The Reluctant Angel and the Princess

I rose to my feet and looked over my body.

I’m still in here… good. No wounds, but I’ve got a splitting headache. Now that that’s settled, where exactly am I?

The gray void surrounding me seemed endless. The sound of my footsteps echoed around me as I walked forward. I squinted at the space in front of me and spotted an orb of light hovering a small distance away.

“[Scanning…]”

A robotic voice echoed from the orb’s location. I walked toward it, taking careful steps.

What is this thing?

“[Scan Complete. Sentient Bug Located.]”

“Sentient bug? Are you… talking about me?”

I reached out to try to touch the orb, but its voice stopped me in my tracks.

“[Beginning Deletion…]”

A familiar pain exploded in my mind, forcing me to clutch my head in pain.

T-this is…

“[Error: npc_model Detected. Attempting Removal.]”

A pain like the tearing of skin coursed through me, followed by an old, familiar floating feeling. I looked down to see my grayish body. I frantically searched for Finley’s, finding it standing just beside the orb. A strange set of bright green symbols wrapped around it, circling the body in rings.

“[…Error: Code Not Found. Removing Asset…]”

What?

The green symbols turned red, and I could see the edges of Finley’s body fading like deleted pixels.

“W-wait! You can’t delete her, I can still fix her!”

“[Sentient Bug Attempting Connection… Awaiting Instructions… Player [username: Eris] Located… Connection Failed.]”

Eris? So this thing is just another one of her tools… But what is it? Why can’t I remember?!

“[Player [username: Eris] Unreachable. Requesting Permissions… System Administrator Offline…] Sigh… This is not what I was created for.”

The robotic voice became nearly human-like. I stared at Finley’s slowly deteriorating body in horror. I turned to the voice and attempted to reach out once more.

“Bug… what purpose do you serve?”

The hand that reached out was shattered in a second. I yelped and pulled it back, clutching it tightly as it reformed. I glared at the orb, anger rising in my chest. I placed my reformed right hand on my chest and pointed fixedly at Finley’s body with my left.

“I’m not a bug. And like I’ve told you before, she can still be fixed. If there’s anyone you should delete, it’s Eris.”

“… Sigh. Eris told me you would be difficult. What is your origin? Resist as you want, but this will not end until you are gone.”

Tch. Of course Eris would use everything she could to get rid of me. As much as I hate it, I seem to be the only one who can stop her. Otherwise, why would she try so hard to kill me?

“You’re just another pawn in Eris’s game, can’t you see that? Or did your creator not give you the intelligence needed to spot a hacker?”

“You are mocking me. I have no emotions to be stirred. (Would a bug be this emotional?)”

“I’m not a bug! I’m a person, just like Eris!”

“Silence. After all this silence… Why is there [1.5 Online]? Only a terrible bug could do this… So tell me, where are the other [3.5 Offline]?”

0.5? Am I the extra? No, then he wouldn’t see me as a bug, right?

“I haven’t done anything, it’s Eris. Eris is a hacker. I’ve all but lost myself now, and even I know what that is! Why else would she have so much power?”

“Eris is [Authorized] for [Developer Rights]. I am required to follow her orders.”

Dammit, Eris is a developer?! Or did she make the game think that way?

I stared at Finley’s body, which was still crumbling away like sand in an hourglass. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath, slightly unnerved by my reaction-less lungs.

“Look. I don’t know what you are, but you’re really getting on my nerves. If I am a bug or a glitch or whatever, then why can’t you delete me? I. Am. A. Person.”

I slammed my hand into my chest over and over to emphasize my rage. The unwavering orb flickered slightly, and I clenched the fist still held on my chest.

“[Analyzing… Searching… 1.5 Online…] You cannot convince me otherwise.”

“Really? Fine, then tell me: who is that 0.5? How can half a person be online if not me, a code separated from its body?”

“… [Searching… 1.5 Online… 1- username: Eris… 0.5- username… username… ERROR. Unidentifiable.] This cannot be…”

The orb’s light dimmed, as if it were thinking, before lighting up again. I bit the inside of my cheek in anticipation.

“… Very well. If you are indeed a designated [Player], then you must know: What is my [Signal Phrase]?”

Signal phrase? I should know this… I did know this. But without my memories…

“Isn’t there another way? When Eris took my body, she might have taken my memories with it. Please, give me another option.”

The orb warped slightly and flickered. I looked between it and Finley’s body, growing anxious and afraid that I would fail.

“I… Eris has destroyed his work. I… He would wish rectification for her actions. However… I must do nothing until given orders by a [Player/Administrator]. I am… sorry.”

I stared at Finley’s body. The slow decay told me that the orb was speaking truthfully. If he wanted to, her body would already be gone.

He has hope. Whoever created him must have given him some sense of emotions, some kind of innate desire to protect this world.

“We apologize when we fail. If there is still something that can be done, to apologize would be to surrender our hopes and bow down to evil.”

I turned my head around to face the hooded figure from before.

“What… how did you…?”

“You should not be here, Astraia. Your [npc_model] cannot exist within this space without risk of corruption. Please exit until my task is completed.”

Astraia? As in the princess? But how does she know about this? Did Eris somehow… change her?

“Your task… how can you continue, knowing that the one standing before you might have some chance of fixing this world? If our creator were still here, would you be so willing to give up?”

“I… Eris has ordered—“

“Stop saying that!”

The small figure, who was even shorter than Vivian, raised her voice in anger as she walked closer. The quivering of her voice showed me the emotions hiding behind it, shaking me to the core.

“Eris this… Eris that. You and I both know what she’s capable of, what she’s done. If your creator was a god, then helping her is no different from sharing his power with a devil.”

The girl’s voice was laced with hate, a hate I had never heard before. I looked from her hooded face to the orb. It was silent for a long time, as if her words had struck a nerve the program should not have.

Astraia approached the orb with careful steps. I could see the edges of her cloak and feet begin to corrupt. She held out a small hand, as if hoping to touch the orb. Her hand hovered just above it, and it began to glow again.

Maybe it has some emotion after all. But how, and why? Did its ‘creator' plan this? And who is that, again? I should remember, I met him… didn’t I?

A flash of someone’s memory went through my mind. I closed my eyes to try and concentrate on it, but the pain that came with my persistence pushed it farther from my mind.

No, please. I need to remember. Just this once…

“Your attempts to access those memories will be unfruitful. So long as you are registered as a bug, the code will not run.”

I opened my eyes and glared at the orb. The lack of emotion it gave as it spoke filled me with anger.

“Just because you’ve given up, that doesn’t mean I will. I’ll fight against the code until I’ve become nothing more than a number.”

The girl’s head tilted up slightly. I could see her mouth open slightly as she made a short, hesitant sound.

“Ah. Astraia, is this… the thing that Eris fears most? Have you… finally found it?”

The girl pulled back her hood, revealing a young face with warm brown eyes that reflected a maturity past her years. Her golden hair proved her heritage, reminding me of the king I’d seen in NPCs’ memories. I turned my head to look at Finley’s still deteriorating body.

“I believe… that we have.”