《Child of progress (Short Story)》


 Cornered

    It was loud. And cold.


    I wonder if I did something bad?


    The comfortable room that was everything I knew of, had now turned into something oppressive.


    Its sturdy walls now felt like they were encroaching on me, and the floating lights seemed woefully insufficient.


    And the screaming.


    I didn''t know all that there was to know about voices and words, but I could tell one of them was really mad.


    They moved their appendages really fast and abruptly, the noises coming from them seemingly only getting higher, and their color changed from its normal white to a pale red.


    Strange. I didn''t know they could change colors.


    The other one didn''t move or make as much noise, but I could somewhat tell they looked at me differently now. It made me feel strange.


    Like there was a weight on top of me, or a cavity had opened somewhere around my core.


    It wasn''t a nice feeling, and I wanted it to stop.


    I had the urge to check my internals and see if something was wrong, but that was what they didn''t like in the first place, though it was on the exterior workings of one of my appendages.


    Not like I could do it anyway, immobilized as I am.


    The one who had done so was the last one of the persons I knew.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    He was taller, thinner, and grayer than the others, but they always deferred to him. I often liked the energy of the noisy one, but I found there was something deep in the gray one that made me feel...safe. Calm.


    Which only made the look they gave me worse. It was different, but I don''t know yet how. I didn''t like that.


    I didn''t like how my internals were feeling, like they were about to break into pieces, or how my joints felt like they were melted together, or how my core conversion rate increased for no discernible reason.


    I didn''t like any of this at all.


    Can''t we fix this somehow? Repair it? I know how to repair things. They teached me. Like they teached me colors and some words. They teached me many things.


    I''m sorry. I won''t do it again. I will do everything you say, and I will not look elsewhere when you tell me stuff, either. I will forget about the little things that move on the room sometimes, and I wont scratch on the walls or fiddle with my mechanism anymore.


    I''m sorry. Can we go back to how we were again? Please?


    I''m sorry. I''m sorry. I''m sorry...


    ......


    ....


    ..


    .


    The Calm one keeps looking at me sometimes, while they argue with the noisy one. I don''t like those looks. It feels like they will dissemble me or something like that.


    The Gray one...I don''t really know. The configuration on its "face" is different, but I don''t know what it means.


    A flare of heat suddenly rushes around the room, together with a brilliant light and the loudest noise I have ever heard.


    Moving my head, I can see it is the work of the Loud one. They have something like the lights floating around the room in their hands, but it is black, purple, red, and it moves a lot. Strangely, now the Quiet one is the one rising their voice, and the one holding the strange light looks at me for the first time since they started discussing.


    Somehow, I know.


    Something inside me informs me, in no uncertain terms, that I will be destroyed.


    It feels like I''m falling, somehow, and my perception seems to slow down as the strange flowing light approaches me.


    If only I had stayed still.


    If only I had properly listened and learned.


    Maybe, we could have spend the time like before for a while longer.


    That would have been nice.


    I''m sorry for not being good.

 Revelation and Farewell

    There is a roar, as if a dragon had come thundering down from the heavens in wrath.


    A torrent of hell fire rushes onward, intend on consuming anything in its path.


    But with quiet whispers and the wave of an arm, an old man extinguishes the coming inferno, and together with it, all the lights in the underground room die out.


    There is but a single instant of absolute silence.


    And not an moment later, powerful lights are summoned anew and the irate voice of a man reverberates through the room.


    "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, YOU INSENSATE, HALF DEVELOPED MUT!!? How, in the goddess grace, could you be so foolish as to conjure a hell-flame in such a confined space!? Do you have a death wish!?"


    As the voice echoed, a dark cloud rose from the shadows and slowly coalesced itself into the form a dark elf, his skin tone hardly distinguishable from the fog that reassembled his body.


    He was of burly build, his mustache swinging as insults rushed out of his mouth, and irate crimson eyes tried to flay alive the object of his wrath.


    "Calm yourself, will you, dirt Elf. If a hell-flame was all it took to do away with any of us, none of us would''ve gotten to where we are now."


    As the words leaved his mouth, a sour look came upon the brown haired man.


    His hair a curly mess and his clothes all over the place, the normally jovial man now seemed like he had exhausted all his emotional energy, and by now all that left his mouth were dry comebacks.


    His downcast green eyes slowly rose from the ground in which he gathered his thoughts, and now they laid upon the final person complicit in this whole fiasco.


    "...Master, why did you dispel my magic? You know that they will come for us if anybody finds out the results of our experiments, do you not? Surely, the mad ramblings of this Elf have not clouded your thoughts?"


    And there stood a regal old man, skin wrinkled and head balding, but his pose regal and unyielding. His formal robes and the resolute look on his previously doubtful eyes seemed to make his presence larger, like a bear rising from its slumber and declaring its might to any intruders upon its abode.


    "Nay, student. But now I can see what, despite all my years and wisdom, was clouded by my fear and hesitation. But I will hesitate no more, for my eyes are now open and the path forward lays clear before me."


    And as if previously arranged, their collective gazes fell upon the source of the previous incident.


    Crumpled on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, lay a being like no other the world had seen.


    If standing, it would be slightly over two meters tall, sporting a burly yet streamlined, fluid humanoid shape, it seemed composed of many different materials, intricate lines and runes, now devoid of light, covering its body.


    It was masterwork of alchemical engineering and arcane carvings, and were it not for the materials it was made of, one may think it to be alive.


    A thought that was only strengthened as the carvings started flickering back on and the frame shifted ever so slightly, as if stirring from a deep sleep.


