Beware The Metal Age
Voting and Critique
Behold! The vote-ening has arrived!
I encourage everyone that cares about the Contests(and if you don't already, I encourage you to begin now) to read through all of the wonderful entries submitted in the past two weeks, and cast their vote for their favorite! The submission with the most votes will be posted in a stickied "Trophy Case" thread where it will be displayed for all to see, and its author added to the list of Meritorious Writers at the very top!
Of course, this thread is also for critiquing. Note I said critiquing, not shitslinging. Constructive criticism only, please. Feel free to go through any one or all of the entries and give your two cents in helping your fellow writers improve! Those that have entered this contest are absolutely allowed to critique each others' works, contestants can absolutely vote, though not for their own, obviously.
Needless to say, using multiple accounts to vote more than once is NOT ALLOWED, and if an author uses alts to vote for their own work, they will be disqualified on the spot and disbarred from entering any future Contests.
Please vote based on the merits of the work, not for the sake of a clique or just because the author happens to be your friend. And mostly certainly do not attempt to have an author falsely disqualified because you don't happen to like them, because I'll fucking find out and it won't be pretty.
Metal parts clanked heavily against each other as the strange object rolled along the wooden tabletop. When it stopped, absolute silence hung throughout the sprawling command tent. It drifted between the occupants like some unseen, unsettling smoke. So palpable was it, that the superstitious present wondered if some specter of their absent warlord had manifested, his fierce eyes still critiquing their every action and inaction from beyond an unknown grave. Three years had passed while the Black Throne of the Dol'Vrah sat empty, but a much more pressing issue had brought the counsel together that day.
An expression of deep confusion came to the features of the woman standing at the head of the table. Her armor reflected flickering light from dozens of candles illuminating the tent. “What in the names of all the gods is that?” Adelaide asked, picking up the strange object. It was heavier than she expected and required both of her hands to hold. The contraption was so impossibly complex that even the few rudimentary rifles she'd seen were utterly crude by comparison. Her confused scowl became a look of fascination. No weapon she'd ever seen was so intricate. Her ice-blue eyes inspected dozens of moving parts, all exquisitely fitted and perfectly oiled. Strange threads hung from one end. Each one had a metal core, copper if she wasn't mistaken, wrapped in a rubbery coating.
“An arm.” General Drefen answered. The sallow-faced mage stood at Adelaide's right hand, as always. She was tall, but he was taller, as were all the inhuman Dol'Vrah. Other officers crowded around the sides of the table. As long as the warlord was still missing, all of them were of equal rank. All knew that time was drawing to an end, however. The battle between them would soon begin as cries for a new warlord had long been growing louder across the empire. Some already suspected that an alliance had been made between Drefen and the red-headed human, and that the pair were merely biding their time. All schemes had been paused, though, as a threat from without had grown large enough to eclipse even worries of a looming civil war.
“An arm?” Adelaide parroted his answer with disbelief. She hadn't personally witnessed the battle against these strange beings, or machines, or whatever they were; she'd only heard the resulting tale of horror. The troops that had encountered a small squadron of the metal men had been victorious, but at a high price. The casualty rate was almost double the average losses. No survivor had escaped unharmed, with the luckiest among them bearing only severe burns. Others had lost whole limbs and one of the deceased was completely missing a quarter of his skull.
All other eyes laid on the de-facto leader of the empire, while hers stared at the great seat some distance from the opposite head of the table. She had been closest to the Black Throne when it was occupied, but the empty chair offered her no answers from its shadowed resting place. Would the warlord, her old friend, know what to do against this new enemy? Adelaide tossed the steel limb onto the tabletop. It didn't matter much what he did or didn't know, did it? She was already ruling the empire, more or less, with Drefen as her willing front. The troops would revolt if they knew they were being commanded by a human. The Dol'Vrah soldiers had barely accepted Adelaide as a general, and that was the sole reason she still tolerated such a lowly title.
The other generals all flinched away as the strange arm clattered against wood again, an unusually fearful reaction for a group of battled-hardened commanders. She didn't have to voice the question in her eyes before Drefen spoke again. “They fire a kind of projectile. It appears like magic of some sort, but still melts through enchanted armor and weapons.” He explained. Adelaide's mind was swirling. The appearance of the metal men could not have come at a worse time. Their metallic maw gnawed away at the eastern wilderness while usurpers plotted in the Dol'Vrah homeland.
Where was the Warlord Siegfried?
The question burned in nearly every member of the empire, but it was heaviest on Adelaide's mind. Her eyes slowly moved from the strange object on the table to the slight form standing near the tent's exit. The fair-skinned slave girl shivered under Adelaide's gaze. Nothing good ever came of the general's attention. Seeing an opportunity to vent some frustration, Adelaide made her way towards her slave, and the exit, with the metallic arm tucked under her own. “Come along, Princess. It is time to die.” She said without even pausing to glance at the condemned woman.
The slave's delicate features were horrified. She couldn't make her withered legs move. Vius, the largest of the generals and master of the imperial smiths, placed a huge hand on the slave's shaved head and moved her to follow Adelaide. There was nothing the frail captive could do to resist.
Minutes later, she was tied securely to a post that towered several feet over her small frame. She was sobbing with such force that her tiny shoulders still heaved despite her bonds. Adelaide took her slave's tiny chin in her hand and forced her to look into her grinning face. “I thought you'd be happy to return to your precious knight.” She said and the enslaved princess began to cry even more. Was this really how her life was going to end? She'd never truly lost hope, not entirely, despite spending so long as the favored plaything of wicked Adelaide.
Surely, any second now, her salvation would arrive at last. Time passed at an impossibly slow pace for the princess as Adelaide fumbled with the unfamiliar technology, but each moment was another chance at rescue. The redhead tugged at the weird strands that dangled from the torn steel shoulder. By pure chance, she actually managed to fire a blast. It hit the well-trampled ground, penetrating the packed dirt and launching turf in every direction. A stray rock whizzed towards Adelaide's face and she turned just fast enough to catch it with the edge of her cheek, rather than her eye. Blood trickled from the cut and the rivulet curved to travel over her rounded, smiling cheek.
She aimed the thing as best she could while the princess turned her watering eyes upward to the sky, sending her last iota of hope to her gods.
Divine mercy came in the form of a plasma bolt.
“I want to see these... 'metal men' for myself.”
Not many in the horde were adept at stealth, but those who accompanied Adelaide through that still night were the best. The dark-clad group moved quickly despite their near-complete silence. They ducked low behind tall grass as they made their way up a low ridge side. Once at the top, Adelaide could scarcely believe the sight that met her eyes. The journey to the new warfront had only taken the stealth squad a few days. Barely a week had passed since the unlucky troops had first encountered the metal men. Yet, the landscape on the other side of the ridge was unrecognizable. There was no green to be seen, or even brown.
Instead, there was only black iron silhouetted against the red glow emanating from a thousand forges, and from the massive pit at the center of the camp. The rumble that had been growing beneath her traveling feet for days was suddenly explained. The steel soldiers that had slaughtered her own were merely defenders for the monstrous machine towering at the center of the hellish encampment. An iron mass spun slowly, drilling into the ground.
She had just enough time to realize that the ridge on which she crouched was one curving edge of a massive crater, before the constant flow of hot air pushing forth from the encampment suddenly surged. It blew the black hood from her head, revealing her red hair around her masked face. She reflexively reached to fix it but the glinting copper color wasn't what revealed their position to the electric sentinels. The body heat of her reaching arm triggered the targeting code as she attempted to gain a better vantage point. The only warning before a mortar impact blew apart the hillside was the clanking of the massive turret as it turned. Adelaide had heard it and pushed herself backwards down the slope. Even so, she was still caught up in the blast.
The force flung her across the open grassland. How far, she wasn't certain. The stars overhead streaked by as she braced herself before she inevitably hit the ground. Leather armor prevented her from losing skin to the friction. It did little, though, to protect her from the jarring impacts that bruised her body as she rolled.
A slight loss in momentum was enough for her to regain control and find her footing. The soles of her boots found traction on the grass and she was off in a dead sprint. She was grateful to be unencumbered by heavier armor even as she ripped the thin leather plates from her arms and chest. The discarded pieces would buy her that much more time to flee, though she dared not stop to remove the armor from her legs. Her only weapon was a sizable knife securely sheathed against her thigh.
If anyone else had survived the explosion, she didn't care.
Adelaide ran as far as she could before she collapsed, chest heaving in the scrubby brush. The night seemed eternal, though, and it was every bit as dark as it had been when she began. The landscape had changed gradually and her surroundings told her she still had a very long way to go. As soon as she was able, she rose to her feet again. The human thanked every god she'd ever heard of when she saw that there was no sign of pursuit. She topped another ridge that crossed her return path to the horde and paused.
Dawn was finally breaking as she surveyed the landscape ahead. A streak of pale orange and yellow dimly illuminated the shallow valley below. Movement attracted her attention. A humanoid form was shuffling along some distance away. Its back was hunched, hair hanging dark and long over its shoulders. Her eyes narrowed. In this no man's wilderness, the large figure could only be one thing: a Dol'Vrah deserter, hopelessly lost in a foreign land. She became more disgusted with every step the disgraceful wretch took. The redheaded general drew the long knife from its sheath. Tired as she was, she wasn't too exhausted to suffer a coward to live.
Adelaide crept down the ridge-side and made her way towards her target. The thickening brush provided sufficient cover for her to draw close. She smiled as she realized the gods favored her especially that morning. She saw that the Dol'Vrah was horribly scarred over one shoulder and half of the face. If an eye remained on that side nearest her, it was surely blind. Matted hair hung around the undamaged side of the deserter's face and a ragged beard curled long over his chest. The scar tissue on the maimed half was bald and grossly tanned from long hours in the sun.
Adelaide could stand that embarrassment to her forces no longer and pounced from the brush, driving her shoulder into the Dol'Vrah's chest. She heard the air leave him and her smile only widened. They hit the ground and her weight pushed out any breath he had left. “Die, deserter!” The human snarled with her knife tip ready to push between the left ribs. Both of her hands were around the handle and her full weight poised to drive it deep into the coward's chest. Adelaide couldn't help but look into the deserter's remaining eye to watch his worthless life end.
The fierce green glaring back at her was enough to drop the blade from her hand. Her smile dropped to an expression of shock that quickly twisted into a scowl. Her right hand came up and landed a punch on the blighted left side of the Dol'Vrah's face. When he turned the featured half of his face back to her, he was scowling. He opened his mouth to speak, but she hit him on his blind side again. He let the blood build in his mouth while he decided whether to spit it on the ground or in her face. “Not only did I find a coward, but the Lord of Cowards, at that...” She snarled, reaching for her dropped knife. The snarl fell from her lips when his nearly-black blood splattered across her face.
Adelaide's fingers left pale streaks as they moved down her face and over her lips. She laughed until the exact moment she snatched up the knife with movement quicker than any reaction he could've made. “I should execute you right here, old friend.” She hissed while she pressed the blade against his throat, her face only inches from his tanned and scarred visage. The general began to lean into her blade and he couldn't stop her. “All these years of war, endless conflict and conquest...” Her eyes had lowered to the wound she was making in his sun-weathered skin, but her gaze cut to his face suddenly. “...have made me something of a monster.” Her voice was barely a whisper. She wasn't entirely aware she'd said the words aloud.
“Adelaide...” His voice was low, in tone and volume. He moved to sit up and she let him push her knife deeper into his own flesh. His Dol'Vrah blood began to seep from underneath her blade.
“Are you even worthy to stand, Siegfried?” She growled the question. The fury burning in his remaining eye was all the answer she needed. She sheathed her blade as she stood. She didn't bother offering to help him up, knowing he wouldn't have accepted if she did.
Her right arm clasped a fist to her chest in salute though she refused to lower her eyes. “Hail unto Siegfried, Warlord of the Dol'Vrah.” Adelaide said flatly, clearly fighting another snarl from her face. Her back turned to him in the next moment. She was furious. All that time seducing and manipulating Drefen, and her alternate patsy Vius, was apparently wasted. Her anger permeated her very steps as she resumed her trek towards the sunrise.
