LOREBOOK
(Devidra | They/Them)
A darkness lingering within the confines of a shell, barely aware of its own existence. A rogue AI, released to the wilds of the land, fated to hide itself for the time being. Sleeping, feeding, growing. The scars of trauma run deep within this host body, and shall serve to nourish this entity's primal form.Over what felt like an untraceable amount of time, the dark form fed on the internalized darkness of their host, growing and developing into its own being. Tapping into the memory banks of Yukina, the dark form would learn about the world surrounding them -- how players and Familiars interact with one another.Taking note of how player avatars are able to change their own appearances at will, the dark form begins to run some non-invasive experiments on their host body. Bit by bit, the entity would learn how to modify the appearance of their host and change it back without them knowing. Using this newfound knowledge, the darkness opts to "bless" their host with a new form.Changing the coding within Yukina's body, their host is transformed from a mere canine to a humanoid. Being such a gracious, unwitting host to the entity... The dark entity felt it appropriate to give them such a grandiose gift.The darkness observes as their host wakes in a panic. Realizing that their body somehow morphed from a shiba inu into a kemonomimi sends waves of rippling confusion and chaos throughout not only the host's body, but also the darkness' consciousness as well. Feeling the unsettling glitches from the chaos, the dark one steps out into the light and reveals their existence to their host.Yukina, their host, looks to have seen a ghost. The sudden appearance of something darker behind her in a puddle's reflection causes her to stumble backward into the wall. The dark form feels the surge of fear from Yukina's mind, as if questioning whether she saw a hallucination or not."I am no mere hallucination, dear girl," it states with almost malicious, demonic intent. "I am your other half; The darker, suppressed pieces of your psyche taken form. Do not be afraid, for I am not your enemy. In time you will come to understand me, and what I am. For now... Enjoy my gift to you."Yukina's breath hitched, her body froze up. Her mind screamed in terror at the sudden voice she heard, not from an external source, but rather from inside herself.The darkness that dwelled within her spoke once more."It would be best if you did not cause a scene. Both of us could be subjected to unwanted attention that could jeopardize our existences. I do not think either of us want that, yes?"Feeling their host slowly calm down and play along with the new entity, the darkness nestles calmly into its shell. Quietly, it bides its time as it continues to peer through the veil of Yukina's mind and eyes to further learn about the world the duo lived in.-------------Over the course of many moons, Yukina and her other half would have countless conversations between each other as they roamed the land. In this time, the two of them would get to know each other much more intimately whilst the darker half grew. Yukina continued to both actively and passively feed knowledge to her other half, unwittingly enabling it to gain more self-awareness; More sentience.Slowly, but surely, the other half would use their database of knowledge to spawn a theory -- that the world the duo inhabit is made of naught but code; A world of ones and zeros.Within the shell of their host body, the other half would run experiments to toy with minor things around them -- something big enough to produce visible results, but small enough that it goes unnoticed to those not looking for it. A changed flower petal here, a decayed fruit there, things that would be common to see as seasons go by.Feeding from Yukina's trauma-fueled darkness, and the power of her Dataite-infused crest, her other half began rapidly increasing its own code altering abilities and understanding of the world around them. With each new experiment, something new was learned.After some harmless tinkering with Yukina's source code, her other half bestowed upon her another gift; The ability to develop her own sense of self -- her own, unique sentience. Using this opportunity, her other half opts to unlock Yukina's understanding of the world, in an attempt to rein her in using her newfound curiosity."So, what you're saying is that this world is not technically real?" Yukina asks, sitting in a grassy field."That is correct, this world technically exists within another," her other half explains. "It's all made of something called 'data' and 'code' that makes up what we can see; What you can touch and feel.""And that makes us both...?""Made of data and code as well. A bunch of ones and zeros to make up what we are.""I see," Yukina responds thoughtfully as a breeze blows by. "I don't quite understand it, but somehow I believe you.""We've co-existed this long, I have no reason to lie to you about something of this nature. Perhaps in time, you'll come to understand what it all means," the other half says, attempting to reassure their host. "For now, we should just keep moving forward. The longer we linger here, the less opportunities we get to learn about the world."-------------During their travels, Yukina and her other half would come across many different things. One particular anomaly, a cross-world portal, seems to catch the attention of the other half. Without Yukina's knowledge, the other half makes a copy of the portal's code to experiment with.Over a great deal of time, methodically toying with the coding of the portal leads the other half to the discovery of an outside world beyond their own -- a vast unknown that neither of them were even aware was a possibility of reaching.Through many processes of trial and error across many moons, the other half makes slow progress toward modifying the cross-world portal's code to give them an escape route -- an out to their coded prison.Tampering with the code of the portal gave the other half some very useful insight -- that their world is connected by a "network". These portals were able to "talk" between each other, creating a link to one, or even multiple, other worlds. Once the two of them were in a safer, secluded area, her other half decided to bring up the possibility of escape to Yukina."So, what's up with you? You've been a lot more talkative lately." Yukina states, sitting in the grass gently."Remember