The land of Irvana was like that of a dream. Roaming fields, waterfalls flowing in every possible direction, floating islands littered throughout the sky, and of course... a generous helping of magic.
Bizarre creatures wandered about, brandishing all kinds of fantastical features such as stone teeth, angelic wings, or fiery skin. There were dragons and golems and angels and shapechangers. Gems imbued with the magic of the world were scattered about the various ecosystems, and pockets of untapped power could be found in hiding, if one only knew where to look.
Travelers and adventures existed in all shapes and sizes. Some wore heavy, metal armor, had rough, jagged skin, and lugged with them impressive broadswords. Others had ears as sharp as daggers, magic laced in their fingers, and simple woven tunics. No matter what one looked like or who they chose to be, it could not be overstated enough that anything could be expected. One could truly look like anything, and have their occupation be anything, and none would ever bat an eye, even if passing by them on their morning walk was an actual bat.
There were many paths one could take in their lifetime, especially if one’s lifespan was several times that of their companion’s. One could be a trader, a farmer, a knight, a medic, a priest, a wizard, a barbarian, a ruler, a hermit, an adventurer, or even a little bit of everything. Despite the vast possibilities to be found in the land of Irvana, whether in the creatures one might find, the look one might have, or the mantle one might inherit, everything fit together. All the good and evil, magic and non-magic, coexisted with one another. A simple traveler was just as likely to find an Undead Ogre crossing their path as they were a Meramaid offering a burning blessing. All of it was intertwined in the natural order. The one thing nobody ever expected, or even thought was possible to be expected,… was a product of science. For science was somewhat absent in Irvana… not that any living thing knew that to be so. What some would soon find out, however, was just how strange their lives could still turn out to be.
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The woman who witnessed it was named Riva. She was a textile seller, who traveled in a horse-drawn carriage filled with rolls of wool, leather, cotton, and silk. She strode the wandering trails between towns alone, and today, she wished she hadn’t.
She wasn’t sure if what she had seen was real. She wasn’t sure if what she was looking at was real. Even though it was right in front of her, it did not look like anything she had ever seen, or even heard of. She had absolutely no frame of reference for what lay before her eyes. She was so taken aback she hadn’t even noticed the air heat up and singe the ends of her floral dress. Even as the burnt tips began to touch her ankles, she didn’t dare look away.
Standing before her was a man. A metal man. A statue? No. This thing had moved. She was sure of it. It wasn’t moving now, but it had. She knew it had. Had it not? Was it a metal golem? She had never heard of a metal variant before, but figured it wasn’t impossible. Stone, crystal, and even lava variants all existed. Who was to say one couldn’t be made of metal as well? The problem was, this… thing… did not have the anatomy of a golem. Not even close. No matter the variant, a golem was always built the same way, save for a few varying characteristics. But this moving-man-statue thing had an entirely different look. One she had definitely never seen before.
And then it moved. For sure this time. She knew her eyes weren’t fooling her because now she was met with a pair of eyes staring back at her. Glowing, orange eyes, like drops of amber, that were wrapped in metal rings and covered by a glass-like casing. They were ominous, as if staring into them might as well have meant staring into the sun, waiting for it to envelope you in blinding light. The face around it wasn’t any more calming. The metal man’s face was almost entirely featureless. He had no nose, no mouth, but a small slit where one would be. It bent down from either end and stretched to the jawline of its head. A small puff of air emerged from the seam. The figure had no ears, no hair, no other distinguishable features. That is, except for a small emblem on the figure’s forehead that glowed the same sunlight orange as its eyes. Riva was unsure what the emblem was.
The figure had emerged from some sort of explosion. One second the fields adjacent to Riva were pristine and expansive, and the next there was a crater the size of a small home just a few meters from her, with burning reeds lacing its edge. Now, a metal man on one knee was staring into the depths of her soul with unmoving, unfeeling eyes.
Again it moved. Now the strange man was walking towards her. It moved slowly and calmly, yet calculated, as if every step was made in perfect synchronicity with the one before it. It was unnerving. The figure stopped only a foot away from Riva’s face. Then it spoke. A voice loomed out of the moving statue, but she was unsure where from. “Where am I? Are you the one responsible for bringing me here?" the inhuman voice groaned.
“W-What?” Riva gasped, struggling to calm her nerves. Not knowing who or what stood before her, she had no way of knowing what it might do to her either. “I d-didn’t do anything to you, I-I don’t know w-who you are. I’m sorry.”
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The metal man then paused. Riva thought she saw a flicker in the figure’s left eye. “I am…,” it began. “I am...,” it repeated.
Whatever stood before was motionless for a moment. Riva felt the intimidating presence of the statue-like man melt away. Its amber eyes did not blink, instead staring at her in a manner that seemed artificial. Yet they were not as intrusive as they first were. Riva almost wanted to reach out to the strange figure, but she held herself from doing so.
