The long gloomy hallways seemed to never end; there were many rooms and hallways in the Citadel, making it an impossible maze to navigate. Diggix had gotten lost and was searching for a familiar place to retrace his steps. Thanatos had given him explicit instructions on reaching his destination, though what Thanatos had explained and the actual layout of the Citadel was two highly distinct and different places. He was left alone to walk the halls; he needed to find Izzar, the heir apparent to the Order. Diggix was not entirely informed of what the Order was, but it seemed important enough to his master for the little robot to care about it.

Thanatos gave him a simple instruction, one he had apparently done a thousand times before. He was to go to the room where Izzar resided and record the young heir’s instructions for the day; it seemed simple. Unfortunately, though, finding Izzar’s quarters was not as simple.

Diggix looked around; Thanatos had mentioned Izzar’s room was on the fifth floor directly above the West main entrance of the Citadel; a door that led to the Galactic Audience Chamber, and beyond it went out to the forests of Dessix.

Four main stairwells could be found going to the upper levels from the main hall; Diggix needed to find one of these, but it had eluded him all afternoon. In fact, it was the main hall itself that had been eluding him. The robot had thought it would have been easy finding the most significant open space within the massively cramped Citadel.

It was very late in the evening; the halls had grown dark and empty. Diggix could not find a single soul roaming the open spaces of the gloomy fortress to seek directions to the Great Hall. Eventually, he reached an ample open space that he deduced was the place he was looking for; the only thing that remained was finding the stairs that led up to the level he needed to be on.

 He walked along the side walls of the main hall in search of these stairwells but could not find anything. It must have been more than twenty times that he circled the massive room before he finally recognized one of the pillars extending to the roof was one of the hidden stairwells.

The upper level had another large hall, not as open as the main hall but its ceiling hung low, and pillars decorated the hall on Either side. Diggix quickly identified this area as being a training room for martial arts. In the shadows of the room, he noticed a shadowy figure lurking about; thinking nothing of it, he walked closer to get the person’s attention.

“You are not meant to be roaming around the Citadel at this hour.” Said a young voice; Diggix had heard it before but could not find any match within his data banks.

“I have been instructed by Master Epsimus Thanatos to speak to Master Izzar.”

The figure turned in the dark and looked at Diggix; he came closer, and in the dim light of the little robot’s glowing eyes, a young face of a boy late in adolescence appeared; his hair was as black as night, his eyes a dark green. He wore a robe much similar to that of Thanatos but way more straightforward.

“Diggix?” The boy asked.

“Hello, my name is Diggix.” He replied, not knowing how to answer the question.

“I was hoping you would have stayed in the forest and rusted away like the rest of them. But Thanatos hat to make me find you.” The boy turned, ignoring any gesture Deggix might have made.

Diggix realized that this was Izzar; deep within his frame, he could feel something was troubling this boy. He was different from the monks too, he did not have the grace and sense of loyalty the others possessed.

“Epsimus Master Thanatos sent me to record your account for the day.”

Izzar stopped; he looked over his shoulder at the tiny robot; he did not care much for the requests from a lifeless being. He gave a sigh and turned towards Diggix. The little robot could see in his facial features that it was not something he wished to do willingly.

“Let’s go,” Izzar said with very little care as he walked past Diggix. The little robot did not hesitate and followed him.

Walking up more stairs and turning into a few corridors, they finally stopped by a wooden door. Diggix found it strange; all the other entries in the Citadel were made of steel, iron, or any other complex substances; the entrance to Izzar’s room was wood. Slowly the wooden door creaked open, revealing a small quant room

A very uncomfortable bed was in the one corner of the room facing a window with no glass or other see-through materials covering it. A very cool breeze was coming in from the night air, cooling Diggix’s internal hardware. He had been slightly overheating due to his intense search for Izzar; what got him the most was the countless stairs he had to climb.

There were rags laid down by the window on a makeshift perch; Diggix wondered what it was for. His question was very quickly answered when Izzar jumped up and sat down with his legs crossed. He had seen Ilgo do this kind of sitting before; he used to call it meditating. Though Diggix did not know or understand the concept of it.