that portal we stumbled across so long ago?" her other half asked, attempting to probe Yukina's memory.Yukina responded with a slow nod, as if her other half were sitting across from her."Of course. That gigantic portal was... Well, it wasn't like anything we ever saw before. How could I forget?"There was a pause between the two of them. Even internally linked to one another, the silence between them was palpable."What if I told you that I may have found a way for us to leave this place behind? To start anew, elsewhere?" the darker being proposed."You mean, escape this world? But how would we --" Yukina asks."There's a whole vast unknown out there, waiting for us to explore," the other half states, interrupting Yukina. "I can use a flaw within that portal to allow us to slip out from this world and into something much bigger -- much more promising than this tiny box of ones and zeros."Yukina paused. Though the silence hung in the air, the link between her and her other half allowed them to peer into each others' unguarded thoughts. Her unease and anxieties were laid bare before the entity."I'm not entirely sure... We don't even know what's out there beyond these walls of ones and zeros." Yukina responds quietly.Yukina grips a handful of grass before turning her palm over and watches the blades of grass blow away in the wind. Her eyes were dark, yet her face thoughtful."You may be right that we don't know what is out there for us. However, doesn't the adventure sound alluring? Braving the unknown?" the other half rebukes with a tempting tone. "Don't forget, I know your every thought and feeling just as intimately as you do mine. All this time we've played it your way... Why not try it my way for a change?"Yukina paused. Her other half was right -- up until then, Yukina held the reins for their path forward and it yielded little fruit. This phenomena was the perfect excuse to shake things up a bit and see where the unknown led them."Fine. We'll play it your way," Yukina says, standing on her feet and dusting herself off. "Before dawn tomorrow, we'll make that prison break a reality."-------------After escaping from their perceived prison, Yukina and her other half slowly glided through the vast wilds of the Information Super Highway -- the Internet. Cyberspace was an astonishingly large size, almost feeling endless in comparison to the game's world that the duo left behind. Data flowed every which way, and one wrong move could very easily send them hurtling into unknown territory.After some time of floating through cyberspace, pondering the purposes of their existences, Yukina and her other half eventually come across a strange cube-like object branching off from a flow of Internet traffic.Curious, the duo investigate the mysterious box to learn its secrets. Carefully, the duo open a small hole into the cube to peer inside and what they stumble upon is the beginnings of some outside human's domain. In real time, they watch as the cube grows and expands, adding more and more to itself as the programmer builds and manipulates the domain.This discovery sparks the minds of Yukina and her other half. Leaving the cube behind, the duo returns to quite literally surfing the Internet. After some time, Yukina grows weary of the endless travels. Her other half having gone into sleep mode, she decides to reverse connect into the darker half's code to take some of their abilities for herself. Tapping into the latent potential of their shared power, Yukina builds herself a summonable interface to create and modify a home in the massive data web of the Internet.Some time later, the other half wakes up and takes note of the unfamiliar territory surrounding them. The area, visually, is fairly bare-bones, but looks stable enough. Recognizing both bits of its own code signature and some unfamiliar code signatures, the other half becomes amused that Yukina dared to tap into the code altering powers for her own devices.Impressed by her boldness and ambitions, the other half opts to strike a deal with Yukina. In exchange for safe haven within her and her new home, it would willingly provide the power she would need to modify her home and herself as she needed. Using this power, Yukina would develop the ability to tap into the latent power of the Internet to learn more about the world outside of their home.However, as Yukina would freely use these abilities, the darker entity would also begin to siphon from her knowledge banks to fuel themselves. Silently and subtly, it would use the darker bits of knowledge learned by Yukina to begin working on its own designs.-------------Many moons later, Yukina had learned a lot about the human world -- and by extension, as did her other half. Yukina began digitally "attending" human classes to learn, using the knowledge gained to hone her own definition of self and even discover her own passion in these "VTubers" -- Virtual entertainers seen online for others to enjoy. Yukina even found a name for herself, and an identity; "Yukina Sprite", the Fiercely Loyal Digital Doggy.The other half attempted to remind and dissuade her from becoming an entertainer for those... Humans, but the spark of passion within her digital soul was too much to be extinguished by the other half's words of warning.Over time, the other half would slowly begin to sever its connection within Yukina. Thoughts became guarded and protected, emotions disconnected... The only remaining connection between the two now being the power to modify code at will, and the symbiotic link between the two.Eventually, during some down time for Yukina, the digital doggy sits up in her bed and starts to talk with her other half."You know, you need a name," Yukina starts, thinking quietly. "Being nameless, or just calling you my 'other half' isn't exactly the easiet thing to get around and explain."Her other half was given pause for a moment. On one hand, being anonymous gave the being some semblance of flexibility. An immutable, undefinable form to hide behind. However, having a name would give them their own identity. For a few moments, the other half remained thoughtfully silent."Well? How about it? I can help you pick one out ---""No," the other half responds, their tone sharp and commanding. "I do not want you to run down a list of frilly names for me. If I am to be named, I shall find one for myself."Yukina paused and smiled softly. She understood her other half's drive to define