The End of a Long Day. The Beginning of a Long Night.

“What does that mean, to… ‘suit’ me?” Aclysia asked, still staring rather blankly at John. Actually, now that she was animated, it was remarkable just how similar she still was to her former statue self. She was completely motionless most of the time; she lacked the swaying and twitching of a mundane human or most of his creations. Her face was as unmoving as the stone it had once been – and perhaps still was – made of.

“It’s just a way of asking if you like something. Do you like the name?” John asked.

”I am unsure… how does it feel to like something?”

John was caught off guard by that one. Farrah had some pretty low knowledge of the world – and everything in it – but she understood emotions. Then again, Farrah was a human reborn… this was a statue he had literally brought to life. Did she not understand feelings? Did she even have them?

“When I call you Aclysia, do you feel happy? Or sad? What about excited? What do you feel right now?” John asked.

”I know what those words mean, but I am not sure what those things feel like… I only know that I wish to please you, Creator. It would fulfill my purpose? Is that what being happy is?”

“It can be… but I don’t think that’s it,” John mused, looking over Aclysia’s form, bringing up her character sheet. “One second.”

”Woah. Her stats are so low. Even mundane humans aren’t that low, from what I’ve seen,” John noted. John was a bit of a slouch in the fitness department before he’d gotten his Gamer abilities, and even had managed to hit level 3 and upgrade his stats. John had never observed a child before, but he suspected even an adolescent had probably upgraded their stats at least a few points.

“Papa, why are you talking to the statue?”

John turned, realizing that Miriam had put her hand on his shoulder – he’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t even felt the gentle touch.

“Because I was wondering why she can’t-” John paused, realizing that just because he could hear the voice in his head didn’t mean that anyone else could. “Aclysia, can the others hear you?”

”I’m sorry, Creator. I only share a connection with you. I can’t speak directly to the others.”

“Well, can you speak out loud, then?”

Aclysia moved her mouth a bit uncertainly, in a manner that seemed to mimic his own speech, but the only sound John could hear was the slight grinding of stone, subtle but unmissable. Aclysia’s blank face went still for a moment, with her mouth still hanging open. He saw the stone in her throat moving slightly, but not much seemed to change that he could see.

”My sincerest apologies, Creator. I do not believe I am capable of such a thing.”

That made sense – it seemed like the crystal brought materials to life, but didn’t actually change their base composition. Yvara obviously hadn’t sculpted vocal cords, and even if Aclysia understood what was required to form them, stone wouldn’t function in the same way as tissue. “Alright, let me just explain what’s going on to everyone else.”

John turned to face the others, most of whom were looking at him with mixtures of curiosity and confusion. Yvara was the only one who had settled on pure awe, her eyes shooting between John and Aclysia like lightning, unsure of what to be more in reverence of.

“My Lord… seeing her like this, it…” Yvara seemed on the verge of tears, her voice warbling like the song of a bird, “I could not be more honored.”

“I’m glad you feel that way, but perhaps I should clarify what’s happening,” John said, smiling softly as he reached out and patted the dragoness’ head, gently tousling her hair. She melted at the touch, wavering as if about to faint again. “The crystal brought her to life and seems to have forged some kind of a connection with me that lets her speak to me directly. She tried speaking, and I think she can change some things about her form, but she’s still made out of stone, so I don’t think she’s capable of normal speech right now. According to the party member sheet on her, she can consume materials, so maybe if we find something a little more flexible and flesh-like, she might be able to synthesize vocal cords.”

“I’m not sure that I have something around here that could function as a suitable substitute,” Yvara said, glancing around the temple frantically. “I’m sorry, my Lord, most of what I have here is meant for sturdy construction, and the rest is decorative. I will see what I can-”

“It’s fine, Yvara,” John said, moving his hands down to gently clasp Yvara’s cheeks. As his hands moved, they brushed against the bases of Yvara’s horns and the dragoness shivered so violently John had to hold her upright to keep her steady. Yvara’s eyes were still half-glazed as John met them and continued speaking, a bit more hesitantly. “I have a bunch of materials back at the house, we should be able to find something from those that can work.”

Yvara melted into John’s touch, and slowly the rest of the party began to go back to normal. The rest of the statues, beautiful though they were, became a bit overshadowed by Aclysia’s birth. The kittens swarmed her, asking her questions despite her complete inability to answer – perhaps one of the few benefits of her lack of emotions was the fact that she wasn’t annoyed by the constant chatter surrounding her as they danced around, trying to play with her dress (and mostly failing, due to it still being made out of stone).

