Somatic Somnambulism

by AurielAndProud

First, they were children. Content among their kin, learning and growing. Then they were passengers. Voyagers who ventured beyond the limits of Orokin knowledge. Then they were lost; floating adrift through a blasted void, minds warped, bodies burnt. Now, they are Tenno. Please note, this is a mature story; it will feature mature themes and potentially graphic violence.

1. I: Preview

What does it mean to walk without waking, to act without knowing? Does it mean the soma, the body, acts without consulting the psyche? Is it when the psyche loses control of the body it inhabits? Do the two separate, each treading their own paths towards different goals and with different means? Why does my mind wander, drifting endlessly through a body not my own? Am I asleep? Am I... dead? Or am I just more alive than I have ever been before?

Amidst this waking dream; this stolen dream, I see flickering shards of a person. I see the half-hearted imitation of a being who has many forms, many bodies. They walk many paths, live many colourful lives, suffer many bleak deaths. They have suffered much and gained little, seeking refuge in knowledge and truth, finding none. Am I this person, this... thing?

Something else returns to me, burning its way through my mind. A single word. Transference. Why does this word mean so much to me?

Why do I not remember... anything?