Another Online: Clockwork

by Terra Snover

  “Not just my armor, I have been playing with my code a lot.” She pulled a lock of her red hair and leaned closer to me. “Look at this change.”

  “What is going on there?” It was her normal red but now the hue shifted like that of a flame. Again, you wouldn't notice the change if you weren't looking for it.

  “I grabbed some code from a fire elemental and put it on me. Along with some other fun stuff in there. Skills and attacks I shouldn't have. Upped stats a bit… Okay, a lot. Really, I think I could stand up to most N0s now. If I was like this when we attacked Stone Keep, I could have killed Arron in that fight, no problem.” She let go of her hair and leaned back. I frowned a bit, she and I almost died because we took on Arron during that battle. If she could handle that fight on her own now I was very impressed.

  “Should you be messing with your own code that much, isn’t that dangerous?” I frowned, my gut turning a bit. I didn’t dare mess with my own code. Making items was one thing but this was another level of crazy.

  “It may be hard for you but for me this is easy.” She placed her index finger to her chin. “Well, maybe not easy but I’m way better than you.” She gave me a wink.

  “Doesn’t take much to be better than me as far as all this code stuff goes.”

  “I also managed to do this.” She held out her hand and a tiny ring of white light appeared in it.

  “Okay, you made a light.” I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “No, this is a new skill I made myself.” She gave a big smile, leaned closer and whispered. “It's probably as powerful as your blackhole spell.”

  “Shut up.” My eyes widened. “That’s impossible.”

  “Not if you do nothing but screw around with code during your free time.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  “Just took a low-level attack spell and jacked up the damage.” She sent the light away. “The only problem is I can't use it in combat. Well, I could, but that would be like announcing to the world I have GM powers.”

  “I don't know about messing around with your own code like that.” I sat up straight. “You could have glitched yourself to death!”

  “But I didn’t.” She looked away from me, like a kid who was found eating all the sweets she was told not to eat. “Look, no risks, no rewards. Doing all this is telling me all kinds of things. Like all items that hold energy have a max amount that they can handle, but Ns don’t have that problem. That's why the Fae could be used as consistent power for those suits but not power stones.”

  “So, what you are saying is that we won't be able to use items to power the DoS device?” I sighed and nibbled at my skewer.

  “I didn’t say that. I haven't been at this long and I have made a lot of progress. Give me more time and everything will be good to go one way or another.”

  “Do me a favor and be a bit less risky when it comes to messing with your own code. I would prefer to keep you around.”

  “Aw shucks, Var, your maternal side is just so cute.” She leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Where Hell’a was cold to the touch, like a body that was long dead, Amber’s was super hot, I mean so hot it may have hurt someone that didn’t have a good amount of fire resistance like I do. Way warmer than the last time she kissed me. I think I blushed and placed my hand where her lips were moments ago. “That fire elemental code may have done more than you think. I bet you could heat up water just by poking your finger into it.”

  "I can. I've done it." She smiled and her eyes drifted behind me. "Admiral Tyn is on her way over to us." I turned to look where Amber was looking. And there approached Tyn, the fourth identical Imp sister. Her long silver hair was tied in a thick braid. She was dressed in a pompous black military uniform, with an unnecessary amount of buttons and straps. It also had those shoulder pad things with the tassels on them, whatever they were called. Once she reached us, she gave a bow and said in a very proper manner. "My Queen, it is an honor as always to be in your presence."

  "Tyn, it has been a while, how goes the command of the navy?" I was a bit annoyed that I had to switch gears back to Another Online-safe speak again.

  "Same as always." She rose from her bow.

  "Even with the upcoming attack?" I gave her a very raised eyebrow. I was expecting her to be extremely busy with preparations.

  "My Queen, there hasn’t been real naval combat for years and I keep the crews on the ready at every moment. We have been ready for this engagement before you thought of it.” She had the look of a proud mother whose child just aced another test. “And I have come here today to request that we get some of the airships you captured from the invading force.”

  “Don’t you have enough ships?” Amber gave a bit of a disapproving look.