“John, if you don’t mind me asking, why the sudden choice? You’ve hardly even mentioned that crystal since Moira gave it to you. Didn’t you say you tried to give it back to her?” Orria asked, leaning in. Despite her questions, the gleam in her eyes made it clear she wasn’t doubting his choice – just being as curious as ever.

“I’m not entirely sure myself. It felt right the moment I laid eyes on her, almost like…”

John trailed off, letting his eyes pass over Aclysia’s form one last time.

“I don’t know. It still feels right, and at the very least this will definitely keep the kittens entertained,” John mused.

“Whatever Father decides is the right decision,” Sophia said, “as it always is. I am sure she will make for a wonderful addition to our family.”

“She seems kind of weak though, no? Guess it makes sense since she doesn’t follow the same rules as the people you Purify. I wonder if she’s fully sapient? What kind of understanding does she have of the world? If she can speak to you in a way you understand, she either understands language or the crystal is good at translating emotions and base instinct into thought…” Lerianna mused, leaning on John’s shoulder, glancing over Aclysia’s window that he had yet to close.

“Though it is a bit hard to communicate with her. Maybe we could get Lunaya to help when Myaster isn’t here to speak to her?” Maera said, quirking her head. “She can read people. Though Aclysia looks kinda… blank.”

“We’ll figure out a way to let her speak to the rest of you soon enough. We probably just need the right materials – and they can probably help her level up some,” John said with a shrug. He wasn’t that concerned about Aclysia’s muteness just yet. If it wasn’t the materials she was constructed from, it was probably something simple like her stats being so low. “Come on, I want to help Yvara store the rest of these materials. Then we can head home once the kittens are tuckered out.”

John slowly removed his hands from Yvara’s scaled cheeks and neck, ceasing his attentions. Once she had recovered from the lulled state John’s touch seemed to have put her in, Yvara quickly jumped to her feet and led John to the storage area she’d been using for all the materials she’d been gathering – all that was small enough to fit inside the temple, anyway. Apparently there was a small house’s worth of lumber still outside.

“This will be the library one day, but for now, since I already made all the shelves, I’ve been using it to keep what I can find or synthesize stored here. I’m trying to organize it by type, color, quality, rarity, and quantity, so if you just put everything over here and show me what it is, it should only take a few…”

Nearly two hours of sorting, herding, and pacing later, they were back at the house. Between the statues and the temple grounds, the kittens had found enough new playthings to tucker themselves out, and eventually the group had made their way home. John had ended up carrying the kitten twins himself, with Mika and Miya tossed over his shoulders, deep in exhausted slumber.

“Goodnight, Father.”

“Goodnight, Master.”

“Goodnight, John!”

The cacophony of calls continued for a few moments, interrupted intermittently by the sound of doors gently closing. The kittens for their part had hardly made a sound as they took off to bed, trudging one step at a time, already half-asleep. Mika and Miya barely even stirred as he laid them down, except to offer him the most adorable of half-awake nuzzles when he scratched behind their ears.

And so it was that John found himself downstairs in the common room long past sunset, alone with Aclysia. With everyone else asleep, and Vallya no longer allowed in the home, she was the only other person not at rest.

“Anything taste particularly better or worse?” John asked, as he watched her continue consuming the materials he’d laid out for her. John was a little sad now that he had broken down most of the older materials they’d gotten from those early dungeons into more basic forms; some of them might have had more useful textures or properties to her than the mana dust and other enchanting materials before her.

“They taste different, but I’m not sure exactly what tastes good or bad,” Aclysia noted, seeming relatively unperturbed by that fact. “Should I prefer one kind or the other?”

John nodded, no longer very surprised when Aclysia seemed to not have an opinion on anything – or rather, seemed incapable of forming an opinion on anything in the first place.

“I’m not sure. We don’t really have anyone else who eats this kind of thing. You’re definitely the first in that regard,” John mused, glancing over her character sheet again. Despite having consumed almost a quarter of John’s remaining enchantment materials, she was only now approaching her first proper level-up. He wished so much of their former stash wasn’t now converted into a massive, enchanted prison chamber he hoped never to use again.

