I stand in front of my house, grief-stricken and teary-eyed at the pile of rubble that remained of my home. As I wandered around the dense fog that covered the streets of my neighborhood, I heard the gunshots, screams, and pleas of my neighbors before getting silenced.
I call out for my mother or father, but they don't answer. No one does.
I wander until a man walks into my field of vision and brandishes his rifle. He pulls the trigger with a smile on his face and the bullet travels to my head.
"AHHH!"
And then I wake up.
Once in a while, I recall that same nightmare. As much as I hate to admit it, with the exception of that last part, everything in that terrible dream actually happened. It was known as "The Fall of Haustoria." What seemed like a normal day was interrupted by a cloud of smoke that stretched across the country for an entire month. Once the smoke cleared, only a quarter of the original population was left. No one knew how the smoke arrived and no one knew who was behind it. The remnants of Haustoria were left to pick up the pieces with a collapsed government and a state of anarchy.
That's one of the only memories I have of the country I was born in. Luckily, I was able to seek refuge in the country of Holia along with a bunch of other Haustorians. I've been living here for most of my life now in zone four. Otherwise known as the Haustorian ghetto.
I looked at my alarm clock and realized I woke up five minutes earlier than what I set it for.
“Well there’s no use going back to sleep. I might as well get ready for work!”
I put on my work clothes and went sprinting out of the door and into the plaza of zone four. Because we don’t have as much space, we’ve got everything from markets, a shrine of our God Hami, to housing in one plaza. We don’t have much, but us Haustorians work with what we’ve got!
As I ran to the zone’s entrance, I saw my coworker and friend of many years, Ori.
Us Haustorians all have certain features that set us apart from the other races. We tend to have darker skin tones than everyone else and our hair is a very dark purple. Ori is no exception. She had her hair in countless small twists that went down to her neck. She also wore the Haustorian's everyday work outfit: a black tank top with work boots and jeans.
“ORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!” I yelled out her name as I ran to her and hugged her. She had her tool set ready and was waiting for the overseer.
“What did I tell you about being all touchy?! I let that stuff slide when we were little, but we’re older now so things are different!”
“But you’re still Ori and I’m still Arno! What could have possibly changed?!”
“A-A lot of things! Now hands off!”
“Fiiiiine.” As I let go, she let out a sigh of relief.
As if right on queue, our overseer arrived to pick us up. In Holia, if businesses want cheap workers, they enlist the help of us Haustorians. However, despite Ori’s handiwork and my strength, we don’t get paid as much as the average Holian.
“Let’s get moving, Haustorians! We got a LOT of work today!” Just like always, he has a big smile on his face.
Once we stepped through the gates of zone four, Holian protestors were waiting with signs that had various slurs aimed at us. We’re not allowed to interact with them at all, so we just ignore them and keep going. Some of them throw stuff at us and others just boo us. Not only do adults come here, but sometimes they bring their kids.
"Get out of our country you damn parasites!"
That word…
Parasites are what the Holians call us and any other foreigners that come here. However, they mostly refer to us Haustorians since we came here after the fall.
“Tch. They’re mad that we’re ‘taking their jobs’ but it’s either we take this or we starve to death.” Ori kissed her teeth.
As we passed the protestors and walked deeper into the city, we reached our destination: The Steamed Ham. This isn’t our first time coming here. Ori and I came to fix their lights a couple of weeks ago and we did such a good job, they request us almost every other day.
“Alright! Today, you two are gonna be fixing the steamers! They’re the highlight of The Steamed Ham so we can’t mess this up! Ori: you catch on really quick. It’s like all you need is a glance to understand a machine! This task should be no problem for you! There’s also some heavy lifting involved, so it only makes sense that the strongest Haustorian would be by your side to help!” The overseer continued to praise us.
“Oh stop it, you!” I began to blush as he showered Ori and I with compliments.
“Sure, I guess.” Ori rolled her eyes. She wasn’t as easily swayed with his praise.
Ori doesn't like the overseer as much. When we met him for the first time, it was all sunshine and flowers with him until we were approaching the deadline with an unfinished task. As the clock ticked, he didn't hold back any of the insults that were usually thrown at us by the public. We finished it in time and I got over it, but Ori doesn't forgive and forget as easily.
As Ori, the overseer, and I walked into the restaurant, I took notice of the glares we were getting from the customers and staff alike. The restaurant had a very distinct look to it. It felt like I was in a train with the way it was built.
“If it isn’t my favorite duo! The brain and the brawn! You guys get this done in an hour and we’ll whip you up some quality burgers!” The manager waited for us with open arms.
The manager had a full beard and a muscular frame. You could tell that he was a man of charisma with how he carried himself too.
“Hmph! We'll get it done in 30 minutes!" She gave the manager a thumbs up.
For any man that wants a way to Ori’s heart, it’s definitely free food.
"In that case, you can have double of whatever you want on the menu!" The manager returned the gesture.
