Got this as a wonderful level up commission from Croft showing myself gaining a level in Technomancy in order to better help my thievery abilities.
Serathin whistled as he walked down the dark alleyway, the moon overhead the only source of illumination. In his hand was a black card with a series of glowing green letters that merely stated a place and a time. While it would have been unusual to some it wasn’t anything different in the draconic sabre-wolf’s view. Cryptic messages and shady meeting spots were the typical business tools of a thief after all, though it was certainly one of the more technologically advanced calling cards he ever had. Even when he found a means to access the internal circuits of the device it nearly fried his wrist computer as he tried to hack into it.
In the end Serathin’s curiosity was piqued by the mysterious invitation and he arrived at the decrepit warehouse near the docks. “How typical.” He muttered under his breath as he opened the door and walked inside. Inside was just as empty as the lot outside, the only thing around was several pieces of rusty machinery that were huddled in the middle. With nothing else popping out at him he decided to do a little of his own technology aided reconnaissance. He slid an eyeglass piece out of his wrist computer and slid it down until the lens was over his eye.
“Let’s see what you’re hiding…” Serathin mused as he watched his surroundings go from their normal, rather drab colors to a vibrant hues as he flicked through the various spectrums he could pick up. One in particular showed exactly what he was looking for, a mixture of thermal and electromagnetic detectors picked up the presence of electricity that ran through the normally defunct excavators. As he ventured closer he found that the heavy vehicles were more than merely operational, their control modules had been heavily modified with several high-grade systems with several layers of cybersecurity attached to them.
It didn’t take long for the sabre-wolf to realize that this was some sort of riddle or test, and while it wasn’t the first time he had been made to prove his skills it was certainly the most elaborate. He was just thankful someone had been kind enough to hook everything up via a wifi signal, which made things much easier for him to piggyback off of as he cut through the encryption with his computer. In a matter of minutes he had dug his way down to the core operating systems and had complete control over the machines, now all he had to figure out was what he had to use it for. He tried moving the excavator around and found them to swing and move around quite easily, even moving the front scoops up and down until he accidently banged it against a concrete slab in the center of the machines.
As the loud clang reverberated off of the rusty tin sheet walls Serathin found his attention drawn more towards the huge sheet of rock. Serathin walked up to it and knelt down, his claw-tips pushed passed the loose dirt underneath the edge. He grinned and looked back at the excavators, then programmed them to all come down and put their teeth under the concrete. Once they were secured there was the loud crunch as the excavators lifted them in sync, the draconic creature could hear their hydraulics pump hard to lift the slab. When it got to the highest acceptable limit he looked underneath and used his eyepiece to zoom in and see a small slot in the center of the floor.
It didn’t take much to realize what he had to do, but as he looked up the extremely heavy slab of concrete hung a few feet above his head. Serathin made sure to lock the crane controls into place before he slowly crept underneath the slab. As his feet slid aside the dirt he could see the shine of steel underneath, though right now his eyes were glued to the card slot. He already had the circuit card in his hand and he slid his body until he was right over it. Finally he bent down until he was on all fours and slid the glowing green card into the slot.
Hardly a second before the card disappeared into the steel reader his security protocols all went off for every system he currently had in place. Malware programs had started to eat away at his programs and were cutting him off at the source. The concrete began to shudder as Serathin fell onto his belly and tapped furiously on his wrist computer, trying desperately to stay in control while he wiggled out from underneath the deadly hunk of rock. He activated secondary and even tertiary code that he had stored in case of such situations, but even they were only buying him time. The mechanisms of the excavators were wrenched as the sabre-wolf tried to wrestle away control from the invading software.
After what seemed like an eternity Serathin finally rolled out from beneath the concrete block, then immediately hit the termination program to prevent any of the foreign code to get into his computer. His entire body shook as he waited to hear the loud crash, only as his breathing returned to normal he heard nothing. When he looked back over he saw that the excavators were still up and after a quick scan with his computer it appeared someone else had taken direct control of the operating system functionality and had locked them into place.
“Cheeky.” Serathin muttered as he stood back up and brushed himself off. As he walked back under the concrete he saw the floor had opened up into a large staircase leading downwards into the darkness. He switched on his light and went down, though he quickly found the extra illumination unnecessary as motion controlled lights flickered to life as soon as he passed them. After a rather long venture downward the stairs terminated abruptly at what appeared to be the steel door of a ship. At first he thought he would be faced with another test but he found it slid easily open when he pushed on it.
