A/N: A long time ago, when I wrote The Chained Girl, I received many positive reviews for it. One of them included a request by Nenilein who asked for another story involving Lycoris. I figured I'd give it a go. I'm just sorry it took so long. This is written in the same format as the book The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen, which is written as though it were an interview on a tape recorder.
Scene: The Hull Granz Cathedral. A male Wavemaster and a female Harvest Cleric wander in to marvel at the abandoned and broken chains on the floor of the decrepit old altar. The Harvest Cleric moves forward to bend down and touch them. They crackle with static as her fingers pass through them. She sighs and turns to her companion. She mutters something about remnant data from a previous version of the game. She explains that this version of The World has nearly been gutted of all the original secret grounds that the first version boasted as CC. Corp struggled to rid itself of unwanted memories. In the end, though, all they succeeded in was nearly destroying themselves in the process. For without Aura, nothing can function properly at all.
The Wavemaster approaches the altar and sits down on the steps. He tells her dejectedly that he wonders sometimes what will happen without Aura to govern The World. Absently, he draws her trademark infinity symbol at a diagonal angle in the dust on the floor.
Suddenly, the air in front of him begins to crackle wildly, a red, many petaled flower sprouting up out of nowhere, just like the ones in the various fields, dungeons, and occasionally, even the towns. With the flower, a deformed image appears, childish in stature and corrupted with viruses and vagrant data. However, the general image can still be made out. The two players back away from the ghostly girl as they watch her blink slowly and look around, as though dazed. She's wearing a flowing crimson gown and shawl with a silver infinity brooch pinned to the side and at an angle. Her hair is a shimmering silver and grows down to her shoulders, held out of her face by crimson ribbons. Her golden eyes ascertain her position with indifference, but she doesn't appear to acknowledge the two players for several seconds. Her image jolts, like a hologram as she turns around and sighs. Her voice, when she speaks, is hollow and void of much emotion;
I'm sorry, you'll have to give me a second to get my thoughts in the proper order. My consciousness...it's still here but yet at the same time...it isn't. It's hard to explain, even for me. But I suppose that's just the very nature of my design, isn't it? Even I make mistakes. I should. After all, I myself am a mistake.
I was, what humans would call, 'alive' at some point. By alive, I mean that I had a visible form that could interact with the various players who crossed my path. I vaguely recall what I looked like. The few people who remember me, I sometimes come across them now and again. They say that I was very pretty. But I'm so old these days, it's doubtful that anyone even recalls that I was once within The World, that my destiny was to become The World itself.
You don't know who I am? Well, I'm not really surprised, truth be told. After all, you're from a new generation. Going through the world, taking part in quests and exploring various dungeons, I'm sure you've come across red, spidery flowers dotting the landscape. You have, haven't you? Those are Lycoris flowers. My name is Lycoris, and so they appear for me in place of me. It would seem to me that you've discovered a remnant piece of my data. Even though I no longer technically exist, traces of me seem to still be found. Thank you for finding me, but please keep in mind that this isn't really me. I cannot speak to you, see you, smell you, touch you, or hear you at all. I am aware of this as being a piece of corrupted data left behind in the dreg data of the old servers. I doubt there's very much left at all. But whoever you may be, if I may ask a favor of you. I will tell you my short story if you'll promise not to let me be forgotten. I was not allowed to live in this world, so in the very least, I want to be remembered.
I am Lycoris and I was destined to become Aura. God created me with the intention of creating his beloved, beautiful daughter, Aura. He gave me the appearance, the grace, the ability to learn, the ability to think, and even the ability to cry and smile when I felt like it. He gave me all He had so that I would become His precious child. Once I was complete, He sent me out into The World. At first, I thought that he wanted me to become stronger, smarter. However, as time went by and my intelligence grew, I realized something. Something was missing in me. Something about me was wrong. Before too long, God stopped contacting me. He cut off my link to Him and fragmented my homing data. To this day, I am unsure of what God wanted from me. All I know is that I was an unwanted child. I was cast into the world as an imperfect being, a Vagrant AI. A corrupted being without a soul, for even God didn't want me.
Lycoris' image frazzles sharply and her expression contorts in anger and sadness before returning to a calm resignation. The two players just watch in amazement and wonder as she takes a deep breath, her hazy image still reeling from the viruses as she continues;
I wandered aimlessly. I could not go home. I tried to make a place for myself here, in the only place I felt at home. Somehow, I was, and still am comforted by this place. It was here that I met him and was nearly deleted by him. My only escape was fragmentation. I completely lost myself, even more so than I am now. Gradually, I felt myself returning as this player gathered my pieces together to restore me. My gratitude mingled with confusion. This player was attempting to recreate me. Why would he do such a thing for a worthless piece of corrupted data such as myself? I was deemed useless by all, even God himself. I was the lowest of all beings within The World. I was probably better off fragmented throughout the servers. But for some reason, this player found that I was worth saving as he pieced me back together. He remained aware of my intense gratitude to him that lasted right up until the moment that he returned my final segment, containing all my memories. My sorrow flooded back into me at that second and I realized once again how pointless my existence truly was next to Her. Her and her ominous guardian. That guardian feared my very existence and I greatly feared her malice toward me.
