The voice was chirpy and light-hearted. Every word sounded like it was spoken with happiness.

"Yes. Positive. Affirmative." I tried.

Am I supposed to say something else?

Only one answer is necessary. Proceeding to initialisation. Please stand up.

I did so, a bit wobbly in my knees after everything.

Shape indexed. [GENERIC USER] is of symmetrical structure type C-43-Theta, but a major flaw was found. Is this in error?

What is this flaw? My arm, perhaps? I thought, still a bit queasy about it being missing. Just as I opened my mouth to respond, the voice spoke again.

Indeed. [GENERIC USER]'s top rightmost extremity is not mirrored on [GENERIC USER]'s left side.

Holy shit, it can read thoughts? Alright... 'Yes, there's supposed to be an arm there.' Did that work?

Understood, shape inconsistency marked under 'Influence - Life - Physical - Injuries - Major'. The Lexicon Device operates through a type-2 low-level neural interface. Would you like to adjust the mental volume level needed to activate this feature, or set a mental activation phrase? If you know a method you would prefer, but is not among those stated, please think it now.

I'll go with the volume-thing, please.

Understood. Please think "This is the automated mental volume trial" with the desired power.

I took a moment to compose myself, and then firmly thought This is the automated mental volume trial with a bit more focus than I normally put into my thoughts.

Activation conditions initialized. If you would like to reset this feature, please lightly touch the side of your Lexicon Device while doing a slow spin along your vertical axis and hopping on one leg.

A pause.

Memories indexed.

Wait what?

"What do you mean, memories?" I said out loud, temporarily forgetting the mental component. Nonetheless, it seemed to work.

[GENERIC USER]'s memories have been scanned and a surface report was encrypted within internal storage. They can be hermetically evaluated for faults, damage, tampering or inaccuracies at a later date.

My slightly panicked expression didn't change much, and Neetu, who was now sitting at the table we'd all settled at once more, answered the question I’d actually had.

"Your LD can't be accessed by anyone but yourself. The data it contains is being encrypted with a method that uses ones' own subjective experience of reality as a reference frame - anyone else seeing them, not that that’s possible, would perceive only gibberish."

"Are you sure it's impossible?" I asked. Humans had had some... problems with cyber-security.

"Yes. The system they access is universal, and seems to spring from nowhere, and it’s apparently governed by some sort of objective judge. Once you're connected, you can pull some general history records if you're interested - I believe someone actually made contact with this administrative entity at some point in the past. All that really matters is that it's an objective judge, and submits to nothing and no one. Not that there is any sort of root-access-point or anything like that, I think the system runs itself using some sort of metaphysical structure.”

When I still looked unconvinced, he continued.

“Trust me, I also found it a little strange that everyone seemed to trust it when I was first induced, but in all the history of its existence, there has been no successful attempt at infiltrating it and gaining its data. It's also been excessively tested for mental coercion or geas of any kind, and apart from altering your visual and auditory senses to include itself, as well as doing the memory-thing, it does little else."

"You say no successful attempt, Neetu... I'm still not convinced." Sure, I trusted him after what he’d done for me and my friends, but did he know?

"You have to understand, the system these devices run on is, while not intelligent and ethically diverging, an extremely sophisticated one. More powerful and resourceful than anything except itself. To even attempt a hack you basically need to be connected through a LD, and once inside, it would destroy your presence there with prejudice. I once met a fellow, he passed through my tavern, scarred and broken, with a burn around his eye - said he attempted it in his foolish days, and was forever branded for it. His LD exploded and he was violently disconnected. Described it as a swarm of locusts with near-precognitive abilities descending on the weak spot he'd attempted to infiltrate. Said he'd wisened up and was seeking redemption. I believed him. And even after all that, my own LD kept pinging a message at me every time he entered my vision."

"What did it say?"

"It said something like 'this being has attempted to access the mind of another through protected means’, alongside highlighting him in my vision. I didn't envy him - pointed him to one of my contacts, and that was that. Last I heard, he left the local cluster."

"Local clust-"

Personality type indexed.

Please enter your name(s) alongside their type.

I held up a finger for Neetu’s benefit, and he nodded.

What does 'name type' mean?

Many beings have different types of names, such as pseudonyms, full names, companionable names, short names, or honorable names.

