Chapter 1 - "Vita and the Guardian Mythology"
Darkness. Pitch-black darkness. That's the only thing Subaru Natsuki can see.
"What's… going… on?"
As Subaru dreamily voices his confusion, he notices that he's standing in a place akin to a void.
"Where… am… I?"
Subaru continues to voice his confusion once again as a crimson red light shines behind him, exposing the place he's in as a blank endless void. He then starts to turn around to face this light and what he sees instantly makes him feel wide awake, out of sheer shock. The hairs on his body stand on end, his eyes and mouth are wide open as the red light shines on his eyes.
If Subaru were to describe what he sees, he would say this;
There are many varying timelines, all of them begin to fuse into one unstable timeline that can't hold itself together. More timelines are added to it, accelerating its inevitable end.
At said end, there's a single point, a singularity. Matter, time and even souls are unable to escape. A destructive wave of blood red crimson stretches outward across the universe and once it reaches the edge of the universe, as if a plug was taken out, it gets pulled back into the singularity, which marks the end of existence.
Subaru then hears the sound of a finger snap as his dreamy consciousness drifts back into deep sleep.
Subaru jolts forward and sits up from his futon. His vision blurred from the adrenaline and the lack of light in the Water Plumage Inn bedroom he's in, as he starts to hyperventilate. Subaru then feels a small hand touch his right arm, which allows him to slowly calm down.
"Another nightmare, I suppose."
Subaru hears a familiar voice and as his vision starts to adjust to the darkness, he turns around to see Beatrice, the small blonde haired spirit Subaru contracted with over a year ago. He then turns back around, presses his left hand against his forehead and tries to recall his 'nightmare'.
"I.. don't think… that was a nightmare."
"…?"
"It was more like… a vision."
"A vision of what, in fact?"
"I…"
Just as Subaru was about to answer Beatrice, he heard the sound of thunder as he felt an intense wave of fatigue as his consciousness instantly fades to black.
"…"
Subaru feels the dry stone of Priestella's grounds on the back of his head and hands as he starts to wake up. The first of Subaru's senses to return was his hearing, and the sound of a thunderstorm echoed in his ears.
Subaru then starts to feel a wave of intense exhaustion throughout his entire body as he painfully starts to open his eyes; his blurred vision tinted red. After his eyes adjust to the surroundings, his vision doesn't show the regular bright blue sky anymore but instead his vision shows crimson clouds as lightning of a similar shade dances through the clouds of what can be described as a thunderstorm tinted with blood.
Huh?
Subaru tries to sit up but the inhuman amount of physical exhaustion he's experiencing renders him immobilised.
The hell? Why can't I move?
As Subaru continues trying to move to no avail, he hears a screeching sound. Then in a mere instant, his attention goes from trying to move to a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling to his right; the feeling of danger and dread which he has felt before among his many failed time loops. Unlike those loops however, this feeling was beyond otherworldly. A feeling that was natural and unnatural at the same time.
"Hmm,… that's odd."
3 separate voices echo out in unison; a high-pitched voice akin to the average young girl, a regular-pitched voice of a man and a deep-pitched voice that's practically demonic. Subaru then hears the sound of footsteps on his right getting louder and closer as each second passes. Once the footsteps get right next to Subaru, he sees a masked figure bending down in order to move in front of Subaru's vision.
This masked figure, which is where the feeling of danger and dread is coming from, is wearing a crimson red tracksuit jacket, along with vantablack jeans. This figure's mask also has a similar crimson red and vantablack colour scheme to their clothes. The mask itself was vantablack and on it was a symbol of a crimson red eye with drip marks going down the eye, as if it was drawn with fresh blood. As Subaru starts to get that sense of fear from looking at this masked figure, said figure continues to speak.
"I'm sensing a dense amount of Positive Cyber Energy from you that wasn't there before."
Positive Cyber Energy?
Subaru didn't understand what this masked figure was talking about. As Subaru pondered this, the masked figure lifted his gloved left hand and grabbed Subaru's face. The fingers of the masked figure's hand grips onto Subaru's cheeks as the masked figure speaks in a more angered tone.
"I made sure to carefully weave my destructive blast in order to get rid of everything in this city, bar the very ground we're on."
The masked figure then turned Subaru's head to his right, forcing his vision to show Subaru that Priestella was no more. Everything in the city from its buildings to its waterways were gone, the only thing left was the ground Subaru and the Masked Figure were on.
"You see… my power, my Negative Cyber Energy is capable of bypassing and negating any power from your universe. Even the likes of Reinhard, Satella, and originally you as well. Just as powerless and vulnerable as a regular civilian when compared to me."
This revelation, along with the realisation that everyone has been killed by this masked figure, causes Subaru to hyperventilate despite the sheer amount of exhaustion he was feeling. This was how much this situation was weighing on his psyche.
Everyone's dead.
This dire thought raced through Subaru's mind as the masked figure continued to monologue.
"Even though I targeted you, and it seemed like you were a pest that was dealt with, you still survived. I honestly don't get it, cause I know everything about you. Subaru Natsuki, the child prodigy, the son of Kenchi Natsuki. The weight of those expectations that being his son had on you, along with various other factors, lead to you developing a severe Inferiority Complex. So when you were taken from your home and brought to this world, you immediately latched onto the idea that you were someone special."
