Chương 152: B3. 8.1 - An Unexpected Date

"This looks so tasty." I sat at a table outside the restaurant, eyeing the wide plate of food in front of me. A full English breakfast! Crispy strips of bacon, juicy sausages, golden eggs, boring beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, toasted bread, and those circular black thingies. This was black pudding. I had never tried it before. Supposed to be blood sausage or something. Some people might think of black pudding as common, but I considered it quite exotic.

I was never adventurous when it came to food and hadn't tried anything with blood as an ingredient… That wasn't entirely correct. I had eaten lots of people and monsters as Blanchette—flesh, blood, bones, and all. Black pudding shouldn't be too bad in comparison. I speared a slice of black pudding with my fork and plopped the whole thing into my mouth. Go big, or go home, as they say. And I wasn't going home until I had finished my meal. The black pudding was… sweet? What the hell? I continued chewing.

It had a texture like salami but gave an unexpected taste, as if it were caramel or honey. I expected it to be savory. It should be meaty and also earthy because of the blood—it was none of that. This didn't seem right.

"What about this?" I picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite. It was also sweet. Not in a honey-cured bacon kind of way. This tasted more like candy than bacon. I tried the sausages, mushrooms, and tomatoes. None of them tasted right. Even the egg yolk had notes of milk chocolate. What was going on? Maybe the blood pudding messed with my tongue. I needed water to cleanse my— A glass of water suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Oh? I'm in a fucking dream…" That explained the floating buildings around me. I was in a familiar place. Somewhere in downtown La Esperanza, if I had to guess. The large buildings lining the wide street had been broken into chunks that slowly floated upward into a giant vortex of darkness in the sky. I probably should've noticed the crazy things going on, especially that black hole thingy, but I was focused on my full English breakfast that turned out to be fake.

I wondered what this dream was supposed to mean as I drank from the glass. Sure enough, the water was super sweet, as if someone dissolved half a pound of sugar in it. A dream or a nightmare? My personal idea of heaven, if it ever existed, was a land of bountiful sweet treats. Now, I realize how bad of an idea that was. Very boring if everything was sweet. Could I appreciate sweetness if I couldn't taste bitterness or sourness? Could one be truly happy without experiencing sadness?

I was feeling very philosophical while in a dream. Hang on… Since I had realized that I was in a dream, I should be able to control stuff around here, right? It was called lucid dreaming or something. The glass of water did appear when I thought of it. What about an éclair? Perhaps it'd turn out to be savory in this opposite land. An éclair appeared in front of my face, floating mid-air. I bit its end as it rotated. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, it tasted like beef jerky.

If this is how it was going to be, so be it. I ate my sweet English breakfast and savory éclair, enjoying the view of a crumbling world. Not sure what this was supposed to mean. That my normal life was getting turned upside down? That nothing was making sense anymore, with even the taste of food swapping with each other? The restaurant beside me soundlessly broke into many pieces as the black hole pulled it up. I didn't really feel the gravitational force of the black hole.

But the slab of sidewalk that I was sitting on soon followed the restaurant to the sky, bringing my table, chair, and me along with it. I hastily finished eating as my plate tumbled midair. I picked sausages and bacon amidst the rubble and scooped clumps of beans floating around with my hands. This is the weirdest dream I ever had, I thought, nibbling on the last piece of bacon while tumbling through the floating debris.

The masses of destroyed buildings high above gradually disintegrated into dust as they neared the black hole. Should I be worried about this? Of course, not. This was a dream. I'd probably just wake up after going through the hole. I tried materializing other kinds of food, but no more appeared. I thought of growing wings. Of being able to fly around. Of changing the bizarre setting. Nothing happened. My ascent continued unimpeded. The bacon I held stretched upward before tearing itself into shreds.

My fingers and arms elongated, too. Fascinating. It wasn't painful. Looking down, I found my torso and legs stretched to around a dozen feet. And longer. My spaghettified body snapped in two around the waist. More pieces. Soon, I was a jigsaw puzzle. I willed myself to stay together, fighting the floaty mental fog of the dreamland. My body was in tatters, as if I had gone through a paper shredder, but all the pieces stayed in a roughly humanoid shape. The sunny day dimmed as I neared the black hole.

Everything spun in a violent whirlwind, as if the entire world was getting flushed into the sky. And soon it was complete darkness. Now what? A sudden burst of light tore through the darkness. This fucking big bang blinded me! How was this possible, given that my eyes had disintegrated? I also didn't expect I could dream of such a bright light. Shielding my face with my amorphous arms, I turned my floating self around and away from the light. There are others? Several twinkling lights far away.

They grew brighter with each passing second. Were they coming closer? Or were they—? Something coming from behind me made me pause my thoughts. Glowing tendrils stretched outward, presumably from the ball of light I had turned away from. Pulses of light traveled through the filaments, reminding me of fiber optics depicted in ads for superfast internet. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I had seen these tendrils before. No, not from the stupid commercials.

These specific hairlike tentacles… That annoying bright ball of light… This odd, slimy blob form of my body… I had been in this place before, I thought, rotating to see the Core. My artificial Core. This was what it was. I was in its dimension or whatever, similar to Spooky Erind having her own space in my mind. Memories from my first encounter with the Core returned in a rushing wave. The Core had wrapped me with its tentacles and pulled me towards it.

Spooky Erind, activating her golden gauntlet on my hand, tore through the filaments and freed me. And that was it, I think? Should I have allowed myself to get taken back then? Would Spooky Erind have been booted out of my mind? I might've robbed myself of a cure. But I wasn't so open to the idea of a ball of light absorbing my consciousness. Dario didn't mention that this was supposed to happen. None of the hero wannabes shared such an experience; it was too important an event to keep quiet about.

