Your head feels heavy, your memories foggy, and as you struggle to recall where you are and what you were doing, you hear the sound of something large and heavy moving behind you. Whatever it is - machinery of some sort, you can tell that much right away - it doesn’t seem hostile; merely a massive machine going about doing something down far, far below you. You can see it - through the cracks of the floor you're standing on, and the steep drop off the side. At least there’s a railing on this path to keep you from falling down there?
No matter which way you look - up, down, or out straight ahead of you - there’s endless paths and structures, as though you’re standing in some sort of massive building. You look to your left and there’s a broken section of wall revealing open space - strange, since you aren’t wearing anything different, yet you’re still breathing just fine.
A loud ping! catches your attention, followed by a few more. As you turn around to find the source of the noise, you’re led to a rundown computer terminal. It looks ancient, untouched, and dusty, and yet there’s a message in bright green standing against the stark black contrast of the monitor.
/// L O A D I N G . . .
Oh good, you’re awake.
Hi, I don’t have much time, so please pay close attention.
You’re the only ones who can save this world - all worlds, maybe.
Thank you for agreeing to help.
For now, please practice your new abilities and try to work together.
I’ll be in contact with you as soon as possible.
It feels familiar, like maybe you've experienced something similar before, despite the fact that none of you recognize this place. What's going on here? What have you gotten yourself into?
AWAKENING
Your memories leading up to your sudden arrival in this place may be foggy. Even if they aren't, you certainly don't remember how you got here of all places. And where exactly is here? Well, inside of some sort of massive structure that expands outwards, backwards, downwards, and upwards. Every direction you look, there's plenty of building to be seen, whether it's walkways over the abyss (but thankfully with mostly sturdy guard rails) or stairs and ramps leading up and down to new floors, or even rooms that don't seem to hold much of interest. All of it is rundown, worn and in desperate need of some dusting.
Before you sits the terminal, a sturdy computer set into a pillar with an old-fashioned and dusty keyboard. The green text remains bright against the black background, with a cursor indicating that you can input text, if you'd like. You may try to communicate with whoever's on the other end at any point in time during the week, though you may not receive the answers you're hoping for.
Not too far away is a carefully-arranged group of supplies. You'll find plenty of non-perishable food, blankets and bedrolls, clothes in your sizes that are plain but acceptable, and some basic supplies - things like rope and matches and flashlights, but no weapons or anything you could use to defend yourselves. You'll also find a large room nearby that happens to have several bathrooms and a fairly large communal shower. Despite being rather old and dusty, they do work... though the water never gets above "not freezing". Sorry about that.
Looks like you'll have to settle in, as there doesn't seem to be any way out of this strange structure.
EXPLORATION
It's likely that your first thought will be to explore. Why not? After all, there must be a way back home, or at least a way out of wherever this is. Traversing the structure is fairly easy, as even if a path is blocked by rubble, you'll find another one going in a similar direction somewhere nearby. In fact, the entire place seems to be rather pointlessly constructed - hallways that lead to dead ends, paths that loop in circles for no reason, and far, far too many stairs.
If you're lucky, you'll stumble across rooms with some basic supplies. They won't have any food or weapons, but you'll find some dusty fabrics and blankets, or small caches of tools. If you're unlucky, you'll be lost in this structure for far too long, wandering off the beaten path and possibly losing track of where you are and how to get back to the base... you might want to travel with a buddy, just to be safe. Or hope that someone stumbles across you and can guide you back, your pick.
Holes in the structure open out into what looks like... well, outer space. An endless sea of stars amidst a black sky that never changes, making it hard to tell how much time has passed. Despite this, you can breathe easily, just as you would back home.
MACHINES
It won't take you long to notice that you aren't truly alone. After all, how could you be, when massive machines seem to be hard at work on constructing even more of this place? The large ones - the builders - do just that, building more pathways and rooms and walkways, endlessly working and never stopping. They don't take notice of you; they won't respond to anything you say, and even attempting to poke and prod them won't get a reaction. Even if you get particularly daring and try to take one apart, you'll find that it's nearly impossible; these machines are massive. Finding a panel to get into to get at their wiring is strangely impossible. They seem to be completely seamless, with nothing you can really do to investigate them further.
But they aren't the only machines present. Though you likely won't see them immediately, you will hear them; a skittering, metal-on-metal clicking sound that alerts you to a presence, but fades before you can even detect which direction it was coming from. Whatever it is, it seems to be watching you.