Subaru, in desperation, kept trying and failing to move an inch from the dreadful monster in front of him.
"It's so damn ironic though, as despite this world constantly beating that idea out of you, you are special. After all, the average mind of a human civilian shouldn't even be able to handle the agony you've experienced. Yet, you still have some semblance of mental stability, even though you've already lost your sanity a long time ago. I know about every single success and failure you've ever had from your time loops, as well as every death that you've experienced from those loops."
The unyielding fear in Subaru is continuing to build and build as each word of this figure's monologue is said.
"What you are is a dangerous madman, held back by self-imposed chains and even with those chains, you're still too dangerous to be left alive since you're one stubborn… little… bastard of a cockroach."
The masked figure's grip on Subaru's face gets slightly harder as the masked figure's tone gets increasingly more angry.
"No matter how many times you get squished, you still get back up and survive. You see now, that my blast should've destroyed your soul, so why? WHY DID YOU SURVIVE!"
As the masked figure finally lets out a frustrated shout, they lift up their right arm, pulling it back while their left hand's grip on Subaru's face is still firm. Their gloved right hand starts crackling with lightning; the same coloured lightning as the storm above them. The masked figure then breathed heavily in anger as they continued to speak.
"If I'm unable to kill your body or kill your soul."
This figure then extends their right hand's index finger and starts slowly moving their hand towards Subaru's forehead.
"Then I'll just have to kill… your… mind."
As the masked figure's index finger was about to touch the centre of Subaru's forehead, Subaru felt an electric shock go through his entire body. Then in an instant, Subaru's consciousness fades to black.
As Subaru starts to regain consciousness once more, he starts to feel his entire body ache like it hasn't moved in a long while and he notices that he's lying face up on a wooden floor. Subaru then slowly opens his eyes and sees an old withered ceiling; sunlight seeping through the many cracks and small openings in the withered wood.
"Another unfamiliar ceiling."
After voicing out his slight feeling of deja vu, Subaru slowly starts to sit his aching body up and look around. He sees many broken CRT Televisions scattered about; some on the floor, and some on dusty shelves.
A CRT Store?
Subaru then focuses on what's in front of him and sees what can be assumed to be the backdoor of the store. In front of the backdoor was a dusty counter, on top of said counter is an old cash register, confirming his suspicions of where he is.
Am I back in Japan?
Subaru, in utter bewilderment at his situation, slowly turned his body around to see the windows of the CRT Store boarded up with wooden planks. These windows also had sunlight seeping through, though not as much as the ceiling.
*SCREECH*
Just as Subaru was about to push himself off of the ground, he heard the sound of tyres screeching on the other side of the door.
"Shit."
As this screech triggers a fight or flight response in Subaru, he mutters this one word and then scampers across the floor of the store. Once Subaru gets near the counter, the front door swings open and the sound of a single person's footsteps echoes as Subaru turns around to see a helmeted soldier-like figure enter his line of sight carrying some kind of assault rifle. This figure then stops moving forward immediately at the sight of Subaru.
"Well I'll be damned."
A familiar voice echoes in Subaru's ears. A voice he can never forget that changed his panicked expression to one of shock and bewilderment.
"She was right."
Subaru then sees the figure then take off their helmet to his increasing shock and bewilderment, as Subaru sees a sight he'd never thought he'll see again. Standing in front of Subaru was his father, Kenchi Natsuki, and unlike the last time Subaru saw his dad, Kenchi's hair is a lot more messy with an equally messy five o'clock shadow. On top of the soldier-like attire Kenchi's currently wearing, his overall look could also be compared to a war veteran, as his face is very withered and tired like he's seen his fair share of battles.
"You finally came back, Subaru."
Kenchi's voice and tone was a mixture of shock, relief and joy, as a couple of tears dripped down his smiling face.
"I…"
Just as Subaru, who was equally (if not more) shocked at seeing his father again, was about to speak, the sound of a door being busted open echoed from the back door behind Subaru.
"Shit, they broke through the back door!"
As Kenchi shouts this out, Subaru, who's still filled with adrenaline, jolts off of the floor.
"Vita!"
As Kenchi points at the assault rifle he's carrying at the door behind the counter, he shouts out a name. The moment Subaru tries to process what his father said, he feels a familiar electric shock go through his whole body and once again, his consciousness instantly fades to black once again.
"Dad!"
Subaru, who is lying down, jolts up into a sitting position as if he just had a nightmare. The moment he does so he feels small hands touch his chest and shoulder pushing ever so slightly in order to stop him from moving like a doctor trying to calm down a jolting patient.
"Calm down… It's alright, Subaru. Your dad's fine."
A slightly artificial voice of a young girl calls out to Subaru as he turns to where the voice came from. He sees the long straight hair and face of a light blue, holographic young robotic-like girl who's standing right next to him, and also seems to be wearing a traditional maid-like outfit. Subaru then stares at her for a couple of seconds before turning around to see that the place he's in is completely bare of anything bar the cybernetic flat plane he's sitting on. As his sight showed him no horizon, he figured out that he was in some form of Cyberspace, then once he realised this he turned back to the holographic girl.
"Eh?"
Subaru voiced this single expression as he was utterly dumbfounded by what he's seeing before him.
"I know this is a lot to take in, so why don't we sit down and I'll explain everything."
