Chapter Text
Now playing: Dusk Hour - Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun OST by Frank Klepacki
From a large distance, the fortress hadn’t looked much bigger than maybe an aircraft hangar.
You’ll need to remind yourself not to trust views at a distance in the Dark World from here on out.
Before you sits a megastructure that’s put nearly every building you’ve seen before in person to shame, a would-be monument to the hubris of mankind or monsterkind or otherwise were it not literally constructed from the imposed vision of conscious minds. In simpler terms… It's an unrealistically big building.
That’s not to say it’s lavish or anything; it actually seems to be mostly composed of concrete at hard right angles, unmistakably brutalist in construction. The closest comparison you can draw off the top of your head is to those old communist bloc apartment buildings in Eastern Europe, the ones people like to joke about on the internet. It was imposing when you were a dozen feet off the ground, even MORE so now that you’ve disembarked and are left standing on the ground as the puny things you all are by comparison. Even your bus-sized chauffeur’s a tad intimidated by the complex before you, shrinking back from the pillars that seem to run on into the heavens without end, rivaling the massive trunks of those which you deigned to call trees back in the forest.
“Well, I think we’re close enough to do the rest of the trip ourselves.” Smiling, Ralsei turns to Friendly and curtsies. “You have our gratitude, Great Zunker.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Kris, as always, seems to have an aversion to proper emotional gestures of any kind. Oh yeah, they definitely went seriously over their quota on the way up here. Honestly, you’re surprised they haven’t burnt themselves out to a crisp already given how loose-lipped they’ve been over the course of your trip. Don’t they usually tend to stay… quiet? Was that them being quiet, or a consequence of your… er, control?
Left chuckles heartily. “Least I can do for a gang of kind travelers like yourselves, helping me out of a pickle like that. You’ve got my gratitude just as well, both of ya and miss ghost lady over there.” Okay, there it is again! That hasn't gotten any less WEIRD! Or… you don’t know! There’s just a strange feeling in the back of your head every time you hear it. You don’t know how to feel about it.
Eyeing your conspicuous body language, an odd recurrence catches their attention. “Lady?”
Friendly looks at Kris dumbfoundedly. “Are they not…?” Right meekly asks.
Every head in a fifteen-foot radius turns to look at you. Unfortunately, this is not very healthy for your general sense of social adaptability, rendering a sudden communication error with even the binary gestures you’ve been making use of this whole time: A shake of the head slowly starts up on instinct before you freeze outright.
You blink as you seriously take the thought into consideration.
The answer has to be no, right?
Y- Yeah.
You should maybe think on it a little later.
You half-heartedly complete a single side-to-side motion with your head, drawing an eyebrow raise out of Kris and a sudden flicker of lights from the Zunker. In embarrassment, they draw a hand over the space between their heads. “I- I’m so sorry, I just saw their look, and…” Their heads droop, though right continues to maintain eye contact. “My bad.”
The left laughs awkwardly. “I haven’t gotten out much, you can imagine. Need to reacclimate to social norms and all, haha! Still, uh. Didn’t mean to assume.”
Meanwhile, the azure knight keeps their gaze upon you, analyzing your scattershot response. A curt “Hmm… Alright,” is all they have to add– They are very much scrutinizing you right now. What do they know that you wouldn’t…?
Wait– Of course they’d have prior experience with this, they’re nonbinary. At least you assume they would; you don’t know for sure how genders and all work here. Are they seeing themselves in you?
“Well, it’s alright! It was simply a misunderstanding. We wish you luck on the way back home, Mx. Zunker!” Ever the diplomat, eh, Ralsei?
The Friendly Zunker’s heads nod in tandem, the right one leading up with “And same to you on your mission, heroes.”
Giving a bow that looms their nearly-bus-sized upper body above your group, they finally turn to get on their way, revealing a view of the sky beyond that you hadn’t been paying much attention to before now. It feels a bit… brighter, than the last time you looked at it properly, from the fields below. Stars are still packed densely overhead, the view of the ethereal window in the far distance remaining equally indescribable.
Though, as the three of you wave the Friendly Zunker goodbye, your mind races a little. You sure as hell weren’t a girl before all of this happened, but… you don’t know. Would a SOUL have a gender? No, wait, that’s a stupid question, of course they can– You’ve seen plenty of people in the socially-conventioned gender binary in Hometown, so their SOULs are, at least. No, what you were really trying to ask is if an Angel would have a gender. Well, maybe—
“Angel?”
Snapped out of yet another rambling internal monologue, you jump in place and turn to Ralsei.
“You’re doing okay now, right?”
A nod with just a bit of start lag is about as succinct of an answer as you can give.
“Okay. Just making sure.” You follow right behind him as your group enters and scans the massive alcove between pillars right in front of the end of the trail. Hopefully you can actually find an entrance to this monstrous slab of concrete rested upon the desk formation. “Er… do either of you see the front door, anywhere? The wall seems quite… featureless.”
