The sword slides through the middle abdomen of the Lonely Doctor, just below the ribcage, firmly and brutally pinning him to the wall, while the machine is forced to watch helplessly as the head of its charge is swiftly lopped off.

The Machine stops just short of the offender, loss of the Lonely Doctor has left it not but finished. He had failed, but he was not made to understand failure, he was made to protect, but that was now impossible. Therefore he was now impossible, a fallible creation made to be infallible.

The Stranger rests his hand on it, and looks down upon it. “You lack emotion, just as I do. In the effort to better understand that of which I will never have, I am giving you them as best I have come to learn.” He told The Machine as his magic coursed into and analyzed the entirety of its creation.

The Stranger would find the core of The Machine’s brain, disassembling and reassembling as he sought fit to allow it to better execute his plans. “You will seek me out once more, and teach me of a world I do not understand.” He finally said, before walking away as the The Machine’s newfound Will took hold.

End of Prolog.

The Machine, reborn and renewed, stands again, tearing vines from the floor, and scaring animals away, surprising him as he reaches to stop them, only to remind himself of his bladed arm. He recognizes it, how he wielded it with negligent ease.

As one of the Doctor’s personal guardians, he and his brothers were of the greatest construction. Or so he would have liked to think, but he wouldn’t be here if he was the best, he would have been destroyed by the Stranger, a man of incomprehensible power.

But now that everything has changed, he realizes he could be. But he wouldn’t do that to his fallen brethren, they deserved better. And so he decides to switch out his sword for his Ion Spear, a weapon made to prod and stun.

The blade of degradation would find itself falling out of use, as lethal force is no longer necessary. The Machine measures his spear, feeling content knowing it will protect him from all his worldly adversity.

He takes a single step, and hears a chirp, surprising him again, and making him question the noise. Where could it be? The Machine stores its melter array back into the deep storage unit, instead activating the simple hand it has.

The Machine reaches around its body, physically unfeeling and unsure just WHERE that chirp could have come from. But with the useful pressure sensors in the tips of its jointed fingers, it would soon know. A beak taps the tip of a single digit as it’s raised to The Machine’s shoulder, only to then be torn away and flown off with.

The Machine watches as the bird flies through the hole in the ceiling, left there thanks to the fight… But he didn’t care because it’s no longer HIS problem!

As the machine makes his way through the facilities, he stares at it in a whole new light, still missing that piece of his hand, so he decides to wield the guardian’s shield in his offhand. He wasn’t built to be left or right handed, but it seems the stranger for whatever reason gave him that too.

The Stranger… That thought brought The Machine to a stop, he didn’t even know the man’s name, yet was expected to seek him out. Ultimately he decided that he would not do that. Emotions or not, he was without purpose, and the Stranger hadn’t changed THAT of all things.

The Machine DID consider it, though, but ultimately decided he’d found what he wanted to do. And as he continued along, he would finally come to the end of the facility and out into the open world. The Facility was annihilated, leaving The Machine confused as to why he’s even here…

As the world comes into view, The Machine’s newfound wonder and creativity kicks in, and finally, Orion’s star comes into view, inspiring the little automaton. He reaches for it with his right arm, sure to not offensively aim the Ion Spear at the great light that shines upon Orion.

The Machine begins marching, chasing the sun in the ruins of a fallen city, as what’s left of it crumbles. Finally as the sun sets over the horizon, The Machine arrives at the end of the city, his inspiration gone… He continues marching forward, deciding he would find it again if he just kept moving forward.

Despite that line of reasoning, The Machine spots a light beyond a wall of trees, deciding to follow it wherever it may lead. The Machine comes upon a small clearing with a campfire, surrounded by two humanoids, and a single animal.

A normal Human, and a Human-Wolf Hybrid, it must be a Demihuman, creatures who are born of both beast and man. The last one, a wolf, most likely the brother or sister of the beast-man. They stare at him, as he walks up to them, the light reminding him of the one so much farther away.

They look between themselves, and then at The Machine again, waiting for it to move. But The Machine has no face, and was constructed with no way to speak. Thanks to this lack of communication, The Machine decides to instead offer a gift.

The Machine swaps the shield out for its hand, drops the spear, and uses the spear’s force cannon to tear off a finger, catching it in the same hand it was removed from, already having decided it would be more useful to keep peace, than risk combat over what can so easily be avoided.

The Machine reaches for the Ion Spear again, watching it softly float through and lock into its focus cannon again. The Machine, gift finally in hand, extends the aforementioned hand to the campers, an offering to confirm its friendly intentions.

The group continues to stare, until the man extends out his arm, accepting the small mechanical gift of: The Machine.

End of Chapter 1: “The Machine.”

Thank you for reading.

“Thanks.”