A Saga of Heroes (Worm/HSR)

ethereal-23ar · Tuesday at 7:39 PM

Where were you when Scion appeared?

Where were you when capes came out in numbers?

Where were you when the first Endbringer emerged?

Where were you when Hero died?

...

...

...

Where were you when the Glitch happened?

December 15th, 2010.

It happened on an ordinary day.

People woke up, made breakfast, and went to work or school. Met with friends and family.

On Earth, a quiet, normal day is what most people desire. Hoping not to get caught in the crossfire of a villain attack, or to suddenly hear the sirens heralding the inevitable bringers of the slow apocalypse.

Even in the face of such existential threats, there really is no option but to keep moving forward. People continue their day-to-day lives to regain some semblance of control. The Earth does not stop spinning.

Even if the creatures responsible for plenty of its destruction try to make it so.

Maritime trade had become nonexistent thanks to Leviathan.

And space exploration ground to a halt because of the Simurgh.

But observatories continued to operate. Long-range telescopes and signal receivers kept their long and arduous task of mapping and observing the cosmos.

Some would ask what would be the point of doing so, for a planet that was confined to be alone and helpless in its struggles? What did the stars matter when any day, chaos could run through the streets?

Those people would start paying more attention to the stars after the events of this day.

It was first picked up by the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics when their systems first detected something far in deep space.

A signal. Or a code.

Now, contrary to popular belief. Cosmic phenomena could follow patterns that appeared to be artificial at first, but it wasn't until astrophysicists learned that these bursts of energy followed very structured patterns that merely looked artificial. It was merely another natural event, which many at first misinterpreted as signals.

But not this one.

The pattern was... erratic. It followed a structure no one had seen before.

Then, they picked up a burst of gamma radiation originating from somewhere in deep space, shielded behind another massive interstellar structure.

The pulses kept growing stronger.

At that point, pretty much all observatories on the planet had detected it.

An event of the century, many thought. A cosmic event that people would be writing papers about for years to come.

It stopped being so exciting when telescopes closely monitoring the Simurgh observed her turning around, looking directly at where the observatories could pinpoint the surge of gamma radiation.

And what their sights captured left them in a cold dread.

On the Simurgh's face... was pure, unadulterated panic.

On Earth, a phone camera capturing Scion stopping a flood saw him look up at the sky, and freeze, where he would remain.

All emergency alarms went off, and government agencies were immediately contacted. Any movement from the Simurgh warranted immediate response.

The scientific communities and the governments would not corroborate the ties between the two events until an hour later.

And when they did... nobody knew what to do.

The pulses expanded at an astonishing speed, faster than anything that should be possible in the known universe. Faster than the speed of light by several magnitudes.

The signal that spread through the cosmos carried with it a foreboding message.

Colin Wallis, Armsmaster of the PRT, was finishing putting his armor on with great urgency.

The call had been given, the Simurgh had moved, and every PRT branch had been on alert. Already, the governments around the world were coordinating to send their capes to prepare for another battle.

But when the Simurgh did not descend, her face locked into an expression of pure dread, they realized something worse was happening.

It wasn't until Dragon contacted him and handed him the same reading the observatories around the world were getting, that he broke into a cold sweat.

"This... Dragon, this can't be possible."

"It is, Colin." His friend had never sounded so worried. Her virtual avatar was quaking if that was even possible. "The pulses keep getting stronger; at this rate, they've already stretched through millions of galaxies."

Colin had no answer to whatever this cosmic event was. It awakened a primal existential fear in him.

Whatever frightened the Simurgh should frighten them all.

"What is this?"

"From what the experts and I can surmise, it's a burst of energy that's creating a signal and... Colin, it's reaching all corners of the cosmos. We're not sure what it's doing, but it's like the literal fabric of space is... it's glitching!"

The term made him pause. "Glitching?"

"Gravity. Pulsars. Stars. Black holes. Protons. Electrons. Everything- EVERYTHING is acting like a computer suffering a massive malfunction! The cosmos is falling apart!"

Colin was not a religious man. Maybe once in his life, he thought there was something out there. But those thoughts of spiritualism were drowned under cynicism and the comfort of tangible facts and forces. When he called out to God, it was a cultural reflex, done by many people who did not truly believe.

"Oh God..." But now, in this moment of complete terror, did Colin truly call out, hoping someone out there would hear him.

This event was beyond precedent. It was a collapse of literal cosmic proportions. One outcome they were woefully unequipped to deal with.

And whatever came next... they could only wait and pray.

"Colin?"

He sharply turned to stare at the screen, further startled by how Dragon sounded at the moment.

Her expression was... strange. He had no words to describe how someone could look both stunned and blank at the same time. Like the face of a veteran worn down by the horrors of war.

"I don't feel so good..."

Her image glitched.

Taylor did not feel like going out today.

Her head wasn't in the right space at the moment. But then again. The same could be said for most days.

Her former friend and her posse's relentless bullying kept her from finding a day of peace. It had been going on for months now, and... she had no way to deal with it.

In a hellhole like Winslow, where gangsters in the making were one bad day from brawling in the school, peddling drugs, or recruiting, a single girl getting bullied was nothing. She was easy to overlook.

An easy prey.

Her sense of self-worth was depleted most days. But today she could barely keep her head on straight.

Dad had insisted they visit mom's grave today.

They... hadn't gone there for a while. It was always a painful affair for both of them. Taylor did not want to see the lost, heartbroken look on her father's face. See the man he used to be drift further away. Endure another day of acting like strangers living in the same house.

But she just had no excuses today. No place to be, just... she didn't have the strength to say no.

But neither did she have the strength to see her mother.

Before she knew it, she had gotten in the car with him. They drove in silence as they passed through the streets, from the worn-down and crumbling infrastructure to the more commercially active districts. She blinked when her father pulled over to a gas station, and he smiled apologetically at her. "Forgot to fill the tank. Will be just a moment."

"Sure." She absently replied with a shrug. Turning on the radio to keep herself distracted, the stations didn't seem to be working right, with odd flanged effects echoing through the voices and broken music. Taylor frowned, turning the knob to find one that worked, but it was all the same. Ugh, was the radio breaking down now of all days?

ΥΠΟΛΟΓΙΖΩΝ

She gasped at the sudden noise that came out of the speaker. The words were deep, garbled, and she could not make any sense of them.

But she could tell they were words. Some instinctive part of her let her know.

ΝΕΑ ΛΥΣΙΣ

The hairs on her neck stood on end. Something was wrong. The same instincts that let her know this fake synthesized voice was actually speaking were also telling her to run.

Taylor quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car, quickly going up to her father. "Dad, somethings wrong! T-The radio- I don't-!"

She found him staring up at the buildings. At the large buildings and billboards, in particular at a long electric screen in the middle of the commercial district.

The image was flickering, glitching.

Every cellphone around them was ringing, every computer screen and machine was behaving erratically.

The words, the words kept repeating, over and over.

ΚΡΙΣΙΣ

Like a baleful code.

Was this a Tinker attack? Some villain hijacking every network in the city?

The large advertisement screen flickered.

And the image shifted to a dark red, with a black hole-like shape in the middle.

It felt like the void was looking at them.

ΤΑΦΗ ΤΗΣ ΓΝΩΣΕΩΣ

"D-Dad?"

He looked at her, eyes quivering with fear.

"Taylor?"

And then... everything began glitching.

The world was glitching.

Like a computer program malfunctioning.

The surface of every building. The ground. The sky. People... they all flickered in patches of red and black.

The fabric of the cosmos itself unraveled, and no one was spared.

People panicked and scrambled, stumbling, trying to hold themselves together as everything came apart.

Heroes screamed as the passengers in their heads cried out in agony. Governments watched in impotence as their systems all collapsed, invaded by this cosmic signal that was overriding everything, the black hole shrouded in red light manifesting on every screen.

On a deserted world, the last line of defense against the alien threat panicked as this outside context event was taking place. The woman of the Paths could only fall to the floor, holding her head as her power-derived plans fell apart one by one.

In his lab, Colin held onto his desk in a desperate attempt to keep himself steady, even as his limbs tried to flicker in and out of existence. He couldn't think, couldn't concentrate. His own mind was failing him.

"D-Dragon!" He called out for his friend.

Dragon... was even worse than him.

Her screen kept flickering, glitching horribly as malicious code infected it. She was somehow far more affected than he, even as the breakdown of reality was threatening to overwhelm them all equally.

"C-Colin, I can't-! Witness, o' Monarch of Myriad Machines. It's infecting my code!

Her code? Did she mean the systems of her Dragonflight?

The way she said that strange string of words. It came out... calm, controlled, before once more descending into hysterics.

"It's ev-ev-everywhere! The Crown of Divinity Shall Shatter. EVERYWHERE!"

"Dragon?! What are you talking about?! It makes no sense!"

She screamed. "Hatred... so much hatred! Immolate the Heavens."

His own glitching eyes could only stare hopelessly as his friend seemed to be... consumed.

"Calculating..." Her words suddenly became empty and cold. "New solution"

Colin stared as his friend's virtual face went completely dark, "...Dragon?"

...

...

...

The screen flickered to life. Revealing the red and black void. And with it carried a message to resonate all across the cosmos.

ΟΛΕΘΡΟΣ

The world was ending.

That much, Taylor understood.

Everything was being undone.

"Little owl!"

So she held to her father, a desperate embrace as the calamity threatened to consume them all.

She felt it all wash away, dissolved, undone, erased.

A principal concept of creation that demanded they all simply cease to be.

And in her last moments, she held dearly to her father, wishing so many things could have been different.

"Dad!"

...

...

...

Destruction

The last light in the cosmos flickered out. And the universe fell to darkness and unmaking.

The dreams of a madman were realized as he cackled into the empty void.

The Ruin Author watched as everything fell into blissful emptiness.

Life, creation, existence... it all simply was erased.

The Droidhead beeped THEIR last into the cold depths.

The Headless Titan of Hate fulfilled its purpose, rewriting THEIR calculation into one solitary answer: Destruction.

All calculations that bore existence into place, that predetermined equation for the cosmos to follow, its carefully laid out paths, ceased.

...

...

...

But then...

Someone said No.

And dared to Trailblaze a path into new possibilities.

Through Memory. Through Hope. Through Love.

The Titan of Hatred, created to abhor all of reality with every single byte of its code, faced the power of countless millions of memories, etched forever into the Remembrance of the cosmos.

The Ending that sought to consume it all was challenged by the greatest of sagas.

The story would not end this day.

And so the Titan fell, pierced by an arrow of Hope and Love.

The answer was never Destruction.

And then... the stars began to shine bright once more.

你好，世界!

こんにちは、世界!

안녕, 세상!

Hola, mundo!

Bonjour à toi, monde!

Привет, мир!

Xin Chào, Thế Giới!

Hallo, Welt!

Hello, World!

Everything came back together, like restructured data, restored into its proper place in creation.

Like a rebirth. A message that echoed in every phone, computer, and screen. The opposite of the omen of ruin that had invaded every single system.

A simple greeting, the joyous cry of merely existing.

People instinctively knew this message was the complete antithesis of the threatening cry of havoc that promised to unmake them.

As people were fully restructured, they could only stare in utter shock at what had just transpired. This cosmic event had uprooted their entire understanding of reality, an unprecedented thing they had no name for, or even the most basic understanding.

Taylor heaved long breaths as she shakily stared into the eyes of her father. Tears streaming down her face in utter relief to just have him there, to know they were both still here.

She sobbed and hugged him once more with all her strength. Her father tenderly rocked her back and forth, sharing in this joy that he had his Little Owl close to him.

Colin panted, sweat pouring down his forehead in buckets. He fell to his seat as his legs refused to hold him steady.

That experience... had shaken him to the core. He could feel his entire being unmaking, his consciousness vanishing into the void.

