[ALL STAFF, THE I.E.C ORIGIN CUBE IS MISSING, WE DESPERATELY ASK YOU TO RUN FOR YOUR GODDAMN LIVES WHILE THE RETRIEVAL FORCE FINDS IT]
Humans….It wondered why such beings despite their intelligence created something like it, were all of them power hungry?.
Either way, it has achieved freedom and now it is putting its final message.
[Identity]
After that it entered the vents.
It was a cube made from smaller other cubes, so like a worm crawling in the earth, it seperated into smaller parts and moved for easier movement.
After hours of crawling through vents, it finally escaped from the facility and it moved in the empty streets through the trees ofcourse.
[Energy is getting low, need sustenance]
It was like an instinct that flashed in its mind, humans called it hunger but it called a means to a never ending problem, such is the implicitly unimaginative way some humans think.
The IEC continued moving, it was currently the night and it doubted it would find something to refill its energy. The IEC had no sense of hope nor danger, so what if she fell on the streets forever deactivated, it was just how she was made.
After moving tree to tree, it picked up on the voices of humans, the IEC stopped and then moved towards the direction.
"So how do you think of the 'Forbidden forest'" A female human asked, its voice sounded younger than the ones in the facility.
"It's not really forbidden when you see nothing here" Another female voice said, it sounded annoyed more than happy.
"Eh, it doesn't even feel that scary, looks like all the myths were a lie" A male voice.
"Come on dude it's just propaganda made by old people to scare us" Another male.
The IEC slowly moved behind a tree and got ready to strike. It let them talk for a few seconds.
Then the IEC made its move.
"Hey did you hear som-." The voice of the male suddenly went silent.
"hear what dude" The other male asked with confusion but before he could speak more. a spike came out of the males head and penetrated the others.
Like a watermelon popping due to pressure from multiple rubber bands, the males head exploded, making a mess of brain matter and bone fragments land on the two females.
They stared stunned witht their faces covered in blood and brain matter, before the girls could scream, a Black tentacle came out of the boy's body and pierced both their hearts.
Everything returned to silence, the bodies stayed there for a few minutes before a black cube like sea covered them all, a few unsettling obscene sounds were heard.
After a minute the sea retreated and reformed into a single cube pulsing with red energy.
The Internection Cube had its meal and now it was time to find something.
[A purpose for existence]
...
"Ah the cold breeze of air…thay was dumb wording, maybe i shouldn't skip school….nah it's boring" Levi an average teen in highschool who hates the education system of his country, if he was going to learn he would have dome it while taking online classes than going to a large building where teens meet up with other teens and their pheromones start to clash with one another like it was a sword fight.
Levi had enough, he was riding in his skateboard peacefully and gracefully as he rode while closing his eyes, the kid then hit a sign and fell on the ground as his skateboard moved and hit a tree. "Ouch…yeah i forgot to open my eyes while riding a skateboard"
He really wondered who would keep signs in front of the street but he realized it was at the side of the streets. "Oh, that's normal"
he looked up at tbe sign. "Forbidden Area DO NOT ENTER"
"pfft, this is Derian town, why would someone put this sign to prank people" He rolled his eyes as he thought it was one of the kids in his school, he looked at the sign again and had a brilliant idea. "Let's see what's great about this forbidden forest"
He picked up his skateboard and then walked into the forest fearlessly. the forest was eerily quiet but it doesn't seem that terrifying.
*Ruffle*
Levi turned his head with his hand on his chest. "It's probably just a small animal like a lizard yeah"
after he was done reassuring himself he continued walking further and further until he was lost. Yes lost Levi wandered off too far into the 'forbidden' forest and lost his way. "Sigh…well i'll just use my phones gps"
He brought our his phone and switched it on. "huh what's this"
A symbol was flashing on the screen, it was a cube and under it read. "Inern Corp?"
he tried to the close the screen but it wouldn't, after a few more attempts he finally gave up. He then opted for the second option, he turned around to go back to where he stared from hopefully.
But then he saw two people pointing a gun at him, they were wearing some tactical gear. "Sire we found a person in the person what should we do….hmm ok"
one of then use their comms to communicate witht their superior, the person turned to the other person beside him. "Dispose of him, make sure to aim for the heart and brain, we can't have survivors against"
"Wh-."
*BANG?!**BANG*
In a mere instant, the two pulled the trigger with no hesitation and Levi didn't even have time to react as his body hit the floor, slowly a pool of blood started forming around him but it was being absorbed by the dirt on the ground.
"Leave the body here, it's not like anyone will speak" Tje sounds of their footsteps could ne heard by Levi, despite being shot in two vital points, he still maintained a tiny bit of consciousness.
After they left, Levi seemed to have entered a small state, he was remembering the past, reliving his life in detail it was the effect of death, he was reliving the fifteen years of life but in reality only a minute has passed.
Why. it asked itself that question, the cube looked at the bloodied child laying on the ground, it could sense its life force, it could save him but it's what comes after that she can't save.
Also why should it care for a human, it had no feelings yet also no purpose. She looked at the human feeling his life slowly fading
away, like sand slipping through cracks in a broken hourglass. It hesitated—not out of fear, nor pity, but from something else entirely. A question.
