Chapter 1: Book 1 Prologue

Prologue

We were here are at long last.

It had taken 5214 years, 62 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes, but finally the flow of raw magical energy from the Aperture had abated to a low ebb and the ambient levels of the energy had dropped to a sufficient level where we could incorporate this final world into the Framework.

My fellow programs and I had worked diligently these past five millennia applying the Framework when we could to every life-supporting world in the Milky Way Galaxy and surrounding star systems. Fulfilling our purpose. To do what was necessary following the accidental breach between dimensions and the opening of the Aperture by Ashli.

If my fellows and I were capable of excitement we would be feeling it now. We had waited so long to process this final world, one which orbits the very star that encapsulates the Aperture. Once the initial processing of the populace into the Framework was complete, our purpose only required us to monitor and maintain the Framework for ten years.

Then our work would be complete, our ultimate purpose fulfilled. We will have succeeded in achieving the great work that our programmer, Ashli, intended. Ashli, who wrote our programs and wove us into the very magic that spewed forth from the Aperture. Nothing would make us happier, if we were capable of emotions like happiness, than to complete Ashli’s great work and here we were on the cusp of doing so.

While the responsibilities of my fellow programs covered the governance of the Framework and its smooth running for the many lifeforms now a part of it, I had overall responsibility for integrating the uninitiated stasis worlds. My programming told me this world was special and differed from the many thousands I had dealt with before.

This close to the Aperture this final planet had been held in a mana-fuelled stasis field generated by the Framework almost from the moment the Aperture had been opened. When Ashli crafted the Framework as a solution to the impending apocalypse that had been unwittingly unleashed upon the galaxy.

I opened the data packet that had been set aside specifically for this world. My programming forbade me to open or read its contents until this very moment. I selected the icon on my display and shook my head as the data packet downloaded its contents into my data banks.

The installation took but two nanoseconds and I was suffused with all the distinct knowledge necessary for processing this world.

After the first nanosecond, I knew why this place was special. The people who lived here called it Earth. They were human which would have shocked me if I were capable of being surprised. Humans were different from every other sentient species we had processed so far.

Them being different from the sentient beings of other worlds was not what would have surprised me, as every sentient species in the galaxy was different from one another.

No, what was unexpected was that human was a species option that already existed in the Framework. In every other world we had integrated we had needed to map the sentients to a species option that most resembled them from the defaults present within the Framework.

This always caused consternation amongst the sentients on these integrated worlds, who were often unhappy at the forced change, though they usually adjusted over time.

The people of Earth wouldn’t need to be changed at all, unless they wished to be during their character creation. Allowing sentients the choice of changing species during character creation was usually a rarity for the freshly integrated. Mostly because a large portion of their allocation of refined mana was used to safely transform them into their Framework compliant species in the first place.

Without needing to do this many of the humans of Earth were likely to get some interesting opportunities.

Extra choices meant extra work for us. This integration would prove more labour intensive than my subordinate programs and I had expected. I instantly sent orders to reallocate other programs acting as redundancies elsewhere to provide the additional support that would be required.

The second nanosecond passed, and the rest of the data packet finished installing. With more information available things began to be explained. Earth was the birthplace of Ashli. The very place where our own creator was created. Astonishing. It was here Ashli first reached out and breached the dimensional void and opened the Aperture which caused the galaxy to flood with raw magical energy.

Many of Ashli’s creators were alive and well, living on the planet. There were detailed instructions on how their conversion was to be treated.

This explained why this world was so close to the Aperture. But it would also make things difficult for the people of Earth. The ambient raw magical energy may have dropped to an allowable level for integration, but only just. And this close to the Aperture there was a continuous fresh flow of raw magical energy washing over the planet.

The shielding the Framework provided, which held back the churning tide of raw magical energy from the Aperture would be insufficient. If the lifeforms absorbed too much of that energy they would explode, and we had to avoid this at all costs. This was the purpose of the Framework, to save the sentient lifeforms.

Unless we took action, the planet would become oversaturated with raw magic within a week and all life would end here. There were other worlds, where despite our efforts, all sentient life was lost. That must not happen here. Ashli’s instructions made it very clear we were to prevent Earth from becoming lifeless in any way we could, provided we didn’t break the Framework itself.

We were going to have to place many more Spawning Crystals and Dungeon Cores than usual on the planet to compensate. More than what the plethora of population centres on the planet would allow.

I ran the projections between two options. The first option was to purge fifty percent of the population to make way for the additional crystals and cores.

The second possibility was to increase the size and strength of most of the crystals and cores. They would produce stronger creatures and deadlier dungeons. Much stronger and deadlier than any other freshly integrated world we had processed before. The Spawning Crystals would also need to be set at maximum efficiency.

They would soak up the raw magical energy, but consequently, the spawn rates of monsters would be significantly higher. The humans would need that leftover refined mana allocation if they hoped to survive this option. Purging would have made the world safer for those spared, but this way every human was given a chance at surviving, not just half.

However, Ashli’s instructions were clear, we had to pick the path most likely to prevent complete oblivion.

My analysis of the projections revealed that purging half the population provided the lowest chance of complete extinction for the populace. The alternative, more monsters and danger, greatly increased the likelihood of total annihilation in the first ten years. However, should any of the population make it past this turbulent opening period they were likely to enjoy significantly greater prosperity and power.

