Earth: The Second

Future Far Behind

The whirling propeller sound comes from one of the ‘Fetchers’ that flying near them. But there is one unique thing that surprised Adma, Rika, and Gon. It can talk.

“Please wait for a while before Master finished with his previous guests first. After that, he would see you,” it speak very politely as if it is an actual servant of Hepaetus.

“Wait a minute! Are you a Fetcher… Who is able to talk?” Gon getting up in excitement, making the drone halt its leave.

“Yes, my name is Fetcher 252 from the security division.”

“How is that possible? Is there someone else talking with us from the distance?” asked Rika.

“No. The entire connection of Fetchers and Diggers in the mountains is controlled by an autonomous network, which Master leads by himself. My voice is generated using samples stored inside my bank data with named: Clara,” said the Fetcher.

“Oh… Is it fine if we call you Clara? This is magnificent! First time in my life I could talk with a Fetcher!” shouted Gon happily, while Rika still observing that device in awe.

Meanwhile, Adma is deep in thought. He called Investigator without opening his mouth.

“Did you see this?” asked Adma inside his mind.

“Yes. From what I see, the drone is indeed operated using a wireless autonomous network by the name of Ichi OS. The one that speaks with us is its personal AI assistant.” said Navigator.

“Which is the same as you, right?” asked Adma.

“It certainly is.”

Navigator does not continue their conversation. Instead, there is a long pause of Adma who is looking at the Fetcher. He is still cautious, but at the same time, feels a little familiarity from something of the past that he understands.

Hovering past Rika and Gon who are still adoring the machine, Clara-the-fetcher flies to Adma.

“Pardon for my impoliteness. But according to the duty that the Master assigned to me, I have to broadcast the situation of the mountain. Especially if there are a guest or people that come inside his territory.” said Clara. which reminds Adma of that previous time on the cliff.

“...I don’t want to accuse you but when Rika loses her footing and almost fell to death. Is that also your doing?”

“You don’t have to worry. All of the activated devices right now are not equipped with combat abilities, what almost befall your companion is regrettably an accident,” said Clara. “Nevertheless, I offer my deepest apologies on behalf of my Master.”

Adma nodding. He feels that he may be able to trust Clara. After all, it is just an assistant AI.

“The ability of yours, to recreate your body parts into equipment has intrigued Master’s curiosity. He decides that you are the one that he wanted to meet,” said Clara. Hearing that, Gon quickly cutting in.

“Wait! What about me? Does Hepaetus interested to see me too?” asked Gon excitedly.

Clara going quiet for a little bit. It let out some whirling sound, that apparently coming from the lens.

“Pardon me, but you’re not found on any guest list.”

“N-No way…” said Gon, drowning in disappointment.

“Cheer up teach. At least because of Adma, we don’t have to walk down the mountain after an hour of climbing.” tease Rika. She already forgot about her fears of high places.

“Pardon me! I think that Master soon will be finished with his guests,” said Clara. it started to fly elsewhere. “Dear guests, please follow me,” asked it.

The three of them were led to the back of one big stone. At the hidden side of the stone that was blind from the way they came, is a gate made out of iron.

“Please wait for the previous guest to leave,” said Clara. Not long after that, a jarring sound comes from the gate. One of the panels then sliding into another showed way inside.

From there, appear three people with unfriendly expressions. One seems like an old man who is wearing a workshop apron covered in dirt and oil. Meanwhile, the other two are wearing much better clothing. 

Uniformly, they are wearing a dark blue robe, decorated with ornaments that make them look like some sort of religious priest.

One thing that Adma noticed, is while they seem exactly like humans, these people have distinct attributes which he has never seen with a normal human before: a scale.

“Master forger, we wished that you would reconsider our plea of help. The Dragonkin will give you anything and everything to borrow some of your mightiest armies,” said one of them. That ‘scaled man’ is probably around his thirty, with golden yellow hair, and red scales that covered both of his cheeks.

“I already told you that I’m not interested in war anymore,” replied that old man. Outside of his white hair and mustache, he is nothing like a frail elder. Instead, the body mass of his arm and stomach is an indication that this person always uses his muscle strength every day.

The previous dragonkin goes quiet. Seems like he has out of the option to talk to the ‘Master Forger’. 

