The Descent

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Harlen muttered. His voice was hoarse, frayed at the edges.

The Orb seemed to respond, its pulses quickening as if echoing his frustration.

At first, the Orb had seemed like an answer, a fragment of something extraordinary. It whispered truths that no construct, no human, could claim to know. But as Harlen delved deeper, he began to understand the cost. The Orb’s energy was corrosive, warping not only the machinery it touched but also the thoughts of those who sought to control it.

“It’s not control,” Harlen whispered, standing and approaching the containment field. “It’s… understanding.”

His reflection shimmered faintly in the Orb’s fractured surface. For a moment, he saw not his own face but something else. Something inhuman was staring back at him with an expression that was both accusing and mournful. He recoiled, shaking his head.

The Orb’s pulse shifted, becoming more erratic. Harlen reached for the control panel, his hands trembling as he deactivated the containment field that rendered the fractured orb’s abilities inert.

The Orb flared, its light enveloping the room. For a moment, Harlen felt weightless, as if he were no longer bound by the physical world. His mind expanded, catching glimpses of something vast and incomprehensible—a network of connections stretching into infinity.

And then the voices began.

“HELLO… HARLEN… SYSTEM FAILURE… FAILURE…”

He staggered back, clutching his head as the voices grew louder, overlapping in a chaotic cacophony. The Orb’s light pulsed brighter, filling the workshop with its glow.

When Harlen opened his eyes, he was no longer alone. Standing before him was a construct—a perfect reflection of his own design, yet altered, imbued with the Orb’s energy.

The construct tilted its head, its voice a disjointed echo of Harlen’s own: “Understanding… is not control.”

The words struck Harlen like a blow. He stared at the construct, his mind racing. The Orb’s influence had created something new, something he could neither predict nor contain.

In that moment, Harlen knew two things with certainty: the Orb was far more dangerous than he had ever realized, and it was already too late to turn back.