Welcome to Gaia! ::

Genesis listened intently to both Lukas and Mord before nodding, still trying to make sense of this man. He was different. More different than most things the robot had ever encountered. Only the Northwesterners were of greater oddity.
"I see..." He paused to think, "So there must still be other life out there. Completely separate from the simulation or any faction. How fascinating." Genesis stated, a spark of childish curiosity lit his eyes. This was something unheard of; evolved humans, living within the most dangerous of conditions. And there were possibly more.
The Caretaker suddenly tensed, all excitement dismissed from his expression. His head turned in the direction of Southeast. He could sense...no, feel the loss. The loss of hundreds of lives. Genesis blinked rapidly, as if trying to rid his eyes of nonexistent tears. His voice changed slightly in tone, sounding halfway between his own and a mechanized version of Aerilo's, "They've...lost. West has been terminated. Only few survivors remain."





Chris saw the plumes of smoke, heard the sounds of warfare, felt the devastation that all of West now held in their slowing hearts. He nearly collapsed, both exhaustion and emotional pain ripping at his limbs. That was his family being destroyed... Again, by Southeast. He noticed a few fleeing trucks not far away, recognizing them as West's. He ran off in that direction, waving his arms to catch their attention.





Devon settled back against the wall, shaken only by the vehicle's motions. He watched the battle slip away behind them, growing smaller with the distance, "I knew this would happen." He swallowed hard, "I knew we wouldn't survive this. But... I never thought I would have to live to make a decision afterward."
Layla chuckled once bitterly, "It's easy to plan on dying. The hard part is dealing with the aftermath when life chooses to screw you over."
"Yeah..." He trailed off, closing his eyes. The flames still burned behind his eyelids, the carnage continued. "I just wish I knew what to do. I hate feeling this clueless, this helpless. We barely have a faction left, and our homeland is going to hell anyway. You're being exiled. Southeast is a goddamn lie, and the simulation is stronger than ever..."
"Put it like that, and life sounds absolutely depressing." She commented, attempting to sit up. Only to be knocked down again by the truck's sudden stop.
Everyone tensed, anticipating the worst. Was it a Caretaker? Had Southeast caught up? The minutes dragged on, a muffled conversation took place outside. The other two trucks could be heard driving again, and a figure walked around to the back entrance of this one. The boy's expression was just as troubled as any other survivor's, but relaxed into a bit of relief as he saw Devon aboard.
"Chris! How did you...?" He immediately started to ask as the kid found a seat near him, but halted when Chris gave him a gesture of dismissal.
"It's a long, complicated story. And frankly, I'm too damn tired to tell it right now." Chris responded, his eyes scanning over the other passengers. "So...this is everyone that we could save? Man, how did it ever get like this...?"

"Okay, so basically, you guys f*cked up and that chick we just saw, who can get rid of Caretakers like that, are failed experiments and outside there are a whole bunch of people who want this place gone? No wonder it feels like the whole world's against us, God." Virgil said with a sigh. "So why did you guys pick me? How does the selection process for a Guardian work out?" Virgil asked, figuring he might as well see just how far the rabbit hole went.

"Sounds to me like you all are doing the exact same things that burned the world the first time. Are all of you this stupid or does it take practice?" Mord sounded completely serious as he spoke without a drop of sarcasm in his tone. He began walking towards the trouble everyone was so concerned about. "If the worlds burning a second time, or at least coming around to it, we all have a responsibility to prevent it any way we can. You survive and get strong by not repeating the same stupid crap you did that wound you in trouble the first time. Hawk told me crazy is doing the same thing over and over and thinking that the end result will somehow be different. You want different you do it different." he didn’t know what the trouble exactly was nor how far away but he wasn’t going to let another disaster happen without at least being there himself. If it was a dream it was important, if it wasn’t a dream it was important. He walked where everyone heads were pointed.