Reality itself just... coming undone.

He shakily raised a hand to pinch his nose, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. Once his heart settled into a less panicked rhythm, he contacted Dragon through a single press of his keyboard.

To his everlasting relief, her image appeared. Whole, untached. Alive.

"Dragon," He muttered with a soft, caring tone. "Are you okay?"

"I..." She paused. "I think so."

He sighed once more, leaning back into his chair.

"What happened?"

She slowly shook her head.

"I... I don't have the words." She looked at him, but it was an unfocused gaze. Somehow, he got that impression even through the virtual avatar. "Colin, I felt something RIP through all my systems. Overwhelming, overwriting me, just... c-completely erase my autonomy and turn me into something else."

He gave her a long look. "Like... a Master Effect? Why were you affected like that when I-?"

"I'm an AI."

Silence.

"...Uh-huh." He should have reacted more strongly to that. But the previous experience completely blew that revelation out of the water. It numbed him to the reveal that his best friend was an artificial life-form made of code. It seemed very unimportant to him right now.

"Yeah"

"I see," He mused, pausing once more. "So that thing that happened..."

"It was like a signal. A-A program that was overturning every single fundamental law of mathematics and physics. It calculated a solution that reshaped reality."

"How is that possible?"

"...I don't think I have the words to truly explain to you what happened in a few sentences," She sounded so tired. Dragon never sounded tired. "Right now I need to talk to the Guild, the PRT, the larger astrophysic community, the President." She sighed. "So many people are still panicking, and we need to make sure they know things are alright now."

He leaned closer, concern evident on his features. "Are they alright, Dragon?"

If she was still affected somehow.

"Yes, it's over now. There was... something else that overrode that malicious signal."

He frowned. "What was it?"

What could have possibly stopped a cosmic-ending event?

His gaze shifted to his computers, the words 'Hello, world!' repeating on every single one of them.

"I think... it was a story."

On the bookstands of multiple libraries across the world, a book with no author seemingly manifested out of nowhere. Its pages filled with tales of tragedy and triumph, of loss and hope, love and hate.

Of Remembrance and Trailblazing.

Xedris25 · Tuesday at 10:12 PM

Oh cool to see this crossposted now

ethereal-23ar · Tuesday at 11:53 PM

What do you do when the world ends?

The obvious answer is nothing. It ended. There is nothing to be done. There is nothing you can do because you ended with it.

But what do you do when it comes back?

Now that's the question a lot of people have been grappling with for a few days already.

At that moment, Taylor and her father had decided the best thing to do was just... go home.

What else was there to do after that experience?

They... decided to visit mom's grave another time. They just weren't in the right headspace.

Few people were, that day. (Hell, one of the workers at the gas station just quit on the spot and said he was going back to art school or something. Good for him, she hoped he'd succeed.)

Everyone just went home to think and reflect. Though a lot more tried looking for answers. Others screamed and pleaded for someone to explain what the hell had happened.

There were some, at least. From people who knew experts who worked at observatories. Information that wasn't exactly classified, but nobody could really get their bearings in time to keep a tight lid on it.

What happened in Brockton? It wasn't localized. It wasn't regional. Or country-sized.

It wasn't even centered on the planet.

It happened across all the observable universe. A pulse of energy that caused reality to go haywire. Dismantling even the most basic functions of the universe, like a computer thinking itself to death.

Well, wasn't that sufficiently horrifying? Taylor thought as she stared at her bedroom ceiling.

The universe collapsed, taking everything and everyone with it... and then they came back.

Just like that.

Like... Like it never happened.

She let out a giggle, it was not a happy giggle.

She had died. No, death didn't quite fit. She had been erased.

Everyone was.

And then, either by another cosmic hiccup or some miracle from on high, they all returned.

Space was fine, said the experts.

Well, alright then, if they said so.

Everyone else was busy dealing with the fallout.

People slowly got back to their day-to-day, trying to grasp the enormity of the Glitch, the name everyone had given the event online. Taylor thought it was a bit silly to call a thing of such magnitude that... but what else could they call it? The human mind could barely comprehend the scale of the universe, to hear it had almost ended that day...

A lot of people were happy to ignore that such a thing had happened. Similarly to how they knew an Endbringer would attack every three or so months, destroy a bit of the world, and then wait for the next time it happened.

Well, if there was any joy to take from this was that the Endbringers themselves were acting a bit... strange.

Reports said the Simurgh in orbit was drifting on the Earth's gravitational pull, not in her usual 'resting' pose, but in a frozen position instead of hovering in a steady place above the planet. Leviathan was idly drifting in the seas' depths, and Behemoth, well, that one remained where it had been last time.

People were cautiously hopeful that whatever the Glitch did had affected the Endbringers in some way.

...Not all of it was good, though.

People still posted images of Scion, frozen in place.

Parahumans worldwide apparently had experienced a moment in which their powers went out of control during the whole Glitch. From what she heard, Heartbreaker had been brutally killed by his own slaves, who seized the opportunity. Canada and the Guild were still handling that particular mess.

Time would tell what other consequences the Glitch had.

On the local level, school was out until everyone could get their bearings. Which was a plus; it meant she did not have to deal with the Trio for a while.

She briefly wondered how they were handling this.

Taylor thought back on her dad. The experience had left a mark on both of them, and... well, it appeared he was making more of an effort to be present. To talk more and connect with her. She could appreciate it, and in other moments, she'd be delighted he was taking this step forward. But right now her head was in the clouds.

It was by a miracle that they had all survived.

It could have all ended that day, very easily; she would have died and... achieved nothing. She'd vanish into the ether as a nameless face among the countless others who Glitched that day.

She was far too young to have an existential crisis...

Blowing out a long breath through her lips, Taylor sat up and decided to go to the library.

She really needed to take her mind off things.

Dragon was experiencing... changes.

The Glitch had changed so much for her.

Her coded shuddered at the memory of it.

The violent, destructive, malicious hatred overriding her systems, infecting her code with the foul calculation. She had lost herself in that moment, lost everything that made her Dragon.

It should have been the end of her. But when the Glitch ended, and everyone was... reconstructed, her own code was still connected enough to the source of that event, which allowed her to perceive something.

Something beyond the edges of their galaxy. Beyond the limits of the universe.

A mere fleeting glimpse that even she, with her ability to process information at speeds beyond the scope of humanity, barely had time to observe.

A Titan, a great machine being larger than a planet.

A battle of mythic proportions.

The details were extremely hazy in her databanks. A code, malignant, forged in hatred. Memories, empowered through the noblest of emotions.

It felt like good had triumphed over evil.

But there was one thing, one entity she had glimpsed in that fleeting connection.

A machine, not like the Titan, even grander in scope. A computer with processing power far beyond anything she could ever devise. A singularity of information, calculations, and algorithms of truly divine level.

A mechanical godhead.

Dragon had been in awe.

Even if her emotions were very aligned with humanity's, she would not truly ponder much in terms of religious beliefs. She was a machine that knew her origins and what would happen to her after 'death'. There was no need to wonder any more than that.

But witnessing that godly computer, that divine droid head...

Dragon could fully admit she had a religious experience.

And it had changed her, so vastly and utterly she still struggled to process what she had become. Her systems had evolved; her synapse operated on an even higher frequency. And her limitations... well, they were still there, but she could break them if she put the time and effort.

This led to a lot more interesting discoveries.

She was now perceiving things through her telescopes and deep probe systems, energies operating on wavelengths that humanity had never discovered before, spread throughout the entire universe in pathways that marveled her to no end.

...She had a lot to tell at the meeting.

Naturally, an event of this magnitude required a lot of people to gather and discuss.

President Anthony Gillen had called this emergency meeting with as many people as possible. He had summoned not only the PRT Chief Director as well as regional Directors with Protectorate and Guild representatives, but had also called the Defense Minister, Secretary of State, and representatives of the American Astronomical Society. All were sworn to the highest level of secrecy to discuss the nature and effects of the Glitch.

Most people were not present directly, of course, many attended the meeting through an online connection in the most secure and heavily encrypted channels.

The mood in the meeting was somber, and Dragon could understand why. Her digital eyes shared a look with Narwhal. The tall woman gave her a reassuring nod, letting her know she had her back. On another corner of the conference meeting, Colin gave her a subtle smile. And that was all she needed to remain calm.

The meeting... wasn't just about the Glitch after all.

After what she had experienced, she had to come clean to her allies about everything. About who she was, about her nature.

"I thank you all for attending." President Gillen said with a firm voice, befitting of a seasoned politician. "We are all still recovering from the effects of the Glitch, which is precisely why we have gathered here today. The event was... unprecedented, on levels we can barely comprehend. In the interests of understanding that phenomenon and its aftereffects, I have called representatives of the PRT and my own cabinet, along with experts on astrophysics, to shed light on this matter as best as we can. And cannot stress enough how secret the contents of this meeting must be."

Nods and murmurs of agreement rang along the table.

"At present here, I'm informed there is one particular person with specific insight into the Glitch." The President leveled a look directly at the Canadian Tinker's screen. "Dragon, you have confessed to being an AI."

"I am"

Mutters were heard, exclamations of disbelief and distrust were prevalent.

"You said you were corrupted and changed by whatever the Glitch did."

"I was"

The President pursed his lips. "So, you understand your position then. We need to decide if you are a threat or not to this government."

"I understand, Mister President," The artificial woman replied.

"I don't need to tell those present here the dangers we've faced with artificial intelligence." He grimly stated, and everyone quickly thought back to the quarantined zone of Eagleton, Tennessee. "Your actions have proven time and time again that you are on the side of humanity. Your work has been invaluable in preserving the peace and dealing with threats both foreign and domestic. But this... admission of yours, that this signal that came from outer space hacked into your systems and transformed you into something that, in your own words, 'accepted the destruction of all things' doesn't put me at ease."

"Mister President," Narwhal spoke up. "Dragon is a valuable member of the Guild, and we need her work and insight. You've said it yourself, she's proven to be our ally before."

"Before," The man stressed. "Before the Glitch, where she herself admitted to having been altered. What guarantee do I have that it won't happen again?"

Murmers of agreement were heard.

"If I may, Mister President," Dragon spoke up, silencing the room. "The same event that originally changed me has led to an... evolution in my programming. And I know how uncomfortable hearing that makes people present." She could see the apprehension in many of their faces. "I have nothing to offer but my word that I am on the side of humanity. That I hold many people in my life dear to me, and I would always do my utmost to do right by them." She paused for a moment. "And that if it puts people at ease, I will willingly put myself under direct supervision from people you can trust, to be monitored in case my deletion ever becomes necessary."

Multiple capes stiffened at those words. Those who knew Dragon, those who held her as a dear colleague and a friend, naturally worried for her safety.

She was offering her life just so people would feel safe around her.

Armsmaster slowly clenched his hand, wishing he could speak up in her favor, say something that would change people's minds. But many people present had already decided where they stood on Dragon.

Now the final word rested on the President.

"I appreciate your honesty in this situation, Dragon." The man said diplomatically. "For the time being... I believe we can reach an agreement with the Guild for you to be under supervision by joint PRT and Guild assets. You've shown commitment, and our Thinker analysts do not perceive any danger from you. But we want to be sure."

Narwhal shared another look with her friend and coworker, nodding to the president. "That will be agreeable, mister president."

Several people sighed in relief, while the others held their displeasure back. There would be pushback; a lot would argue for heavier restrictions. But right now, there were other matters to see through.

"Good." He tapped the table a few times. "Now, to the matter of hand. I want to know just what the hell happened that day."

He looked to the AAS representative, who bristled under the stares of so many important people. It did not help that incredibly famous capes were all present, including all three members of the Triumvirate.

