[12 SYSTEM HOURS SINCE THE MEETING WITH NORNESH]
-----------------------------------
[Reignition Success!]
[4/4 Runes at 100% Capacity]
[Ether Output Stable]
[Resecuring SOULSCAPE]
[1%...]
[2%...]
[3%...]
[4%...]-
"Hhhhooooo-hhhooooooooo"
Panting. Only labored breaths were heard, echoing in the dark space.
Aedhira floated in the Soulscape, his body suspended in the peculiar silence that seemed to wrap around him like thick fog. The pain had receded, but its ghost lingered. He could still feel the burn under his skin, though now it was a reminder of something endured, a trial overcome. Yet, as his mind sluggishly processed what was happening, there was little relief.
No satisfaction.
Only exhaustion and the hollow ticking of the progress percentage climbing.
The darkness was gone, replaced by a sight Aedhira wished he hadn't grown so accustomed to—the Aethercor. The blindingly white sphere in the distance, bound by bandages that looked too delicate to restrain it, held together only by the force of will from some unseen presence. White light pulsed from within, seeking escape, but the chains—ripped and twisted through space itself—held the sphere back, keeping it from swelling beyond its confinement. As the light flickered out between the cracks, it illuminated the dark expanse of the Soulscape, casting eerie, fragmented shadows.
The four runes encircling the sphere, orbiting it in perfect synchronization, pulsed with energy, white tethers of pure light connecting them to the Aethercor. His focus fell on one in particular— IGNITION. It still glowed, though faintly now. The sparks that had erupted from it before, threatening to consume him in their fiery onslaught, were gone. The rune was calm, for now, dim but present. He prayed to whatever cosmic force was listening that it would remain that way.
He tried to think. Tried to process the sight before him. The Aethercor... it was his power source, wasn't it? The hollow voice had said so. Or had it? He couldn't remember clearly. Thinking hurt.
Ow.
Not the usual kind of pain. No, not a headache—he wasn't supposed to get headaches. His physiology didn't allow for that. This was something else entirely. A deep, throbbing pulse that echoed through his mind, making every thought feel like it had to push through a thick fog of static.
Ow.
Yet, he thought anyway. He had to think.
[5%...]
[9%...]
[15%...]
[24%...]
Each percentage tick echoed through the Soulscape, a rhythmic pulse in the void that mirrored the beat of the Aethercor. The chains binding the pulsing sphere creaked under the pressure, groaning as if they were alive, straining to contain the power that threatened to explode beyond its confines. The white energy spilling through the cracks looked like threads of raw, condensed light, weaving a connection between the core and the runes that orbited it.
[IGNITION] was stable now, a dim ember rather than the roaring inferno that had almost consumed him. He cast a wary glance at it, feeling the lingering burn deep within his being. He hoped it would stay that way. He wasn't sure he could endure another round of that hellish torment—not right now, at least.
[25%...]
[26%...]
[27%...]
The ticking of progress moved at a steady pace, relentless in its climb. Each percentage felt like a chain snapping in place, securing him back into functionality, back into whatever system his body was reestablishing. Aedhira was only half-aware of the subsystems' names as they flickered past in the void. He caught glimpses—[Stellar Navigations], [Combat Algorithmic Processors], [Subatomic Material Integration]—before the names dissolved into more technobabble, too fast and complex for his weary mind to grasp.
Thinking hurt. The thought repeated in his head like a dull mantra, a reminder of his limits, of the sharp ache that came with trying to force clarity where none existed. He clutched at the sensation, trying to push through the fog, but every time he thought he had a hold on something tangible, it slipped away, vanishing into the darkness.
[50%...]
[51%...]
"Don't act up again," Aedhira muttered under his breath, almost subconsciously, his eyes fixed on the [IGNITION] rune. The spark that had been there before was gone now, but the memory of the fire it had unleashed still lingered. It was a dormant ember, not extinguished, but controlled. For now.
[REACTIVATING ALL SUBSYSTEMS]
The hollow voice's words were a cold reminder that he was still in this. That this wasn't over yet. That there was more to endure.
The Soulscape shifted again. The bandaged chains seemed to tighten, but not painfully, as though adjusting, reconfiguring themselves around the Aethercor. Subsystems flashed through the void, their progress bars ticking upward.
[Data Synchronization: 89%...]
[Energy Reserve Management: 74%...]
[Emergency Combat Routines: 93%...]
[User Interface Optimization: 65%...]
The list went on, each ticking toward completion, pulling him closer to some form of stability. Aedhira felt his body in the real world now, faintly. His limbs were heavy, almost distant, like an echo of movement far removed from his own will. There was a numbness to it, but not the kind that came with pain—it was more like his mind wasn't fully aligned with the vessel it inhabited. Not yet.
[65%...]
[Updating USER INTERFACE]
Then, silence. Aedhira blinked, his thoughts stuttering as if something had gone wrong. The voice... had it stopped? His body felt cold, his thoughts scattered. He looked up again, blinking against the bright light of the Aethercor. His limbs twitched with residual pain, still not fully his own.
And then, the hollow voice echoed again.
[HAILING SOURCE ENTITY]
His heart, if it could be called that, skipped a beat. Something stirred deep within him, a gnawing sense of... something. An incoming presence. The sensation sent a ripple through the Soulscape, and for the first time since this agonizing ordeal began, Aedhira felt like he wasn't entirely alone.
Silence followed. A stillness more suffocating than the one before. It stretched out for what felt like an eternity before the hollow voice spoke once more.
[HAIL ACCEPTED!]
The silence shattered, not with sound, but with something else entirely. Garbled messages—strange, indecipherable symbols and codes—began flashing before his mind's eye. The language wasn't familiar. Not even close. The letters and numbers twisted together, forming nonsensical patterns, each message more alien than the last. It was like trying to read a language from another dimension, one that refused to adhere to the rules of his mind.
One message appeared.
[AJDN@((129ed"SAD}@]
Then another.
[jIQEJDAS[f23'feafd]
Aedhira's eyes widened, the confusion clawing at his already strained senses. Each message was just as bizarre as the last. But there was a shift—something subtle. With each new garbled phrase, the nonsense seemed to unravel itself, the messages becoming... clearer. Or at least, closer to something he could almost grasp.
[HASDl2d3]
[HE@(#S"o]
Then, a sharp intake of breath. His chest tightened as the next message flashed before him, this one almost coherent.
[HEll00]
And then...
[Hello]
Aedhira blinked, his mind sluggish, trying to comprehend what just happened. The pain, the disorientation, the burning... it all faded for a brief moment as he focused on that single word. That simple, familiar greeting.
Hello.
Something... someone was reaching out to him. Was this the **Source Entity** the hollow voice had spoken of? Was this another trial, another test, or something else entirely?
The Soulscape flickered for a moment, the sphere pulsing with a renewed intensity, the chains creaking as they strained to hold it back. The runes began to glow brighter, tethered to the Aethercor as if feeding off its raw energy.
But Aedhira's focus was locked on that one word. That one message. He could feel a presence on the other side, something reaching out, something waiting.
The hollow voice, for the first time, was silent.
And then, before he could react, another message flashed.
[Do you hear me?]