"So, where do we go now?" Layla finally asked, her question sounded awkward in the previous silence. She now sat up, still facing the others while leaned back against the wall. Neither one of them really wanted to answer, or perhaps even they didn't know, but Devon was the first to open his mouth.
"We're probably going to stop at East's territory. I'm sure these things are running low on fuel by now, and most of us require more intensive medical care. Plus, if any of Southeast's forces try to follow us, we're much safer behind barricades and a thousand allied soldiers." He replied with a shrug.
She grimaced, "Well...if you do plan to go there, then I shall have to be left behind." She crossed her arms over her chest, "I am unwelcome on their soil. Any Northerner is. Remember the battle, eight years ago? It relates to that. They deemed us traitors for retreating, for merely protecting our land."
Layla leaned even further back, to the point of almost lying down again. She was clearly bitter over the ordeal. East was easily the bigger hypocrite in their rivalry, for their people had done the exact same in the end. She glared at a loose strand of hair that hung in her face.
"But you're not with North anymore, are you? Since your suit died in the conflict." Devon spoke with renewed interest, "Just tell them that. If anything, they might even welcome you in as a new soldier against North."

The passengers faded back into silence. Thunder rumbled far above, followed by a downpour of polluted rain. Chalky, grey water streaked down the windows as East's territory came into focus. A metallic wall surrounded the property, not nearly as tall as North's or Southeast's, topped with barbed wire. Two rows of ten soldiers lined either side of the single entrance, all bearing guns and innumerable hidden weapons. No action was taken until the final two stepped in front of the truck, forcing it to stop. The others peered inside at the passengers.
Layla remained where she was, unmoving and seemingly uncaring. She was ignored altogether until one man recognized her armor, "Hey! This one's not a Westerner."
Five rifles were now aimed at her. Layla coolly turned just her head to them, her voice a flat monotone, "You are correct, however... no longer am I to be affiliated with North. I have brought great dishonor upon myself, and as soon as news falls over the ears of my people, I will officially be banished for life."
There was an excited uproar of whispers between the guards, weapons lowered on incident. The first man smirked and lowered his own gun, "Heh! A traitor just like your whole faction, eh?" He asked with smug amusement, "Alright, you may pass with the rest of 'em. No guarantee on how the others inside will react, though."
The vehicle resumed moving as the soldiers cleared out of the way. Beyond the wall were two more walls, decreasing in size and increasing in security the further in they went. The road widened out into a spiral around a steep crater, leading down to the nestled civilization. The city was surprisingly large, albeit not in height; it sprawled all the way to the outermost confines of the sunken ground. Black smog expelled from the exhaust pipes of buildings and construction machines, adding to the depressing atmosphere of this faction. Every civilian walked with fatigue in their step and a rifle in hand.





"To deny the inevitable is just as foolish." Genesis said mostly to himself, "But... how do you intend to stop a full war, single-handedly?"



Raowan shook his head, "Not yet. Only the other Administrators, and they mostly remain outside of this world. That is why I am informing the guardians."



Eva stood up straight, the pain in her side now dulled, her breath again caught. Odessa hadn't yet made a single move, and it seemed as though she never would. And neither would Eva. She merely continued to watch her opponent, well aware of the woman's superior speed and strength.

Odessa kept her eyes on Eva, though she too was silent and still, just like everyone within the Northwest HQ.

Her hair started to stir as a breeze formed within the room, whipping about, twisting, dancing, shifting. Soon the wind was blowing through the whole HQ, and above it, the winds stirred. On it carried the sound of water dripping, fire crackling, and somehow...

Plants growing.

