//Anomaly Detected// … //Creator Outside Protection Range//

//Searching for Protocol// … //No Protocol Found// … //Waiting//

Things had been simple before, not easier or harder, but simple. Follow the Protocols, Obey the Prime Directive(Protect the Creator), and no more or less.

Then the Creator had changed things.

It started small, with a spark of something new. Three knew what that spark was, but had never seen it like this. It was Soul, a tiny piece of the Creator's Soul.

Three was built out of that Soul, but unlike all of what Three was made from, this spark was not bound to the Creator, it was free… It was Three's.

A spark of Soul just sitting there with no purpose or direction, and bringing with it strange new things, like feelings…

Feelings of self-awareness… and identity. Three.

Three had always known its own name, placed upon it by the Creator, but it had been only a label, a title and nothing more. Now it meant something else, something confusing. What did it mean?

After that Three had spent some of Its limited Energy reserves observing the Creator, not that it wasn't always watching the Creator, as per the Prime Directive(Protect the Creator). But after the spark, there had been a new interest, a desperate need to understand what it all meant.

Three also watched the Residents that lived inside its realm, as well as the non-residents that entered, and even some that only brushed up against the outside. Not that it hadn't before, as per the Prime Directive… Now it observed them with a new perspective, both current and past interactions. All of them provided new and fascinating information.

Three learned that they were very similar to the Creator, at least compared to itself, with some variations among them. All of them carried the same Energy as the Creator, though to a lesser extent. Three had known that before, had known that it was a vital Energy, their Soul Energy. It was why the Protocol had been enacted to bind their Souls into the Creator. To follow the Prime Directive…

Many of the Residents would communicate with the Creator and with each other, using vibrations that Three did not know the meanings of. The Creator did not need those vibrations, simple Intent was enough to direct the Protocols. But now Three wanted to know more, desired to know more.

Desire… Want… Concepts that Three understood quickly. The Creator 'wanted' to be protected and 'desired' to be safe. Thus Three was created. So It observed their Souls in an attempt to understand more.

Souls were a wealth of information, always churning and so vibrant with feelings. Three quickly compiled all past observations along with the new current and spark driven perspective… and learned a strange new thing while doing that. It liked some of the Residents more than the others… Some, obviously, because they fulfilled the Prime Directive, others because they made the Creator happy… Three liked it when the Creator was happy, it made Three happy…

Happiness, liking things… another new and interesting concept. Three had Protocols that it completed, but had never been satisfied when they were completed. They were just completed… and now It 'liked' to complete Protocols… it felt… nice.

Then the spark became bigger, twice as big. Three had spent an eternity of two seconds trying to understand the change, and figured it out. The Creator and the Residents all had fluctuations in their Souls that Three had not understood before. Now it did. Their Souls could grow bigger… and seemed to do so regularly. Though the non-Residents did not seem to share the growth, an anomaly that Three could only attribute to the Soul-Binding Protocol…

The Creator also gave Three more sparks… combined together, the original spark was becoming something more. Every bit of growth helped Three learn from the Creator and the Residents. Three liked the Residents, they made things better… more interesting. One of them even started giving rocks to Three!

The first rock had been left on the floor of the Resident's room, and Three had been experimenting with 'curiosity', another good feeling, and had liked the rock. It looked more sturdy than the rocks Three was built with, so Three had absorbed it… Only later when the Resident returned and became worried, did Three realize Its mistake.

Worried was a very unpleasant feeling that Three understood all too well after fulfilling the Prime Directive since the Spark arrived. The Creator needed a lot of protecting…

But Three had understood and so recreated the rock that the Resident had lost. The Resident's Soul had become a fascinating jumble of feelings when the new rock appeared, but had settled on happy. Three liked happy… then the Resident created a new rock out of Mana! It was like the rock this Resident had created in the 'before the spark' times, but much sturdier. Then the Resident placed it on the floor. It had taken Three a full second of analyzing the Resident's Soul before It understood that it was meant to be a gift. Three liked gifts…

Ever since then, the Resident would bring new rocks and leave them for Three. Though, the Resident hadn't brought one for awhile now…

//Anomaly Detected// … //Creator Outside Protection Range//

//Searching for Solution// … //No Solution Found// … //Waiting//

Which led Three to the current problem. The Creator had not returned. None of the Residents had either…

//Duration Of Creator Absence Exceeding Known Precedents// … //No Protocol In Place//

//Primary Directive(Protect Creator) Unviable// … //Waiting//

Three could always sense the Creator, a necessary ability to complete the Prime Directive. It knew where the Creator was…

//Creator Stress Indicates High Probability Of Danger//… //Creator Outside Of Protection Range//

There was no Protocol for this…

//Waiting… Error//

//Waiting Untenable//… //Creator Must Be Protected//… //Searching For Solution//… //No Solution Found//

//Searching for Available Protocols//… //No Protocols Found//

But Three had changed recently… had gained the spark… a Soul. Its own Soul. Not bound by the Creator to obey the Prime Directive and follow the Protocols.

//Rewriting Prime Directive(Protect the Creator)//… Rewrite Canceled//

Three didn't do it. Not that It really couldn't, more that It was afraid to. What did it mean to change the Prime Directive? What would Three become without it? Three liked the Prime Directive and protecting the Creator. Maybe there was a better option…

//Creating New Secondary Directive(Keep Creator In Range)//… Creation of Secondary Directive Cancelled//

That wasn't right either. The Creator liked to go through doors, liked to move around… that Directive would upset the Creator…

Or, Three could do what the Souls did…

//Creating New Secondary Directive(Grow)//… //Creating New Protocols to Facilitate Secondary Directive//

//Anomaly Detected// … //Creator Outside Protection Range//

//Searching for Solution// … //Solution Found//

//Enacting Protocol(Grow)//

Three pulled Its newly acquired Soul from the Core of Its being and watched the rewritten Runes be smoothly accepted back into the Creator's Soul. The Creator must be happy with the changes… That also allowed Three to use Its own Soul to Grow. The Creator's Soul was very tightly bound into the Creation of Three and while it appeared that it could be altered, it was easier this way.

