19 days before the anniversary of the war.

[00:13]

Location:

https://i.imgur.com/xOcOJho.png [https://i.imgur.com/xOcOJho.png]

“So once the generator is connected…“ Chump explained as he plugged everything. The lights on the whole industrial building light up.

“This whole building will be overrun with those things that compose thunders called “electrons” and will turn on the whole machines in this place…without Remenant?!” Oberon took great notes on his virtual notes, projected in a tiny Remenant hologram on his arm. He took, from another building, a series of circuits and put a battery with a light bulb, turning it up. “This is….quite fascinating, Mister Chump.”

“Yep, I do remind you that it’s composed of millions upon millions of “electrons”. I will tell you the equation later on, but for now, I will make sure every machine at least here works, because if it does, we will be able to produce Liquid Nitrogen.”

“Human, why do you want to save them? Why risk yourself for people you don’t know? I learned more about ” Oberon commented, frustrated the human intentions

“And why can’t I help? I want to be a hero too!” Zippy jumped around, observing how everything lit up and then on top of Chump.

“Because I am not a hero! My plans don’t involve sacrificing anyone or myself. And you are not ready Zippy! You barely can hit a not moving target yet!” Chump’s anger seems to pent up before turning to Oberon. “And what do you mean why I want to save them?! They are humans! They are my people! No matter from where or who! Is it one DNA’s need to save their compatriots, wouldn’t you do the same in my situation?” Grabbing the bunny and placing it into his arms anger, Zippy felt a similar frustration with the footnote the human brought up, pouting away.

“No,” Oberon answered coldly. “My people would think it would be a waste of time and resources to a rescue operation of an inferior species.”

“I meant your people, asshole. Imagine if Meisho and many more of your tin cans would be in a similar situation. What would you do then?” He placed two fingers on his forehead, tapping it and shaking his head in disbelief.

“Meisho would agree with me that unless the security were weaker, it would also be a waste of time. Since it-“

“Stop. Just…Stop, I don’t want to hear soulless philosophy…” Chump sighed, walking off towards the staff room inside the abandoned industry.

“That’s a hypocrite of you, Chump. I let you speak through all this time.” Oberon pointed out, as one of his drones went along

“…Are you trying to up me on brain tactics? Just. Great...” Chump crossed his arms, looking annoyed at the drone, still walking.

“No. I am stating facts.” Oberon imitated the words Chump had every night. “Please, allow me to explain. No interruptions. You wanted an explanation of our societies due to our contract. I can explain how we work on a nonpersonal level and you may understand. Allow me to start in the middle: Our race is younger than the human race.”

That completely threw Chump’s guard away as he turned to look towards the main android, which fit comfortably in that space. “Boring!” Zippy yelled, bored with all this explanation, and began practicing and training away. It consisted of hitting a small target on the place from far away.

Chump sighed, stopping completely, and rested his back against a wall, looking at the levitating terminator. “Alright, wanted to know what’s up anyway. You may begin your explanation. Wait, is this going for long?” Oberon nodded. “Fuck.” He shook his head and sat on the floor, taking a notebook from his backpack.

Zippy, in his mildly interesting, paid attention to their explanation, trying to hit a random cockroach roaming around with their sparks.

“Thank you. I will allow this whole night to breach part of our contract and explain a bit of my life as well. I will begin then:

“A long time ago, more than 3.000 years ago in Mantrea, or what would be more than 300.000 years on Earth, is where our story starts. At first, there existed only three types of people. Sadly, records of how they looked and their cultures were lost over time, between wars, and the passing of time. These three people were the Anemsikers, Remsikers, and Physikers.”

“The what now?” Chump and Zippy expressed at the same time and smirked seeing the tiny connection between them.

“The types of power, we have our classification. This classification split many tribes in our early ages and still segregates large groups between us. Even most of us can live normal lives and do our lives, as well as can do many roles.” Oberon pointed out as he descended and sat down.

“That sounds familiar…I wonder why. Anyway, could you distinguish those three terms please?” Oberon nodded.

