Yuren knelt beside a fallen meteor, its surface rough and cold beneath his fingers. He could feel the faint, lingering energy that once pulsed within it, a stark contrast to its now lifeless state. With a heavy heart, he turned his gaze to its nearby companion, equally devoid of life, and a deep sense of sorrow washed over him.
"This is the tragic fate that has befallen our kind ever since we placed our trust in humans two centuries ago," Esotonia said, her voice filled with a mixture of bitterness and resignation. "Our lifeforce was transformed into a source of energy, and our cores were twisted into mere tools of their making..." She stood motionless, her presence a powerful reminder of the pain endured. "They exploited us, drove us to toil in their relentless wars."
"What exactly transpired 200 years ago?" Yuren asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he leaned closer to her.
"That was the moment we lost our faith in humanity. It marked the beginning of a conflict that still rages on today." She gestured toward the distant city, its skyline a jagged outline against the gray sky. "Do they ever tell you where the energy that powers their cities truly comes from?"
Yuren shook his head, a frown crossing his face.
"Then let me show you," Esotonia continued, her eyes narrowing with determination. "You must experience it firsthand to understand the depth of our resentment."
With those words, the air around them began to shimmer and twist, an otherworldly distortion enveloping them. The light shifted, bending and warping as if reality itself was reshaping around them. In an instant, they stood in a drastically different location, the feeling of weightlessness lingering just a moment longer as the world transformed.
Yuren recognized the place immediately: the abandoned city of Forwreath. The memories of countless training drills flooded back to him, a ghostly backdrop that had once been alive with action.
Now, it lay silent, a desolate expanse marked by crumbling buildings, empty storefronts, and decaying streets littered with rusted vehicles, each bearing the scars of neglect. Above, the sky brooded with dark clouds, pregnant with the promise of rain, while a distant rumble of thunder echoed ominously.
A heavy hush hung in the air, broken only by their voices and the faint chirping of insects, as if nature itself had paused to witness their conversation.
Esotonia strode purposefully toward the heart of the city, stopping in front of a towering, crumbled structure that loomed above the remnants of its surroundings: an old generator tower. Its once formidable height was now marred by time and decay.
The entry to such structures was usually off-limits, strictly regulated, but now it stood as a testament to the city's haunted history. Power had once surged from here, its energy transmitted by rail connections and the occasional tanker truck still making the trek between sites to replace worn-out electrical cables.
"Go ahead, and bear witness to the truth," Esotonia urged, her voice firm yet encouraging.
Yuren hesitated for a moment, a mix of apprehension and intrigue coursing through him. He took a deep breath and approached the access door, cautioning himself as he gently pushed it open. Glass from the shattered window crunched beneath his feet, a sharp reminder of the delicate state of this once-important structure. Esotonia waited patiently a few steps behind him, allowing him to explore the ruins and confront the remnants of a past that still echoed in the present.
Yuren stepped into the vast complex, his senses overwhelmed by the sheer size and complexity of the place. He made his way through a series of interconnected rooms, passing the dimly lit maintenance area filled with rusting tools and machines, before arriving at the storage sections where boxes of supplies lay stacked haphazardly. The air was thick with the smell of decay and neglect, but a sense of urgency propelled him deeper into the facility.
Eventually, he found himself standing before the entrance to the power storage chambers, a colossal space that seemed to stretch endlessly. The room was dominated by hundreds of immense cylinders that rose toward the ceiling like the pillars of a forgotten temple, each one filled with ominous power cells that hummed softly, pulsating with energy. A thick layer of dust covered the floor, evidence of years of abandonment, and faint, dragged streaks marked where heavy boxes of cells had once been moved.
One of the walls was a chaotic tapestry of cables, intricately woven and tangled, stretching up towards the ceiling and disappearing into the shadows above. A single cable, as thick as a tree trunk, snaked its way into a massive chamber at the center of the room; its surface was riddled with warnings and danger symbols that seemed to pulse like a heartbeat, hinting at the enormity of what lay within.
