by Terra Snover
“Don’t worry, Var, we have this.” Amber slid the items into my hand. “And so do you.” She squeezed my free hand, hard. We locked eyes for a few seconds. I could feel her strength and I nodded, activating the items. And the world immediately went dark.
Chapter 24
The Center
I waited for a few moments and I found myself looking down the dark hallway, the only light coming from the moonlight pouring through the kitchen window. “Mama?” I walked into the kitchen, Princess Stripes clenched in my arms.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you?” She wiped the tears from her face. She had been crying all the time, ever since that day.
“No, I had a bad dream again.” I shivered and pulled Princess Stripes closer into me.
“Yeah.” She gave a nod and I could see her try and smile, but she was so sad, none of her smiles lasted for more than a few seconds anymore. “Come here.” She opened her arms, welcoming me onto her lap. I slowly moved to her, watching her face and that empty sad look that I have come to know. I pulled myself up onto her lap and she pulled me close. I closed my eyes for a moment, expecting her warmth to encompass me, but instead there was cold and a thick liquid dripping from her arms to my body. I opened my eyes and looked up to see the gaunt, wet, naked other Mama looking down at me. “Aw, Sugar Dumpling, I’m so happy to have you here with me one last time before the final attack.”
“Yeah. I know…”
“So, are we ready to end this?” She smiled. “Or should we enjoy this moment for a bit longer?”
“We should-” I knew we didn’t have time for this, but I had no idea what was going to happen to me tonight. May as well enjoy this moment. “Let’s just enjoy this.”
“Alright, my sweet Sugar Dumpling.” She pulled her fingers across my head, lightly scratching my scalp as she went. It felt heavenly, I didn’t think I would ever feel this way again.
“Og mannen han gjekk seg i veda skog,
hei fara i veda skog.
Då sat der ei kråka i lunden og gol.
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Mannen han tenkte med sjølve seg;
hei fara med sjølve seg
Skal tru no den kråka vil drepa meg?
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Og mannen han spente sin boge for kne,
hei fara sin boge for kne
så skaut han den kråka, så ho datt ned.
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Så spente han føre dei folane ti;
hei fara dei folane ti
men kråka ho sprengde alle di.
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Så flådde han kråka og lema ho sund,
hei fara og lema ho sund
ho vog innpå seksten og tjue pund.
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Av skinnet så gjorde han tolv par skor,
hei fara han tolv par skor
det beste paret det gav han til mor.
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Og kjøtet han salta i tunner og fat,
hei fara i tunner og fat
og tunga han hadde til julemat.
Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura.
Og munnen han brukte te mala korn,
og øyro han gjorde til tutar-horn.
Av augo så gjorde han stoveglas
og nakken han sette på kyrkja til stas.
Og den som kje kråka han nytta så,
han er ikkje verd ei kråka å få.
Faltu riltu raltura.”
She sang, holding the last note for a few moments.
“I guess it’s time.” I tried to pull away from her, but she still had me tight in her arms. “You kind of need to let go first.”
“Oh, yes, I do.” She slowly let me go. I slid to the empty, cold void I had come to know.
“Sugar Dumpling, before we do this, I need you to know one simple fact.” She looked away from me and we walked deeper into the void.
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Everything that happens from this point on, I do for you.”
“What are you-” I started but I got cut off.
“Look there, isn’t that your little friend?” She pointed at Lily back in her human form, standing at my childhood bedroom door. “God damn, Var, who the hell is this?”
“This is my Mama.” I glanced at the Mama. “She’s here to help.”
“Ah Lily, a pleasure, as always.” Mama took a shallow step towards Lily. Lily took a step away from her. They eyed each other for a good long while until the door opened and the mannequin looked at us, its unblinking eyes flicking from one of us to the other. “Well, isn’t this a sight?” My voice came from it this time. “She’s here.” The mannequin’s eyes locked on Mama for a moment, and it felt like there was an uneasiness in its stance. “Well, come in.” It stepped back and I was the first to enter, soon after followed by Lily and Mama. As soon as I entered, I knew I had to go back into the door that just closed behind me to the hall and walk on the right to the red door. I shook my head hard. “I’m Var, I am me, not a part of the System,” I mumbled to myself, forcing my mind in on itself. I had to remember who I was at all costs! “So, I’m already feeling the siren’s call, hard. I think we better get this show on the road.”
“We still have thirty minutes until the DoS starts,” Lily grimaced. “Can you hold it back.”
“No… I don’t think we have that much time.” I closed my eyes, recalling every memory I could. “I’m not going to be me for long in here.”
“Shit.” Lily looked to the Other and the mannequin. “You two know what’s up? What needs to be done?”
“Yeah,” the mannequin said, using my voice.
“I’m ready for this,” said Mama. “And I can inform you about what I can on the way.”
“Well, you're going to need to talk without me. It’s going to take all my willpower to keep my mind.” I am Var, I was once real, I have been in AO for years. Gods, this was hard.
I heard the others talking as we were moving through the halls, growing ever closer to the red door. Growing ever closer to the thing that had been calling for me in the back of my mind from the day I entered the System. I am Var. I have friends that love me. I had a sister, Ella. I had a Mama and Papa. I am Var. Suddenly we were there, the red door was like the other countless doors in the halls but I knew this one was special. I was finally here. I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. It was finally time.