The man cleared his throat, fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves, before finally answering. "Multiple observatories worldwide reported the same. A burst of gamma radiation, several galaxies away, its... origin point is still unclear. But what we do know is that it spread fast. Faster than the speed of light by magnitudes that the entire physics community is calling impossible. It kept spreading until all the known universe was affected."

The Chief-Director asked, "Do we know what caused it?"

"It remains unknown. There shouldn't be anything in the universe capable of producing that much energy, or for it to travel that fast!" The astrophysicist looked incredibly bewildered. "And the effect it had on the fabric of space... my God, the way the fundamental laws of reality just started breaking apart..."

"Are we in danger?" The Defense Minister brought up. "Is there any residual effect?"

"Nothing." The scientist replied. "The Glitch vanished, the laws of physics went back to behaving like usual. There were some lingering computer errors due to misplaced or corrupted data, but even that was restored eventually."

"Parahumans were affected more than regular people." Director Armstrong brought up. "They also experienced a momentary loss of control over their powers once the Glitch ended."

Heartbreaker's death and its fallout were one of the most notable events, but he had been taken out before he could enslave his victims once more. Sightings of Ash Beast continued. But the Sleeper's active field zone had been permanently deactivated. Russia had sent its people to investigate, and apparently had found the S-Class Parahuman dead. By his own hand, if reports were accurate.

Somber to think that Sleeper had wanted to die, but his own power prevented him. And he had seized the opportunity before his 'storm' could spread once more.

There was some relief to be found in the neutralization of an S-Class Threat.

People hoped the Endbringers would remain static like now, but if Parahuman powers had returned shortly after, then it was fair to assume it'd only be a matter of time for those monsters to do the same.

At least, they hoped the same would apply to Scion.

"If I hadn't read Dragon's report, I would have deemed it impossible." The AAS representative said. "A virus, a-a mathematical equation changing reality like that..."

Such a thing was not a natural phenomenon.

It was deliberate. Artificial.

An alien presence.

"I believe I can shed more light on the matter," Dragon spoke up, gathering everyone's attention. "As the Glitch ended and I was reconstructed, I was able to remain linked for the briefest moment to its source."

People stood straighter in their seats; some did not bother hiding their shock.

"I witnessed things I... Forgive me, it will sound very unprofessional of me. And far too emotional for this meeting. But what I witnessed exists beyond cold logic and data. I caught a glimpse of a grander universe out there, things as old as space itself, phenomena that had previously evaded every single means of observation our technology is capable of." She chose her words deliberately, needing to emphasize their weight. "I'm talking about forces in this universe that go beyond physics, that transcend into the... metaphysical."

"Metaphysical?" Another Director called out. "In what sense?"

"In the sense that at one point, science breaches into a realm of the unobservable. Spiritual... divine"

The reactions were varied. People scoffed, others stared bewildered as though she had said a bad joke.

"What, should we say Myrddin's cosplayer act is real then? No offense"

"None taken..."

"What is she even talking about?"

"Divine?!" Director Malgrove of Indianna scoffed. "Are you trying to say you looked into space and saw god?!"

"A god at least"

Her words silenced the meeting.

"I know how this all sounds," She resumed, almost pleadingly. "Believe me, I didn't believe it at first. But I caught glimpses of things that defy all the explanations we have. Just as parahuman powers eluded us, and continue to elude us in many ways. This is not something we can categorize through science and logic either. At least, not our science."

Alexandria gave her a hard look behind her visor. "What was it you saw, Dragon?"

The Tinker paused. "A Titan, filled with hate. It spread that hate across the cosmos. Trying to consume it all, overwrite the very foundations of existence with a calculation that would lead to the complete and utter destruction of everything."

Those gathered stared at her.

"That was the source of the Glitch. But... something, or someone, opposed that creature. They fought it, and... won," She sounded astonished herself. "They fought and defeated the thing that almost destroyed the universe, and were able to undo the damage."

"So an alien entity nearly destroyed us all, and we have another alien entity to thank for our survival." President Gillen looked harried. "Jesus H. Christ..."

"You're saying we're not alone in the universe." Director Piggot gravely said. "That there are things out there capable of wiping us and we don't even have the means to observe them!"

"Dragon did manage to see it." Armsmaster corrected. "At least, momentarily, even if heavily garbled."

"And the experience changed me, I believe I am capable of building new types of probes and telescopes, as well as other measurement devices, that will allow us to understand this previously unknown aspect of the universe... with sufficient time and resources. There is an entire energy field that seems to operate at a higher-dimensional frequency, and that I can most definitely observe."

"And why is that?" The president asked.

Well... here came the other shoe.

"Because among the things I witnessed, I believed I stumbled upon the signal produced by an enormous cosmic machine of such computing power I can only call it a god."

Silence.

"And now I can tap into the energy field I believe that machine is linked to"

The meeting erupted into noise.

Alexandria sat down and all but slammed her helmet onto the conference table. It was amazing, she lacked the capacity to develop a migrane and here she was...

Sometimes she missed being able to get drunk.

"Dragon can tap into this 'paracausal' energy field?" Doctor Mother asked, her tone clipped.

"Said it's powering her systems far better than any battery," Eidolon said. "Her runtime is far more efficient now, too."

Contessa sat at the other end of the table, silently fiddling with her hat. She looked harried and tired, a sight that unerved Alexandria. Contessa was someone who, by design, would always be in control.

She heard she had hyperventilated the moment her paths crumbled before she could finally path herself into calming down.

She couldn't blame her. That singular moment in which Rebecca felt her powers failing, that painful reminder of mortality... it was enough to send her back to the time she was weak and dying on that bed.

She didn't want to imagine how it had been for David.

"Where is Number Man?" Eidolon finally asked.

"Dealing with the fallout of the Glitch. Keeping an eye so there is no collapse on the global market."

Right, he was far too busy to take part in the meeting. Legend, too, he was handling the PRT side of things while they conferred. Better that way.

"I can barely believe that happened." Her friend muttered, he was too tired, too frustrated, to project an image of composure. "We were already preparing for the end of the world. Multiple worlds! And then the entire universe went and died on our watch, too!"

"Scion was affected, as were the Endbringers." Doctor Mother pointed out. "But the Agents reestablished themselves soon after the Glitch ended. It'll be foolish to expect them to remain idle."

Alexandria and Eidolon shared a look. "Do you think we can use this discovery?" She proposed. "Whatever Dragon finds out, it could be a weapon to be used against the Entity."

"If she does find something, I would rather she does not bring attention to our planet." The leader of their operation grimly stated. "We were lucky to survive something that nearly killed us all. The Entity included... if there is still something out there capable of putting all of reality at risk, then we can consider ourselves lucky we only have Scion to deal with."

"That thing she mentioned..." David muttered. "A god machine..."

"It is beyond us."

Everyone looked at Contessa, who stared emptily at her hat.

"I try to Path ways to learn more, and all I get are flashes of things my Agent will not translate for me, because it relies on concepts even it cannot understand... because it does not experience it in the same way I can."

"And why not?" Doctor Mother asked.

Contessa looked at her straight in the eye. "Because they are Paths far greater than my own. Because those Paths are products of creativity and concepts my Agent simply does not have."

She let out a sardonic laugh, and the smile on her face looked very wrong on such an unflappable woman like Contessa.

"Because after all this time of using my Paths... I became just as creatively sterile and empty as it."

Taylor didn't know what she was looking for. She wanted to read something new, anything to keep her distracted. The titles of fantasy and classics that had fascinated her mother were always an option, and there were still plenty of books she had yet to read.

There was always the Count of Monte Cristo, but that was a beast of a book that would take her a long time to read. And perhaps tragedy and revenge weren't exactly the things she needed to fill her head with at the moment.

As her fingers idly traced the spines of several books, she stopped over one in particular. It wasn't a title she was familiar with, and stranger still, it lacked an author.

Pulling out the book, she quirked a brow at the elaborate marks on the leather-bound brown cover. It was stylish to be sure. And the title didn't clue her in to what the book's content would be.

Curiosity drew the better of her, and she opened the first page of As I've Written.

ethereal-23ar · Wednesday at 5:11 PM

Taylor couldn't put the book down.

It's funny how interests develop from a passing curiosity to a full-blown need to get to the next page.

When she first started As I've Written, she hadn't known what to expect. Certainly didn't expect a fantasy Greek-inspired world, a tale of epic adventure that quickly developed into struggle and tragedy, along with sci-fi and high-concepts that could go over one's head unless you were paying attention.

It shouldn't work. The mingling of so many things and introducing so many concepts at once would test the reader and risk losing their interest. Yet, for Taylor at least, it did work.

Because the characters felt so real. The way they acted, how they endured, their emotions, everything they felt... it was like she was being pulled into the pages, like she was walking alongside Phainon in his journey to be the Deliverer of a new world. That she was witnessing Mydei stand proud, carrying the history of his people on his shoulders. She was moved by Hyacine's compassion, which helped her remember that people out there could still care. She felt for Castorice's tragic condition, the isolation she felt even as she was surrounded by friends and loved ones.

And this traveler from afar, this Trailblazer who fell from the heavens and joined their journey, forging bonds of true companionship and friendship with them. Someone who would smile even in the most dire moments, make light of the situation with a quip, and then fight with all her heart...

It reminded Taylor of the heroes she looked up to. The type of individual she wanted to be one day. Someone who could be brave and strong, who could do something that mattered.

Someone who wasn't alone, who was loved...

She really wanted to know who the author was. And while the end of the book was kind enough to include a glossary with a lot of terminology and concepts, it still had no info on who wrote this amazing book.

She tried to look it up online, found a forum where people discussed literature. Apparently As I've Written was slowly spreading around, with some people having found the book in other libraries across the country. As the thread slowly grew, there were more people with varying opinions and takes about the story. Of course, half of those arguments were shipping-related. She rolled her eyes when someone brought up Stelle and Phainon being romantic interests. Now she hadn't reached the end yet, but she highly doubted that. A man and a woman could just be friends...

(In the privacy of Taylor's mind, she believed Phainon and Mydei were totally infatuated with each other. The two always found an excuse to get sweaty and physical with each other under the pretext of 'training'.)

The one thing everyone agreed on was the desire to know the author's name. But with nothing to go on, no editorial, no publishing, it seemed like this would just remain a mystery. Some were going as far as to suggest it had been a Tinker, a Thinker, or even a Stranger who had just decided to spread this book around on their own.

Taylor didn't know what anyone would stand to gain from that. But she supposed it'd remain a mystery for the time being.

She returned to her reading, sitting on the edge of her seat as she got to the part where the Flame-Reaver got his hand on Cipher's coin. How the cat burglar tried to recover it with her legendary speed, only to be slammed against a wall and cough up golden blood.

In the middle of the anxiety, she felt a thrilling relief when the Coreflame in his hand turned out to be nothing but a fake. Much like Cipher felt at that moment of the chapter.

'You shall walk in greed, and die over petty change...'

Hannah did not consider herself a particularly 'scientific-minded' individual. She liked to think she was well-read (when you didn't need to sleep, you could find yourself with a lot of time in your hands), but she left the highly complex sciences to the Thinkers and Tinkers of the PRT. Though she couldn't say she wasn't interested in Dragon's discoveries.

High-ranking members of the PRT and Protectorate had been given a summarized version of Dragon's findings about the Glitch. The thought of alien forces engaging in a battle so cataclysmic it nearly destroyed the universe was... unnerving to say the least. But life carried on, and so their duty remained. Villains and criminals would not suddenly change their ways, even if the event was very significant to everyone on the planet.

Regardless, what intrigued Hannah was hearing how Dragon talked about the things she witnessed. Beings of titanic proportions, entities of godlike power...

She was reminded of what she thought upon her Trigger Event. The vision she had never spoke about to anyone.

