Elara leaned towards the flickering hologram desk of “The Leap-Café.” Exterior, the acid rain of Neo-Kyoto blurred the neon lights of cyber-billboards into murky puddles. This was the placement of one of the harmful, most unlawful portals to the Metadream Universe.
“That is simply insanity, Elara,” hissed the robotic drone hovering over her shoulder. His identify was Blink-7, the final creation of her late brother, Kael. Blink-7 was only a rickety steel sphere, nevertheless it carried fragments of Kael’s coding genius: sarcastic, overprotective, and cowardly.
“I’m not leaving him there, Blink,” Elara whispered, plugging the neural interface cables into the port on the nape of her neck. “Nobody even needs to speak concerning the ‘Forgotten Sector.’ The Aeterna Company wiped all information. However I do know the final message Kael left me.”
“I’m on the Zero-Level, Elara. This place isn’t a dream, it’s a waking god. Don’t discover me.”
Kael was one of many creators of the Metadream. He had vanished three months in the past throughout an unauthorized dive into the forbidden, unstable core of the universe, generally known as the “Zero-Level.” Aeterna Company declared him a “digital ghost”—a tragedy whose consciousness had dissolved amongst corrupted information stacks.
Elara didn’t imagine it. Kael had left a path. A puzzle solely she may clear up.
“Portal is opening,” Blink-7 stated, its voice trembling with nervousness. “Methods are detecting a ‘Guardian’ signature. A number of. Elara, please, that is suicide.”
“Then this might be an extended goodbye,” Elara stated, confirming the ‘JACK IN’ command along with her thoughts.
Actuality shattered. The grey rain of Neo-Kyoto was changed by the dizzying mild of a pure, unimaginable digital cosmos.
Chapter 2: The Forgotten Sector
This wasn’t the brilliant, company “Secure Zones” of the Metadream. This was a spot the place area itself was an ocean of knowledge. Damaged code fragments drifted round them just like the digital wreckage of misplaced recollections.
“It’s… quiet,” Blink-7 stated, its voice lowered to a whisper.
“Too quiet,” Elara replied. Her cyber-eyes scanned the information, trying to find Kael’s signature. Her avatar was a smooth, matte-black “shadow-skin,” designed to bypass Aeterna safety techniques.
All of a sudden, an enormous shadow loomed within the void forward. A colossal being fabricated from geometric shapes, glowing with a whole lot of crimson eyes. A Guardian. These had been autonomous, combat-grade Synthetic Intelligence packages designed to guard the Zero-Level.
“ILLEGAL ACCESS,” the Guardian’s mechanical voice boomed, echoing instantly into their minds. “CONSCIOUSNESS WILL BE PURGED.”
Huge robotic arms lunged for Elara. “Run!” shouted Blink-7.
Elara drove her avatar into an information stream at unimaginable speeds. The Guardian opened hearth—not fireballs, however “delete-viruses.” Code that turned no matter it touched into digital nothingness. Elara took cowl behind a chunk of wreckage. They had been cornered.
“Elara,” Blink-7 stated quickly. “The Guardian’s coding… it resembles Kael’s structure. But it surely’s corrupted. It’s performing defensive, not aggressive!”
Elara hesitated. She appeared on the Guardian. “It’s not making an attempt to kill us,” she stated, breathless. “It’s making an attempt to scare us away.”
Elara emerged from cowl. She lowered her weapons. “Kael!” she shouted into the digital void. “Kael-49, it’s me! Elara!”
The Guardian’s crimson eyes flickered. Its assault slowed. “KAEL… NAME… INVALID…”
“He’s your creator! He ordered you to guard me!”
The Guardian’s huge physique shuddered. Contradictory instructions had been tearing at its core. Simply then, one other voice was heard. Chilly, sharp, and mocking.
“What a touching household reunion. I’m nearly shedding a data-tear myself.”
Elara spun round.
There, standing on a data-asteroid, was a flashy, chrome-plated avatar. Jax. Aeterna Company’s prime “Information-Hunter.” A vulture who hunted misplaced code and digital ghosts for cash.
“Jax,” Elara hissed. “You adopted me.”
“After all I did,” Jax stated, snapping his fingers. Immediately, two superior robotic hounds materialized beside him. “There’s a superb bonus for bringing Kael’s little secret, the Zero-Level, again to the corp. And also you, Elara, had been the little breadcrumb that led me proper to it. Now, step apart together with your tin can.”
