Darting towards the object, Calvin flattened several flowers along the way, leaving a small trail as he ran the remaining few feet towards the figure. Completely wrapped up in the ropes, he started freeing it from the strings that were tangled around it like vines on a tree. It was hard though since they were in knots and were crisscrossing everywhere.

Eventually resorting to sawing them with his sword, he finished and grabbed the statue by the shoulders, or at least, what seemed like the shoulders, trying to pull it out of the mud. Straining his arms and legs, he hauled it slowly, inch by inch. Then, finally getting the whole body onto drier land, he let go of the upper torso and it collapsed down onto the grass and dirt with a solid ‘thud.’ Letting his head fall backwards, he leaned back on his arms, taking heavy breaths from the exhausting work of towing the heavy object onto the grass.

A mini trail of devastation indicated the path from the lake where Calvin came from, crushed flowers and grasses releasing a sharp earthy smell, like the ground herb poultices that his mother made for a living. Inhaling the scent he was so familiar with, his breathing calmed as he sat up and pushed his wet hair out of his face. Sitting cross-legged under the suns and bending over the motionless figure, he studied it curiously.

When he first saw it he was quite surprised. Who had ever seen or even heard about an iron statue before? Let alone a marble statue, just a regular stone sculpture of this size would be more than his family’s entire yearly earnings. And now he saw one made out of frickin’ metal. Of course he was shocked silly and surprised out of his mind. Who wouldn’t be?

But, touching the ‘skin’ of the statue now, he felt a bit of doubt. Although it was extremely heavy, he could testify, now that his hands weren’t soaked with water, he noticed that the outside was actually kind of……soft?

No, not soft, but smooth, like the silk and satin dresses the occasional passing merchant displayed as they rested briefly before going through the village on their way to a bigger town. Aside from tools and farming implements, the villagers couldn’t afford any of the luxuries that were sold, hence why the merchants passed by uninterestedly.

In this country, there were five types of coins printed with the crest of the royal family. Copper, silver, gold, platinum, and the exceedingly rare crystal coins. One hundred coins of a lower tier was of equal value to the next one, so a single silver would be a hundred coppers, a hundred silvers was a gold, and so on and so on.

Calvin had no idea what it would be valued at, but there was no doubt that this was more expensive than anything else in their village. Aside from the high quality material it was made out of, it was also exquisitely crafted. He might’ve had mistaken it for a living human if it wasn’t lying at the bottom of the lake. Running his fingers over its jawline, he marveled at how realistic it appeared, just how alive it seemed to be.

Maybe it was a victim of a cockatrice’s stone inducing gaze? After all, what kind of statue had hair? Silver-like and gleaming, at first he thought they were part of the ropes that were binding it. But no, he found out and realized when he couldn’t cut through them that they were as tough as the rest of the body. It might be plausible, if there were any cockatrices out here, and if the object had been made out of stone and not metal.

Or perhaps it might just open its eyes like one of those dwarven constructs he had heard about from a story told by a retired adventurer. But unfortunately, he knew it wouldn’t, there were no dwarves here, not even remotely close. Besides, dwarves were notoriously famous for their unwillingness to part with their creations. But hey, he could dream, right?

Just like the way he dreamed to be an adventurer. People who fought monsters for a living, he found that incomparably cool to being a farmsman. Listening to the tales of the single past adventurer in their village, he heard uncountable stories about heartracing battles, breathtaking environments, and bone chilling monsters. Then eventually as a gift, he received the old iron sword and breastplate that belonged to the man before he passed away. Farming was boring, staying still in one place was so dull. He wasn’t born to till the land until he grew old, he told himself.

One day, he promised, he would leave this tiny village and explore the world.

‘One day.'

Taking his eyes off the thing in front of him, he furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out a way to get it back home. The cloth was pretty easy to carry, he could cut off small parts and take them back one by one, folded in his bags. Whether or not he had to split it into pieces didn't matter. Either way, he would have to remove the damaged parts before he could sell it. But closer up, the holes he thought were from rot were a bit...charred at the edges? Like it had been burned through. He dismissed the idea though, it was at the bottom of a lake after all y’know. The cloth wouldn't be too hard to transport.

But this?

It had taken him a full five minutes of relentlessly dragging to bring it ten feet away from the shoreline. How in the world was he supposed to bring it on a journey that originally took him nearly a week to travel?

