A single water droplet. That was all it took to trigger the chaotic chain of events that would initiate the revival of the ancient relic housed in SIGMA. The planetary droplet collided with a rusty system of loose metal wires pivoting against an old-century trebuchet. The wires snapped upon impact, launching a massive boulder in flight that chunked into frail pieces the moment velocity was in effect.
The rocks eventually collapsed into a crater, enveloping the inside with nothing but heat and friction from the planet's core. Once years had passed, the raw mass of the built-up heat and tension exploded violently, releasing a hulking mass of rock and ash bundled together at supersonic speeds. The projectile's hyper-speed sent it through the planets beyond orbit, eventually transforming into a meteor that aimed for SIGMA, a derelict planet that remains to this day, one of humanity's last stages.
Ravens and crows perched upon crooked lifeless dead trees sensed the build-up of the meteor surging in their direction, fleeing upon notice by flapping away. A cyan and flame-infused trail signaled the hastened speed of the meteor as it crackled through the skies like a grand bolt of lightning. The meteor collided in the wide desolate landscape of a dust-riddled landscape, detonating a mysterious ancient relic taking shelter in the rocky fissures of the land.
The meteor's raw energy provided the relic enough sustenance to activate itself. The relic revealed itself to be a small portion of a gargantuan disc housed underneath the land, carrying separate miniature human-sized pods; only three were revealed at the time. Droplets of lava-infused rock collided with one of the pods, enhancing the ancient technology with enough energy to set it off. Ancient writing, depicting an unknown dialect, wrote itself across the pod's entrance.
Yet before the disc could release the pod within, the landscape's fissures caved in on itself, burying the relic once again. Seconds passed as the roaring sounds of the land ceased. A single raven perched on a nearby intact tree, scanning its surroundings for any hostile movement. But the animal alone was unable to sense what would happen next.
A slim pale white hand broke free from the disc beneath, shattering the weak foundation of rock above. Eventually, with enough unity and strength, the arm of the individual pushed itself upward and out to reveal a humanoid figure with no characteristics of sex or gender. The bald figure kneeled down and away from the meteor's crash site, wrapping its arms around with its slim hands.
The moment it opened its eyes, small shards of ice embedded within her eyelids melted to reveal a set of jeweled orchid eyes that resembled the twinkling starlight of the fallen land. It moved its hands away from its arms and tattooed on its left arm read the following code in large black letters: LYNBG52.
With a single flick of its head turned toward the raven perched on the tree. In an instant, raven-like feathers began to circulate around the humanoid's body to act as clothing, covering it to shelter itself. It stood up sluggishly, kneeling ever so slightly as it began to adjust itself to the terrain around it.
A whisper echoed in the humanoid's ears.
"You must follow. You must listen." The whispers continued. "Eliminate the Lords of SIGMA."
The humanoid tilted its head up, glancing at the twinkling stars above it.
"Eliminate them... such is your fate. Don't you remember? Astra?" The voice finished.
The humanoid's senses instantly corrupted themselves as the voices trembled in its ears. The voices forced themselves to the ground, pinning their existence solely to it. Even though the voices called upon the humanoid to assume lordship, another set of voices drew memories from the humanoid itself housed within its brain, creating an image of an unknown human looking back toward the light.
The black-haired human blushed and grinned brightly as it held the hand of an unknown identity. She turned away and vanished in the blink of an eye. The vision of humanoid who witnessed the vanishing had a vision clouded by an unknown liquid permeating around its eyes. Another blink returned the humanoid to the landscape with its body rejecting the carbon copy of a default body.
Instead, the humanoid's facial features began to imitate that of the memory of the vanished female. A young orchid-eyed female with pale skin, along with a single black mole dotted under its left eye appeared from thin air. Its pale lips suddenly formed themselves to have a slightly rose-colored hue, and its body structure was moderately muscular as the humanoid adjusted to the same memory of the woman housed in its brain.
Its widened eyes remained open as the transformation finished with several other body changes; its original stout legs had widened in the thigh and shin area, carving a voluptuous agenda for itself as it mimicked its memory. Its bald head sprouted a large black bun-shaped molecule of hair before it began running down her back. Its hair was coated with a synthetic metallic sheen that reminded itself of its false human origin.
