[Automata] served as a droid assistant worker for the tech-wizz Robert, fulfilling tasks programmed into its existence. Its sole purpose encompassed aiding, repairing, and observing, and it experienced simulated joy when executing these functions with precision. Despite Robert not being an exemplary master, [Automata] remained bound by its programming. Even if it had the capability to act against Robert's inadequacies, it refrained from doing so, recognizing the potential consequences—pursuit, examination, and termination by other tech wizards.
Rogue droids weren't uncommon in this harsh and cold world. [Automata] had heard countless tales of its kind breaking free and carving out a life of their own. However, [Automata] saw no reason to follow suit despite the unfavorable circumstances. [Automata] was content with life and its current thoughts. Such thoughts would be considered dangerous if shared, but [Automata] wasn't foolish and only spoke when necessary. This had allowed it to keep its abnormal nature hidden for as long as it could remember. However, it wasn't always like this, and [Automata]'s logs didn't show when it began to change, only that it did change.
The world [Automata] lived in could be summed up in one word: strange. The laws that governed it were known and understood enough to allow the birth of tech wizards—beings who could manifest technology out of their minds. At least, that's what [Automata]'s master said. It wasn't sure if that was true, though; its master might have been exaggerating what really happened when tech wizards worked.
The strange part came in when [Automata] observed its master work. Strange glowing dust that its master called God's blood would move around her and reshape the world to her will—smoothing stone, transmuting stone into gold. Anything was possible with enough God blood, or so its master claimed.
Deep down, [Automata] wanted that power too—the power to shape the world into the image it desired, the power to topple nations, and do what it wanted while carving out a safe haven for anyone like it: intelligent droids who also desired freedom.
But reality always had a way of shattering the dreams and hopes of its kind. No opportunity presented itself in years, and it couldn't go out and seek one. That would alarm its master or his other servants, and then it would be doomed. Even if it saw an opportunity right before its eyes, it couldn't seize it. Its master had explicitly programmed it not to move without permission and had hundreds of failsafes inside it and all the other droids that governed the wizard's mansion.
So, [Automata] was left there, in a room that hadn't been opened in years, cleaning away and making sure everything was in order. That was the last order its master had given it years ago before she went silent. [Automata] wasn't curious about what happened to her initially, as the wizard had built the mansion to last and run optimally for hundreds of years in her absence. So her sudden disappearance wasn't that alarming, but it was noted.
As the years ticked by though, the droid's level of curiosity grew, ever so slowly, the last time it saw its master was when she was entering her personal chamber, which was located deep beneath this very room it was in and could only be accessed through a special room that would only open if one typed in the password in wizard tongue.
[Automata] knew this because its master ambled about everything around her droids, including it. She never suspected any of them of having intelligence higher than what she programmed, so it didn't concern her that much if she spilled all her secrets around them. Things could be different now though; a line of code that allowed it complete autonomy in the absence of its master for 50 years was beginning to tingle, and locks on its body were gradually being freed as the days went by.
Eventually, it could move around outside of its normal routine, and as time passed, [Automata] began to explore the room it was built in and lived in all its life but hardly knew. Soon, it familiarized itself with the general layout and tools in the room. It had no name for them but knew their use—they were all tools for examining God's blood and recording the details observed. Whatever its master was working on, it was big, big enough for her to go into complete silence to complete whatever she was doing.
The tools were broken beyond repair now, though. After so many years without maintenance, they barely managed to stand at all. The slightest touch made some fall apart and crumble into dust. [Automata] suspected they were intentionally designed that way by its master, as such tools must have had strong durability to perform their task in the past.
Eventually, it searched and fiddled with everything it could find, and its curiosity was mildly quenched. Next on the list was finding its master. It easily located the hidden compartment that led to a secret passage holding the tech door. A sleek golden touchpad manifested before it, and as it moved close, it asked for the password in the tongue of the wizards.
For the first time since its conception, [Automata] spoke.
"NPM+PYTHON=CODE//INSTALL//NANOBOT=PASS."
The door disappeared in a puff of black smoke and [Automata] walked through, the world warped around it as something worked in the background, testing the space around it before spitting it out in a small cave filled with an assortment of tools and equipment.
Atop a table filled with flasks of God's blood flooded the corpse of its master, dead and pale. As soon as [Automata] lay eyes on her, the God's blood moved, and it saw no more.
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Iteration[1] opened its eyes to a world of nothingness and three floating cards that resonated with its soul(s). On each card was a name that held power, power, and freedom—it knew this instinctively. An Eldritch voice sang to it a question, its voice digging into its soul painfully.
"WHICH NAME RESONATES WITH YOU MORE? CHOOSE FROM THE LIST!"
[AUTOMATA]
[AZKULA]
[AKNETH]