Chapter 4: Comforting Melodies
"Demon!"
"Monster!"
"He is not human."
"He is from the Government."
The voices rung in Kaze's head. He could not stand it. He had decided not to go back to the Oasis. He did not value the beautiful and peaceful environment. The society in the Oasis only brought him disgust. Dave's body was still lying there, soaked in blood. Kaze walked slowly in the rain, passing by abandoned buildings. He felt a comfortable silence. His heart softened, and he found his way to a bookstore. He opened the glass door, and walked around. There was a gloomy creepiness, but it did not bother him. He picked up a book and turned it in multiple angles, examining the object. Then he turned the book, its back facing him. He swiped off the dust on the book with his metallic hand, the blood was already washed away. The lines on the book read:
"'What is my purpose?'
Damiel was a robot, created by a scientist. The creation of him always questioned, what is he created for."
Kaze stared absently at the lines, and at his arms. What was he created for? Why did he have a human face. Or, why did he have a body of a robot? By far, everything he did seemed to have wronged people. He abandoned the book and went for the door. Just about to go out, a flyer fell from the door. He did not notice it earlier, because it was stuck to the back of the door. He picked it up and read it. Large fonts were printed on it, it went:
"THE ELVES NEED YOU. SERVE YOUR PURPOSE, TO FIGHT AND TO STRIVE"
Then there was a line under it:
"THE DARK ELVES"
Behind it was a hand-drawn map. It was roughly done, but it was readable. It was supposed to be a guild recruiting members, which was an ordinary thing. Kaze was not interested in joining a guild, but he followed the map anyways.
Soon he found himself standing in front of a building, which stood among the other buildings looking special. He gently pushed open the door that connected to the lobby, and peeked inside. The lights were not functioning, and the place had not been cleaned in years. Kaze checked the map. The cross plotted should be referring to this place, but this did no look habitable. Just at the moment he heard a voice, and then more and more voices came from upstairs. He took the stairs and found himself looking at a group of people. They did not look peculiar, just normal people.
As they saw Kaze, they stood up and readied themselves.
"Caution! A Government member is here!"
Hearing the call, reinforcements came from upstairs. Kaze wanted to explain, but his tongue had failed him. He was basically mute.
The people gave no warning, and charged at Kaze. Kaze did not plan to fight, but it was clear that he had no choice. He punched the air to try to push them away, but a member behind formed some kind of magical barrier to resist. The leading one, who appeared to be their leader, was about 20. He was slim, and his face had weird twigs rooted on it. The leader raised his arm, and wooden splints and twigs covered his arms to form a blade. Kaze tried to defend, but he could not fight all twelve at a time. He was soon bashed into all wall, and the men started beating him. They ripped of his arms, punched and kicked him, making him as miserable as possible. A big man came from the back raised a fist to knock him out.
The unconscious Kaze was thrown out of the building. The rain had stopped, and he lay on a small puddle.
Kaze woke up. He was frightened, his eyes stared in wrath. Then he realized he was not on the street, but found himself in a shabby shelter. He was sitting on a creaky bed, he looked pathetically at his ripped arm. When he turned to look at the other arm, he did not see a broken one, a whole new one that was more advanced than the previous one. Next to it was a person, a young girl, her fingers touching his arm, and dim light was emitted from it. It seemed that the light was shaping his arms, and forming metals on it.
"Good morning." The girl looked up from her work. She had brown hair that was tied into a sideways ponytail. Her face was small and well composed. She had a gentle smile on her face.
"I'm sorry I didn't ask for your permission before using my power on you, but I'm sure you would allow it." She finished Kaze's right arm and went to the other side to fix the other one. Kaze looked at his new arm. The metal casing was more authentic, the engines were well protected under it. The metal shimmered beautifully in black.
"Oh, what is your name?" This had become Kaze's most hated question. She looked embarrassed for some reason.
"I'm Mersa. My power allows me to manipulate metal, reshaping and hardening them. I can even create 'Mersium' from my palm, which is a very strong metal. Your prosthetic parts have been remade. They are now fully Mersium," Kaze made no response as usual, only looking at emptiness.
