Awakening: Prodigy

23: V.I.D.E.L.

POV Seth

He struggled for breath. He knew he should get to his feet and face the new obscure change in his surroundings, but he was too exhausted to fight anymore. 'Giving up over a few scrapes and bruises?' his subconscious berated. 'You're not ready for the Killing Fields.'

He wasn't giving up. He just needed a minute to rest. Those were two different things. The weight of his fatigue begged him to give himself over as it settled comfortably onto his chest. Just a few minutes...

He shut his eyes. He needed time to think.

'You don't have a few minutes! Get up!' his subconscious ordered with a note of disbelief that lingered in the back of Seth's mind.

He took a deep, rejuvenating breath then climbed to his feet. He agreed with his subconscious. Now was not the time for rest. He needed to push through...

... whatever this was.

His experience in the game so far meant he couldn't trust the tranquility of this endless white void. He did not know when the environment would revert to the hostile darkness, and there was no way to prepare for what was coming.

"I was getting worried," a male voice echoed in the pristine space. The brightness of the endless openness was surreal. At the heart of the space was a massive circular machine, whose center shaft pulsed with shining symbols that Seth couldn't read. The symbols changed with every pulse of the light, like a conversation Seth wasn't a part of.

"Hello?" Seth called out. Someone had spoken to him, but he couldn't see them.

The machine's writing flickered with excitement, the little symbols shifting from one form to the next in a chaotic dialog.

Lasers shot out from the top and lower consoles, creating a projection of a man in his late thirties. He was blond and clean shaven, but ill suited to the blank black military uniform he wore, free of rank and medals. He lacked the aura of uncompromising rigidity that Seth had long associated with the military. This man was wearing a costume, but why?

His blond brows furrowed in worry before he remembered his greeting. "Welcome, I am the Virtually Integrated Demonology Educational Logs. You may call me Videl." He extended his hand to Seth.

The worry had faded, replaced with a broad, charming smile and a genuine aura of welcome.

Seth reached out to shake the virtual entity's hand, but pulled away at the last second as the words settled in. Individually, he understood what each word meant, but together...

"What?" was all Seth managed as his mind raced with possibilities. Videl was a virtual training program designed specifically for demon-based combat, or at least Seth assumed that what the inferred meaning of the Videl acronym. Was he a lost piece of technology from the late twenty-first century? "What?" Seth reiterated in case Videl had misunderstood him for the first time.

If Videl had existed during the Incursion, then why were the demons still a problem today? How much time had passed between the Incursion and the present day was unknown. Between the dark age caused by the Incursion and the resettling of civilization, and the various controlling powers who needed to appear like they were making progress, the timeline, as Seth knew it, was more of an abstract concept.

As far as history went, Seth knew: within a few years of the Incursion, humanity had abandoned all major cities and fled North. The Military Regime had secured the safe zone, stabilizing an area for humanity to rebuild and thrive. When the Council enacted their coup, humanity had lost vast territories to the demons.

Which brought Seth back around to Videl's origins. If he existed in the early stages of the Incursion, then either he remained incomplete, society had abandoned him, or he was developed too late to make a difference. Now he existed as a Hail Mary for future generations. But why send teenagers to retrieve such an invaluable piece of technology?