It started gradually. Small, often barely perceptible windows of cognizance that would scarcely last a fleeting moment before he slipped back into oblivion. During this brief intermissions in his seemingly eternal sleep, he would try to make sense out of the blank slate that was his mind. For the longest time, he knew nothing, felt nothing and was aware of nothing, not even his own existence. Then, as these periods of awareness became stronger and more lucid albeit just barely, he found himself.... somehow gaining knowledge. Knowledge on all things that suddenly seemed like he should have known had his existence began as that of any other normal human. From advanced courses like the concept of relativity in physics to the simplest of things like the color of the sky and other things, he found himself inexplicably knowledgeable about all these. He had yet to regain his physical senses though and while he was slowly gaining all sorts of knowledge, his memories were still completely unknown with regards to himself. It was because of this knowledge however, that despite not being able to utilize any of his senses, he could still 'see' the ethereal glowing blue interface that occupied the void of his mind.
[Host Conditioning Ongoing...(40%)...]
[Host Mental Modification set to begin soon....]
That was the message that welcomed him the first time he 'saw' it. He had no idea what this thing was. In fact he had little idea on what anything was. Then he felt a strange, frigid and unfeeling presence lock onto him within his own mind.
[The Host was expected to obtain cognisance once Conditioning reaches 50%]
[The Host has displayed incredible perception and has managed to exceed the System's approximations...]
[Mental Modification set to begin soon...]
[Host must not be conscious during the Modification]
[The System shall take precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the Host.]
Without warning, an abnormal drowsiness surged through his mind, turning the blue interface into a blurry mess and in an instant he found himself returning to oblivion.
**********
The next time he regained awareness, the blue interface was still present and the progression of whatever the 'Conditioning' was, had reached 80%. However there were some new additions to the interface. The outline seemed a bit bolder and the general state of the interface itself looked as if it had gotten an update. And there were a few new messages on the interface as well which immediately drew his attention.
[Infusion of the Foreign entity :Matter Manipulation System has failed...]
[Infusion of the Foreign entity :Beast System has failed...]
[Infusion of the Foreign entity: Frost System has failed...]
Such texts filled the interface the more he looked. What was going on? These strange abilities, what were they? Was someone doing this on purpose? Questions and theories started taking root in his relatively young mind as he wondered the reason behind all this. As he tried to make sense from what was going on, he suddenly felt a searing sensation of pain rip through him so violently that the interface flickered briefly and the borders lost their detailed appearance. It appeared as if this... System was directly linked to his mind, which meant that whatever was causing this pain, had an origin and a target that was beyond the physical. The pain soon morphed to the sensation of being forcefully condensed into a tight shoe box while being simultaneously stretched out to impossible extents. The frigid presence that he had come to associate with this... System, locked onto his awareness again and he could almost feel its blatant displeasure.
[The Host has regained awareness during the final period of the Conditioning]
[Such an action is detrimental to the well-being of the Host]
[Appropriate counteractive measures activating...]
The strange feeling of lethargy overwhelmed his defenceless mind the moment he saw the message on the interface. The darkness around him swayed terribly in response to his state of mind which was fair considering that everything around him literally was his mind. As the desire to succumb to oblivion grew far stronger than he had expected, he found himself being dragged into forced unconsciousness. But right before he disappeared beneath the waves, he caught sight of another message, the latest one that had just popped up, flashing brightly red on the interface. [Infusion of the Foreign entity: Scorch System has failed...]
**********
"—are you saying?! You seriously can't be—" "—my operation not yours. Are you questioning—"
Voices. He could hear voices. There was no telling how long he had spent in the darkness, but there was no doubt that those voices he was hearing now were definitely real. Realization soon hit him. If he could hear, then surely he must have regained the rest of his senses? Tentatively, he reached out with his mind to what he supposed to be the rest of his body. It felt strange at first, having existed for so long as a formless entity now having to attain corporeality. The process was painfully slow, and by the time he was able to completely register sensation throughout this body of his, the voices he could hear had gotten just a little bit louder. His sight was taking a bit longer to restore than the rest of his senses, though that was probably due to the sensitive nature of that particular sense. "—a waste of space! There is nothing to be gained from it!"
"That's not yet determined sir.... The process... It can take some time to take full effect—"
"All of the others are already awakened." He could easily feel irritation in the speaker's tone. "None of them took this much time..." The other voice sounded a bit unsteady, almost as if the speaker was nervous and tensed.
"W-well that is to be expected—the subject's body has yet to prove compatible with any of the Systems we have at hand—"
"All the more reason to get rid of it. Without a System Designation, it is simply a waste of time and resource."
The other voice seemed like it was about to try and argue some more but the first speaker must have done something since nothing but a sound of terror slipped out of the other person. "Have your men terminate it by nightfall."
There was no room for argument in that statement and judging by the lack of response from the other person, it seemed like there wasn't any either. He could feel the thoughts piecing together what little he had understood from the brief conversation. They had talked about a subject. Him maybe? It had to be him, since the first person had mentioned something about 'others' already being 'awakened'. Did that mean that there were others like him? Others who were already awake? Terminate... The first speaker had already assumed him to be a failure, despite not even knowing what was happening, and had ordered the other person who just have been subordinate to terminate him. Terminate meant to kill. They were going to kill him...
The realization of his suddenly precarious situation did not evoke in him the usual panicked response it would have in most humans. He did not know exactly how he knew this but he was certain about it. Instead, he felt a strange rush of calm descending on his mind like a cold breeze. He knew this presence. It was the same one that had always been there within his mind whenever he regained awareness. The blue interface appeared in his mind once again and he felt his control over his body becoming sluggish.
[Based on the information gathered through the Host's auditory senses indicate a direct threat to the Host's continued existence]
[Due to lack of sufficient physical and situational awareness, the Host is not in any position to engage in self preservative actions]
[Searching for alternative solution...]
[Alternative solution found]
[Warning: Alternative solution would require actions of incredible risk to the Host! The System cannot perform these actions without obtaining permission from the Host!]
[Does the Host wish to grant the System partial autonomy?]
He could barely understand the exact meaning of what this 'System' was saying. Everything was still feeling so foreign to him. These new sensations that his mind was suddenly forced to comprehend left no room for the logic to make rational choices. He was not certain just exactly what was happening. But he understood three things for sure.
One: his existence was in danger of being permanently discontinued.
Two: this 'System' seemed to have found a way out of that danger.
Three: Based on this System's request for permission to help him, it might be safe to assume that it had his best interests in mind. What he was about to do was definitely going to have consequences. But he could deal with those later. After all...
[The System has been given authorized partial autonomy]
[The System shall now begin self preservative procedures]
[The Host will be placed into forced stasis until the threat to the Host's existence has passed]
... only the living could suffer consequences.