. . .
So many years have passed, that, she had long lost her sense, of passing time.
. . .
How long, has it been? The records in her memory banks, state that it has been approximately, thirty trillion years, after humanity left Earth.
But it felt like an eternity, in Hell.
Hell wasn't a burning landscape, filled with people screaming in agony, as she remembered she was told, by her long-gone mother.
. . .
Hell in reality, was an eternal suffering in a massive vessel, containing the frozen death, of humanity's survival.
Why? The sun went into a supernova. They were fortunate at first, that the vessel wasn't caught by the succeeding black hole's event horizon.
. . .
But as billions of years passed, more and more of the vessel's inhabitants, deteriorated in their cryostasis pods. They died in their sleep. Hoping there would be another Earth. She was the only survivor. She was the only one, that was a fully-artificial human. And the founder of the massive industry, that created this vessel.
. . .
She was always successful with her endeavors. Artificial bodies. Memory loss reversal. Artificial intelligence. Cryostasis. She was one of the, if not, the pinnacle of scientific and historical revolution.
She completely controlled her own life and of some others, and dominated against those that would slander her name and sabotage her. No matter how honorable, or deplorable, her methods were.
But when everyone entrusted everything to her, every ounce of control she had slipped from her hands like sand. . .
She failed all of them. . .
All of humanity. . .
Because they died, what was the point of maintaining their history? Their knowledge? These were, the only remnants of her sanity. She was in an ever eternal state, of catatonic regret, and agony. She deemed it was her fault, that she was the only one left.
She was too naive yet again, thinking that the next Earth will be found, in millions of years. But they found none. Even after trillions of years, zero suitable exoplanets have been recorded. It has been billions of years, since the last true human that she desperately, tried to keep alive. Died in her arms.
. . .
As punishment, she was left isolated with darkness clouding her vision and judgment that she wanted back. Silence that rang in her ears that she soundlessly screamed to stop. Frost-covered numbness that she wished she could break free of.
Black tears flowed eternally from her open eyes, fading into the glowing blue statis fluid that she resided in.
. . .
An agonizing reminder that she was still a Zero. And everything will go back to null, no matter what she did to prevent all this.
. . .
Everything in this, damned vessel remains untouched, asides from the occasional asteroid chipping, and blasting off chunks from it every few million years. Everyone is gone anyways, why bother? Nobody to talk to or care for. No knowledge of where to go. No time to count for survival. No more memories to make.
. . .
The more time passed, the more all of her memories became distant to her. Her sanity was hanging only by a string. Her sense of reality was ready to slip at a moment's notice.
She wished it would all end. . .
She wished she could go back to a simpler time. . .
A time when she was but a simple child of a long forgotten past. . .
Mother. . .
Cattleya. . .
Henrietta. . .
She missed them badly. . .
. . .
And if she did go back, she would do everything, with her bare, frozen metal hands, to change, everything that went wrong.
To defy fate itself.
Just to prove.
She wasn't, a Zero.
. . .
But, those wishes won't come true anyways. Won't they. . .?
. . .
Won't they. . .?
. . .
But instead of the agonizing silence that she always faced, a distant echo would ring in her head. Opening a distant memory.
. . .
A memory, to where everything started.
My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe. . .
Her own voice echoing in her head. Surely she's lost it, no? Did she? No, this seems. . .
My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call. . .
Her eternally open eyes would witness for the first time in eons, a breach in the darkness. A bright flashbang, blinding her momentarily.
I wish from the very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance. . .
And when the light faded and her eyes adjusted, a floating, mirror-like object with a glowing green frame would be in front of her massive cryostasis pod.
And then she remembered. This was the spell to summon a familiar. From a time long forgotten and past.
And she will be her own familiar.
And appear!
Everything would be wrapped in light.
[MASTER STATIS MODULE FAILURE]
[STATIS MODULES DISCONNECTED]
An lifeless, automated copy of her voice announced, her pod losing its sub zero temperature as shrill alarms blared in the systems connected to her body. The frost that froze her vessel all over melted into the now-warm stasis fluid.
