Chapter 2: Customisation
Silence. Not the absence of sound, but the absence of everything. No hum, no breath, no heartbeat. Ash existed as pure awareness floating in a warm, dimensionless void. It was like being submerged in perfectly still, dark water. Comfortable. Weightless. Blank.
Then, light. Soft, pearlescent, blooming from nowhere and everywhere. Words formed in his perception, not heard, but understood directly:
`Welcome, Ash. Consciousness Upload: Verified. Somatic Imprint: Verified. Integration to Primary Cloud Habitat: Commencing.`
A wave of cool sensation washed through him, like stepping under a gentle shower. Information flooded his awareness – system parameters, environmental controls, resource allocation. It was effortless, intuitive. He simply knew.
`Please initiate avatar manifestation protocol. Design parameters are unrestricted within core operational guidelines.`
The void shimmered. Suddenly, he wasn't floating; he stood on a seamless, endless plane of glowing white light. Before him, stretching into a dizzying infinity, were… possibilities. Millions of them. A kaleidoscope of forms flickered at the edges of his perception: towering figures of chrome and light, ethereal wisps of energy, sleek humanoids with impossible proportions, creatures sprung from myth and pure imagination. Some were static templates, others shifted and morphed constantly. The sheer scale was overwhelming, exhilarating.
"Whoa," Ash breathed, the thought forming a subtle vibration in the space around him. His voice? Not quite. More like an emanation. "Okay. Playtime." He focused.
Instantly, a humanoid silhouette appeared before him – a generic, genderless mannequin. He concentrated. Me. But… better. The silhouette filled out. Broader shoulders, defined pectorals sculpted like marble, biceps straining. He added an inch of height, sharpened the jawline to heroic angles, gave himself eyes the color of glacial ice, framed by thick, dark lashes. Chiseled abs, powerful thighs. He became a walking, breathing (though he didn't need to breathe) statue of idealized masculinity.
He looked down at his hands – strong, elegant, perfect. Flexed a bicep. "Damn," he chuckled, the sound richer now, echoing slightly. "Looking good, Ash. Very… symmetrical." He took a few experimental strides. The movement was fluid, effortless, powerful. It felt amazing. He could be Hercules, a superhero. But… it was also a bit… much. Like wearing someone else’s ridiculously expensive suit. Fun, but maybe not him long-term.
His mind flickered. Lila. The shocking intimacy of those last moments. The tight, wet heat. Her gasp. The overwhelming physicality dissolving into light. The memory pulsed, vivid and raw.
A different impulse seized him. What about… her?
He focused on the memory of Lila. Petite frame. The curve of her hip as he’d lifted her. The messy blonde ponytail. The wide, blue eyes, bright then terrified. The feel of her skin under his hands. He poured the sensory echo into the avatar template.
The perfect male demigod dissolved into shimmering pixels. In its place, coalescing with startling fidelity, stood Lila. Or rather, an exact digital replica of Lila as she was in the chamber. Ash looked down.
He saw small, bare feet on the glowing floor. Slender legs. A patch of soft blonde curls. The gentle swell of breasts. He touched his – her – chest. The sensation was startlingly real. Soft, yielding flesh beneath smooth skin. The texture was flawless, unnervingly accurate. He ran a hand down the flat plane of the stomach, over the curve of the hip. It was like touching Lila again, but… he was inside it.
"Whoa," he breathed again, but the voice that emerged was Lila’s. Soft, higher-pitched. A perfect mimicry. A shiver ran through the avatar. This is wild.
Curiosity, sharp and insistent, cut through the weirdness. He remembered the intensity, the sheer visceral punch of sex as they’d dissolved. Could he… experience that… from this side? The system was open. Unrestricted. Why not?
"Hey System," he said, Lila's voice sounding strange issuing his thoughts. "Let's see how this feels. Replicate my original body. The one I walked in with. Standard Ash, pre-upgrade."
Instantly, his own physical form materialized a few feet away. Not the Adonis. Just… Ash. As he’d been moments before sitting in the chair. Average height, slightly messy brown hair, lean build, familiar face looking back at him – at her? – with vacant calm. A perfect copy.
Ash-in-Lila’s-body felt a jolt of adrenaline, or its digital equivalent. He walked towards the duplicate Ash. The movements felt different now – lighter, a different center of balance, a subtle sway of hips he hadn't consciously programmed. He stopped before the copy. It stared ahead impassively.
He reached out Lila’s hand, tracing the line of the duplicate’s jaw. The skin felt warm, real. He slid the hand down the chest, over the stomach, lower. His own body, familiar and yet utterly alien as an object of desire. He found the duplicate’s cock. It stirred under Lila’s touch, responding with programmed biological fidelity. Ash-in-Lila’s-body felt a corresponding pulse deep within the avatar. A phantom echo of arousal, or perhaps the system perfectly simulating the female response based on his intent.
He guided the duplicate down onto the glowing floor. It complied smoothly. Then, Ash-in-Lila’s-body straddled him, positioning himself. The perspective was dizzying. Looking down at his own face, seeing the anticipation there – an expression he knew intimately, yet never from this angle. He felt the blunt pressure against Lila’s entrance.
With a gasp that was entirely Lila’s, he sank down.
The sensation was overwhelming. Intensely familiar, yet completely inverted. The stretch, the incredible fullness, the heat – it was exactly as he remembered Lila feeling around him, but now he was the one being filled. He moaned, Lila’s voice filling the void. "Oh… god… it’s…"
He began to move. The rhythm was instinctive, yet the sensations flooding the Lila-avatar were a revelation. The friction, the deep internal pressure points igniting, the way every thrust sent shockwaves of pleasure radiating outwards. He looked down at his own face contorting in pleasure below him. It was surreal, narcissistic, and undeniably, electrically exciting.
"It feels… incredible," Lila’s voice gasped. "So deep… Ash…" He was talking to himself, through her. The duplicate Ash groaned, gripping Lila’s hips, thrusting upwards. The coordination was perfect, the feedback loop intense. Ash-in-Lila was lost in the cascade of sensation – the clenching tightness, the building pressure coiling low in the avatar’s belly, the way the pleasure spiked with every deep penetration.
He rode the wave, chasing the peak, the duplicate Ash mirroring his urgency. The sensations built, higher, tighter, a coiled spring about to snap. He cried out, Lila’s voice breaking on the edge of release. The duplicate Ash arched beneath him with a shout.
They froze on the precipice. The feedback was unbearable, ecstatic.
Then, a jagged tear ripped through the perfect simulation.
The glowing white plane flickered violently, replaced for a fractured second by blinding static. A discordant shriek, metallic and wrong, ripped through the space, shredding the silence. The duplicate Ash dissolved into a shower of corrupted, glitching pixels. Ash-in-Lila’s-body felt a horrific tearing sensation, like his consciousness was being pulled apart from the avatar form.
`WARNING: Unstable Signature Detected in Somatic Imprint.`
`Origin: Lila (Decommissioned).`
`Initiating Diagnostic Protocol Delta.`
`…`
`…`
`Signature Anomaly Confirmed. Containment Breach Imminent.`
`…`
`…`
`Engaging Quarantine Measures.`