Early the next morning, I tell Marrianne that I have something I need to do today. "What are you doing today?" she asks. Of course I can't tell her. But I don't really have any excuse either.

"I'd... rather not talk about it," I say honestly. She blinks a few times with a confused look. Whatever answer she expected, she doesn't know what to think about getting no answer at all.

She clearly wants to know, but sighs. "If that's how you feel, I won't pry." I give her a grateful smile. When I ask, she even helps me tie up my clothes like yesterday so they're easy to walk in, and gives me a water flask again. We eat a very early breakfast because Francis is leaving earlier than usual.

"We're getting the new shipment of AR units, today," he says suddenly. What? Today? I try to keep my astonishment from showing. Why didn't he tell me about this yesterday?

If I'd known... well, I suppose it wouldn't change anything. The new rail units don't actually concern me when I stop to think about it. So I just quietly recover from the sudden shock while I continue eating. Francis keeps speaking though. "Everyone's on South Gate duty, so I might be home a bit late today."

"Ok, I'll make something special for dinner today, so you can just forget all about work when you get home." She gives a sad smile, just from thinking about it. I take a big bite of my meal to hide how guilty it makes me.

After our early breakfast, it's time to set out for the day. Before I leave though, I start going through the clothing chest in Marrianne's room, looking for my robe. "What are you looking for, Wunay?" Marrianne asks from the doorway.

There's no use hiding it, so I just tell her, "I'm looking for my robe, it should be in here, right?" She would have seen me leaving with it anyway. She gives me a worried look for a moment, but helps out anyway.

"It's right down in here," she says. She lifts up a majority of the stacked clothing in one hand, pulling it up partway so I can see the white cloth of the robe peeking out near the bottom. I pull it out past the other clothing, and she lets it all fall back into place.

"Thanks," I say while rolling up the robe in my hands.

Marrianne takes it from me, straightening it out, then refolds it neatly. I still can't follow her hands, how she folds clothing like that. "What do you need this for?" she asks casually. She said she wouldn't pry, but I guess it's hard when I'm being so suspicious... I swallow hard.

"I... have some things I need to do..." I answer vaguely. She gets the hint and drops the topic.

"Well, make sure not to stay out too late." She touches my cheek with a small smile. "Be back by the twelfth bell for dinner." I give her a firm nod.

"Ok, be back later." She catches me as I head through the doorway to the main room and gives me a tight squeeze. I hug her back for a few moments before she releases me again. I run out the front door, folded robes in hand.

I can feel tears forming in my eyes. Since I've already decided I'm going to leave, my chest feels tight and painful. It's my own fault that her love hurts.

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I make it to the central street before the stinging in my chest begins to ease. I rest against a building, taking a few deep breaths to ready myself for what's ahead. First I need to go back to the handlers. They have never cared about me coming and going as I please, but now that I'm actually thinking about it, I never confirmed if there are problems with me living elsewhere. Whether or not I even have the option of living at the orphanage depends on whether I'm allowed to live outside the rail unit building.

As much as I never want to step foot in that place again, I have to. Part of me is terrified. I'm already preparing myself for painful flashbacks, like the ones I get from the river. If they tell me I do have to live there, I have no idea what I'll do. I'll probably be unable to sleep again, and wear down until I collapse and die...

I really don't want to think about that though. The handlers have never cared what I did before, so it shouldn't be any different now. That's what I tell myself to stay positive, because the alternative is literally worrying myself to death.

As I go over these possibilities, I cross over the Main Street, weaving through the huge number of people going past in the morning, to get back to the northeast section of the city I that know the best. I wind through the now familiar streets and alleys, making my way toward the AR building once more. When I'm getting close, I harden my resolve, and slip my robe on over top of the work clothes Marrianne dressed me in. As I pull my long hair out through the neck, I'm reminded just how much cleaner and nicer it feels than it ever did before. It shines, sparkling in the sun, and I can trail my fingers right through it. I really love the way it feels. But I shake those thoughts from my head, there are much more important things to do right now.

