Earth: The Second

[Intermission] Burning in Chaos

“Christie is dead sir, together with the rest of the mansion.”

Roberto, Adma, and Father are startled to hear Feya’s report.

“What… What happened over there!?” asked Roberto.

“It’s... Complicated, sir,” she answers.

“What so complicated about describing what happened at the scene? I demand your report soldier!” shouted Roberto angrily.

“Sir! Christie’s body has been found, inside one of the rooms in the mansion. Along with Christie, all of the occupants are suffered stab or s***h wounds,” Fey reporting while giving a salute, she automatically giving response wherever her captain is threatening with words ‘demand’ like that.

Roberto is thinking, he continues his question. “What about Udeka? did you find him?”

“Sir! We found the Duke’s clothes, torn to pieces along with the skeleton that we think are belong to him.”

Roberto is scratching his head in confusion, he is just wake up, and now he has to deal with a new problem. Moreover, this problem had killed one of his subordinates.

“I have to quickly get to the mansion. Get every one of the platoons, and meet me at the city!” commanded Roberto.

“Yes sir… But what about your house?’ Feya asked.

“Prepare it in the mansion, I will go there by walking,” answered Roberto. 

Feya gives him the last salute and that girl rides her horse, returned to the city.

Roberto just realized that Father and Adma are still together with him. gain, he scratched his hand and apologize.

“I’m sorry, you guys are not supposed to see that,” asked Robert.

“Seems like something happened yesterday without us knowing,” commented Adma. He had not gone to the city yesterday, since he focused to guard the village, worried if Udeka would use another dirty move against them. But the problem is now different.

“Indeed, I have to go there, quickly,” said Robert. “I’m sorry, but are there any rides that I can borrow? I will return it quickly.”

Unfortunately, Father just shakes his head. After all, this orphanage is too poor to have a horse. 

Understand the situation, Roberto once again thanked Adma and Father Risto. He then leaves the orphanage and walked to the city himself.

Or so he thought when he realizes that Adma is following him from behind.

“What… are you doing?” Roberto asked him.

“Just keep walking, or you will miss the urgent news,” replied Adma.

And so, both Roberto and Adma are heading to the city together. Roberto has said that civilians should not meddle with the soldiers, but Adma dodges the question, saying that coincidentally, their direction is the same.

***

For some minutes, they walked together quietly, and once or twice, Roberto takes a glance at Adma’s behavior. It’s not like he does not believe in him, but as a soldier, Roberto had trained his instinct to be wary of people who are stronger than him. Adma definitely letting out a feeling that he is not an ordinary person.

“What are you usually do for a living, Adma? Are you perhaps an adventurer?” asked Roberto, just to break the ice between them.

“I suppose? Or trading? I don’t have permanent work at the moment,” answers Adma.

“You don’t? Then why did you come to this city?”

Adma going quiet for a moment realized that giving him a ‘cover’ answer most likely will make Roberto lost his trust in Adma. 

“I’m looking for some information,” he answers. “Actually, I lost my mind a while back, before I met Kiki. We help each other, and decide to make this as a starting point of my journey.”

Roberto remembers that Kiki is the girl that taking care of his wound.

“Amnesia, huh?” asked Roberto. “But if you can’t remember anything, what is your lead?”

“Ever heard of Artifact?” Adma asked.

Roberto glancing at him. “Of course, one of the topics that are always being talked around. The power of ancient civilization that can bring power to everyone that obtained it.”

“For me, they are just old machines that happened to have a connection with me,” answered Adma.

Roberto suddenly stopped and laughing. “Ha! Ha! Ha! This is the first time I heard someone talking like that about Artifacts! People that I know always treat these things like an idol, or a mighty weapon. But no one said this is just an ‘old machine’.”

Both of them are still walking side-to-side.

“Do you have one right now?” asked Robert.

“Have what?”

“The Artifact?”

at first, Adma is reluctant to answers, but he realized that after all this time, he can’t keep hiding the truth from the world around him. After all, if he wanted to work together with them, he should not hide anything, so there will be no misunderstanding between them.

“I’ll leave it up to you to believe it or not,” replied Adma.

He rolled his sleeve off and showed Roberto his whole arm. At first, it seems like a human arm, but some details showed that more than that, for example, the ball joints that are connecting his palm, and each of his fingers.

“Is that... Your Artifact…?” asked Roberto.

Adma letting out a sigh, seems like no one understands the state that he is in right now.

“No. You can say that I’m half-human, half- Artifact,” answers Adma. 

Roberto went quiet. he probably does not believe it, but Adma had to tell the truth and let him decide for himself.

“I think that there are things that can’t be explained in this world,” said Robert. “Especially, the fact that a human can be fused with an Artifact.”

Adma does not answer, as they finally arrived at the city gate.

Just as they arrived, they notice that the situation in the city is not safe. people are screaming and fighting with each other in the street. some of them are barging into the houses, and they can see black smoke and flames all around them.

For all they can see, there are no guards or soldiers that held the people down. Every bit of the city streets is burning in chaos.