Chapter 26.2
Side story brothers in Destiny
Day: 30th of August 4945
Location: world capital, central nation
A young human teenage boy sits in his room tinkering with a blue box full of electronic chips and wires.
The young boy had curly red hair and his body looked thin but healthy.
He wore a white shirt with a flying humanoid robot on it.
He wipes his sweat and connects a square shaped screen to the main motherboard inside the box, then places the screen on the lid of the box closing it.
The screen lights up and displays a smiling face.
-greetings sir. General AI Demos is now active –
The eyes of the little boy sparkle with excitement.
He picks up the box and starts jumping from joy.
- I did it. I did it –
The boy runs out of his room, and then out of his home.
- Vee, I did it. Vee-
The boy shouts as he runs into the forest near his home where his friend always stays during the day.
He eventually reaches a light elf boy who looks slightly older than him, around his mid-teens.
The boy is sitting in a cross legged position under the shade of a large tree, with his eyes closed and his hands resting on his knees.
The elf boy wore a brown tunic with gray pants and green boots.
A green scarf wrapped around the boy’s neck and shining silver hair adorned his head.
The boy’s clothes perfectly blended him with the forest as though he was part of it as though he was one with it.
- Vee, I did it. –
-meditating –
The human boy shouts to which the elf responds without opening his eyes.
-but I finally finished it –
The human boy protests.
-I am meditating –
The elf boy repeats a little louder.
- come on please I want to show you –
The human boy pleads.
-haaa, fine what do you want to show me-
The elf boy sighs and then opens his eyes.
The human boy grins widely and shows his box to vee.
- greetings sir Vioarr. My name is Demos –
- I finally made my first AI program –
Demos greets the elf boy and the human boy explains.
The elf boy raises an eyebrow at his friend.
-Fritz, are you sure you know what a program is? I think you made a lot more than the program but I also don’t understand why you made that. Couldn’t you like make your program on a computer or digital grimoire or something –
The human boy smiles and then sits next to the elf boy.
-oh, I know but this is just the first step. This is the head you could say and I eventually want to build him a body –
-so, like a robot? –
The elf boy asks with a confused look.
-yeah, kind of but Demos is not going to be a normal robot –
- I really don’t understand your fascination with technology you know? Aren’t we already the best machines that exist so why are you trying to make something that’s worse than us? –
The elf boy gestures with his arm toward the vast forest that surrounds them.
- look around you. Everything in nature is infinitely fascinating and infinitely complicated even the most simple and fundamental of acts of nature are millions of times more complicated than our most advanced machines. –
The boy then points to the large tree above them.
- even the process by which this tree absorbs light; each one of the numerous leaves is a mighty machine that shames our supercomputers. each leaf performs hundreds of millions of quantum computations every second to absorb the light that falls on it which is then followed by equally numerous and equally complicated series of chemical and physical reactions to turn that light energy into a storable and useable form of chemical energy –
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-haaaa, I get it okay. Nature is cool but I can’t make a tree you know. You don’t have to give me a lecture every time-
The human boy sighs and then protests to which the elf boy chuckles and pats his head.
-well, although I don’t understand your fascination with machines Fritz, I do have to admit that it’s impressive you were able to make Demos on your own. –
The human boy smiles at his older friend’s compliment who he views as his older brother.
The elf boy continues to pat the head of his younger brother from a different mother as the forest alerts him to someone who is watching them from afar.
The elf boy pretends not to know and continues to enjoy his fun time with his brother.
********************************************************
Later that night
Fritz is running back home from their local virtual arena hub where he was showing off Demos to the other kids.
His face is still lit up with joy and excitement from the positive compliments he received earlier as he continues to replay those moments in his head but if he had to pick a favorite moment, he would definitely pick when Vee praised him.
Although what Vee told him barely counts as praise, it’s still his favorite because Vee is his favorite.
-young one –
The boy stops in his tracks when he hears an old woman calling him.
He doesn’t recognize her and it looks like she has a lot of heavy bags with her.
- can you help me carry these bags home? My old bones aren’t like they used to be when I was younger –
The woman asks with a smile.
- sure –
Fritz says with a smile and rushes to the old lady to carry her bags.
-let me carry them for yo- OUCH –
Fritz feels sharp pain in his hand and it starts to go numb.
He looks down at his hand to see a sharp needle stuck in it.
-what the? Where did that come frooomm-
His words trail off as his vision becomes blurry before he passes out and falls on the floor unable to finish his sentence.
The blue box falls on the floor and rolls onto the ground then its screen shifts to display.
“Calling 911”
**************************************************
Fritz wakes up to find himself tied up and trapped inside what looks like an old cell.
-where am I? –
- oh! You woke up. It doesn’t matter though you can sleep again you will be sold off soon-
The boy looks up toward the source of the voice and sees a man standing behind the bars of the cell and looking at him.
- who are you? And what do you mean sold off? –
The man smiles wickedly.
