Ironclad wagons pieced together from various broken vehicle parts trundled over jagged rocks and rotting cacti, traveling across an unforgiving desert. Many-eyed horses with strange twitching muscles labored under the whips of men and women as they urged their carriages forward in search of water. Days passed before the caravan stopped, unpacking their baggage and setting up camp around a large sparkling oasis, its azure water cool and refreshing even under the unrelenting glare of the manevolent sun. People rejoiced at the temporary relief from the hardships of the road. But not everyone was outside, enjoying the precious water.

In one of the smaller wagons, one more elaborate than most of the others, sat a mechanic, tinkering away at his favorite projects. He gazed down upon his sophisticated contraptions the way a parent would look at their child. Suddenly, his attention was wrenched away from his beloved machines by several loud bangs that shook the whole room. The boy groaned as he watched small dents form on the metal doors of his wagon. He would have to straighten out the iron sheets again. It was definitely one of the blessed, based on the force of their knocks, but which one?

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" He yelled as he scrambled toward the source of the disturbance.

He slammed the red button on the side of the wall and squinted as sunlight poured into his small room through the now open doorway.

"Who is it?" He called out, and immediately regretted it, for he recognized the figure standing at the entrance as the unmistakable silhouette of his partner.

Her dark wavy hair had been tied up into a long ponytail, and it was evident that she was in a very bad mood. She dragged behind her a small bag full of scrap metal, shich she dropped promptly on his foot. He howled in pain.

"That's today's haul. Show me your progress." She growled.

"He,hey... Nora... " he chuckled weakly, backing away into his room. "You,you know... it takes a lot of time to do anything significant on,on a project like this you know..." he stammered.

"So nothing?" She asked quietly, but her piercing orange eyes were anything but calm, and Mark slowly backed away, nervously eyeing her shaking fists.

The girl's hand shot out, grabbing him by the collar. She slammed him into the wall.

"Goddammit!" She roared. "You guys obviously weren't blessed for a reason! We should have FUCKING left you all behind when you weren't chosen! But NOOOO the Elder just HAD to make us help all of you too! How long do I have to FUCKING wait till you finish your FUCKING cybernetics?!" Her knuckles dug deeper into his neck.

Mark felt a lump in the back of his neck. He hadn't done anything wrong in his life! It wasn't his fault that he hadn't gotten blessed! Why did he have to decipher and piece together ancient tech to achieve feats that the blessed could do from the moment they were born?! And why did he have to get yelled at for that?! It was unfair. So very unfair. Tears dripped from the boy's eyes and onto the girl's s hands. Nora's expression softened.

"Just... finish it, ok? My patience is running out."

Glaring at the retreating figure of Nora, Mark clenched his fist. He was going to pay her back. He was going to pay her back for all the pain and rage and hurt she had caused him. And soon. Dragging the bag of scrap metal into his wagon, he got ready to put the finishing touches on his masterpiece.