to witness the birth of a new era, to lend her hand to Sam in the effort to help the Terrans navigate the tumultuous challenges that had emerged with their awakening. Despite her efforts, despite her involvement in shaping the future of Terra, Emily could feel her connection to the Federation thinning with each passing day.
Once, she had fought alongside the greatest warriors of the galaxy, hunting Abominations as a Paladin, but her focus had shifted. Instead of wielding a blade, she had turned to the art of crafting—her skills honing as she worked closely with Sam and Ginny. Together, they had forged new paths and new technologies, and through their collaboration, Emily had begun to realize something about herself. She was more than just a warrior. She had always known there was more, but it was only now that the weight of it all was starting to sink in.
The battle with the automaton, where she had tapped into her ability factor, had shaken something deep within her. There was something strange stirring inside, a shift she couldn't ignore. Emily poured herself another drink, and then another, as the thoughts continued to swirl and the silence in the room thickened.
Eventually, the weight of the realization was too much to bear. She had to confront the changes within herself to understand what was happening. She set the glass down with a firm resolve and walked toward the center of the room, closing her eyes. The space around her seemed to shift as she sank into her Soul realm.
It felt like falling through an endless void, the sensation of weightlessness taking hold as she descended into the depths. The nothingness stretched around her like an infinite abyss. But then, as if by some unseen force, orbs of light began to flicker into existence, their ethereal glow gently illuminating the emptiness around her. The darkness seemed to recede, revealing a new domain, a place that seemed to exist outside the boundaries of time.
Before her eyes, a vast expanse stretched endlessly in every direction, a realm suspended between two worlds. The sky above smoldered with the dying embers of a sun that never fully set, casting an orange glow over the horizon, where the creeping tendrils of twilight curled in to shroud the land in an eternal dusk. It was a space caught between the delicate threshold of day and night, neither fully one nor the other.
All around her, countless orbs floated serenely in the air, their forms delicate and mesmerizing. Some shimmered with a warm golden light, their glow soft and inviting, like distant stars. These orbs seemed to speak of serenity, hope, and forgotten dreams, their gentle radiance offering a comfort she hadn't realized she needed. Yet, there were others—dark and pulsing with an eerie, unsettling energy. These orbs throbbed with shadows, their faint glow casting fleeting glimpses of hidden sorrow and power not yet realized. The air around them felt heavier, their presence more potent, almost suffocating in its depth.
Emily stood still, allowing the full weight of the scene to unfold around her, as the orbs danced in their eternal motion. She couldn't escape the sense that the domain was alive in some way—that it was part of her, reflecting the very essence of her soul. Here, in the quiet space between light and dark, she could feel the stirrings of something ancient, something deep within her that was beginning to wake.
Within the countless orbs floating around her, Emily could see figures suspended inside, each bathed either in light or in darkness. The soft glow of the orbs reflected the weight of their occupants' experiences, each one carrying a life, a memory, a fate that was now bound to this ethereal space. Emily had known her Soul realm well, or at least, she had before Terra. Since her arrival on this planet, something had begun to shift—a subtle, almost imperceptible change in the very fabric of her soul's domain.
Her mind drifted back, searching for the moment when the change began. It was after her first death experience. The memory of Freya Lughter's blade, cold and unrelenting, stabbing deep into her and leaving her to die in an abandoned lab, still haunted her. That was the moment Emily had felt real pain, the kind of pain that twisted her insides and made her question everything.
Had she truly died? The thought lingered. She had never asked herself how she had managed to reach out mentally to Leon, to call for him in her last moments, or how he had come to rescue her. The questions remained unanswered, buried in the turmoil of that day. And then there was the fight with Lance Al'Roth, where she had once again found herself on the edge of death, only to somehow survive. Another death, another strange resurrection.
The memory of the battle in the Echo field resurfaced. Sam had been the target of a fatal blow, but Emily had stepped in the way, taking the full force of the attack. The blow should have killed her, but it didn't. Or perhaps it had, and somehow, just like before, Emily had come back. She didn't know. She had never truly understood it.
As her gaze fell upon the orbs once more, Emily began to study the figures within them more closely. And that's when it hit her—these weren't just random souls. These were people she had killed. She recognized them, each face sending a shockwave of realization through her.
Nabu.
The Agent from Sector Zero. The one who had killed Stella, Sam's aunt. The one she had killed with Freya's help. Emily hadn't realized it at the time, but there had been a change within her after she had slain him. She had felt it—a shift deep inside, a ripple through her very being. But so much had been happening then, and she hadn't allowed herself to reflect on it.
Now, as she stared at Nabu's lifeless form within the orb, she couldn't help but notice how little he had changed. His features were the same, but his eyes—those once calculating eyes—were dull, empty, like those of a doll with no life.
But then, her attention was drawn to another orb. This one... this one was different. Her heart skipped a beat as she focused on it. A crippling pain shot through her chest, so intense that she nearly doubled over. The space around her began to quake, as if the very air itself was boiling in response to her concentration. Bubbles of energy formed around her, distorting the space, the more she focused on the figure within the orb.
It was as if she knew this person, a memory just out of reach, hidden in the deepest recesses of her mind. The more she tried to remember, the sharper the pain became. And then, the realization struck her with the force of a physical blow: the figure inside the orb was the only one glowing.
The figure was young, almost a child—no more than nine or ten. Her hair was dark russet, the same shade as Emily's own. But that was where the resemblance ended. Emily's hand reached out, drawn to the orb as if compelled by an unseen force. She could feel the unbearable pull of the memory, and just as her fingers grazed the surface, something grabbed her arm from behind.
Whipping around in shock, Emily found herself face-to-face with Leon—or so she thought. The figure standing there resembled him, but something was wrong. His eyes, though familiar, held an otherworldly glint, and the air around him hummed with a strange energy.
"Leon?" Emily whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "What are you doing here?"
"I am not Leon," the figure replied, his voice far too cold, far too... spectral. "I am... ????" The words that followed were spoken in a language Emily couldn't understand, a guttural tone that made her skin crawl.
"What?" Emily's confusion deepened. "I didn't catch that."
The spectral figure raised his hand in a dismissive gesture. "It seems your mind is not yet ready to accept the truth," he said, his voice soft, almost regretful. "Very well, just know that I am the Codex."
"Codex..." Emily repeated, her thoughts spinning. "Why do you look like Leon?"
The Codex smiled, a thin, enigmatic expression. "I took this form due to the familiarity you have with it," he explained, his form flickering slightly, like a reflection in disturbed water. He released her arm and snapped his fingers.
In an instant, Emily was thrown violently out of her Soul realm, the familiar, ethereal domain vanishing in an overwhelming flash of light. She gasped, her body jerking upright as she was thrust back into the real world. Her surroundings came into focus, and she blinked, disoriented. How had she been expelled so abruptly?
Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, a rotating grey cube appeared in the air before her, materializing out of nothing. It hovered in place, its surfaces shifting as it gathered atmospheric mana, the air around it crackling with energy. The cube began to absorb the mana, its colors changing, the surface resembling a Rubik's cube being solved in real-time.
And then, the spectral figure appeared once more—this time, no longer resembling Leon. The entity now took the form of a young woman, with silver blonde hair cascading down her shoulders and a round, chubby face. The lower half of her body shimmered and faded into clouds, as if she were only half-formed, drifting between realities.
Emily took an instinctive step back, her heart racing. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded, her voice rising in a mix of fear and disbelief.
"That's what I'm supposed to be asking you," the young woman replied, her voice echoing with an eerie calmness.