Author Notes:

Salutations!

This is a little story that came to mind when I was following the playthrough of a VTuber of "13 Sentinels".

The idea came to mind, so I wrote it... Without knowing where I wanted to go with it.

By half of it, I still didn't know where I was going with it.

No thought, only writing.

Hopefully you'll find it interesting in some way XD.

Utopia

I rested my hand in the pod in front of me. One of hundreds in this room, and one of the thousands in this tower. The figure of a child peacefully sleeping inside.

"Happy birthday Justin…"

I said, knowing fully he can't hear me. That nobody can or will hear me.

Walking out of the room, I projected a screen out of my arm, it's shiny metallic surface now dull and old. After a quick routine check, I started a recording. And habit I picked up long ago.

"Day 21, Month 3, Year 394 of the Peaceful End project. The remains of humanity are safe, their pods have resisted more than expected. But the cloning facilities are running out of the resources needed to continue the project. They'll only last 3 generations more."

I walked through the hallways, occasionally looking through the window, at the remains of what was once Earth. Now reduced to an inhabitable wasteland.

'Looks like there'll be acid rain today…'

"All systems are working efficiently aside from the lack of resources that can't be produced in the laboratory. Same as yesterday. The drones keep expanding the restoration network through the world, but as calculated, it's too far gone."

I pause for a moment, and take the elevator outside of the Pod floor, wanting to go to the laboratory. I give a last look in the direction of Justin before pushing the elevator's button and continuing where I left out.

"The Virtual World is operating as normal. According to their brain scans, everyone in Utopia are living happy and fulfilling lives."

I pause for a moment, thinking if there was something else I wanted to say.

"Ah, yes, today was Justin's birthday… He is growing really fast. He's becoming a handsome young man, just like m-"

I paused for a moment, touching my metallic face.

"Just like I was. My genes are strong in the kid. Looks like he's doing nicely, he is trying to became a carpenter in Utopia. Odd choices, but he's good. And… That's everything. End of recording."

The recording stops, and I close the screen. One more to the pile of thousands. Thousands of records that will never be seen, and that serve no use. But that I can't bring myself to stop making.

And then, I arrive at the laboratory floor. Another day of doing the same. Another day in thousands. Keeping together the paradise I'll never myself, the paradise my modifications closed the door for me.

I arrive at my computer, and sit down ready to do what I always do. But then, something unexpected happens. Something impossible. I receive a message from someone.

"From: The First One

To: Sinner

Greetings."

"…End of recording."

I finish my old routine, and I start my new one. I open my message box, and look at the only conversation there.

The First One.

That mysterious entity that started talking to me a few months ago. IT refuses to tell me who or what IT is, what IT wants, where IT is, nor anything else.

It's probably nothing more than a delusion I have created to deal with my loneliness. There is no other person awake in this world, and IT talks too naturally to be an AI. I thought that maybe someone somehow managed to contact me through Utopia, but… That wasn't the case.

But for some reason, I have a very bad feeling about this.

I see a message already there.

"Everything normal, Great Sinner?"

Sinner. The title given to me to replace my name. That was the new name I received after being given my current work, hundreds of years ago. After I destroyed the world.

"Same as always. Something new on your end?"

"Nothing that you need to know. Continuing where we left yesterday, how did it go when Utopia started? After all the rich and powerful people in the world took all the available spots."

"I killed them all."

"Oh?"

"At that point, it didn't really matter to dirty my hands with blood. I had already caused all of this, the least I could do was getting rid of other smaller culprits, and give those spots to innocent people. Since they have to leave their lives in my hands for it, it only took a few minutes."

"I hope you didn't delude yourself into believing this would free you of your sins."

I know.

"I offered everyone to get into it, but unexpectedly, the majority refused. Some to not give me the satisfaction, some having hope the world could be fixed if they worked hard outside, some were against the idea of Utopia in the first place… In the end, I could only fill 30% of the pods. The rest was filled with the next generation, and nobody remains on the outside."

"So they rejected salvation out of pride. A foolish decision, but one worthy of respect."

"They could have lived in paradise until the end. What is if not foolish to reject that out of emotion?"

"Was not pride what gave humanity the knowledge to thrive, rejecting safe walls of the garden of eden? And through that knowledge, they were capable of building their own paradise."

"What paradise? That only led to a giant wasteland where not even microscopic life can survive."

"The wasteland you created."

I couldn't answer. It was my fault. So close to solving everything, having unlimited clean energy at our hands, and I ruined everything.

"Why do you continue punishing yourself, Sinner? Why do you atone by protecting that small virtual paradise of humanity?"

…I don't know how to answer. I have stopped thinking about that centuries ago. Why did I… Accept this? Why do I continue…

"I guess… It's my pride. To face the consequences of my mistakes until the end."

"…Pride, do you say? Is that really it?"

"..What do you mean?"

"Is that your pride, or simply your desire to be punished? Are you proud of the world you inhabit, and the work you do?"

…No.

"…But what else could I feel proud of in this barren world?"

"I'll show you, what pride is."

Then, I received an urgent notification. One of the Pods stopped receiving signs of life. Justin's Pod.

I ran as fast as I could. As fast as this metal cage could be pushed, feeling something I haven't felt in centuries.

Fear.

Terror.

Despair.

When I arrived at the pod… It was empty.

"Day 13, Month 8, Year 397 of the Peaceful End project. Another person disappeared today. The pattern of one person dissapearing per day continues. I still can't get access to information from the current situation inside Utopia. The First One continues to not respond to my messages. I still can't find where they have gone."

