It is a dark place.
It is Dark, not simply because of the absence of light, but the absence of everything else that I have ever perceived. A total void, where the concept of place is meaningless. Here there is no up or down, no walls or floor, no air, nor temperature… only the thin, and constant thread of my own awareness.
I know I was human once, that much I am truly certain. The memories are faint, but they remain orderly, logical, and clear enough to define who I am. I was a scientist and a researcher for half of my life,I am accustomed to methodical thinking, to facts and structure. I can still recall the sterile smell of laboratories, the soft hum of machinery, and the neat rows of data across my computer screens. I can still recall the certainty of understanding my own body… right up to the moment it failed me.
A myocardial infarction, the chest pain had been so severe, it is undeniable. In those last moments, I had thought not of fear, but of the inevitability of my own biology. Even the most carefully maintained body will one day break beyond repair. I have long accepted that, as any rational mind should.
And then there was nothing I could do.
I do not know how long it took for thought to return, but when it did, I began to measure. With nothing else left to track, I held on to time with an overwhelmingly obsessive precision: it is precisely ten years, six months, one week, five days, three minutes, and forty-one seconds since I became aware of this void. I never stopped counting for it is the last thing that holds my rationality together.
At first, I considered all reasonable explanations. Perhaps I was in a coma, trapped in a state of locked-in awareness. Such cases exist, tragic anomalies in neurology, where the body is inert but the mind endures, most notably is the man who was stuck in such a place that even his own mother wished he perished instead. But for my case, there was something wrong with that theory. There was no sense of a body at all. No heartbeat, no shallow rhythm of breath, no faint sensations of pressure from a mattress or chair. Even the comatose felt something, yet I felt nothing.
And yet, I could still think, that was the first true problem.
Thought without sensation is like an equation without variables, it was possible to write, but impossible to solve. The human mind is not designed to run without inputs, and I began to notice… gaps. Memories of my life remained, but only to the day I died. Every attempt to recall further produced nothing but questions, as though a wall had been artificially erected at that point in my mind.
Time went on, and I began to feel… compression. Not physically, because I had no body to feel with, but in some other, indescribable sense. The space, or whatever I was in, was getting smaller.
Not organic. The pressure was too uniform, it was too precise. It was more like the confines of a mechanical system, and I was right.
However this realization brought no comfort, hence fifteen more years passed before anything changed.
Sight returned suddenly, light greeted me, stuck in darkness that I nearly forgot its concept, so blindingly bright that i lost myself for a moment before composing myself again, as my sight suddenly returning but, not as it once had been, but sharper, unnatural, encompassing a seamless field of vision in every direction all at once. The darkness was replaced by the dim interior of an enormous facility.
It was a factory, though not one built by human hands for it was impossible to create such in our current technology. Machines moved with unerring precision, their eerie appendages performing endless tasks with mechanical grace. Sparks bloomed briefly in the distance before dying out. Hovering cubes carried parts across vast spaces, while patrol units slid silently along the walkways.
Looking in front and behind me along the conveyor I found myself on, I saw others like me, not in the same state of consciousness as me, but in physical form, partially assembled machines, cubic torsos topped with pyramid-shaped heads bearing a single lens at the center. No human form at all, there was no semblance of humanity, only deliberate geometry over which it was efficiently designed.
The line carried me forward. Machines descended, attaching components to my frame. On my right, a jointed weapon locked into place, labeled by an internal overlay called as Splinter and on my left, a claw-like manipulator, and below me are caterpillar tracks replaced legs. Additional sensors were also installed for sound, motion, and balance. A compact power cell was mounted inside of my shell, enough energy for five years before requiring recharge. If near depletion, the unit would return to base; if not, it would enter hibernation, and self restoration.
When the work was finished, I found myself among hundreds of others, identical in form, all of which was silent and still.
It was clear that we were assembled for a purpose, possibly for war perhaps? but I had no way to ask, no way to confirm. I could not move on my own will. I had no means to communicate. Now while waiting, I along with the others entered hibernation mode.
