Kenji didn't feel like a man. He felt like a library.
Inside his mind, he could hear the wind rustling through the trees of a world three million light-years away. He could feel the hunger of a child in a Gutter-sector he had never visited. He could sense the rotation of every "Marble" in his gut. Every time he took a breath, a thousand civilizations experienced a "Sunny Day."
[LOCATION: THE CORE-CONSCIOUSNESS]
[STATUS: OVERSTIMULATED]
[NOTICE: INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY AT 14% AND DEGRADING]
"Kenji? Can you... can you hear me?"
The voice was tiny. It was Mateo. To the current Kenji, Mateo's voice sounded like a single vibrating atom. Kenji focused his immense "Processing Power" on a single point in the void, manifesting a humanoid avatar made of silver mist to speak with his crew.
The Archive was docked on what appeared to be a floating floor of solid light the "Skin" of Kenji's own interior dimension.
"I hear you, Mateo," the silver avatar said. The voice was Kenji's, but it lacked the gravelly, tired edge it used to have. It was too perfect. "I hear everything. That's the problem."
"You look... different," Elara said, stepping off the ship's ramp. She reached out to touch the silver avatar's hand, but her fingers passed through it like smoke. "You're not 'Real' anymore, are you?"
"I am the only thing that is 'Real'," Kenji replied. "And because I am the foundation, I can no longer be a participant. If I step onto the ship, I might accidentally overwrite its 'Physical-Data' with a memory of a star."
[SYSTEM ALERT: PERSONALITY DILUTION]
[WARNING: THE 'SMITH' IS BECOMING THE 'SYSTEM']
"We didn't fight all this way just for you to become another 'Firm', Kenji," Priya said, her eyes brimming with tears. "If you stay like this, you're just a more benevolent Supervisor. You're still a cage."
"I'm a support system," Kenji countered. "The Originals are breathing because of me. The Wilderness is stable because of me."
"But who is looking after you?" Priya asked.
Kenji paused. He looked inward. Deep within his "Source-Drive" core, he found the "Prototype-Alpha" file. It was still screaming, trying to find a way out. He also found the "Trash-King" assets, the "Iron Lords" codes, and the "Gutter-Logic."
But the "Kenji" who liked the smell of motor oil and the taste of cheap synth-ale was getting harder to find. He was being buried under a billion "Bug Reports" from the worlds he hosted.
"I need to... 'Fragment'," Kenji whispered.
"Fragment?" Mateo asked.
"I can't be the Manager and the Smith at the same time," Kenji explained. "I'm going to create a Partition. I'll leave the 'Operating System' to handle the trillions of lives, and I'll move my 'Humanity' into a separate, physical shell."
[SKILL ACTIVATED: THE SOUL-PARTITION]
Kenji focused his silver mist. He began to pull the "Gutter-Logic" and his "Human Memories" into a single, concentrated point. He used the Rusted Hammer the only physical object he had kept as a "Molding Die."
The light intensified. The void shook.
Slowly, a body began to form on the floor of light. It wasn't iridescent or silver. It was solid. It had scarred, calloused hands. It had a heartbeat that wasn't perfectly timed with the universe. It had matte-black skin that looked like it had been through a furnace.
The silver "System-Kenji" stood over the physical "Human-Kenji."
"It's done," the System-Kenji spoke, its voice now completely devoid of emotion. "The 'Smith' is now a Guest in his own Multiverse. I will maintain the Hardware. He will maintain the Spirit."
The physical Kenji opened his eyes. He coughed, the air in the void tasting like ozone. He looked at his hands and felt the weight of his own bones.
"Damn," he rasped, his voice finally sounding like himself again. "Being a God is... exhausting. I think I need a drink."
[NEW STATUS: THE DUAL-SOURCE]
[SYSTEM-KENJI: ACTIVE / PROVIDING REALITY]
[HUMAN-KENJI: ACTIVE / THE TRAVELING SMITH]
"You're back!" Mateo laughed, rushing forward to hug the solid Kenji. This time, the hug landed.
"I'm back," Kenji said, though he looked up at the silver avatar of himself that now loomed over the entire horizon. "But the 'Firm' isn't gone. It just has a new face. And I've got a lot of work to do to make sure I don't turn into the CEO."