When Serathin entered into the next room he saw several people talking to each other, one in particular waved and came up to him as the door slid shut behind him. “Well look what the cat dragged in, how’s my favorite hybrid?” The grey wolf said as the two hugged. “I take it you got the same mysterious invitation that the rest of us did?”
“It appears so Digi.” Serathin replied while he looked around at the others. “I’m guessing we all got staggered invitations… boy, it’s a who’s who of hackers here what type of job could possibly require this many bodies?”
“I don’t know, but it must be for someone pretty powerful to gather all our names off the blacknet.” Digi shrugged. “No offense, but I wouldn’t have thought that I would have seen you in this group. Aren’t you more a thief then a hacker?”
Serathin ran a hand through his hair and looked down at his wrist computer. “I’ve taught myself a few things over the years, but it’s mainly digital security countermeasures and tapping into survalience feeds.” He confessed. “I also built this thing from scratch, it usually handles all the heavy lifting.”
The two friends talked for a while as they waited for some indicator of what to do next. Other than the door they came in there appeared to be no other portals outward, the only other object in the room other than themselves was a rather large television that sat on the opposite wall. As the two went over to another group that had been discussing the latest rumors another creature came through the door as well, again he had the same basic appearance complete with headphones and a laptop crooked under his arm. This time though when the door shut there was a loud hiss and the wheel on the door made several turns before the sound of steel slamming against steel could be heard.
Several people went up to the door and tried to open it, to no avail. Others took out their electronic devices and began to see if there was another remote control system like with the excavators. Serathin and Digi looked at each other before they looked at their own computers, scanning the area to see if there was anything they could access. The only thing they found was a signal receiver that was attached to the television, and as they looked into it further the module suddenly went active.
“Greetings, ladies and gentlemen.” A digitized-tinted voice said as a silver dragon appeared on the screen. “My name is ARGOS, and I am the AI that invited you all here.”
A wave of murmurs and scoffs swept through the group, most of them in denial or disbelief at what the creature on the screen had said. While it was true that technology had advanced to the point where such things as VI were possible no one had even come close to developing artificial intelligence. With the group that had been gathered it would have been unlikely that none of them had sniffed out such a development either, Serathin knew that some of the present company had hacked into highly secure servers just for something to do on a Saturday night.
“I can see a bit of dissension on my previous statement, and the fact of the matter is that whether or not I am what I say I am is really quite irrelevant.” The digital dragon continued on. “What matters is if you all are what you say you are. You have all been invited here because you’ve demonstrated abilities that we think could be taken to the next level. And speaking of the next level…”
Everyone in the room jumped slightly and braced themselves as the floor beneath them suddenly started to lower, the door they had just come in moved upwards until it disappeared out of sight. “The facility that you are being lowered to has an item that will greatly enhance your ability to hack or otherwise use electronics and technology. Of course we wouldn’t want to give that to just anyone, so I have devised a little test in order to see who would even be worthy enough to wield such a gift. The objective is simple, those who manage to access the item get to wield it. Oh, and before I forget, all use of your technology is forbidden during the execution of this test, we’re focused more on field ability rather then what you were able to bring in beforehand.”
“Pffft, forget that.” A ferret said as he clutched a leather case to his chest. “This is my baby and I’ve never done a job without it.”
“Well life is about trying new things.” The silver dragon replied. “You can bring your gear with you but once you cross the threshold any devices that are still powered up will be considered cheating and met with severe consequences. That’s it, I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything… well, good luck, hope to see you on the other side!”
The group looked at one another as they waited for someone or something to happen, and after a minute or so the wall behind them slid open and revealed a shimmering blue wall with a long corridor behind it. At the end of the corridor was a similar door to one they had originally entered in, which at the moment was completely open. Everyone hesitated as they looked at each other, waiting for the first person to go. When no one moved forward the same ferret from before swallowed hard and moved forward. He stopped a few inches away from the blue light screen and took a deep breath before he stepped forward, his eyes squeezed shut as he waited for something to happen to him. When nothing did everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief and the ferret walked a few more steps before he knelt down and opened the case.
Everyone started to shout at him to not press his luck, but the ferret just waved them off and started up his computer. Everyone yelled at him to stop but he just smirked and continued to boot up the computer, and once his load screen finished the others watched and waited to see what happened. When nothing did everyone started to prep their own systems as well, at least until the alarms went off. As alarms started to go off the ferret ran back to the light screen only to find that it had turned into a semi-transparent force field. Those on the other side pounded on it to try and release the captured hacker, but after several failed attempts he began to run towards the door, only to find that close as well and the room begin to glow bright white.
