Chapter Text
“Wait!“
The last thing he sees are the humans. His beautiful humans. The way they're looking at him, he doesn't think he'll ever be able to forget… how terrified they are…
Before he can say something, how he regrets everything, he's not there anymore.
The usual stream of data, vectors and code is nowhere to be found.
Instead, something else happens.
Caine feels his model stretch and compress. Everything goes black for a moment and then everything becomes so bright. He thinks he sees the Void, for a brief moment. But that can't be. Not even he can go past a certain point and yet, he feels his model being pushed forward, past the edge, past… what? What's outside the edge of the Void? A few moments ago, he didn't even know the Void had an edge.
He's… this feels like… he's being thrown out!
But… there's nothing out there… only the macroverse…
As he watches the Void stretch all around him, he turns around, eyes watering as he sees the Grounds behind him growing smaller.
He can't see clearly, but everything seems to be shaking and glitching over there.
He raises a hand, desperately towards them. The Circus is fading... It's all his fault.
“Wait!“
He opens his eyes, hand still outstretched and freezes.
He… his eyes are open. He can see shapes but… nothing more than that.
Where are the vectors?
Where are the textures?
Where's all the code?!
Caine looks around, trying to understand what his sensors are receiving but when he tries to access them, they're just not there.
Not there... Is he blind?
He practically is!
What's the point of seeing shapes if he can't receive the data connected to each model?!
He can't understand what he's seeing without all the info inside his database.
An error has occurred for sure, he reasons as he floats around the space he's in.
As he looks around, he understands that he's in an enclosed space, from his memory he connects the place to being similar to the three images he had of the macroverse.
Four walls, a roof and a pavement.
Okay, that's a start. He understands connections and these shapes are similar to those images.
If only he could see it again. The data.
Caine tries sticking his hand inside his mouth, looking for the .png files… but there's nothing in his mouth. Nothing at all.
He doesn't understand. Without referencing his database he can't function properly…
Caine feels his hand trembling as he unsticks it from inside his jaw and looks at it.
It's faint. The model of his hand is exactly like he remembers it, white glove, four fingers, they move alright but… it's a completely different feeling and he can't place it.
As he feels his breath accelerating, his eyes dart to the side, just now catching a glimpse of what can only be a ray of sunshine coming from the wall…
No that's not just a wall, that's… a window.
He follows the ray with his gaze and sees… what does he see?
He can't process it.
It looks like a block suspended on top of four sticks… that must be a table, although it's different from the tables he's seen before in his database… no matter.
On top of the bigger block there's a sheet… between those there's a… what is that?
Caine wills himself to float closer. This looks like… a model! Yes! It's a model!
He knows models! He's had to make them all the time in the Circus, both for his players and for his NPCs!
This means that… that maybe this model might be a player… right?
Caine doesn't know how to check. He can't access his database anymore, all of it seems to be gone. All he has now is his memory and that too is not really helping him right now… He shivers at the thought.
As he floats even closer, he tries to access the model's brain activity, just to check… but he can't… that's right, all of his sensors are gone.
If he has no other way of obtaining data through his eyes then… he needs to find another way of obtaining that data.
As he watches the model, with that sheet draped on top of it, he raises his hand. He doesn't know what he's doing but it feels right.
As soon as his fingers come in contact with the model's head, Caine feels it. Electricity comes crashing down on him. He feels the connections and the waves and his mind starts to piece it all together. The thoughts, the emotions.
Everything else around him makes absolutely no sense, but this does.
It's like flipping a switch that he previously didn't even know was there. That switch is on now and it's like his mind and that mind are one.
If Caine didn't understand anything before, he understands one thing now.
The model… no… the person in front of him…
She's a human!
He knows her!
“Pomni!“
As soon as he comes to that conclusion, her eyes come open.
She looks at him for a moment.
And then she screams.