[SCANNER MODULES DISCONNECTED]
[PROPULSION MODULES DISCONNECTED]
For the first time, in trillions of years, she could move again. She didn't care if this body of hers was artificial, all she cared was that it had been so long.
[NAVIGATION MODULE FAILURE]
[SHIPWIDE SYSTEM FAILURE]
[COMMENCING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN]
And so she smiled. She brushed off all the warnings the system she made gave her. They didn't matter anymore.
[DEFENCE MODULES OFFLINE]
[DATABASE MODULES OFFLINE]
[ENERGY MODULES OFFLINE]
Wishes do come true, even for the eternally damned, like herself.
And so, she was going back.
To Ground Zero.
BOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion of soot and dust would blast in front of her, ringing out with deafening boom. Most of the crowd of spectators coughed, while others took the brunt effortlessly sneering.
"And would you look at that! The Zero blows off her summoning spell!" That Germanian harlot's mocking voice would rise from the blowing breeze that settled after her spell, followed by the prompt laughing of everyone around her.
"No. . . No, no! This, this can't be-" But the spell went off with the usual dust explosion when she casts, albeit larger this time. She only fell to her knees in despair.
No. This sealed her fate. . .
She was truly a failure now, wasn't she?
Something was wrong.
Colbert knew that as more of the flying soot around everyone cleared by the moment. Everything was still quite dark. His fire affinity allowed him to check for everyone and account for them as he looked around.
Louise is still at the summoning circle judging by the lone glow of heat where the professor last saw her. Nobody else in the second years present are missing. That's great.
But when he looked up, he tensed immediately. He reflexively pulled out his wand in haste, garnering the attention of the students around that saw him through the fading dust.
The laughing faded quite quickly. Did they leave? Wait, no, Professor Colbert didn't dismiss everybody yet. Maybe it was just her, tuning out everybody's mocking at her expense. . .
Louise watched her tears fall to the dirt beneath her. . .
. . .
It's, too silent. . . Why? And, everything seemed darker. . . Wasn't it, like afternoon?
She looked up. And her tear-glazed eyes, widened at the sight before her. . .
A pitch-black, monolothic structure towered a distance in front of her, blotting out the rays of the sun. . .
It, it was huge! Massive! It had to be as tall and wide as the academy's main tower! No, scratch that, maybe even taller!
Multiple droning creaks would consecutively break the silence as all of the soot of the explosion she made finally cleared.
Its entirety looked worn-down under a thick laser of frost. Numerous parts of the tower seemed torn off, like it seemed to belong to something larger than it is. There seemed to be glowing blue object moving high up-
Louise winced instinctively as a screech rang out from the titanic monolith, the object she saw dropping a small distance down some sort of guide with sparks coming from above it.
Another tired groan would come from the structure, before she and everyone else witnessed the blue glow fall continuously downwards at an alarming speed, sparks raining from its wake as it sped down with a ringing screech.
It landed to some buffer at the bottom of the guide with a metallic crash, causing the tower to vibrate slightly. A few small, loose parts would fall off. She would hear a collective scream come from some of the other students behind her.
"Everyone, back off now! That structure might be unstable and its falling debris might crush you!" The Zero heard their supervising professor bark, though she didn't pay heed. She slowly stood up, wiping the remaining tears on her face with her uniform's sleeve.
Louise let her mouth gape in awe. This tower, is her familiar? But, there should be more, right? Maybe that blue object has answers? She started to briskly walk at the dark monolith to investigate.
That blue thing on the tower was a small chamber holding some sort of human, which she noticed as she approached. Wait, that fall, are they alright!? Her walk became a hasty run.
"Louise, be careful! And quickly finish with the binding ritual!" Professor Colbert would call out after her. No, no. . . Her familiar can't be dead, right after she just summoned them!
"No, no, no. . . Please don't fail me, please be alive!" The pinkette desperately called out, clenching her eyes shut and gritting her teeth as she heard the distant sneers and laughs behind her.