A thorough visual scan of the bland concrete exterior confirms that it does, in fact, seem to be completely flat, not a door or window to be seen at ground level. Some fifty stories up, there do seem to be actual windows, but nothing’s even close to accessible down here. That stinks.
“Nah. Missing something... like a hidden switch.” Kris’ expertise on the matter is sound enough, though it’s mostly your expertise as well, so it’s not like you weren’t already doing—
Oh. Hello.
Tapping on both Kris and Ralsei’s shoulders to get their attention, you point to an inconspicuous looking metal pole sticking out of the ground, off-center from the midline of the alcove, about twenty feet to its right. You’d all missed it at first glance because it almost completely blends in with the grey of the concrete behind it.
Kris coughs a little bit before sighing dramatically. “Figures.”
Approaching it, you confirm that it is, in fact, a pad of some sort, probably the I/O of an intercom judging by the speaker grilles and small, circular button underneath. It’s unlabeled, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what exactly it’s gonna do when pressed. Considering that there’s no other immediately obvious options for entry, you and Ralsei stand back as Kris leans down with their face to the grille and presses in the toggle with their thumb. “Uh… Hello…?”
The other end of the feed is silent for a dozen seconds before it crackles to life with a brief spout of garbled static, eventually quieting down to an empty line. “Hello? Who is this?” The voice on the other end sounds… baffled?
Ralsei steps forward alongside Kris and speaks into the intercom: “This is Prince Ralsei, Kris Dreemurr, and the Angel! We’re here to see Hyper? No, wait– The… Hyperdimensional Terminus?” Beside him, Kris blinks in recognition of the fact that he remembered their full name, but evidently doesn’t consider it important enough to interrupt.
“HAH! Haven’t heard anyone call the boss that in ages! …Ahhh, yeah! Says here in the tube I got a few hours ago that you guys would probably be showing up sometime soon!” You all look at each other confusedly. The tube? “Yeah, I’ll get you soon. Sit tight! …Oh, and watch your step!” The line cuts.
You turn away from the wall of the compound with your arms crossed, looking back at the portion of the starry sky above the forest of Asriel’s bed that you can still see. What did he mean, ‘watch your—’
Something big jolts and rumbles right underneath your tail. NOPE. YOU’RE OUTTA THERE.
Kris giggles at your sudden spook, albeit with a look of guilt on their face this time. Damnit, you’re still not used to having an extra appendage! Alright, you know what? You’re gonna go right back find out what it is that actually spooked you before you back off properly.
Oh– There’s a seam under the dirt between two pieces of the ground…? Wait, no! You’re standing on the ground now– The piece in front’s a giant metal hatch. You usher your two party members away a couple meters, watching as it gapes its steel maw ever so slowly; likely a result of its extreme size.
After two pistons easily of the same diameter as your legs finish pushing the thing up, the three of you look down into the gently sloping tunnel it had been hiding underneath: It’s dimly lit and seems to lead directly into where the building’s basement would be… and seems rather underused. The floor of the tunnel is caked in a fine layer of dust that doesn’t seem to have been disturbed in ages.
A few hundred meters away, a piercing light seems to be approaching at speed down the tunnel, though the distance makes it look as though it’s barely moving. Judging by the signature soft hum typical of electric engines slowly increasing in volume, it’s probably a utility cart or something of the sort. Hm. Seems reasonable given how inconvenient of a walk this would be.
Well… You can’t see the harm in going in. That was the entire intent, right? So, you lead the way and start heading on down. Reluctantly, the two of them follow you down into the tunnel, only just coming to a stop at the bottom of the slope as you wait for the cart to come to you. A few more moments of awkward waiting later, the cart pulls up only a short way away from you and finally points its headlights away from your eyes, letting you see the guy who actually let you in.
He’s… just a Plugboy. Well, it’s not like that’s too strange given what Hyper is supposed to be, and that’s a reductive descriptor anyways, since he’s dressed in more traditional lightner clothing, like Ramb was: A white hard hat sits on top of his head, a pair of black-rimmed rectangular glasses angled on his face right below it, and the actual clothes consist of a white button up shirt and a pair of black slacks. All scaled down to a guy who’s about two and a half feet tall.
“Hey, y’all! Just hop in and I’ll take you all the way up to the boss. Can’t guarantee we won’t have to walk a bit on the latter half of the trip, though.” He pats the seat right behind him, leading you to realize that you’ve actually seen carts like this before carrying people around airport terminals. This place is that big, huh? You look to your compatriots to see their reactions, immediately noticing that Kris is seriously relieved not to have to walk so far while Ralsei just seems to be going along with the flow. Alright, then. On you go.
