What is Self?

SELF LIFE

“Excuse me, is this the shortest way to the main elevator?” A person wearing a custodian uniform asked a coworker.

“It was, before the residential wing collapsed.” The other custodian answered. “To reach the elevator you'll have to go towards the business sector until they finish the reconstruction. How don't you not know this, it was quite a big deal. Also, why are you wearing sunglasses inside?”

“…”

Menide morphed their arm and shot the custodian in the face. The bullet blew up into a small cloud of orange gas and the custodian fainted on the spot.

“I told you it wouldn’t work.” Rhea said, coming out from behind them.

“The important part is that they don’t recognize my face!” Menide was wearing a full custodian uniform and had tied their hair into a ponytail, with a pair of sunglasses to hide their eyes.

“At least you used the non-lethal bullets.”

“I told you I want to try seeing things from a different perspective. Anyway, we don’t have time. Go hide in some vent!”

“It’s fun to see you so nervous for once.” Rhea chuckled as he took out a small laser cutter from his backpack and cut a hole in the metal slits that led to the ventilation system.

“I’m not used to sneaking around and lying! I usually just explode my problems away!”

Menide had decided to infiltrate the Custody using stealth for once. The place that was the most likely to hold classified information was the office of Mazabo Progoras, the Custody's co-founder, secretly known as the overseer. Reaching it, however, wouldn't be simple. There was too much security and too many custodians to fight their way to the top. Their last attempt made them realize that throwing themselves into the lion's den might have been a bad idea, which is why this time they were going to sneak inside the lion's den instead.

Menide had found a custodian uniform, but Rhea was a kid and wouldn't normally be allowed inside. For this reason, he had to sneak through the ventilation system as to not be discovered. The risk wasn't just their plan failing, but also possibly revealing the chimera's true identity.

“Meet you outside the business sector!” Menide instructed Rhea, who climbed inside the vent and welded it back.

Thanks to Gedis, they had managed to find out that the overseer's office was on the last floor of the main tower, which was the reason for their elevator hunt.

Menide walked past multiple custodians, most of which were intrigued by their sunglasses but still made no questions. They managed to find the elevator after a couple of minutes, not too far off from a meeting room. They called it with their eyedeas and waited for the doors to open, when a hand grabbed them from behind.

"Are you looking for something?" A woman suddenly stopped Menide. Her uniform was slightly different from that of a custodian.

"Nope, just needed to get to the elevator." Menide answered, slightly nervous. "I'm new here, y'see."

"My name is Wafi Istenes and my uniform should tell you I'm a guardian. I know every custodian that works for this facility, new or old, but I don't seem to recognize you. Show me your ID."

"Yeah, I was actually going to get it right now..."

"IDs aren't physical, it should be in your eyedeas."

"Well, I tried."

Menide rapidly morphed her arms and shot the woman, but the orange mist of the non-lethal bullets washed down a glossy shield of celestite. Wafi had gained a crystalline suit of armor that covered most of her body and whose look resembled that of a templar. The transformation was complete with a razor-sharp sword of the same material, which she split off from the front of her armor.
Showing unnatural speed, she pushed away Menide’s gun with the hilt of her sword and swung to slash them apart, but Menide was able to jump away from the hit. The sword slashed the ground and split it apart.

Wafi snapped her fingers, and the room was tinged in red. Two custodians came rushing besides her, each with a part of their body already morphed into a weapon.

"Rhea!" Menide screamed while punching the wall.

A small explosion collapsed the side of the room, blowing away the custodians. Rhea came out of it, wearing his kitsune disguise. Taking advantage of the commotion they caused, he opened his backpack and produced a hooded cape from it. Menide had already taken off their custodian jacket and untied their hair, when Rhea tossed them the coat. It was the same one they used to transform into the chimera, but it had undergone some changes. The most evident difference was the lack of its dark and shadowy color, exchanged for a two-toned look. The outer side of the cape reflected an ivory sheen, while the inner side of the jacket hid a dark scarlet. On top of that, slim golden chains wrapped around its sleeves.
But the cape didn’t stay for long. Menide took out their chip, which now had an added two stylized white wings behind the quarter rest symbol, and pierced it under their neck.

One of the custodians leapt from behind the smoke caused by the explosion, arms and top of the head transformed into glaives aimed at Menide’s throat. His shield raised, Rhea jumped in between them and pushed the custodian away with the magnetic field. But from the smoke came also Wafi’s sword, flying through the air and piercing Rhea’s shield. The tip of the sword stopped a few centimeters from his eyes, but the magnetic propulsion was too strong, and it eventually flung the sword back at its owner. Wafi launched herself at Rhea to punch him with her crystal gauntlet, but her dash was met with golden flames that engulfed her arm and halted her. From behind the flames, bright claws emerged and pushed her to the ground.