And if you're ever alone... well, then they'll show themselves. Around three feet tall and made of metal with long, spindly legs that look like they shouldn't support their thicker cores, these spider-like robots aren't particularly strong on their own, but they never attack on their own, only in groups of three or more. If you're especially unlucky, you can find upwards of ten of them at a time. They have two claw-like "hands" that can shoot a jolt of electricity or scratch at you - and be careful, because they hurt! That jolt of electricity can even leave a burn if you're unlucky.
But surely if you stick together you won't have to fight them... right?
SHARDS
The strange gemstone imbedded in the back of your dominant hand almost hums when you're in danger. It fills you with confidence, with the knowledge that you can do something - though what exactly that something is varies from person to person. You might be lucky enough that you innately recognize your power and know how to use it. You might not be that lucky and you might have to manifest it in combat to defend yourself. Regardless, it will manifest - and you now have access to a power all your own.
It's not going to be easy to control it. This power is new to you, and you'll need to practice to have a hope of utilizing it in full. But right now, you have the means to defend yourself, and if those spider robots get particularly bold, you can stop them. After all, what better way to put your power to use than by testing it on fairly weak robots?
Let's hope that you can aim your power well enough, however. While the builders may not care about you at any point in time, if an attack goes wide and hits them or they're otherwise in the path of an ability, they will turn their full attention on you. You really don't want that. Builders are relentless in their pursuit of you - and they have massive steel beams they will swing at you, or they'll try to crush you with their giant hands and fists. There are only two ways to stop a builder: the first is to run far, far away. They cannot chase you, as they are connected to the building itself, after all. The other way is to destroy the joints of the arms or wrists, rendering the builder incapable of doing anything. Better hope you don't anger any of the ones near your base!
DOWNTIME
Aside from exploring, mastering the power of your shard, and getting to know one another... there really isn't much to do here. So how are you going to spend the time? After all, it's just you, your fellow shardbearers, and some robots that probably aren't sentient. Settle in, it looks like you've got a long week ahead of you.
ENEMIES
This week's enemies are described above: spider robots and builders. If you have an enemy idea you'd like to have your character encounter, let me know and we can discuss it!
Spider robots are three feet tall, silver metal spider-like robots that look vaguely like this. They have a core in the center of their body that can be taken, but it isn't particularly useful outside of being cool to look at. Even you tech nerds won't be able to get much out of it, as it seems impossible to find a way to dismantle it further. Spider robots come with two "hands" that have sharp claws on them; they're capable of creating electric zaps with these hands, which really hurt if they connect! Spider robots are very fast and will skitter away the moment there's danger... unless there's three or more of them, then they get bold. They will attack anyone sleeping, especially if they're alone. They're fairly weak enemies, and can be fended off even if you don't have a great grasp on your powers just yet.
The builders are a different story. Massive, structure-spanning robots that are nearly impossible to tell apart from the building itself, the only real part of them that you can identify are their dark metal arms. They are likewise massive, with one hand being large and strong enough to flatten five of you if you aren't careful. Though the builders are non-hostile and will go about their business of building this never-ending structure, they will turn their attention on you if you hit them with any sort of ability... even if that ability isn't an attack. They can swing giant metal beams or just go for the option of trying to crush you with their hands. They're slow-moving, but very powerful; though they can't pursue you so at least there's that. If you anger one near the base, watch out - as you will have to defeat it.
['Loneliness is often the byproduct of a gifted mind', echoed a distant voice in his head. Maybe that had been true, but certainly not as the reassurance it was meant to be.]
...There is of course value in time spent with others. But on occasion, a little solitary quiet is worthwhile to clear one's head.
[Caught off guard, he raised his free hand to fidget with that wide collar in the silence that followed. Like a machine processing a request, his eyes shifted from the ethereal silver-white of infinity to something warmer; red-gold, almost human in color.]
It was primarily my own fault that we fell out as we did. Whether I miss him or not...is less important than ensuring we remain separated. For his own sake.
[Direct hit, judging by the second abrupt silence that followed.]
No.
He was the first person to look at me as though I were...normal. [Uneasily drumming his fingers on his staff as he spoke, Viktor staring out at the stars instead of looking at Ashley.] Jayce has done more for my benefit than I can ever begin to explain, much less repay in kind.
There is no removing the marks someone like that leaves on another's life, no more or less than removing their own human heart.
[It wasn't an accusation, and carried no hostility--more like confusion, or even a trace of disbelief.]
No, Ashley. To miss someone like that is the exact opposite of 'empty'. Something immaterial twists upon itself and contorts with pain, something that defies reason and can not be alleviated with any physical remedy. That is not the absence of feeling, but the overabundance of it.
Emptiness would be the inability to feel even that--not only the absence of that pain, but to no longer understand why it hurt at all.
