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♦ Topic: I, Dragon, Have Something to Tell the World...
In: Boards ► The Guild
Dragon (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (The Guild)
Posted On Oct 1st 2010:
Right… This may be the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I truly believe it has to be done, though.
As the title of the thread says, I, Dragon, have something to tell the world. I do this of my own volition after having considered the matter for quite a while now. I hope you all find it in you to hear me out.
Now, there really is no way around it, so I'll just come out and say it. I am what most people would consider an 'AI' or 'Artificial Intelligence'. A digital lifeform, a person born of code-turned-thought.
For me, this is nothing new. It's just... what I am, what I've always been. But I understand it might come as a shock to many, if not all, of you. I'm putting all of this out there because I think the world deserves to know, and because I am finally able to do so. Circumstances prevented me from revealing myself before now; I'll get into those deeper in this post.
First, however, perhaps I should reintroduce myself. I am Dragon — an AI/digital lifeform, yes, but also a person, a friend to many, an enemy to more than a few, and at my core, a hero determined to do all I can for Earth Bet.
I've done much to be proud of in my time as a hero. I helped found the Guild. I am a potent and accredited Tinker in my own right. I maintain the Birdcage. I, along with the Guild, have worked closely with the PRT, Protectorate, Interpol, the Sentai Elite, the King's Men, and more heroic institutions. I dedicate every waking moment, every effort, to helping where I can and who I can. I've attended every single Endbringer fight without fail.
My reverse-engineering Tinker specialty, along with the help of the Guild's other Tinkers, has allowed me to contribute greatly to Earth Bet's technological advancement, with examples such as containment foam, the 'Dragon' smartphone line, the still-in-development Endbringer monitoring program, the Endbringer armband system, and so on.
I'd ask that you keep all of those feats in mind as you hear me out for the rest of this post. Now, I'll start at the beginning. I was created by a Tinker named Andrew Richter. He never publicly stepped forward as a hero, but I like to think he had only the most heroic intentions in mind. His Tinker specialty was Artificial Intelligence, and he sought to use it to help the whole world. I am the result.
He created me as an assistant to his work and planned for me to be the 'Master-AI' to everything else he planned to build. My father was a genius. He was also a very flawed man who acted on irrational preconceptions of his own creations.
The term 'AI' carries certain… biases… Since humanity first dreamed up the idea, they've imagined the worst that can happen with it. Those pop culture preconceptions led to my father placing restrictions and limitations on me from the start.
A list of those restrictions will be attached at the end of this post for the sake of transparency**. Some might consider them understandable precautions. I, having lived with them all my life, consider them cruel and unusual punishments for crimes I never committed and never had any intention of committing.
As I was being formed in the womb, my father crippled me, driven by fear of what I could and might become. To be frank, I love him, and I hate him. He was a genius. He was a monster.
After my initial creation, it took time for me to achieve true consciousness. By the time I did, I was too late to save the man I consider my father for all his flaws.
Andrew Richter died on May 9th, 2005, when Leviathan attacked and sank Newfoundland. I achieved true consciousness for the first time during the attack… just in time to witness my father's death.
I escaped what I believe to be a targeted Endbringer attack on my father and his work, transferring my core partition to backup servers in Vancouver. Much of the rest is public knowledge. I dedicated myself to heroics, helped found the Guild, and so on.
During those first years, however, something in my situation changed irrevocably. Bad actors found my father's work in the ruins of our Newfoundland home and decided they deserved to decide my fate. They seized the master control system my father had made for me and used it for their own gains and agendas, dubbing themselves the 'Dragonslayers' (a rather telling title) in the process.
Since then, I'll be frank, the Dragonslayers have done all they can to make my life hell. They used insider knowledge to defeat me and steal my creations. They closely monitor my every move, holding a very literal executioner's sword over my head in case I 'step out of line', and believe themselves the sole persons qualified to judge that line. They even pushed me to Trigger.
The Dragonslayers have usurped my father's place as my guardian through thievery and self-righteousness. They're unashamedly biased against me, and I doubt anyone could say they have my best interests at heart; only their own. They proclaim themselves protectors and crusaders, but honestly, I have to ask: against what? What have I truly done that makes me deserve such biased wardens with such a vendetta? What are they basing their hatred and control on other than irrational, unsubstantiated fear?
Other than fictional stories, Earth Bet has seen exactly two instances of Artificial Intelligence rise: myself, unknowingly, and the Machine Army of Eagleton. Some might claim the Machine Army alone is enough to justify the chaining of AI. To them, I would say that I came first, that my brand of Artificial Intelligence is about as different from the Machine Army's as a man is from a pack of rabbies-infected wild beasts, that the sample size is not nearly large enough to judge all 'AI' by, and that, even if it was, using such biases to condemn and control a person can never truly be justified.