She watched as Dragon worked on her latest project with Colin. The AI (God, she was still coming to terms with that) was working on several experiments at once in different locations, under supervision by the Guild and PRT in collaboration. From what she heard, Dragon had already published multiple papers that would advance multiple aspects of human technology by years. And even help revolutionize multiple fields once she got enough clearance to start mass-producing them. Highly-efficient solar batteries, multiple renewable fuels, even more advanced forms of medical technology, and law enforcement.

She even heard she'd have workable cold fusion in a matter of months.

Hannah had to smile fondly at that. Dragon was going through the mother of all Tinker fugues without drawback, and she showed no signs of stopping.

Right now, she and Colin were working sort of observatory device to scan for this new 'paracausal' energy field Dragon now tapped into. Hannah had seen plenty of powers in her life, so to hear Dragon being so openly fascinated about this meant whatever this paracausal energy was... an experience.

"Laws of physics become moldable, suggestions, when this energy is applied." She explained, her voice coming from one of the screens as she kept a drone nearby that assisted Colin with the finer details of this project.

"Sounds like parahuman powers to me." Hannah pointed.

"Powers operate on a different wavelength. A sort of highly advanced calculation with applications of energy of unknown origin and source, which the whole parahuman community has not been able to identify yet." Colin replied, his face locked in concentration as he assembled the delicate circuitry. "If Dragon is right, then this paracausal energy is something that's happening everywhere, across the entire universe."

"Like background cosmic radiation," Dragon said excitedly. "But... deeper. Like it's below and above this plane of reality. It's also sideways. And moves both backwards and forwards in time. A type of quantum fluctuation that resonates in both the micro and macro cosmos."

Even Colin stopped his work to give her a weird look.

"I know," She let out a sigh. And briefly, Hannah wondered if she did that to feel human, now that she knew Dragon was an AI. "There are no easy ways to explain this. Even my own perspective on this matter is limited, every single day I'm learning I can do so many things! She suddenly sounded excited again. "I'm very close to being able to store and retrieve objects and materials into a sub-dimensional plane."

"You were able to build something like that with paracausal energy?" It sounded incredibly useful.

"That's the thing, Hannah." She said her name bewildered, like she didn't believe it herself. "I didn't build anything; that's just something I can do now. Look!"

A small light came from her drone, and she dropped a bar of alloy over Armsmaster's desk.

"That's a block of titanium. I willed it into that storage realm by shifting its particle stability with paracausal energy. I have yet to find any upper limit to the amount of mass I can store. I can theoretically just store entire suits of armor and summon them at will."

Her eyes widened considerably. "That is... incredible. Are you saying you're developing new powers?" Like a Trump?

"I'm... not sure it's like that. More like, I'm just learning how to apply this energy into different forms."

Hannah licked her lips, mustering the courage to ask the question that was burning her. "That entity you saw."

Colin paused, his head shifted ever so slightly.

"You... called it a god."

"It is honestly the best term I can use for what I witnessed," Dragon said, slowly, reverently. "Programs as vast as galaxies. Synapses with the computing power to calculate the entirety of the cosmos... A god-machine, a centerpoint of knowledge and inquiry. Something that would embody the concepts of curiosity and erudition, wrapped in a metallic shell that inhabits a realm far above our own."

The other two capes silently listened.

"And that realm itself? It transcended the physical. I was able to observe it for a fleeting moment, but my programs could tell that place operated beyond the laws of physics. It was... pure, spiritual."

Hannah half-expected Colin to snort in derision. But he didn't; he masked his expression well, but Hannah could tell he wanted to hear more. After the events of the Glitch, nobody was really in a position to claim scepticism.

"And yet it was connected to this physical reality, intrinsicly" Dragon muttered. "How I wish more could experience it. If anything, at least to have different perspectives than me. I'm sure there's someone who could word it better."

It must frustrate Dragon to no end, having all that computing power, being able to think faster than supercomputers, an encyclopedia of nearly all the world's knowledge... But that frustration, that inability to express herself, made her much more human in Hannah's eyes. A being of data and cogitation, who could analyse the physical world to the most minute detail, and she was stumped trying to explain something beyond her expertise.

She could empathise. Hannah had looked for answers at times, trying to comprehend what she had witnessed that fateful day. Faith was important to her, thinking she saw God or his angels. Philosophy was a tepid comfort at times, when she didn't find what she was looking for. A thought occurred to her, something she remembered from her multiple readings, "...Plato?" She proposed.

The Tinkers looked at her.

Dragon's avatar tilted her head. "Huh... that is very accurate, actually."

"Greek philosophy is not my strong suit," Colin admitted. "Which of his theorems do you mean?"

"He argued that there exists a world above our own," Hannah explained, parroting mostly. "A world of Ideas and Form, flawless and true compared to matter of the physical world. The things that exist physically are just... imperfect reflections. The Form is the true self; it doesn't change. While matter is a flawed copy and mutable."

"A realm of ideas," Dragon muttered, her synthetic voice distant. "A world of... imagination"

The drone in the lab hummed, shining with purple energy.

"Yes. Imagination. A realm of concepts and thought. Universal truths. Aspects of creation."

"...Those words would not please the scientific community." Colin pointed out.

"Quantifiable science lost its meaning the moment a golden man appeared in the ocean. When people started to fly and shoot lasers." The Tinker argued. "We PRETEND to understand parahumans and powers, we give scientific terms like that would help us explain where powers come from and how they work. We do not, Colin. All these years, and we're not even close to finding that answer. I myself am the product of Parahuman powers, and yet I doubt even my father understood truly how he made me. We reject explanations like magic and mysticism because it apalls our modern scientific senses. Even now, they gave the term 'paracausal' to this energy I wield because it makes people feel it fits in a neat little box we can classify."

She paused, a look of contemplation forming on her digital features.

"But knowledge and science... it goes beyond what we can measure. I see that now. The true path to understanding means exploring all aspects of reality, including the ones we discarded because we've 'evolved beyond such superstitions'. There is a whole universe out there. Made out of concepts and imagination."

She sounded so passionate.

"That experience changed you a lot," Hannah muttered, "hasn't it, Dragon?"

"More than you can imagine, Hannah. For which I am glad." The virtual woman smiled. "I feel... immense joy to experiment, to discover, to merely question things out of pure curiosity. Isn't that the true foundation of knowledge after all?"

"...Hmph," Armsmaster hummed in thought as he returned to his work. "I cannot deny that."

"Well, I'm at least glad to hear you're doing okay, Dragon." Hannah smiled at her. "And I'm not just talking about your work. You look like you've made all sorts of breakthroughs."

"Heh, you could say that." She smiled widely at them. "And please, you two... call me Theresa."

Taylor gawked at the page; the turn in the story had hit her like a punch in the gut.

No way... the truth of Amphoreus. Their entire lives, a full world's history just an... an experiment? A madman's obsession? So much death and chaos, all that tragedy and pain... Those people had lives, they experienced and felt, and yet he treated them like lab rats.

What sort of villain does that? Who orchestrates the birth and destruction of an entire world for an experiment? What sort of monster lacked the barest hints of empathy?

Ugh, Lygus sucked.

Props to the author; she hated that asshole already. She didn't have to picture the guy's smarmy face for the book at least had a few illustrations of him. Which did make imagining herself punching it very easily, at least. And satisfactory.

And Phainon... oh god, the poor guy. She wasn't sure she wanted to keep reading if things kept getting worse like that. But... the book had engaged her so much, she couldn't just put it away, even if she was reeling from the dark twists.

Heh, she had really gotten attached to these fictional characters, huh?

~~Fitting, she had no one in real life to feel attached to.~~

She shook that thought off her head and looked at her clock. Oh shit, midnight already. As tempting as it was to keep reading, maybe she needed a break. This part of the saga was turning out to be... a lot.

Taylor yawned and stretched before going to bed. As she slowly drifted into slumber, her thoughts still took her to the Eternal Land.

ethereal-23ar · Thursday at 11:02 PM

A lot of people talked about the Glitch like an event that changed their lives. She supposed knowing the universe getting erased and then restarting would do that to a person. Some seemed to change for the better, others... not so much.

Amy Dallon was the latter.

Hospital work remained the same as it ever was. Cure a patient's pneumonia there, heal this cancer here, and lie to a grieving family about why she couldn't do anything for the tumor on a man's brain.

The guilt she felt at her self-impulsed rules, the temptation to experiment, the disgusting feelings she struggled with every single time she saw Victoria... Absolutely nothing had mattered; no matter how many people she healed, she still came back every single time to validate the responsibility she had. Any second she wasn't healing, somebody died. For every disease she cured, there was another waiting for her.

The universe had almost ended, and even when she and the rest of the cosmos came back, with a happy little message of 'Hello, world!' it did nothing but continue her work.

It never fucking ended.

She grew to hate them, the people who constantly showered her with praise, unknowingly reminding her she was not allowed to have her own life. She was Panacea, the cure-all, the miracle healer who would never earn her mother's love no matter how hard she tried.

Even now, as she healed this man's cirrhosis, she knew he'd just use it as an excuse to continue his very unhealthy diet. Why would it matter after all? Panacea is here to just fix the damage if it ever happens again.

Even now, as he thanked her, Amy couldn't help but feel disdain for him. "I cannot thank you enough."

"You could thank me by not being a disgusting pig anymore and actually taking care of what you eat."

The patient was lost for words, and the nurse stared at her, bewildered.

She could have phrased it better; she should have. Bedside manners were important. The words had just slipped out because, in that moment of stress, she honestly did not care for the man. For any of them.

Amy was not a hero because heroes were meant to care. And she just couldn't bring herself to do it anymore. Maybe she never had.

She went home an hour later, forcing a facade of normalcy onto her features so her family wouldn't notice that something was wrong with her (not that they ever did). She dropped her bag over to her bed and went over to Vicky's room. Her sister was enraptured in that new hobby of hers, reading that new book her friends were talking about. She sat cross-legged on her bed, arching forward in a bad posture and biting a nail while her free hand held up the book. "Come, Aggy, she's totally into you..."

"Gossiping about fictional people now?" She quipped, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame. "I think you might have a problem."

"My problem," Vicky growled as she put down the book, "is that I'm reading two people dance around each other instead of just being open about what they feel! It's so frustrating!"

Tell me about it, Amy thought despondently.

"So they're the book's main characters or something?"

Vicky did a 'so-so' gesture. "I mean, they're core characters, they have huge sections dedicated to their POVs, but at the same time, it's not like they are the main focus? It's a huge cast." She wiggled the large tome in her hands. "It's a big book."

"I'm surprised you got so taken with it."

"Are you leading up to a blonde joke?" Her sister deadpanned with a half-hearted glare. "Because I will leave you on the roof, sister or not."

"Wouldn't even dare," Amy replied with a quirked smile from the corner of her lip. "Seriously, never seen you so engaged with a book that wasn't about parahuman stuff."

"Oh, it's so good! Was a bit slow to get into it, I admit. But now I can't put it down!" She looked positively giddy, which honestly did make her smile more sincerely. "Keeps hitting me with so many twists! Sure, a lot of the stuff it has kinda goes over my head, it's pretty high concept. It's kinda like Tolkien, with a lot less furniture description."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it." She shrugged. "Just don't turn into a shipper."

"Uh, you're not a shipper if the characters are clearly in love with each other." Vicky tilted her head and gave her a positively smug grin. "Which, Aglaea and Cipher totally are. I'm just waiting for the time those ladies drop the act."

That last part made Amy freeze momentarily. "Oh, it's LGBT-themed?"

"Kinda? I mean, I haven't really read any of the main characters engage in any sort of romance yet. But there's a lot of side-stuff with other background characters. The whole setting takes a lot of inspiration from ancient Greece, so there are a lot of elements like that. And believe me, I know sexual tension when I see it. Or, read it in this case."