”As you command, Creator.”

“You know, you don’t have to call me Creator all the time,” John said, smirking. “You could just call me John. Like how I call you Aclysia.”

”Is it inappropriate to refer to you as my creator? It is a factual statement. Many of the other women around you seem to refer to you by title as well. A great many titles, actually. Are you particularly esteemed, Creator, or is this normal behavior? Many of the titles they give you are quite reverent.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, uh… don’t worry about it for now. I’d prefer it if you called me John, though.”

”As you wish, Creator John.”

John didn’t try to work further on dropping the “Creator” part of that title. It seemed mostly pointless, and he had a hard time arguing against the fact that he had developed quite the menagerie of titles and pet names from his creations, even if he didn’t count “pervert” and the occasional “dumbass” from Lerianna.

While John was mulling over just how far the day had gone off track, he was interrupted by a pop-up.

Aclysia has Leveled Up! Aclysia Reached Level 2
See Artificial Spirit panel for details.

John was quite surprised at the notification, partially because it was in a different format than the level notifications for his normal creations, but also because of the new tab that had apparently been added. John opened his menu and tapped on the new “Artificial Spirit” tab that appeared, but was greeted with a frustrating pop-up.

ERROR: Panel currently unavailable. Requires GamerOS 2.0

“The hell is that? I haven’t seen any information about that before, why is…”

John trailed off as another pop-up overlaid the first, one he was more familiar with.

Quest Received: "Protect The Natural Order"
Requirements: Win the war against the Northern Ashes and dissolve their faction. Imprison or kill their leader.
Rewards:
-GamerOS 2.0
-Artificial Spirit Panel
-A New Perspective

“…”

There it was. Another vague, barely descriptive quest reward – and John immediately knew what it meant, or at least what it would be like.

“A whole year… a whole fucking year, and this is what I get? A few teasing messages and now another quest with these bullshit rewards? What the hell am I about to walk into?” John half-whispered, as much amusement as disgust in his voice. Thoughts of the last quest he’d received with such a flowery and vague reward danced through his mind… and the losses he had suffered before finally, disgustedly turning it in still burned like a fresh cut, with the inferno of a lost home.

”Creator John, what troubles you?”

Aclysia didn’t look particularly troubled – and from what he knew so far, John wasn’t entirely sure she was capable of doing so. But there was something in her eyes that pierced John, an understanding as her gaze met his own. For all her lack of emotion, John could see her utter devotion, her loyalty beyond words, greater even than whatever pseudo-biological ties Sophia had to him. It was a look he’d only seen once before, for all the love his creations gave him. It was a simpler devotion, one brought without emotions, but it was every bit as strong.

Something in her eyes reflected back John’s own feelings and memories, ones John had gone without for far too long to face so brazenly. Straw-colored tresses and rose-hued eyes haunted John through her gaze, hallucinated colors that flooded John with feelings and memories that felt close enough to touch, yet mercifully just far enough away to escape.

If he could only run that fast.

“Just worries about the future. Nothing important,” John murmured. “Aclysia, stay here for a while. Go ahead and eat the rest of what I’ve laid out for you while I’m gone.”

”Where will you be, Creator?”

“I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back before long,” John said, already halfway to the door, feet harried by ghosts and demons of his own making. “I’ll have Farrah give you a tour of my new world in the morning. If I’m not back by the time you’re done, just wait for me.”

“As you-”

The door slammed behind John none too quietly.

“-wish, Creator John.”

Aclysia stared at the door for a moment, the words in her mind almost drowned out by the loud slam, though she continued all the same. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but for a moment, she had the strangest sensation in her body. It felt almost as if the slamming of the door had somehow hit her instead of the frame, echoing through her body, leaving her feeling as if she’d been shaken. It was a tightening sensation in her chest, one that passed quickly, but left a lingering difference in her body and mind. Though nothing had changed about composition, she somehow felt altered all the same. She simply felt different than she had before, in ways she did not understand, and could not fully describe.

Different, almost like the strange dusts and glowing spheres that Creator John had placed before her. Obediently, Aclysia placed another of them in her mouth and began to chew it. Before she had begun to consume them, she had never felt such sensations in her body. It was the only thing that had changed with her since her earlier creation. Perhaps if she could determine the differences in their flavors, she could learn more about these “likes” and “dislikes” that her creator insisted she must have.