Back in the smith, Azim had resumed working on himself, surrounding himself with various metals and tools. Leone was sitting with him just as he had earlier, though this time Riva was with him, too.
Cahven and Bolur had gone into the heart of town, putting a “Be Back Soon” sign on the counter of the shop. They said they were going to grab some food and would not be back for about an hour, but invited the travelers to stay at the smith until they got back. Riva and Leone took this time as an opportunity to tell Azim a little bit more about the world he was still acclimating to.
“Alright, Azim, dear, are you with us so far? Is this too much?” asked Riva, putting a pause on her and Leone’s teaching.
“I understand what you two have described so far,” Azim replied confidently. “This is not too much information for my systems to comprehend.
“Are you sure, hun’? We can slow down if you’d like,” Riva suggested.
“I assure you that my memory banks are taking in this information without any issue. I am not overwhelmed by what I have learned so far.”
“Do you really remember it all? I feel like we might’ve been going a bit fast,” Leone spoke up, a little worried.
“My memory exists in a finite, albeit expansive, amount. Any information I receive is stored in my memory files to be called upon when needed. The only issue would be if my memory banks were to fill, which will not be for a while. They are currently at only 7%.”
“Woah, so you got, like, a photographic memory?” remarked Leone.
The metal man confirmed, “That is a simple way of putting it, but… yes.”
Azim then went on to repeat to his companions the information they had taught him, exactly as they had described just minutes ago. The continent that the world lived on was called Irvana, an incredibly large landmass made up of several regions. There were 6 regions, 5 of which were kingdoms ruled by a monarchy, which lined the edge of the continent, and 1 of which was ruled by a democratic council. Despite not having a royal rule, the people still considered the center region a “kingdom” as well, for simplicity’s sake. These 6 kingdoms were known as Murn, Ga’an, Fol, Taed, Seij, and Brell, respectively.
Currently, the travelers were in Brell, and had not left since the start of their journey. Riva had pointed out that she had found the robot in the south of the kingdom, which Azim had already known was halfway between Tuften and a town called Speels. There were many other cities and towns they still had not visited just in Brell alone, one of significance being Brell Capital, where the council could be found. Riva had mentioned she had never left the region, while Leone said he had once.
Looking at the map Riva had unraveled, Azim pointed to the borders surrounding the edge of the paper. The map itself was just a depiction of Brell, likely because it was all the man from Plumrose, as well as the rest of those from the tower in Appilus, cared about. However, because Brell was a landlocked region, maps of the kingdom often included the edges of the surrounding kingdoms. It was because of this detail that the travelers were able to see the Umbra Waterfalls, lying on the edge of Ga’an just beyond the border of Brell. Their primary objective, as Azim put it, was to escort him to the waterfalls and search the area for the fairy dwelling that Reavius had formed them of, potentially even meeting his sons along the way for more information. A potential obstacle, however, would be the fact that the territory lay in a different kingdom, one that none of them knew the rules of.
Riva and Leone were impressed. That had been everything they had told the android, and he had impressively delivered it all back to them without missing a detail. “Damn,” Leone uttered with a blank expression.
“That is quite the memory, dear,” Riva added. “Yes, that seems to be about everything.”
“Oh, well one more thing,” mentioned Leone. “We need to get revenge on the guy who killed… you know…”
Riva, understanding the intention behind Leone’s impulsive instincts, corrected, “We will, we will, but we’re not capable yet. That being said, it does serve as a reminder that we need to get stronger. Especially you, dear. That witch aside, we are likely going to run into a fair share of trouble along our journey. You’re going to need to be able to keep up. Simply reading about or learning of new magic won’t be enough. We’ll need to go on quests or hunts every now and then, anything to get you experience and strengthen that metal magic of yours. It’s not going to get more powerful just on its own.”
“I understand,” Azim acknowledged.
The woman continued, “Also, Leone’s… vendetta… brings up the idea that even though our main goal is to get you home, we’re likely going to find ourselves on side missions along the way, whether it be informing that man’s siblings of his passing or rescuing a family from danger. Who knows. Regardless, we… you… are going to want to be ready.”
“I understand,” the android repeated.
Leone laughed at the metal man’s blankness. “Alright, then, easy enough! Here’s to a lot of adventure along the way, yeah?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sitting in the circle, the young man stuck his hand out in a fist, waiting for the others to join in. Smiling, Riva brought her hand up as well, putting one of her knuckles against Leone’s so she could leave space for the robot. “Here’s to you, hun’,” she added.
Azim paused for a moment, staring at his two companions offering their hands. If he had been human, he might have said something, maybe objected to the group’s mission statement. He might have thought a bit more about his companions, his new friends. Unfortunately, the android was not able to. Riva and Leone were saying this journey was for him, for the purpose of getting him home. If he was human, he would have thought about anything more than that. The inexplicable magic inside him might have even tried to bring up the idea for him. Yet, his programming was fixed, and the robot stayed silent. Instead, he listened to the words of his friends without a second thought.