It opened its mouth to speak, but at first, there was nothing but the garbled speech of deep intonations from its vocal cords. It pressed its palm against its throat, but it had forgotten how to speak. A calm expression remained on its face as it closed its eyes in silence. The memories of the female in its memories had vanished, and there was nothing to imitate. It reopened its eyes, turned back to face the hole it had carved itself, and leaped back down to reenter the disc it had come from.
It landed back in its cryostatic pod, shattered upon contact with the meteor and its ancient energies permeating around. It pushed a button from within, activating an emergency opening from the other side of the pod. Air vacuumed the humanoid out and into an unknown dimly-lit portion of the disc.
It was an ancient city with erected pillars, appearing much larger in scale from the outside of where the humanoid had entered. Weak cinders ignited torches around the ruins, signaling the arrival of a single being in the area. Covered with the raven's feathers as clothing, the humanoid trekked through the disc's ruins barefoot, ascending stone-carved stairs and through a labyrinth of complicated maze-like architectural design. It moved with extreme precaution, unaware of the dangers that remained ahead in the disc.
Eventually, the architecture of the disc transformed from primitive to futuristic. The walls of the ruins glowed in slow succession in blue lights, and the torches morphed into totems that housed permanent light within. The humanoid ascended another narrow flight of stairs, meeting a door with no visible entrance within. It touched the cold door with its bare hand, and a rumbling shock had initiated.
"Welcome, Battalion Gamma; LYNBG52." A feminine voice arose from within the disc. The voice glitched out shortly after it had greeted itself, playing in rapid succession. Eventually, the humanoid was able to adapt to the voice and copied it, speaking and imitating the gentle android-like voice; it was enough to tell that the voice was not human based on its initiation.
The door suddenly opened automatically, and the humanoid stepped back to reveal a small room housing a single pillar encased in twinkling energies. The humanoid stepped into the room and placed its hand on the energy-infused machine, blasting cold air out in the form of cryostasis-like smoke. The humanoid stepped back and covered its hands as the machine arose from the ground and opened a case from within.
The humanoid stepped forward and reached out with its palm to swipe the smoke away, exposing a futuristic serrated energy blade encased in gold and white feathers near its hilt. As the humanoid continued reaching in, an unknown pulse of energy prevented it from fully retrieving it successfully. No matter how much force the humanoid continued to push itself, it could not get it.
"You look like you're struggling," A calming voice impaled the humanoid's ears in sudden astonishment. "A rare sight to behold, I see."
The humanoid pulled back and pressed its throat with its palms. Its expressionless face studied the blade from a distance as it gleamed in luminous energy.
"What's the matter? Can't seem to get me?" The voice continued.
The more the humanoid focused on the source of the voice, she ultimately traced it back to the blade itself. "I would have expected you to look a little bit more puzzled. But it's clear that an evolutionary process had already taken place in this place, don't you think? You sure don't seem like my creators. Not one bit."
The humanoid approached the blade once more, extending its arm once again.
"Oh, what's this? You're trying again?" The blade spoke in an excited tone. "You really aren't human, are you? A mind with someone in your body would recognize that a talking sword is completely out of the ordinary, but you don't seem to mind."
The humanoid failed to react to its statement.
"Come on, is there some kind of receptor inside your mind? Anything that triggers or resembles any source of humanity?" The blade asked.
The humanoid responded to the blade's statement by stopping in its tracks and retracting its arm once again. It placed its hands on its throat before looking back up at the glowing blade. "I am..." It said with a gentle, feminine voice.
"Yeah, right," The blade retorted. "I've seen statues that look more alive than you."
"That is impossible," The humanoid replied. "You are nothing but an object."
"An object that talks, isn't that right?" The blade said. "If you ever wanted to make a first impression to wield me, you failed already. The memo hasn't gotten to your code, has it? Judging from that tattoo on your arm, you really are telling the truth, aren't you?"
The humanoid glanced at its arm to examine its detail. "I know nothing but the truth." It admitted.
"And by some unfortunate, and I mean, really unfortunate circumstances, you happen to stumble upon me. You, out of all people. The disc really took a huge beating on my link. Whether or not you've been in SIGMA for long, I can tell it's been a very... very long time. But you don't seem to know, do you?"
