Chapter Text
Location: Unknown
Time: Unknown
The walls were blocks of iron, cold and sterile and intimidating, wrapping the walls of a spacious room and creating distance in every direction. Sea lanterns lit up the room with chilling blue-white light, a far cry from the former gold color that had once been there. The glowstone that provided illumination in the rooms had long been replaced by the relatively newer blocks.
Tap-taptap-taptaptap-tap-taptap-tap-taptaptap.
In the center of the iron-lined room, surrounded by the specially modded structures and machines designed to access Avatar coding for analysis, Dream sat on the table he'd grown familiar with over the past few weeks since staging the prison break. He swung his legs back and forth idly, fingertips tapping a rhythmic beat against the underside of the table, fidgeting to expend nervous energy.
Click-clickclickclick-click-clickclick-click.
The not-quite harmony of keys being pressed rapidly echoed through the empty space of the room. The glow of several floating screens, information displayed on every one, cast their light over a figure dressed in purple and gray robes. Aside from the taps and clicks, silence dominated the space.
Somewhere in the distance, in another room of the secret labs, a drop of water fell from a stalactite and struck the surface of a filled cauldron, rippling out before becoming lost in its depths.
"These readings have changed since the last time I looked over your coding," Setosorcerer murmured, head tilted as he studied the screens full of script. Behind him, Dream studied the same screens, eyes narrowed as he searched the glowing lines for some hint to what was different, what was affected. Aside from the coding within his Base Files and some of the scripting in his Core File, nothing really made sense or stood out to him as changed.
"Not seeing what you're seeing," the masked Avatar replied dryly. "How about breaking it down for those of us who don't have a reputation for fucking with people's insides?"
Seto rolled his eyes in mock exasperation as he gestured with his fingers to call down a few of the screens for a closer look. "Your Base Files are largely the same, which is to be expected since they're the template every Avatar gets installed when Awakened for the first time," he began with a shrug. "Neuro-spiritu code that translates the basic mechanics of Minecraft into our universal abilities. Our inventory access, skin change menu, skin refresh and repair, hotbars, status, base game crafting recipes, all the things we can do that are across the board.. that tends to be static and easy to modify by adding in files and coding from the Core File."
"Also makes it easy for Herobrine to slide in there and set Himself up a place to start attacking the Core File protections to eat it," Dream grumbled, rubbing at his shoulder to soothe a phantom twinge. The mini-mod master nodded in agreement, sour look on his face.
"That tended to be how He operated," Seto said and gestured over the screen, "So these are pretty much unchanged except for some added permissions and protections because of other aspects of you injecting those files and coding for it, your Anti-Viral side, the fragment of Herobrine's Source Code you're isolating, stuff like that. This is also where my experimental coding is installed per our agreement for testing. Pretty normal for you." He flicked his fingers aside, swapping out the screen and bringing in the next one. "This is the read-only view of your Core File, or at least the parts of it that I'm currently interested in studying."
Dream looked over the lines of code, pushing aside memories of the physical versions of similar files he'd seen in his life so far. "Why these parts?" he asked warily. It was eerie, looking at a snapshot of what was essentially his own soul, copied from the original and kept updated somehow until just before the previous Dream was consumed by Herobrine. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to seeing the coding being flicked through and read over so casually.
"There's been some.. adjustments made to your Core File from another influence," Seto explained quietly, running his fingers over a few lines of script. "Here. These variables and values have shifted compared to last week. They're stricter, more exacting. Like the flexibility of some informational input was pulled back." He looked over at Dream with equal wariness. "That also affects your information output."
Dream only shrugged back at him. Was he expected to say something about it? The changes were concerning, yeah, but what was he expected to say? 'Okay, let me just do a rollback on my own soul, it's not like I'll lose a week of life experience and memories; what's the worst that could happen?' He could alter his own Core File if he wanted to, within reason, but that sort of thing he'd rather reserve for when he absolutely had no choice but to do it.
Other people's Core Files, however...
DreamXD's Core File, his soul, crumbled into data, slipping through his fingers as the fragments of light that was once the shard of Clay's soul at its core were swallowed up by Minecraftia before his very eyes. His failure, his mistake, was believing he had the power to directly challenge the authority of the world's awareness. What was a SysOp to the ServAdmin?
"Case in point," Seto said flatly, gesturing at Dream with a faintly aggravated expression. "You've been less communicative with your thoughts for some time now but I didn't think it was a result of a Core File change until I came across this discrepancy."
"Sorry?" Dream replied, eyebrow appearing raised over one eye of his mask. "So what influenced my Core File? Not Herobrine's fragment, I hope." That would definitely be bad. There was no safe backup of himself in case of corruption as he couldn't stand to make another, not after the Disillusioned Recruits stole a copy from him and used it to conduct horrific experiments. Sapnap still 'blazed' at the slightest mention of that, catching his surroundings on fire.
Seto had tried to make a copy for himself once; Dream destroyed the machine for it the moment it pointed that familiar needle at him and warned him that stepping over that boundary again would be a deal-breaker.
"No, and that leads me to the third set of files that much of the populace is unaware of," Seto said and flicked his fingers again to sweep away the screen displaying his Core File to bring in another one, the dense lines of code written in light casting their glow on both Avatars' faces. Dream stepped closer, peering at the screen in confusion.
"A third set? We have something other than the Core File and the Base Files?" he asked, reading the coding and trying to make sense of it. "What is it? And why isn't it common knowledge?" Seto shrugged, mirroring Dream's earlier nonchalance.
