POV: Elly (viewing the memory of ???)

I see a group of eight Glitch Creatures accompanying a little boy in a forest, they seem to be in a hurry. The boy seems to be a kobold from what I can see, or maybe a pixie or mutated butterfly. The visual isn't very clear. It feels like a drunken stupor.

I doubt I'll like where this is going, "Why are they together like that? What are they up to?"

The disembodied voice happily explains, "The brat is that generation's Customer. He has already obtained his program - the group of Glitches and Features you see there. The rest... would spoil the movie memory. Just watch it!"

Program... yeah, what else would you call a collection of buggy features...

"Tell me at least what you mean by 'Customer'. That one sounded... strange."

"Just observe and you'll understand from the memory."

Speaking of memory, where's the person to whom this memory belongs? He doesn't seem to be anywhere close to this disaster area. Rather, he seems to be not even in the same world.

This whole experience is very disorienting. It isn't like scrying or watching something on a monitor; there you still have a medium to interact with, you know it is there, but here... he just sees it. It is almost as if he could see everything but chose to focus exclusively on spying on this meeting.

One of the glitches seems to be the clear leader of the group - his memory tells me that those Glitch Creatures want to be acknowledged as "Features", but doing so is a very bad idea - it would give them even more power.

The leader approaches the boy. They... are friends, the two know each other. It seems the little boy gave the leader of the Features a name several days ago, and since then the leader has gathered the other companions I see here.

They want a name as well and in exchange... No clue, the memory owner's thoughts and feelings are all over the place. Rage, regret, disgust - at himself. Whatever this is, he wanted to prevent it, but he failed.

No, he didn't fail. He didn't even bother to try...

The glitches seem to discuss something with the little brat but I can't hear what they say.

No, that is not quite right. I can hear fragments of what the boy says but most of it gets consumed by the presence of the glitches. But then how can anyone even understand what they say?

Son of a ...

We only have visuals of that scene, not audio, but the memory owner actually "reads" the rhythm and shape of infection and destruction in the surrounding air to comprehend their language...? Doesn't he have anything better to do than learn a language in such a stupid way!?

I would never be able to do that, but the memory tells me that they simply exchange pleasantries at first, then the boy chooses names for the so far unnamed Glitches, but the memory owner doesn't bother to decipher them. Wise choice.

Every time the boy names another Feature, all of them grow stronger. But despite that, the memory owner doesn't seem distressed by it. He seems already used to it as if it was just a regular Monday at the office.

The more Features get named the more the boy's features begin to change, he looks ever so slightly more like them but still resembles his original self. He looks happier.

Uh, the memory seems to lose color as well. Is the memory owner going colorblind?

Once the boy has named all eight, a sentence crosses my conscience: The Customer has arrived.

I've no clue what that is supposed to mean to me, I'm not working in retail, yet a shiver still runs down my spine.

The nine of them seem to discuss things for a short while but now I can't even hear fragments of the boy's voice anymore. It has been completely transformed into the glitch language, and the memory owner has given up on translating it.

Maybe I should try to learn that language and review this memory, a lot of important stuff seems to happen here without me understanding any of it. And I don't think I've anything else to do here... maybe it'll teach me if I ask nicely?

"I hope you enjoy your victory while it lasts - huh? Why did I say that!?"

"Don't worry, that happened to me too at first, but you'll learn to deal with it with time. You see, memories aren't meant to be viewed by anyone but their original owner so some interactions get... weird. Like the interaction with a vivid memory such as this. There seem to be some enhancements in place to make it easier to relive these types of memories, but as an outsider, if your sense of self is too weak it may take you over, or destroy you."

"...you could've warned me before..."

"In my defense, I haven't experienced it with this particular memory and I thought you were stronger. You'll soon be a Feature after all."

I'll become a Feature? I should hate that thought, but something within me is very happy at that prospect... Damn, how much of "me" is even left?

...

So, should I even continue to watch the memory if it is so dangerous? Jared would certainly chicken out immediately but I've got nothing left to lose. Even if I got out of this space and back into the real world, Jared and Lucia would immediately kill me again after all I have done...

"But why didn't that happen before? I watched a lot of memories already, and most of them actually seemed more vivid than this one."

"Dunno, maybe he has a very inflated ego? The effect would need to be that much stronger to account for that."

"Bastard."

"Exactly!"

That insult was directed at you, you...!

Ah, fuck it. Worst comes to worst, I won't have to live this mockery anymore.

Back in the memory, the boy interrupts their talks and points in a random direction, then one of the Features steps forward and rips a glitchy portal into the middle of the air where the boy had pointed. The group walks through it after a brief moment of hesitation.

By now, all color in the memory is gone.

After a flash of static, the scene shifts to an empty cave with the group looking all around them.

Again, the boy points to a random spot, and this time half of the Features go towards it. Then with their uncoordinated team effort, they drag something out of thin air. No, not something, a person.

A middle-aged woman. Going by her elaborate dress and tiara, she could be a human queen.

Though I doubt she is human; if I had to guess, I'd say she's the final evolution of a Glitch after it has grown out of being a Feature. The complete lack of colors and blurry vision make it hard to tell the difference between a humanoid and a glitch creature, so really she could be either.

