“……..”

It was a white room. All sides were a mirror image of each other. If there was no gravity, it would be impossible to identify the ceiling and the floor. I had a black robe on myself. In my hand, there was a sheathed sword; nice and heavy, like all other good swords.

“…….”

Numerous figures in long, white robes were watching me. They were completely covered with the white, snowy, fabric – head to bottom – that I could not identify any of their faces. They had tall figures, short ones, big and small ones. All of them were facing me. No one spoke a word, but they occasionally let out small laughs and giggles, as if playing a silent game that I do not know of.

“……...”

There were no doors, windows, or openings in any of the white walls. I was trapped. Another giggle tickled my ears. Suddenly I realized what they were laughing at. Me. I let out a small sneer. This feeling is very familiar. I was trapped in a room, with a sword on my hand. The walls are white; the observers are clothed white, and I, black. Are they mocking me? Are they making fun of my life?

Impulsive anger boiled inside my heart. You know, they are right. I will be a knight; I will be humanity’s sword, I will kill for them and die for it. I am trapped, imprisoned for the people’s freedom.

But it was never about me. You see, I never asked for this. Do I admire the brave hero who saves humanity? Screw it. I’m not interested. I am a true egotist at heart. I was an ordinary student, mostly concerned about video games and talking with pretty girls.

But it was you who forced me into this.

The rushing emotion filled my mind, and my entire body start shaking.

I moved my fingers. The cold metal vibrated in my hands.

My mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, all of my friends, all of my neighbors… they were all fake. Well, at least my sister sincerely wept for me, shouting “don’t leave” when I was dragged from home. My life was a lie, and I was born to be a war-machine regardless of my petty emotions.

They tore my heart apart. They did it on purpose. Well, it makes sense, who else is crazy enough to fight those hellish monsters? Yeah, they did a damn good job on it too. I lost family, I lost love, I lost life, and I lost my entire world. They twisted my mind. They warped my emotions. And then they threw me a sword. What else can I do than to whirl this thing around rest of my life?

I am not a kid anymore. I am not even human. I am a weapon. Not a being, but a thing.

My hands? My feet? Too late, they’re not mine anymore.

I am not even human, since half of my body is artificial material.

You know what is funny?

Those guys I believed as family, who were ever so loving to me, were all in the same group with the people who ripped my body apart, to send me to war. Oh, not just any war, but the war with the infernal horrors that slaughter men and feast on children’s live flesh.

I have no future. It was stolen. What is in front of me, is not glory and honor, but sorrow and death.

There are thousands who share my miserable fate, and they are children, under 20 and under 15. Tens of thousands of children died under the “glorious” name Knight.

Those sick, devilish bastards. Who crack open and twist the body and mind of countless children who can’t even properly defend themselves.

Justice is dead, and reason lost light.

You are nothing but hideous abominations, thirsty for blood and hungry for flesh.

Are you truly blind?

Do you not see the bloodstained tears of our sisters, pouring into the ground?

Are you truly deaf?

Do you not hear the tormenting curses of our brothers, screaming into the air?

Damn you,

Curse you.

Be gone, away, to the Kyl’aq lair.

Live as live feed to those dreadful monsters.

May they gnaw on your flesh and let you regenerate, to be eaten all over again!

Live long, never die, for death is too much a blessing for you to enjoy!

Even hell has no place for your dark, wretched souls.

As if they understood what I was shouting within my mind, the observers in white started emitting vulgar laughs in unison. Burning anger consumed my soul. My mind was overdriven with intolerable rage. My sword was already drawn. I was screaming, no, screeching, with agony, terror and fury. I will kill you now. I was in a complete frenzy, shouting and crying like a madman, whirling my sword in all possible angles. But my sword did not even touch the white cloaks; it was cutting nothing but air. They warded off my blows, fluttering their white garment in the air. The laughing sound was even bigger.

Why, but why?