Azim raised his lone left arm and clenched it into a fist. Bumping against the hands of Riva and Leone, the android uttered, “Here is to it all.”
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Riva was back outside with Leone, talking to Bolur and Cahven who had returned from the heart of Smithford. She was offering some of the garments in her cart as a “thank you”, but they insisted they were alright. When she seemed bummed, Cahven spoke up, saying he figured he could take something. Flustered, Bolur spoke up, too, saying he might as well. Riva chuckled softly as the two terrams bumped each other, while Leone just stared at them in disappointment.
While the fabric seller went to see what she could find for the young terrams, Bolur momentarily broke free from his brotherly feud to check on Azim. “Oh! Yo, dude, how’s it going in there?”
“Oh shoot, I better go check on him,” Leone remarked, running inside the smith without explaining further.
Riva and the terrams tried to listen in on what was happening but the two adventures were making sure to keep the surprise hidden. All of a sudden, there was a faint flash of light followed by the sound of sparking electricity.
In response to the terram’s words, Azim stepped out of the smith to join up with the group, Leone walking out behind him. His cloak wrapped around him discreetly, the slivers of his armor peeking through, shining in the dusking sun. As he pulled his hood down, his metallic head shone with a golden light that blended with his sunlight eyes.
“Woah, looks great, man,” Cahven admitted, staring at the surprise with an impressed tone.
“How does it feel?” Riva asked.
Azim rotated his new right arm around, working out its dexterity and articulation. The elbow joint bent as it was supposed to, even bending in ways a human arm could not, just like his left one. He cascaded his metal fingers to and from his palm, showing off the precision of his new limb. All around, the new arm looked great, with the only difference to it being that it was bait tougher than the rest of his body. Made from metals embedded with magic, Azim’s new right arm was notably tougher and more durable, though the android would have to wait a bit before finding that out. However, the operation served as a reason to upgrade the rest of his body when he had the opportunity.
“I am satisfied with how the construction turned out,” Azim replied to the woman. “I have the same access to every point that I had in my previous arm, so I do not see any issues, nor do my internal systems. The only inconvenience was that Leone’s Spark was required for the limb to function properly, however that does not appear to be a significant flaw at the moment.”
“Well… alright then!” Bolur chimed in. “Though I gotta’ ask… Riva was telling us about how the other arm from your suit broke off, and how you guys kept it. So, why didn’t you just repair that one?”
“My other arm did not need repairs,” Azim replied plainly, much to the confusion of the young terrams.
“But… it wasn’t on you,… how would it not be broken?” questioned Cahven.
“What he’s saying is that he didn’t want to use his old arm, so he didn’t want to bother repairing it!” Riva explained, trying to dissuade the rock-covered young men from their concerns. “His pet mosstail really likes playing with the old arm ever since it… fell off. He’s grown really attached to it, so Azim wouldn’t want to take it from him. He’d rather just get a new one.”
“Ohhh…” the two said in unison. “Well, that’s sweet.”
Turning her attention to her companions before they could ask any more questions, the woman asked, “So what’s the plan now?”
“Well, we never ended up getting a new someone to join up with us, ‘cause of…” Leone started to sadden himself. “Well, you know… but we should probably still find someone.”
Bolur spoke up, informing the travelers, “There are some cool people in the heart of town, though I don’t know if that would be too hot for you guys.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” answered Leone. “I don’t really do well with heat. He does though.”
“This is correct,” Azim admitted. “My body can withstand high temperatures, however, I am unaware of the exact maximum heat.”
“Well, that’s too bad, when we went we saw this really cool-looking guy with a huge hat and sword, he probably would’ve loved to come with you guys,” Cahven remarked.
Riva assured the young terrams that it was alright and that they’d find someone. She mentioned that taverns were a goodplace to check and, if she was being honest, she could go for a drink anyway. Before the day got too away from them, she suggested they find a nice local tavern to rest for the night. Leone admitted that sounded fun, while Azim simply just followed along with the plans that his friends made for him.
Asking the rocky young men for any places nearby, they informed the adventurers of a small tavern connected to an inn just a few miles away. It was meant for travelers going long distances, so it resided by itself rather than within a town, and did not show up on many maps. The two of them, however, had heard about it many times from other adventurers that came passing through. Big Bart’s. A few miles west.
“Sounds good to me,” Riva asserted, happy to know her suggestion was gaining traction. “Big Bart’s it is then.”
With that, the travelers said their “goodbye”s and their “thank you”s, Azim getting into the carriage first to check on Roman, who was nibbling on his old arm. The mosstail looked up at the robot, noticing that he was no longer missing an appendage. As Azim sat down on the side bench of the carriage, Roman walked over and plopped down on the android’s steel boots, which were still warm from the charred ground. Roman purred as he nibbled his new favorite chew toy.
Riva started to grab at the reigns but Leone urged her to take a rest. It had been a long day so far and they still had some ways to go, so he insisted she relax until they made it to the tavern. Taking hold of the reigns and ushering the horses forward, the group waved one last “goodbye” as the cart trotted along, leaving the outpost and the accompanying terrams in their shadows.