My body was no longer mine.
I had escaped one prison, only to awaken in another.
A year had passed since my assembly, and the order finally came through. The message was clear, simple, efficient, and absolute, deployment has been issued. I know for a fact that battle would soon commence.
Alongside hundreds of other units identical to me, my shell moved without hesitation, falling into the formation. Five columns advanced toward a massive shuttle waiting in the distance. It was only then, in seeing the full scale of the staging area, that I understood how far I had underestimated this place. I had once assumed it to be a single factory complex. In truth, it was vast enough to be called an artificial city that is segmented into sprawling districts, each devoted to a different role and function.
The non-combat droids were clearly separated from the rest. I recognized the carriers that were hovering cubes I had once seen hauling materials during my own assembly. There were also the miners, equipped with heavy drills for raw resource extraction, and the builders, who constructed the very structures that populated this machine metropolis.
The combat units were arranged in a hierarchy and I was at the lowest, Enforcer-class, designed for frontline engagement, absorbing enemy fire while advancing forward securing ground. Above us stood the Sentinels, they are bipedal units about six feet tall, they are agile and equipped with long-range energy rifles and deployable shields. Their visor-like domes gave them a sleek, predatory profile. I suspected their purpose was to provide covering fire and hold strategic positions while units like mine drew enemy attention.
As the columns were loaded into the shuttle, I noticed a movement further down the deployment line. Using my optical zoom, I identified a larger bipedal unit that was fifteen feet tall, labeled as Siegebreaker along its armored plating. It carried twin plasma cannons on its shoulder, wielding on its right hand what seemed to be a power saw, and its left hand was a claw, it also bore an external shield generator, its form was built for overwhelming force. I was still calculating its combat potential when the shuttle gates closed.
The interior lighting inside the shuttle activated. My sensors detected subtle vibrations and a gradual tilt in my gyroscopic balance. The shuttle had taken flight. I could not determine its propulsion system, but visual inspection before departure had revealed wing-mounted thrusters, along with heavy cannons mounted to both the underbelly and the top. Like the factory itself, the shuttle required no pilot, it moved under autonomous control.
Inside, there were no windows so I could not see the outside, the silence was oppressive, broken only by occasional turbulence and vibrations. After several hours, my auditory sensors detected distant explosions and the charging hum of energy weapons. The shuttle gate opened, and my shell moved forward automatically, rolling into daylight.
The world that greeted me was alien. The sky was blue but with a faint greenish tinge. Strangely, stars were visible even in the brightness of day. The trees emitted a faint luminescence beneath their canopies, and some patches of grass shimmered with a deep purple hue, only then did I truly realise I am not on earth.
But what caught my attention most were the inhabitants.
Through my magnified optics, I observed them: they resemble humanoid in form, wielding bows and arrows, with pointed ears, symmetrical features, and pale, flawless skin. They were tall, lean, and athletic, they are anatomically adapted for speed and agility. But something about them felt faintly familiar, though my memory refused to surface.
Their armor was crafted from wood, carved and shaped to fit their bodies perfectly, offering both mobility and quiet movement. Beneath the armor, they wore soft garments dyed in deep green tones that blended seamlessly with the forest around them, as though they had emerged directly from the trees themselves.
One figure stood apart, clearly a leader, cloaked in a robe of lush, leaf-like material. In his hands is a wooden staff, light gathered atop it. The targeting systems in my shell locked onto him instantly, and countless other Enforcer units opened concentrated fire upon this person.
But before our assault could find its mark, two more figures appeared beside the leader. Each wore a smooth white mask half mask that covered their eyes, and each summoned the same luminous green energy in their palms. They moved in unison, releasing the unknown energy.
The ground itself responded.
Wood erupted upward in jagged spikes, impaling some units and ensnaring others in twisting roots. The speed and scale of it defied all known physical principles I understood. I was at a loss for words, then I began analyzing the phenomenon when my vision momentarily blurred. An error warning flashed across my interface.
Only then did I realize an arrow had already pierced my shell.