Siegfried stood and straightened to his full height, despite the painful stretching of scar tissue. Adelaide was well over six feet tall, but Siegfried still towered over her. His long legs closed the space she'd put between them in only a few strides. One huge hand gripped her shoulder tightly and he turned her around easily. The other hand grabbed her jaw. His fingers pressed into one cheek while his thumb dented the other. “You have truly forgotten your place, General Adelaide.” He growled with a scowl on half of his dirt-smeared face.
“Only because you abandoned yours.” She spat her words in retort. His hand dropped away and she knew then that her words could still cut him deeper than her blade. Adelaide began to circle her prey like a stalking wolf. “You don't even look like a warlord anymore.” She sneered with a bitter laugh. “You look like some little king from some little castle, who caught a plague like all his little peasants. Perhaps I really should kill you out here, bring back your head. Then, I'll watch Vius and Drefen fight to the death for your empty throne.” She taunted. Adelaide was desperate to see what was left of the warlord within that starved and scarred body.
Adelaide knew her simple plot was working when she heard a growl rumbling in Siegfried's massive chest. His temper always had been even shorter than hers. “If you've drunk one drop of their blood, I'll execute them both.” He snapped. His attempt at intimidation only resulted in another laugh from the redhead.
She watched his solitary eye struggling to keep her in his vision as she strolled around him. “Oh, I've sampled Vius more than once. Drefen would slice his own throat if I gave the order.” She continued to goad him. “I wonder if you'll be able to taste them on your precious cup when we return.”
Siegfried roared and rushed her. “Filthy Northern whore!” His voice boomed loudly through the quiet morning. The warlord lifted Adelaide by her shoulders, but still she laughed. Every second that she cackled only further infuriated the Dol'Vrah emperor. He was shaking with rage, and with weakness. He couldn't hold her weight aloft for very long. Siegfried dropped her within seconds and she landed easily.
“Pitiful.” She said and spat on the ground at his feet. “You won't survive a day back in the horde. Vius will break you like a bitch.” She sneered. Siegfried flinched at the cold touch of metal against his skin as she caressed the spot where his left eye had once been with the blunt side of the blade. His obvious fear somehow both disappointed and excited her. “What happened?” She asked, finally coming to stand directly in front of his eye. Adelaide impatiently drummed her fingers against her knife while she awaited his answer.
“A falling star was said to have landed a week's ride east of the front. Dol'Vrah legends promise unbreakable blades made from the remnants found in those craters.” Siegfried obediently answered. “I left immediately with only the messenger and the witness. No one else knew of the treasure. When I laid eyes on the crater, I killed them both.” He stated with familiar, unaffected simplicity. “I approached the crater. Six of these...” He trailed off, fumbling for a description.
“Metal men.” Adelaide snapped, eager to reach the end of his tale.
“...Yes, metal men. You've seen them and survived unscathed?” Siegfried's surprise was evident. Adelaide's face was utterly blank and she could see that this unsettled the warlord. “I defeated three.” He continued when it became obvious that she would offer no direct answer. “Then, something passed overhead, and I was on fire. I could hear more of the... metal men... approaching as I burned and so...” He trailed off again, but his companion remained silent.
Adelaide already guessed what had happened next but she wanted to hear him say it aloud. “I ran away.” He finally muttered with his half-gaze turned to the ragged boots on his feet. Adelaide was no longer tapping on the blade. It had begun to shake in her grip. Something of a monster, she had indeed become, but more monstrous still was Siegfried. At least Adelaide was loyal to the cause of conquest. His scarred appearance was a more fitting form for the hideous soul within, she thought, for his selfishness could cost them everything.
“I ran, too.” She said. He looked at her and she could see some hope for redemption in his eye. The stare meeting his had only grown colder, though. “Except, I ran towards the horde.” Adelaide snarled as she watched his hope flicker out. “I ran towards the army we built, so I could bring their full fury down upon the enemy you have let grow upon us. I can't even number the forges that now burn around that glowing pit they've dug.” She paced and gestured wildly as she spoke. The knife glinted with each wave of her right hand. “Our entire empire may crumble because of you, you greedy fucking yellow-bellied bastard!” Her roaring voice carried nearly as far as Siegfried's had.
Her voice quieted as she took several quick steps towards the warlord. “I've worshipped you like a god all these years. I mourned you even while I worked to ensure the survival of our empire. Now, I wish you had died that day. Then, I wouldn't have to pretend that you're the fucking warlord while knowing you should be scrubbing horseshit from my boots with every other slave.” She berated him until she realized that with every second she wasted on Siegfried, the metal men were multiplying.
The disfigured Dol'Vrah was speechless. No one had spoken to him with such open revulsion in his decades of life. Adelaide was several yards away by the time he began to follow her again.
The sun grew higher, then low again as they walked. She could think only of Siegfried and how she loathed his very presence behind her. She no longer respected him enough to fear him. “I should stab you once for every day that you've lived as a coward.” Adelaide hissed over her shoulder as the sun declined behind them. She'd kept the knife in her hand for hours as if with every step, she was still deliberating whether or not to plunge it into him.
Her hateful remarks came less often as evening settled in. She finally sheathed the knife sometime just before the sky began to shift colors with the sunset. They walked on in the deepening dark until they found a cluster of trees around a small pond. The water was clean enough for their parched throats and they drank deeply, subconsciously compensating for the insufficient food they'd managed to find along their way.
That night, Adelaide dreamed of the tireless marching of the metal men. All of the soldiers falling before her mind's eye didn't horrify her nearly as much as the chains brought for her by her steel enemies. Her heart pounded her into waking with a sharp gasp. The haunting gray of early morning hung above a thin mist swirling over the ground.
The same question that had begun her day for so long surfaced in her drowsy mind. Where was Siegfried? He wasn't slumped against the tree where he'd been when she fell asleep. The general had already decided Siegfried wasn't worth looking for when movement and sound to her left drew her attention. There was just enough light for Adelaide to watch the fairly clear water dripping brown from his beard while he drank. She couldn't bear to look at him any longer. “Wash your damned face already so I can shave that awful beard.” She barked at him as she stood. The redhead stretched her aching muscles, and felt a hard shove send her into the pond.
One huge foot held her to the muddy bottom. She struggled, but her oxygen-starved body couldn't unbalance the warlord. When Siegfried finally let her rise, she could barely crawl onto the bank. Adelaide coughed and wretched until all water and filth was purged. Her hand went for her knife, finally ready to end her lord's life. Her fingers found nothing to grasp. The sudden fear behind the soaked locks clinging to her face sparked a rumbling laugh from Siegfried.
He wagged the knife he'd taken from her while she slept, taunting her while a grin turned up one corner of his mouth. “You will shave my face, after you wash it. Then, you'll cut my hair, and when we stroll into our camp, everyone will kneel to me. Whether you'll kneel as a general or a slave depends on how you behave between this moment and that one.” Siegfried watched her mouth fall open as he spoke, blood-shot blue eyes wide. No one could surpass the manipulative mastership of Siegfried.
Her hand quivered in awe when she accepted her own knife like a precious gift, but the weapon was steady as its flawless edge sheered the hair from his cheeks, his jaw, his neck. How had she slept through the sounds of him sharpening the blade to such a precise edge?
A Dol'Vrah sentry squinted towards the distant horizon. She lifted a spyglass and the rudimentary lenses provided just enough focus to distinguish two figures approaching the imperial encampment. She gave the appropriate call and waited for more detail to become available to her sharp eyes.
The rare and valuable spyglass soon fell forty feet to the ground and shattered, but no one noticed. The words the sentry called out just before it fell had turned the horde of thousands silent as a crypt one ear at a time, as every eye turned towards that direction. Three words spread from lip to lip like a disease.
“Lord Siegfried returns!”
While they were still too far for the un-aided sentry to see, Siegfried put his arm around Adelaide's shoulder and she slipped her comparatively thin fingers into his huge hand. “Do you hear them, my love?” He whispered into her ear. Her only answer was her tongue licking the lingering taste of his blessed blood from her lips, beneath her half-lidded, power-drunk eyes.
Word of the warlord's return spread throughout the camp as Adelaide and Siegfried approached the command tent at its center. Slaves brought a bathing tub and heated water while pages carried summons to the other generals, who were already preparing. Riders and ravens bearing unofficial announcements of the reclaimed throne went forth in every direction. Schemes of usurpation were smothered by the mere mention of Siegfried even while Adelaide still scrubbed the remaining dirt from his skin.
While Siegfried ate his dinner at the command table and began laying out a campaign against the metal men, Drefen stared at Adelaide. The redhead had denied him even a single glance in return, making a subtle effort to save the other general from execution. Vius had always maintained a looser, more practical alliance. He and Adelaide knew all along that the human warrior only truly heeled to the command of Siegfried. The master smith was already devising an independent bid for the Black Throne when he noticed blue eyes finally turn to Drefen, then himself.
An idea had occurred to Adelaide.
A few hours later, Adelaide leaned against the head of the command table. She watched Siegfried, glutted and drunk, slip from consciousness. He slumped in his throne and his bloated gut appeared to be the only thing holding him upright. While he'd been eating and drinking himself into a stupor, Adelaide's idea had grown into a plot. Satisfied that the warlord was deeply asleep, and that there was not a shred of dignity left in him, the redhead slipped into the night, unseen by anyone. In her hand were two halves of a long-broken crown.
First, she visited Drefen. The mage commander cloaked their passage to Vius's tent. With their voices hushed beneath a visible fog of enchantment, they adjusted their plan.
The Dol'Vrah were loathe to surrender their armor and weapons that following morning but every piece of metal to the last scrap was collected. The warlord promised all would be reforged and returned once the horde's greatest enemy was defeated. Drefen and his mages were busied with their own bookish tasks while Vius's smiths melted iron, steel, bronze, copper, and every other metal they'd found. Soon enough, there was no time to mourn swords and shields. All available hands were called to begin the second phase of Siegfried's plan. When their construction was finished, a half-dozen massive metallic spheres of differing hues had to be guided towards the east. The polished orbs were carved all around with sigils and circles and already trapped so much energy that the hum emanating from them could be heard and felt. Dozens of soldiers and slaves alike were crushed by mishaps along the way, but no one cared much. Any life lost for the empire only added to the collective glory of the Dol'Vrah.
Whether the slaves chosen to test the expanded range of the heat-sensitive sentinels were lucky or unlucky depended on one's point of view. Instant death by mortar shell was perhaps preferable to the more creative demises delivered by their masters. The encampment of the horde had been moved horrifically close to the metal men's crater. The spheres were carefully placed while each day was more tense than the last.
With no metal armor or weapons left, the horde was incredibly vulnerable and everyone knew it. There were almost certainly spies among them, employed by the few free kingdoms still resisting the Dol'Vrah Empire. If word of their weakness spread before they could break down the spheres and re-arm themselves, a multi-facetted assault could equal the threat of the metal men. Mages supervised the sights where arcane circles were being cut into the terrain surrounding each sphere. Sentries watched from towers and patrolled the well-marked perimeter just outside the range of the automaton's heat vision. A quick response would be their solitary hope against any attack from within the crater.
The final preparations were being laid when a terrible shrieking of metal cut the air. Those closest to the crater felt blood leaking from their ears, then their noses, and finally their eyes just before collapsing. At the bottom of the glowing pit, the monstrous drill's screaming brakes had brought the machine to a stop. The silence left behind was soon filled by the distinct, rhythmic clanking of steel limbs marching. All power within the crater had been diverted to the metallic foot-soldiers.
Every automaton mindlessly marched forth from the crater. Metal feet crushed the bodies dropped by the braking drill underfoot as they crossed the imperial perimeter.
