Reconciled in the End

Chapter 4: Pointlessness

She looked around herself dazed. In the back of her mind something felt off, but she couldn't discern what exactly. She didn't feel she was herself, but it was hard to explain. Studying her hands, she was young, probably ten, but it didn't match her intellect. What was she up to? She confessed feeling ever so lost.

Looking around in a dark, grim place, nothing looked familiar. Lightening overhead made no noise of thunder alongside it. Perhaps a heat storm? Looking at a black, withered tree, she studied the incongruity in its texture. This didn't seem possible in true reality and earth laws of nature.

She overheard children in the distance, they seemed distressed as she observed the environment test them in ways to prod stressors. It didn't seem to actually harm them, so she sought to find the source and cause of it all instead. She shook her head at several attempts to strain her mental functioning, yet since she understood the magic, she strolled away to more perplexing changes in the environment.

For some time, she had noticed an entity observing her intently. This alarmed her more than the altered reality. It made her slightly nauseated in a place that didn't seem to follow her youthful body's lack of senses. Not seeing a way out of this, she waited unhappily as it finally made itself known.

The form seemed void as it spoke in a voice that sounded like a multitude of genders. The one but many confused her. The form changed shape to match hers as she frowned at it. The act seemed hostile in some way, and she preferred not to have herself be imitated. Though this body that housed her was not familiar, she felt protective of it.

"What is 1,648,156,358÷21,552?"

She looked blankly at the form as she answered, "76,473.476150705."

What that was about confounded her. Was it attempting to assess her intelligence? The being approached closer as it next inquired,
"What medicine gained bacterial resistance and became obsolete because of incorrect usage performed by patients whom failed to take the full prescribed duration of days?"

"Penicillin class," she responded.

"Name the coding sequence for the virtual interface."

She stared back without answer. Both knew she knew the correct response, in mild defiance she declined to reply any longer. What was this being's purpose in this unwarranted contact?

As if the being understood her, it responded, "I want to join you. You are a fine specimen as a corporal host. Combined, we will have honor and power beyond measure, and protected by the Prince of the Air. If you desire to understand the mysteries of the hidden World, my merging will supply it in great detail. Let us come together and form a union in the physical body. Our union is in spirit and would in no way decrease the physical body's health. In fact, the supernatural union would strengthen us. Do not fear, you can only be benefited with no consequence. I also sense you have carnal attachments. Our merging would have no impact with external interactions of other sentient beings and wouldn't mind indulging in the bodily interactions from time to time. Anything else I can address? It is ideal to begin our union at this time."

She took the information in baffled shock. What was this? She had assumed it was an AI of some sort, but it explained clearly something about being a spirit entity at one point of its conversation. She was curious, but not at the cost of her being.

"You are tempted. Please offer your hand so we may begin," the copy grinned.

She felt a foreboding dread increase. It wanted to rush her into the deal without thinking too much about it. There were consequences, scary ones, and the entity craftily wasn't going to tell her either. She neither cared for power or recognition. Though she was a curious creature by nature, she wouldn't trade herself out for those unseen answers.