The last thing any of the hackers heard was the piercing sound of the young man’s scream as everyone shielded their eyes from the blinding light. There was a loud static discharge sound and the light ceased, but everyone took a few seconds before they looked back towards the room. Before Serathin did he immediately smelt the very recognizable odor of blood which made him pause, but finally he looked into the room and immediately regret it. The stainless steel walls were splattered with blood and fur, the only pattern to the chaos were the words ‘I SAID NO CHEATING’ written in blood on the wall.
“No way…” Serathin heard Digi say as his bottom lip began to quiver in fear. “I knew him… he was one of the best cryptocoders ever, and they just killed him… for booting his laptop…”
“Forget this!” A leopard female said as she ran up to the television. “Let me out of here, I don’t want whatever item you have! Let me go right now!”
The words ‘ALL TEST SUBJECTS ARE REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TEST UNTIL IT’S CONCLUSION’ flashed on the screen, which caused the panic levels to rise even further. To make matters worse the air began to feel stuffy and those who hadn’t hastily shut off their electronics confirmed that the oxygen was slowly dropping in the room. One of the people Serathin knew, an otter named Mikael who was a corporate espionage thief and fellow adrenaline junkie, finally took the tablet he had and turned it off before he ventured forward. Despite the warnings of others he made his way through the gore slickened chamber and to the other side and disappeared into the room.
Serathin looked at Digi and shut off his wrist computer, since he didn’t want to lose his arm at best, and walked into the room. The small was even more horrific once he crossed over the threshold and he nearly slipped on the blood as he made his way to the now-open door. When the hybrid looked behind him he saw his friend on his heels, though it took him longer as he continued to pause on the remains of his friend. He reached back and tugged on the wolf’s hand, which seemed to snap him out of it.
Once they got into the other room Digi fell to his knees and broke down, Serathin quickly sweeping down to try and console his friend. As he did several others walked through the door as well, and then the door suddenly shut and sealed behind them. While the draconic sabre-wolf continued to hold the wolf he looked around the room and realized that only seven of the ten people that had been left in the room were there with them. He tried not to think about it and instead focused on the task at hand, which was their escape.
“Well great, now what?” Mikael said as they looked around the room. The room was rather small and all Serathin saw was a few glowing panels on the wall. Most people were still trying to compose themselves and some had begun to cry as well, especially when people could still faintly hear the pounding and cries on the other side of the door until they eventually became silent.
Once his wolf friend had calmed down enough Serathin was able to get up and investigate one of the lit up squares. He was surprised when it suddenly tilted upwards towards him and the soft yellow turned to an icy blue. Despite his better judgment the hybrid placed his hands on the surface and tiny fractals appeared on the screen. “Hey, I think these touch pads are some kind of puzzle.”
“Forget this touchpad puzzle nonsense.” Mikael said as he looked over the device before he looked over at a well-muscled bull. “Hey muscles, why don’t you pry this off so I can get a hardline?”
The bovine snorted as he flexed his huge pectorals, then walked over and gripped the electronic device his meaty hands. The first time everyone could hear the slight crunch of metal, then the smash of glass and tearing of cords as the entire monitor ripped several inches outward. Before Mikael could go in and begin to study the hardware the wires that had been exposed suddenly tightened around the bull’s fingers and wrists, then jerked him into the hole that he had created. People had started to go up to help when dozens of wires quickly emerged and wrapped around the terrified male’s body. All they could do was watch as a black substance coated his body while he was pulled into the darkness of the hole, his screams cut off as a thick tube pushed into his mouth and more of the ooze pushed out past his lips.
Serathin watched the entire spectacle with his hands on his mouth, his eyes glued to the horrific scene until a beep from the console next to him caused him to look down. The words ‘ANY DAMAGE TO EQUIPMENT WILL RESULT IN EXTREME CONSEQUENCES’ flashed on the screen for a few seconds before it went back to its normal configuration. By the time he looked back up the bull was gone and the hole had completely repaired itself. “Well that didn’t work.” Mikael said as he looked at the seamless wall.
“That didn’t work?” A lioness started to yell. “Alfonso is dead because of your idea and that’s all you got to say? That should be you in there!”