- you don’t need to know who I am and as I just said you will be sold off –
-sold off to who? Besides you can’t sell people? –
-pffft – the man laughs.
- oh man kids are best. Of course, I can sell you as for your question, well, to be honest, I don’t know yet either. the boss doesn’t tell us till the end but we can speculate together. Let’s see if you are lucky, you could become a slave. –
The eyes of the boy go wide.
-that’s considered lucky? Then what’s the unlucky? –
The man smiles more taking pleasure in the boy’s reactions.
- well, you could get chopped off if you are less lucky and your organs would be sold in the black market. organs are expensive you know especially young healthy ones like yours.
Or you could be sold to some of the crazy cults out there that like to sacrifice people -
The horror of the young boy and the pleasure of the man both continue to grow as the man continues to list worse and worse options.
- and if you are really really really unlucky. You will be sold to some crazy witch that will keep you alive and tied up to harvest your blood and other bodily fluids for their crazy potions that they sell to equally crazy people-
-WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT? –
The boy asks in shock.
- they think it would make them young or something. some of those rich people would do anything to escape death you know but of course, no one can escape death. –
The man shrugs.
- but I don’t care I just care about the money and they have a lot of money. these ones pay the most acutely –
The man says with a wide smile as the boy looks terrified dreading his future.
- at least I admire your confidence –
-huh? Who said that -
The man asks then turns toward the unfamiliar voice.
He sees an elf boy wearing a green scarf with a squirrel sitting on his shoulder walking toward him.
- how did you get here? -
-Vee! –
The man asks and Fritz shouts as he sees Vee walking down the hall.
The man looks at the excited Fritz and then looks at the elf.
- did you come here for your friend? What a good friend you are. sure you can join him. –
The man smiles widely as he wonders how much money he can get for selling a young elf.
- I think I had enough of your annoying ramblings-
Vee Says as a large tree root breaks through the floor and wraps around the man.
-what the? Do you think your little magic trick can stop me? –
The man shouts as he prepares to use his magic but before he can the tree root fires off multiple thorns at the man causing the man to stop moving as they inject him with a paralysis poison.
The tree root wraps around the man keeping him standing and fully aware and trapped inside his own body.
Vee kicks the paralyzed man in the balls as another tree root breaks Fritz’s cell door and frees him then the squirrel chews the ropes tying Fritz.
- have you ever heard about Karma? You are about to find out how cruel of a mistress she is-
The man’s eyes tear up from the pain but is unable to scream or resist.
The tree root grows more thorns and injects the man with more poisons causing the man’s body to shake violently.
Fritz jumps and hugs the elf boy.
- How did you find me? –
The elf boy smiles at Fritz and pats his head then pulls a small ant from Fritz’s shirt.
- I asked this little friend to keep an eye on you. –
Fritz looks puzzled at the ant.
-an ant? -
- don’t look down on the little guy. he just saved your life although technically speaking it wasn’t him alone, these guys helped too –
Vee points at other flying insects around them that Fritz never noticed were around him.
They looked like ants similar to the one on his shirt but those ones had wings and could fly.
-well, I am glad I am not your enemy. Fighting you is like fighting nature -
Fritz looks at the shaking paralyzed man who looks to be in unimaginable pain.
-um, what’s happening to him?-
- do you know how when you dream you can spend days or weeks in the dream but wake up to find it’s only been minutes? –
- yeah –
-well, he was injected with different poisons that replicate that effect as well as a variety of other poisons that cause either hallucinations or immense pain. Everything together means that every second for us is equivalent to multiple days of unending agony to him. –
Fritz looks at the man with pity.
- yeah, I am definitely glad I am not your enemy –
Vee messes his hair and then takes out a small blue box from his pocket.
- hey, cheer up. Look what I found. –
Fritz immediately cheers up and picks up the box.
- you found Demos! Huh? It seems Demos called the cops but why didn’t they come? –
Vee looks at his friend for a moment then sighs.
- haaaa, do you really think this stuff happens without the knowledge of the government? They turn a blind eye to it of course they won’t do anything about it-
- huh? But why would they? -
- I don’t know but I can at least promise you one thing. It won’t be like that when I get older, I will definitely change it. -
Fritz pauses for a moment reflecting on everything that happened today and on his friend’s words.
- no, you won’t –
-huh? Why wouldn’t I? -
The elf boy asks with confusion.
-because I will change it first-
The human boy responds with a smile causing the elf boy to laugh and mess up his hair more.
-sure, let’s consider it a race to see who changes it first-
He takes the human boy under his shoulder and starts walking as the squirrel jumps back on his shoulder.
-now let’s get out of here –
On their way out Fritz notices there are tree roots everywhere as though nature has reclaimed the entire building and most of these tree roots are wrapped around people, likely they are the colleagues of the man from earlier, and like their colleague, they all seemed to have received the same treatment.
All of them have been placed in eternal agonizing pain by the vengeful forest.