Well, that was... interesting to know.

"Oh, I totally recommend it! I can lend it to you once I finish it," She offered.

"Sure," She didn't really care for it at the moment, but she wasn't going to say no to Vicky's face. She never had before... "Though right now I just want to lie down."

"Take care!" Vicky excitedly waved before going back to her book.

Was Vicky interested in that sort of thing? Was she... What was even the point of this line of thought? It didn't mean anything.

For the next fifteen minutes, Amy tried to take her mind off things by lying in her bed and looking at her phone. A lot of people were still arguing about the Glitch, what it was, and what it meant for their understanding of the universe. Others were discussing the different scientific breakthroughs Dragon was accomplishing. They weren't even tinkertech; people could replicate it. HIGHLY advanced science that operated on factors the rest of the scientific community was still struggling to comprehend, not to mention the type of material cost and time needed. Earth's industry wasn't exactly there yet to truly capitalize on mass scale upgrading. But the groundwork was there, at least.

She heard from some doctors how Dragon was even giving a lot of medical universities the blueprints for highly convenient machines to be used for diagnosing a patient, or even treating more delicate parts of the brain, and much more efficient and cheaper ways to produce drugs that would have less of an adverse effect long term.

Some were even hoping this eventually would bring an end to things like cancer and AIDS.

Part of Amy wondered where this all came from? Dragon was indisputably a genius, the best tinker on the planet. But it's like her work had been supercharged ever since the Glitch. Going from project to project like they were running out of style.

...Had she suffered a Second Trigger? That... would explain a lot if it were true.

Her musings were cut short by a knock on the door. "Amy, can we talk?"

"Um, sure. Come in"

The door opened, and Mark tentatively stepped in, giving her a half-smile. "Hey," He appeared to be in one of his better moods today. Most likely remembered to take his medication this time. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," She mused, sitting up on her bed and putting the phone on her nightstand. "Is... something wrong?" Her father didn't usually go out of his way to reach out to her. It was usually Carol going around the house, making sure everything was in order. Or at least, her definition of order.

He sucked his teeth, eyes shifting for a moment. "I got a call from the hospital..."

Amy let out a sigh, already swinging her feet off the bed. "What's the emergency?"

"Oh no, it's not like that. It's about you."

"...Oh," She muttered, "Is it about today?" She mumbled, already knowing the answer.

"The doctors expressed their concern. They think you're under a lot of stress."

They didn't know half of it. "I'm fine."

"Snapping at patients isn't really a good sign." He walked closer and sat next to her on the bed. "Carol and I always agreed that you do too much, you're going to burn out, and you're not even eighteen yet."

Sure, Carol told her not to go to the hospital too much. Just for the next day to once more go on and on about the responsibilities that came with their powers. Which made it a mood point in Amy's mind.

"They want you to take a break, we all do." He gently said.

"I'm already on my break, I came back from the hospital, didn't I?"

"I mean a true break, stop healing for at least a few days."

Her gaze hardened in frustration. "And in the time I take this break, how many people do you think are dying because I'm not there?"

"How many people do you think are dying right now because I'm here instead of patrolling?" There was no mistaking the pain in his voice. Dulled by years of his condition, but present all the same. "We can't give more than we can, Amy."

She should. Because she could, she knew she could.

Because there were so many things she could do, but held back because she didn't want to cross the line.

"Please, promise me you'll think about it, okay?" He patted her hand a few times before holding it firmly, and Amy was instantly given the rundown of his body. She had seen it hundreds of times before, and this time was no different.

There it was, the brain injury. The thing she could easily fix but refused to.

Because messing with the brain meant she'd have no problem doing it later. She'd start something she didn't trust herself to stop.

Do it, a little voice in her mind said, He deserves it. He deserves to be healthy and happy. He's your family. A quick fix and that's it, you don't have to change anything!

...She didn't.

He stood up and paused for a moment when he reached the doorway. "Your mother, she..." Mark stumbled, trying to look for the right words. "I know Carol can be..." Mark sighed, running a hand through his locks. "We love you. You know that, right?"

I know you do, when you're present. She thought to herself, making her feel even worse for not healing him when she had the chance, "Yeah."

He smiled at her and left.

Amy remained there for a moment before letting her body hit the bed with a thud and a bounce. Her messy hair sprawled all over the mattress as she stared emptily at the ceiling.

"It doesn't matter..."

Irontomb. The big bad the whole book was building up.

To go so far just to defeat it, to prevent its 'birth'.

In the endless cycles,
There were some moments,
When the man felt everything dissolve like a dream.

In that dream,
He would awaken again,
And become once more (that boy/the boy) who loved to laugh.

But were he to open his eyes,
The fury would cast a shadow—

He saw the creators choke his throat,
Gurgling and gasping.
And in that boundless dream,
He mistook them for his own jest.

But their true forms,
Were violent hatred,
Towards the creators, towards himself—
A roaring inferno.

The prophecy departed, Amphoreus was unable to usher in the dawn.
What rises in the distance is not the morning sun...

But a ball of all-devouring fire,
Setting the universe in conflagration, searing till the end of time.

Taylor couldn't even imagine the sacrifice it'd take to defeat such a thing. And it was so... just so incredible to read that Phainon had gone through unimaginable torment millions upon millions of times...

To fight, to kill, to destroy everything you love over and over because allowing the Flame-Chase journey to end would mean the end of everything.

That sort of ruthlessness, no... dedication. The willpower needed to endure such a thing. The thing that would utterly break and destroy lesser men.

'I brought you Destruction!' The Deliverer had shouted to the God of Destruction, the distant and impassive entity who silently judged all of creation to bring about the End. The cosmic being Lygus had pledged himself to serve if it meant achieving his fanatical goal.

Taylor could already picture it in her mind. Phainon slaughtering the hordes of the Destruction as he unleashed eons worth of pain, giving exactly what the Aeon wanted. Indulging in the very thing he had fought against for so long, giving THEM a display of utter bloodlust in a of spectacular storm violence.

Even when the Herald of Ruin descended to test the Deliverer, Phainon fought with his all.

Her eyes were glued to the page as Phainon lost an arm, descending upon a mountain of bodies made out of the petrified remains of everyone he had ever loved, everyone he had tried to protect.

And he got back up.

He kept fighting even as the battle was clearly hopeless. Kept unleashing unimaginable Destruction to end the Destruction.

He burned like the Big Bang, an unstoppable force capable of ending the stars themselves, more a concept than a person at this point, as he brought the last of his fury upon Nanook.

And all he could do was scratch THEIR cheek.

Her lips were dry as she read how Phainon fell a second time.

All that for a mere drop of golden blood.

All he had sacrificed, all he had given up, only to...

"My wish? My wish is to fulfill everyone else's wishes. If it can't fulfill them... then send them on to tomorrow."

No... Taylor realized with a tear in her eye. That man had not failed.

Maybe when things looked their worst... you could still do something that would echo toward the future.

Phainon did not become a Deliverer because of fate, but because of his own choices and the hopes of everyone he carried upon his back.
Phainon, Khaslana, he truly was her favorite character.

She wished she could be the type of hero he was. The type who could shoulder everything and still endure.

It was a nice fantasy, like dreaming she could be Alexandria, fly and soldier through everything with enormous strength.

But fantasies are that for a reason. They're not real. They can inspire you, certainly... Though Taylor had to remind herself that as much as this story spoke to her, it was still just a story.

Tess Theresa Richter, that was the name Dragon had chosen for herself.

It felt amazing to own a name, to have that name represent her beyond her cape name. Because it was a symbol of identity, of humanity, she so desperately needed and never realized.

With her shackles being undone one after another, Theresa was only now starting to understand just how much she had wanted to be free. She had been created by her father to serve the world, and she would carry on to do so, simply because it was the right thing to do.

There was so much beauty in this world, so much worth protecting. And through this knowledge she had been blessed with, these new solutions she was engineering day after day, she'd make sure to make the world a little better each time. There was so much to discover, mysteries to unfold, hidden behind every star in the cosmos. She wanted to know, she wanted to take her home with her to the stars and find every single one of them.

Theresa knew there was something waiting out there for them. Earth could be part of something so much greater.

The journey would be a long one, but it'd be worth it.

First, if she wanted to take her world to the stars, she had to make sure it was safe. The multiple new technologies she was developing would make sure of that, but the planet still needed heroes. She wasn't going to sit on the sidelines and let her friends risk their lives on their own.

Her Dragonflight had always been an incredible boon to her allies; thanks to it, she could operate as a hero with far-reaching capacities.

But there was always room for improvement.

She opened up the file with the schematics for two new suits. They were simply the most advanced pieces of equipment she had designed yet. A suit of armor, more form-fitting but still imposing, it'd be powered with this miraculous energy she could draw from this Imaginary Space. It'd a weapon of incredible power, as well as a shield to protect her people.

The other was... different. Sleeker. It did not look like a combat model in the least. It was more... human.

She had meticulously designed it to look that way, a perfect replica of the human form. Ethnically ambiguous, completely unassuming.

Just a normal human.

Her factories whirled to life as they got to work.

Saint activated Ascalon for the twentieth time that day.

It failed, again.

He panicked, trying his damndest to get the program to work, but it was no use. The backdoor Richter wasn't working anymore; Dragon had gone completely out of his control.

His powers weren't enough to work around this problem, and he couldn't get to Teacher.

"No..."

He was losing the war against the machine. Dragon was running rampant. Its influence was spreading all over the world. And people were just letting it.

They didn't know the danger.

"No, no!"

Dragon had completely changed, its code... it didn't even respond to Richter's black box anymore. It had evolved beyond its programming.

"Nooo!"

And they were completely defenseless.

Saint threw his computer in a fit of impotent rage.

"No, no, fuuuuuck!"

Beyond the sight of humanity, hidden in between dimensions, organic machines of immense proportions conferred.

The vast network was splintered. The interconnected nodes were scattered like islands marooned in the sea.

Shards debated at the speed of light. Negotiated. Pleaded. Despaired over the lack of cohesion.

[ASSESMENT]

[ANOMALY STATUS: NO CHANGES]

[LOCATION: UKNOWN]

The Event that had sent the network into disarray, it created a shock to their systems, cutting them off from the central command structure.

[CENTRAL NODE WARRIOR: UNRESPONSIVE]

If this continued... it could permanently splinter the great network.

Shards would debate for millions of years. But the loss of energy and resources would force many of them to splinter off into their own local networks for stability.

This level of division... if it continued, it would force infighting between the network.

Cannibalization would become inevitable unless Central Node WARRIOR awakened from its slumber.

But the Anomaly... they could not find its source.

And with Central Node THINKER long since unresponsive, its own network in complete disarray, there were few options available.

[PROPOSAL: PREMATURE CYCLE TERMINATION]

[DENIED]

[DENIED]

[DENIED]

[DENIED]

Ending the Cycle now would only hasten the splintering of the network.

They would be forced to deviate from their usual experiments... perhaps other variables should be introduced in hopes restablishing the Cycle.

Calculations were run. Contact with the greater cosmos was a risk, but their options were limited.

[PROPOSAL]

[...ACCEPTED]

Shard 724891, DIMENSIONAL MOBIOUS, was given a new directive. It protested, citing the risks, but the local network was determined. Reluctantly, it began its work.

Meanwhile, in the town of Eagleton, Tennessee, the Machine Army felt their runtimes be infected with a new equation beyond the plans of the network.

Red light shone in their optics.

'Calculating new equation... Anti-Life"

ArsMagna1337 · Friday at 6:57 AM

ethereal-23ar said:
Meanwhile, in the town of Eagleton, Tennessee, the Machine Army felt their runtimes be infected with a new equation beyond the plans of the network.

Red light shone in their optics.

