"What do you think?" Caitlyn asked.
"Let them come to us," Artemis replied.
The two powerful monarchs of the Machine Empire were standing over a hilltop. It was way past dusk but the fires continued to rage and illuminate in the distance. The strong nightly wind blew from the north this time, signifying a slight change in the weather. It's been weeks since the last storm, it was only a matter of time before the next one arrives and extinguish the fires.
But it wasn't a normal storm. Although the Machine Empire's weather surveillance systems have not been fully activated, the instruments that have been activated are transmitting unsettling results detected from the north from which the winds were coming from.
The two of them were well aware of what was happening, there was a literal storm brewing in the horizon. Although strong storms and weather systems were more than common to experience back on Earth, the current data for the storm approaching from the north was unlike anything they've ever seen before back on Earth.
Artemis and Caitlyn were more than convinced that the storm was no ordinary storm system. The sudden evacuation of several Atira villages to the north also reinforced this presumption. Looking back, Artemis did not gain any information about unusual storms but he knows of spells that could change and control the weather.
There was still no satellite data since Artemis hasn't issued the order to do so. Moreover, the Satellite he wants to be sent up the atmosphere was to assist in military and covert operations, also he wanted it equipped with an experimental death ray. But he still has lacking materials of making it and it seems like he should have prioritized weather forecasting after all.
Caitlyn was no different to Artemis in many aspects but they differ with their goals. Artemis yearns to bring back life to the Earth and restore the planet to its prewar glory, and quite possibly restore humanity by breeding the humans inside the Utopian Territory, the promise of Utopia for qualified humans was also up on his agenda.
Caitlyn, on the other hand, had thoughts of abandoning Fordalt and seclude themselves. She could not see Artemis' logic, why rebuild an already dead planet just because a voice in your head told you so? If the voice had told him to kill himself right after he awoke from his coma, would he do it? It was frustrating but she had no choice.
Artemis gave her a bit of trust, it was the only reason keeping him from turning against her. There were no romantic feelings, Artemis didn't have the capability and Caitlyn only viewed Artemis as a friend she failed to save completely.
No matter what happened back then, before the war, after the decimation, are kept deep inside the ravines of Caitlyn's fragile memory. A human consciousness stuck in a machine and a machine stuck inside a human.
As they stood and watched, the fires continued to rage and the voices of thousands of crusaders echoed through the scorched lands. Artemis, using his night vision, used them as mere entertainment. He was fond of their hardwork in burning the forest, it gave him the impression of ants, specifically army ants.
Army ants that specified on destroying their own habitat. The scorching of the forest has damaged the ecosystem within to an astonishing extent, it was only a matter of time before it completely falls apart as the fires and the crusaders go deeper.
"Do you think they're trying to choke us out?" Caitlyn wondered and asked Artemis. She could see the yellow light from the fires reflect on Artemis' eyes. It reminded her of the past.
Stop!
She thought to herself,
Not now!
There was no time for emotion, no time for regrets, she must focus on now!
"Choking us out, probably, but I have an idea who's behind this stupid crusade," Artemis suddenly replied, churning his jaw.
"Who,?" Caitlyn asked politely.
"Before you came, before you met Valentine, she and a few others went and attacked me," Artemis explained briefly.
"Yes, I know that, what does it have to do with the cause of this mess?" Caitlyn didn't understand.
"Somebody took control of one of her former allies, he glowed blue and his sword glowed as well, same color,"
"Hm?" Caitlyn was finally forming a picture.
"She told me, that we won't last long, I knew that it was that judging by the sudden change with the man's voice and the womanly movement the man showed when he glowed,"
"A deity?"
"Maybe, but personally, I hate calling beings like those deities, It is more befitting to call that incident a sudden possession of a weak soul by a greater soul,"
"You hate calling them deities but believe in souls? Isn't that actually worse?" Caitlyn teased as she leaned her head towards her right shoulder and smiled.
"Hm, I believe that there is a human soul but I don't believe in deities, goddesses and such,"
"To be perfectly honest, Zack, you only believe in yourself most of the time," Caitlyn slightly raised her eyebrows and leaned forward against Artemis' right cheek.
"Is that a problem," He replied. He remained stoic and vigilant, Caitlyn didn't need a visual aid to see that he was processing gigabytes of information and scanning their surroundings. This little chit chat with Artemis made her distracted of what was coming.