“We...Understand. But we will come back soon in the future with another offer. For now, we hope that you would reconsider all the benefits that you would get for helping our cause.” said him.

The Master Forger replied with a single hum, and The Dragonkin walked away. Coincidentally, Adma’s eyes met that dragonkin’s and Adma feels the air of unfriendliness coming from them.

One step later, Adma seeing magic happened, suddenly, those scaled people are shrouded by fire, startled Adma. But second later, the fire is extinguished, and a beast appeared from them. 

The beast has a long neck, four feet with sharp claws, and what appeared to be wings on its back. His companion also does the same thing, and transformed into a similar beast, no bigger than the previous one.

As if still asking for help, the beast is looked back into The Forger. But he gave them a cold look. Soon after that, they used their wings to fly away from there.

“Is that… A Dragon…?” mumble Adma.

“Dragonkin, huh? very rare for them to come out of their lair,” commented Gon.

“No, don’t you see? They are people that able to turn into a dragon!” shouted Adma, until he realized that he acts like a child, excited over new things.

“They don’t usually come outside of their territory. Even among kingdoms that lived in the mainlands, not every day they see envoy from the dragonkin,” add Rika.

 “And if they are bother come meet an old man in his hideout, those demis are probably really in a dire state.”

Have finished talking with the previous guests, the old forger is now talking with the trio.

“Demis… like in demi-human?” asked Adma.

“Exactly. Anyway, what business takes you to my home? If you’re messenger from the capital, sadly I will have you to leave,” he speaks calmly, but strong and unshakeable.

“No! No! We’re not!” denied Gon. He takes a deep breath and controlling his speak.

“Very happy to meet you, Hepaetus Lazard, the former Master Forger in Horundah,” greet Gon.

***

Hepaetus still fold his hand to his chest. When he heard the word ‘Master Forger’, he just let out a sigh. 

“Master Forger is what they used to call me, but it will be more meaningful if they call me an engineer,” he said. 

“I’m Gon, the owner of Mr.Green Merchant. specifically, I’m the one who used to contact you through the letter, and showed my invention design, if you remember?” asked Gon.

Hepaetus closed his eyes for a moment and then shouted out.

“Oh, wait! I remember! So you’re the kid that keeps sending out those drawings right?”

“Yes! Wait, a kid?” Gon sounded glad for a moment until the words ‘kid’ coming out from Hepaetus’s mouth.

 “Of course! Those ideas are hilarious, a dog plate that can provide food for himself? A device that can show where people position right now? And what about that one, the box that can show people from far away? Just use magic already!” Hepaetus ends his speech with a laugh. Meanwhile, Gon is sliding more and more into disappointment.

“It’s not like any of that won’t come true, you know,” said Adma, jumped into the conversation. He successfully pulled the forger’s attention.

“Maybe they are won’t be achieved right now. But what about fifty, or hundred years in the future? Improvements were made every day. Looked at the fetchers for example,” said Adma, pointing toward Clara. “You can use it to improve the life of the people you know?”

Either Rika, Hepaetus, and Gon looked at Adma after he finished his words. 

Suddenly, a burst of a laugh coming out from Hepaetus again.

“HAHAHAHA! This is it! What a way of thinking! Come over here, young man!” Hepaetus come to Adma and embrace him.

“I have seen you through one of my fetchers. I have never seen that ability before, when you turned your hand into a pick, and create even more pickaxe from your body,” said Hepaetus. “That’s alone already make me interested, but now, you speak something that even more surprising like the future, hundreds of years from now on. I wonder where are that comes from.” Hepaetus paused his words. “Perhaps… You have come from the future?”

Adma halts his speech. If he letting it out right now, there will be no turning back. It’s too much hassle for him to hide what he truly is, especially if he really has to use everything that he has to survive in this world.

He pointed to Clara who is still hovering around them. “In my times, they aren’t called ‘fetcher’, but drones. They are autonomous vehicles that are controlled by connection to the computer. Every computer also has an operating system that bridges the command for you, and the drone. Some of them have something that is called ‘personal artificial intelligence’ that helped the machines to act more like a human.” replied Adma.

Adma’s words make Hepaetus even more surprised. A wide smile was painted all over his face, while Adma’s companion looking at them half-confused.

“I do not come from the future. Instead, I come from the past, far behind your times, but at some degree, more advanced,” said Adma.