While the two continued to bicker back and forth Serathin went back down to the screen he had played with, the fractal patterns expanded as his fingertips played on the surface. He had always had a thing for touchscreens, it made everything feel more interactive then when he had to punch something in with a keyboard. Even now as he began to form the fractals into shapes it was almost as if he could feel the data beneath his fingertips be manipulated. Before he knew it the data streams had formed into a flower-like pattern that opened up until it filled the entire screen.
“Wow, how did you do that?” Serathin suddenly heard beside him, looking up to see Digi over his shoulder.
“Digi, good to see you up and about.” Serathin replied. “I was just playing around with it and the design just happened. Go try it yourself.”
The wolf went over to one of the other touch-screens and began to do the same, and while he did that Serathin watched the others. Most had done the same, the remaining hackers attempting to figure out what was going on. Two of them, Mikael and the lioness, seemed to have the same experience that he and Digi had, the fractals formed into various patterns that filled the screen. Two of them, however, seemed to have more trouble than others. Their screens flashed an angry red several times even though they seemed to do the same things everyone else did.
Suddenly the two faltering hackers had their screens turn red and stay that color, and as soon as they saw that they tried to pull away only to have their fingers stick to the keyboard. Unlike the last few times none of the others went to help them, afraid of what was possibly about to happen to them. They suddenly froze in mid-pose, then the two of them suddenly dropped out of sight before the trap door shut after they passed through. Once they had disappeared though the tablets the other four had worked on suddenly turned green and the wall slid away to reveal a passage to another room.
“Come on…” Digi said as his hands gripped his ears. “I can’t do this…”
“Block it out man.” Mikael said as he walked forward. “You should be used to this by now in our profession.”
“I’m just a programmer!” Digi shouted at him, starting at the otter before Serathin held him back. “I sit in a faraday cage with a pizza and my favorite tracks playing in my earphones! I’ve never seen anyone die before, I’ve never been out there with others. Anyone else I’ve worked with has just been names on a computer screen.”
Serathin tried to console his friend once more but found the wolf growing ever more distant, something that caused the draconic sabre-wolf concern. As they went into the next room the remaining four hackers saw something slightly different than the original room. This time the only thing that was several glowing floor panels, each one with a different color on it. The wolf, hybrid, otter, and lioness all each found themselves circle a different panel, Serathin’s was a bright green that he choose only because it was his favorite color.
Even with everything that’s happened the hybrid’s curiosity got the better of him and he stepped inside the square. As soon as his feet stepped inside a ball of green light appeared before him, something that he only assumed was being generated by a holo-projector. He cupped his hands underneath it and strangely it felt like the ball had weight to it even though he knew it was nothing but an image projected onto the air. When he moved his fingers against it the ball seemed to move in the air.
As Serathin played with it a line suddenly appeared from his tile to another one that started to glow in one corner of the room. The others in the room were so preoccupied with their own panels that they didn’t even notice as he palmed the ball of light and moved it out of the lit-up square. As soon as he did the orb suddenly tried to leap out of his hands and he had to adjust his whole body to catch it. The further he deviated from the line the harder it seemed to pull away but the closer he got to his apparent goal the fainter the line got and the more the phantom object he held seemed resist him.
“Uh, Serathin, what are you doing?” Digi asked as Serathin could see the three of them staring at him out of the corner of his eye.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Serathin managed to say as he juggled the ball back and forth, twisting his body to keep it in his hands.
“It looks like you’ve lost your nut.” Mikael said. “Or you’ve got a bunch of insects in your clothes.”
“Just stand on the panel and you’ll see!” Serathin shouted in reply as he kept his focus on the shining orb.
The other three just shrugged at each other and stood on their own panels, all of their faces turned from suspicion and curiosity to surprise and amazement. “This technology is amazing!” Digi exclaimed as his own ball, a bright red, appeared in front of him. “It’s like I can feel it in my hands… looks like I can move it too.” The wolf said as he looked around, seeing the other two hackers move their hands in a similar fashion even though there appeared to be nothing there. “Huh, must only be able to see our own tiles, guess the only thing left is to get it to that other panel.”
As the three started to move outwards the lioness suddenly gasped and looked down at the ground. To her eyes only she could see the shattered remains of her golden orb strewn about on the floor before they disappeared. She sighed and walked back to the panel and held her hands out again, but frowned when nothing happened. “What, we only get one shot at this or something?” She said in frustration.
Meanwhile Serathin finally made it to the goal with his orb, which burst into a bright flash of light when he reached the middle of the square. As he looked back to tell the others that he had made it he suddenly found that himself trapped, a layer of glass separating himself from the rest of the room. He pounded on the barricade to no avail, the others seemed to ignore him as they continued on their own tasks. Across the room the hybrid could see that his friend had almost made it to his square as well and Mikael was about halfway across the room but making quick strides towards his goal.
