Chapter 70: Enter the Archive

[Yes]

Neth’s vertical eye followed his finger and confirmed it. That response made Rhos perk up his head to it.

So far nobody but him was able to see those floating words. Since Neth could see them, then did that mean he wasn’t crazy?

It drifted closer to the words.

[I can perceive what you’re referring to]

Rhos almost felt reassurance in his mental state, that was until he realized the tiny creature was essentially a part of him now.

If these words were appearing inside his consciousness, Neth might be able to see it as well due to their fused souls.

So the possibility of him losing his mind still remained a likely option.

Shifting his attention elsewhere, he pointed toward the message again.

"These words appeared after I named Morri and they’ve been following my vision ever since. Do you know what they mean?"

Neth was silent for a moment, then it became noticeably more animated.

[Human]

[Consider yourself blessed, Loved, even]

Its wings buzzed indignantly as it floated around his head slowly than its usual pace.

[Listen carefully, Human. I will explain this once]

[Beings such as myself do not perceive spiritual existence in the limited manner humans do. What you call ’spiritual energy’, ’spiritual essence’, ’soul refinement’, ’evolutionary characteristics’ and ’spiritual abnormalities’ are not entirely separate phenomena from our perspective]

[They are components of a greater whole]

Rhos remained silent, listening carefully as instructed.

[When observing a spiritual existence closely enough, its nature can be understood and recorded through a special kind of perception beings such as I possess.]

[The shape an existence has taken and the changes written into it]

[You have acquired a portion of that perception through our union]

Rhos stared at the words.

"This is something your kind naturally has, right?"

[Not exactly]

[What you are seeing is not how I experience the information. There are no floating words when I perceive another existence]

The tiny primordial didn’t say anything else, leaving gaps to be filled. Fortunately, Rhos had become much better at interpreting Neth’s explanations without allowing them to overwhelm him.

The first time it felt like someone was attempting to force an ocean through his skull.

Now he translated things into simpler terms.

"In other words, I’ve gained another sense"

An idea gradually formed and he voiced it aloud.

"Not sight exactly. You’re saying your kind can naturally perceive information about spiritual existence that humans can’t. Because part of you is fused with me, I’ve inherited some version of that perception, except my mind isn’t built to process information the same way yours does"

He sucked in a long breath after talking without stopping. When he didn’t get much of a reaction from Neth, he assumed he wasn’t completely wrong.

"To serve as an intermediary, my consciousness translates that information into something I can understand"

It was like suddenly developing an entirely new sensory organ.

If someone was born with eyes but possessed a brain incapable of interpreting visual information, the light entering those eyes would mean nothing.

Information required translation before it became useful.

Rhos couldn’t naturally understand spiritual existence the way Neth did. So his mind found a different solution.

’It came up with an interface?’

It seemed bizarre to have something like that, but considerably less bizarre than most things that happened to him during the past three months.

So he accepted it, focusing on the floating words again.

[You have a new Record in your Spirit Archive]

"What am I supposed to do now?"

Neth said nothing as it continued to float beside him. After waiting for a couple of minutes, he realized he wasn’t going to get anything useful out of it.

He was on his own.

[You have a new Record in your Spirit Archive]

The message specifically informed him that he had a new Record. Presumably that meant he was supposed to access said Record somehow.

’There has to be some way to interact with it’

Displays weren’t exactly uncommon. Televisions, terminals, communication devices; most interfaces operated through commands of some kind. Pressing something. Selecting an option. Saying something if voice controlled.

If his consciousness constructed this thing using concepts familiar to him, perhaps it worked according to similarly familiar logic.

He tried reaching toward the words, but his fingers passed straight through them.

"Right. Not physical"

That ruled out pressing something and selecting an option. That left voice control.

Pulling his hand back, he cleared his throat.

"Understood"

"Confirm"

The message remained unchanged.

"Open"

"View it"

"What is it?"

"Show me"

Rhos’s eyebrow twitched, this was starting to piss him off now. He tried a lot more phrases, some of them he heard from video games but none of them worked!

"Show me for fuck’s sake!"

Still nothing. He slumped against the sofa and stared at the ceiling. It was dark so he couldn’t see much of anything really.

"This is stupid"

Neth floated comfortably above his shoulder.

[Perhaps shouting at your own consciousness will improve matters if you increase the volume]

Rhos glared at its nonexistent smug smile for a bit before calming himself down. Getting angry wasn’t helping.

He picked himself up and studied the message more carefully.

[You have a new Record in your Spirit Archive]

Two parts seemed more significant than the rest. Record and Spirit Archive appeared more pronounced than everything surrounding them.

Rhos narrowed his eyes and let out a self deprecating laugh.

"Maybe I’m overcomplicating it. There’s no way the command is hidden within Record and–"

The instant he said that, the message vanished, cutting off the rest of his sentence.

In place of the last message, a new one appeared.

[Record 001 – Morri]

The same time his irritation vanished, Neth fluttered excitedly. This was good then.

"Morri?"

Her name was actually there in bold. Something about seeing it written there made the name feel more permanent.

’So I won’t be able to change it then?’

Not that he was planning it

He leaned forward and considered his next words carefully.

"Open Record"