Crashes and splashes of the cool blue were subtle alongside the hum belonging to the tram. Visions of the land being torn apart were seen. Shadows so large that mountains shivered strangled the bones of the dead beasts. A gorilla, wolf, snake, crocodile, fox, and twin dragons were their victims. Arms held them by the throats creating horrendous snaps on a scale impossible to emulate. Behind every snap, the colors faded. Once the gorilla became dust the trees sang a monotone tune and mountains crumbled. As the wolf died the golden lights saddened gray, faces of evil smiled in the clouds. The snake's bones became ash swept by winds of ice.
The Crocodile surrendered her head; her bones became strings. Blue was nulled of love. Without love, they raged uncontrolled bellowing tsunamis. Waves washed away the bones of the fox bringing joy to the masses. In the shadows of the few who celebrated lurked a greater evil beyond comprehension, snatching them in silence. Then the dragons were the last to stand. Majestic beasts born from the stones and stars, clipped of their wings they were the last of their breed. Hearts of defenders, their bones shattered long before, but their spirits carried on.
Hope remained in the world of black and white. Those shadows siphoned all the colors forcing the skies and heavens to be sealed away. Their intentions were well….but did they truly belong to them? Arms rose and the brothers released a shout that split the world and sent bolts to the skies to challenge the one true king. The throne beyond the skies. "D….."
He heard a gentle tone, "D…" it called out to him once more, "Wake up already, Dynamo," Lena persuaded the resting unit. Her fingers sprained from flicking his forehead, "We're almost there. Soldiers are doing ID checks at the gate so be ready," her voice packed with sarcasm, but he could feel the concern concealed. A quick look around pulled him away from encrypted dreams and back to reality. Both friends sat in a full train headed to the outer district of Mandaly's village block.
People of all ages and attire were around them. Excited children waiting to tour on the famed sands, older men who required rest, and other university students on break. Mandalay's beaches were timeless. The only unpleasant view was the guardian wall.
The gap between Giganto and Mandaly was populated by vast green forests, hills where the beast played on and slept. These were the only fields where you could see the stars...yet a terrible truth was within the green. Visible from the train were scrapped robots reclaimed by mother nature, rusted away from centuries. Rote respected his brothers in the war, that forest remained their final cover. But the wall...it was something else. A ring of bronze no shorter than sixty meters with the thickness of a bear's fat. "Something to behold huh? Dwarves completely scorched the forests here eons ago in their conquest. Guess his majesty planted it back as a little 'fuck you' to them."
The thought alone made the unit smile, even Lena chuckled at the thought of a petty god. Mandaly's grand walls soon ate the train, the track diverted to move along the side of the structure for the most scenic view. At such a height you could see the ocean and all its glimmers, almost like diamonds where the sea and sky met. Beneath were the pink sands and the buildings that grew shorter once you moved away in the shape of a U. Exceptions for the few shacks on the beach for rent. That's where many were headed now, but before they could all needed to be checked at the station. Unlike the one in the Destria laboratory, it was larger, bearing the nation's crest on the side. The station was built on the wall itself with a track on top and below; people incoming went in the one above and outgoing was the latter.
The group was forced into the building and guided by velvet ropes into a line for check, "Hey," Lena nudged Dynamo behind her, "Are they going to let you get away? Since...you know?" her eyes darted with the whispers. Dynamo patted her shoulder and winked. The line moved quickly. At the booth were two PD units scanning ID cards; Lena was next in line.
No issues with hers, just some worrying notifications that the PD unit had the displeasure of reading. When freed, she lingered behind the machines to scan Dynamo's. He smiled and stepped up into the line with card in hand. Identification cards were more holographic than anything, four metal corners extended from the push of a button, held together by magnetism to display information. The PD read.
Serial: NS-08819 Urd
Classification: Worker Unit
This unit has been recommissioned under the G.O.A.L. Act and has been approved by his excellency, Rote-Gigante.
Short and to the point, robot ID cards held far less information than human ones. The card was given back to the owner and the plasma gate allowed him passage. Lena trailed after with a mouth wide open, "You-"
"Told ya? I can't be burning gas running all the time, can I?" he fixed her lower jaw. Out the glass doors, salty winds greeted their nose. Bright skies and birds flew about. The doors lead to an incline that stood on the wall, an elevator to their right to take them to the base, "Huh? Since when was a sentry here?" a guard with the national crest of Rote's face stood at the end dressed as if he was in the nuclear cleanup squad; hazmat suit and all.
"Hey, you two," the stuffy voice ushered both, "Are any of you human?" his faceplate admired the thick legs Dynamo bolstered.
"Me, what's wrong?" Lena's heart was in her throat. Hints appeared in her mind of what was occurring near the ports, "Does it have to do with the ports?" sadly the guard nodded.
"We recommend you stay away from it unless you have A6 and up nanomachines integrated, even then we rather you not go. There's been a strange illness going around there-people fallin' ill and been stuck in the hospital since," though the sentry tried to remain civil, the Mandaly dialect snuck through his tone. It was a comfort for people who grew up in the area though...unlike the news. "People are calling it Port disease, doctors are finding it hard to make an antibody."
The sentry's warning was delivered, after which both exited to touch the ground. Descending revealed the true marvel of the former capital of the continent; when Giganto was still a dream Mandaly ruled. An ageless dream, the ports were the most powerful in many regions, the sheer fact that millions of drams worth of resources used it as a medium only secured the ideal. The city still held roots from the old days, the innermost sect of the U were the stackhouses. Buildings from the war that grew an alarming amount of food; fit for an army and the ones constructing them. "I've never been here in a while, show me around when you have the time."