The holographic girl then turned around and gestured towards a set of two couch-like armchairs that were behind her. Subaru, with no rebuttal towards her suggestion, slowly stood up and walked towards the two armchairs with her. As Subaru sat down on the nearest armchair, it was extremely soft akin to a soft and squidgy mattress. It felt relaxing, then as this holographic girl sat down on the armchair facing Subaru, he started to calm down his nerves and relax enough to start asking questions.
"You obviously know who I am, so… do you have a name?"
"I'm designated as V.I.T.A., which stands for Virtual Intelligence Terminal Assistant. For easier communication, I'm called by the Latin word for Life; Vita."
"You could've just said Vita."
"I know, I just like the origin of my name. It has a lot of meaning behind it."
"Can't really argue with that."
Subaru ponders for a moment as he felt there was something familiar with Vita's voice.
"Your accent sounds familiar. I just can't figure out what kind of accent it is though."
"My creator was a Scottish Scientist so, as expected, I ended up developing a Scottish accent."
"Yep, that's definitely Scottish. Even though I only heard it through the internet, it's kinda hard to completely forget that kind of accent."
"You best get used to it, cause the Scottish accents will likely be sticking around."
Subaru nods then proceeds to his next question.
"So, Vita,... I know we're in some kind of Cyberspace right now but… how exactly did I get here?"
"You know that Masked Figure, who was monologuing at you, and how they mentioned Positive Cyber Energy."
"Yeah."
"Positive Cyber Energy is basically what I'm made of and I linked myself, via a spell, to your Body, Mind and Soul in order to protect you from the Masked Figure's Negative variant of Cyber Energy."
"So the reason why I've been feeling exhausted since their blast."
"It's pretty much the cost of casting such a spell."
"And this place we're in,..."
Before Subaru finished his sentence, Vita spoke up.
"... is, in a way, my own Artificial Mindscape."
"So I'm basically dreaming right now."
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Where's my body then?"
"Your father is currently lending you his bed as you recover from the exhaustion that spell caused."
Subaru then an understanding nod as he proceeds to his next question.
"The Masked Figure, do you know who they are?"
"Yeah, I do, but for you to properly understand who they are, I'm gonna need to explain quite a lot in what's essentially a massive exposition dump."
"Explain what?"
"The Guardian Mythology."
"I've never heard of it."
"I'd be surprised if you did."
Subaru then adjusts himself in the armchair as he prepares for Vita's explanation.
"I do suggest keeping an open mind though as it's quite a lot to process. In other words, prepare for some existential mindfuckery."
Subaru, while slightly surprised and unnerved at this warning, took Vita's words to heart and braced himself for the inevitable existential revelations. Vita then pressed the middle finger and thumb of her left hand together, and snapped them; the sound of that finger snap echoing throughout the Cyberspace they're in.
"Our story begins with the overactive imagination of a Scottish boy."
A hologram appears in between and just slightly above Subaru and Vita. This hologram shows a young boy with light brown hair, with a reddish brown bipedal toy bear in his right hand and a white bipedal toy rabbit in his left hand. This young boy seems to be playing with these toy anthropomorphic animals, making them talk with each other like their best friends.
"From this boy's birth, another layer of reality within his mind was born. The Mindscape Multiverse, also known as the Mindverse, or just The Mindscape for more easier communication."
As Vita speaks those last 2 words, the hologram disappears as the ground shifts from the cybernetic design to that of green grass as the void that was above them also shifts to a bright blue sky.
"In the Mindscape, this boy was like a god and was able to create and remake anything through the usage of Dream Energy, and among his creations, he's known as The Nexus. The Dream Energy he uses is also sourced from The Mindscape, more specifically the Mindscape Dimension. A central hub, so to speak, where everything in the Mindscape Multiverse connects back to."
Another hologram appeared in the same spot as before, this time it's this same boy looking at the palms of his hands with golden energy emanating from these palms.
"At some point, partway through his pre-teen childhood, The Nexus was fragmented into various characters, doppelgangers that are collectively known as Symbols."
The hologram then changes to a glass ball that then shatters into various shards of glass, with each shard having an eye symbol of various colours imprinted on it.
"One of the bigger shards formed into the original personality of The Nexus, The Symbol of Hope. The Lore God of Creation was born and thus began the formation of the Guardian Mythology's Pantheon of Gods."
The hologram shows one of the shards with a pure white eye symbol forming into a bright white silhouette of a young boy with a striking resemblance to The Nexus.
"Through Hope's power as well as a dense amount of Dream Energy, he created The Dream Universe from within the Mindscape Dimension. A Universe where the newly formed Pantheon of Gods can live in."
The hologram then changes one again. This time to a rectangular mirror, the kind you see in bathrooms with a wooden frame. As Subaru is looking at this mirror, he notices a pulsating ball of silver energy in its reflection.
"What's that in the mirror?"
Subaru speaks up for the first time during Vita's exposition dump, Vita then answers promptly.
"It's a Soul, more specifically the Dream Universe's Soul. Just like how every individual being has its own timeline separate but connected from their Universe, every Universe has its own soul separate but connected to each individual being that's born there."
Subaru, while quite surprised by this information, is now even more intrigued than before about The Guardian Mythology.
"Over the years after the Dream Universe's creation there was peace, but… there's always a constant in every history; there's no such thing as everlasting peace."
Grey clouds start covering the blue sky as rain starts pouring from those clouds, though only the area around Subaru and Vita is left untouched as the sound of the raindrops echo around them.
