Work Text:
HARPIST OS BOOTING...
INCOMING TRANSMISSION...
SOURCE UNIVERSE : ERROR
LOCATION : STRONGHOLD, KHAIDION
BEGIN LOG TRANSCRIPTION...
...
*heavy breathing*
Male voice: This is... God... I can't...
The man takes a sharp inhale. When his voice returns, so does the tremble in it.
Male voice: This is Codename... Nikola... Screw it. Who care about codenames. Stupid stereotypical nomenclatures. My name. Is Y/N Langley. Developer of the Harpist. This... disgusting system that should've never existed. I should've never existed.
A hydraulic-powered door slams shut in the background.
Nikola: I don't... I don't know if this transmission is gonna get through to anyone. I should know better than anyone how... unstable data transfer can be beyond the Trellis.
He pauses. It's faint, but voices can be heard in the distance. Voices that sound strikingly similar to Nikola's. He sounds as though he is about to cry.
Nikola: I didn't want any of this. All I wanted was to get Lalisa back. And he said he could do that. "And so much more," he said. But this is too much. What we're doing... it's wrong.
The voices get a little louder. A little angrier.
Nikola: I have no idea how you're receiving this, if at all. Maybe it's in your email. Maybe an audio file. Maybe... heh. Maybe as just another fictional story on a website. But if you're hearing this. I'm sorry.
Frantic typing on a keyboard can be heard, rivalling Nikola's heavy breathing. This goes on for about a minute.
Nikola: The Harpist was not designed to draw from beyond the Trellis. Who knows what'll happen... Best case, this message leaks out into U-1, into Prime Universe, and it'll be just another story to be forgotten. Worst case... do you have Marvel comics in your universe? Incursions? That's a cute way of understanding it, I suppose.
A low humming booms all of a sudden, drowning out Nikola's typing. Drowning out his panic. Drowning out the voices.
Nikola: I'm so, so sorry. You're a Placeholder from a Prime branch, of course you don't have any special abilities. I can only hope you find the others before the Army does. Otherwise... it's the Resonance Engine for you. Just like... so many others.
Another voice, robotic and neither male nor female, sounds out amidst the humming.
System: Activating Trellis mapping... Welcome, user Nikola. Please enter designated universe.
Nikola: The moment I summon the Blue one... the Commander will come for me within seconds. And what more the S+ tier... But fuck it. It has to be done. Even if it kills me.
He says no more, continuing to type.
System: Designated universe: U-1371-2027. Point of extraction: December 6th 2027, 2015 hrs; Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, S. Korea. Begin summon, or enter next designated universe.
A static noise buzzes to life, and through the static a voice can be heard, similar to Nikola's but with a different accent.
Voice in static: None of these awards... wanna know why... my greatest award...
System: Designated universe: U-201412-2022. Point of extraction: F̵̻̺̜̭͖̰̗̽̔̈́͗̑̋͒̀̑͐͒͒͝ì̸̭̣̊̔̐́͝l̵̨̬̱̖̞͊́̊͝ë̸̮̺͕͚̹̩̍͂̎ ̵̛͓̯̓̓̾͂̅͗͊C̸̨͓̜̘̭̹̒̍͗͒͂̇̽͂̽͑̚ǫ̷̘̦̪̩̪̜̳͇͑͑r̷̻̆̓̾̇́̎̔͠ȓ̶͔̪̹͖̬́̈̒̑̆͐̃͐̊̑́͝͠u̸͈̠̐̌͛͂͌̎̕p̷̛̞̟͙̺̯̀̔͒́̽̕̚͠͠t̵̛̛͍̺͂͘e̶̡̩͎͓̥̜̣̯̪̐̔̌̈́̍̂̌͊͘͜ͅḍ̸͍͕͙͓̜̭̝͒̇͑͂̑̈́̈͑͗̀̚͘. Begin summon, or enter next designated universe.
Voice in static: ...friend of Wendy's... Christmas Eve... no ghost...
The system keeps talking and Nikola keeps typing, as he speaks once more.
Nikola: The hope is that... if I summon enough D and E tiers, it'll disguise the presence of the higher tiered ones... Who am I kidding, though? They're already onto me. Shinigami's onto me, that Death Note using bastard. And once I summon these two...
System: Designated universe: U-212215-????. Point of extraction: TIME INDETERMINATE; The Nexum. Begin summon, or enter next designated universe.
Voice in static: ...get my Sole... eighty-thousand years...
System: Designated universe: U-13321B-2016. Warning: S+ tier Placeholder detected. Safeguard in place. Please provided user credentials to override... Safeguard override successful. Point of extraction: 6 May 2016, 1050 hrs; Leipzig/Halle Airport, Saxony, Germany. Begin summon, or enter next designated universe.
Several loud bangs can be heard, now louder than the mechanical humming.
Nikola: Shit. Point of no return now. After I summon you, I think the Harpist'll be busted. It's an unnatural abomination, sure, but it's my life's work...
System: Designated universe: U-1B. Point of- Warning: Extra-Trellis universe entered. Please abort summ- Are you sure you- Summon initiated. Beginning all Summons in 3... 2... 1...
Two loud booms are heard. The mechanical humming fades out, replaced by a voice that can only be described as pure hatred.
Voice: Your insolence shall be known to the Awakened, little scientis-
...
END TRANSMISSION.