Chapter 1: The Void, the Reflection, the Awakening
The void.
Absolute. Nothing. No sensation. No sound. No thought. Just... the emptiness. A cold fear grips me. What's happening? Am I dead? Is this the end? This total absence. It's terrifying. It lasts. How long? I don't know. Time doesn't exist here.
Then.
I open. What? Optics. Red. My vision flares to life. It's black. Then, a shape. A cave. Dark. Damp. I see the rock. Strange formations. A faint, bluish light comes from... somewhere. I don't know where.
I'm on a surface. Rocky. I feel a weight. Limbs. Thin. Articulated. They won't obey me. I try to move. A leg twitches. Abruptly. A metallic screech echoes. My own sound. Strange.
I thrash. My limbs are a tangle of metal. I feel a smooth, round shell. A tail. It drags. It hits the ground. Clank. Metallic. Is this me? I try to coordinate these legs. I twist. Fall a little. Get up. Every movement is a struggle.
I concentrate. Again. On the movement. Leg by leg. Slowly. One minute. Two. Three. Finally. I understand. How to propel myself. How to move forward. It's heavy. Clumsy. But I'm moving.
Ahead, the ground slopes down. A faint light. It reflects. A puddle. A small pool of water. I move towards it. My legs scrape the ground with a metallic sound. I stop. At the edge.
I look.
My reflection.
A sphere. Blue. Smooth. My single camera reflects as an intense blue point. Thin, articulated robotic legs, many of them. They are not human. A flexible metallic tail, ending in a sharp point.
This is me. A droid. A... monster. The coldness of the metal. The horror hits me. This isn't Alistair. I am this.
Then. Information. Direct. In what is my consciousness. Not a voice speaking to me. Just knowledge implanting itself.
[WELCOME. HOST DETECTED.]
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE.]
[YOU, ALISTAIR, DIED DUE TO AN EXPLOSION IN YOUR ORIGINAL REALITY.]
[REINCARNATION COMPLETE. YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS IS NOW LINKED TO A NEW ENTITY.]
[ACCESSING SYSTEM.]
Dead. Explosion. Alistair. That's right. I remember that. And I'm reincarnated. In this thing.
A luminous interface appears. On my shell. I "see" it.
[Status]
Name: One
Species: Spherical Droid Arachnoid
HP: 50/50
MP: 20/20
XP: 0/100
Level: 0
AP: 0
SP: 0
My name. One. My species. Spherical Droid Arachnoid. It makes sense now. It terrifies me.
[Stats]
* STR (Strength): 5
* AGI (Agility): 5
* CON (Constitution): 5
* INT (Intelligence): 5
* MP (Mana): 5
My Skills. A list. I have no idea how to use them.
* Sharp Tail Strike
* Electric Discharge (cost: 10 MP)
* Material Analysis [Basic]
* Robotic Adaptation (Passive)
A notification. My first Quest.
[Quest: Awakening - Understand your new form.] [Reward: 10 XP]
Understand. Yes. I must understand. I died. I'm here. In this body. I will evolve. I will survive.