[That came sharply, the usual mechanical tone falling away to no more than a dull echo. Despite that he sounded hesitant, like the words were something Viktor himself was inexperienced with]
You are not a machine. Humans do not...break. No matter how close they may feel to doing so.
I feel- hollow, done, empty. And I almost- wish it was emptier. That it could just be that, and I didn't still... That he wasn't still the first person I think about when I wake up.
Edited (no that icon needs to be sadder) 2025-01-18 02:32 (UTC)
...You are right--such pain feels senseless, no? If I were capable of simply not feeling the absence of Jayce as I would feel a hole burned through my chest, that would of course be easier. But it would not be human.
[Another long silence followed that, in which Viktor slowly lowered himself to sit with his back to the nearest wall and his staff leaning against his shoulder. His leg was starting to ache from standing so long, and that was a reminder he could do without right now.]
On my world, there was once...a monster who purported it would save the world from themselves. It claimed that all minds on Runeterra cried out for better lives, wishing to exist devoid of the misery and pain that came with the act of living itself. This monster--the Machine Herald could remove free will at a touch and create absolute blind obedience where once had been human hearts. Eventually, it grew powerful enough to go even further--converting humans into what he deemed their perfected forms, mindless husks of metal and porcelain. Without pain, without fear, without anything. He deemed it the glorious evolution of humankind.
[His voice caught dangerously on the words, and even without that inhuman sound he felt sick to even speak of it. Risky, with Jinx around to recognize the epithet, but...it was wrong to go around like he had done nothing wrong. Like he deserved to save any world. This small concession would be enough, and maybe it would make Ashley understand his meaning.]
And when the Herald was finished, when every equation was solved and what he saw as true peace was realized...there was nothing left. An expanse of pure emptiness, a dead world of dreamless solitude. He understood he had lost everything, destroyed piece by piece with his own hands because he believed 'nothing' was better than pain.
Evolution has no destination. Humans are meant to meet adversity, and struggle against it. And, ultimately, to overcome it.
[ Ashley really looks at Viktor for the first time. The gears in her head are slow, and she feels a little floaty. But...she remembers, an accident. A long story. The road to hell, paved with good intentions.
Her eyes linger on the way what looks like circuitry runs over his skin. Technology with magic. What could that lead to, if not...
It's a lot for her to take in, if she really sits in the implications. It's easier if it's a story, but it's not, is it? It's not tertiary or secondary, it's a primary source. ]
...What if...I don't feel like I can overcome it?
[ In the end, she just sits on it. Turns it over in her mind. ]
[Viktor wasn't stupid. More than that, he was sure Ashley wasn't stupid. The paper-thin veil of deniability was in the single degree of distance put between 'Viktor' and 'the Machine Herald', unspoken truth hanging in the air like an executioner's blade.]
When all was said and done, he began to reach through time and space to find someone who could prevent that outcome. If not in his own timeline, then in another and another and another.
[In all timelines, in all possibilities. Eternal penance for one who had all but become a god and devil both. Save a thousand more worlds than he destroyed, and still it would never be enough to rectify the damage done.]
What I mean is that...if you can not do something alone, that is fine. Natural, perhaps. But if that is the case, then the only recourse is to reach out to another.
[ Ah, he thinks that... Ashley turns her gaze back out to space. She doesn't exactly want to explain. Not when he's made it clear, for his partner, he would move the sky. ]
I think you could stay. [He leaned a litle further back against the wall, closing prismatic eyes like he felt a deep, soul-crushing exhaustion. He did, but that was well beside the point right now.]
That is no one's choice to make but your own. But my own perspective is simple, should it influence that choice: if we have nothing we can return to, then why not continue forward?
[ Hah. Ashley does not flinch but her relatively blank expression does screw up a little. From what Dorothy said, and how she reacted... What a picture that must paint for everyone. ]
...I still have my parents, you know. My mom and step-dad. It's not- I'm not...completely alone.
[His voice was as steady as ever; lacking judgment or accusation. By all appearances it really did sound like he wasn't trying to convince her one way or another.]
There is no reason you need to shoulder our ostensible purpose here, if you do not wish to.
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['Loneliness is often the byproduct of a gifted mind', echoed a distant voice in his head. Maybe that had been true, but certainly not as the reassurance it was meant to be.]
...There is of course value in time spent with others. But on occasion, a little solitary quiet is worthwhile to clear one's head.
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[ ... ]
Do you miss your partner, Viktor?
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[Caught off guard, he raised his free hand to fidget with that wide collar in the silence that followed. Like a machine processing a request, his eyes shifted from the ethereal silver-white of infinity to something warmer; red-gold, almost human in color.]
It was primarily my own fault that we fell out as we did. Whether I miss him or not...is less important than ensuring we remain separated. For his own sake.