"Day 28, Month 2, Year 405 of the Peaceful End project. Half the people have disappeared. The cloning facility is still unresponsive, I can't get it to work. I… Don't know what to do. I can't find any leads. Why… Why is IT doing this?"

"Day… Everyone's gone. Am I next…? Will I disappear tomorrow…? …I… Don't really care anymore…"

I ended the recording.

There wasn't anything else I wanted or needed to say.

And then, I received a message.

'From: The First One

To: Great Sinner

I have been called many things. So many worlds have given me so many different titles across time. You may call me Lucifer. I call myself Lucemon. Remember my name for as long as you feel prideful of your work.'

Alongside that message was an image.

A beautiful… Man? Woman? With 6 angelic wings, and 6 demonic wings.

"Day 1, Month 1, Year 1000 after the end of the Peaceful End project and of my last contact with The First One."

I walk through the barren wasteland.

"I have long forgotten IT's name. But I remember everything we talked about."

I look up at the sky. Clouds covering as far as I could see. A storm was incoming. The acid rain had been replaced by normal water a few centuries ago.

"A millennia ago, I asked myself what was the point of everything I had done for four centuries. All that work wasted, an unsatisfying end, a failure. I considered ending my life there, but… I didn't."

I could see the gate of the place I wanted to reach. The tower where I worked for centuries, and that I abandoned so long ago.

Long beyond it's calculated time of use, it had fallen into disrepair. It's shiny walls now dull, rusted, slightly eaten by the strong winds and rain.

"I have thought for centuries why I continue living. All what I had left to be proud of was slowly and steadily taken away, until there was nothing. I was nothing but a broken and hollow man, with nothing left to enjoy nor feel fulfillment from. But in that emptiness, I thought that as long as I lived, this world would still be alive. That's what I thought, but…"

Walking towards the gate, I pass by a small patch of grass. It was twisted, of a clean white color. Surviving the high radiation that should have tormented life for the next few millennia.

"This world is coming back to life. Different, through different methods than the ones I know of. As if laughing on my face for believing I ended it. It's… Frustrating, to be honest. The world will continue forward, without leaving me the satisfaction that as long as I live then the world wouldn't have ended. But… I don't care about that anymore."

I entered the tower, and climbed the stairs. The energy had shut down, so the elevator wasn't working. With unlimited clean energy, I could have kept this place running even for a few millennia more, having abandoned it, it eventually broke down.

"I have done terrible things. I have destroyed everything that everyone before me worked so hard to create. But… That wasn't everything I have done. I helped create Utopia. I raised a great man even if I wasn't the best father. I saw the best and the worst of humanity, and did great and terrible things. I have performed the greatest sin and put an end to my own people, but that doesn't change what I have done."

I arrive at my old laboratory, and walk towards my seat.

"My actions where wrong and they had terrible consequences, but I worked in what I believed, and did many things that few people can do, and some that weren't even thought possible at the time. And even though they didn't last long, I can feel proud of them. I am proud of having become rich and powerful when starting at the bottom. I am proud of the son I raised, who didn't follow my footsteps and became a great man on his own right. I am proud of my research and the scientific breakthroughs I made. I'm proud of my descendants that lived a good life in Utopia while it lasted. Even if I'm not proud of the world I created, I'm proud of a lot of other things."

I sat down, on that old seat and desk, in front of a computer that must have broken down hundreds of years ago.

"Is that the pride you talked about… Lucemon?"

And then, from the broken screen in front of me, a blinding light emerged, taking my vision and my remaining senses away.

When my vision comes back, I see it. The Utopia. It looks different, strange architecture and torrents of what appears to be… 0s and 1s? Shooting to the sky. And monsters walked the street alongside the people.

But it was, without a shed of a doubt, the Utopia.

The world that I helped create, and had been denied access to. It was right in front of my eyes. I raised my hand, as if trying to touch it, feel that is real… But I stopped.

"Won't you reach your hand?"

The world in front of me changed. The Utopia replaced by a giant room. Black and white polished stone decorated with the finest fabrics. In front of me, a simple but beautiful throne, radiating respect and authority. And sated in it, was a figure I knew well.

A figure I saw for the first time a millennia ago, and which I had forgotten long ago.

A beautiful angel of 6 pure white wings, a wicked devil of 6 pure black wings.

A charming smile decorating IT's face.

The First One.

Lucemon.

"That was not an illusion. You can join them."

"…I helped make that place a reality, but I don't want to be there. I thought I wanted for a long time, but I already destroyed a man-made paradise before. I feel satisfied of making it, but to feel fulfilled there, I would start by tearing it down. I didn't make it for me."

"Are you proud of this decision?"

"Yes"

I have no doubts in my answer.

"Are you proud of your decisions in life until this moment?"

"I feel pride in the good and the bad, and regret the good and the bad. Not everything I have done is something I can feel prideful about, but I'll never forget again the pride I feel for the small and big actions and achievements of my life."

"Then, kneel before me, and call out my name."

I knelt. My fur covered left leg in front. My delicate and fleshy left hand with back fingertips resting on it, while the other rested on the floor. My wings sprouting from my back, reflecting the light in their ebony surface. Whit my three eyes, I looked at IT.

"Yes, my lord Lucemon."

Author Notes:

I have no idea what this thing was.

If you know, please, tell me.

8