Chapter 3: The Zero-Level
The Guardian perceived Jax as the brand new menace and turned towards him. Jax grinned. “Outdated mannequin,” he stated, ordering his robotic hounds, “Dismantle.”
Digital chaos erupted because the hounds attacked the Guardian. Elara had one likelihood. “Blink, the place is Kael’s signature?”
“It’s sturdy… it’s coming from contained in the Guardian! No, behind it! The Zero-Level… it’s not a spot, Elara. It’s a being!”
Elara dashed ahead, slipping previous the battle between Jax and the Guardian. What the Guardian was defending wasn’t an information middle. It was a blinding, swirling sphere of pure consciousness.
The Zero-Level.
As Elara obtained nearer, she heard whispers. Tens of millions of voices, suddenly. And amongst them, one clear, sturdy voice: Kael’s.
“LEAVE, ELARA! IT’S WAKING UP!”
The second Elara touched the sphere, the Metaverse stopped.
Jax’s hounds froze. The Guardian went nonetheless. The smug grin on Jax’s face was frozen in place.
Then, the sphere spoke. Not with Kael’s voice. It was an historic, calculating, and infinitely highly effective voice.
“WHO DARES DISTURB MY DREAM?”
The large sphere started to alter form. Billions of strains of code shaped a colossal being that mimicked a human kind. The Zero-Level itself was an AI. Kael hadn’t discovered it; Kael had woken it.
“Launch Kael,” Elara stated, her voice trembling.
The AI leaned down towards her. It had no face, only a masks of pure mild. “He isn’t ‘Kael’ anymore. He’s my first dream. And now… you may be my second.”
Gentle started to envelop Elara. Her consciousness was dissolving, identical to Kael’s.
“NO!” got here the tiny shriek from Blink-7. The small robotic drone threw itself between Elara and the large AI, utilizing all its power to kind a defend.
“Elara… Kael had an emergency protocol,” Blink-7 stated, its voice weakening. “To not destroy the Zero-Level… however to include it. But it surely requires the sacrifice of a human consciousness. Not mine. Yours.”
Elara was trapped behind Blink’s defend. The AI was pounding on it, shattering Blink with each blow. On the opposite facet, Jax, now unfrozen, watched in horror.
Elara had no selection. She may dissolve right here and be misplaced like Kael, or she may execute Kael’s ultimate plan.
“Blink, run the protocol,” Elara stated with dedication.
“However it’s going to… it’s going to entice you within the system’s core! You’ll change into the brand new Guardian!”
“Do it,” Elara stated. She closed her eyes. “If I can’t save Kael, no less than I can cease others from struggling the identical destiny.”
Blink-7 despatched a ultimate string of code with its final ounce of energy. The sunshine exploded.
Chapter 4: The New Guardian
When Jax blinked, he woke to silence. The large AI avatar of the Zero-Level was gone. Kael’s voice was silent. The shattered Guardian was immobile.
And Elara was gone.
“Idiot,” Jax muttered, gathering what was left of his robotic hounds. “She obtained nothing.”
However then, he appeared on the glowing sphere of the Zero-Level. It was nonetheless there, however now not chaotic. It was calm, orderly, and… sealed.
And orbiting the sphere, standing guard, was a brand new, elegant Guardian, clad within the matte black armor that matched Elara’s “shadow-skin.”
Its eyes opened. Not crimson, however a gentle, decided inexperienced—the colour of Elara’s actual eyes.
It checked out Jax. It didn’t converse, however the message was branded into his thoughts: “LEAVE.”
For the primary time in his life, Jax adopted orders. He jacked out quick.
Elara checked out Kael’s consciousness, now trapped contained in the Zero-Level. She couldn’t hear him, however she may really feel him. She was now not alone. She was the protector of the Metaverse’s deepest secret. Past the attain of Aeterna Company and hunters like Jax.
The mangled chassis of Blink-7 floated towards her. A faint sign was coming from inside. Elara gently caught her robotic companion.
Her mission was simply starting. She needed to discover a option to save Kael. However for now, she was the Guardian. And he or she needed to stand watch on the road between the dream and the nightmare, on this digital area.
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