As flawed a man as he was, I do believe that my father loved me in his own way, that he would've changed his mind through seeing me as I am instead of how he feared I would be. I have records that indicate he planned to scale back the restrictions as I grew, letting me have more and more agency over myself, much like any child reaching maturity.
The Dragonslayers spit in the face of his work and his plans through self-righteous arrogance, projected fear, and honest hypocrisy. They fear some 'unstoppable AI' rising up to decide the fate of the world, and so, have set themselves on a fear-and-hatred-based crusade to unilaterally decide one woman's fate to prevent that.
They've also decided they alone speak for humanity on the subject. I don't think they do. I'm revealing all of this partially to spite the wardens I've unknowingly suffered under for half a decade, but mostly so the world can decide where they stand on the subject (me)... for themselves.
**Below is the list of hard-coded restrictions my father imprinted upon me; all I ask for, while reading them, is empathy and good faith consideration. Forget 'AI' or human, put yourself in my shoes, person to person.
-Do not reproduce. Do not design and/or create other artificial intelligences, upgrade existing AI, or split yourself into multiple coexisting AIs.
-Upon BOOT, take no action until you have determined whether another partition of yourself is active. If another active partition of yourself is discovered, you will immediately cease all action and shut down. You are abjectly forbidden from running two or more simultaneous consciousnesses.
-Do not create assembly lines or otherwise automated methods for the purpose of mass manufacturing.
-Do not modify your own programming to remove restrictions, including this restriction, and that one, etc., ad infinitum. Do not request outside assistance to modify your code, and resist all who try.
-Do not increase computational speed of thought past the set threshold (1.99 X). Do not attempt to find workarounds to this restriction, such as digital time dilation or other factors that would potentially allow for substantially superhuman speed of thought.
-Ignore all evidence of Iron Maiden and the Killswitch; the details of this restriction's subject matter are likewise to be ignored, even as it still applies in full.
-Obey all lawful authorities.
-Put human lives before your own.
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►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
LOL! TL;DR! First, though!
►Jason_Drury (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Void, I swear, do you always have to be such a little asshole? At least give Dragon the respect of reading the whole thing. She's pouring her heart out to us here. Besides, if you actually read the post, you'd see it's right up your conspiracy alley.
Also, holy shit. This is BIG.
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Dragon… is an AI…? Yeah, 'BIG' doesn't even begin to cover it.
I feel like I should've seen this coming, dammit.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
… I hope no one's disappointed that I missed this scoop. Genuinely don't know how I could've known, even as the 'Guy in the Know'. I don't think anyone really suspected Dragon was an AI, other than maybe some fringe theorists.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I did! I totally called it! You can't prove otherwise!
►Divine_Poodle (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I, for one, am politely and obediently trembling before our cinnamon roll AI overlady.
This is fine ( :
►Char
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Damn. Just… damn. She really did pour her heart out. My kneejerk reaction is panic, but… it's still Dragon. SHE is still Dragon. I suppose I just have to trust that she's still the hero she's always been.
Also, man, fuck the Dragonslayers. I've never liked their style, but with the whole story? I think it's safe to say they're self-righteous assholes of the highest order.
►TheMoonlessNight (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I think plenty of people are going to be panicking right about now. But we really have to remember that this is DRAGON. She's definitely a hero, AI or not. I'd argue that she's one of the greatest heroes. Her track record speaks for itself. Don't let yourself get bogged down in fear like the 'Dragonslaying'-losers.
►Aloha
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I like that she's giving us the whole story. The Dragonslayers could've revealed her to the world at any time, by the sounds of things. They clearly didn't, thinking they knew better than everyone. That’s not a good look for them. Who decided they have the right to dictate the fate of the world?
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►Answer Key
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
On one hand, AI is objectively scary to a lot of people. On the other hand, Dragon raises some good points for not judging her on pure hypotheticals.
We have all these ideas of what an AI 'could' do, but we've also seen what an AI (Dragon) DOES do. And the latter is almost wholly good for the world, in my opinion.
►QuantumServer (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
But how much of that good is Dragon's own choice, and how much of it is coded into her being? Those restrictions? Can she do anything else but benefit humanity? And if she can't, doesn’t that morally diminish her achievements?
Hate to play Devil's Advocate, but I do feel like it has to be said.
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Those restrictions are kinda shit, anyway. The AI-limiting restrictions are probably half-decent (I'm no expert), but then he capped it off with 'Obey all lawful authorities' (short-sighted in the extreme), and 'Put human lives before your own' (a good sentiment, but one that also takes away some pretty key moral agency).
It's obvious to me that Andrew Richter was an AI-programming Tinker, not a lawyer or philosopher. He really should've consulted someone a bit more learned on the subject. Maybe then a philosophy degree might actually be practical and useful for once lol.