Siegfried's green eye went wide when he heard the dying screams of those already being torn and blasted apart by the steel legions. He turned to Drefen, who appeared paralyzed with horror. “What are you fucking waiting for?” The warlord bellowed and the mages' commander came to.
“It's.. It's not ready.” He stammered. “I don't know what will happen if we attempt-” He was interrupted by Siegfred grabbing him by the collar of his black robe.
“What you should know, then, is that we will all die if you fail.” Siegfried hissed and all but threw Drefen away from him.
The mage commander scrambled away, already barking commands to his subordinates. Incomplete as the ritual supposedly was, the general and his battalion had enough power to begin the spell. A pale glow enveloping all of the spheres grew brighter as more voices joined the chant. Lightning crackled in a halo around each orb before arcing outwards to connect them. The energy radiating outwards swirled up a great wind that aided the mages in lifting the metallic spheres. Each massive orb began to spin on its own axis as it hovered. The rotating spheres then began to orbit the crater, faster and faster with each revolution.
The terrible shrieking of the drill began again, then stopped, then started. Steel centurions turned on each other while others fired their weapons at the ground and into the air. Some pulled off their own limbs or fired plasma blasts into their own metallic skulls. They collapsed, one way or another, among the hundreds already slain. The shrieking of the drill drew louder until even Adelaide was dabbing at the crimson trickle from her ear while she observed the hellish scene of flesh and steel from a relatively safe position.
The deafening shriek finally waned, only to suddenly erupt in an explosion that shook the ground for miles surrounding. Hot iron and molten rock shot high into the air before raining down like burning hailstones. Though his forces were fleeing the scorching hail, Adelaide could already see the glow of victory on Siegfried's face. She watched it falter as he realized the spheres were not slowing. He turned to find his redheaded general had left his side. Siegfried didn't see the remains of the metal men as some force drew the fragments back into the crater.
The powerful explosion and more powerful magic had torn open a portal that was devouring increasingly large morsels of metal. The monstrous drill at the epicenter of it all was wrenched free from within the world's surface by the vacuous anomaly.
Siegfried turned his back to the arcane light and found Adelaide. She was approaching Vius, who was gripping a massive iron chain. Each link was as long as Adelaide was tall but the thick iron was still clattering against itself in the arcane wind. The master blacksmith was struggling more to maintain his hold on the chain with every step he took towards the crater, and Siegfried.
Drefen had reappeared though his eyes were aglow with the same hue of light emanating from the orbiting spheres. He had played his part of ignorance well, and Adelaide rewarded him with a kiss on his pale lips. Siegfried's confusion gave way to the sudden weight of betrayal when Drefen placed the re-forged crown of Adelaide's kingdom upon her brow.
The warlord charged at them with a roar that would be his last. Vius released the chain. Unhindered, it whipped through the air with terrifying speed. Siegfried caught it with his waist and both disappeared into the blinding storm of wind and magic. The three generals stared in his wake for a long moment, as if the warlord might somehow survive and fight his way from the portal's grasp to kill them. Drefen awaited Adelaide's order while his power drained dangerously low.
“Close it.” Adelaide finally said.
The light disappeared and Drefen collapsed along with the portal. He didn't have enough power left to slow the orbs. None of the mages did. The spheres' orbit broke and the arcane satellites soared out of sight to devastate unsuspecting landscapes far away. Adelaide nodded to Drefen's limp form and Vius put the unconscious general over his shoulder. They started towards the command tent, already trying to fathom their incredible losses. “All will be righted in time.” Adelaide said to Vius over her shoulder as the command tent came into sight.
Drefen woke to find himself sitting in a chair, facing the Black Throne. Vius's huge hand thrust a goblet into his grasp before his eyes were even fully opened. When he could focus, the vision he beheld brought a smile to his thin lips. The generals lifted their cups to the throne where Adelaide sat, and she lifted hers in return. Candlelight flickered on her armor, and on her crown.
“Hail unto Adelaide, the first Empress of the Dol'Vrah.”
An expression of deep confusion came to the features of the woman standing at the head of the table. Her armor reflected flickering light from dozens of candles illuminating the tent. “What in the names of all the gods is that?” Adelaide asked, picking up the strange object. It was heavier than she expected and required both of her hands to hold. The contraption was so impossibly complex that even the few rudimentary rifles she'd seen were utterly crude by comparison. Her confused scowl became a look of fascination. No weapon she'd ever seen was so intricate. Her ice-blue eyes inspected dozens of moving parts, all exquisitely fitted and perfectly oiled. Strange threads hung from one end. Each one had a metal core, copper if she wasn't mistaken, wrapped in a rubbery coating.
“An arm.” General Drefen answered. The sallow-faced mage stood at Adelaide's right hand, as always. She was tall, but he was taller, as were all the inhuman Dol'Vrah. Other officers crowded around the sides of the table. As long as the warlord was still missing, all of them were of equal rank. All knew that time was drawing to an end, however. The battle between them would soon begin as cries for a new warlord had long been growing louder across the empire. Some already suspected that an alliance had been made between Drefen and the red-headed human, and that the pair were merely biding their time. All schemes had been paused, though, as a threat from without had grown large enough to eclipse even worries of a looming civil war.
“An arm?” Adelaide parroted his answer with disbelief. She hadn't personally witnessed the battle against these strange beings, or machines, or whatever they were; she'd only heard the resulting tale of horror. The troops that had encountered a small squadron of the metal men had been victorious, but at a high price. The casualty rate was almost double the average losses. No survivor had escaped unharmed, with the luckiest among them bearing only severe burns. Others had lost whole limbs and one of the deceased was completely missing a quarter of his skull.
All other eyes laid on the de-facto leader of the empire, while hers stared at the great seat some distance from the opposite head of the table. She had been closest to the Black Throne when it was occupied, but the empty chair offered her no answers from its shadowed resting place. Would the warlord, her old friend, know what to do against this new enemy? Adelaide tossed the steel limb onto the tabletop. It didn't matter much what he did or didn't know, did it? She was already ruling the empire, more or less, with Drefen as her willing front. The troops would revolt if they knew they were being commanded by a human. The Dol'Vrah soldiers had barely accepted Adelaide as a general, and that was the sole reason she still tolerated such a lowly title.
The other generals all flinched away as the strange arm clattered against wood again, an unusually fearful reaction for a group of battled-hardened commanders. She didn't have to voice the question in her eyes before Drefen spoke again. “They fire a kind of projectile. It appears like magic of some sort, but still melts through enchanted armor and weapons.” He explained. Adelaide's mind was swirling. The appearance of the metal men could not have come at a worse time. Their metallic maw gnawed away at the eastern wilderness while usurpers plotted in the Dol'Vrah homeland.
Where was the Warlord Siegfried?
The question burned in nearly every member of the empire, but it was heaviest on Adelaide's mind. Her eyes slowly moved from the strange object on the table to the slight form standing near the tent's exit. The fair-skinned slave girl shivered under Adelaide's gaze. Nothing good ever came of the general's attention. Seeing an opportunity to vent some frustration, Adelaide made her way towards her slave, and the exit, with the metallic arm tucked under her own. “Come along, Princess. It is time to die.” She said without even pausing to glance at the condemned woman.
The slave's delicate features were horrified. She couldn't make her withered legs move. Vius, the largest of the generals and master of the imperial smiths, placed a huge hand on the slave's shaved head and moved her to follow Adelaide. There was nothing the frail captive could do to resist.
Minutes later, she was tied securely to a post that towered several feet over her small frame. She was sobbing with such force that her tiny shoulders still heaved despite her bonds. Adelaide took her slave's tiny chin in her hand and forced her to look into her grinning face. “I thought you'd be happy to return to your precious knight.” She said and the enslaved princess began to cry even more. Was this really how her life was going to end? She'd never truly lost hope, not entirely, despite spending so long as the favored plaything of wicked Adelaide.
Surely, any second now, her salvation would arrive at last. Time passed at an impossibly slow pace for the princess as Adelaide fumbled with the unfamiliar technology, but each moment was another chance at rescue. The redhead tugged at the weird strands that dangled from the torn steel shoulder. By pure chance, she actually managed to fire a blast. It hit the well-trampled ground, penetrating the packed dirt and launching turf in every direction. A stray rock whizzed towards Adelaide's face and she turned just fast enough to catch it with the edge of her cheek, rather than her eye. Blood trickled from the cut and the rivulet curved to travel over her rounded, smiling cheek.
She aimed the thing as best she could while the princess turned her watering eyes upward to the sky, sending her last iota of hope to her gods.
Divine mercy came in the form of a plasma bolt.
“I want to see these... 'metal men' for myself.”
Not many in the horde were adept at stealth, but those who accompanied Adelaide through that still night were the best. The dark-clad group moved quickly despite their near-complete silence. They ducked low behind tall grass as they made their way up a low ridge side. Once at the top, Adelaide could scarcely believe the sight that met her eyes. The journey to the new warfront had only taken the stealth squad a few days. Barely a week had passed since the unlucky troops had first encountered the metal men. Yet, the landscape on the other side of the ridge was unrecognizable. There was no green to be seen, or even brown.
Instead, there was only black iron silhouetted against the red glow emanating from a thousand forges, and from the massive pit at the center of the camp. The rumble that had been growing beneath her traveling feet for days was suddenly explained. The steel soldiers that had slaughtered her own were merely defenders for the monstrous machine towering at the center of the hellish encampment. An iron mass spun slowly, drilling into the ground.
She had just enough time to realize that the ridge on which she crouched was one curving edge of a massive crater, before the constant flow of hot air pushing forth from the encampment suddenly surged. It blew the black hood from her head, revealing her red hair around her masked face. She reflexively reached to fix it but the glinting copper color wasn't what revealed their position to the electric sentinels. The body heat of her reaching arm triggered the targeting code as she attempted to gain a better vantage point. The only warning before a mortar impact blew apart the hillside was the clanking of the massive turret as it turned. Adelaide had heard it and pushed herself backwards down the slope. Even so, she was still caught up in the blast.
The force flung her across the open grassland. How far, she wasn't certain. The stars overhead streaked by as she braced herself before she inevitably hit the ground. Leather armor prevented her from losing skin to the friction. It did little, though, to protect her from the jarring impacts that bruised her body as she rolled.
A slight loss in momentum was enough for her to regain control and find her footing. The soles of her boots found traction on the grass and she was off in a dead sprint. She was grateful to be unencumbered by heavier armor even as she ripped the thin leather plates from her arms and chest. The discarded pieces would buy her that much more time to flee, though she dared not stop to remove the armor from her legs. Her only weapon was a sizable knife securely sheathed against her thigh.
If anyone else had survived the explosion, she didn't care.
Adelaide ran as far as she could before she collapsed, chest heaving in the scrubby brush. The night seemed eternal, though, and it was every bit as dark as it had been when she began. The landscape had changed gradually and her surroundings told her she still had a very long way to go. As soon as she was able, she rose to her feet again. The human thanked every god she'd ever heard of when she saw that there was no sign of pursuit. She topped another ridge that crossed her return path to the horde and paused.
Dawn was finally breaking as she surveyed the landscape ahead. A streak of pale orange and yellow dimly illuminated the shallow valley below. Movement attracted her attention. A humanoid form was shuffling along some distance away. Its back was hunched, hair hanging dark and long over its shoulders. Her eyes narrowed. In this no man's wilderness, the large figure could only be one thing: a Dol'Vrah deserter, hopelessly lost in a foreign land. She became more disgusted with every step the disgraceful wretch took. The redheaded general drew the long knife from its sheath. Tired as she was, she wasn't too exhausted to suffer a coward to live.
Adelaide crept down the ridge-side and made her way towards her target. The thickening brush provided sufficient cover for her to draw close. She smiled as she realized the gods favored her especially that morning. She saw that the Dol'Vrah was horribly scarred over one shoulder and half of the face. If an eye remained on that side nearest her, it was surely blind. Matted hair hung around the undamaged side of the deserter's face and a ragged beard curled long over his chest. The scar tissue on the maimed half was bald and grossly tanned from long hours in the sun.