While the overseer had a chat with the manager, the two of us went to the back room and looked at the various machines neatly lined up in a row. There were a bunch of large pipes at the opposite side of the room and when Ori set her eyes on them, I could see the gears in her head turning. She does this thing when she’s cycling through her thoughts where she starts tapping nonstop. Whether it’s her finger on a desk or her foot to the floor, she taps until she’s figured things out. We got through some rough patches thanks to that quirk of hers.
Oh. She stopped tapping.
"Simple enough. The pressure isn't going through as much, so we need to tighten the screws on some of these and in other cases, replace them. The pipes are really heavy, so we may need a dolly—"
I lifted the pipes and asked her where she wanted them. As she looked at me with a blank expression, I asked her again “Well, Ori? Where do you want the pipes?”
“Uh…over there.” She pointed out where and how exactly she wanted the pipes and as we began replacing one, Ori saw the wide smile I had on my face.
“You’re quite excited for a Holian parasite.” She sarcastically said again.
“Can you blame me? We’re getting paid today!”
“Oh, of course! I bet you can’t wait to get your pennies from the Holians. You think the pocket change they give us is gonna make us move up the class ladder?”
“Surely if I save enough money, I’ll be able to buy land outside of zone four and I’ll move everyone there!”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“So your grand plan to help everyone is to buy Holian land? Arno, the location may change but the conditions will still be the same. Holians will just move away, complain about us, or both. Besides, Haustorians make half of what normal Holians make. Buying a property for all of the Haustorians is near impossible.”
“I’ll just have to work harder!” I crossed my arms and pouted.
“How much did you make on your last paycheck, Arno?”
“500 Dol…” I muttered.
“Figures.” Ori continued “So you’re making 500 Dol a month. To apply to be a migrated citizen, a Haustorian needs to have 300,000 Dol. Add that up with the 900,000 Dol it takes to purchase the cheapest of homes and you’ll need 1,200,000 Dol total which means…” Ori began to do the math in her head.
I knew she was about to give me a grand total to discourage me, but I was just impressed at her skills in math.
“You’d be getting the home of your dreams when you’re 200 years old! Assuming you don’t don’t die before then! But hey, maybe you’ll unlock the key to immortality before then!”
I didn’t really have anything smart to say against that. I knew my goal was unrealistic but what else was I supposed to do? Sit around and be sad about my life?
“Maybe I will!” I finished aligning one of the pipes and then crossed my arms triumphantly.
“Arno...” Stumped by my brief response that doesn’t really address the issue, she struggled to put together the words to argue anymore.
“Knock Knock!”
The overseer walked into the room and walked directly to where Ori was working.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“I’m putting the finishing touches in. I just need to do a test run and if there’s no problems, we’ll be good to go.”
“That’s great! So I’ve been meaning to ask you, the BCT has brought it to my attention that the SamuKami’s robot designs have been getting more advanced as of late. You wouldn’t happen to know about any of that, would you?”
The BCT is the Bureau of Counter-Terrorism. Terrorism became a large issue in Holia, so they created the BCT to protect the peace from anything that disturbs it. But what do they have to do with us Haustorians? What is the overseer trying to say?
Ori scoffed at the overseer’s suggestion. “Of course not. I just get picked up by you at zone four, do my job, and then leave. I don’t have any time for anything else.”
“The thing is, there’s a part missing from almost every location we’ve been that’s also been seen on these robots.”
“HA! Blame the Haustorian when things get rough. What a surprise.”
“Maybe...just maybe…”
The overseer grabbed Ori’s wrist and violently pulled her to his level.
“I should turn you in to the authorities. They pay pretty nicely for terrorists AND I would be doing the public a service.”
As the two stared each other down, I couldn’t stand by and watch any longer. I put my hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly. I didn’t really aim to break anything, I just wanted to do just enough so that he got the message.
“She’s not a terrorist. Leave. Her. Alone.” I told the overseer calmly.
As the three of us stood there in a standoff, eyes locked on each other, I heard a strange sound. Before I could even register what it was, I pushed both Ori and the overseer and ran to the opposite end of the room where the noise was coming from.
Almost instantly, something came crashing through the restaurant and the back room. Numerous pieces of debris and glass came crashing through as smoke enveloped the room and something came flying past us and into the wall.
As the smoke cleared, the two figures were revealed. The first was a bulky, robotic creature made of metal with various pipes and tubes that also had two piercing red eyes that glowed in the dimly lit room.
The other figure was a man with a canister on his right arm with a gauntlet connected to it via a small tube. In that canister, a blue crystal was suspended in the center using wires. He wore a white military uniform that was now dirtied, bloodied, and ripped beyond repair. On the right shoulder of his uniform was a silver emblem with red accents. This emblem had the sun with a watchful eye on it with stitched writing I couldn't read surrounding it. Regardless of whether or not I could read it, I knew what that emblem meant. Ori and I's eyes widened.
A counter-terrorist just entered the area, making some of the most collateral damage possible on his way in.
All of the restaurant’s guests began to rush out in fear as the robot began to rush towards us.
The counter-terrorist extended his arm and from the palm of his hand, gas released and covered the entire area in front of us.
Not even seconds after, the gas that enveloped the death machine burst into flames in a brilliant inferno of red.