I walk the last bit of the way, arriving at the front door of the only stone building in sight. Of course it sticks out once you know all the other buildings are made of wood... I can see the small window holes, but they're only partway up the building. There must be a second floor then? Unlike the other wooden buildings, there are no stairs leading to a second floor entrance. Not important, I tell myself. I walk up to the building, stopping at the door.

I stand at the door for a while, trying to let my emotions settle down, allowing the energy to flow from my face, bit by bit managing to slip back into the blank stare I wore for so many years. It's not easy, but I'm quite surprised to find that it's not nearly as hard as I expected.

I don't know what they would think if I walked in, suddenly all expressive, so this is probably the best option for now. Once my face has settled, I expressionlessly, take a deep breath, and push open the door. The first thing that hits me is the smell. I start to gag. Start to have flashbacks, but press it all down inside with every last shred of my willpower. This smell, like putrid, filthy waste that seems to cling to every surface. It's many times worse than even falling into that barrel of horse waste. This room smells bad in ways I don't even know how to describe.

But I bottle all of those feelings up deep, deep inside while I enter the main room. I look around with new eyes. The walls and floor appear to be made from the same gray stone. There is no straw on the floor, but the floors appear to be quite clean anyway. The walls as well. A handful of windows lie near the ceiling, simple openings with small wooden doors to cover them if needed. There are three doors leaving the room. The main entrance, the treatment room, and a third I've never been through. I assume it leads to the second floor, since there's no way in from outside. I had no idea there was a second floor, I wonder what it's for? Maybe the handlers sleep there or something.

There are a little more than one hundred rail units standing around. They gaze at me with blank eyes. It's pretty creepy, no wonder why people can recognize us by our eyes. Since we ate so early this morning, the second bell hasn't rang yet. It shouldn't be long until the breakfast whistle. I have no desire to stay here until then.

There are four handlers. All men who appear to be quite old. They all look at me as I enter. They can't hide their surprised expressions well at all. I can probably only manage since I spent so many years like this. Even now, my nervousness and disgust are so powerful that it's only the years of practice that keep them from showing.

"You've returned, 1A," one of them says.

"Yes." I don't say anything else. I can't be too talkative either.

"We have some questions for you, come with us."

I follow along silently. We enter the room where I was always treated. I squeeze my hands together to keep them from trembling as the painful memories continue to surface.

One of the handlers digs through a cabinet, taking out a few objects I don't recognize. One is a long stick like thing. It looks pretty pointy. Then there is a small bottle. It's a little shiny, but very dark colored. It doesn't look like metal. The last one is a small, thin thing. It's not much larger than a person's hand, but it's amazingly thin, it doesn't seem to have an edge at all.

I watch as the handler takes the top off of the bottle, carefully dipping the stick into the bottle. When he raises it again, it looks like some dark black liquid has collected on the tip of the stick. He then rubs the stick across the thin, flat thing. It's like he's making some sort of pattern, but I don't know what it is. Everywhere he moves the stick, it leaves behind a dark trail. He does this briefly before looking up at me.

Still keeping my emotions in check, I try to mentally prepare myself for whatever questions they have. Whether or not I can live somewhere else could depend on my answers...

"How much mana do you have?" I'm lucky that my face is already blank, because that was not any sort of question like I imagined he would ask. Before I hesitate too long, I check. 3210.

"Three thousand two hundred ten." The handlers glance at each other. Then they start talking amongst themselves.

"It's about five, so eight, for four years..." They all look like they're thinking for a bit. "About thirty five?"

"That's way higher than our projections, it'll destroy the whole formation!" They all glance at me. I can hear you guys you know...

"No, we can work with this. With that much, we should be able to do a full offensive."

"But this unit won't actually last that long."

"We should keep it to a single bout then. Do as much damage as possible in one punch, then get out of there."

"That sounds good actually," they all quietly agree. "Yes, let's do that."

I don't really understand what they're talking about. But it looks like they're done. They push me back into the main room, then begin to disperse. "Wait, I have a question," I call out to one when I realize that the discussion is over. They aren't going to ask me anything about where I've been or what I've been doing it seems.