I swung my sword in maximum speed. My sword drew marks on the air, but the laughing did not stop. My mind was burning. And finally, I lost it. Insanity consumed me. I let go of my limiter. Tendons in my arms began to snap out. I felt my bones cracking. My entire nervous system was overloading. Ignoring the pain, I added more weight in my sword. Every time I thrust my sword, pain pierced my bones. The pain piled up as anger. And anger tightened my grip, further hurting me with pain. I shouted again.

I will kill you.

All of you!

At last I reached my limit.

My twisted muscles tore apart. My hand succumbed to the brute pressure, and crushed into a messy pile of blood. My foot collapsed. I fell to the ground. I drenched myself in my own blood. I coughed heavy breaths into the air. I lay there, helpless and defenseless. The white cloaks approached me.

And they laughed at the poor kid drenched in blood.

I felt my iris crack open. I let out a horrifying screech, kicking and writhing violently. The next moment, something unbelievable happened – hundreds and thousands of blades sprang out of my body, stretching out in all directions. The white robes stopped laughing. They started stepping back. One of them stumbled. I opened my torn eyes.

I got you.

Instantly, all of the blades stabbed the observer in white. Blood sprayed everywhere and pieces of flesh flew in the air. Insanity and rapture violently mixed together in my mind. I quivered my body with satisfaction. The robe was white no more, but crimson red. I grabbed its hood, and tore it. A face appeared.

The face I reveled, was…

My beloved sister, Rei Panceloffe.

…..

…..

No way.

I stared at her dead body. The tormenting laughs of the white robes faded away.

All of my sensing organs went numb.

Soon, I was screaming again.

★★★

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A loud noise crushed the boy’s vision. When he opened his eyes, gasping, the white room was there no more, and the luxurious cabin room came into sight. He panted as he tried to calm himself.

A dream? What in the world… The boy let out a bitter grin. His whole body soaked with sweat, and his artificial hand wiggled involuntarily of intense tension. He held it firmly until it stopped shaking. The boy raised his tired body, and swung his right hand in the air. Instantly, a large clear screen with huge letters appeared in his sight.

[Celestial year 649, Month 2, Day 17.]

[Standard time 10:32:43]

[Humidity 51%]

[Atmospheric pressure 0.7G]

[Oxygen level 20.95% - optimized]

The boy closed the window, and crawled back into bed, muttering, “The early worm gets eaten by the bird.”

However his attempt to sleep was interrupted by grunt and a groan. He rose from his bed and bent his body.

“No pain, they said. Automatic recalculation, they said.”

Occasionally, his artificial muscles would miscalculate the linking point of the nerves, triggering a sharp shot of pain. The boy pushed the small button on his ankle and re-initialized his nerve positioner. He searched his mind, thinking a way to somehow pull a real good prank on his physician. Maybe I’ll secretly unplug my heart pulse measuring device and play dead for a while. Hmm, hacking into his artificial limbs might be fun. Nah, too much work. The boy rolled around his bed, attempting to sleep. But the pain had put an end to his slumber. Finally, the boy stood up. The first thing he did is to pick up the pistol placed on the table. He pointed it towards an imaginary foe. Aiming for its head, he pulled the trigger. Click. The magazine was empty. The boy stabbed the pistol in his pocket. He drew his gun. Click. He put it away. Another draw. Another click. The boy continued his routine gun practice for about twenty minutes. After replacing his gun on the table, he threw his golden silk pajamas into the washing bin as he walked into the bathroom. The bathroom was huge, fully equipped with spa and massage treatment. Yet the boy thought a spa in the morning was somewhat excessive. The moment he stepped on the shower, his vision blurred and a red window that said [Alert! water] popped up. So what, this thing is waterproof. The health diagnosis system scanned the shower while he was in it. The boy felt his mind clearing as the water poured on his body. Hmm? What is this? A new window appeared in the shower. Milk bath? Green tea? Wow, these guys are really serious on service huh? The boy pushed on the green tea button, purely by curiosity. Instantly, the water emitted an herbal smell.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Cough-”

The boy jumped as he let out an involuntary cough. The health system had initialized his lung filter. He frowned. Just can’t ever get used to it. Another window popped up as the boy left the shower.

