Chapter 1: The Last Experiment
Ryan's hands tremble inside the neural rig.
The chamber pulses around him - slick metallic walls, arrays of fluorescent blue lights and a massive cylindrical transparent pod humming with energy, a white mist rising from its base. A warning blared in the background.
[Subject #0013: Neural sync at 98% Cognitive threshold exceeded. Abort sequence recommended.]
"No", Ryan whispered, tightening his jaw. "Begin procedure again."
[Manual override initiated, reinitiating the procedure.]
Outside the chamber, voices shouted. Researchers scrambled, but inside Ryan was alone- plugged into the system they named Project: Gaia, the final effort of the best talents of humanity, the last effort of humanity to access the power thought only to exist in fiction, a final attempt to save this corrupted and dying world.
[Initialising deep-layer simulation... Sync complete. Uploading primary consciousness...]
Pain blossomed across his face as the experiment pod lights bloomed once again, casting the fluorescent lights one more time. Ryan gasped, his body taught, sweat beads forming on his forehead, his consciousness fading like it was being ripped from his body - then everything collapsed to black.
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After what seemed like an eternity he opened his eyes or at least he thought he did cause all he could see was black, no horizon no colours no feeling nothing, a feeling of being in an endless expanse but at the same time empty, a world full of nothing.
He tried talking, but no sound came from his throat. he tried breathing, but he didn't feel the normal rush of air filling his lungs; instead, there was nothing, a strange emptiness. He could move, he couldn't speak, he could do nothing. He started panicking, an overwhelming sense of dread took over him, he could think but couldn't act. "Is this a prison?" "Are the gods punishing me?" he thought "Have I touched upon something mortals weren't supposed to access?". Despair grew in his heart, his mind racing through emotions. As these thoughts raced through his mind when all hope seemed lost, he saw a bright dot of light flickering on the horizon. A shining beacon of hope in an endless expanse of emptiness. With every fibre of his being, he willed his body to move, to reach for the light. As he forced his being to move towards the light, he saw that the light was growing bigger and bigger until everything turned white and he lost consciousness again.
When he opened his eyes this time, he wasn't in the endless void, nor was he in the chamber.
He was lying on a stone.
A fractured sky stretched above, filled with shards of what looked like metallic structures illuminated by two crescent moons. A world that looked nothing like where he came from. He took a deep breath. The air felt heavier, warmer, not like his previous world filled with smog and chemical fumes, but cleaner and fresher, earthier. He sat up slowly, his body aching like it hadn't moved in ages.
He wasn't in a rig. No wires. No metal.
He finally looked at his body. A black suit with glowing seams of blue and white running up his entire body. His reflection in a cracked mirrorstone showed a pale face, white hair clinging to his forehead, and a strange sigil casting a strange white glow where his heart was supposed to be.
[SYSTEM ONLINE]
[Welcome, Ryan.
Your soul has been anchored to Gaia
Class assigned: Elemental Crafter
Base element: Terra
Status: Reborn]
His pulse quickened but his face remained still-cold, calculating. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the rumble of tectonic movement, a deep vibration with a slow rhythm like a sleeping titan's breath.
Ryan rose to his feet. The ruins stretched out before him-massive stone structures entwined with glowing roots, fallen towers etched with ancient-looking runes, this world.... it was dying too, just like where he came from. Yet it still lived.
He held out his hand.
The earth beneath him stirred, lifting in ripples. Cracked stones floated up and reshaped themselves into a humanoid golem-eyes glowing green, fists like boulders.
[Construct Created: Gaia Shell-Rank D]
Ryan didn't flinch. It was like he already knew this was going to happen.
Then came the sound-deep mechanical footsteps. The wind howled. A massive figure stepped through the shadows of the ruined archways. It was a mech-twenty meters tall, its armour lined with flickering magma. A symbol of a fire blazed on its chest.
It didn't attack.
It knelt on one knee. Like a knight to his king.
Ryan stared, heart pounding beneath his still expression.
[Code accepted. Flame Unit recognises the Crafter. Elemental Protocol #01 Unlocked. "Ignis Titan awaiting orders."]
Then came the screen of light again.
[New Objective: Awaken the Elemental Codes. Reforge the Ruined World. Survive the Crafter Trials.]
Ryan's breath slowed. His voice a whisper carried by the wind:
"Then lets begin"