"I want to know if I can live somewhere else."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," the handler responds. He doesn't even seem to consider my question and waves me off. I stop myself before nodding, rail units don't do that. Since, that's all I needed to know, I head out the front door as fast as possible without running. I make it to the street, quickly heading a short distance away, before I slump down in the alley directly next to the building. All the tension goes out of my body. I let myself deeply breathe in the fresh air for quite some time, the muscles in my face feel like they just melt back into place after keeping them still the whole time. After sitting with my eyes closed and just resting for a bit to recover from my first ordeal today, I'm ready to continue.

As I'm about to stand, a handler in dark robes walks right in front of me. I freeze instantly. "I have to hurry, the new rail units will be arriving soon." The handler appears to be talking to themselves. Then I notice that this handler has long hair; it's a woman. Somehow, that seems strange, though I never paid enough attention to tell if they were men or women before today. Either way, as she is talking to herself, she is lost in thought and walks past, practically stepping over me in the narrow alley without even noticing me. "I need to check on the manastone operation..." she mumbles as she walks right past. She uses the alley to cut through, turning the corner onto the next street. I let out a shuddering breath I didn't realize I was holding the whole time. After another long delay, I recover from the shock enough to get up.

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So I stand once more and begin making my way further north, to the orphanage. But... I stop. Manastone operation? I can't help but be curious about the information I just overheard. I gently rub my fingers over my forehead. It's hardly noticeable, but I can feel the smallest of bumps when I rub over just the right spots on my forehead. The shards of my broken manastone. I was able to feel the intact ones in the other rail units. You had to press in just the right spot in the middle of the forehead, but they were definitely there. Thinking about it, that's probably the best way to identify a rail unit. Though no one but the units themselves, and I guess the handlers, would know that.

Now I'm wondering about the manastone operation. What do they do with the new rail units exactly? I doubt they would tell me though... I could just go look at the new units myself, see what I can find out.

I waver back and forth. Well, it's not like I'm pressed for time, I have the entire day to visit the orphanage. This is my only chance to satisfy my curiosity. So I turn around and start walking south. But now that I think about it, where will the rail units be? Francis said everyone was being called to the South Gate today, so that was the most likely. I cut through the streets and alleys, past a few people here and there, until I reach North Main Street, that runs north to south. I start walking at a quick pace. If that handler was worried about getting there in time, I'll need to move quickly.

I walk straight south for a while, through the second bell. Not long after the bell, I cross the main road that connects the east and west gates at the central plaza. It's pretty crowded already, with everyone setting up their stands to sell things throughout the day. I skirt around the outside of the market plaza, which is surprisingly easy. Despite the crowd, very few people really get in my way as I walk. They all seem to be too busy setting up up their spaces for the day. There are also a whole bunch already finished setting up, already selling their things to an early morning crowd of buyers.

Crossing the plaza, I hear that unfamiliar sound from somewhere off in the middle of the market. That odd, rhythmic buzzing sort of sound. I think Marrianne called that music? I'm not familiar with it, so I go a little closer as I walk. I spot a man holding a strange object. It seems to be made of wood and has a number of strings on it. He plucks at the strings and they make that buzzing sound. He keeps going, continuing in a strange rhythm. With my curiosity satisfied, I turn south again and keep going. I can't get distracted for too long.

Once past the central plaza, the road narrows somewhat. The loose packed stones of the road are a good deal more smooth though. I quickly notice that the buildings here are smaller.

Rather than three floors with entrances for people on each floor, they are only two floors, but don't seem to have outside entrances on the second floor. Does that mean they're for a single family, instead of one floor for each family like the others? Marrianne's house is in the first floor of a three story building, but seems to be a good size compared to some other three story buildings, like the ones in the northeast district. By comparison, these two story buildings are a bit smaller, but if they have two floors for a single family, that must make them a good deal larger on the inside. The quality of the construction keeps increasing as well. The wood is longer, straighter, and in some places, painted different colors.

Even the people on the street are more colorful. They hardly have any patches on their clothing. And the clothes themselves are brighter colors, not nearly as much brown. Not to mention they seem... smoother somehow. I can't understand it exactly, and it's hard to tell at a distance.

