[POV: David Wilson]

 

“This is officer John Tilly, I am on the scene of the accident.” The officer said into his communicator.

 

Stepping out of his car, he looked at the highway that ran along a slope. A section of guard rail was smashed and bent, it looked like the driver had gone straight through it instead of turning.

 

“Did they fall asleep?” John questioned, as he walked over to the broken guardrail.

 

Thick black smoke was coming from the base of the slope, it looked like the vehicle had gone through the guard rail and rolled several times before getting wedged against a tree. Flames were starting to come from the car, and John sucked in a deep breath when he saw it.

 

“I have a burning vehicle here, the gas tank is leaking fuel. Requesting fire dispatch.” John said confidently, springing into action.

 

Jogging through the brush down the small slope, he crouched down and looked through the broken windshield. Blood was leaking down the side of the car, and slowly dripping from the window, and a small pool of it was on the upside-down roof. The blood leads out of the broken windshield and a small trail of it lead through the underbrush.

 

“I need medical services here immediately, I report I have an 11-80, Serious injuries are expected.” John reported, as he stood and started following the blood.

 

It didn't take long before he found a man crawling on the ground. His black hair was disheveled and covered in pieces of weeds and grass. He was covered in sweat, and his bare arms were covered in scrapes and cuts. The man's eyes were fully dilated, and he was pale as he muttered under his breath.

 

“Sir, are you oka-” John started asking when he paused.

 

The man's leg was completely mangled, and it had the bone sticking out of the side of it. The trail of blood was coming from the cuts on the man's arm and dragging his broken appendage.

 

“I need those paramedics ASAP, victim has a compound fracture at the minimum and is in shock. Moving to restrain until medical staff can arrive.” John reported this since he was alone.

 

Moving forward he put his weight gently on the man's back, trying to keep the man's leg still. The man continued to move mechanically as if he didn't comprehend any of it.

 

“Your okay, I am just going to stop you from hurting yourself further. Alright, buddy?” John asked the man he had restrained, as he tried to get through to him.

 

John sighed as he heard the man continuing to mutter to himself. Leaning forward slightly, he listened to what he was saying.

 

“I am David Wilson... I am David Wilson...” The man kept saying as his pupils shook.

 

John was a bit shocked by what the man was muttering, as it sounded crazy.

 

“Your gonna be alright, okay?” John told him in a confident tone. “We will get you help.”

 

***

 

[POV: Machine Lord, Edgar Crowe]

 

“YOU'RE A MONSTER!” A female voice screamed out.

 

The Machine Lord sat from atop his segmented throne, he was watching an experiment being conducted on the women.

 

“You are an esper with a very unique ability. It is one of the best sealing abilities in the world, and it is why your line has been propped up on thrones for centuries.” The Machine Lord said with a chuckle. “Your grandmother, or maybe your great grandmother used that ability on me, you should have known that it wouldn't have worked.”

 

Walking up to the woman who was naked and bound to a metal table, a smirk appeared on his face. He was a frail man, that was David's opinion of him. As he was starring at the world through the eyes of the Machine Lord, he had yet to see his face. He just felt the endless torrent of thoughts that felt like sludge.

 

“Do you know why brainwashing fails? The most common reason is that people are easy to deprogram when their thoughts or feelings are challenged enough.” The Machine Lord said. “I came up with a solution to that using people who developed their magic stones inside of their heads. People like you, Princess.”

 

The Machine Lord walked forward, and the table that the pink-haired woman was bound to stood up vertically.

 

“Espers have patterns that are unique to them, these are what allows them to display their abilities. I learned a lot about these patterns when I created the Replicants.” The Machine Lord explained. “I have long studied new uses of these patterns that define an espers abilities, and I came up with an incredible idea. What if I modified the existing patterns and added my own, so that when the ability is used it also activates my own set of enchantments.”

 

The Machine Lord smiled at the bound woman who was staring him down with rage.

 

“I decided to use this to reinforce brainwashing. The more you use your abilities, the more of your mind will be rewritten.” The Machine Lord said this with excitement. “Isn't it incredible?”

 

A metal helmet that looked like a fishbowl began to descend toward the bound woman's head.

 

“This is what I created for this experiment, let's see what happens if my face replaces the faces of all of your family members!” The Machine Lord said with glee.

