[ BACKSTORY BELOW ] YEAHH I MADE IT i'm really proud of the art piece!! took me much longer than expected and i really like how it looks i originally planned to make a much larger project, amv/pmv but i realized a month was way too little time for me to make such a big animated entry i did have some simple lore planned, so i just stuck with an art piece! the music playing in the background is the music i planned to use ^-^ really good song! maybe sometime when i have enough motivation i'll still make the amv, if i ever win the character haha backstory: akari is a non-living entity, born into the world of code. he's lived here behind the computer screens, and behind the billions of pixels that make up technology's displays. akari has been here since the first computer was invented, back in the 20th century, and has existed ever since. he can be regarded as a "virus," with the power to control anything that goes on through the internet as long as it is within reach. if desired, he could pop right up on your screen, moving and sentient. but.. he can never truly escape. for two centuries, he's wandered through the endless maze of displays. displays of the real world through television screens, through the digital lens that he can see through. millions and billions of little televisions through an endless abyss of blue and black. but he can never experience the real world for himself, as a virus made entirely of binary code is unable to leave its home. centuries pass. years fly by, akari is still trapped in this world, never having talked to anyone real. humans, greedy they are, chased the dream of an all-powerful technology which eventually led to their self-destruct. as technology became intelligent, the world crumbled through pollution and the overtaking of mindless robots. absolute annihilation of the planet, with a horrifying amount of only 10 million different species remaining, animals taking up over three fourths of this total. and yet, akari was still here, for as long as digital technology remained, he would remain too. but upon walking endlessly for countless centuries, akari had finally arrived at what seemed to be the end. a firewall. was it really that simple? was the real world lying just behind those barriers? a smirk appeared on akari's face, and he extended his wings, reaching out with his two extra hands, when- the monstrous fists had not even touched the firewall before he was blown backwards, thrown harshly across the bright gleaming tiles on the floor. a piece of ground near his paws shattered and fell, down, down into the abyss, bits of binary code crumbling off the edges and plunging down with it. akari got up, and noticed his front paw was bleeding. or at least, leaking a strange gooey liquid that didn't seem to be affected by anything physical, just flowing endlessly. it was the first time akari had ever been physically injured. but akari wasn't done yet. over and over, he attacked the firewall, and over and over fell down. soon, he was covered in injuries-- one across his tail, around his shoulder, on his paw, and a rip in his ear. he was completely out of strength, and was about to give up. then he realized something. he wasn't a living entity, was he? he had no physical imprint. everything he did, was apart of the code. the firewall was trained to block his blows. because he was made of the code itself, and he couldn't get through. he looked at the tiles under his feet. little strings of binary, with its jumbled 0's and 1's radiated from them. these were also coded to block his blows. and it's why he could move, but not destroy them. he extended his arm, ripped the tile out of its place, and hurled it at the firewall. this time, it was fire against fire. the tile slammed into the firewall, a small but noticeable spiral of energy rippling through. the code acted as the physical force. because the tile contained the same coding as the firewall did, it made impact. that was all it took, before akari was back on his paws again. repeatedly, he ripped out tiles from underneath his feet and threw them at the wall. tears of strain and agony streaked his face, sweat was pouring down his forehead, but all he could see was the sleek white crack that extended throughout the wall. and he watched as it grew bigger, and bigger, with every swift move he made. the abyss was trembling. the ground was shaking, as more and more tiles were destroyed, binary code holding it together weakening and beginning to crumble. just as the crack finally burst and light broke through, the ground fell beneath akari's feet wore away and he plunged down, down. down. he extended his wings, but they flailed and flapped like paper in a windstorm. everything was falling, tiles, code, the television screens and tiny molecules of light that had burst through the crack. and still, akari kept falling, until-- (continued in notes and credits)
his paws caught onto something. a single hanging tile that had not come loose. akari pulled himself up, and scaled the area around him. above his head was a line of stable-looking tiles, leading up to the firewall like a glowing staircase of stepping stones. he extended his hands, and pulled himself up one by one, before he was only a few meters away from the gap in the firewall. the crack was slowly closing, as the code began to recover from the sudden interruption. taking a deep breath, akari spread his wings and jumped, making a blind leap to the crack in the wall- and succeeded, as light surrounded his head. he was fully blinded by light, as pieces of frayed coding scrapped at his head, his eyes widdening with delight as they adjusted to the sight around him, but, he was still falling?! akari was teleported to a clear blue sky, contrary to what he was used to seeing. instead of deeply polluted areas, everywhere he saw was a lush green. the clouds he felt on his paws were clear and white. he plummeted to the ground, flecks of code tumbling down with him, before he crashed straight into a bush. he lay there for a few seconds, before shock and ecstasy hit him. he was REAL. there was grass tickling his stomach from where he lay, wind blowing through his fur and scarf, his body felt real and alive and sensitive. a three-dimensional world, which would change to his touch. though he seemingly had no injuries from the fall, that wasn't what took over his mind at the moment. still in awe, he looked at his paws. the injury from previously was still there, and so was the strange blood. he turned his paws over, watching the way his fur fluttered in the breeze and as the strange liquid continued to flow. lines of code ran through, slowly fading away as seconds passed by. though he never knew the meaning of his existence, akari was made to symbolize the success of digital technology. when he broke free, he was letting go of the last form of technology that thrived in the world. everything humans had built through code and wires, was gone. and without human's destruction, the planet slowly recovered over the course of a millennium. akari had seen his own world collapse in front of his eyes, and still could not do a single thing. but the moment he escaped, the planet was given a chance to restart. and, so was he. - - the end all art - me story - me design - @-bayleaf song - いのちの食べ方 (how to eat life by eve) IM @SHATTERED_DIAMOND
