Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age

The bones of the skeletons laid on the floor, many were simply piled together while some were scattered about. The sun began to rise from the east, the orange hue reflecting across the clouds. The sunrise had begun when One began to comfort the little girl.

She was crying still, but One's head pat seemed to work a bit. Not expecting her next actions, One was surprised when the little girl suddenly embraced him. He did not know if the little girl was mistaking him for somebody else or was just acting out of pure instinct. Still, One let the girl be. It opened a lock inside him, this warm embrace. One decided to ignore it, it wasn't anything big or revolutionary.  

The girl did not stop from sobbing. One had no idea how to handle a crying child, and so, decided to take her by the hand and they wandered off under the emerging sun. As the two walked across the dead grass, passing by the bones and the enchanted items scattered on the ground, the little girl was looking up at One. Her eyes glowed as tears still escaped her lids.

To her, One looked like a savior despite his dark aura and character. In her eyes, she saw her mother within him. And once the thought of her mother crossed her mind, she sobbed even more. The two traveled on foot for an hour before the little girl was exhausted. Not wanting to stop, One took her and carried her on his back.

"Should I fly?"

One thought.

"No, it would disturb her"

One was not sure where they were going but using his memory, he deduced that they were nearing the Yuhin Kingdom. The nearest city was Bulbon, a walled frontier city. One was too suspicious to enter a city. The tension and threat that he and his forces have generated have made the other kingdoms wary and thus security had been upped. Any individual that would even in the slightest match the appearance of the metal men would be barred entry, or else, murdered.

Many poor souls have already been killed despite not being metal men. Paranoia and fear have spread like wildfire, refugees have also begun to flood the kingdoms, generating even more problems.

The little girl needed nourishment, One had never encountered this problem before, he knew what was edible and what was not but the problem was, were they fit for consumption for a little girl? One decided to scan their surroundings, the trees looked healthier and the grass greener. They must have passed the dead lands that Goln called.

Using his sensors, he managed to detect a few fruits.

He placed the little girl on the grass, it was much more comfortable than the grass on the dead lands. The girl had stopped crying, instead, she stared at One with glowing eyes. As One was hacking and slashing the foliage and the branches to get the fruits, she watched.

The fruits were composed of apples. There were only apples, was this forest an apple tree forest? One thought. It only took One a few minutes to gather a total of a hundred apples. He was efficient at gathering them all and placing them into a single bag. One was confused where he got the bag from, he did not remember picking it or bringing a bag with him.

Nevertheless, he made use of it. The bag was harmless after all, made of simple fibers, it more of a sack than a bag.

The apples filled the bag almost to its tip. He then carried it on his shoulder and returned to where he left the little girl all the while the girl stared at him.

He placed the bag down on the ground and the girl's eyes glowed even more as she diverted her attention to the bag. A few apples fell down the sack, the girl then scrambled to get the nearest. She acted like an animal, One then recognized that she had not eaten for quite some time, hence her behavior.

"I found you at a village, can you explain to me what were you doing there?"

The little girl stopped munching on the apple and lowered her hand. She looked at the ground and did not say a word.

"What happened?"

The little girl opened her mouth but she struggled to form a sentence.

"Do you know how to speak?" One asked.

The girl nodded. Maybe she was too traumatized to speak yet, One thought.

One decided to ask her another time and let her mind rest.

"Go and eat, we'll try to find a river or any body of water, I know you haven't drunk any for a few days now"

The girl nodded. One then noticed the trembling of her hands and fingers, then he noticed that the little girl was trembling all-over.

In his mind, One thought, whatever caused this little girl's distress, may still be near.

Or maybe.

The figures he saw inside the village flashed in his mind.

Were they the reason? One thought.

Whatever they were, if ever this little girl came from that village, she must have run far from those things. One thought for a while, contemplating the possibility that these creatures may have already escaped into the wild and have begun to spread at a rate that even he could not control without sparking an unwanted confrontation.

"Why do I have the feeling that I was partially responsible.."

As One got lost in his thoughts, the little girl came towards him.

"M-mister"

"Huh?" One turned around.

The little girl was sitting with her legs folded. She was offering him an apple.

"No, thank you. You eat it, I don't need it,"

But the little girl insisted. At that moment, One decided to eat for the very first time.

He took the apple and stared at it for a second. Then he turned his attention towards the little girl who was eager to see him take a bite.

If I am a human, then, I must eat like a human.

He took the apple near his mouth and he opened wide. He bit down on the apple, the crunching sound was surreal for him. The little girl smiled as One began munching down on the apple.