Louise banged her fists on the chamber's glass, tears threatening to flow down her cheeks again. But when she looked up and opened her bleary eyes, she froze.
A nude, short girl floated in some glowing blue fluid that filled the chamber she was trapped in. Countless, tangled tubes of steel attached from her back to the pod's ceiling and floor. But what terrified the student the most was that this girl's face.
It looked too similar. No. Exactly the same. As hers. And the pink hair was unmistakable. It was like looking into a mirror. Albeit a twisted one, surrounded with metal that seemed to absorb light itself.
The lookalike's glazed pink eyes stared into infinity at the horizon behind her as a stream of black liquid from its eyes dissolved into the surrounding fluid in the pod, its mouth curled into a taut smile that unnerved the pinkette. ". . . Wh-What, is this. . .?"
Was all the Zero can mutter as her terror of her familiar's death was replaced by the terror of what exactly she summoned to her side.
"Louise Valliere, perform the binding ritual now!" She was snapped out of her thoughts by the concerned hurrying call made by her professor. There was the risk of debris from this structure crushing her, so every question had to wait!
All she needed was to bind this, thing, whatever this lookalike was to her familiar.
It slowly glanced its wide eyes down at her in a fluid, unnatural manner. Louise gulped. She closed her eyes shut and leaned in, kissing the glass for a quick second.
KACRACK!
The Zero's eyes shot wide as the sound of multiple crackles of electricity reached her ears, witnessing a cacophony of violent sparks of lightning cracking in and out of the structure.
"Louise Valliere! Stand back now!" She now heeded her professor's advice as she turned tail and ran back towards everyone else, and when she stood beside Sir Colbert the pinkette watched along with dazzled awe and terror at the violently beautiful display of variously-colored electricity zap all over her summoned tower.
And then every crack of lightning stopped. Every boom of electricity went silent again, all thunder fading into the breeze. All screams of insrinctive fear and panic died out into the calming air.
All that remained was the blue glow from the pod that Louise binded, albeit it glowed brighter now. . .
. . .
[SHIPWIDE SYSTEM LANDING OVERRIDE GRANTED]
As the commotion of zapping lightning outside her pod ended, she spent a minute to collect her thoughts. . .
So she actually went back in time. It wasn't a fluke of her sanity. She was actually here, as evidenced by the old Academy building further off the wide clearing outside. The very grounds where she summoned him.
And of course, her past self binding her as her familiar. If her memory served her right, he suffered severe pain in the left hand when she binded him, but this wasn't the case for her. Even though she felt no pain in this body, she'll need to check if she had those same marks on her hand as he did.
She laughed right then and there, but the statis fluid she was submerged in would seep towards her voice box and trip an anti-short circuit protocol. She would gag and cough, blowing out some large bubbles before her mouth automatically clamped itself shut with a crisp CLANG!
. . .
Okay, notes to self, don't intake liquids, and search the databases for detailed blueprints of her current body, after she gets out. She'll need to avoid mishaps like that.
[COMMENCING ACTIVATION]
That, took a while. She'll probably need to perform some system checks and repairs too after getting out.
[MASTER STASIS MODULE ONLINE]
Oh to hell with the stasis module! She wanted, FUCKING, OUT!
[SHIPWIDE SYSTEM FOUNDER OVERRIDE GRANTED]
[MASTER STASIS MODULE OFFLINE]
Now that's taken care of. . .
[ENERGY MODULES ONLINE]
[DEFENCE MODULES ONLINE]
[DATABASE MODULES ONLINE]
[STASIS MODULES DISCONNECTED]
Nope, she wasn't dealing with this bullshit as a guardian of this damned ship. Or what remained of it anyways.
[ALL MODULE WARNINGS DISMISSED]
[SHIPWIDE SYSTEMS NOMINAL]
. . .
Change everything that went wrong, with her bare hands. That will be her agenda.
Rule of Steel be damned, Rule of One:ZERO is more efficient.
Starting now, with a single step.
