Several days had passed ever since the conflict between the pirates and the royal guards in Gietha passed, yet the dramatic decimation Seth started with a single flick of his finger is what shook the Wastes to an even dreadful degree.
The flames from his attack eventually spread to neighboring villages, burning down the homes of the innocent who abstained from the six cities. Animal farms were razed to the ground, leaving the rotting scent of their corpses lingering for the Rots to consume. Countless innocent lives were taken from those going about their peaceful days, living what would soon culminate in a rotten world despite the hard times.
Lyn emerged amidst the blast site from where she landed; the force of her landing created a meteor-sized crater where sand poured into. She squandered her time looking for her lost body parts across the crash site, spending days worth of effort to pull herself through the sand to reattach them to her body frame. By the time she had finally collected herself and regenerated to pristine perfection, an entire week had passed, leaving her alone in the midst of the night.
She gathered enough distance from the crash site and sat near a rocky cliff underpass, sheltering herself from the Rots. With enough time and effort, she created a small bonfire, using a flat slab of rock to serve as her makeshift stool for sitting purposes. After resting against it, she tied her hair to her normal ponytail and hovered her hands over the fire, sensing the heat rise through her arms.
Seth's voice rang through her ears, sensing the same bitter hatred through her mind again. She pressed her hands against her temples and leaned forward, concentrating on everything she remembered witnessing. The only thing affecting her conscience was how human Seth said that she resembled before flicking her into oblivion, causing the deaths of many individuals.
Shaking her head in denial, Lyn examined her clear skin and pressed her fingers against them. None of it made any sense to her. The only thing she could think of to describe herself was an advanced human and machine combination with a regenerative body frame. But she struggled on the fact of who she truly was; more human, or more machine?
She finally admitted it. It was not normal for someone to regenerate missing limbs, or to have gray colored blood splatter against the ground. It was not normal how her mortality and human nature convulsed and engulfed her the moment she encountered any sense of fear or hesitation in her system. It was not normal how cold and callous her attitude and demeanor was in the face of humanity, and how it strikingly shifts into the adoption of a more natural, interacted human with experience, wit, rage, and personality.
Too much of it was overflowing Lyn's mind with questions as she clasped her hands together. She closed her eyes and rested for several minutes.
My mission is to eliminate the Lords of METIS...
Lyn struggled to remember any glimpse of her past memories before she had met Alfaic.
To kill the Lords of METIS... and then what?
She shook her head in denial, struggling to even remember her past, let alone anything before she had arisen from the disc she originated from.
Why am I even alive? What is the point... of my existence?
After several minutes passed, Lyn opened her eyes after being unable to summon any more strength to think of blank thoughts. However, she was greeted by an short old woman with a crooked back, wearing a maroon colored shawl. Her face was riddled with wrinkles, large moles, and dark patches of skin seared off from fire. Her body was covered in layers of clothing that masqueraded her wounds, and she held a splintered cane beside her side to push her posture upright.
A young black-haired boy strayed off to the side where Lyn sat, gazing toward her with his gleaming innocent eyes. He then sat on the sands, digging and grabbing pebbles buried beneath the sand with his fingers. His presence reminded her of Damian in Stravia, whom she thought deserved a better life alive rather than dead. He had deserved a better life where he would be able to experience the world in a more positive light, full of innocence.
"Thank you for creating this safe place for the both of us," The old woman croaked, hovering her hands over the bonfire as her cane rested against her flank. "It's always nice to feel warmth in these dark, cold days. It always brings me joy."
Lyn remained silent, blinking rapidly while holding her own hands firmly.
"You don't look like you're from here," The old woman continued. "You're a long way from home, aren't you?"
Lyn rubbed the back of her hands with the warmth of the fire. "I never knew where my home was," She said. "Nor do I even know if it even exists."
"Ah, no home, I see." The old woman said, nodded in understanding. "A wanderer, then. I've met many people like you before, but never someone who looks exactly like you."
"You have?" Lyn asked.
"Yes, I have," She continued. "But that was a long time, before METIS turned into a world of such chaos and destruction. You're better off without knowing what the world was like before this, because it will really make you miss it all."
I can understand that, Lyn thought. The amount of pain and suffering she had seen over the past few weeks was something that she couldn't ever forget. The deaths of Cethe and the neighboring villages, along with the poor conditions of the six cities in the Wastes needing to live in pretend harmony with the risk of having their homes sunk in an instant. Despite even being there to stop it all, every hope was met with loss. METIS was nothing more than a living nightmare for anyone to peruse in, and it all made sense to Lyn the more her memories came alight.
"I found this boy among the crossfire of the explosion that happened days ago. His parents are dead. So I took him with me, and I discovered the boy's talents only yesterday on our journey to find shelter." The old woman said.
The two watched as the boy picked the sharpest pebble underneath the sand, rushing toward a flat section of the cave's wall where the bonfire's reflection lit the most shadow. He began scribbling lines vertically, creating a makeshift palm tree with coconuts hanging on its branches. He then began horizontally crafting a line and inverting it upwards, creating waves along an ocean bed.
"What is he doing?" Lyn asked.
