Chapter 89: Errors
The lion was quiet for a long moment, embers popping softly across the cave floor, before it finally spoke.
.
"Attributes are defects," it said.
"They are errors within the Matrix that governs the Omnisphere."
"Defects?" Morden blinked.
"Not in the way you’re thinking, though," the Lion said.
"Not weakness or anything like that, a defect in the sense that something exists where it isn’t supposed to. A flaw in the pattern."
"That doesn’t sound much better than what I already assumed."
"It isn’t meant to comfort you though, hahah, it’s the truth and nothing else," the Lion said.
Morden crossed his arms while trying to process that.
"Okay. So what causes it? Why does someone end up with one and not everyone else?"
"There are many reasons," the Lion said.
"Some are born already carrying the flaw, though that’s rare. Others gain it through contact with something that shouldn’t exist within the natural order, places like the Old World, or through experiences the Matrix itself cannot properly categorize."
"So it’s random."
"It’s rarely random," the Lion corrected.
"Even chaos tends to have a shape, once you understand it well enough."
Morden let that sit for a second; he didn’t attempt to say anything. He just stood there and stared at the Flaming Lion, who was also actively trying to avoid his gaze.
In his opinion, it was almost as if he had grown tired of his question or wasn’t ready for it anymore. But for Morden, it wasn’t enough; he still had more questions, and he was going to ask them all.
"Fine. So say I have one. Why does that make me a target?"
"Because you are detestible, like filth that should be taken care of as soon as possible," the Lion said.
"Growth, decay, hunting, being hunted—all of it follows a pattern the Omnisphere itself enforces. An attribute disrupts that pattern. It almost always introduces something the system cannot predict or control."
"And the system doesn’t like things it can’t control."
"No," the Lion agreed.
Morden felt something cold settle in his chest as the pieces slowly began clicking into place. "So the Omnisphere actively tries to get rid of us. That’s what the citywide event was."
"Yes," the Lion said simply.
"How? What actually happens when it decides to remove someone?"
The lion’s flames dimmed slightly, the closest thing to hesitation it had shown all night.
"It depends on the severity of the flaw. Some are simply monitored. Others are quietly redirected, nudged away from paths that would let them grow stronger. And some—"
It stopped before it could say anymore, which only serves to increase Morden’s yearning.
"And some what?" Morden pressed.
"Are erased," the Lion said.
"Removed entirely, as if they should have never existed in the system in the first place,
"Erased? Are you saying they are killed?"
"Killed implies a body is left behind," the Lion said. "This is different; it is much, much cleaner. The Matrix directly intervenes and is almost completely caring for their existence."
Morden’s mind flashed unwillingly to the phrase burned into his own status screen, the one he’d carried since his first trial without ever understanding it: ’The One Who Shouldn’t Be.’
"Why hasn’t it erased me yet, then?" he asked, his voice quieter than before.
"That is a question even I don’t have the answer to. Do you think I know everything? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don’t interfere in things that don’t concern me."
Morden exhaled slowly, trying to keep his thoughts from spiraling too far ahead of what he actually knew.
"Okay. Say the Matrix wants to remove people like me. Why would anything within the Omnisphere want to work against that?"
"I am not sure your attribute is on the same level as the others, at least not the source."
"Great, I am extra broken," Morden muttered.
"You’re something the Matrix doesn’t fully understand," the Lion corrected. "That isn’t the same as broken."
Morden let out a short, humorless laugh; to him what he was hearing the Flaming Lion say was almost the same as what he had thought.
The Flaming Lion didn’t respond to that, just watched him with those steady golden eyes as it was waiting for whatever question came next.
Morden took a moment to gather himself, running through everything he’d just heard, trying to fit it against everything he already knew: the notification at the gate, the guards turning to track only him, the person with the shadow who seemed to know exactly what he was, and the Administrator, Mona.
"If the Matrix wants people like me gone," he said slowly,
"Then why did you step in tonight? Why send something to protect us at all if the system itself wants us erased?"
The lion was quiet for a moment, flames shifting slightly along its mane.
"The Omnisphere didn’t send me," it said finally. "At least, not the whole of it."
Morden’s brow furrowed. "What does that mean?"
"It means exactly what it sounds like," the Lion said.
"There are things you shouldn’t know; there are things I shouldn’t know also, at least not for now."
"Exposure is very dangerous."
Morden stared at the massive creature in front of him, the weight of that answer settling slowly over everything he’d assumed about this world since the moment he arrived.
"So you are telling me, you are going against the Omnisphere."
"I am going against part of it," the Lion said.
"There is a difference, though I doubt you’ll understand that difference tonight."
Morden opened his mouth to ask another question, but the Lion lifted its massive head slightly, cutting him off before he could speak.
"That’s enough for tonight," it said.
"You have more questions than answers can currently satisfy, and dwelling on them further will not change what you already know."
Morden wanted to push, wanted to demand more, but exhaustion was creeping back into his limbs, the adrenaline from earlier finally starting to fade.
For now, at least, it would have to be enough.