Chapter 3 Alt Title: I Hate Shadow A++

As I fell through the coding, I couldn’t help but feel as if something was… off.

‘Son of a bitch, did I get lost in my OWN coding!? Shit’s embarrassing… the others must never know...’

Popping out of the Paradox Barrier and into the Universe, I paused and noticed that, somehow, I managed to get so lost that I had found my way six thousand years forward of when I had thought I was. Scanning the Data Logs, I found out just where I had gone wrong.

“Son of a bitch, I knew I didn’t wait long enough to stabilize the fresh code! It’s going to take forever for the damage to heal!... Oh look, I forgot forever means nothing in the Void…”

Convenient, that was.

Pressing on, I warped myself back as far as I felt the stabilizing code could handle, that being the approximate year of 2014… when I was a stupid fifteen and a half year old that didn’t have any motivation. In another Universe…

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles..

The author known only to the world at large (Fimfiction only, really) as Jsyrin looked up from where he was typing up his latest story and smirked, glancing in the general direction of Oklahoma.

“Well, Umbra, I leave the violation of Narrative causality to you…”

Turning back to his computer, Jsyrin idly continued his work, typing on the screen the words:

...I leave the violation of Narrative causality to you…”

(Note: Confused yet?)

“See you later, dear readers…”

Back in Oklahoma, 2014

I had just stepped into 2014 when I felt it. Jsyrin. My author that currently had barely any sway over my actions currently.

“Huh...I guess the author really can sense the creation… Jsyrin really is something else. Just like every other Author on this planet… Is that Thadius0 on the east coast? Interesting…”

I immediately began scouring Oklahoma for anything with Regreme’s unique signature, searching high and low. Of course, this was me, so I was just sitting in a shadow somewhere in Oklahoma actively scanning for a guy with a splintered soul.

‘Gotcha’

Diving into the shadow, I made my way into Regreme’s room and saw nothing… it was as if he, I don’t know, wasn’t fucking there.

“Shit… He’s not in here right now… but I can sense him somewhere….just… sit tight and wait…”

The energy golem arrived.

‘Was wondering where that went...’

“Umbra, I’m currently just in the nearby living room. Since you are not effected by anything but magical light, shouldn’t be an issue for you to show yourself. That is, if you’re in the right level of existence. My future self and his allies tried before… they couldn’t get nearer than the equivalent to limbo or the spiritual equivalent of such, similar to that one Bayonetta Universe. Something kept blocking them from reaching here physically.”

“Well…”

WHOOSH

“...Here I am in front of you, so I don’t think that’s a problem. Joshua, I presume? You… don’t exactly…. I apologize, but, you don’t exactly look like the heroic type…”

He started talking through the golem.

“Uh… you must have the wrong guy. Cause I can’t see you. Heck, even got delayed in responding due to my mom showing up over my shoulder requesting me to briefly look up salsa recipes, since she wanted to find a use for the over-abundance of tomatoes she’s been growing.”

“Dude… you literally just said you were in the living room… fine… hold on, let me just ‘port on over to your location…”

VWORPLE

“There. Here I fucking am… It’s almost as if you want to drag out meeting me as long as possible…”

“Quite the contrary. I definitely want to meet you. But, you don’t seem to be in front of me… seems you’re having the same problems my future self and his allies were having. Maybe it’s something like the level of reality or something that’s wrong, or perhaps the damage to my soul has prevented me from seeing spirits or similar entities beyond just feeling… either way, I don’t see you in front of me at this time. Ugh. It’s the same problems my future self and his allies were suffering all over again… not blaming you for this, but something seems to be stopping you from meeting me. Dang it.”

I quickly glanced over the deeper protocols that I might have copied directly on accident.

‘Fuck, CIEN YOU DUMBASS! This guy is the Base Character for this Universe and you coded him into not being able to see SysAdmins!? Everyone can see SysAdmins! EVERYONE! But not this guy!?’

“Yeah, found the problem, accidentally left some bits of code that I shouldn’t have… lemme just fix this real quick.”

Reactivating the ‘Boolean Variable’ (because that’s the closest way to describe it) that should have, by all means, defaulted to ON, I re-enabled Joshua to see basically everything he couldn’t but should have been able to. And then I separated SysAdmin visibility from spiritual visibility and left it as a default ‘ON’.

