What Am I Supposed to Be?: Answers on Castimeria

System Error 123 spent a long time staring at the available portals before them. The blue visor of the aqua and grey protogen displayed a set of blinking black dots as they thought about it. Mozza had told them to try Avangard, but there had to be a reason they appeared in the Castimeria. Maybe that was the best place to start looking for clues to their past and what happened to their creator. Systor displayed a flower of black pixels on their visor as they nervously stepped through the portal to the land of flowers. On the other side, the protogen hesitantly stepped out of the guild and into a new world for the first time.

 

All the colorful flowers hit Systor with amazement, as if this was the first time they had seen such a beautiful sight. It might have been a first for them, but it was hard to be sure with all their corrupted and missing memory files. A loud noise directed the protogen toward some sort of festival that was going on in the streets. Seeing the large gathering of people, Systor reasoned that someone might have known them or had seen something to help them. Large ears and tail flagging low, the protogen entered the crowded festival streets.

 

Despite the large gathering of residents from all over the Paperverse, no one knew who Systor was. After several hours of trying to find clues, the protogen gave up. They went to the island’s edge and sat with their feet in the water for a bit. Part of them wished they could smell it, for they imagined the whole planet had a lovely fragrance. While it was a pretty diversion, Castimeria was starting to feel like a waste of time. Standing up and wiping their feet, Systor spotted a vendor stand they hadn’t seen before. Woven with green and silver flowers and a bored-looking dark-skinned elf operating the stall, it sat solitarily. On display was a bunch of junk and a black data drive with MAL emblazoned on it. Systor’s visor beeped, alerting them that this little piece of tech was what they were looking for.

 

“Welcome to Zebrae’s Oddities. My name is Lypassa,” the dark elf yawned, greeting the black-armored protogen. On the display in the stall were all sorts of bits and pieces of technology. That, coupled with its distance from the rest of the merchants, explained why it wasn’t seeing many customers.

 

“Hello, that data drive there bears the mark of my creator. Could I reclaim it?” Systor asks, pointing to the black drive. I think it might help me recover some memories.”

 

“Fifty gold and its all yours,” Lypassa sighed, brushing a strand of purple hair from her red eyes. Zebrae had warned her against giving anything away for free or unauthorized discounts. “Sorry, no discount for sad stories.”

 

“I don’t have any gold,” Systor sadly replied as their ears dipped low. They were so close to figuring out who they were, but yet another hurdle had appeared. “Is there anyway I can owe you or maybe a favor I can do?”

 

“Mom will be pissed if I gave anything away but perhaps there is something we can work out. I’ll take the the data drive as collateral and you run the stand for the rest of the night so I can meet up with some friends,” the dark elf offered as she picked up the item in question. 

 

“I can do that,” Systor nodded as they offered their hand. Lypassa waved it off and then showed the protogen where the price list was before disappearing to party with her friends at the festival.

 

Luckily, the lack of customers continued for most of the day. A few looky-loos came by to browse, but it was mostly quiet. Systor switched to a low-power mode to save energy between small interactions. As the sun was setting, a customer came by and bought a dozen items. Systor could easily add up the total and figure out the change in a snap using the pop-up calculator on their visor. 

 

It was getting late at night, and all the other vendors had shut down when Lypassa finally stumbled back drunk. Not wanting to leave the dark elf alone in the dark in her state, Systor closed up the stall securely before helping the inebriated woman to her hotel room. As the protogen lay Lypassa on her bed, the black data drive fell out of her pocket. Reasoning that she had gone above and claimed her prize. The word MAL on the drive lit up with a white light in the protogen’s hands. One of the red lights on Systor’s black metal piece slid aside to reveal a data port. They had to flip it around three times, but eventually, the drive slotted in.

 

Immediately, a flash of light engulfed the visored beast’s vision. When it cleared, they were in their creator’s lab, but so was another version of them. They had all the leg and chest armor, but it was silver, not black, and their visor was missing. A soft canine face with bright green eyes was visible. In the lab with them was a taller female cross fox in a stained lab coat, torn t-shirt, and burnt jeans.

 

“The answer is no, you are too valuable to your brother as his spare parts,” the fox gowled an answer to an unspoken question.

 

“Please! Dr. Mal, I know I can help,” the visorless Systor pleaded. “I’ll undergo the final conversion. Please let me help on the front lines!”

 

“I was saving that for when I needed your eyes and teeth for your twin but I can put them in preserve,” the doctor took the incomplete protogen’s head in her hands. “I’ll finish your conversion, but you’ll be playing a front-line support role, not a combat one. Prepare yourself, there’s no anesthesia for this one.”

 

A beep from their visor brought Systor back to the present as a message proclaiming that the Support Gauntlets were back online. With a tiny flex of their hands, black metal gloves appeared from under the protogen’s skin to cover their hands. Readouts on the blue visor indicated that they could vent steam through them as water vapor or convert it into a healing mist for minor injuries. They also increased the Systor’s strength by tenfold while they were active. 

 

After checking again to ensure Lypassa was alright, the protogen left and returned to the guild. Systor’s mission into Castimeria was a success! They recovered the memory of their creator’s name and the fact that they had green eyes before the visor, along with other things. As a bonus, they unlocked an upgrade that would allow them to help people. Maybe since they could vent from their hands, the protogen could start wearing some clothing to fit in better.