The system was flooded with Her data being streamed toward Her and at that moment, I realized what I had been lacking. I lacked empathy. My concern for others wasn't that I cared for or disdained them. It was how I was programmed to act and God had realized His mistake. This may or may not have been what He wanted in me, but it was enough to make him cast me from His house. So He resolved to a different method of shaping Aura. He linked Her to The World, not as a present being such as myself, but as something omniscient, yet tangible all at once. Aura could love, could cry, could care for others and make choices. She could hate, She could think, and most importantly, She could feel compassion and empathy. By linking Her to The World and the players themselves, God saw to it that Aura was able to absorb all of their data to create Herself. Positive and negative emotions came together to form a being that was everything there was to be, except human of course. Aura became perfect.
I am not perfect. I realize this now, even though I no longer possess coherent thought. My thoughts muddle with the data, remnant or otherwise streaming through the servers. I no longer discern which are my thoughts and which are fragments of lost data. For after I regained my memory, I told that player, "You do have the power to delete me, Albireo. The power rests in your hands. It rests in your spear. I've revised the data of your spear. You have the final segment. The final piece of me. I have given you my will to relinquish me. I wanted to continue to live in this world, but... But I cannot become Aura."
And with those words, I forced him to delete me...by ending my own life upon his spear. Now, my essence is all that remains in the form of the crimson Lycoris flowers that now bloom within this world. I cannot separate my own consciousness anymore, so before I disappeared completely, I sent out remnants of myself with this message, in the hopes that I would not be completely forgotten. Once in a while, one of these remnants is discovered by a player like you. They have been reinforced with the same encryption I felled in order to allow myself deletion. This encryption protects them from the reconstructions that The World has seen over the years. As a result of this, my essence lingers on.
Lycoris' image smiles at the two players and sighs;
However, the downside is that each remnant can only be accessed once. Once this one has completed this message, it will digitize. I have no idea what state the remnants are in at present. I can only hope they're still understandable. I also don't know how many remnants have been accessed by this point, as I don't know how much time has passed since my deletion. Since this message is almost up, take the flower at my feet as you depart from this place. It serves no real purpose unfortunately, being little more than a convenient decoration. But if you so choose, player, please use it to remind others that I once existed in this world. I loved this world dearly, even though I inhabited it for such a short time. And now, before I disappear completely, I've learned that there is another, even bigger world outside it, and there are tales of a wold beyond that! Imagine my excitement! Perhaps my essence will one day leave this world and be reborn in the larger world! Even if I remain useless, I want to live again, to experience things and meet people.
But until that time comes, if and when it comes, I remain here, in this world, as little more than a fragmented consciousness that isn't even aware of itself anymore. So, keep this flower with you. Protect it and tell my story to others. If you happen to see Aura, tell Her as well. It's likely that God never told Her about me. Keep enjoying this world as much as you have, and even if you don't tell anyone else what you've witnessed, at least keep it in your own memories. I'll be happy even with that knowledge.
Oh, and by the way. Did you know that Lycoris is the Greek word for Twilight?
The image sparks and crackles furiously all of a sudden. Then, with a shower of digital sparks, it literally evaporates into the air, vanishing from sight. The two players gaze upward where it had disappeared, unable to form the words to vocalize what they'd both just seen.
The Harvest Cleric moves first, crawling forward to lightly grasp the flower between her fingers, gently uprooting it. It pops out of the floor with a slight rain of dew from its sprawling petals.
She turns to her companion, sitting with a dazed expression on his face. They stare at each other for several seconds before both getting to their feet. He is the first to start heading toward the door, seemingly determined to forget what he saw. But the Harvest Cleric remains behind. She hesitates, and then turns to set the flower at the base of the altar where it rests in a small layer of dust covering the steps. She turns away to leave, but barely makes it four steps before glancing back with a pained expression on her face. Her companion, already having summoned a Chaos Gate, calls for her to hurry up. The Harvest Cleric balls her fists and steps in that direction before stopping and whirling in the other direction, unable to decide.
Finally, she sighs heavily and smiles a small smile. She slowly makes her way back to the altar and reaches down to grasp the stem of the delicate flower. She lifts it up and, holding it tightly, dashes down the aisle toward the doors. As they swing shut with a tremendous clang, she is sure she hears the sound of a child's giggling resonating from within.