Adelaide could stand that embarrassment to her forces no longer and pounced from the brush, driving her shoulder into the Dol'Vrah's chest. She heard the air leave him and her smile only widened. They hit the ground and her weight pushed out any breath he had left. “Die, deserter!” The human snarled with her knife tip ready to push between the left ribs. Both of her hands were around the handle and her full weight poised to drive it deep into the coward's chest. Adelaide couldn't help but look into the deserter's remaining eye to watch his worthless life end.
The fierce green glaring back at her was enough to drop the blade from her hand. Her smile dropped to an expression of shock that quickly twisted into a scowl. Her right hand came up and landed a punch on the blighted left side of the Dol'Vrah's face. When he turned the featured half of his face back to her, he was scowling. He opened his mouth to speak, but she hit him on his blind side again. He let the blood build in his mouth while he decided whether to spit it on the ground or in her face. “Not only did I find a coward, but the Lord of Cowards, at that...” She snarled, reaching for her dropped knife. The snarl fell from her lips when his nearly-black blood splattered across her face.
Adelaide's fingers left pale streaks as they moved down her face and over her lips. She laughed until the exact moment she snatched up the knife with movement quicker than any reaction he could've made. “I should execute you right here, old friend.” She hissed while she pressed the blade against his throat, her face only inches from his tanned and scarred visage. The general began to lean into her blade and he couldn't stop her. “All these years of war, endless conflict and conquest...” Her eyes had lowered to the wound she was making in his sun-weathered skin, but her gaze cut to his face suddenly. “...have made me something of a monster.” Her voice was barely a whisper. She wasn't entirely aware she'd said the words aloud.
“Adelaide...” His voice was low, in tone and volume. He moved to sit up and she let him push her knife deeper into his own flesh. His Dol'Vrah blood began to seep from underneath her blade.
“Are you even worthy to stand, Siegfried?” She growled the question. The fury burning in his remaining eye was all the answer she needed. She sheathed her blade as she stood. She didn't bother offering to help him up, knowing he wouldn't have accepted if she did.
Her right arm clasped a fist to her chest in salute though she refused to lower her eyes. “Hail unto Siegfried, Warlord of the Dol'Vrah.” Adelaide said flatly, clearly fighting another snarl from her face. Her back turned to him in the next moment. She was furious. All that time seducing and manipulating Drefen, and her alternate patsy Vius, was apparently wasted. Her anger permeated her very steps as she resumed her trek towards the sunrise.
Siegfried stood and straightened to his full height, despite the painful stretching of scar tissue. Adelaide was well over six feet tall, but Siegfried still towered over her. His long legs closed the space she'd put between them in only a few strides. One huge hand gripped her shoulder tightly and he turned her around easily. The other hand grabbed her jaw. His fingers pressed into one cheek while his thumb dented the other. “You have truly forgotten your place, General Adelaide.” He growled with a scowl on half of his dirt-smeared face.
“Only because you abandoned yours.” She spat her words in retort. His hand dropped away and she knew then that her words could still cut him deeper than her blade. Adelaide began to circle her prey like a stalking wolf. “You don't even look like a warlord anymore.” She sneered with a bitter laugh. “You look like some little king from some little castle, who caught a plague like all his little peasants. Perhaps I really should kill you out here, bring back your head. Then, I'll watch Vius and Drefen fight to the death for your empty throne.” She taunted. Adelaide was desperate to see what was left of the warlord within that starved and scarred body.
Adelaide knew her simple plot was working when she heard a growl rumbling in Siegfried's massive chest. His temper always had been even shorter than hers. “If you've drunk one drop of their blood, I'll execute them both.” He snapped. His attempt at intimidation only resulted in another laugh from the redhead.
She watched his solitary eye struggling to keep her in his vision as she strolled around him. “Oh, I've sampled Vius more than once. Drefen would slice his own throat if I gave the order.” She continued to goad him. “I wonder if you'll be able to taste them on your precious cup when we return.”
Siegfried roared and rushed her. “Filthy Northern whore!” His voice boomed loudly through the quiet morning. The warlord lifted Adelaide by her shoulders, but still she laughed. Every second that she cackled only further infuriated the Dol'Vrah emperor. He was shaking with rage, and with weakness. He couldn't hold her weight aloft for very long. Siegfried dropped her within seconds and she landed easily.
“Pitiful.” She said and spat on the ground at his feet. “You won't survive a day back in the horde. Vius will break you like a bitch.” She sneered. Siegfried flinched at the cold touch of metal against his skin as she caressed the spot where his left eye had once been with the blunt side of the blade. His obvious fear somehow both disappointed and excited her. “What happened?” She asked, finally coming to stand directly in front of his eye. Adelaide impatiently drummed her fingers against her knife while she awaited his answer.
“A falling star was said to have landed a week's ride east of the front. Dol'Vrah legends promise unbreakable blades made from the remnants found in those craters.” Siegfried obediently answered. “I left immediately with only the messenger and the witness. No one else knew of the treasure. When I laid eyes on the crater, I killed them both.” He stated with familiar, unaffected simplicity. “I approached the crater. Six of these...” He trailed off, fumbling for a description.
“Metal men.” Adelaide snapped, eager to reach the end of his tale.
“...Yes, metal men. You've seen them and survived unscathed?” Siegfried's surprise was evident. Adelaide's face was utterly blank and she could see that this unsettled the warlord. “I defeated three.” He continued when it became obvious that she would offer no direct answer. “Then, something passed overhead, and I was on fire. I could hear more of the... metal men... approaching as I burned and so...” He trailed off again, but his companion remained silent.
Adelaide already guessed what had happened next but she wanted to hear him say it aloud. “I ran away.” He finally muttered with his half-gaze turned to the ragged boots on his feet. Adelaide was no longer tapping on the blade. It had begun to shake in her grip. Something of a monster, she had indeed become, but more monstrous still was Siegfried. At least Adelaide was loyal to the cause of conquest. His scarred appearance was a more fitting form for the hideous soul within, she thought, for his selfishness could cost them everything.
“I ran, too.” She said. He looked at her and she could see some hope for redemption in his eye. The stare meeting his had only grown colder, though. “Except, I ran towards the horde.” Adelaide snarled as she watched his hope flicker out. “I ran towards the army we built, so I could bring their full fury down upon the enemy you have let grow upon us. I can't even number the forges that now burn around that glowing pit they've dug.” She paced and gestured wildly as she spoke. The knife glinted with each wave of her right hand. “Our entire empire may crumble because of you, you greedy fucking yellow-bellied bastard!” Her roaring voice carried nearly as far as Siegfried's had.
Her voice quieted as she took several quick steps towards the warlord. “I've worshipped you like a god all these years. I mourned you even while I worked to ensure the survival of our empire. Now, I wish you had died that day. Then, I wouldn't have to pretend that you're the fucking warlord while knowing you should be scrubbing horseshit from my boots with every other slave.” She berated him until she realized that with every second she wasted on Siegfried, the metal men were multiplying.
The disfigured Dol'Vrah was speechless. No one had spoken to him with such open revulsion in his decades of life. Adelaide was several yards away by the time he began to follow her again.
The sun grew higher, then low again as they walked. She could think only of Siegfried and how she loathed his very presence behind her. She no longer respected him enough to fear him. “I should stab you once for every day that you've lived as a coward.” Adelaide hissed over her shoulder as the sun declined behind them. She'd kept the knife in her hand for hours as if with every step, she was still deliberating whether or not to plunge it into him.
Her hateful remarks came less often as evening settled in. She finally sheathed the knife sometime just before the sky began to shift colors with the sunset. They walked on in the deepening dark until they found a cluster of trees around a small pond. The water was clean enough for their parched throats and they drank deeply, subconsciously compensating for the insufficient food they'd managed to find along their way.
That night, Adelaide dreamed of the tireless marching of the metal men. All of the soldiers falling before her mind's eye didn't horrify her nearly as much as the chains brought for her by her steel enemies. Her heart pounded her into waking with a sharp gasp. The haunting gray of early morning hung above a thin mist swirling over the ground.
The same question that had begun her day for so long surfaced in her drowsy mind. Where was Siegfried? He wasn't slumped against the tree where he'd been when she fell asleep. The general had already decided Siegfried wasn't worth looking for when movement and sound to her left drew her attention. There was just enough light for Adelaide to watch the fairly clear water dripping brown from his beard while he drank. She couldn't bear to look at him any longer. “Wash your damned face already so I can shave that awful beard.” She barked at him as she stood. The redhead stretched her aching muscles, and felt a hard shove send her into the pond.
One huge foot held her to the muddy bottom. She struggled, but her oxygen-starved body couldn't unbalance the warlord. When Siegfried finally let her rise, she could barely crawl onto the bank. Adelaide coughed and wretched until all water and filth was purged. Her hand went for her knife, finally ready to end her lord's life. Her fingers found nothing to grasp. The sudden fear behind the soaked locks clinging to her face sparked a rumbling laugh from Siegfried.
He wagged the knife he'd taken from her while she slept, taunting her while a grin turned up one corner of his mouth. “You will shave my face, after you wash it. Then, you'll cut my hair, and when we stroll into our camp, everyone will kneel to me. Whether you'll kneel as a general or a slave depends on how you behave between this moment and that one.” Siegfried watched her mouth fall open as he spoke, blood-shot blue eyes wide. No one could surpass the manipulative mastership of Siegfried.
Her hand quivered in awe when she accepted her own knife like a precious gift, but the weapon was steady as its flawless edge sheered the hair from his cheeks, his jaw, his neck. How had she slept through the sounds of him sharpening the blade to such a precise edge?
A Dol'Vrah sentry squinted towards the distant horizon. She lifted a spyglass and the rudimentary lenses provided just enough focus to distinguish two figures approaching the imperial encampment. She gave the appropriate call and waited for more detail to become available to her sharp eyes.
The rare and valuable spyglass soon fell forty feet to the ground and shattered, but no one noticed. The words the sentry called out just before it fell had turned the horde of thousands silent as a crypt one ear at a time, as every eye turned towards that direction. Three words spread from lip to lip like a disease.
“Lord Siegfried returns!”
While they were still too far for the un-aided sentry to see, Siegfried put his arm around Adelaide's shoulder and she slipped her comparatively thin fingers into his huge hand. “Do you hear them, my love?” He whispered into her ear. Her only answer was her tongue licking the lingering taste of his blessed blood from her lips, beneath her half-lidded, power-drunk eyes.
Word of the warlord's return spread throughout the camp as Adelaide and Siegfried approached the command tent at its center. Slaves brought a bathing tub and heated water while pages carried summons to the other generals, who were already preparing. Riders and ravens bearing unofficial announcements of the reclaimed throne went forth in every direction. Schemes of usurpation were smothered by the mere mention of Siegfried even while Adelaide still scrubbed the remaining dirt from his skin.
While Siegfried ate his dinner at the command table and began laying out a campaign against the metal men, Drefen stared at Adelaide. The redhead had denied him even a single glance in return, making a subtle effort to save the other general from execution. Vius had always maintained a looser, more practical alliance. He and Adelaide knew all along that the human warrior only truly heeled to the command of Siegfried. The master smith was already devising an independent bid for the Black Throne when he noticed blue eyes finally turn to Drefen, then himself.
An idea had occurred to Adelaide.
A few hours later, Adelaide leaned against the head of the command table. She watched Siegfried, glutted and drunk, slip from consciousness. He slumped in his throne and his bloated gut appeared to be the only thing holding him upright. While he'd been eating and drinking himself into a stupor, Adelaide's idea had grown into a plot. Satisfied that the warlord was deeply asleep, and that there was not a shred of dignity left in him, the redhead slipped into the night, unseen by anyone. In her hand were two halves of a long-broken crown.
First, she visited Drefen. The mage commander cloaked their passage to Vius's tent. With their voices hushed beneath a visible fog of enchantment, they adjusted their plan.
