In another world where we met

by Notmasentogai (YuanmuNoOwari)

Summary:

In this world, people were blessed by Anima: a power that granted one with animal-like abilities.

Veritas wanted to study them.

Aventurine thought it was a curse.

Notes:

Hi, I take too long to write.
...And often postpone my works, but I can guarantee at least 3 chapters on this one.
This is Aven's past. Stay tuned for Tio next chapter.
Have a fun read.

Written for the aventio fantasy week - Aventiostarscript Day 1: Promise ; Prayer (?)

Chapter 1: Prologue

---

"...And the angel had huge wings! As big as the sky!" said ██, the short haired little girl.

"Her hair was so soft and pretty, she even let me brush it!" added ████, a kid with a loud voice.

"That's just my sister!" exclaimed Kakavasha in astonishment, before they all burst into laughter.

"Well, MY sister doesn't have wings!"


... ...

The sun set in the horizon behind the rocky silhouettes of the Sigonian moutains.

"Moldy roots! We're going to be late for dinner!"

The three children whispered their hidden spot goodnight, climbed down the cliff and began walking back home together. ████ and ██ gave each other a dare and ran ahead along the dry arroyo.

Kakavasha recalled his sister's words from a few sunsets ago: as they were gone harvesting in the evening desert plains for roots and berries, his older sister called for him.
And he quickly ran up to her.

***

"Look, do you see these trails on the ground ?" she said as she crouched down, followed by her younger brother. They looked the same, if it wasn't for their hair. Hers was long, flowy, and it reached her waist. His was also long and flowy, but it did not go past his shoulders.
"This is called a ███. It's the bed of the river that used to run here. █ told me that long ago, Mother Fenge drew these lines on her divine body so we could have rivers now. Can you imagine that ?"

A few desert birds flapped their wings and flew over their head. They seemed to be heading home to sleep. No clouds in the vicinity, the sky completely clear as usual. The zephyr was also there, contrasting with the daytime scorching heat.

"But why are the rivers not here anymore ?" the blonde boy asked after some silence, trying to imagine the water beneath his feet.

Big sister thought for a moment.

"I don't know Vasha." she replied as she put her hands on her cheeks.

"But no matter what happens, know that you will always get through. You're a great child blessed by Gaiathra Triclops: it rained when you were born, so who knows ? Maybe the rivers will be back when it rains again."

Kakavasha then hoped it would rain soon enough. He wanted to reply that his sister had a better blessing, but the conversation ended as his attention had switched to a flower. He excitedly ran away from his sister, as if the pretty flower had wings of its own and would fly away anytime soon. When he came back, he gave it to her.


***

As ████ and ██'s laughter resonated in the distance, Kakavasha crouched again.

He caressed the trails left in the dirt by a now bygone stream.

There aren't any flowers today, he thought.

He looked up at the reddening sky.

There aren't any birds today either.

Maybe they have already gone to sleep.

The young boy quickly got up and ran to catch up with his friends before he could no longer see them.

The three children reached the camp at dusk.

Colourful flags and tapestries tied atop and in between the traditional Avgin tents and caravans greeted them. The fire pit in front of Old █'s tent was lit. The surrounding area was also cleaned so people could sit in a huge circle.

The Avgin clan had now been occupying these lands for 15 years following their eviction to the desert. The establishment of the Sigonian Sovereignty had forced them to their current nomadic lifestyle. Old █ believed that it was because they did not want to deal with any conflict between the Avgin and the Katican.
The other elders also worried about the potential danger they were in: they had no means to fight back if their long-standing enemies were to ever start another war.

That is, even with the help of their +Anima peers.

The appearance of +Anima were believed to be a manifestation of Gaiathra Triclops' greatest blessings: whenever a child encountered a life threatening situation, they would sometimes gain the Anima (animal-like abilities) of a nearby animal. They would then be able to partially—or in some cases fully—transform into this particular animal.

The elders and the heads of the Avgin warriors agreed that this power would be deemed useful in future clashes. They decided to train those who gained powers from animals that could cut through skin, like jackal and eagle Animas, or that could poison people like scorpion and snake Animas.

However, the Avgin were not the only ones blessed by the Animas. Katica clan also showed signs of +Animas in their population. Many were sent to slaughter their enemies during the Katica-Avgin Extinction Event. This is when the survivors learned that there were way more +Animas in the enemy camp than in their own, and that they would not survive a second attack.

