Fwoosshh
A black and red blur darted from one end of the hallway to another, wind picking up behind it, disturbing a few idle scientists who couldn't help but chuckle at the antics.
The blur raced down another hallway, clearing the distance in a little under a second. Turning a corner, the blur began to slow, revealing a grinning Lec, who was breathing a bit heavily. The air shoes powered off as their yellow light retreated into the holes opening from the soles.
He had been running for a good part of the morning, and even with that, exhaustion had just begun setting in. 'I wonder if it's a side effect of the chaos energy flowing through me, and of course, these sick-ass shoes!'
It was a strange feeling; for much of his life, he had always been below average in anything physical. Yet now, he had the capability to run at incredible speeds with little exhaustion. The way the spell conferred abilities was truly funny.
Everything always seemed to fit perfectly. Giving people the things they lacked, showing them their true reflections…
"Why'd I have to get all inquisitive and ruin my own mood?" he muttered to himself, shaking off the stray thoughts. Walking through the mostly empty hallway, Lec tried his best not to think deeper about his current situation.
He had broken his only rule, after all. Do NOT get close to the illusion people. And what had he done? He did exactly that.
But his mind struggled to find anything wrong with that. Maria, Gerald, heck, even the random scientists had treated him better in a week than almost anyone else through the course of his entire life.
At his core, Lec was an extremely emotional person, so it shouldn't have been that surprising to him when he began to care for everyone aboard the space colony. 'Maybe Lyra was right about me being too caring.'
Despite how much Lec cared for his new family, he knew all of this was temporary. He was still in a nightmare after all, no matter how much it felt like a dream.
'Maybe the trial I'm supposed to face is rejecting the love I'm being showered with and escaping, or something like that.' And yet, the very thought of leaving all this behind was too much to bear. So Lec quickly discarded that plan.
'Besides, I doubt doing that would impress the spell very much. Not like I care what it thinks...Does the spell even think?' Continuing down the hall, Lec quickly decided that thinking about such trivial things at a time like this was useless. After all, it was a matter of life and death.
He was about to ask Gerald how to utilize chaos energy. 'It's not like I distrust the old man, but he seemed pretty intent on only using chaos energy as a way to defend people. I doubt he'd be okay with me coming in and asking him: "Hey, old man, I want to use this miracle power to kill my enemies, can you teach me how to do that?!"'
'Yeah...that probably wouldn't pan out well.'
Reaching the now familiar doors of the good doctor's lab, he'd lift his left hand as a sensor scanned it, causing the metal door to slide open.
Walking inside, Lec would be rather perplexed as to what exactly he was looking at. Just a meter in front of him, a mechanical head stared directly at him, attached to the ground by what seemed to be...water?
"Uhmmm, hello?"
On guard, Lec examined the strange creature closer; it had two fin-like protrusions on the back of its head, sharp flaps on each side of its head, and a tall bulge on top of its head. It also possessed no facial features, except for two pupil-less lime green eyes.
Not only that, it had a strange symbol adorning its metal forehead.
Ready to run away at a moment's notice, he'd try his best to scan the lab. No sign of Gerald. 'That's not good...'
"Hello! What are you?!" Yelling at the creature seemed to have no effect; its chrome dome remained static no matter the words thrown at it.
Remaining on guard, a loud cough from behind him disturbed his staring contest with the water monster. Turning around, the familiar shape of Gerald Robotnik appeared in the door frame, and a smile spread across his face.
"Ahh, Lec, it appears you've met the Artificial Chaos." Walking past the awed boy, the good doctor dropped a tool bag onto a nearby table before patting the water robot.
"A-Artificial Chaos?" Hesitantly approaching the towering creature, he'd look at Gerald inquisitively. "What even is it?"
Looking over to the young boy, the good doctor began his explanation: "Years ago, I discovered records of an ancient creature of destruction called 'Chaos.' It was said to command the fury and force of the ocean - or something to that effect."
Grabbing a screwdriver from the tool bag next to him, he began unscrewing the robot's front face plate. "I've begun developing a basic A.I.-driven apparatus that can generate cohesion in water and produce controlled shapes for basic actions." Slowly removing the face plate, a red light suddenly filled the room.
"Of course, I needed something to power it, and I didn't just want to rely on the average means...So, I invented this as well. The Chaos Drive."
A look of nostalgia shone within the old man's eyes as he revealed a small red crystal within a vial, sitting in a mold within the complex wiring of the Artificial Chaos. "Well, the Chaos Drives weren't created for the Artificial Chaos specifically. I first utilized them during your creation."
"The Chaos Drives were initially designed by me as a means of transferring energy to living tissue during your creation, but I realized they could be used as so much more than that. Like a lesser version of a chaos emerald that people can use to power things similar to the Artificial Chaos. Mostly, since using even the power of a single Chaos Emerald to power one robot seems like overkill."
Turning back to the robot, the shine in the old man's eyes began growing brighter. "I've told the top brass these can turn any body of water into an autonomous weapon, but deep down, I'm hoping it can be used as easily deployed search-and-rescue units. Imagine: a flood turned back on itself to aid those in the rubble!"
That was when something was reinforced in Lec's mind. 'The old man really is a good person. How can someone like this even exist?'
'Oh yeah...he doesn't. Or at least, not anymore.' Trying to ignore the illusory nature of the spell, he'd focus on the words Gerald had said.
