Je pense mais... Qui suis-je?

The group continued their trek toward the white horizon with a profound new understanding of the two S-rank adventurers who had seemed so legendary and distant before. Kuria's fierce protectiveness and Suzaku's quiet intensity now carried the weight of their shared history of loss and abandonment.

As they walked deeper into the desert, the landscape around them began to shift in unsettling ways. Patches of sand flickered and pixelated like corrupted images, their smooth surfaces breaking into blocky, unnatural textures before snapping back to normal.

Threads of raw data drifted through the air like luminous spiderwebs, occasionally connecting to the ground in brief, sparking contacts. Lines of code fluctuated in patterns that seemed random at first, but Alpha noticed they pulsed and shifted in response to each step the group took.

— The code is reacting to us, Dave observed, floating closer to examine one of the data streams. It is like the world is trying to process our presence but cannot quite figure out how.

The air itself began to emit a soft white hue, similar to the glow they could see at the distant horizon. The light seemed to emanate from nowhere and everywhere at once, casting no shadows despite its brightness.

Bolg stopped walking and held up his hand.

— We are entering the influence zone of the Horizon Canvas, he said quietly. From here onward, reality becomes... unreliable.

Suzaku pulled her hood tighter around her face, her eyes tracking the floating code with obvious unease.

— How much further do we need to go?

Bolg pointed toward the white glow ahead of them.

— The Canvas itself is still hours away. But these effects will only grow stronger with each step we take.

Kuria adjusted her pack and looked around at the increasingly unstable environment.

— Perhaps we should take a break before making our final approach. We need to be at full strength when we reach the Canvas itself.

Alpha nodded, grateful for the suggestion. The shifting landscape and floating code were beginning to make him feel disoriented.

— That sounds wise. Let us rest while we still can.

As the group began to settle down on a patch of stable sand, the air in front of them started to shimmer with familiar chaotic energy. Another unknown error anomaly materialized, its streams of data weaving together in the now-recognizable pattern of tangled code.

Bolg and Alpha exchanged glances, both knowing their moment had arrived.

Dave floated closer to the anomaly, his translucent form reflecting its unstable light.

— Which one of us do you think it is this time? Alpha asked quietly.

The anomaly pulsed, waiting for someone to make contact and reveal whatever memories it contained.

Dave reached out and touched the chaotic data with his ghostly hand.

Everything went blank. A heavy fog seemed to hide all existence, leaving only empty white space in every direction. Then, slowly, a single element appeared - a simple cube of brown pixels floating in the void.

Another element materialized. Then a third. More followed as time passed, each one basic and geometric. A tree. A rock. A patch of grass. All crude and unfinished, moving in repetitive loops across the blank canvas.

Distant voices began to echo through the fog, discussing the same topics over and over again.

— Welcome to our village, traveler! How may I assist you today?

— The weather has been quite pleasant lately, has it not?

— I heard there are monsters in the forest. Please be careful out there.

— Would you like to purchase some supplies for your journey?

— Welcome to our village, traveler! How may I assist you today?

— The weather has been quite pleasant lately, has it not?

The same conversations repeated endlessly, like people stuck saying the same things forever. The elements continued their mechanical movements, growing slowly more complex but always returning to their starting positions to begin again.

Then a new voice joined the endless repetition - Alpha's voice, but different. Younger somehow. Uncertain.

— Tree. Green. Tall thing. Growing from ground.

— Rock. Hard. Gray. Does not move.

— Grass. Small. Many pieces. Soft under feet.

The voice babbled continuously, naming everything it encountered, repeating the same observations again and again as if trying to understand what each object was supposed to be.

— Walking. Movement. Left foot. Right foot. Forward motion.

— Hello. Greeting. Words for meeting others.

— I am... I am... what am I?

The group watched in stunned silence as they witnessed Alpha's first moments of consciousness, learning language and identity through endless repetition in an empty world.

As Alpha continued to learn about the world building itself before his eyes, one question haunted him constantly: "Who am I?" Even when he encountered objects he had never seen before, the names came to him instinctively. A flower. A sword. A mountain. The words flowed naturally, as if some deeper knowledge guided his understanding.

But when he turned that same curiosity toward himself, only silence greeted him. He could name everything else in existence, yet when he searched for what he was, what he should be called, the answer refused to come. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how deeply he reached into whatever source provided him with language, his own identity remained a void.

— I am... I am... what am I? his younger voice repeated desperately, the question echoing through the fog like a prayer without an answer.

The vision showed him wandering through the growing world, naming countless objects and creatures while that same question burned in his mind. He could define the essence of everything except himself, trapped in a paradox of knowledge and ignorance that seemed to have no resolution.

His pixelated features, even in this early form, carried a profound loneliness that came from being the only thing in existence he could not understand.

Then he began to think about what differentiated all the things he could name from himself. Everything else had a clear purpose. The tree provided shade and oxygen. The rock served as a foundation. The grass fed the animals. Each object existed in relation to others, fulfilling a specific role in the growing world around him.

But what about him? What was he here for? He could move through this world, observe it, even think about it, but he could not interact with anything meaningful. He could not change the endless loops, could not speak to the people who repeated the same words forever.

— Why do I have the ability to think if I cannot do anything? his voice whispered through the fog. Why am I here if I serve no purpose? If I have no role to play?

The question echoed endlessly, joining the chorus of repeated conversations and mechanical movements. Alpha watched the world continue its programmed existence while he remained an observer, aware but powerless, conscious but seemingly without reason to be.

The vision began to shift, showing Alpha wandering through the empty spaces between the looping elements, searching for something, anything, that might give meaning to his existence. But he found only more questions, more isolation, more evidence that he was fundamentally different from everything else in ways he could not comprehend.

Then the questions stopped.

Alpha found himself standing in the middle of a cobblestone street, next to the well in Dawn Village.

A translucent figure approached him, reaching out as if to touch Alpha's face. But Alpha instinctively grabbed the ghostly finger before it could make contact.

— Excuse me, but what kind of trick are you trying to pull here? Alpha asked, staring at the strange transparent man who had appeared from nowhere.

The memory stopped there.

The anomaly faded away, leaving the group standing in the desert once again. Alpha remained completely silent, staring at the spot where the chaotic data had been moments before.

Dave floated closer, opening his mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could he possibly say?

Alpha finally broke the silence.

— I was never supposed to be here in the first place. Even you, Dave, you never intended for me to... be me. Let me ask you, where do I fit in your world?

Dave struggled for a moment, then replied quietly.

— How about... the friendliest of friends in this whole world?

Alpha's blocky head turned a deep shade of red as he looked at Dave with a teasing smile and a relieved expression.

— Cringe! said Alpha.