In a distant and desolate corner of the lands of Llyin lay a small, hidden village; a quiet oasis surrounded by endless stretches of barren desert. Life here was simple and unyielding. Farmers tended to their modest crops, and children of all ages, mostly young, roamed the dusty paths. Among the small children was a curious little girl named Rilzi. She had a striking appearance; long and bright pink hair which framed her pale face, and her nearly elven-like ears gave her a mischievous look. She wore a leather tunic, it was of a good condition, and a glint of childlike wonder sparkled in her eyes as she tugged at her mother’s hand. “Mama, what’s it like out there? In the far away?” Her voice held a mix of curiosity and innocence. Her mother, a tall and calm woman, caught off guard, looked down at her daughter and paused. “I’m… not sure, Rilzi,” she replied, her tone soft. “I’ve never wandered far from the village. It isn’t safe beyond these sands.” Their village sat strangely alive in the midst of nothingness; a lush patch of green in an otherwise dry, unforgiving desert. Far from any cities or the comforts of civilization, most of the villagers had little knowledge of the wider world, no intricate schools or teachings, and not even a hint of the magical talents said to exist in the distant lands. Children grew up here learning to survive, not to dream.

“Mama, where’s Papa today?” Rilzi asked, her eyes filled with curiosity. “Your father’s back in the fields, tending to the crops as always,” her mother replied. “Why don’t you go play with the others until he’s back? By then supper should be ready.” Rilzi nodded, understanding that this was her cue to explore while her mother busied herself with her cooking. The other children, like her, were free to roam the village, their lives were simple and unburdened by strict rules or schedules. They were left to learn from each other and the land, with no one pressing them to master reading or magic. They were wild, curious, and tough, shaped by the harsh life in Llyin’s unforgiving desert. As the sun began its descent, casting long shadows over the sand, villagers returned to their homes, tired from the day’s work. The distant rumble of footsteps announced the arrival of Rilzi’s father. “Where’s my little Rilzi!” he boomed as he entered their small, three-room house, his voice filling the small but cozy space. “Here I am, Papa!” Rilzi’s eyes lit up as she bounced over to him. Her mother called out from the kitchen, “Dinner’s ready! Come eat before it gets cold.” The family sat together at the small table, sharing their usual meal; a simple but hearty pot roast with carrots, celery, and bits of pork, one of the few luxuries they could manage in such a remote place. But as they began to eat, a thunderous boom shook the house, rattling the dishes on the table. Rilzi’s father jumped up, his expression immediately grave. “Stay here, you two. I’m going to go take a look at what's happening,” he commanded, his voice firm and steady. They watched as he stepped out of the house, her mother pulling her closer. Peering out the window, her mother let out a horrified gasp. Rilzi followed her gaze, and what she saw made her heart pound; all the crop farms, everything, had vanished into a gaping chasm slowly being filled with sand. The familiar huts, the fields, her friends. It was all gone. “Mama… what happened?” Rilzi whispered, fear beginning to seep into her voice, as her face started to give away at a panicked expression. Her mother didn’t answer, her face pale as she pointed towards the dreadful sight, placing a hand over her own mouth with tears falling. In an instant, Rilzi understood. Her mother had warned her of these horrors before, massive sand worms roamed the desert, burrowing deep beneath the earthia and, on rare terrible nights, emerging with incredible, explosive force. One these creatures had struck, taking with it half the village in a single leap. Rilzi clutched her mother’s arm tight, her young mind struggling to process the devastation. She felt a cold shiver run through her, knowing that the harsh world around them was more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. She may have been young, but here in Llyin, children are forced to grow up fast. For Rilzi, the innocence of her childhood had just shattered, leaving only the unforgiving truth of their existence.