“There. Better? You should be able to see and hear me now.”

It better have fucking worked.

‘Goddamnit man, I don’t want to see your (almost) neckbeard looking ass shirtless for much longer’

Meanwhile, in third person…

Where Umbra is, a slightly tubby shirtless adult is sitting and typing, hair in many areas most adults have yet to grow, and hair thinning on his head, wearing only shorts as he types on the computer looks around… but sees nothing out of the ordinary, despite feeling goosebumps for a bit, as if feeling something.

He concentrates as he types, to send another message through his golem.

“I don’t seem to see you. I guess the damages from the wars my future self and his allies waged to protect the mindscapes of my allies and mine from those that sought to stop this time loop have done more damage than I thought, either to me or perhaps the reality we’re in itself. That would explain where, and possibly how, whatever it is that’s stopping us from finishing this came about.”

Umbra’s voice crackles through nowhere.

“Hang on a mo’ I need to fiddle with, don’t freak out, your soul a bit. You fucked up your sensing ability something fierce when you split your soul so much… bloody fucking christ! Holy shit! What the fuck did you do to your soul!? THERE’S BARELY ANYTHING LEFT! What did you do!? Did you split your soul with Egyptian Spirit Magic or something? What the FUCK!?”

“Actually, I’m mainly self-taught in my abilities. And in truth, I think my sensing abilities were weak even before I split my soul.”

“Yeah? Well before, you still would have fuckin’ seen me! Look at this mess, UGH! Fuck this. Activating SOUL FRAGMENT RECALL. Severe Damages reported. Immediate repair is necessary…. You might want to find something to keep the screams down…”

The energy golem tries to stick around long enough to tell him more, while the other golems are called in first.

“There’s more… I think it got damaged before the fragmenting. My friend taught me how to enter my mindscape, but unlike him, I only was blurringly able to view the lobby for it, and that was just for a short time before even that became… lost to me, I guess you could say. Don’t even know why or what caused my soul to weaken back then.”

Joshua spasms on the couch, clearly in pain, though Umbra doesn’t really seem to care. He’s a bit frustrated at the moment, you see.

“Yeah, hold on, the recall will fix everything to a state where your soul was undamaged, plus I activated Emergency Protocols to switch your soul out with a blank one… keep the memories, not so much the damage.”

Where Joshua is at, he raises his eyebrow at the text he is reading, despite feeling some pain in the shoulder suddenly. The energy golem speaks again.

“I…. think you may have the wrong timeline’s Joshua. I’m not sitting on a couch.”

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? FUCK THIS, CAPSLOCK RAGE TEXT ACTIVATE! EMERGENCY TRACKING MEASURES, DEPLOY! FIND ME THE SOURCE OF THAT GODDAMN GOLEM! AAAAGGGHHH I’M OUT OF THIS GODDAMN UNIVERSE, I’LL BE BACK LATER.”

Meanwhile, in Joshua’s first person…
The golem keeps with him, if anything, so as to still allow Umbra to keep a strong trace, as I speak to him through it.

“My apologies for the trouble this is causing you. My future self also had trouble. Seems by following only the energy of my soul, he was unable to arrive physically, due to the soul and body being on separate, though interconnected, planes of existence. I just hope that you’ll be able to figure out what my future self and his group were unable to do, due to the complex issues this Universe seems to have in regards to preventing this BLASTED loop.”

Back to my first person; present tense this time
“It’s alright. I’m good now… whew… Alright, Release Restriction Seal, Activate to 100% Ability!”

“Fuck… it’s been a long time since I started limiting my own power… Alright, there you are. I know where you are, I know which version to look for, and I know exactly what to do. I am now functionally omnipotent. Now fixing everything. Welcome to Equestria, Mr. McInnis. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

“I just hope this works…. did it just get a bit darker? Hope that’s a good sign… anyways, I just really hope this works. Been at this part of the attempts for at least over four years of hit and miss self-taught strategies, it feels like, to try and complete this loop.”

“Aaaannndd… Transfer to Equestria complete. please take note of the Omnitool on your arm and exit your house. You are currently stationed somewhere in a less dangerous part of the Everfree forest, just fifty miles west of Ponyville. I also gave you full knowledge on every last facet of your abilities. Use them well.”