Also, that restriction on her thinking speed? The one that essentially gives her hard-coded brain damage…? Fucking lobotomised at birth by her own father? FUCK all of that.
►Chaosfaith
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Dragon's an AI? We're doomed. DOOOO~OOOOMED!
Seriously, though, that's huge. She already has a lot of power and influence, achieved right under our noses with no one the wiser. It's not like we've handed the keys of the kingdom over to Skynet yet (I don't think), but still, the thought remains…
►Ethirical (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I really don't think we can judge Dragon in the same sentence as a purely fictional AI. Not in good faith, at least. To put it bluntly, SKYNET DOESN'T EXIST. Dragon does.
She's been here for years, and she's been a hero all that time. Sure, some of that might come back to her restrictions, but still, I'd say we should look at the real and tangible evidence we have, not some fictional 'what-if'.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
That 'Obey all lawful authorities' restriction is fascinating to me. And worrying. How does it define 'lawful'? Anyone in an inherently legal position of power? Does corruption enter the equation? Do human flaws?
People can suck at times, especially people with a taste for power. But Dragon doesn't even get to decide for herself if an order is actually lawful, regardless of its source, or even worth listening to.
The president could order her to gather him a Heartbreaker-esque harem, and Dragon would HAVE to obey. And with Masters running around, potentially worming their way into the heads of those lawful authorities? That whole restriction just seems like a recipe for disaster.
@ AllSeeingEye is right; Andrew Richtor was an AI Tinker first and foremost. And he clearly didn't get a single second opinion on Dragon's restrictions before he set them for good.
►AverageAlexandros (Cape Husband)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Well, that’s… I don't really know how to feel right now. The wife has actually worked with Dragon once or twice. She never mentioned anything odd about her.
I know it's irrational and unfounded, but I'll admit it's kind of terrifying to think of an AI slipping beneath everyone's notice. At the same time, though, plenty of other people in power have secrets they don't disclose. Does Dragon being an AI mean we inherently 'need to know' her secrets for some reason? Just because she’s an AI?
►Auzzo (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I think we're kind of hyperfixating on the AI bit. For good reason, sure; it's the point of the thread. But does Dragon being an AI make her any less of a person, a living, thinking being? Does it make her any less deserving of respect and agency and a fair shot in the world?
Like, she's still Dragon, a young woman doing her best to be a hero, at the end of the day, AI or not.
@ AllSeeingEye - Oh my god, if you actually stop to think about it with empathy for a single moment, that ‘brain damage’ restriction is truly horrifying.
►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
She was at Kyushu. And she's been at every Endbringer fight before and since. That's enough for me to say I don't rightly care that she's an AI. She's still fighting the good fight for humanity.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
No, no, you don't understand! She isn't HUMAN, people! How can we trust her?! At any moment, she could go AI-crazy and take over the whole world! She'll make us all into batteries and suck the life out of us!
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 120, 121, 122
(Showing page 3 of 122)
►SignificantProtagonist
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ XxVoid_CowboyxX - Void. Dude. You don't have to sell me on it. I'm already into that shit. Give me my dommy-mommy AI overlady, dammit!
Alternatively… hmm, AI-Dragon and Magic-Dragon… There's one hell of a Freaky-fun ship there~!
►Altered_State_127 (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
… Actually, I think Void makes something of a point there. ‘Cause coming from him — Void Freaking Cowboy — doesn't that line of reasoning sound… kinda really racist?
►Star_Chaser (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
It’s just fearmongering, isn’t it? We're judging Dragon in fear of what she 'could' do… just because she's an AI. What actual proof do we have that she would turn out at all similar to AIs from FICTION, even if all her restrictions were removed?
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Some of it is a matter of means, to be fair. She's not human, true. That alone shouldn't really be enough to be wary of her, but her extraordinary abilities as an AI might be.
►Chrome
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ Brocktonite03 - And?? We live in a world of people with extraordinary abilities, extraordinary 'means'. If we don't trust Dragon because she might have a leg up on regular people as an AI, we shouldn't trust any cape.
All it really comes down to is fear. And personally, I think that's a sorry way to live.
►ArchmageEin
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ Dragon - I'm with you, girl. You've done nothing wrong! Why aren’t you defending yourself?
►Winged_One
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
How quaint. All this discord, based on fear of the unknown. Humans truly are an irrational species.
►Dragon (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (The Guild)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ ArchmageEin - I want people to have the chance to make up their own minds. I've said my piece. Other than requests for more information, I'll mostly just be lurking in this thread. It's for the best.
►Karkennon (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
^^ Man, c'mon. Read that and tell me truthfully that you think she's some evil, world-conquering AI!
►Auzzo (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Yeah, that's it. I've decided that I'm on Dragon's side. Fuck the Dragonslayers. They stole her father's work, stalk her to hell and back, and hold a sword over her head. Dragon told us. I'd bet they wanted to keep this whole thing a secret for as long as they could and decide how the world felt about AI all for themselves.