"Huh?" Lena's eyes were glued to the seas, "Isn't that part of the job?" she joked. The glass elevator touched the pavement unleashing both to the world. Stone black buildings with checkered rooftop shingles coated in white crystals. Even skyscrapers held the sloping design. The streets were damp with the occasional puddle as Lena shivered without a coat, "There's a few spots I can show you, but I wanna make a stop first," home was the destination.
Most farmers lived on the shores, but a select few chose residency in the outer region. Mandaly's terracing district, the southernmost territory, resembled the rooftops, small cozy buildings built on different levels of terrain descending the closer to the wall. Vehicles rarely drove through the stone roads. Land and sea joined hands with small pools formed on every region, springing life to countless plants. Insects and other animals called these parts home, living in unity with man. It was a short walk away from the entrance. "Whew, this is the life."
Dynamo complimented the chunk of fantasy; a village on the edge of the old days and dystopian era. Every abode were stone blocks concealed in white and red bricks, wrapped in wooden fences and roofs, "It's kind of surreal to see a spot like this…" he took in as much as he could. Clear skies and clean air. No horde of soldier bots, almost every house held a boat behind them with the occasional child; though the demographic was mostly older.
"It's nice, isn't it?" Lena giggled, "People've been trying to buy up housing here for the longest time too, but most of the homeowners are too stubborn to budge," locations like this were a golden vacation. Lena went off in a world of her own, homesick after a month of not seeing the scenic routes of the sea...though few people missed her. She strolled to the last of the houses in the street, the one with the red roof and the shade of an oak tree with a boat leaned against it. "Hey, knock knock."
She banged on the door a few times. Dynamo still looked around with hands on the sides of his legs, "Umm, Uncle it's me…?" Lena looked and knocked again. Sweat bubbled from her brow with a sudden realization.
"Maybe he's not home? You said he's a farmer right? Wanna go check his land then?" Dynamo suggested while on the fence. It cracked a bit under his weight.
Lena's hand dove to the railing over their home for the spare key, "No he's an oyster farmer-He keeps some in this lake he owns and the larger ones in the ocean," Lena gritted her teeth, "A few years ago he used to keep them all in the sea, but he got into an accident when I was a kid- Got too close to a whale and the sound popped both his eardrums," the bigger picture came into play once she opened the door. Upon first look, there was a man asleep on the couch in the center of the room. "He's deaf, but he has an earpiece."
Her uncle was an older man, built stout with a beer belly to challenge the gods. His hair short cut and messy like his facial hair. He snored a fierce storm with his arm scratching his neck. Lena's eye twitched, "Wake up already!" her fingers flicked his forehead.
"Huh?" the farmer immediately lurched up in shock, delirious his eyes met with Dynamo first, "Who're you!?" he didn't seem to be shouting, just had a monstrous tone. Dynamo pointed to the girl tapping her foot with folded arms, "Oh, why didn't you tell me you were coming back so soon!" his worry mellowed by a goofy smile and went in for a hug.
"Uncle Wilson. Where's your hearing aid?" Lena spoke slow, pronouncing her words almost cartoonishly. Wilson scratched the back of his head and yawned, a laugh escaped.
"So who's your friend!-" Wilson had one tone of speaking, loud. Though that look behind the pyromaniac's eyes wasn't allowing him to dodge the question. "I lost it last week when I went scuba diving…" his eyes feared meeting his niece's. The anger of his sister lived in her, "Aw don't worry about yer old uncle! I have a replacement coming from Skylandria!" he joked. Wilson was opposed to having it affixed to his skull like neuragears did. An old soul replied on the humble phone.
"Phew, thought you were dead for a moment," Dynamo followed Lena's way of speaking, standing directly in front of her uncle when doing so, "This a nice place you got, uncle," he gave respect to the humility of the atmosphere. A small rounded room with wooden floors to compliment the walls, a bearskin rug with a coffee table in the middle of a furnishing set centered around a television; Wilson had a console plugged into the side. Beside that was a bookcase stacked with both games and educational pieces. "Oh.."
"Don't poke at that," Lena's bow stopped him from further exploration. The duo made the old uncle laugh.
"Didn't know you found someone in the city already, you didn't even mention him!" Wison found it difficult to breathe through each chortle. Though the legs of this man were quite the feat, "Wait….those are," living history stood before the eyes of a self-educated man.
"That's right, I'm a Legbuster, Dynamo," he held out his arm. Eager was Uncle Wilson to grasp the hand of a living combat construct. Only a handful of the ten thousand still remained, and some lines were wiped entirely. Eye Snatchers; Armbombers, Hungry Bugs, Tiny Farmers, Minebusters, Seapavers, Skywings, then the illustrious Legbusters. It would be an honor for anyone to shake hands with such a veteran.
"Wh-I thought all of you guys were inactive? What's a Legbuster doing in these parts?" Dynamo had no problem showing off his identification plate to the questioning Wilson. He marveled at the sight Lena rolled her eyes at.
"Official work, I hired your niece here to help me around town on behalf of the Rote commission," a plastic smile made anyone believe. His eyes fell on the stairs that lead upstairs to a split corridor. It lead to their rooms and amenities, the standard home. "Say, uncle, you wouldn't happen to know about that port disease everyone's been talking about?"
Wilson shook his head, "Only word of mouth, nothing set in stone,"
"Word is there's something killing all the fish in the sea, it started with the minnows and herring. Then you see daimon bodies popping up on shore. That's a bad omen, whatever's causing it is linked to that disease I reckon. If the spread continues they're gonna shut down the ports-not a good sign for anybody."
Wise words left the seasoned diver's mouth. Those ports were something fierce, to shut them down meant the shutdown of Gottenfall. Dynamo was left scratching his hair. A grin on his face. "Lena, while you settle down I'll be out, gotta do some searching."
Without another word the rogue unit went to investigate the city of blue.