To love a sword

Chapter 47: Awakening Part 3

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness

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What first came to her attention was pure darkness. It was an absolute, all-encompassing void. A certain blonde-haired biological girl made to be a biological weapon floated within it, almost like a consciousness without form. There was no sensation of touch, no scent to smell, no light to see. It was a complete absence of everything... something that easily could turn any normal living being mad, but to her, she somehow adapted to it.

'Where am I?'

The thought echoed, but received no answer. There was only the pure, silent nothingness. Then, a flicker of recognition, like a distant memory. 'Ah, it's like the last time.' The details were hazy, lost in the fog, but she knew this was not the first time she had found herself in this space. It was a familiar emptiness, a recurring state of non-being where only she existed and no one else.

She tried to remember what had happened, what had led her to this suffocating blackness. Her mind searched, grasping at straws, but came up empty. She couldn't remember anything. Not her name, not who she was, not why she was here. A flicker of something, panic, perhaps, should have surfaced, but it didn't. It was as if something within her, or perhaps the void itself, was forcing her to remain in a state of constant, unfeeling numbness.

'I'm sleepy,' the thought drifted lazily. 'I want to sleep and close my eyes for once.' A deep and pervasive weariness settled over her consciousness. She let the feeling pull her down into the abyss itself, her eyelids feeling heavy as she prepared to sink back into oblivion.

Drip

Just as she was about to let go, a small ripple pulsed through the darkness, disturbing her descent. Her eyes snapped open, "Ah."

She was no longer floating and actually felt having limbs along with the rest of her body rather than a consciousness without form.

"Hn," The world came into focus with a groan of protest from her own throat. Looking around briefly, it did not take her long to realize that she was inside a dark cave, the air damp and smelling of earth and stone. Pushing herself up, her hand went to her face, then she looked down. Her clothes were tattered, shredded in places, and caked with dirt and dried blood that flaked off with her movements.

"I fell asleep?" The thought was followed by another one. "That was a mistake. I could have been attacked."

Instantly, her left hand morphed, the fingers elongating and fusing into a gleaming, metallic blade. The tip scraped against the rocky wall as she stood, producing a loud, grating clang that grew louder with every passing second. Walking out of the cave's mouth and into a landscape of devastation, she found herself standing in the center of what was once a large military base, now nothing but smoldering ruins and twisted metal.

"Ah!" It felt painful at first; the memories returned in a flood, but still with a lot of holes. Was she sent here to be destroyed? No... she... she ran away, kept running away from a group of people who wanted to capture her.

Suddenly, a loud shout broke the silence. "There she is!" a voice screamed. "Don't let Golden Darkness escape! Open fire!" Figures in combat armor rushed towards her from behind the wreckage, their laser guns blazing. Crimson beams of light shot through the air, aimed directly at her.

Golden Darkness, was that her name? The blonde didn't even flinch at that thought and watched the projectiles get closer. With a loud whoosh, her hair shot out, weaving into a dense, impenetrable shield that deflected every shot with ease.