After a long period of intense intellectual operations and mental challenges, his eyes brightened as an imaginary light stone appeared over his head.

He could just go back and ask for help, couldn’t he?

Chuckling at his absolutely ingenious and flawless solution, he looked up at the suns and decided to make his camp here for the night. That was probably one of the reasons why his journey took so long despite being uneventful. Taking a nap when it was bright, then staying on guard during the night, the amount of time he traveled only amounted to about ten or so hours a day. Even so, he didn’t mind the slow progress. He knew how easy it was to lose your life from being lax in this forest.

Hurrying to cover up the body with branches and leaves, he scampered here and there as the light turned dim and night came. In the end, he was quite satisfied with his work after he finished about an hour later. Under the dim light of a glowing sphere in the sky, you could barely tell that there was even anything there. Done with camouflaging the statue, he looked for a place to watch the surroundings.

Finding and scurrying up a nearby tree with a piece of jerky in his mouth, he found a suitably thick branch to rest on that was also well hidden from gazes on the floor below. Wrapping a small rope around him and the trunk for safety, he looked up towards a shining orb reflected on the shimmering surface of the lake. There he stayed and hid, remaining still as he waited for the night and its dangers to pass.

Calvin tried to keep his guard up and stay awake, but he eventually became drowsy from the soft sound of water lapping against the lakefront.

Weary from a day’s tiring activities, a brown-haired village youth unwittingly fell asleep in a slightly swaying tree, the gentle sound of waves rolling against shore.

In a valley without light, numerous gray trees stood out of the blackened earth, their dry, dead branches like the bones of the undead clawing their way out of the ground. Poisonous fog layered the vale like a thick blanket, preventing vision for more than ten feet. A sulfurous smell pervaded the air that would sting the eyes and burn the throat of any organisms that entered. In the heavy mist and unending forest of the dead, one could get lost for weeks on end, until eventually perishing from starvation or dehydration. That is, if they didn’t go mad and commit suicide from the hallucinations brought on by the otherworldly aura.

In the center of the valley there was a castle, with massive ramparts and soaring towers built of solid black granite. Obscured by the fog, it sat there silently.

It had no name, for no one had yet to discover it. Like a piece of land unclaimed, like a river not yet found, it remained unidentified, unknown to the outside world.

There was no sign of life, but nor was there any sign of neglect. Those pristine black walls loomed like a mountain reaching towards the skies, immovable, mighty. Inside the ashen gates that yawned open like a toothy maw, a single hall headed straight to the throne.

An indistinct rumbling sound was heard from the outside. It grew louder and louder, until it sounded like boulders falling down a hill in an avalanche. So booming, so deafening that even the trees trembled and seemed as if they would uproot themselves and run away.

Approaching the castle, an enormous red monster approached, bigger than any siege weapon built by sentients. It dashed across the scarred earth on four scaled limbs, a wingless subspecies of dragons, the fire drake. Just a single one was enough to destroy an entire country, while a dragon was strong enough to bring down a whole continent. Diamond hard scales that could withstand infernos and repel even the strongest of blows. Razor sharp teeth that could bite through armor made of even mithril. And a breath so hot that it could melt even stone into lava.

Even so, the size of it was completely overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of the fortress. But uncaring, it bolted past the looming gates, heading to the heart of the stronghold. Reaching the throne room, the drake took a second to wait for its eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Immensely tall pillars rose toward the faraway ceiling, made of the same black rock that the outside was, covered in silver runes that spiraled towards the roof. As the swath of death expanded outwards, fog slowly dispersing into the outside world, so too did the castle. And as it grew, more pillars, each with their own unique patterns slowly rose from the ground to support the living castle.

In the center, a sable throne rose, so grand that even the richest of kings could not help but be awed.

So solemn that not even the most disrespectful of scum would dare mar it.

And sitting on it,

A single being,

With ivory skin whiter than the bones of any undead,

With an ebony dress softer than the words of any saint,

With midnight hair darker than the deeds of any sinner,

And a perfectly blank mask that seemed to hold within the faces of a million souls.

A girl sat, holding in her laps a crystal skull that seemed to glow with power.

This child too, had no name, for there had been no one to name her.

The drake greedily eyed the transparent skull, its goal obviously the object infused and dense with mana, a swirling whirlpool of magic energy to those that could sense it.