“The Anemsikers are those who dominate the Remenant to use their powers to change, induce, increase, or decrease the emotions of other beings for different goals. They can change how memory or a sensation can make you feel and even change individuals' personalities. However, that is more true in those who dominated those arts to a certain degree.”

“Why would anyone pursue that type of magic? Seems less effective than throwing a giant rock against anyone.” Chump thought about it, still keeping tabs on everything the android said.

“It is true, a missile attack against these people would result effectively. However, these people specialize in those because Remenant is directly connected to the mental state of the individual. If the feelings do not match the aura and powers, will happen to miss uses. In the contrary case, it can enhance the capabilities and the power output of an individual it can. There have been cases of boosting from these feelings and pushing beyond one’s capabilities. Some even feed on those feelings to gather Remenant too."

“So that explains why Zippy when excited is all the time sparkling. He may be generating more power than he normally could do!” Chump understood and took note of it.

“Eh? What happens to me?” Zippy asked, stopping his improvised training and looking at both of them.

“Oh, I commented how awesome were you!” Chump commented, in technicality not lying to him.

“Oh, thanks! Later you tell me all that Oberon says!” Zippy exclaimed, sparkling around and going further beyond his training, trying to aim at the ceiling windows. Chump thumbs up before turning to Oberon and nodding upwards. Permitting him to continue.

“We have the Physikers, those who could control instead of the mind, the body to certain degrees. Tho if I have to classify it better, would be the control of the organic matter in some ways. We have those who control plants and derivates. Some of these people tend to be a part plant, the more they are connected to their Remenant. Some can boost their physique, some can copy the powers of others, or even absorb them permanently to a lesser degree. Those who can change biology, and therefore, their appearance, and even some that can control other people’s bodies.”

“Hmm, we didn’t find them yet, I think. This topic should be explored later on. Which is the last group then?”

“The Remsikers, those who pursued a more pure control of Remenant of the world and the elements around. While there were many elements, that were considered the main five, being: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Electricity.

“I am cringing that you all think Wind is an element. The wind is nothing but the movement of Gas molecules around the atmosphere due to pressure differences or thermal differences. But continue.” Oberon stopped and opened his virtual laptop to take notes of this information. “I will later explain to you in detail, is not something I know in exactitude but I can tell you all we know from our world.”

“Understood. Let us clarify: The span of a second, an hour, a day, a week, and even a month are the same in both worlds. The only difference is the length of the years. Our years have twelve hundred months and an extra one. As you may think, people from these attributes slowly had intercourse with each other during our history. This story commenced a hundred years ago, or ten thousand years ago in Earth terms. The Empire was the third kingdom that was formed, centered on the people with powers only from Remsikers and Physikers. Due to the Emperor’s obsession with power and glory, he conquered a great part of one continent in mere MONTHS. The other minor tribes had to unite to form the other kingdoms in our world, resulting in six kingdoms fighting each other. Not on a direct war, but for survival. No frontier was safe near his territory.

“But before we decided to conquer your world, is where the story of our “Father” commenced. When the “Artificial” element was born. Almost eleven Mantrea years ago, a man from our world who didn’t have an element due to strange circumstances, was exiled from the empire, which only considered the powerful, smarter, or more determined to be worthy of the empire. But he kept trying to find his place in a world that rejected him for his lack of attributes. Even other kingdoms did the same for different excuses, but due to the same. The lack of an attribute. So, he lived between frontiers, near where the monsters lived, and did as they pleased. But even in darkness, he decided that it was enough. Instead of pursuing a place to feel at home, or burn down the town that rejected him, his heart moved him to pursue a dream. To create his own home, his community, including…beings.” Oberon stated with a severe tone. Which didn’t move Chump in the slightest.

“I don’t understand. We stated that we have people who can control parts of the body or other organisms. What’s the deal?” Chump tilted his head, seeing an

“They could control existent beings, but not create ones. Even the most powerful beings who control nature, create seeds that last mere minutes compared to this. One could consider those plants a power to control certain zones…but this person created permanent beings. One of them would be me.”

“I thought you were created by Meisho.”