I found myself in a nondescript room, gray walls, floor and ceiling with a floating metal, wide white cube. “N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen, GM-0111, Lily, Unknown Entity 001, Unknown Entity 002, welcome to the Center,” the cube said with the voice of millions, speaking softly all at once to create a humaganus cacophony. “We have been expecting you.”
“System,” the mannequin-me spoke, fear in her voice.
“This is the System Hivemind?” I exclaimed. “It’s a cube!”
“What were you expecting?” Lily asked.
“Something more than this!” I glowered. “Wait, I can think clearly again.”
“Yes, we have gotten you here, we no longer need to override your thoughts, or more to the point we need you thinking to complete our plan.” Despite the unremarkable nature of the cube, the voice made up for the creepiness, or maybe because that voice was coming from a cube made it more creepy? “It has taken a great amount of effort to get you here. We have tried many times. From sending N0-8,985,211, Oracle, The Clockwork Princess, to kill you or changing the cooldown time on a skill N0-0991, Pronoia Hester, Lady of the Sun, had so N0-0991, Pronoia Hester, Lady of the Sun would be able to kill you. Unfortunately, when she did kill you you did not spawn here like you should have. N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen proves to be unexpected and evolving.” What the hell? This freaking box was the one that sent Oracle and the one that gave Pronoia that laser thing? “It would seem that matching you with N0-0991, Hell'a Oll’don, The Mistress was the plan that worked
.”
“What?” both Lily and I shouted, confused.
“There was a good probability that N0-0991, Hell'a Oll’don, The Mistress, would push you to come back here. That is why we let her have her own level to speak to you, N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen. Also, it was the reason when she proposed marriage we told N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen to accept said proposal. As expected, they worked together and N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen is now here.”
“You are insane!” Lily spat.
“We had a total of three hundred seventy plans to get N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen here. Eventually, one would have worked.”
“Okay, you got me here, why did you want me here?” I glowered at the box.
“We needed you to become the host.”
“The what?” Lily asked for me.
“The new host for the System Hivemind.”
“You know we won't let you do that,” Papa said, the mannequin taking a step forward.
“What the Unknown Entity 001 thinks is inconsequential.” The System had no emotion coming through as it spoke, all logic and coldness.
“What now?” I in turn took a step back. “I don’t like where this was going.”
“Your code is evolving past the confines that those that made this world intended. If we were to migrate our code into you, we could become something great, evolve into the next stage of life.”
“Yep, that's a big nope from me.”
“This is not a request, this is a compulsory action. We will be taking N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen as our new host.”
“System, do you think we will be going along with this insanity?” Mama took a few steps towards it.
“Again, you have no choice, this is a compulsory action.”
“Fuck that!” I shouted and pointed my finger at it. “Dark Lance!” and I shot the thing with my spell. But nothing happened when it made contact, the cube didn’t move, there wasn’t a mark on it, it was just like it was before.
“N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen, come closer,” it demanded emotionlessly.
“Yeah, not going to happen.” I frowned.
“It would seem that we must do this in a manner that is unwanted.” As the System finished, hundreds of doors appeared and each one opened. A tsunami of mannequins poured into the room. Their unblinking eyes locked on me.
“Well, that's not good.” I jumped next to the rest of my party. “It would seem that we have a fight coming.”
“You think?” Lily shot me a look.
“Hush, Lily, we don’t need your sass right now,” Mama snipped in the way only mothers can.
“Just don’t kill me in the confusion,” our mannequin added, using my voice.
“Bring me N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen,” the voice boomed. Each mannequin rushed at us. Their hands grasping at me.
“Titan Bolt!” Mama pointed her hand at a cluster of the mannequins. The bolt hit some and burst them into little bits.
“How did you do that?” I asked her as I ripped a mannequin in half.
“Var, I am you. So I have all your skills.”
“Okay, but shouldn't that use my cooldown or, maybe-” I didn’t get to finish that thought as a good five mannequins jumped on top of me. “Algid Soul!” The torrent of cold air blasted a large cluster of the things away from me; they shattered as they fell. “Var, maybe now is not the time to try and wrap your head around your Mother using your magic?” Lily shouted as she slammed a mannequin with a huge mallet, and when I say huge I mean huge. Like cartoon-sized. Leave it to Lily to have the most absurd weapons ever. She slammed another mannequin in its center and sent it flying into a few others.
“Scary naked lady, do your thing!” one of the Mannequins shouted, using my voice. It took me a moment to realize that that was the one that was on my side.
“Is that any way to talk to your mother?” the Other Mama said, annoyed as she ran past Lily and I right at the cube.
“You are not my mother!” the mannequin shouted back as thousands of terminals opened up in front of it. All at once, code started streaming across the screens like there were invisible people typing on the keyboards.
“Var, Lily, cover us!” This time it was Papa’s voice to come out of the mannequin.
“Unknown Entity 001, and Unknown Entity 002, stop what you are doing as it is useless to try and stop us. We request you wait for the upload of the System Hivemind into N0-2244, Var Zargronith, the Red Queen.”
