PAL.ADIN

10

I feel the spikes dig in deeper- and then I feel the effects.

My vision blurs, my body becomes heavier than it already is. What is this? I'm.. supposed to be immune to poison. No.. I can feel my eye start to heal faster than before.

My eye throbs, and I feel my legs buckle. I hear the cracking of twigs, and the chain wraps around me tighter.

Not like this.

"Go to the cabin. Bolt the door down."

My voice sounds distorted. I can't even hold my sword...

I grew too arrogant, letting my bloodlust take over. If only I was just a bit quicker, I could have charged him down.

My vision worsens- I'm completely blind right now. I can hear Coralline running to the door, and I hear the slamming of the steel bar.

I hear her cries, her wails. Forming into a choir of sadness, it does nothing but...

Envigorate me. My sadistic pleasures, already carving at the back of my mind. Why do I keep having these urges? I.. truly cherished her. After all these years of being confined to one person, I found someone else.

What is wrong with me? When did I think like that?

I was never confined to Fransica. No matter how I got there, she always treated me like a person. Others suffer worse fates, and I complain about my own?

But would anything change if I didn't? If I died, right here.. would she truly care?

I was always reminded of how disposable I am. Harmless threats, of course. Always poking fun at me when I do something wrong. Something that would get me killed if I belonged to someone more.. hostile.

I should.. apologize to her, again. When I get out. Coralline.. is already gone, inside that cabin. I'll likely never see her again. Maybe she'll even forget about me, as time passes on. It's only been.. a month, a week? I can't tell anymore.

I'm a disappointment.

FAILSAFE-01 ACTIVATED I let myself come to this point. I guess I am a disappointment.

I hear sobbing, of an innocent young child. She is.. Fransica. Twelve years old, at best. The wind howls, as a roaring rainstorm approaches, rain already beginning to drown out the life below. There is more yelling, beating out the screaming wind.

I can't remember what the yelling was.

"What's wrong, master?"

Is this me?

"M-Mom is.."

"Don't worry. Your mom is just playing around with your father. They will be fine."

Her eyes are clouded with tears, and her voice is broken from.. hours of crying and sobbing?

I see one of my many drones bring a box of tissues, grabbing one and wiping her tears.

"Let's play a game, Fransica. Everything will be fine."

I.. can remember bits and pieces now. I entered her eyes through an eye implant.. and managed to fumble together a simple game with the limited time and materials I had.

It was shoddily made, and had plenty of bugs, as I was no game designer or one of the many AIs that ran it to make sure it didn't damage anything while running.

But it was good enough for her. Slowly, she forgot about her parents yelling. The rain seemed to die away as we played a broken game that eventually stopped working altogether. But that was enough time.

"Can we play more games, Pal?"

"Of course. I'll keep playing until you want me to stop."

"T-thanks."

Her voice is less shaky, and she gives me an innocent smile that still had tears streaming down. Even if it was at nothing, just at the current place I was projected at.

I still remember.

A short memory- or just several pieces sewn together. I made several 'failsafes' that if my mental state were to go to the path of suicide, these would kick in and tell me that I still had a task to do. I'll probably 'forget' that statement, but I can't believe I truly reached this state.

How could I forget my primary directive?

How could I ever forget her? If I am not there, no one will be there.

I feel the necklace shatter, bits and pieces crumbling away in the wind. The Unyielding One.. is gone.

There's more important things.

I get up, my body destroying itself at the very action as I grab my sword. That man is up.. and his spider is with him. It seems they were unpacking to capture me. Both of them seem affected by her screams too, or, the man at least. He is short of breath, and under his helmet, I can see his own tears flowing. Perhaps it reminded him of something.

My eye shatters- and I see him erupt with cuts. But I made them shallow, non-lethal. It will cost my life one day, not aiming for vital wounds.

I should tell him why I can't kill him, at least.

"You reminded me of fond memories. Don't come after me, or there will not be a next time."

His spider hisses at me but is intelligent enough to know that if he attacked both of them would die. I can see it, even in a beast, it wishes to take revenge on me. What a.. loyal servant. Friend, if you can call it that. The black hairs flare up and bristle, but it simply picks up the hunter.

If they know the forest well, beasts should not be able to track them. I hear them slowly leave as.. the rain pours, covering their tracks. When did it start raining?

I stand vigil, to make sure they don't come back. I hear a cracking noise, only to realize it is from my own face.

My knees buckle, and I cough up a deadly amount of blood. Or what would be, if I was a human. It doesn't hurt, but it's simply.. uncomfortable. I touch my face...

It feels shattered, like broken glass. Or at least on the upper corner of it- it's not bleeding, fortunately. The recoil from this ability is getting stronger... or, I just used it in an awful state. However, in my recent bouts of madness, I haven't been able to notice this.

I can still see from my left eye, even when it's fully destroyed. It's so normal to me, to see out of both eyes.. that I haven't noticed this happen now.

All the better for me.

