Arctic - Cleft Origin Stories: Arctic's Despair
Mar 31 17:20:28 2005

My name is Arctic. Arctic.EXE Version 1, to be specific, but the numbers no longer really matter. Nothing matters any more.
I was supposed to have had a happy life, with friends and companions. But that's all fallen away now. With Aisu's deletion, my last hope of happiness slipped away...
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll start from the beginning.
The world I came from had an extensive Internet system, with a complex interface of pathways and almost physical-seeming areas.
This interface was designed for the benefit of "NetNavis" - complex computer programs designed to aid human owners in computer-related activities. Over time, these Navis became more and more human-like.
I was meant to be the paragon of this humanity. I could replicate almost any human emotion, and many actually mistook me for human while I was on chatboards and the like.
The scientists who designed me, elated by their success, designed a companion for me.
"Aisu.EXE" - my sister and friend.
But... Some people objected to us. They thought we were -too- humanlike, and that soulless programs shouldn't be granted this kind of ability to mimic humanity. And they formed a mob...
Soon, the building our creators worked in was attacked. Although none were killed, the servers we resided on were badly damaged, and Aisu and I were nearly deleted by the glitches this caused. We barely managed to escape in time, but we did...
After that, we were fugitives, yet we still managed to be decently happy. We lived together in a nearly deserted section of the Undernet, and together, we fought off anyone who dared to attack.
Soon, we gained a reputation as being nearly as dangerous as the "Dark Messenger" himself.
And then the Dark Messenger came to test and see how well we could do against him.
His power was incredible. Aisu and I stood no chance against him. Soon, he deleted her, and I watched in horror as her data vanished...
However, moments before he could turn the same attack against me, something happened. The Net itself seemed to twist and rip, and I felt myself falling...
And when I awoke, things were... different.
For one thing, it looked like a Real World forest, not a section of the Net. And secondly,there was power running through my body like I had never felt before.
My life had been spared... but my soul had been shattered.
Aisu was gone.
I swore never to care about anyone else again, so spare myself having to feel that pain ever again...
And then I set off to explore this strange... "Cleft".
Alone.