"Fuck, man, what a dream," Elo thought as he stretched his body before opening his eyes slowly to reveal the same old dark room... he was home. "What makes it home?" he wondered while getting out of bed. Naked as always, he stumbled through the room. He finally got to the chair and sat down. His laptop was humming. He tried to remember the dream. It was all fuzzy... "Dala!" he thought and grabbed the cellphone that was on his desk. Before he could unlock it, a message came in, lighting up the screen. It read:
00File Code: Elo Gim Daima 33
Job: Creator
Soul Age: N/A
Soul Class: N/A
Soul Stats: N/A (+8)
O: N/A (+8)
Soul Damage: 12%
Vessel Age: 34
Vessel Class: Type 3 SSS+ (Recommended for combat)
Vessel Stats:
Strength 8x (+8)
Agility 8x (+8)
Intelligence N/A (+8)
Endurance N/A (+8)
Charisma 8x (+8)
Skills:
Heaven or Hell Rank: SSS+
Canon Fodder Rank: (Hidden)
New Skills Unlocked:
Time Stop Rank: SSS+
Destroy Rank: SSS+
Time Break Rank: SSS+
Full Recovery Rank: SSS+
Memory Reset Rank: AAA+
Space Jump Rank: FFF+
Revenge Rank: SSS+
I4ENA (Gabriel) Access Level: Founder
All Systems Unlocked
Welcome Back, Elo.
As soon as Elo finished reading, he felt the same chill, and the same voice sounded in his head again. Yep... it wasn't a dream. His surroundings flashed black and then turned shining white for a moment before transforming into the bone-white sphere with the ever-moving golden threads of light. He was sitting in the same chair, but this one was made of the same white surface. He noticed a white cocoon-like egg to the left of his chair, levitating gently with a quiet humming. "Dala?" he asked himself while standing up and moving toward the cocoon. She was smiling with her eyes closed while floating gently within a transparent substance; it looked like clouds were hugging her. The cocoon was made out of white feathers and golden threads with circuit-like patterns. Between the threads, he could see her smile.
While looking at her, Dala suddenly moved, opened her eyes, and touched the boundary of the cocoon with her left hand. Her fingers pressed against what looked like a glass surface, and she said:
"Elo, wake up!" The whole place trembled with a vibrating noise. Her eyes started shining gold, and for a second, the entire space brightened and flashed black. During this flash, Elo was transported to a different scene. He was atop a tall white mountain, looking at the sun. He felt his left hand being warmly held and glanced back. There was Dala, looking at him with eyes full of love. More than love, there was immense faith. He remembered those eyes. The first time he met her, she had those eyes. In an instant, the background blurred, her body morphed into different forms, but her eyes remained the same. She closed her eyes, and the scene changed back to the old white and gold. She slowly returned to her resting pose, smiling again. Elo was stunned for a moment, and a tear escaped from his left eye, turning gold and floating away from Elo's face, transforming into text in front of him. He heard IA's voice in his head.
"Welcome back, Elo. Installation initiated. Progress: 1.7%."
"Man, this is a mess," thought Elo, sighing deeply. He took a breath and calmly said:
"IA, brief." He didn't know exactly why he said that, but somehow it came to him.
"Elo, all systems are functional and running. Gaia is still upset with you, but what can I do?"
"Soul Damage: 12%."
"Dala's status: Recovering."
"You slept 7 hours and recovered 3% of the damage. Now we have 40 hours and 59 minutes until the inevitability."
"40:59:23 Remaining."
"Error."
"Elo, due to karmic overload, I can't currently tell you much, but I can answer up to three of your questions, so please don't ask dumb shit, Elo."
"What do you mean, dumb shit, young IA?" asked the confused Elo.
"Error processing, try again," said IA in a calm voice. All at once, Elo pondered many questions. So many that he had to take a deep breath to collect himself. "Okay, this is real," he thought. "But, what's real?" he wondered, before focusing back. "Real is what I experience," he said to himself proudly. "But what about others' experiences? How about Dala's experiences? Are they real?" While thinking, he couldn't avoid standing up. The chair disappeared, and the desk withered away. Dala's cocoon still hummed in place. Elo walked around the space. He noticed that if he moved in a certain direction, the space he was approaching would move further away from him. It was almost like the floor of the room was moving but not the room itself. Elo jumped, and to his surprise, he was suddenly floating in the center of the room. The floor was gone, Dala's cocoon was still by his side, and there was no gravitational pull at all. "Yo... this shit is trippy as fuck," he thought to himself, and was interrupted.
"40:59:23."
"Elo, please ask three questions."