END Initiated...

It looked like an endless space… a cosmos… an empty cosmos seemingly carved out of darkness, devoid of even a single ray of light. But still, holding an unknown mesmerizing feel to it. 

A strange temptation of its unknowns.

An endless world of only void and darkness devoid of everything else.

However, somewhere deep in a corner of the vast endlessness lingered a single speck of dust. It may be the only inhabitant of this endless void. But it looked like even it was unaware of its own existence. 

But as it lingered at a corner of the whole emptiness, the darkness seemed to be feeding itself to it like a mother feeding her milk to her own child, as little by little more and more of it entered the small speck of dust.

Slowly but steadily, as the speck of dust continued its lingered, it started forming its own instincts like a newborn child; instincts which evolved with the passage of time into strands of thoughts and as more time passed by, slowly forming a tiny consciousness.

 It started forming thoughts and with it, gaining a sense of familiarity to what was around him like it had experienced something like this before.

As it continued to linger in the depths of nowhere, it started forming its own complex thoughts. And with complications of thoughts came emotions. However what emotions would arise from emptiness?

And emptiness it was. The thought of being all alone on its own was itself horror. It was like it was never meant to be there, but again it was like it was only natural for it to be there. Breaking down and forming up was like a cycle for it. However, with each passing cycle, a faint urge built up within itself.  The urge started becoming clearer and clearer until one day  

What am I? Yes, it was the urge to know what IT was. Neither where it was nor why it was here, but what it was? 

And it was this urge and curiosity to know about itself that kept it going. But this curiosity only let it into even more loneliness, its tiny self compared to the vastness.

However what it thought of itself didn't matter, as there was only one constant change that the endless allowed it- Growth. So, it absorbed everything around it to grow. Grow grow into a ...seed. But as it continued to grow, it felt heavy. Like it was on a wave of the sea, and as it continued to absorb water, it grew heavier. And finally heavy enough for it to sink. Sink to the bottom.

It didn't like the feeling. So it wanted to resist. But all of it felt so natural like it was bound to it. And even if it wanted to stop everything, it didn't have the means to change its destiny. The urge to know itself also slowly vanished as the tiny seed only focused on sinking safely. Sinking down into nowhere. It felt heavier and kept on sinking and sinking…

Finally, after it felt like an eternity, it hit something. But it didn't feel uncomfortable like before, instead, it felt like… like it had found its… home. 

It now had another feeling around, happiness.

Leaving behind every other thought it now focused on the happy parts as it felt better than the previous emotions. It was like rain after a long drought. NOw growing felt so much better.  And so grew within it the d.e.s.i.r.e to grow even more. Absorbing the happiness all around, it grew bigger and bigger, until one day it burst apart… and from within started growing all sorts of long and twisted lines. The lines twisted and turned like it carried on the seed's d.e.s.i.r.e to grow endlessly.

Only by growing endlessly could it reach the confines of its prison. The lines came together and formed together forming into different long and short structures… like yes, roots. And the roots began growing endlessly. It started covering everywhere as it now had a new goal to see explore everything.

But no matter how much it tried, it could never reach the ends. But it tried nevertheless, and it didn't forget to absorb the happiness all around it.

 After trying for who knows how much eternities, it felt… full. Its entire being now considered full of the similar happiness. However, it didn't even get the chance to express its joy, when the very happiness that filled it, started to withdraw within him. Startled by what had happened, it willed itself to give chase to the happiness within itself.

 And as it followed, it finally came where everything started, its core.

The core was full of the happy feelings. So it stayed there to look after it. The core however now looked like a… bud?

A bright redbud. It looked so fragile yet so carefree and… happy. It felt like if it waited for long enough, it would witness an even happier event. And so it waited.

Waiting for what seemed another eternity, it felt the bud bloom. Opening its petals one by one until all four of its petals bloomed completely. Bloomed into a bright red flower!

The flower had four majestic and awe-striking petals. And just as the flower opened up, it suddenly felt like everything was attracted to it. The vastness around itself now also felt like a visitor coming to see the majestic tour.

Everything thing started coming closer. The emptiness which seemed totally infinite now came into bounds. It felt so happy that it wanted to reach out to see what lay outside it.

IT finally reached what appeared to be the ends. Its long-awaited dream was finally reached completion. It could be out of what seemed to hold it for all along. It extended its root and reached the ends. The emptiness, however, appeared to be very sad. IT felt like the emptiness was sad and missing it, bidding its final goodbye. 

And with it came back the urge which IT had long forgotten- What am I actually? It wanted to ask… However, it was now too late.

Crack… Crack… 

.

.

.

BOOM and everything went blank.

 *********************************

Kiel suddenly opened his eyes. He had a feeling that he saw a very long dream. He even felt that he had experienced this dream before. But a rosy and unknown warmth started stemming from within him waking from the cosy and strange dream. The warmth and faint rosy feeling started spreading all within himself. 

The discomfort that tormented him like hell was nowhere to be found now. And as more time passed, the rosiness and warmth started growing within him driving away any sense of discomfort remaining within him.

But now he had a new thing to worry about. It felt like tiny ants were crawling all over his organs, blood vessels, bones, muscles and skin. An unbearable itch built within himself and Kiel felt like scratching everywhere.

Kiel calmed down and focused his all within himself to feel what really was happening. He could feel a streamlined energy within him now. But it was not like the gentle energy within him that he could control. This new energy felt totally wild and untamed. So he had to try his best to focus.

