Faith of the Blind
The Town of Truce
January 2 of the year 325
Mana Holy Day
The echo of footsteps rang hollow through the empty sanctuary that lie at the northern end of Truce. With a slight metallic sound to them, the feet belonged to a young reploid girl in a traditional red reploid bodysuit. Since the beginning of her known existence, she'd felt some kind of connection to this normally-abandoned place of worship, a feeling of security that was so rarely found at any other point in the same world. Not so much the building itself, but more of what lie inside.
Of course, there was an object of revulsion, much to her continued
dismay.
Sidestepping around the immense black crystal that took up a good portion of the center of the sanctuary floor, the girl approached a tall female statue against the far wall, a likeness of the Goddess of Mana in virtually every aspect. She'd found her own need to be near this woman of stone from time to time, as if drawn here by some unseen, unfelt force. The very black rose that was drawn through her short, midnight-blue hair seemed to have come from here. There was some kind of connection, no doubt in her mind at all by now. Or, somehow, she'd always believed.
She loosened the pack around her shoulder and allowed it to drop
to the floor at the base of the statue now before her, gazing
upon the flawless face of the Goddess, stone or no, as though
she were looking anew at the real entity, time and time again.
It was virtually her only comfort anymore, since so many of those
she had called 'friend' had either left her... or had been
killed. She sighed, raising a black-gloved hand to gently place
against the side of the statue's cheek.
"Alexia... Cyx... Cedrian... they're all gone. I never claimed to Meven know any of them as well as I should've... not that it even matters, now."
Her hand dropped, and she allowed herself a small, thin smile, wry
at best, as she glanced over her shoulder at nothing in particular.
"I'd have thought that it was a good thing I was still alive, after all this. But what good is living if you don't know what
for...?"
The girl scowled, recollecting herself from her rapidly degenerating
mood, and clenched a fist to her chest, looking up towards the
statue's face once again, violet eyes misty as a thought pervaded
her mind.
I wanted to ask Alexia... if she knew what 'love' is. All the time before, I heard it mentioned, over and over... and over... is there something in that word that I should know..? I feel so-...
A piercing image suddenly cut her thought short, injecting itself
into her mind for such a brief instant, she was left more stunned
than actually shocked or frightened. A flash of machinery, of a
factory, parts being assembled, disassembled. People in white
coats.
She blinked, and everything was as it was. Whatever it was she'd
just seen was no longer there, maybe just a figment of her over-
imaginative mind. She didn't really know what to make of it, and
just stood there in silence.
Reploids...
Another thought followed in its place, the memory of her meeting
with... 'Vaisu'... and then the kinder 'Seikou', nearly two weeks
after the fact. Both were reploids, but more true to their race,
unlike her. She remembered Vaisu had thought her strange for
needing food consumption for survival... and Seikou had dismissed
her query entirely, not needing solid sustenance, either. What
was so different about her? She couldn't figure out why she felt
like such an outcast from her own species. And that only made it
sting all the worse, when she finally realized it. Though moved
to tears, she refused to give in as she had so many times before
already, and simply gathered her pack in a mild fury of
unconcealed distress, turned on a metal heel, and tromped out of
the sanctuary, leaving the peaceful silence of the building in
her wake.
Machinery.. Reploids.. it doesn't make sense. I don't feel like I belong with any of them. But why..?