Twisted Core

A familiar face bears a natural expression entirely different from your memory. She looks less like an automaton and more like a living person.

Have you entered the Awakener's memory again? You remember you were reading some documents...

An arm of intricate gears and complex mechanics flashes into your vision, vanishing to your left, then to your right.

The limbs install smoothly. You raise your arms and stretch your legs as instructed, and the smile on Erica's face grows ever brighter.

Thick black smoke rises from below your line of sight, something is on fire. You look down and see electrical arcs and sparks flickering at your abdomen.

As the fire extinguisher sprays white foam, the smell of scorched metal spreads in the air. Erica rushes forward and wrenches the scalding motor free without a second thought.

The charred motor lands on the workbench. Erica catches her breath, her brain finally registering the sting before she blows on her foam-slicked hands.

Erica leans close to the motor, her slightly reddened fingers gently brushing over the metal casing.

The door clicks shut. As the footsteps fade away, Erica lets out a sigh.

She turns back to the motor, as if steeling herself.

She unscrews the lid and draws out a black cylinder from within.

In that instant, your world plunges into darkness.

Roused from the eternal darkness, you find yourself still in the workshop. The charred motor remains on the workbench, connected to your body by cables of varying thickness.

She lets out a sigh of relief, yawning hugely as if her exhaustion had only just caught up with her.

She mumbles as she leaves, leaving you alone with the motor and the scattered parts on the workbench.

You look at your own hands.

Slender yet powerful, your hands are sheathed in delicate porcelain that has been meticulously polished. Though cold to the touch, they look indistinguishable from living flesh under the dim light.

These are Erica's hands, the hands of the automaton Erica you know. It seems you now inhabit her future body, becoming the very automaton she built.

The girl you just saw was unmistakably human. What on earth could she have gone through to end up like that?

You blink. Mei has slipped in at some point without you noticing. Her eyes sweep around the room before finally locking onto the motor beside you.

After scanning the room a second time, she eases the door shut and hurries over to the motor.

The cap twists open, and Mei grasps the object inside. This time you see it clearly, it's a metal cylinder barely 5 centimeters in diameter, with the letter "S" engraved on its side.

Once she pulls the cylinder out completely, you'll lose consciousness again. So before that happens, you must...

Erica bursts into the room. The concern on her face instantly freezes upon seeing the cylinder in Mei's hand.

Mei stares at the tiny cylinder that has driven the entire motor and every connected device, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief.

Mei's words hit Erica like a physical slap to the face. She stares at her partner, her companion, unable to believe what she has just heard.

Mei grits her teeth and tightens her grip on the cylinder.

Erica lunges forward to snatch it. Mei fails to dodge in time and crashes into a nearby cabinet.

Bottles and jars filled with reagents and fuels come toppling down. You throw yourself forward to shield the two of them, and the next second...

A plasma blast strikes the giant hand. Under the sheer impact, the silver core breaks free from the palm and falls soundlessly to the ground.

After a momentary freeze, the giant hand collapses and disintegrates. Black fluid cascades down like a torrential rain, it passes through you, but stains Erica's spectral form.

Do you really think so?

I've told you, to enter this silver heart is to achieve true immortality.

Struggle all you want. The black substance will eventually erase you, and then I shall bring true Transcendence to the world, where everyone is freed from death, and everyone is granted eternal life.

More and more blackness consumes her body. Erica doubles over in agony, her spirit on the verge of collapse.

You still don't understand. But it doesn't matter, you've already ignited this revolution of life and soul, this "Transcendence". Die in peace. I will ensure the entire world remembers your contribution.

Erica closes her eyes.

Black tears slide from the corners of her eyes. She wrinkles her nose, then suddenly turns to look at you.

Is there truly a third consciousness within this body? Or are you merely a manifestation of her guilt, given form under the influence of Dissolution? You have no way of knowing.

She reaches out her hand toward you.

All you know is that you'll help her, and witness her final moments as a "human."

She looks at you in astonishment, as if she'd never imagined she could truly touch her own "reason".

She looks at you in astonishment, as if she'd never expected her own "conscience" could answer her call.

The silhouette bursts and dissipates like a bubble. Only the flickering orb remains, still giving off its final remnants of glow.

You cradle the shrunken orb in your arms and gaze toward the shattered Silver Core not far away.

Left foot.

Right foot.

Sparks fly with every step, accompanied by the harsh, grating screech of grinding machinery.

Beneath a streetlamp not far away, a public phone booth stands in silence.

Left foot.

Right foot.