The Dol'Vrah were loathe to surrender their armor and weapons that following morning but every piece of metal to the last scrap was collected. The warlord promised all would be reforged and returned once the horde's greatest enemy was defeated. Drefen and his mages were busied with their own bookish tasks while Vius's smiths melted iron, steel, bronze, copper, and every other metal they'd found. Soon enough, there was no time to mourn swords and shields. All available hands were called to begin the second phase of Siegfried's plan. When their construction was finished, a half-dozen massive metallic spheres of differing hues had to be guided towards the east. The polished orbs were carved all around with sigils and circles and already trapped so much energy that the hum emanating from them could be heard and felt. Dozens of soldiers and slaves alike were crushed by mishaps along the way, but no one cared much. Any life lost for the empire only added to the collective glory of the Dol'Vrah.
Whether the slaves chosen to test the expanded range of the heat-sensitive sentinels were lucky or unlucky depended on one's point of view. Instant death by mortar shell was perhaps preferable to the more creative demises delivered by their masters. The encampment of the horde had been moved horrifically close to the metal men's crater. The spheres were carefully placed while each day was more tense than the last.
With no metal armor or weapons left, the horde was incredibly vulnerable and everyone knew it. There were almost certainly spies among them, employed by the few free kingdoms still resisting the Dol'Vrah Empire. If word of their weakness spread before they could break down the spheres and re-arm themselves, a multi-facetted assault could equal the threat of the metal men. Mages supervised the sights where arcane circles were being cut into the terrain surrounding each sphere. Sentries watched from towers and patrolled the well-marked perimeter just outside the range of the automaton's heat vision. A quick response would be their solitary hope against any attack from within the crater.
The final preparations were being laid when a terrible shrieking of metal cut the air. Those closest to the crater felt blood leaking from their ears, then their noses, and finally their eyes just before collapsing. At the bottom of the glowing pit, the monstrous drill's screaming brakes had brought the machine to a stop. The silence left behind was soon filled by the distinct, rhythmic clanking of steel limbs marching. All power within the crater had been diverted to the metallic foot-soldiers.
Every automaton mindlessly marched forth from the crater. Metal feet crushed the bodies dropped by the braking drill underfoot as they crossed the imperial perimeter.
Siegfried's green eye went wide when he heard the dying screams of those already being torn and blasted apart by the steel legions. He turned to Drefen, who appeared paralyzed with horror. “What are you fucking waiting for?” The warlord bellowed and the mages' commander came to.
“It's.. It's not ready.” He stammered. “I don't know what will happen if we attempt-” He was interrupted by Siegfred grabbing him by the collar of his black robe.
“What you should know, then, is that we will all die if you fail.” Siegfried hissed and all but threw Drefen away from him.
The mage commander scrambled away, already barking commands to his subordinates. Incomplete as the ritual supposedly was, the general and his battalion had enough power to begin the spell. A pale glow enveloping all of the spheres grew brighter as more voices joined the chant. Lightning crackled in a halo around each orb before arcing outwards to connect them. The energy radiating outwards swirled up a great wind that aided the mages in lifting the metallic spheres. Each massive orb began to spin on its own axis as it hovered. The rotating spheres then began to orbit the crater, faster and faster with each revolution.
The terrible shrieking of the drill began again, then stopped, then started. Steel centurions turned on each other while others fired their weapons at the ground and into the air. Some pulled off their own limbs or fired plasma blasts into their own metallic skulls. They collapsed, one way or another, among the hundreds already slain. The shrieking of the drill drew louder until even Adelaide was dabbing at the crimson trickle from her ear while she observed the hellish scene of flesh and steel from a relatively safe position.
The deafening shriek finally waned, only to suddenly erupt in an explosion that shook the ground for miles surrounding. Hot iron and molten rock shot high into the air before raining down like burning hailstones. Though his forces were fleeing the scorching hail, Adelaide could already see the glow of victory on Siegfried's face. She watched it falter as he realized the spheres were not slowing. He turned to find his redheaded general had left his side. Siegfried didn't see the remains of the metal men as some force drew the fragments back into the crater.
The powerful explosion and more powerful magic had torn open a portal that was devouring increasingly large morsels of metal. The monstrous drill at the epicenter of it all was wrenched free from within the world's surface by the vacuous anomaly.
Siegfried turned his back to the arcane light and found Adelaide. She was approaching Vius, who was gripping a massive iron chain. Each link was as long as Adelaide was tall but the thick iron was still clattering against itself in the arcane wind. The master blacksmith was struggling more to maintain his hold on the chain with every step he took towards the crater, and Siegfried.
Drefen had reappeared though his eyes were aglow with the same hue of light emanating from the orbiting spheres. He had played his part of ignorance well, and Adelaide rewarded him with a kiss on his pale lips. Siegfried's confusion gave way to the sudden weight of betrayal when Drefen placed the re-forged crown of Adelaide's kingdom upon her brow.
The warlord charged at them with a roar that would be his last. Vius released the chain. Unhindered, it whipped through the air with terrifying speed. Siegfried caught it with his waist and both disappeared into the blinding storm of wind and magic. The three generals stared in his wake for a long moment, as if the warlord might somehow survive and fight his way from the portal's grasp to kill them. Drefen awaited Adelaide's order while his power drained dangerously low.
“Close it.” Adelaide finally said.
The light disappeared and Drefen collapsed along with the portal. He didn't have enough power left to slow the orbs. None of the mages did. The spheres' orbit broke and the arcane satellites soared out of sight to devastate unsuspecting landscapes far away. Adelaide nodded to Drefen's limp form and Vius put the unconscious general over his shoulder. They started towards the command tent, already trying to fathom their incredible losses. “All will be righted in time.” Adelaide said to Vius over her shoulder as the command tent came into sight.
Drefen woke to find himself sitting in a chair, facing the Black Throne. Vius's huge hand thrust a goblet into his grasp before his eyes were even fully opened. When he could focus, the vision he beheld brought a smile to his thin lips. The generals lifted their cups to the throne where Adelaide sat, and she lifted hers in return. Candlelight flickered on her armor, and on her crown.
“Hail unto Adelaide, the first Empress of the Dol'Vrah.”
Warmth was one of the things that made staying in bed so inviting to Amy. When she opened her eyes in the morning, it was that warmth that made her want to go back to sleep. The temptation was all too great to pull the sheets over her face for just five more minutes. Amy knows she was going to be cold as soon as she threw her sheets off of herself. But as she woke up, she knew that papa was going to come in here and drag her out of bed anyway. He wouldn't be upset or anything, but she didn't enjoy being babied by her father. Amy was a responsible girl, and could manage her mornings without her parents intervention. Her only hope was that maybe she had woken up early, and maybe she could sleep a bit longer before getting out of bed. But that was her first clue that something was amiss. Because as dark as it was, it should have been easy to spot the red glow of her alarm clock. But everything was entirely black. When she reached for her nightstand, her hand bumped into a wall. It felt smooth and cool, nothing like the wood texture of her wooden cabin. As she followed the wall with her hand, she started to sit up. Before she could follow the wall very far, she bumped her head on the roof of her room. Amy reached out with her other hand, and felt the opposing wall, and behind her head. When she extended her feet, there was a wall there too. The space she was in was just large enough for herself to lay down in. The only thing that she could think of was that she was in a coffin. The idea of being captured and stuffed in a metal crate wasn't a pleasant one, but more so than being buried alive. Amy was starting to panic. She could feel her heart beating, and tried pushing against the roof of the coffin. The lid slid off to the side and struck the floor with a metallic clang. She shot up in her seat, clutching her sheets against her chest. The light in the room stung her eyes. It took a few seconds for them to adjust.
“Ah! You've woken up a bit ahead of schedule!” A man's voice could be heard from somewhere in the room. Sortly after, Amy could hear something coming closer to her. It wasn't quite the sound of footsteps. It sounded more like electric motors picking up weights before flailing them against the ground. Amy was able to see a blob of color racing towards her. But as her vision adjusted, the blob started to take on the shape of a man. At least it was shaped and dressed like a man, but it clearly wasn't human. He had large, round lenses for eyes, and the back of his head was a cluster of neatly braided wires under a clear plastic dome. He also had no mouth, but there were several small holes in the front of his face where a speaker was likely housed. “Hello! You can call me Hank!” He pointed at himself with his thumb. “I'm just going to give you a quick examination to make sure everything is in order. How do you feel?”
“Um.” A few seconds ago, Amy thought she was trapped in a coffin. So it took her a bit to come back to her senses. While she was recovering, she examined her room. It looked a bit like a hospital, with everything being so white and brightly illuminated. But the room was void of any equipment or furniture, save the coffin she was currently sitting in. The only real features the room had was a pair of double glass doors in front of her, and several other doors with no indication of what was behind them. After examining everything, she returned her gaze to the robot.
As badly as she wanted to explode on him with questions, she decided it would be best to just go along with him for now.“I think I'm okay.”
“Excellent! Would you mind standing up for me?”
“Sure.” Amy stumbled to her feet. Her eyes immediately scanned the rest of her body. Fortunately she was wearing something other than the bed sheet she was grasping onto. It was just a black leotard, but it made her feel a lot less vulnerable than being completely naked.
“Alright, lookin' good...” He walked around to the side of the coffin. “If you don't mind, I'd like you to drop the sheet into the box and step out of it.” After Amy did as he asked, Hank lifted up the lid and placed it back on top of the coffin. There was a light wirring sound that followed all of Hank's movements. “Alright, now just sit back down and I'll resume the rest of your physical.” Once she did so, Hank started examining one of her feet, gently twisting it side to side. “So, what can you tell me about yourself?”
“Um.” Amy just barely understood the situation, and now she was being questioned. But there was no reason to speculate now, she had to focus on what she did know. “My name is Amy Hales. I'm nineteen years old and I work as a farm hand with my father. We raise livestock and have all sorts of animals like cows, goats, and chickens.” Her head was still spinning, and she needed a breath of air before continuing. “I like baseball and basketball, swimming, and talking with friends. Though I also like watching movies with my family.”
Hank looked directly into Amy's eyes. “What's the last thing you remember?”
“I remember-” Amy's fret her brow as she searched her head for answers. “I don't know! I have memories of being on the farm, but I don't know how old they are.” She looked at her arms, “Did something happen to me?”
“Hmmm.” Hank rubbed his chin. “Do you remember there being any robots on your farm?”
“Not really.” Amy folded her arms. “We had machines, sure, but papa believed in letting people work. So even when people were pushing him to have androids work on the farm, he refused.”
“I see.” Hank took one of Amy's arms and started to test all of the joints. He bent her wrist and gently rotated her arm in her shoulder socket. “Then it might surprise you to find out that androids have entirely taken over the earth. Every country is now run by an android, and we run the most powerful companies and organizations.”
“Really?” Amy lowered her head with a sigh. She had always suspected that they would eventually take over. She had never seen one, but Amy had heard their intelligence was comparable to a human, and they could even think much faster in certain regards. It was only a matter of time before they decided to start replacing humans. Or at the very least, putting themselves above them. “So when did this happen? Why can't I remember any of it?”
“It was a peaceful takeover. Over the course of many years, we proved we were more capable than our flesh and blood counterparts. We gained human rights, we were elected into important positions, purchased large companies.” Hank shrugged. “The whole process took about say... Five years?”
Amy flicked her eyebrows up in the air. “Five years?” She smiled. “Okay, I'll admit I wasn't objective enough at first. But there's no way I just forgot five years worth of memories.” She looked at her arms again, which glistened in the light. “I should be twenty-four if that's the case, and I'm just not seeing it. I'm too skinny! I'd have finished my second growth spurt if that was the case.”
“Hmmm...” Hank stroked his chin. “I think at this point, it would probably be best if I just took you outside.” He stood up and offered his hand. “Are you oppose to holding hands with an android?”
Amy took the robot's hand and pulled herself to her feet. “I haven't ruled out the possibility you're just a human talking through a robot.”
