[BDaSS] My Steps Begin

[Ezrihel]

Continued from: HERE

He steps slowly down the thick oak stairs of The Immoral Raven and lets himself sink into the the crowd of people. The dirty yellow candle light that flickers against dark wooden beams does little to alleviate the feeling of claustrophobia-inducing walls and cobweb caked ceilings. The mass of bodies hot and grimy from a long day of work push against each other; the animalistic need to forget hardship overriding any sense of decency they may have possessed before that first pint hit them.

The smell of melting candle wax, warm food and dirty skin hangs in the air. The noxious cloud seems to seep down into the fabric of Ezrihel’s clothes and cling to his hair. He rubs his hands together as he glances around the tavern, trying to find a relatively quiet spot to take a seat and prepare.

He automatically begins to weave his way through the rancid crowd as his eyes settle on a specific booth. People to either side of him seem to fall away subconsciously and make a path for him. They pay no attention to the tall blonde slithering to the quiet and dark corner. They don’t notice how they move for him or how any curiosity they may have is rapidly forgotten and replaced by some different memory.

He sits down on the unforgiving wooden bench. He runs his gloved hands over the portion of the unfinished table in front of him as he slides into the booth. His eyebrows raise then furrow, the right side of his top lip lifting in the beginning of a snarl. He pulls his hands away with a ripping sound not too unlike the undoing of velcro. He looks down at his palm with disdain. In the relatively faint light it doesn’t take him long to see how his once white glove is now unbearably stained with some sort of sticky yellow substance.

He gives a low growl before peeling his gloves off. Holding the sticky gloves inside-out in the palm of his right hand, he begins to break them back down into raw Omnilium with a frown. It takes a few moments to break them down, but soon enough he is remaking his gloves; he makes certain to carefully craft each hemline and stitch the way he remembers it being. During this, he reaches his left hand out and starts to break down whatever mess had been split on the table. It didn’t take too long, and soon he was redressing his bare hands.

Before he could finish putting his left glove back on, he is greeted by a rather familiar grouping of particles. A soft smile crosses his face as he lifts his left index finger, giving her a sort of perch.

“Oh, my lovely AI. What is it that I owe the pleasure to?” The musical notes of his husky voice carry through the tavern with an unnatural ease.

“Greetings! Creator has assigned me the task of spying around to see if any others know about the mysterious item we are searching for. Minas Tirith is a large city, so there are bound to be rumors spewing out of some drunk dude’s mouth. Well, that or vomit. ..” IRIS makes an erratic whir, seemingly repulsed.

“Aah, I see. I too was going to make a quick stop down here to gather information, that and have some food sent up to those two flush lovebirds.” He gives a scoff as he steps down onto the main floor of the tavern. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that that thief was up to no good with my secondary, but then again, I don’t care too much about that now.”

“I am still unsure about human traditions about romance and such, it’s all so foreign to me. However, I do find the succubus’s advances to be rather annoying to me for some odd reason. I can’t decipher why, but it just riles my circuits, you know?”

“Is that- Are you jealous, my little machine? Oh, that’s simply precious.” He coos at her. He scouts out the inhabitants of the Immoral Raven, trying to spy out someone who could give him some new information on anything really.

“Jealous? I have nothing to be jealous of!” She says, seemingly defensive as her hue flushes a blueish purple. “She can never have the closeness that Creator and I have. After all, he made me with his own mind, that’s more than she can ever be~” Her robotic voice uses a rather snobbish inflection.

“Goodness me.” He gives a soft few tsks at IRIS. “Yes, but by that same vein I have a close bond with that woman. And I don’t. No offense, but creating something doesn’t mean you love that thing. However, I have no doubt that the Thief values you greatly- After all, how else would he manage himself in this place?” He makes a satisfied ‘hm’ before reaching his right hand up to pet the top of her form. “But no, you are aware that their flirting has been going both ways, correct?”