However, the people seem to be avoiding me. Worried about sticking out so much, I check myself. I'm still wearing my robe, which was just washed. So it's a pale gray color, not bright like all their clothing. But the fabric seems good enough I guess? I sniff my hair too, it doesn't seem like I smell anymore. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but everyone looks away from me as they walk past. Whatever it is, it's making me really nervous.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I continue walking straight. I don't recognize this area of the city at all. It feels like the stone underfoot changes once more, and is quite a bit easier to walk on than I'm accustomed to. I don't want to get lost on my way, so I try to just keep in a straight line on the road that leads that way. However, a building is directly in my path. As I draw closer, it eventually dawns on me just how large the building is.

The other houses here are much larger now, three floors tall, not tightly packed together like before, with grass around them. There are even these colorful plants growing up in some places. I go a little closer to look at some of them, and immediately smell the kind of gentle, sweet smell that comes off of them. It's really nice and I take a deep breath of the smell before moving on once more. Continuing to look around, the houses get even bigger, some stretch as tall as four floors tall in some places, all painted nicely.

I get closer, realizing that this building before me is on an entirely different scale from the surrounding houses. It doesn't seem like it is separated into individual floors like the houses around it. Smooth stone walls extend upward more than double the height of the houses in the area. The road splits not long before the enormous building, going off to either side. One path leads directly up to the building. The stonework underfoot isn't like the road up to this point though. It's not made of small stones that shift as I walk on them. Here, every stone is flat and fit together tightly, creating a surface that is solid and easy to walk on. Almost like the stone floor back where I used to live, but much, much larger. Or longer at least. I consider going around the building, but it seems that there are massive doors, thrown wide open in front of me. I can actually see all the way through, to where another set of doors opens on the far side of the building.

So I continue walking straight. Bright green grass covers the area around the path on both sides. I've never seen grass like this inside the city before. It's even nicer than the grass around the nearby houses. Meanwhile, the grass outside the gates is bright like this, but it's either really long or trampled down by people walking over it all the time. The grass here is nothing like that. Shining green, but short, with no tracks through it, like people haven't walked through it much at all, far better than the little grass areas around the large houses.

Even more impressive than the surrounding grounds is the building itself. It towers over me as I approach. Everything is solid stone, with textures and images carved into every surface.

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Eventually after walking down the long, smooth stone path, I reach the doors. I step over the threshold. Immediately, I can hear the difference in my footsteps. Each step seems to echo loudly against the smooth floor. Unlike the stone path outside, the floor inside is so smooth it has a kind of shine to it in the early morning sun. But...

I look around when I wonder where the sunlight is coming from. Since the building faces north-south, and the sun rises in the east, I'm wondering why it lights up the building so much. Then I notice the huge windows on the walls. They have a gleam to them and different parts are different colors, but whatever they're made of, they let the light right through. I squint as the bright sunlight flows steadily through the multi-story windows, shining brightly off the floor and lighting up the entire space.

As I thought, it isn't separated into floors, I can look all the way to the high ceiling above. On either side, there are huge stone poles, placed at regular intervals. They rise all the way up to the ceiling. Each one is carved with all sorts of incredibly detailed images. I don't really understand them, but a lot of them look like people. Even when I stare up overhead, there seems to be a giant picture painted directly on the ceiling. There are a bunch of people painted there, all sorts of colors and images of other things I don't understand on the ceiling as well.

As I walk through, I notice a few people off to either side. Some wear robes, but others wear even brighter clothing than the colorful people before, with some colors I haven't seen anyone wearing before. Their clothing seems different somehow. Some of it drapes a long way toward the floor, while other parts kind of glitter in a way that doesn't look like cloth at all. There are lots of little details everywhere too. It's so different than everyone else's clothes that I'm not sure what to make of it.

They all glance at me as I walk past, but go back to whatever they're doing after a moment. Everyone's so busy, I don't understand all the different work people do, but there seems to be an endless number of different jobs. There is one group that stands out. Over near the corner, one of the robed people is surrounded by people that range all the way from bright and colorfully dressed, to children in patched brown clothing. It looks like the man in the robe is speaking, but I can't hear him in the big echoing room where my footsteps seem to boom way too loudly.