It charged towards the girl, legs thundering like explosions. It came closer, talons scrabbling furiously against the floor yet leaving no marks on the stone.

The girl sat, motionlessly, not moving.

And, before a single second even passed, it dropped.

The girl did not do anything, but the drake had already died, its life snuffed out like a candle by the howling winds of time.

The now powerless lizard collapsed, rolling and tumbling from its momentum, no damage or injuries visible on its body.

Two more seconds passed, the drake’s body started to grow dry.

It did not rot, for no bacteria survived in the castle.

Three more seconds, the body turned into a pile of dust, even the bones eventually falling apart.

It stayed there, for there were no breezes in the castle.

Then, five more seconds, even the dust was gone, no trace of anything even there.

Not even a single particle could escape the clutches of time.

In the frame of ten seconds and a million years, a monster which could wipe out a country disappeared.

As it died, its essence was absorbed, and the area encapsulated by the fog grew, just a tiny bit, barely noticeable.

But the girl did not care, nor did she react. Even as centuries passed in a single second at this castle, the girl stayed still, unmoving.

Like.......

Like 「Death」itself....

…… capacitor levels: .2% ………………………

…… temperature range requirement: Passed……

…… air composition test requirement: Passed…

…… unit four automatically activated…………

Sunlight shone down onto a youth sleeping in a tree, who instinctively held up his arms up to his eyes to block the bright light filtering in between the branches.

‘Just a little bit more… I haven’t slept this well in a long time. Zzz… zzz…zzz…... eh….sleeping?’

Calvin bolted upright, and nearly fell off the tree as he did. Luckily, the rope that was around his waist prevented that, else he would've come crashing down like a rock. Silently scolding himself for falling asleep, he righted himself and undid the knot holding him in place. Scooting down the tree, he looked towards the area where his ‘loot’ was buried.

He froze in shock and lost his grip on the trunk of the tree. This time he actually did fall down, dropping the remaining six feet, he landed with a loud sound. Wincing in pain, he stood up and rubbed his rear. Then, remembering why he fell, he hurriedly ran towards the shore.

He knew for a fact that he had completely buried the object last night, but when he glanced at it from the tree, he noticed that a great deal of it was uncovered, soil and dirt pushed off to the sides.

As he got closer, he saw that it was still in the hole that he dug, but he instantly realized three things that were different than before, or at least, what he remembered were different.

First, it was obviously no longer buried, even though it was in the same place. He thought that a monster or beast might have dug it up, thinking it was food, but left when they found it was inedible. That might’ve been the case, but he saw no tracks or footprints in the area. If so, it was probably a smaller creature. Nonetheless, Calvin was immensely grateful that they were attracted to the figure and not himself, even as he once again started scolding himself for not being vigilant enough.

Second, when he dragged it here and buried it, he was pretty sure that its arms were laying across its chest, not to the sides on the floor. But perhaps it came down when he was burying it, and didn’t notice it in his rush to finish? Or perhaps it was also caused by whatever dug it up. Either way, he was more surprised that the limbs were moveable, and not static like a statue. Astonished and amazed, but not to the extent that he was at finding it.

Third, the front of it now seemed different. Before, it was the same tone and texture of the rest of the body, but now it seemed a darkish sea color, and looked glossier than the other parts. As the suns shone on it, he absolutely swore that it wasn’t like this before. Touching the front of it, he also noticed that there was a small indentation where the darker colored material met the body, perhaps the thickness of a fingernail or so.

Aside from all of that though, it remained perfectly the same, so Calvin didn’t worry too much about it. Instead, he had to figure out a way to bury it again and this time keep it underground. Deciding to bury it in the water for now, he started dragging it back to the shore, legs under his arms. When the waves became louder, the legs shifted a bit in his hold. Thinking that it was slipping down, he readjusted his grip, but he felt it continue to slide out of his arms.

Looking down, he saw that where its eyes should’ve been, closed since he had first found it, were now open, glowing blue irises staring straight at him.

And a brown haired youth let out a heaven defying scream.

Waking up, the first thing I noticed was that it was dark. Following that, I felt a strange weight on my body. Pushing my body up with my arms, a great deal of dirt and branches came rolling down from atop me. Dust billowed in the air and it took a bit before my vision turned clear. In front of me was a lake, to my left, right, and behind were all trees. For some reason I felt a sense of absolute exhilaration, as if it were some unknown treasure I had been seeking for all my life.