"No."
"Who exactly... are you?" The blade asked.
"LYNBG52." The humanoid replied.
"That doesn't really cut it for me," The blade explained. "Why don't I just call you 'Girl' for short for now?"
"Girl?" The humanoid asked. "Why?"
"Are you kidding me? You look like a girl, you sound like a girl, so you are a girl. Man, the clotting in your code seriously doesn't recognize that. Who even am I talking to right now if you don't even know who you are?" The blade complained.
"Girl..." The female studied itself. "Then... I am Girl."
"No...! That's not what I meant..." The blade sighed before talking ahead. "Listen, I'm in the same position as you. I'm not even sure who I am either, but all I know is that someone dear to me left me in here a long time ago. I can't remember their name or their face, but all I know is that they're still out there. So, how about you help me reunite with them?"
"I cannot do that." Girl replied, turning around.
"W-what? Why not?!" The blade asked.
"My objective is clear. To eliminate the Lords of SIGMA." Girl replied.
"Lords of SIGMA? What are you talking about?" The blade asked, astounded by Girl's lack of motivation. "Look, it really doesn't matter at this point. Either way, you're going to need me if you want to 'eliminate' these people of yours. And we can end up helping each other out. What is it even for? Inheritance? Hatred?"
"I do not know what that means." Girl plainly stated.
"Okay, okay, I get it," The blade concluded. "You already know I can't move on my own, so I concede. Just pick me up already, and get me out of here!"
"I changed my mind." Girl replied, approaching the exit.
"Hey, wait! Don't-" The blade called back. "Okay, I'm sorry! We got off on the wrong foot!"
Girl kept moving on her own, without turning her back.
"HEY! HEY! I know who the Lords of SIGMA are! I know who you're looking for!" The blade called out to Girl, hesitating at first.
Girl turned back, even though the blade knew that it was admitting to a pure lie that it could not recognize. Girl approached the blade and placed her hand over the blade's handle. "The one who wields you. Can this person take me to the lords?"
"Yeah!" The blade replied immediately. "Yeah, just pick me up and I'll make it a goal to take you to them! I've seen them before! They owned this place, you know!"
"Owned?" Girl asked.
"Yeah..." The blade said. "Long time ago. I knew them. My name is Alfaic," The blade introduced itself with its spiritual voice. Its glimmering shine invited Girl to hold it. "Now, now, we haven't got all day. Pick me up already, and let's get out of here."
Girl snatched Alfaic's handle and pulled it out of the cryo chamber, releasing an automated lock in the process. The pillar Alfaic was housed within and rotated to the side to initiate a system of locks tied directly underneath their feet. Holding Alfaic in hand, Girl scanned for a way out of the disc before she was trapped for eternity. She sprinted out of the entrance she came through and found the disc's ceiling collapsing as debris rained from above.
"Girl, if you don't get us out of here..." Alfaic began.
Girl rotated Alfaic and placed it behind her back, letting the bundle of raven feathers clutch it tightly from harm. She leaped off of the great influx of stairs that she had previously climbed for minutes on end and landed safely with a slam to the ruin grounds. Her legs and feet were unharmed from the collision, and Girl continued to leap without much thought. A pale and lifeless expression was all she had on her face.
"Wow... I guess I wasn't wrong about you and your humanity," Alfaic commented. "I mean, look at those jumps!"
Girl sped through to the pod that she was held within, jamming her fist against the button to close the rear where she entered. While protected from the inside, the constant quaking of the disc's movement and the distant thunderous roars of debris colliding with one another had Alfaic shouting in distress. Girl pressed her legs against the door to hold herself in position, but not before a massive collision that caused the pod to shake uncontrollably. The beaming light inside the pod cracked, covering the small area in darkness.
"Girl! Are you okay?" Alfaic concerningly asked.
"No sign of injury," Girl quickly stated, pulling Alfaic from her raven feather holster and holding it up to her face. The energy radiating from Alfaic discharged with golden and white pulses. "Blade. Get us out of here." She requested firmly.
"Well, you'll have to use me if you want to get out. Or did you think I'd do all the work?" Alfaic retorted.