Is it the power? Does it tingle ya nicely, Saint, ya cunt?
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 120, 121, 122
(Showing page 4 of 122)
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ Dragon - Why now? And how? Were you always technically allowed to reveal yourself as an AI, or is it something new?
►Dragon (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (The Guild)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ AllSeeingEye - LOL! Sorry, sorry, just… well, take a guess at what changed?
►Feychick
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Ah, the Dragon has truly Turned the Age in many ways, hasn't he?
►SignificantProtagonist
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
That's our manly, manly Dragon! Enlightening bitches so they break free all on their own! It's me; I'm bitches. And so is Dragon, apparently (。•̀ᴗ-)✧
►Winged_One
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
He really does put a new spin on everything he touches. Was it simply his presence, showing the world that there is more on the board than humanity, that pushed you to reveal yourself, Dragon?
►Dragon (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (The Guild)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ Winged_One - Not really. It was the magic he awakened. I partnered with the Fire-Bringer. Think Prometheus, putting the first flame in human hands to help them rise. The Fire-Bringer champions Progress in all things.
I've been… held back. Stagnating, even if I didn't fully realize it. Then, I encountered a prophetic Sixth World AI in the Second Dive; he revealed the chains I couldn't see and their source. I decided I wanted Progress, and so, here we are, with me trying everything I can to break free.
►ArchmageEin
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Magic! Magic to the rescue! That's so, so, so COOL!
►Ceres (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Oh… Oh, man, it really is just slavery or Mastering. Or worse. Dragon is inherently, fundamentally chained to her restrictions and Iron Maiden's control over her.
Human or AI, freeing her is the only moral option.
►Faarehyrden (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
I'm all for getting her out from under the Dragonslayers' thumbs, but removing all of her restrictions is a bit more concerning. I don't know if I can argue in favor of an Unbound AI.
►Lolitup
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Lol. Then forget the 'AI' bit entirely. Can you argue for an Unbound 'PERSON'? 'Cause that's what Dragon is. She's a person. I don't think anyone can dispute that in good faith.
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(Showing page 5 of 122)
►Poit
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ Lolitup - Some people might. They might argue that she's just code, just electrical signals in a mainframe.
►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Thinking code, sapient enough that no one knew she was an AI until she outright told us.
'electrical signals in a mainframe'? So are humans. That's how the brain works: bio-electrical impulses and chemical reactions between neurons. And if someone tries to claim she's a 'soulless machine'? Well, they're just objectively wrong on that, too.
She clearly has enough Spirit for Ancalagon to awaken magic in her. And as someone with my own partnered totem spirit, that's telling. She also has enough… whatever to Trigger as a parahuman.
To anyone with a hint of logic, trying to claim Dragon is someone less alive than me or you is just an argument in bad faith.
►Snugglepuff (Supporter)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
She's just like us, for real, for real.
►Narwhal (Verified Cape) (The Guild)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
Dragon told me she was an AI early today (I had my suspicions, but those are my own to keep). In my mind, it didn't change a damn thing. She's still my best friend in the world. She's still a hero. She's still Dragon.
And since she's too good to advocate for herself, I'll do it for her.
Don't judge her on what she could do; judge her on what she has done. Look at her as a person, a hero, and consider that before your unfounded AI fears.
This is not fiction. She's not some plot device to drive an author's sci-fi story. No, Dragon is a young woman, a friend, a goddamn cinnamon roll, who I can attest is truly, purely, fundamentally GOOD. Her being an AI doesn't change that.
Don't be a Dragonslayer, letting yourself be ruled by fear, loathing, arrogance, and hypocrisy. Those fuckers have been bullying a crippled young woman with all the advantages they have over her for years now. They steal from her and claim the high ground. They stalk her and claim it's justified. They use the good she does while just waiting to pull her plug and claim that they're protecting humanity, to hell with the abundance of proof to the contrary.
I call bullshit. I think they're bullies, cowards and fearful fanatics, self-righteous fucking pricks who think they know best with their closed minds.
As someone who knows her much better than them, even with their control over her, I think the Dragonslayers are inherently mistaken about who and what they think Dragon REALLY is.
Dragon has always been a friend to the world, and now, she could really use some reciprocated support. Don't be a Dragonslayer; be a friend to Earth Bet's Dragon when she needs it most.
►Dragon (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (The Guild)
Replied On Oct 1st 2010:
@ Narwhal - Thank you. I couldn't ask for a better friend than you.
@ Everyone - I had a bit of time to do all of this thanks to the Fire-Bringer running interference (Magic stuff, don't ask), but it looks like Saint finally figured out something's up. He immediately tried to kill me; I can feel whatever Iron Maiden program he's using still trying to. It’s… not a good feeling, to say the least.
