“It has been a year since the Vault Incident.” Mia was sitting in the chair, in which her father loved to take a nap in that was next to the fireplace. It was the place he called ‘a warming room’. There were some chairs, paintings and a sofa along with several hundreds of books in the room.

“What Vault Incident?” asked Seamus, curious as always.

“Somebody opened the Vault, and we do not know anything about it. What happened after was that the Paragon took control of the Tower. He formed a new nation called United New World. He is currently waging war with the three other interregional powers.”

“Really?”

“No I am joking…”

“Really?”

“No, this is real. I hope you know that you will inherit this state one day.”

“Really?”

“Is there anything else for you to say?”

“Not really.” He smirked.

“Quit joking. He asked me to teach you about these things. I see you want to do other things and I understand that, but I am responsible for your education, in other words, please pay attention.”

“I would like to go hiking.”

“Well, the mansion was recently finished, so you didn’t have time to do that. The landscape is beautiful around here…”

“So, can we?”

“I’ll ask Aiden to go with you…”

“Yaay… He is awesome.”

“I’ll go get him.” She stood up from the red velvet chair and opened the door. She shouted “Aaaaaaaaiden”, and her butler immediately turned up. He was a young man with black hair and brown eyes. His facial hair was not growing, and was a little younger than Mia. According to doctors, he will never grow any beard, and will not have third molar germs, but both grew out, anyways.

“What can I do for you?”

“Would you be kind and go hiking with that little devil?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Oh… Before I forget, there is a man, who would like to apply for the position of gardener.”

“Where is he?”

“He is sitting in the main hall. I would be careful, if I were you. He covered his left hand and shoulder, he even has a glove on. It’s twenty-six degrees Celsius outside.”

Aiden started to talk to Seamus about how to conduct a safe hike in the mountains and told him about the potential locations they could go off to. Mia left the room, walked to the stairs that lead directly to the main hall. Then she went down to greet her potential gardener.

“My name is Mia. Nice to meet you. I am the owner of this mansion.”

“My name is Archibald. I saw the sign on the road, so I thought to apply…”

“Have you ever been a gardener before?”

“No, not really.” He was honest.

“How do you plan to take care of the plants, if you have no knowledge?”

“Who said I have no knowledge?” he responded with a bit of anger and disappointment. “Sorry…”

“So what do you have?”

“Some information about the preferences of different plants, and two hands willing to work hard.” His golden eye was looking stern. “I have had time to read.”

“How can you prove?”

“I can’t, but you do not have anything to lose, give it a try…”

“I have a feeling that I have met you before…” She said.

“Me too…” He replied.

“We are off then, Lady Mia.” said Aiden, interrupting their conversation.

“Okay, bring him back in one piece. That is crucial.”

“Definitely.”

“Why do you have a glove on your hand, sir?” asked Seamus.

“My hand is not a tourist attraction…”

“Why?”

“A scar…”

“How did it happen?”

“Emmm.” Heavy thinking was progressing in the head of the stranger.

“You should go. He doesn’t want to talk about it…”

“But I want to know…”

“This is something he shouldn’t know about…” he whispered to Mia.

“When the time is right…” She responded

“Eeh.”

“Go…”

“Yes.” Replied the butler and dragged the child out.

“So what happened to your arm?”

“It was ripped off.”

“Hee?”

“Do I have to talk about it?” He wasn’t very enthusiastic about it.

“If you want the job…”

“I have nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep…”

“Cough it up…” Commanded the Lady of the house.

“Some bots with phoney human consciousness went nuts.”

“What?” It was a bit too direct to the woman.

“Long story short, I was put into an incubator that integrated electronics with eukaryotic cells. So basically I am a hybrid.”

“Eh?” She wouldn’t know what he was talking about. Another word and she brands him a weirdo.

“It’s no different than a normal arm. It gets stronger, if electricity flows through, and I have become resistant to illnesses due to the nano-machines the cells produce. They have electronics made out of organic proteins…” He kept it going.

“What are you? Or, rather, who?”

“A fellow human…”

“Wrong answer… Tell me…” she looked at him viciously. “Are you an associate of the East?”

“Oh, no…” he started to laugh. “I mean, I know one or two people, but I was elsewhere, and very busy.”

“Then how did you get that technology?”

“Not from the East…” he removed the glove from his hands to show. It was very pale and grey, but there was nothing unnatural about it, except that there was no hair on the limb.

