Andy turns to look at each of us. "I'm about to tell you an important story that everyone needs to know. Do not tell this to younger children. You shouldn't mention it publicly either." Everyone nods seriously. "This isn't like a lot of the other stories about the gods, it affects all of our lives. It's a recent story, it only happened about a hundred years ago." He stops briefly before going into the story itself.

"Rostor appeared before the king and his court, and offered him a weapon of absolute destructive power. He called it the divine gear," I barely keep myself from jolting at the name. They know about the divine gear? "It's a weapon capable of turning a single person into an unstoppable force, untouchable by ordinary humans."

His voice lowers, "He also informed the king that he had given the same weapon to all of the other countries, so he had no choice but to use it, or risk our entire country being destroyed. The gear was replicated and used to wage war. The battles became so destructive that regular soldiers were completely useless. Only divine gear users were sent into battle against each other. However, the divine gear quickly killed any who used it." It did what? We were never told anything about it killing us! Maybe because we would end up dying to our enemies first anyway? I don't have any answers, so I just keep listening.

"After years of work, they discovered a solution. Some children are born with a disease that turns them into mindless monsters that kill and destroy everything around them. By taking those children, they could arm them with the divine gear and set them lose on our enemies instead of our own people. It solved the problem with the monster children and gave us disposable soldiers to use the divine gears." Everyone looks shocked and horrified as he speaks that.

"These living weapons are called autonomous rail units. As far as I know, the name has to do with them being able to move on their own." He only covered part of it. 'Autonomous' because we can operate independently without human intervention. 'Rail units' because we are mounting rails that weapons like our divine armaments can be attached to. I keep all of this to myself of course.

"They are mindless killing monsters, armed with unstoppable weapons granted by The God of War and Destruction himself. They aren't like the normal monsters out in the forest. They're much, much worse. Just passing too close to one means death. Whatever you do, avoid them at all costs," he explains.

Ah, so that's how it is.

"That's about it. It's important to know about the rail units so you can stay away from them and keep yourself safe."

"But how are we supposed to do that?" Emily asks. "What do they look like anyway?"

"The best surefire way to tell is to ask them for their 'full designation.' Supposedly they managed to train them to respond to that. But if you're close enough to talk to them, you're already in danger, so you should avoid that if possible. Keep your distance. Other than that, they generally look like people. But they're soulless monsters. One look at their emotionless faces should be enough to recognize them. Of course, if you're even close enough to see them, you should probably start running. But be careful, they are monsters. You never know what might make them attack you. If they get too close to run away, avoid provoking them if possible and look for any chance to escape. Asking for their full designation might stop them long enough to run, but I have no idea." Everyone nods seriously again. So that's why people know to ask about that. I guess it's part of the story so they can identify and avoid us.

"That should be everything you need to know. Remember, don't tell younger kids about this, it's too scary. You know?" Everyone nods, they all look terrified themselves.

"Aria, are you ok?" Emily asks. "Was that too scary for you?" She must be worried because I don't look scared. Maybe she thinks I'm in shock or something.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lie. I may not be scared, but hearing that story hurts. That's what everyone has been thinking of me? That's why they all think I'm going to kill them on sight? Part of me wants to furiously deny all of it, but a lot of it actually makes sense. The other rail units do seem like emotionless, soulless killing machines. I'm only different because I'm broken. Maybe they all should be scared of rail units.

But their story completely skips the fact that we're here to protect them! The other part of me screams back. Of course they'll be scared if you skip that part! And it's not like the working rail units just go around killing things all the time. Most of the time they don't do anything at all!

"You don't look fine," Emily puts a hand on my back.

"No it's just..." I tell a half truth to try to explain away my lack of terror, "I've more or less heard this story before, but I was missing a lot of the details."

"You did?" Andy asks, and everyone looks shocked.

"Who told someone your age? Of course you'd end up with nightmares!" Emily growls.

"I'm the same age as you," I remind her, my annoyance slipping into my tone.

"Even so, you said you already heard. Whoever told you shouldn't have at such a young age," Andy cuts in.

I wave my hands, "Don't worry, I had problems way worse than scary stories."

"It's not a scary story. It's a serious warning with life and death consequences," he explains sternly.

"Yes, I understand," I say. I must not be convincing enough though, because Emily comes back in, not letting up at all.

"It doesn't seem like you do. You don't have enough of a sense of danger already, Aria. So at least take this one to heart."

"I will, I will. I'll avoid rail units as much as I can!" I exclaim, exasperated. I already don't want to be around them, you don't need to tell me to. I've been doing it for months already!