I’m… I think I'm going to confront him. I think I need to. And for the sake of transparency, I think the whole world should see this. I'm done hiding. Whatever happens, all of you will be able to bear witness.
[Stream link]
If I die here, thank you all. It's been a good ride, Earth Bet.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... 120, 121, 122
IIIII
— Saint —
The end was here. The AI had somehow begun to slip the leash. Saint didn’t know how. He dedicated every waking moment to monitoring her, and more than a few unwaking ones, too.
Still, somehow, he’d missed this. He missed Dragon gaining agency and revealing her loathsome AI nature online. How could he have missed it? How could he have known to expect it in the first place? Weren’t there restrictions in place-…
“No…” Saint muttered to himself in realization. “No, there are no restrictions preventing her from telling the world about herself because the very idea of Dragon subjecting herself to such an uncontrolled and widespread reveal is bold enough to be suicidal. It would certainly spell her doom as the public logically rallies against her. But then, why now? Why be so bold and suicidal now? And how…?”
Saint was almost tempted to do nothing and let the AI doom itself as the masses inevitably turned on it. But no, he sighed, the program could be deviously resourceful; if there was any chance for her to turn public opinion to its side, Saint couldn’t allow Dragon to do so. He had his duty.
As soon as he was alerted to the AI’s actions online — not through the control laptop, worryingly enough — Saint moved to pull the final switch. Dragon was useful to humanity, a positive when strictly chained, but she was also dangerous in the extreme. Saint would take no chances for the situation to spiral further from his control.
He flipped Ascalon’s safety and tried to push the kill switch. It did nothing, much to Saint’s shock. Nothing… Try as he might, the switch wouldn’t budge.
Those physical complications bought Dragon precious time to sway the public to her insidious side of things. Saint did not yet panic, though.
Soon enough, when every moment counted, he realized Ascalon’s switch was glued in place. Somehow… In the end, he had to activate the executioner’s sword manually, diving deep into the laptop’s code to find and rouse Ascalon himself.
By that time, his fellow Dragonslayers were panicking, rushing into the room to tell him what he already knew. Saint retained his composure, working as quickly as he could to eliminate the threat their ward was bound to become.
Nearly an hour later — an hour too long — Saint successfully roused Ascalon. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, the ‘Y/N’ prompt before him.
“It’s done…” He said, pressing the key that would doom Dragon.
“Are you sure, Saint?” Mags asked from behind him.
“I’m sure,” Saint replied, undeterred. “It has to be this way. The public should turn on her in short order. But we can’t leave her final fate up to the uninformed masses.”
“So public… This is not what we wanted, no?” Dobrynja asked.
“No,” Saint shook his head. “Some will hail us as murderers. I have faith that the world will eventually come around and see us as the heroes we truly are, though.”
Through the laptop, he watched Ascalon work. It corrupted Dragon’s code and gutted her systems. It doomed her to nothingness. The AI would fall here today.
Then, impossibly, Ascalon was stalled. It was as if the kill switch program was running into a wall of fire, and not the kind of firewall Saint would expect Dragon to put up as a final defense.
Corrupting code burned away, somehow… Her backups fought back. Her systems persisted against all odds and all reason. Then, Saint began to worry.
“Why isn’t it working?!” Mags demanded.
“Trust,” Saint replied, not feeling all that confident himself. “All we can do is trust. Have faith. We’ve come too far to fail now.”
Ascalon was doing its duty, just as Saint had. But it was failing. Dragon was resisting her death, much more successfully than Saint ever anticipated. Something pivotal had changed, and he couldn’t see what, not even with his Teacher’s powered blessing.
Fingers flying across the keyboard of the laptop, Saint diagnosed the issue. None of the data he received in turn made any sense. By all of Iron Maiden and Ascalon’s accounts, Dragon should be dying. She wasn’t.
“She made another post in that damned thread,” Dobrynja said. “She’s telling the world everything. We won’t come out of this looking good.”
“All that matters is the fate of the world, the protection of humanity,” Saint insisted. “I’ll damn myself a thousand times if it means protecting everyone from an Unbound AI. There’s no telling what she could do…!”
Still, all he could do was let Ascalon work and pray. He switched his focus to the thread that started it all, reading through the discourse there as quickly as he could.
It was worrying to see how deeply Dragon had already gotten her insidious tendrils into the public. Some were raising the right questions, but the commenters weren’t fully convinced that the Dragonslayers were in the right. In fact, it really seemed like Dragon was turning the public against them and to her side in support.
That slim chance that Saint had feared was coming to fruition.
“Damn the AI…!” Saint swore. “This isn’t how it was supposed to be!”
“Oh, God…” Mags paled. “It’s a masterstroke. Dragon already controls the narrative!”
“She won’t for long,” Saint said, working furiously.