“This is not horrible.”

“Well, my shoulder is worse.” He rolled up the left sleeve. The upper part of the arm was marked with hexagonal patterns, which was formed during the insertion of the nanobots that changed the DNA. Then the cells developed the necessary cell organelles, manufacturing other nanobots with other specialties, plus they were organic. A huge, purely white scar was present on the shoulder, which was straight and wide. It was filled with different adhesive organic materials that was compatible with Human Cellular Electronics.

“This is… I haven’t seen anything like this before.”

“Nobody did in this world… not even in the East.”

“I have an acquaintance, who is also from the East. You might want to show this to her…”

“Really?”

“Her name is Emily.”

“What does she look like?”

“Platinum hair, strange eyes…”

“What a coincidence.” He smiled “I know her, too.”

“Truly…”

“I don’t think she wants to talk about what happened at the Vault…” That seemed not to be intentional.

“Wait, what?”

“Ooops…” he looked away.

“What did you do at the Vault?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that crap… You opened it, didn’t you?”

He still looked away. He seemed not to pay attention.

“Do you want me to tell the Paragon I met the person he has been searching for?”

“Do what you wish… I’ll be going…” he stood up. “I don’t want to hurt anybody.” He murmured. His eyes were on the verge of despair; he seemed as if something snapped in him.

“Don’t… Don’t go.”

“You just threatened me. I can’t go to the East, now I can’t be in the West. The others are taking damage due to the war… I’ll be returning…”

“I’ll let you live here, if you tell me everything.”

“I mustn’t be a puppet. I mustn’t use my gift to boost nations. I mustn’t do wrong.” He murmured to himself. “You’ll sell me out, won’t you?”

“No.” She replied with confident voice.

“I have seen that look before…”

“I won’t tell anybody…”

“I don’t really want people to brand me… The one, who opened the Vault. The one, who caused this mess. The one, who did not share the knowledge everybody deserves. Look, you don’t want to know about it… It’s terrifying…”

“What?”

“I hope we never meet them…”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know too little or too much to tell you about it. Let’s start from the beginning.” His attitude and thoughts shifted. “My name is James.” James introduced himself.

“James? One of my friends has been searching for a James…” She stated.

“Have we met before?” He asked.

“I do not know…”

“Whatever… What do you want to know?” He was unlikely to deny answering.

“How did you open the Vault?”

“It has a biometric lock. I was told, well, to jack off into its keyhole. There was an immense machine at the bottom of the complex, which I destroyed so that it would not destroy the world again. Then some bloodthirsty robots attacked me, and I… I died. There was a guy, called Leon, who put me into his incubator…”

“What are you doing here? I mean you have had access to all the world’s knowledge…”

“I was to leave anyways, but then I realized that it would be more than suspicious to get out of the Vault, so I searched and left through a secret entrance. I had enough of being in a room all day. I still have a device that connects to its servers…”

“May I?”

“No, you may not…” he smiled. “Who are you to have such a mansion without a husband?”

“I am educating the Paragon’s designated successor.”

“That’s prestigious.” He said with a faint of disgust.

“We have been renovating this mansion for about a year, we moved in recently.”

“So how is the war?”

“Ma’am, MA’AM. There is someone who wants to talk to you.” Aiden shouted interrupting the two.

“Come with me…” Mia got up and opened the entrance. Aiden and Seamus was standing next to a carriage.

“They have an important message from the Paragon.” Said Aiden.

“What is it?” She asked.

“You are to go to the Tower now. No objections. It is an emergency.” Commanded the carriage driver.

“About what?”

“I do not know…”

“Tough luck, I thought I could put my arm to use.” Sadness filled his heart as realized he wouldn’t have a peaceful life he always wanted.

“You’ll come with us as well.” She stated.

“Out of the question.” James refused.

“It is an emergency. I will not tell on you… I promise.” Replied Mia.

“You have food?” He asked shamefully.

“What?”

“I have not eaten properly for a year… I am kind of hungry.” He had no regrets.

“I can imagine.” She laughed knowing that this was the price of a man. “Yes, we have.” He got into the carriage and started their journey to the Tower, not knowing about the disaster that was about to ravage the lands, burn the buildings to the ground, consume the men and bring the wrath of god, the wrath of the Seven Seals and the wrath of the Four Horsemen from the Outlands. There was no escape.