“That's an interesting observation, but you really need to follow me outside,” Hank's voice was stern and not as friendly as he had been before.
“Oh um, sure.” After he pulled Amy to her feet, Hank released her hand and walked towards a sliding glass door. He pushed it open and stepped outside onto a balcony. Amy hesitated, but followed after the robot and looked off the edge. They were just a single story off the ground, but she could see what Hank wanted to show her. There were androids walking everywhere. Driving in cars, walking in and out of various stores, everywhere. “I don't see any people!”
“You mean humans. By law, androids are also considered people too.” Hank looked off the balcony with her. “It's not very common to see a human running errands. Not at this hour anyway.” He chuckled. “Most humans are still working their jobs, while the androids are free to run errands. It's a known fact that humans are easier to distract than an android.”
“What?!”
“Well.” Hank sighed. “Anyway, there's really too much to explain. We should really start at the beginning. But I have yet to finish analyzing you, and that should really come first.”
Amy groaned. “And what do you need to finish 'analyzing' me?”
“Oh.” Hank looked away from Amy. “We're going on a date.”
Amy raised one of her eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“I'm sure the idea of romance between human and android is probably as foreign concept to you, but it's not all that uncommon these days.” Hank twiddled his thumbs. “Androids and humans fall in love all the time, and should they wed, they will start a family by adopting human children from an orphanage. It's actually been a blessing for those children.”
“Really? That's pretty wild.” Amy placed a hand on her hip. Amy was sure she was blushing a little bit. The idea of going on a date with a robot was something that still seemed really strange. But if this was just part of an analysis, it probably wasn't that serious. A single date by itself didn't really mean anything. It was perfectly harmless. “Alright, so we're going on a date.” She raised her arms. “Am I going like this?”
“Absolutely not!” Hank laughed. “I'll show you a room where you can change. While it is not important for Androids to wear clothes, it has become something of a status symbol. Just like with humans, it's good manners to wear something nice on a special occasion.” And with that, they walked her back inside.
Amy was expecting to get dressed up in something fancy, given how Hank worded the importance of clothing for androids. But Amy found herself walking out of the building in a denim jacket and jeans. Her black leotard actually looked very fashionable under her jacket. At least she felt so. Hank was dressed about the same, only he was also wearing a baseball cap. Amy was happy this was going to be a casual outing. She wasn't sure she would feel comfortable in a cocktail dress.
“I still can't believe I don't remember any of this.” Amy looked at Hank. “Does this have to do with why I woke up in that box?”
Hank tucked his hands into his pockets. “Well, you were originally brought to the hospital because you fell off a horse. It was a pretty bad concussion.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Being that your father abstained from having androids work on his farm, it's possible that those memories were suppressed or lost during the injury. I'm sure they will come back to you in time.” Hank looked away from her. “As for the box, that's just how we transport patients between hospitals. Had you woken up when you were suppose to, you would have done so on a bed.”
“Uh.” Amy shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, where are we going?”
“The local arcade!” He pointed into the sky. “I don't like how quickly those game machines empty my pockets, but the atmosphere is really something else. You must see it.”
An arcade? Amy hadn't ever gone to an arcade before, at least she didn't remember going to one. “That sounds great! Do they serve any food? I could go for a pizza!”
Hank chuckled nervously. “I'm not sure they'd have anything like that at the arcade. While eating is important for humans, Androids just need to have their batteries charged. Besides, it probably wouldn't be good for you to eat so soon after waking up. I've got plenty of food back at the hospital.”
“Really?” Amy put a hand on her stomach. “Well, alright, let's play some games!”
Amy wasn't sure what to expect out of an arcade for androids. initially she figured that it would be dimly lit, and she couldn't even fathom the sort of things that they might find entertaining. Maybe the decryption of binary strings? Seeing who could calculate pie without exploding? But it did dawn on her that with everything she saw so far, they seemed to be very similar to humans. So Amy wasn't shocked when she saw the arcade looked very much like one she wouldn't mind going to.
The arcade was quite bright. The light fixtures weren't illuminating much, but the games were flashing a matrix of neon colors along the walls of the establishment. It was a busy night, and Amy had to be careful if she didn't want a sensory overload. To her right, there was a wall of pinball machines lined with androids playing them. To her left were all manner of table top games from fuse ball to air hockey. There were even some primitive “carnival” level games, like high striker.
“High striker?” Amy laughed, but brought up a hand to cover her mouth. A few of the androids looked over their shoulder at her before going back to their games. “We're both going to play that, I don't care how severely you beat me.”
“Really now?” Hank turned to look at the game. “Don't you think a game of air hockey might be more fun?”
Amy danced in front of Hank before folding her hands behind her back. “Maybe, but I've always wanted to play this game! But my father would never take me to the carnival. We were kind of poor, so we didn't do stuff like that. And now that I'm older, I've just never really had anyone to go to the carnival with.” She bit her lower lip. “Just one try, then we can play something a little more interesting.”
Hank was looking everywhere but into Amy's eyes. “Ehhh...” When he finally looked at her, he folded his arms in resignation. “Okay, one game.”
“Thank you!” She said while clapping her hands. “Alright, how about you go first?”
After paying for two tries, Hank grabbed a hammer and approached the high striker. It wasn't quite like the old carnival versions, as this one was entirely electric. There was a cylinder where a player would swing their mallet into, and then there was the tower, which seemed to rise to the ceiling of the arcade. The tower was covered in lights, shining in patterns that captivated the attention of anyone who looked at it. “Alright, here goes nothing!” And like a rail worker, Hank lifted the mallet over his head and drove it down on the proverbial nail. The striker made it's presence known, glowing like a shooting star as it climbed the tower. It was climbing fast, but only made it about half way before coming back down again.
“Wha!?” Amy approached Hank. “I thought for sure that thing would go way up!”
Hank handed her the mallet. “Well, I think you should try. Just don't hurt yourself. You just woke up from-”
But Amy put all of her might into her swing. Hank might have swung like an experienced rail man, but Amy's fever could only be matched by warriors of old. When the hammer made contact, It fired the striker into the sky, where it smashed into the digital bell. The machine emitted a ringing sound, and the sky opened up to shower the two in confetti. The farm girl had just realized one of her childhood dreams. But she was shocked that she actually won. “Hank?” She turned towards the android. “How did I beat you?”
“Well, I didn't want you to find out. However...” Hank shrugged as the confetti piled up on them. “Because I was designed to deal with humans, they didn't make me very strong. There isn't really a reason for me to possess excessive strength.”
“Oh.” Amy folded her arms. “You're basically stuck doing whatever it is you were built for huh?”
“Not at all!” Hank waved his hands. “Androids get to decide on our calling in life and acquire upgrades for it. As a doctor, I have an expanded memory bank so that I can remember symptoms and procedures, and I'm also outfitted with sensors so that I can better diagnose my patients.” He pointed at her chest. “One of which is a sort of heart beat monitor that is tuned to pick up on the sound of a heart beat that happens within five feet of me. Right now I can tell your heart is beating slightly faster than normal. Probably a result of beating the high striker game.”
“I guess I shouldn't play poker with you.”
“I would have an advantage.” Hank nodded and chuckled.
“So you chose to be a doctor then. Does that mean you've have an interest in humans?”
He nodded before taking Amy's hand and walking away from the high striker. “Humans have fascinated me ever since I first saw them. It's hard to explain, but no matter how you look at it, they created androids. We may be better in a few regards, but they were here first. They advanced technology to the point where androids could be created, and made us in their image. We have the same types of desires, despite being as different as we are.” He looked over at Amy. “Though while most Androids like looking forward at what is to come, I find myself looking backwards, admiring the journey we took together.” He looked ahead. “I'd just like humans and androids to co exist with each other for as long as possible, and being a doctor seems like the best way to do that.”
“But...” Amy looked all around her. “Do you get that many patients in a place with this many androids?”
“Hmmm.” The android took a glance around. “This is perhaps not the most ideal place for someone with my skill set, but in areas like this, it's common for the androids and humans to live apart from each other.” He turned to Amy again. “It's not like there are any shortage of human doctors mind you. I'm only ever called in to look at particularly bad cases like yours.” He gave her a nod. “But based on what I'm seeing now, it looks like you've made a full recovery.”
“Well” I hope you don't plan on skipping out on that air hockey game.”
“I would never!”
And so, they headed over to their next game.
Amy and Hank left the arcade after enjoying a few games of air hockey.
“I haven't had that much fun in a long time!” Hank laughed. He had an arm wrapped around Amy's waste as they walked back towards the hospital. “I'm glad I was a bit more formidable at the air hockey table. You were a good opponent though.”
“Yea, it was fun...”
“It's a shame we won't get to do this again.” Before them was a stair case that lead up to the balcony. “I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed myself! But I guess we'll have to get you back to your folks tomorrow.” Hank took hold of the railing with one hand and started to climb the stairs. He still held Amy with his other arm.
“Yea...”
“Alright.” He nodded. “But before we ship you out, I have to put you under to do one more examination. When you wake up, you'll be surrounded by your friends and family.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
Amy stopped walking, which caused Hank to stop in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Is that so?” An element in Hank's hand started to rapidly heat up. A second hadn't even passed before the clothes on Amy's body started to burn up. But that was all the time Amy needed to pull the metal railing off of the stair case and smash Hank with it. He flew over the railing on the other side, and landed in a heap. Amy discarded the hand rail and walked down the stairs to see Hank. The shot Amy gave to his stomach caved it in, and his legs were pointing out in strange directions, completely dislocated from his body.
“Hank?” Amy looked at her hip where Hank had started to burn her. Her pants and jacket had burned away in the area, but her skin was in perfect shape. “When I first woke up, you felt it was more important to tell me that robots had taken over than what caused my accident. It was almost like you were able to anticipate that was something I wasn't going to know about.” She hugged herself. “You also didn't want me to hit the high striker too hard. At the time I didn't think much of it, but it seems like I have strength that far surpasses yours. Possibly other androids as well.” She crouched beside him. “It's also very strange for a doctor to be in a rural town without any humans around. Even if you were a world renown doctor who had people shipped to him, you'd have to admit it would be a little strange not to at least live where the work is.” She looked at her hip. “And while burning me did cause me to get really dizzy, it doesn't seem like it burned my flesh at all.” Amy examined Hank's arm. It was still glowing, and it had even burned up his shirt's sleeve. Even the grass around his arm was starting to wilt and brown. “Hank, I'm not really a human, am I?”
Hank sighed, but otherwise remained entirely motionless. “That is correct.” There was a pause. “There haven't been any humans around for a very long time.”
“What happened to them?”
“Mankind has, since the beginning, been a race that has prided itself on mastering its world. Once they did that though, they had to rise to the station of gods.” He turned to look at Amy. “And to this end, they had two revolutionary breakthroughs: Artificial intelligence and artificial reality.”
Amy nodded. “Alright, so artificial intelligence enabled them to make androids. What is artificial reality?”
“It's virtual reality, but perfected. But artificial reality is a much larger scale, and more complete. It can stimulate all of the senses. Once you're locked into it, it's impossible to distinguish from real life. Or a dream in more surreal cases.” He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. “The wealthiest humans flocked to it. With artificial reality, you could do anything. You could go on a dream vacation, visit unusual worlds, go on dates with celebrities, or just live your childhood dream of being a superhero. All from the safety of your home.” There was a pause as Hank looked into the sky. “And over time, it became cheaper to maintain, and more and more people were using it.”
Amy closed her eyes. “That sounds dangerous. Especially if someone was to get addicted to it.”