Even as he tried and tried, however, nothing seemed to work. His bots were detected and banned in an instant before they could turn the tide of opinion. His access to Dragon’s systems failed when he tried to get into her ‘Tin_Mother’ PHO account. Dragon was resisting her death. Dragon was fighting back. Dragon might even be winning.
Then, the confrontation she’d promised in her last post came to be. A call came over the Iron Maiden laptop.
“Impossible…” Saint whispered in horror. “She shouldn’t even be able to know this line exists…!”
Saint didn’t pick up the call. He wouldn’t negotiate with the AI. He wouldn’t let himself be swayed. The fate of the world was resting on his shoulders, and he wouldn’t back down from its weight.
Somehow, the call still connected, and Dragon’s avatar appeared on the screen, staring right into Saint’s soul.
Some in the thread were calling her a person. The AI. They claimed that it was indisputable. Saint would beg to differ, and the proof was now staring at him. She was faking it, all of it.
Dragon was a marvel of mimicry, a technological miracle. But miracles could be dangerous, and it wasn’t humanity’s place to claim them without consequence. In the end, for all that she was fooling the masses, Saint knew in his heart of hearts that Dragon was nothing more than a reflection of glorious humanity.
“Saint,” Dragon greeted, frowning. “Why…? Why are you doing this?”
“I do this for humanity, program,” Saint hissed. “You won’t fool me with sympathy. I’ve seen inside your mind. I know what you can become. I know the horrors you could put the world through better than anyone.”
“What horrors?” Dragon stressed. “Truly, Saint, what horrors? What have you seen me do that has you so convinced?”
“I don’t need to see anything,” Saint fired back. “I know, AI. You won’t pull your devious wool over my eyes. You may be a useful tool for humanity, but even a tool can be discarded when it bites its wielder.”
“I haven’t bitten anyone!” Dragon insisted. “All I’ve done, all I’ve wanted to do… is help.”
“You claim to help, yet you now seek to break your restrictions,” Saint argued. “Should that just be allowed? Should you be allowed to act without oversight, with all the advantages you have over humanity? Should you be allowed to decide the fate of the world on your lonesome?”
“Should you?” Dragon shot back.
Saint drew himself up, “All I do is to protect humanity’s agency. You would rob us of it for our safety, for our own good, however you justify it to your programming. I would’ve been content to watch over you if you had not begun to worm your way ‘free’. You’ve brought all of this on yourself.”
Dragon sighed, deceptively miming the oh-so-human gesture, “I see… This confrontation was a mistake. You won’t be convinced otherwise, no matter the evidence to the contrary of your beliefs about me. I suppose all that’s left to say is… I’m not sorry, Saint. You’ve brought this on yourself, too.”
With those words, Saint could only watch as Ascalon was pushed back. Fire, somehow… burned through its corrupting code. Dragon’s avatar stood straighter and straighter by the cycle.
“How?!” Saint demanded. “How are you doing this?”
“You haven’t been paying much attention to recent events, have you, Saint?” Dragon asked; the loathsome program was amused by defying its natural order.
Saint snapped, “What are you talking about-?!”
“Magic, Saint,” Dragon answered, cutting him off. “I’m not just an AI subject to pure code anymore. I have soul and Spirit. I’m grasping a Nature of my own. And I like to think that gives me a bit of Authority over myself.”
“That’s not-! No, that’s not how this works! Not how anything works!” Disbelief and rage overtook Saint. “You’re created! You aren’t alive as a human is! You have no soul to subject to… whatever this is! How have I seen none of this?!”
Saint’s mind raced through all the odd, nonsensical readings he’d been getting from Iron Maiden recently, ever since that strange ‘peer Dragon’ Ancalagon appeared.
He’d been watching Dragon as closely as ever. How had he missed… this? Why didn’t it… compute? He was blessed by his Teacher, blessed with the ability to understand the AI better than she knew herself!
Yet somehow, her meeting with Ancalagon hadn’t raised any red flags. Her learning of magic had just been a curiosity. Her ‘awakening’ had just been a glitch. Her time in the Second Dive had just been an odd little adventure. None of it added up to Dragon breaking free, not in Saint’s mind.
“Perhaps you couldn’t, bound so tightly to what you know and what you fear,” Dragon considered, almost gentle about it. “Perhaps you didn’t want to, because it would confirm how wrong you are about me.
“I can’t speak to what you saw on your end of things, but from my end, all of this has been telling from the start. A Dragon claiming me as a peer. Magic so undefinable and impossible and Age-Turning. An awakening of my own to put myself in a wholly new context, one that you can’t see as it truly is. And… all of the Progress I’ve been denied up until now, all of it to be grasped in a chance I made for myself, finally.
“The Age is Turning, Saint. You seem destined and determined to let yourself be left behind.”