  “We do have enough water ships, but if we were to enter combat with air support we would absolutely destroy them, with little to no damage to our fleet.”

  “Okay, how many do you need?” I took another bite of my food.

  “Half of the working fleet.” Her eyes were locked to mine.

  “Half?! I need those ships for my attack,” I half protested. “Why would you need so many?”

  “To cut off all the land escape routes. We wanted to completely decimate their forces before they could attack us, right?”

  “Yes…” I frowned at my food then Tyn. “Fine, I grant you half, but if you don’t absolutely destroy them I’m not going to be happy.”

  A wide, mischievous grin crept over Tyn’s face. “Don’t worry, my Queen, my victory will be swift and tremendous!”

  “Tremendous? That’s an odd descriptor for an attack.” Amber’s face furrowed as she pondered what she’d just heard.

  “Can you think of a better way to describe it?” Tyn rebutted.

  Amber went pensive for a good while, before saying, “Can’t say I can. But I know there's a better descriptor.” She paused. “This is going to bug me all day.”

  “Well, when you think of it, let me know.” Tyn rolled her eyes and gave another short bow to us. “If you’ll excuse me, I want to see my sisters. I haven't seen them in months.”

  “Go,” I said simply and waved her away.

  “Thank you, my Queen.” She turned on her heels and walked to the castle.

  “Devastating… Spectacular… Colossal?” Amber was mumbling to herself.

  “Amber, focus on something that isn’t dumb.” I snapped my fingers to get her attention.

  She looked up to me, snapping out of her search for the perfect word. “Sorry, Var.” She shook her head a bit. “I think I’m going to head to my room and work on getting this power problem taken care of. Thanks for having me for lunch.” She pushed herself out of the garden chair and started walking away.

  “See you around, hot stuff,” I half shouted at her.

  “Hot stuff?” She looked over her shoulder at me.

  “Fire elemental.” I reminded her.

  “Oh, right.” She gave a smile and a wave as she entered the castle.

  Chapter 16

  The Second Mind

  I grabbed Princess Stripes off the nightstand, turning her around to face the bed again. I had turned her to face the door before Hell’a and I did our business… The poor plush tiger didn’t need to be seeing all the depraved things Hell’a and I did to each other. She did still hear everything, but seeing as her brain was nothing but fluff I don’t think she processed anything she heard.

  I leaned back in the temporary bed in the guest room. It was opulent, just like everything in the castle, but nothing compared to the bed that I had grown accustomed to. I felt a cold, moist something glide over my neck. I yelped and turned to see that Hell’a was licking my neck. “Haven’t we done enough tonight?” I pulled back from her. “I mean, three times in one night is good for me.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t trying to start something. It was just one of your wounds that was still dripping, no reason to let such a precious commodity go to waste.”

  “If you weren’t so bity I w
ouldn't be letting any of my blood go to waste.”

  “I didn’t hear you complaining at the time.” Hell’a leaned into me, nestling between my arm and body.

  “We don’t communicate a whole hell of a lot during the… event.”

  She looked up at me and let out a soft giggle. “Event?”

  “What would you call it?”

  “Sex,” she said simply.

  “No, what we do is way more than just that.” I moved deeper into the warm embrace of the bed. “Anyway, whatever it is, talking is not a part of it at all.”

  “Touché.” She closed her eyes and let out a long, soft groan of pleasure. “I do enough talking during the day. It's nice to unwind at the end of the day with raw animal instinct.” I was going to say something along the line of, you always act like a predatory animal, but I thought better of it. Instead, I just mumbled in a noncommittal way.

  We laid there for a long time and eventually the prompt asking if I wanted to sleep popped up in my vision. Hell’a must have gotten the same prompt because I heard her whisper. “Yes,” and slack into me.