Eventually, I reach the far end of the building. I pass through the doors on the far side, and arrive on another path of smooth, close fitting stones. It is much wider than the other though, probably triple the width. As I continue down the stone path, I spot a large number of carts. Or... things that look like carts at least. They are pulled by horses like carts are, but they have sides, and roofs, almost like tiny houses. Not to mention that the horses look massive compared to the ones I usually see around town. So, so much bigger it's hard to even compare them. That horse before had its chest around the height of my head when it hit me. These horses, I don't think I even reach up to their knees!

All the house-carts sit just past the end of the green grass, in an area of more smooth stone. Each one has a man sitting on the front, or standing nearby. These men are dressed in darker colors, but their clothing is also covered in all sorts of little intricate detailing unlike anything I've seen where I've lived.

As I walk past, these men look up at me. It almost seems like they want to say something, but stay silent as I walk past. Having cleared the surprising number of carts stopped in this area, I find that there is a very large road stretching across from east to west just beyond. When I look to either side, I can only see as far as the people moving on the road in the distance. Though that is a pretty long way off since this road isn't as crowded as other places I've walked through.

I've been walking for quite a while, I must be pretty far south now, right? A few regular carts roll down the street, either drawn by people, horses, or... this huge creature I don't recognize. It's a little ways down the street, but I just stare at it. It's so big! I've never seen any of these animals in the areas of town further north. And I would have seen it, it's huge! Like, two or times taller than the adults walking on the street. It's so wide that everyone needs to give it a lot of space to get around it. Its fur is a light blond color and it has huge curling horns on its head, split into a whole bunch of parts. It's walking away, so I eventually turn my attention away from it again.

Surprisingly, quite a lot of the people on the street are the kind I'm used to seeing. Brown, rag like clothing all patched together. There are still a handful of colorful people that stick out of the crowd, usually from atop a horse drawn cart.

Directly across the street, there is a large wall. It extends in either direction. This shouldn't be the South Gate though, I can still see the city walls continue further south. So it's some walled in area inside the city I guess?

I walk across the street. It looks like there is another big gate in this wall right ahead. Some guards stand in front, they should be able to tell me the way. I walk down the stone path, somehow even smaller and more tightly made than the one outside the stone building earlier, and quickly approach the gate. My legs are starting to get tired...

As I approach, I get a better look at the guards. Despite the similar look as Francis, the overall outfit is completely different. Their armor covers a lot more, running all the way down their chests and stomachs in big, smooth sheets. It is so shiny it catches the light of the sun, making me wince when it shines in my eyes. Underneath, they have brightly colored clothing, blue, purple, green. Colors I've never seen Francis wear before.

The men all scramble to stand upright when they see me approaching. I guess they were relaxing or something, and were surprised when I suddenly walked up. Kind of like when that customer rang the bell to call Marrianne I guess.

"I would like to go to the South Gate..." I start. Since there are three guards here, I just speak to the one in the center. He glances at the other guards at his sides. I'm not really sure how to phrase the rest of my question. Should I go left, or right? Around the wall? Through the gate? Where is the South Gate exactly? Before I can put any of my thoughts into words, the guard responds.

"I will lead you there, miss," he says while placing one arm across the front of his waist, his other held up and out to the side, and bowing deeply. I've never seen a strange gesture like that before, so I don't really know what it means. But more importantly, he said he'd help me. That's really nice of him. He whistles, and moments later the large wooden doors behind him begin to part. They swing inward surprisingly quickly for such huge doors. With a loud, deep thunk that I can feel through my entire body, they finish opening entirely. "This way," the guard says, and begins to walk. Surprisingly, he doesn't walk particularly fast. His pace is actually pretty easy to keep up with, even though he's so much taller than me. Nothing like when I needed to run all the time to keep up with Francis' fast pace.

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As soon as we pass the gate, I want to gape at the difference between this area and the area outside. Long, empty stretches of brilliant green grass are broken up by dazzling displays of colorful plants I've never seen before. They're like the ones by those large houses, but brighter and in every imaginable color. Some tall, some short, some with all sorts of parts coming off of them.

Long paths of perfectly smooth stone criss cross the entire area. There are stone circles that look similar to wells, but they have water pooling inside them. Somehow, they shoot a jet of water out the top so it splits into multiple parts and lands in the water pooled at the bottom. How is that possible? Where does all the water come from? And why doesn't it overflow as more water keeps pouring int?