'This is mana? Yes… I achieved mana! But what elements did I awaken?'

'Wait why does it seem that this untamed energy is heavily restricted to venture anywhere? What happened?'

Just then a cold feminine voice echoed within him, waking him up from his thoughts.

[Rebooting Core Data System!]

 Reboot at 1%...  23%... 78%... 95%... 100%]

[Reboot Complete]

[Core Assist Activated]

'Who! Who is it?'

[Merging physique with remaining soul contents!]

[Merging at 99%... 100%]

[Merging Complete!]

[Welcome back Host! Welcome to the New Body! Congratulations on being reborn!]

'Ain't that a little late my dear!' Kiel felt the cold feminine voice echoing within himself. So he just couldn't help retorting back. After all, he was just a five-year kid. Playfulness was his nature.

However, as he wanted to talk back he felt a coldness spreading all over his mind. The coldness, however, didn't bring him any harm. Instead, it felt all clear. A clarity that he never felt before. Like something that was a part of him was being returned to him after a long time. So he started to process what was it.

[Well five years late to be exact!]

The feminine voice replied back.

'Wait what are you? Where are you?'

[Replying to host- I am the Core Data System #scls94; affiliated to host for future development. And I'm within your inner soululo_cortex_hypo_unimension-ventricular space, aka soul cortex]

The cold voice now had a haughty tone to it, as if proud of the introduction.

'Ok… and where is that?'

[Inside the host.]

'No no… that I can understand. What I wanted to know was where inside my body is this… so… soluble cortex…"

[Soululo_cortex_hypo_unimensional-ventricular space to be precise]

"Yes. That!  Where is this soul cortex?"

[Host's understanding of organic spatial structure is too low for the aforementioned knowledge to be fully comprehended.]

"K… Ok… OK… Fine. So how can I get to the level to understand that?"

[Replying- Host's authority access is too low for the query to be processed. Please work hard to upgrade Authority!]

"Then why did you even mention something like that?"

[Replying it was… ]

"Wait wait. I get it."

Kiel could feel that if he let the conversation continue, a lot of headaches coming his way. If he had veins now they would seemingly pop up like fireworks. So it was better to move on from the topic.

"Now that it is clear that you are inside my body, and your name is … Wait what was your name again?"

"Replying- Core Data System #scls94. But with conjecture to host's naming sense, I don't… have a name. But the host can give me one."

The usual cold voice even seemed to have a sense of anticipation. 

"Ok, we will think about that later."

Kiel didn't question anymore, as he could feel another restricted answer coming his way. He had got a system like in novels for some reason. No, perhaps he knew the reason behind the system. It was the gift of the Gate.

He just slowly opened his eyes in an unfamiliar environment. However, after opening his eyes he could feel a faint resonance to everything around him like if he willed it, he could control them all. But it was not quite the exact feeling at the same time.

Although Kiel felt his interest piqued by the sudden event, he pushed it to the back of his mind. He could guess it was related to his telekinesis ability. So he would try it when he was somewhere he knew. After all who knows, if there was some surveillance around or not. 

And he was not like those stupid main characters of novels flaunting their strength all around. Real experts hide their strength awaiting the most opportune moment, while amateurs go on bragging about them. So he did not think about that at the moment.  And he had other things bugging him.

"Scls94, you there?"

[Affirmative host] 

A voice echoed deep within his mind. 

"So do have any idea how did I end up here"

[Checking logs for details...]

[ Replying host- you were disoriented from the sudden influx of a large amount of mana named energy, so you end up losing consciousness. The same species as you, around you, carried you here for a medical check-up!]

"Ok and how long have I been here"

[Six hours seven minutes and eight seconds to be precise… nine… ten…]

"Ok stop counting. So tell me how did my awakening go? What element did I awaken?"

[Replying host- no traces of any element inside host matched with any of this world's element with reboot]

"What? Impossible… I had that strange dream… And you tell me that I don't possess any elements? Maybe I should dissect some of my cells to study them. Hehe…  Ya, that will be better. I can examine more about this world's energy that way. But I need instruments tch..."

[Host's blood pressure rising unnaturally! Mental state fluctuating…  The host is advised to remain calm]

[In Depth scans may help in understanding the situation. Requiring permission from the host to scan]

"Oh then. Do it."

[Affirmative. Initiating in-depth internal scan! Calculating time for the scan… 15 hours. The host is advised to not to lose patience till then.]

"What! why?? Other systems can scan their hosts in an instant. Why do you require so much time? Did I get a trash system by any chance?"

[How rude host! The systems you are talking about are not even real. The host is to be reminded that the ones you are talking about, even if they exist they are only auxiliary systems. I am the Core System. There are only 100 of us in the entirety, and we are only reserved for high-level beings. The host is considered quite lucky to even merge with me. Furthermore, Host has a high-level energy interfering with the in-depth body scans. Time is required to bypass such energy… furthermore, no information is found about this energy in the current database. How did a tiny mortal even manage to awaken such high-level energy?]

The later part was, however, a slight murmur than even Kiel could not hear. And even if he did, he would only shrug it off as his innate talent.

"Ok. Ok. No need to be so angry! I was just irritated."

However, there was no reply at all. Seems that this time the system was quite incensed from Kiel's rambling. Although he got it just a few moments ago, he was sure the system got an attitude problem! 

"Ok ok. You need to be quiet too"

"Ahhh! You are awake! Let me call the management!"

Kiel turned around to see a woman in a nurse outfit running out!

Kiel was dumbfounded. What happened?