Chapter Text
BOOT UP SEQUENCE COMMENCING...
FIRMWARE; LATEST VERSION [V0.8.22.4b / 2114.03.29]
It felt numb, oh so numb; what year was it? Where was it?
CALIBRATION; EXPIRED
! DUE TO LOW FUEL, FACTORY SET CALIBRATIONS HAVE BEEN APPLIED !
. . .
CALLIBRATION COMPLETE
[Hollow Tower of Ivory - OST #0]
The machine slowly stumbled it's way out of the drop-pod it was placed inside of, the first few steps wobbly before it got the hang of walking oncemore. The metal of the capsule now rusted away into decaying hues of maroon and its lights not even managing a flicker of life. The machine attempted to speak but nothing came out - no voice module was installed on it.
Its barely expressive face shifted to one that could be best described as confusion: this wasn't its containment cell, or if it was, something had happened, something catastrophic. Very little light seeped out of several cracks in the walls, dust and skeletal corpses cover the floor as broken equipement and supplies are strewn over the desks.
MACHINE ID; VESTIGE_PROTOTYPE "V1"
LOCATION; . . . UNKNOWN, SIGNAL MISSING.
OBJECTIVE; GATHER INTEL.
V1 exited the room it reactivated in; exploring the dark twisting halls before reaching a jammed door, Its immediate instict was to open it gently but it wouldn't budge. It kicked at the bottom as a fit of desperation and it broke. [Statement: It seems to have been at least a decade since I last awoke.] it thought.
Swiftly sliding through the gap, the machine continues exploring the halls before reaching a room with a deep schism running through it, it seemed practically bottomless at first glance. V1 decides that it's most logical option is to-
! WARNING, PROPULSION SYSTEMS MALFUNCTIONING !
The side-effects of being locked away without a solid fuel source - it needed to improvise. A dive couldn't possibly be enough. . . however it could go back and build up speed by making a mad dash through and eventually jump using that momentum - hopefully managing to stick a landing and reach the other side. After a regrettable few seconds of wasting the little blood left circulating in it and calculating the trajectory necessary - the machine begins to make its way back. It walks back several halls before beginning to run back through the rooms, picking up speed until it reaches the ravine and-
Barely made it. Thankfully too, the ravine seemed to be practically bottomless. It continued onward throughout the building: illumination dropping significantly to a point where it needed its flashlight to move onward. [Warning: Fuel levels are at 28.4% - I need to find a source sooner or later.]
After a couple of dark halls, V1 stumbled upon something different, what seemed to be a verdant homunculus chained up in wires. [Unknown entity detected: What are you?] the machine approached, curious as to what this beast could be. It didn't ressemble any known creature or machine in its database and it was unclear if it was passive or no-
CRUNCH.
The homunculi had bit down on V1's arm and hard. It refused to let go of the machine, jaws piercing into its soft hemosteel plating and puncturing a wire or 7.
[Damage sustained - entity detected is a hostile force.] V1 started kicking into the stomach of the thing. However it still refused to let go of its arm. [Query: Why do you refuse to let go?] this time it kicked harder, heel digging into the creature's skin and piercing whatever fat reserves it had. The machine continued to kick, putting more and more power into each consecutive hit - piercing the thing's intestines and liver as liquid ichor pours from the wound, almost immediately being sucked up by the plating. V1 delivers one final blow, breaking the thing's spine and causing it to drop lifeless - yet somehow it remains lodged in the machine's arm.
[Statement: Fuel is at 89.8% - Entity's blood seems to be compatible for absorption.] It inspects the corpse with its free hand, feeling the rough skin of it before starting to slowly tear off the head of the thing, starting from the neck before working up to the lower jaw.
OBJECTIVE UPDATE; FIND A WEAPON.
After admittedly more time than necessary taking out all the imbeded teeth, the machine can finally proceed, at a now more stable fuel level.
. . .
It has been walking for upwards at 20 minutes at this point, the training facility did not have a hall like this at all, nor was it even capable of having one this long. [Status update and recap: I arose from my deactivation after an unknown period of time, then I wandered through these ruins before coming face to face with an unkown entity - a strange thing to say the least. . . This hall has been going on for way too long.] Just as it thought that - there it was, the presumed exit.
[Statement: The exit has been found, that took more time than necessary.] It walks over to the door and opens it, unsure of what to expect of the outside world after so long.
, . . Why is it so dark? So unnaturally dark not even the lances of the Earthmovers could pierce it. Only a pedastal with a lone revolver is illuminated by an unknown spotlight. [Weapon Obtained: A lone standard issue revolver issued to soldiers in the middle of the war. It is weak but, I'll need all the firepower that I can get.]
The unexpecting machine walks up to the pedastal and picks up the revolver-
The dark immediately dissipates into wisps as the sound of roaring metal rings over on the horizon, revealing the terrain as a decaying, burnt mess; a former shadow of what it once was.
PESTILENCE /// FIRST
THE PETRIFIED FOREST
As the machine stares around at the ruinous surroundings, the doors behind and infront of it lock with a deep noise. V1's systems clarify this by overlaying a 2D graphic of a biohazard symbol. However, V1 pays no mind to the noise and textures, inspecting the revolver and it's intricacies.
Suddenly, one of those things lunges out at the machine; screaming at an obnoxious volume. V1 hastily slides under and shoots it directly at it's chest, taking it out. 3 more surround the machine and stare it down. . . maybe? They don't have eyes so it is not obvious in the slightest.
However what is certain is that they're hungering for some fresh meat.