But this was before they met a powerful merchant from overseas,

Oswaldo Schneider.

In exchange for valuable Avgin artifacts and manpower, he offered his protection. A fifth of the Avgin adult population were sent to work with him every 3 years. The Katicans had ever since never attempted any attack on the Avgin.

The Avgin population soon exceeded 10,000 people, and gained enough confidence to organise yearly Kakava festivals again.

Kakava is a festival held by the Avgin to celebrate the yearly rebirth of Mother Goddess Gaiathra Triclops. They believe that all that exists on the land is a part of Gaiathra's divine body. This same body perishes each year and ascends as an aurora in the night sky, and Gaiathra is reborn the next day. Her other name is Fenge Biyos, and Kakavasha calls her Mama Fenge.

The boy was not only born during a Kakava, he had also brought the rain with him. He was blessed by HER, his mother saw a glimmer of hope, and thus, through her tears she named him: 

Kakavasha, Child Blessed by Gaiathra. 

Another proof was that he was very lucky, and everyone thought the same. Whenever he was invited to play games, he would always win (but his sister believed it was mainly because he was smart). His favourite game was hide and seek.

This night, he would also play hide and seek with the other kids, run around the bonfire, and join everyone to pray and burn "Knots of Cyclicality"—weaved sacrificial vessels—, before finally going to sleep in his and big sister's caravan. Tomorrow, everyone would help unload the wagons to eat delicious foods and pastries.

Everyone looked forward tomorrow.

Kakavasha woke up earlier than usual. 

Someone was pinching his forearm.

He silently turned around: it was only big sister. He recognised the sound of the rain outside, and was immediately overjoyed. He then looked back at his sister and told her if this was the reason why she had pinched him.

She didn't reply, and gravely gestured him to be quiet, despite the rain covering most sounds.

That is when Kakavasha remembered what their late mother had taught them:

when pinched,

do not scream,

do not speak,

be silent.

The boy squeezed his mother's lucky charm in the palm of his left hand.

The rain was here, but so were the Katicans.

The two siblings managed to escape the camp unseen, hiding among the—disembowelled—corpses of their friends, the elders, the adults. Every time a Katican passed by, Kakavasha hoped it would be the last time he would ever lie down on the now muddied reddish ground. But it was never the last time.

As he laid on his belly, head turned to his right, he saw ██ peek from the inside of her tent.
Don't come out, he silently warned her with his mouth. However, the little girl was not looking at him. She was looking at ████, who was standing up under the rain, completely exposed to the danger. She kept calling for him, but he was frozen in fear.

Kakavasha's heartbeat resonated in his head. He was scared, not only for his friends, but also for himself and his sister. If Katicans found them, wouldn't they be the next target ?

He, for a thousandth time, hoped that the Katicans wouldn't see them.
That is when ██ suddenly ran out of her tent, and slapped ████, who regained his ability to move. They rapidly ran toward another tent, and as Kakavasha finally let out a shaky exhale from relief, an eagle +Anima rushed at them, claws open, dug into their necks and shoulders, and flew up toward the sky to finally let them fall on a tent in a cruel melody of a hard, dull impact and snapping bones.

Kakavasha hoped that the floor was muddy enough, so that his friends were not actually hurt. He hoped that the height from which they fell was shorter than it looked, because he was on the floor. He hoped that the loud sound of snapping wood was simply that of the tent's bones collapsing.

However, ████ body slowly slid further onto the ground, face turned toward his friend's.

████ only harboured glassy eyes.

 

 

Kakavasha and big sister reached the foot of the mountain.

It was fortunate that there were many tents and caravans to hide behind, fortunate that the rain covered the sound of their breath, fortunate that their caravan was near muddy hills that most assailants were far from, fortunate that the first mountain of the Sigonian mountain chain was right behind... unfortunate that they had to part, but fortunate that they could part.

"This is where we go our own way, Kakavasha. The Katicans are coming" she said gravely.

Kakavasha did not understand his sister's words, he did not understand the Katicans, he did not understand how all of this could be "good fortune". People were dying, big sister was going to be in danger... Everything was going too fast, and he did not understand anything, nor anyone.

