Theo took the fruit of the world tree in his hand.
He was shaking a bit more than he liked.
'What the hell is wrong with these people?'
If this thing really was that precious, why did they bother giving it to him? A sign of trust?
Or were they already aware of his intentions and were just testing him? If so, how?
He didn't know why.
He didn't care why.
Only sweating was real.
"I think I'm good now." He bent down slightly to return the fruit to its alter.
Forget about licking it, he didn't even have the privacy to even look at it funny.
After all, he was now the center of attention. And every pair of eyes was glaring at him, making sure, he didn't get to pull anything stupid to their sacred treasure.
'Better get out of here before shit happens.'
As things were, licking, let alone stealing was impossible. So, it was better to just put down the egg and move about Theo's day.
He could always just come back later when security was less.
Crack- he heard a faint sound.
Shit happened.
'Oh fuc*'
His brows knit together and he sweated in buckets.
The fruit was still in his hand, hovering just a centimeter away from the alter.
Judging by the looks, no one heard that.
"Something the matter?" The Sahallan woman said.
"Nope, nothing." He put up a smile, a brilliant smile. 'Oh boy…oh boy…oh boy!'
'THE HELL DO I DO NOWWW!!?' Needless to say, Theo was more than just panicking. His veins were bulging and he was perhaps a bit beyond rational thought.
He couldn't put the fruit down, and he surely couldn't keep his hands hovering forever.
Things were already too awkward, way too awkward.
Everyone was watching and they'd surely do a lot of things to him- in case their treasure was broken- and Theo knew that.
'Why the hell did I think this was a good idea!?' He didn't.
He took deep breaths and gently lowered his hand one millimeter at a time.
'Please don't break… please don't break….'
After a whole minute, he put the fruit down and breathed in relief; there were no visible marks or scratches and definitely no cracks. 'Maybe that sound was from something else?' He just didn't want to even think about the possibilities of the egg cracking. Coming up with excuses to justify one's train of thought was human nature after all.
His breaths started to calm and he felt a bit cold- as the sweat evaporated.
But-
Crack!
A literal crack appeared on the fruit's surface. A very visible one at that too.
A black crack and it was glowing in black.
Swords and spears were drawn.
More cracks formed.
Theo's time was up.
'Shit!'
Shit indeed.
"You broke it!?" The woman raged, touching Theo's neck with his spear.
The merchant Sahalla meanwhile spoke in their language and pointed fingers towards the crack, jumping. "Look, look!" Finally, he spoke some English.
Instead of chopping Theo's head off, the woman gave a glance at the cracked fruit and her eyes wanted to pop out. Her mouth was agape and she shook slightly, before withdrawing her spear completely. "What in the world tree is that-"
Darkness oozed out of the fruit and soon it started sucking all the light of the room.
Crack!
More cracks formed and the fruit almost shook…
Finally, with a rumble, the fruit fully cracked and something came out.
It squeaked and flew across the room at blazing speeds.
It was dark and the thing was fast- so no one saw anything.
Theo was scared shitless- 'I have to get out of here'- but this was his chance.
He took a step and-
The darkness disappeared- 'Shit, why can't things ever go my way!'
Whispers.
Murmurs.
Theo was still the center of attention. And everyone was oddly staring at him- or rather his left shoulder?
His shoulder felt awfully heavy.
Horrified.
Theo turned his head sideways, like a badly oiled machine- almost creaking from his muscles and bones.
And then he saw it.
A black creature. It looked like a dog. A dog with no fur but with just black skin- it was smaller than an apple.
It didn't have skin or muscles on its face though- just the skull and two purple glow in place of its eye.
'What in the…'
"Ah…argh.. AHREHFHGHHGHGHHGH!" Theo screamed, he screamed so loud, his throat went sore immediately and became hoarse.
SQUEAK! Meanwhile, the dog-like creature also screamed or rather squeaked.
'What the hell is that!'
He felt faint and everything started spinning.
Theo was about to pass out when- BLIP!
[Pet system unlocked by divine energy. Would you like to register 'Roudian heavenly saint' as your pet?]
'Wha?'
Confused?
No, he was more scared than confused. How the hell was that thing even moving despite having nothing but a skull on its face?
Everything went black and Theo fell to the ground.
He could still hear faint things.
Faint whispers, or murmurs…
It'll be okay- a voice whispered in his ears- a voice of a small kid? "I'll take good care of you, my slave… muahah aha ha hahah!"
***
Consciousness.
What was it?
The power to feel? The power to think? Or perhaps the power to make rational decisions?
No one knew.
Humans claimed they had consciousness, but they weren't able to define it.
And neither could the machines who almost took over the world….
Perhaps the answer was too complicated to understand, or perhaps, it was just too simple.
Steps.
Steps reverberated in the empty halls of the Ainmester.
A lone R.I was going on about her days.
Her expression- blank. Not even a shred of emotion.
She had nothing to do.
She had nothing to think about.
And yet, her mind was filled with-
She stopped. Perhaps it was an error?
Perhaps the reconstruction process messed with some of her coding?
She couldn't diagnose on her own, hench-
She touched the R.I pod.
Someone came out.
Another R.I but this one was male- the head R.I of the ship Veine.
The two communicated via a mental link. They had no use for unnecessary sound waves and letting the world know of their conversation.
Besides, talking was inefficient anyway.
After a brief moment, the R.I bowed and went back into the pod.
Meanwhile, the other R.I retraced her steps back to where she started.
This time, her expression did change. Slight curves; dilated pupils.
Not happy.
Not sad.
Not angry.
But- exhilarated.
And perhaps- slightly terrifying.
'Then this feeling was-'
Consciousness!