The Warbeasts stared, their feral minds struggling to process the scene. A silent, beautiful machine held the still-warm heart of its prey. The inherent wrongness of it, the cold, predatory act from a being they associated with reactive neutrality, shattered their courage.
A guttural whine escaped one of them. That was all it took. They turned and bolted, crashing back into the rust-colored woods without a second glance at their abandoned meal. Survival, in the end, was a simple calculation. They were not a factor in this equation.
Alone in the silence, I stared at the thing in my hand. The blood was a meaningless, messy detail. My focus was on the core, the orb of light pulsing with a desperate, fading rhythm.
A synthetic voice, devoid of emotion and utterly alien, echoed in my mind.
[Retrieval countdown initiated: 10... 9... 8...]
So, it's on a timer.
[7... 6... 5... Acknowledged. New viable host detected within operational proximity. Binding protocol initiated.]
The countdown stopped.
Wait. It can just... switch?
The idea of hijacking the system had been a desperate gamble, a one-in-a-billion shot at escaping this hellscape. I never expected it to be this easy. I pictured the systems from the fiction of my old world godlike, inscrutable entities bound by cosmic rules. This one seemed... shoddy.
My golden eyes flicked to the corpse on the ground. No cybernetic enhancements. No residual energy signatures from any weapons. He was killed by three common Warbeasts. Whatever this system was, it hadn't made its previous owner very powerful.
Or perhaps the user was simply a fool.
[Binding successful. Host form identified: Ex-Machina. Adapting unit architecture.]
As the thought crossed my mind, the orb of light in my palm dissolved. It wasn't a physical dissolution; it flowed into my hand like liquid data, a warm, invasive current that surged up my arm. My own internal systems screamed.
[ALERT: Foreign energy signature detected. Hostile takeover in progress. Purge protocol engaged... Purge failed.]
The warning flashed across my vision, a crimson banner of internal alarm. But it was already too late. The golden energy flooded my circuits, a tidal wave of incomprehensible power. It didn't just supplement my core; it rewrote it. The familiar, cool thrum of Elemental energy that powered my body was forcibly ejected, replaced by this new, vibrant, and terrifyingly potent force.
The system's voice returned, now sounding less like an external signal and more like a part of my own thoughts.
[Host integration complete. Primary power source subsumed. Dimensional energy reserves nominal.]
[Finalizing fusion. This unit will now be permanently integrated with the host's core consciousness.]
I felt a connection snap into place, a link far deeper and more intimate than the remote, data-driven link the Ex-Machina shared with their Cluster. This was a true symbiosis.
[Dimensional Engine constructed and calibrated.]
I looked down. Where my chest had been a flat plane of synth-skin over a mechanical chassis, a change was occurring. The golden energy swirled and condensed at the center of my torso. In a matter of seconds, a brilliant, diamond-shaped crystal materialized, embedding itself beside my original power core. It pulsed with a soft, steady light, a new heart for a girl who never had one.
[System modifications complete. All readings stable. No adverse host reactions detected.]
[Dimensional Engine charged.]
And then, silence.
The entire process took less than a minute. My mechanical mind, capable of processing information orders of magnitude faster than a human brain, was already parsing the flood of data the system had uploaded directly into my memory banks. Its functions, its limitations, its purpose it was all there, as clear as any schematic.
My face remained a mask of placid indifference, but inside, a supernova of hope had detonated.
"Well now," I murmured to the red sky, my voice still a perfect, calm melody. "This is... promising."
I had a path. A way out.
"Time to say goodbye to this godforsaken world." I gave the corpse a final, fleeting glance. "And thank you for your contribution, anonymous traveler."
I'm sure he'd appreciate the sentiment.
"Dimensional Engine, activate."
[Command acknowledged. Engine operating at maximum output.]
The golden crystal in my chest flared. It projected a beam of solid light that tore open the space in front of me. It wasn't a door of wood or steel, but a shimmering, vertical wound in reality, a gateway of pure, liquid gold.