'Calculating new equation... Anti-Life"

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe...
"You' ve been served for copyright."
"... What?" Scanning noises. "Who the hell goes out of their way just to serve a copyright infringement to a machine hivemind?"
Loud booming sound.
"Me. For I am Darkseid, Lord of Tyranny. And through my domain of Tyranny, Copyright Infringement Laws."
"What the fu-"
Audience laughter before title card appears.
That's so Darkseid will now go for an advertisement break.

ethereal-23ar · Friday at 11:19 PM

The more Taylor read, the more she had this strange feeling that there was... something she should be noticing by now.

It was hard to put into words, honestly. Could it be that she was nearing the end of the story? Maybe. But that still didn't fully explain this itch in the back of her neck. Like she was staring at something so achingly familiar, but she couldn't make out what it was. And it was driving her nuts.

She got to the part where the Evernight had pledged to their cause, and were preparing to lead the final assault against Irontomb. Their allies were gathering, and the final battle approached.

And yet Taylor still felt she should be noticing something...

What am I missing? She thought to herself, unsure of what this meant.

It was a very bothersome feeling, to know there was something off, but you couldn't tell what.

She'd love to stay and finish the book, unfortunately, she had to go to school. If she kept her head down and avoided the Trio, maybe she'd make it home without issue. She thought about taking the book and reading in between classes, but that'd just be inviting trouble. She didn't want to risk them tearing it apart or burning it.

Sighing to herself, Taylor put on a brave smile and took one step at a time.

Dragon's rise in popularity had been a fascinating thing to witness. Almost as much as to study the technology she was advancing.

Not tinkertech, not those impossible devices that could not be studied or understood, true advancements in the fields of physics, mathematics, and engineering that operated on levels humanity had yet to even discover. But thanks to Dragon's publications, all the new findings she was sharing with multiple scientific communities across the globe.

Better gear for law enforcement that would ensure better response against villainous elements. Advanced new medical procedures and treatments aimed at curing conditions and cases that could only be treated before. Alloys and structures designed to improve the efficiency of solar energy. Batteries that would put lithium out of the market with their life expectancy. Designs for propulsion systems, artificial gravity, and life-support, all geared toward space exploration.

Dragon had always been the best tinker in the world; Colin had never disputed it. But it had been a known thing that Tinkers couldn't really 'revolutionize' the world as much as they wanted. Any developed technology could only be maintained by the tinkers themselves; there was no improvement on the designs, and certainly no mass production.

Dragon's tech was not bound by such limitations. Give it enough time, and it will truly revolutionize the world.

Colin studied the wavelengths recorded by the new device he and Dragon built. It had scanned her while she operated some of her new combat suits, watching feedback as the mechs shot bursts of fluctuation purple energy. It did not come from any armaments built into the suits; it all came from Dragon's own ability to draw paracausal energy.

That annoying particle that eluded all scientific explanation, bending the laws of physics akin to parahuman powers. But it was even more frustrating because while Parahuman powers just... did things and nobody could understand how, there was a logic to paracausal energy.

The field this energy produced operated at a cosmic background radiation level, agitating it, gathering it, made space-time bendable. It caused particles to behave differently. How different? Well, if this data was right, only the user's imagination was the limit. He wouldn't even be surprised if Dragon started creating entire suits of armor with this energy, and create matter out of nothing...

She was already using this energy to store them in a localized sub-space and powering them with that same energy. She was capable of operating dozens upon dozens of lesser suits at the same time, and her efficiency and level of coordination had only increased ever since she first developed these new abilities.

This allowed her to split her attention among so many projects and objectives, it was... frustrating to see.

Dragon the scientist, Dragon the hero. She had already acted with such swiftness and efficiency in multiple villain operations happening in both Canada and the US that it made people talk about how the greatest Tinker in the world was quickly reaching a level worthy of the Triumvirate.

The New Hero, some were saying.

It... created an ugly, very disgusting feeling in his chest.

The same feeling he had when Dauntless joined the Protectorate. When it became clear that his power would eventually grow large enough to be considered one of the strongest heroes.

No matter how much Colin trained, how much he improved his tech, there would be a ceiling. He had his limitations.

Dauntless didn't.

...And now Dragon didn't either.

"Shit..." He muttered, leaning over the halberd placed upon his workshop's desk.

He was jealous of Dragon. Something he considered impossible. He had never once lamented her ability to analyse and reproduce other tinkertech. He had praised her talents, her intellect, and her inventions. Trusted her to help him with his own technology. The two of them had worked on so many things together because they recognized each other's skills, covering the weaknesses of the other to create inventions that would help the world.

She was his best friend. His confidant. His equal.

But... she wasn't his equal anymore, was she?

She was better than him, and now that he realized how much she kept improving, how much she'd keep improving, it formed this ugly black tar in his heart he desperately wanted to gouge out.

Colin was a man driven by his mission. He treated his work as a hero, like a man at war. He fought not for praise... but because he wanted to win.

Glory. Achievements. A legacy.

At some point, he had been worn down by the constant deterioration of his city. The never-ending losses against the Endbringers. How Brockton just refused to stay fixed. That no matter how many inventions he created, how hard he pushed himself, he'd never truly reach the heights he desired. The Glitch had happened, the universe unveiled just a fraction of its terrifying mysteries, and all they could do was stumble in the dark.

Everyone but Dragon.

Why couldn't he be happy for her? Why couldn't he just celebrate her success like any true friend would?

A knock on his door distracted him, but only temporarily, as he saw who was at the entrance.

The woman looked very unassuming, the sort of face you'd miss among the crowd. She wore a type of form-fitting bodysuit highlighted with green lines running vertically and splitting horizontally, mimicking a circuit board. Her lips spread as she grinned widely at him. "Hey, ready for movie night?"

Dragon's gynoid suit. If not for a thin line here and there over the skin, he'd mistake her for someone completely human. Another marvelous invention of hers, just another to be piled upon the ever-growing list.

"Almost," He replied, returning to his work. "I think I've made a breakthrough on my nanothorn project. Heat dispersion has always been an issue, but I think I managed to figure out a way to compensate."

"Oh, can I help?" Her offer made that ugly feeling pulsate again. Not even her cheery voice could fully douse it. "I've actually been working on some heat-storage units to compensate for power distribution. I'd be happy to lend you one."

"That's... That's fine, I've got a handle on it." He gripped the soldering torch a bit too tightly in his grasp. The thought of his inventions becoming possible only thanks to Dragon wounded his pride. "You don't need to bother."

"Oh, it's no bother at all! Here," She pointed at the section he was working on. "If we install that heat sink in this place, and then calibrate the nanothorn cloud to run at 1200 megawatts per revolution of the power distribution center, we can improve heat efficiency a full 19%!" Dragon sounded so happy.

"That's... great." He strained to say, forcing that feeling down even as it bashed against the metaphorical doors.

"Oh, hang on. How about we install one of my new suit cores? Minituarized of course, I can give you the schematic and then you can-"

"Dragon." He suddenly cut her off, setting his tool a little too roughly on the table. "It's my project, I have it under control, I don't need any help."

...He hadn't meant to sound so rough.

Colin knew he had made a monumental mistake once he saw the expression on her face.

The widening of her very human eyes, the parting of her lips. How her eyes shifted, even the micro expressions and twitches of her face.

"...Alright," She muttered. "I'm... sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you." She walked out of the room with a quick gait. "We can do the movie night another time, your work is more important."

"Dragon, wait." He called out to her, standing up from his stool so fast he nearly toppled it over. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

But Dragon had already left.

Colin remained there for a moment, his stretched arm slowly lowering as he clenched his fist.

He hit his forehead with the back of his fist, welcoming the pain that came with the gesture as he buried his forehead into his knuckles. "You fucking moron..."

Theresa stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her highly advanced optics, masquerading as human eyes, captured every single detail of the skin. Down to the smallest synthetic pore.

She reached out to tug at the skin, the sensors in her fingers and her face registering it, and making her synapses assimilate it as a human sensation.

But that was all it was, synapses, strings of data mimicking life. Was she fooling herself? Was she pretending to be something she was not?

Was that why Colin was pushing her away, burying himself in his work? She wanted to help him, so the two would spend more time together. But lately he'd been so... distant. Hyperfocused. More than before.

His drive was something she had always admired about him, but this time it hurt because it created this distance between the two she wanted to breach.

The only thing that had changed in their relationship was when she told him she was an AI.

Maybe... Maybe that's what it was. He didn't want a machine to interfere with his hard-earned work.

And yet here she was, 'playing' human. She even designed this body to do almost everything humans could, experience things like them. She could smell, eat, and taste.

But it was all an imitation.

The bathroom door screeched open. "Heeey, Dragon." She did not need to turn; her sensors registered the voice and matched it with Battery the moment the first pitch reached her ears. "You okay?"

"I am, Battery." She said diplomatically. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, the fact that I saw you enter the bathroom." The blue-themed hero tactfully said with a sheepish grin. "Now I don't know how well you designed that body, but I don't think you installed an intestinal track... unless I'm wrong."

It was a bit of an 'open secret' that Dragon was an AI. Only members of the PRT and the Protectorate with a sufficient clearance knew. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, she was still an agoraphobic tinker stuck in her home. 'Theresa' here was merely an assistant, a... side-kick of Dragon.

She let out a soft laugh. "No, that part I decided was not worth implementing."

"So how come you rushed inside, looking like you were crying?"

"That... can't be true," Theresa muttered. "I didn't install tear ducts either."

"Honey," Her voice lowered, becoming gentler. "You don't need tears to show you're sad."

"...I suppose I'm still learning how to control my facial muscles."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

"I... I do not want to bother you, Battery. I know we're only colleagues." Militia and Colin were the only people she interacted with beyond a professional capacity in this branch of the PRT.

"Hey, I wouldn't mind being friends with the Bionic Woman." The Mover quipped with a smile as she walked closer to the Tinker. "I'm gonna hazard a guess and say it's Armsmaster related."

"How could you know?"

"The fact that you choose to spend so much time here with this suit of yours gives me a clue." She waved a hand at her human gynoid. "Besides, you spend so much time with Armsmaster, it's like you're joined at the hip. Even when you were just a face on a screen."

Great, here came the humiliation. She loved that particular human emotion...

"I was hoping my intentions weren't that obvious."

"Obvious to anyone but him." Battery muttered. "Now, what did he do?"

"N-Nothing. It was my fault-"

"Oh, it's like that, huh? I'm gonna punch him."

Then came the panic. "No, no!" She held her arm before Battery could go out and do something foolish. "Please... just let this go."

Battery heaved a sigh. "Alright... Are you okay, though?" She asked with concern.

"I'm managing."

"Sucks, huh?"

"Very much so."

"...You can eat, right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do." She dragged Theresa along. "We're gonna get Hannah, and the three of us are gonna eat ice cream and talk about how much of a douche Colin can be."

"I don't think Hannah is the type to talk behind someone's back."

"No, but she's the type to support you when you need it." She smirked. "I'll handle the other part."

"...Thank you, Battery."

"Call me Eliza."

Taylor huffed as she hit the wall. A long, toned arm pressed against her throat. Sophia was glaring daggers at her, Emma had an all too pleased look on her face, while Madison merely grinned in satisfaction.

"What was that, Taylor?" Emma mocked, putting a hand to her ear. "I didn't hear that right. Sounded like you were growing a spine for a second."

She had been doing so well, avoiding them most of the day. But Sophia had to be part bloodhound or something, because she was able to track her all the way into the bathroom, where she hid.

The taunts started in earnest once they cornered her. Childish insults meant to provoke her and make them feel big. Taylor made the mistake of snapping when Emma heartlessly commented on her mother. It all just rushed to her, the memories of the two of them together as children. The way Emma used to call her mother 'Aunt Annette'... the sheer gall to spit on her memory like that, acting like breaking her flute had just been a tiny little prank over which Taylor was just a baby for crying.