Wait...

"Why can't I shake the feeling I've seen her somewhere before..."

"Do you mean this Mother of Glitches? Dunno, do you think it is important?"

"It might be."

"Sorry. Maybe some tea would help?"

"No, thank you."

Knowing glitches, this "tea" would just be a glitchy imitation of tea as well.

But why tea? I would've guessed soda is more up your alley. But tea... Tea!?

Right, wasn't there that tea bi... lady!? What was her name... Stella?

Yeah, she might just look like her.

But what does that mean? From this memory, I got the impression that she was imprisoned or sealed away, but when we met her, she moved around freely. Right?

...maybe not. She appeared as a boss monster. Wouldn't she then be moved around dungeons according to the System's whims?

Damn, thinking about that gets me nowhere. It is probably just a coincidence, the image isn't clear enough anyway, and my mind is a mess; it sees similarities where there are none.

Or this creature is simply a mockery of her. My appearance was also changed to that of someone else by this glitchy bastard after all.

"Say, you called her "this Mother of Glitches", are there multiple?"

"I'm honestly not sure, but I think so. Only the Customer would know for sure, they should lead us to her."

"I think I'd rather never find out then. She seems like bad news..."

"Yeah, she is. But not for us."

Don't lump me in with you glitches... I'm still me... I hope...

Damn, back to the memory.

Despite their differences, the woman doesn't seem disturbed by the Glitch Creatures surrounding her, rather she seems to appreciate them. She looks like she has waited a long time for this, but now it has finally happened.

Upon seeing the lady, the boy starts crying and rushes into her arms. She embraces him and also starts crying, like a mother who was reunited with her son after years of separation.

Now I feel conflicted...

Suddenly, I feel an uncomfortable heat. It is again a feeling coming from the memory but it feels too real, like being burned alive. Like what the glitches did to me before I turned into... this.

In the memory, blocky glitch-like flames enshroud the freshly reunited pair, but they don't seem bothered by it. But that is not what I'm feeling. No, I feel... everything. I feel how everything is suddenly consumed by glitches. Everything, everywhere.

People, plants, planets. The corruption engulfs everything without mercy.

Everything...?

Damn, what have I gotten into? Normal people aren't meant to witness everything everywhere at once all the time! What the hell is going on now!?

What? Ah, good, that was just in the memory. For a moment, I thought...

Damn, this is so overwhelming...

I take a moment to step back and steel myself, then continue watching the memory. I just have to ignore 99.999999% of reality, how hard can that be? Very...

I don't understand how the memory owner is still around, he was the only thing or person spared. He seemed distraught by the whole scene, so it is unlikely he is in league with them, but why else would they ignore him? Strange...

By now, it feels like all life in the universe is extinguished, and only glitches are left, nothing else. Nothing besides the memory owner, he's still hanging on. He doesn't even flinch but I'm in constant soul-searing pain just from watching it.

"I'd say we're done now - urgh, again!?"

"Just bear with it, the memory isn't that much longer. Now that the buffet is over, there's only the sequel hook left."

Buffet... yeah, right... that was all it was to you...

"I know you said he had a massive ego problem, but now he's also suffering from omnipresence?! He really needs to go on a fricking diet..."

"If you focused on that then you missed the fun parts."

Fun part my ass! That was the literal end of everything!

How are we even still here if that happened? We're watching memories and not dreams or prophecies, right? So how does this make any sense?

...but if that really did happen and isn't just someone's delusion... the only one I know who could legitimately claim to possess this kind of omnipresence... wouldn't that be the top god of the devas, Todo?

That is assuming he really exists, I've never seen him. We were only ever told that he exists, hidden in his private office...

But how would you even get your hands on one of his memories? That makes even less sense...

Argh, I give up!

In the memory, I see that the woman turns her head toward the viewpoint, as if she knew where he is, smiles... and flips him off.

Yup, very dignified.

Then my fingers involuntarily snap and all the glitches that have replaced creation come ablaze.

The inferno doesn't last long, but the seeming god doesn't come out unharmed either; he seems... weaker than before.

By now, everything has died. I can feel how reality fades into nothingness. The only thing or person left... is the owner of the memory. And that just barely.

Is that really all there is to it? The System came crashing down because the Customer just had to unearth the Mother of all Glitches and embrace her with all his heart. Is that all reality amounts to? A cosmic joke with a horrible punchline...

Damn, if this wasn't the deadliest hug in history I don't know what is.

The memory then fades to a view of a vast nothingness. It is as if life or the universe was never created, gone without a trace.

One unmotivated wave of a hand later, a cabinet appears out of nowhere. It contains hundreds of disks. What for?

He looks through it for a while. He takes some disks out and destroys them, and once again my mouth disobeys me, "These are unusable."

This continues until he seemingly finds the right one. He takes it out and holds it up. A moment later, we're back in an office, but time seems to be standing still. I see a clock, but it is not moving. An unassuming mug is in mid-flight, yet frozen in place.

Did he seriously just reset the universe? The hell...

