I have been fully revived it seems.
My consciousness snapped back to my body, and I stood there, isolated within the chamber.
I noticed my body has been fixed. Looking at myself again, it seems that I'm a plain human now. On the surface at least. Down within my body, I can feel those 'extra bits' ready to come out at any moment.
The chamber that I was contained in was… damaged, to say the least. The glass broke open and the liquid was gone. I stepped out while making sure not to step on any glass shards that lined the floor.
I gripped my hand into a fist, and stretched my body a little while before I turned and noticed Arch standing there.
"A...Avery?" He whispered to me.
I nodded in return, and without a word began conjuring some clothing for myself. The walls and floors are all a washed-out grey, and the roof is a pitch black pattern of wires and tubes pressing all over the place. There were no windows to this room, and I couldn't sense an 'outside' so to speak.
"You… are alive! You did it! I mean… we did it! How does it feel?" Arch ran over to me and grabbed my hand, holding it tight within his hands and shaking in anticipation.
He's always been a little bit active, and touchy.
Arch is my only friend, we've known each other forever now. Almost literally, as ever since things have been existing we've been around.
"It feels… awkward," I replied to him while looking down at my human body, it was difficult walking and moving around… but, I was used to being turned into a human. Dragons have that ability innately, Human forms keep our body temperature down and let us subside over less food. It's quite useful.
"Then, I'll alert Scarab!"
Scarab… I can't wait to see her again. I wonder how she has grown.
Speaking of growth, I noticed both Arch and I are a good portion taller. The results of new bodies I suppose, even so, I believe that's the reason walking is so hard for me. I might not be used to this height.
Arch looks… weird. His appearance is his normal gold hair and blue eyes, but his clothing was… abnormal.
It was like a simple robe, though lacking the refinement of one. It was a pure black piece of cloth that hung by his shoulders, his sleeves only covered his shoulders and the top portion only went down to cover his stomach.
A different piece of clothing covered his lower region, from which he procured a small rectangle. Light emitted from one side of the device, and I could make out depictions of people inside.
"Arch… what is that device? And those… rags you are wearing?" I asked.
"Hm? Oh, It's a cellphone. And I'm wearing a T-Shirt and some jeans. It's uh… Modern stuff." He responded before shooing me away, he began talking into the device… saying, "Avery's ok! Alert the Automata, we'll introduce him first thing and we'll get everything sorted out!"
Automata… I believe that is the species Scarab is.
Arch pressed a small red glow on his 'Cellphone' and placed it back within his… 'jeans'. I have no idea as to what they are, but it seems these extra souls do… which is a bit concerning.
Did I… mess up the timeline or something?
"Arch, how long have I been gone?" I asked.
He looked at me with a horrified expression.
"T...too long, buddy. I'll catch you up when Scarab gets here." He mumbled.
I turned away from Arch and looked at the building. Dull light appeared to be ambiently filling the room, and the air felt cold. It reminds me of dwarven technology, but more refined and cleaner… Scarab made this place, that I can tell. Arch's whole thing is Creation, but this sort of thing wouldn't be made by his hands.
I stepped out of the room into a grand hallway that was similarly designed, and I held my hand against the wall as I began walking through it. Something inside of me tugged against my soul, an aching desire to move and see this place for myself.
Arch turned to me as I exited, and told me "Hey, where are you going?"
"To explore," I replied, leaving him behind and walking through the empty hallways.
I was only wearing a short mimicry of those 'jeans' that Arch was wearing, and so I felt the cold air beat against my chest. It wasn't an icy cold, but one that was almost familiar. An empty cold, one lacking warmth but not activity.
I felt the air buzzing around me, it seemed the building was pushing me forwards as well. I… feel different. This place is almost alien to me, and yet it feels so familiar.
I noticed a window to my left, and walked forward to greet the outside. I stared out into the world before me, and saw only stars. The night sky surrounded the window, and I saw the earth below us.
I saw my reflection in the glass as well. My hair was neon white, slightly glowing as it seemed to wave in the air in a soft spikey fashion. My eyes were familiar, black with gold irises that resembled a reptile's. I was alright looking for a human.
"Hold! Identify yourself!" I heard from my side.
Two figures, each wearing plain clothing dyed both white and blue in a sharp pattern, entered a stance and watched me carefully. I turned to them and noticed they both seem to not be human. Their appearance was similar, though different to that of Scarab's.
"You must be automatons." I smiled and gazed at them a little longer.
"Identify yourself!" One of them yelled again.
I noticed their hair, it was a deep black with blue edges. The one that yelled was larger than the other, but still shorter than me. The other was quite small, and seemed to have much shorter hair than the other.
"My name is Avery." I introduced myself.
"A-Avery…?" The smaller one mumbled, pulling on the sleeve of the larger one. "That's the man Commander told us about!"
"W-Wait, that Avery?!" It seemed they recognized my name.
I turned away from them, looking back out into the stars. They were beautiful… the Earth was as well, though it seemed… greyer than usual. The colors were blotted out behind the glass, however that did not prevent me from noticing the small bits of metal orbiting the Earth as well. I turned back towards the pair of Automatons and smiled. "Isn't this view beautiful?"
"...that's… Avery? I thought he'd be more… intimidating." The larger one whispered, not particularly responding to my inquiry.
"I'll scan him to be sure!" The smaller one replied to the larger one.
I sensed his scanner looking through me, and into my soul. His body seemed to struggle under the intensity of the task, he started sweating as he tried to scan me. Until something seemed to click for him, causing him to say "Y-Yeah, that's him alright. The soul resonance matches up, but… there's something else in there."
Impressive. He actually scanned my soul, but… what the hell is 'Resonance'?
"Commander said something about his soul being experimented with, maybe it's that?" The larger one replied.
I walked over to the pair, who cautiously backed away. They turned their combative stance into a more casual one, and I got a better look at them.
They were both rather adrogynous, even their voices were difficult to determine. Their clothing was rather pretty though, I must admit. Up close it seemed to be a buttoned cloak, one tightly wound to cover their body. The smaller one reminded me of Scarab. I reached my hand out to the smaller one, lightly scruffing up his hair.
"A-hey! What the heck!" He responded.
"Oh. My apologies." I lifted my hand. "I don't know what came over me."
I… didn't intend to do that, hmm… I see.
"N-No, I mean… it was just so sudden!" The small one grabbed the sleeve of the larger one, and turned to her.
"This intelligence unit is under my jurisdiction, sir. Please refrain from such actions." The larger one remarked with a bit of frustration on her face.
"Intelligence unit?" I asked.
"Yes, all maintenance units are paired with an intelligence unit." She responded, pulling her sleeve away from the grip of the small one.
"Yes, I am Intelligence unit 'TH-0X', you can call me Thoth!" the small one smiled.
The larger one seemed upset at hearing this, and tapped him harshly on the head with the hilt of her blade.
"We aren't supposed to use nicknames in front of superiors! You are going to get us in trouble!" She yelled before calming herself down and introducing herself. "Ahem… I am maintenance unit ES-3T, it's my pleasure to meet you, Avery Hall."
"The pleasure is all mine. And, do not worry about being so formal. You can use your nicknames around me, I won't tell anyone." I smiled, to which the Thoth replied with a smile of his own.
"Understood, then you may call me Eset." The larger one sighed.
"We aren't doing anything in particular right now, would you like us to escort you to where commander Scarab is?" Thoth asked.
"That would be very helpful, Thoth. Will you join us as well, Eset?"
Eset sighed and nodded her head, Thoth seemed to be happy at this conclusion and began leading me by the hand down the hallway.
This place seems to be quite interesting already.