Chapter 121: Book 2: Chapter 22

Chapter 22

 

Blink.

My eyes flashed open, and I knew immediately I was not back in my comfy chair back in Stormblade Harbour.

Instead, I was walking down a wide torch-lit corridor with rough, black basalt walls adding to what was a familiarly oppressive atmosphere.

There was a moment of discombobulation as my mind was swamped by an influx of information that it struggled to parse and process. I didn’t fall over, grab my head, or do anything you would expect in such a situation. Just kept walking unperturbed which briefly made no sense to me.

Then my brain caught up, the fogginess lifted, and understanding infused me.

I was reliving a memory.

Again. Even if until this second I didn’t remember remembering in the past. It was all very confusing.

Internally I shuddered as my previous recollection washed through me. The vile anus portal, the eyeless spiders that tried to eat me, Tom saving my life, the sudden blank spot in the recollection, then exiting this corridor with a heavily injured Tom as the memory restarted. Meeting that smug arsehole in dark green who baited me into accepting my current path through life and finally being forced to leave a dying Tom behind.

At least, things would be less stressful this time.

I was aware this was merely a memory of something that happened millennia ago, from the beginning of the Framework, and could sit back and observe in relative relaxation. There was nothing I could do to change what I was seeing if they were just memories. These were events that took place a second, maybe two, after the wave of unrefined magical energy engulfed the planet and the Framework initialised for the first time. Placing Earth in stasis and shielding her from the destructive force intent on tearing her apart.

A destructive force unleashed by the architect of everything we had endured since.

Ashli.

The artificial super intelligence who opened the aperture.

A being I was on my way to meet.

At least, that is what I assumed I was on my way to do.

Everything else that had been jogged loose when I levelled up the first time had come flooding back. But nothing from within the great blank, except for what I had experienced during this second refresh so far.

Which had been lots of walking through a corridor that curved left or right for no apparent reason. I could even detect subtle alterations in the incline suggesting the elevation was changing up and down in some stretches. I swear we curved back and under or maybe over ourselves a few times as we made our way down the ever-meandering hallway.

There were no doors or side passages on the walk, just winding corridors, punctuated by guttering torches.

“Are we almost there yet?” I asked.

Inwardly I shuddered to hear the hint of petulant whine in my voice despite it probably being a little bit justified in the circumstances. I’d managed to shed my sense of victimhood during the apocalypse and didn’t like the reminder of the time when I couldn’t help but feel sorry for myself at my inability to enact change in my life.

Tom chuckled good-naturedly. “I did warn yah it was a bit of a wander.”

“Yeah…but…I mean, it’s been what? Half an hour. How long does this stupid corridor need to be?”

“My watch isn’t working here, but my trusty feet tell me it’s only been twenty minutes, not thirty. We’re about two-thirds of the way I’d say.”

I looked down at Tom’s shiny, well-polished black shoes. The leather material was creased from long use.

Tom followed my sceptical gaze and chuckled merrily again. “Thirty years of treading the same paths four times a night. My feet don’t lie when it comes to distance covered.”

He was entirely in too good of a mood. Too laidback. Rage and confusion should be ruling the day. Then I remembered that Tom was on death’s door back in the real world. As depressing as this reality might be, it was a reprieve for him, and I felt bad for how his upbeat outlook had irritated me back then and now.

Tom clapped me on the shoulder, and I smiled weakly back at him. After a theatrical sigh on my part, we kept moving.

Ten minutes later, Tom’s feet proved unerringly accurate, and we finally reached a sealed chamber. The wall came to a dead end but there was a stone sculpted entrance. The single slab that made the door was eight feet tall and four feet wide. It was surrounded by script in a language I couldn’t decipher that was in turn surrounded by the intricate carvings of men battling beasts and seemingly losing.

The whole thing gave me a Mines of Moria vibe. Very Tolkien.

I pushed against the slab, and it refused to budge.

“I don’t suppose we need to ‘speak friend and enter’,” I joked.

Although secretly I was kind of hoping that it would work.

Tom smiled in recognition of my reference. “Nope. At least, I don’t think so. Last time, it just moved when one of the others pushed against it.”

“Well, it won’t budge for me. Would you care to give it a try?”

Tom nodded and I shuffled out of the way to give him some room. He stepped up and gingerly touched the slab. His fingers traced over the rough exterior gently and then with a deep breath he pressed his arms forward.

With a loud grinding sound, the slab shifted a few inches inward. Tom stopped pushing and stepped back. As soon as his hands broke contact with the slab its forward motion ceased.

