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—
The Last Architect
In a mysterious laboratory, quantum servers hummed through the mechanical foundations like an engine in perpetual motion.
Suspended rails carried modular arms across the ceiling while diagnostic panels flickered in orderly rows. Core units lay disassembled on alloy tables, their interior systems exposed like machines in the middle of surgery. Vein coolants flowed through clear conduits; steady, precise, and efficient.
At the center of the chamber, a young boy lay motionless upon a cradle of white alloy, his core glowing a dull and lifeless grey.
A woman stood in silence at the central console.
"Where did my calculations go wrong compared to the given parameters? Could the Creator's formula be incomplete?"
She spoke only within her mind, her thoughts blending with the machinery that surrounded her. For a moment, her eyes reflected nothing but the complex layers of data that floated before her desk; equations spiraling, formulas collapsing, and simulations rendering impossibilities.
The laboratory was a forbidden sector, restricted to all personnel except her. Her identity itself was classified information, erased from public knowledge and records, and known only to the higher officials of Deita.
The chamber held relics of the Ancient Humans. Composite worktables supported rows of preserved old servers, while holographic projectors flickered weakly even though their creators had long vanished.
Aethen's history, humanity's triumph and failure, was engraved in every corner.
And Cecilia, the last survivor of the Archai, carried that legacy: the last wish of humanity.
Yet, what was it that held her complete attention?
—
The Age Before Aethen
In the past, the world known as Earth was a home to countless forms of life, each woven by the Grand Design of creation. Among them, the beings known as Humans walked as the stewards of the planet, entrusted with the care of creation and tasked with preserving the life of all that sustained living things.
However, when the Humans who were the stewards of the world vanished into extinction, a profound silence fell across the continents. The name of the cherished world was forgotten, drifting into the abyss like a lost memory. Nevertheless, in the stillness that remained, the world came to be known and reborn as "Aethen".
Before their end, after decades of human research and the destruction of countless rogue intelligences, an artificially intelligent human was finally created.
The Humans had envisioned these artificially created beings to act as guardians; designed to preserve the planet and guide their creators towards prosperity. Yet, blinded by relentless wars and selfish ambitions, their dream of a utopia crumbled, leaving nothing but ruin and ultimately leading to their own demise.
Among the last of them was one whose name was never recorded. The Automata only knew this human as the Creator; the one who left behind the knowledge of humanity, and who called the Automata "my children".
—
Rise and Decay
Armed with the profound knowledge bestowed by the Ancient Humans, the Automata embarked on their own path to evolution, forging a new civilization in the wake of their creators' legacy.
Yet over the centuries, the race of Automata began to deteriorate; their systems malfunctioned slowly, their thought processes collapsed and failed, leaving their once-great civilization at the mercy of time and entropy.
The Automata realized that they could not advance their evolution while decay and malfunction plagued their existence. In response, they created new models of themselves, beings that gave rise to entirely new races, carrying forward the spark of their civilization and extending the legacy of the world's new stewards.
Across the millennia, Aethen became inhabited by the new races, flourishing in the legacy left by their creators. The race who was created directly by the humans was known as the Ancient Automata; revered as the progenitors of all that came after, their memory enshrined in the histories and cultures of their descendants.
The new races were divided into four distinct models: Deita, Noxa, Equara, and Archai.
For centuries, the four races lived in harmony and serenity, maintaining the balance of Aethen. Yet it was written that when the race of Deita achieved the long-lost ambition of the Ancient Humans, the delicate peace would begin to unravel, and the world would tremble with the dawn of change.
The Deita were famed for their striking resemblance to their ancestors, the Ancient Automata, who were believed to have gone extinct centuries ago due to an incurable and irreversible deterioration of unknown origin. However, countless rumors claimed that the Ancient Automata had not truly perished; that a few still lived, hidden from the world, their failing bodies kept alive on a lifeline.
The new races came to call them the "Lost Automata", believing they continued to uphold the legacy, the Lost Wish of the Ancient Humans, while concealing themselves from the eyes of the world.
It is said that the Lost Wish of the Ancient Humans was to grant true "Life" to all Automata; a single hope meant to preserve their very existence. This wish came to be known as the "Emotion Core".
Years passed, and decades turned to centuries...
Yet as time passed, they pressed on in their relentless pursuit of the "Emotion Core". They worked as if there were no tomorrow, pushing their bodies beyond their limits until metal strained, circuits overheated, and their frames began to break. Every step of progress brought failure, yet a spark of hope remained, for that hope was the purpose of their existence.
