“The Archipelago is the closest region to this continent, and is also the largest threat. The Archipelago is not ‘ruled’ but instead is a state of Anarchy. The populus there lives by trading with each other. Fights are common, but not frowned upon. Everything is legal there, even so they still frown at morally questionable activities, so try not to offend them.”

I grimace, remembering a story that had been told of what had once happened when someone offended a group of people in the Archipelago. A man had stolen some food and water from the group, who happened to have had plenty at the time. The group had hunted him down and chopped off his limbs, some said that if you were close to the hideout you could still hear his screams, as well as others who had offended the group. The Indigo Terror.

“You think I should head to the Archipelago?” The Machina says, catching on to what Kate was getting to.

“It’s the safest place to be, almost anywhere away from this continent is, especially straight east of here. If you can prove you aren’t soulless they might let you stay, even live with them. Besides, it’s not like you can’t handle yourself in a fight.” The Machina shakes his head, “Maybe against one or two, but I barely know how to use weaponry, let alone how to fight against mages. How will I survive against so many people who hate me?” Kate gives a small chuckle. “Not everyone hated you, or at least, not to begin with.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just because the kingdom woke you up and threatened you, many of you were like us, defective, non-participant. They didn’t join the others. While many of them were single minded, or perhaps were even part of a single mind, some were different. Though those that were different often looked different as well, you on the other hand share the same body as those of the hive mind.”

I nod in emphasis of her words, but it does make me think, why does he look like one of the hive mind machines and not any of the unique ones? There were stories about machines that tried diplomacy with nations, and even special warriors who dominated the battlefield, but even though some of them were built to mimic humans, it was easy to tell they were a Machina, according to the stories at least. Why is this one different?

“What did they look like? The ones that were different.” The Machina asks, his curiosity and attention have clearly been garnered by Kate's talk.

Kate leans in towards the middle of our triangle, capitulating to the Machina’s interest. “The stories say some had stripes of colour on them, with brilliant paints and stripes of colour, but others say there were those that were the darkest of blacks and felt like leather. Some looked like us, even walked among us, but as I mentioned earlier it was quite easy to tell who was suspicious, and they quickly stopped appearing.”

The Machina looks up at the afternoon sky as Kate finishes her tale, admiring the spots dotted white blotches all over the bright blue canvas. Simple but so incredibly captivating. “So where do you want to go first?” I ask, wanting to stay relevant within the conversation.

The Machina remains still for a moment, staring up in a way that makes it hard to believe he even heard me at all before turning back towards me and pointing towards the west, “I’ll go to the archipelago.” I and Kate frown.

“The Archipelago is to the east, didn’t I tell you that?” Kate says, clearly annoyed. The Machina lets out what might be a chuckle, “Where am I pointing then? West?” Kate’s frown deepens. “Yes” she says, entirely deadpan as the Machina scratches his head.

“I didn’t realise.”