 

The woman was unable to reply to him, this was because her mouth was being restrained when she was stood up. She only tried to burn her hatred of him deep into her heart and mind. This was until the helmet descended over her head.

 

“Mother, Begin!” The Machine Lord announced loudly.

 

A loud buzzing began to emit from the round metal helmet. The woman's body began to jerk against her restraints as if she was having a seizure.

 

“I never liked your line, you can almost say we have ancient history between us.” The Machine Lord said with some coldness. “They say that mercy towards your enemies is cruelty towards oneself. I subscribe to the view that committing the greatest cruelties imaginable to an enemy is committing the greatest kindness possible to oneself.”

 

The man reached one of his gloved hands forward and rubbed the metal helmet.

 

“You will soon disappear, and I will use you to destroy your country.” The Machine Lord laughed fondly at this thought. “I once tore apart an entire religious order when I captured one of the pontiffs and replaced him with a replicant. The surrounding nations were so terrified they came up with countermeasures to ward against them, I can't wait to see what they will do when the Holy Princess returns and announces the Machine Lord is a saint that her sinister family has been slandering.”

 

[REPORTING: 50% Completed.]

 

“Is she halfway born, or halfway dead? I am not messing with her memories though.” The Machine Lord contemplated. “I have often wondered what the relationship between thought and computation was. The magic stone is directly connected to the nervous system, and it can act as an interface for machinery. If this test succeeds, then it is possible to directly interface a machine to a person by modifying the magic stone they develop. It is something incredible that you are  a part of.”

 

The Machine Lord looked at the standing table with the bound woman, thick metal bands covered her chest and waist, slightly hiding her private parts. The room was plain, with the same black floor and gray walls. There existed hundreds of identical rooms inside the iron citadel, they were used for various experiments.

 

“Espers have a hard time at the later power stages, they are limited by their abilities. While early it is easy to defeat mages and martial force users that all goes away once you start to hit the 6^th layer and beyond.” The Machine Lord said as he laughed at the bound princess.

 

A magic stone developed just like a tree did, and it would form rings inside it over time. This process could be sped up through various methods depends on how you trained your mana. Mages developed their ability to store mana, and their ability to channel it outside of their bodies. Martial Force did the opposite, their mana never left their bodies, it was trapped inside. These were the standard classifications of people who directly manipulated mana. The next category was invocation that required sacrificing mana to a separate being the caster has a connection to, to manifest an ability. These commonly appeared as priests who tried to spread the teachings of the being that they followed.

 

Then you had the awakened who stumbled upon the memories of the deceased, these people didn't get any benefit from it though. The Machine Lord was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard Mother report to him.

 

[REPORTING: Process complete.]

 

“Wonderful!” The Machine Lord laughed happily. “Wipe her memories of the last 3 days and leave her near the border. Make it look like she was able to escape the battle somehow.”

 

***

 

[POV: David Wilson]

 

David felt his consciousness return to his body, he found himself in the back of a small room. He was unable to move, and his body felt incredibly hazy as if he was drugged. Glancing down he could see a clear plastic mask pressed over his mouth and nose, and above him was a man wearing dark green scrubs.

 

Through the torrent of information a single thread of information stuck out to him, and that was the information on the awakened. What he was going through was similar to the information in his head referring to it. It felt like entire segments of information were being etched into his brain, and he was forced along for the ride. The content seemed like it was right out of a horror movie, and David was forced to experience it from the Machine Lord's perspective.

 

It was an entire fantasy world that the man had lived on. It reminded David of how the Spartans could have taken over Greece several times and refused. He was so powerful in comparison to the people around him, due to the machinery he had created. David had only seen a part of it, the information was just too vast for him to take in all at once.

 

Immortal!

 

The Machine Lord had an ability that reverted his state to its original state. It was like constantly loading a save while you were playing a video game, he was incapable of dying.

 

I'm seeing his final years!

 

The information felt like thousands of textbooks pouring into his brain, but none of them had any context for how they were obtained. It sent a shiver down his spine as he had just seen how the Machine Lord conducted experiments. The attacks were getting more and more frequent and he was fading away. These thoughts passed through David's mind before he felt the pressure on his head growing again. He started drifting away into the flow of memories pouring into his head.

 

***

 

[POV: Machine Lord, Edgar Crowe]

 

A man sat on top of a segmented throne, he looked like some kind of apparition. Most of his body was see-through, and he had an almost spectral quality to him.