"Because it's inaccessible in that no one can alter it but Minecraftia's awareness," he replied casually, "so what would be the point in making it known to other Avatars who aren't in charge of monitoring it?" He motioned towards the screen. "Base Files are the foundation for all Avatars to interact with the physical world, constructing the body to fit us according to the other two sets. The Core File is our soul, the essence of who we are, our memories, our personalities, changing with time and experiences." Seto smiled grimly at the screen, "This? This is the 'Story' File, the essence of what we are, our Classes, Types, SubClasses, and most importantly.. Player Input Data."
Dream scowled at the screen, turning the words over in his head. "But.. isn't Player input just them granting us fragments of their soul to be Awakened? And then being the anchor of the soul link?" he pointed out. Players could pass down information, emotion, energy, just about anything the Avatars needed to be kept up to date on them through the soul link. It also allowed for the Avatars to keep tabs on the state of their Players' health and well-being. The link was bound to the Core File, allowing it to remain locked in place even through death and respawn, unless the Core File itself was destroyed, the Player passed away, or the link was purposely severed by either the Avatar via code or the Player through account selling. "The soul link can keep the Core File updated and make changes. What's the big deal with this other file set? We get our Classes and Types assigned when we're Awakened and we work with what we get." Dream scoffed, folding his arms over his chest.
"Hm, let me put it this way, then," Seto said with a small grin, fingers coming up to his chin as he looked aside at the other Avatar. "Why are you a Speed-Class Avatar?"
"I'm a speedrunner and parkour specialist; movement is one of my greatest strengths." Dream rolled his eyes, "C'mon, everyone knows this. Well.. everyone that's been paying attention to my name, that is. Who hasn't heard of me? I'm practically the biggest name in Minecraft right now!" Seto shook his head and waved a hand dismissively.
"Yeah, yeah, but that's not what I'm asking. Are you a Speed-Class because you're good at running and moving?" the sorcerer questioned him, then smiled sharply, fingertips gracefully moving to steeple in front of himself. "Or are you a Speed-Class because your Player is good at running and moving in the game Minecraft?"
In a distant room, a drop of water fell from a stalactite and struck the surface of a filled cauldron. The tension broke for a moment, and water trickled over the edge of the iron container to puddle on the floor.
Stunned silence hung over Dream as he stared up at Seto. His thoughts had halted, attempting to process the new data and align it with his current view of the world and the working system of existence. It fit in the way a diorite block fit in a build with a block palette of andesite and cobblestone; flush but still out of place, drawing attention and the itching desire to either replace the block or tear down the build and redo it around the intrusive block.
"Both?" he heard himself reply dumbly and Setosorcerer glared at him as if he'd pissed himself and left a mess on the floor.
"No, you idiot," Seto shot back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You get your Class when you're Awakened, which means it's based on your Player's capabilities. That affects the other filesets, which is why you're smaller compared to, say, a Defense-Class Avatar or a Support-Class. The Story File says what you are, so the Base Files physically reflect that and your Core File grows according to it too." He motioned at the screen again. "Your SubClass is Survivalist, which involves better survival chances and adaptability in the wilderness..."
"Because of my Player's trapping styles and high win rate in open-world PVP, 'Minecraft Manhunt' and 'Minecraft, But' challenges," Dream breathed out in dawning realization and lifted his hands to stare at them, "And I'm a Player-Type, because the skin I was Awakened in was one designed to look like a Player. It didn't change even when I was given my green brand skin in the upper server!" But what did that have to do with the change to his Core File that worried the sorcerer? What did Clay change in himself that trickled down through the soul link and into his Story File without him being any the wiser?
Seto clicked his fingers and tongue at him, a smirk on his face. "Bingo~! He can be taught!" he declared teasingly before his smile shrank to a more uncertain one. "But the important part of the Story File? The Player Input Data? That one is far more abstract, yet at the same time, more straightforward in its effects."
Chairs were pulled from nearby desks and sat in, giving Dream a chance to rest and recollect himself as he silently struggled to sort through the revelations and adjust his own way of thinking. Seto drew out a pair of bottles of water from a desk drawer and passed one to him before taking a seat himself. The two of them pulled the corks free and drank in small mouthfuls, taking the time to savor the refreshments.
"Did you ever wonder why I'm a sorcerer?" Seto asked quietly, looking into his bottle as he turned the glass idly this way and that. "Why I can cast magic with chants and gestures when that's not in the base game code?"
"I thought that was a mod," Dream admitted with an uneasy chuckle and Seto shook his head.
"Gotta have an instrument of some kind to cast magic from a mod; this magic is innate to me," he pointed out and took another swig of water before continuing. "It's because of the Player Input Data." He held up the bottle, grinning. "Ever heard of a game called RuneScape?"
Dream blinked a few times, thrown off by the sudden topic change. "Uh, sort of? I know McChill's Player plays it. His skin was based on a character in there," he replied warily. Seto nodded.
"Same for me, same for SkythekidRS; hell, that's where the RS in his name came from," he pointed out and gestured with the water bottle. "That's where my magic came from! My Player created me with the concept of his sorcerer character in mind; the ability to use magic was given to me by his input, his backstory for me that he thought up and assigned to me." He smiled then, brittle and bitter, "And Avec's backstory, the P.I.D. that made him so useful to us until his death, was just a projection of his Player's skill in mimicking the people they wrote about in stories. I installed mods into him to force it to activate under my control. Thus the Mimic Mage was born, and he died mimicking on my command to save billions of lives. That's war for you."
Dream blinked rapidly when Seto lifted his hand to him, the same bitter smile on his face. "And now there's you, with lines of code in your Story File referencing something called 'Character Dream', with a list of attributes that seem to be activating bit by bit..."