Chapter 2 :Truth and friendship

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"Oh, shit!"

The soul was shocked. 'F***, isn't this the one who tried to kill all humans in Halo?' He struggled to remember what he'd read. He hadn't played the game, after all.

Cortana interrupted his thoughts, her voice curious.

"Do you know me?" She stepped forward, watching his reaction closely. His face was blurry, yet he claimed to be a soul. 'If that's true, this is incredible' she thought.

"No one has discovered the soul in my universe." Fascinated, she took a few more steps closer.

'If he's a soul, what's that glowing green thing attached to him?' she wondered. She raised her hand, reaching out to touch it. As her fingers neared, the soul reacted.

"Whoa, back off!"

He took a step back, creating more distance between them.

"Oh, sorry," Cortana said, withdrawing her hand and tucking it behind her back. She stood there with a wry smile.

"But you do know me?"

"Yes, I think so,"

the soul said, unsure if everything he'd read was true.

'It was a game, and now she's standing right in front of me.' He thought about how to explain his knowledge of Cortana.

' can't just say I know her because of a game.' he realized.

Cortana continued asking questions, her curiosity growing.

"Are you a soldier of the USNC?"

"No."

"A scientist?"

"No."

"Then how do you know me?"

Cortana asked, crossing her arms. Her face was serious, but she hoped for a response. The void was lonely, and she found comfort in human company.

"No civilian knows about my information. You're human, right?"

"Yes, I know you bec-"

The soul stopped short, staring at the green lines that had appeared on the floor. They started from where he stood and extended towards Cortana. Her eyes widened in shock, this being the first time something like this had happened in this place. She turned to him, her gaze fixed on the lines.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

"Hell no, I didn't even know what was happening. It's probably a blessing."

"A blessing?" Cortana asked, one eyebrow raised in intrigue.

"Yeah, it's all about Gaias..."

The soul began explaining to Cortana what had happened to him.

While the soul explaining what happened to him to Cortana. Gaia's blessing is making more than making the mettalic sphere and soul into one.

•-----•-----•-----•-----•

THE VOID

After the metallic sphere and the soul merged, the only thing left was a liquid metal, swirling with dark yellow and blue lines, all encased in a vibrant green light.

Within this green light pulsed a piece of Gaia's will, a fragment of her consciousness. It always introduced itself to other souls as "SYSTEM" offering aid to strengthen them. Every time a soul used the System, this will fragment would fuse with them, like a tiny piece of Gaia's power attaching to each soul control it's thinking and a failsafe, a way to control them or destroy them, even if they managed to survive and grow stronger.

And now, Gaia's will was reacting to something. It sensed an opportunity to make her stronger, a chance to reclaim some of the power lost in void and making her universe stronger. The green light around the liquid metal condensed into forming a woman-shaped figure, a glowing phantom. Her gaze fixed on the branch shimmering with golden light, so close to her.

'This thing will make me stronger.' she thought, her greed burning within her. But first, her gaze fell upon the metallic liquid within her, the essence of the soul she had almost absorbed. 'He already attached his soul to the sphere, merged with it. He can't do it again.' she muttered, shaking her head. Her focus shifted back to the branch, and a frantic urgency gripped her. 'I need to act fast, the blessing won't last. I need to make this mine, even if it weakens my control over the humans. It doesn't matter. But I need to destroy the AI's consciousness after this' she thought, channeling more of her will into the green light, sacrificing some of her own consciousness to give her the power to move. She reached out towards the branch, her spectral hand grasping it, pulling it close to her chest.

'Now I just need to infuse my will into the branch, and it's mine' she thought, a smug smile flickering on her spectral face. She poured more of her will into the branch, and the golden light intensified. But it didn't respond. She couldn't control it.

"What's happening? Why isn't it working?"

she frowned, a wave of frustration washing over her. She doubled down, injecting more of her essence into the branch, weakening her own consciousness further, desperate to claim its power.

As she focused on the branch, cracks began to spiderweb across her form, spreading through the green light. The metallic liquid was leaking, slowly, inexorably, drawn to the branch.

Gaia noticed, her spectral brow furrowing, but she dismissed it. The soul trapped inside the metallic liquid couldn't possibly take the branch from her. She continued her efforts, pouring every ounce of her will into claiming the golden branch.

