Heodia and the Unknown Memories - The Fall of Touimai (Part 5)

Colonel Yashki gave the order for the tanks to open fire at 7 AM sharp. All three thousand tanks with their fourteen-meter cannons unleashed hell upon Touimai, their twenty-eight-centimetre shells raining death on resting civilians and the city's remaining defenders. The artillery had five barrages, each dealing a devastating amount of destruction. In total, there were an estimated forty thousand dead. 

By 8 AM, the shelling ceased, replacing thirty thousand soldiers who flooded through the breached gates. Behind them came military-designed robots, ranging from fist-sized scouts to massive, seventeen-meter giants designed to shatter defensive positions.

A desperate resistance was formed, made from a mix of soldiers and civilians fighting for their city. But the difference in terms of both firepower and numbers was overwhelming. By 10:25 AM, the resistance force's defences were in ruins, and nearly two thousand soldiers and ten thousand militia had fallen. Although pockets of resistance were formed, they were quickly crushed by the cold-blooded nature of the Cloud Empire's forces. 

After that, Colonel Yaishki ordered forces from the Cloud Empire (roughly ten thousand) to head south towards South Touimai, forces from Groyu (roughly six thousand) to head straight towards Central Touimai and forces from the Eastern Sagen Republic (roughly twelve thousand) to head northwards, towards Northern Touimai. 

By 10:37 AM, the reports spread across the high command of the operation: East Touimai had fallen. 

At 11 AM, after the capture of East Touimai, Majors and Lieutenant Colonels under the command of Colonel Yaishki moved to North Touimai. 

No mercy was given to anyone who resisted their path. The casualties up to now were low since Eastern Touimai was sparsely populated. Only around four per cent of the 2.4 million (Around ninety-six thousand people) citizens of Touimai lived in Eastern Touimai. However, things were about to much... for the worse. 

...

....
I didn't think they could surround the city this fast! 

As I and the android were about to escape Touimai from the Western Gate, I spotted moving objects in the distance. I asked the android if she had any form of magnifying to confirm what the moving objects were. 

To my surprise, she had a built-in telescope eye that could both take pictures and videos in 4K resolution and up to two hundred times zoom with almost perfect quality. She displayed what she saw to me with a holographic screen originating from her chest. 

While the images shown on the holographic screen had a blueish tone, the figures were indeed soldiers, Entanian soldiers, and their uniforms were grim confirmations.

There's no mistake. That dark green and that pattern... it belongs to the Entanian Alliance. I believe they're soldiers from the Cloud Empire... but I can't be sure. It's actually useful having an android with you sometimes I guess... but anyway, it's a change of plans. 

"Change of plans," I said to the android. "We got nowhere to go since troops from the Entanian Alliance already surrounded the city. I don't know how they did it that fast but-" 

Familiar sounds reached my eardrums. Sounding like thunder, but on a clear day, I instantly knew what it was. 

"Artillery." I mumbled. 

"Void?"

Reacting purely on instinct, I grabbed the android's arm and sprinted towards the nearest shelter. Thundering sounds happened around me as I ran. And everything went up in flames seconds later. 

Gold, orange, red, white. Flashes of unknown memories went on in my mind. 
There was a woman who looked very much like the android beside me who was burning while protecting something in her arms. I saw the owner of this memory stretch out their arm towards the burning girl I felt tears trickle down their face. 

When the dust settled, I stood amidst the rubble, a look of horror engraved on my face. I've lived for five hundred years in this world and nothing could have prepared me for this. It was a scene straight from a nightmare, quite literally a glimpse into hell itself. 

"Whose... memories are these?" I asked myself. 

As more artillery shells hit the area around me, the more intense the memories went. In the memory, an unknown, yet familiar building, was burning down. The buildings and land around me—no, it would be more accurate to say that the world was ending. The owner of these memories tried to stop it, but it was no use. In the end, after getting forcibly dragged into a vehicle by an unknown but familiar man, they huddled in a ball and cried. 
They punched the ground multiple times with their bare fists, cursing aloud. I could feel the sadness, the anger and the helplessness that they felt at this very moment. 

As I saw the blood emerge from their hands, the wounds of my hand reopened and it bled out—just like how I saw in the memory. It wasn't a mere coincidence either. The blood flow was eerily similar to that within the memory, and the areas where it bled were identical as well. 

My face turned pale, and with that hands visibly shook horribly, "What..?" 

"Void, what's wrong? You look-" the android began but was cut off by huge pieces of concrete blocks and glass in free fall. But I was still standing there, visibly shaken by the scenes of the memory, and I was unable to move. 

"Watch out!" the android screamed out, breaking my daze. 
Before I could respond, a section of the collapsing building hurtled towards us. The android reacted instantly, pushing me aside and shielding me with its own body.

"Wait no!-" I desperately called out. By then, it was too late. As I collapsed onto the ground, I felt a sudden jolt of pain from my back, before feeling my skull crashing down onto the ground. My vision went black for a moment but, I came to be a little while later.

The rubble piece fell on top of us, but... I cannot remember what happened next, probably due to my memories being messed up with the unknown memories that popped into my mind forcibly. Worried, I reached out, my hand trembling as it brushed against the android's cool metal form. A crimson liquid, far too similar to the blood coughed from my own throat, flowed out of the android's hairline.

Why does she... look like that one... a woman in all-black, has long firey ruby hair. And I'm pretty sure her name was-

"Heodia?" I whispered aloud. The name was far too familiar to be a stranger's name and I wasn't sure where I heard that name from. However, for all I knew, the name felt heavy on my tongue, just like a burden that remains.  "That's it. Your name is Heodia from now on!"  

"Heodia... I see. That is my name." she smiled peacefully, with a faint whirring sound originating from her. 

Giving a name to an android or any sort of high-tech machinery will give them personality and more free will; acting more human than ever before. And of course, the name you decide will affect the personality of the machine you are naming. 

"You now okay Void? You froze up and had a look of terror and horror on your face." she said, now in a more human-like voice. It still sounded a bit robotic and artificial, the reason being that even with our technology, replicating a human's voice with the power of technology is seemingly impossible. 

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm okay now. The fire has almost completely gone out so I should be fine now." 

"No," she rattled my shoulders. A stern look came from Heodia, piercing my eyeballs and into my soul directly. "I am worried. You weren't scared at all when all the artillery came flying around us, but that moment when you were frozen... you looked like you were truly scared." 

"..." I stayed silent. She was correct after all. 

"Well, I won't force you to tell me what you saw. Come on, get up." she offered her hand. 

"Thanks." I replied, getting up from the ground. 

Heodia made a thinking position. She was mumbling about something. 

"Hey Heodia, can you finish your mumbling somewhere else? According to my knowledge, a modern-day army wouldn't fire just one round of artillery. I think they are reloading right now. We better move."  

"Okay." she replied to my explanation. 

Guess her personality changed a lot when I gave her a name. Maybe the original Heodia was like this. I thought.

 "So are you ready to move?" I asked, looking back. " We better hurry and make it hopefully to North Touimai."

"I am ready whenever you are." she replied, nodding. 

I need to investigate the source of these memories. Could Uto be the reason? I'm not sure. However, I- no, we have to get to safety first before trying to answer these questions.