Ah, of course. Alright - My first name is Amelia. It's generally used by people familiar to me. My family name, or last name, is Grayheart, it was given to me by my mother and father. I guess a nickname, or short name, would be Amy. That's all.

Understood. By which name, or combination of names, would you like to be addressed?

Amelia, please.

Understood, Amelia. Initialisation completed. Starting customisation.

I breathed out.

"By your expression, I guess you've finished your initialisation? If so, I think it's time to help your... friend in the mirror." Neetu interrupted the chirpy voice in my thoughts.

"Oh hell, I totally forgot! Alright, what do I do?"

"First you need to state 'Pause customization' in your mind. It'll pause it for now. To restart, just say 'resume customisation'."

Pause customization.

Customization paused.

"You two," He motioned to Erci and Raven, who were looking lost, "Can continue. You'll probably take a while, so I recommend going up to the room you woke up in and lying down on something soft. Communing with the Lexicon for longer tends to make you stiff as a board, I learned that the hard way. I'll send Amelia up when we're finished here."

Erci nodded to me, and I nodded back. Raven swished a wing over my face and fluttered through the open doorway, cackling. Neetu had a look of restrained laughter on his face as he watched them both go. He turned back to me.

"Now, we need to transfer the damaged parts of your daemon into the LD's internal memory - luckily, these things are pretty advanced, and you can do it through mental commands. Repeat after me; 'LD-subprime, override security mode'."

LD-subprime, override security mode.

Security routine paused.

"Next, you need to open the internal memory up for tampering. Say; 'Pause internal firewall. Pause internal anti-tampering device. Pause data restrictions'."

Pause internal firewall.

Firewall disabled. Warning. This action could cause harm to your Lexicon Device. To revert it, state 're-enable all'.

Pause internal anti-tampering device.

Internal anti-tampering device disabled. Warning. This action could cause harm to your Lexicon Device.

Pause data restrictions.

Internal memory data restrictions lifted. Warning. This action could cause corruption to saved data.

"This next part will be harder to remember, and you have to keep it all in your mind. So far, we've opened a direct path between your mind and the LD's internal storage. Now, we need to transfer the damaged parts of your daemon into that. Repeat after me. 'Activate mental sifter. Load library D-06743NB into mental sifter. Start mental sifter'."

Activate mental sifter.

Mental sifter standing by. Warning. This tool is meant for use by medical professionals or advanced users.

Load library D-06743NB into mental sifter.

External Library 'Dæmon infestation scanner software v.2.54 - Neetu-sin Al Ba'al' loaded into mental sifter.

I looked up, fixing Neetu with a curious look. He smirked back - how did I know he was smirking? Somehow, his alien expressions had become associated with my human sensibilities... perhaps a side-effect of removing the 'Illusion'?

Start mental sifter.

Mental sifter running.

A pause.

17.453.222 instances found. Highest concentration in the representative metacortex. Unknown influence found. Evidence of high-level unknown geas (disabled) found. Evidence of unknown broken compulsion found.

"It's finished," I stated, "It's saying - something something instances found, representative metacortex, and something about influences and broken compulsions?" Neetu had a slightly concerned look on his face.

"The instances are points where your daemon interfaces with your mind. The representative metacortex is a part of the EMM model, which controls in what ways you are seen by others, and through which mediums - before you ask, restricting it is another function of The Illusion. This is likely a result of her taking up the spot of your reflection. The influence is almost certainly the Worldstone in your hand. The other parts... I wrote that software to detect daemon infestations, but added some general mental manipulation detection capabilities as well. I don't think anything of it has a hold on you, or you wouldn't seem this... alive, but we'll have to take a look later. Perhaps you can swing by a dedicated mind healer when we get you a new arm."

"Well that's concerning." I said dejectedly. Neetu shifted a bit.

"You're alright, for now. Let's finish this up. Repeat this; 'Specify >daemon-unknown influence< intersectional pattern'."

Specify >daemon-unknown influence< intersectional pattern.

Pattern specified. Pattern Isolated.

Pattern comprises 5.184.327 instances.

"Now say; 'Isolate pattern. Gradualize pattern to internal storage'."

Isolate pattern.

Pattern Isolated. Pattern Locked.

Gradualize pattern to internal storage.

Working.

I suddenly felt a little queasy, and heard the faint whisper of a million voices before silence fell once more.