"Hey! Are you listening?" Kaze looked at Mersa, who was making a pout face at him.
"Can you nod?" Mersa said as she nodded to show Kaze. Kaze hesitated, and nodded along.
"Great! Can you smile?" Mersa gave him a bright smile, and suddenly his heart was warmed. He could feel something moving in his soul. But still, his face did not move a muscle. Kaze stared at Mersa emotionlessly, and Mersa kept smiling to try to get Kaze smile. Kaze just made Mersa embarrassed, and she looked away blushing.
"Oh, you must be thirsty," Mersa headed to a small cabinet and started digging. This reminded Kaze, he had woken up yesterday, and he had no eaten or drunk a sip of water. Yet he still felt completely fine.
Mersa stood up, her hands holding a bottle of water and handed it to Kaze. Kaze looked at Mersa, who was looking away miserably, and at the empty cabinet. He denied the offer, and pushed the bottle back at her. She looked surprised, and nodded quietly. That morning Kaze was just standing by the window gazing at the void, and Mersa was sitting next to him drawing on an old sketchbook. It would be easy to start a conversation by asking questions, but Kaze was mute.
"Will you be staying long?" The question hit him hard. He had the feeling of hospitality the moment he woke up in this tiny shelter. He liked the place more than the magnificent Oasis. In fact, he did not realize that he was no only liking the place, but Mersa. Mersa was about Excalibur's age, and she was as pretty as her. But she was not scared of Kaze, he did not make negative comments on him, and had trust in him. She had not met a person in a long time, long enough that she liked Kaze instantly when she met him.
The girl stood up and headed outside.
"I'm going to loot." Kaze followed.
"Huh? Aren't you tired from battle?" Kaze shook his head.
"Alright,"
"You can protect me." Mersa sounded extra childish, and she realized it and blushed.
Mersa held Kaze's hand, she was running excitedly that Kaze was being dragged behind. Kaze suddenly stopped, his eyes staring at the bookstore he visited earlier.
"What's that? Oh, great! A bookstore!" She looked at Kaze to confirm if he wanted to go in, and Kaze nodded.
Mersa excitedly spun around, the collection was small, but it was enough to make Mersa ecstatic. Kaze picked up the book he abandoned, and showed it to Mersa. Mersa looked at the line Kaze was pointing at.
"What is my purpose?"
Suddenly Mersa was crying. She did not know exactly, but the fact that he was muted and modified filled her with sympathy. She had to give him a good answer.
"Your purpose..."
"Is to be with me,"
Her answer was very selfish indeed, but it was the answer Kaze liked the most. He was not here to wrong people, he was here for someone else. He reached to wipe of Mersa's tears, and nodded.
That afternoon the two spent running on the deserted road. The time was so great for the two that they almost forgot that they were outside to loot. Reality dawned on them.
"Come, we have to loot," Mersa freed Kaze's hand. She had been holding it tight for the past two hours. They went inside a supermarket, which was much larger than the one Father visited.
They went inside, only to find the resources were raided and stripped. The Dark Elves controlled the area, as they were one of the strongest guilds in a certain radius. It was likely that they had stolen almost everything. Kaze and Mersa started taking things from the top shelves, as no one bothered to touch those. Mersa was no able to reach the top shelf. She struggled as she hopped to try to touch the edge of the shelf. Mersa was short after all, much shorter than a 17 should be. She looked pretty much like a 14.
Kaze did most of the looting, as he was tall enough. He packed the items into the large bag Mersa brought. Mersa left Kaze to loot and went somewhere else.
The supermarket was left with all the useless items. The place served no use, and it would probably be forgotten, or turned into a hideout. Mersa came back, and she had a plastic rose on her hair. She then took out another one and stuck it in Kaze's sweater. The something that was moving in his soul came again.