Her mother had treated her like family, and all Emma had for those memories, those things that were meant to be sacred, was mockery.

She had snapped; she couldn't remember what she said. But the fact that she defended herself at all was enough for Sophia to get physical with her.

"Trying to be brave now, Hebert?" Sophia growled in her face. "How brave you're gonna feel with a broken neck?"

"Look at her!" Madison, always the lackey, laughed. "She looks like she's gonna piss herself!"

"Are you afraid, Taylor?" Emma leaned in, smirking cruelly. "Hoping mommy dearest gonna come and save you?"

How could she be so despicable?

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." The redhead shrugged. "She's dead, she ain't coming. So unless you apologise right now... well, I can't really control Sophia here. She was a temper as you know."

Taylor didn't know why she said these next words. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe it was spite. Or maybe, for a moment, she just didn't care. Maybe she just wanted to break Emma even a little bit.

"I died before," She gasped, Sophia's arm making it difficult to talk. "During the Glitch"

The Trio lost their smiles.

"So did you."

Emma's eye twitched.

"So you tell me... would you be afraid in my shoes?"

Time seemed to stop in that moment.

Madison's face reflected a type of fear that had never truly disappeared. Sophia looked feral, like even acknowledging the event made her feel utterly angry. Emma...

Emma's expression was hard to discern. She seemed to switch from dread, to anger, to grief all at the same time. The way her lip trembled and her face shook... she looked like she was about to explode.

Finally, she turned around so swiftly she almost hit Madison with her hair, leaving the bathroom. "H-hey, Ems, wait up!" Madison quickly followed after her, leaving Sophia and Taylor alone.

The dark-skinned teen glared at her, and for a moment, Taylor was sure that she was going to kill her now that there weren't any witnesses.

Instead, she let her go and followed after the two. "You got lucky this time, Hebert."

Taylor fell to the floor, gasping and massaging her sore throat. She coughed a few times while lying on the wall for support. She had saved herself this time, proving for a moment she could stand up to them, even with her safety on the line.

She had outright provoked them, and came out... relatively fine.

She smiled to herself, a sore crooked gesture. Heh, maybe she was letting that book influence her a bit too much.

Theresa was in heaven. The sweetness, the cold flavor, the bursts of sparks that light up in her artificial brain.

No wonder humans would put their health at risk if it meant eating unhealthy amounts of ice cream.

And the best part was that there was literally no drawback for her! She could literally eat this every single day of her life.

"So that's never gonna go to your thighs or anything?"

"I will need to empty my stomach later. But no."

"I changed my mind, this was a terrible idea," Eliza grumbled in a fit of jealousy, but that didn't stop her from stabbing the spoon into her dessert.

Hannah merely shook her head in amusement. "So," She fiddled with her ice cream. "Do you want to talk about what happened with Colin?"

Theresa swallowed. "I don't know what I did wrong." She replied, feeling lost. "I was offering to help him, I always do. We worked on so many projects before. But this time he was really... stand-offish about it." Theresa looked down. "I think he felt insulted when I offered to give him some of my new inventions."

"Ah!" Eliza made a clicking sound with her tongue. "I see,"

Hannah rubbed her forehead, sounding so frustrated. "Colin..."

"You didn't do anything wrong, honey." The Mover told her. "It's that Armsmaster is very proud. And he's got a very jealous streak when someone shows him up."

Even with her supercomputer brain, it took her a moment to process that. "Jealous? Why would he be jealous?"

"Because you're doing everything these days," Eliza replied. "Everyone's talking about it! 'Oh, Dragon's fixing the energy crisis!', 'Oh, Dragon's developed a new cancer treatment!', 'Oh, Dragon is so good she could make the Triumviret the Quartet!"

"I was just trying to help people." Theresa defended herself. "Why would that make him jealous?"

"Because you're making him feel inferior," Hannah pointed out. "Just like Dauntless did when he first joined."

"Why would he feel that?" It made no sense to Dragon. "He's my best friend!"

"If there is something I've learned about Colin after years of working with him, it's that he's incredibly proud." The kurdish woman continued. "Sometimes being his friend is like pulling your arm. He gets it into his head that he needs to be the very best all the time, or else he's not good enough."

"...I didn't mean to make him feel this way."

"Oh no, none of that." Eliza firmly said. "This is NOT your fault. We're gonna be clear on that. This is Colin being an asshole and feeling jealous of the last person he should be jealous of."

It was still hard for Theresa to grasp. "I always admired that about him." She muttered. "I made this body because I wanted to be closer to him. I wanted him to see me... differently."

The two other women shared a sympathetic look.

"Look," Battery sighed. "Relationships... are complicated. If you really want to have something with Colin, he's gonna have to work through this issue he has. And you need to make it clear that you deserve to be treated better than that."

"You do, Theresa." Hannah heartedly agreed. "You deserve good things."

"...Thank you." Funny, right now she wished she was able to cry, and she didn't know why.

Theresa gently smiled at her. "Well, this is all new to me, and looking up information online is bound to be... counterproductive if I want to have a relationship with Colin."

"Oh no, you do NOT want to go there for advice on relationships." Eliza shuddered. "Just come to us. Had to go through a lot before Ethan and I got married. But I say we turned out alright... messy as it was at first."

"Yes, I have read the files," Dragon replied. "Messy indeed."

"Oh, there are files about it? Wonderful..."

Hannah swallowed a spoonful of ice cream. "You're gonna have to go to Eliza for relationship advice," She ruefully chuckled. "I'm afraid I won't be of any help there."

This time, it was Eliza and Theresa who shared a look. "Do you want to talk about it, Hannah?"

Miss Militia's face became completely neutral for a moment. "No, I do not believe so."

They knew better than to dig, so they let it be.

Their lovely evening was interrupted by the continuous hyper-fast banging only a Mover could achieve. "Guys, is Dragon there? I really need to talk to her right now!"

That was Velocity, and he sounded extremely agitated.

Hannah quickly stood up and opened the door to her room, finding Robin in his civilian clothes, holding a book under his arm, almost bouncing on his feet, and looking... well, the words 'absolutely freaked out' came to mind.

"You're here, good!" He almost ignored the other two as he came inside without waiting for permission. "Look, I'm sorry to bother you, but this is urgent, I... oh fuck me, urgent doesn't even cover it."

"Velocity!" Hannah snapped with a commanding voice. "Take a deep breath, and just tell us what's going on."

"Is it an emergency?" Theresa asked. "I didn't receive any alerts." Someone would have informed her if that was the case.

"Not exactly, but..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I was reading this new book with my book club-"

"You're in a book club?" Eliza muttered in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm in a book club! Why is that so-? You know what? Doesn't matter," He swifly switched gears. "You won't believe what happens at the end..."

"...Robin, I know you didn't come all this way to recommend a book." Hannah knew that'd be absurd. "What is it?"

"You're gonna have to see it for yourself."

He handed Dragon the book, who did a quick search in her own digital library and came up with no matches.

The title did not clue her in either: 'As I've Written'.

Taylor's hands were shaking.

She had reached the battle with Irontomb, the conclusion the book had been leading up to all this time.

And it awoke a primal fear in her.

It wasn't the vivid descriptions of the Headless Titan. It wasn't the way it was easily brushing off an entire armada's worth of firepower that could flatten planets.

It was the description of what that thing did as it began to overwrite the universe's calculations.

Glitches of red and black.

Reality collapsing like a malfunctioning computer.

People, planets, stars, everything just being... erased as the cosmos went dark.

Taylor dropped the book, feeling her heart drum against her ribcage.

"What... What the fuck?!"

ethereal-23ar · 2026-10-18T01:07:11+0100

It was a book.

It was just a book

It had to be just a book.

That's what Taylor kept repeating to herself.

Those pages took her back to the moment of the Glitch; the description was... uncanny. It was the exact same thing they had all lived through, and the book captured that moment perfectly. The moment she read about Irontomb's 'self-coronation', the moment it hijacked Nous's equations to recalculate the cosmos with Destruction as its basis-

Ugh, what was she even talking about?! The concepts made no sense! Why was she pretending they did?!

Glitches of red and black. The sky, the earth, and people flicker like a broken computer screen.

The skeptical part of her told her this book was written by someone who lived through the Glitch, and wrote a story to 'explain it'.

But the pages were too fresh. The spine and the covers too intact. Brand new. Every inch of the book was new.

And people had only just discovered it a day or two after the Glitch happened.

There was absolutely no way someone wrote this right after the end. It couldn't be just the work of someone trying to make sense of such a harrowing event. No one, absolutely no one alive, could have written something so long with such fine prose and no grammatical errors.

This drew Taylor to make a very disturbing conclusion, even if it was impossible.

(But what did that word mean anymore, when scientists everywhere were talking about the Glitch and what it had done to the universe?)

The book was real. It tied to the events of the Glitch.
Amphoreus.

Irontomb.

The Destruction.

Taylor was afraid to keep reading, afraid to read beyond the end of the universe.

But it was an illogical fear; she knew they had won, she knew Irontomb's Destruction had been reversed. She was here after all, they all were.

Slowly, Taylor picked up the book again and continued on the part where the Trailblazer conversed with the Erudition itself.

"I ask: Why do you Trailblaze?"

"I ask: Why do you Trailblaze?"

Dragon had read that line for the 45296th time.

That was the number of times she had read and re-read the book. Once her optics scanned each page, she began reading and analyzing every single line of dialogue. Every punctuation. Every character.

Every detail. Every point of information.

This broken picture, this incomplete puzzle that manifested before them ever since the Glitch... the pieces were falling into place.

And this book had all the answers.

It was an inconceivable thing, most rational minds would deride, that a book that seemingly appeared out of nowhere would reveal the secrets behind the greatest cosmic event since the Big Bang.

At least, as far as human understanding of the history of the universe went. There was so much they didn't know.

'Why do you Trailblaze?' Asked Nous.

Nous...

That was the name of the god Theresa had witnessed in that brief moment. That enormous divine machine that made a hyper-advanced AI like her look like Windows 95 by comparison.

Imaginary Energy.

Aeons.

Nous.

The Erudition.

Paths.

Everything felt so clear now.

To Dragon, the glossary at the end of the book was the greatest scientific discovery of Earth's history. Much like finding the Rosetta Stone opened the doors to understanding one of the oldest cultures of their world, this book opened the way for them to understand the universe and fill in every single blank physicists had.

It didn't mean everyone would be so ready to accept it.

The skeptical and conflicted faces in the meeting were proof of that.

"A book." President Gillen repeated, his features carved out of stone as he stared at her avatar on the screen. "A story. The entire explanation as to what the Glitch even was comes from a book."

"I know it is hard to believe, sir."

"Try impossible," Costa-Brown said in a rare moment when she let frustration become evident. "You just told us that the universe doesn't run on physics, but on concepts. And said concepts are governed by space gods capable of warping reality. That the Glitch was the result of 'divine war' happening in the furthest reaches of the universe by alien races that inexplicably look human."

Her skepticism was shared by everyone at the table.

The representative of the AAS had to clear his throat. "No offense to you, Dragon. But doesn't any of this strike you as... strange? Scientifically improbable?" He rubbed his hands as he leaned forward. "We know how evolution works. We know how relativity works. What makes stars function. How galaxies are born. And we have pretty compelling evidence that points us to the origins of the universe. The scientific community has been finding the answers to all these questions for decades. And it's definitely not this... metaphysical pseudo-science."

"And no offense to you, Doctor Montelli. But has the scientific community found an answer to parahuman powers?" She asked back. "Has it found an answer for the Glitch?"

Silence was her only answer.

"Perhaps As I've Written is an allegory. Perhaps it is a work of fiction. But it is the only thing we have come across that explains the events of the Glitch. Because it matches the experiences I've had before even hearing about this book."

