As the skies turned black, the sun unable to witness the corruption of her only living child, a few short buildings stood their silent vigil. They watched on as the mother of their world slowly hid herself away, for there was only so long she could stay. The land was tainted red, like the blood that once coursed through ever living creature that once walked it. But they were gone now, nothing but a haunting echo of the winds howling in despair. But without anyone to hear them, they might as well have been silent. Reality was twisted, giving no meaning to anything or anyone. And without people, even that didn't matter anymore. This world had been abandoned, just as the sun will soon for another night.
Even time itself had been lost, for there was nobody around to remember it. The land was barren, with nothing but this stain of concrete and metal that was once home to a small number of people. They were once the survivors of the Blaze, the event that brought the end to this world. What was once full of life was now empty and forgotten; forever left to decay. But just as the sun was about vanish behind the clouds, like she has so many times before, a flicker of light pierces through.
It shines upon one of the spiked metal spheres that were contained in a strange cucoon of energy. For just a moment does this light touch the withered and beaten metal, but that was all it took. After so much time passed over this one thing that it had no power over, it came rushing in to bring the peace of decay. The metal cracks and splits opents energy field finally fails, revealing what could be the last survivor of the Blaze.
His prison finally broken, Legna Tsol waseeted by the dark sky. He would have opened his eyes if not for the corruption that possessed him that had taken his sight. He couldn't stand to see the corruption that had tainted his body, so it stole them away and forever left him in darkness. Where once he had eyes were now nothing but empty sockets lined with bone that became a mask grafted onto his face. He could no longer speak for he had no tongue in which to do so and his lips were infused with the bone of his mask. While his jaw could work, no words could ever leave it.
Legna Tsol opened his mouth and breathed in for the first time since he was locked away in the artificial Conciousness Orb. Then he wailed to the sky that he was forced to forget; he wailed for the earth that he was forced to taint; and then he wailed because he knew he was alone. Once his breath was gone, he reached back, his mechanical fingers twitching with fear, to feel the bones that extended from his back. He began to sob without tears when he realized that they were still there. They were always there; he could never be rid of them for as long as he lived.
For on his back he bore the mockery of wings; they were just mere bone held together by dried strands of tendon. They had once been grand and pure as white snow, but over time he witnessed the feathers fall out one by one as the corruption within him grew. The day he was forced inside the orb was the very day that the final feather was stolen from his weakened grasp. His screams fell on deaf ears as he was contained in that metallic prison, to have his whole being spread among all the orbs.
It was there that he felt her, the physical form of the Absolute God, and then the corruption inside his body began to spread. His body was contaminated by corrupt data, growthing at an alarming rate until it infected everything around it. He tried to tell her what was happening, to prevent the corruption from taking her as well. But it was too late and it took hold. He was forced to listen to her screams as the world around her was quickly becoming consumed by the taint. Then it began to spread even further through the artificial Conciousness Orbs, taking over the real ones.
Then came the Blaze.
All he could do was listen to the anguish of the world through the orbs and cry out in return. When silence took over, he listened with dispair as all those who he once knew were transformed into what would be known as meta-beings. Those creatures were people who could not handle the sudden change to their world and held onto those few thoughts of the world before.
But as they let themselves go, emotions turned into instinct and memories into pain. Unable to stand their world, they changed. Their bodies slowly shedding their humanity as their damaged minds remade their reality. While their souls hid inside their baroques, their minds became as tainted as the world around them. They no longer fought it off, and without the willpower to resist, there was nothing human left to see.
After some time had passed, he felt another presence inside the Conciousness Orbs. He knew that it was familiar to him but being stretched out among the orbs held his memories back. He was never able to find peace inside himself for he was unable to exist inside himself like the meta-beings.
Then, one day, he sensed something enter the one of the Conciousness Orbs inside the Neuro Tower. Its data was scattered but he recognized it to be a sword made of various pieces of junk. It wasn't much, but why was it here? He tried to take hold of it and pulled at the streams that flowed between each orb, hoping the data would release him from his prison. But just as he was about to grab it, he realized that his hands could not move. While his being was spread throughout the Conciousness Orbs, his body still remained sealed. He felt the data pass through him and was remade and ejected outside his prison above ground.
Oh how he screamed from the despair he felt as again and again, items would come and go. Nothing would help him as he tried to reach for them. But his cries were only ever noticed by one person. He was a twisted being with a neck stretched as long as his body and a head forced to look into the sky. But even then, the cries of Legna Tsol were left to be forgotten.
