Мастер Исандер
Verse and Dimensions: Stories
CHAPTER 2
Hyperman sighed and rolled his eyes. “Prismus, I don’t have anything for you to do. There is literally nothing here. Why don’t you make yourself useful and…make a metasandwich for me?”Hyperman was brought out of his thoughts when, suddenly, a bright hypercubical object zoomed over beside him from behind. “Hey, Hyperman! What do you wanna do today? Where do you wanna go?! Oh wait, just realized you don’t go anywhere outside this godverse, but still! C’mon, please give me something to do, I’m bored! Please, please, pretty please!” The hypercube chirpily spoke.
Prismus was about to reply, when the hypercube began flashing. “A being attempting to gain entrance into this realm, but I don’t recognize its signature…” Prismus observed.
“Then don’t let them in.” Replied Hyperman, before a geometrical portal was suddenly forcibly opened in front of him.
“Julius Christopher Trigonum…!” a figure announced, as she exited the portal and approached Hyperman. “-it is metatime.”
Hyperman tilted his head in confusion. “I’m sorry, who the Hell are you?” He asked the being.
After a brief pause, the being replied, “Call me ‘The Recruiter’.”
“‘Recruiter’? What exactly are you supposed to be ‘recruiting’ me for?”
Hyperman glanced at The Recruiter with heavy skepticism. “I highly doubt ‘existence’ is at stake. Even if it were, those six gods or whatever up there can deal with it.”“A battle is soon to be waged. One that may decide the very fate of Existence itself. And I need your help.”
“-Too risky. My calculations indicate that their intervention can potentially cause severe collateral damage that could even destroy the Folded Cascade. The only way to do this is yourself.”The Recruiter nearly bursted out in laughter in response to Hyperman’s remark, but was able to restrain herself and resist the temptation. “Ah, so what they have said about you is indeed true. You are self-centered, narrow-minded and naive.” Hyperman took offense to The Recruiter’s words. “Listen, lady, I have no idea what makes you think that you’re in any position to be disrespectful of me, nor what makes you feel entitled to be on a first or last-name basis with me. I highly suggest you leave at once, or I will be forced to terminate you.” The Recruiter didn’t stop herself from laughing now. “Oh, that is just precious. Even now, you still believe you are the one in control in this situation? Let me show you something…” Before Hyperman could protest, The Recruiter had grabbed onto his head, and his eyes flashed with a glow. In Hyperman’s Mind’s Eye, he became formless, as all illusions of time and space collapsed and he plunged deep into the abyss. He saw alternate versions of himself, those who had followed different paths in the past and were on the trajectories of different possible futures. Some were glorious, with him leading a prosperous Omniverse and even -verses larger than that. Others were dreadful, with him becoming what he perceived as the embodiment of pure evil. And others were just plain weird, with one possibility which seemed to vaguely involve a cow. But he also experienced so, so much more than that. He sailed across the vast infinite sea of Existence, accelerating through an endless expanse of the cosmos. He saw before him realities beyond his wildest dreams…as well as his nightmares. Hyperman’s mind tried resisting against what he experienced, not wanting to accept it. But the truth of these visions only became more apparent as it progressed. Hyperman screamed in horror, traumatised by all that he had seen as he was returned to his body. He collapsed and curled into a fetal position, whimpering like a beaten animal. The Recruiter shook her head. “Come now, don’t be so dramatic. I just wanted to make a point that I’m a being you should listen to.” She said. However, Hyperman gave no response, paralyzed in fear. “…Trigonum?” she asked. Still no response. The Recruiter sighed. “Great, I broke him. Guess I’ll have to try this again.” she said to herself, reversing metatime back to their argument. Hyperman took offense to The Recruiter’s words. “Look, lady, I have no idea what makes you think that you’re in any position to be disrespectful of me, nor what makes you feel entitled to be on first or last name basis with me. I highly suggest you leave now, or I’ll be forced to terminate you.” The Recruiter shook her head. “If you had any idea what I am truly capable of, you would sorely regret saying that. I am at a level infinitely beyond those puny six beings you call ‘gods’. I have experienced and done things that would break your mind if I even tried describing them to you. How do I know? Because I have already done it. In fact, I have tried approaching this whole interaction 3.71 Octillion different ways, and none of them have worked so far! Many even ended quite gruesomely.” she sighed in frustration. “If, however, there was one thing you have truly challenged me in, it is my level of patience with your stubbornness. So, rather than continue to waste my metatime, I am giving you an ultimatum: help me, or don’t. Your choice. But