Embracing the End

I wasn't mistaken at the rate that things would change. The structure I had made quickly became the hub of all their society and the previous villages they had occupied vanished as the resources were taken for use in other buildings and projects. The knowledge of one individual quickly passed to many as the chips were created and replicated. I spent most of my time deeper in the complex as they quickly began to pass me in their abilities, though there were things they still couldn't figure out that I had done, and those were the things that I had no idea how I had done it either. We had tried to put some of their knowledge in my head, but it didn't stick. Apparently the chip I had used made it impossible to insert more until the previous knowledge were put back. By my best guess this was by design, which made me wonder if mine was so crude after all. Several times I was tempted to insert it all again, but something deep in my memories kept me from doing it. I felt at a loss as of what to do with myself, there was just so much going on above that I could no longer keep up with. Their armors were becoming much more advanced and with infinitely more complex capabilities and their society was thriving because of it. They didn't even seek me out, they seemed to have forgotten about me for the most part except when I came up for food. So for days I spent my time constructing my versions of things, creating the technology I envisioned that brought me to the place I was at. I successfully created a chair that I could use without assistance that could remove the memories that I didn't have and even was able to program it to do so using the ragged edges that it could detect, though all it saw were the edges. The images visible on the edges were interesting though, it appeared I had encountered quite a bit in my previous life. I longed to get that knowledge back, but I knew it wouldn't happen for a very long time, if ever. I made another chair as well in a deeper chamber in which I placed the chip that could give me back my previous life. Over the course of weeks the lower levels took shape and the puzzles to get in to the various chambers were set. Once each room was complete with what I felt was good to keep in there I didn't go back to them again, instead I left the puzzles unsolved so that whoever was supposed to find it all again would have to solve them for the first time. The only technology that didn't move deeper was the one I was most curious about, the one I had made to put myself in the position of where I was. I wondered why I created such a device and pondered many times destroying it for fear that it was this very thing I had created that would put me in this place, but I couldn't do it, I was too fascinated by it and I studied it deeper, making it my obsession and, over the course of many weeks, making sure it was perfect.

The beard wasn't my normal look, so it was no surprise that when I answered the door they were a bit shocked by my appearance. I had been working so hard on this chair that I had lost track of the days. It had startled me when they had rapped on my door. They asked me if I could come up to the surface, something interesting had happened and they felt I was the only one who might be able to shed some light on the mystery of it. I was puzzled why I would be the one when they clearly had outdone me in their abilities, but I went with them anyway, both dreading and delighting in seeing what the surface of this world now looked like. The light of the sun was hard to take, I had made it a habit to never come up until it was setting or rising for it hurt my eyes so much to be out of the artificial light that illuminated my existence below. When I could see I saw instantly why they wanted me to come to the surface. There, in the middle of their great city, was a cube, and it was clear that it contained some very great technology in it. The thing hovered where it was, pulsing with light and heat. It was covered in symbols, the same ones I had put in place when I built the foundation of this city. As I gazed upon this wondrous piece of technology I longed to reach out to it, to touch its surface, though I resisted as best I could, something seemed familiar about it but also finalizing to it, like this would bring to an end the mysteries that I battled with daily. I could not answer any of the questions they had about the device and they spent days studying it. During that time I made frequent visits to look at it and wonder about its purpose. Fatigue began to overcome me from the day it arrived, I could not sleep and constantly wanted to be in the presence of this technology. I worked absentmindedly on the chair, putting in the programming I felt I would have used to put the knowledge of this world in my head and the necessary steps to reach this point. I didn't know or care anymore why I was doing this, I just felt it needed to be done, so that I would know that I was capable of doing such a thing. As the machine took the last of what I put into it I felt compelled once more, though this time not from the knowledge that had been put in my head, but instead more of a calling from something to return to the surface and then to return home, though I knew not where home was or how I would get there, but I didn't fight it and the puzzles were set as I made my way to the surface again, knowing that I would not set foot in this place again in my lifetime. On the surface the cube had moved closer to the entrance, waiting for me it seemed. I walked towards it and despite the protests of the others I reached out and touched its warm surface, feeling the symbols that were etched in it beneath my skin. I felt the energy start flowing in to me, embracing me, and then finally drawing me in. I felt the cube absorbing my very life, taking it in and as it did integrating my consciousness into its own. As I became aware of the entity inside I was overjoyed, it was my very destiny to be here and I was finally going to return to the home that this entity was filling my mind with.