But now that he was finally free, there was no more time for despair. He stretched out his wings and felt the currents of the wind passing around him. After so long inside the orbs, he had forgotten what they felt like. But when the winds died, so did his thoughts.
He wasn't sure what happened to the Absolute God, but without warning, she dissapeared. He knew she didn't die because her presence felt warm for the first time since the Blaze. And then she simply vanished from all of his perception through the Conciousness Orbs. With any luck, she would be in a better place than this one.
Legna Tsol picked himself up from the ground and scanned the area. He was certain that he was alone now, the presence of all the people here having vanished so long ago. He wasn't sure as to when that happened, for he lost count of how many times the sun set in the distance. But he looked anyways.
Amongst the buildings was very little but the faint sense of the memories of the people who lived here. He didn't know any of them, so he wasn't even sure about their names. But as he wandered about, he thought he felt something heavy on his head that made him itch. Then he came across a door and got the feeling that he wasn't supposed to enter. This sense turned him away and he passed a spot where he felt like burying himself in the dirt and stare up at the sky. But what had him stop in his place was the sense of memories hidden deep within themselves. These were echoed by two voices; one that could only remember another's thoughts and a second who could only speak another's words. Then he realized that this was all that was left of those who lived here. These were just fragments of data left behind when they passed on. Then, as he was passing by a doorway while heading to the Neuro Tower, he felt as if someone was asking him to enter.
As he stepped inside, he picked up traces of one who he had come to know a bit about. A boy, lost and confused. Legna Tsol knew of him by the traces of data he sensed as the boy hurled items through the Conciousness Orbs. Why was he ever in this sort of place? Then he stumbled across a coat and a sword just lying on the ground, waiting for someone to pick them up and give them meaning. He felt his wings crack, break, then shrink down before folding onto his back so he could throw the coat on before wrapping his fingers around the handle of the sword. It felt cold in his hand, a stark constrast to the strange warmth he found from the coat. This was a memory of the one who once wore this coat, before their delusions took over their reality.
As he left, fragments of data began to gather, taking on the memory of silver scales and sharp fangs. Legna Tsol turned around when he heard the Idea Seraph rolling up beside him, casting no light. Without a mind, the delusion was nothing but an empty shell. The orb suddenly cracked and split open, releasing the haunting echoes of children laughing and playing. Overcome by the sound, he stamped it out. It was nothing more than a false memory made to hide from the horrors of this world. But it still had an effect on him as he dropped to his knees and wished that he had eyes with which to weep.
After hours of mindless wandering, he finally left the underground area. He took a bite out of a heart he found, knowing full well just where it came from. It was small and young, but its host was already dead. There was no point in worrying about this. He needed food to survive now that he was no longer a part of the Conciousness Orbs.
The wind was dying down and he almost choked when he sensed something he had hoped would never remain in this world; the Angelic Rifle. This accursed weapon had once used the Littles, the embodiments of the Absolute God's pain. He knew of its purpose to end the life of the Absolute God, but such an act could have only condemned this world to utter oblivion. Then a howl from the Neuro Tower pierced the anger he felt for the weapon. Someone was still inside, he felt it deep inside his soul. Without meaning to, he grabbed the rifle and slung it over his shoulder as he raced towards the tower.
The enterance was open, still willing to accept any who dared to enter. But as soon as he went inside, he heard the echoes the of a voice that caused him to fall to his knees. That voice...the Littles...it hurt to hear their voice. It lasted for but a moment and when he looked back, hoping to see them, he realized that he was now shut inside. There was a wall where the enterance had been; there was no turning back now.
He went further inside and found a black portal on the floor. He could sense that it was to help him pass into the lower levels and he willingly stepped on it. His data was broken down and he was pulled into the next floor.
The process made him feel so cold as he passed through. He looked around, seeing nothing but rusted walls and the smell of tainted flesh. As he wandered about the halls, all he found were over twenty Idea Seraphs, cracked open and seeped in blood. Something was wrong here, but what could have happened to them? That question couldn't be answered because a fish-like creature, known as Moon, came out of the darkness and snapped at his face. It was only because of his mask of bone that he was unharmed.