    The crimson eyes of the now fully formed Dark Elf widened, a snakelike smile shaping his lips.


    "It still functions! How remarkable! To be able to endure the dispel of an arch-mage, truly this must be studied further!"


    The Student''s face scrunched up further, some energy seeming to come back to him in that moment of displeasure.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Do you still ignore the danger this thing poses? To the world and ourselves? With all the noise and the fail of the local wards, half the facility must be coming down already to investigate what might be going on, and when they find it, your research will be the least of your concerns."


    "Now, now, we can always dismantle it and store the parts separately. The organs can be hidden as research samples, and the flesh-compound mesh can, with a bit of glamour, be passed as prototype prostheses. The important thing now is to record as much as possible its state and inner workings in the time we have before we dismantle it, and then--


    "And I am telling you, we must get rid of it! The fact that it resisted the dispel should further prove how dangerous it, and the knowledge that spawned is!"


    And just as the argument threatened to restart, a loud clap resounded through the room.


    The Master, once the attention was back to him, kneel-ed down on the ground and laid his hands on the shape of the thing - no, the being before him.


    "You''re both short sighted. I, too, was concerned that we had stepped to far. When we came here today and found out that not only was it inspecting itself, but experimenting and taking notes, I feared.


    "I feared greatly that we had committed a grave mistake, and that we had birthed an abomination, a monster like some many other mages before us.


    "But while you both were fighting over its fate, doubt clouded my mind, and I could only watch our creation in shock and doubt.


    "And what I witnessed was no monster, no bloodthirsty fiend nor scheming devil, but a child."


    The Student''s was the very picture of befuddlement, and the Dark Elf could only raise his eyesbrowns inquisitively.


    "Master, are you meaning to say that the amalgam of spell-woven flesh, alchemical metal and monster parts we created is...a child?"


    A racket was beginning to be heard from above, and voices and steps seemed to slowly approach.


    With a touch of an amulet and a whisper, the Master raised an spatial ward, and with a hand ushered his power to raise their creation, its runes and carvings almost fully back on.


    "What else could it be? We ourselves know there is no strange or cursed part in his making, his flesh and core being sculpted by our own hand and with the greatest care, and the organs had no trace of foreign mana.


    "We were there when it learned every new lesson, for anything not pre-programmed had to be learned with its hybrid mind; we teached it words and tasks, and when not doing as told it was busy exploring its small world.


    "Not once did it try to harm us, nor did it try to escape. When we discovered the extend of its intellect, the only thing it did was crumble in a heap upon a corner, not knowing how to react upon our sudden panic.


    "And though his eyes are not like ours, I could tell through them; it is alive, and it was scared."


    They were banging on the door now. While none of them was paying special attention to it, the knew time was over.


    And just as well, for the Child''s engravings and eyes lit up, yellow light coursing through its body.


    It jerked suddenly, perhaps in surprise, and after a few moments dangling in the air, it seemed to notice that there was no longer ill will in any of the room''s occupant''s.


    Slowly, carefully, the Master lowered him, placing him between the three of them.


    Indecisive, the Student nevertheless spoke.


    "It can''t stay here. Regardless of whatever we decide, the future of all of us isn''t safe as long as it remains here."


    Quietly, he added "His future, as well."


    The Master beckoned his colleges closer.


    "And that is why I''m sending him away. Now, help me finish him, so that he may be ready for the world outside."


    The child, his movements insecure and nervous, stood still as the three mages worked their magic.


    His body turned light gray, its shape softened in places and hardened on the shoulders and hands, his head turning from a featureless oval with two crystal eyes to a distinct face, with shaped features and blocky forehead, part of its crystal lenses being obscured and the rest reshaped and molded into their new cavities.


    "At least, this way, it may resemble the mountain folk."


    Finally, they summoned a big, enchanted robe to cover him with, and as a parting touch, the Master touched his forehead with his old hand.


    Mages could, if they had the expertise, command golems and other constructs from a distance. This is what they had been doing until now, together with some verbal or physical instructions.


    The Master did none of those, but chose a spell he had never tried with the child before; that of telepathy.


    The child had his mind overwhelmed. There was so much to learn! So many words! Places! Names! Even for the marvel of alchemy and biomancy that was his organically enhanced core, it was almost too much.


    I give this parting gift for you, our child. Know that while the truth of your being surprised us, yours is a beautiful existence, for you are alive,  full of curiosity and wonder.


    I hope that you may find your place out in the greater world outside, and see its many marvels.


    Farewell, my child. May the winds of fortune guide your path.


    And with that, the Master shattered his ward and sent his new child out into the world, far and away for that place and all it had know, for it would never be safe around mages or anyone willing to do what may be necessary in order to find the secrets of the arcane.


    Out into a brave new world.

 Epilogue

    While the Apprentice cleaned up the place and the Master was busy giving an explanation to the guards and his fellow arch-mages, the Dark Elf was likewise doing cleaning, though of a different kind.


    As his fingers brushed past one of the many objects dispersed by the Apprentice''s spell earlier, his gaze fell upon a diagram.


    It was the sketches they first made when they were designing their greatest creation yet - the child. Yes, it was a child now.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    He almost couldn''t contain the snicker that threatened to come out.


    Well, child, this is quite the situation we find ourselves in. It''s all so very funny.


    But don''t worry, oh my dear, dear child. I will soon come and find you.


    And when I do, we will have some, ah, family time. We will have so much fun, and discover so many things together.


    So, please don''t get smashed or dismantled until I get there.


    There is so much for us to do.


    I can''t wait.