As if not affected, the bot charged through the fire brandishing a large blade attached to its arm. As it swung, the CT prioritized his life by jumping over the attack. I ducked my head and made Ori and the overseer do the same, barely dodging the blade by our hairs.
Once I saw an opening, I swept Ori off of her feet and bolted past the robot. As soon as we made it onto the street, we looked over at the counter-terrorist attempting to take down the monster.
"DAMN IT! THERE’S NO WAY IN HELL I CAN WIN THIS! WHERE IS MY BACKUP?!?!" The counter-terrorist tried to use his earpiece to get assistance, but it didn’t seem like anyone was coming to help him. At least, not anytime soon.
"He can't do anything because his stemata just burns things. Even at his strongest, at the end of the day, he's up against an ironclad death machine. Unless his stemata can burn through metal, there's no way he's winning.” Ori mentioned as I put her down.
Stematas are advanced pieces of technology that the BCT gives to counter terrorists to help carry out their missions. They can honestly range from swords or guns to things that can bend reality. To anyone not familiar with the existence of them, it would look like magic. However, anyone could see that this man and his stemata wasn’t the best fit for this mission specifically.
“He was probably deployed to keep this thing busy until another CT comes. The city's gonna pay to have those steamers replaced so we might as well just leave—"
"I want to help…" I told Ori.
If we don't do anything, the robot will cause more damage. People live near here. Regardless of whether they're Holian or Haustorian, destruction causes sadness. I don't want people to be sad. Besides, even though the overseer threatened to turn Ori in, he’s still over there and I don’t want him to die.
Ori saw the determination in my eyes and sighed. She then began to tap her foot as she watched the struggle between the CT and the robot. The overseer stood trapped in the corner of the room watching the fight go on. He was probably too scared to move out of fear of being collateral damage. As the CT and robot fought, they created more and more wreckage and my worry grew. Every time the CT tried to melt it with his flames, it would simply guard its head and continue its onslaught.
"I got it!" Ori came back to reality with the snap of her fingers. "To win, you'll need to clear three conditions…"
Once she told me those conditions, I rushed to help the CT. As I ran over, I picked up one of the replacement pipes. As I wielded this item, I thought of the first condition.
Firstly, acquire one of those heavy pipes. Then…
I took the pipe and swung it as hard as I could towards the robot's head.
Secondly, knock the head off of the robot.
Its head went flying and landed in the middle of the street.
I wasted no time and cleared the third condition.
Smash the robot's head in. It protects its head, so we can assume that's its weak spot.
I brought the pipe that was the size of a tree trunk down on the robot’s head and finished the fight. I looked over to the robot’s body and saw it crumple to the ground. Apparently, Ori’s hunch was right on the money.
As the fight happened, an audience outside of the steamed ham gathered and saw everything. They were astonished to not only find out the counter-terrorist wasn’t the one to finish off that monster, but a Haustorian had to pick up his slack.
“Another SamuKami robot? These attacks have been getting worse by the day…” someone whispered.
“A CT couldn’t finish it off but a parasite could?” someone began to mutter.
“What the hell are we paying these guys for…” Another one mumbled.
Regardless of what they said, I wore a smile and walked over to give the counter-terrorist a helping hand.
“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!” He swatted my hand away and helped himself up.
Once he got his footing, he looked at the crowd and their judgemental faces. He then looked back at me with a hateful gaze. As we locked eyes, I had a sudden feeling that he wanted to take my life right then and there. That wouldn’t make sense though. Counter-terrorists are supposed to uphold the peace, but this man looked like he wanted to hurt me. He fought back whatever urge he was subsiding and ran away in defeat. Regardless, I felt bad for him. It’s not his fault that he couldn’t do anything in that fight.
"ARNOOOOOOOO!"
The overseer and Ori came rushing towards me. He thanked me for saving him and apologized to Ori.
“I guess a SamuKami creation wouldn’t attack one of its own.”
Not long after, the police came to assess the damages. We were kept there for a couple more hours to give our stories on the event as well. Once we did so, we were free to leave. Ori was pretty sad that she couldn’t get her free burger, but there’s not much we could do about it since the steamers got destroyed in the fight.
I began kicking a rock on the street as we were walking home and when I accidentally overshot it, it landed in front of Ori.
“Ori! Ori, kick it! Pass! Pass, Ori!”
Ori sighed before kicking it my way. As I was about to kick it again, darkness came over the entire street. That’s when I looked up to see a large structure floating in the sky on our way home. If I had to describe it, it was like an iron fortress. It was being held up on the power of steam that was being exhausted through the large pipes on its bottom.
This structure is the Elizabeth. It’s the home base of the BCT, otherwise known as the Bureau of Counter-terrorism. CTs eat, sleep, and train up there. Ori saw what I was looking at and explained.
“People can walk the streets safely knowing the BCT is ready to drop down and protect them at all times. At least that’s what they say.” Ori sighed.
By the time we came back to the ghetto, the sun had already set and it was beginning to get dark. I walked Ori home and made sure she got inside safely before going home myself and falling asleep.
And that's when everything we built fell to the ground...