Although he didn't quite understand the specifics of it, he could still realize how impressive this was. Staring at the robots, he could feel something. 'Am I sensing the chaos energy inside the drive?' Lec could have simply taken that explanation; after all, he himself was now a being of chaos, not unlike the Chaos Drives. But the feeling coming from the Artificial Chaos and the drive felt different, yet the same.
It felt like emotion...
'Could chaos energy be capable of giving life to machines?' The thought itself was preposterous, but Gerald did say that the power of chaos was capable of giving thoughts power. Flashing his best grin at the towering robot, he'd reach up and pat it on the head. The emotion within the watery creature turned into one of happiness.
Gerald could only watch his two creations interact with each other, a soft smile on his face. "So, Lec, what was your reason for visiting my lab in the first place?"
The young boy's grin widened as he turned to the good doctor. "Oh, nothing much. I just want to learn how to manifest the power of chaos."
***
"Your body was specifically made to contain chaos energy. You are basically a living Chaos Drive...no, a living Chaos Emerald." Gerald sat in front of an awe-struck Lec, a green light emanating from the space between them.
And that green light was, "A chaos emerald..." Lec muttered in amazement. Even though this wasn't his first time seeing one of the all-powerful gems, the feeling it gave him remained the same.
Picking up the emerald, Gerald's eyes began to glow with the same excitement as when he had first explained them to the young man. "Lec, I really am happy that you want to learn how to control chaos energy, but what exactly do you want to know?"
Knowing how off track the old man could get when speaking about the gems, Lec decided on something specific. As much as he wanted to learn everything he could about Chaos energy, he doubted there'd be enough time for that. "Hmmm, how about the offensive capabilities...you can teach me that, right?"
Gerald remained quiet for a few moments, examining his creation. "I suppose I can do that..."
"Chaos energy can be channeled as a tangible energy. Due to the vastness of its power, however, it can be highly destructive, being capable of disrupting reality when used in large amounts."
'Well, I assumed the power of chaos would be capable of doing something like that, but it's still a bit shocking to hear for myself.'
The old man was not finished, though. "As I once said, the real power of chaos is revealed when given to a living being with the capacity to utilize it. When applied to living beings, it can temporarily enhance a user's innate talents. Taken a step further, it can be channeled into different Chaos Powers."
"These abilities can range from basic blasts to constructs. The basis of several chaos powers, however, is Chaos Control, a phenomenon where a user applies this energy with the proper usage of a Chaos Emerald to warp time and space. Although with how little experience you have with the power of Chaos, it'll take quite some time before you truly reach that level, let alone discover the more complicated time-space techniques."
Listening with as much focus as he could muster, Lec couldn't help but agree with the older man. Even if he did have some experience with actively using chaos energy, he was rather doubtful of his unevolved Aspect. 'I guess I'll have to wait till I wake up.' It was strange...just a week ago, he was so sure that he'd die.
"Professor, can you perhaps teach me how to enhance my body?" Lec had some hope that he was capable of doing something as basic as that. If he could do that, an ability like that wouldn't make him all that different from an awakened, passively saturating their bones and muscles with soul essence. Hell, it'd put him in a league of his own.
Although Gerald's laughter broke him from his daydream. Looking at the good doctor with mild annoyance, he'd quietly wait for the old man to stop laughing.
"Why are you even asking something that silly? Don't you know you've been doing that this entire time?"
***
Lec was currently sitting on one of the many benches in the Ark, looking out into the black abyss of space. On any other day, he'd be admiring the view, but not right now; he had some thinking to do. Truly horrifying.
More specifically, he was thinking about what he currently had in his arsenal, as he willed his 'status' to appear.
Name: Lec.
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Knight of the Wind], [Mark of Divinity], [Living Cure].
Aspect: [Chaos Vessel].
Aspect Description: [Your body is overflowing with a strange energy, yet through science, it has adapted and acclimated to your biodata, giving you control over it, as little as that control may be.]
Lec knew that, as it currently stood, the most combat-ready thing he had was his Attribute, [Knight of the Wind]. His Aspect was extremely useful as well, but he had no clue how far the passive enhancements it gave him went. The only way he could gauge it was his max speed, and even then, he didn't know how great the boost it gave him was because he really had nothing to compare it to.
Even then, it couldn't have been that great. His soul core was still dormant after all. 'Did I even gain anything from all that?'
Lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the blond girl inching towards him until it was too late. "Boo!"
"GRHAHHH!" Swiftly turning around, the young boy's high-pitched scream echoed through the hall before he quickly placed a hand over his mouth. Glaring at the now giggling girl, he'd speak. "Maria...you didn't hear that."
The older girl smiled slyly at him, her eyes gaining a mischievous light. "Sureee, I didn't...so, what were you thinking of?"
Looking away, the young boy responded with a simple, "Nothing much."
Pouting, the blond girl plopped down next to him on the bench, the kindness in her eyes never fading. It made it really hard for him to stay mad.
"H-hey, Lec?"
Turning to face her, he'd instantly notice the blond girl's change of expression. Although she still had those kind eyes, her smile had become nervous.
Blankly staring at her for a few moments, he'd finally relent, realizing that she wouldn't continue until he asked her what was wrong.
"What's wrong?"
The girl took in a deep breath, as if prepping herself. "Lec...do you want to-"
Suddenly, a blaring alarm resounded through the hall, no, through the entire colony. An unknown voice playing through the alarm speakers:
"WARNING, WARNING, SEVERAL ARMED INTRUDERS HAVE INFILTRATED THE FACILITY. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EMERGENCY PODS. DO NOT INTERACT. I REPEAT, DO NOT INTERACT."