[Heart – maintaining high blood pressure. 169/109 bp. 34 bpm.]

[Artery – decrepitude 21% – maintenance advised]

[Lung – Filter check: normal]

[biOS – software updated]

[ECCM – software updated]

[Cranial cushion – decrepitude 3%]

[Artificial hematocytes – decrepitude 4%]

[…]

Darn it, not those arteries again! I am so, so tired of that surgery. The boy roughly read the contents and opened a bottle of dental fluid. He swiftly poured out the contents into his mouth, feeling the transgenic bacteria and dental nanorobots sweeping around his teeth. A million worms crawling around my mouth. The boy moved his gaze into the mirror as he spit out the jell-like liquid.

Splat –

A skinny Caucasian boy in his mid-teenage years was standing there. His rich blonde hair fitted well with his deep blue eyes. Despite his white pale skin and his severally depressing expression, he still looked like a normal teenager kid.

“……”

The boy put his fingers over his own cheek. The touch and appearance of it was clearly of human skin. But it isn’t human skin though. The boy removed his hand and opened a drawer. A small butterfly knife was inside. He took the knife, quickly exposed the blade, and pressed it on his cheek.

“……”

Without hesitation, the boy drew a linear mark on his cheek. Some blood oozed out from the cut. The wound healed immediately, not even leaving a trace on his skin. The irregular healing speed of his skin was rather disturbing. It was not natural. It was fake.

“……”

Suddenly, a strong impulse to break the mirror shook the boy. But he let down the thought. That would be way too cliché. After rubbing on some branded luxury skin care products on his cheeks, the boy walked out the bathroom typing [any descent casual clothing.] in the drawer.

Beep! Beep!

Instantly, a clean, nicely folded cabin outfit popped out of the drawer. It had a VIP pin on it. The boy dressed himself in a jiffy. He shot a glance at the mirror once again, smiling. Not too impressive, but the hanger makes up for it. He searched for his headgear. It was on the table, waiting for the boy to pick it up. When he placed it on his skull, it crawled to secure itself behind his earlobes and around the occipital. Before the boy could say “there’s a spider on my head”, a knock resounded on the door. A window popped open on the wall screen. It was one of the stewardesses.

“Yes?”

“Good morning, sir. The computer notified me that you are up. Would you like some brunch?”

“Yeah, sure. Islandic breakfast?”

“Certainly, sir. We’ll have it ready in six minutes.”

The stewardess disappeared from the screen. Coffee? The boy typed in several commands in the hologram generator glued on his wrist. At once, the smell of burning beans filled the room. The boy let out a yawn as he shoved his knife in his pocket. His eyes moved back to his wrist. Eh, water level is kinda low. A few hand waves, and a cup of water appeared on the kitchenette. Oh, I almost forgot. The boy pulled out a packet of vitamin powder from the shelf. Clumsy clumsy… He glanced at his wrist. Why in a hurry? I have a lot of time… The starlight outside the window seemed shaking more than usual.

★★★

After brunch, the kid dashed straight to his private lounge. He did not want to walk into anyone – he was quite sick of “important people” bothering him. A bunch of them were probably lurking about in the VIP commons, waiting for the knight-to-be to appear. If only I had a personal cloaking device.

The stars outside the window were still shaking. Gahh. After letting out a groan, the boy sat down in one of the couch-chairs. He closed his eyes, trying to remember his anxiety training. But the stars still quivered when he opened his eyes. Nope, not working.

The boy rolled his eyes to the left. An old lady with a big bag was approaching him. The boy blinked his eyes. A person with symptoms of biological aging is an unusual sight these days. The old lady had black hair with some strands of white and wore unusual clothing that had beads, knots, and exotic writings all over it. She was most likely one of those far-Easterners, notorious for worshiping the dead. Perhaps that is why nobody offered her a hand. The boy tapped his finger on the armrest. He eventually rose from his seat, straightening his clothes.