if Existence collapses, don’t say I didn’t warn you…” The Recruiter handed an object to Hyperman. It was surprisingly mundane, taking the form of an invitation letter with a wax seal. “If you ever change your mind, break the seal, and I will be willing to discuss with you further.” With that, The Recruiter departed, leaving Hyperman and Prismus alone in the Godverse, now with something actually worth contemplating on. Before the events of the prior encounter could be fully processed, however, Hyperman was alerted by Prismus to an occurance in The Omniverse. “I think you would want to know this. The Hexagon Lords are struggling against The Overseer, and it seems like he’s become a monster. They look incredibly tired and near defeat.” Hyperman peered into The Omniverse to remotely view these events for himself…and it was actually even worse than Prismus described it. He then turned back to prismus. “I can’t…” “No no no. What do you mean, ‘you can’t’? Those beings are the closest you have had to friends and mentors, and you are going to let them perish?” “I could just dispatch some Mevalkagna-”
From afar, The Hunter held her bow at the ready, an arrow knocked against it. She pulled back as tightly as she could, until the bow reached the limit of its elasticity. She took aim at the Overseer, locked onto him. The whispered words, “Oversee this”, escaped her mouth, just as the arrow escaped her bow too.Hyperman looked back at the unfolding events, feeling heavily conflicted… – One attempted to launch an energy blast at The Overseer, but he threw a wall of Green Flames up in front of him to block it. The Overseer then stomped down, channeling roots through the surface below him that sprouted up and entangled the manifestations of the Hexagon Lords. The Hexagon Lords were incapable of escaping or otherwise altering their forms, as the roots negated reality warping. As The Overseer began to mercilessly strangle them, he suddenly wavered. He saw, in his peripheral vision, his own shadow shift. It was as if it had taken on an independent sentience and gained free movement. The Hunter and the Hexagon Lords saw this too, and watched as the Overseer’s shadow became 3-dimensional, and moved to face directly in front of him. The Overseer, upon seeing the beady orange eye in the center of the shadow’s chest, instantly recognized what it was. He released the roots, standing in shock. “Overseer, I have returned! And if anyone is going to destroy you, it shall be me!” The Constant declared, as he powered up an energy attack against the Overseer. The Overseer barely dodged the blast, and the two beings continued fighting. The Constant had waited countless eternities for this metamoment, savoring every blow he dealt to The Overseer with great satisfaction. For the first time in a long time, he felt truly alive. Suddenly, the battle would again be interrupted when the heavens ruptured, and Hyperman brought his divine fury down upon The Overseer. The Overseer was knocked down, and he instantly recognized Hyperman. Now, all of his greatest nemeses were gathered against him. He roared in rage, as he charged towards them. The Constant glared upon The Hexagon Lords, The Hunter and Hyperman. “No, stay back! He’s mine!” he viciously growled. That was when an all-out brawl ensued among all the involved parties. Hyperman ultimately came into conflict with The Constant in his efforts to kill The Overseer, and in this happening, an interesting result came about. The Constant suddenly seemed to lose any interest in The Overseer. The pupil in The Constant’s eye contracted, seeming to zero in on Hyperman instead, and with an even greater fixation than on The Overseer. A primal instinct had been activated in The Constant upon seeing Hyperman, something that was part of his very creation. The Constant roared as he charged towards Hyperman, sending an energy blast with the intent to kill him. Hyperman just barely dodged the blast, but it still narrowly grazed him. He kneeled down in pain, a scorching burn visible on his side. The Overseer charged towards The Constant, attacking him. But then, the Green Flames covering his body suddenly turned yellow. Then, a giant tendril bursted out of his body, and impaled The Constant right through his eyeball. The Constant screamed, as his form cracked and deteriorated, and sparks of energy flared out from his punctured eyeball. Then, he shattered like glass in an explosion, dissipating into nothing. The now incredibly monstrous Overseer turned to Hyperman, containing no sign of intelligence or self-awareness any longer. He charged towards Hyperman, and Hyperman expected to finish him off quite easily but was surprised when his attack did not kill him. The Overseer smacked his body away, and Hyperman was slammed against a nearby wall. As he approached Hyperman slowly, The Overseer began rambling incoherently. “The lights…too bright…the sound....too loud…must be dark, must be quiet….kill it all, drown it all for the arrival of the The One That Should Not Be!!!” he hysterically cried out, as he prepared to strike Hyperman down with a killing blow.
