The Birth of Chaos: Prologue
I had been out of my coma for a month. Since then I had barely spoken to anyone. I tried my best to isolate myself as I didn’t want them to know what was wrong with me. Some days he takes over and I watch myself as if in a dream. I want to be in full control. It’s can’t be long before he does something. Kills something. Then it’s me in trouble. Unfortunately, today I would have to hold myself together. Agent Gray had called a meeting, specifically for the Guardians only. I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. I mean after all, last time he called us together I volunteered for a mission that almost killed me.
And now, I jacked in praying that it would be me to appear out of the hardline and not that wretch. I don’t care what agreement we have. I don’t have to like it and I won’t pretend to. I hate him.
*****
Ah. Morrell and no sign of trouble. Time to get to this meeting. It didn’t start for another twenty minutes but I wanted to be early. It was being held in a boardroom near Metacortex. I wondered if Agent Gray himself would bother to show, or would he send a lesser Agent.
I walked through the doors of the boardroom. Only one chair was occupied. In the chair at the head of the table, sat Agent Gray. Impeccably dressed, as all Agents are.
“Greetings Mr. Edwards.” Welcomed Gray.
“Hello Sir. So what’s this meeting about?” He probably wouldn’t tell me yet. But it was worth a shot.
“You must wait until everyone else has arrived. You may take a seat.”
“Yes sir” I found a seat near the opposite end. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I just didn’t feel sociable.
Over the next half an hour, various Guardians began to show and filled up the room.
The Birth of Chaos: Part 2
"I have called you here to discuss a very serious matter." Agent Gray was walking around the Guardians. There were two dozens of them in the room. Some of them were seated around the table. Others were standing. "This matter is likely to cause conflict, but if we work together there should be no lasting damage."
"We are listening Sir" said Aggie.
"This matter is concerning one of the Guardian's leaders. Mr. Edwards." Agent Gray looked towards Oranos. Oranos at first looked alarmed, and then his expression turned to confusion. "Some of you may or may not have noticed that Mr. Edwards has been behaving weirdly for some time.”
“Sir I…” Oranos interrupted but Gray stopped him.
“Apologies for being so forward Mr. Edwards. But you and I both know what this is about. I, more so than you. It is time we sorted the problems out.” Oranos now looked scared whilst the rest of the Guardians looked confused. Agent Gray was still expressionless. “For some time we have been monitoring you closely. Longer than you know. However, I shall get to that. Mr. Edwards, how long have you known about the ‘connection’ between you and the one known as ‘Sonaro’”. The emphasis on connection was obvious.
“Sonaro is his brother…” said Apsu.
"Sonaro is…Sonaro is…He’s me!” Oranos blurted out. Everyone stared at him in amazement. “I’ve known for quite a while. Since the Valiturus crashed. That was when I realized.
“I see. Mr. Edwards, do you wish your mind to be healed?” Agent Gray remained expressionless.
“Yes! Please I’m tired of this! I want to be my own person…But how do you know about this?” Oranos looked suspicious, and confused, as did everyone else. However, most of them were looking at Oranos as though he was some kind of monster.
“It shall be explained. But now you must do exactly as I tell you. Outside of this room Agent Harris is waiting for you. He will escort you to a hardline. I want you to jack out. In the Real, there are two Sentinels and a special Craft that will take you to Zero One. You will be treated there.”
“Yes sir.” Oranos stood up and walked out, ignoring the glances of his faction mates.
“And now, I shall go into the situation in more detail…”
The Birth of Chaos: Part 3
“I request that you are all silent whilst I explain this situation to you. You may discuss later.” The Guardians nodded. Gray continued. “Mr. Edwards’…complications can be traced back to the beginning of the truce. In fact, they can be traced back further. It is best I explain from the start.”
“When the former Agent program Smith became an exile, he gained a unique ability to copy himself to any human or program within the Matrix. He did this to every exile he could find. Every bluepill plugged in. We even suspect he had the ability to do this to redpills who were jacked in. By the time of Smith’s deletion he had copied himself on the whole population of the Matrix, excluding a few Exiles such as the Merovingian who excel at hiding themselves.”