“Need a hand, granny?”

The boy put forward his hand. The old woman looked at the boy. She looked confused at first, but soon her wrinkles moved into a graceful smile. The boy took her luggage. It was quite weighty.

“Ja-ja wrei noloi dan fei.”

The universal translator automatically turned on. The boy adjusted the attachment in his headgear. He fumbled on the buttons located on his temple. Soon enough, text messages began to appear in his eyesight.

“Ugnn, Gnom yier”

The machine converted his voice into another language immediately after the boy spoke.

“Thank you so much, young man. Please call me granny Sharei.

“Shari. Sherry. Sarei.” Lyouell frowned as he failed to pronounce it quite right. The lady smiled.

“What is your name?” asked her.

“Lyouell.” Replied the boy. He was quite certain that the lady won’t pronounce his name the right way either.

“Ryu-al? I have difficulty saying it.”

“That’s fine. Most people do.

A small face appeared behind the woman’s robe; it was a little girl.

“This is my grandchild Yoon. Say hello to him. Come on honey, don’t be shy.”

The girl hid behind the old lady. Not so social, eh?

“Hello kid.”

“Who, who is he?”

The shy girl chirped in a tiny voice.

“Why, he is the gentleman who is going to carry our luggage for us.”

Her head popped out from cover.

“Delivery boy?”

Lyouell smirked. Oh, yes yes. Delivery boy indeed. Absolutely. He rubbed his chin. To think about it, delivery boy might not be a bad idea. No threat of death in my teenage years. Sounds like a pretty good job. Certainly, a better deal than a Knight.

“Uh... so where are we headed?”

“To the garden in the second floor. I wanted to see some flowers.”

Lyouell blinked his eyes. There is a biosphere in the vessel? I didn’t know that. Blast, those stupid officers never give me important information.

“Uh, why carry your baggage to the garden then?”

“I was worried that someone would steal it.”

“What’s in here?”

“Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that. My talisman, gemstones, frog eggs, my big bug head, some snake bones…”

Lyouell cocked his head a little bit. O…K? I guess this has to do with something with her cultural background. But why in the cosmos is she carrying a bug head? He was still thinking about this even when he arrived at the biosphere, second-floor. There was a big door blocking their way, but it unlocked as soon as Lyouell laid his fingers on it. The cool breeze took away the boy’s sweat and his thoughts away. It was a marvelous garden; the floor was all in greens, the air was refreshing, and flowers were blooming everywhere. Red, blue, purple, yellow… it was a carnival of colors. The boy had not seen such a sight in years.

“Wow…”

It was beautiful. More importantly, they were living. They were real.

“Just… amazing…”

Granny Sharei smiled as the awe-struck boy dropped his jaw. The boy would have stood there for hours if she had not tapped on his shoulder. Yoon giggled as he snapped out of his stupor.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Let’s go.”

The old lady stopped about midway of the garden. After digging in her bag, she quickly set camp. Various mattresses and carpets with unusual geometric designs covered the ground. On top of that, an old-fashioned electric stove with big and small pans were set up. Lyouell widened his eyes as the woman took out boxes of cooking supplies from her bag. How did she stuff all this in that bag?

“Would you like some lizard tea, young man?” said granny Sharei as she pulled out her elegant China set.

“Uh, sure.” replied Lyouell, hoping the word “lizard” was a mistranslation. He let out a relieving sigh when he peeked at the stove. Good. Green powdery stuff. No dead reptile in the water. Lyouell blew at the liquid as he received his cup.

“Thank you very much.”

The smell wasn’t bad at all. The tea was a clear light-green. Lyouell took a sip. Probably some sort of green tea. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. His face immediately turned white pale. He barely succeeded at maintaining his grin. The boy than began weighing the losses and gains in his mind; spitting the lizard-powdered hot water out or being polite. It took a while for him to gulp the nasty liquid down the hatch. Lyouell shivered in disgust. Today’s lesson; have confidence in your speech translator.