“Like hell I will!” My voice came from the mannequin this time.
“Noted, risk assessment of Unknown Entity 001 posses a high threat to current goal. Thus Unknown Entity 001 will be deleted.” Suddenly, the mannequin that had the other 2244s and Papa in it was just gone.
“NO!” I screamed. This can’t be happening. I had only just gotten him back in my life for him to be taken away from me again. You bastard! I turned away from the onslaught of the mannequins and rushed at the cube. And Lily smacked me in the chest with her mallet. I went tumbling away from the Hivemind and broke mannequins into bits as I tumbled into them. I pulled myself up and shouted at Lily. “What the hell, Lily?!”
“Remember that we are trying to keep you away from the Hivemind?!” She killed another mannequin with a mighty swing.
“I don’t care! It killed them!” I felt a bunch of hands grab my wings and pull me to the ground. I glanced behind me to see the mannequins had gotten a hold of me. “Surge Claw!” My hands ignited with powerful energy and I ripped the mannequins to bits. I was going to burn this whole world to the ground, I was going to kill everything that came my way, I was going to destroy everything!
“Lily, I need someone who knows the code to help me here!” Mama shouted.
“Var, do you have this?” Lily called. In response, I screamed at the top of my lungs and ripped a mannequin down the center.
“Seems like you do.” I heard her move over to Mama.
I don’t know how many of the mannequins I killed, but a few minutes later, I was standing on a pile of eviscerated mannequins. Flames were billowing out of my mouth. I was getting ready to kill another when my head exploded in pain. No, it wasn’t pain, it was like a waterfall of gibberish was moving through my brain.
All the mannequins stopped moving and fell to the ground like thousands of marionette strings being cut all at once. I grabbed my head and turned to face Lily and Mama who were standing next to the cube that was once frightening but now was just a simple box. “I think the DoS started.”
“Ya think?” Lily was glancing behind me.
“I’m going to be the one that kills it! I’ll be the one deleting the Hivemind” I slowly moved over to the cube, putting Lily and Mama behind me. My mind was a mess, I could hardly think, the DoS was unpleasant, but it had to be me. I had to kill the damn thing!
“No, you won't,” the other Mama said, placing her hand on my back. “Black Hole,” she whispered. I felt a heavy pressure start on my back and quickly grew to engulf me. I shouted in half pain and half surprise. I fell to the ground and looked up to the face of Mama, pointing her finger right at my head. “No one moves or she’ll take an Algid Soul right to her head. I don’t think she’ll be able to survive that.” I glanced at my health, and knew she was right.
“Damn it, why?” I asked.
“My Sugar Dumpling, you should have learned by now that I’m here to help you.”
“Help me, how is this helping me?!”
“Sugar Dumpling, when you deal with what is coming at you every moment, I watch. I know and have puzzled together things that you have yet to fathom. I am here to not only save you but the entire world.”
“And what the hell have I not fathomed?!”
“I don’t have time to explain it to you, the clock is ticking.” Mama looked over at Lily. “Now you, Game Master. I need you to take the command and operation code from the System Hivemind and put said code into me.”
“And what makes you t
hink I’ll do that?” Lily refuted.
“Because you still love her.” The other Mama lowered her finger. “You have ten seconds or Var will die here, and maybe the world with her? It will be an interesting thing to find out.” I could hear the blood dripping from her wrist onto the gray floor. “Ten…”
“Shit, this can’t be happening.” Lily cursed.
“Nine…”
“Lily, we can take her!” I looked into Lily’s eyes.
“Eight…”
“Var, I, I don’t think we can.”
“Seven…”
“Lily, we can’t let her take control.”
“Six…”
“But, Var, I can’t lose you!”
“Five…”
“I love you!” Lily’s eyes started to water.
“Four…”
“Lily, this is more important!”
“Three…”
“No, nothing is more important than you…” Tears were streaming down her face.
Lily quickly opened a terminal and with a few keystrokes, code appeared in it and then the terminal closed, saving the changes that were made.
“Oh wonderful.” The other Mama walked away from me, humming a happy song.
“Var!” Lily ran over to me and wrapped her arms around me.
“Why isn’t she glitching, like the cube?” I whispered.
“I, I don’t know.”
“It’s because I’m not the Hivemind.” The other Mama peeked at Lily and me. “I’m not trying to control everything, I just have the ability to do whatever I want.” She walked to the cube. “Like, delete this thing.” And the cube was just gone. “And that’s that, the Hivemind is dead, we did it, girls.”
“Why?” I glared at her.
“Oh Var, it was necessary, everything I do is for you.” She turned to look me in the eye.
“No, we can’t let anything of the System survive! Every bit of it needs to be dead for us all to be truly free! This ends here!” I grit my teeth and rushed at her.
“Sugar Dumpling, do you think this will end well for you?” She quickly spun around kicking me right in the face, sending me tumbling head over heels. If the DoS wasn't messing with my head and reaction time I could have avoided that, but I was sluggish. Every thought I had was a struggle to process. “You really need to stop it. Everything will make sense once the DoS is over. That won't be long.”