 

“None of it has worked, how disappointing.” The man said with a flat tone.

 

For several years he researched ways he could reverse this situation.

 

“I had always thought I was an esper with a unique ability, but I don't even have a magic stone.” The man lamented. “It didn't matter how hard I worked, I just didn't grow stronger. I finally understand the reason now, this ability is a curse that is bound to my very existence.”

 

[QUERY: Do you think this is the work of the devils?]

 

“Who knows, I don't have time to find out.” The man responded unhappily.

 

The man began to fade rapidly, almost completely disappearing. Several large metal devices that resembled satellite dishes fired waves at the Machine Lord who was fading away. This caused his body to slightly focus for a few moments.

 

“It's no use. Just let it end already.” The man said to the room in resignation.

 

The man turned his head towards the ceiling and put on a resolute expression.

 

“I am kind of scared of dying like this. Mother, I want to bring you with me.” He said sadly. “Let's both go together, my only friend.”

 

The man enunciated this by making several hand signs in the room. This was a type of sign language he developed when he began fading away a couple of years ago.

 

[RESPONSE: As you will my creator.]

 

The power in the room fluctuated, causing the various satellite dishes mounted on the walls to stop emitting waves. An explosion could be heard coming from deep underground, and the entire citadel began to shake slightly.

 

“You win this time, but if there is a next time I will defeat you.” The Machine Lord said. “Mark my words.”

 

The man sitting on the segmented throne flashed in and out of focus several times before he faded away completely. Where he sat a pile of clothes fell to the ground, and a pair of brown leather loafers. Vibrations rattled the building, evidence of the explosions that were tearing through the Iron Citadel.

 

***

 

[POV: David Wilson]

 

He died! Finally!

 

David took several deep breaths, as he tried to open his heavy eyes.

 

It's dark...

 

These were the first thoughts that crossed his mind as he saw a white ceiling that had no lights on. Looking around the walls were plain, and only a counter sat across from him.

 

A ward?

 

A large wooden door with a glass panel sat on one side of the room, a narrow window also stood in a corner. Looking down David saw himself wearing light blue medical scrubs.

 

No cast?

 

David reached down timidly and began to inspect his leg. To his shock, he found that it wasn't broken, and the cast seemed to have been removed at some point. Rolling up the leg of his scrubs he discovered the discoloration of skin showing where a cast had once sat.

 

How long have I been asleep?

 

David looked around the room, but he didn't see anything but the small counter and the bed he laid on. Shifting around slightly, he put his feet on the ground, it was easier than he expected. Pushing weight on his legs, he managed to lightly stand to his feet. Both of his legs felt like they were asleep, and he stood for several minutes before he took a shaky step. Reaching forward he managed to grab the counter and began testing the various drawers and cabinets.

 

It is all locked.

 

Getting back to his feet from testing the drawers, he decided to make his way to the door. Each step was a very difficult process, and he had to be careful to not fall onto the tile floor. David was noticing something as he walked slowly, the floor had a light coating of dust on it. His clothes had been in a similar state, as had his skin and hair. It was like he had been laying in this small room unattended for months.

 

Making his way slowly to the door across the small room, he peeked through the small window built into it. What he saw was that he was on a second floor, and he could see rows of other doors connected by a hallway. It looked just like the juvenile wards he had seen in his law textbooks.

 

Am I in some kind of prison?

 

The only thing that didn't make sense was how dark the inside of the ward was, none of the lights were operating. The door leading from the ward into what he assumed was the main hall was cracked open as if the guard had run out in a hurry. There were no signs of anyone moving around the building, only an eerie silence.

 

Leaning away from the door, he began to make his way to the small window in the corner. Peeking out the window, his breath caught in his throat. What he saw was a large yard that was connected to 3 other identical buildings, but this yard was filled with walking corpses.

 

Corpses were the only word that could describe them, as they all wore the same light blue scrubs that David did in various states of decay. Wounds that looked like they were inflicted by fingernails and teeth covered the bodies, the blood long dried out. Some of these corpses had been reduced to skeletons in some areas. The only thing they shared was an eerie blue light that seemed to be emanating from their eye sockets.

 

“Why are the Undead here?” David muttered in horror as he saw something from the memories that he had received.