"Their peace eroded over time, then it blew up into an all out war among the gods and symbols. The Mindscape War."
As Vita uttered the name of the war the hologram shifted from the mirror to that of multiple silhouettes of various colours, some looked similar to each other and others looked vastly different. These silhouettes ranged from humanoids to dragons, but one thing was clear; the hologram showed two opposing sides charging towards each other.
"There were many battles that scattered across both the Dream Universe and the Mindscape Dimension, but there's one battle in particular that we're gonna focus on."
The hologram shifts to two similar looking silhouettes battling each other, one of them is light blue, the other is red.
"The light blue silhouette is the Symbol of Empathy and the Lightning God of Matter, Cyber. The red silhouette is the Symbol of Bloodlust and the Lightning God of Anti-Matter, Viral."
The hologram then adds lightning of a similar colour scheme to each god.
"Cyber embodies and controls Positive Cyber Energy and Viral embodies and controls Negative Cyber Energy."
The moment Vita mentions both Cyber Energies, a realisation came to Subaru.
"So, The Masked Figure,..."
"Yes, you're correct in thinking he's Viral."
"Of course, it's some bastard of a god that's capable of… doing what he did."
Subaru's anger at knowing who Viral is then starts to change as he feels a pit in his stomach as he remembers what Viral did to everyone in Pristella.
"Viral being a god ain't necessarily the main reason why he was able to do what he did, but there are things that need to be explained before we get into the details of the actual main reason. So we'll save that bit for later."
Subaru, after slowly trying to calm himself down, then nods as he gestures for Vita to continue. Vita also nods as well, and continues speaking.
"The battle between Cyber and Viral was a large one and the end result was both of them losing their mortal bodies and returning to their home dimension. This is the reason why Viral was wearing a mask, he's using someone else as an avatar."
The hologram dissipates into nothingness as Vita tells the results of the battle.
"By the end of the Mindscape War, everything in the Dream Universe was destroyed. The only survivor left residing in this Universe was The Symbol of Protection and The Mind God of Dreams, Xunes."
The hologram then reappears, this time it's a golden silhouette of a man drifting in space.
"Xunes, at the sacrifice of his physical body, decided to cast a spell. This spell is a powerful one where, at the sacrifice of one of its inhabitants, you can reboot a universe."
The golden silhouette is then shown to have numerous golden runes scattered around him.
"The Dream Universe then ceased to exist and was rebooted into Universe 0."
The hologram shows the golden silhouette getting smaller and smaller till he becomes a speck as the mirror then appears again, the speck now a reflection in the mirror. This speck then expands like a supernova into another pulsating ball of silver energy.
"This spell also had another portion to it, as it's capable of reincarnating the sacrificed inhabitant. So, after Xunes casts the spell, he is reincarnated as an inhabitant of Universe 0. The Symbol of Wisdom, The Dream Guardian."
The hologram replaced the mirror with another silhouette, this time of a man with long hair and a beard who's wearing the kind of robes that give off the impression of wisdom. What's also noticeable is that this man has a ring on the middle finger of his right hand, said hand is also grasping onto a long staff that stands straight on what is presumed to be the ground this man is standing on. Just before Vita continues Subaru points out a detail that wasn't there for the other Symbols shown.
"Why is there an eye symbol on The Dream Guardian's forehead?"
"There are two types of Symbols. Passive Symbols have a birthmark at the centre of their forehead, and the power that's granted to them is a continuous effect that lasts for throughout their whole life, from birth to death."
"What about the other type?"
"Trigger Symbols. Symbols that don't have this birthmark require some form of a trigger in order to access the power that their symbol holds."
"Ok then. Continue."
After having his question answered Subaru lets Vita continue telling the story.
"As The Dream Guardian lived his life, he eventually discovered that the Lore God of Creation created another universe. Universe 1."
The mirror appears yet again, this time it's above the Dream Guardian silhouette along with a duplicate mirror.
"Though peace was somewhat restored, there was someone from the opposing side of the war that sought revenge. The Symbol of Hate."
The Dream Guardian was replaced by a black shadowy goo-like silhouette. The expression shown on this silhouette's face is of pure disdain.
"Eventually, The Dream Guardian and The Symbol of Hate clashed in The Mindscape. Hate won and was successful in destroying Universe 0, by shattering the very mirror that housed its soul."
The hologram played out a scene, The Dream Guardian was lying on the floor of a large chamber in front of him was The Symbol of Hate carrying a solid black bat in front of the mirror that houses Universe 0. The Dream Guardian is unable to do anything to stop Hate from shattering that mirror with the bat. With each hit The Dream Guardian screams out in pain, as if he was also being hit with the bat. This continued till the mirror was completely shattered.
"Not that long after this event, Universe 2 was created by splitting itself off of Universe 1. Creating a linked pair of Universes in the process."
Another mirror was shown again, along with the silver ball of energy. This time, the silver ball of energy splits off into 2 separate balls of energy, like a cell duplicating itself. These 2 pulsating balls of energy start to circle around one another, similar to how a pair of stars that are close enough can orbit around each other.
"Then after that, 2 more linked pairs of universes were created. Universes 3 and 4. Then Universes 5 and 6."
Two more mirrors appear one after the other, repeating the same process as the first. Then a fourth mirror appeared with a single soul housed within it.