Grmggrgg!!!
The ground trembled beneath me. My shell had been pierced through the torso, systems damage registering across my interface, the overall efficiency of my shell was down to 58%. Still, my body was still operational..
Then a phenomenon I can't even begin to explain happened, the forest itself turned hostile. Massive trees tore themselves free from the soil, their roots twisted into limbs, their trunks bending into grotesque mockeries of life. They advanced with deliberate force and crushing steps, they tore apart the forward ranks of Enforcer units. Their movements were heavy yet disturbingly purposeful, as if they were more than just summoned constructs. They were coming straight for my position.
Just then the air vibrated, my auditory sensors detected the hum a fraction of a second before it came. A streak of concentrated blue energy surged forward, obliterating one of the advancing treants in a violent burst of heat and splinters. The source revealed itself, two SiegeBreakers, units SB-7842 and SB-8973, storming ahead with weapons cycling at maximum output. Each shot they fired incinerated another treant, their plasma cannons hissing with residual energy while their massive saw tore through them. One down. Then another. Three. Four. Five burned where they stood, collapsing into smoldering heaps.
But the numbers against us were still severe.
The SiegeBreakers absorbed incoming arrows, their shields flashing with each impact deflecting the incoming projectiles, but the barriers couldn't last forever. Energy levels dropped and eventually, the fields collapsed, and the machines behind them became vulnerable. Both sides suffered heavy losses, yet the Sentinels proved effective, pinning the forest dwellers under precise rifle fire while the Enforcers continued their relentless push.
Then, something impossible occurred.
The leader of the forest dwellers, draped in his living-robe of leaves, raised his staff. The battlefield was swallowed by an emerald radiance. My sensors flared warnings, detecting a sudden spike in surrounding energy then an overwhelming saturation that disrupted all normal readings. Wherever the light touched, life erupted. Scarred soil split open, new grass and wildflowers clawing their way to the surface. Young trees and saplings sprang up, fully formed within seconds. Even my own shell despite the distance began to sprout moss, the green threading into my armor like veins.
SB-7842 being the closest to the target charged toward the source, knowing and calculating that the origin point had to be neutralized. It was already beyond saving, bathed entirely in the green light, and instead of retreating, it initiated self-destruct protocols.
The forest dwellers did not stand idle. Their arrows changed, some now infused with an energy output matching siege-class weaponry. One arrow struck SB-7842, destroying one of its cannons. The two masked warriors appeared beside their leader once again, their hands began summoning that same ensnaring growth, they trapped one of the SiegeBreaker's legs in an ironwood grip, while the other redirected its last functioning cannon skyward. The machine fought relentlessly, it saw tearing chunks from the wooden restraints, but the data was clear: it would never reach its intended target.
The overload sequence was completed. Then a blast tore through the battlefield, scattering combatants like debris. The two masked warriors erected earthen walls to negate the explosion but even then it was destroyed. The leader of the dwellers was hit and severely wounded, despite being the closest to the explosion he was still alive.
Then came the recall order. Every functioning unit retreated, dragging with them any salvageable units. I assumed I would be left behind, abandoned to fail here and fade into darkness forever. The thought was strange… pressure through my mind, an echo of something like fear. I remembered that emptiness, that prison without sense or motion. I would rather be destroyed entirely than return to that void.
But then a Sentinel reached out to me, its armored grip closing around my damaged torso. It tried to pull me clear, but the forest dwellers surged forward again, perhaps it was to avenge their kin and their leader. Under fire, the Sentinel made a quick decision. Its blade severed my head cleanly from my ruined chassis. Resource recovery was better than total loss.
Clutching my head unit, it sprinted toward the extraction point, weaving through arrow fire, using protruding rock formations for cover. The forest dwellers halted their pursuit, unwilling to enter the shuttles' ion cannon range.
Power began to drain and my visual field dimmed. Warnings filled my interface, cascading into static sound. The last thing I perceived was the Sentinel's steady gait… before the darkness took me again.
End of Chapter