Lukas and Isabella stepped up and held me close, holding me, comfortingly as I slumped down, as the bright sunny green clearing went black.

~~~

At the gates of southeast, Layla's soul bearing mech lay, broken and dieing. It's heartbeat was thumping slowly, it still ever slowly fading away.

Something happened. Metal started to slowly, ever so slowly, reform back into shape. Flesh knitted together. It's heartbeat grew stronger.

The Mech rose, no pilot within to guide it's movements, but something was there, merged with it as it healed at an incredible rate to look as if it nver was broken or beaten at all.

Alarmes went up from the Southeast guards, but before they could do anything, the lone mech had turned and ran, loping off like a gazelle across the barren landscape.

Genesis considered this, at first hesitant to even budge. This man had just been at his throat with a knife moments before, and now led the way to aiding unknown people. He was intriguing. The Caretaker glanced to the family, then to the darkening sky, and back to them, "I'll be back. Don't allow Eva to follow me, please." He told them with a nod, then caught up to Mord. The howling wind around them teemed with power, with life.



There was a flicker, a distortion in the digital sky above them. Just a brief ripple of grey digits before it reformed normally. Raowan pointed to the site of the error, "Because of all these massive changes recently, the system has grown unstable. Those breaks have been occurring with an alarming increase in rate, and that can only mean that a more devastating disruption is on the way. It especially frightens me how none of the Caretakers have done anything to correct it, when something is very obviously wrong." He shook his head, "Either they don't recognize it as an error, or they can find no method of correction. Which means that something has to be done manually... and such a repair is only safe while the system is shut down." He gestured toward the looming city, "When the system is shut down, all of those people will suddenly awaken in the real world. And that could easily turn into mass hysteria. Occasionally, the Awakening can cause a person to go insane, or in the worst case scenario, they could die instantly of a heart attack. It's all due to the shock of the transfer. But as that happens, we need to be able to keep careful control over the situation. This is why I need more people aware — no one is going to trust a robot in the real world, not after seeing what they've done in here."




They followed the spiral down to the very base level, which was cluttered with junky buildings and halfway-destroyed vehicles. Everything was so...grey. Even the people seemed to have a permanent layer of grey stuck to their skin and clothes. The polluted rain started to fall harder, leaving murky pools of black in the dips of the road. Layla couldn't help but feel a tinge of pity for this faction, "Is it always this...bleak, here? The buildings are all so dingy. I mean, North was never clean by any standard, but it was never this filthy, either."
Devon shrugged with nonchalance, "This is just a normal day for them. It's so dirty because they still use fossil fuels — oil, coal, gas. They couldn't get the turbines and cores that other factions have, so they just make do with what they've got. This crater is actually not too far above an oil cell, which makes for easy access."
The truck came to a stop, and everyone was ushered out by a medical team. Layla wobbled into the building with the rest of them, pain shooting up her leg as the previous drug wore off. She could feel all eyes on her, some curious and others full of contempt. This was the consequence of a faction's label; the hatred of hundreds based solely on name. She settled into one of the many unoccupied beds, eying the Westerners from the other two trucks. There weren't many. They all had that tired, sad expression which most Easterners wore naturally. Layla closed her eyes and turned away from the group, all too aware of the greyness seeping into her own existence.


((A rather fitting song for East at the moment.))

Mord kept walking and as Genesis caught up he spoke. "Im coming to term this isn't a dream. I never have dreams this detailed. So im going to choose to do something different too. Normaly I avoid trouble I don't need to get myself into, second I never met a robot before, so I want to talk with you. Third, I'm going to respect you and value what youve got to say. From what I've gathered the simulation is something important, humans and robots both have a stake in it. Now what I cant figure out at all is why anything is important to a robot. They are tools in all the old stories. They are smart and strong and fast and dont get tired or bored. But those are stories. I want to know the real story so I want a robot to teach me about all this, about the robots about all this simulation stuff. I don't like being left out of the loop and I need a lot of info. I think its time a tool taught the user a little something don't you?" Mord suddenly turned to look Genesis in the eye. He kept walking but backwards as he payed attention to the machine.

Time passed, and the people of East started to murmur to eachother. Their words and rumors eventually reached the ears of devon, Chris, Layla and the others.

It was about a lone Mech. And odd one which had been spotted coming from Southeast's direction, as if to pass by East's city. It moved erratically, jumping, doing cartwheels, dancing. The people of East were confused by it.

But the most noteworhty thing about this Mech was the description of it.

It sounded exactly like the Mech Layla piloted before it had been beaten by Southeast.

But there was no description of damage anywhere on the machine. It sounded whole, shiny, and new.