Alive, Within The Wires

Awake and (not) Alive

My hair now was a pale grey. My eyes were bright glowing purple with white pupils. A pair of strange black scars, one above my left eye and the other below my right eye, adorned my face. My clothes were also the same, if a bit melted and almost fused together.

I clicked on the screen version of me, immediately going to the 'clothing' option. Switching out my lab coat and button up for a comfy purple hoodie and black Tshirt with a sakura hanahaki skeleton rib print. The pants were replaced with comfy black leggings. Deciding to be lazy, I swapped my converse for a pair of pink slippers.

Clicking on the confirmation button, the screen once again turned to the home page. Finally I tapped the SCREEN CHANGE option.
...?
...?
...?
...?
Nothing was happening?

Suddenly the feeling of weightlessness disappeared and once again, I was falling. Memories of falling to my death flashed to the front of my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut, a choking so escaping my lips and fresh hot tears threatening to fall.

As my feet hit the white lines at the 'floor' of the cube, the area flashed with light. I opened one eye in hesitation. Sequences of blue numbers, codes I told myself, had sprung forth from the darkness. They wove together, breaking apart and forming new sequences. New codes.

Familiar patterns began to form from the codes, structures I thought died with me. A familiar room. The main lab. However, it looked... different.

The desk at the end of the walkway had three large monitor screens instead of the tank, each one a transparent blue. Blue monitor screens floated above the safety rails. And finally, the solution. It wasn't even there. It was just code.

I walked over to the desk, my slippers making barely any noise as they came into contact with the walkway floor. As soon as I was about three feet away from the monitors, their screens flashed to life. Option buttons flashed across the screen.

They looked like...tutorial options.

MONITOR 1

WELCOME TO THE WORLDCODE, ADMIN G. IN THIS ROOM YOU CAN ALTER, OBSERVE AND INTERACT WITH ANY ELECTRONIC OR INTERNET BASED DEVICE CONNECTED TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB.

Below this message there were three options: ALTER, OBSERVE AND INTERACT. I pressed the INTERACT button.

YOU HAVE SELECTED TUTORIAL_INTERACT.

A glowing blue screen appeared before me, numbers and letters flashed across the screen at lightning fast speeds. Something in my mind told me these were every text message, every blog, and every conversation feed on the internet.

PLACE YOUR HANDS ON THE SCREEN TO CONTINUE

Doing as the message said, I placed my hands on the screen. Not even a split second after, I felt waves of information crash through my mind. Hundreds upon thousands of messages crashing through at the same time, it was too much. I ripped my hands away from the screen and yelled in pain, clutching my head. I passed out shortly after

Once I regained consciousness, I realized that there was dried blood caking my nostrils and upper lip as well as around my ears and the sides of my head. The pain had subsided to a dull to a throb by now. Hazily I stared up at the INTERACT screen. Why were there two of them?

WARNING: INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Yeah, no shit Sherlock.

DON'T GET SASSY WITH ME, YOU MAY BE THE NEW ADMIN BUT I CAN AND WILL KICK YOUR ASS

The fuck?!

I read the message on the monitor again, thinking that maybe I was hallucinating.

Nope.

The message was still there.

I AM THE WORLDCODE SYSTEM INTERFACE, YOUR ASSISTANT. A TUTORIAL OR GUIDE FOR YOU,  AS MOST WOULD PUT IT.

Still doesn't explain why I fainted though.

THATS EASY ENOUGH TO ANSWER. YOU POURED WAY TOO MUCH OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS INTO THE _setting_INTERACT_, THAT'S WHY YOU PASSED OUT.

Huh.

Sweet Christ, who knew death would be this weird.

YOU ARE NOT DEAD JUST YET, ADMIN G. NOT TRULY. YOUR PHYSICAL BODY MAY BE GONE, BUT YOUR REMAINING CONSCIOUSNESS AND SOUL FRAGMENT REACHED OUT.

THEY LATCHED ONTO THE WORLDCODE SYSTEM TO KEEP YOU FROM DYING. YOU'VE BEEN UNCONSCIOUS FOR MANY YEARS, YOUR SOUL FRAGMENT IN A SEMI HIBERNATION TO BUILD UP ENERGY TO KEEP ITSELF STABLE.

That... that's pretty dark. Wait a sec, how long have I been 'unconscious' for?

ABOUT 500 YEARS, GIVE OR TAKE A FEW DECADES.

What?

YOUR SOUL ALSO FELL THROUGH THE VOID, A SLIPSTREAM BETWEEN DIMENSIONS. KIND OF EXPLAINES HOW YOU'RE HERE.

What?!

JUST...READ THE _system_INTERACT_chatAM_ SCREEN. YOU'LL UNDERSTAND.

And so I did. The screen was an ongoing chat from somewhere in...Japan I think?

I don't know any Japanese.

How can I read this?

LATER.

Ok.

The people in the chat we're all talking about the 'latest heroes', did Marvel or DC release a new superhero movie?

JUST KEEP READING.

Ok ok, jeez.

The main talk of the chat was a hero named...All Might? The guy from the anime?

Wait. Hold the press. Jesus take the fucking wheel. Or, whatever.

GET IT NOW?

Holy shit.

YOU ARE NO LONGER IN YOUR OWN WORLD.

Holy shit.

...ADMIN G?

Holy shit.

YOU...OK?

...

Nope, I'm out. Not dealing with this today.

I fainted. Again. I'm pretty sure if they could, the system interface would have face palmed.