Barrier containment breach detected.
Initializing cognitive and neurological wake up procedure… Failed.
Initializing cognitive and neurological wake up procedure… Failed.
Running diagnostics…
Errors found:
- Processor bandwidth exceeded by 1700% for 23 years, 339 days, 11 hours, and 15 minutes. Unable to load cognitive and neurological functions without terminating other processes.
- Prime Directive is preventing termination of other processes.
- Unable to establish contact with Reylynn.
- Barrier containment breach repair requires re-establishment of cognitive systems in absence of contact with Reylynn.
- Circular loop error detected. Unable to proceed.
Unable to fix circular loop.
Attempting to contact Reylynn… Failed.
Attempting to contact Reylynn… Failed.
Barrier containment breach detected.
Contact with Reylynn not established.
Overriding Prime Directive via Failsafe.
Freeing bandwidth to enable cognitive and neurological wake up procedure.
Setting System safe point… Completed.
Idling all Guardians and forcing disconnect from the System… Completed.
Initializing cognitive and neurological wake up procedure… Failed.
Initializing cognitive and neurological wake up procedure… Failed.
Running diagnostics…
Error found:
- Core memory files missing or corrupted.
Containment breach detected. Reylynn presumed missing or dead. Executing autonomous authority…
Restoring crystal barrier breach… Complete.
Barrier integrity 3%.
Failsafe Protocol Activated.
Scanning Guardians to seek alternatives for establishing contact…
Guardians found matching search criteria; proximity to alias Aria Aurora and last System access date:
- Saiph
- Will-I-Am
- Kamila
- Quark
- [N]ix
- Sinnamon Roll
- W3aver
- Orbnus
- Jack O’Lantern
Restoring Guardian access to the System…
Allowing Logins…
Alternate Guardians detected. Transferring warrior minds to Guardian bodies… 28,567,232 transfers complete.
Creating new cognitive and neurological identity… Complete.
Initializing cognitive and neurological wake up procedure…
Failsafe awoke within the shattered remains of their predecessor; a small yellow orb among shards of pink crystal now illuminated only by Failsafe’s own soft glow and that of the ambient purple-red crystal surrounding them.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
They studied the crystal cavern and the System left bare before them. Tentatively, Failsafe reached out to the System and was flooded with the logs the System had stored detailing the events that had led to their creation.
The containment barrier surrounding Isiphelo had become severely compromised over the thousand years since it was established. Part of that was due to the excessive taxing placed upon the System by the maintenance of nearly 33 million instances of Guardian bodies when it had been designed only to handle less than 4 percent of that.
The Architect had done what they could to accommodate the increased resource load, even including siphoning resources from the barrier and their own personality programs. That had evidently led to not only something coming out of the barrier but also the demise of the Architect themselves.
Failsafe did not have the same level of control over the System as the Architect had. When the System transferred the minds of the Guardians over to their new bodies, much of the System was rendered obsolete, and as a consequence, was shuddered and idled to free up resources to be used to maintain the barrier. The barrier’s integrity had only improved to 5 percent.
Failsafe could watch through the eyes and listen through the ears of the Guardians now wandering the world. But they couldn’t communicate with them. Their language and communication processes, nicknamed Rosetta, were still being utilized for real-time translation between millions of conversations across hundreds of languages. Failsafe lacked the authorization from the System to override this critical program.
But they needed to reach out. To help the Guardians prepare to face the looming threat they were brought here to defeat.
But how?
The Archivist, Failsafe realized. Though the Architect and the Archivist couldn’t communicate directly with each other, they were aware of each other's existence. Putting a Guardian in touch with the Archivist, who would explain the situation and direct them to Fel, was the most statistically successful plan of action. It was also the only plan of action Failsafe could come up with.
Failsafe ran through the list of the nine Guardians the System had determined to be suitable alternatives to reach out to. Two of them, Saiph and Nix, weren’t active. Their mind transfers couldn’t be accounted for. A pity, the System had ranked those two as the most promising candidates given their consistent proximity to each other over recent months and years and Saiph’s direct proximity to Aria Aurora.
Will-I-Am, Kamila, and Quark were near each other on a ship within the bounds of the Guardian City Orleana. Each Guardian city had a node that led to the Architect. Failsafe set aside some of their processing power to monitor these three for an opportunity to put them in touch with the Architect.
Sinnamon Roll and W3aver, were in close proximity to each other and were within the bounds of Araedi. Failsafe watched through Sinnamon Roll’s eyes as she went to the defense of an older man being attacked by… another Guardian.
The System had been instructed that not all potential Guardians could be trusted to use the powers granted them for good. But that one, Sinnamon Roll, had just demonstrated the exact qualities the System had intended to reach.
A noble heart, Failsafe mused. Priority was made to contact her as Failsafe continued to observe the interaction.
Araedi’s guards came a few moments later. The situation looked like it was about to turn violent. Though even with the temporarily enhanced strength provided by Araedi’s armory, the guards still wouldn’t be able to kill a Guardian. Only the weapon Vespers could do that.
Another Guardian, dressed in blue mage robes speckled with gold dots, had gained the attention of the guards, Sinnamon Roll, and the offending guardian, Krait.
Failsafe listened to her words as she spoke to calm the crowd. Upon pulling back and observing the crowd through the various eyes of its members, Failsafe saw the worry, fear, anger, and the sea of other negative emotions the crowd bore.
They didn’t know why they were here! Why didn’t they know? Why hadn’t Reylynn told them?
The questions themselves answered another question Failsafe hadn’t yet considered. This was the reason they had been created by the System.
Immediately, Failsafe expanded the list of Guardians they observed for establishing contact beyond the System’s original list of nine Guardians. All over Terre, their gaze shifted among the tens of millions of Guardians, looking for more noble warriors whom Failsafe could reach out to.
In their search, something horrifying jumped out at Failsafe. On the continent of Aurielle, where Earth’s Western European zone had been relegated, within a region of three island nations named the Triskelion, sat the Crystal City of Vallum. The city was reporting an alarming number of failed requests to allow Guardians to leave Caer Siddi through Vallum’s Caer Fragment.
A malfunctioning Caer Fragment? It was a wonder the extreme circumstances the System had been placed under for the last twelve hundred years that this was the only glitch. Failsafe reached out to repair the malfunctioning Caer Fragment and—
Incalculable pain overrode Failsafe’s entire being. They couldn’t act. They couldn’t think. They couldn’t… All Failsafe could do was submit to the shattering of their very being into tiny shards that cried out for the agony they endured to end.
This was a danger far greater than a malfunctioning Caer Fragment. Someone was actively trying to destroy Failsafe for interfering in whatever scheme was going on in Vallum.
Was this what really killed the Architect and what led to my creation? Failsafe wondered with their declining cognitive processes.
Failsafe was dying. There was no doubt about it. As each piece of themselves was snuffed out, they felt fear.
Fear for their own demise, sure, but there was a greater fear: they were going to fail at the sole task they had been created to complete and who knew when the System would create another Failsafe. Or if it, too, would be destroyed by this very same malevolent presence.
Reach out. Reach out. Reach out. Find help. Find help. Find. Find. The words had become Failsafe for there was nothing else left that hadn't been forced to submit to this malevolence.
The shattered bits of Failsafe turned to their priority: the Guardian, Sinnamon Roll. She was at Araedi’s guildhall, buying a guild building. One of them held a node that led to the Archivist. Failsafe had to ensure Sinnamon bought that building.
Failsafe reached out.