The statue was still unmoving. “I… am unsure of who I am. I know that I am… but in my current state I am unsure of who that is.”
“T-That’s okay,” Riva said nervously. She found that she wasn’t just nervous for her own safety. Something about the metal man’s presence, its confusion, made her nervous on its behalf. “Do you know… what you are?”
The figure perked up. “Yes. I am an android, or put simply, a robot. I was developed by… by…”, the figure paused again, emitting a low whirring noise. Despite an inability to express itself, the metal man appeared saddened. “Oh dear, I am afraid that I cannot recall the name of my creator. I apologize.”
Before Riva could respond, the ground began to shake. The earth where the crater lay erupted, spouting dirt and rocks in all directions. As the dust cleared, Riva saw, to her horror, a Dig Devil. They were fearsome, worm-like creatures, with giant mouths, no eyes, and six earth-digging arms. More than anything, they were just disgusting. Their only redeeming quality was that the horns on their faceless heads could be used to assist in earth magic.
Riva screamed. She always made sure to be careful when traveling these roads. What made dig devils surface from below ground was when something loud or disruptive happened from above. The sudden entrance of this… “robot”… had disturbed the creature enough to find the source of its annoyance. “Ahhhhh!” She screamed. “No no no, help me please!”
The robot perked up once again. Almost as if something inside it had clicked: a memory unlocked. The android swept up Riva with both arms and dashed away from the monster. “Wait, wait, wait!” Riva cried. “We can’t just leave my cart behind. It’s everything I have, everything I own!”
The robot set her down and looked back at the cart. Next to it was the six-armed beast barreling towards them. “I don’t know who you are, Mr. ‘robot’, sir…” Riva’s voice rang out from behind the metal man. “But I don’t see any weapons or anything on you. Do you know any magic that could stop that thing? Before it kills us?”
Looking back at her, the robot tilted its head. “Magic?” it asked, clearly confused.
As the dig devil drew closer, Riva gasped to find the robot getting further. It had begun walking towards the worm-like creature! Riva panicked. What was this metal man before her going to do? It sounded like it did not have any magic, and it clearly was not brandishing any weapons. Was it just stupid? Was she going to die here because of some magic statue that did not know how dangerous the world was?
“I would ask that you please stop your advances, for you are scaring this woman.” The metal man could not be serious; it was politely asking the creature to stop attacking them?
The sand-colored beast continued its charge. Clearly, it had not been persuaded.
Before she could let her concerns and anxieties get to her any longer, the android stopped in its path. She watched in amazement as this mysterious stranger grabbed ahold of the devil by one of its teeth just before it could bite down on its prey. Without missing a beat, the robot lifted the creature up by its tooth, swinging it above its own head. Riva awed as the robot twisted its pelvis entirely around, spinning the dig devil as it rotated, before slamming the creature back down into the ground. Several of its foot-long teeth flung from its mouth. In an instant, the intense scene was over, and the dig devil was down.
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Riva was now back in her textile carriage, maintaining the reigns of her horses. However now she had a passenger. Sitting beside her was her knight in shining… skin? She was still unsure who this stranger was, but she was getting to know whoever they were. She decided, as a thank you, to give the stranger some spare clothes she had in the back. The previously naked figure now wore a slightly tattered, beige blouse and a pair of brown slacks, with a few patches on them from wear and tear. The outfit was entirely handmade, and the statue thanked Riva for her kindness, though for some reason it turned down a pair of shoes that she had offered as well.
The metal man on her right was doing its best to explain who and what it was, as well as where it had come from, but for some reason it could not remember much. “So you’re something called a ‘robot’, a man made of metal and powered by electricity. And not only are you not from Irvana, but you are not even from this realm?”
“In simple terms, that is correct.” the robot replied. “As for the latter point, it is still somewhat unclear, but that is my understanding of the situation. I apologize I am unable to recall more at the moment.”
“Oh, that’s alright, sweetie, it sounds like whatever happened to you is causing some stress,” Riva said comfortingly. “You take your time regaining your memory. In the meantime, my name is Riva. Is there anything you would like me to call you?”
The robot hummed. “Yes, my name… my name is… I am unsure of my name at the moment.” It blinked. “However, there are three names that indicate significance in my programming. However, I am unsure who they belong to. These names are Mohmed, Azim, and Halia.”
Riva thought for a moment. She had no way of knowing who those names belonged to, but they were close enough to the stranger beside her that it might as well be the owner of one. "Well," she replied with a beaming smile, “I think Azim suits you just perfectly!”
Despite his metallic skin and lack of nerves, the android felt a sense of warmth from the woman. “Very well. It is nice to meet you, Riva. You may call me Azim.”