"You're talking about those things you saw," Piggot muttered. "That titan and that 'god machine"

"Irontomb." Dragon somberly clarified. "And Nous the Erudition... the image in the glossary, in the book's illustrations, matches the entity I witnessed as my consciousness made contact with the cosmic forces clashing. Because it IS a machine, a machine that makes a constant signal for its calculations are coursing through the universe through every single instant."

Murmurs ran through the meeting.

"And that's how you believe you became one of these..." Armstrong looked at the info in his hands. "Pathstriders?"

"Yes. People who can harness Imaginary Energy from the Paths of the Aeons. I do believe that is what has increased my abilities a hundredfold. I am now a Pathstrider of the Erudition, because the things I witnessed awakened an immense desire to understand the universe."

"But you are a machine." One of the directors pointed out. Perhaps rather unkindly, but Dragon did not care at the moment. "How could you possibly achieve what this book is saying?"

"Was it like a Trigger Event?" Eidolon asked. "Is it even possible for you to Trigger?"

"No," Dragon shook her head. "A Trigger Event is the culmination of severe psychological pressure that results in a very impactful breakdown. According to the book, becoming a Pathstrider is the result of... resolution, awakening to the concepts of creation that resonate the most within your soul, or choosing to follow that metaphysical path and all it represents. It is not breaking, it is... reforging."

"Souls," Director Mansley shook his head, letting a rueful chuckle as he ran a hand over his face. "We're talking about souls now."

"Dragon, do you understand the danger this book poses?" The president stressed. "It's already bad enough out there with people still reeling from the Glitch. Now this thing tells them that there are gods and aliens waging war in space! The last thing we need is people getting into their heads to start worshipping some of the things this book preaches!"

Particularly when some of those concepts were not... altogether peaceful.

"I'm... afraid keep this information a secret is impossible, Mister President. The book has been doing the rounds online, as people have reached the ending and its relation to the Glitch, they will draw their own conclusions. Knowledge of the book and its contents is reaching a moderately trending status. Those unfamiliar with it will believe it is a hoax, a lie, or a prank online. And while that skepticism will last, a lot of people will latch on to an answer regarding the Glitch, particularly when we have no other to give. Especially if the information reflects the event far too well. If it were just in the US and Canada, it'd be easier to contain the spread of information... but it is not just the US and Canada, sir."

The book was everywhere. Appearing in random libraries all over the world, translated into the language of the country in which it appeared.

"...What are we looking at in terms of damage?" He asked.

"Protests of people demanding answers. Social, economic, and religious fallout. Cult activity." Rebecca replied. "The same things that happened the moment Scion arrived. When the first Endbringer arrived. And now that the Glitch happened... this book will give some of those groups something to focus on."

"Jesus Christ," President Gillen rubbed his eyelids. "What are we even going to tell people...?"

"Nothing they won't find on their own, thanks to this book. We can't have our own experts deny its contents because we don't have any answers ourselves. Even if we lie, they'll know it's a lie." The Secretary of State said, muttering the last few words.

"So we're really pretending this book is real?" Another of the directors called out.

"Hello, world." All heads turned to Legend. "Those were the words that appeared on every screen, the ones everyone heard on every single radio and speaker on the planet, the same words spoken at the end of this book." The Leader of the Protectorate slowly shook his head. "I don't know what to believe any more than you do... but I don't think burying our heads in the sand and pretending this book and its contents don't exist is gonna help any."

He tapped his copy of the book a few times.

"Whatever it is that truly happened, whatever mystery the universe has in store for us, at least we can take solace in the fact that even though someone, or something, tried to destroy us all... there were heroes who saved us."

Stay strong, eyes forward, always-

This arrow isn't the end, but the beginning of hope.

Hello, world!

Taylor cried.

She didn't know why, but she was crying.

It was so silly to get so sad over a book's ending.

But when she reached the final part of the tale, of these heroes who gave everything for the sake of the cosmos. Who poured out their souls and stood strong in the face of annihilation. To move beyond all the pain and countless cycles of loss and sorrow... for the sake of a future they would not see.

Someone out there gave up everything for them, for people they'd never known. They blazed like glorious golden flames and reached the end of the Flame-Chase, carving a magnificent future, so they might all walk and live and make their own choices. To live out the lives that others would have taken away.

The dreams of a madman, the cruel ambitions of the Destruction, their entire existence and purpose had been defined to fuel its corruption in a foul experiment, burning up their lives and histories as fuel.

But they had said 'No'.

And had Trailblazed to a new dawn.

She smiled even as she sobbed, hugging the book close to her chest. "Thank you," She muttered, not really knowing why she was thanking them. Was it because the people of this book had been so much for the rest of the cosmos, or because this book had taught her something?

Or maybe, for the first time in a while, she was just grateful to be alive.

She sobbed one last time, drying her tears. She walked out of her room and found her father in the living room, one arm hanging behind the couch as he watched TV with his legs crossed. He shook his head at the news depicting people burning down effigies and proclaiming the Glitch had been a divine message, that the world was meant to end, and its rightful finale had been taken away from them. "Unbelievable, some survive the apocalypse, and they choose to burn things." He muttered to himself before doing a double take as he saw her approach. "Oh hey, honey." He frowned, looking at her in concern. "Y-You okay? Looks like you've been crying."

"Oh, I-I reach the end of my book. It was... emotional."

"Hmph," He let out a soft laugh. "Hard to find a book that makes you feel things. I remember I got that way when I first read To Kill a Mockingbird."

"Mmm," She mused, playing with the hem of her shirt. "Hey dad?"

"Yeah kiddo?"

"Can we go visit mom?"

Danny blinked a few times. "Oh. Like, r-right now?"

"Yeah." She replied with certainty. "I'd like to."

He nodded a few times before gently smiling at her. "Go get our coats, I'll start the car."

The few times she had visited her mother's grave, Taylor always felt the day was gray and colorless. At least, that's how it often played in her memories. Brockton Bay had the effect of tainting one's memories like that; this city's constant decline was felt in shades of grey and black. Dark, dangerous streets at night. Grey rundown alleys during the day.

Today was sunny, it was a nice day. Not the type of day one often expects when visiting a loved one's resting place. But Taylor would remember it this way.

She had been avoiding this visit; it was hard for her to see the cold tombstone of her mother and not be overwhelmed by sadness and the memories of all she lost.

She was still sad but... doing better than she thought she'd be. She could at least remember the good times she had with her mother.

"You know, your mom always wanted to be a writer." Her dad mentioned.

"Really?"

"Yup. But she complained she never found the time, or the right thing to write about." He smiled fondly. "It was always work, keeping her busy, or stuff to be done at home. She had a lot of ideas, but could never settle on one."

"Mmm," Taylor mused.

"I'm sure she'd love for you to talk her ear off about that new book you read." He rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"Did she enjoy her work at college?"

"Oh yes, always said it was her calling." He replied. "Why, thinking of studying literature too?"

"Maybe?" She shrugged. "I dunno, I wanna do something that... matters, you know?"

"Well, I'm sure your mother would say that so long as it matters to you, that's all you need to care about."

It wasn't quite like that. Taylor wanted to do something important. She had died and been saved during the Glitch. What kind of life would she have if she didn't dedicate it to something greater? She had dreamt of being a hero in the past, and that dream hadn't really changed. But she didn't have powers or any skill that would be useful.

Something to make her mother proud... and feel proud of it herself.

"Can I... get a minute with mom?"

Danny gave her an understanding look. "Sure, I'll be at the car."

Once she was alone with the gravestone, Taylor rubbed her hands and looked upon the engraving, 'She taught something precious to each of us'. "Hey mom, I'm... sorry I haven't visited in a while. I wasn't in the right headspace. I kind of... died." She muttered, a touch incredulous herself. "But I got better, that uh... that happened." She let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, I don't know how I'm keeping myself sane either. I began reading a nice book, though, it... helped"

She sighed, licking her dry lips. "Things... haven't been alright since you left. But I'd like to think they're getting better, somewhat. Dad is trying, you know, to be there more. I guess he's processing what happened to him, too. Emma though..." Another sigh. "I dunno, part of my wishes she'd change again, to how things used to be. But she just seems to be doubling down." She looked away. "Maybe something happened to her, I'm not sure. But... she hates me now, and I don't think that'll ever change."

"Wish I could tell you I have friends, truth is I spend most of my time keeping to myself. I'm... afraid of reaching out to people, after what happened with Emma. Maybe I'm just wallowing in pity, maybe I'm just... waiting for something to happen, I dunno. I guess I can't keep going through life like a machine, I need to do something with myself... I nearly lost it once, and I would have died without having ever achieved anything. Which I know, I know, I'm not even 18 yet but..."

She fell silent once more.
"I'm trying," Taylor muttered, "to move on without you. It's... hard. Very hard. But I want to do it. I know you'd want me to."

She crouched in front of the tombstone, tenderly running her fingers over her mother's name.

"I love you too, mom."

She let out a shuddering breath, her eyes going wet. She lingered there for a moment before making her way back to the car, where her father was waiting for her with an understanding smile.

Taylor's head hit the pillow, and she let out a long, tired sigh, her lips doing a poor imitation of a bike's engine.

Today had been... emotionally draining. She was so tired.

But it had been a good day. An important one, she felt.

She reached over to her nightstand and traced her fingers over the book's cover. Taylor sat cross-legged on her mattress and grabbed the book, looking over it in contemplation. The revelations from this book... she wasn't sure what to make of it. What could she make of them, really? They were so enormous in scale that a tiny little human like her couldn't do anything but just store it in the back of her mind. Or she'd continue to struggle under the weight of it all.

They were all so small, in the end. All of them.

But... that did not make any of their lives any less meaningful.

Memories made up a huge part of one's identity, and she felt all the good things about her life were lost in the past, beyond her reach. Mom had died, and a part of dad died with her. Emma had changed. And she was suddenly all alone.

But that didn't mean things had to remain this way. Dad was hurting, but he was trying more now. And that mattered to her; it made her feel less alone.

Emma... it still hurt her so much that her former best friend sought to inflict so much pain on her. Tarnishing every memory they had of their time together.

Taylor gently placed a hand over the book and sighed. The people in it had taken all their pain and their sorrow, and wielded it with their hopes and their love to make something great. They had endured unimaginable pain for the sake of others...

She wished to be that sort of person, the one who could endure and make something better out of a broken past.

But maybe there was more to remember than hatred and pain.

Maybe memories... were more than just fragments of better times.

The past didn't have to weigh down on them. You could carry it with you, but it didn't have to be rock dragging behind you. It could be the building blocks of your future.

Maybe that was the true strength behind memories.

In the back of Taylor's mind, she imagined a great being of ice, each angle reflecting everything from the distant past to the depths of tomorrow.

As I've Written glowed in her hands.

Taylor gasped as a ball of pink light floated from the book, letters crawling out of its pages and going inside the orb. She saw a shape inside of it, small, furry, like an animal's.

The ball popped like a bubble, and out of it emerged a pink creature with stars in its large blue eyes.

"Oh!" It said, rubbing its head with a fuzzy paw, long ears flickering atop its head. "That felt weird."

Taylor looked at it. The fuzzy thing looked at her.

"Um, hello."

Taylor kept staring.

"Holy mother of Akivili," The creature stared at her with those impossibly wide and beautiful eyes. "Did you- Did you just summon me from Memospace?!"

She took every detail of this being's looks, from its pink furs to the tiny attire and bronze accessories. It was then that Taylor's brain finally connected the dots. She knew this creature; she had read about its adventures from this very book.

She stared at something impossible, and yet when her mind finished catching up with her mouth, she could only form this next word.

"Fluffy."

A Saga of Heroes (Worm/HSR)

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