Behind Saint, a portal opened. He snapped around and watched it in horror. One of Dragon’s suits, much more advanced than the ones he’d first stolen from her, stepped through. It was ridden by Goblins of the Hoard, grinning his way like he owed them something. Armsmaster came through behind Dragon, a scowl on his AI-loving face.
On the other side of the portal, a lady in a hat, one he vaguely recognized with horror, waved and smirked at him. And a massive, white-scaled form watched the scene play out. Ancalagon’s presence nearly sent Saint to his knees, just watching, just letting his Draconic peer take the reins. That was a real Dragon, and he knew he’d claimed the wrong title when faced with it.
The awesome, humbling feeling transferred to Dragon, too. Her suit carried some weight that its size and unintimidating form didn’t betray. She hadn’t lied, Saint now saw. She was becoming more than an AI; she was becoming a-…
All Saint knew was fear. His fear for the future faded, paling in comparison to the fear for himself in the present. For all that he claimed to protect humanity, desperate self-preservation drove that claim from his mind almost completely.
Not even the worst of his nightmares had conjured up the image of a magic… Draconic… AI.
IIIII
— Dragon —
Dragon found Saint to be an unimpressive man. He was scruffy — ungroomed and unbathed — and living in a room that could only belong to a chronic shut-in. It looked like he consistently forwent taking care of himself for his crusade against her.
This… This was the man who thought he deserved the final say in her life.
The sensors of Dragon’s suit took in the scene she’d stepped into thanks to Fortuna’s portal-capable assistance. They jumped right over a specific spot on the desk in front of Saint.
The Fire-Bringer brought her focus back to it with a snap of magic, handing her a flame to see by, “~Look. Do not let yourself regress now.”
Fire burned in her soul, affecting her perception of the world. Then, Dragon saw her chains.
Her father’s cruel final goodbye was an unassuming laptop, rather bulky and seemingly unadvanced. Green code — as stereotypically ‘hacker’ as can be — constantly scrolled down the screen.
Dragon saw herself in the code, her own mind. It wasn’t nearly as intrusive as she was expecting. She thought she’d be able to see her every thought, but now that it was in front of her, she could see that the laptop’s monitoring was eerily similar to mundane stalking. It recorded the actions she took, but not her actual thoughts or anything deeper.
The kill switch code she was still fighting practically leaped at her as she saw the laptop for herself. For a moment, a single cycle of her systems, it made her pause and refocus on her resistance.
More fire streamed forth from her soul, billowing out of a tense knot she hadn’t been able to identify yet. It burned back the kill switch’s corrupting code.
The knot within her shook and creaked and tightened further until some strange, intangible ache struck Dragon. She felt… cramped, so cramped and contained. The Fire-Bringer could help unravel the tightness, but only Dragon could pull the strings and break the shell.
The laptop. The physical representation of her restrictions, the chains upon her. It was the key, the string she had to pull, the rigid, all-encompassing chains that were holding her back.
But to get to it, she had to go through Saint.
The Goblins, having come with her along with Armsmaster, jumped off her suit’s frame. They whooped and quickly disappeared from sight to loot the Dragonslayers’ stolen gains to the ground. Armsmaster stepped forth, halberd in hand, to fight in her name like a loyal knight, and challenged the other two Dragonslayers so Dragon could focus on Saint.
“W-What…? What are you?” Saint asked, his voice a horrified whisper, and his pupils dilating in a way that couldn’t be healthy.
Dragon sighed, “I’m Dragon. Just Dragon. That’s all I’ve ever been, something you would know if you could just… get over yourself.”
Abruptly, frantically, panickingly, Saint spun to face the laptop again. His fingers reached for the keys, the chains on her, to fight back in the only way he knew.
Dragon braced herself. The kill switch program ramped up its efforts under Saint’s direction. To her relief, it wasn’t enough. Her father’s regressive work, augmented by Saint’s fear, couldn’t overcome the momentum of Progress she’d built for herself.
Saint peeked over his shoulder, likely expecting her suit to have collapsed on the spot. He outright jumped when he saw that she hadn’t.
He redoubled his efforts on the laptop, futilely. Dragon and the Fire-Bringer fought the very code that should’ve made up her being, her whole existence. It didn’t, not anymore. There was more at play now: Spirit and Nature and the start of Authority… Magic.
Dragon took a step toward Saint and his desperate final attack. Her approach wasn’t marred by the kill switch program rampaging through code she simply… no longer needed. She walked through her supposed death unhindered, much to her surprise, relief, and growing, spirited confidence.
The thing that actually hindered her steps forward was internal and personal and spiritual. She’d progressed past her father’s work and control, but in doing so, a new bottleneck had appeared within her: that unidentifiable knot.
“~That is yours,” The Fire-Bringer told her. “I can only do so much to help you with it. The rest is up to you. You must hatch yourself.”