The Overseer gasped as the arrow horizontally pierced his skull. He may have normally been able to recover from this, but due to his injuries and overexertion, he succumbed to an untimely fate, and collapsed dead with a heavy thud. The Hunter stepped beside The Overseer’s corpse and solemnly extracted the arrow from his skull, not even uttering a word of goodbye to her former brother. She then dislodged the spear from The Overseer’s chest, and walked towards the edge of the megastructure where what remained of The Overseer’s army had gathered. She raised the spear for all in the crowd to see, as their allegiance was now shifted towards her instead. “Your leader is dead.” She announced as she did so. This announcement garnered a wide variety of reactions. Some were angered and upset, while many others were overjoyed to finally be free. “You no longer have a banner to unite under. Go, leave this place, and do what you will. But do not bring harm upon the Cascade, or we shall bring judgement upon you. We will give no other chance.” With that, the army dispersed and retreated, exiting the Folded Cascade.
Primus, meanwhile, scanned the corpse of The Overseer out of curiosity, then urgently flew towards The Hunter once it saw the results. “Put that down! It’s contaminated with The External Hazard!” he warned. The Hunter yelped, throwing the spear and the arrow down as tendrils began forming from them. Hyperman promptly fainted.
“There are some things that bother me.” suddenly spoke The Hunter, who had been quietly fletching her arrows in the background.
CHAPTER 3 . . . “So, what do you think so far?” Dei asked as she took a brief break from reading. “All it seems to me is some stupid boring drama about mortals. What the fuck kind of Supergod would ever want to read, much less even write that?!” Qorter griped. Dei shrugged. “I like it!” “Sigh, of course you do.” replied Onu. “Now can we please just leave the library and continue reading some other day? The stelloids are coming out, we should return to our Beyond Bubble.” “Nope, we are going to stay here all metanight and read the whole story!” Dei said enthusiastically. Onu groaned harder, and slunk back in defeat. “Anyways, who knows, maybe you’ll end up enjoying it!” Dei said, as she resumed her reading. . . . When Hyperman came to, he was in the Folded Cascade’s infirmary, with medical automatons floating around him in an orbit. Prismus was there as well. “Ah, you’re awake!” Prismus enthusiastically announced when Hyperman saw it. “W-what happened to me?” he asked groggily, still getting his bearings. “You lost a significant amount of blood from your injury, and you collapsed.” Hyperman paused for a moment, processing what Prismus had said. The words “lost blood”, “injury”, they swirled around his mind as he had difficulty comprehending it. “-But…how? I’m a God, how could I have been injured by some mortal creature?” “That is because The Constant is anything but ‘some mortal creature’.” replied Four, who stood nearby. “He was a powerful entity, and in fact the creator of the very place we now reside in. I have seen the timelines in which he once ruled the Cascade, and I learned that he was something deserving of fear and respect.” “And you never told us this before, because why?” asked One. Four shrugged. “I didn’t believe it would have been important in this timeline. But that is neither here nor there. My point is, when The Constant attacked Hyperman, it depowered him and stripped him of his nigh-omnipotence; put simply, he is now mortal. Had he taken the full brunt of the attack, Hyperman surely would have been destroyed.” Hyperman felt himself become “smaller” and more vulnerable upon hearing this. “I’m…mortal?” He repeated, not having fully processed it yet. “I would be grateful that’s all you are.” Four replied. “Like I said, you could have been killed.” Hyperman turned to Prismus. “Contact Creator and Destroyer. I need their help.” he commanded. Prismus obliged, and projected two holographic windows before Hyperman. The windows were blank at first, before the visages of Creator and Destroyer came into view. “Grah, what is this strupid portal doing in my godverse?!” Destroyer angrily grumbled, before seeing Hyperman. “Oh, it’s you…what do you want?” he demanded, still not in any better of a mood. Creator next came into view. “Ah, Hyperman. For what reason do you wish to converse with me?” he said, his mood much greater in contrast to Destroyer. “Something has happened. I was injured by The Constant and became mortal.” Hyperman said. “Ah, yes. I already know of what happened.” replied Creator. “I