Pattern present in internal storage.

"It says it's moved. What now?"

"Now say; 'Load Library RS-0763NB. Activate ghostface protocol. Re-enable all'."

Load Library RS-0763NB.

External Library 'Reynol's salvation v.0.dontdieyoufuck - Neetu-sin Al Ba'al' loaded into mental sifter.

I looked at him incredulously.

"I was pressed for time, alright? Don't judge me. These things are ridiculously tone-deaf. 'please specify version' it says while my friend is dying on the slab."

I shook my head.

Activate ghostface protocol.

Ghostface protocol running. Stay strong, Reynol!

I heard the whispers again, fainter this time. They came from two directions at once - there was something from distinctly outside, then something from inside, and both slowly faded into each other, then nothing once more.

Reenable all

All security protocols reenabled. Warning! Unknown presence detected in internal memory. Warning! Unknown type of two-sided link detected between your mind and internal memory. Would you like to create an exception in the security protocol, or start an eradication process? No answer within ten seconds will automatically start an eradication process.

“Exception!” I shouted. Exception, please.

Understood. Exception created.

"I think it's done."

"Seems like it. However, now comes the hard part."

"Hard part?"

"Yes. We’ve isolated your daemon inside the LD, but if you don’t accept the Stone’s power, this will happen again. You need to take its power into yourself. Do you feel it? It's probably been prodding you to for ages now."

I did, actually. There was something on the edge of my mind, a... presence of some sort. Not unlike the fey shield-dome, but a lot more gentle.

But I was afraid. Afraid of being burned, like when I'd first touched it.

"You don't need to be afraid of it. It's a Worldstone, usually existing for one purpose alone. In some strange sense, you are its child. And if what I assume from your previous statements truly happened to Earth, it lost all its other children. Go on."

I looked at the Stone, which was gently glowing in my hand, and closed my eyes.

I could feel the Stone's power at the edge of my mind, swirling all around me, but not trying to get in. It was mostly... reminding me, perhaps. Being there for me? I couldn't say.

Very slowly, I reached out to it, extending a strand of thought towards the Green, and pushed - just like I'd done with the Lexicon. I pushed acceptance to it, and the Green from outside flowed towards me, a tidal wave of pure energy, power, potential.

I was swept up in it and tore open my eyes, stumbling back. The Stone was glowing brightly - and slowly, very slowly, the muscles of my hand loosened, the arm going slack. The Stone stayed where it was, floating in the air before me.

The light became brighter and brighter, piercing into my eyes - I tried to close them, but the light was still as bright - tried to turn away, but my body was held in place by the energy coursing into my body, mind and my very soul.

Then, it darkened once more. I blinked the spots from my vision, and laid my hand on a support beam in the middle of the room, my eyes slowly getting used to the gently-lit common room.

"Wow." came an unexpected voice.

"Ref? That you?"

My reflection beamed at me from across the room, face pressed against the inside of the bar's mirror.

"Your eyes!" she exclaimed as I walked over, sitting myself gingerly on the counter. Somewhere in the background, I could hear Neetu grumbling something about 'damn humans' and 'always sitting on counters' as he moved over as well. Ska'an was staring at Ref with wide eye-glow.

"I can see it, can you hold still? I want to get a good look at myself."

"Hah! Asking your own reflection to hold still." Ref struggled with it, wildly giggling about what was a strange mirror-joke to me, but apparently very funny to her.

Looking at my mirror image, I could not help but notice the changes in myself as well. There was the obvious, like my left arm, which looked like it'd broken off, the stump jagged and monochrome grey, like the Office had been. I brought my right hand up, feeling at it, and finding that it was hard as stone. But that was not the only change. Almost my entire right arm was scarred, with black lines running up and down the inside of it. The worst spot was where the Stone had touched my hand initially, looking like a scorch-mark, but feeling perfectly fine to the touch. No pain of any sort remained. As I looked, the scars slowly lightened, becoming slightly similar to the light brown of my own skin. I didn't think they would vanish completely, but perhaps they wouldn’t be as prominent.

But it was in my eyes that the biggest change had happened. No longer did I share my father's deep brown eyes, it seemed like all the green which was previously in the Stone had infused into them, permanently making them the color of deep emerald. Even with the slight shadow over my face cast by chandelier behind, the green seemed to glow from within. They were only matched by the small piece of metal on my right temple, whose slight lines and engravings had some sliver of the green light that my eyes now held to them. It seemed accidentally touching it to the Stone had some unintended side effects. Well, nothing that damaged it, at least?