Even if Legna Tsol couldn't see it, he could sense that this wasn't any ordinary meta-being. It was panicked, cautious, and crying. The way it hovered in the air, its muscles slack and its tail curled to cover its face. Legna Tsol knew what was wrong because he knew the exact feelings it suffered from. It was all alone and was mentally unstable because of its fear. But without a functional Baroque to hide one's self in, this one was entirely exposed to the horrors of this world. Something had forced this one to become seperated from its delusions, dropping it from its safe little world.
He stood there for a moment, contimplating what to do. He remembered the sword on his belt, but he felt that it was not going to work. He shook that thought out of his mind and walked towards it, only to have it snap at him. But the Moon's attempts were chaotic and tired, leaving it unable to bite through his mechanical hands. It just didn't have the strength to fight him off. Its crying only increased when it realized that he had it caught. It stopped struggling as he pulled it against his chest and gently rocked it.
It tried to talk to him, but it had no human tongue with which to speak with. As the convulsions slowed, he could feel his corrupted data sinking into its body, slowly peeling away the image insanity had crafted. It ate away at the meta-beings silver scales, revealing the soft flesh underneath. Its fangs fell out of its mouth, one by one, and its tail turned to dust before vanishing into nothing.
Before the the meta-being faded away, overwhelmed and absorbed by his corruption, he heard its voice in his head, "I just want my mommy..." Then the boy was gone. In his place was a tiny grey feather that blew away into the darkness of the hallway before him. Legna Tsol ran after it, hoping to remember what it was like to have his true wings again, only to come to a dead end.
But to his senses, something was wrong here. He reached out and discovered that one of the 'walls' was nothing more than an illusion. Behind it was a secret room with a lone Conciousness Orb. He remembered this place now, there was a woman here once, but she had left like all the rest of them. There were traces of her presence still lingering here, but those faded like whisps of a dream lost to a waking mind. Without warning, the Conciousness Orb shattered, but he had already left the room and was heading for the portal to the next floor. He was too far away to hear the cries of pain as a white feather, stained by a splash of red, floated gently to the ground.
After the first few floors, he could feel that he was one thousand cubets down. It didn't matter though, because he couldn't turn back. He made sure to gather any flesh, hearts, and bones he came across. Even if these rooms and hallways were empty of life, he still had to eat. He bit into a bone, breaking it open with ease, and tasted the merrow inside.
Even without an appetite, his body needed nourishment. He could feel his stamina slowly draining from his body. Without food, his own body would devour him alive and likely kill him, allowing his corruption to spread unrestrained.
Traces of a foul odor suddenly assaulted his tongue, which was hightened without the use of his eyes or nose. He knew of this being, a meta-being known as Churyu the Bulger. This one was panicking as well, letting off gasses as it rolls itself into the walls, hoping to end its suffering. Its forhead was split open, revealing cracked bone underneath. Its breathing was heavy under its gasmask, a result of being unable to handle its own gasses any longer.
When it noticed Legna Tsol, it inflated with toxic gas and started to 'hop' towards him, intent on sharing its suffering. One swift movement was all he needed and its belly was split open by his sword, spilling its blackened blood across the floor. He then plunged his mechanical hand into its chest, feeling its heart stopping in his palm.
"Where is my husband?"
He wished that he could comfort the dying woman, but she was already gone as his corruption consumed her body. Yet another feather was blown into the hallway, lost in the darkness. All that was left was her heart, still in his hand. He sank his teeth into the tough meat, removing the remaining traces of its owner from this world. Haunted by the fact that he actually felt stronger now, he wandered off to find the next portal. He popped another bone in his mouth, unfazed by the rock bone as his hardened teeth made short work of it. Any lesser person would have broken their teeth on it, but he wasn't bothered by such things in his condition.
Splatters of blood that still stained his sword were burned away like hot ash as his corruption broke it down. What he didn't know was that bits of the walls and floor were slowly burning as he passed. These were almost invisible to the senses, but as he entered the portal to the next floor, this spread like wildfire, devouring everything that remained. There was nothing left, not even the empty space between the walls.
Once he made it to three thousand cubets deep, he sat himself down and stopped to rest. He pulled the Angelic Rifle off his back and threw it against the wall opposite of him. While the stone shattered under the impact, the rifle didn't even have a scratch.
But that was to be expected from a weapon carved from his bones and forged in flames fed by his feathers. This was how it held the Absolute God's pain and used it as ammunition. The Angelic Rifle was born from pain and was the only thing that could contain it. Not even his corruption could destroy it, for it was made from him.
Inside the cylinder, silver and green particals condenced to form a lone bullet in one of the five chambers.