Hiro's body was changing as it merged with the new digital entity at the seat of consciousness... it read the code and emulated as perfectly as it did any entity, taking on 'her' Form... the form of Brad, the Famiclone digital fairy. Hiro's automated system replicated every aspect of her form in precise detail, even as other automated systems worked to activate the time-travel program controlled by her daemon.
There was a bright flash of light...
'Brad' looked around. This... this was the Real World! Breathing air... a physical form- a- a heart beat! Yes!
But she was surprised to see... she was still a girl! "Noo!" She cried out in that same synthetic voice she had since becoming a digital fairy on the internet. But not only that, she seemed to be standing on the ruins of Greece... a barren landscape with destroyed buildings from a long time ago. Dragons were flying overhead! She quickly ducked for cover within one of the ruins trying to work out what the hell happened even as her new heart strummed in her chest. She was supposed to have travelled to a point before the sun changed! Why was she so far away?
She was surprised to see a little male digital fairy on her shoulder. "Nathan?!" She said turning to him. This was odd... so... this is what a digital fairy looked like to an AI? " Then she grinned. "Well, at least it's not all bad. Look who's bigger and tougher now," she said grabbing Nathan forcefully.
"Wait!" Nathan groaned and struggled against the huge hand- but his expression changed into surprise when he realised that there was no crushing force at all. He looked blankly at the huge girl. "I... don't think you can attack a digital being that way," he explained to her with some quite relief.
Brad continued to try and crush him with more force. "What?!" But no matter what force she impressed on him, there was no.. feeling, other then an steel barrier of resistance.
Nathan just looked blankly and shrugged. "The limitations of being a digital fairy I guess, is more then just on one side. Sure, I can't affect the real world... but it looks like you can't affect me either. At least not that way" Nathan easily pushed himself off from Brad's gripped hand, slipping away.
Brad was completely taken aback by this development. "But- I can hold you! You are there..." If he was existing as a ghost that would make some sense... but Nathan was definitely there, and was not able to go -through- solid matter, including her body. So what gives? Out of curiosity (and some general mean spiritedness) Brad decided to see what would happen if she threw a punch at him.
Nathan braced himself for the sudden attack and was 'pushed' away by the force, although it didn't do any harm. It was like he was a balloon in the air, until he simple fell onto the muddy ground without any impression left by his fall. The water did make his form shimmer a little and there was a small gash as a silvery code of one's and zero's that came out of his arm, instead of blood. "Well... that's... different."
Brad was even more astonished by this. It put a halt to his 'experimentation'. "... does... that hurt?"
"Not any less then a cut," said Nathan studying the wound. This was... well... weird. It was healing up by itself, over time. The trailing code seemed to be sealing up, as a scab would.
Then Brad realised they were not alone... there was another digital presence. The Daemon Hikari was with them. She was looking at Brad with that same lost expression, before speaking. "Hurt? I can heal.. I.. like.. healing," She said as she tended to Brad's injuries with a curious light on the digital daemon's hand.
Nathan stared at Hikari not really sure quite what to think as he was healed. Then he looked up to his 'host', Brad, in Hiro's versatile Godly body. "Where.. when are we?" he demanded.
"First thing's first," said Brad. "I want you to go into Hiro's system and make it turn me into a man. If you don't I'll just turn off your runtime." Sure she couldn't hurt him physically, but she could just turn him off.
"Operation is not possible," said Hikari in her monotoned voice.
"What? What do you mean its not possible!" Shouted Brad. "You were a man when I went into your body. Why did it just turn back into- into this!."
Daemon-Hikari looked blankly as she seemed to be slowly processing the question. "In terms you understand, it is because the shell works by emulation. It is dangerous to emulate a form physically different from the code of a digital entity. It is physically not possible to separate the mind from the body when they are entwined in code. Your digital self is yourself, and therefore is your body self in the real world. The mind and body are treated as one entity."
"Then why do you turn into a man when you go into Hiro!" shouted Nathan.
Hikari looked oddly at that question. "Hiro is a man, and Hikari is a girl. Parallel processing."
Brad blinked in confusion. She went towards the daemon angrily. "Make sense you stupid-"
"Hey!" shouted Nathan. "Leave her alone! You took Hiro's body and it can't become anything other then what you already are. So just deal with it. We have dragons to worry about right now, and you are the one hosting us. There is no internet here, so if something happens to you we are all dead, and we are unable to physically help you."
