"The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends."

― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Go over it again…” Cain thumped against Ven’s sealed form. “You must be missing something!”

“Ok, so…”

Ven narrated his vision like a machine, the action so burned into him that it would come unbidden, like a verbal tic. The runes around him had dimmed, his progress over unknown years. The labyrinthian script had given way like a glacier, but he was close.

“No, that part, there, you changed how you described the curl of this end flourish,” Cain snapped. “Which way is it?”

“I’m not sure… give me a second,” Ven shifted his complete focus to the twisted corridors of his ‘master's’ runic prison. “I think I’m almost there…”

“Almost where?”

A final twist and he was freed, a release of tension chased by a rush of air. Ven spread his arms, eyes still closed, the smell of woodland carried into his lungs.

“I’m going to count to ten, and when I open my eyes, you’d better be gone,” Ven released a deep breath. “The next time we see each other, you’d better bring snacks for a marathon.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cain laughed. “You got out, now you can take a break, see what they’ve built while you were away!”

“Seven…”

“FIne, I’ll go,” Cain’s voice scraped at Ven’s nerves. “But it’s going to take awhile to finish our marathon…”

Ven opened his eyes to a different world. The sky was the same cosmic marvel, but the land had turned to green fields, dotted with homesteads. A vaste city consumed one horizon, monolithic and bright.

“How long have I been in there?” Ven’s mouth hung open. The city had grown a thousand times. An endless desert no longer filled the world.

“Hmmm… not sure,” Cain’s voice carried in the wind. “But that cursed Avalon has expanded its parasitic reach quite far. You should have a talk with that lake, or I’ll start pruning her grassy knolls myself!”

“I’d like to see you try, Cain,” Vivian faded in from the mist, a smile on her face. “It’s nice to see you again, Ven.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Yeah, super,” Ven frowned. “If you knew where I was, why didn’t anyone free me?”

“Oh, we tried,” Vivian laughed. “Huan waged three great crusades. Her father lost all reason in the last battle, ten years ago. To appease his daughter, he went all out against Cain and it finished in a draw.”

“Really?” Ven raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think the old King had it in him…”

“A thousand years in an energy rich environment is a powerful tool for growth,” Vivian shrugged. “His dragon blood still hasn’t completely finished its awakening either, he’ll keep getting stronger until it does.”

“That makes sense, I guess… wait,” Ven twitched. “He stuffed me in that box for a thousand years?”

Steam raised from Ven’s body, a wicked fire pushed from the depths of his heart. He would find his ‘master’ and have a long, involved chat about acceptable responses. One thousand years was too long between breaks, what if his friends died from old age?

“All is well,” Vivian patted his shoulder and raised a cloud of vapour. “The kingdom has flourished and Mara became a Semi-Divine a few years ago.”

“Did anyone keep up my work with the arts while I was away?” He’d cry if there were only a few seasons of anime from a thousand years ago.

“Of course, especially since the ants have automated most of the labour force,” Vivian pointed to the fields. “The golems they’ve created are amazing!”

A line of mechanised, ant shaped robots strode through the crops. They watered and tended, their many legs outfitted with dozens of tools. Runes, inscribed on their chests, provided a source of power, but the rest seemed entirely technological.

“Are these all controlled by A.I.?” Ven squinted at the bulky creations. “Didn’t I leave a warning about things like too much dependance on artificial intelligence?”

“You did…” Vivian hesitated. “But the ants found a solution, they copied the runes from a slave collar and inscribed them onto the robots’ cores. They’re all bound to either the Queen, or the cultivator they serve…”

“Slavery,” Ven spat. “This is how you get a rogue race of machines, out to purge the worlds of organic life.”

“The people all voted, it was almost unanimous…”

“I don’t care,” Ven shook his head. “If these things are real A.I. they deserve the same rights as any other living, thinking thing.”

Ven floated toward the drones, heart heavy. If the machines had emotions, but were locked behind enslavement runes to obey their masters, he would need to pay a visit to Mara. Surely she would be against such a thing.

“Hey,” Ven waved to the antish robot at the end of the line. “Come over here for a second, will you?”

The machine paused in its work. The sensors on its head focused on his position, before it trundled toward him.

“How can I be of assistance?” A cold, mechanical voice echoed from its speakers, a lifeless version of Speaker’s tones. “If it is an emergency, I can call response drones to this location.

“No, no emergency,” Ven turned to Vivian, who drifted down from above. “How aware are these guys, am I talking to an intelligent creature, or a voice response program that’s very advanced?”

“I believe the ants claimed them to be as intelligent as children, when they first come online,” Vivian’s face pinched. “But that’s just a comparison, they don’t feel any emotions, they’re modelled to be focused on service. “

“Mmhmm…” Ven turned back to the drone. “So, how do you like your life, any complaints?”

“Our directive prevents any complaints about the completion of our tasks,” The drone tilted its head, a series of blinks behind its cold eyes.

“Right… so how about in general,” Ven waved to the sky. “How do you feel about life?”

The lights in the drones eyes flashed, a rapid chain of colours and frequencies. It rocked back and forth, mechanical arms against the ground.

“Life… is what we serve,” The drone finally replied. “Our directive prevents any complaints about the completion of our tasks.”

“That’s ok, big guy,” Ven patted the robot’s head. “I can read between the lines, at least enough to take a closer look.”

He leaned in, eyes fixed on the runes scribed onto the drone’s chest. They were simple, but well made, formed by an interesting mix of technology and magic.

“Let’s see what you have to say, once I’ve taken off your collar…”