This is useless, One thought.

Whatever I eat, it would be converted to energy I won't even use. But, if this makes it more convincing to this little girl that I am a human, then so be it!

One saw the smile appear on her face and so, he continued until he ate the entire apple. Even the center was not spared, much to the astonishment of the little girl.

One sighed when he finished. Once he was done, the little girl offered him another while she held another for herself.

Really?

One took the apple that the little girl was offering him and began to eat it. The little girl also began to munch down on hers. The two were sat on the green grass as the sun had finally risen to the sky and brought its light over the land. The singing of the birds along the dancing of the trees and grass with the flow of the breeze combined made a peaceful scenery.

A peaceful scenery that neither has experienced for quite some time already. Through the bloodshed, chaos, and anarchy that had so far engulfed the continent, these two unlikely partners managed to form a bond.

It was not a bond of love, no, One only felt an attachment to the girl that constituted him as being her guardian until further notice. The little girl, on the hand, looked up to One as her savior and reminded her of her mother.

She felt fuzzy and secure around the stranger. One felt a feeling of responsibility. When he began this journey of his, he wanted to explore the world as himself, to find something he was missing, humanity. This girl, in his eyes, could be is stepping stone.

In other words, she was a tool.

The two chowed down on a lot of apples, eating as much as a quarter of the apples inside the sack all the while they were silent with the girl the only one actually speaking.

She would say "Mister" sometimes while stuttering. She would repeat this act whilst giving One an apple every time. To his luck, One had almost unlimited capacity inside his stomach, not even the fattest of the fat could beat him in a competition of who can eat the most.

When they finished, One thought it was time for him to ask the little girl questions.

As she was finishing up her last apple, One patted her head. This surprised the little girl but she continued munching anyway.

"Little one," One said.

"Y-yes?" The girl looked at One.

"Don't be afraid, I just want to ask you something,"

"O-okay," She said as she nodded.

"Well then, I wanted to ask you, why were you all alone back there?"

The little girl stopped munching.

"T-they cha-chased me"

"Who chased you?"

"Them,"

She must be referring to those abominations, One then decided to ask about anyone being with her before she was left alone.

"Was there anyone with you before you were alone?" He asked.

"I was with Uncle.. Uncle Sammy, we were on a carriage to the city," She answered.

One was surprised that the little girl retained and understood this much, he actually had low expectations. Seeing that the girl could be conversed with to a certain degree that would be beneficial to him, he continued.

"Where is this Uncle Sammy?" One asked.

"They took him," She answered.

"Who is they? Or, what are they?" One continued.

"They like slimes, but they took Uncle Sammy with them. I fell, they grab me but I run,"

"You ran? And then?"

"They follow, but are slow. Then I was tired. Then, some goblins came out,"

"Alright, and then?"

The little girl too some time to answer back.

"I tired, I fell. Then you came,"

"Okay then, do you know where the carriage of Uncle Sammy is at?"

"No, I not know,"

The little girl was showing signs of mental damage. She needed to rest or else she may lose it. One decided to stop asking her questions. He lifted her up and took the sack. They then resumed their journey on foot. They were going to a city, It was most likely to have been Bulbon which was a few kilometers to the west.

If this little girl was to stand a chance out here with him, One needed to provide her with this world's necessities. He also thought that this will be a good learning opportunity for him. He can delve deeper into the arts of magic and exploit it when he returns to the Hub.

As the sun shined over them and the little girl fell asleep. They were on their way to Bulbon, how they were going to get in? One was planning non-violent means, he hoped.  But as they journeyed, One wondered in his mind. He left at such short notice that it was basically passing down the controls to Hailey for awhile, but his two self-aware drones were with her, but he still wondered.

What was Hailey doing?

-

"Please! Have mercy! No!"

"Arghhhhh!"

"You witch!!"

"No!!"

"Micheal, what are their statuses?"

"Madame Hailey, it seems like they reacted as you suspected, the radiation is reacting with their inner magic that flows through their veins. They are getting choked,"

"Hm, this was unforeseen, B-7771, please increase the radiation levels"

"Roger"

"Wait! No! Please no!"

"Continue the steady rise, B-7771, but do not over do it."

"Roger"

"NO!! ARGH-"

"They're changing color now,"

"Yes madame, something is changing within them."

"They're turning pale,"

"Madame, they have begun to react differently, their molecular structure is changing,"

"Interesting, keep at it. We need to see what happens."

"Yes."

And they screamed and screamed. But nobody was thereto save them.