We walk directly past one of the water things, placed in the middle of a small circular area with long wooden seats around its outside. The circular stone area connects directly to the side of the path we're walking on. I'm glad the guard is keeping a slow pace, because I can hardly keep myself walking as I look around in wonder at all the things I've never seen before.

I work to keep up with him though. He marches straight forward, not looking back at all. Something about it seems odd, but I'm not sure what... We continue walking through the beautiful area. Unlike all of the other strange places I walked through today, this one is completely empty. It's kind of a shame, a place as pretty as this, with no one to enjoy it. There are dozens of places to sit down and relax, and an endless sea of grass that would probably be the most comfortable place to nap in the sun.

As we walk, the tall stone wall stands a short distance to our left, with a massive building on the right, across the fields of green. It's pretty far away so it's not too easy to see the details, but at a glance it seems to be even more massive and intricately carved and decorated than the giant stone building earlier. It has big walls, straight parts, curved parts, big pointy towers, and all sorts of other bits and pieces that I don't understand. All I know is that it must have taken an insanely long time and unimaginable effort to build something like that.

Eventually, another gate comes into view. When we arrive, the two guards make some sort of hand gesture to each other. "I'm escorting the miss to the South Gate," he says. The guards there look over at me, then whistle, kind of like the other guard did earlier. I think it sounds kind of different, but a few moments later, the giant doors begin to swing open.

We proceed through, into another completely different area. Rather than green grass everywhere, everything is stone. The entire ground has been covered with tightly fitted flat stones so that no grass comes through the gaps anywhere. A large stone building stands directly in front of us. Actually, it seems to stretch all the way far off in either direction. Also unlike the previous area, this building is completely unadorned with any carving, any color, any... anything. The walls are utterly empty, leaving an extremely smooth stone outer wall that just continues for a very long way. I don't even see any doors into the building... When I look up past it, it seems that the tall stone walls are quite close around this area.

Unlike before, the guard doesn't travel straight forward, and instead begins to circle around the stone building. Which isn't a surprise, with the lack of doors. There is nothing to look at here. Stone wall on one side, stone ground below, stone building on the other. We circle around fairly quickly but I'm still amazed how long the building is. When we make it to the side, it turns out to be quite thin. Well, it's not that thin, but it certainly feels like it when compared to its incredible length.

We circle back, arriving at yet another gate. We pass through the same way as before. On the other side, the ground returns to normal. Just dirt in every direction, with a roughly packed road of coarse stone that leads directly to the next gate, which is a surprisingly short distance away. I could probably throw a rock most of the way over there. This next gate however, is clearly a gate leading out of the city. The gates are already wide open, with open stretches of land visible through the gap. I think I see an odd golden yellow color off in the distance, but it's too hard to tell what it is from so far away.

We proceed the short distance toward the city gate. We've been traveling directly south this whole time, so this one must be the South Gate. The gates we just passed through close behind us very quickly, before we've even made it the stone's throw distance to the South Gate. Just in front of the gate is quite a sizable number of guards. I don't see Francis among them though. Maybe he's further out, with those few guards I can spot standing near the outside of the gate. They all eye us as we approach. When we do arrive, I spot something a little way down the road through the gate. It looks like another cart, drawn at a fast pace by very large horses.

"We've arrived," the guard with me says, pulling my attention away from the gate.

"Thank you, you were a great help," I say with a smile. His mouth seems to open and close a couple times. Is he sweating? He doesn't look nervous, but seems to be sweating a lot. Maybe all that walking is hot in his heavy armor. It is getting quite hot outside during the day. Even though it's still morning...

"You are most welcome," he finally answers, making that same gesture from earlier. I'm not sure how to respond. Is it a guard thing? I've never seen Francis do it though. Well his armor is different, so maybe he's a different kind of guard? While I'm still wondering about this, he suddenly speaks again. "I-I will take my leave now," he stammers just a little as he speaks this time.