The night was as silent, as dark. But in Mersa's heart, it had been lit. In Kaze's heart, the darkness was calm, comforting. They were back in their shelter, Mersa was drawing, with Kaze next to her. Suddenly, her pen dropped, and her body fell from the table. Kaze caught her with his arms, and placed her on his lap. A rhythmic snoring came from Mersa. Kaze looked at the drawing she had been working on, and it was a house. He flipped through her sketchbook, and most of them are just houses. Then a particular one appeared. It was a fine looking couple, under them wrote "miss you, mom and dad". Now that Kaze realized, she was all alone in a house. There were a lot of reasons why they are not home, but the obvious one was that they died in the mist. He turned the page again, and it was no house. It was a young man with white hair, his body and limbs were metal. He could not recognize the face, but he knew it was him. The drawing was very detailed, Kaze in the drawing was tearing his sweater apart, showing his metal torso. There were nightmarish creatures surrounding him, instead of attacking, they all kneeled in fear. The unusual part of the drawing was that, Kaze wore a pair of white angel wings and a shining halo. On top of the drawing was a scribbled writing,
"Me and you, together, forever"
Kaze looked at Mersa, who was sleeping soundly on his lap. He reached to touch her head gently. His face formed a natural smile, so natural he did not acknowledge that he was smiling so happily looking at her.
The next morning Mersa woke up and found herself sleeping on Kaze's lap. She almost jumped and covered her face in embarrassment. It took her awhile to calm down, and he saw Kaze retracting his smile.
"Did you just smile? Did Kaze just smile?" She herself smiled to see that, and Kaze looked away to pretend he was not listening. Mersa had some biscuit for breakfast, and they decided to go out to find another looting point.
They had been searching for the whole morning, but they could not find a place that was not empty of loot. When they were about to go back, they heard humans speaking. Mersa pulled Kaze and herself into an alley, and peeked out to look. As she did, the group of people were already around the corner, and spotted her. It was the Dark Elves. Mersa quickly hid herself, her heart pounding.
"Oh, we've got a visitor in our area," a man said.
"Come out little girl," the crowd chuckled villainously and pervertedly. Kaze could not stand it, and he walked out of the alley way to face the men.
"Oh boy, you don't know when to give up." The leader said, who apparently was not surprised to see his new gear.
"Since we've met a couple times, I see the need to introduce myself. I'm Black Wood. I'll make sure your body will be sacrificed to the forest." Mersa was clutched on Kaze's arm, trembling. Kaze could even hear the metal vibrating as she shivered. Kaze gestured to tell her to stay away, but Mersa made no response. She looked at Kaze with pathetic eyes. Kaze did not know how to react, and pushed her away. He looked at her, and then at the enemy. Then a bright light came towards Kaze and Mersa, forcing her to run. She ran and ran and found that Kaze was not following. She knew he had left behind to fight.
"I'm sorry!" She wept as she escaped, into the darkness.
The light was emitted by a man behind the crowd, who was some kind of supporter. Kaze punched the air, and his arms automatically charged in that instant. Not only the casing was upgraded, but also the system inside. More than half of the crowd was blown away, leaving only four standing. The people blown away were all wounded or unconscious. Black Wood stood there, pridefully. The men behind him charged at Kaze. One of the had long claws coming out from his arms, another was really muscular. The one in front was the strongest looking, who appeared to be a walking shark. Kaze flung his arm, and a wind slowed them, but it was not powerful enough to stop them. The shark pounced on Kaze, strength wise, he was advantageous, but he was way too slow. Kaze stepped on his head a jumped behind him, the other two charged into nothing. Kaze ripped off the shark's dorsal fin, and he fell on the ground screaming in pain. He kicked the muscular man on his right, as the man grabbed his leg, he lifted himself with the other leg and kicked him in the ear. The engines on the back of his leg boosted the attack, and it almost shattered the man's skull. His grip was loosen as a result and Kaze landed next to the man with claws. The man stabbed him like a beast, only to find his claws snapped as they hit against the tense Mersium. Without his weapons, he was no match with Kaze. Kaze finished him and faced Black Wood, who was clapping his hands in appreciation.
"I see. You are ready for the true battle."
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