"Then came Universe 7 which unlike others didn't have a pair and likely never will. As one of the many reasons why 7 universes existed at the same time, is due to each of these Universes inhabiting a symbol that represents one of the 7 deadly sins."
The mirrors then dissipate before Vita continues.
"Universe 1; The Symbol of Wrath."
The hologram shows a man engulfed by an aura of flames, surrounded by corpses that are scorched beyond recognition.
"Universe 2; The Symbol of Sloth."
The hologram changes to a man slumped and strapped onto a chair. His eyes give the impression that, while he's physically alive, he's also mentally dead.
"Universe 3; The Symbol of Envy."
The man that the hologram now shows is wearing some form of a sci-fi battle suit; his face is also completely covered by the battle suit's helmet.
"Universe 4; The Symbol of Gluttony."
Unlike the other Symbols shown before, this Symbol wasn't human as it looked like an anthropomorphic goat with very dark hair and charred skin, though a slight bit more human looking in the face.
"Universe 5: The Symbol of Greed."
The hologram then switches back to the more human looking symbols as there's now a man relaxing on a throne while swirling a glass of wine in his hand.
"Universe 6; The Symbol of Lust,…"
In a way similar to the previous Symbol, the man shown is sitting back at a desk with his feet relaxed on the table as he smokes a lit cigar.
"… and lastly, Universe 7; The Symbol of Pride. Also known as my creator."
While Subaru was surprised by this reveal, the hologram changes to show a man typing on a laptop. What's noticeable about this man is that he's wearing a white lab coat and thin glasses. Subaru's surprised expression then switches to curiosity when he notices the eye symbol birthmark at the centre of Pride's forehead.
"Your creator was a Passive Symbol."
"Yep, his Symbol gave him heightened intelligence. He was considered a genius even among other geniuses."
"Makes sense considering he created you."
Vita nods as she continues her story.
"Through Pride's own invention, a Multiverse separated from The Mindscape was created. The Cyberverse."
The hologram changes again to show a blue cyclonic storm. Light blue lightning dances around this storm as a multitude of glass-like balls swirl around in the storm.
"Though Pride's invention created the cyclonic storm that gives the Cyberverse life. The Universes that make up the Cyberverse, were born from the actualisation of the fictional works of Universe 7."
Each of the glass-like balls start to glow, emphasising them, as Vita starts talking about the Universes of the Cyberverse.
"These Universes can be considered copies of the original fictional work. Copies that made its fictional reality be brought to life so to speak, and before I continue,…"
Subaru, who was completely immersed in Vita's story, was then taken out of the immersion when Vita momentarily paused.
"… I want you to know that what I'm about to say next is where the mindfuckery begins and will be a bit of a shock to hear. So just stay calm and keep an open mind like I said before."
When Vita starts giving her warning to Subaru, his expression changes from pure intrigue to a mixture of intrigue, confusion and slight worry. Subaru has a feeling in the back of his head that everything Vita has been saying so far has been leading up to this moment, and there's only one conclusion that Subaru can think of that makes sense. Vita then continues.
"You've already started to figure it out haven't you?"
Subaru didn't want to voice his conclusion. It was a conclusion that was so ludicrous and hard to believe, that he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Your Universe is one that exists within the Cyberverse and was born from a fictional work. More specifically, it was born from an isekai story called Re:Zero."
As Vita voices this conclusion, the hologram shows the logo of Re:Zero. Surrounding this logo were numerous book covers with drawings of the people from another world that Subaru came to know and love, along with these book covers were numerous screenshots of various moments in this life in another world that he lived in for over a year.
I'm fictional.
This single thought broke through the back of Subaru's mind, like a burst dam, as the puzzle pieces of information that Subaru has been given leads to this single fact. From Viral having the knowledge of everything in Subaru's life, to Vita slowly easing Subaru to this conclusion. He shouldn't be believing Vita's words so easily, but both his gut and mind is telling him that she's right. Along with those feelings Vita's tone and expressions also give off the impression that she's been telling the truth.
Even his own life in another world seems so far out there that it being fictional makes so much sense. He seemingly got teleported to that world in the first place, and was given the power to turn back time upon his own death. He went through so much pain and trauma to the point that it was like this fantasy-style world had a grudge against him. All of that not being real, makes too much sense as it's so ludicrously brutal.
What was actually starting to break Subaru though wasn't his pain and trauma not being real, but the fact that everyone he came to know and love in that world is also not real. If everyone was fictional then what was the point of every death he went though, every failed loop and every death Subaru carried in his memories and experiences. If it was all fictional, then was everything he went through, both the good and the bad, all for nothing.
Subaru, while processing this revelation, was just staring into nothingness in complete shock as he started to slowly hyperventilate. Vita, by this point, was already right in front of Subaru's face with her holographic hands on his shoulders.
"Subaru, I understand why you're thinking that everything is fictional, but that has never been the case. You are real and always will be."
Subaru, through Vita's words, snaps out of his shocked state and finally starts to speak up.
"But you just said…"
"I know what I just said. You're just thinking about this the wrong way and I don't blame you for that, as it's a common misconception most people have about fiction."
"What do you mean?"
"Most people think Fiction and Reality are opposites, but that's far from the case. Fiction is just the word we use to describe the realities that we can't reach. So it's impossible to properly interact with Fiction, cause then it's no longer fiction. It just becomes another layer of our collective Reality."