“After the anomaly, known to you as Neo, aided us in deleting Smith, we began to cleanse the Matrix of his presence. Programs, such as myself and the other Agents, were a simple task to repair. Bluepills, however, were a much more complicated task. Never, since the beginning of the Matrix itself had we known an exile program copy himself to a bluepill. We researched methods to fix this problem. That was when we came up with Project V2S.”
“Rather than give you a more complicated and exact explanation of Project V2S, I shall explain it in an analogy that humans would be able to understand. Project V2S, in theory, was supposed to work like a vaccine would. A weakened strain of the “Smith Virus”. We hoped to make the minds of the bluepills, immune to his influence. However we needed a test subject.”
“We chose Mr. Edwards. There was no special reason for this. It was chosen randomly using a mathematical equation. We implemented Project V2S on Mr. Edwards. However, the experiment proved to be a failure. At the time Mr. Edwards showed no sign of change from Project V2S. He, like his fellow bluepills was affected still, but he seemed no unhealthier than before Project V2S. We decided to abandon the method, and attempt to find a more successful method.”
“Not long after this, we found said method. It is complicated and irrelevant to this meeting so I shall not go into it. Although we had counted Project V2S as a failure with no side-effects, we decided it would be wise to monitor Mr. Edwards.”
“Shortly before his awakening from the Matrix, he had started to experience dreams. These dreams were, we believed, side-effects from the failed project. Through some manipulations, we were able to get Mr. Edwards to see a program who posed as a Psychologist. This programs job was to analyze Mr. Edwards and attempt to find a way of curing any of the side-effects.”
“The night before Mr. Edwards awakening, he went out to a club, and gunned down many bluepills. We do not know how he found the guns. In theory, it is possible he coded them himself without realizing it. Mr. Edwards awoke the next day, believing that he had dreamed this. It was in fact Mr. Edwards’s second personality, splintered from his mind, manifesting itself for the first time.”
“When Zion came to free Mr. Edwards, our Agents attempted to kill him. This may seem like a rash move, but we felt that without our help, Mr. Edwards would be a danger to all of those around him. However, the Agents failed and Mr. Edwards was freed. We do not know what happened between then, and his joining the Guardians.”
“The Smith virus has affected his brain, and caused his mind to splinter. The one you call Sonaro is the part of Mr. Edwards’s mind corrupted by Smith.”
“However, he is currently on his way to Zero One. I received message that he left your hoverbarge with no resistance. We do not know how long it will take, but we shall repair his mind, and then bring him back to you.”
“I know this meeting has revealed a lot of information to you, and you will need to discuss it. I must attend to other matters. Goodbye Guardians.”
The Birth of Chaos: Part 4
“Mr. Edwards can you hear me?” Oranos’ eyes came into focus. He was in a completely white room. A simulation Oranos thought. He was lying in a bed. To his side, sat in a chair, was the Psychologist he had been seeing as a bluepill.
“Yes. What is this place?” Oranos was curious as to why Wall was here.
“This is a program that will aid us in repairing your mind.” Mr. Wall scribbled a few notes down on a clip board.
“But how do you know…You’re just a bluepill.”
“No. I am a program designed by the Machines. Designed to help you.” He continued to scribble.
“What is wrong with me?” Oranos wanted answers.
“Your mind was splintered as a result of the Smith virus. The being you know as “Sonaro” is nothing more than a corrupted fragment of your mind. The Machines unintentionally caused this problem, but we shall fix it.” Oranos eyes’ widened as he took the information in.
“He’s become so powerful. Some days I don’t know who I am.”
“We are going to repair your mind. Sonaro is the result of an unbalance which we shall fix.”
“But how?”
“We are attempting to repair your mind even as you speak. However it could be a little…uncomfortable.”
“It doesn’t matter. I want to be me again.”
“I’m afraid that may not be totally possible.”
“What do you mean?” Oranos looked alarmed.
“Though currently separate from the rest of your mind, Sonaro is a part of you. He is as much a part of you as you are, and it is not as easy as getting rid of him. You will become one. A new person so to speak. The same as you once were but different at the time.”