“You take care of the custodians,” The chimera spoke to Rhea, “I’ll deal with this one.”

Menide's draconic new form emerged from the flames, their dark colors now mostly white. Their gorilla arms had been replaced using pieces of the defeated wyvern. Slimmer but just as strong, their hands were armed with colossal, razor-sharp claws, shining bright under the light. The palm of the large hands was fuming, having fired the golden flames from the nozzle installed in their center. Large scarlet scales surrounded the arms, with the only exception of a fuzzy line of white spikes growing along their back.
But the cape didn't only result in the extra pair of arms anymore. Fused with their body, a white and spiky support for the spine grew from the arms and went down Menide's back, vertebra after vertebra, until it advanced past it and became a sharp tail, so long it snaked down the feline legs and reached the pavement.

"Let's test out this wyvern."

Wafi tried to crawl away, but Menide attacked her with their claws spread open and launched her into a wall. Wafi's response was to get up and extend her arm forward. In an instant, the sword raised itself from the ground and made a beeline for her hand, clanking with Menide's claws on the way and pushing them off before they could reach her again. The weapon gently arrived in Wafi’s grasp. She stared at the chimera from behind her translucent armor and attacked.

Sparks flew as her weapon clashed with Menide's claws. Even when their inhuman strength blew it out of Wafi's hands, the sword stopped in the air and flew back to attack. But the chimera's claws were sturdy, and the guardian wasn't fast enough to land even a single hit.

Wafi swung her sword, but this time Menide answered with a punch, making it fly off in the distance. She kicked Menide to jump around them and recall her sword, aiming to hit them from behind, but her weapon was met with the chimera’s swift tail, slamming it away without even looking at it. Menide punched the guardian, who recalled her sword again but to protect herself.

A barrage of bullets suddenly made its way to them, forcing both to dodge, but giving Menide the opportunity to push Wafi back and make her slam against one of the other custodians.
Rhea had just managed to shoot down the man that wielded glaives and was now fighting the other custodian, who had each finger transformed into the barrel of a gun and was showering Rhea’s shield with bullets. Wafi and the custodian bumped backs, which prompted the guardian to rapidly spin around and switch positions, swinging her sword at Rhea as the other custodian surprised Menide with a hail of projectiles. Wafi’s sword pushed down Rhea’s shield with impressive strength. Rhea was trying his best to push the weapon away, but the magenta field bent around the mighty sword, and it looked like it was about to burst.

The swing would have cut him, if not for the custodian’s body that was flung at Wafi, forcing her to stop the attack. She then switched her target and plunged at Menide with her sword raised high, but her slash was blocked by the chimera’s monstrous arms, which firmly grabbed the blade.
The sword began to turn black as a burning heat left the chimera's hands. Wafi decided to let go of her weapon and go for a punch, but Menide swiftly moved out of the hit’s way, making space for Rhea, who was waiting behind them with his beam charged.

The colorful projectile landed on Wafi’s head and shattered her crystalline armor. Before she could react, Menide punched her in the face with their draconic arms and sent her crashing into a wall. She did not get up.

“Amazing job Rhea!” Menide extended her hand and Rhea jumped to high five it. “I can’t believe how much you've improved since Kirk’s island. I actually feel a little proud.”

“Thank you! That new form looks nice too!” Rhea complimented them.

“You should praise Gedis, she’s the one that made it.”

“But I knew you’d get a new look, and I didn’t want to be left behind! Look! I’ve got a tail now!” Rhea jumped around, letting his overly fluffy AR tail bounce up and down.

“Now is not the time to be cute!” Menide grabbed him and forced the elevator’s doors open.

They needed to reach the top, but when Menide tapped on the last floor the words ACCESS DENIED flashed red on their eyedeas.

“It recognizes that we’re not custodians!” cried out Rhea, “Do you know how to hack it?”

In the distance, hurried sounds of steps could be heard making their way towards them.

“After all, I can’t do stealth.”

A burst of golden flames fired from Menide’s elbows, powerfully throwing their clawed fists through the elevator’s roof. They jumped out and began climbing up the shaft, the long nails stabbing easily in the walls and giving them support.

But what they found stepping out of the last door available wasn’t the overseer’s office, but a med bay.

“This is the last floor,” Menide asked, “Shouldn’t this be the place?”