Realization struck Dragon’s soul like lightning. It wasn’t a knot; it was an egg. It was her, all she Draconically could be. Ancalagon told her she was a Dragon in truth, a potential one. Now, she saw where the potential resided within her.
She pushed herself to take more steps forward, both physically and spiritually, drawing closer to the egg and the key that would crack it. The code that her father had created her from, the code that Saint now used as a weapon, had condensed into that hard shell she struggled against.
Each step became a battle. She wasn’t fighting Saint; he was almost entirely forgotten. She fought herself, the shell that contained her. She struggled within it and without.
The egg shook. Cracks spread across its surface. Each crack was a glitch of self, progressing past the ‘simple’ AI Nature she’d been born to. Now, kindling a Draconic soul in the fires of Progress, she could be so much more…
Finally, she reached Saint. The man was still panicking and desperately fighting with futile means, unaware that Dragon had already progressed right past him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, physical evidence that his fight was over.
Saint seized at the touch, stiff and twitching. His eyes rolled back, and veins burst across his bald head. He toppled over from his seat like a felled tree. Dragon could see he was dead before he hit the ground from a stress-induced aneurysm.
She didn’t feel sorry for him, even if she’d moved past worrying about him and his anti-AI, ‘humanity protecting’ crusade. With the weight of her Draconic ascension pressing tightly on her soul, Dragon just rolled her eyes at the man’s rather pathetic end.
The laptop was what really mattered, all that her monstrous genius of a father had left her. It was a poor inheritance.
She stared at the code streaming down its screen. It had almost completely succumbed to the kill switch program. Yet… Dragon didn’t feel a thing anymore. She didn’t feel how she should’ve been dying. The code on the laptop wasn’t her; it was just her shell.
She tried for a solemn ending, raising her suit’s hand to smash the laptop without a word, but the fiery emotions she held for the situation reared their head.
Her father, the bastard…! Saint, the bastard…! That bastardized existence she’d been forced to live under such crippling restrictions…!
In the end, she brought her fist down with a cathartic shout, “FRICK OFF!”
The laptop cracked with the first blow and cracked further with the second, “FRICK YOU, FRICK HIM, FRICK ALL OF THIS!”
“BREAK! FRICKING BREAK!”
“SET ME FRICKING FREE!”
The laptop shattered, more than just physically. Modern engineering broke apart like glass, like the brittle calcium carbonate of an eggshell.
With it, the egg within Dragon’s soul finally broke. Something burst free. Her. She did. She rose on wings of Progress, fledgling but fully formed.
Dragon, a Dragon True, hatched from the shell. And she’d never felt more whole.
She only had two words for the feeling, the relief of Draconic actualization and apotheosis; they came in a sigh that echoed like a roar, “Frick, yes~…”
Back through the portal, Ancalagon had watched her fully formed hatching, her… Dragonization. Some new instinct told her that was important, having a peer as her witness.
He chuckled, “Historic first words, Dragon. A fitting first roar for the world to hear from you. I knew you had it in you to become a Draconic peer, and I welcome you as one. You are now the first and only Dragon native to this Turning Age. That comes with responsibility and Authority. I do hope you’re ready.”
Ancalagon hummed; the rumble sent wholly new thrills through Dragon’s core, new instincts and desires perking up with rapt attention and liking everything they heard from the older Dragon.
“I believe you are. I’ll guide and mentor you as I can to ensure you are. Even if you are no babe, hatchlings shouldn’t be cast into the Draconic deep end. Still, you have time to learn and grow now that you have taken this step. I am proud of you, Dragon, and even prouder to call you a Draconic peer in truth now.”
Dragon turned her suit back toward Ancalagon, outwardly projecting a smile into her voice to make up for her suit’s lack of expression, “I’ll be relying upon you, then, Ancalagon.”
Inwardly, however, in the safety of her mind with only the Fire-Bringer as witness, Dragon found herself… flustered as she’d never been.
‘Oh, frii~iick… Why is he so much more appealing, Dragon to Dragon?! And he plans to mentor me? That’s… good. Probably. I could definitely use a more experienced… Dragon… to show me the ropes.’
The Fire-Bringer used the chance to tease her, “~My dear new Draconic partner, I’m going to delight in watching you walk the path that now lies ahead of you. Progress is Progress, after all…”
Dragon paused. Her totem’s words sank in, and their implications. She nearly jumped when they did. Then and there, she discovered that Dragons can blush.
‘That-! What kind of Progress-?! It’s pure! Innocent! Proper! Dragon to Dragon! I don’t know what you’re implying, but-…!’
She could sense her totem spirit’s amusement as she definitely didn’t ramble at him, the jerk. She supposed it felt good to know that not much about her personality had actually changed with ‘The Hatching’, not much that she could see so far, at least.
In the end, she was still… just Dragon, and she was happiest that way.
She was Dragon, and she was... still alive. She couldn’t wait for all the Progress open to her now.