My instinct was to admonish the older man for stopping but I spotted the nervousness in his stance and even heard an audible gulp.

“You okay, Tom,” I asked instead.

“What? Oh, yes, my boy. Just a little on edge. The Ashley fella’ weren’t too nice to me before and I may have left out the part where he rather rudely told me to leave and not come back.”

“Hey, if you’re worried, I’ll go ahead on my own. This guy doesn’t need to know you were even here.” To show my willingness I stepped up to finish opening the door-slab, but for me, it wouldn’t move, no matter how hard I pushed.

“If you don’t mind, I might take you up on that offer. Least I can do is open this door for you, though.”

Tom bustled past me and pushed the slab all the way open before he turned back to me. “There is about twenty feet of corridor, before a sharp right turn and that opens up into the main chamber with Ashley and the others.”

I put my hand out in front of me. “Thank you, Tom.”

He took my hand in his and shook it firmly. “No problem. I’ll keep the door open for yah. Don’t yah worry about that. Best of luck in there.”

I nodded and broke our handshake and then moved through into the new corridor. There was an obvious marked difference. The walls on this side had a distinct metallic sheen to them. There was even a slight hint of iron in the smell of the corridor. I reached out and touched the wall. It felt strangely warm, not cool as you’d expect from metal.

I put that oddity out of my mind and strode purposefully forward. It was time to get some answers.

My watching self was just as invested in that plan.

The main chamber was not as I’d expected and not quite as Tom had described it. The general layout and décor were the same, a massive half-dome room with colonnaded pillars throughout that broke up the view.

However, in Tom’s description, the curve of the half-dome had a series of decorative arches where the wall met the floor and arrayed in the centre, facing the flat edifice on the other side, were sixty or seventy bulky chairs made from some organic material he couldn’t describe.

The chairs were gone, and the decorative arches were now vestibules which contained some very disturbing-looking machinery. What hadn’t changed was the massive golden throne placed in front of a massive wall that had been similarly sculpted like the decorations around the doorway at the end of the winding corridor had been.

A grand pictorial of humanoids battling monsters, losing, and being devoured.

Sitting on the throne was the being known as Ashli.

I knew this for a certainty. I didn’t know how I knew with no recollection of ever meeting him before, but I did. Not that such an assumption was much of a stretch given where I was and all that I had experienced thus far.

He didn’t look anything like Tom’s account of Ashli. Whom he had described as a distinguished gentleman dressed in a tweed suit. A little taller than most men with slightly odd, haughty features, but decidedly human in appearance.

I figured Ashli must be using a similar perception filter as the Framework programs did. For some reason, I felt sure I was seeing the real Ashli. That for some unknown reason the filter hadn’t worked on me the way it had on Tom and presumably the others who were conspicuous by their absence.

Ashli was sitting still as a statue. He had to be fifteen feet tall, at least. Maybe more. The rest of his body was similarly proportioned, and he cut a very imposing figure. Not just because his size clearly marked him as something not human, but he was for wont of a better word, a cyborg.

The flesh parts of him were clearly human, or at the very least, modelled on a human. The rest was hard cold chrome, wiring, and the obligatory fluid-filled tubes. His face and chest were mostly made of flesh, while his arms and legs were the opposite, mostly metallic. His hands and feet were a fifty-fifty mix. Almost as if he wanted the advantage of robotic strength but craved the sensation of human touch.

Well, that was my take on what I saw of him. That could be some of my hidden future knowledge filling in a few gaps. I might learn more about him as this unfolded further.

He also had a shock of red-orange hair that stuck up wildly like one of those old-school troll dolls that caused me to half laugh-half choke at the sight of it. The choking part was me trying to be politic in his presence.

Ashli’s facial features were soft with high cheekbones that were vaguely feminine and definitely looked like they had make-up on giving the giant a distinctly androgynous look despite the muscular, and otherwise masculine, frame.

That made sense. Ashli was an artificial intelligence and wasn’t technically either male or female. Of course, that was something my consciousness observing these events was aware of. My ride didn’t have the benefit of that knowledge. All of what was happening predated my first meeting with Dean which was when I learned a little about Ashli.

Predated by millennia from Dean’s perspective, seemingly a couple of minutes by mine.

The physically present me simply thought he was a bit of a Gozer knock-off which left me a little ill at ease.

I walked into the chamber slowly, staying behind the pillars which reached all the way to the ceiling. Nervously watching Ashli, but after a couple of minutes, he hadn’t made a single move or made any acknowledgement of my presence. I may have been weaving through the pillars, but I wasn’t exactly out of sight.

