The World's Ego (Book 2)

Above and Beyond

Third Person POV

She was floating, but where is this? In the vast and dark abyss, erratic energy pulsated, threatening to drag whatever beyond the crack she came from into its dark embrace. Emptiness filled her entire being, something she hadn't felt in the years after she was named. She was alone but at the same time, she wasn't either.

Come. Join me in this place.

An inviting voice rang in her ears. It was emotionless with a tone that seemed soothing. She couldn't really remember why she was in this place. It felt so empty and lonely but if there was someone or something here with her, maybe she could find an answer. What is the reason for her existence? Why did she fall into this place? Would everything become better if she listened? Will she find her answers?

That's right. Join me, I will answer your questions and in return, you will become my power. You won't be alone after that.

There was a mental tug in her mind and it felt so inviting, she wanted to reach out to the voice and accept its offer but then another voice entered her mind. This time, it was a gentle voice from a memory she thought she had lost, the bright smile of that ruler shining in radiance.

Become my first Herrscher. This world will herald the birth of the first Herrscher born from the Herrscher of Zeroth:Origin. Although all I can currently provide you right now are food, clothing, and housing, I want you to be a part of my family too.

That ruler was such an odd girl, she mused. How could she just readily ask someone to become something they had gone against so many years ago as if it was something so simple?

"No... Because it was her, that was why it was possible."

She lifts her hand and tentatively places it on her chest. She could feel it. Lying inside her body was the very core she was given by that ruler, along with her current body. She was no longer that emotionless entity, she was alive with emotions that she is still getting used to feeling. She still remembered the day of despair, where she had intervened in the Harvest Festival. Then when she was found, she was given an offer, and then...

Welcome to the family. Your name from now on shall be 'Iris', my Herrscher of Genesis.

She accepted the hand that offered her freedom and a place that welcomed her with warm, open arms. A 'family', that ruler calls it. She formed relations with people that she would otherwise have not done if she was the same AI from back then. It was Her that reached out to her lonely soul, and now it was her turn to return one part of her lifetime debt to this ruler.

"... I won't join you."

The entity that tried to entangle its evil intents into her mind was confused. She was so close and yet, the girl had resisted, and was now exuding primal energy she has never felt before.

!

"I came into this vast sea for one reason, and you have tested my patience by trying to twist my thoughts." The girl scowled at the unseen entity, "<Herrscher Release>."

Four pairs of white wings spread behind her back as her once child-like form has been transformed into an adult's body. Her hair was longer than before, reaching up to her knees. Even with those wings, she was not a Seraph. By nature, she was still a Herrscher, a Primordial Herrscher. After all, the wings weren't as pure as a Seraph's as gear-like cogs and mechanisms lined around the wings. She was now wearing a purple crop top with a pair of white shorts reaching above her knees underneath a slit skirt tied to the side by a ribbon. On her arms were asymmetrical sleeves, her right sleeve being shorter than the left with ribbons stretching below her arms. She wore black heels and her body was covered by a combination of skull-like motifs and prismic shapes like a veil of aura.