Ara Sands

The man laughs slighty "with that new katana of yours, you can defentily get rid of your predesscor" his confidence is at an all time peak

"Thank you for everything, for even trust us in the first place" she was very grateful for all he has done to this point, not many would even dare talk to a robot nowadays. She seathes it back together and places it to her side attaching it using her hooks

The man shrugs slighty "Can I ask you something then and consider your debt settled"

"Ask away" she is prepared for any question at this point

The man asks totally curious about this "why does a war robot want to save the world? I mean it shouldnt matter to you anyway" his thinking made sense considering robots aren't even attempting to stop the destruction themselves

"I only want to protect the people I met and myself, there is no bigger purpose" she was being straight honest

The man smiles "That's a noble reason, That boy with you im guessing means a lot more than I think he does"

"Your correct there, we have a bond that isnt just limited to a life, but spans multiple" her impliction of the rewinding mechanism was a big mistake

The man notices the slight suspicous word choice "k4, you are aware of everything we constructed there, and you are defentily what I think now" his voice penetrated her core

"do not mention it, I already understand what you mean, you shouldn't pry into the hands of the unknown" a subtle warning gave a shiver down his spine

k4 walks off towards the train, she steps on the metal flooring making a clinging sound as her metallic body impacts the train, the carraiage is ready, it was nothing more than a mere subway station carraige, filled with lines of empty seating with windows evenlly spaced out and hospital white colour which was the stantard for anything nowdays

Hino talking to old lady starts to say his goodbyes 'They bonded pretty well over this time, another side effect of the incomplete rewind'

He walks off waving goodbye to her, he walks over the concrete pavement of the subway station towards the train, his shoes thud the metal as he enters with the doors shutting behind him

The man in the drivers carraige looks back onto them "We will begin our journey now to the ara sands" the train starts to rapid acceralte, they slighty tumble over from the sudden power kicking in, the station slowly starts becoming distant as they get a view of the open area

The great grassy plains shiver with a sense of coldness, the grey landscape will meet its end in a couple minutes when they enter the scroching ara sands, the bioengineered weather was really a drawback even after the near extinction of the human race somehow still operating

'Why do humans even consider trying to control the uncontrolable, weather should be natural and not just a plaything for holidays and such' her thoughts wander off as she stares out the window of the train

The train continues its journey, the plains passing by as if they never existed, both of waiting in anticipation of the ara sands that will soon approach

"Hey k4..." his voice trembled

"What is it?"

"Do you regret killing my parents?"

The sudden change of pace was shocking even for a robot, Hino asking her this during such a relaxing journey never happened before

"Hino... I don't understand the concept of regret" her apologetic tone was understanble to him, despite having emotion capcity like the man stated, the idea of regret wasn't something she had to worry about yet

A flash of light cuts their conversation, the beaming sun rains down on them, the air increasing in heat as the moments passby, they both turn out the window to see the magnificant sight, a desert streching kilometers in all directions, from high slopes to low dunes, with rocky mountaints, this change of atmosphere brings a sense of summer into the life

'The energy absorbption here is way better, it feels so nice ' k4 smiles with her new boost in output, she felt lighter and more preapred for anything that may come within the labatory

"Hino take off that trenchcoat" she puts her arm around his buttons starting to untie them apart, having him dying from a heatstroke is less then ideal currently, the grey shirt he has should be enough for the hot climate afterall

The train now ascends onto a bridge made of pute stonework, there wasn't a modern way to get past the ara sands due to the railway lines being closed off ever since the development of the labatory to try and make sure no one would be able to find out the truth behind the monstrocies they developed in there

she gets up looking out in the oppisite window seeing a metallic head jump out of the ground "Hino take a look here" he turns around looking at the metallic body which lept into the air, it wasn't as smooth as worm should be, a mix of various metals and fragements of robots was mixed into its body

It looked like a metal mess which was only designed to kill, the great protecters of the ara sands

'Becoming one of them nearly in a old rewind still gives me nightmares, how did those humans design this thinking it was safe?' she starts thinking about the other rewinds from this point

rememerbing the second rewind, a key detail which should be considered 'The worms are aware of us, they are jumping around to sacre us from approaching, I cant tell the old man that or he might turn back' her silence spoke more to Hino then she would know

"Im guessing this wont be easy will it?" his voice shook her out of the miserable thoughts, she looks down on his face, his worry was etched all around him

She smiles weakly to ease him "it wont but we can do it if you just listen" her words gave a sense of enoucragement and comfort to him

walking over to the drivers carraige, she makes her presence clear "we can get off here " she was prepared for what is to come

"But there is no sign of the labatory" the man replied

"The labatory is behind that sand dune, you won't see it from here and getting closer from this point will get you killed" she waves to Hino and the doors open for the back carraige, the warm breeze fills their lungs as the sand fills their nose giving a sense of drought towards them, they step off the metal floor onto the stoned bridge upholding the railway

turning to hino who is distracted by the sense of scale of the ara sands starts to order her first step "get on my back" without questioning it, Hino goes behind her and allows hr to kneel down, Hino jumps onto her cold back making sure to hold on tight

Walking over to the ledge of the bridge, she looks down at the mere drop serperating them from entering the ara sands, she jumps down at a rapid pace getting the wind to flutter her hair and slight lift Hino up from the sudden gust, the soft warm sand embraces them both as they land without issue

"My killer is back" a voice rang into her mind, it was cold, calculating and ruthless.

'Who are you, what is this madness? this didn't happen in the other rewinds'

The effects of the failed rewind become apparent as first case scenarios start to occur as if the entire future has changed, it wasnt a concidence, being three months later than usual, the dogs attacking them this time and new string of events at the station were all far too diffrent

'Why don't you show yourself to me'

"I'm where you seek to be" her voice suggested the expectation of her arrival, as if it was all planned

The ground starts to shake and her legs sunk into the sand slighty casuing her to become immobile, it was a perfectly planned

'interesting' she tries to step up without succuess as she starts to stand back up on the sand, Hino getting off the cold metallic back onto the warm sand aswell, a spruge of sand covers the vision in an isntant causing hino to block his eyes while k4 lens scan the area, two sand mechanical sand worms in sight

"They won't hurt you, They will bring you to me so be at ease" the same cold voice rang into her mind, leaving her with not much choice but to comply

grabbing Hinos hand she jumps up on top of the mechanical sound warm, the cold surface paied with remains of many robotic and orgainic creatures attached gives a sense of unease to her "hino stay on tight, we are currently being led to our demise"