‘Why though? It’s just a normal lake and trees.’

I could not make sense of why there was such a feeling of delight, and under the suppression of logic, it soon faded away.

‘Capacitor levels at .2%, switching on solar panels.’

A small plate on my chest slid down, revealing a rectangle about one foot wide and two feet long.

‘Current electricity generation: 179 kW

‘Oh?.....Why is it so high? A two square feet multijunction panel shouldn’t generate this much?’

Looking up at the sky, the answer was revealed. Up there, two glowing orbs shone near the horizon, one glowing a bright hot blue, the other a pale orange. There was no moon, only two suns.

‘Oh, there’s two stars.’

Why was there a strange sense of abnormality?

Feeling so, I searched my database, but,

‘95% of nonvital information severely corrupted. Cause: Unknown. Chance of recovery: .005%.’

As such my sifting found, most of the data in the main storage was completely corrupted and unreadable. The AI system and protocols stored in the drive protected from magnetic disruption were safe though. Then, as protocol dictated, I began my routinely self-examination. Aside from a few unimportant mechanisms, most functions were able to be carried out safely, only slight damages were currently detected.

‘Damages from what?’

The being wondered, only snapping out of its thoughts as its capacitor levels dropped down to .1%.

Deciding that charging up was of utmost priority right now, I turned off all functions to save power and shut down all main processes. There, I lay, quietly waiting for my energy to recharge.

As the suns ascended higher into the sky, electricity generation reached and passed an astounding 350 kW. For a solar cell of this size, even with 92% efficiency, it was absolutely stunning. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before being able to utilize all operations. Getting to full capacity would take quite a long while however. When power levels reached a suitable amount, I would awaken and find out more about this place.

Until then, I would rest, and I would wait.

Hours passed quickly, grass blowing softly, waves rising and falling on the shore. I determined to wake up and explore the area when it turned to night, so I stayed there as power flowed back into my body.

After a while though, I heard the noise of something running, coming closer to me, but as my eyes were still closed, I did not know what it was. Soon, the noise came nearer, and stopped right next to me. Staying still, I hoped that it would lose interest and leave. It stayed there a while, and then it went in front of me…… and picked my legs up?

‘What in the world is this thing doing?’

Although I didn’t feel much pain from being dragged across the sharp rocks, what annoyed me the most was that the thing’s shadow was blocking the sun.

Opening my eyes, I saw the back of a human.

A human, with brown hair.

Those words, so normal and mundane, seemed to reverberate through my body. What was so amazing about a human? I did not understand how come it seemed so special to me. Didn’t humans exist everywhere?

Trying to bring my legs free, it didn’t work as the power I had was still a bit low.

The human seemed to notice however, and turned around to look at me.

And then it screamed.

I daresay that my ears would have ruptured if they weren’t made of neominum.

Dropping my legs rather rudely, it bolted towards the nearest tree, and hid behind it. A few seconds later, it peeked its head out of his wooden cover and looked over at me warily, tightly gripping an oaken bow in its hands.

Was I really that scary? If I recall, my creators modeled me after a real human. Both my body and mind created like theirs.

……my creators…… who were my creators?

I don’t know, but I doubt it matters.

Well, it was good if it was scared. Maybe it would leave and stop bothering me. A wooden or even stone arrow was of no threat to me after all, so I could simply ignore him. Checking my capacitor gauge and looking at the suns, I opted to continue charging as I was just barely over 2%.

‘IT STARED AT ME! IT ACTUALLY STARED AT ME!’

Heart racing in fear, Calvin hid behind a tree, breathing heavily and erratically. It was actually terrifying to look back and see something you thought was inorganic open its eyes. What if it was still looking at him.

What if...what if it was coming towards him right now!?

Heart just about to die from anxiety, he peeked past the tree, and saw it still in the same spot. No words could describe the amount of relief he felt knowing it hadn’t followed him.

No, literally. Because he was still fucking frightened out of his wits from seeing a goddamned statue stare back at him. Taking his bow off his back with shaking hands, he continued to watch it nervously. At the very least, he could run faster than a golem made of steel, right? That thought comforting his mind, he calmed down, at least to the point where his body wasn’t quivering like a dying rabbit.

