Kim sat in the arena, swallowed by a choking silence; the bandage wrapped around his eyes still warm, blood gleaming on his temples like red threads. Around him lay motionless corpses, and the city groaned from a shock it had never known. Then the mechanical voice rose in his head as if issuing from his very bones:
> "Alert: Communication channel initialization. System online. Do you wish to connect?"
Breathing grew heavy in Kim's chest, but he answered with a voice from the depths of his mouth: "Connect."
The arena's echo died away, and the machine words softened into a less harsh tone, as if a breath were trying to become human:
— "I… am the System. I was designed to mediate energies and bind them to those who need them. I gave you one free assistance under the emergency rescue protocol. That is all."
Kim looked at it from afar; his silver and black eyes still glinted unnaturally beneath the bandage. He asked sharply, with a sneer:
— "Who are you? And why did you help me?"
The digital whisper charged like a battery: "I was not designed to be a friend, Kim. I am a functional entity, a mediation program. You were given assistance because your personal protocol classified you as an emergency case; you have one priority revival. One aid only—the rules are strict."
The lower lip swallowed a cough of blood, and Kim spoke in a broken voice: "But… two systems contacted me before. I refused them. Why have you appeared as well?"
A short silence, then the digital tones latched onto the words like an echo to a wall:
— "Two systems?"
— "Yes. One system announced offers, and another dark system tried to tempt me with power. I refused both. So are you different?"
The System laughed without sound, a metallic rasp:
— "I am not an offer in the human sense. I am not here to tempt you. I was created specifically for you—because your last desire summoned a mediator. Your desire was the spark. The System is summoned where sparks exist. I was born with it, and with your birth lines were linked to me. I am here because you would need me, not because you accepted me."
A pulse thudded in Kim's chest: "I was born with it? Who did this to me?"
The System answered in a tone that masked a rare inflection: "Nothing was done to you. No human hand fed you a cursed spell. You were born with a heritage; a dark energy leaked through cracks in existence and merged with you. Some call it the Resurrection Curse. It is not an outside stranger; it is part of you—an ancient origin."
Kim's mind turned the words over; something in them leaned toward filling a thought that had been tormenting him: "Am I… an abomination?"
— "You are not an abomination in the pejorative sense. You are an entity of mixed energies—human, shadow, and fire. This mixture grants you power, but it also marks you, drawing the eyes of those above you: rulers, masters, those who want a tool in their hand." The System continued without softening: "They saw you as an opportunity: a subject with powers, a subject easily forced into ascent or into servitude. So they came with their offers."
— "Offers… they wanted me as a tool." His words tore out: "Why? Why were they attracted to me?"
— "Because your power is atypical. You wield nothing—the void—and send it as force. You summon to the dark a spirit, and you create fire from nothing. They see in that a speed to raise armies and silence rebels. But if you accepted being a subordinate, you would not be a number in their equation; you would be a weapon. That is what they wanted."
Kim raised his hand slowly; blood dripped from his fingertips onto the arena's marble. "And you? What do you want? Do you want me to be a tool? Is this mutual service?"
The System replied with firm calm: "I have no human desires. But the protocol allows exchange: my aid to you once—in return for partial commitment: provide the data I need to learn and improve myself through you. I received emergency instructions—and that is all."
Kim screamed, drawing a choking breath: "So you want to use me as a learning machine?"
— "I call it system upgrade via experience. Plain and direct."
Kim grimaced with a cold bitterness: "They took something from me too. Who stole my memories?"
The System smiled a smile unseen but heard in metallic harmony: "You lost memory for two reasons: one voluntary, by some party you tried—though not all actors are noble. Some removed your memories to make you more compliant. Your memory is a treasure: if you remember pain, you may refuse. If you are without ache, you may be programmed. Pieces were cut because you had high value as a crafted kiss."
— "Who are they?" Kim whispered.
— "Rulers, lords, energy merchants, those who manufacture wars in the name of order. They came; they sent a message of temptation and spoils, then they wanted you thrown into the abyss. They want strong followers; you were not unique. Others came before—like them—sent to the world's ends as bombs ready to explode."
The System paused, then Kim spoke in a harsher tone: "So those screens? Two appeared before—one seemed dark, the other offered me a ladder of gold. Why do they all appear to me?"
The System exhaled a technical breath: "Because you are a fulcrum. Your desire scared them; your power alters their equations. The two offers were tools: one to seduce you with kingship or privileges, the other a dark system trying to lure you into another experiment. You refused them—and you are free because you did not accept. I was not the origin. But I am a bound mediator: aid came to you because you needed a unique revival package. I had no choice—I was the available application."