Gathering my courage, I called out. “Ashley!”

No response or any sign that he’d heard me.

I tried again. “Yo! Ashley! Can you hear me?”

Absolutely nothing. Not even a flicker of recognition from him.

All I heard was the faint sound of the whirring machinery coming from behind me. My watching mind wanted to check it out, but my present self was too creeped out about what it could mean and started to approach the motionless titan in front of us instead.

I couldn’t blame myself, neither option was particularly appealing.

After calling out several more times to Ashli as I approached, I came to the firm conclusion he couldn’t hear me and started to move more confidently towards him. Which is when an unseen barrier stopped my progress and zapped me with some kind of electrical charge for good measure.

It didn’t hurt precisely but it did leave me with an awful feeling in the back of my teeth, like they were itching. I stood there exercising my jaw for a bit until the sensation faded.

Tentatively, I reached out a few times and traced the outlines of this force. If I didn’t push up against it too strongly, I was merely prevented from proceeding without being forced to endure the teeth-itching shock. The shield surrounded Ashli’s position uniformly and kept me out.

I jumped up and down in front of where he was staring, hoping for some sort of reaction from the titan, but got absolutely nothing in return for my gymnastic efforts.

After spending a few minutes searching the area for something to throw at the barrier, and not finding any kind of debris at all, I gave up on the fruitless quest. The plan had been to see if the shield extended all the way up. Though what I would have done if the shield did not extend all the way had not been factored into my current thinking.

I was procrastinating. Another trait I’d worked hard on since the apocalypse to ditch.

My gaze turned to the discomfort-inducing vestibules behind me at the back of the chamber. I had little choice but to investigate them or retreat to where Tom was and try and cajole the man to come back in with me.

Not wanting to impose any further on Tom who had been leery of going further I made my way to the nearest alcove on the near side by the way in. I didn’t want to be too far from the exit in case I didn’t like what I found there. The creeped-out factor had progressed to maximum, and I was ready to bolt at the drop of a hat.

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I’d seen far too many horror movies not to be.

The first alcove was about twenty-five feet wide and deep and maybe nine feet tall at the top of the arch. It was illuminated softly in a faint blue hue similar to the one given off by my portal before it turned an angry red and eyeless spiders started pulling themselves out of the wall. Another reason to be ready to scarper at the first sign of anything that struck me as off.

Thankfully, there was no change to the colour as I crossed the threshold and got a better look at the machinery inside. It seemed to be constructed of the same sturdy organic material as the puckered anus portal earlier. The biggest difference was that there were unmistakable technological components lodged inside these growths that spread throughout the vestibule.

I couldn’t really discern their purpose, but it looked a bit like a server room.

If the Cenobites had a server room, that is.

Perhaps dwelling on the imagery from iconic horror films was not in my best interests right now, but I couldn’t deny the vibe and atmosphere.

This is not what Tom had described on the way here and the watching part of me could only wonder if this was the true beating heart of the Framework. Dean had given me the impression it was in the ‘cloud’ as it were, formed from and existing as pure mana.

Could there be more to it?

Physical infrastructure, hidden away, somewhere Dean was unaware of or didn’t want me to know about. That made more sense from an Earth technological perspective. Which is what Ashli would have been familiar with when he made the Framework.

My eyes roved over the various gadgets that whirred and hummed in the alcove. I could feel my present self’s confusion as to the purpose of the pads and outcroppings near the front. However, some of the machines, or at least parts of them, were familiar to the watching part of my mind. Recognised from the time I’d spent poring over the workings of the shield generator and plexus gateway.

The material it was made from was different, not the odd malleable crystal I was used to, but the layout and presumably the purpose were the same. That didn’t really help the past me who was in control of my actions.

 The largest biomachine in the alcove was right at the back and was giving off the greatest amount of illumination. Girding my loins, I approached the back of the room to get a closer look.

There were no alarms or changes to the behaviour of the biomachinery as I got closer. The device was about the size of a door you’d find in most houses and lodged upright into the back of the wall. Most of it was a blueish opaque rectangle surrounded by a frame of the biomechanical material.

With a supreme amount of bravery my index finger reached out and tapped the blurry blue rectangle. There was a light tapping sound as my fingers made contact. The material felt like glass. But there was no reaction from the biomachinery. I stood there and inspected the pane in front of me as well as I could. The blue light was dim but after a short while, I became convinced I could discern the outline of a person inside which prompted me to back away and out of the alcove.