“What is it exactly that Thanatos wants to hear?”

Diggix thought back, searching his memory banks for the exact phrases used by Thanatos. In mere moments he found it.

“Epsimus Master Thanatos said this: Request from Izzar the exact details and understanding of the philosophical lesson of this morning. Then, when you are done, come straight to me.”

Izzar looked back at the Robot, shaking his head.

“First thing’s first,” Izzar said. “Do you have any memories stored before you got lost in the forest?”

By this time, Diggix was well aware of his failure, and Thanatos made him imprint that in his memory banks that it was terrible that he had failed his mission in the forest. But, just like humans, he could see failure as an embarrassing moment of weakness. Though he was speaking to Izzar and he could not speak freely of his own artificial feelings.

“The memories of before I got lost in the Jungles are lost forever; I do not recall anything.”

“I guess that’s a good thing.” Izzar turned away and looked into the forest; the fog was thickening; it was reaching morning soon.

“Hopefully, you’re better now than you were before.”

He said it more to himself than directing it at the robot; Diggix did not know what kind of a response that statement warranted and just remained silent.

“So this is how it’s been between us. I tell you everything I heard and experienced, and you go back to Thanatos and replay each and every word I’ve spoken. I can see you haven’t started recording yet, which is a good thing. You used to start the second you walked through that door.”

“I see,” Diggix replied blankly.

Izzar jumped off his perch and walked from one side of the small room to the other, thinking deeply. He seemed troubled.

“The lesson began with a grim story, one of the past. Thanatos was trying to teach me the importance of obedience and the meaningless existence of the average person. When this great Citadel was built, Thanatos spoke to the local settlers to help him construct this fortress though they were reluctant. He needed the manpower and resources to build and did not want to bring in outside people, so he was forced to enslave the settlers of this world. They worked hard for him; they constructed the Citadel, where many of them parished. At any moment they discovered ways to escape this world, they took the opportunity. It was up to Thanatos and his men to subdue them and make them pay for their insolence. The Order’s philosophy was that humans had to be controlled, that they needed to be encouraged by any means necessary to complete their tasks and do as they were told. Thanatos saw to the execution of exactly three hundred and eighty-two souls, souls he never regretted taking away from this world. After the last execution, the remaining twenty thousand settlers completed their job of building this fortress. However tragic as it may be, upon completion, they were all sent out into the jungles and hunted down by Thanatos’s top commanders. Many of them committed suicide, and some even infiltrated the Citadel to attempt to kill Thanatos himself. It was a tragic year for the colonists, but they all eventually parished, leaving this world all but void beyond the gates of the Citadel.”

Diggix was listening while recording; something deep within his programming made him uneasy about what Izzar said. He had no desire to harm another of his own design; how could these humans harm one another in such a manner? Killing a life was redundant; it was a waste, it made no sense. The settlers finished the work set out for them, yet they were rewarded with torturous deaths.

“It is the job of the Epsimus to maintain loyalty and order within the galaxy; if he fails to even instill this in a society completely cut off from the galaxy, his order would not be easy to control. The lives of many outweigh the lives of the few. Even my life means nothing compared to the sheer number of lives out there in the cosmos. Thanatos repeated the same thing he always repeats to me. Even I am replaceable.”

Izzar turned to Diggix with a slight hint of agitation, knowing that the robot recorded every word he continued.

“Though I do not know how true that philosophy is if he made us venture into the jungle to find a useless scrap of metal when thousands are roaming the Citadel that could easily replace you. I will never understand why Thanatos places so much value in you.”

Izzar turned away, trying to think about something else. Deggix continued to record, but nothing was said for a long while until Izzar turned around.

“That is all from me; you can return to Thanatos and play him every word I had told you.”

Izzar left the robot standing alone as he jumped onto his perch with his legs folded and his eyes closed. Diggix stopped recording; his processors were working hard trying to comprehend what Izzar had said. A strange function appeared within his program; it was unclear what it was. He disappeared out the door, leaving the young Izzar alone in his thoughts.