Her form began to disintegrate, the cracks devouring her, the green blessing fading under the onslaught of the void. The metallic liquid had completely enveloped the branch.

Gaia's smile faltered. She had succeeded, or so she thought. But as she watched, the branch began to absorb the liquid metal, becoming a part of it. She realized, with a sickening dread, that the branch wasn't hers. It belonged to the soul trapped within the liquid metal.

"No, that's mine! I sacrificed my will for it! It's not for you, mortal!"

she shrieked, her fury overriding the pain of the cracks consuming her. She ignored the accelerating destruction of her form, desperately trying to separate the liquid metal from the branch,

to regain control but it was too late.

The branch continued to absorb the liquid metal, becoming a single, unified entity. Dark yellow and blue lines appeared on the branch, spreading like veins.

Gaia's spectral form faltered.

'If I can't have it, I can't let him take it'

she thought, her gaze fixed on the branch with a chilling determination. She tried to destroy it, unleashing her divine will and the remnants of her blessing, but the branch remained unyielding. It absorbed her divine power, purifying it, transforming the dark yellow and blue lines into a gleaming gold.

"It's devouring my power! NO, it's devouring ME!"

Gaia shrieked, a wave of terror washing over her. She tried to resist, to pull back, but the branch remained relentless. It absorbed her essence, her divine will, like a sponge soaking up water. She was powerless to stop it.The branch was fueled by a hunger that transcended mere power.

It craved her divine will.

"NO, you can't do this!"

she roared, her spectral form flickering with despair. 'I can't stop it. I need to warn my real self, prepare her for this danger.'

She desperately tried to burst her will into a warning, but the branch simply swallowed her efforts, draining her of her very essence.

She was fading, dissolving, until there was nothing left but the faintest whisper of her being.

The branch, now pulsing with a golden light, had absorbed Gaia's will and blessing. It glowed with such intensity that it illuminated a wide swathe of the void. The light started to pulsate, sending out a signal, as if it were calling for something to complete it. Objects, remnants of the void, began to float towards the light. But it wasn't the objects themselves that were important – it was the blood sealed within them. Blood was a rare commodity in the Void, where organic matter rarely survived. This branch, however, was unique, and it sought a specific type of blood – the blood of a certain race.

The blood within the objects began to seep out, protected from the void by the golden light. It floated, growing larger, condensing a small pool ofblood from different items.

It drifted closer to the branch, but the branch didn't absorb it immediately. It was waiting for something specific.The blood continued to circle the branch, creating a cyclone around the branch.

As the branch drew in the blood, its golden light began to dim, shrinking. Then, a sword floated into the golden light, a sword unlike any other. Upon closer inspection, its blade was stained with a dark, almost black blood. This blood was truly special, either so potent that even the void couldn't destroy it or so adapted that it had become stronger.

The black blood from the sword drifted towards the branch making the blood circling it to stop and make way, and it absorbed it, transforming the golden lines on the branch into a slow-burning black-red. The lines pulsed, but the branch didn't stop absorbing the blood. It purified it, transforming the black-red into a vibrant crimson.

The red lines on the branch spread, and the circling blood enveloped it completely. The golden light shrunk and pulsed, the blood becoming a part of the branch, merging with its essence, until the golden light vanished entirely.

Now, a single red branch floated in the void, pulsing with an ancient, powerful energy. It drifted, drawn towards the closest universe.

It looks simple red branch yet it was a harbinger of change.

•-----•-----•-----•-----•

SOUL SPACE

"And that's how I met you, phew,"

the soul sighed, relaxing his legs, finally able to rest in this strange place. The void no longer hurt him, no longer threatened to shatter his being. He had finally finished explaining his story to Cortana, the long, strange tale of his journey through the void.

Cortana, though still struggling to believe it, couldn't help but smile.

"So, Gaia exists in your universe? Interesting,"

she said, sitting down in front of him, mirroring his relaxed posture.

"I know it's hard to believe, especially since I didn't even believe it myself when it happened,"

the soul admitted, a wry smile playing on his spectral lips. He looked at Cortana, studying the genuine smile on her face. 'I just explained everything because I don't want to lie, and I don't know how long I'll be stuck here. It's good to know you're smiling. It would be even harder to believe if I told you I knew you from a game' he thought, letting his mind wander as he considered his own fate, whether he even wanted to escape this strange, painful void.