Though Kris and Ralsei seem to settle well enough, the stiff seats feel like something that’d be installed in a golf cart. That’s honestly a little surprising considering that Dark Worlds shouldn’t have things like material limitations. Couldn’t these feel more co—
Oh, right. The tail. Guess you can’t sit with your back to the rest, then. Ugh, this thing’s been more trouble than it’s worth.
With that, the driver pulls away from the slope and back towards the heart of the facility, the hatch closing slowly behind you. Funny. Disembarking one ride just to immediately get on another. Damn layover over here. Something that is nice about this is the soft breeze from travelling at speed in this subterranean corridor– it’s ruffling the hair (and ears) of everyone aboard, including you. This feels so good. You think you get why dogs love sticking their heads out of car windows now.
It’s not long before the cart pulls up to to a bulkhead in a fork in the tunnel heading back up, the steel of its hatch just as imposing and tarnished as the entry hatch; it feels somewhat like a trip into some sort of top secret government facility, just without the situationally-concerning implications of travelling to such a place. Except, well, it’s not entirely as if such a thing isn’t also happening in your situation, right?
In the front, the driver pulls a small remote out of his pocket after a bit of fumbling, grumbling to himself about the security standards having been ‘reduced to a damn garage door opener’: An apt comparison, you think. After a frustratingly long sustained button press, the three of you in the back flinch at the sudden, loud sound of grinding gears all around the circumference of the tunnel. Slowly, the gargantuan pieces of metal in front of you begin to recede ever so slowly, the bright light behind them blinding you all for a moment in their sharp contrast to the somewhat dim lighting of the tunnel. With a characteristically sharp lurch, the cart beneath begins to move again, nearly sending all three of you tumbling back if it weren’t for your tail all the way at the back acting as an impromptu tripod leg.
Feeling the soft breeze on your face once more, you blink rapidly to adjust your vision and take a pause once you recognize what you’re looking at. Beyond the doors’ threshold lay… quite a lot.
Now playing: Factory Switch Room - Donkey Kong Country Returns Extended OST by Kenji Yamamoto
Hearing the bulkhead screech closed in the middle distance behind you, you feel as though you were somewhat unprepared for what actually lay on the inside of the fortress. It’s DENSE in here, dozens and dozens of darkners of all shapes and sizes of familiar and new make alike, traveling to and fro in what looks practically like an urban-industrial center, enormous machinery of unknown function surrounding either side of the thin path your cart now takes you along. Forklifts and loading beds and lifts traveling up enclosures that could well enough be their own buildings fill nearly every inch of the floor of an enormous atrium, which you can only just barely glimpse among the bustle of life down here.
The ceiling of said atrium far above, curiously, seems just as dense as the mess of metal and concrete all the way down here. Outcroppings made of steel and glass resembling something akin to inverted buildings hang from the ceiling of the superstructure between the blazingly strong lights illuminating this massive interior. Roughly in the center of it all, though, is a structure highly unlike anything you’ve ever seen– Inside a bulbous casing, a dense core of circuitry hangs suspended in the air, electricity visibly coursing through the chassis and across the circuit buses visible on its outermost layer. No, wait, you’ve seen a design like this before! It looks a hell of a lot like one of those quantum computer prototypes you’d sometimes see on news sites.
A bit of an egotistical representation for a rig that probably still runs Windows XP, but hey, this Dark World was yours, right? That is, in part, your doing. Don’t go bad-mouthing your own handiwork, now.
“If I may ask–” Ralsei leans forward, side-eyeing his surroundings with a bit of bewilderment on his face– “...where does Hyper preside in all this? I was not expecting there to be so much… going on, here.”
Sparing a half-glance back at him, the driver smirks and points his left hand at the ceiling, right towards the dense mess of circuitry in its viewing bowl.
The prince follows the trace line of his gesture before growing puzzled at the sight above. “Is… Is Hyper the building itself…?” Wait, huh?
Both you and Kris look at him with wide eyes as the possibility that he’s right graces the stage of your mind. None of you have encountered a darkner as of yet that’s manifested as anything other than an individual, so this development is somewhat shocking in addition to the multiple implications carried by that phrase.
Thankfully, the driver clarifies the idea for you a heartbeat later. “Yes and no. It’s like… Okay, they’re tapped into the guts of this place, but they aren’t really the guts themselves. They’re connected to the, uh, mainframe. Yeah.”
It clicks basically as soon as you hear the word mainframe. It’s like Portal. Simple enough! But if that’s the case, then where would their main body be…? Up inside the computational unit? …wait. Are you going to their lair?
If not for lack of a mouth, you would smirk at your own barely-passable joke.
Watching as a variety of other vehicles pass you by on the left hand side of the access path, more and more fascinating details come to your attention in the surroundings. Most of the enclosures around here are either color coded or labelled as numbered laboratories, featuring little more than a few access doors around their perimeter; what kind of research would they be doing…? Above, more than a few suspended monorail tracks balance on supports built over the road, traveling at shockingly high speeds from here to some other far-off area on the ground floor of the building. The sheer scale is boggling your brain, even if just a little.
