At the End of the World

C-1: Arcadian Wilds

My whole body is numb from this rebounding pain washing through me.  It takes me a moment to find my sight as I shake off this cloud of unconsciousness.  The pain slowly fades as my body takes on a humanoid appearance as if it's following some kind of built-in program.  The first thing that hits me is how massive the world around me looks.

The grass and dirt are burned from a fight I have no record of.  The trees are broken like toothpicks in a circular area; their branches scattered across the ground.  The sky is dotted with white, yellow, and the occasional blue, with a large white moon shining a surprisingly large amount of light on the environment.

Something in my psyche doesn't feel right at all and the problem shows itself to be an unconscious hybrid of man and machine.  Measuring his forearm alone shows I only come up to his wrist from his elbow.  His hand drops limply to the ground as an invisible hand clutches my abdomen and a shadow of fear settles in me.  I shake it off just enough to focus on his deathly still form.

His aura feels like the embers of a pilot; his mind is swirling with memories of the past -both recent and distant.  I pick up his arm a second time and wrap both my hands around his wrist -feeling a steady pulse.

Looking at my own hands I see red sleeves ending in silver gloves with two yellow buttons; all wrapped around thin arms.  His arms are well-built, with some scarring and various wounds on medium tan skin.  His shirt is torn to bloody pieces revealing more wounds on an otherwise healthy upper body.

I cut the shirt at the sleeves and toss it away from the hybrid before sitting on his metal-alloy stomach to more easily see what I'm working on.  He doesn't move at all while I work on each of his wounds in turn.

All of the nano-alloy chunks fill their spots as I go around the area picking up more memetic poly-alloy and forge it into his new upper body armor to replace the destroyed shirt.  It's strangely comforting seeing the nanotech slip into place like a symbiote consuming its host.  His vitals appear more stable now as a helmet wraps around his head.

The problem now is where to go from here.  Connecting to the hybrid's core is simple enough; which gives me a whole new view of the little cove.  To combat the nauseating two-point view I latch onto his left shoulder and slip under his skin.  Moving his legs is easy, but finding his center of balance is trickier than anticipated.  It feels strange seeing the environment from his point of view.  However, it is better than being stuck twenty centimeters off the ground.

His memories are flooding my mind as I walk us through the forest; trying to sort out what I need from him and what led up to this situation.  It doesn't feel right that I'm essentially overriding his free-will but once he does wake up I can properly ask him why I'm here if there is a solid reason.

Violet Rose, Sunny Skye, and Xavian.  Xavian makes the most sense since the other names are attached to two girls he hasn't quit thinking about for the past hour or so.  It would be nice to meet those two...

The sky looks like a blazing red and blue inferno dancing over the dense forest of green and brown.  This doesn't make any sense now that it's midday -it should be a nice shade of blue similar to my whiptail hair- but Xavian should be able to explain this... I hope.

Our walk is surprisingly quiet as I follow a trail of smoke to its origin over the course of a few hours.  The source -to my pleasure- turns out to be a campfire with eight people sitting in a circle roasting a fresh kill of some sort.  I sit Xavian down in a meditative stance and lock his armor in stasis then check his vitals again to make sure he's fine.

"What the hell... How did he find us?!"

I slip out of Xavian's system and surprise everyone into a shocked silence.  The one who spoke up is rushing towards Xavian in a fit of irritation.  An unsettling image of Sunny, I believe, in a chokehold up against the wall by a door with wide emerald eyes and tear-stained cheeks will not leave my mind so I jump in between this new guy and Xavian.

"What in Arcadia's name...?!"

He stops abruptly as I level two buster cannons at him.  I can only hope that this gets my message across to leave Xavian alone; if not...

Another, much older gentleman calls the aggressor down.

"Sirius... stand down now!"

Sirius takes another step and I slowly charge up one cannon.  He freezes as the gun barrel glows a bright shade of pink.  It doesn't occur to me I'm now hovering away from Xavian's shoulder out in thin air.

"You're not human...!"

Sirius slowly backs off as I glance between him the older guy; my one bluff about to fade.  I look around me and, for a moment, feel terrified as I back myself towards Xavian; settling down on his shoulder.  I give the old guy -Lionex if Xavian's memory proves right- a thankful smile as I hug my knees.

Lionex nods as they all begin to chat again and I quietly observe the whole thing from my perch.  Granted, Xavian and I are now the new hot topic but at least it's better than before.

Everyone looks like they're about to start a war with how much armor they have, but strangely enough they are all a bit more relaxed than I initially thought given how Sirius basically tried waking up my sleeping Dragon.

Lionex comes over to sit beside Xavian and I watch him curiously.  He looks lost in thought for a minute before finally speaking his mind.

"Is... is he dead, little angel?"

I shake my head and wrap my hand around my wrist; indicating Xavian's hands.  Lionex looks confused as I point at his wrist and then to Xavian.

"Are you saying to check his pulse?"

Lionex feels Xavian's wrist and looks at me with concern.  I smile; motioning him to let the hand down gently.  The old man nods and goes back to his previous spot.

Listening to their fading chatter reminds me of my voice:  The sound of deafening silence on the outside; a screaming child on the inside.

It feels good sitting by a crackling fire; my body warming up as the storm in my mind dies down bit by bit.