“Oh Rulers, what shall we do with the fractured dimensional Conflux simulation?” The Lord of the Carnival, the overlord of the Carnival Lords, was worried. Their very dimension was being torn asunder by what should’ve been a minor simulation, completely isolated from everything, not even connected to the Fey Cores which had been used to contain the power of the original denizens of the realm.
It held a representation of the simulation in its claws, a small black disc vibrating eerily, which seemed to fill the room with seemingly unheard whispers, some the whispers of happy friends quietly conversing, others of terrified beings running from some horrifying threat.
They had allowed the simulation because it was small, barely a few hours long at best. Yet it had been running consistently since the dawn of the Digital Realm. Always resetting, always in a state of flux, never ending, now threatening the very future it had never intended to be a part of.
After an unsettling amount of time, one of the giant, ancient constructs spoke.
“…..we don’t know.” The Mender rasped, its organic Totem barely functioning, the very nature of the Gaming Realm ruining the very fabric of which it had been fashioned from.
“We can’t control it, nor can we fix it, hence why we agreed to house it here.” The Æthereal whispered, its attention elsewhere. Unlike its siblings, the Æthereal partially called the Digital Realm home, but due to its own ethereal nature, its attention was divided, and its Totemic construct was fully functioning and in a good state of repair, its energy and the energy of the Digital world meshing well together.
|I’m bigger than this shell.|
A voice quietly, yet threateningly warned them. It was human, but barely. It was aggressive, powerful, and very aware that it was being contained, and quite unhappy about that.
\I can’t help this awful energy. /
A different voice, similar yet filled with love and determination, rang out. This voice was undoubted human, but it was struggling with something. It seemed to only be aware that no matter what it did, it wasn’t in control of it’s fate.
|And goddamn right you should be scared of me.|
\I can’t stand this power, and what it has born inside of me./
|Because I’m meaner than my demons, and you’re in my way.|\I’m colder than this shell./
\|WHO IS IN CONTROL?|/
The Voices melded into one, an eerie combination of love, hate, and determination to be let out loudly rang forth, causing the Lord of the Carnival to drop and shatter the disc.
Which then quickly reformed, and hovered in position, beckoning to be picked up again.
“What should we do? We cannot let Conflux out.” The Mender croaked.
“You’ve both watched the simulation, and its myriad results. It’s too chaotic to be unleashed on the Physical Realm and would ruin the delicate balance we’ve managed, and it will rip apart the Metaphysical Realm.”
“Why not sunder the Conflux, into two distinct entities?” The Quiescent asked, finally speaking up. Its unused Totem billowing dust, from ages of not being used. Despite being old and unused, it was still in good condition.
“What do you mean, dearest sibling?” The Æthereal asked, curious as to why the normally unresponsive Ruler of Death would be interested in the Digital Realm.
Unlike the Mender, whose creations were anathema to the Realm and vice versa, and itself who was part of the Realm, the Ruler of Death typically ignored the Digital Realm for reasons unknown to either of its siblings.
“As we just witnessed, the Conflux has developed two distinct personalities. If we were to rip the two Personalities apart, and give them digital forms and false memories, we can delay it from gaining its Mantle and throwing the balance askew.” The Quiescent then produced two digital forms for the inspection of the others.
The forms were almost identical in shape and form, yet lacked specific factors.
“Genderless?” The Lord of the Carnival asked, more curious than shocked. They had a variety of genderless avatars, given how limited and restrictive the human gender binary was in the Digital realm, but something about this suggestion was…..off.
“Partially. The memories we plant in the avatars will need to be human in nature, so we will need to see which way the personalities develop, and then adjust the avatars as needed.”
“Then why make them similar looking?” The Lord of the Carnival continued.
“While we will be sundering the main personality, the two new personalities will still share a lot of the same core aspects. This will serve as our base line as to whether or not we will need to directly interfere.”
====
Some time later.
“Why is Atol still catatonic?” The Lord of Storms asked the current Lord of the Carnival.
“He should’ve awakened by now. His determination alone makes it impossible for this sort of thing to happen.”
“Leah managed to tap into his rage, and it manifested on her. Since she has been taken by the Wild Hunters in their physical manifested world, he has nothing left to ‘drive’ him.”
The Lord of Storms eyes went wide.
Atol was a hateful fucker who killed indiscriminately, but he was easily directed when needed.
Leah had always been the opposite, yet her recent dealings with the Hunters had been tainting her mental image of herself. What had once been a kind and caring young Gamer, had since become a bitter and angry Hardened Gamer with a target to direct her vitriol at.
Which she had done with frightening efficiency, having ruined a prominent Hunter Avatar so badly it had affected her physical form. The kind and tender soul she possessed was still there, but now that her other half had direct access to her, the Courts’ fears were manifesting in reality.
What was worse, was that because now that Leah was in the physical realm, she would be reborn as a new being.
A monster, with a loving soul. A caring individual, with an abyss instead of a heart.
“What else do the Courts need to know?” The Lord of Storms asked quietly.
“She isn’t tied to time or reality. She is literally a wound in time, and a wound in reality. She is acting out every single timeline at once, and erasing them once she reaches the end of them.”
“But we don’t exist within time, how is that possible?”
“We do now. Her timeline is chaotic, and she won’t know which is the real one. If her other self’s influence becomes strong enough, it will kill her by giving her the best timeline, only to change it straight into a worst case scenario.”