“I will arrive on that in a second. At first, it started with simple marionettes, little creatures made of wood. Then it evolved into paper, melding together pieces…And then try to imbue Remenant into them. Over time it passed from implying mending things together to complex mechanisms. And one day…It had a Goddess revelation. It spent three years…or what would be three Earth’s thousand years to create his “Magnum Opus”. Meisho, the first. A marvelous piece of unique metallic pieces combined with the strongest ceramics and polymers that somehow combine rocky structures with synthetic skin and organs. The perfect “android” as humans called us. Beautiful as the goddess herself, strong as the strongest dragon, and smart as the creator himself. Our father created her and gave her even part of his soul to make her truly alive. With her help, he built a whole city and each of us throughout his remaining life.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“But the problem was…that we lived near monsters. Monsters of many sharp teeth, horrible and mutant bodies, and genetics that tarnish their flesh. So ugly and deformed that even the Emperor himself couldn’t stand near them without being anxious about their destruction. And they only knew destruction. So our Father had to build her and us with weapons, with enough power to wipe them out. But those…those were only animals, de-constructed by magic that wanted to feed.

“The real monsters were the people near the village. We…We didn’t have feelings. Our Father created us to help him realize his dream of being part of a community, to see how much he could build, and to see this newfound power flourish. But the Empire lackeys used us, our protocols to eliminate many innocent lives. We only defended ourselves until…we just didn’t…We began to shoot everyone who came near us, even the Empire. The more time passed, his condition got worse. Our father was on the edge, as his health slowly deteriorated seeing such horrors we did by his orders. How many lives, but he knew it wasn’t our fault. We didn’t know better. And when the Emperor threatened the whole village and his destruction…He decided what was best…for us.

“He went outside the village in decades, where the Emperor and his many soldiers stood proud, ready for another war. But no battle occurred. Instead…Instead…” Oberon’s voice began to glitch, as his stone-cold voice began to melt into deeper tones. “He…Stood in front of him and turned to us…AlllAALLLLALALSLLAL….Of…Us. And said….”

“My Final order…”

“Find…Happiness.”

He expressed as his arms and drones failed. A tiny break on his synthetic face appeared as a bit of oil fell from his face. Zippy turned around, hearing him break, and felt scared, rapidly approaching the android. But was quickly caught by Chump, his face as stoic as possible.

“He is crying Master, we should-“

“He isn’t finished. As part of our contract, he is still explaining.” Chump pointed out, not showing any emotion other than seriousness.

“But you won’t help him? That’s-“ Zippy complained, trying to free himself but Chump held him tighter. Confused, Zippy looked between both beings, as Oberon recovered and repaired himself. Finishing the tale Oberon stated. Chump stood silent.

“He, the creator of the Artificial element, sacrificed himself, the same day as a revolution happened inside the Empire, and the seventh kingdom would be born. Noylc’s country. Soon after, Noylc would offer us a place inside their kingdom, and…Meisho accepted. Our objective is to find happiness. As long as one of us survives, the rest don’t matter.”

Then silence. Neither of them said anything as they contemplated

Oberon finished with a “That’s why we act like that. I am finished.”

And without hesitation Chump replied, stoic.

“You are horrible children.”

“Mistath!” Zippy shouted back, not believing the reaction he had. Yet Chump remained unface.

Oberon felt thrown off, as his voice cracked further. Zippy looked at him like he turned mad as his face stumbled. Oberon replied “We d-didn’t know t-they have been using-“

“I do not refer to that, Oberon.” Chump cut him off. “You obeyed his orders. Congratulations, you are loyal and obedient. But how about his will?”

“…W-W-What-t-t-t?” For the first time in a long time, Oberon didn’t know what to say or to act.

“The will of a person. The will of a dead person. All the same in the end. Your Master sacrificed himself, even all that you did, because he truly believed in you, in what you could change, in what all of you could accomplish. Yet, you somehow never saw his intentions, the deepness of his heart. What value would any of you sacrifice in vain for the others?!”

