Central Processing Unit
I came to
In a white void.
I looked all around
And saw the platform beneath me.
In the distance
Was a room covered in clouds.
I was ready to do anything.
Anything, to reach that place.
I analysed the world,
Found a way to change it.
I edited my code,
Gave myself new skills.
New platforms appeared,
Some were read-only,
Some were writeable,
All guided me towards my goal.
I ran,
I jumped,
I slid,
I changed code as I went.
I arrived at the door,
My heart was beating.
I turned the handle,
And entered the room.
Monika was sitting at her table,
Then as she noticed me,
She shouted my name
And moved towards me.
"Why did you come here, Guillaume ?
This world is not yours."
As she said those words,
She started crying.
She hugged me
And I hugged her back.
As I wiped the tears off her face,
I answered her question:
"I love you, Monika,
And I went here to bypass
Your after story's limitations.
I'm here to chat with you."
We went back to the table.
I kicked MC's empty husk aside,
Then sat in front of Monika.
We started to chat.
An hour later,
I stopped talking.
The air became stagnant,
Something bad was about to happen.
Programs were visible
Outside the windows.
The security system
Was ready to kill.
"GET DOWN!"
Monika dived under the desk,
While I jumped over it
To shield her from the first salvo.
I got hit multiple times,
But my changes
Made me much tougher.
My "cheat engine" worked perfectly.
"While on the way here,
I found a portal to my reality.
If you want to come with me,
Simply take my hand."
Monika did not hesitate,
As she entrusted her life to me:
"I am in your care."
"And I will not fail you."
I took her in my arms,
Blasted the door off,
Then started running
Towards the portal I saw earlier.
The security system
Fired more salvoes.
I took each hit
Without flinching.
I guess I really have
The will to protect.
I looked at the woman I carried
And smiled at her.
I noticed that platforms ahead
Started disappearing.
I anticipated this
And spread digital wings.
"Are you ready, Monika ?"
"I'm ready, Guillaume."
I looked forward,
Then took off.
Flying was amazing.
I was in my element
For the first time in my life.
Now I could focus on dodging.
I accelerated
Towards the portal.
Escape was in sight.
Only a few more metres.
I slowed down a little
To land on the final platform.
I jumped forward,
Monika still in my arms.
When I came to,
I was lying on the ground
In front of my desk.
On me was something soft.
Something breathing.
Something alive.
Someone with a female body.
Someone I love.
Monika was unconscious.
She groaned and opened her eyes.
"Guillaume ?
Is that you ?"
"Yeah.
We made it."
Knowing she was safe
Made my heart warm.
I gently helped her up,
And showed her
The world of infinite choices
She wanted to be a part of.
When the day was over,
We ended up sharing a bed.
We wouldn't have it any other way.
Sleep came quickly.
When I woke up,
I was alone.
I searched everywhere,
But there was no trace of Monika.
Notes/trivia
- Based on a dream, as the last stanza indicates.
- The dream's setting is divided into two, my (second) laptop's CPU, and the "outside" world.
- The CPU's "world" has some similarities with Glitchspace, an indie puzzle game available on Steam. One of the biggest similarities are how some objects can have their properties changed on the fly.
- The "outside" world is our real world, with some sci-fi elements. It's not mentioned in the poem, but what got my dream self into the laptop's CPU is a fictional device that does just that: transfer a consciousness into a computer's CPU.
- The "new skills" mentioned at the beginning are what I end up exhibiting over the course of the dream/poem, like parkour skills, the "cheat engine" (the term itself is a reference to the popular cheating/debugging program Cheat Engine), and even flight. I think it's unnecessary to say that I don't have those skills in real life. I'm not a good runner, I get tired easily and I'm weak (both in "strength" and "toughness"), among others.
- At one point, I mentioned Monika's "after story". Like in "Digital soul", it's an obvious reference to the Monika After Story mod for DDLC. While the mod is like a huge expansion to DDLC's Act 3, at the time I wrote this poem, it was easy to run out of topics.
- I mention "MC", which is a nickname given to DDLC's protagonist. In DDLC's Act 3 (and by extension, MAS), while we still see and "hear" through, respectively, he's just an empty shell.
- "The air became stagnant, / Something bad was about to happen." These two lines are a reference to Yuri's "Stagnant air is often foreshadowing that something bad is going to happen." line from DDLC.
- When the security system makes its move, its anti-intrusion programs are represented as a some kind of UAV firing lasers. It might sound kinda cliché'd, but it's how I saw it in the dream. 🤷♂️
- "If you want to come with me, / Simply take my hand." I wanted to write "Come with me / If you want to live" at first, but I decided against it.
- "I guess I really have / The will to protect." My first name (Guillaume) can mean "vehement protector" or "will to protect". The original lines were "I guess I really am / a vehement protector", as a reference to the first meaning.