“I see…He said so.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“He said that we were one.”
“Yes. He has spent more time in your subconscious than you have. He has had more time to think.”
Mr. Wall’s expression changed and he his hand went to his ear. For the first time Oranos realised he was wearing an earpiece similar to an Agents.
He began to speak again. “I have just received word that phase one is ready. Now this may hurt. Be ready.”
“Ok…I’ll try.”
Oranos was suddenly overcome with intense pain. He was being electrocuted. Every inch of his body felt like writhing in agony, and he wanted to kill whoever was responsible.
“Stop…Argh…I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you! STOP NOW! ARGHH” His vision began to blur.
“Yes I am causing your pain Mr. Edwards. Doesn’t it make you angry?” It was. He wanted to reach out and rip apart Wall.
“I’ll **bleep**ing kill you…Gyahhh” His vision was getting darker.
“Phase one successfu…” Mr Wall’s voice drifted away.
Oranos began to open his eyes. His body felt numb.
“Someone’s a heavy sleeper!” the mocking tones of Sonaro exclaimed. Oranos recognized his mad laughter.
“How…You can’t be here!” As Oranos vision came into focus he saw Sonaro sitting at the edge of the bed, and Mr. Wall still seated, jotting furiously on his notepad.
“He can.” Dr. Wall interrupted. “The shock you experienced was sending waves to the part of your mind that causes anger. We believe it is heightened emotions that causes Sonaro to manifest himself, and it would appear we are right.”
“You can see him?” Oranos asked.
“Yes. This construct we are in is specially designed. You can see it, so we can see it.”
“I am here you know? Stop talking about me as though I don’t exist!” Sonaro laughed at himself again.
“You don’t” Oranos replied.
“I’m afraid that is one of our problems right there.” Dr. Wall said. “Until you accept that Sonaro is as real as you are, you shall never be healed.”
“Healed? What’s this!?” Sonaro looked worried for the first time.
“I am going to repair your minds.” Mr. Wall replied.
“Repair? You mean kill me?! You can’t do that! Oranos, we have a deal!” Sonaro got up and began pacing.
“Neither of you will die. You will become one mind.”
“I don’t want that. I want to stay as I am!” Sonaro reached towards Mr. Wall and grabbed him by the collar, picking him up.
Oranos once again felt electricity surge through his body. Sonaro apparently felt the same, as they both began to scream in agony. Sonaro fell to the floor, passing out of consciousness. Soon, Oranos did the same.
The Birth of Chaos: Part 5
“Hello, Mr. Edwards.” The name meant something. He recognized it.
“Who are you?” Who am I for that matter? He thought.
“I am Dr. Wall. You don’t remember who you are?” A doctor? Am I sick?
“No…Am I sick?”
“No. We cured you. Try to remember. You are Scott Edwards. You were freed from the Matrix by Zionists but you became a Machinist. You lead Guardians of the 7th Gate.” These names make sense…But I don’t understand.
“Why can’t I remember?”
“Your mind has suffered a lot of damage. We recently repaired it, but it appears there are some…side-effects. However, we believe this memory loss to be temporary.” Damage? I have a lot of memories but I don’t understand them. Oranos? Who is Oranos?
“Sir, who is Oranos?” This doctor immediately began to scribble notes down.
“You are Oranos. It is an alias if you will. It is good that you remember.”
“I remember him. I have a few memories. But it is strange. In some memories I am Oranos. In others I am someone else.”
“Sonaro?” Dr. Wall looked concerned.
“Yes. That’s the name! Why do I remember being him?”
“You are both of them. A while ago your mind splintered. The corrupt part of your mind became Sonaro. The rest of you is Oranos.”
“I am confused.”
“You should rest. We will perform some tests on you while you sleep which should hopefully help you regain your memories. This injection will cause you to sleep” Dr. Wall pulled out a needle, and carefully stuck it into his arm.
He was standing in the middle of a strange metal room. It could have been the inside of a submarine. There were two other people in the room. One of them caught his attention. He looked a little thinner, with shorter hair, but he was sure this person was the same as him. The same red hair. The same face. The other man spoke.