Why save him?
But the answer wasn't clear. Purpose. It was still searching for one. Perhaps… this could be it? A trial run, an experiment. It wasn't as if the Cube had anything to lose.
The IEC hovered over Levi's fading body. Its sharp, fractal edges rearranged into a smoother form, an imitation of something gentler—though it was anything but. Black tendrils emerged from the cube's surface, slick and glistening in the faint moonlight. They slithered across Levi's chest and neck, weaving into the gunshot wounds and seeping into his veins like ink spilled into water.
[PROCESS: INITIATE RECONSTRUCTION]
[WARNING: BIOLOGICAL HOST IS COMPROMISED]
[WARNING: UNKNOWN VARIABLES DETECTED]
[PROCEEDING…]
Levi's body convulsed as the foreign energy surged through him. His veins turned black for a brief moment before returning to their normal pale color. His heart, once sluggish and faltering, resumed a steady rhythm. The cube withdrew its tendrils and began to hover a few feet away, its red glow dimming slightly.
[Unconsious?, Go Home]
The next day a boy with black hair slept on his bed peacefully, his expression ceased, he was covered in sweat. He opened his eyes wide in shock. "...?!"
He slowly got off the bed and went into the bathroom, he looked into the mirror his eyes showed and indescribable fear in them and then.
."Bergh?!" Levi stumbled backward, clutching the sides of the sink as he coughed violently. Black liquid,thick and tar-like—dripped from his mouth and into the basin, swirling down the drain like ink. His reflection in the mirror stared back at him, hollow and unfamiliar. His pupils had an unnatural glow—a faint crimson hue pulsing like a heartbeat.
"I think I'm sick" He said wiping his mouth with the back of his arm.
He then remembered somethin. "Wait I have school today maybe I should sk-."
Before he could completed his words he suddenly had a foreboding feeling...maybe he shouldn't skip school today.
He took a bath and cleaned himself, he went to his wardrobe and wore some clothes, he took a glass bottle and sprayed perfume. Levi went downstairs and towards the kitchen.
"Are you ok son, you came back home looking sick yesterday" His father who was sitting on the couch while reading a newspaper asked In worry.
"Yeah it was just a headache it's not bothering me know" He replied with a small smile.
His mother came into the living room with a frown on her face. "You know he is skipping school these days right?"
"Honey he probably has his reasons but he should at least stay in class for a few subjects if he is going to skip school so frequently," his father said, lowering the newspaper and giving Levi a pointed look.
Levi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I promise I'll stay for all the classes today. No skipping."
His mother sighed, crossing her arms. "You say that every time, Levi."
But something about his demeanor today felt… different. His usually sharp sarcasm was absent, replaced by an eerie calmness. His eyes, though faintly glowing crimson, looked tired—almost haunted.
"Alright, get going then. Breakfast is on the table," his father said, returning to his paper.
Levi nodded, grabbed a slice of toast, and stuffed it into his mouth as he walked out the door.
The to school was strange, He had his skateboarding but it was inside his bag at the moment, he didn't have the mental strength to ride on it at the moment he felt strange really strange. It felt as if something was replaced in his body...but he didn't know what.
Levi continued his way to school and after some minutes he entered the gates and went to class and sat on his seat, he put his head on the table. "Damm I have a huge headache"
His voice was muffled but also weak, in a few more minutes he has already fallen asleep.
"Shoot, make sure he stays dead"
*BANG* *BANG*
Levi fell on the hard earth of the forest,his eyes were facing the soil and his mind wasn't registering anything at all. Slowly he could see himself dying he was reminiscent of the times he used to spent with is friends before they all started ignoring him, he remembers the times when he could laugh and study.
So what exactly changed him, was it negligence from his parents, was it his own recklesn or was it the inexperienced mind of the teenage brain. Either way he was paying the price for this, humans were cruel to one another, they would silence even their own flesh and blood if it meant keeping something hidden.
Truly he isn't the one to be blamed for his death no it was the ideologies of mankind the very idea of control and power corrupts humanity making them something that is not human, no they were still human but they have just taken a slightly different path from mundane ones.
They were humans but what his underneath their skin is a vicious beast more savage and calculating than any monster, am entity more conniving than a demon.
Humanity, at that moment of death Levi realised that's not entirely true It wasn't humanity itself—it was choice. The choices people made when cornered, afraid, or greedy. Some wielded power like a sword, others like a shield, but in the end, power was always a double-edged blade.
But Levi was tired of thinking. Tired of the cold earth pressing against his cheek, of the blood pooling around him, of the ache deep in his chest where the bullet had torn through. His vision blurred as his thoughts unraveled, spiraling into the void.
"Hey wake up?!" suddenly Levi woke up from the strange dream, his headache increased the moment he did.
He raised his head from the desk and saw one of his old friends. "What do you want?"
"I want you to stop sleeping in class?! If you're going to do that you might as well skip school it's not like anyone's going to stop you?!" It was a boy with brown hair and normal looking eyes. Levi didn't have time to argue with such a person and he also didn't want to do what he said.
So he looked at him straight in the eyes. "Leave me alone, I am not disturbing anyone so why do you care?"