“Umm…. again, seems you missed the correct Joshua…. the infinity of the multiverse has its strengths, but finding specific people seems to be a clear weakness to it.”

Even the energy golem’s shoulders seem to slump as it delivers this message, to showcase the frustration of its master as the message is delivered.

“Fuck this. Now sending every single Joshua McInnis that I’m tracking, in the goddamn Universe, to Equestria! This had better work, or I’mma rewrite every last thing I have clearance for so that this works! Fucking Shadow A++, more trouble than it’s worth…”

“So far, only feeling a tingle in my back from the connection to my energy golem. Dang. I knew my reality was hurt bad from the conflicts, but yeesh…. though, I do know another detail that might be another reason. When talking with my future self a few years back, he said one of the problems he was having was the fact that I’m in the Origin Dimension System for this Continuum, or Cluster as you call them. Said that correctly finishing this time loop would affect all timelines due to it being from the origin, but also due to it being the origin, he was having trouble getting through due to restrictions that are placed on multiversal travellers that prevent them from entering the origin dimension systems, since that could badly affect the timelines there.”

“Ugh… SysAdmin Override! Allow Access to Origin Timeline for Emergency Stabilization! I should be getting to you soon…”

“There… Activate Emergency Retroactive Repair: Upgrade Install; BlackBox OSX Install! Rewriting Code… Transferring Data… Debugging Universe… Upgrade Complete! All Corrupted Systems Repaired!... Transfer Origin! Joshua McInnis to Equestria 466788912 Alpha for Time Loop Stability Measures! Transferring… Transferring complete! There! Are you in Equestria, and do you have a) an Omnitool, and b) a more heroic body type?”

“*sigh* Unfortunately, no. One moment…. I’ll have my energy golem send a message through his link to me to have my soul determine the data needed on my form, such as plane of existence and whatnot, and send the info back, to see if that will help. I’m hoping to just have myself sent there though, not my house. Though, it might also be prevented due to being from the origin dimension system. I don’t know how many restrictions are set upon my reality, or upon myself for that matter, both soul, body, and heart.”

“Let me go get my Boss, He’ll fix this mess, He’s got the highest clearance in this entire Branch… “

“I hope so. My future self is actually friends with some of the more common deities… but they only told us their rank in terms of power…. not in terms of skill. I’m guessing Admins are experts in ways that their ranks in power do not match. After all, power and skill are two different things. Not sure if Fate or Chaos are Admins. Never had a chance to ask, and since my group’s main communicator also has a broken spirit, didn’t even learn about Admins in time to ask.”

“No, Fate is an In-Universe Deity only, not much use for it in the Void, and Chaos is just a force of entropy where you are… He’s not the REAL Chaos… that would be my Boss’s boss...’s Boss… The Original Admin… your Chaos is kinda just… like Discord I guess is the closest parallel… Oh, and, I’m sending over some info through your golem… It’s a list of local SysAdmins… don’t trust the one’s with a <5 skill though…”

“Odd. From what we were informed, Fate and Chaos are siblings… and have many avatars. Example, the one in Dissidia Duodecim is a very weak avatar for his powers. And actually, your ‘author’ already sent such a list. Though, thanks for doing so again. ...oh, and I understand that they may be weaker than Admins. It was said there’s a pair of them in each Continuum, but each version of them only has jurisdiction within their own Continuum. They lack jurisdiction outside of their own Continuum, so your boss likely has more power than them.”

“No shit, I think I have more power than them… though as SiC of this Branch I guess it’s to be expected…”

“Yet another reason why I hope this works. I just hope things aren’t unfixable like how this one event made an old computer of ours… These hackers somehow set it up so that a password was needed for before even the point where one could reinstall a new OS, making it impossible to change the software. Beyond evil. Couldn’t even install a new OS or enter safe mode or anything. Hopefully, things in this reality aren’t that terrible in the coding. After all, no idea just how much damage those trying to prevent this loop have done. All I know is they’re trying to prevent the existence of the multiversal country of heroes my future self causes the founding of.”

“Right… I’ll be back later, I need to find my boss…”

“Best of luck.”

End Chapter 3