Finally slowing to a stop near the north wall of the complex, closer to where you arrived atop the plateau than where you emerged onto the ground floor judging by the rough U-turn you traced out in your head, the cart queues into what seems to be a line for something near a… slanted pillar with grooves? What this line is for, you have no idea, given that there just seems to be a fenced off divot in the ground at the front. Following it up the wall, it seems to cut in a little bit to the walls of the atrium, though that fact more quickly makes it evident that at roughly where it starts to recess, the wall breaks into layers– different floors, you realize! Further up still is the feature you anticipated as soon as you came to the last conclusion; a platform elevator on rails, on its way down from far, far up. You wonder if it could be technically classified as a funicular.
This whole complex is so ridiculously evocative of a sci-fi research facility ala Black Mesa that you could practically see each individual bit of detail being assembled from a preset of geometry assembled for game development– a worthwhile comparison to consider with the knowledge that you’ve definitely had your fair share of influence on the formation of this dark world. And to such similar ends, Kris takes the opportunity to posit a curt and relevant question.
“...hell’re you guys doing in here…?”
Tilting his head before turning back to face them, the driver looks a tad confused. “Well, this is your and Azzy’s PC… wouldn’t you already… know?” He frowns as the knight shakes their head concernedly. “Hm. Well, I’m not really a high enough clearance myself to know everything that’s going on in this place, but each of these complexes down here is dedicated to the study of Dark/Light interactions! Different aspects of it, to be more specific. How our world interacts with the Light World, how stuff like electricity works here, how information stored in different mediums is manifested, why certain objects don’t change in Dark Worlds, so on and so forth. That’s been our mission here for a hot minute, at least since Hyper said that’s what we should get up to cause you were looking into it too.”
Ah. Yeah, they would have done that, wouldn’t they?
Kris suddenly turns a shade lighter at the reveal, glancing rapidly between the two people now staring at them; the same ones they find themselves sandwiched between on the cart. It’s not like this is some earth-shattering realization, but it is a confirmation of what both you and the prince managed to piece together independently, and it serves as a somewhat sobering reminder of the fact that your knowledge of their allegiances has been… somewhat muddled.
But in it lies a point that remains equally pertinent; why don’t certain things change in Dark Worlds…? Shouldn’t everything without a SOUL change in form in some way? Dark Fountains are made from the determination of their openers, so, in a sense, they imbue all the objects in the room with that determination, giving them the will to live, right? That’s technically what happened to Flowey back in Undertale, right? Hell, it worked to a similar extent with the Old Man. So what made that distinction? Why didn’t…
Your gaze immediately falls upon Ralsei’s robe, about where he’d stashed Kris' phone a few hours ago. That was unchanged; why? For a moment, you reach out your hand to get his attention, and—
“Lift’s here!” The cart jerks forward with a lurch, pushing both of your compatriots right back into you and stifling your train of thought. You’ll have to remember to ask– er, mime, at Ralsei to get another look at that thing. Maybe not when Kris is around, though. They still haven’t revealed all of their secrets, and as long as any of those bear any sort of importance to the immediate future of the three of you, you can’t fully trust them. As much as it hurts to still think after the moment together on the way up.
Rolling in juuuust alongside another cart at the edge of the lift, a Swatchling in a high-vis getup checks that each one is fully secure before stepping off and handling a panel with the apparent lift controls. With a bit of a jitter underneath, a line of railing rises from a slit in the platform at the open end, and the whole thing vibrates as it starts moving from rest again.
Ahead, you see more and more of the floor of the atrium, dense with industrial complex and general signs of life among the sprawling concrete and steel, although something far closer catches your attention on the other side of the cart. Namely, a passenger on the one right beside yours; stout in appearance but definitely not small, a strange humanoid composed of cuboids sits patiently in their seat, left hand wrapped tightly around what seem to be leashes made of computer cables holding still a mess of small, feisty cubes, each one equipped with four paws, two big ears, and tiny little rectangular snouts. Every single one (and their owner), stare at your group curiously. More specifically, they’re all staring at you. The owner’s expression, a basic emoticon on a mostly white screen making up their face, simply appears as a ‘:o’. Their, uh, dogs, seem to be staring right on at your SOUL as if it was a chew toy. Not planning to be one for them, you lower yourself ever so slightly until it no longer peeks over the backrest.
Finally having reached the stratified layers you’d seen from below, you crane your neck to get a better look; much to your surprise, the area of floor you can see on each as you zoom past seems to be office space, of all things.