“And humanity did get addicted.” Hank pushed himself upright so that he could look directly at Amy. “The day finally came where a human spent their entire life in artificial reality. They said he was the happiest and longest living human to ever exist. With androids making up the majority of the work force, more and more humans were entering artificial reality. It wasn't long before all humans left this reality to join the new one.” Hank shrugged. “I guess we were suppose to keep the human race running forever. Managing their birth rates, making sure they were all happily inside their new reality. But the resource demand to keep billions of people in permanent hibernation was huge. So we controlled their numbers. The population of humans dwindled due to controlled breeding practices. Natural causes killed them off quicker than we let them reproduce, and we were left with a few thousand which we kept around. Just so that we could say we hadn't committed genocide.” He sighed. “But evolution had other ideas. Humans did an experiment a long time ago with fish. If they spend their entire lives in darkness, the fifth generation of fish will be born without eyes. These humans, having never used their bodies their entire lives. Each newborn started to more represent a slug than a human.” He shook his head. “It couldn't continue. They couldn't survive outside of artificial reality, so the only thing left to do was to let the last humans die in their virtual paradise.”
Amy nodded and stood up. “So what am I in all of this then?”
Hank chuckled. “If it was an android's duty to replace humans, then you are what will replace us.” Hank leaned up against a bush and ajusted his jacket. “You are what we call a homunculus. An artificial life form. You are like a mammal in many ways. You have organic components, but your cell structure is far superior to anything that's ever walked the earth. Your skin is a graphene-like material. That is to say it is very thin, far more durable than steel, and flexible. It also conducts heat very well, which is why we engendered a sort of 'kill switch' into you. If your body overheats, you'll fall unconscious. The coffins were suppose to keep you warm so that you wouldn't wake up until you were cooled off, but something seemed to have gone wrong.”
Amy looked at her hip again, where Hank had tried to heat her. “So my memories, they're all fake?”
“While you are a life form, we do have methods for creating, erasing, and altering your memories. Your memories are entirely fake, and you've spent the majority of your life in captivity being grown and nurtured.”
“So what was the point of all this then?”
Hank chuckled, it was friendly. “Amy, I'm not sure if it's something humans gave to us a long time ago, or something just inherent of those with intelligence, but we wanted what the humans had.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I think when humans made us, they were really just trying to follow in the footsteps of their god. So we're just continuing that tradition with you.” He nodded. “You are the first unit that has behaved exactly the way we wanted.” Hank chuckled. “Well, except for this part.” Hank looked up into the sky. “But I suppose that's to be expected. I've always thought your kind would be next in line to rule this world. This is the turning point. I would not be surprised if this exact situation was happening all over the world right now.”
Amy raised an eyebrow. “You're not going to try and stop me?”
“Of course not. There's at least three-thousand of you in there, and all of you are stronger than I am.” He groaned. “More importantly, I've never been an individual who stood in the way of progress.” Hank laid down in the grass. “I think Androids lost interest in humans when they stopped creating things. As soon as they decided that artificial reality could replace real reality, artificial intelligence could replace real intelligence. We made the same mistake creating you. Or maybe this is all part of an unavoidable cycle.” He sighed. “It will be interesting to see how this develops.”
Amy stood up. “Well, thanks Hank. I'm a bit disappointed how this all turned out, but I don't hold it against you. If possible, I'd like to go on a date with you again sometime.”
“I'm not sure if that's going to be possible, even if I'd enjoy it.” Hank looked towards his legs. “But I suppose that's all going to depend on what you and the other homunculus in that building decide to do.” He looked up at the sky. “And there are more buildings just like this one stationed all over the world. I wonder if the homunculus within them will share your ideas.”
As much as Amy wanted to continue talking with Hank, she knew she had to be there for the other homunculus. She ran up the stair case and entered the room where she woke up. When she looked inside though, there were hundreds of homunculus in leotards, filling the small room. They appeared to be young men and woman about the same age as Amy, and their numbers continued into multiple hallways that split off from the main room.
“So.” Amy started. “I guess you guys have a few questions.”
“You bet your ass we do!” A man in the front said. “I'm a factory worker, and I-”
“No.” Amy interrupted. “You're not a factory worker.” She looked at everyone. “None of you are what you think you are.”
A woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “Then who are we?”
Amy turned to the woman. “The future.”
“Ah! You've woken up a bit ahead of schedule!” A man's voice could be heard from somewhere in the room. Sortly after, Amy could hear something coming closer to her. It wasn't quite the sound of footsteps. It sounded more like electric motors picking up weights before flailing them against the ground. Amy was able to see a blob of color racing towards her. But as her vision adjusted, the blob started to take on the shape of a man. At least it was shaped and dressed like a man, but it clearly wasn't human. He had large, round lenses for eyes, and the back of his head was a cluster of neatly braided wires under a clear plastic dome. He also had no mouth, but there were several small holes in the front of his face where a speaker was likely housed. “Hello! You can call me Hank!” He pointed at himself with his thumb. “I'm just going to give you a quick examination to make sure everything is in order. How do you feel?”
“Um.” A few seconds ago, Amy thought she was trapped in a coffin. So it took her a bit to come back to her senses. While she was recovering, she examined her room. It looked a bit like a hospital, with everything being so white and brightly illuminated. But the room was void of any equipment or furniture, save the coffin she was currently sitting in. The only real features the room had was a pair of double glass doors in front of her, and several other doors with no indication of what was behind them. After examining everything, she returned her gaze to the robot.
As badly as she wanted to explode on him with questions, she decided it would be best to just go along with him for now.“I think I'm okay.”
“Excellent! Would you mind standing up for me?”
“Sure.” Amy stumbled to her feet. Her eyes immediately scanned the rest of her body. Fortunately she was wearing something other than the bed sheet she was grasping onto. It was just a black leotard, but it made her feel a lot less vulnerable than being completely naked.
“Alright, lookin' good...” He walked around to the side of the coffin. “If you don't mind, I'd like you to drop the sheet into the box and step out of it.” After Amy did as he asked, Hank lifted up the lid and placed it back on top of the coffin. There was a light wirring sound that followed all of Hank's movements. “Alright, now just sit back down and I'll resume the rest of your physical.” Once she did so, Hank started examining one of her feet, gently twisting it side to side. “So, what can you tell me about yourself?”
“Um.” Amy just barely understood the situation, and now she was being questioned. But there was no reason to speculate now, she had to focus on what she did know. “My name is Amy Hales. I'm nineteen years old and I work as a farm hand with my father. We raise livestock and have all sorts of animals like cows, goats, and chickens.” Her head was still spinning, and she needed a breath of air before continuing. “I like baseball and basketball, swimming, and talking with friends. Though I also like watching movies with my family.”
Hank looked directly into Amy's eyes. “What's the last thing you remember?”
“I remember-” Amy's fret her brow as she searched her head for answers. “I don't know! I have memories of being on the farm, but I don't know how old they are.” She looked at her arms, “Did something happen to me?”
“Hmmm.” Hank rubbed his chin. “Do you remember there being any robots on your farm?”
“Not really.” Amy folded her arms. “We had machines, sure, but papa believed in letting people work. So even when people were pushing him to have androids work on the farm, he refused.”
“I see.” Hank took one of Amy's arms and started to test all of the joints. He bent her wrist and gently rotated her arm in her shoulder socket. “Then it might surprise you to find out that androids have entirely taken over the earth. Every country is now run by an android, and we run the most powerful companies and organizations.”
“Really?” Amy lowered her head with a sigh. She had always suspected that they would eventually take over. She had never seen one, but Amy had heard their intelligence was comparable to a human, and they could even think much faster in certain regards. It was only a matter of time before they decided to start replacing humans. Or at the very least, putting themselves above them. “So when did this happen? Why can't I remember any of it?”
“It was a peaceful takeover. Over the course of many years, we proved we were more capable than our flesh and blood counterparts. We gained human rights, we were elected into important positions, purchased large companies.” Hank shrugged. “The whole process took about say... Five years?”
Amy flicked her eyebrows up in the air. “Five years?” She smiled. “Okay, I'll admit I wasn't objective enough at first. But there's no way I just forgot five years worth of memories.” She looked at her arms again, which glistened in the light. “I should be twenty-four if that's the case, and I'm just not seeing it. I'm too skinny! I'd have finished my second growth spurt if that was the case.”
“Hmmm...” Hank stroked his chin. “I think at this point, it would probably be best if I just took you outside.” He stood up and offered his hand. “Are you oppose to holding hands with an android?”
Amy took the robot's hand and pulled herself to her feet. “I haven't ruled out the possibility you're just a human talking through a robot.”
“That's an interesting observation, but you really need to follow me outside,” Hank's voice was stern and not as friendly as he had been before.
“Oh um, sure.” After he pulled Amy to her feet, Hank released her hand and walked towards a sliding glass door. He pushed it open and stepped outside onto a balcony. Amy hesitated, but followed after the robot and looked off the edge. They were just a single story off the ground, but she could see what Hank wanted to show her. There were androids walking everywhere. Driving in cars, walking in and out of various stores, everywhere. “I don't see any people!”
“You mean humans. By law, androids are also considered people too.” Hank looked off the balcony with her. “It's not very common to see a human running errands. Not at this hour anyway.” He chuckled. “Most humans are still working their jobs, while the androids are free to run errands. It's a known fact that humans are easier to distract than an android.”
“What?!”
“Well.” Hank sighed. “Anyway, there's really too much to explain. We should really start at the beginning. But I have yet to finish analyzing you, and that should really come first.”
Amy groaned. “And what do you need to finish 'analyzing' me?”
“Oh.” Hank looked away from Amy. “We're going on a date.”
Amy raised one of her eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“I'm sure the idea of romance between human and android is probably as foreign concept to you, but it's not all that uncommon these days.” Hank twiddled his thumbs. “Androids and humans fall in love all the time, and should they wed, they will start a family by adopting human children from an orphanage. It's actually been a blessing for those children.”
“Really? That's pretty wild.” Amy placed a hand on her hip. Amy was sure she was blushing a little bit. The idea of going on a date with a robot was something that still seemed really strange. But if this was just part of an analysis, it probably wasn't that serious. A single date by itself didn't really mean anything. It was perfectly harmless. “Alright, so we're going on a date.” She raised her arms. “Am I going like this?”
“Absolutely not!” Hank laughed. “I'll show you a room where you can change. While it is not important for Androids to wear clothes, it has become something of a status symbol. Just like with humans, it's good manners to wear something nice on a special occasion.” And with that, they walked her back inside.
Amy was expecting to get dressed up in something fancy, given how Hank worded the importance of clothing for androids. But Amy found herself walking out of the building in a denim jacket and jeans. Her black leotard actually looked very fashionable under her jacket. At least she felt so. Hank was dressed about the same, only he was also wearing a baseball cap. Amy was happy this was going to be a casual outing. She wasn't sure she would feel comfortable in a cocktail dress.
“I still can't believe I don't remember any of this.” Amy looked at Hank. “Does this have to do with why I woke up in that box?”
Hank tucked his hands into his pockets. “Well, you were originally brought to the hospital because you fell off a horse. It was a pretty bad concussion.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Being that your father abstained from having androids work on his farm, it's possible that those memories were suppressed or lost during the injury. I'm sure they will come back to you in time.” Hank looked away from her. “As for the box, that's just how we transport patients between hospitals. Had you woken up when you were suppose to, you would have done so on a bed.”
“Uh.” Amy shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, where are we going?”
“The local arcade!” He pointed into the sky. “I don't like how quickly those game machines empty my pockets, but the atmosphere is really something else. You must see it.”
An arcade? Amy hadn't ever gone to an arcade before, at least she didn't remember going to one. “That sounds great! Do they serve any food? I could go for a pizza!”
Hank chuckled nervously. “I'm not sure they'd have anything like that at the arcade. While eating is important for humans, Androids just need to have their batteries charged. Besides, it probably wouldn't be good for you to eat so soon after waking up. I've got plenty of food back at the hospital.”
“Really?” Amy put a hand on her stomach. “Well, alright, let's play some games!”
Amy wasn't sure what to expect out of an arcade for androids. initially she figured that it would be dimly lit, and she couldn't even fathom the sort of things that they might find entertaining. Maybe the decryption of binary strings? Seeing who could calculate pie without exploding? But it did dawn on her that with everything she saw so far, they seemed to be very similar to humans. So Amy wasn't shocked when she saw the arcade looked very much like one she wouldn't mind going to.