need your help to make me nigh-omnipotent again.” Hyperman followed up. Creator shook his head. “I am sorry, Hyperman, but the chain of events that culminated in your ascension were essentially one large accident. I doubt it could be replicated by us in the present circumstances. I cannot simply cut off my hand for you to eat. Unless you are able to procure a large-enough amount of Alom to regain your power with, it seems as though you are stuck mortal.” “It truly is a shame.” Destroyer added, with a smug semi-sarcasm as the video transmission ended. “Damn it!” Hyperman grunted. “Why don’t we just call that lady? She seems like someone who could help.” Prismus suggested. Hyperman shot a glare at Prismus. “No, we are not calling the lady.” he snapped back. “I am going to figure this out on my own.” As Hyperman contemplated, The Hexagon Lords were studying The Huntsman’s spear. Or, at least, it used to be a spear. “After isolating the spear, we were able to disinfect it and cleanse it of the Hazard.” Two commentated, as ze observed it. “However, it came with unintended additional effects. As it turns out, this is not in fact a spear…” ze said, as the others saw that in place of the spear were a set of two silver knight gauntlets. “So, they were just gauntlets this entire time? The spear was merely an illusion disguising it?” asked Five. “Well, yes and no.” Four noted. “You could say that it was simultaneously both; but yes, the gauntlets were technically under a disguise.”
“Now wait just a moment. Who even are you? You haven’t yet explained yourself after pulling that little stunt of yours.” Six said confrontationally.
“I thought it would have been obvious from what you saw that The Overseer was my brother. I knew he was coming here, so I came to help you all and settle a score.”
Six scoffed. “Well gee, that ‘help’ of yours sure would have been appreciated during all the other times he has attacked us!”
“Actually, I have helped before, you just never knew. Remember how he lost his eye in The Alom Wars? That was me, you’re welcome.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter who did what when.” Three said as she got between them. “What matters right now is this very moment. Let’s let this woman speak, she may have some valuable insights.”
Six, reluctantly, motioned for The Hunter to resume speaking.
“Thank you. Now, as I was saying, if The Constant truly was powerful enough to remove the immortality of a God, I have difficulty believing that my brother could have completely destroyed him without help. Something lent him an incredible amount of power.”
“I am of the same belief.” One concurred. “Of course, my greatest suspicion lies with the spear, or rather the gauntlets.”
The Hunter nodded. “Precisely. I am no expert on these things, but here’s my theory: My brother and the crowd he was among were toying with forces infinitely beyond their comprehension. He unknowingly became a pawn in the schemes of whatever force had taken control of him and destroyed The Constant. So my hypothesis is, it was not my brother who killed The Constant, but rather whatever force which was doing it through him. That infection of the External Hazard on gauntlets likely served as some sort of bridging connection.”
“But that begs the question, why would this force want The Overseer to be in possession of such an artifact?” Two asked out loud.
Hyperman, who had been overhearing the conversation, stood up and approached the group. “Well, continuing to follow this line of logic, this force clearly wanted The Overseer to serve as a guard of the relic, which he failed. But, these gauntlets are likely part of an entire set of armor, which could mean that there are also other guardians for the other pieces.” he posited. Some of the Hexagon Lords nodded in agreement.
“So, where should we go from here?” One asked the group.
“I am not sure… but I for one can’t stick around. I need to find some way to regain my nigh-omnipotence.” Hyperman replied, as he was already beginning to walk away.
Then, The Hunter too was next to leave, preparing to depart from the base. “Where are you going?” One asked as he saw The Hunter begin to leave.
The Hunter slowly turned around, to face One. “I must go, in search of answers. My brother was corrupted by something dark, and I must find out what.”
One nodded to her. “Well, good luck then. I hope you find the answers you seek. And…good luck.”
“So, how exactly do you plan to get your power back?” Prismus asked Hyperman as they walked along.
“With my connections. I happen to know the right individuals.” replied Hyperman, as he faced Prismus.