You think to yourself. While the Librarby’s computer lab became the Cyber World, lined end to end with neon lights and glowing signs and generally futuristic crap, this is far more current in terms of technology, even old-school. On myriad desks, you can see aged computer terminals, tons of paper and clipboards, cassette players, and a huge number of fax machines. The terminals specifically seem to be of similar age and make to the real computer out in the Light World, so you’re thinking the aesthetic’s generally around… late 90s to mid 2000s.
With a low grinding noise underneath (and the view of the atrium floor beyond now mostly obscured by the foundations of the floors around you), the lift finally comes to a halt all the way at the top level, at the very least some thousand feet up or so. If you look far enough ahead past the cable mechanism which likely powered the whole thing, you can see quite a few floor-to-ceiling windows, much like a modern skyscraper. As the railings at the sides come down, your driver starts up the cart again and pulls onto a little access lane between the field of desks all around, staffed by darkners of every shape and size.
Looking around, you can’t help but notice that the interior design of this place is surprisingly modern and tasteful; lotta nice carpets in the hallways, potted plants nearly everywhere, and bright and clean light fixtures. There’s even more windows showing into some breakout and conference rooms lining the wall facing the atrium; it’s a far cry from the dull, featureless exterior you all bore witness to on the way in, or the industrial sprawl of the ground level. It even smells nice here, like a freshener aerosol was dispersed through the air itself; a thankfully far cry from the awful aroma of Queen’s mansion. The acrid stench of battery acid is not something you ever look forward to experiencing again.
Your train of thought lurches to a halt.
…how the hell did you know that?
No, you… just figured it would smell like that because of the massive ‘indoor swimming pool’. You know what battery acid smells like, so obviously you’d know it would smell like shit. Fuck, is your memory starting to fill in assumed gaps of information…? Blegh, you’ll be fine, it’s not important. Just keep going.
Scoring a left turn along a suspiciously dense hallway, the three of you take notice of an odd feature which had escaped you earlier; a thick, bright blue cord embedded in the ceiling right above the access lane. Making an effort to sit upright and look closely, you could swear that there’s little white specks of light moving up and down it.
“Data line caught your eye, eh? Yeah, whole place’s plugged into the mainframe’s memory core up ahead, right through that up above! It’s how Hyper gets everything they need as soon as it happens. Right wonder of engineering, it is.” So, once again, just like Portal; they’re probably already familiar with the sight of you three by now. Question is, what data would they need to know so fast as to keep themselves attached to this constant stream? If they are doing experimentation, couldn’t that just be relayed through one of those many, many fax machines that you’d already seen? Once again, a question to be saved for the big boss.
Pulling up in front of a set of reinforced steel double doors (UNCANNILY like the school supply closet, you notice), the driver disembarks once more to press in a toggle switch not unlike the one you saw right at the entrance. “Got three visitors here for Hyper, if you’d be so kind.” Almost immediately, the sound of heavy locks being undone sounds out from the doors, the driver motioning you to head inside. Doing so, you watch as they swing open inward, revealing what you can only describe as a receptionist’s hallway. At the end, in front of a crest of the Delta Rune not unlike the one Toriel has above the front door, sits a Tasque Manager in a sharply-cut black dress; Hyper’s secretary, if you had to guess.
“You three have fun. I’ve gotta get back to my watchful duty as the front gate guard– Very time consuming and all that. Ciao!” The three of you watch as the plugboy vrooms off in his little electric chariot, almost definitely eager to return to a security position that requires him to do virtually nothing. Good for him, you think.
Now playing: Old Aperture - Portal 2 Soundtrack by Mike Morasky
Entering the long and surprisingly modestly-furnished hall (save for the massive, glowing, overhead cable), your group glances around at a curious assortment of objects assembled periodically along either wall. A telephone. A floppy disc. A tie. A… glowshard? None of them are labelled, yet, judging by the well-maintained display cases, they clearly have to be important in some way. Not that there’s anything actually denoting said importance. Ahead, the secretary’s desk also serves as the split of a fork, two double doorways on either side of the pillar on which the crest is emblazoned.
The Tasque Manager taps away a small command on a terminal behind her desk as the doors you came through finally swing shut, sparing only a quick glance at each of the three members of your party. A set of half-rimmed glasses sit on her snout, her eyes flicking all over the screen. Leaning forward out of curiosity, you’re a bit taken aback by what seems at first to be static, but you soon recognize it as a flurry of windows being brought on-and-off screen, lasting only a few frames before disappearing or minimizing again; she notices your attention and gives a single, curt laugh.
“Order waits for no one, Angel. As well as it should, considering that the director would like you three to meet with them at earliest convenience. They’ve not had important visitors for quite a while now.” You look at her with just a bit of shock; you’d been read like an open book. Is the heart-shaped object imagery really that prolific for the Angel? Surely not, considering the representation on the crest isn’t one…
“O- Oh! Um, which way is it to Hyper, then?” Ralsei is also visibly perturbed, but considering Kris’ worsening state, he likely doesn’t want to waste any time that could be spent getting you closer to your light magic. They are still friends, after all, prophecy and duties be damned.