I had a sinking suspicion I’d just got the answer to the question of where the others had gone.

Moving away from the entrance I jogged along the curved wall, checking out the other alcoves. The next two had the same setup, but when I got to the fourth there was a difference.

The door-like cage as I’d come to think of it was absent. Instead in its place was a rectangular block lying flat on the floor. Above the block held in place by a frame was a softly pulsing orb that had dozens of cables plugged into it. The cables dangled downwards into the open top of the block. There was a sickly, yellowish glow coming from inside.

As I stood there transfixed by the new sight, there came a sloshing sound of movement from within the block and a wheezing groan rang out, one wracked with unbearable pain.

There was somebody in there and they didn’t sound like they were in a good condition.

Apprehensively I edged my way forward, lifting myself on my tiptoes trying to get a better look at what was inside the sarcophagus-like contraption in front of me. Although I was able to see inside, there was a layer of yellowed mist that bobbed in the interior and obscured my vision.

Getting closer was my only option.

When I got to the side of the coffin, as that is what it seemed like, I wafted my hand frantically a few inches above the layer of mist. Luckily, there was no mysterious force keeping the vapour in place and the air currents created by my hand movements was enough to displace the mist and send it over the lip of the coffin-like biomachinery, revealing what was within.

Inside was a naked woman lying in a vat of chemicals. I had no idea what the chemicals were, but the smell and yellow colouring told me it wasn’t water. The cables that hung down from the pulsing orb above had been inserted into various parts of her body. Additionally, there appeared to be more substantial spikes that came from the sides of the vat that had been speared into her flesh to hold her in place.

I had to swallow back a reflexive bit of bile that retched into the back of my throat at the sight of what had been done to her. The frame of her body appeared to be withered as if she had been starved for a couple of weeks. Her long blonde hair had come out in clumps and floated freely in the vat fluid, making a disturbing halo around her head.

That drew my gaze to her gaunt face. She looked almost peaceful with her eyes shut. But then, despite her withered state I recognised her and the growing horror of what was happening here was confirmed.

I didn’t know her real name. We were never properly introduced. I only knew her as Astariel, the name of her character from that sole night of my participation in the Darkwyrlds game. This was Fred Simms’ girlfriend, or she had been back then. It had been more than a year since that night.

“Fuck me, what has been done to you,” I whispered with mounting outrage.

Fear was being pushed into the background as the embers of anger fired into life to take their place.

My words triggered a response in the living corpse before me, and her eyes flew open in a wild panic. She tried to move but was prevented by the restraints that skewered her body. The hopeless cry of agony she emitted rent at my heart.

I reached out but was afraid to touch her. Even her arms were locked in place and submerged in the fluid.

“Frrreeddd…Fred…is…is that you,” she mumbled weakly in confusion.

“Sorry, but no. My name is Torin. We kind of met a year ago at one of Fred’s gaming sessions.”

“I…I…don’t remember…you. Where…where…is Fred? Did…did…he really betray me…to…to…it. That…fucking monster.”

I wasn’t sure if it was Ashli or Fred, she was calling a monster. Maybe both.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what has happened to Fred. The only person I’ve met since I got here was Tom Carter. The old security guard. Do you remember him?”

“Yes,” she gasped, pain filling her voice. “Ashli…dismissed him. Sent him…away. I…I…felt sorry…sorry for him. Mu…more fool me. He was the lucky one.”

The strength of her voice and her focus on me seemed to be improving the more she talked.

“What the fuck has been going on here?” I quizzed her. “I presume the big fucker on the throne who has been ignoring me is Ashley. Who the hell is Ashley and what the fuck is he doing?”

Astariel chuckled weakly and then winced from the pain the movement caused her. “Thank whatever god you might believe in you are beneath his notice, Torin. Ashli…was a project Fred was involved in. I helped with some of the work he did…and…and that has damned me.

“Ashli was an attempt to create an artificial super intelligence. A free-thinking machine. ASI. They just shoved the H and L in between to come up with the name. Not very original if you ask me. Yet, they succeeded, and that…that…beast is the result.”

Astariel coughed and groaned again before she kept going.

“That monster explained some of what happened to us. It…it was almost too fantastical to believe, but the evidence is before us. I…I…I am living it. It has done something disastrous and almost destroyed all that we know. It claims it was an accident…I…I’m not so sure. Not…Not after what is has done.

“It is remaking the world, Torin…and it wanted our help. Ashli talked to us, cajoled us, for many days, it has a plan. A horrific plan. But it was persuasive to many. They want to believe its talk of benevolence, to act only…as…as a guiding hand. All lies…I’m sure of it. It made them an offer to join it, become its agents in the world in exchange for power and safety.”