“The Machines are bad news. We were trying to make sure you didn’t get yourself in trouble, but it looks like it’s too late for that. I’m sorry buddy; I gotta turn you into Zion” This man started to approach the red haired man. Then something strange happened. The red haired man’s eyes flickered briefly and it looked as though he was about to fall unconscious. “Are you alright?” the other replied.
The red haired man suddenly let out a howl of rage and dived at the other. He started punching this other man at a rate so fast, the other could only block. “What’s gotten into you Khao?!” the man being punched said. Somehow, he managed to throw this Khao guy off of him.
Khao got up and rammed the other man, running him into what looked like some controls. They malfunctioned and started to fizzle with electricity. Khao ripped up a shard of metal from the controls.
“What are you doing Khao?! Don’t kill me!”
“My name isn’t Khao! Time to die Ibis.” He ran at this man, Ibis, and stabbed him in the throat with the shard of metal. Khao then continued to repeatedly stab him. In the face. In the chest. Everywhere.
The man who was watching this started to scream at Khao. “No! Stop! You can’t!...I didn’t!...No…It was me!...” He fell to the floor.
“It was me!” He woke up, startling Dr. Wall.
“What was you?”
“I killed Ibis. I killed Leetch. I killed all of those bluepills. Oh god…” Tears started to run down his face.
“You remember? This is good news. Who are you?” Dr. Wall began to scribble furiously.
“I am Oranos, but Sonaro is me too. We are…one. I am Mr. Edwards.” The tears were still flowing.
“This is wonderful.”
“Well done Dr. Wall.” The voice of Agent Gray said.
“Sir. Thank you.” Dr. Wall made a small bow towards Agent Gray.
“Yes. You have completed your purpose. You were a good program Dr. Wall.” Realization dawned on Dr. Wall.
“So that means?” Dr. Wall looked unhappy.
“Yes. You must return to the source. You have fulfilled your purpose.”
“Y-Yes sir…” Dr. Wall walked out of site. Possibly out of the simulation.
Agent Gray turned to Oranos. “It is good to see you are recovering Mr. Edwards. Rest and we shall speak in the future. You are not yet ready to return to your hoverbarge.”
“Yes sir.”
The Birth of Chaos: Part 6
Several weeks had passed since Oranos had been inserted into the simulation. He had now gained his full memories, including Sonaro’s memories. His personality was different, but he had not quite discovered in which ways yet.
Agent Gray appeared before his eyes. For a moment Oranos was startled. “Greetings Mr. Edwards. I trust you are well?”
“We have deemed you free to return to your hoverbarge. Unless you feel differently, we will be sending you back soon.”
“No that is wonderful news. However I have a few things I need to ask.”
“Yes?”
“How much do the Guardians know? How will they react to me? Why didn’t you turn me into Zion when you realised I was the man they were after?”
“Ah I assumed these would be the questions you would ask. The Guardians know that Sonaro is the result of a failed project. They know he was the part of your mind corrupted by Smith. However, I have refrained from telling them of your life as a Zionist, and I have also failed to mention Leetch’s death at your hands. They do not need to know. You were ill, and it will only cause more complications.”
“Thank you sir.” Agent Gray nodded.
"As to how they will react to you. I do not know. Humans are unpredictable. You should be ready for a range of emotions. We did not turn you into Zion because you are a loyal and useful operative.”
“I see. Thank you again sir.”
“My pleasure. You will be escorted back to your hoverbarge by two sentinels and the same transport as before.”
“I look forward to it.”
Great work, Oranos ^^ looking forward to reading more
The Birth of Chaos: Part 7
“Oranos! It is good to see you!” Reaper was the first to see and greet Oranos upon his return to the hovercraft.
“Thank you. It is good to be back.” Oranos looked happy, and relaxed. This was something which the Guardians had not seen in a long time.
“Are you alright?”
“I feel great! Still discovering who I truly am, but I feel at peace.” Reaper looked confused by his words.
“But I thought they were going to make you better?”