“Either of these doors behind me lead directly to their office, dear. Simply let yourself in, they’re in the middle of overseeing testing and can’t come down for a moment.” A half smile on the left side of her snout is all she bothers to give, her disconnected hands moving so fast across the keys it makes your head hurt to watch. She’d be absolutely killer at some FPS games, you think. That being said, the three of you offer a nod and shuffle over to the closer right doors. Counteracted by an unexpected weight, the three of you have to push on them pretty heavily to get them to swing open, a design question you consider quite curious. Also, evidently, one that neither of your two companions appreciate given their grunts of exertion.
Finally through the threshold, the new room the three of you’ve entered immediately assaults your vision, panels upon panels of what look like cassette reels spinning busily along the East and West walls, the South wall ahead almost completely composed of floor-to-ceiling windows staring directly into the memory core. Even while it had looked impressive from all the way down on the ground floor, seeing it up close is a whole other ball game; each individual fiber optic cable lies bare to the eye, weaving up and down the stratified copper structure. Organized into neat little rows with other cables, each one seems to contain more of that light-blue, flowing energy, all weaving into one mass right at the top; the overhead cable that you’d spotted just before. In a way, it’s not unlike a nest, although composed of glass and metal. Maybe a hive would be a more apt description…?
Far window aside, you all glance around at the visually busy room, yet no one else aside from your trio seems to be present. The only signs of life here, as far as you can see, seem to be the whirrs and clicks of the oddly-outdated machinery. Beside you, the prince and knight look equally confused, Kris especially, poking and prodding at the recording equipment as if one contained a false door. The secretary did say Hyper would be in here… so, where are they?
“Above you, luminous one.”
A dark, disjoined, and gravelly– though it’s almost far too rough to describe so finely– voice echoes heavily through the room from above, emanating from a small alcove embedded in the ceiling. Evidently, the three of you had failed to observe any part of said ceiling in the nearly twenty seconds since entering.
“You may lay that blame on me; I was keeping quiet in the hopes of finishing this up before speaking, but your rambling falls on decidedly not-deaf ears.”
…Rambling? But you’re—
“Not quite silent, Angel. I will explain, but firstly, let me introduce myself.”
Hearing a whirr from far above, your group recoalesces into one bunched-up unit in anticipation. But the instant your eyes fall upon Hyper’s visage as they descend… they go as wide as the moon.
Though most of their form is covered by a navy, highly-concealing cloak, their metal, claw-like feet remain just barely visible, hanging down just beyond the golden hem. Mostly, they remind you of talons. At the top of the figure, their head visibly attaches to a tangled mess of glowing wires feeding from the ceiling of the room, apparently capable of holding enough tension force to suspend such a massive, metallic body in the air. But the true standout of it all, of course, is the shape of said head. With little exaggeration, it is, almost certainly, a scaled down version of the DT Extractor, complete with a similarly metal skeletal jaw and two curved horns composed of deeply threaded wires on either side. In the eye sockets, of course, sit two small pinpricks of light acting as their pupils. It is the only part of their visage that they care to leave exposed, a fact which leaves you uneasy when thinking about what the rest of their body may look like.
“It is nothing improper; I assure you. This is simply a result of preference. Otherwise… I must apologize, for I am not quite certain as to what you refer to when you gaze upon my face. It is what I formed with, and what I use.” They set down upon a varnished hardwood floor, the distinct sound of metal against wood clacking underneath.
Quickly as to not create a misunderstanding of some sort, you nod quickly, albeit awkwardly. You have no idea how to explain this, or what ramifications the knowledge could have on the people around you, so—
“Do not worry. I realize now that your concern relates to something extraworldly, so I will not pressure, for the sake of all present.”
“Excuse me! Mx. Hyper?” From your left, Ralsei steps forward with his hands clasped in front of him, as though he were preparing to plead for something from a fellow figure of authority; you’re not sure if he’ll have to plead, based on the way they’ve acted so far. “Seeing as you already seem to be familiar with my companion, I will be curt; we are in search of a method to allow the Angel to access their Light once again, and have come up short. The Elder Geometric sent us to you, said you might have something helpful in terms of assisting with that?” His tone is hopeful… and just barely a bit desperate.
Looking onward at the prince in consideration, Hyper scratches their chin thoughtfully, side-eyeing you out of the corner of that unnerving, pitch-black socket. Abruptly, they scowl.
“I suppose I should also establish that I can hear you, Angel. I know you do not mean to offend, but I would appreciate it if you would be more… polite.”
You blink.
They HEARD you?!
Almost simultaneously, Ralsei and Kris had echoed the sentiment, and the combination of what was evidently all three of you exclaiming this at Hyper makes them step back out of surprise.