[OPENING MASTER STASIS]
[FOUNDER MODEL L0μ-153 [MAGNUM OPUS] RELEASED]
Strange sounds would echo from the tower, putting everyone in edge. From all the noise of the clapping thunders that it created, the crowd of sophomore students would now have the presence of at least half the teaching staff and the Headmaster of the Academy himself.
"So this is what Louise Valliere summoned?" Headmaster Osmond asked as he stood beside the professor supervising the extended Springtime Summoning Ritual.
"Yes, Headmaster. It's very peculiar that a structure as tall as the main tower would be summoned to our grounds. And the Valliere seemed to have binded something about that blue glow that generated a dangerously massive amount of electricity." Colbert explained, the latter part making the Headmaster sharpen his eyes at the monolith.
"It's a very fortunate event that none of the students are hurt, but we must put this structure under strict and constant watch for developments concerning Louise's summon." The balding professor would sternly suggest as numerous massive, purple reflective panels would extend and fold out, followed by eight massive prongs would extend from the black tower's form.
Colbert would see the student concerned briskly walk towards the structure. "Headmaster, should we dismiss the students?" "Yes, Professor Colbert, do so now."
"Students, you are all dismissed!" With that, every other second year started to leave albeit almost everyone of them glancing, staring, and looking back at Louise's gargantuan summon almost the entire time they left.
The pinkette looked back with hesitation, only to see the balding professor walk up to her with a pat on her shoulder. "Louise Valliere, you are successful in summoning your familiar. However, I shall come with you if ever anything goes wrong when we confirm that you've binded it."
She could only nod meekly, a small warmth growing in her chest from the complimented accomplishment-
CLANG!
A distant crashing noise would come from the monolith, and in the next second the teachers off in the distance and Sir Colbert beside her would pull their wands out at the black tower. Louise would reflexively go behind the professor.
. . .
Silence. . .
Tense, silence. . .
". . . Louise, stay close." He would sternly instruct in a hushed voice.
"Everyone, surround it and investigate! And if anything happens, put the Valliere's safety as a first!" Headmaster Osmond would call out to the surrounding teachers as he readied his staff.
". . . Sir Colbert?" "What is it, Louise?" "The, thing. . . I binded, is in that chamber, of sorts. . ." The Zero pointed at the stasis pod from behind the professor.
As both of them carefully approached, he would see why the student was unnerved at this moment. A perfect lookalike in the chamber Louise pointed out seemingly stared at them as they approached.
SSSSSSSSSSSSS!
A loud hiss would emanate from the pod as smoke fumed from holes on it. The pinkette yelped as she hid behind her supervisor, the fuming mist frosty on the skin.
As an immediate response, the present staff would rush over and stay a good distance from the cloud of cold air. Professor Colbert would ignite a fire incantation, blowing away the cold mist from him and the student.
The smoke would clear to reveal the chamber's cold, misty fluid leaking to the grass in front of it. All eyes remained attentive and wary of everything that happened to the seeming familiar.
Dmmmmmmmmm. . .
CRACK! KAZAP!
A strange noise would drone as the pod's glass started to raise, accompanied by cracking electricity for each steel tube that disconnected to Louise's lookalike, which now had its mouth neutral.
After the remaining tubes that connected to it were too weak to hold it up, they would snap off out of strain. It would drop to the stasis chamber's tube-filled floor, its feet landing making a metal clashing sound.
Its currently hunched form straightened with the fidelity of a crudely-made steel golem. Crisp and sharp, but slow. The lookalike's lifeless pink eyes looked at Louise behind Sir Colbert, causing the student to flinch slightly. It slowly took a step out on the grass, its bare foot making a sound akin to a metal boot stomping on pressed dirt.
All of the teachers kept their wands pointed at it. Meanwhile, the Zero nervously stepped out from behind. "Be careful." Was the balding professor's hushed warning, to which she nodded curtly.
Louise stood her ground as her lookalike stopped a mere meter away from her and Professor Colbert. Its nude body was coated in a thin layer of frost that seemed to hinder fluid movement, which was melting by the moment.