The village is gone, they have no food source, there is no help. As her father walked back into the small shack, they all sat down back at the small table, eating their food but the mood wasn’t the same. No communication back and forth like their usual, nothing interesting to talk about. As they finished up, Rilzi went to her room, no words said at all for the rest of the night. She wondered if she was dreaming, if what just happened was actually real. The morning brought no reprieve. Rilzi’s small room felt colder and darker than she remembered. Shadows clung to the corners, and the weight of silence pressed against her chest. She lay still, hoping that if she shut her eyes tight enough, perhaps the memory of last night would dissolve like mist. But the muffled voices from outside shattered that hope, and the ache of her new reality returned with full force. She climbed out of her bed, limbs heavy and sweat pouring down from each pore. Her parent’s voices came from the kitchen, tense and hurried. She could hear a tremor in her mother’s tone, a rare crack in her usual calmness. Her father’s voice was quieter, but she caught the edge of anxiety in his voice. Rilzi stepped out of her room entering the kitchen, and her parents turned, startled, as if they forgotten she was there. Her father’s face looked older, worn out, lines of worry etched deep, and her mother’s eyes rimmed red, raw with a grief she had tried to swallow down. They looked at each other, then back at her, both struggling to find the right words to say. Suddenly, a mechanical hum filled the air; a strange, throbbing sound that vibrated through the walls of each house, even making the ground tremble. The noise was like nothing she had ever heard before. Rilzi’s parents looked at each other, panic flaring in their eyes. Without a word, her father rushed to the door, cracking it open just a sliver to peek outside. Figures stood in the village square, their bodies covered in beaming metallic suits, sunlight bouncing off every surface, faces hidden behind their dark, reflective helmets. They looked like shadows brought to life, moving with precise, unnatural coordination. They seemed almost inhuman. But they couldn’t be, there was no such thing as inhuman metal monsters; at least none that Rilzi knew of. “What…who are they?” Rilzi’s mother whispered, motioning her daughter to hide somewhere. But no one had an answer. The villagers gathered in clusters, whispering among themselves, their faces etched with confusion and fear. One of the weird metal machines, a tall figure with a slender frame, raised a hand, and a distorted, mechanical voice echoed through the air. “We come for the advancement of knowledge. You plebeians will comply.” The adults exchanged weary glances, hesitant. But as one of them, pitchfork raised in hand, took a step forward, the figure pressed a button on a device strapped to their arm, and a bright flash lit up the entire village. In an instant silence fell, and every adult dropped to the ground, lifeless. Even her parents fell, though not in the town square, that slight crack through the door, the open window, was just enough for them to witness the event. Rilzi slowly leaving her hiding spot, thinking it safe, enter’s the kitchen. Her heart pounded, her young mind one again struggling to comprehend the horrors before her. She clutched her mother’s arm, but there was no warmth, no movement. Her mother lay still, her face frozen in an expressionless state. Rilzi’s knees buckled as she stared, numb, nauseous, at her mother’s motionless form. The strangers turned their attention to the children, their cold gazes scanning each one. “Seize them, they would make good test subjects,” one of the figures commanded, their voice a chilling monotone. Rilzi tried to back away, her instincts screaming to run, but there was nowhere to go. One of the tall, metallic figures approached the shack, entered and spotted her. Strong, gloved hands gripped her arms, and she was dragged out into the hot sand, her cries drowned out by the hum of machinery and the shouts and cries of the other children.

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For what felt like hours, they were herded together, forced into strange metal cages that hummed with an unfamiliar glow. Rilzi’s vision blurred as exhaustion overtook her and her memories of that day began to slip into shadows. Over the span of two years, Rilzi had since lost any sense of time, any sense of self. The strangers, formally calling themselves scientists, though their cold precision was far from what she had once imagined; had taken the children to a hidden facility, far beneath the surface of the desert. Here, they were experimented on, their bodies altered, each child experiencing excruciating pain, augmented slowly with metal and circuitry, each child over time transforming into something that was neither fully human nor machine.

Days and nights blended together into one endless stretch of pain, broken only by the brief moments of sleep they were allowed. Rilzi’s small frame, now encased in metal and scrap, her legs reinforced with mechanisms that responded faster than her muscles ever had. Her eyes, once bright green with curiosity, had been replaced with lenses that could see in the dark, scan heat signatures through magic detection, and zoom in on distant objects. But those enhancements were at the cost of the once energetic and curious girl who dreamed of seeing the “far away,” who was now buried under layers of machinery, her innocence stolen by cold hands and sharp instruments. The scientists observed them constantly, recording their every movement, measuring their every reaction. The children were no longer individuals; they were subjects, each assigned a number, each tested and modified in different ways. There were about 20 kids in total, dragged to this laboratory against their own volition, not even half that survived. They could barely even remember their own names, especially Rilzi,

now classified as subject 54, just another heap of scrap stripped of all its humanity. But she was still very different, at times even though faint, she could still hear her heartbeat. Reaching through metal and scrap she could touch her chest, feeling each bump of her heart, though very slight. Pain, grueling, intense, pain; over and over they experimented on them until the scientists felt they were ready to become beacons of destruction. Shunned as outcasts they became psychotic, experimenting on anything and anyone who they could get their cold, steel hands on.

Rilzi, one night during their hours for sleep, lay on the cold, hard floor feeling the metal attached to her body pressing up against it. She thought to herself “why me… we were just living our lives… what did we do to deserve this,” no tears fell from her eyes as it were no longer a possibility. She wanted to cry so bad but she couldn’t, it was painful. Those dim metal eyes of hers could do nothing to soothe her pain, at this point nothing would. Suddenly, she heard a loud explosion from the testing chamber where they experimented on them. It was a normal occurrence but this time, this time it was different. It was louder, and she could even feel the impact from the explosion even though she wasn’t near it. She crawled over to the bars of her cell, and peered out, looking down the hallway towards the testing chamber. It was in pieces, sand falling through the roof where the explosion destroyed a hole, wires and glass riddled all over the hallway. The children, all of them had been killed through processes like this but this time, the scientists were killed too. Their black metal bodies lie in pieces scattered throughout the hallway and the chamber, some even falling back down through the hole in the roof. She was utterly shocked, though alone yet not realizing, she couldn’t comprehend that an explosion finally killed those scientists. Before, nothing they tried worked, everyone who dared even to lay a finger on the scientists were killed on the spot, they had no remorse for the things they did and this was their punishment. She tried tugging on her cell bars, although rusted they would not budge. She kept trying, pulling over and over but still nothing would break off. So Rilzi sat there, going back to lying down, though now the heat of the desert could be felt in the cold laboratory.