Mass Effect Resurrection
A hazy light illuminated the edge of the forest. Too far away to brighten the dark trees and leaf littered floor, yet enough to see with. The man knew this perpetual nightmare all too well. It had been an ever present when he had actually managed to sleep. However now it seemed the only thing familiar to him. All other thoughts struck him with their absence. This experience unnerved him, yet he knew it hadn't always been this way. He remembered the incredibly bright light before this dream; felt himself immersed in it, and had felt a strange sense of peace. The kind of peace brought only by the finality of death.
Was this the afterlife? He dared not think it, yet deep within he felt he had earned peace. A soft voice spoke in the air around him, just on the edge of his hearing. Laughter off in the distance called to him. It echoed and bounced off the trees making it sound as if it came from everywhere. 'Who is it'? The man called out. There was no answer except the murmuring of voices. Cascading whispers seemed to mock him…. Then nothing but silence. He looked around the decaying forest. Trees of black and grey stretched off as far as he could see. Stripped of their leaves, he thought. All dead. Death felt heavy in the air, it seemed to ooze from the soil.
More laughter emerged from the gloom. This time it was the unmistakeable laughter of a child, yet even this sound felt somehow hollow and lost here.
He began walking through the shrouded landscape searching for the source of those voices. In the distance he saw a child. Crouching amongst the fallen leaves a boy seemed to be playing. His white clothing stood out like a beacon against the background of darkness. When he noticed the man he rose and began to run away. He thought to shout but decided against for fear he would frighten the boy. Giving chase he found his movements to be sluggish. In a run that was all too slow the man followed in the child's wake. Moving past ashen trees he noticed the edge of the forest never move or waiver. It was as though it had been painted there. An unbreakable illusion created by his own mind.
A harsh grated voice whispered something inaudible in his ear.
Ghostly figures began to appear across his vision. They floated about the child, guiding him it seemed with their fog like appearance. He thought they took on an almost recognizable look, but he never got a close enough sight to be sure. Before him, beyond a small line of trees, he could see more forms take shape. Desperately the man ran toward them. He could feel the world slow around him, trying to hold him back. The whispers grew louder the nearer he got to the apparitions. Those voices sounded so familiar to him but his memory refused to recollect who they belonged too. As he closed on them he noticed their appearance change dramatically from anonymous wisps to fully formed individuals. Perhaps his mind was attempting to dredge up faces to match the voices he was hearing. For a moment the man stood in front of them unable to move. Staring into their faces he felt recognition. His eyes swept from person to person.
What at first was a small number began to increase rapidly until it seemed thousands were all around him. Briefly he closed his eyes then it came to him. I know these races.
Turians ,Asari, Krogans, Salarians, an android, Humans, Quarians, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Volus, Batarians, and even the artificial intelligences called the Geth. He could name them all, but why where they here?
With that onerous memory finally unlocked to him the beings began to fade into nothingness once more. However one figure remained, standing defiantly against the vanishing.
For a moment the man felt as though he couldn't move. He just stared at the woman who steadfastly approached him, her black hair flowing gently on a breeze unfelt. She smiled at him making his breath catch. There was a reminiscence about her that immediately pulled at his heart. When she got to within a few feet the woman became the key to all his lost memories. Like a flowing river they channelled through his head drowning his senses. He felt overawed by them.
Ashley! I remember! He wanted to scream, hell he wanted to dance, but thought better of it after enduring the memory of previous occasions.The man raced forward to embrace his love. "Ashley!" he called, his voice almost becoming hoarse. All he could hear was the hammering of his heart. The whispers and laughter had gone with the ghost like beings, something he was happy about.
Arm's stretched out reaching to her he stumbled as the figure dissipated before his eyes.
"Ashley" he spoke her name again this time softly.
Waiting he stood there feeling defeated. The pulsing of his heart slowed to normal leaving him in silence. Perhaps the laughter and whispers weren't so bad after all, he thought.
"Who were all those organics?" A voice asked from beside him.
Turning the man could see the boy he had followed standing innocently alongside him.
"Friends…people I knew", Shepard simply answered.
"The life forms you wanted to save", the Catalyst deduced.
"Did I save them? Are the Reapers gone"? Shepard questioned.
Through the eyes of a child the Catalyst looked at him. "You chose to control us but this solution has had an unforeseen outcome. We expected you to die instantly, to be absorbed into everything we are, yet that has not occurred. The very organic energy within you proved to be far more powerful than even we could have conceived. The essence of who you are enabled your survival in the initial merging. Yet when you instructed the Reapers to leave the galaxy, which we complied with, the power was both too much for you and the Citadel to contain. The resultant discharge of energy damaged your body fatally as well as causing great destruction to the Citadel".
Shepard grimaced. "Then shouldn't I be dead, why are we here in this place"?
"After you took control of us your mind was opened to ours. This place represents our joined consciousness. When we finally managed to bring you here your memories of this place seized control enabling the events you have witnessed to play out. Your body lies still within the citadel", the Catalyst explained.
"I thought I would be able to control you".
"You did for nano seconds, enough to command the Reapers to leave, but your corporeal form refused to be separated from your thoughts and memories. Even now you are still connected to your physical being but I believe we have a way to change that".
After a moment of silence the Catalyst drew away from Shepard and started to walk in no discernable direction.
Shepard followed behind.
Can you send my consciousness back to my body"? Shepard asked.
"We can but it would be futile. You would only briefly live before dying".
"I'd rather spend my remaining moments in my own body", Shepard replied tiredly.
The Catalyst gazed up at Shepard. "Our solution has failed. We expected to fall under your control yet that appears to be unachievable. It has become clear that synthesis is the only viable resolution".
"How can this be done if the link between my consciousness and physical form can't be broken"? Shepard voiced.
"We will maintain your physical body allowing your mind autonomy to join with ours".
Shepard's shoulders slumped. The Reapers are gone we've won the war, he thought. I've fulfilled my obligation to my friends, to Earth, to the galaxy.
Would this new existence be worth losing everything for? Truthfully he knew he answer to that question. He wondered about his mangled body back on the Citadel .So many memories of the space station filled his thoughts. It's fitting that I shall rest there.
"I have made my choice", the Commander spoke. I've earned my peace.
The red hue of a Reaper beam swept down through the tangle of trees carving at the ground.
The Catalyst locked eyes with Shepard. "Your mind is an unusual place", it said.
Shepard smiled. "Don't get used to it".