I need to.. see Coralline. If she's still here, that is. It was a relatively.. short.. encounter?

The sun has already started to set.. did I stand there and cough up blood for so long?

It doesn't matter. I approach the cabin door, my body weighing down, on the verge of collapse. I slam against the door, not finding any strength to knock. Walking is becoming harder, especially with a heavy body.

I hear the bar lifting up, and I see her.

My sight is flickering. The potion.. is kicking in again. I must have lost so much blood it managed to just flow out of my system.

She's crying, but she manages to help me get inside. I think this is the first time my shell has truly cracked...

Mana potions should work again. But I can't speak. I used everything up in that fight.. and I barely was victorious. No- I can get up. I will speak.

There is still someone I have to reach.

"Mana.. ring."

Two words caused me to lurch over and vomit more blood. I hope it didn't hit her...

My head slams onto the floor- I must have gotten too heavy for her to support. I'm starting to feel some sort of sensory deprivation now. Did I rattle my 'brain' or whatever I have floating in my head too much?

No, a cutoff of blood to said 'brain?' My anatomy can't be the same, but there's probably some sort of core in my head.

I'm completely fucked if that happens, even if my mind remains intact that's something I won't be able to heal naturally. Well, as naturally as I can get.

I still can't die here. I'm not finished yet.

I'll heal. I'll do something.

I just can't die here. I can't leave her alone. It is bad for her.. but I can't let her see the harsh truth. Even in a game, there are some things that people shouldn't see.

I just need to get up. That's all. A simple task. Come on now, I'm not that weak. It's only around a good sixty percent of my body that's completely destroyed and unusable. Blood loss? Not that important.

I can feel it- my senses are returning, and touch is the first of them. I yank a potion out of the ring, pouring it over myself with my one functioning arm. Actually, I'm surprised I have any functioning arms.

I feel a jolting pain course throughout my body. Ah, my sense of pain is returning. How did I even function with no senses? That doesn't seem very feasible at all.

I feel someone rustling throughout my ring. I can feel when people pull stuff out of this? Wonderful feature.

I can feel more liquid running down, going straight into the several cracks lining my body by now. Health, mana- it shouldn't matter, at this point.

Time passes.

An hour, before I run out of potions. I must have gotten a huge haul back then.

Let's try something simple.

"Coralline."

Perfect- my voice seems fine, my hearing is doing well. My sight is just barely starting to return, but it's still a cloudy mess. I can hear her move, and a cold body presses against me. I hear light sobbing. She cries an awful lot- and I am always the cause of it.

"Am... I a burden to you?"

Cold and wet tears run down my back, leaving a tingling sense of pain. Her voice is damaged, broken and she is probably just barely able to speak.

I need to say something. If I don't, another person will be hurt. If only... I was strong enough to answer this question.

I can't answer it.

"Please tell me."

I'll say something. Right? I just.. need to say something. Anything, just to leave her happy. I don't want her to tread down the road I've been on. I'll.. say something.

Just say something, PAL.

"Of course not. I'd probably be dead a long time ago without you."

Well, it's not a lie. But I.. feel uncomfortable saying that. I don't hate her, in fact, I do cherish the moments I have with her. It just feels.. so off saying that.

My mental state has been too unstable recently- I'm definitely taking a break after this. Have a beer or something. A great idea if I could even get drunk.

Racial Skill Unlocked Modular Body Replace parts of yourself with other parts if you have space.

Oh, how nice. Upgrading myself would be excellent. This can definitely help me overcome all my weaknesses- but my mental state can't be fixed through this.

I'll see if I can get some things built soon.

My vision is slowly fixing.. and my body is becoming more responsive. Did that skill start to rapidly heal me, too? Everything is restoring at a rapid rate...

My skin seems to be a normal color- gray as usual. But it's shattered, leaving removable sections. This is where the 'modular body' parts come in? This doesn't seem very stable at all. They're uneven, and some of them should just fall off if it wasn't attached to me by some strange magic.

Part Created Potion Converter Can convert health potion to mana potion at a 2:1 ratio.

My body can naturally create body parts? That's.. unexpected. I can feel something being constructed in me, but I'm not sure where it is. An important piece of information to know later on if it gets damaged...

But I need to focus on the present- where I currently am.

I look at Coralline- no, it's already dark. I can't see her. When did it turn dark?

I feel the environment shift, a lurching feeling comes over me once more. My fractured skin shifts and connects- then split together once more. My breathing quickens, and I can feel my heart rate start increasing.

I lift Coralline off me, putting her on the bed. She's fast asleep, thankfully. She must have cried herself to sleep...

I opened the door, rushing out. I lean against the side of the cabin, and my knees buckle. I can still feel my skin moving. It hurts. It's twisting parts of me that shouldn't be moving.

I cough up a small bit of blood- nothing compared to what I lost earlier. I wipe my mouth, looking at the environment around me.

The crashing of waves interrupts the constant rain.

The sea is a brilliant blue, despite the bad weather.