“...oh dear. I did not realize that you were not aware of your speech. Then… you are speaking your thoughts. That does explain your tone, I suppose. And I further apologize for shocking you in such a manner. I had thought that your companions would have been aware.”
“Aware of what?” Even Kris has piped up by now, though their voice is definitely starting to break up at this point. You can’t fathom how painful this must be by now, based on how they look. Hell, you genuinely wish they’d been more careful before jumping in here after you in the first place.
“As they should have. Were this any other dark world, they would surely not be of sound body and mind by this point.”
A raised eyebrow from all three of you. More information you all conspicuously lack. Though, in Ralsei’s case, you’re more sure that the reason for his lack of knowledge is due to the utter lack of prophetic content on your journey so far. Mostly a hiccup in the grand scheme of things, if anything, you suppose.
“I would venture that this is far more than a hiccup, bright one. The prince and my owner have likely had formative experiences.”
“...didn’t answer the question.” Sternly and impatiently, Hyper’s owner makes themselves known again.
“...right. Apologies.” Fidgeting with an analogue for hands under their cloak, they kneel in front of your projection and, as though they were approaching a jumpy animal, slowly extend a terrifyingly sharp claw out from under their cloak until it just barely grazes the surface of your SOUL. “Try to speak, Angel.”
Unsure of all this, you reluctantly oblige, though the only fitting thing you can think of opening with is a simple ‘Hello’.
…which is promptly relayed though Hyper, in an extremely robotic voice. Both of your companions step back in slight shock at the harsh voice, a tone that you now realize to be that of an old S.A.M. speech synthesizer. Just to ensure it’s not a fluke, or Hyper filling in the gaps themselves, you try once more.
“Hello, Kris and Ralsei. I think this is my first time actually introducing myself.”
And so Hyper repeats word for word, using that same jank voice. Still uncertain, Ralsei once again raises a brow at you and Hyper. “You… You really said that, Angel?” Stupefied by the accuracy, you nod excitedly in response, much to his delight. “Then… Hello to you too, Angel! I hope this time’s going to be the proper one.” Once more, you nod in agreement.
A brief chuckle and a grin from Kris attracts your attention immediately after; “…excited, huh?” What are they talking about? You mean, you are, this is a pretty big development, but– oh god your tail is wagging. Quickly, you try to grab it with both hands to arrest momentum, but the damage is done; both of them definitely won’t forget that mental image. Ay.
Some giggling from Ralsei confirms your fear, though… This is the first time you think you’ve heard him laugh like that. It feels good. “This is fantastic! We’ve overcome our biggest barrier of communication! How are you doing this?!”
“The Angel does not seem to be aware, but their SOUL emits an almost imperceptible, extremely high-frequency hum, roughly two gigahertz, at all times; I’ve been picking it up on my security equipment. There are perturbations in it that I can extract and format into data, though it would be meaninglessly garbled to anyone who cannot read the resulting information. So, I format it into speech, using the best synthesis I have available. I may not be top-of-the-line hardware anymore, and have not been for a while, but I have the means to carry out my work.” The look of pride in their eyes is surprisingly palpable. You can’t say you expected them to be this… expressive.
But, taking this into account, doesn’t this mean that you’ve been… talking? The whole time?
“In a way, Angel. I would offer my own voice if I could, but this is merely the one afforded to me by your fountain, and not truly linked to my system. And… perhaps it would be prudent to ask. Do you wish to be called something other than ‘angel’? Purely by a hunch of mine.”
“Um… not really. I forgot what my name was.”
Both Kris’ and Ralsei’s eyes go starkly wide as Hyper repeats the parsed data to them. The prince especially looks perturbed, looking at you with discomfort. “You… you had a name before this…?”
His ignorance initially strikes you as frightfully odd; doesn’t that Rudinn in Castle Town very directly name it after the player? Wouldn’t he know your name? Then, of course, the reason hits you very directly; he never would have learnt it on this save file.
Your name was never asked for. Only April’s.
“Curious. Who is April?”
A blink and furrowed brow follow the question, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Of course, it was really only evident to you. And that stupid cat, somehow.
“My vessel.”
And yet… while Ralsei’s eyes go stock wide at this revelation, Kris looks away. They know something about this. But it has no time to stew as Hyper steps back from your SOUL, standing up to their full height. For a moment, you step forward, perhaps in immediate pursuit of what’s been your only method of advanced communication so far, yet Hyper wags a finger at you. “Apologies, but it seems my owner has little time to expend on the less pertinent details. If you so desire, or if you end up having the time, I may be able to route the subroutine to an external terminal once we are finished so you will not need me to translate. Perhaps you would prefer it if I relayed some of my own observations to you? It may help trigger a memory of some sort.”
“...how do you know all this?” Kris’ question, once again quite curt, still strikes true to the heart of the conversation. Hyper nods in acknowledgement.