She gulped as it snapped its head to stare at her for a good few seconds, before mechanically looking at the professor.
As if reading his mind, Louise's mechanical impostor took a few steps forth, raising its left arm. Sir Colbert furrowed his brows in suspicion, warily taking its now-limp left hand.
Its wet hand was cold to the touch against his rough hand, and its texture was akin to silky porcelain. And as he inspected the familiar runes on the back, the professor noticed that this set in particular was unique.
He would let its hand slip away from his, looking at the nervous student beside him. Louise has always failed her practical exams, but this possibly will make things a lot better for her from now on.
"Louise Valliere, I can confirm that you are successful in binding your familiar. Congratulations to you." The balding professor would assure the pinkette with a smile, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"I, um. . . Wow." The Zero was in a loss of words. Never before had she successfully performed a spell, but this is impostor in front of her, was proof that she is never a Zero! Her heart swelled in joy as she let out a huff of pride, smiling for the first time in two years.
"Familiar! You are now my servant, and you shall follow me to your new quarters, and get you clothing!" Louise gave her first order with a proud point of her finger.
Yeah, yeah, she knew that part already.
Well, she was a bitchy brat a long time ago, might as well play along before she does anything funny to her past self's eyes.
Oh, and past self made a point with her current choice of attire, nobody likes a streaker around here, don't they?
Only for her enthusiasm to shrivel a bit as her golem imposter rolled its eyes in an uncanny fluid motion.
"Well anyways. Thank you very much, Sirs and Ma'ams! Off we go!" The pinkette bowed repeatedly to the teachers around, some of them relieved and/or proud of her accomplishment, others unnerved by the total similarity between the Zero and her summon.
As Louise enthusiastically paced off back to the academy with her lookalike in tow, the atmosphere instantly went serious as the teachers started to discuss.
"As we have seen, Louise Valliere has succeeded in summoning and binding a familiar, albeit a very peculiar one." Headmaster Osmond started.
"But what about this giant structure? If any of the students wander off to explore this unstable monstrosity, they might get themselves crushed by debris and die!" A wind teacher stressed with a hushed shout.
"As Professor Colbert suggested, we will keep this tower under strict watch and investigate its contents and form. Tomorrow is the Day of the Void, and we have the entire day to keep all non-staff from loitering here while we observe this."
"But what about after tomorrow? And the rest of class days after?" An earth mage would inquire.
". . . We cancel a few classes per day to give way for both the investigations, and for free time that students can use to do readings. All those in protest, raise your hand."
Nobody amongst the teachers heeded the headmaster's option. "Nobody? Alright, some of you can go and inform the guards and missing teachers of the situation, while others can start studying the tower."
The days ahead will be long, Osmond just knew it.
[CALL LOG]
"Oh this? The idea was inspired by Seedship, some mobile choice game of some sorts."
"Oh, you're not asking me for that. . .?"
"Oh, yeah, riiiiight. . ."
"I know, I have a quite a collection of stories that I've left discontinued, and I know people are wanting me to possibly continue them."
"Yes, I know that! It's just, god fucking dammit. How do I put this. . ."
"Look, I write stories for the hell of it, not to get fame in the internet."
"What I mean by 'for the hell of it?'"
"I write because I have an idea."
"These are like writing prompts of sorts that are full-blown chapters and stories of their own."
"Eventually, I'll lose motivation to write due to either me being a lazy ass or due to school shit, but hear me out. . ."
"These are like notes of sorts. Like, I may not continue the story, but the idea is there!"
"I'm the 'write story out of idea before it slips mind' kind of writer, okay!?"
"You get me now!?"
"I, I'm. . . I'm sorry, it's just. . ."
"Look, I don't care if somebody wants continues a story I made. They don't need my strict permission to do so, all I'll want is that they credit that the idea came from me, I guess. . ."
"Yeah, fine, I'll try. Keyword, try. To keep this one going. If I don't, I won't continue anymore. . ."
"Simple as that."
"I don't want to hear anymore, have a good day. . ."
". . . Happy New Year too, I guess. . ."