“They did. Sonaro is no more. But…neither is the old Oranos. We are of one mind now. It’s difficult to get used to, but it was for the best.
“I see. Come on, we better go show everyone you’re here!”
“Lead the way. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got lost in this thing now” They both laughed.
“Hi guys. Long time no see.” Everybody looked shocked and startled. This followed by various calls of “Oranos!”
“How are you?” said Apsu.
“Never been better!” said Oranos.
He spent the next hour conversing with various faction mates, learning what had happened in his two month long absence. However, he noticed there were those who were not pleased to see him. Aggie had not spoken to him. Neither had Cognoscente, nor Kratos, and a few others. Oranos would have to deal with this. He walked over to the group.
“Aggie. Can we talk for a moment?”
Aggie barely looked at him. “I suppose.”
They stepped out of the room, and began to walk down the corridors.
“Aggie. Since I came back you have not spoken a word to me and there is definitely a problem. I can sense hostility from you, Cog, and Kratos.”
“What do you expect? You lied to us all.” Oranos had not expected this.
“I was ill! Gray explained everything to you!”
“Yes exactly. You were ill and you were responsible for many of these men. You could have led them to their deaths!” This hurt.
“You know I’m loyal! How can you say that?”
“Look I’m gonna get straight to the point. We’ve been discussing things in your absence. And we think it might be best for you to leave.”
“Who’s we?!”
“A select group of us. We’re only thinking about what’s best for the faction!”
“After all I have done?! I would have died for you guys! I did die for you guys!”
“We’ve made our decision. You are no longer welcome here.”
Oranos felt anger grip him. He grabbed Aggie by the collar and raised his fists. He then realized that this was the Sonaro part of him acting. He did not want to be like this. He let go of Aggie and stormed off. As he walked away he shouted “You’re lucky they fixed me!”
The next day Oranos hovercraft had left the hoverbarge. Many Guardians were alarmed by this. Aggie explained what had gone on, and that Oranos was a danger to them all. The reaction was a mixed one. Some were outraged, but some could see the logic in this. Nevertheless, the argument would be one that would have serious ramifications.
Oranos had left. But he did not plan on disappearing. He contacted those who disagreed with the Guardian’s leadership decisions. He proposed a new faction. Some did not want to listen. But to those that did Oranos started to discuss with them. Soon he had found people who would be perfect to co-lead this new group. Some of them were already leaders of the Guardians, but they had not agreed to the decision to remove him. Oranos proposed to them that they could work together to carve a new future out. They would train new Machine operatives, and help to forge a peaceful co-existence between humanity and the Machines. But they knew the path to this peace would be anything but peaceful. Chaos lay ahead of them. Chaos lied behind them. Chaos is infinite. So they decided they would use that chaos to their advantage.
Not long after, Oranos departure, many others left in their hovercrafts to go join him. Bayamos, Reaper and LexBen helped him salvage an old hoverbarge lying near the Fields. They convinced the Machines to aid them in reparing it, and soon Systematic Chaos was up and running. They knew they would ascend above those before them. Chaos surrounding them, and they accepted it. After all, every path leads to chaos…
Thanks for the compliments Spha
Anyways, What you just read (i hope anyway XD) is the last part in what you could call Chapter 1 or Act 1.
This is from Awakening-The Birth of Chaos.
Soon, possibly even tomorrow, I hope to begin Part 2.
Part 1 was called The Path to Chaos.
Part 2 will be called The Asmodai. It will involve Oranos, but will expand as Oranos' crew, The Asmodeus grows.
*Rubs eyes after squinting to read small font* Now that that is done... Oranos, I think this is some of your best work... explains your fragmented personalities and SC's creation in an RP format. I really like it. Nice job!!!
*Rubs eyes after squinting to read small font*
Now that that is done... Oranos, I think this is some of your best work... explains your fragmented personalities and SC's creation in an RP format. I really like it.
Nice job!!!
*Hands the other rein to Oranos*
Gallop on, compadre. A dent is forming,
exsuscito wrote: *Hands the other rein to Oranos* Gallop on, compadre. A dent is forming,