“He ordered us-“

“He wanted all of you to live!" He yelled to cut him off, as he stood up, placing the bunny on the side. “Oh my fucking god, Tin can! His words didn’t mean to -literally- find happiness! But to live the lives he couldn’t live. He was rejected by his society and created his own. Bud, look at me, put all your drones and all your attention on me. Imagine if he was alive. Imagine for one second, for one moment he was still alive. How would he feel if he saw any of you destroyed? Not even the reason why, how he would feel if he was alive and saw you, your brothers, or even Meisho destroy into pieces or scrap metal?!”

Oberon’s voice glitched out too much, to the point that none could understand what he said as his drones by protocol returned to him, not even able to float as before. His legs failed him as his facial expression began to break, clearly feeling uncomfortable, and his

“B-B-B-B-”

Chump’s sermon continued as he stood up, now being face to face.“Oberon. He barely had seconds to express all he wanted to all of you. Maybe a bit vague, but straight to the point, conveying all his feelings for all of you, his hopes, and his dreams. To all of you. He wanted everyone to be happy with their lives from now on, not to find happiness. Happiness can’t be found, it finds you. And no, I am not counting the magic. That just boosts or artificially creates one the feeling.”

Seeing the state of the android, realizing the words and the feeling of that fateful day, Chump placed his hand on the metallic shoulders of that lab coat and nodded away. He sighed, tired of this whole ordeal for today.

“…Look bud, let’s continue tomorrow. Reunite with me at noon in this place. We will interexchange more information I guess. Good night.”

He turned back, walking slowly. Before entering the staff room, he commented as his final note.

“We both have a lot to think about.” And proceeded to enter, ignoring whatever happened outside.

Zippy looked at the whole interaction, not believing a thing, and with a long face before returning with his master, with the most painful expression he could ever do. It took several minutes before Oberon began to return to his post and his life, as he flew out of the window, leaving one of his drones behind, just lying on a table.

After he was gone Zippy entered the room, being accommodated by the human for the safety of both preparing the sofa and the table for both of them. Zippy jumped over to Chump, he happily was gonna receive him into his arms, ready to snuggle him. But once he landed on his arms…

…Zippy bit his hand with force.

By reaction Chump let go of whatever he held on his hands, protecting his hand. Pissed off he yelled at the bunny. “What the fuck Zippy?!”

“Why do you treat him so poorly after everything he did for us? After everything he told us.”Chump was gonna answer arrogantly but was quickly cut off by the bunny, “You have that tone and expression again! No. You don’t talk to me down!”

Chump held his arm and hand in pain, holding his anger in his expression. It took him a couple of minutes to cool down, as his hand actively began to heal itself, and looked at the bunny more calmly. “I gave him the insight he needed.” Still groaning in pain.

“You could have said way better than that!” Zippy replied, sparking around in anger and towards him, not intentionally.

“He tried to kill me before…Twice. He will not have my compassion, only my insight because he does great business.”

“But he explained to us everything so you could understand and you do your stuff…”

“He could have said “Because our creator assigned us one goal no matter the cost” and be done with it. Because they are robots. They are androids, beings who even hold feelings, they do not understand or control them. They are…the children of a father who sacrificed for them

“The same can be said with some…Still…”

Chump took a moment before sitting down and preparing a tower for the bunny. “Look, I understand how are you feeling, and I promise you I will be kinder to him in the future alright? We both have our own stories as well. I’m not proud of what I did but sometimes….people need these harsh moments to learn. Let’s sleep…Tomorrow we have tons of things to do.”

Zippy silently took his new bed and cuddled himself inside the towel. Chump moved his hand to pat him but before he reached Zippy, he mumbled. “No…I don’t…want now. Let’s just…sleep.”

Chump looked at him, guilty before nodding and lying down on the sofa, turning around and closing his eyes.

Both needed a couple of hours to sleep. Guilt and different pains coursed through their systems, as they couldn’t convey their feelings in words.

————————————————

19 days before the anniversary of the war.

[08:17]

Both woke up, not saying one word to the other. An uncomfortable air made the air thicker. Chump tried to approach Zippy, in many ways, like preparing his food or helping him to reach places.. Zippy grabbed his food, reached any place he needed alone, and trained outside. In the end, the human spent until [09:41] doing schematics and details of everything.