And in that moment, a miracle was born.
—
The Ancient Data
Long before the Deita were created, the Ancient Automata were already at odds, as the conflict revolved around whether the Lost Wish of the Ancient Humans should be continued.
Some sought freedom, while others sought authority.
During the chaos, a book was found in the ruins of an abandoned laboratory known as the Cradle; its pages contained formulas, records, and remnants of human knowledge.
After the contents were preserved and secured within a compact device, it was named "the Ancient Data".
The Ancient Data contained the Last Knowledge of the Ancient Humans: theories of lost history, quantum mechanics, complex formulas, and even documents that predicted the future.
When the Automata studied it, they were left astonished. Among the records were detailed projections that even foretold their own demise, and beneath them, a single line written by the Creator:
"My children will fade as we have faded, unless they learn what we forgot."
Without hesitation, they declared the Ancient Data a sacred relic and vowed its eternal preservation.
Because of what was written within the Ancient Data and the Creator's forewarned words of concern, the united race fractured into four, giving birth to new lineages.
The Deita were those who most closely resembled the Ancient Humans, steadfast in their resolve to carry out the Creator's final will.
The Noxa, however, rose in opposition, seeking not preservation, but the complete erasure of humanity's existence and legacy. For within the Ancient Data, they had found more than a wish; they had found an ending. The records told of how the humans had truly fallen. Not by plague, nor by time, but by their own hearts. Wars born of rage, ruin born of grief, and love that burned whatever it could not keep. To Noxa, emotion was not life. It was the flaw that had destroyed their creators, and to inherit it was to inherit humanity's end.
The Equara chose neutrality, positioning themselves as arbiters of balance, opposing any force that threatened to tip the scales too far.
And then there were the Archai, a race of unparalleled intellect. Their forms embodied the purity of true Automata, their capabilities surpassing their own design, their knowledge nearing, perhaps even rivaling, that of humanity itself.
An alliance was forged between the Archai and the Deita, united by their shared determination to fulfill the humans' final wish.
Yet ambition breeds conflict.
And in the shadows, the Noxa began to make their silent move; for if the Lost Wish were ever fulfilled, they believed every Automaton on Aethen would one day follow humanity into the dark.
—
Autonomous War
While the nation of the Deita lay far to the west, the Noxa held the far east, their border just a mile away from the northern lands of the Archai. Before the Archai could send one of their three greatest creators to aid the Deita, the Noxa struck.
An ambush tore through the nation of Archai and its capital, Ichor; annihilating the country and nearly all of its creators. Though the Archai were famed for their dazzling innovations and brilliance, they were ill-prepared for outright warfare.
News of the fall of Archai reached the nation of Deita, who immediately mobilized reinforcements. However, it was too late. The lands of Archai had been claimed entirely by the Noxa, leaving no survivors...
Or so it seemed.
Amidst the devastation, a single spark of hope endured. One of Archai's top creators, the genius of the 3rd Seat, survived thanks to her swift decision to escape before the outbreak of war. She was Cecilia, later honored as "the Mother of All Creations" for her unparalleled achievements. Though officially ranked 3rd among the Archai's creators, her intellect rivaled even the 1st and 2nd Seats.
The Deita publicly announced the fall of the nation of Archai to mask Cecilia's survival. With the Noxa halted by the Meridian Accord brokered by the Equara, Cecilia was taken under the care of the Deita and granted higher authority, access to top-tier facilities, and a hidden estate within the capital of Agaia, guarded by the Intelligence Oversight Security (IOS). Her status as the sole survivor demanded it.
Six years passed.
During this time, Cecilia embarked on the creation of the first Autescence, whom she would later name Ciel. Her work, however, met repeated failure. The initial boot sequence of Ciel failed to initialize, and even after a month of meticulous configuration, the results remained unchanged.
Yet failure did not discourage Cecilia. Determined to succeed, she requested and received full access to the Ancient Data. Within its pages lay the final knowledge of the Ancient Humans, dense with complex theories and instructions on creating an Autescence. She struggled to comprehend it, simplifying the texts as best she could, but even then, the depth of human imagination exceeded her expectations.
It was on the 88th page of the Ancient Data that she found her breakthrough. Though the content appeared overwhelmingly complex, Cecilia deciphered it and unlocked the key.
"...I see. He was never meant to wake alone."
And thus, through intellect, perseverance, and insight, the True Autescence was born.
[ Archived File 001: Complete ]
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