"The Avgin always return their blood debts. Gaiathra calls for me, while Papa and Mama are waiting for me. I must answer the call. Bue SHE will bless you with good fortune and help you survive."

Warm tears began to slide along the cold rain on the young boy's muddy face. He caught his breath—trying to suppress his cry—and uncontrollably began to sob. His sister's words, although uttered in a soothing manner, were scaring him. Her determined face covered in bloodied mud also scared him, but he could not utter a single word. He could only listen.

"As long as you are alive, the blood of the Avgin will never run dry. So run Kakavasha, do not be afraid, and do not look back. Go to the other side of the mountain. The rain will accompany you, and the rain will bless you."

Big sister brought her right palm to her younger brother's, and looked deeply into his eyes.

"As for us, we will reunite in Kakava's next aurora." she softly smiled.

She looked deeply into his eyes.

"Promise me to cherish your life, Kakavasha."

The boy only looked at her through his blurried vision. His sobs did not stop.

"May the goddess Gaiathra close HER eyes three times..." she began.

Her palm was bigger than Kakavasha's, but soon enough, his hands would grow to perhaps look like hers, their father's, or their mother's.

It's a shame I won't get to see you grow up. I hope you won't hate me for that, she thought.

"May the goddess Gaiathra close HER eyes three times...

Keep your blood eternally pulsing...

Let your journey be forever peaceful...

...and your schemes forever concealed."

The rain poured down with greater intensity, soon turning into a downpour, as if Gaiathra Triclops had heard their prayer.

"Farewell. Kakavasha"

She looked at her brother run away to the mountain—not looking back just as she had told him. It was a shame this had to happen on his birthday, but she silently prayed that he would get to see many more birthdays, with precious friends, and maybe family.

As she turned away, huge grey brown wings finely streaked with dark brown lines spread from her back.
She flew toward the camp, and never looked back.

Chapter 2: Logos

Summary:

Veritas Ratio's childhood.

Notes:

Hi, I'm still alive.
The wait was long, and I am kind of disappointed with the wordcount but I am not disappointed with the story.
I...I rewrote this chapter three times....and the versions weren't even similar....
I might edit the pacing tomorrow, I'm in a bit of a hurry ^^
Enjoy ❤

 

Night fell on the town of Logos as a teenage boy swiftly wandered along its sinuous paved streets. The steepness of the sloped alleys made his wavy hair bounce up and down as he walked. The boy eventually came across an alleyway junction: one alley led to the south, while the other led to the east. The first one was a shorter way to his destination, but the second was the least frequented. 

Considering he did not feel like running into anyone, he headed to the latter.

As he turned around, an owl shaped silver pendant attached to his satchel reflected the moonlight. On the back was engraved a name: Veritas Ratio.

***

Veritas was the eldest child of a family of four.

The older children of the neighborhood sometimes joked about him being adopted, because despite roughly sharing the same unusual blueberry coloured hair as his parents, the eye colours were completely different.

His father was a modest architect from Flos, but his bridges were the most famous in Logos, second biggest town in OFIA, westernmost country of the Northern continent. His eyes were of a deep blue, characteristic of the people from his region.

His mother was a reputed pharmacist from the school of Saffron—a town in the country of MURRO, famous for its plains rich with various medicinal plants. She moved to Logos after meeting his father during a humanitarian mission. Her eyes were ebony black, but somehow conveyed an astounding liveliness.

Both were very proud of their personal life achievements and desired to see their children achieve even greater feats. The country of OFIA was famous for the importance it gave to knowledge and science. Its people often encouraged each other to finish their studies before finding a profession. The emperor himself had issued an edict allowing the most academically advanced children ranging from age ten to twelve to enter a special class. Joining said special class gave them the privilege to study at the palace to—possibly—become future ministers or important political figures at the service of the empire.

This was very different compared to the other countries of the continent, where children were usually sent to work as soon as their first baby tooth fell out.

 

Under the strict education and academic pressure of their parents, both Veritas and his younger sister worked hard to meet their expectations. As an older brother and son of reputed parents, Veritas was tasked to be exemplary to both his younger sister and younger children. This led him to being overcautious of himself and his sister's behaviour, tempering with their relationship.

 

It was difficult at first, but the boy soon found that he liked studying and learning new things. And it became his reason to be.