As if sensing your resolve, the slime collapsed on the ground continues to attack Erica's consciousness. Even you are stained pitch black.

Left foot.

Right foot.

Erica falls forward onto her knees. The relentless short circuits have drained her left leg of all power, leaving her to barely prop herself up with her handless right arm.

As careful as she can manage, she rests Mei against the side of the booth before crawling inside on all fours. Current channeled from her body forces the telephone box to activate. She dials the emergency number, rasping out the location of the booth.

You know what comes next.

You remember it now, the contents of the files you read before entering this place.

@1 @1, A.F. 297, at 03:47. An unidentified explosion occurred southeast of @1@2@1 Town, @3 Province, Aglo Republic. The resulting shockwave triggered a magnitude 3.8 earthquake locally. Tremors were distinctly felt, reaching villages up to 5 kilometers from @1@2@1 Town. ... @1 @1, A.F. 297. Thirteen components, serialized A101 through A114, were recovered from the forest southeast of @1@2@1 Town, @3 Province, Aglo Republic. Among them, components A108, A109, and A113 were severely damaged and have been handed over to Doll for reverse engineering. At No. @1, @2 Road, the investigation team recovered a series of design blueprints. The drawings match the components found at the explosion site and are suspected to be blueprints for the explosive device. They have also been handed over to Doll for analysis.

You hear the sound of wind brushing through the leaves.

The orb has grown very dim, almost blending into the surrounding darkness.

Even if you save her body, so what? Death will come eventually. When it does, will she thank you, or resent you for robbing her of the chance at eternal life? Let go, Erica. Let me take over this body. I will grant her "Transcendence", and give her a better future.

...What are you doing?

An image flickers within the light orb: a mechanical hand, scorched all over and still leaking plasma.

At some point, the hand has grasped several wires, all coated in thick, black slime.

Silence falls between you. You are still uncertain of your role in this dream, and she doesn't seem to be waiting for a response.

She pulls with all her might.

You bolt upright, finding yourself back in your familiar room.

Someone is knocking at your door.

The Keeper's figure vanishes at the end of the corridor. Erica turns around and looks at the documents scattered across the desk.

@1 @2, A.F. 298, Mythag University Awakening Studies Department, @3 Completed torso restoration of automaton E based on blueprint T-38, serial number EA301881. This is our tenth attempt at restoration. I cannot help but admire whoever originally conceived and crafted this masterpiece. This automaton is breathtakingly intricate and elegant. Hundreds of gears and bearings interlock to compose a magnificent symphony of mechanical structure. Even now, as it stands motionless, I can sense a unique vitality within it. Unfortunately, we have yet to locate the key component described in the motor blueprint, a cylinder 5 centimeters in diameter and 10 centimeters in length. It should serve as the energy core of the entire automaton, yet I have never encountered anything of this size capable of powering such a complex mechanism... I hope Professor Doll can shed some light on this. I can hardly wait to see it truly come to life.

@1 @2, A.F. 298, Mythag University Awakening Studies Department, @3 Completed motor restoration, serial number MF311028. Despite numerous setbacks along the way (All-Father above, we went through 28 attempts, 28!), Professor Doll's final hypothesis has been proved correct: the motor's power core is a Silver Core. After testing multiple Silver Cores, only Silver Core E-1929 successfully brought the motor to life. I cannot help but wonder if this reflects the designer's lingering will, though their whereabouts remain entirely unknown to us.

@2 @1, A.F. 300, Mythag University Awakening Studies Department, Doll Automaton Erica successfully Awakened. The Awakener exhibits extreme aggression and destructive impulses. Even with an investigator maintaining her mental stabilization, she still displays clear attack tendencies and uncontrollably unleashes electrical currents, launching indiscriminate attacks on her surroundings. Alistair has deduced that E-1929 contains two distinct spirits, one is manic and immensely powerful, while the other, though faint, is far more rational. An attempt should be made to separate the two, or to suppress the madness to a controllable level. ... @2 @2, A.F. 300, Mythag University Awakening Studies Department, Doll Unable to separate the spirits; actively considering the second plan. A spirit suppression device seems like a viable solution. ... @1 @2, A.F. 303, Mythag University Awakening Studies Department, Doll Suppression device completed and successfully installed. The Awakener's madness has been suppressed. Overall condition trending toward stability, though brief lapses in suppression still occur. The Awakener has entirely lost her personality, preferences, and the like, behaving far more like an automaton than a person. At least she is no longer constantly on the verge of exploding. ...

Erica tilts her head, straightens the files into a neat stack, and leaves the room.