Living Machine?

After a brief pause the VI continued, "I also do not exactly know which 'Mother' it is you are referring, unless it could be the Goddess of Mana. Also to expand on your question as to where we are, Strike Base Avalon is located in the place referred to as the First Lands, however mapping today show that the entire plateu has sunk into the ocean."

"This planet as per records shown is referred to as 'Aeterna or Emteria Prime' per my records it is the home planet of Children of Mana, however initial scans suggest that all Children of Mana on this base are mixed bloodlines, apart from you of course."

Samuel furrowed his brows, he certainly got a LOT of information and it was a whole bunch to take in. But he was starting to fit some puzzle pieces together at this point.

An advanced race that got beaten almost into extinction but some managed to survive and other races ended up on the planet such as humans and elves and dragons and devils and other monsterous beings. Perhaps they some had already been there, but somewhere along the line - history must have come to a stop and Children of Mana blended in with the other mortal races.

It was confusing at it was annoying to even try to figure out what had happened, and it didn't seem like this Virtual Intelligence had any of the answers for that either.

"Is there anything else I can assist you with?" The VI asked after he had been quiet for some time. Samuel raised a hand and shook his head, but then quickly changed his mind, "Actually. Where can I find more answers? If this was our homeworld then there must be other locations!"

"Acknowledged!" The VI spoke and the global map hologram in the center of the room suddenly had one red ping on it, then a few moments more and another ping. This map that showed the entire planet started getting filled with more red dots, soon enough some yellow ones started appearing and after that a few green ones came.

"All the dots are either where cities or bases stood. I sent out a live ping to see if any were still active or on standby to respond."

"The red ones are ones that didn't even receive the signal, so it can be concluded they are either destroyed or malfunctioned."

"The yellow ones are those that received the transmission ping but for some reason are unable to send one back."

"The green ones represent the bases that should be operational or still around. The ping sent was replied back which means the transmission works."

"However there is no telling if all of what once was remains, or if just parts of the facilities are. Some of the red dots might even be around but may have just lost power. Per my strategic analysis there is a 78% chance that the yellow dots are actually the most dangerous to explore."

Samuel felt his eye twitch, because the enlarged global map showed at least a thousand red and yellow dots and only about a hundred green.

"The likelyhood that some of the green dots are used currently by the Manaic people alive today is quite likely." Shakkai voiced her opinions and Samuel couldn't find any flaw in that, all the clans seemed organized enough to have some parts of the old world still around.

"Is there any way to get an in detail coordinate and location on all these dots?" Samuel asked and turned to the VI, "I apologize now Lord Xaxiaz! I see you don't have a Viri gauntlet! Would you like me to install one for you?"

"Install...?" Samuel began to speak and without warning the VI hovered up and a large metal ring floated up and hooked itself around Samuels hand and quickly travelled up to his forearm.

A quick thunk was heard followed by a click as Samuel quickly pulled up his sleeve and saw a thing metal ring around his arm. He didn't even notice the small thing hovering next to his head until he felt a quick sting on his right temple.

"Ah!" He inhaled at the pain and brought a hand up and touched his temple. There was nothing there, but then suddenly a screen appeared in front of his face to the right.

He suddenly realized he could see a map of all the locations, it made him extremely dizzy and he had to sit down in a chair. Shakkai who was connected with his sensory system could also see it.

"Woah! That is quite useful!"

"What the hell did you do?" Samuel asked the VI slightly annoyed, "I apologize for the pain but I installed it like you said." It replied which made Samuel confused until he felt like facepalming. This thing didn't follow logic he was used to. It really was more machine than alive.

"The Viri Gauntlet and Neural Interface will be of great assistance to you! You can store almost any info on it, as it can hold trillions of terrabyte of data!"

"The what?" Samuel rubbed his eyes in complete frustration.

"As you see the Viri--" The VI began once again, "No need! I think I got it!"

Shakkai walked out of the shadow and looked at Samuel, "This does raise the question, about just how much your mother knew! From what Alsian said, the mother that raised you was actually a member of Chronos, I don't think he would lie but I wish there was someone we could ask about it."

Samuel took a few steps out of frustration before sitting down again with a sigh. "Yeah, I didn't really want to think about that part again... about just how much my mother knew, did she find me somewhere?"

He shook his head, "There are still so many things that we don't know, about both me and you." He looked at the ceiling with an exhasperated sigh. "I am glad that we can find these things out together at the very least!"

Shakkai walked forward and leaned her small draconic body against his. "Yeah me too!" She agreed.

Together they sat in a moment of silence, both of them thinking about their journey so far and everything that they had been through, on their own or together. At times they had wondered what meaning they would find, at times they had wondered wether it all would be worth it in the end.

But one thing had become blatantly clear to them both, they had a big part to play, to decide the future of the entire world. They wondered who the other pieces would be to decide fate.

As if fate itself answered their call three words kept repeating in their heads, Hateful, Misfits, Loveable. Perhaps those were the kind of people who would save the world from the threats spoken about during the large meeting.

"Our biggest enemy is chaos, but even those seeking complete order are no good, Chaos & Order... Neither path is correct, what we need is a path of true balance. One that rejects both - for the well being of all creatures!" Samuel sighed.

"Is that your directive Lord Xaxiaz?" The VI asked after remaining silent for so long. Samuel turned to look at the screens and everything.

Then he made up his mind for his next question; "Just how dangerous is this base? What are the capabilities this place can produce?"

The VI remained quiet for a moment before responding.

"This base has everything the Children of Mana need to return to a golden age. Out of every remaining place this one was abandoned with all its equipment and research intact because of the virus."

"All the Children of Mana here need to do is learn how to use it all again. Is that your directive Lord Xaxiaz?"

"Is there any way for me to delay that?" Samuel asked and as he did many of the screens lit up. "If the current Lord Defender orders it, then I will follow your command. As the Lord of House Xaxiaz your command is law, the other House Leaders cannot override a command given by you!"

Shakkai perked up as the VI said those words. "Does he stand above the other houses?" She inquisitively asked. The VI seemed to turn to her and for a moment it seemed like it wasn't going to reply.

"The Houses and Clans stand as equals, however! Because House Xaxiaz is the Defender house, their word stands as law when it comes to the wellbeing of all Manaic folk. None of the Clan Leaders can compromise that!"

"Only the Royal Lineage can override a command from Lord Xaxiaz and even then, depending on the matter at hand the word of Xaxiaz can still take presedence over their word. Depending on subject and the logic behind it."

"Unfortunately my logs indicate that there might not be a living Royal left." The VI sounded almost sad as it said that, which was surprising to Samuel. At the same time he knew that there was indeed one last Royal left. Just like how he was the last of Clan Xaxiaz.

"Speaking of which, several times it has been referred to as Clan and House but in my mind they are indeed different things." Shakkai voiced her opinion loudly, she had been confused for a while about it.

"Yes, both answers are technically correct. All members of House Xaxiaz are part of Clan Xaxiaz, but not all members of Clan Xaxiaz are part of House Xaxiaz. House Xaxiaz is a referendum to those with the Xaxiaz Bloodline. While Clan Xaxiaz refers to all of the members within the clan."