"..."
Subaru couldn't find a retort to what Vita is saying, cause in a way, what she was saying is correct.
"If both me and Viral are able to talk with you and interact with your universe then you, everyone and everything that exists in your universe is real. In other words, you could say that reality ain't the illusion here, rather the actual illusion is fiction."
As Vita's words started to calm him down, Subaru then asked an important question that's also been at the back of his mind since she started explaining things.
"How do you know that everything you've been saying is fact? It feels too philosophical and religious."
"You're not wrong. It's definitely philosophical, and there's even a religion called Nexism that the Guardian Mythos is a part of."
As Vita is saying this, she moves back to her seat.
"So how is all of this fact then?"
"It's due to Nexism and the Guardian Mythos being scientifically proven via a vast amount of sources, and these sources also include both The Dream Guardian and The Symbol of Pride."
"They proved the existence of Dream Energy and Cyber Energy didn't they?"
"Yep, and it's not just that. My creator was able to prove a theory, and turn it into fact. While people have called it by various names, the one I'm gonna use is Narrative Causality."
"So this is where the whole fiction thing comes into play?"
"Yes. Narrative Causality was able to be proven via various methods, from showing the existence of the previously mentioned energies and individuals to showing the various dimensions and realms that the Guardian Mythology mentions. Which then leads me to a fictional series of stories that utilises Narrative Causality in a similar way to our reality. The Discworld book series by Terry Pratchett."
The hologram appears once again, this time showing a flat world carried on the shoulders of 4 elephants, who are also standing on the back of a space turtle as said turtle swims through the vastness of space.
"In Discworld, their scientists were able to codify, study, test and find an in-universe element called Narrativium. Which works pretty much in the same way as Narrative Causality, and the scientists in our reality have worked on Narrative Causality in a similar way to those in Discworld. To summarise, the act of narrating a story in any way has been proven to be a physical law, or a force of nature so to speak, for both Discworld and our own reality."
Subaru slowly nods as he starts to get a better understanding of Nexism's philosophy.
"So, since you've mentioned it, I'm gonna be reading all of the Discworld books and all of those scientific papers, aren't I?"
"Yeah, but we'll do that another time. For now though,… do you remember what I said earlier about Viral being a god and that wasn't the main reason why he was able to do the things he did?"
The moment Vita mentions this, Subaru instantly realised what she meant.
"So the main reason is Narrative Causality."
"That's only part of it. The best way to think about it is via the mindset of a writer."
"So… basically it'll be this; how would a fanfic writer write an OC with massively different powers than in canon?"
"Precisely. A major problem that a fanfic writer would have, especially with large scale crossovers, is that power systems from different stories can end up clashing in ways that can lead to problems with how it's written."
"So how would that get fixed then?"
"By having a power system with a hierarchy."
The hologram changes and shows a large flat triangle split horizontally into 3 different sections.
"The bottom section is basically the placement of every power originating from a different mind than the mind of The Nexus. In other words, different power systems from Nexism's power system will be placed at the bottom and the placement of Nexism's power system is in the middle section. The top section is as you think; the reality that The Nexus resides in."
As Vita is saying this, each section has a word appear within. The bottom section has Other Power Systems appear. The middle section has Nexism Power System, and the top section has Reality of The Nexus. Once Vita finishes speaking, Subaru then starts talking.
"So… the reason Viral was… able to kill them, is due to this hierarchy."
"Yes. That's why Viral said that his Negative Cyber Energy is able to bypass powerful individuals like Reinhard and Satella."
"Their powers were on a tier below his power."
Everything then clicked in place for Subaru, Viral's actions and words now made perfect sense to him, but Vita's actions however…
"Why did you cast that spell onto me then? You could've cast it onto anyone else. Hell, you should've cast it on Reinhard and worked with him to kick that bastard god's ass instead of casting it on me."
"Reinhard was too powerful for his own good. For someone in the bottom tier that's as overpowered as he is, Narrative Causality ends up working against him. He'll forever be stuck on the bottom tier unless he's severely nerfed in some way."
"But still,… why did you help me? You easily could've had someone who's even the slightest bit of a better fighter than I am."
"There's many reasons. The main reason is cause I want to help you specifically. My creator created me to help others, and you need my help more than anyone else. You've experienced trauma that can't be fixed or dealt with in your average therapy sessions, as it's trauma that someone with an outsider's perspective can't help with."
Subaru didn't know what to say, he knew she was right and that he did need help.
"That kind of trauma can only really be dealt with on the inside and since I'm with you in mind, body and soul. Then I can help guide your mind onto a more healthier path."
Subaru just remained speechless as Vita continued.
"In a way I'm like your conscience, and if you let your conscience be your guide, then you might be able to deal with that trauma."
It's at this moment that Subaru started to smirk and chuckle slightly.
"Did you just quote the Pinocchio Disney movie?"
"Yep… I did. It's a really good quote."
"Yeah,… it kinda is."
"So… let's move on to the more recent and pressing matters. Specifically regarding Viral."
The hologram then changes to show the masked figure, which Subaru now knows to be Viral, with various runes surrounding him.
"Just like how I casted the spell that linked me to you through my Positive Cyber Energy. Viral is also capable of casting spells through his Negative Cyber Energy."