As I looked myself over in the mirror, the Stone stopped hovering and settled in my hand, and I saw that it was dimmer - still impressively green and glowing, but I could sense that it had but a pale echo of the power it’d held previously. All of its light and otherworldly quality had infused into me in the strange ritual of acceptance, while the Stone itself retained only an imprint of that power. A powerful imprint, but an imprint nonetheless. I could feel none of the awareness it'd had previously, but that wasn't gone - It had come along with the green. I could feel it resonate inside my mind, somewhere deep, deep down. If anything, it seemed... content. If I could even begin to assign human emotions to it.

As I looked at the Stone, I could feel the roiling power inside me quiet down and slowly sink into my very bones. When it finally dimmed beyond perception. The glow in my eyes faded, but they retained their otherworldly color - a permanent reminder of the power now resting deep within. By the end of it, I felt little different than before, except for the presence of a certain warmth deep within my bones.

I pocketed the Stone, and slid off the counter.

"Ref, do you feel alright?" I asked my mirror image, who had picked up the reflection of one of the bottles and was studying the label. She gently placed the bottle down, and I couldn't help but notice that it did not line up with the real thing. Neetu's eye twitched a little when he noticed that.

"I do, yes. When you touched the stone - I tried to warn you, but there was nowhere for me to manifest - I instinctively fought against it. Where I touched it, it burned me, fragmenting parts of myself that I didn't know existed. I was... in a state, for a while. It felt like I'd lost my spark, my will to exist. I know that you removed The Illusion, which would have been our next step once outside. Speaking of that - I'm sorry, Amy. I'm sorry for assuming that Raven's blood could be mixed with yours during the Query-" There was a sharp intake of breath from both Neetu and Ska'an, who had settled at the bar to listen "-and retain the barrier. I failed, and you suffered for it."

She looked dejected, and her eyes were misty.

"Ref, please calm down. You got us out of there - all of us. Erci, Raven and I are fine. Sure, I lost an arm, but you know what? I've always wanted to be a cyborg! Now I can get a cool robot arm and I don't even have to start an ethical dilemma for it. You made a mistake, nothing more."

She looked up, unshed tears in her eyes.

"You mean - you won't get rid of me?" It struck me at that moment how young she was - not physically, because she didn't have a body, but mentally. She was... how old? a few months? A little more, perhaps? Sure, she'd inherited my mental maturity and developed consciousness, but she hadn't had any time to gain emotional maturity or experience.

"Ref, why on Earth would I do that?"

"You know what I am."

'A Daemon' went unsaid.

"I know that you're my friend. A somewhat unconventional friend, and also a part... of me? But a friend nonetheless. Eventually, you’ll tell me what you did back then, but only when you're ready - I know that conscience isn't something you've always had, and I won't hold you responsible for things you did before you knew they were fucked up. Just... please promise me that you won't bottle it up."

Her voice was small when she next spoke.

"I promise."

***

A few hours of talking later, I slowly became more and more tired. We spoke of inconsequential things, my life before the Rapture, things I learned in medical school which were now probably useless, just the normal basis for how a friendship is normally formed. Ref was curious, asking questions, but didn't volunteer much.

She described some of how she saw the world, some of the strange things about being a half-metaphorical entity (apparently, some daemons have the ability to alter information which is not on their own 'level', something Ska'an had said as well, which was what she'd been trying to do while we were camping in front of the Smithsonian Institute so long ago), but did not reveal anything about her past.

I let her, and eventually went up to the room shared by us thr- four, now. At some point, either Neetu, Ska'an or Reya had brought out a slightly dusty wall-mirror, and leaned it against one of the walls, which Ref idly commented on.

She settled on the reflection of my own bed, pulling out her slightly-tattered notebook, and I fell into the soft fabric of the real version after swiftly undressing and checking on my other two friends - who were both sleeping like stones. Before I drifted into sleep myself, Neetu's words from earlier that day drifted through my mind, and I resolved to resume the customisation process of my LD the next day.

Then, for the first time in a long time, I voluntarily drifted into sleep on a real bed.

I dreamed of an endless, calm ocean, and not much else.