Iris seems to stoop low and pout for a moment. “I suppose that I have seen at least a 79.5% increase in their interactions and a few instances of increased heart rates among the two, but I must mention the fact that Creator is only falling because of her horrid succubus powers. It becomes quite clear when you take a closer look at the woman. Certainly, you can agree with me on this observation, right?”

“Succubus powers, you say? Hmm.” His smile can’t help but to continue as he plays along. “Well I can’t quite remember ever having those powers myself, though most would call them incubus powers. Tell me, what are these so called powers of seduction my secondary holds?”

IRIS rises up, swirling around his ear, seeming to almost give a whisper. “It’s in her bosom.”

Ezrihel comes to a deadstop upon hearing her whisper. He blinks a few times in disbelief while trying to process what the Artificial Intelligence had just spoke to him. “I...” He tries to find the right words. “You do realise that most men like most women’s bosoms, correct? That’s... That’s not a power of a succubus, that’s just your creator being a functioning mature human male.”

“BUT HAVE YOU SEEN THE SIZE OF HER BOSOM.”

His eyes widened at her comment. “Well, yes. I have seen her bosom. I’m the one who created her. She was my physical form for quite a little while there, so yes... But there are women who are more well endowed than even her.”

“However, it's not just that, …” she seems to shake in embarrassment, “she has also taken a form equal in beauty as your own, the combination of it all is one that my poor Creator simply can’t resist! Can we not save him from her spell?”

He couldn’t help but give a snort before chuckling deeply. “You’re asking me to save him from billions of years of evolution and genetic engineering? I may be a god being, but there’s only so much I can do. That and I think the stoic ass could learn to loosen up a bit. He’s always so somber. Kills the mood and all, and I personally think it’s because he hasn’t been laid in a while.”

“Creator isn’t really that closed off all the time, he just-”

“When’s the last time you saw him laughing and smiling my darling?” Ezrihel interrupts.

“Well, he seemed to be enjoying himself when we actually managed to snag a well crafted sword from another prime, I really enjoyed the smirk he had on his face until we met Finneas! Hm, I haven’t heard from the alchemist for a while, I might have to see what information he has discovered since Creator was banned from Ambrosia…”

He cocks his right eyebrow at her reaction. “I meant from actual human interaction, not from causing mischief like the urchin he is.”

“Well, he has been mostly reserved because of how little he knows about the world…” She seems to trail off a bit, trying to find the words. “... He feels like he’s weaker than everyone else, at a disadvantage. Of course he has gained new abilities from being in this realm but, his power is limited to his knowledge, and in relevance to any that reside here, that knowledge is… well, limited. I’ve tried to teach him more about technology, but,” she seemed to give a sigh, “human minds can only learn so fast. He still doesn’t know how he created me, but I am glad he was able to, so that I can help him.” The AI seemed to dabble on, as if she was sharing secrets with the god being.

“So he’s reserved because he’s shy? The world is something that you should get out there and experience, at least a little. After all, you can’t learn everything from a back seat or from a book. They’re good starting points, but a start is all that they are. I am certainly weaker than I was before, but you don’t see me hiding. After all, what’s the point of hiding and being weak when instead you can go out and truly make your name known? That’s where the real power lies.”

“He has been getting out there, and I’ve seen him put his own life in danger by taking risks to discover more. We fought New Babylon, becoming imprisoned when we were captured, until fighting for our freedom in an all out war. Nealaphh was there, a Prime Creator thought of as an ally and friend. In those battles we learned a lot about the abilities of others and what to look out for in the world, and we left the Institute to find our own way as we realized we would most likely have to make our own mistakes to find our footing as we discovered more. Looking back, perhaps we should’ve stayed, but we did fight alongside him once more in the battle against Volvagia, but…” she quivered a little. “Nealaphh seemed to have broken in some way. It seems we won’t be seeing him again soon. Since then I suppose the only people we have run into that we can trust is you two.” She gave a low hum, beaming positive energy.

He gives her a smile at her mention of trusting him. “Why thank you my love. I’m certain that as time goes on you’ll find me to be quite a useful ally to the guild. ... And I’m certain that ‘Ezzy’ has a use to some extent... But prisoners to New Babylon?”

He couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Why were you fighting them? Also, I’m certain that was before my summoning to this realm, so if you don’t mind me asking who they were?”

As he asks his question he pulls up public announcements with tagged with New Babylon. Soon enough he has enough information to piece together that they ruled in the desert verse called ‘The Dunes’ from a city called ‘Nippur’. Apparently there had been some sort of war there in the recent past and their king, a man called Gilgamesh, had been missing ever since.

“Well, we had received a job to escort someone to have a ‘word’ with one of their associates, but it turned out to become a big display, with us at the center of it. Couldn’t help getting taken prisoner after fighting against four other Primes by ourselves, one armed with an artifact sword with great power, I believe the same one that was recently fought for in the Nexus.”

Again he calls up information on the recent fight in the nexus. A sword, hmm? I remember that blade. Red Hood, that was one of the men with us during the battle for Death Mountain. That must have been the sword this Nealaphh being gave him. From this announcement “So who was the target you were after?”

“Victor Wolfe, if I recall correctly. Some assassin of the sort, not really the type Creator is too fond of, but we appeared to be in the same faction, hence not wanting to get too involved, but they had discovered us before we could escape unseen.”

“And what was your client after with this person? I don’t know many who’d want to face off with an assassin.”

“Some discord between his partner and the assassin, Creator didn’t think too much of it.”

“Hmm. I see that Demetri is the type to not ask too many questions. That’s good for his line of work, but so dissatisfying. Do you have anymore information on the members of New Babylon or the War that torn Nippur apart? I prefer first hand accounts for my information when I can actually get them, certainly you of all people think of this as understandable.”

“Well, it seemed that the neighboring faction, LAW, decided to take advantage of our little skirmish and go up and arms with New Babylon, and we were to take their side and rise up against the group. However, it appeared that our headmaster had other plans, since although snobbish and full of ego, New Babylon was a more preferable ally in the dunes than the LAW. With that in mind, we rose with our captors and fought them off, but among them was the fusion of Proto Man and Mickey Mouse, a combination that was enough to completely destroy the King. As for our troubles on the battlefield, it was clear that the more experienced and stronger primes were on their side. Creator and I barely escaped with our lives, though we managed to collect a few weapons along the way. As for the members we met, I believe there was the King, Gilgamesh, Victor Wolfe, of course, another assassin like man named Shay, a healer named Agnes, and a psychic named Erik Vrell, as well as Nealaphh and another member of the Institute named Tom Riddle. It was a varied group on our side of the war.”

He gives a soft hmm as he thinks over all of this new information.

“IRIS, you wanted me to help create you a new body, correct? For that, I need to have a deep understanding of your current hardware and software so I can properly account for them in the design of the new shell.”

“Well I suppose I can give you an in depth look at my functionality with my HUD, give me a moment,” she spoke as she began to swirl around his face, attaching particles and adjusting to fit him snugly a small visor going across one of his eyes. She would fully integrate with him and show him a variety of her functions, including her moveset and automated actions.

Instantly he would begin to flip through the expansive catalogs and data mine the full extent of her databases. From the programing and hardware that allowed her to morph her base shape and float, to the extensive software that allowed her to function at such an incredible level.

He sits absolutely still as he reads through each entry, each update on her software, each line of code that helped her to interface and integrate with other various systems and even people. He reads and comprehends this information at a speed no human could ever hope to contend with, and soon he’s fully knowledgeable on her entirety.

While he sits and begins to ponder over how best to design her new shell, he pulls small rainbow dabs of Omnilium to the pads of his index fingers and thumbs. He smears this across the air in front of his face, pulling it out into a paper thin hovering screen. He pinches the corners, adding hologram projectors and interfacers to the screen.

Soon enough he’s finished making certain that it interfaces correctly with his mental and physical actions. He waves his hand above the screen and it comes to life, a base framework of an attractive female body appearing. Like a seasoned sculptor he sets to molding this frame into existence.