Another mirror appears above Viral, only this time the silver ball of pulsating energy was the same shade of red as Viral. The pulses were also different than before as it was previously pulsating softly like a gentle heartbeat; now the pulsating was erratic and discordant like a destructive infectious virus.
"By casting an extremely powerful spell of his own making, he can fuse the timelines of various universes together. Then by directing these fusions onto Universe 7, its timeline will become so unstable to the point it collapses into a single point and destroys itself."
The hologram then changes to show Subaru a familiar sight. A destructive wave of blood red crimson that stretches outward across an entire Universe, that then gets sucked into a single point like a whirlpool of a bloody storm. The hologram then dissipates as the destructive wave disappears into this single point.
"Viral's plan is to get rid of Universe 7, which is known as the Fusion Singularity."
"That's what that red storm in the sky was for when I woke up on the ground. To fuse my Universe with Universe 7."
"Yeah, that's correct, and it's not just your universe as there's other universes from the Cyberverse that share your Universe's fate."
Subaru then takes a deep breath before voicing out what he avoided from thinking about and what he feared was the case.
"So that means everyone that died,…"
"Before you finish that sentence. No, they're not gone forever. Viral killed them during the fusion process, so by undoing this fusion process…"
"… their deaths will be undone as well."
Subaru's fears were then wiped away as he now has some semblance of hope to cling on to that everyone can be brought back. He didn't even think to question how exactly they would have to go about doing this, since Vita seemingly affirmed through her tone that this 'undoing the fusion process' plan has been in the works for a while.
"It might not be an easy plan to pull off, but it's always been the end goal in this ordeal."
Subaru then nods in agreement, and then his thoughts land back to the dream-like vision he had of the Fusion Singularity.
"Since you're linked to my mind, I'm guessing you know of the vision I had of the Fusion Singularity."
"Yeah, I do and you're not the only one who had that vision. There have been others including myself who've had this vision."
"Do you have any idea why we've had this vision?"
"Considering that a common factor of everyone that had this vision was a dense and large enough amount of Cyber Energy. My guess is that someone or something that has a similar amount, if not more, of Cyber Energy is reaching out to us through these visions."
"But I had this vision before I was linked to you, so what makes me the expectation?"
"Your vision was more hazy and dream-like, whereas for everyone else it was like this Cyberspace we're in right now. That common factor is probably the reason why your's was like that and my link to you might be the reason why you had that vision in the first place, since there's always time shenanigans when it comes to visions of the future."
"You got a point there."
"So you got anything else you'd want to talk or ask about before I continue on to the explanation about our current circumstances on your Earth."
"Yeah about that, why are we still on my Earth? Shouldn't we be on Universe 7's Earth?"
"That can easily be explained as your Universe has a bit of an uncommon trait among the Universes of the Cyberverse. It's an Incomplete Universe, which is likely due to the story that your Universe was copied from not being finished yet."
"So, how does that affect my Universe? What does being an Incomplete Universe mean?"
"It means any unsolved mystery, whether it's events in the timeline, the mechanics of how particular powers work, or someone's unknown backstory. All of these mysteries won't be given proper answers, which can allow the universe to be moulded and changed in any way by someone. Which is what Viral did, he ended up placing your Earth at the opposite end of the orbit of Universe 7's Earth."
"Why did he do that though?"
"He's pretty much using your Earth as a base of operations in order to prepare for the Fusion Singularity without interference."
"But if my Earth is on the other side of the Sun, it would've eventually gotten noticed wouldn't it?"
"Yeah it would've gotten noticed, but Viral seems to have created a barrier that separates your Earth from everyone else."
"So it wouldn't matter either way."
"Yep."
"So what exactly happened on my Earth as I was gone?"
"That story begins not that long after the police investigation for your disappearance turned out empty-handed."
The hologram now shows and focuses on numerous people who are wearing what seems to be fairly expensive clothing. These people had a crazed look in their eyes and were brutally attacking each other as well as brutally attacking the scared civilians and employees around them, who were running away from all of the carnage unfolding before them.
"A worldwide event ended up occurring. Every single individual with an extreme amount of power, doesn't matter whether it's royalty, politicians. business tycoons, each of them simultaneously emitted an intense bloodlust that caused them to start attacking and killing people indiscriminately."
The hologram switches to showing those numerous people in expensive clothing doing various acts of violence onto themselves. From bashing their head into a concrete wall to jumping from high heights to choking themselves to death with an iron grip, bypassing their own survival instinct in the process.
"After there was no one left for them to attack, every single one of those individuals killed themselves. Your Earth no longer had any order which led to mass panic to spread worldwide, and they ended up dubbing this day 'The Day of Anarchy'."
The hologram now shows a bunch of militia ordering civilians about, guns pointed at some of the civilians. Subaru could compare what he was seeing to that of a dystopian movie.
"The following day, a group known as The Order of Viral, forcibly established pure order across the world. As a dystopian New World Order, where what the Order of Viral says is an uncontested law and to defy them in any way means death."
The Order of Viral that was shown then switched to Kenchi Natsuki in his soldier-like attire shouting out orders as several people in a similar attire to Kenchi started helping out hurt civilians scattered around them.
"It's been over 3 years since then and hundreds of resistances have been established all over the world. Your father, Kenchi, is one of the co-leaders of the resistance that resides in Japan."
Subaru, after carefully listening to the events on his Earth, spoke up in regards to someone that hasn't been mentioned yet.
