69 Work for the next generation? (2/2)

~Adjusting language to current citizens. Restart complete.~

~Contaminated systems recognized. Removing contaminated systems.~

~There is unauthorized personnel inside vital parts of the city. Identify yourself.~

Celes gives me an accusing look.

”Holy shit! What did I break now! Since when can this city talk?” I can't believe this. Has this city something like a super computer installed?

~I am not a city. My name is the Warden. I was created to see to the continued imprisonment of the great calamity, which plagued the multiverse. Identify yourself! Or you will be removed!~

”Hold it! We are on your side. I think you aren't entirely up to date!” -Nicosar

~Calculating time difference according to star movement.~

I hold my breath and Celes whispers to us. ”That thing was obviously meant to guard the black hole but failed miserably. We should make a run for it in case it isn't alright in it's cpu or whatever it uses to think!”

~I can hear you. And you don't need to have such fears. My creators intended me to be able to keep my watch even after their return to the cycle of life and death.~

”So how long have you been out and why?” -Arthur

~....~

”Hello?” -Nicosar

~My calculation tells me that it has been four billion years since I tried the restart.~

I whistle and take a look around. ”So I guess you can't tell us who manipulated the Council either?”

~I know nothing of a Council. There isn't a faction like that within the Ascended Ones, who rule the multiverse.~

”Give me a complete version of history, as far as you know it.” -Me

~You are not cleared for this information.~

I purse my lips while I think about Warden. She seems to be a highly advanced AI. But a little literal minded too. ”Warden. Your creators are gone and you failed your mission until now because you slept! The society inside the multiverse underwent a series of changes. We are the closest thing to the highest authority at the moment. So it would be really smart if you tell us how to proceed with the thing inside the black hole.”

A few seconds of silence follow while Warden considers the situation.

~You first. What's the history of the multiverse from your point of view?~

Celes jumps in and gives Warden our version of history. At least as far as we pieced it together. After half an hour she goes silent and Warden starts to speak.

~I see. Some things went seriously wrong while I slept. As far as I know, the Ascended Ones are..... were the highest advanced beings in the multiverse. Their society spanned everything and it was their goal to lead all inferior life to a status of perfection like themselves.~

~But even though their bodies would last forever, their minds couldn't take the eternity. Many returned to the cycle of life and death, which all inferior lifeforms have to go through. They firmly believed that they would ascend anew in the distant future to regain their birthright. But it wasn't enough for some of them. A few researched possibilities to endure the eternity.~

~They found the answer in an experiment to meld their souls together. But the result wasn't stable. The ones who underwent the experiment went insane and started to crave for more souls. Melding with each other and every soul unfortunate enough to fall into their hands, they became what we called the great calamity.~

~A being which only aims to eat each and every soul within the whole multiverse to merge with it.

The lesser beings aside from the Ascended Ones had no chance to defend themselves against something like that.~

~So the remaining Ascended Ones stood up to fight the first and last war in their history. They created powerful weapons to defeat their foe. But all their efforts were in vain, as the great calamity spread like a plague.~

~For every incarnation of the great calamity slain, two more would split up from it and continue their horrible thirst for souls. The Ascended Ones decided to seal their foe inside the black hole above us. Not even they knew how to escape a black hole.~

~And so they hoped the great calamity would stay sealed until the end of time. Maybe it would even starve to death with time. But after the great hunt for the calamity had ended and all it's pieces were thrown into the black hole, the Ascended Ones realized that there weren't many of them left. And time wasn't on their side.~

~They were old enough to know that someone had to keep a keen eye on the prison.

So they created me, the Warden. They intended me to guard the prison for the rest of eternity.~

~With time the Ascended Ones faded away and returned to the cycle of life and death. In the last of their days, when their numbers were just enough to fill this city, other ascended beings started to arise.~

~They were wild and impulsive, much like the Ascended Ones in their youth.~

~The Brightest One of the Ascended created a globe to watch the new beings in their struggles. He intended to guide them on their path after he would understand their quarrels. But to install the globe, he had to connect it to my system. So he ordered a complete reboot. Which I did. …..... not waking up again until now.~

”So the globe, which was connected to the black hole, halted your reboot. And after we destroyed it, you could complete the reboot and woke up.” I conclude.

~It looks like it. But if that's true, something of the calamity survived the hunt and infiltrated the Ascended Ones. It shut me down with the globe and somehow managed to deal with the last Ascended Ones. Otherwise they would have repaired me.~

But Celes has her doubts. ”Did they even know how to repair you besides that Bright One you mentioned? Who would have known that the globe is at fault? Wouldn't they have been brainwashed like the Council?”

~Although I don't want it to be true. That's a possibility. And if the great calamity got control of the Bright One, there is a big chance that it could divide and crush the remaining Ascended.~

”But if something of this Calamity is still outside the black hole? Why didn't it eat the whole multiverse until now?” -Arthur

~The great calamity was able to plant a part of itself inside a host. The poor soul would become a mere servant, bent on feeding the great calamity. The servant however would be unable to merge with other souls and continue to long for something it could never get.~

~It's unlikely that a core part of the great calamity survived. The multiverse would be gone by now like you said. It's more likely that we overlooked one of its servants and he invaded us or corrupted others with the help of the globe.~

”You know that you are a real harbinger of bad news Warden?” I ask the voice while I contemplate about the whole story.

~I am just the Warden.~