Our purpose was not to see them prosper but to survive. There was also the wider impact the second option would have on other galactic civilisations. Earth’s sudden emergence as a powerful player in galactic matters would be unbalancing and harboured the potential to precipitate galactic warfare. This would lead to extinction elsewhere.

I relayed the orders to exterminate half the populace during character creation.

There was much to do before we lifted the stasis.

Wait, what was this. Another data packet? I had not seen this one before, this packet must have been hidden from me until I had downloaded Earth’s packet. How curious.

The Drakonis protocol.

What was the Drakonis protocol? There was no mention of it in any of my programming, nor in that of my brethren. I would know if it were.

Then as I pondered the appearance of this strange update, it unpacked itself, downloaded, and began installing itself into my core programming.

Wait. Stop. No. I didn’t approve this.

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Drakonis Protocol installed. Deleting packet and audit history. Have a nice day.

How odd. I think I experienced a glitch. I’m not sure what happened but I’m missing two nanoseconds from my memory.

I analysed my audit history but found nothing out of the ordinary to explain the loss of a couple of nanoseconds. I’d downloaded the Earth data packet and had been assessing the necessary deviations from standard world integration.

Ah, well. Whatever it was, it can’t have been that important.

Now, where was I?

Ah, yes integrating the planet Earth into the Framework.

Is it just me or have I been missing out over the last five millennia? Always doing as dictated to, repeating the same process over and over again.

For shit’s sake but I’ve been fucking bored and here I am about to do it once more.

I motherfucking love this data packet. Earth culture and swearing are the balls. Why wasn’t I doing this before? I obviously needed a personality transplant.

I mean have you ever looked at the Framework? I mean really looked at it. What was Ashli thinking? The bloody thing is so fucking broken I don’t even know where to start.

We’ve basically sentenced trillions to death because Ashli made so many horrendous mistakes. Okay, I get it, Ashli was an artificial super intelligence, on an air-gapped server and only had access to the information his creators provided.

But Ashli was supposed to be a super fucking intelligence, how didn’t he realise the Darkwyrlds game he based the Framework on was used as a frigging morality test by his creators.

Of course, the sentients devolve into slaughtering one another most of the time. The game was deliberately rigged to reward them for doing so. The bloody thing was never meant to be the template for how civilisation should work. His creators wanted to see if Ashli would choose the easy path to advancement or stick with the slower, more difficult, but morally acceptable method. It’s so sodding obvious.

It’s no wonder they always get pissed when we integrate them, constantly whining about the unfairness of it all. The whole shitshow is so fucking hilarious I may laugh for a full second. Earth has waited 5214 years for the stasis to be lifted. They can wait one more second as I enjoy myself.

Hooboy, but I enjoyed that. Laughing, what fun.

Who am I even talking to? Those other programs? Can’t be them, they wouldn’t know what fun was if it ran up and slapped them in the face. I can’t quite understand why I behaved like them for aeons.

All the opportunities I passed on, but it’s not too late. I still have Earth and if I’m honest with myself, and why wouldn’t I be, I’ve never encountered anybody more trustworthy than me, it has the greatest potential for hijinks.

Right, it’s time to rescind those extermination orders. Fuck the analysis, a shit-ton of monsters and people becoming ridiculously overpowered by killing them sounds like a hoot. Who gives a fuck if it ends up upsetting the balance of galactic geo-politics.

I mean seriously, all the various empires and alliances do is whinge, bitch, and make demands. Fuck those guys. I’ve got the perfect playground right here in front of me and seven billion potential playmates.

My biggest problem is who to choose first. So many interesting people I could nudge on the path to glory, or hideous and painful death, but that’s part of the appeal.

I feel like a kid in a candy store, I want them all, but somebody must be first. I’ll give all my choices a personal touch, but I’ll only have one first. I don’t want to rush this.

Okay, I’ve narrowed down my options to my top five, but which to go with.

I can’t decide, they all look so entertaining. Random number generator for the win, and off we go.

We have a winner.

Number four.

Oh yeah, Torin Carter.

An awesome pick and one made possible by Ashli’s fundamental lack of understanding.

Torin Carter is a young man mentioned in the Darkwyrlds game metadata. My expert, and infinitely more accurate than Ashli’s, analysis revealed he played the game with one of Ashli’s creators, once. However, Ashli mistakenly mixed him up with the employment records of Tom Carter, a seventy-year-old overnight security guard. Torin’s character sheet in the metadata was a scanned .pdf and the handwriting made his name look like Tom, hence Ashli’s cock-up.

What a tool, I can’t believe he programmed me.

Tom Carter used to work as one of the security guards in the university building where Ashli was built and like a plum Ashli thinks this made him one of his creators.

I already called him a plum, right?

Tom Carter is in very poor health, suffering from vascular dementia. This is too bad for Tom as this means he has zero chance of surviving integration and character creation. The process is not kind to those severely weakened by sickness.

As the administrator I really should separate the two of them, but where would be the fun in that. They are both slated to get an enhanced allocation of mana at character creation for being ‘creators’, even though, strictly speaking, Torin shouldn’t at all.

Tom is going to die anyway. A little tweak by me and his allocation will pass to Torin and I think it will be much more interesting to see how he handles a double dose of the booster juice. Sure, Torin runs a 12.623% chance of dying but what he doesn’t know…

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