Time passed slowly, patience leaking like a leather water bag dripping out water.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, a whole thirty minutes passed before Calvin determined that it wasn’t going to move on its own anytime soon. Moving cautiously towards it like a cat testing the waters, he crept slowly, crouched down low as if to make himself less noticeable.

Reaching the statu-, er, person, he unsheathed his sword before scrutinizing it more carefully. Its eyes were still open, staring straight up as if trying to figure out the mysteries of the stars. Even if there were only two of them visible right now. It was, or at least seemed intelligent and capable of speech, even though he had absolutely no idea what or who it was.

It looked like a human, but Calvin would bet his life’s earnings, about twenty silvers, that it wasn’t. Calling out to it softly, he thought, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’

“Uh… hello?”

The thing moved its head in his direction sharply, and Calvin jerked back a few feet. It didn't react otherwise, but its gaze somehow looked inquisitive, as if waiting for him to say more.

But, what was he supposed to say? Introduce himself?

Hey, why the hell not?

“Hey, what’s your name? I’m...Calvin” He slowly trailed off as the thing shook its head and tapped its mouth. Calvin snapped his fingers as he realized what the person was trying to convey.

‘I can’t understand what you’re saying,’ was what it was probably trying to tell him. If that was the case, communicating might be quite difficult, but at least it seemed peaceful, for now at least. But hey, he got it to react to him. What should he do now?

Why was this human coming over? I had clearly put a finger over my mouth and shook my head, indicating that I didn’t want to listen to him. Not that I could understand anything he said anyways.

I had thought he’d left earlier. After he ran to the tree, I tried to look at the sky to find out my current location from the stars. The only problem was I couldn’t see any because of the light interference from the two suns, even with my improved eyesight.

Then a bit later, I heard the youth walking a bit closer, but I pretended not to notice, hoping that it would leave. But he didn’t and now I was in a conversation.

He pointed at himself a said a word. “ՇԹʅעɿՌ.”

‘What is this idiot doing?'

Once again, he pointed at his chest, “ՇԹʅעɿՌ.”

I was not retarded, I could easily see that he was trying to say his name. I didn’t respond though, why should I waste the energy?

A third time, he gestured at his body and said it again. “ՇԹʅעɿՌ.”

He was about to do it a fourth time but I hurriedly nodded my head furiously, afraid he would keep doing that until the sun set and night came. Then, satisfied, he pointed at me, then back at his mouth, then repeated his name again. Then he stopped talking, likely waiting for me to say my own name.

But,

My official designation was automated drone unit four.

I wasn’t going to tell him that though, lest he run around everywhere saying that was my name.

So, instead, I simply pointed at myself and shook my head, indicating that I had none. The youth seemed stumped, and shut his eyes as he seemed to be thinking of something. It looked like something important, the way he rubbed his temples and bit his lips.

Just then, a warning protocol appeared in my head, indicating that I should flee. Warnings popped up one by one, right after the other, completely irrelevant to the current situation.

‘Warning! Large beast incoming detected! Escape immediately!’

‘Warning! Radioactive waste detected! Escape immediately!’

‘Warning! Incoming asteroid detected! Escape immediately!’

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

‘Warning! The planet is going to explode! Escape immediately!’

All sorts of completely ridiculous warnings came, all different and contradictory. The only thing in common was that they all said for me to escape. ‘Probably a glitch,’ I thought to myself, caused by whatever thing removed my memory in the first place. So I just ignored it, and muted the messages.

The youth then suddenly opened his eyes excitedly and looked at me with shining eyes.

A single message popped up in my head.

‘All hope lost… Absolute doom and destruction inevitable.’

I frowed internally. ‘What the hell, I thought I turned it off already.’

“ȝՐԹ!” The youth shouted, inflamed, “ȝՐԹ!”

Pointing to me again, he yelled, “ȝՐԹ!”

I stopped, processors freezing for a bit.

Did this person actually just name me? Who the fuck meets a stranger and gives them a name!? I tried, too late, to shake my head and come up with my own name, but he kept shouting.

“ȝՐԹ! ȝՐԹ! ȝՐԹ!”

Then, glowing at me with a triumphant expression, he put his hands on his waist and nodded proudly.

‘Ah, whatever, I’m not going to be with him for long anyways.’

Or so I had thought.