“Only authorized personnel are allowed to access the overseer’s office.” A person in white clothes stood next to the elevator’s doors.

Menide jolted around and shot the woman with a non-lethal bullet. The projectile burst open before it could reach its target and crumbled to the ground in a pile of orange and brown powder.

“It’s an honor to meet you, chimera. Are you looking for something?” A white mist gently streamed out of her head and gathered around it.

“Are you the overseer?” Rhea asked.

“You can call me Mazabo.”

Menide flung themselves at her, claws open and boosted by their elbow’s flames. The sharp nails stabbed a brown surface, halting their attack. Mazabo hadn’t moved a step, but a thick copper wall had rapidly formed in front of her. Menide retreated their arms and the wall crumbed to the ground, gathering beneath the overseer like a colored shadow. Mazabo slowly nodded.
Menide began plummeting her with punches, but as much as they tried to outrun them, shiny particles appeared before their attacks, as if out of thin air, blocking every single blow with a loud thud.

They stepped back and extended the draconic arms, flooding the overseer’s body with flames. When the golden fire died down it revealed a bronze shell planted in the middle of the room. It slowly crumbled back into dust and gathered underneath Mazabo’s unharmed body.

“I remembered your arms looking different.” Mazabo exclaimed. “You surprise me, yet I can’t shake off the feeling that they look familiar.”

“You’re one to talk! What’s with all this powder shield shenanigans!? ...Is that rust?”

“I guess we’re even then.” She smiled.

Rust spikes formed on the floor. They sprung upwards and moved around Menide's body to try and stab them. One of them clanked with their sturdy arm and stopped, but it then began to spread around it, as if trying to eat it. The other arm rocketed down on the spike and cut it in half with its claws.

“What a creepy way to fight.” Menide said as they shook off the remaining rust from their arm.

They jumped to smash the overseer between their arms, stabbing their claws in the resulting rust wall.

“My powers are much cooler!”

The line of spikes on their arms lit up and began vibrating. The same light began to crackle from the sides of the vertebrae that made out their spinal support. Menide let the golden flames burst from their elbow, which reacted with the overflowing energy and burst into flaming bright wings that connected the draconic arms to the spine and tail.

The winged chimera took off with a jump and burst through the ceiling, taking the rusty husk that contained the overseer with them. They flew around the building and came crashing back down, blasting the husk through the roof with the claws of their winged arm. They breached the wall of a large auditorium, pushing every seat into the air and landing on the stage. The force of the impact managed to make their claws pierce a small hole through the copper shield, revealing Mazabo’s surprised stare, surrounded in mist.
An explosion of rust burst through the gap, blowing Menide away. They jumped back to attack but this time the powder gathered into a monstrous form, multiple times Menide's size. A formless monster, born of rust, who launched a part of its body at the chimera and crushed them to the ground.

“An impressive sight," said Mazabo, "but I’m afraid I won’t let you repeat it. Between the residential wing and the chip, you already caused too many losses for the Custody.”

The monster of rust rose from the ground. A set of gnarly maws appeared on the copper beast before leaping on Menide and swallowing them whole. Silence filled the room.
The monster's belly began lighting up and was burst open by flames. Enveloped in golden fire, Menide flew out of the monster and propelled a kick at the overseer, who blocked it with her rust shield, but was pushed back several meters.

“Enough playing around, tell me where the humans are! Is it true they abandoned us?” Menide screamed. The rust blew up and pushed them back.

“There is no more need for communication with humans. They already gave us everything we need; now we simply need to do our part.”

The blob of rust began moving behind them. It spread out and snaked towards Menide, eating the floor on its way. They dodged by jumping and hovering in the air, but the monster’s body continued to spread in every direction, covering the walls in rust and darkening the room.

“As for where they are, it doesn’t matter. You won’t be able to reach them anyway.”

Thousands of spikes sprung forth from every direction, all aiming to impale the flying chimera. Menide began gliding around the theatre, swirling their body around and performing all sorts of aerial stunts to dodge the homing attacks of the rust.

“There has to be an end to this!” Menide screamed. Mazabo stood still on the stage, looking at the rust following them. Beneath her feet, Menide noticed a small piece of the wooden stage, clear of the rust.
They began flying close to each of the rusty spikes that tried to hit them, while at the same time getting closer and closer to Mazabo. With a sharp turn, they plummeted towards the overseer.

The rust mixed with the flames as it detonated off the stage. The backstage burst onto the auditorium and collapsed to the ground. Mazabo's entire body was swarmed by a thin layer of rust, but Menide's claws had managed to pierce the brown dust and make their way inside her flesh.

