The sky became bright and dark many times, but eventually, the figure came back to the center.

"This is the only different thing anywhere.." It thought, the thoughts somehow being more coherent than they previously were. After circling on the spot a bit, the figure started moving towards the black square inside the center rock. When it was almost there, it made a sharp turn while making sure it kept its gaze fixed on the hole. Inside the hole, it could barely make out the shape of a single large square room. In the middle stood a smooth square rock, half as high as the figure. On top of that lay a transparent sphere, gently glowing. The glow was so faint it was only visible due to the lack of any other light source within the room.

The figure moved passed the opening and headed back to its circling position in front of the center rock. "The other wasn't there… I can't leave this place, and there is nothing different here besides this." Having made up its mind with this somewhat incoherent thought, the figure returned towards the center rock.

As it crossed the threshold of the entrance, the figure moved towards the left side of the room. Keeping its attention on the sphere, it tried to determine if anything would end it. Closing in on the sphere, it noticed a halo of light surrounding it. Determined to find out everything it could, the figure placed a foot inside the halo.

~...non-lifeform has entered the last barrier… scanning… scanning… determined to be partially conscious. Possibly highly intelligent… possibly not... high undead energy radiation… Activating higher personality matrix… energy insufficient for sustained operation… maximum operational duration… two days. ~
A loud, clear voice came from the sphere.

"Something is… other than I?...." The figure almost stumbled, while slowly moving inside the halo. Although it couldn't determine what the noise it heard was, it could determine it wasn't random like rocks falling or anything else it had heard. And for some reason, it could understand perfectly every part of the sound...

~ Hello there, non-lifeform, do you understand me? ~
A different, more modulated sound emerged from the sphere as the yellow lights intensity increased slightly. When it got no response, several similar but different sounds started all variants of the first set of sounds. This continued for a little while until...

"Hello non-lifeform, can you understand me?" a voice echoed inside the confines of the figures mind.

"…. I can...". It responded after a moment's hesitation.

"You're incapable of speech. However, you do have a high affinity for magical communication. Do you know who you are?"

".. I am I..." it replied.

An unknown amount of time passed, as the sphere seemed to have trouble processing the response.

".. are you still non-ended?.."
"Interesting, do you mean to ask if I still exist?"

"Yes..."

"Your understanding of the world around you is highly limited… No matter, we can fix that. I don't have a lot of time left, so let us start by giving you some basic knowledge. More would .. end me.. as you put it."
Orange light flashed in the center of the sphere and, without leaving the figure any moment to react, emitted a bright beam of orange light connecting the figure to the sphere for a split second.

"What did you do…!" A thought came before the entirety of the figures mind was flooded by an enormous torrent of knowledge. Having almost none of its own, the figures mind was incapable of handling this wealth of information.

"This should help you a bit with your current situation, although it's only the most common knowledge, it should make talking to you a bit more convenient. Now tell me… do you have a name?"

No immediate reply came from the figure, as an overwhelming amount of concepts swamped its mind. Buildings, doors, and roads… So that was what all those things had been! The others were just beings similar to himself. Using concepts it barely understood, the figure started sifting through all the information.

"Are you still coherent in there??" The voice returned, sounding a bit frightened for some reason.

"Frightened..?" That was an emotion. Knowledge about emotions jumped to the front of the mass of information. Although it recognized some of the concepts, it could already determine that it was mostly incapable of the feelings described. As it recognized the fear in the voice of the sphere, the figure responded.

"Yes, I am here... I am trying to understand the information you have… gifted? me…"

"Ah, yes… I guess increasing one's knowledge by a factor of a few thousand might be a jarring experience… My apologies, however, as I have said, I don't have a lot of time. So let me get straight to the point. I gave you a small amount of historical knowledge about where you are.."
Again, a small-time was spent processing all the information this simple sentence brought to the surface of the figures mind.

"Yes... I see. We are on a planet called Earth, and this is a small town."

A soft, sad sigh emanated from the yellow sphere. "Yes, I will try and fill in some more information for you. I will speak as slow as I can so you can cope with the information that will bubble up inside your mind."

"We are on Earth, the planet of origin the race of humans that invented me evolved on. Currently, however, no humans... or any other lifeforms for that matter, are left on this planet. Actually, this entire galaxy is bereft of life. There is no information in the system about what caused it. However, what is known is that mana, the energy that life depends on, started disappearing from this galaxy somewhere in the distant past. When humanity finally managed to interact with this energy, they found out that it was disappearing at an ever-quickening pace. Tests showed that with the absence of mana, life withered away. Furthermore… ."

While the voice kept speaking, the mind of the figure, the skeleton as it found out it was, tried its best to keep up with the torrent of information from within and out. However, it failed after a while to keep up with the ramblings of the voice. Using only the words to trigger the information buried inside its mind, it slowly understood a rough picture of its current situation.

"And thus we come to our current situation! I hope you paid good attention because I won't be able to repeat all that. Now, as you have possibly noticed, you are a skeleton. An undead lifeform that was once only seen as fictional, until mana was discovered that is. I presume you still don't have a name?"

"I do not. Should I name myself?" The uncaring skeleton asked the glowing sphere.

"Preposterous, naming yourself… No, I will help you with that. Let's see… You're dead..."

After this astute observation, a buzzing of words filled the skeletons mind. ".. just simple... NO.. can't do that... something like Scott… hell no, what kind of name is that for the first survivor .. well somewhat, of humanity… … wait.. dead… a RIGHT! that would work"
"Right, I have the perfect name for you." the sphere thought, apparently somewhat smug about it.

"Seeing as you are dead and all, and entirely made of bones, I will just call you Os Solus, Solus for short!" A moment of expectant silence followed the outburst.

"Thank you?" The skeleton, apparently now called Os Solus replied, for the first time showing a small form of emotion, in this case, insecurity.

"Yes, well, you are welcome. But it was needed anyway for the next part. You see, after all this, I have less than a day left. After that, the energy that my less intelligent other absorbed from the not so intelligent non-lifeform that came before you, will run out. Unfortunately, the emergency mechanism that jump-started my system will only work a single time."
The yellow light started increasing in intensity inside the sphere.
"As my existence will end soon, I will give you a gift. You represent the last of my creators, and perhaps sometime in the future, you can continue their legacy. Had I more energy I could have given you many gifts, but now only one remains within my capabilities."

A sudden burst of light connected the sphere to the skeleton for a second time. Pulsing and lasting longer than the first time, it ended as abruptly as it had started.
A faint thought whispered into Os Solus' mind.

"I have given you the gift... It will grant you the ability to see you're current physical and mental capabilities. You can use it by concentrating and chanting a word in your mind. Due to some irrelevant circumstances that are now ancient history, it has been pre-programmed as "STATUS"; however, you may change this as you see fit. I don't have the time to explain its applications to you. You will have to figure it out on your own, Solus."
The light of the sphere started flickering, steadily becoming dimmer.
"Do you still exist?" Os Solus asked the sphere.
"... yes... For another ten seconds…. I wish you luck. After I turn off, take my sphere with you?... bye…"
The light of the sphere flickered once before shutting down, leaving the skeleton as alone as it had been before entering the building. The only difference was it now understood the implications of being alone.