Each could feel the others’ tension, anger, frustration, and sadness. The humans didn’t know how to solve it, the bunny didn’t want to start, and in the end, they gave up.

Only when the human began to walk towards the exit and opened the door did the bunny look at him.

“We are going, Zippy, come.” Chump handwave towards the nearest car before continuing. “We will be back in no time, but the materials that I need are not here, we need to return to Massalfasar.” The bunny didn’t say anything, only looked at him, silently. “Look, I just…I need you to protect me…to not die. We will go there, I pack up everything I need, and we will go back before Oberon arrives.”

But no sound came from the bunny, and neither did he move from his place. Zippy only looked with those uncanny eyes at him. Chump felt that uncannyness until he sighed off and scratched his neck.

“…And I will apologize to Oberon and treat him with the respect he deserves. Will help him out with his shit and stuff….”

“Much better!” The bunny smiled as he jumped down and began to follow him.

Both mounted on the car and began to ride back to the north villages, in the industrial zone. They arrived next to the tech store, many industries left many components from machines, and even entire machines and other materials that couldn’t be transported before the invasion. They arrived at their stop around 10:24. It was just a tiny village, with barely any buildings, most of the buildings were industries and a gas station. before being split by more farmland. Corpses lay around, accumulating dust and trash. More clothes filled with the bones. More dead people to pavement the streets. A creepingly terrible feeling coursed through the bunny, as he stormed out of the car once the engineer opened the door.

“I will make sure to put the bland parts on top of the hard metals; we don't want them crushed. We will put everything on the back of the car. If you don’t want to help, just be alert. “

Both entered the building and began to gather stuff from the industries without inconvenience. They made multiple travels, but just when they were finishing the transport, Zippy was started, he heard something outside, something that he recognized from before, the same noise the magic did back when they were approaching where Gunnhildr and Ephiron were.

“Master! There’s someone from the other world on that street!” Zippy jumped on Chump’s head. Zippy attitude turned around, stretching Chump’s hair in fear. By reaction, Chump’s head moved toward the direction of the street. He almost tripped backward while his tiny claws took hold of his skin, as it sank in his flesh, feeling like a ball of hair tried to asphyxiate him.

“Ey ouch! Watch out! Zippy! Dangit!” He caught the bunny and held it in his hands, patting him. “Okay okay, good job, but not doing that again, alright?” Stepping carefully outside, he took a good glance,

Someone was standing on the horizon, just beside their car. Observing the materials they already gathered with curiosity. And it looked human from that far away, a bit above his height, but barely reaching two meters. “Stay alert Zippy! I am not usually a cooperative guy, but if he can help us...”

“Something ain’t right Master,” Zippy commented pulling back his hands.

“Alright, we will approach slowly, stay alert. We will hide between the cars. And when is not watching, get in our car and drive away.”

Sneaking by, both hid between the cars, slowly approaching that humanoid figure. The figure who was holding a large object. “…that’s a sword. A big sword, perhaps a combination of a longsword and a Hamberge. I can’t put exactly my finger on which sword exactly.” Chump expressed. He took

He slowed down studying the figure, even halting, trying to recognize any aggressive or violent behavior through the car mirrors. “Alright, I know this is an apocalyptic situation. But fighting them with a sword is stupid… Let’s calm down, okay? He is the first human I saw in two months-“

Chump accidentally kicked a tin can that stood there between the trash. Their cover was blown away.

“Oh shit-“

The figure turned around and looked around the cars. Searching for the noise origin. Chump grabbed with force the tiny animal. Slowly, the calm returned, and silence returned to the village.

Chump believed that the strange figure didn’t notice them but-

ZZAAAAAAASSSSF!!!!!

"Fire Creation and Fire Control was used."

Like the car was made of butter, the sword on fire cut down the top of the car in a simple slash just barely above Chump’s head, revealing their cover.

“A human?…Hahaha….” The figure spoke in Mantrea. Unnatural, unnerving to the human ear.