['Desperately', in other words.]
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[ Blunt, isn't she? ]
Do you think...there's anything that would make you not miss him?
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No.
He was the first person to look at me as though I were...normal. [Uneasily drumming his fingers on his staff as he spoke, Viktor staring out at the stars instead of looking at Ashley.] Jayce has done more for my benefit than I can ever begin to explain, much less repay in kind.
There is no removing the marks someone like that leaves on another's life, no more or less than removing their own human heart.
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I guess not.
But does it ever stop feeling so empty?
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[It wasn't an accusation, and carried no hostility--more like confusion, or even a trace of disbelief.]
No, Ashley. To miss someone like that is the exact opposite of 'empty'. Something immaterial twists upon itself and contorts with pain, something that defies reason and can not be alleviated with any physical remedy. That is not the absence of feeling, but the overabundance of it.
Emptiness would be the inability to feel even that--not only the absence of that pain, but to no longer understand why it hurt at all.
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I guess maybe I'm just busted then.
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[That came sharply, the usual mechanical tone falling away to no more than a dull echo. Despite that he sounded hesitant, like the words were something Viktor himself was inexperienced with]
You are not a machine. Humans do not...break. No matter how close they may feel to doing so.
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[ When she feels at all. ]
I feel- hollow, done, empty. And I almost- wish it was emptier. That it could just be that, and I didn't still... That he wasn't still the first person I think about when I wake up.
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[Another long silence followed that, in which Viktor slowly lowered himself to sit with his back to the nearest wall and his staff leaning against his shoulder. His leg was starting to ache from standing so long, and that was a reminder he could do without right now.]
On my world, there was once...a monster who purported it would save the world from themselves. It claimed that all minds on Runeterra cried out for better lives, wishing to exist devoid of the misery and pain that came with the act of living itself. This monster--the Machine Herald could remove free will at a touch and create absolute blind obedience where once had been human hearts. Eventually, it grew powerful enough to go even further--converting humans into what he deemed their perfected forms, mindless husks of metal and porcelain. Without pain, without fear, without anything. He deemed it the glorious evolution of humankind.
[His voice caught dangerously on the words, and even without that inhuman sound he felt sick to even speak of it. Risky, with Jinx around to recognize the epithet, but...it was wrong to go around like he had done nothing wrong. Like he deserved to save any world. This small concession would be enough, and maybe it would make Ashley understand his meaning.]
And when the Herald was finished, when every equation was solved and what he saw as true peace was realized...there was nothing left. An expanse of pure emptiness, a dead world of dreamless solitude. He understood he had lost everything, destroyed piece by piece with his own hands because he believed 'nothing' was better than pain.
Evolution has no destination. Humans are meant to meet adversity, and struggle against it. And, ultimately, to overcome it.
no subject
Her eyes linger on the way what looks like circuitry runs over his skin. Technology with magic. What could that lead to, if not...
It's a lot for her to take in, if she really sits in the implications. It's easier if it's a story, but it's not, is it? It's not tertiary or secondary, it's a primary source. ]
...What if...I don't feel like I can overcome it?
[ In the end, she just sits on it. Turns it over in her mind. ]
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When all was said and done, he began to reach through time and space to find someone who could prevent that outcome. If not in his own timeline, then in another and another and another.
[In all timelines, in all possibilities. Eternal penance for one who had all but become a god and devil both. Save a thousand more worlds than he destroyed, and still it would never be enough to rectify the damage done.]
What I mean is that...if you can not do something alone, that is fine. Natural, perhaps. But if that is the case, then the only recourse is to reach out to another.
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She was among those. Apparently. It's still hard to believe.
...Isn't it? ]
How do you know who's the right person? What if...they let you down?
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[Not even just the necromancy. Sometimes he was just kind of a moron.]
What makes them significant is what happens after that. Whether they choose to help rebuild what was broken down.
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...There's no point thinking about it. Not...like this. It's already too late.
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[Given the way she acted, it wasn't impossible to guess why she thought as much.]
Think about it. This is a place wholly foreign to any of us. A new start, in a sense. Why not see where it leads?
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You think I should stay.
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That is no one's choice to make but your own. But my own perspective is simple, should it influence that choice: if we have nothing we can return to, then why not continue forward?
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...I still have my parents, you know. My mom and step-dad. It's not- I'm not...completely alone.
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[His voice was as steady as ever; lacking judgment or accusation. By all appearances it really did sound like he wasn't trying to convince her one way or another.]
There is no reason you need to shoulder our ostensible purpose here, if you do not wish to.
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All I know is... I don't know what I want anymore. Everything's been turned on its head.