“Would you like some more?” asked granny Sharei, who seemed quite cheerful that the boy gulped the tea.

“No please” said Lyouell with a very, very firm voice.

“How about you, cupcake? Lizard tea?” asked the lady to Yoon. The girl frowned and stuck out her tongue.

“No, that thing is nasty. It tastes like salted silkworms” Lyouell smiled. Now, there is an important piece of information that I want to tell my past self.

“You don’t like silkworms dear?”

The girl shook her head, rather determinately. Good. I think I can be friends with this girl.

“How about you, good sir? Silkworms?”

“No thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am.” The boy tried very hard to maintain his grin. I can’t be surer in a decision in my life. Both the boy and the little girl raised their shoulders when the lady started munching on her snack. Lyouell quickly moved his eyes to the greens to get rid of the unpleasant feeling. He felt better pretty soon; a big, plump bumble-bee buzzing around for honey caught his eye. The small fellow tried to land on a small flower but failed to do so, due to its weight. Yoon must have seen it too. She giggled.

“…….”

Yoon looked at Lyouell. She quickly turned her head away. She looked at him again. This time she slightly opened her mouth. A little more this time. Her eyes shook as she looked at the boy, hesitatingly. Finally, the frustrated Lyouell asked her.

“What is it?”

“…….”

Looking and pulling back, again, and again. It was the third time when the shy little Asian girl finally let out a tiny, little whisper.

“Play with Yoon.”

Lyouell blinked his eyes. He had very few experiences with little girls.

“What do you want to play?”

“….seek”

Yoon made such a little sound, that even Lyouell’s audio enhancers couldn’t catch her words.

“What?”

“…and go seek.”

“I still can’t hear you.”

The girl blushed, and mumbled a little more.

“Hide and go seek.”

The boy blinked again. He secretly pulled up his wrist and swiftly searched for this game in his database. A quick glimpse and he was ready to play the ancient earthborn game.

“Ok, who is it?”

Yoon pointed her tiny finger to Lyouell. He chuckled.

“I thought it was lady first.”

She made a face – the boy quickly realized that she was going to cry if she didn’t have her way.

“But, but Yoon is not a lady yet.”

“Ok, Ok. I’m it. I’ll count to ten, so go hide yourself.”

Yoon glimpsed at him, and carefully examined his expression.

“Ten seconds.”

Yoon puffed his cheeks. Lyouell raised his eyebrows.

“Fine. Thirty seconds. You better hide now. One… two… three…”

Yoon fled with surprising haste. Well, it really didn’t matter how far she went. The boy was trained to locate humanoid objects making respiration movements from hundreds of meters away. Too bad you can’t win.

“Twenty eight…twenty nine…thirty.”

Finally, the count was over.

“Ready or not, here I come”

Lyouell lifted his eyes. Even if she ran as fast as she could, ordinary girls can’t possibly run more than 200 meters in 30 seconds. He designated four areas of the ground in his mind. He rolled his eyes. Area one, no movement in sight. Area two, small flying objects. No humanoids present. Moving on. Area three. Granny. No small cute Asian girl in sight. Which means the girl is in the fourth region… what? The girl was not there. Puzzled, Lyouell searched his four regions again. Nope, no small humanoid breathing patterns. Is she holding her breath? Quite impressive. After spending some time fumbling through the green foliage, Lyouell raised his eyebrows. His hands began to move in superhuman speed. Three worms and a caterpillar was killed in the process, but the girl was yet to be found. Finally, he stood up. He had enough.

“Activate heat-seeker vision.”

Instantly, the boy’s eyes glowed a light blue. The beautifully green colors inverted into bright red in his sight. He looked around. To his amazement and frustration, he still failed a locating the girl. He let out an irritated breath.

