Heavy clouds washed over a night sky, whose stars looked on curiously at a few specks of life going to sleep. A turbulent wind rocked a few unstable carriages, making those who dared hope for a good night's sleep have disturbed dreams. The one who had it worst was a dark-skinned girl with a missing arm…

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"Your name shall be K10-P0-1344," said a man in his mid-forties to one of the many children he and his peers had managed to artificially create.

K10-P0-1344 walked forward, her eyes looking with anticipation at her ‘father’, and she smiled with glee at the clothing he was offering. He then took the child into a blanket to clean the growth liquid she was drenched in before helping her get dressed.

"Follow me," ordered the man.

They entered rooms and corridors incessantly, as if their destination was unreachable. The child discovered many interesting things because everything was new to her. From the clanking pipes to the flashing lights; from the robed fathers and mothers to her decaying sibling in vats; from the sounds and whispers to the mournful silences... K10-P0-1344 was introduced to a new world, which was the norm for most…

After an eternity – an eternity for the child only – they reached a room that was filled with a handful of kids. "A new sibling," they all expressed. Quickly, they swarmed around the newly born girl to introduce themselves – all with similar names made of random letters and numbers.

They laughed and played like children ought to while at the same time learning from the 'parents'. Their teaching touched upon arithmetic equations, war strategies, weapons arts, and magic usage. The kids were taught to be warriors instead of whatever they should have liked to be…

A lot of care was put into those kids, as every single one of them was a precious resource. A resource and nothing more…

"Papa," said K10-P0-1344, a year later, to her parents. This was how those who created all the kids wanted to be called. "Did I pass the test?"

"Yes, you, two of your brothers, and three of your sisters did pass. Congratulation K10-P0-1344!"

The young girl was so happy about this news that she started jumping everywhere. She had just passed the equivalent of a university-level exam. Maybe she would have been able to get a Ph.D. in five more months.

Although her progress was faster than most, it wasn’t that strange. As everything was new to her, like a newborn, she simply took in everything that was taught to her like a sponge. While normal people start as babies with a developing brain and need to learn how to talk, K10-P0-1344 was already able to do so at birth. She didn’t need to ‘grow’. She was made to learn.

The test proved her ability in all that was sorcery, and she was thus placed in a special class that would teach her the history of the world and the curse it was afflicted with.

One day, a god showed up and, upon declaring his boredom with humanity, cursed them with infertility such that they couldn’t reproduce anymore. Unknown to this god, this curse awoke a survival instinct in the weak humans he had grown bored of. They started making large strides in many aspects that had never been touched upon much, such as cloning, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and more. The weak humans found how to rejuvenate their old bodies such that they became immortal.

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

This angered the god, who created abominations to wipe them off. Even with immortality, humanity dwindled while still managing to touch upon the domain of gods and learn the use of magic. But this dwindling couldn’t be stopped. They had to create more people. They had to create a new race that could reproduce.

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Two years later, K10-P0-1344 became sick. Magic was the domain of the gods, and they didn’t like that a small intruder who had only lived for three years was showing more progress than even they.

K10-P0-1344 was isolated after many other kids around her started dying. Her parents did many tests on her to discover what she was afflicted with. It was a simple microbe made by a wicked god that consumed life force. Only those able to wield magic could somewhat resist this microbe.

The child who was once the hope of the parents was now nothing more than a research project. Inside of her were microbes created by a god. They had to learn, they had to reproduce; they had to recreate the errors of some foolish gods…

They removed K10-P0-1344's reproductive organs, so as to make sure a kid wouldn’t be born from her, before doing all sorts of experiments on her body. She cried in pain as her flesh was constantly cut open only to be mended back. Her parents, whom she used to love, were acting coldly toward her screams. She was only a resource to them – from the start until the end.

Her life force being constantly consumed forced the child’s ‘parents’ to accelerate her growth through advanced technologies. She could feel every single molecule in her body changing as her skin peeled and her muscles ripped apart.

The child simply couldn’t understand what was going on and screamed,

"Stop!!"

"Don’t!!!"

"Let go of me!"

"It hurt!!!"

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❀

"Don’t touch me!!!"

The cold morning was welcomed by a scream from Hoomaikai, who had a nightmare. She breathed with difficulty while pain rushed from her fist to her brain. Without her realization, she had just punched Krimira, who was simply waking up everyone for breakfast.

"Brother!!" – "Gah! What’s wrong with you?"

The poor rakshasa was covering his bleeding nose while on the ground.

Hoomaikai looked at him with shock. Her past as K10-P0-1344 was still flashing in her mind. She saw the shelter get attacked and her escape as the last survivor since she was so well isolated. After this, she changed her name to Kanga, which was a diminutive she heard once…

"OY! Why did you hit me, woman?" – "Stop, brother! I’m sure she didn’t mean it." While Krimira tried to instigate, his brother Bakasura did his best to stop him and call for someone’s attention.

"Ho, dear," said an old lady whose both legs were missing. It was Lapis, the old woman who shared a meal with Tsuki back at the enclave. "Come to me, dear." She was trying to coax Krimira with a piece of clean tissue.

The boy gave up, but instead of letting the old lady help him, he left the carriage to hide his reddening face.

"Your brother needs to be more honest, little Baka. Take this; it will help with the swelling," said Lapis, who gave a vial to Bakasura. The boy returned a large smile and left with the vial to go find his brother.

"Hmmm… Miss Lapis," said Tsuki, who was sitting close to the old lady and eating a soft loaf of bread the color of blood. She looked at the old lady’s missing leg and grimaced a bit. Tsuki wanted to be alone with Hoomaikai to help her calm down.

"I’m fine," said Hoomaikai. "I’m fine…"

The brownish skin of the girl was slightly redder, with beads of sweat accumulating on her forehead. Tsuki came to her with a cup of water and helped her drink it. Hoomaikai then latched onto Tsuki by hugging her. She cried like this for some time while letting Tsuki brush her hair while whispering that everything would be fine.

Lapis prepared a light meal for when the crying girl would calm down as she watched over them with a faint smile. The birds outside sang the coming of a new day; the wheels cracked under the moving loads; the children outside laughed as a cat and a fish made a show for them; the early bread was cut and dipped into a warm soup.

With breakfast still warm, the carriages came to a stop. They had reached Daybreak, which acted as a sort of bastion, housing many thousands of people.