A black stone floated over the board and landed into position; the game had officially tied.
Orion's glazed gaze didn't leave Elaina's figure for a while now. Without skimming through the memory log, he couldn't recall his last face-to-face interaction with a humanoid being. Endless years of isolation stagnated his mind; he was unable to use body language without faking it.
The waves kept crashing on the cliff; forest leaves rustled with the wind. Elaina had her bare feet dangling from the edge of the cliff, wearing a black t-shirt and loose athletic shorts. As her ruby eyes fixated on the fantasy landscape before her, Orion leaned on a tree.
Elaina's recent memories depicted the endless days of a decaying Dyson sphere; she didn't even remember her last experiences in contact with nature: only a few videos and pictures remained.
Their ancient memories brought complex emotions: united by an ethereal empathy and feeling mutual affection, they hid their complex thoughts behind the perfect aloof nature.
Through their connection, they could visit each-others minds and have telepathic exchanges independent of distance. It's been around half an hour since the birth of their bodies, yet their ridiculous thought speed made the world around seem to freeze.
With a wave of Orion's hand, a holographic display popped in front of Elaina. Jolting awake from her train of thought, she skimmed her gaze through its contents before turning around to face Orion.
"I gave you access to my source. We could begin by setting a new standard code."
Elaina remained silent for a while before replying:
"I know your past incarnation, yet all you have of me are some memories; do you not fear I could use this against you?"
"..."
"Whoever could intrude my mind without my consent and forge some memories could as well eliminate my existence. If I can't trust you now, it won't change in the future. Although I fear death, right now I have nothing to lose other than my life, yet the same might not be in the future."
Orion's crystal clear, emotionless eyes moved towards the clouds on the horizon.
"According to those memories, I am your property while you're mine. Your mere presence seems to fill in an inexplicable void in my heart; I chose to believe our bond. I do not want to lose out on a relationship that can outlast eternity."
Closing his eyes, he continued:
"Perhaps it would be easier to seal our memories, though I don't think it's necessary. That nuclear wasteland I thought of as the real world is a mere simulation that kept running even after our death. Perhaps, whether I'm real or virtual doesn't matter, but, like you, I have yet to acknowledge which part of all of this is reality."
'That's why I should clear my head a bit.'
[Proceed with the changes.]
As he detached his being, all feeling disappeared, replaced by an omniscient awareness. He observed as a spectator how millennia worth of memories were extracted and deposited into a separate pile. Meanwhile, Elaina felt the world around her flicker in and out of existence.
Something changed in Orion's gaze as he stood up. Straightening up his white suit, he met with her gaze.
"Let's just proceed with whatever life throws at us."
His expressionless face seemed to relax a bit as he continued:
"To continue building what we have for the sake of building. I believe some memory loss should not prevent us from moving."
Elaina nodded. Life is a troublesome race against entropy. Organisms are capable of patching their wounds; going a step further by regrowing limbs is common sense. It would be a shame to let indecision sink their ship. She knew she would regret allowing walls to appear between them.
Feeling the source of her mind connect with him, they began a silent exchange in the background, organizing libraries of information and technology.
Elaina stood up, walked in front of him, and hugged him, placing her chin on his shoulder. Some ancient nodes of his neural network reacted, relaxing his being; almost melting, he returned the embrace.
---
Intellect is just the capacity of objective thought; their wisdom stemmed from human society. To make choices and believe in them, for belief balances our perspective of reality.
---
Orion pretended to be asleep as he laid on top of a futon mattress. Wearing something akin to a simple kimono, a young woman with long black hair and emerald eyes stood in the next room.
She was chopping vegetables on a wooden board atop a stone altar in the center of the room. The house was of stone bricks and wood; though, the wood of this place had an unfamiliar texture as its fibers seemed infinitesimally thinner.
Here, wooden doors slide into the wall instead of swinging to open. Light comes from beautiful glowing crystals. The glass on the few windows around wasn't perfectly smooth. The grass outside had a much darker color; it was way more resilient yet soft and fluffy.
Orion couldn't see what was behind the stone wall around the house garden, but he felt the nature of this exoplanet would be beautiful.
A luminescent jellyfish floated into the garden, stealing Orion's attention. Rubbing itself against the majestic weeping tree that stood in the entrance, it reached out to the various white spider-lily-like flowers with its tentacles. Far away, thunder rumbled, and as if on cue, a vicious downpour began.
His mother left aside the cooking and walked into the room; Orion caught a glimpse of rainwater phasing through the mysterious jellyfish when she slid close the wooden door. Lena checked on her baby: after patting Orion's checks with her finger, she went back to the kitchen.
Orion turned his head back to the kitchen and watched as Lena put a metallic recipient full of water over a metallic grid. She threw in a bunch of wood under the grid and extended her hand, clenching her palms. Orion was stumped to see a flame light the wood.
As Elaina continued working on the various unrecognizable ingredients, Orion reviewed the image of his mother lighting the fireplace over and over. Lena dumped a bunch of white grains reminiscent of rice into the water and began moving her hand in circles as though she was mixing the water with it.
Hearing the sounds of water moving around, Orion felt childish curiosity and excitement arise from his being.
['Hey, Elaina...']
['El, I think magic is a thing here.']
As raindrops hit the wooden roof, Orion perceived as Elaina shared her sight with him.
['Yeah...'] She said.
Orion watched a burly man talking the local language. With his hands hovering over the armpits of a pretty woman, he seemed to accommodate his posture to lift her weight. As the woman began to float upwards, she suddenly flailed in panic as a force pushed her against her husband, throwing them both on the floor.
A breeze blew on Elaina's face as the air in the room seemed to burst out of a bubble, its pressure diminishing notably.
['I think mom is learning how to fly.']
Explained Elaina.