Without another word, the guard turns and begins to walk away quickly. Strangely, he begins to walk west, like he's going to circle around the big stone wall, instead of going back through the gate we just traveled through. He moves surprisingly quickly too. Actually, as soon as he's a little distance away, he starts running. He must have to get back to his post. Like when Francis was assigned at the East Gate when I went to work with him the other day. Now I'm really grateful he took the time to help me out. I do wonder why he doesn't take a faster way back though.

The low sound of horse feet clapping on hard stone brings my mind back to the gate though. While I was distracted, the horses have already arrived at the outer end of the gate. The guards on this side are all looking through the gate now to the big carts outside. After a brief delay, the carts begin to roll once more, more slowly now. They pass through the gate and enter the small area between the two walls. As they approach, I get a better look. Like the ones I saw earlier, they are those house-carts with the walls. Only these look more like cloth walls hanging down to the sides than the wooden ones the other carts had. But more strikingly, a man wearing dark handler robes sits on the seat at the front, holding the reins of the horses.

Somehow, I hadn't considered that possibility. Despite my shock, I find myself automatically emptying my mind and allowing my emotions to fade down to a simmer. I only came here to get a look at the new rail units and satisfy my curiosity. As they approach, my mind spins through possibilities, until I land on one that should work. Probably.

As the first cart begins to roll past, I raise a hand to get the attention of the handler on the cart. He stops, jumping down from the seat. He's not even trying to hide his emotions like the other handlers. He looks me up and down with an overly suspicious expression. The soldiers watching at a distance seem unsure of what's happening.

When the handler looks at my face, he can obviously tell I'm a rail unit, but that clearly must clash with his thought that the rail units should be fifteen years old. "What is your full designation?" he asks

"AR1A," I answer as expected.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm going to examine the new rail units."

"Why are you examining the new rail units?" he asks, clueless on why this is happening.

I hesitate for a few moments before answering. "To examine the new rail units," I answer. Since rail units tend to answer questions about why we do things which we have no personal answers to by just repeating ourselves, my response should make him think I was told to do this by another handler. At least, that's the idea.

"Go ahead," he says with a sigh, waving me forward. "I have no idea what these people are thinking sometimes," he mumbles as I walk past. Since the side is covered, I circle around to the back of the cart. It looks like the cloth sides are held up by a simple structure of a few sticks tied together to put a roof on the cart. I slip through a gap in the cloth at the back of the cart and climb up inside.

It's quite dark inside the cart with the cloth blocking the morning sun surprisingly well. I can still see enough to make out the children lying all over the bottom of the cart. Moving carefully so I don't step on one, I lean down and examine them closely. They are clearly very young, the smallest children I've ever seen.

As Francis described, they must have just been born recently to be this small. Though I already believed him, this confirms what he told me about them taking children just after birth.

They're all asleep right now. I listen briefly to their quiet breathing. No coughing or anything, they sleep quite peacefully. I carefully touch the head of one child. Rubbing gently across, it's immediately obvious that this child doesn't have a manastone. Meaning that manastone operation the female handler mentioned must not have happened yet. So I guess that operation is when they put it in? Or maybe it refers to something else that they only do after putting the manastone in. I test another child and find the same thing. I want to ask more about them, like about the manastones and everything, but there's no way I can pose those questions to the handlers. I swallow them and step back down from the cart.

I make sure not to address the handler again, and begin to walk away. "Ahh, whatever," he complains from behind. The whole line of carts begins moving again. As I walk the same way I saw that guard go, I see the inner gate open up again, allowing the carts through. While I walk, I consider something. As far as I can tell, they haven't done anything to those children yet. So if they were taken from their parents, and nothing was done yet, were they not actually rail units? At what point exactly did we change from humans into rail units? Was it in the beginning, from our disease? Or when we got our manastones? Or the divine gear? I'm don't even know for sure what the difference between the two is. How we got them, how they depend on one another...

All I really know for sure is that our manastone lets us use our divine gear. Beyond that, how they each actually function, how they're made, how we received them, it's all a mystery to me.

I'd really like to know too. Maybe I could discover more about myself, beyond just being a broken rail unit. Since I'm useless in combat, is there something else I could do instead maybe? It's just wishful thinking, but it really would be nice to know more. I just sigh lightly, and keep walking.