After protecting the settlement, and the settlers giving their goodbyes to him, deciding Giro has given his own goodbyes in spirit… Giro has moved on and is following the sun as we speak, diligently marching through long pastures and rocky deserts as he chases his guiding light.

Our Robotic Friend fights off malicious wolf packs and mythical sand worms, using his Ion Spear with all the grace and skill he can muster, scaring them off with its static crackles and heavy buzzing against the titanic worm's heavy armor plates.

Giro arrives at a mechanical caravan, a camel demihuman at the head, spotting Giro as he makes his way toward it, only now noticing one of the aforementioned worms at the end of their caravan, most likely one of their more recent kills.

A sand-worm boasts incredible strength and size, so he knew it must have been hard fought, and well earned. “Traveler! You look worse for wear.” The camel-man says, nodding in his direction. Giro gives himself a one over, deciding that the new rattling with every step wasn’t something to worry about.

“Did you know around twenty thousand years ago, Orion used to have multiple rings.” He tells Giro, our robotic protagonist, having already sat down to listen to this man’s stories. “It’s true, once Liyoxis had come to power, he used the materials to construct Hermes’s Ring.” He explains as Giro looks up to watch the super massive thing swoop overhead.

Hermes’s Ring, the super weapon filled with armies, even legions of automata much like Giro… That would be insulting, however. Giro knows he would be hard pressed to stand up to even the weakest of the drones on that floating weapons platform.

Liyoxislovloragram, one of the high twelve powers of the very world, would never advertise it as such though. “I wish I was around back then, I would have liked to see it. I’m Ol’ Gull. What’s your name?” Gull asks Giro, prompting the automaton to point at his name once more.

“Giro, eiy?” Gull asks, leisurely rubbing his chin as his heavy clothing makes him look all too comfortable for someone who most likely had a heavy hand in taking down that worm. “I’m guessing you can’t speak?” He asks, and Giro of course nods, just as he was taught by Coletara.

“Well, I’ve got a delivery to make, ‘promised my nephew a piece of this thing’s hide.” He explains, pointing his thumb at the fresh kill, and Giro nods once more with understanding. “Yeah, he wants to take up adventuring like all the youngsters.” He chuckles, as Giro realizes he almost forgot something.

Giro ejects his sword, tearing it right off with what’s left of his powerful grasper, frightening the camel-man for a moment- “Jeez, Giro, no wonder you’re in such bad shape…” He says, as Giro offers the sword to the old man. “Oh, thanks… A little piece of yourself for me to remember?” He asks, making Giro almost customarily nod.

“You sure you don’t want me to patch you up, or something?” Gull asks, but Giro shakes his head, having already decided he didn’t want to inconvenience his friend anymore. “You’re certainly a stubborn one… Alright, but at least give me the courtesy of allowing you to pass first.” He tells Giro, as The Machine looks at his VERY long caravan.

Giro makes it about half a kilometer before the noise of rushing wheels and sand erupts from behind him, surprising him as he watches the caravan bolt through the desert like a bullet train. Giro, with now another red warning signal from his glass vials, climbs a tall dune, and spots two things, the end of the desert, and a creature he has never seen before.

Giro walks over to the creature, it’s like a giant white bulbous spider, with a single frightened, bleeding eye. It has two wing-like growths protruding from the sides with four crystals on each side for legs. The creature has no mouth, but its eye continues to bleed, staining the sandy ground.

Giro takes a step forward, but the creature erupts with a scream before tossing itself away, running as fast as it can, wiggling a pointy tail-like growth all the way. Giro did not understand this creature, in fact he was unsettled, it brought him mental discomfort, watching the poor thing hurt itself from merely running too fast.

Giro would have offered to put the poor thing out of its misery, but it clung to life so desperately, that Giro had to respect its resolve, praying that somebody may someday find a way to heal it.

As Giro comes to the end of the desert, he descends into a large river, passing by beautiful fish and other such aquatic life as he heads for the closest point of elevation. Fish kiss and clean the sand and grime off of him, some even managing to tear those vines off his body.

As he ascends from the ocean, he thanks his new aquatic friends, leaving them his melter-array, since HE wouldn’t need it. He of course demonstrated its dangers, so they don’t risk ruining their home. The girls waved him off as one of them held the gift of The Machine.

Aquatic Demihumans, there used to be more of them than there were demihumans on the surface, but calamity had struck Orion’s oceans, wiping out most life and wiping out thousands if not millions of different species before the world’s powers could fully deal with the calamitus threat.

Truly, that was the darkest two millenia Orion had ever suffered. But it meant ultimately nothing to him, as it was already well over, and the world has been well on its way to rebuilding from and forgetting such atrocities. The end of it was two thousand years ago ITSELF, after all.

Giro looked to the sky once more, praying to it in hopes he may attune himself, just like his good friend Qual had taught him. Soon after, Giro returns to his quest, finally taking a moment to witness the world before him. Deep forests of beautiful autumn hills with a path leading to a tall sprawling mountain.

Giro realizes the higher he gets, the closer he can be to the sun! And so his new mission is at hand, as he marches quickly, stomping and slamming with excitement, his various pieces of intricately hewn and arranged armor rattling with jubilation.

End of Chapter: 4 “Deserted.”

Thank you for reading.

“Ha, thank ya’ mates!”