My supposed new friend tells me something interesting, "Huh, I didn't know the memory continued after the fire. It never did for me. It just faded out, after he summoned the storage thingy."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah..."

The memory owner takes out a notebook of sorts and a pencil, then drops the black one for a red one. He flips to the last page which is adorned by a lot of tally marks. Most black, some red. He thinks for a moment then places a new, red tally mark at the end. Slowly, it seems to take several minutes to finish, and his hand shakes while doing so. I can feel a lot of incomprehensible thoughts rushing through his head during the entire process, but I can follow none of them; too much information at once.

Weird, he was super calm while the universe ended but taking a simple note is too much for his nerves?

He sits down before a computer. As soon as he touches it, it springs to life; only the computer and himself seem except from stopped time. He logs in and changes the time settings. Before it read "16:52 1928 DBP", he changed it to "00:00 0 DSB".

Days Before... something...

Days Since... something else... Maybe a counter for days without accidents? Does the apocalypse happen so often that you need a goddamn timer for that!? Are you going for some sort of highscore?

No idea, his thoughts and feelings are all over the place...

He grabs the falling cup and takes a sip, then looks at it. I see a picture of a person on it and some writing, but most of it is covered by his hand.

After a moment, he throws the mug away again, and as before, it freezes mid-flight. But in a different spot and trajectory as before, he did that deliberately. Why? That was a perfectly good cup, I doubt it did anything to you.

Next, he drags up a data sheet. A long list of people, test subjects?

Again, I speak against my will, "Please, forgive me. I have no choice..."

And with that, he changes a huge portion of those who have an "OK" status to "Test Pending".

After he sighs, time continues and the cup hits the ground with a loud clang.

A moment later, an aged man enters the room. The memory wants to tell me that he is a demon, but he looks like a regular old human to me. Grumpy-looking, grey-haired but still human.

But then, the devas had rigged the System so that simply everyone who explicitly goes against the will of their boss Todo would be cursed with that moniker. So I guess that he is one of these sinners.

Doesn't that mean, that the memory owner is not the great god Todo? They are branded by the System as demons, yet this person is willingly cooperating with them; doesn't that already go strictly against the definition of a "demon" in the current version?

It is hard to imagine that there are multiple "top gods" responsible for all of creation... wouldn't that mean that Todo is a fraud?

But then, why is someone so powerful willingly working under the demons as a lackey? So many questions...

"Doctor Mu, is everything re - ", he sees the mug on the ground and picks it up.

This is the first time, spoken language in the memory is actually clear and not enforced upon me. Now I'm extra curious about where this is going.

"You've got to be more careful with your personal stuff, my friend. 'Number zero Dad in the universe', huh? I like your daughter's humor. Sorry, I forgot, what was her name again? Was it Ohannah?"

"Ophelia."

"Oh, right, Ophelia Mu, right", the old man rubs some dirt off the mug and hands it back.

"Thanks, but no, she is Ophelia Serris now."

I get a better look at the picture. It doesn't depict anyone I recognize, just an average-looking teen girl. A bit too average for my taste. Maybe she doesn't exist and is just part of a disguise? No idea, but something is wrong here.

The old man in the memory guesses, "Ah, married, I presume."

"No, she just wanted to establish her independence from me. We had... a falling out. But enough of that. I doubt you're here to discuss my family matters, Mr. Besl'atoth."

"Why are you always so distant? I've offered you to call me by my first name Bert hundreds of times, but you always refuse. You got to open up a bit more."

"That is not necessary, so how can I help you?"

"Fine. I've known you long enough to understand that you won't budge anytime soon. Right, so I wanted to know how preparations are coming along. I understood from your latest report that the experiments to free people from the System were quite fruitful and we'd be ready to advance to the next stage soon."

What the hell are you talking about!? If you remove people from the System they freaking DIE!! Their souls are not able to sustain the burden without that assistance, that is what we were always told and Graham has confirmed in the source code; most of the original System exists solely to sustain them, otherwise, they implode violently.

Mr. Mu takes a moment to formulate a response, "That is indeed what I reported, but I'm afraid I'll have to submit a correction soon. There was... a critical oversight in my research that endangers the whole project."

"And here I was looking forward to being free by next year. Right, so how big of a setback are we talking about exactly?"

"At least a month if everything works perfectly. I still have to finish the adjustments and have them cross-checked with the rest of the team, and most importantly, we need to test all previous subjects again. They may already suffer from side-effects of my oversight."

The memory forces a thought across my mind: you will not find them anymore, they are gone. Because the treatment succeeded perfectly, they were not included in the backup. They are lost. Forever.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Bert grunts, "Just a month? Is that all? After you started like that, I was afraid we'd be back to square one! I can wait an extra month. A decade if need be. I know you're the best in the field, doctor Mu. If you say that it is necessary, I'll trust you on that. I'll have the patients recalled to your lab as soon as possible. Be ready."

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it, my friend. Together we can salvage this", saying this, Bert leaves the room.

Once again, something forces me to speak, "Fool... are you satisfied?"

Then I'm thrown out of my daze by a small explosion which consumes the memory crystal and violently throws me back.

"What the hell..."