After an unknown amount of time, Partner woke up in an unknown, scary, dark place.
"Aaah, this is a weird feeling," Partner stated. This was the first time something like this ever happened to him. Sleeping, or fainting, was unprecedented. At least for what he knew about Partners.
He anxiously examined the darkness surrounding him. There was nothing.
He floated around for what could be days… or minutes. He could not tell. "Well, with this pace, I even miss Stone," he uttered, contemplating the irony of the situation. The idea struck him, "did I die?".
"Nope. You did not die. But maan, what in the actual hell?! I was waiting for three fuking days until you woke up!" A voice echoed over the space. If Partner could jump, he would fly towards the sky with enough speed to break through the atmosphere.
"KYAAAAH!" He yelled as a Japanese girl watching a horror movie.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"So, have you calmed down?"
"…" Partner's mind flushed red, "yes."
"Good."
"Where am I?"
"Hmm… this is an illusionary space that you and your first host created very long ago deep inside of your soul."
"I am a Partner. I have no soul."
"… Shit," the voice cursed, "you had a soul, now as I look at it. It is ripped to mere scraps. What in the unholy hell happened to you?"
"And who are you?"
"You."
"Me?"
"No, You."
"But, I am me."
"Idiot, my name is You."
"Oh… my name is Partner."
"No, it's not," the voice dropped the bomb.
"Eh?" A golden radiance coming out of nowhere enveloped Partner.
"It's L…" The voice began to say, but Partner could not hear the rest as his mind got pulled out of the mindscape.
"WAIT!" Partner cried out, but to no avail. "Gods fucking dammit! STONE!" He screamed the moment he woke up.
"So… I go to sleep a little bit and look WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE, YOU MISERABLE STONE!" Partner cried out the moment he woke up.
"Oh, hello, Partner! I missed you!" Stone did not even protest about 'loud' as he was happy about the return of his friend.
"Don't 'hello' me! What. Have. You. Done!" Partner hissed.
"Nothing. I used a little bit of refined mana, there was a kind of strange voice saying something about specimens and my journal went bonkers with messages."
"I think I missed something here," Partner mumbles.
"What?"
"… nothing."
"…"
"What happened after I… fell asleep?" Partner carefully questioned, trying to avoid the word 'fainted'. "Be ready. Prepare yourself. It will be something insane. Be ready!" Partner internally chanted.
"I have so many questions. When you went asleep, I even felt lonely, you know?"
"Lonely…"
"I followed the dwarfs."
"Followed dwarfs…"
"They were doing something, but that gate was so beautiful. I decided that not every breaker of stone is bad."
"Uhuh. Not bad."
"They acted strangely. Well, they were odd even before, but they acted even weirder."
"Strange. Odd. Weird. I get it."
"One of those dwarfs picked up another and threw him inside of this strange bowl."
"Threw inside…"
"He bled and I remember that one lecture when you said that blood should be inside of the body. So I put mana cover over his wound and it stopped flowing."
"Yeah. Good Stone," Partner praised him.
"Yes! I am amazing!"
"What did that strange voice say?" Partner perked up.
"Hmm, something about forceful evolution and breaking through limits. My journal said something about failed countermeasures and for a while, I felt a pressure. I feel like I have more mana now. Oh, and I gained a new spell after ants just exploded and turned all misty and entered inside of me."
"…" Partner went quiet as his mind struggled to cope with the situation. "I knew it would be something insane. But this… Wait, specimens?" Then another insane thought occurs to him, "how many specimens there were?"
"Hmm… me, the dwarf, the rest of ants, and someone fourth."
"... Status," Partner said flatly. Nothing happened. He sighed in relief and a shade of exasperation. Maybe the universe was not demented. Yet.
But then he heard You inside of his mind, "your name is Lucifer!". It was like something clicked in him. It was like a long, forgotten memory that suddenly emerged.
[Hiiii, it's me again,] the same cheery voice from before resounds in the mind of Stone and Lucifer, [Holy Cow! What in the…! Hey! Architect! ARCHITECT! Drop that booze and come here. Like right now!]
"Loud!" Stone complained, but as always, everyone ignored him. Maybe they should not.
[What?] A new deep melodious, but vexed voice echoed inside the mind of Stone and Partner.
[Look at that! A freaking Partner got access to the Universum! He is a talent, you know!]
[So? Who cares? They are just mortals,] the deep voice, presumably belonging to the Architect, flatly replied.
[You know, it can have some strange and unprecedented consequences.] The voice went with another approach.
[HEY! Archi, are you coming? Conjurarum doing tricks again!] A brutal, crunchy voice shouted.
[What?! Already?! I am coming!] Architect, the high-god of Laws and Structures, replied hastily, [you do you!] He left, leaving the slightly perturbed Universum to deal with the mess.
[Well… you heard the man. Congrats, the entity, known as Lucifer, has joined Universum! Rejoice and praise the God of Structures and Laws, the mighty Architect!]
"Loud! Still too loud! I don't like it!" Stone heavily protested during the conversation.
"… What?" Partner was confused, anxious and several new emotions, too complex to be put into words, or even understood by Humans, filled his head.
"I heard what it said."
"Uhuh. And what it said again?"
"That you joined Universum too. Isn't that good?"
"…"
After ten minutes of utter silence, which was uncomfortable even for Stone, he asked, "Partner? Oh, you are now Lucifer, right? I will call you Luci."
"Uhuh," too much information passed through Lucifer's mind. In the end, his brain blanked out and restarted like a computer after an update.
"How? Why?! What, in the nine hells, happened!" Partner yelled after some of his thoughts finally settled.
"Luci! Are you sleeping again?" Stone asked with worry. He disliked being alone and those ants did not make good company. They were dead anyway.
"… Status," Luci silently ordered. With a soft 'thud', a similar, translucent tablet, bearing resemblance to the Stone's one appeared.
Name: Lucifer
Title: None
Race: Ethereal
Level: 1
Exp: 0%
Host RM: 25
SuperFlux: 115 / 115
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 23
Talents: Ageless, Parasite, Subordinate, Stone {wielder}
Resistances: None
Expertise: None