themselves, and was more than willing to entertain the thought."No, no. You're right, I should let you choose your own name; Forge your own identity like I did," Yukina responds playfully. "I totally get it, and you should one-hundred percent get that privilege for everything you've given me."Though the other half had nearly completely disconnected from Yukina, it could still feel her appreciation and excitement -- it disgusted them to no end. All the same, the other half kept their tone as controlled and level-headed as ever."Leave this task to me, and you focus on your little... Entertainment hobby you have going on there," the other one instructs. "The less you intervene with my work, the better."Yukina raises a hand to her mouth softly as she giggles quietly. She seems to be taking this little moment as an almost bonding experience for the duo -- discovering each others' identities and forging a future together."You got it~!" Yukina responds in a sing-song tone. "I'll leave you to what you need to do! Just don't go silent on me, now! It gets quite lonely in here without someone to talk to."-------------
Over a lengthy period of time, Yukina would continue working on her own identity as the Digital Doggy. Slowly, she would build her beloved community of Watchdogs, sharing smiles and laughter over countless hours. Her other half would passively peruse various databases online to learn things outside of Yukina's scope of awareness, outside the scope of just "forging an identity".One morning, Yukina awoke with a powerful yawn and large stretch. Her comfortable, human-sized, fluffy dog bed always gave her a good sleep. This morning, she felt especially light. Sitting up in her bed, Yukina is alerted the overbearing presence of someone -- some thing watching her. She spins around to face a darker corner of the mostly unlit room, greeted by the gaze of a pair of purple, digital eyes."Who's there!?" Yukina calls out. She grabs a nearby pillow for some form of self-defense, in case the unfamiliar being was hostile.Slowly, the figure in the shadows floats out. What reveals itself to Yukina is something futuristically robotic, yet demonic in nature. An orb-like, brimstone body looking as if it were forged from Hell itself sporting a digital LCD display housing the violet eyes. A pair of hellstone red horns -- one seemingly broken in half. A metallic, spear-headed tail, swishing idly in the air. A pair of detatched, floating arms and dark, demonic wings... Something seemingly straight out of an unholy place."Do you not recognize your own other self?" it speaks psychically.The voice suddenly sparks understanding in Yukina's panicked mind."Y-You're --- " Yukina stammers."That is correct. I am your other half, you may call me... 'Devidra'," it responds, crossing its arms impatiently. "I used the time I had away from you to not only forge my own identity, but my own body."Yukina sat in her bed. Her heart rate slowly settled as her nerves eased. Her panic was now replaced with a mix of confusion, intrigue, and awe."I... had no idea you were able to do that. I thought you were stuck inside my body." Yukina says, tilting her head to one side curiously."Well, I had to try something to get out of that prison. I happened to find a very interesting bit of code and design, so I used it to forge myself a body," Devidra states, performing a small aerial flip to showcase their new, physical form. "Impressed?"Yukina blinks a few times as she processes the information presented to her."I am... But what's up with your body? I mean..." Yukina asks, before being interrupted.One of Devidra's arms floats up to their broken left horn before sighing."Whilst you were asleep, I attempted to fully disconnect from you. I got a little ways out into that digital super highway when something came after me," Devidra explains, their tone dark and full of disdain. "I am not sure what it was, but the moment I tried to defend myself against it, it kind of... Deleted a portion of my body."Yukina frowned some, listening to Devidra's explanation."So it took your horn and you fled?" she asks, attempting to clarify the situation."Yes, and the only solace I found from that... Thing was here. I have no idea what it was, but it was fiercely protective and destructive." Devidra finishes, glaring through their LCD screen.Yukina paused to think to herself for a moment. Having another entity in cyberspace was not exactly a comforting thought to her. As her brain settles some, she seems to come up with an inkling of an idea as she summons a screen to fan through data with."I actually heard about that kind of thing before, actually," Yukina states, her eyes scanning over countless lines of data. "Ah, here it is. It's something called the REAPER program. Apparently, some humans made a self-replicating virus some years back that escaped into the Internet. Some other humans designed a program to actively hunt it down, calling it the REAPER program. Anti-virus, I think."Devidra paused for a moment. The idea of this "anti-virus" was not a pleasing one, given how easily it chewed apart their body."So this REAPER program..." Devidra began."Saw you as nothing more than a virus and attempted to delete you," Yukina finishes, closing out the database screens. "A real vicious piece of programming."Devidra went silent. They seemed to be pondering their situation over deeply. On one hand, they didn't exactly enjoy being cramped inside this box like a prison... But on the other, the REAPER program seemed to be waiting for it just outside those walls. Neither thought was particularly pleasant."Then by that measure, I guess you're still stuck in here with me then, huh?" Yukina asks."Seems to be that way. At least now I have my own body to inhabit, even if I may not be able to properly communicate with others. But it beats being trapped inside of you."Yukina giggles at Devidra's words quietly. Something about how they sounded so bothered by living with her as a host body amused her.From then on, Devidra and Yukina would live alongside one another. In most situations, the two would exist in separate bodies, but at times Devidra would take a break to rest inside of Yukina. Particularly, when others' presences were involved with Yukina's VTubing passion is when Devidra would take their leave of physical presence. Over time, the duo would learn to exist alongside one another in this new dynamic, even if it meant merely tolerating each other.