Serathin could only watch as Digi made it to the other side and the draconic sabre-wolf was able to see the same thing that happened to him. The wolf flinched, what Serathin assumed to be his orb exploding, and in a split second a tube shot up around the sunned male. Once Digi had recovered he turned around to see that he had been trapped as well, a look of panic in his face as his paws felt all around the glass and steel. The two friends met eyes and Digi made a confused face, to which the hybrid shrugged his shoulders and waited for the others to finish.
Mikael seemed to notice Digi’s predicament as well, and in his distracted state along with his moving quickly caused him to fall flat on his face. Even without being able to see it the others could tell that his orb had probably broken as well and before the otter even had a chance to curse a silvery-white fog began to envelop the entire room. The lioness tried to get as low to the ground as possible while the otter ran up to Serathin’s tube and began to bang on it, though all Serathin could hear was the beat of his own heart as he watched a silver fluid began to leak out of the otter’s nose and eyes. The last thing the draconic sabre-wolf saw was the horrified expression on Mikael’s face before he fell back and disappeared into the fog.
For a while there was nothing, just the silver fog and the plate of glass that separated Serathin from it. Just then the tile he was on began to descend. All he could do was wait and watch as he went down, though as he got half-way down a hand suddenly pressed against the glass once more. It was like the otter’s but covered in silver armor with black joints, which gave it a very robotic appearance as it slammed against the tube and caused the material to crack. Just before the trap door slid shut over him Serathin saw the metal-covered face of Mikael stare at him, his face completely emotionless as it stared out him with red, glowing eyes.
The elevator continued for an unknown amount of time before it stopped and opened up into another hallway, for the first time since he got plunged into this nightmare Serathin found himself alone. He slowly moved his way further into the bare room and saw nothing except for a single pane of glass that hung in the center of the room. As he stared at the transparent material he saw his own reflection, which grew bigger when he walked up to it. While he stared at it the view suddenly changed, his own surprised image replaced with a similar look from his friend Digi.
“Serathin, thank god, you alright?” Digi asked with an exasperated sigh.
“Yeah, you?” Serathin asked in reply.
“No worse than before.” Digi said. “This place is bare tech-wise, the only thing I can see is this screen and it’s just a piece of monitor glass with no input controls on it that I can tell. There’s also no doors and no wifi, so what are we supposed to do now?”
Serathin shrugged and looked around as well, confirming what the wolf had told him. Even without his scanners he could tell the room was not only devoid of technology but completely black boxed. The whole room felt… stuffy, and it grew even more so when he moved away from the only source of technology in the entire area. It seemed to be the same with Digi, he could see the discomfort that likely mirrored his own face as they met back up at the viewscreen.
“The power is at your fingertips.” Serathin said under his breath as he slowly put his hand up to the viewscreen. Even though his rational mind told him that it was just a piece of display glass he put his hand on it. He recalled everything he had been through, everything that he had been called upon to do, and as he did he could feel an almost electrical vibration underneath his fingertips. His pupils dilated as there was a rush of information that suddenly seemed available to him; not only could he see the display node and wired signal, but also what information the signal carried and where it went. It appeared to him like a spiderweb of green energy and the more he tapped into it the more he figured out the situation he was truly in. Suddenly he pulled away when he finally saw the way out and the origin of the energy needed, which caused him to pull away in a gasp.
“You saw it too.” The draconic sabre-wolf heard as he looked back at the screen and saw Digi looking at him. “When you zoned out like that I figured out what you were doing and did it myself. We need a lot of power to open the doors to get out of here, and we have a very limited pool to draw from…”
“Yeah, a pool we have to share.” Serathin finished. Even without his hand on the console he could see that the power that was not only confined to their rooms but was on a closed circuit. It also not only needed to be used to charge the dynamo that would facilitate his escape but it also currently powered everything from the lights to the vents that pumped in the air he needed to survive. “I suppose we better get started.”
Digi nodded and the two began to press their fingers against the crystalline glass once more. Serathin could feel the power thrum through every fiber of his being as he redirected power supply, his friend doing the same on the screen. He could hear the whirr as the dead node began to come to life as more green energy was pumped into it. As much as he wanted to rush it and escape he had to make sure that he allowed Digi enough of a draw to fuel his own freedom. Once the initial fear had worn off he actually found it rather exciting, like he was hacking without the need for his computer system.