With a mix of trepidation and curiosity, Yuren approached the door of the central chamber. The great hinges creaked, protesting as the heavy metal panels slowly parted, granting him entry. As he stepped inside, his eyes were drawn to the sprawling web of cables that converged upon a large capsule at the room's heart.
Its sleek silver exterior shimmered in the dim light, and the glass front provided a clear view of the figure suspended inside. Cables emerged from its body, snaking around limbs and anchoring to the capsule, feeding into it life or perhaps something far worse.
He wiped the dust from the glass with trembling hands, and as the clarity returned, horror washed over him.
"What... no... no..." he gasped, stumbling backward as shock gripped his senses.
Within the capsule was a Meteorn's body, trapped and helpless, bound by cables that appeared to snuff out any hint of life. Wires twisted grotesquely from the back of its head, and its eyes were hollow, devoid of any spark or awareness. A chill coursed through Yuren as he realized the truth; this was a living being, reduced to a mere vessel for exploitation.
Panic rose in his chest, tightening like a vice, and an overwhelming wave of nausea crashed over him.
Then he heard the echo of footsteps, each one heavier than the last, reverberating through the hollow chamber. Esotonia emerged from the shadows, her presence commanding yet pained. Her voice was low and filled with a somber intensity as she spoke, "Everything they've given you is built on the backs of the enslaved..."
Unable to contain himself, Yuren retched violently, the contents of his stomach spilling onto the floor as he coughed and gasped for breath. The insidious reality of the situation unfolded before his eyes, chipping away at the foundations of everything he thought he understood.
"Now you've seen it with your own eyes," Esotonia continued, stepping forward to stand beside him. "Now you begin to grasp the depth of our hatred for humans, their cruelty and disregard for our lives. We are nothing more than resources to them."
Tears streamed down Yuren's face, mixing with the remnants of his despair. "How many..." he whispered, his voice trembling as he looked up at her, seeking the truth. "How many Meteorn?"
"This has been going on for centuries," she replied, her voice heavy with grief. "Countless lives have been sacrificed in this way. Creating androids from our cores is just another innovation in their long list of crimes." Esotonia moved closer to the glass, her hand resting gently against it as if she could somehow connect with the trapped soul inside. "This is why we fight. Do you understand now?"
"Yes..." Yuren sat down and leaned against the capsule, his arms wrapped around his legs, his head buried between his knees, he thought about the 701st's androids, the one he'd met at the facility. He grimaced at the realization, and guilt washed over him. The things he believed in were all lies and propaganda.
The Argentia Empire was built on the blood of an entire race.
The future that'd they'd striven for was nothing but ashes on their tongue, tainting their goals, corrupting their beliefs.
"So many..." His chest tightened, the words weighed heavily, "how many others are like me? Was I the only one to be kept ignorant?"
"You are far from the only one. The masses of humanity continue living in blissful ignorance of the darkness beneath their feet." She placed her hand on his cheek, and the boy looked up with teary eyes.
"That is why this must end. There are those responsible for allowing this to continue for so long. They knew full well why I walked a path of complete destruction, but refuse to take responsibility of their actions and its consequences."
Yuren nodded silently, his emotions mixed and his mind racing.
He wanted to continue being righteous, yet everything he believed was true came crashing down on him.
The Republic's drones that attacked east Toador, the Empire's android battalions, and the Szenveir Kingdom's resonance weapons... all of it was powered by the Meteorn.
When she first said that humans used their lifeforce as an energy source, that they were stripped of their freedom, he just didn't want to believe it... he didn't want it to be true.
But seeing a Meteorn in the heart of a city's generator. Drained of every last bit of life energy, and being no more than a mere battery to supply humanity with power... he could no longer say he didn't see the truth of the situation.
The horrifying truth was undeniable; for years, humanity drained the very souls from the planet's inhabitants. Enslaving their bodies, killing their minds, and robbing their history.
The empire forced the Meteorn to fight its wars, created machines made of their cores, and allowed them to exist solely to make the humans happy.