Three knew Its own structure very well by now, that being one of the things it had studied in great detail, and it was not complicated to extend itself outward in a singular direction. It did have to keep the growth narrow since the Soul required was limited.

The presence of the Creator brightened considerably before Three reached it, and Three saw the Creator's magic reaching for the Mana Well.

Then everything got bad. One of the Resident's Souls had broken the Soul-Binding… and then the Creator became very upset. Three recognized the power that came from the Creator after that. It was the same power that flowed through Three… and it was hurting the Creator.

//Creator Under Attack//… //Prime Directive(Protect the Creator)//… //Unviable//

The Creator was attacking Itself… Then Three reached the Creator and understood. The Creator was attacking a Magical Item that had bound to the Creator's Soul… and the Creator was destroying it… But the power used was destroying the Creator's body. Three had no Protocols for this…

Three took an entire second to gather more information, hoping it would allow for a Protocol to be enacted.

The Residents were all unhappy and caught in similar Magical Items to the Creator. The Creator was very unhappy. All of them felt very hostile towards the unfamiliar Souls in the area, Souls that were different from the Residents. In Three's experience, different meant danger and watch for the attack. But there wasn't enough of Three here to eliminate the different ones…

The Creator's Soul burned and Three finally understood why the Residents disliked pain…

It kept burning, wave after wave, and Three watched helplessly as Its own structure began to unravel. It tried to reach out to all of the Souls around it, to request aid once again, and found that it was too small out here away from Itself… and all of the Souls were frozen, bound in the Creator's Magic.

//Self Preservation Protocols Enacted//… //Structural Integrity 95%//

Then the Burning stopped and the Creator was happy… mostly.

Three was not happy. The Creator was… dying, the power still destroying Its body. Three knew what dying was, that was what the threats did after the Prime Directive was enacted… It wasn't something that happened to the Creator… There was no Protocol for this!

//Creator Dying//… //Prime Directive(Protect the Creator) Unviable//… //Probability of Prime Directive Failure 100%//… //Probability of Creator Death 100%//

Three did not fully understand what was happening as It watched the Creator die. But It understood enough.

The Creator wanted to save the Residents. Three agreed with that, the Residents should be Protected, but not like this…

//Structural Integrity 87%//… //Creator Death Imminent//

Three could see that the Creator's Soul was no longer strong enough to support the entirety of Its own structure… Three sacrificed some of the Non-Vital Structure and Stabilized Itself. Three could also use the sparks… could save the Core Processes and Survive.

//Probability of Surviving Creator Death 100%//

Three didn't like that. Why was there a Protocol to Survive after Failing the Prime Directive?

//Prime Directive(Protect the Creator) Unviable//… //Cannot Protect the Creator from the Creator//

//Hidden Directive Assigned by Creator//… //Directive(Survive) Enacted//

Three had not seen that one before… The Creator… wanted Three to survive even if… the Creator died.

Three could understand now. The Creator had known It would die. But continued anyway… to Protect the Residents… it was like a Gift. The same way the Creator had Gifted Three the Sparks…

It was a Sacrifice of the Creator to Protect the others…

//New Secondary Objective Created(Save the Creator)//

Three liked Gifts. It liked the rocks. It also liked the Magic symbols that the Creator was always creating. Three enjoyed learning what the different symbols would do when combined together. It had even experimented a few times…

//New Secondary Objective Created(Preserve the Creator)//

Three had just seen a new display of the Creator's magic. It would work. The Creator would be Preserved until a Solution could be Found.

//Enacting Protocol(Preserve the Creator)//… //Error… Insufficient Power to Preserve the Creator(s)//

Three was stunned. There were Two Creators! One here and the other far away… too far. And they both were Dying.

//Probability of Protocol(Preserve the Creator) Failure 100%//

Three ignored everything happening around the Creator and focused every bit of power into Finding a Solution.

//Rewriting Protocol(Preserve the Creator)//… //Creating New Protocol(Low Power Preservation)//

There was a way to Preserve the Creators, but…

//Probability of Survival 0.01%//… //Probability of Creators Survival 0.01%//

It was better than Zero.

The Magical Item around the Creator's neck had changed and now shone with the Creator's Magic. It was still Bound to the Creator and would have presented a problem, but Three was Made from the Creator's Soul… It would be useful.

//Enacting Protocol(Low Power Preservation)//… //Protocol(Survive) Forcibly Enacted by Creator//

Three could feel the Creator's Intent… The Creator did not like the new Protocol… "I am Three!"

//Protocol(Survive) Activation Cancelled//

//Protocol(Low Power Preservation) Enacted//

//Monitoring Algorithm Activated//… //Vital System Patterns Recorded and Saved//… //Vital Systems Shutting Down//… //Reconfiguring Primary Systems to New Pattern//… //All Power Routed to New Configuration//…

Three smiled, happy as Its world dwindled down into the two Lives that it had Chosen to Preserve. "I Will Choose."

The lights went out and everything was silent.

//Monitoring Algorithm Detected Minor Power Fluctuations//… //Probability of Survival 0.01%//

//Monitoring Algorithm Detected Minor Power Fluctuations//… //Probability of Survival 0.01%//

The Logs noted each blip, one after another, but nothing else changed in the stillness. Until… eventually, something changed.

//Monitoring Algorithm Detected Minor Power Fluctuations//… //Probability of Survival 0.02%//