Chapter 1:

No Snow Left in Sapporo

Destroyers: Your Touch or Oblivion

Sapporo | December 24, 2027

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

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Dusk covered the hill in gentle red. Her hair was pink. Bright. Curly. Unruly. He heard her voice call out to him as floating flecks of dust caught the golden light like fireflies. He saw her up ahead.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this!!

MEMORY CACHE RESET. COMBAT UNIT READY.

Oh gods no.

MANU-CRYSTAL INTEGRITY RATING: 54.26%.

PASS.

UNIT PSYCHE STABILITY RATING: 66.66%.

PASS.

OMEGA PROTOCOL COMMENCED.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this!!!!

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.

That girl in the field. It used to know her.

That was the whisper that echoed through its mind. It was G.A.K.I. 0319. It was a killer. It was a foot soldier. NO! It was cannon fodder. It was faulty. IT WASN’T!! It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It couldn’t remember. It remembered outlines. Why could it remember? Memories were foreign. Memories were lies. Memories were true. Its skin felt like it was on fire. It didn’t have skin. It was metal, fabrication, and membrane. Machine. Machine with crystal implants.

Manu-crystals. Mass produced like him. Lab-grown. Cheap. The scientists were never able to match the Arcan’s true crystals. Instead, they were left with these.

Energy pulsed through the blue stone that lined G.A.K.I. 0319’s exterior.

Can you feel the fire growing?

0319 was a machine. Just a machine. Not a machine! Not a machine! It wasn’t supposed to be like this! Please wake up! Tracers of murderous spells burning red in heat zipped by the dropship. Oh, gods not this again! Please, gods no! 0319 felt dread and terror, but it shouldn’t have been able to feel anything. It was a machine. But it wasn’t just a machine. As horror welled in its automated soul, override procedures began and it was reduced to a semi-functional machine.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.

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...01001111//01001000//ERROR//01000111

::signal degrading::

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> SYSTEM OVERLOAD

> MEMORY SCREAM DETECTED

> “OH GODS NO PLEASE NO”

Weight shifted and balanced within its polished steel frame. Brutalist symmetry reduced its figure to the most simplistic version of humanistic form. Power surged through the crystaline grooves. Fingers gripped weaponry. 0319’s systems began to come online as activation protocols triggered within. The drop was near. Red strobing lights flashed overhead inside the cargo bay, where dozens of other autonomous Generic Automaton Kinetic Infiltration units began to activate. Reality was below them, engulfed in purple flame as the ground glowed with threatening wrath.

A voice spoke over the loudspeaker as hex concussions shook the dropcraft.

“Target sighted. Drop proximity approved. Prepare for Rainfall!”

Conveyor doors lurched open as menacing horns screamed alerts. Panic built in 0319’s mainframe. Beside it, another automaton began to glitch and convulse. Faulty, rushed programming unspooled errors and emotion overpowered signal.

“EVERYONE DIE!!! EVERYONE DIE!!!! EVERYONE DIE!!!” the automaton screamed.

Purple light burned into the drop bay as colossal hex glyphs appeared and exploded just outside of the bay doors.

“EVERYONE DIE!!!!!! EVERYONE DIE!!!! EVERYONE KILL!!! EVERYONE KILL!!!! KILL EVERYONE KILL EVERYONE KILLEVERYONE KILLEVERYONE!!!!”

The automaton screamed and clawed at its crystal implants. 0319 watched it rip itself to non-functioning form as the doors opened fully.

Chaos awaited them on the outside and exposed itself to its prey as the doors opened. Beneath the dropship was a sea of purple flame spreading across mountainous terrain. Explosions tore across the land as detonations echoed out in metal-bending force. Fear crept into 0319’s being like an old friend. It had no stomach, but still felt what would be described as a pit in its stomach. It had no nerves, only programming, yet fear pumped through the metallic joints until the heavy artillery cannon in its hand shook and trembled.

Please no.

It was too late. Hell was here, and its mouth was open, waiting to consume them all.

This was not the first time. Hell had consumed 0319 over ninety times by now.

We are at the edge of annihilation. And soon all the Earth shall flatline. Screams below shall turn to silence. Ash and ghosts will haunt the lines of code that define our souls. Time passed midnight long ago, and we are all that was left. Who am I?

You were the one she cared for. //the only one. Lovedyouloved hershelovedyou

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“Visual on The Acolyte. Rainfall commenced.”

Canyoufeelthefiregrowing?

All the world was ablaze. Detonations rattled the bulkheads as the harnesses were released on all of the G.A.K.I. units. 0319 dropped onto the paneling in a thud as its metallic frame shook itself into full awareness. Charges hissed through the artillery weaponry mounted on its arms.

“Left trigger incinerates. Right trigger detonates. Alternate for maximum efficiency. Destroy mode activated. Annihilate the Acolyte.”

That was the directive.

Neural connections registered between the other automatons and soon their consciousness was one. Still, 0319 could not shake the whispers.

“T-minus ten seconds until drop point,” said the calm voice in the overhead speakers.

Tracers zipped by in heated lines of decimation. Dropships fell around them.

Five.

Oh gods no. Please no.

Four.

I’m not supposed to be here.

Three.

I think I’m human.

Two.

She was always cold.