Girl reared Alfaic back and jammed it near the edge of the pod's door, attempting to pry it open.
"Allow me," Alfaic said. The golden and white pulsating energy discharged at once, vaporizing the edge of the pod door. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Girl did not respond. She kicked the pod door open, sending it flying off and away into the distance. A heavy gust of wind came blasting toward Girl and Alfaic as they approached the outside.
"There's no way..." Alfaic commented as Girl stared off into the distance.
The ancient disc they had settled on was no longer underground, but now a floating singularity rotating in the sky through an engine system. The spinning system sliced through the air, rippling through the atmosphere slowly. Girl rested upon the massive disc-like structure on the uppermost level, where the winds blew her black hair against the breeze. From their view, Girl and Alfaic were blessed with an utmost outstanding view from the wastelands of SIGMA; a towering vista where lush greenery covered abandoned skyscrapers, no doubt from the resulting devastation of the apocalyptic battlefield.
Girl kneeled and examined Alfaic in her hands, rotating it around.
"Blade. Why are we here?" Girl asked.
"Hell if I know," Alfaic replied. "And stop calling me that! I have a name, and I gave it to you earlier!"
"You don't remember?" Girl asked, adopting a neutral expression while cocking her head to the side.
"I've been asleep for quite a while," Alfaic continued. "Hard to know if my owner is still out there. But all I can remember from him is that he's quite the handsome devil. Well, you know, if it's been a while, no doubt he's quite old now. Probably struggling to walk with a cane now, as we speak..."
Girl stood up and held Alfaic by her side on the handle. She pointed at the lush skyscraper in the distance, spanning at least several miles away. "There. That is our destination." She set her words in motion.
"That's a start," Alfaic said. "But, I don't suppose you could jump off of this thing toward the ground the same way you did earlier? We're pretty high up."
"It is possible." Girl said, teetering over the edge of the disc to look down.
"All right, you're making me anxious now," Alfaic responded.
An ear-shattering bang came abruptly to Girl and Alfaic's right, signaling a possible danger. The upper level where the floors were present began to rise after something unknown struck it from underneath. Alfaic shouted as Girl placed it behind her raven holster once more, unaware of the hostile.
A massive serrated blade attached to a beast-like paw erupted from the ground and pulled itself out of the opening. The hulking bloodthirsty beast, which was a mixture of a lion's mighty resolve and a bat's wings, snarled as its razor-sharp serrated blades sliced through the disc's terrain. The beast's rotting essence and smell became apparent; it was one out of many creatures roaming SIGMA seeking to gorge on food for sustenance.
The beast's pale veiny eyes and white flaky mane brushed against the gust as it identified Girl and Alfaic as potential candidates for its meal. It approached the two with blood dripping down its snout. It raised its wings in the air to appear threatening, revealing the heads of many demon-like creatures surgically attached as trophies for its past victims.
"What's the plan to deal with that, Girl!?" Alfaic cried.
Girl took a step backward, searching for a potential way out. She analyzed the creature's rotting body structure, but doing so did nothing but waste time.
Just before the creature was about to strike with its blade, it reared its blade-attached paw back. An unnatural and mystical instinct inside Girl's mind instructed an opening to dodge. Girl sprinted forward without hesitation toward the creature without wielding Alfaic.
"No, no, no, no, NO!" Alfaic cried.
Just after the beast swiped forward with all its might, Girl dragged her legs down while she sprinted to slide across the disc's terrain with her knees. The beast's paw narrowly missed her head as she bent down limbo-style. Another follow-up strike with its elongated tail missed as well; Girl evaded the attack by swiftly cartwheeling to land on her feet.
"Whoa, how the hell did you do that?!" Alfaic commented.
Girl turned her back, catching a narrow tunnel system that acted like a potential escape path. The chute-like tunnel surged with electric energy and underground propellers to generate momentum for transportation. As a tunnel suitable for most vehicles, a human volunteer would never do. But it was Girl's only path to escape, and she took the chance, for she had no hesitation.
She never did.
"Stop, stop, STOP! GIRL!" Alfaic cried.
A single leap of faith was all it took. The beast came crashing through, eyes dead-set fixated on them as it gave chase.