“If you won’t tell me where the humans are,” Menide smiled behind their cracked visor, “I’m going to have fun razing this place to the ground looking for the answer.”

The dusty rust violently whirled around them, as if brewing a cyclone.

"I couldn't help but notice," Mazabo suddenly spoke up. The shield was weak around her face and showed her unwavering gaze. "That when you shot me before, you used a harmless bullet. A most curious thing, for someone who is willing to burn down the whole planet to get what they want." To Menide's surprise, the overseer seemed apathetic to the whole situation, unconcerned with the nails that were pushing through her stomach.

"Sometimes you have to burn things down before you can build them back. This world doesn’t deserve to continue as it is. Why I use non-lethal bullets is none of your business."

“Did you perhaps accept the people of this world? Have you come down off your pedestal and begun to see them as your own kind?”

"I've never thought myself to be superior! I'm still figuring stuff out, but I want to give a chance to considering ourselves life."

"Do you then acknowledge the lives you have taken?"

Menide paused. They couldn't answer her.

Mazabo grasped their arm, her face showing her smug lips. "You are simply not above consequences, chimera. It's hypocritical to accept a facet of life while still refusing another. Life has no facets, after all. Every good and every bad, they are still life, you simply can't refuse it."

Slowly, she began pushing Menide's bloodstained claws further inside her own body.

"Your actions have killed people. I am not any different, but I accept my nature. The goal might be within your reach, but a bloody path looms behind you. Are you willing to accept that?"

Menide flinched back and pushed away their hand. Turbulent streams of white mist came gushing out of the overseer's wounds.
The instant Menide stood up, a swarming ball of rust reached their face and consumed their head. They tried to take it off with their hands and clawed at it when they couldn't. But the rust kept on building up, and every time a part of their body touched it, the shiny brown dust stuck to it. Like a bird that fell into polluted waters, Menide was unable to fly out of the tar.

"We are both trying to achieve our goal!" Screamed Mazabo. Another ball of rust grew behind her and shot towards Menide. "What makes your reason more valid?"

"Menide is willing to change!" A purple and orange beam collided with the ball of rust, blowing it up.

Rhea jumped in from the hole left on the ceiling. He landed on top of Menide and used his magnetic shield to blow away all the rust that was trying to eat them.

"They know the way they used to act is wrong, and they have decided to change it. That won't undo the pain they've caused, but they can't throw away their life because of it!"

"You are simply admitting defeat to your old self."

"And I'm not ashamed of it!" Menide fired the golden flames of their hands on Mazabo. "It's because I recognize the error of my ways that I can try to make up for what I've caused. Thank you, Rhea, for making me realize that."

"Don't mention it! I'm your sidekick after all!" He smiled.

"And a very interesting one at that." Mazabo spoke from behind the rust up as the fire died down. "Those were fascinating lights you fired just now. Would you mind showing them to me again?"

"You don't need to ask that twice!" Rhea pointed his fingers at her and shot three rapid beams.

The rust jumped up to stop them before they could reach the overseer, however, some of the light they carried passed through the rust and lit up Mazabo's face.

"That is simply astounding! I have never seen such a technology. How is it possible? It feels different from anything else, how do you do it?" She slowly approached Rhea with eyes open wide.

"I-I don't know... I was kind of hoping you'd know. My body does it on its own."

"That colored field too... Your body might really be something special."

"Careful!"

The rust gurgled underneath Rhea and tried to grab him, but Menide picked him up and flew away.

"Your beams seemed to have an effect on that brown dust." Menide told Rhea, "Keep shooting!"

They flew around the now decrepit theater, firing beams at Mazabo from a distance. In return, a few globules of rust took a mangled shape resembling a bat and began to attack. The rust flung itself at them, often missing and splattering on the wall, but reforming soon after to continue its chase.
The beams were effective and forced Mazabo to dodge around them. She was bombarded with lights and had to cover herself with the brown shield to not get hit. The lights suddenly stopped. The shield naturally came down and Menide and Rhea showed up right behind it, claws raised and fingers charged. The overseer did not move.

In an instant, the chimera's visor burst apart and the two fell to the ground. Shiny rust wiggled around Menide's face, surrounded in brown smoke.

"It doesn't take much for the rust to spread. You are lucky that visor isn't a main part of your body."