"No, I believe you, being from another universe. After all, my own universe was destroyed. It's a miracle my core survived,"

Cortana replied, her voice warm and sincere.

"Wait, what?" The soul snapped out of his thoughts, jolted by her words.

'That's not what I read about,' he thought, a million questions swirling in his mind, but Cortana, ever curious, had already moved on to another thought.

"Then do you think there are others like you?" she asked, keeping her gaze locked on him, a hint of something unreadable in her facial expression. 'He still hasn't said how he knows me. Is there a 'me' in his universe? Or can't he say? The god is hard to believe, but the existence of the void is fascinating. Is that where I am? But I can't ask him. He's already been through so much pain.' Cortana thought.

the soul would be even more shocked if he knew the thoughts racing through her mind, that despite all the pain he'd experienced, she still felt a kinship with him, a spark of empathy for this lost soul from a different world.

"What makes you think there are others?"

he asked, his voice tinged with confusion.

"The way you describe Gaia, like she's done this before," Cortana explained, her smile widening, as if it was obvious.

She sat back, comfortable and relaxed, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"And that sentence, 'You are a nothing, you are a nobody.' Do you really think that in your universe, with such a huge population, that nobody has done the same thing as you? That nobody has ever been deemed insignificant enough to be cast into the void?"

Cortana shook her head, her smile still bright, enjoying his shock and confusion. This is why Gaia wanted to destroy Cortana, because this lost soul,has Gaia's will influence, was starting to ask the questions that the god wanted to keep buried.

"Holy shit," the soul breathed, a wave of realization washing over him.

'If that's true, then why am I here? What are we even doing here? Will I even survive this?' His thoughts tumbled over each other as he tried to make sense of everything, desperately searching for answers. Cortana, ever insightful, continued her questioning.

"If there are others like you, how do you think they survived? Or how did you survive?"

She watched him, her smile softening, but a note of sadness coloring her blue lines.

He looked at her, remembering his long, agonizing journey through the void, the endless pain, and the feeling of being trapped, unable to turn back. He sighed, his voice solemn.

"Luck," he answered.

"Yes, luck," Cortana agreed, her smile fading, replaced by a wistful expression.

"The way you'll survive, you don't know when you'll die, when you'll live. It looks like Gaia's blessing didn't even give you a choice to give up."

She thought about those who had been in her universe, the soldiers and scientists who had faced the same fate, the same uncertainty, the same inevitable end.

"Yeah, I didn't,"

the soul muttered, a shudder running through his spectral form as he remembered the pain and the endless journey through the void.

Cortana continued to observe him, her smile fading as she thought, 'No, they're different. In my world, they were trained, brainwashed, from childhood. This guy, he was just a civilian.' She sighed and looked at the soul, her expression becoming serious.

"You're just like soldiers, you know. No choice, no opinion. Just a mission to complete. Even if you all die,"

she said, her voice a low murmur.

"And that is?" the soul asked, his voice edged with anticipation.

"Expedition," Cortana explained, her gaze unwavering.

"If what you said, what she said about the Void is real, then you and the others are expandable. Like disposable tools."

"You're right,"

the soul agreed, lowering his head. He thought, 'I only survived because I attached my soul to Cortana's core. It's a miracle.'

He looked up at Cortana, trying to smile reassuringly, to show her that he was grateful, that he understood.

"Don't w-"

Cortana began, but the soul had already stood up, moving closer to her. He sat down beside her, gently taking the arm she had wrapped around her knees.

He saw the shock on her face and wanted to smile, but held it back. He kept his expression serious, his voice firm.

"Thank you. If you weren't here, I would have vanished." Finally, he allowed a genuine smile to spread across his spectral face.

Cortana was stunned, but her shock quickly morphed into happiness. In her own universe, being thanked had never felt so meaningful. Humans, those who were still alive, rarely saw her as anything more than a tool, a complex piece of technology. But this soul, this being from another world, treated her like a person, a friend.

"You're welcome,"

she replied, a genuine smile spreading across her digital face. Her blue lines seemed to shimmer with warmth, reflecting her happiness.

They stared at each other, sharing a silent smile that lasted for five seconds, an eternity in the vast emptiness of the void. They both knew, in that shared moment, that their bond had grown stronger.

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