 

This important realisation at the early age of nine helped him achieve the hard-earned reputation of "elite student" as he enrolled in the special class within the same year. The boy became the youngest member of the special class.

He would go study at the palace of Philos nine months a year, but despite everything, he still kept a good relationship with his family.

However, the praises from his parents and surroundings gradually ceased or grew repetitive as it became a part of his identity. Perfectly knowing all subjects, speaking ten languages, acing every test, pointing out flaws in scholars' speeches, solving problems nobody could solve, spotlessly performing arts, having a keen eye and harbouring bold honesty... all slowly but surely became things that were expected from "the Veritas Ratio from the special class".

If this was of his nature to be so amazing, his "exceptional" feats were then only normalcy.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself isolated from the rest of the world. Some admired him, put him on a pedestal, while others hated him, maybe out of jealousy.

He learned that some people could simply not always be brought to reason, and because talking to them was so taxing, he grew intolerant toward such "idiots".

He only ever conversed with people he considered had brains, but the thing is that those same people were scarce, if not inexistent around him.

Maybe it was because he was still so young, but Veritas once did something nobody would have ever expected him to.

At first, it was a mere fleeting thought that could be relieved with a bath—he had become obsessed with baths and bathtubs after reading about Archimedes—, but he found himself wondering increasingly more often "what it would be like to sneak out and stroll around the town at night" after overhearing some of his classmates' boasting about "being rebels at sundown".

 

As if being unruly was something to be proud of! he shouted internally.

 

... ...

 

The very-exemplary-student-Veritas-Ratio browsed through the few story books of the palace's library and read a few more tales about children running away from home. He thought these children were troublesome—making their parents and neighbours worry so much over unreasonable dreams of freedom and adventure—but could not help wanting to experience this feeling as well-

 

Veritas Ratio abruptly closed the book.

The sound of the pages smacking against each other resonated in the library's tall hall.

 

The boy clicked his tongue. To think like them..., he cringed, These idiots' stupidity is rubbing off on me. He shuddered at the repulsive thought of becoming like the fools his classmates were—being an academic genius did not equal being emotionally mature.

 

This area of the library had a tall ceiling and was almost entirely made of finely sawed brunette hardwood timber. The bookshelves encircled the area and faded to a balcony that opened on a view of the town with the mountains behind. While watching the sun slowly sink behind the horizon, Veritas stretched in his seat.

 

I should head back to the dorms.

 

He stood up, put the book (face down) on the table, contemplated the back cover for a while, considered taking it with him... and stored it back on its respective shelf.

 

In contrast with the library within, the palace was entirely made of white limestone and marble imported from the neighbouring islands of the territory. Its shape was unoriginally rectangular, but helped enclose within a peristyle the immense garden in its heart—in this case called a cloister. One could have access to it by entering the inner portico—a covered walkway—right after leaving the main corridor of the first floor.

 

As the blueberry haired boy walked down the portico, a tall veiled man walking in the opposite direction passed by him. The boy did not pay much attention, but the man turned around a few seconds later. The evening wind gently blew across the veil, revealing the man's stoic face. His eyes matched with the warm colours of the sunset sky, and so did Veritas'.

 

... ...

 

He thought about the stories he read all evening, and found himself having difficulty falling asleep.

He thought nothing of it, and simply forced himself to sleep. It was almost time to return home—to Logos—after all. Maybe his brain was simply tired from studying so much.

 

More days passed, and he still could not shake off this annoying feeling until he actively began to plan out his "idiotic" idea. There was no way he could do it at the palace, so he decided to return home first.

 

... ...

 

His first attempt resulted in failure: he could not bring himself to slide down the window that faced the garden (his room being on the second floor, he could not risk waking his parents while opening the squeaky door). But since "Veritas Ratio" never gave up, he decided to repurpose those old gardening gloves his parents did not use anymore: with protected hands, he climbed down the wall, strongly gripping the nearby drainpipe and rock bricks around him. When he finally reached the ground, he breathed out a relieved shaky exhale.

His heart pounded loudly in his chest, and butterflies flew around in his stomach, but he was also greatly pleased with this small victory.

He gazed at the stars painted across the night for a bit, and strangely felt like he was relieved from the world. What does this even mean ?  he bickered with himself, despite knowing the meaning.