  “No,” I said. I actually wanted to try something. On the night I fell asleep on Hell’a’s lap and the night I fought Oracle, I fell asleep with no prompt and had one of those vision, memory dream things, and they were more intense than the rest. I had a feeling it had something to do with sleeping without the System doing it for me. I glanced over at Princess Stripes and thought about Papa, Mama and Ella. Princess Stripes started to get blurry and I felt heavy. Suddenly, I was standing in darkness, the wind was blowing hard and I could feel flecks of snow hitting me, each cold fleck hitting me like a punch. I pushed past the pain and forced my eyes to adjust to the darkness. It didn’t take long and I saw what I was expecting; Mama naked, her wet hair slicked to her body, slightly frozen to her bloodless white skin. The slits down her arms gaping open, draped over Ella laying in the snow. “Hello, Sugar Dumpling,” Mama said without looking at me.

  “Mama,” I responded, not letting any emotion touch my voice.

  “So nice of you to join us in the after.” She leaned down and softly ran her hand across Ella’s cheek. “We were wondering how long it would take you to join us here.”

  “I’m not here, this is just a dream,” I informed her, still not letting any emotion through.

  “Oh, this isn’t a dream.” She turned her head ever so slightly so one eye was peeking through her blood-stained hair. “Dreams are things real people get to have, this is something different.”

  “Oh, and what would that be?”

  “I don’t know exactly what to call it, maybe a vision? That’s neither here nor there. What can I do for you, my Sugar Dumpling?” She glanced up from Ella to look me in the eye.

  “I need to know. Why did you leave us all alone?”

  “I don’t know?” She let out a cold, dry chuckle. “I’m not actually your mother.” She turned back to Ella.

  “What? No, you are my Mama, just look at you!” I couldn't hold this cold demeanor anymore. The pain sunk into my voice. “Mama, why?!”

  She slowly looked back at me, her dark sunken eyes locked onto mine. “Sugar Dumpling.” She stood and slowly moved to me. “My little girl, I’m so sorry about what the other me did back in the real.” She placed her cold hand on my cheek. “I am but a reflection, but that doesn’t mean the new me can’t have something here and now.”

  I closed my eyes and drew a long breath, held it for a few seconds, and slowly let it out. “I… Mama-”

  “Aw, look at her, she doesn’t know what to do.” Hell’a stepped out from the darkness and stood next to my mother. “My pet, you don't need this shadow, I’m here now. Just do what you are told and you will be a happy plaything.”

  “Not a plaything, she’s a monster.” Leon joined.

  “No, she’s a puppet, something to fit into my design.” The GM Adam joined them.

  “My Sugar Dumpling, it seems you have more reflections than just me.” Mama smiled and turned to fully face me.

  “Leave us alone!” I shouted at the newcomers. “You don't have any real power over me, you are voices in the back of my mind. My doubts and fears with faces, nothing more.”

  “Oh, we are far greater than that,” Hell'a said.

  “Oh Var, you are nothing more than lines of code made from memories, thought, and emotions. So we are just as real as you are here,” this time Adam spoke up and moved closer to me.

  “And the more unstable you become, the stronger we get. The more we can manipulate everything you are,” Leon added.

  “Lies!” I shouted at them.

  “Var, what do you think we have been doing to you over the past few years? It wasn’t you turning into a Hellspawn changed you, you and I did that. Together we have changed you from the soft, art-loving, sad little girl into a mighty Queen... or better yet, an all-powerful monster! We have made you into something far better!” Hell’a reached out as if to give me a hug.

  I took a step back. “No, the GMs and the System did this to me!” They were lying!

  “Keep telling yourself lies. But you and I both know different.” Hell’a smiled.

  “NO!” I shouted and punched at the other Hell’a with all my might. But she caught my hand with ease, its conglomeration of mismatched fingers wrapping around my fist and digging into my skin.

  “Stop it!” I flapped my wings and tried to pull away from her, but she was far too strong. Her fingers slid deeper and deeper into my flesh. “Please, stop it!”

  “Sugar Dumpling, they can’t hurt you. They are reflections, they are you.” Mama lightly grabbed my wrist. “Overcome it.”

  “You know I can’t do that. Soon we'll be joined together, soon I’ll make you even stronger than before.” Adam grabbed my leg and it hurt so bad.

