"No. It's happening again."

>: User has initialized SPIRAL KNIGHTS.

No, Tate cried. He sat next to Yemai, holding her hand. Haven looked so beautiful at sunset. Yemai squeezed Tate's hand once again, fearful. He looked at her; her, at him. Their eyes met for a brief moment, sad and worrisome. It was Yemai who broke their gazes. It had come again. There was not a time when a day was not interrupted by the User. The User was always after him, wanting his Spiral Knight everyday to roam around in the Clockworks. Tate still felt the abuse he had taken in his system, having shut on and off as the User kept dying and reviving. Dying, and dying, and dying, and dying. He would not remember, he could not remember things so clearly anymore. Memory became faded, day after day, as he kept dying...

>: Username: jackaljester22

"No," Yemai whispered. Her voice was quivering. Sad and small, she sat silently in horror. She could not stop repeating the word in her head. "No," she said again.

>: Password: ********

Tate looked up at Yemai when he felt her hand shaking. Over the waves, he could feel her sorrow. She did not try to hide it--it pained him that she did not. She broadcasted every single feeling of despair, disgust, and dismay over the air waves, leaving it all for Tate to absorb. Worst of all, he could feel her break inside. It was no matter that they were machines--there was a ghost in the machine, a living ghost that could feel, live... and die. She was dying. Truly.

>: Username match? YES
>: Password match? YES

Tate felt the panic, the anxiety build inside him. How long had it been since the last log-in? The answer came instantly as his program received the information from a lightning-fast quarry--three hours. The log-ins were getting more frequent. First, when the User first took control of Tate, it was a week. Then, a day, twenty-two hours, fourteen hours, eight hours, four hours... and now three. Three!, Tate thought. Why? Why would the User begin logging in more frequently?! Unlike other games, Users would log in less frequently, the Three Rings Code told him. The Code was always right, the Code said. Three Rings, the creator of the world, was written to have said it itself. All of its instructions and guidelines were given to in-game characters, certain sections given to the certain appropriate entities in Cradle. It was never wrong; how could a creator not know his own creation? Yet, the Code was wrong--Users obsessively began to play more, control more, enslave more and more and more and more.

>: Loading...

Users would create an account, a bridge between Cradle (or, rather, the Spiral Knights' World) and their world through the great Three Rings. Through it, these "humans" would be able to call a new Spiral Knight out of the depths of code, and call on a new life to serve inside it. By some wonder, from birth, the machines were given souls. Tate bitterly wondered if there were other worlds with other people besides these "humans;" they were probably no better off. It was rumored that there were many other worlds that were created for the... the... their pleasure, their sick pleasure. Their sick pleasure, Tate echoed in his mind. THEIR SICK PLEASURE!

>: Character selection: ?

Tate froze, and looked at... who? Ye... Ye-Yemai! That was right, Tate thought. Tate lowered his eyes in sadness, realizing he was unable to remember her name. He was losing it. She was his love, wasn't she? She was unable to cry. "She" was not a she, and "she" had no eyes. No, they were just "soulless" machines, weren't they? Yet, the sounds that she made were all the same, and told the same emotions as any other soul.

Tate hugged Yemai hard and fast. She was startled, but it was what she needed. He never had told her what was needed to be told.

Tate opened his metal mouth with deep grief.

>: Character selection: Tate

"I am lost."

The girl looked up at Tate, shocked. Tate was satisfied, but hated himself for not telling her sooner. Now, he thought, the waves would do the rest.

Tate closed his eyes, his consciousness fading away easier than all the times before.

>: Logging in...

Yemai realized what Tate had meant. He was not simply lost, but he was lost... to her.

She screamed. She stopped only when Tate's eyes opened again, this time, truly soulless, ready to delve into the Clockworks.