The nights in Logos were rather cold—colder than the nights in Philos—despite the days being so hot. Veritas made a mental note to bring a small cloak next time, before climbing back to his room.

 

Back in his bed, he felt refreshed and a little warmer. He felt happy.

I should start reinforcing my body as well, he thought, before drifting off to sleep.

 

And from this first little escapade, he did another, and another one, going a little further from home every time. He was quite worried his parents would notice, but for once, Veritas did not want to think about the consequences, nor think about what to say if he ever got caught. He passed by an alley, and another, and found himself freer than ever.

Maybe he realised that being unruly from time to time brought him some kind of relief.

 

He even dared to think that his classmates were perhaps not as foolish as they appeared... No... they're still idiots, he thought, as he remembered that one of them had accidentally taken his exam paper home last month instead of turning it in.

This made him chuckle a little, nonetheless.

 

That is when he heard the sound of windows opening right above his head.

 

He hurriedly pressed himself against the wall, hoping that whoever opened the windows would not look below. However, when he looked up, he was met with a dark falling object that soon obstructed his vision. Veritas reflexively jumped back while closing his eyes shut—accidentally tumbling backwards—as he heard a low muffled and puffy sound. When he regained balance, he log-rolled away to hide himself in the nearby alley. The boy thought about returning home, before deciding that he was too curious to not investigate what had just happened.

Extremely suspicious. This is both extremely curious and suspicious.

He got up on his knees, crawled back and peeked from behind the wall.

What had just threatened to flatten him into pita bread appeared to be a strangely heavy bunch of cushions tied together into a ball.

He quickly estimated that there were about two layers of five cushions each, and wondered if they protected anything important inside.

An even stranger thing was the fact that a little person had emerged from nowhere, and was now walking away with the bundle of cushions on their back.

 

Veritas quickly glanced at the windows again, only to find them closed—as if nothing had ever happened. When he redirected his attention to the mysterious figure, their silhouette was already at the end of the street.

A part of him wanted to tail them and investigate, but blindly following such fancy ideas was way too reckless and full of danger.

 

Once he returned home, Veritas regretted not following the mysterious person. Maybe he had missed something that could only happen once in a lifetime.

Look at me now, thinking so carelessly. I should stop sneaking out for a while.

But he could not stop thinking about it all night—so badly that he could not sleep at all. He spent the next morning having trouble following anything the teacher said—because he also followed holiday classes so he would "not lose his studying rhythm"—and finally fell asleep during a lecture for the first time in his entire life. When we opened his eyes, everyone in the lecture hall was whispering around him. The lesson seemed to have ended.

“I'd never have expected to see Ratio fall asleep during Maths lectures.”

“Shush! Don't you know how to whisper ?

“Should we wake him up…?”

 

“No need. I'm awake,” answered a (slightly embarrassed) Veritas. “I apologise… for disrupting the lesson.”

 

The students widened their eyes in shock.

“Wait- are you embarrassed?!”

Some burst into laughter.

“THE GENIUS IS BLUSHING!!!!”

“He's human after all!!”

“GENIUS LOSES HIS PERFECT STUDENT REPUTATION STREAK!! I REPEAT-”

“Shut it, will you ?”

Some had softened expressions.

“Aww. You're only ten after all. Take your time. Good health comes first.”

“Do you need to nap more ?”

 

“I- No- thank you…” for the first time in a very long time, Veritas lost his cool in front of other people. He thought he was used to this much attention, but this attention was different from the usual kind. He had no idea how to deal with it, but still strangely felt rewarded, as if he had been looking forward to this for a lifetime.

 

On the way home, he thought about his day.

 

Today, I made friends. Sort of.

 

As some of his new friends studied with him and asked questions from time to time, Veritas realised he liked teaching.

 

Maybe I should become a teacher... he thought, as he imagined his parents’ reactions. They would surely make a fuss about it.

 

Teachers were not as well paid in Logos, but it was only one more reason for Veritas Ratio to admire and relate to their blazing desire for knowledge and determination to instruct others. Teaching, just like many other things, was an art in itself: you needed eloquence, clear thinking, patience, adaptability, empathy, resilience… and most importantly passion.

 

As the years passed, Veritas soon became a tutor in both Logos and at the palace, and grew popular among everyone in both places despite his character. However, his friendships remained on the strict basis of studying together at the library. His life was sailing smoothly, but he felt like something was amiss.

