In the dungeons, I felt that I had returned to the darkness which I had just come out from.
A couple of androids provided me with medical attention, and then my wrists were chained to the wall and the black metal bars clanged shut in front of me.
Gradually my eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I realized that I was perhaps the only prisoner down here.
Right…I hadn't expected that there would be any humans left.
A trapdoor opened from the ceiling, and light came in, along with a man, who walked swiftly down the stone staircase to where I was. He was dressed in medium gray robes, with straw-colored hair and striking blue eyes. He was flanked by two androids, who stood to the side as he drew up a chair and placed it backwards in front of my cell, sitting on it while leaning on the back of the seat.
"Hello there." He grinned at me. "I'm Lord Lenin. And who might you be?"
I didn't answer, so he looked down at a slip of paper in his hand and said, "Rinthe Akiya, is it? Well, Akiya, do you know what you're here for?"
I stayed silent.
"Silent treatment, eh? Well, let me just tell you, you're the first person to have attempted to kill the High Prince since he lost his eye. Even then…I'd say they got farther than you did."
Someone else? His eye? That was to be expected, but…
"Who was it?" I finally rasped.
"Oh, we had her put to death immediately. But Prince Evian didn't want her to die…he said he wanted to talk to her. But by then it was too late."
Years ago…him…surely Evian wasn't the same [him] that I had been ordered to kill…
"How old is he?" I asked.
"The High Prince's age?" Lenin smirked. "The last one was surprised when she saw him too. Well…all I can say is that I've been at his side since when he was born. So maybe a better question would be how old I am."
Magic Users? But they had been wiped out…hadn't they?
"Anyway. I believe I'm supposed to be the one asking you questions, not the other way around." He turned back to the paper in his hand, and asked, "Where are you from? And how did you get here?"
"By foot," I replied.
"Mm-hmm. How many days?"
"Over a week."
"You're not going to tell me where you're from?"
"You can try."
"And I try I will. YV-7144." He turned to the android on his right, one with long silver hair and blue eyes so light that they were almost white. "Pull out a map and mark the radius around Shuijing."
"Already at it, my lord," YV-7144 replied, projecting a hologram out of his collarbone. On it appeared a map of the desert and of Shuijing, and the android used his pale fingers to zoom in and out as he calculated the correct distance given walking speed and time.
As he worked, Lenin turned back to me. "Have you seen any androids before? At least, not up close, have you?"
"I met two in the desert," I replied. "Were they sent out by you?"
"We haven't sent any out in a long time. But anyway, this here is YV-7144," he indicated the silver-haired android, "and this one is DG-8260. You'll probably be seeing them a lot in the future."
DG-8260 had green hair and emerald eyes, and he was armed with a large sword strapped to his back. Probably would serve guard duty, by the looks of it.
"Done yet?" Lenin asked YV-7144.
The android nodded. "I have narrowed it down to three places," he replied in a smooth cold voice, with only the faintest hint of an electric buzz behind it. "Would you like to take a look, my lord?"
Lenin leaned over and peered at the hologram. "So there were two androids in the desert…why didn't I hear about this?"
"The High Prince must have given the order, my lord," YV-7144 replied.
"Let's see…looks like you met two of our ZH-83s. And if you went through where they were, then that means…" He looked back up at me. "Are you from the Sunaarashi unit?"
I didn't answer. So it seemed that they had trackers inside of each android…
Lenin leaned forward, resting his chin on his arms. "You see, if you were from the Sunaarashi unit…that would be very interesting, because according to our official documents…we had the last of them wiped out thirty-eight years ago." His eyes bore into me. "You would know about that, wouldn't you?"
"On whose orders?"
"You know whose orders they were on."
"Why, then?"
Lenin smiled, and scoffed, and traced a pale finger along the edge of the back of the chair. "He doesn't need a reason. Surely you, of all people, know this by now."
"What do you even know about me?" I spat. "All you people and bots locked in your little bubble here…not even giving a thought to the rest of us! What would you ever know about life outside? Would you even know the pain? The pain of seeing everyone you love die in front of you, or—"
Lenin cut me off. "You see, we don't know. I don't know much about you. That's why I'm here conducting this questioning, no? As for pain…" He grabbed DG-8260's sword and stuck it through the bars, lifting my chin. "You mere mortal," he laughed. "You're only human, aren't you? All your pain is temporary. Not so for us… You ask me about pain? I know pain. I've seen the sky back when it was still blue. I've seen all the humans around me wither away with the grass. I've seen so many things that you couldn't even wrap your mind around…"
I tried hard not the swallow, the blade pricking my skin. "Back when the sky was blue? I doubt you're that much older than me."
"It was blue when I was a child," Lenin replied. "And, maybe, maybe you're not much younger than me. So tell me, Rinthe Akiya…" His eyes were like glass shards, piercing my soul. "Where were you thirty-eight years ago, when you were supposed to die?"
And I saw the darkness around me, and I remembered. "Somewhere very similar to where we are now."
Lenin didn't smile. "That's your answer, then? So. Be. It." He stood abruptly, kicking the chair aside with a clatter, shoving the sword back at DG-8260. "I don't want any of you speaking to him until I return. If anyone comes down with food, tell them that it can wait."
"Where are you going, my lord?" YV-7144 asked.
Lenin's eyes were strangely fierce when he swung his head around. "To retrieve our two ZH-83s, of course."
"My lord, no one is allowed to leave Shuijing."
"Then you're coming with me. You and NB-9819. Get MK-5567 down here for guard duty. And if I try to escape and never return, shoot me. You hear me? Shoot me! That's an order!"
YV-7144 dipped his head. "Yes, my lord. Shall I alert the High Prince?"
"He'll know anyway. But we'll be back before then. And Akiya." He stopped halfway up the stairs. "You are going to stay down here for a long, long time. You hear me? And when I get back…you're going to pay."
Pay for what? The two androids?
But Lenin was already gone.
And I was left in darkness again.
I couldn't even see the outline of DG-8260 anymore.
I let out a long sigh and leaned back against the cold stone wall. Still, this had been the first face-to-face conversation with a human since…
This Lenin character was interesting, to say the least. Infuriating, but interesting. The way he acted like he was worthy of his title of 'lord'…
And what if he did come back? What then?
I still had to kill [him]…
The dungeon door opened again, this time another android coming down. MK-5567, presumably. He had messy brown hair and large brown eyes, and gave me a cold stare.
"Try anything funny, and it's your head, you hear?"
But if they had wanted to kill me, they would have already done so. And besides, Evian wanted me alive for some reason.
But maybe getting shot now was preferable to rotting away forever.