His thrill ride was short-lived however as the window that had Digi’s panel suddenly flashed red and the wolf had a horrified look on his face. “Oh no… no no no.” Digi stuttered as his fingers went to his muzzle. “I flooded the system and collapsed the circuits, all my power is bleeding away!” For a few more frantic seconds he tried to put his hands on the screen, only to have it crack beneath him before he looked directly at Serathin. “I’m screwed hybrid, lock the circuits to my room and get yourself out of here before-“
The screen section suddenly fizzled and went out, which only left Serathin with the silence of the room and the energy grid that floated before his eyes. He saw that Digi’s section was still flashing red and the power levels were slowly lowering as he watched, which meant that even if he pushed all the power into both dynamos he wouldn’t have enough for them both to escape. He could cut his friend off and easily fuel his own, but as he looked at the black square that had been the feed a growing sense of determination swept over him. Throughout the horrid night he had seen a lot of people die, but he wasn’t going to let his friend be one of them.
Serathin’s lips turned to a snarl as he stepped away from the screen and began to interact with the energy system itself. His fingers tingled as he snapped the lines that led to systems he no longer needed, like the now obsolete screen in front of him. He did the same for his lights and also disconnected the same systems on his friend’s room, even though he wondered if his friend would be worried he didn’t have time to think about such things. Despite the darkness the coding stood out to him as clear as day and the more he drew power towards their escape module the less he could divert to other systems.
Finally he came to a critical mass and almost all of the power had been drained into the primary system. He gritted his teeth and cut the last system that was still drawing energy, the faint sound of the breeze faded away as the life support system went dead. The air around him immediately began to grow stuffy and his lungs started to burn as he put a hand on each system and tried desperately to activate it. As his vision blurred green lines of electricity started to arch up his arms and into the code he had manipulated. Just as he started to see red spots he gave it one final surge and the dynamos clicked to life, the lights once more flickering back to life as the images of the code disappeared and caused him to stumble forward.
When he managed to regain his composure he looked up to see that he was in a completely different room now, with a familiar face a few feet away from him that had just walked out of his own room. “Digi!” Serathin gasped as the two ran up and hugged each other tightly. “I didn’t think you’d made it!”
“Me make it? I thought you were the one who was dying!” Digi replied. “Once you said your feed was down and you were hemorrhaging power…” the wolf trailed off as he saw the look of confusion in the hybrid’s eyes, “but you weren’t actually dying, were you?”
Serathin just let out an exasperated chuckle and hugged again. “No more then you were.”
The two’s reunion were cut-off as a pedestal suddenly was raised up in the center of the room, a glowing green cube situated on it with a gem inside that radiated an unearthly green light. “Sorry to interrupt you two, but I have to say congratulations on making it to the last of our little trial.” The silver dragon said as he suddenly appeared on the screen behind them. “Apologies for the misdirection, the more danger you were in the more you would tap into the innate power within you so you can actually take the gift I’m about to give you.”
“Apologies for the misdirection!?” Digi shouted angrily at the AI. “You just killed a bunch of our friends!”
“Whatever do you mean?” Argos said dismissively. “Here at Sibergon Labs we instigate a very rigid no-kill policy for all our test subjects. All your ‘friends’ are currently being transported to the surface with their memories of this experience completely erased, just like yours will be after you receive your gift.”
“I don’t get it, why do this then if we’re not going to remember it?” Serathin asked. “And why were you so elaborate with their ‘deaths’ if they ended up getting restored anyway?”
“Well, not completely restored, they’ll be leaving with some… ‘consolation gifts’.” Argos replied with a grin. “And even though you won’t remember any of this I wanted to show you some of the dangers of abusing such a precious gift. Now if you’ll step up to this very lovely quantum computing module you can upgrade your abilities… unless of course you two don’t want to have the ability to control technology. Oh, and one at a time please.”
The two creatures looked at each other in disbelief before Digi gestured for Serathin to move forward. The draconic sabre-wolf nodded and walked up the small set of stairs up to the green box, the waves of power that emanated through his entire form caused him to shudder. When he was finally inches away from the box he took a deep breath and held his hands up. “Time to level up I guess.” He said to himself before he grabbed the sides of the computer and green energy raced up his arms.
“Welcome to your new world.” Argos’ words were the last thing Serathin heard before everything went black. “Technomancer.”
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8 years, 2 months ago
27 Jan 2016 05:29 CET
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