Plated armor on the torso, protecting a self-regulating, self-sustaining core and an automatic cooling system, pumped through various valves and systems. In the gut, a  detailed gyroscopic balancing system. Around each major installment a set of thin wires sheathed in a hyper flexible plastic casing was wound, adding insulation to the more fragile places before each area was cased in high-durability and self repairing synthetic muscle. This synthetic muscle was attached at various places along the plasteel skeleton and fitted with near instantaneous twitch fibers.

The artist moves from the body to the head, placing a hole in the back of the cranial unit that would allow IRIS to directly interface with the body. All the while weaving nimble gloved hands through the air as if conducting the world’s greatest symphony; fingers pinching and pulling wiring and cords into their proper places along with detailing the exact ratios and materials these pieces needed to be made from.

Setting his focus onto what would soon become her new sensory additions, he, like a god, he engineers her; fitting synth eyes to eye sockets and a hologram visor that would fit across her vision. Soon the blueprint includes a moving mouth set with teeth, tongue and sensors that detected the chemical composition if ingested items. To accompany this, he gives her sensors inside of her nose that allowed her to detect the same thing but through picking up particles in the air and water.

Finally he finishes the blueprint, giving it one last pass over. Adding wide range microphones into her ears and a speaker system in her throat. He adds a few notes to the blueprint, detailing to repair the body if it were ever damaged it should be bought back to him.

“Does this look fine for you?” Ezrihel asks quietly, still studying his work.

“Much more than fine! I cannot wait to be able to have a new host body! It makes me excited!” She glowed bright blue while chirping loudly.

“Good. Good, I’m glad it’s too your liking.” With a gentle motion he turns the hologram projectors and interfacers off and folds the screen down into a portable little chip. He hands the chip to IRIS. “Just activate it by saying the password ‘Andromeda’. Now, as pleasant as things have been while chatting here with you, I must make my leave for the Nexus imminently.”

He climbs out of the booth, standing before giving her a wave and a wink and disappearing into the crowd.

Into the chill night air he finds himself. The waxing moon is high in the sky, painting the city buildings and streets of Minas Tirith a ghostly silver. In the cold grayscale landscape the ruddy orange of porch lamp lights and interior candles jumps out, giving a placebo of warmth to the weary and worn travellers.

Water from a recent light drizzle stood in the cracks and spaces between the cobblestone roads, causing the sounds of slight splashing to sound out as the blonde man makes his way to the other side of the street. With a soft exhale, he looks up to the floating city of Dalaran.

At this point, almost out of habit, he pools another rainbow hued glob into his hands. This time instead of a blue print, he recalls the memories of his trusted steed, his hand raised and dearly loved dragon, Veni Noctem Par. Slowly her gradiant blue body comes into existence, the feathers forming over her wings as her long whiskers are drawn out.

In his trance like state several long moments pass before she is completely summoned forth into this realm.

With a soft whine, she looks at him, her head bowing as she nuzzles him with her cold wet nose. With a tilted smile he rubs behind her ears and runs his fingers through her main. Mentally, he is greeted by her with nothing but warmth and excitement. “Hey girl, it’s been a while.” His hands move to wrap his arms around her neck in an embrace. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.”

At his words, she paws the stone ground and lowers one of her wings. He takes her invitation and climbs into her fitted leather saddle, pulling the loops around his legs tightly to ensure he didn’t take a nasty fall. Into her mind he mingled, sharing an intimate connection only a psychic connection could allow. We must go to the Nexus, to the south of this place.

With a signal of understanding, she launched herself up, climbing vertically up the side of a building before leaping from the roof and into the air. Her wings extended out, catching the currents that fell from the mountains  and hurrying forth.

“Woooo! Hahaha!” Ezrihel couldn’t help but express himself in glee as they flew. A feeling that never grew old, the wind rushing over him, the land spread out beneath him, the freedom it gives him.

He leans down, resting his cheek on the back of her long neck and using her mane as a sort of improvised pillow, allowing her to use his knowledge of Camelot’s layout in order to navigate them to the nexus while he drifted off to sleep.