”Generate a gateway to the megastructure of the Collective Consciousness.” he commanded. Prismus obeyed, and soon it had opened a portal. Hyperman and Prismus walked through the portal, to meet The Mevalkagna…
As she traveled deeper into this wild region, The Hunter sensed a more subtle presence. She knew now that the Spirits were no-doubt close. If The Hunter listened or watched closely, she could even faintly see or hear the spirits around her. They observed her with curiosity, but still all keeping their distance. “Do not fear me.” The Hunter called out. "I come to your aid as a friend. I seek the sanctuary which once held those beings that were called 'The Trickster Gods'. Investigating it is of great importance and significance to me."
CHAPTER 4 Not much later, The Hunter was traveling through her native multiverse. Her and her brother began their existence here, so it held a special significance to The Hunter. However, most positive memories were tainted by the fact that this also served as the capital of The Overseer's cruel empire. The Hunter tried to banish these thoughts from her head, as she found her environment beginning to change. The region of universes she was currently in was less tamed than the rest of the multiverse. Wild creatures traveled between universes, a sight which was practically nonexistent in civilized and industrialized multiverses. But there was an uneasy undertone to it. The Hunter remembered this multiverse being so much more full of life, and busier with activity. But now, it had fallen near-silent, despite the presence of the creatures. They almost seemed afraid of The Hunter, cowering away from her as if she heralded a bad omen.
There was a prolonged moment of silence, as the spirits continued to silently watch her. Then, in an instant they all faded away. The Hunter stood alone, before she once again saw one of the spirits standing at a certain point. Then, another spirit stood next to that one along the same direction. And then another one. It was then that The Hunter realized that they were showing her the way. So, she followed the spirits, along the path of the directions that they appeared through.
The Hunter’s attention was suddenly grabbed by a deep animalistic growling noise. She turned in the direction of that noise, finding only the tree. Upon investigating the tree, The Hunter did not notice anything at first glance. But then, she heard the noise again. So The Hunter followed the noise, until she came upon a gruesome sight.Eventually, The Hunter approached a clearing surrounded by Universes. At the center was a large tree, called The Mother Root. Its branches and roots spread along and through a floating cluster of universes suspended within the void, which it rested atop of. From what she understood, this tree had held a significance in the Trickster Gods' culture. To them, it served as a primary bridging connection between them and the greater spirits, through which great knowledge was exchanged.
An emaciated figure rested at the base of the tree, partially embedded within it. He had a head resembling that of a deer on earth in a standard universe – or at least what was left of it. Much of the skin and muscle was gone, leaving a ghastly skeletal caricature in its place. The same held true for the rest of his body, although it was more humanoid than the head. The animalistic growling continued, as The Hunter slowly and cautiously approached the being."What – who are you?" She asked.
The creature, in reply, at first only let out a series of growls and grunts. Then, he finally stabilized himself, speaking coherently. "I am Den Vise, of the Ungtrær clan." He rasped, forcing sound through his loosely-hinged jawbones. "I am, or was, one of the beings your kind refer to as 'Trickster Gods'."
The Hunter shook her head. “I promise, I'm here to help." She calmly said, reaching her hand out to him. Suddenly, she saw a rich emerald-green flame sprout from her hand, blazing with a warm and comforting presence. Furthermore, it did not burn or hurt her hand. Both The Hunter and Den Vise were surprised to see this. The flaming hand hovered over Den Vise, before the flames covered him. He was not burned or harmed by the flames either. In fact, he was being healed by them. The missing flesh, fur and muscle rapidly replaced itself.The Hunter was taken aback. Before her was an incredibly rare sight- a Trickster God, likely the last one left in the entire multiverse. “What happened to you?” The Hunter asked with curiosity, as she kneeled down towards Den Vise. Den Vise spontaneously jerked around, before returning to his stationary position. “Don’t come near me!” he hissed.
He was released from the bindings of the tree's roots, which crumbled away from him. Den Vise rose to his feet, standing tall above The Hunter. A true god.
"You…have been blessed." Spoke Den Vise, in astonishment.
"What do you mean?" Asked The Hunter.
"The Huntsman…his spirit is within you. You carry his power."