"Drawing a better future where none of this chaos ever happened," The old woman replied, smiling at the talented boy. "A future where we may live in peace. Where we don't need to worry about death, nor starvation."
"What does it mean, to draw?"
"There's only so much that the human mind can imagine that which encapsulates their inner desires. When we draw, we release our hopes and dreams and preserve it for others to witness," The old woman explained. "This is a future that everyone wants, but we know it will never come true."
Lyn continued to watch as the boy finished the drawing a few minutes after, revealing a cozy ocean bedside splashing against warm sands by a makeshift sun in the sky. Two stick figures drawn at the same height depicted the boy's parents, holding hand with a shorter version of himself at the center. When the boy completed his drawing, he dropped the sharpened pebble on the ground and keeled over with his knees together. He sunk his cheeks in between his knees, seemingly lost over his memories of his parents.
"Why does he draw something that will never come true?" Lyn asked.
"Because it is all we can do. We can hope for a brighter future, free from harm. It is the only thing our weak and frail bodies can do, and the only thing I can even do at this age." The old woman coughed up saliva, wiping her mouth with an old scarf wrapped around her neck.
That boy... doesn't deserve this, Lyn thought. No one deserves this. She pressed her hands against her chest and closed her eyes, thinking deeply once again. Is humanity truly doomed to survive?
No. My mission is to eliminate the Lords of METIS.
But a future where the child can survive for a better future, one that he had dreamed for so long...
Who am I? Is my existence... truly so shallow?
Lyn denied it all. She had to for the time being. None of it made any sense to her. She refused to ponder about the past in the moment, and wanted to accept the circumstances of the present and the future.
So much death and so much hate. I want to end it all.
The memory of Alfaic returned to her.
I have to change my fate... and fight. I have to break free.
The boy's sudden piercing scream alerted both Lyn and the old woman from their solemn state of peace. The old woman collapsed over after witnessing a lanky Rot approaching the young boy from a far distance with a parasitic mottled head that resembled a giant lamprey. It gurgled and reached outward with its arms, intending to devour its easy prey.
Lyn bolted upward and wrapped the old woman's underarm with her shoulder, pulling her back up. She pushed the cane over to her underarm as the boy froze in fear. Lyn searched her surroundings and found a sharpened stake of wood that ejected from a part of the cave, pulling it out to use as a weapon.
"Get behind me!" Lyn cried, desperately calling to the boy.
As the boy hurried beside the old woman, Lyn jumped in front of the two to shield them from harm. As the mottled infected reached out with its lanky arms, Lyn drove the stake into the creature's lamprey-like mouth, pinning it to the ground with how strong she was. After piercing through the hole of the creature, she dragged it through the monster's chest to slice it open, spewing blood across her face and the cave walls around. The Rot's gurgling sound ceased as Lyn dropped the stake on the sand, finishing the job.
"Oh, my..." The old woman's voice croaked in relief as she held the boy tightly. "You saved our lives. T-Thank you, so much."
Lyn turned around and wiped the blood of the Rot off her forehead. "Is there a place where both of you can stay with others in safety?" She asked. "There is something that I must do."
"I don't recall any safe havens around here," The old woman stated. "That is something that both of us are searching for."
"No, there has to be something," Lyn continued on, taking the stake out of the Rot's chest, placing it by her side. "Are there any more survivors from where you two come from?"
Suddenly, from outside of the cave, arose two Giethan guards armed with weapons. They peeked inside and bowed in respect to Lyn's heroic retaliation against the Rot. Lyn peered from beside them and saw two other neighboring families wearing the same layered clothing as them, stuck together like glue.
"We'll take them with us," One of the guards said, offering their hand to the old woman. "Many of the survivors have taken shelter in a camp not too far from here. We have food and water."
"Oh, did you hear that?" The old woman nearly fainted at the sound of prosperity in her wake. She looked at the artistic boy beside her, who smiled valiantly. "Our prayers have finally been answered! And it's all thanks to this young woman here."
The second guard approached Lyn, extending his hand out. "Thank you for saving them. It's a pain in the ass to kill one of those things, and you took it down so easily."
Lyn extended her hand to the guard and remembered Ardine's training prior. She shook his hand in respect before beckoning for the old woman and the boy to follow. Before the boy left, he grabbed Lyn's armored pants and looked up at her, cheerfully smiling with sparkling eyes. "Thank you." The boy said before following the others away.
Remembering her training from Ardine and Scabs, Lyn smiled naturally back at the boy, rubbing his head to give him comfort.
"Perhaps there can be a future with peace, as long as people like you exist," The old woman said before she had left. "I'm truly grateful."
As the guards departed, Lyn moved near the entrance of the cave and looked up at the blazing supernatural colors of the pastel skies. It was twilight, nearly reaching the evening. She was reminded once again of Llafiella's skies after falling victim within its fissures, with Alfaic by her side. Her beautiful orchid eyes were mesmerized by the pattern of the stars, admiring the beauty of the world despite its chaotic nature.
She then set her eyes upon the broken palace in the distance, with a definitive decision on what she wanted.
Peace, even if it meant sacrifice.