19 Transformation : system.

'Ah....' Alain sighed

Darkness. He only sees darkness. All around him were darkness and silence.

How long has it been? It must have been weeks by now.

Yet, he couldn't leave this place. He couldn't move his body, nor could he use energy. And the artifact wasn't better. He didn't help at all.

So, his only possibility was waiting.

Waiting all day, just for his body to rest up well enough. But without friends, family, or even a person to whom he could speak, he felt lonely and depressive.

The only thing that makes him unable to give up, was that he could feel his body repairing itself as if someone cared for it. Each day, he would feel powerful energy that cleans up his body.

So he couldn't just lose his mind.

Also, he wasn't someone who would just accept dying off. It was the contrary. He would never sympathize with someone who has suicidal thoughts.

So, he endured and would continue till he couldn't anymore.

''Louis, Eva, Eloise... I wanted to be with you all'' he cried alone in the darkness, yet no tears come out, as if his whole body told him to act

...

With time, his mental state deteriorated day by day

He would soon break down. He knew it. But what could he do about it? To get out of it, he tried to escape into his imagination. There he would regain his vision, there, he could do anything he wanted, from training to talking.

But nothing could ever replace the reals feeling.

So it was only an endurance battle. Would he be healed before he gave up? To tell the truth, he wasn't confident at all.

...

He knew he would give up. He had noticed how suicidal his thoughts had become which worried him and increased his stress. But the worst thing was that he didn't feel anything anymore. As if it was normal.

But just as he started to fall into despair, he heard a familiar voice.

[Brave yourself !]

'What is Louis doing here?' he wondered

But he soon noticed that it wasn't Louis. It was only the artifact that reproduced his voice.

He had no real idea why or how, but the fact that this artifact was changing was good news. It gave him hope for the future.

'Maybe I'll be able to communicate with it one day?'

His biggest problem was still the fact that no communication was possible, before, the system didn't seem to have a consciousness. Now.... that wasn't so sure anymore.

...

His suspicions were right: the system did have consciousness and he could now communicate with it. Although for some unknown reason, he couldn't access all of its functionality.

[ Title: Evolutionary Lord: Gives you rights, like the right to create a village. (Unavailable) ]

However, he learned a lot from this exchange, both about the system and the world. And although he was still living in the darkness, the situation was no longer so unpleasant.

But this situation changed only one day after the system took Louis's voice.

...

It was only then that he understood. It wasn't that the artifact was meant to take on consciousness or anything. It was just that he had desired it from the depths of his being.

In reality, he was in his consciousness, or rather, a consciousness.

And when he realized this, the landscape changed and he found back both his sensations and his body.

There he was in a kind of bubble in which there were constantly changing images, and a faceless figure.

***

This figure might not be able to speak, but he could understand his words just as well. And tears were present in all of its messages.

(I am in pain)

(help me)

(I want to live)

His voice sounded like that of a very young child. These words were simple, but their depth defined him perfectly.

He didn't want to be alone, he didn't want to suffer, he wanted to live quietly.

Yet the one who controlled him asked him otherwise. Selfish as ever with his own, just to share with others.

Who would accept it?

Certainly not him. But so what?

He couldn't do anything. During all his life, he could only be controlled. That was his destiny and it had never been different before.

That's why he would have no other solution than to give up and bend. Soon, he was absorbed by the sphere which changed and took the color of flesh.

At that moment, however, just before he finished being absorbed, a glow entered him, and his thoughts became clearer.

(If I had to choose a tyrant... then I would have preferred you to be the tyrant.) Alain absorbed what was left of the strange figure.

As he disappeared, Alain heard the system yet again.

[ Please guide Alain ]

This message, coupled with his fusion finally made him understand his situation. He was not Alain. He didn't know what he was, but he had stopped being Alain.

Was he just a creation from Alain's imagination, the materialization of his past?

Was he a part of the soul of the being who was called Alain? Something from which Alain would have separated himself?

Was it only a fictional creation, his past being invented from scratch?

He didn't know. But he knew his role.

For the person who could only look into the past, he, who looked into the future with open arms, had to help him evolve. And he would do that by controlling a part of the system.

---

Alain finally waked up.