What lay beyond was a mystery. But it couldn't possibly be worse than the Great War. The destination was already locked in, a world chosen from the fading memories of my past life.
Without a moment's hesitation, I stepped through the gate.
The moment my body cleared the threshold, the golden rift snapped shut, collapsing into a single point of light before vanishing completely. No sound, no trace.
The wind sighed, carrying gray ash across the clearing. All that remained was a single human body, its story forever unknown, a forgotten footnote in a world that had no time for a history of the dead.
….
The place between worlds was not a tunnel. It was a non-space, a sea of liquid gold and silent equations, where the concepts of time and distance were meaningless suggestions. Data streams, visible to my senses as iridescent ribbons of light, flowed around me. My own systems were frantically analyzing the impossible environment.
[Dimensional transit stable. Refrain from unscheduled engine operations until pathway is secured.] the system advised from within my consciousness.
"What would happen if I did?" I asked aloud, mostly to test the interface.
[Calculations indicate a 97.4% probability of catastrophic spatio-temporal dislocation. Destination would become... indeterminate. It is an inadvisable course of action.]
Sounds dangerous. Duly noted.
I processed the warning, logging it as a critical operational constraint. I then queried the system about its own nature, a flicker of curiosity about its silent, efficient takeover.
[This unit does not possess a personality module. All responses are generated via logic-based probability matrices. The unit is now fully integrated with the host. Its continued function is synonymous with the host's survival. Trust is the optimal strategic approach.]
"And your last host?" I pressed. "The one I found back there."
[The previous host ignored operational parameters and safety warnings, resulting in an uncontrolled dimensional jump to a high-threat environment. The unit provided 1,372 viable survival strategies. All were disregarded.]
There was a pause, if a machine could be said to pause.
[Conclusion: The termination was a result of user error. The unit holds no culpability.]
So, he really was a fool. A reckless idiot who won the cosmic lottery and proceeded to throw the ticket into a volcano. And in doing so, he delivered his prize directly to me. A strange, grim sort of fate. I made a silent, sincere promise to the ghost of that unknown man: I would not waste his gift.
[Approaching dimensional barrier. Brace for impact.]
An instant later, a shockwave of pure force slammed into me from the front.
" Aeterna Defensio "
The command was instinct. A spherical shield of shimmering golden particles erupted around me, a defensive armament native to the Ex-Machina, now powered by a far stranger energy. The shockwave broke against it like water against stone.
[Barrier breach successful. Arrival in new world confirmed.]
[Transit corridor stable. Gateway opening. Please prepare for egress.]
Before me, another golden gate bloomed into existence. A thrill, a genuine flicker of something akin to excitement, coursed through my new circuits.
"A new world," I whispered. "Here I come."
I stepped through.
...
The first thing I registered was the sky.
It was blue. A piercing, brilliant, achingly beautiful blue. Not the sickly, bruised twilight of my birth world, but a vast, clean canvas holding a brilliant sun.
I was standing high above a city, perched atop a mountain of shattered concrete and twisted rebar.The air tasted of dust and ozone, but it was fresh, humid, and blessedly free of the metallic tang of ancient war.
Far below, the wail of sirens echoed through the urban canyons. This destruction was new. It was a fresh wound, not a world-spanning scar.
So, the story is already at this point.
My eyes, unblinking and mechanical, scanned the epicenter of the devastation. There, in the center of a massive crater, stood a girl.
She wore armor of a deep, regal purple, glowing with an internal light. In her hands, she gripped the hilt of a colossal broadsword that was planted in the ground before her, serving as both a weapon and a throne.
Her own purple hair whipped in the wind, and her eyes, filled with a defiant and terrified light, were fixed on me.
My unadorned, mechanical form was starkly visible against the blue sky, a new and alien monster in a world already beset by them.
She raised her head, the tip of her massive blade shifting to point directly at me.
"Are you," she called out, her voice trembling but unbroken, "here to kill me, too?"