“I give up. You can come out now.”

But Yoon didn’t come out. What now? Did I miss something? Lyouell pulled out his wrist again. According to his search, the “it” must cry out “olly olly oxen free” to signal the players to return when no players were found. Lyouell scratched his head.

“Olly Olly Oxen Free!” he hollered.

“I’m here!” chirped the little girl, hiding behind granny Sharei. She put up a triumphant face as the glorious victor. The boy made a face palm. I am a moron.

“Yay! Yoon wins!”

Yoon stood up to the boy, in triumph, and shouted out “Penalty! Penalty!” – the boy made a bittersweet smile.

“Ok, what is the penalty?”

Yoon put her hand under her face. After a short umm sound, she happily blurted out the penalty.

“The evil drawing of shame!”

Lyouell blinked again.

“What’s that?”

No explanation was needed when the girl pulled out her brush from her bag. She dipped it in a glass container labeled: black ink. Oh. Great. Just wonderful.

The discontent Lyouell soon received an involuntary drawing of a clumsy black cat and some far-eastern letters in his face. He turned his face toward the old lady, who had just finished the last of her “snack”.

“Hey Granny.”

“Yes my dear?”

“What does this say? In my face.”

“Oh.”

After a snicker, she told him; “I lost to a girl.”

Yoon was smiling. Lyouell smiled back, in a passive-aggressive way. Quite the little devil, aren’t you? Either knowing or not knowing his thoughts, Yoon let out a playful laugh.

“You’re funny.”

“Umm, so when am I allowed to erase this?”

“After one hundred years!”

“But I’ll be dead in that time.”

Yoon put her hands in her cheeks.

“Ok, I’ll erase it when you die.”

Lyouell felt his mouth twitch. Little girls could be pretty creepy.

“Yoon, do you even know what dead means?”

The small, dark-jade eyes of Yoon seemed to sparkle.

“I do! I do!”

“What is it?”

“Sleeping forever. Some things make people sleep like that. Like the Kyl’aq!”

Lyouell’s head involuntarily jerked backward at the word “Kyl’aq”. Just before he reached back for his sword, the boy was able to take control of his emotions. He shook his head, and retained his expression.

“Umm, I guess close enough?”

The old women quickly took the girl in her arms. She had already packed her giant luggage.

“There, Yoon. Let’s go now. We shouldn’t bother him much more.”

“But- but…”

The old lady smiled at Yoon. To the boy’s amazement, the little girl obediently nodded her head.

“Now, what do we say to him?”

Yoon put her small hands together, and bowed her head down to the boy.

“Thank you for playing with me. I wish you good fortune.”

Foreign customs were not Lyouell’s merit. He awkwardly bowed his head in return.

“Oh, umm, yeah. I quite enjoyed myself too.”

Yoon smiled. The old lady bowed her head to the boy.

“Thank you so much for helping.”

“Uh, no problem.”

Before they departed, the old woman took Lyouell’s hand. She probably felt the unnatural coldness of his fingers. It was such an unexpected behavior, that the boy didn’t know what to do. The lady held his hands for a bit, and looked directly at the boy’s blue eyes. His eyes were shaking.

“Your hands are so cold…. Young man, I don’t know what you have been through, but be strong.”

“Umm, thanks.”

The lady gracefully smiled as she let go of the boy’s hand.

“Mind if I write something on your hand?”

“Go ahead.”

Curious, Lyouell lent his hand again. After a while, an oriental character appeared in his right hand.

“What does it say?”

“Yin. Patience. I hope this helps you some day.”

With that, the mysterious lady and the little girl left the boy. Lyouell stood there, idly. After some time had passed, he looked down at his hand. The glossy black ink reflected his blue eyes. It was not shaking anymore. Lyouell sat down. The soft feeling of grass touched his fingers. The view was still gorgeous. He could sit there and marvel at it all day. There was something so calming about nature… Lyouell did not realize that he was falling asleep.