Deen would definitely tell me about it. The artificial Core manifesting in my mind must be specific to me, given that I was the main character of the story. An Adumbrae and an artificial Corebring. Two-in-one and, perhaps, the one of a kind. I was— (A curious reaction you have to this situation…) said a mellow voice in my mind. It filled me with a sense of peace. But the voice was also powerful, shaking the particles of my blobby existence despite the calmness enveloping me. (Your head is always so… active.)"Core? Is that you?" I asked, though I didn't have a mouth to speak. I peeked through the gap between my floppy arms. The Core was too bright to look at. Even brighter now.

"You can talk?" This super confirmed that I was special. Dario would be the first to orient us about conversing with our Cores. This could be my bargaining chip with the Professor to— (Can you relax your mind for a moment, my child?) Light pulsed as the Core spoke.

"I'm not your child." Pesky beings inhabiting my mind, both this Core and Spooky Erind. How could I scheme when they knew everything that I thought? (You are my child. And I am your mother from beyond the stars.)"Mother? Mother Core…?" Stories about the origin of the Mother Core that Dad used to tell me echoed in my ear. Meteorites from somewhere outside the solar system that scientists couldn't calculate landed on Earth during the Adumbrae War.

Mother Fragments inside these meteorites found their way to random people. The first Corebrings were incredibly powerful, fighting country-spanning Purple Blooms and thousands of titanic monsters. As the Adumbrae War came to a close, those Corebrings gave up their Mother Fragments to form the Mother Core hidden inside the Hive. Technically, it wasn't just their Cores that they gave up; they all died.

Only a handful of the godlike first generation of Corebrings didn't sacrifice their lives to form the Mother Core, retaining their Mother Fragments to guard the Hive as it developed. The Hive produced the next generation of Corebrings since then. I'd be so mad if this meant that I couldn't get rid of the Core in my chest without dying. (I am… the Mother Core!) Its light flashed so bright that everything turned white for a moment. Good job on the theatrics there.

As the light subsided, the Core continued, (And you are one of my many children that I protect from the dangers beyond the veil. Such is my duty as your mother.)"Is this a trick or something? You're just an artificial version. You're not the real thing." (But I am the Mother Core. Your siblings took slivers of my being to create Cores of their own. I appreciate the tenacity of my children to find their own way to survive, to stand on their own feet. They might have created weaker copies, but the source is the same. Everything connects to me. And I connect to the stars.)"So, Dario was telling the truth that their organization has a Mother Fragment." I didn't like how the Core referred to the Professor and other scientists as my 'siblings'. It seemed to consider all of humanity to be siblings. Not sure what I was supposed to discuss with this thing. Curing my seeding? But I somehow couldn't bring myself to trust the Core. It had tried to absorb me.

I didn't trust Spooky Erind either, but she was much easier to talk to. Perhaps that was just her Adumbrae powers at work.

"Why are you talking to me?" I asked.

"Why haven't you approached the others with artificial Cores?" (Your body is a battleground, my child,) said the Core, releasing more tendrils. (Another entity inhabits it.)"The Adumbrae was in here before you. Are you going to destroy me because I'm seeded by this 'danger from beyond the veil', as you put it?" I eyed the multiplying filaments of light that slowly invaded the darkness. None of the tendrils came close to me this time, pushing outward instead of wrapping around me. (You may yet be saved. If… you allow me to help.) I should accept its help. I should ask more questions. I should be celebrating. But the Core was giving off a sketchy vibe. Why couldn't I trust it? Remember all its help. The Core reverted the mutations of my body. It also controlled my rampage at the docks. The Corebrings were supposed to be the good guys. Did I already identify with Adumbrae that I had become instinctively against the Core?

"What help can you give me? Can you turn me back to human again?" As soon as I finished the question, doubts crept in if it was what I truly wanted. I missed my normal life. But I also immensely enjoyed my new life, including ripping people to shreds. I wasn't keeping that a secret from the Core. (Don't fall to temptations, my child. This is not your nature. To have flaws is but human. To rise above those flaws is also human. The intruders from the other side cultivate your flaws until they become your whole being, which shouldn't be.) I kind of understood why I didn't like the Core.

"I… don't think of myself as flawed." Damn right, we're not flawed. My right hand glowed bright gold as the outline of claws solidified. Metal pieces appeared out nowhere and clanged into place, encasing my arm. My hand, on its own, pointed at the Core as the gauntlet continued to form. How dare you come in here and peddle your nonsense? A fake being like you claiming to have the power to kick me out? How laughable. I'm going to laugh now.

"Spooky Erind?" I asked as her laughter echoed. And you! A claw pointed at my chest. We're not idiots. And yet, you allowed yourself to get distracted?

"Distracted?" I turned around. The Core's filaments headed to the distant lights. It was trying to make contact with them. I didn't know what they were supposed to be—could be the Cores of the hero wannabes—but Spooky Erind didn't want my Core to succeed. What about me? Should I side with the Core? Or Spooky Erind? You're continuing to be an idiot! Meyou should survive! Stop it calling for help! I swam through the rivers of darkness to reach for the flowing light.

Using the golden gauntlet, I slashed left and right, pruning the filaments in my way. Four lights of various colors were closest to us—these were the targets of my Core. Zero clue about what'd happen, but Spooky Erind was worried. Maybe I should be, too. (My child, you continue to listen to this usurper. You know that this entity brings you no good.) I've brought a lot of good, came Spooky Erind's reply. Erind would be dead without me.

(She preserves you for her own taking,) the Core said to me, refusing to directly reply to Spooky Erind. (You know this to be true. Why do you help her?)"What are you doing then?" I asked, wildly whacking at the filaments. Long strands fizzled into nothing as I cut them.

"Explain to me so I can decide!"