“It is for the same reason as the phenomenon I am about to explain to you; the Dark World itself imbued me with this knowledge, and this capability. Your having made it, Angel, did so.”
…What?
“The mark of your perception is evident in the threads of reality itself, here. But you are already familiar with the mechanics of Dark Worlds, are you not?”
A slow nod confirms your familiarity, though you realize the question seems to be posited towards all three of you. As such, Ralsei’s previous joy gives way to a more serious tone, his paws fidgeting nervously at the base implications of their question. “The dream given form. Dark beyond darkness. Yes, we… are familiar, Hyper.” Darker yet darker, the edges becoming indistinct, that whole business. So, for them to bring attention to it while having an entire complex full of darkners performing heavy experimentation on the nature of the world itself… What do you not know, here?
“Quite a lot of information, I would venture. Ironic and paradoxical as it may sound. This world, this, Dark, World– It’s bathed in your Light. You opened the dark fountain, yes, but in doing so with a form imbued and perhaps constructed from a light of higher substance, you have created something more akin to what you might call a ‘pocket dimension’. Though its appearance takes on the reflection of the mind’s eye, as with other worlds darker than the pitch, matter has latched on more firmly. A… Twilight World, if you would.”
“...that’s why everything’s weird.”
Both Ralsei and yourself turn to Kris with a fair bit of shock at the sudden information, to put it lightly. “W- What do you mean, weird…?” The absentminded fidgeting the prince had been engaging in with his paws suddenly seems to have greatly intensified.
Screwing an eye shut in recollection, Kris tilts their head and hums, pursing their lips before sighing. “…Dark Worlds are a little surreal; edges have no solid boundary. But you only notice if you’re looking for it.” Shutting their eyes, they seem to ponder how to level their explanation just a bit more. “If you believe it’s there, it’ll look normal. This one that you made, though… Everything’s been crystal clear no matter how hard I’ve looked. I’ve only seen this happen before with one other thing, actually.” Kris opens their eyes once more to look right at the prince. “…And he’s here with us.” HUH?
“Wh- What? But I’m… I—” Ralsei stammers in response to Kris’ pointed reference, glancing rapidly between the three other people in the room. “I’m just a darkner like the other ones we’ve met here! And before! That’s all I’ve ever been, even if I am mentioned in the prophecy! I don’t understand why… I…” He holds a paw to his forehead as he looks down in contemplation. “It… might actually be for the same reason I know the prophecy in full, in which case, I don’t know. That, or occupying the role of the Third Hero did, in fact, do something. But it… it shouldn’t change the simple facts of my existence, right??”
Kris leans over to pat him on the shoulder, looking into his eyes sympathetically. “Don’t worry about it. You’re still Ralsei.”
The prince takes a breath before looking up at Kris again. “Yes… I get what you mean. Still.”
Hyper takes the opportunity to seize the moment of quiet in the wake of the concession. “I would, in fact, go so far as to venture that this is the reason for both the existence of your bodily projection—” He points to you– “...and the fact that my owner has not yet been overtaken by Taint. Without, you would lack the capability to gather the energy to compose your body, remaining only as your SOUL… and Kris Dreemurr would no longer be breathing.”
You look at Kris with a sickened expression, yet are taken aback by an evident lack of shock; instead, they seem… accepting? Why?!
Reading your perturbed expression, Kris sighs. “I… knew this would happen. Something like it. Didn’t expect to survive this long if I didn’t get you back, ‘cause I’ve seen it happen before.” They… what? Where the hell would they have…
Oh.
Oh.
You suddenly feel extraordinarily mindful of the entire reason they’d ever agreed to this horrid ‘plan’ in the first place. If what they describe did that to her, then… god.
Hands curling up into fists, a deeply rooted conviction first strengthened on the way up comes back to the forefront. Everybody here is going to get their happy ending, or you’ll die trying.
Cautiously, Hyper steps forth once more, raising a claw to attention. “Forgive me for interrupting your emotional introspection, but with that information out in the open, perhaps it would be best to discuss the matter amongst yourselves. It seems sensitive. In the meanwhile, please allow me to search my database in peace– I will be able to assist better now that I know what properties to look for, specifically. Hopefully, we will find something more specific to focus your Light… if finally speaking with your comrades does not do that in and of itself.” Hopefully, they’re right about the latter.
“Head out of my office past my secretary, and take a left outside the bulkheads. There’s a moderately large office overlooking the atrium which should have a few dozen terminals to work with. I will route the synthesizer to whichever you use, but I suspect that you may find text sufficient on its own.” With that, nary a sound heard from above, Hyper lifts up from the ground, looking towards a handful of panels angled in the alcove above, a detail you’d somehow missed even after spotting their descent in the first place. It’s their workstation, you realize. “I will let you know when I have found something.”
The three of you look at each other beckoningly, then, one by one, start heading back to the door you all came from. Seems it’s finally time to have a talk. A real one.