Mazabo stepped closer to Rhea, who had landed on the stage. The fall had made him unconscious.
She took out a black box from a pocket and split it open. A small piece of metal, in the shape of an insect's stinger, sat in its middle. Mazabo took it and slowly pushed it on Rhea's chest. It pierced through the AR, the clothes, and the skin. Miniscule droplets of blood oozed around the tip of the chip. Rhea woke up screaming.

"Aren't you curious about your beams? In a moment we are going to discover how they work."

Rhea's chest began to spark, while the piece of metal automatically entered deeper and deeper inside his body.

"Get your filthy hands off him!" Menide screamed, their face still dirty with rust. Their flaming wings sprung to life and propelled them at Mazabo with lightning speed.

The rust did not defend her, this time. Menide's claws had punched a hole through her body, prompting a burst of white mist that sprung from both sides of her torso like a broken pipe. But the overseer smiled.

"I don't need this body anymore."

A single line of rust had appeared before Menide on the moment of the impact. Thin, silent. It pierced their heart from side to side. A narrow stream of blood escaped Menide's mouth.
The overseer grabbed the stick of rust and slowly pulled it out of their body. Weak chuckles came from her mouth.

Suddenly, a flash of light came from Rhea's body. Colors flooded the room and sent both Mazabo and Menide to the ground. Rhea stood up, surrounded by magenta lights.

"Impossible!" Mazabo cried out before a burst of mist was coughed out of her mouth.

"Menide!" Rhea rushed to Menide and helped them get up.

"Are you ok?" Their voice was faint.

"Don't worry about me! I need to get you out of here!"

"An angel!" Mazabo began screaming as the white mist consumed her.

"The heavens have sent an angel in the guise of a snake! Grant me the key to your paradise so that I may burn it! Let me clad myself in your skin!"

"Rhea, what did you do to her?"

"I-I didn't do anything!"

"You devil!" She pointed her finger at Menide in anger, but then turned her lips into a smile. "I've heard you are immune to EMPs," the white mist began glowing as sparks fluctuated around her body, "Good luck waking up from this one."

Mazabo's body burst into a cloud. Forceful electromagnetic pulses filled the air and plunged the room in darkness, as every electric device died down. The stormy fog whirled around the room, slightly escaping from the hole on the ceiling.

A bubble of mist burst on the center of the stage. Rhea stood up. His AR disguise had been turned off and his ears ringed, but he was awake. Menide laid on the ground next to him, eyes open, but immobile. He threw his head on their chest, waiting for a heartbeat...

Rhea punched the ground with both his fists.

But he couldn't abandon Menide. He wiped his eyes and stood up. Extending his magenta field out of his body, he lifted Menide off the ground and ran out the theater.

The wall that served as the entrance for the med bay burst open, the debris pushed away by his shield. The room was empty and messy, the employees had rushed out of the building when Wafi rang the alarm and left everything as it was. Rhea took off Menide's chip and their body sprung back into its human form. He hastily took off their cape, scanned their blood using one of the utensils left in the room, and placed their body inside of an oval machine. A screen appeared.

Blood sample accepted. The heart will be ready in: 11.1 hours.

“We don’t have all that time!" Rhea cried out. "This damn ancient technology!” He kicked over a chair.

His eyes darted around the room looking for an answer. His gaze met Menide's bright yellow eyes. He took a big breath. Then smiled.

***

An electric shock ran through their spine. Menide desperately gasped for air. They slid out of an oval machine and fell to the ground, confused.

Rhea was sitting on the ground, his back pushed against the machine, his chest split into multiple strips and opened up like a flower. Wires of multiple colors hung out of it.

"Rhea!" Menide screamed and kneeled next to him. "What happened?! Who did this to you!? C-Can I heal you? Wait, didn't I... Didn't we both faint?" As they remembered what had happened, they patted their chest and felt it was fine. Hovering in front of the machine where they woke up, a screen showed an array of vital signs and other medical information. Next to it, there was a picture that displayed the inside of Menide's chest. Sitting between their lungs was a translucent container, a small heart inside of it, tied with hundreds of miniscule wires to the rest of their body.

ERROR. UNABLE TO IDENTIFY FEMTOBOTS.

"What? ...Wait, no. No, no, no." Menide turned to look at Rhea in his eyes. "H-How is this possible? Did someone help you? Y-You couldn't— I-It's..."

They were hyperventilating, looking everywhere for an answer, scared of what could happen next. Rhea's hand moved, and Menide grabbed it as their face overflowed with tears.

"Rhea... you’re a human?”

Rhea slowly moved his hand towards Menide and laid it on their chest.

“Live…”

Slowly, his eyes closed, and his head fell to the side. A smile crowned his face.