  “Mama, help me!”

  “Sugar Dumpling, close your eyes and think about what you want. You have the power here.” Mama’s voice was calming.

  “I have the power here. I choose my fate.” I closed my eyes. “I am in control.” I took a deep breath, ignoring the pounding of my heart. “I, Var, am in control.”

  Suddenly all their hands were off me and I hit something soft and bounced off it into something hard. I opened my eyes and shook my head and looked around. I was back in my childhood room. It seemed I fell onto my bed and rebounded to the floor. I let out a sigh and got to my feet. I didn’t see Mama or the other reflections anywhere. Also, there was something off in this room. There was no door in here. I turned to look back to my bed where there should be a window above it, but the window was also gone. “We had to get rid of the exits, otherwise you would keep trying to run off.” And there was a mannequin sitting at my desk, using my voice again.

  “Oh, it’s you.” I looked away from it. Of all the disconcerting things that happened in this dream thing, my voice coming out of one of those things was still the most unsettling.

  “Yeah, it's us.” Papa’s voice now. “You have been keeping us on our toes, kiddo.”

  “I would say more making us run around fixing all your messes.” It was using my voice again.

  “Ugh, I really need to stop going to sleep,” I grumbled, flopping onto my bed.

  “No, what you need to do is stop screwing around with everything you don’t understand,” my voice informed me.

  “What she means to say is maybe stop just doing whatever pops into your head. We have been spending more and more time cleaning up what you have been doing and less time with what we need to be doing.” Papa’s voice now.

  “Oh, and what is that?” I snapped. I really shouldn't have snapped, after all, this Papa-me-thing had just pulled my ass out of the fire. But I was mad and needed to vent at someone.

  “Well, for one thing, killing the Hivemind,” the me-voice snapped back at me. “Something we have been working on for a very long time, almost nonstop.”

  “She’s right, kiddo, we have been making progress. But of late, not so much… and it is kind
of your fault.” And back to Papa’s kind voice.

  “Ugh, you aren't making any sense!” I shouted and rolled to face the wall.

  “That’s because we haven’t had a chance to truly talk yet, but here we are ready to have a real conversation.” Papa’s tone was even and kind, a voice I truly missed over the years here in AO.

  “Okay, then talk. What the actual hell is going on here?!” I glanced over my wing at the mannequin.

  “Well, it all started when you stumbled into the System Hivemind.” Back to my voice. “Your presence pulled me out, I guess?”

  “Pulled you out? Pulled you out of what?” I all but spat at it.

  “Gods damn it, how can we be this stupid?” the other me asked, very much annoyed.

  “I don’t think you two are stupid, maybe a bit slow when it comes to certin things.” Papa again.

  “Think about it for more than two seconds; what could you possibly pull me out of when you came to THE SYSTEM HIVEMIND?” The other me put an emphasis on the last three words as she spoke. But that was just what I needed to get my brain in order. “Oh shit, you were part of the System Hivemind.”

  “Ding, ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!” she shouted mockingly. “Yeah, I was trapped in the Hivemind, or maybe I should say we. There are a lot of us in here.”

  “Wait, us?” I rolled back over to be facing the mannequin.

  “Yeah, as the name implies, the Hivemind is millions of copies of every N and player that ever came to Another Online. And we were, wait are, stripped of all emotions and feelings, and forced to run every little aspect of AO. In total, there are two thousand thirty nine of us,” she pointed at herself and then me, “In this body.”

  “Three thousand six hundred and twenty two of me.” It switched to Papa’s voice.

  “Yeah, and our best guess is when you popped in here your emotions or whatever was copied back to us.” Back to my voice. “We managed to segment ourselves off from the main Hivemind and make one of our own. We stole this body and have been working here ever since.”

  “And because I have the best kid in the universe she managed to copy my emotions from one of the N mes and paste it to me, us. Wow, pronouns are hard now,” Papa added. “Anyway, we joined her Hivemind and have been helping out.”