 

The nightly escapades had ceased. Veritas Ratio completely forgot about them.

That is… until he happened to pass by a shorter brown haired girl carrying a curious amount of cushions at the bazaar.

Anyone would not have paid much attention, but the now 14 year old boy could not help but be taken back to that nightly encounter. Not only did the amount of cushions coincide with what he remembered, this girl's height also appeared to be the same as the mysterious little person.

 

This time however, he ran up to her, and the sun was still high up in the sky.

***

This is really…the last time I will be doing this…, swore a now 16 year old Veritas Ratio for a thousandth time since the last thousand times. He looked at the moonlit garden as he stood by his window. The height between his room and the garden seemed to have increased, and it felt a bit scarier to go down. Maybe it was because he had grown taller, or maybe it was because he was more aware of the dangers of climbing down a window. Thankfully, he was now allowed to take nightly strolls as long as they happened on weekends, so he could sometimes simply go downstairs and use the main door instead. However, tonight was both a weekday and the thousandth “emergency need of supply”, so he had no choice but to sneak out the most dangerous way.

 

He firmly tied a bindle to his back and wore another cross body. Since the emergency message had only arrived recently, he had to empty his personal satchel in a hurry to make up for the lack of a third bindle. Of course, he made sure to reply that he was coming and sent back the mail pigeon right away earlier in the morning.

 

After successfully sneaking out from the house, he made his way to the mountains while making sure he did not run into anyone.

 

There was a hidden mansion in the mountains that belonged to his friend’s mother—or at least, this is what he assumed, since said friend kept talking about her being her “most amazing” “creator”.

 

However, it seemed like her mother had little to no interest in her as she had left the country over ten years ago for her research and never contacted her daughter ever since. Said daughter lived alone and survived off of selling and exchanging scraps, little finds and creations of her own at the downtown bazaar. It seemed like her only helper in town—who provided her food and valuable materials at night—had cut off contact with her soon after Veritas first witnessed her during one of his nightly escapades.

 

When he met her again, she fiercely ordered him to bring her food, so he brought her home and they had dinner with his family. They had to lie a little about her family, and simply told the parents that she lived with her mother in the most external areas of the town. This allowed Veritas to go to her mansion more often during the days.

 

Although she was a pretty upright person, her bossy attitude did not falter over those 2 years of mutual friendship. But he forgave her easily, as she reminded him of his younger sister, that she was an intellectual and pretty much worth talking to.

 

When he asked her name, she simply answered that she was “about 70% accurate of her creator's child self” whose name was Madam Herta, and started an endless spiral of compliments about said “creator”, so he simply called her “Herta”.

Even if he had not frequented many children, Veritas knew that this was quite an unusual way to talk about your mother. Is she truly as amazing as you give her credit for ?…, he would sometimes think.

He even asked her if she wanted to be adopted, but she told him that she was older than she looked and was perfectly capable of taking care of herself on her own.

 

Herta liked to work on her own original creations, and gave Veritas the freedom to do whatever he wanted in the mansion (as long as he did not “explode the house”) in exchange for material and food supply. This played a great role in the boy's learning scope as he was not only given access to a whole set of books and papers he had never read before, but he was also allowed to experiment and make his own creations in the laboratories.

This time, the girl asked him to bring a very specific paper from the archives of the school library and more materials as usual.

 

The paper was about +ANIMA. Written by Madam Herta herself. Veritas wondered if she had been a teacher in this school before.

 

Apparently, Herta had received a letter on the subject from Madam Herta 4 years ago, but had forgotten about it as she was focused on other projects. Unsurprisingly, Veritas face-palmed at the revelation, but thought all of this did not quite add up.

Herta is a smart girl and remembers things in their finest details. Certainly, she does forget the things that don't interest her, but it sounds impossible to me that she would ever forget something related to the "person she adores most in the entire world".

 

The letter stressed that Madam Herta had discovered that the phenomenon’s appearance could be dated up to at most 50 years ago, but had only recently received scientific attention. She wanted to learn more about them, especially because some animals were known to live longer than the average human, and it was possible that +ANIMA people could inherit this longevity trait. She wanted Herta to gather more information on her side, as there was no way there were not any +ANIMAS in Logos.

 

But I have never heard about them before, thought the blueberry haired boy.