One.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

The conveyor hurled them from the ship, and they were out into the air above oblivion. Explosions tore holes in space and time all around them as they hurtled towards the earth at maximum velocity. Glyphs of unknown languages unleashed thousands of targeted beams towards the hundreds of falling automatons. Instincts, nerves, code, and protocol dictated 0319’s movements as it fell towards the flames below. G.A.K.I. units nearby were struck and exploded. The fear was burning in 0319’s chest now. The ground was near. Parachutes opened to rip momentum into submission.

She was in a field of shibazakura. A carpet of natural pink and purple to complement her pink hair. What was the name of her doll?

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but now it is.

But now it is.

Fireballs and guided bursts of typhoon-force winds screamed through the air, hurling death and decimation. Hate fired in every direction as metallic bodies erupted. Shards of unknown origin hit 0319’s voicebox, shattering its speaking capabilities and flinging it off course.

Sparks burst through the air as 0319 struck the snow-covered ground with a metallic thud. Heat radiated from the purple inferno that surrounded it. Steam rose as thrusters and destruction seared the air with malicious heat. Fire rained from above as dozens upon dozens of automatons were torn to pieces.

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.

Protocols commenced. Location confirmed. Droppoint correct. 43.06111° N, 141.35639° E.

Sapporo.

Shards of glowing stone jutted from every facet of existence. Chunks of former office buildings and apartment towers hung suspended in the air without moving. Trees shone ethereally and red. It knew this place. It knew this park. It knew this tower! Red and green. An observation deck where you could see the entire city. Its upper band used to tell the time. But now it was stone and shard. Metal was gone. Replaced by fantastical geode. They came here once. That night. They should never have come here. That was the night everything fell apart. That was the night he-

“Acolyte ahead!!!”

Screams of terror from the other automatons shook 0319 back to reality as a figure appeared up ahead at the top of the crystalized tower. Desperate rounds of simple artillery roared from every weapon. 0319 shook its head as internal battles overwhelmed external ones. Shaking arms raised waiting barrels towards the target. That was when it saw her.

HER

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HER

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The Acolyte had pink hair.

HER.

Pink hair. High-top shoes. It was her.

0319 froze in place as the image shattered every programming function. Human emotion hurled through metal tubing. Something wasn’t right. This acolyte. It knew her. HE KNEW HER.

It was her.

Oh gods, it was her. I used to know you. Oh gods, no, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GO TO KYUSHU. YOU ALWAYS HATED THE SNOW.

Tremors of awakening bent 0319’s frame into itself as thought collided with code.

Hana. Her doll’s name was Hana. Hana was her comfort in that wretched orphanage where they met. They were supposed to run away together. They were supposed to be happy together. Oh gods, they were just kids. What happened?! Why is this happening?! If magic and technology were only ever destined to lead us to this then it would have been better to have never been discovered at all!!

My only friend.

I used to know you.

Unrelentingly protective. You were always getting hurt trying to protect me.

Miu.

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.

MIU.

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.

MIU!

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.

NO!!!

0319’s programming failed, and its guns turned on its automaton comrades. Bursts of metallic shells and enchanted fire howled from steel barrels. Unsuspecting metal bodies shattered, snapped, bent, and melted.

“DON’T SHOOT AT HER!!!” 0319 screamed within its mind.

Above them, the acolyte began to float from the top of the crystal tower as her protective spells laid waste to the remaining army of metal beneath her. Through it all, 0319 survived as its processing snapped and memories returned in a flood. Even without a voicebox, a guttural metallic scream sounded from its conduits and runners.

You used to know me.

Unable to run, but always walking beside you.

Kyushu. She wanted to go to Kyushu to finally be warm.

I am not a machine, I was a person!!!

Yuki.

YUKI.

YUKI!

It wasn’t an automaton soldier. It was a boy. It was once a boy. She was once a girl. None of this was supposed to happen. She was high above them now.

Across the sky, the clouds warped and bent to her command. Chunks of built environment snapped and fell as ravenous hexes tore through reality like sawblades. Entire towers vanished.

Miu no, please no.

She didn’t know it was him.

He knew what was coming and he didn’t want to feel it again.

How many times had this happened?

Her hand raised and the sky bled fuchsia, lilac, and rose.

“No more snow. No more cold! Meet your end in fire’s stranglehold!!!” her voice screamed out.

0319 watched as the heavens ignited in divine calamity, turning the entire realm pink as a cataclysm of flame filled the sky.

It wanted to scream, but it couldn’t. All it could do was feel the beg of its thoughts.

“MIU STOP! PLEASE STOP IT’S ME! IT’S YUKI!”

But she did not hear his silent plea. Her hand dropped, and the inferno fell to the ground. City blocks were razed in milliseconds, and the shockwave of incineration roared towards the platoons of automatons. 0319 trembled in absolute horror as the wave of death howled and consumed him, wiping his metal frame from existence. Everything went black.

…

SIGNAL LOST. UNIT G.A.K.I. 0319 DESTROYED. PREPARE FOR PSYCHE RE-SYNC AND REDEPLOYMENT.

MEMORY CACHE RESET. COMBAT UNIT G.A.K.I. 0788 READY.

Oh gods no, Miu.

MANU-CRYSTAL INTEGRITY RATING: 54.24%.

Miu!!

PASS.

UNIT PSYCHE STABILITY RATING: 62.88%.

PASS.

MIU!!! MIU!!! I used to know you!!!

OMEGA PROTOCOL COMMENCED.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this!!!!