Artemis and Caitlyn stood there for hours, after 3 hours of blank staring, the two finally agreed to sit down on the grass as they awaited results from their atmospheric instruments.
20 minutes after they sat, the first data received by the instruments were relayed to Caitlyn, Caitlyn then immediately told Artemis.
"The storm system is no ordinary system, it's a literal hurricane, a very small one at that but this data shows that it is expanding exponentially," Caitlyn relayed.
"This is strange, the northern parts of this peninsula is but a small stretch of ocean separating the peninsula, I doubt any hurricane would form at such waters, too small,"
"It is strange, this only reinforces our suspicion, should we send in a recon mission?" Caitlyn suggested.
"No, wait for further confirmation," Artemis coldly replied. Artemis then laid on his back against the grass and stared at the black, smoke-choked sky. Caitlyn's eyes were fixated on him, if she had the ability to cry, she would be balling her eyes out at this very moment but she lacks tear ducts. The shortcomings of not having a proper human body.
Why does she want to cry? It's because it was her fault that things went the way they did but for now, she wishes to keep the past from him, hoping that he'd find out on his own in the future, preferably when she had died.
The pair then hear a loud bang and an explosion rocks the forest in the distance. The explosion was large enough for its shock wave to rumble the hill a few seconds after it exploded.
"Mages," Artemis whispered as he watched intently. His eyes were like a magnifying glass, a telescope to the far unknown. He could see them, the people that were called mages casting fire spells and igniting the forest.
In the span of just a few weeks, the Theocracy's crusade has damaged a quarter of the forest and threaten to destroy half, if not, all of it if they continue, the entire sky has been blackened by a cloud of thick smoke. This thick smoke is spreading across the peninsula and speeding up the ongoing ecological disaster.
Trees were choking, plants were dying and without sunlight, no plant life could thrive, let alone, survive. It was as if a repeat of Earth was happening but in a much smaller scale, this world was indeed a new beginning for him.
Artemis stood up and walked towards Caitlyn who was staring coldly into the night, watching the sky and thinking.
"Let's go home," Artemis suddenly said.
Home? Where was that? Up until now, he considered everything as temporary, temporary shelter and temporary abodes, was he getting soft? After the past centuries, has Artemis finally regained some form of his humanity? It was something to be celebrated and even Caitlyn felt so. She was more than happy to see the Zack she knew come back to when she knew him as.
She smiled at Artemis' words and closed her eyes.
Artemis did not quite get Caitlyn's emotions at that time but he was more than pleased to call their base home and his Drones and Androids as his citizens. And as the fires raged and the lights of the blaze illuminate and shined further into the darkness, Artemis extended his right hand to Caitlyn, offering to get her up.
Again, Caitlyn was the happiest she could be. She accepted Artemis' gesture and placed her hand upon his and Artemis pulled her up from the ground and both of them stood and stared at each other. Artemis always looked cold, emotionless and void of humanity. He was always pale and lacked the glow a normal human possessed but Caitlyn saw something different that night.
Sure, he still had his terrifying aura that made it known that he was still mostly the same but she saw a shed of light in Artemis' eyes, not the eye of a robot, a machine or a logic processor but the faint light of a human whose mind has finally found its true purpose and will.
Maybe Artemis' returning memories was what's causing the sudden glow up, but he didn't really care that much. Still, he wanted to complete his mission before finally getting the rest he deserves. He will work tirelessly and use any amount of effort necessary to fulfill his goal of rebuilding the Earth.
Reviving the Earth's Gaia will take time, maybe even a hundred or thousand years or so but he won't falter, no, he will press on, with Caitlyn by his side and billions of machines back on Earth, he will wipe out any who stand in his way and build his human Utopia under the foundation and guidance of machines because humans are faulty, careless and most of the time, blinded by emotion, machines weren't and machines shall rule over them.
Machines are reign supreme!
And the one who will rule above those machines, above the humans and above the world, will be him.
"So, shall we go?" Caitlyn asked and smiled.
"We shall," Artemis replied.
As the two left the hilltop, their Androids who were standing beneath the hill quickly followed behind them, their eyes gleaming and weapons ready. The brewing storm was getting near, the data received has so far been vague but it was only a matter of time before they finally know what it is.
Being careless was a shortcoming Artemis wishes to address, he will now be more careful and not get swayed by arrogance, sure they were basically undefeated but he still needs to remember that magic was unpredictable at times, sometimes, even more powerful and devastating than anything technology could come up with and so, they should be alert.
Everyone was working as intended.