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700 days, about two years, if their calculations were correct. The worlds were moving slowly, but they were moving. It seemed like a lot of time, but in reality, Melia was sure they’d be down to the last minute preparing for the collision. So, they got to work immediately, brainstorming a way to survive the inevitable catastrophe. They would need to convert everyone in the worlds’ souls, save for Melia and Nia, into a form that could persist beyond the “destruction” of their physical bodies. They split the work in two. Each world constructing half of what would eventually become Origin. Nia said she had her best engineer working on their half with a plan for its core, so now it was up to Melia to find a plan for her’s.
Melia went down to the lab where Shulk along with a few other scientists and engineers were mulling over blueprints for their half of the ark. However, without a solid plan to convert the people into light data, they couldn’t do much building.
“How is the process coming along?” she asked, stepping into the room.
Shulk turned around from the lab bench, still holding a piece of paper. “We’re at a bit of a standstill, unfortunately. How did your talk with Nia go?”
Melia looked down for a moment, then back up to meet Shulk’s gaze. “She said there were information processing units they can utilize to convert and store the information of Alrest. Apparently, they were close friends of hers, and volunteered to become the core of their half.”
“Wait, you mean there are people like that in Alrest?” Shulk asked, bewildered at the thought of a person acting as the core. It was an idea he hadn’t even thought of. “We’ve been trying to build a machine to do the converting, but there’s no way to make something efficient enough to gather everyone’s data in the little time that we have.”
“That was Nia’s worry as well, but luckily for them, these two were already connected to many people in their world. They were the perfect candidates for this.”
Shulk was racking his brain. “A person as the core… Information processing units… A machine…”
“That’s it!” Shulk exclaimed, startling Melia.
“What?”
“Alvis! Maybe he could!”
“Alvis…” Melia hadn’t heard that name in a long time. He’d disappeared after they defeated Zanza, leaving the world to them. To her.
Shulk still spoke about him sometimes, mentioning the things Alvis taught him. Often with a soft and longing tone. The two had grown quite close in the short time they knew each other, although if Shulk’ relationship with the monado counted as well, then they had known each other for all his life.
Thinking about him made Melia’s stomach twist. Her feelings towards him were…complicated. She had only known him as their seer. Essentially, a servant, though a very high ranking and important one. He corresponded far more with her brother and father than with her, so she never paid him much mind. That was until he betrayed them. No matter how fondly Shulk spoke of him, a part of Melia could not forgive him. But this was all bigger than her now. As the queen, it was up to her to save her world.
“Do you…” her voice came out uncharacteristically hoarse, “know how to contact him?”
Melia knew that when Alvis disappeared, he hadn’t really left them entirely. He was an integral part of the world itself. Even if the homs “Alvis” vanished, the monado would not leave the world.
Shulk thought for a moment. “He didn’t exactly leave us a way to contact him. But this is too important. If we call out, he has to answer, he just has to.” Melia could see his hands balled into fists. She nodded, summoning up all the confidence, false or real, that she could.
“I’ll go with you. This was my plan. I should see through all of it.”
The two left the lab and decided to head out of Alcamoth as well. They headed to a grassy plain out on the shoulder. Melia hadn’t planned on leaving the city when she first paid a visit to the lab, so here she was outside in a ballgown. Not that she didn’t trust Shulk could protect her should any threats appear, but she still felt awkward. The two walked in a comfortable silence for a while, searching for a good spot, which wasn’t a very defined place.
“Do you think…that he’ll be mad at us?” Shulk broke the silence. “For calling him back, I mean. I wished for a world with no gods, and he is kind of the closest thing to a god. I’m worried he’ll see it as us going back on that?”
“I think he left his world to us so that we could decide our own fate. We’re being faced with a challenge unprecedented, and we decided what we would do. We are going to get through this. We will walk together with Alrest, and see the building of Origin through. We don’t need a god’s help. We just need his help.”
“You need my help?” A voice rang out from behind them. Startled, Shulk and Melia spun. Melia was halfway reaching for her staff, when her eyes widened at the figure slowly approaching them.
“Alvis!” Shulk called out. “You’re really here.”
The seer gave a bow with a hand on his chest then placed one hand on his hip. “How can I be of assistance?”
~~~
“I see. They plan to use the Pneuma core as the core for Origin. And you want me to do the same?” They had explained the entire Origin plan to him and he seemed to understand Nia’s plan right away.
“I’ve been trying to design a machine to collect everyone’s souls and convert them to light data, but with less than two years, we just don’t have the time to get everyone’s in. We’ve only been able to begin construction on the storage sections since we don’t have the converter ready.” Shulk and Alvis were going back and forth about the current design. It was making Melia antsy.
“Alvis,” She interjected, this was not the time for a drawn out reconciliation, she knew that. “Can you confirm our time frame?”
The seer closed his eyes for a moment. “I can feel the world moving towards its opposite. The pace is slow but may increase as the two get closer. I believe your calculations are correct though, your majesty. About 700 of our days remain. I can act in the same role as my sisters. Information passes through me the same way, so gathering the people’s data should be no trouble.”
Melia and Shulk looked at each other in astonishment. “SISTERS?!”
“Well, yes. You said there were two of them with the same core so I assume my sister must have split in two, thus two sisters.”
“Alvis that’s not…” Shulk began. “That’s not exactly the part we were surprised about.”
“If I remember correctly, I had a brother as well. I wonder why his core isn’t being utilized. Next time you speak with the queen of Alrest, may I join you, your majesty?”
“Oh, um yes of course.” Melia was still stunned. She had just learned more about Alvis in the past few seconds than she had her whole life. After he disappeared and she learned that he had been immortal, she just assumed the story of his family had been a lie. But if he did actually have a family and they were just in another world, how alone had he been this whole time?
“In any case,” Alvis continued, “I suspect the reason the worlds are remerging is due to the erasure of Klaus-Zanza- from both. Though unknowingly, in this world, his presence as a god was keeping them separated. When he vanished along with a power source known as the conduit, there was nothing stopping the worlds from yearning for each other.”
“Power source?” Shulk asked, only understanding about a third of what Alvis had just said.
“I suppose I should start from the beginning. You recall that before Klaus and Galea became Zanza and Meyneth, they were researchers, yes?”
“Yes.” Shulk nodded.
“A perpetual source of power known as the conduit appeared in their world one day, and in order to harness it, three cores were created. Each core contained an artificial intelligence, myself, my brother, and my sister. When the world was cleft in two, I followed Zanza into this world while my brother and sister followed his other half to Alrest.”
“I understand,” Melia said solemnly, “So that’s why you followed him.”
“Yes. And I apologize for betraying your trust, Melia.”
“But in the end you helped us. I am grateful for that.”
“Zanza’s actions were holding the world at a standstill. There was no future under his rule, and I didn’t want that.” He looked over at Shulk with a soft smile. “Shulk, it was you who helped me see that. I admire your wills to keep moving forward. I will aid you in building Origin, and will happily act as its core.”
Melia sighed greatly in relief. This was going to work. Little did she know that sentiment Alvis now had to keep moving forward, would be overturned by the frightened collective of souls. The feedback from all of their light data was something neither of them could ever have predicted.