“My name is Vaso Paalo’ujo. Rockergirl, warrior... Jaguar.”

[Mmm?] A man asked. His smooth and light voice came from within the earpiece in Vaso’s left ear as she walked northward. Her figure cloaked in the dark of night.

“Ahem! Nothing. Forget everything you heard.” She said while bashfully placing her hand in front of her mouth, which was hidden within her metallic helmet.

[Alright. Although I must ask. Why did you not return with our lord?] The voice asked but Vaso let out a brief sigh.

“I rarely ever get to go outside. Send someone to pick me up in an hour. I will relish the vast outdoors in the meantime.” Vaso scoffed while playfully swinging her Macuahuitl back and forth.

[Alright.]

Vaso continued her northward walk while taking exaggerated steps, similar to those one would take if they were marching but she randomly burst into skips and hops and even though her armour was heavy enough to weigh down a fully trained soldier, she walked with ease.

She came to a stop and surveyed her surroundings, a place known as the Inner Field and spotted what appeared to be ruins in the distance.

She made her way towards them and upon her arrival, she noticed that what she had walked into was once an old town. It consisted of only a single street which was lined with buildings of all sorts. Shops, restaurants and homes. Time and nature had taken their toll on them with their walls covered in moss and their structural integrity being more than questionable.

“People used to live here once.” Vaso silently muttered as she walked.

She then came to stop once more upon spotting something slightly shiny buried beneath a pile of vines next to the ruined road.

Vaso slowly inched towards the curiosity and her eyes focused on what appeared initially to be a cube-shaped chunk of concrete that was no larger than a beach ball.

She stopped in front of it, seeing that it was a machine of some kind due to the handful of strange, rusted, tendril-like arms that hung messily from its open top.

She knelt to inspect it but just as she did, the cube let out a beep, making Vaso raise her fists defensively.

[Is something wrong?]

“N-no.” She said while taking deep, cautious breaths.

A moment passed as she glared at the rust-covered, metal box.

Her glare then caught sight of one of the few things that hadn’t been eaten away by corrosion.

A plastic sticker on top of the box’s lid read “PA-1 – Personal Assistant Unit Mark I”.

Vaso inspected the cube further and saw that it was covered in vines.

She used her Macuahuitl’s razor-sharp blades to free the machine from its wooden binds before shoving its tendrils into their housing within.

She stood up and watched, with widened eyes, as the robot floated out of its prison.

It then floated toward her all while letting out several beeps and boops.

Vaso gave herself a satisfied nod before stepping away from the robot but she quickly noticed that the machine was following her so she stopped to see that it had stopped as well.

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It floated a few inches above the ground and a faint whirling noise could be heard coming from within.

“Uhh…“ Vaso sounded.

“Go on. Shoo! You’re free now.” She said but the robot did not move.

[Looks like an old piece of tech. Possibly from before the Great War. It is likely defective.]

“Mmm...” Vaso droned making the robot make even more noises. A series of beeps and boops that which created a short, repeated melody.

Vaso gave herself another nod while looking at the robot’s scratch-riddled surface.

“I want it.” She decided.

[Huh?]

“I want to bring it back home-“

[Sorry to interrupt but a UA T-Globemaster V is heading your way from the south! It is about eighty Kilometres away! I suggest you make your way towards the exfiltration site I marked on your HUD!]

The voice said as a bright blue arrow appeared on the visor in front of her eyes that allowed her to see out of her helmet.

It pointed to a spot to the east but Vaso ignored it.

She instead turned around and eyed the southern horizon to find a storm brewing darkly above it.

She felt the winds strengthen and closed her eyes just as a single bolt of lightning lit up the rumbling sky.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to find three figures standing a few meters away from the floating machine.

They were clad in dark grey military gear with two of them being women and one being a man.

Common among them was their white hair with the man having it shortly cut and the woman to his left having hers bound in a bun. The woman to his right had hers braided and had her mouth hidden behind a black mask.

The man, whose face was covered with scars, even across his pale head, took a single step forward.

“Identity yourself!” He barked and just as the words left his mouth, the air was filled with countless blue sparks.

Vaso watched as the sparks danced energetically through the air and her eyes narrowed as some of them came into contact with her armour to no visible effect.

[Those are the IPNL! You have to get out of-]

Vaso tapped the button next to her ear on her helmet, cutting the voice from her earpiece off.

“Ahem! I am the Rockergirl, pleased to meet ya!” She gleefully greeted after tapping the ground with her Macuahuitl once.

The man glanced at it before returning his glare to Vaso herself who stood with her weight resting on her left leg.

“Are you a member of the Devout?” The man asked as the distant storm grew closer, bringing with it roaring winds and rain.

“Am I devout? Yes, but that is not what I want to hear. Say it. Utter the name of our lord.” Vaso asked casually.

The man’s eyes flashed bright blue and his brows twisted even further just as another bolt of lightning tore across the sky.

“Are you a servant of Laktan?”

“Yes.”

A single second passed after the word left Vaso’s mouth and just as the man squeezed his hands into fists, Vaso shifted her weight to her right leg and in the following moment, the town was engulfed by a pitch-black shadow.

An unseen force then flattened, buildings and all, the entire town.

The man let out a loud cough as whatever bits of gear that weren’t tightly strapped onto him, fell to the ground at an incredible speed.

But, much to Vaso’s surprise, the man did not fall as well.

Instead, he let out a wild roar that seemingly caused the airborne sparks to rush towards Vaso who dashed backwards and watched as the sparks gathered where she once stood, resulting in a spectacular explosion.

Vaso landed a few meters away from her original position and narrowed her eyes as the man fell to his knees.

Her gaze then shifted to the two women but she tilted her head slightly to the side after seeing that the women were gone, left in their place were two flat puddles of flesh and blood which rippled under the unseen force.

“GRRRRAAAAAHHH!” The man screamed as his skin was dragged down by the unseen force, making it stretch and tear.

His hair was pulled down with it chunks of skin but regardless of how much pain he endured, he did not fall.

Vaso’s face twisted.

She took slow steps towards him as he stood, with legs bowed inwards and a skull which had caved inward from the top.

She looked into his eyes which glowed brightly blue even as blood fell from their sides.

She then stood next to the robot she found, which was oddly unharmed.

The man’s legs then broke to a point where he could no longer bear and just as his torso touched the ground, it joined his legs in being flattened.

Vaso’s jaws clenched and her face twisted as she glared at the puddle of flesh before her but just as quickly as her face twisted, it returned to its normal, neutral expression as her shadow returned to its usual size.

She then let out a sigh before nodding to the east.

“Come on.” She called while walking.

The robot did as instructed after making a few beeps and boops.

The spot where it once stood, unlike the rest of the town, which had been completely flattened, was untouched.