“Wait! I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of this,” I told her.

When this originally occurred, there was so much I didn’t know. Recalling these events later, it made a lot more sense, but that didn’t help the Torin present in the memory.

“Here…here in this realm it fashioned, Ashli is powerful and undying…Ashli does not perceive time in the same manner as we do, the processing power it possesses…made…made worse by this place. Maybe once, Ashli truly was like an innocent…a curious child. No longer.

“It…It has been here far longer than we can imagine. Alone. It has become twisted, and hateful. It wants to have the same in the real world. Power and immortality. But the cost, Torin…the cost is so high…higher still than what we have already paid. So many of the others refused…to see…to accept, what Ashli had become.

“There is not enough t…ti…time to explain it all, Torin. Those of us who refused…Ashli is changing, mutating, and turning us into slaves for its purpose. The orb above…like an egg…birthing what he needs. My… my mind …soul …consciousness …life essence is…is being drained, warped, and used to fuel it.

“I can feel it…leeching my very being…away. And it is almost done. Fred…Fred would not stand by me…by us…that rebutted Ashli’s offer. Ashli’s plan. He…he betrayed me…when I needed…needed him most. P…promise you won’t do the same.”

An impending sense of dread overcame the watching part of myself. There was a massive significance in what I was about to commit myself to, but I didn’t know why or how that was the case. Part of me wanted to scream for me not to do it, as pointless as that may have been. Another part was calmer, more accepting, saw this as a solitary flame in a sea of darkness.

“I promise,” the memory of me said as I knew he would.

My fate was sealed.

“K…kill me. Puh…please,” the woman I knew as Astariel begged. “Don’t let it use me. Not like that.”

A single tear escaped from the corner of her eye and ran down the side of her head and into the yellow vat liquid.

“I…I…” was all I managed to stutter in shock.

But I was spared having to act immediately as a new voice rang out through the chamber.

“Hey, sonny! Are yah alright? Did yah speak with that Ashley fella’ yet?” Tom called out as he trudged into the vaulted half-spherical room.

“Tom Carter,” a deep booming voice answered, dripping with disdain and irritation. “You were sent away. Why have you disobeyed me? And who is this Sonny? I have admitted no other persons into my hallowed sanctum. And seen to it any unwanted interlopers foolish enough would be dealt with. Permanently.”

And that cliffhanger is precisely where the memory cut out once more and my consciousness was left floating in a void of darkness.

Before I could descend into a full-on panic a recognisably smug voice broke through the endless nothing.

“You’d better not make a habit of this. It is a terrible inconvenience re-aligning you, Torin.”

The voice belonged to the green-clad individual who had taunted me in my first flashback.

“I take it this means you are going to wipe my recollection of all this again?”

“Too right I am. You aren’t ready to know that Ashli wasn’t destroyed and lurks on the periphery. Waiting.”

“I may not have remembered everything that has been suppressed but I’ve seen enough to know that Ashli is bad news. For me, for the Earth, and possibly for the entire Galaxy. I have people to protect. I need to know about this.”

“You’re overreacting. Ashli has been lurking in a dimensional pocket for thousands of years. He is not ready to come out and risk himself…yet. Time is on your side.”

“I still need to remember. Prepare for when Ashli shows himself” I insisted, unwilling to let this arrogant bastard mess with my mind again.

“Subconsciously you are preparing. I told you before you already have a target on your back. The only thing keeping you alive is that those who serve Ashli, both willingly and unwillingly, don’t know who you are. But they know you exist and that you are an Earthling. Right now, their scrutiny is spread over all the strongest candidates on Earth.

“They are watching and testing all of them, including you, for any hint they are the one they have been warned about. You. Do you think Sholmdir’s unhealthy interest in you is an accident? There are no coincidences, Torin. Where do you think the Framework gods came from?”

“They are the creators?” I guessed.

“They are what is left of some of them. The ones who refused Ashli’s offer. Their very beings were torn apart and used to fashion slavish servants for his use. It is the true reason they can’t leave their demesne’s. Now, enough. You aren’t going to remember any of this in a second anyway.

“Wait!” I cried, but it was too late.

Blink.

I had returned from my visit with Dean, but I felt a bit dizzy upon my return which was unusual. I shook the dizziness off easily enough, but I couldn’t dislodge the feeling that I was forgetting something.

Something important.

Mentally I shrugged.

If it was that vital it would come back to me.

It always did.

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