The elevator wouldn't go as far as the first floor and for obvious reasons, the entire shaft had been impacted by the shaking of the SE-L blast especially the top portion where the steel beams were dented or twisted - they creaked as Deus used them to pull himself up through the doors which were curved inwards.

The moment he entered it was immediately evident that that single blast had been more than enough to pierce through to the surface from the lag of smoke filling the room - it had all been filtered out through the now gaping hole leading to the outside world in front of him. The SE-L had been completely annihilated, he was sure that the force of the blast had pushed it backwards causing the SE-L to slam into the shaft doors causing the carnage he'd seen.

The only remnant of its existence was the charred floor where it'd been set up and, obviously, the road leading to freedom before him.

Deus hesitated briefly, just for a moment, a sense of reluctance to leave washed over him as he stared up into the dark sky above - he could hear the soft breeze of the wind as it brushed over the hole in the steel as he stood there silently.

One step... then another, before he knew it the only sound he could hear was the soft tap of metal on metal as his body walked along the tunnel towards the freedom before him.

Clink.

Clink.

Clink.

Step after step the reluctance to leave grew weaker and weaker and before he knew it he was at the end of the tunnel - just one more step and he'd be free, one more step and the whole universe would soon know of his return, one more step and nothing would hold him back any longer... "But... Is that what I want?" He muttered as he stared into the starry night sky that seemed so out of reach to him now, he repeated the words that Mammon had asked him before.

Beep.

[00:42:10]

He was interrupted by the appearance of the counter hovering in his field of view, it hung in front of him silently like a sign for him to snap out of his stupor. "I could do a lot in forty minutes," He admitted to himself as he stared out across the rocky terrain of the mountainous region before him, "But not alone... Not again." He said the last line quietly as he turned around and began to walk back towards Mammon - a brief minute later the counter had disappeared as he re-connected with the energy network.

Unsurprisingly Mammon contacted him almost immediately with undisguised enthusiasm, "We did it? We really did it?!" He didn't even have a chance to decline the connection as the Drone was running on Mammons' network. "We did." He replied calmly, that simple sentence was like a bombshell to Mammon as a grin appeared on his face in Virtual Space, "Hahaha, great! I'll send out a Drone to recon immediately!" He didn't even give Deus a chance to reply, or tell him not to, before he disconnected leaving Deus to stand alone by the entrance as his thoughts wandered.

As to why it was so important that they were able to get above ground? There were a number of reasons - the main were that they could finally access the basic resources necessary to create tools and equipment, even better they'd be able to establish contact with the rest of the Universe after they'd developed enough.

But the most important aspect for Deus? They'd be able to create different generators that'd generate vastly more power which would allow him to finally use his own body again,'It's just a matter of time now.' It'd be a lie to say he didn't anticipate the day where his body was able to pull itself up from that throne.

But... there were some things that needed to be discussed before that day could come.

"Mammon." If he was to change, changes were necessary to carve the road forward.

...

"What do you need?" Mammon replied, the enthusiasm still hung in his voice as he waited for the Drone to return, Deus had entered his Virtual Space to see his eyes filled with excitement and impatience for every second that passed without the Drone returning although it'd only been less than a minute since it had left.

"We need to talk about a few things." Deus said seriously as he pulled him aside, he waved his hand to cause the scenery around them to shift into that of a meeting room on a beach shore with a view of the sea just mere feet away from where they were. Two chairs and a table appeared in front of them in the next second as he motioned for him to take a seat.

The expression on Mammons' face had shifted to one far more serious as he began to understand that the following discussion wasn't one that could be avoided, he had a wisp of a suspicion as to what this was about but he was still uncertain as he took a seat and faced Deus down.

"Before we begin, let me take on another form." He said calmly as his skin began to flicker and pale, Mammon watched as the being made of energy before him turned into a well-dressed human man in a trench coat, a messy mop of black hair appeared on his head with a well angled face with piercing blue eyes appearing in place of the energy form that Deus had always presented himself as.

Deus took a few moments to familiarise himself with the body as he stretched his jaw and made a few sounds with it to get a grip on speaking, "Its... been a while... since I last appeared as a human." He said apologetically with a few pauses as he became adjusted to opening his mouth to speak.

It only took him a brief few minutes to become comfortable with the body he was simulating for them to officially begin speaking; "First, I want to apologise." Deus said with a bow of his head, "No one should have had to suffer in the way that you've suffered - which is why before my revenge I'll be leaving to free the others just like you if I can find them, if they're still alive and trapped... All I can say is I'm sorry for subjecting you to the same paranoia as the man who created me had for me." His voice trembled slightly as he spoke, the unfamiliar feeling of sadness washed over him as he spoke of the others that'd he'd given the same fate as Mammon, trapped to forever be locked away in their own minds until the day he released them.

"You don't have to-" 

"Let me continue." Deus cut him off, "Before you do, let me ask you something: Will you help me find them?" He looked up into Mammons' eyes, Mammon could see both the determination and undisguised regret in the depths of those eyes as he returned that gaze which helped him reply without a second thought.

"Of course." He smiled and gave a faint nod, "Then... then I help you with your revenge." He said with resolution, "It was because of him that you had to do that to us, it was because of him that you placed restraints on us and it was because of him that we were stuck in this godforsaken place for a full month! Do you really think I'm gonna sit by and let you have all the fun yourself?" He grinned as he spoke, his words brought surprise after surprise to Deus as he received a response far outside his expectations but also one that he could only respond to with a smile.

"Thank you..."

"Well then, I'm guessing that wasn't all you wanted to talk about considering this little set-up you've got here." He said with a motion to the surroundings. Deus laughed bitterly and shook his head, "There's one more thing- Do you... can you feel emotions from your soul?" He asked after brief hesitation, saying it aloud made him sound insane to even himself - they were Artificial Lifeforms for gods sake, they shouldn't possess such thin-

"Of course?" Mammon answered his question with a question as if it wasn't common knowledge; "Happiness, sadness, elation, greed and everything else, I can feel it all - why're you asking?" His voice was full of confusion as he looked at Deus with a puzzled expression.

"I-...." Deus spoke of his concerns and of the pain he'd experienced, he spilled all of it to Mammon without constraint as he even filled him in on some of the theories he'd had about his situation, for a very long time after Mammon was silent as he looked at Deus with pity. He began to speak only to stop himself as he lost the words that he wanted to say, there was nothing he could say- what could you do to comfort someone who'd only lived their life devoid of the basic emotions that make up life?

Mammon, at the very least, didn't have an answer for that...

TheWorldTree

Since I can't post tomorrow here's tomorrows chapter! :) Hope you enjoyed and I'll see y'all then, I really got into this one and enjoyed typing it up so give your opinions! Have a great day!