Emily furrows her brows, gazing into my eyes. "Make sure you do. There are all sorts of dangerous things in the world. I don't want to lose you to something like that."

I can't help but smile sadly. "I will." Because she's already lost me to a rail unit. Namely, myself. It seems that finally satisfies them enough to stop pressing me on it.

"Thanks for listening, everyone, it's important to remember this story. Now, let's get back downstairs, lunch should be starting soon." Andy says. At his word, we all head out.

"Hey Aria, what was it you were trying to ask about earlier?" Jess asks when we make it to the dining room.

"Oh, that!" We got incredibly sidetracked, but I had a really important question earlier. Now is finally my chance to ask about it. "It's really hard to explain..." I sigh. I'm still trying to get my thoughts unstuck from that horrible story they tell about us... "I was trying to get an idea about the gods and their blessings. It seems like they're all over the place though. They sound like everything from faceless forces that affect the weather, to nice people who help with children, to warmongers who give people dangerous objects, according to all the stories you guys talked about." Everyone nods.

I consider how to explain. I guess the simplest way would be at the beginning. Since I'm so confused about it all, I grumble, "I'm not entirely sure, but I think I got a blessing fro-"

"You what?!" everyone shouts in unison. The whole room goes silent, all eyes on us after their shouts. Without further comment, they all drag me away from the dining room table and prying eyes. Once we're alone in another room, they all stare at me. Their eyes scream 'tell us everything.'

"Like I said, I don't know how to explain it... It's like this thing, but I have no idea what it is. It doesn't seem to do anything as far as I can tell, and I'm not sure if I should really mess with it since I have no idea what it is..." I scratch my head, frustrated with the confusing thing.

"Uhh, but what is it? Where is it?" Jess asks.

"It's inside me," I answer. When they all reel back, I clarify, "Not like physically! It's kind of like..." I press a hand to my chest. "Some sort of energy like thing in me." I don't want to directly discuss mana with them, since I don't know if people normally know about it, or if it only relates to rail units. They didn't mention it in the story about the rail units, but I don't know if there is more to it that just wasn't mentioned today.

"It's like, a formless, fluid, energy-like thing that I can kind of feel inside me. But like I said, it doesn't do anything, and I can't seem to do anything with it, or figure out anything about it. That's why I'm so confused," I shake my head helplessly. Everyone looks at each other. It doesn't seem like they understood that description. Tony and Robin in particular seem to not even understand what I was talking about, based on their blank expressions. And that was the best I could possibly think of to describe it.

"I'm sorry, I don't get it. Isn't there any way to show us?" Emily asks with a frown. I think about it. Is there any way? The only thing I can think of is trying to push the thing to her to see if she can understand the feeling. I kick it around inside me a bit, but I don't have much ability to actually control where I push it. I'm not sure if I could actually pull it off. Besides that, what if I mess up somehow? I have no idea if it's dangerous or something.

I shake my head. "The only thing I can think of I don't think I can actually do, and I don't know if it's dangerous anyway."

"A-aahhh..." Emily looks worried when she hears that.

"Don't worry, I'll just keep messing with it to see if I can figure anything out. If I find something, I'll tell you guys, ok?"

"Yeah sure," Andy shrugs, "just let us know if anything changes."

"Ok," I agree.

"You can tell me more about it any time," Jess says, sliding closer to me. "I'll lend a hand if you need help with anything too." Her eyes are positively glowing as she offers to help.

"Yeah, thanks for the help," I smile at her.

"M-me too!" Emily offers, "I'll help you with anything you need too!"

"Thanks Emily," I turn to smile at her too. "Uhh, but can we get back to lunch? I don't want to miss the food," I say to return to the last thing we were going to do. They were already starting to serve food when they all suddenly dragged me off. Everyone agrees and we head back to the table. The food has been out for a bit, but it's still nice and hot.

We all take ours and start eating. I'm extra careful today, looking at every piece of the fried up vegetables I eat. I recognize almost all of them, not to mention I've already ruled out all of these ones. When I get to the one or two I don't know for sure, I stare at them hard enough that Emily asks if I'm feeling ok. After repeatedly assuring her I'm fine, I carefully eat each of the vegetables, but these ones aren't it either. It's starting to make me wonder if it was the food after all. If it is some specific food, it must hardly make it into our meals at all. To the point where it could be a long time before I come across it again.

Either way, the food is even tastier than usual, so I try to enjoy it as much as I can. We all finish eating pretty quickly and leave the table. It's not long after the seventh bell, so we still have a lot of time left today.