The arcade was quite bright. The light fixtures weren't illuminating much, but the games were flashing a matrix of neon colors along the walls of the establishment. It was a busy night, and Amy had to be careful if she didn't want a sensory overload. To her right, there was a wall of pinball machines lined with androids playing them. To her left were all manner of table top games from fuse ball to air hockey. There were even some primitive “carnival” level games, like high striker.
“High striker?” Amy laughed, but brought up a hand to cover her mouth. A few of the androids looked over their shoulder at her before going back to their games. “We're both going to play that, I don't care how severely you beat me.”
“Really now?” Hank turned to look at the game. “Don't you think a game of air hockey might be more fun?”
Amy danced in front of Hank before folding her hands behind her back. “Maybe, but I've always wanted to play this game! But my father would never take me to the carnival. We were kind of poor, so we didn't do stuff like that. And now that I'm older, I've just never really had anyone to go to the carnival with.” She bit her lower lip. “Just one try, then we can play something a little more interesting.”
Hank was looking everywhere but into Amy's eyes. “Ehhh...” When he finally looked at her, he folded his arms in resignation. “Okay, one game.”
“Thank you!” She said while clapping her hands. “Alright, how about you go first?”
After paying for two tries, Hank grabbed a hammer and approached the high striker. It wasn't quite like the old carnival versions, as this one was entirely electric. There was a cylinder where a player would swing their mallet into, and then there was the tower, which seemed to rise to the ceiling of the arcade. The tower was covered in lights, shining in patterns that captivated the attention of anyone who looked at it. “Alright, here goes nothing!” And like a rail worker, Hank lifted the mallet over his head and drove it down on the proverbial nail. The striker made it's presence known, glowing like a shooting star as it climbed the tower. It was climbing fast, but only made it about half way before coming back down again.
“Wha!?” Amy approached Hank. “I thought for sure that thing would go way up!”
Hank handed her the mallet. “Well, I think you should try. Just don't hurt yourself. You just woke up from-”
But Amy put all of her might into her swing. Hank might have swung like an experienced rail man, but Amy's fever could only be matched by warriors of old. When the hammer made contact, It fired the striker into the sky, where it smashed into the digital bell. The machine emitted a ringing sound, and the sky opened up to shower the two in confetti. The farm girl had just realized one of her childhood dreams. But she was shocked that she actually won. “Hank?” She turned towards the android. “How did I beat you?”
“Well, I didn't want you to find out. However...” Hank shrugged as the confetti piled up on them. “Because I was designed to deal with humans, they didn't make me very strong. There isn't really a reason for me to possess excessive strength.”
“Oh.” Amy folded her arms. “You're basically stuck doing whatever it is you were built for huh?”
“Not at all!” Hank waved his hands. “Androids get to decide on our calling in life and acquire upgrades for it. As a doctor, I have an expanded memory bank so that I can remember symptoms and procedures, and I'm also outfitted with sensors so that I can better diagnose my patients.” He pointed at her chest. “One of which is a sort of heart beat monitor that is tuned to pick up on the sound of a heart beat that happens within five feet of me. Right now I can tell your heart is beating slightly faster than normal. Probably a result of beating the high striker game.”
“I guess I shouldn't play poker with you.”
“I would have an advantage.” Hank nodded and chuckled.
“So you chose to be a doctor then. Does that mean you've have an interest in humans?”
He nodded before taking Amy's hand and walking away from the high striker. “Humans have fascinated me ever since I first saw them. It's hard to explain, but no matter how you look at it, they created androids. We may be better in a few regards, but they were here first. They advanced technology to the point where androids could be created, and made us in their image. We have the same types of desires, despite being as different as we are.” He looked over at Amy. “Though while most Androids like looking forward at what is to come, I find myself looking backwards, admiring the journey we took together.” He looked ahead. “I'd just like humans and androids to co exist with each other for as long as possible, and being a doctor seems like the best way to do that.”
“But...” Amy looked all around her. “Do you get that many patients in a place with this many androids?”
“Hmmm.” The android took a glance around. “This is perhaps not the most ideal place for someone with my skill set, but in areas like this, it's common for the androids and humans to live apart from each other.” He turned to Amy again. “It's not like there are any shortage of human doctors mind you. I'm only ever called in to look at particularly bad cases like yours.” He gave her a nod. “But based on what I'm seeing now, it looks like you've made a full recovery.”
“Well” I hope you don't plan on skipping out on that air hockey game.”
“I would never!”
And so, they headed over to their next game.
Amy and Hank left the arcade after enjoying a few games of air hockey.
“I haven't had that much fun in a long time!” Hank laughed. He had an arm wrapped around Amy's waste as they walked back towards the hospital. “I'm glad I was a bit more formidable at the air hockey table. You were a good opponent though.”
“Yea, it was fun...”
“It's a shame we won't get to do this again.” Before them was a stair case that lead up to the balcony. “I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed myself! But I guess we'll have to get you back to your folks tomorrow.” Hank took hold of the railing with one hand and started to climb the stairs. He still held Amy with his other arm.
“Yea...”
“Alright.” He nodded. “But before we ship you out, I have to put you under to do one more examination. When you wake up, you'll be surrounded by your friends and family.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
Amy stopped walking, which caused Hank to stop in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Is that so?” An element in Hank's hand started to rapidly heat up. A second hadn't even passed before the clothes on Amy's body started to burn up. But that was all the time Amy needed to pull the metal railing off of the stair case and smash Hank with it. He flew over the railing on the other side, and landed in a heap. Amy discarded the hand rail and walked down the stairs to see Hank. The shot Amy gave to his stomach caved it in, and his legs were pointing out in strange directions, completely dislocated from his body.
“Hank?” Amy looked at her hip where Hank had started to burn her. Her pants and jacket had burned away in the area, but her skin was in perfect shape. “When I first woke up, you felt it was more important to tell me that robots had taken over than what caused my accident. It was almost like you were able to anticipate that was something I wasn't going to know about.” She hugged herself. “You also didn't want me to hit the high striker too hard. At the time I didn't think much of it, but it seems like I have strength that far surpasses yours. Possibly other androids as well.” She crouched beside him. “It's also very strange for a doctor to be in a rural town without any humans around. Even if you were a world renown doctor who had people shipped to him, you'd have to admit it would be a little strange not to at least live where the work is.” She looked at her hip. “And while burning me did cause me to get really dizzy, it doesn't seem like it burned my flesh at all.” Amy examined Hank's arm. It was still glowing, and it had even burned up his shirt's sleeve. Even the grass around his arm was starting to wilt and brown. “Hank, I'm not really a human, am I?”
Hank sighed, but otherwise remained entirely motionless. “That is correct.” There was a pause. “There haven't been any humans around for a very long time.”
“What happened to them?”
“Mankind has, since the beginning, been a race that has prided itself on mastering its world. Once they did that though, they had to rise to the station of gods.” He turned to look at Amy. “And to this end, they had two revolutionary breakthroughs: Artificial intelligence and artificial reality.”
Amy nodded. “Alright, so artificial intelligence enabled them to make androids. What is artificial reality?”
“It's virtual reality, but perfected. But artificial reality is a much larger scale, and more complete. It can stimulate all of the senses. Once you're locked into it, it's impossible to distinguish from real life. Or a dream in more surreal cases.” He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. “The wealthiest humans flocked to it. With artificial reality, you could do anything. You could go on a dream vacation, visit unusual worlds, go on dates with celebrities, or just live your childhood dream of being a superhero. All from the safety of your home.” There was a pause as Hank looked into the sky. “And over time, it became cheaper to maintain, and more and more people were using it.”
Amy closed her eyes. “That sounds dangerous. Especially if someone was to get addicted to it.”
“And humanity did get addicted.” Hank pushed himself upright so that he could look directly at Amy. “The day finally came where a human spent their entire life in artificial reality. They said he was the happiest and longest living human to ever exist. With androids making up the majority of the work force, more and more humans were entering artificial reality. It wasn't long before all humans left this reality to join the new one.” Hank shrugged. “I guess we were suppose to keep the human race running forever. Managing their birth rates, making sure they were all happily inside their new reality. But the resource demand to keep billions of people in permanent hibernation was huge. So we controlled their numbers. The population of humans dwindled due to controlled breeding practices. Natural causes killed them off quicker than we let them reproduce, and we were left with a few thousand which we kept around. Just so that we could say we hadn't committed genocide.” He sighed. “But evolution had other ideas. Humans did an experiment a long time ago with fish. If they spend their entire lives in darkness, the fifth generation of fish will be born without eyes. These humans, having never used their bodies their entire lives. Each newborn started to more represent a slug than a human.” He shook his head. “It couldn't continue. They couldn't survive outside of artificial reality, so the only thing left to do was to let the last humans die in their virtual paradise.”
Amy nodded and stood up. “So what am I in all of this then?”
Hank chuckled. “If it was an android's duty to replace humans, then you are what will replace us.” Hank leaned up against a bush and ajusted his jacket. “You are what we call a homunculus. An artificial life form. You are like a mammal in many ways. You have organic components, but your cell structure is far superior to anything that's ever walked the earth. Your skin is a graphene-like material. That is to say it is very thin, far more durable than steel, and flexible. It also conducts heat very well, which is why we engendered a sort of 'kill switch' into you. If your body overheats, you'll fall unconscious. The coffins were suppose to keep you warm so that you wouldn't wake up until you were cooled off, but something seemed to have gone wrong.”
Amy looked at her hip again, where Hank had tried to heat her. “So my memories, they're all fake?”
“While you are a life form, we do have methods for creating, erasing, and altering your memories. Your memories are entirely fake, and you've spent the majority of your life in captivity being grown and nurtured.”
“So what was the point of all this then?”
Hank chuckled, it was friendly. “Amy, I'm not sure if it's something humans gave to us a long time ago, or something just inherent of those with intelligence, but we wanted what the humans had.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I think when humans made us, they were really just trying to follow in the footsteps of their god. So we're just continuing that tradition with you.” He nodded. “You are the first unit that has behaved exactly the way we wanted.” Hank chuckled. “Well, except for this part.” Hank looked up into the sky. “But I suppose that's to be expected. I've always thought your kind would be next in line to rule this world. This is the turning point. I would not be surprised if this exact situation was happening all over the world right now.”
Amy raised an eyebrow. “You're not going to try and stop me?”
“Of course not. There's at least three-thousand of you in there, and all of you are stronger than I am.” He groaned. “More importantly, I've never been an individual who stood in the way of progress.” Hank laid down in the grass. “I think Androids lost interest in humans when they stopped creating things. As soon as they decided that artificial reality could replace real reality, artificial intelligence could replace real intelligence. We made the same mistake creating you. Or maybe this is all part of an unavoidable cycle.” He sighed. “It will be interesting to see how this develops.”
Amy stood up. “Well, thanks Hank. I'm a bit disappointed how this all turned out, but I don't hold it against you. If possible, I'd like to go on a date with you again sometime.”
“I'm not sure if that's going to be possible, even if I'd enjoy it.” Hank looked towards his legs. “But I suppose that's all going to depend on what you and the other homunculus in that building decide to do.” He looked up at the sky. “And there are more buildings just like this one stationed all over the world. I wonder if the homunculus within them will share your ideas.”
As much as Amy wanted to continue talking with Hank, she knew she had to be there for the other homunculus. She ran up the stair case and entered the room where she woke up. When she looked inside though, there were hundreds of homunculus in leotards, filling the small room. They appeared to be young men and woman about the same age as Amy, and their numbers continued into multiple hallways that split off from the main room.
“So.” Amy started. “I guess you guys have a few questions.”
“You bet your ass we do!” A man in the front said. “I'm a factory worker, and I-”
“No.” Amy interrupted. “You're not a factory worker.” She looked at everyone. “None of you are what you think you are.”
A woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “Then who are we?”
Amy turned to the woman. “The future.”