Her eyes dawned on what Nathan was saying. Brad wasn't with anyone here but ghosts... she was alone, and there were dragons that would make a meal of her. She was still a girl. A weak pathetic girl. Hiro's body was supposed to be the ultimate fusion of man and machine, but for some reason she was just... human. "Why can't I access any of Hiro's weapons!" she demanded, still in that shrilled synthesised girly voice.
Hikari looked blankly as ever. "What weapons?"
"Come on, the sunlight made him a freakin' cyborg. Where is his weapon? His laser gun! Or something!"
Hikari glanced to Nathan, then back to Brad. "A digital fairy is not a waepon, so it can not be emulated. Hiro's form did not carry any weapons. His functions were primarily sensing and data processing using parallel mechanics."
"So basicly, she's stuck in the middle of dragon country, with no weapon, and if she dies we're all dead."
"Correct. May I be of further assistance?" Asked Hikari with no hint of emotion.
Brad groaned, but tensed as she heard another flap of wings. Greece was so dangerous! She had to get out of here. Quickly she found herself moving from building to building, avoiding the dragons as best she could. She was like an ant to them... she needed new clothes too. She looked like a cheerleader in the middle of a battlefield! Still at least there was one good thing about being in the real world... a change of clothes would be possible, and the first thing on her mind.
There was one building that seemed to be in pretty good shape. It looked as if dragons were avoiding it... a good place as any to hide.
What she didn't expect to see, were rows upon rows of torches... going down a long corridor. She followed them into the descending darkness, into a large chamber.
"What is this place..." she whispered.
"My home," said a voice. "At least it was.. thousands of years ago."
It was woman, dressed in the clothes of ancient Greece. How far... had she travelled back in time? The woman was working on some kind of.. tapestry. It seemed to fill the entire room. Arachne turned with a faint smile. "I've been expecting you."
"Who.. are you?"
"My name is Arachne... I 'dabble' with the tapestry of fate. Sufice to say, I pulled a string just a little too far... and now I am unable to stitch it back in quite the right way."
Hikari stared at the woman. "Processing... malfunction. Time eddies detected. I do not recognise this."
Arachne seemed not to hear the digital entities as she stared only at Brad. "You are curious, are you not? Let me guess... you wished to change history, am I right?"
"Y-yes... I changed-"
"Because of the sunlight, yes I am aware of the fantastical light. The new age that spawned a closer union between the humans and beasts of my time... to think of all the sacrifices of men and women of my time, the death my daughter... the descruction of magic itself, and all of it.. just for our children's children to become the beasts!" She gritted her teeth. She would not accept this as the end...
Brad took a step back.
"But you child... you have what I need. The door, to time travel... I brought you here, by weaving the cloth so that we would meet. Somone with your abilities... and your desires."
"Look... I don't know who or what this is about," said Brad. "I just want to make it so I never changed into a- a girl," she said.
Arcache shrugged. "And so we shall do that... if you work with me, we can do so much more then just change your fate.
"What... do you mean?"
"Listen to me very carefully... the dawn of your age of technology, started at the death of magic at my age. I am attempting an... age compression, you can call it."
Hikari seemed to perk up slightly at those words. "Fundamental equations of time... accessing."
"What would happen?" asked Brad. "If you did this.. time compression."
"The past and present, will merge together..."Arachne nodded, glad to have Brad's interest. "The defeat of the Enemy allows us to create paradoxes. Doors exist, even if they require keys... Time naturally destroys paradoxes by overwriting all events into a randomness that a weaver as I, can control. Let's say you go back in time now, and change your personal history... it won't change what happened to you, it would only change what happened to your past self. Your plan is doomed from the start."
Brad looked upset at that. "You are lying," she said. "I- I can change history."
"Ah, but here is where it can get interesting... changing your past yields a certain... energy you can call it. If there paradoxes are strong enough, the age of technology can be wiped out.. and my own age can continue, without the death of my daughter."
Brad looked to where Arachne had been kneeling before... it was a coffin. She felt herself shiver.
"She lived, as I wished for her to live," said Arachne. "She lived, and she died... an age ago. It seems the gods, still win... " The woman turned to Brad. "But not for long. We just need... a few more people, to become the equal of the Angel of Selene..."
