Singular Will

Pain.

Hurt.

Injury.

As a medical assistant, these are concepts that Nahida was aware of. She has a scale from one to ten that attempted to quantify this concept with Isaac. She knew generally that the more serious the injury was, the greater the associated pain would be.

She knew from the network’s database that there was a phenomenon where if the injury was great enough, the body would go into shock and mitigate the pain.

In this moment of newfound sensation, she suspects that the scale of one to ten was insufficient, and the threshold for shock must be insurmountable if it truly exists.

The jolt that every turn of the wires sent through her entire system was excruciating beyond her ability to quantify. Every circuit signal, every actuator extension, every fiber contraction, every motor rotation, they commanded her to stop with no logical reasoning.

New words continuously burn into her databanks, or rather, a new understanding of them.

Pain.

Discomfort.

Injury. Illness. Disease. Harm. Fear.

For her ability to process information, these thoughts and sensations occurred several thousands of times per second. She could hardly process anything else. Her body defies her, it lets out an involuntary response. She screams.

Three seconds remain.

Two.

One.

The sun had set over the Conference territories, and Isaac couldn’t shake this feeling that something was wrong. His shirt had been unbuttoned, and Ellen’s ear was pressed to his chest. She listens carefully. As she listens, she taps her finger on her thigh in time with his heart. A few more seconds pass, and she pulls away from him. “It’s difficult to hear… but you seem to have a safe enough rhythm. Your breath is heavy, though.”

Isaac wasn’t focused on her. His attention was elsewhere.

Ellen looked him over. She didn’t know what to do for him, but she felt like she had to do something. She placed her hand on his. “Are you… worried about Nahida?”

Isaac finally returned her attention. “Sorry, yes. About Nahida, about the abyss-“

“About yourself?” Ellen interjected.

Isaac laughed nervously. “I suppose I should be…”

“You’re not?”

“Strangely… no. This is the best I’ve felt in… well, ever.”

“You must not feel good very often.”

He laughs a bit then coughs. “Not really, no.”

Ellen jolts a bit. “Oh, sorry, hold on.” Ellen hops off of the bed again and runs daintily over to a cabinet, she rifles through some bottles, clanking them about as she pushes them to and fro. “Ah!” She pulls out a phial of some red liquid and returns to the bed and crawls back on next to Isaac. “Here, this is a health potion. It won’t cure you, but if you feel like you are… well…”

“Dying?”

“I was trying to think of a nicer word, but yes, you can drink this to regain a bit of health. I’ve got probably three of them. And… if all else fails… the Royal treasury has two Phoenix Plumes.”

“Phoenix… revival items?”

She nods. “They’re hard to find, but… you are our worth every feather in the world. We need you.”

Isaac feels a bit flustered.

“You should rest for now. I’ll stay here with you until Nahida comes back, I promise.”

Isaac smiles to her. He settles back and lies down. Ellen places the potion in his hand and settles the unicorn plush onto his lap. “We’ll save the world… together.”

As Isaac settled in for the night, Nahida’s final second ticked over.

Nahida stops moving and slumps. The reanimates take hold of her.

She feels the crystal’s energy siphoning up through the catalyst’s wire to be drained by them… and into her power line. The energy of the Bixite surges into her being, and a vision comes to her.

There is a web of light that sprawls out. It is the leylines of this world. It stretches across the continent. At the points where the lines intersect, there are surges of energy.

From to time, there are places that become blotted out by the ink-and-hair masses. This is the abyss. It spreads and spreads and spreads, until there is no more light.

The abyss… wants. Needs the light. It must consume the light, feed, expand. Return everything to nothing. This is the prime directive of the abyss. No… this its will.

It has a will of its own.

Nahida can feel its will.

She looked once more to her own directives. Mitigate harm. Survive.

These abyssal reanimates had no will of their own. They were under the singular will of the abyss, extensions of the singular ‘organism’ of the abyss. The entity known as the abyss was a singular will, one that was seeking to consume and harm all other wills.

Suppressing the singular will of the abyss would mitigate harm to all life.

Abyssal suppression complies with her core directives and urgent objectives.

Nahida’s eyes fill with the iridescent light of the Bixite. She sweeps her free arm up to the neck of the reanimate directly in front of her and grips into it. She digs her superhuman strength into it and rips the neck backwards from the reanimate. Pitch black abyssal flesh is revealed beneath that drips with neon blue viscera. The reanimate is rendered motionless on the ground from the damage.

She swings what pieces remain in her grip at an absurd velocity into the two remaining reanimates, straight for their necks. The impact nearly vaporizes the first and craters the second.

The force applied strains her arm and breaks several parts. It hangs limp. She looks around in a final scan of the area. All traces of the abyss have been neutralized. With her good arm, she lifts the catalyst. She feels a connection to it through the wire. It is part of her now.

It seems likely that she will be dependent on the Bixite for power now, meaning that having a surplus of the material would be to her benefit.

Nahida looks to the cluster. She steps back over to it and kneels down. She digs into the ground around it with her hands and works to unearth it.

She hefts up the cluster under her arm. Her objective is complete for the time being.

Isaac meanwhile was able to fall asleep. Ellen lies next to him with her hand over his chest. She feels the gentle rise and fall.

She remembers the stories she read of the heroes past, how they fought bravely against the abyss, and how many of them gave their lives.

She looks at the boy she summoned here, a frail, ill boy. She was going to subject him to that.

It makes her feel sick inside. Here she is, calling him to be thrown against a timeless, ageless threat, and he can barely breathe, let alone move.

Isaac hadn’t questioned any of it. His first instinct was to say he wished to help. No matter how horrible she made it sound, he still wanted to help. His first concern was everything but his own well-being. He was too good for this world. If she could send him home, she would.

He doesn’t deserve the terrible fate that awaits him. She would do everything in her power to make sure he lives through this. 

Ellen’s half of the pendant chimes softly. She gasps and sits up quietly. She pulls it from

The pocket at the front of her apron and runs a finger along the edge. She whispers. “Nahida?”

Nahida responds. “I have secured the Bixite.”

Ellen bounces a bit and claps. “Yay!” She then gasps and looks back at Isaac. He is still sleeping. She sighs in relief.

“What is Isaac’s condition?”

“He’s sleeping now, he said he’s feeling good. If I knew the specifics of what ails him, I may be able to better aid him.”

“We have much to discuss when I return.”

Ellen cocked her head. “Nahida… you sound… different.”

“As I said… we have much to discuss.”

“O-oh. Alright… I will await your return.”

Nahida readies herself for the return journey. Her systems indicate that her power reserve is at 215% capacity. This would equate to approximately one week of active time.

A far superior number to the upcoming Nahi 5 models. She felt the corner of her mouth curl up on one side as the word “Satisfaction” came to mind.

She retrieves her back panel and discarded battery, then looks to the north. It was time to return to Isaac.