"I'm guessing my mother has been helping out with the saved civilians and children or something similar to that."
Subaru voiced this out without thinking twice about it and Vita's expression changed to a slightly worried and sombre expression. Changing Subaru expression to a similar one to Vita's in the process.
"I'm sorry Subaru, but during the early days of the Order of Viral's reign over this world, your mother was helping some families trapped inside an infiltrated building. Some of the militia ended up catching sight of her escaping with them and just as the rest of them escaped, she was shot to death."
Subaru was getting increasingly more shocked as Vita explained what happened to his mother. Vita was about to move closer to console him, but Subaru lifted his hand and gestured for her to stop while he tried his best to calm himself down by taking slow and shallow breaths. After all, compared to the shock of the deaths of everyone else in that other world, he felt a little bit more calm as he had previously unknown knowledge now.
"If we undo the fusion process, we undo their deaths. Am I correct?"
Vita's worried and sombre expression then changes to a small understanding smile.
"Yes. Their deaths would be undone."
After Subaru gives a determined nod, there are several seconds of silence before Subaru ends up asking another question.
"Speaking of my parents, my Dad called out your name the last time I was awake. How does he know you if you're connected to me specifically?"
"He knows me cause I was able to locate him and talk to everyone in the resistance by the time you woke up. He's able to talk to me and vice versa via two things. The first is Nanomachines from a nanotech suit of armour that Pride created."
The moment Vita started talking about a nanotech suit of armour, a thought hit Subaru as that wording reminded him of someone.
"Wait,… that nanotech suit of armour ain't on me is it?"
"Well, yes it is."
Subaru let out a surprised grin at this confirmation, like a child finding out that they got something absolutely amazing in their Christmas presents.
"Holy shit. I've practically got access to an Iron Man suit don't I?"
"Well, it ain't Iron Man specifically but yes you basically have the equivalent of an Iron Man suit and I'm the AI that would be controlling each of the nanomachines in the suit."
Vita has a slight smug look on her face as she said that, while Subaru continues to have a slightly giddy expression towards this revelation.
"So, what's the second thing that allows you to communicate with my Dad."
"That second thing allowing me to communicate with your Dad is the Greed Witch Factor from your universe."
Subaru's giddy expression went away instantly.
"Hold on. How exactly did you get that?"
"You know how the Archbishops each have a Witch Factor and how you ended up gaining the Sloth Witch Factor after killing the Sloth Archbishop."
"Yeah."
"Well, all of the archbishops were already in Pristella when Viral attacked,…"
Subaru's eyes widened at this as Vita continued.
"… but something strange occurred as I was casting that spell."
"The Greed Archbishop seemed to have died as Viral's blast occurred, and his Witch Factor rather quickly went into you."
"Do you know why that happened?"
"No, I don't. There's just too little information to go off of to make any confirmations at the moment but if I were to guess, someone above the bottom tier of the power system hierarchy killed him for a purpose that's likely linked to you."
"So that I have the Greed Witch Factor."
"Which just so happens to act as a link to your allies where you can transfer their pain onto yourself and vice versa. Cor Leonis."
Subaru instantly felt the familiar star naming convention from the words Cor Leonis, also known as Regulus and The Lion's Heart. Vita then continued speaking.
"By isolating this Witch Factor and simulating the events that led to you awakening your Authority of Greed, Cor Leonis, I was able to awaken this power early. Then by using Cor Leonis as a base, I was able to extend the link I have with you onto allies. Though this connection is much weaker than our connection, it allowed me to create a communication network between us and your allies."
Subaru then gives an understanding nod as Vita claps her hands together.
"So, I think the last thing I should mention before you wake up is that I also gave the same explanation I gave to you to the people in the resistance."
"Did they take this explanation well?"
"Just about as well as you did. Though they had a lot more experience dealing with Viral than you, so that probably helped them understand it a bit better."
Subaru then stood up off of the chair and walked towards Vita as Vita got up as well. Everything in this Cyberspace then reverted back to its previous state when Subaru first woke up there.
"So, I guess I'm ready to head back out there."
Subaru then sighed as he thought about the situation he's in.
"I'm gonna have to deal with a whole lot of bullshit aren't I."
"Yep, you likely will and I'll be with you every step of the way."
"You're gonna jinx it, if you say that out loud."
Both Subaru and Vita chuckle a little at this exchange.
"You know you were right. Your name does have a lot of meaning behind it, since you just feel so human. You're practically Artificial Life."
"T-Thanks."
Vita for the first time in their conversation, gave off an embarrassed and bashful look at Subaru's compliment. Subaru just continues to smile as he extends a hand towards Vita for her to shake it.
"So… let's stop Viral and take back the futures he stole, together."
After Subaru finished speaking, Vita regained her composure and gave a kind smile as she extended her hand to shake Subaru's hand.
"Yeah,… together."
Subaru and Vita then give each other a firm handshake as they both smile at each other with a determined look in their eyes, then Subaru's consciousness fades to black.
A/N: I've been holding on to that Lore Dump scene for months and it feels brilliant to finally get it finished and published. Also, the Lore Dump is just the abridged version of Project Guardian's Lore, especially during the first half.
There will be more to come though, so stay tuned for that.
I don't really have anything else to add so thanks for reading this first chapter, now onto Chapter 2.