The Hunter silently thanked him as she took the bow. As she held it, she could now truly feel The Huntsman's power within her, and felt a more intimate connection to The Hunt. But now, she knew had to focus on the matter at hand. "Since I have healed you, you owe me something in return." The Hunter commanded. “And that bow alone shall not suffice.”The Hunter then realized that The Huntsman's spirit must have transferred into her when she killed The Overseer and took his spear. Speaking of which, Den Vise then noticed that The Hunter lacked said spear. “It’s…no longer functional.” The Hunter commented, knowing what Den Vise was thinking based on his expressions. “But, without a tool to properly channel and harness the power of The Huntsman, you may become consumed.” warned Den Vise. “How am I supposed to get one?” “You don’t ‘get’ it…you make it.” Den Vise corrected, eyeing The Hunter’s bow. “…let me see that.” he said. The Hunter glanced at Den Vise with suspicion, but nonetheless gave her bow to him. As Den Vise held it in his hands, he uttered an incantation in a low growl, and some Green Flames began flowing from The Hunters’s hands and onto the bow, absorbing into the bow. Den Vise then passed it back to her. “This now shall serve as the new badge of office, for the Spirit of The Hunt.”
Den Vise bowed to her. “Of course, anything.”
“I must know what had become of my brother, The Overseer; why he had fallen victim to corruption.”
Den Vise violently jerked his head in The Hunter’s direction. “Oh, so you are his sister?” He rasped, his only-slightly-friendly demeanor now completely absent just as quick as it had appeared. “That monster is worse than anything that any Trickster God has done combined.”
“Correction: was.” Replied The Hunter. “I killed him.”
Den Vise studied The Hunter intently, before slightly relaxing his composure. “Very well. In appreciation of your healing, I shall tell you all that I know.”
He took a deep breath, before beginning his explanation. “The Ungtrær clan is the last surviving tribe of 'Trickster Gods'… and that is because we were the smartest.” He snarled. “From the very beginning, we could tell that something was off about this Overseer. Most of the other tribes were blind to this however, as they only saw an opportunity to reclaim their positions through deceiving him.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “When we brought forth The Beasts of Burden onto this plane, I could sense a sudden shift. Something dark, something which was not supposed to be there, had attached itself to them, and in turn corrupted The Overseer.”
The Hunter looked up at Den Vise. “And what was that dark force?” she asked.
Before he could reply, they both heard an ominous rumbling in the distance. It sounded very…industrial, and mechanical, judging by the sounds of metallic clangs that were being made. Hunter looked to see countless large machines cutting through The Multiverse's wild regions, reaping all the resources for themselves as fuel for whatever project they were developing. "What are these mechanical beasts?!" Den Vise roared, as he watched his home crumble all around him. He then turned to The Hunter, glaring intently at her. "You! Did you bring them here?! Was this some trap you've orchestrated for revenge?!" He roared furiously.
“I…can’t make anything out! It’s an endless storm of ones and zeroes!” The Hunter whimpered, before she collapsed unconscious from being mentally overwhelmed."No! I swear I had nothing to do with this!" The Hunter said pleadingly. Den Vise looked at her, and sighed in resignation. The Hunter then gazed upon the giant robot leading the army. “Like my brother, I too inherited the ability to peer into minds.” She said, as she attempted to tap into Terminus. However, she instantly cried out in pain as she crumpled down. “What’s wrong?” Den Vise said as he approached her.
Den Vise scooped up The Hunter's unconscious form, quickly carrying her to somewhere safe away from these machines. To be honest, not even he really knew why he was doing this. But somehow, he knew that he was "obligated" to, in a certain way. Together with her, he fled and escaped the onslaught of these machines.
-–
Meanwhile, in another part of The Omniverse, a massive labor was underway. Robotic and techno-organic units worked endlessly, as they transported supplies from location to location. Massive parts and components were manipulated by the tools of the workers, as they painstakingly assembled them together to form the whole. One robotic worker guided the large heavy chest plate towards part of the machine it was intended to cover, attaching it to it. The machine under construction was a large and imposing one. It represented the fruit of all that these technological beings had been seeking to accomplish for so long. This goal predated even them, going back all the way to the era of The Eternal Imperium, who were the original architects of this device. Ironically, it was not fully machine. There were some components of non-mechanical matter, although not exactly organic, in the appendages of the machine to create more flexible and adaptable structures. As the workers prepared to activate the machine, there was no ceremony, there was no reflection. They did not have any emotional attachment to what they were doing. They were only following orders, and activating the machine was the next order to follow. Power surged through the many cords and wires connected to the machine, fueled by all the -verses that had been enslaved. As the machine came alive, a raw fiery resolve burned through its digital eyes, as it rose up and cast aside the cords connected to it, prepared to rally an army for its final stand.