...unless they're hiding from us, which would be understandable considering the amount of stigma and danger they could face.

… …

At the end of summer, the season of monsoon began. And after a heavy rain, Veritas went to check on Herta because he worried the mansion would be damaged and endanger the girl on the go.

He had not expected to find the entire place devoid of the ever-present girl. She would only ever step outside to collect scraps and materials that were absolutely needed as soon as possible, so Veritas waited, waited, and waited again… until it became worrying.

With a tinge of panic in his movements, he rushed outside in the steepness of the earthy mountains and slipped a few times on the wet mossy ground. Despite the difficulties, he kept looking for her, until he found a ravine and spotted a light brown spot at the bottom: it was her. It was Herta.

 

He felt deeply relieved, and let himself slide down the slope to join his only true friend. She seemed busy looking for something in the water, so he sat down on a rock next to her.

 

“You know, I thought something had happened to you.”

 

He looked at the pale post-rain sky and closed his eyes. “I was scared for nothing.”

 

He listened to the clear bubbly sound of the stream. It was a little cold, and his clothes were all wet, but the most important thing was that his friend was okay.

 

Silence.

 

“Are you not answering ?”

 

The usual fast paced and high pitched voice of the talkative girl was not heard ever since he started talking.

 

Veritas opened his eyes and looked at his friend.

 

“...”

 

He crouched next to her. The water reached a bit above his knees.

 

“...”

 

... ...

 

Veritas carried his "unconscious" friend on his back to her mansion. It took him a while to find her, but the ravine was actually not that far away, so he could bring her back within at least least an hour. He was exhausted, and Herta was heavy, but he managed to take her to the inside laboratory and gently placed her on top of the table. He finally sat on a nearby chair and sighed.

 

"So you were an android."

 

He looked around and brought a few tools to attempt fixing her "unconscious state".

 

I have never seen such technology before, but it doesn't seem like she was damaged in any way. I wonder what caused her to shut off.

 

That is when he spotted a small button on her nape, hidden behind her long brown hair. He attempted to press it, but of course, his finger was too big, so he looked for a smaller tool among those he had found. Thankfully, this time—thanks to the tool—the button was pressed, and a pre-registered (?) audio message successfully triggered.

 

[Bzzt.]

 

"..."

 

[Ahem. Don't attempt to fix it. Just put her next to the purple door in the lab and wait.]

 

If your average townsfolk heard this message, they would have thought it was ghost... Is this some kind of intelligent dialogue, or a simple pre-recorded message ?

 

[Hurry up.]

 

"..."

 

Well, there is no way I can tell with this little information. I'll figure it out later.

 

Veritas carried Herta's body to the door, and waited patiently when it suddenly opened and swallowed his friend into darkness.

 

"What..."

 

A screen then lit up on the wall behind him with a buzz.

 

[Alright. From her memories, I can tell you're a smart one, so I'll give you a little present. My creation's memory isn't flawless at the moment—even though its appearance is—so some human help wouldn't hurt much.]

 

"Wait... Can you hear me ?"

 

[...]

 

"Hahh. So this isn't a pre-recorded message after all."

 

[Whatever. I'm offering you years of knowledge. Years of knowledge from the great—one AND only—✧.*+ﾟ*｡ Madam Herta ｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+*⁠.⁠✧. You have surely already heard about me. In exchange, I want you to help with my research, is that understood ?]

 

"..."

 

[Very well then. Just follow the instructions on the screen. You can do this much on your own.]

 

Since that day, Veritas did not receive any more messages from "Madam Herta". He was however thankful for the database she had left him with.

According to the data, the Herta he knew was an android among thousands. They all had the same appearance, but a slightly different personality. There were currently three in the mansion that were used interchangeably in order to make the most of their lifetime. Thanks to the laboratory's technology, he could easily transfer memory files in each android as he wished, and be taught new things by said android depending on the file's content.

Herta forgetting about a letter from four years ago could be explained by the fact that each android had a limited memory storage. It happened rarely, but some data could get lost whenever a "Herta" is left out of service for too long in the wild.

 

It's a miracle that nobody has found any of them for so long. Over ten years ago..., thought the boy, remembering his friend's words.

 

... ...

 

On the outskirts of Philos, people convened in secret. It was almost time...

The rebellion was near, and so was the end of the empire.