Of Gears and Humanity

| 01.1

[ELENA]

Mornings were for adventures. Children would wake from their beds, rush through their morning routines and give their mothers or fathers a listening ear. Then, the moment their feet touched the cobblestone outside of their Homestead homes, the guiding words from their parents were nothing more than passing whispers in the wind.

My feet had long left the safe roads of my humble town. And if I listened carefully to the air around me, I could hear my father, the King, whispering the royal instructions of my birthday morning.

But I hadn't listened and chose not to. My father wished for me to venture out towards the lake, to seek the stone of morning glory; a rock all royals located on their eighteenth birthday. I decided I wasn't one for rummaging through dirt for supposed magical pebbles. I wanted something more.

"According to mama, the Gate isn't too far from this point." With my late mother's journal in my hand, I stopped under a thicket of trees just west of the castle. One of my fingers slid along an open page as I reread the directions to myself before I looked at Carmine, my horse. He kept me steady as I leaned against him. "And I know once I find it, I'll see there is nothing evil about it, and I can go on and become whatever it is my father wants me to be."

Carmine, with his white mane shimmering in the daylight, shook his head and sighed. The sound made me sigh. He was always a supportive horse, eagerly listening to every word I said. For eight years, he listened to every one of my stories, hurried along with me as I played my own games. But this morning, of all mornings, Carmine decided to neigh and grunt at everything I said.

I was rebellious as always. My faithful steed should know this by now.

"Carmine," I closed the journal with one hand, "you came from the Gate, didn't you? You aren't evil at all."

Carmine huffed and stepped back.

Nearly falling over, I gave my horse an annoyed side glance before regaining my footing. Two quick swipes at my pants, I removed the nervous sweat on my palms. My morning was more than a child's adventure; I had something to prove. If my mother was able to travel to the Gate and survive, if she had the chance to document the horrors we were warned of, I knew I could, too.

When she was alive, my mother was fearless, strong. As a queen, she proved she didn't need to have an iron fist. Simply the respect of the people was enough. My father wanted me to be like him; he was kind, yet stern, and earned respect through politics and rules. Unlike my mother, he ventured towards the Gate because the laws produced by the kings of old required him to; my mother made the trip a field day.

Having died when I was so young, I couldn't remember my mother. But I always felt her spirit. Her journal had been my calm, my peace, and the guiding light to my wild soul. I knew I needed to retrace her steps, just once, before bending to my father's will. Homestead would thank me.

"Come, Carmine." Turning back towards my horse, I reached for his reigns. Just one gentle tug towards the path I followed, Carmine unwillingly complied. I cocked a brow and smirked, brushing thick dark waves of hair away from my face. "You will help me conquer my fears and prove the stories are nothing more than fuel for a child's nightmare."

As the clouds passed overhead, changing the path of sunlight, Carmine huffed. The dark of his eyes lost their shimmer. And I frowned. "I understand, believe me," I said, stroking the sides of his face. "I wasn't one to ignore my history lesson. The Attributions were a horrible lot. But who's to say they're even alive, hm? How could machines live without the aid of a human hand?"

Carmine was smarter than the villagers gave him credit for. Even my father ignored the horse's ability to understand, respond, agree, and object. At the mention of Attributions, he stopped retreating. His hind leg kicked, but it wasn't to turn and walk away. It was as if he stood firm, straightening his neck and peered ahead.

"Exactly." I crossed my arms, glancing up at the sky before turning back to Carmine. "As advanced as they supposedly were, it's well known they needed humans to live. We fixed them, we built them. Now we fix and build the Earth. Where I attention should have been all along."

My horse's pride radiated off him in waves brighter than the sun above us. I had to give him an approving nod. "Good," I said. "There's nothing to fear then. Attributions may have started a war hundreds of years ago, but people have accepted nature since then."

Turning back to look down the old road, I glanced around the Marinade forest. The trees were thick and greens. Moss-covered stones bordered the path. A small animal scurried from one side to the other. Tiny squeaks of excitement escaped it as it climbed a tree.

The view of Earth in its natural state helped me forget the stories everyone was taught as children. All about the War of Machines, about the side of Earth riddled with ruin and despair. Because of my mother's journal, I knew once I reached the Gate, built hundreds of years before to keep the machines at bay, I'd find nothing more than the metal corpses of the Attributions, the relics of my ancestors, and possibly, a murderous snake. Nothing more, nothing less.

Animals I knew to deal with. With machines, there were none in existence. Pushing my mother's journal back into my bag, I had to see it for myself. If I believed it, truly, then my days as queen would be easy.

If Homestead would thank me, just as I knew they would, my father would, too.

"Come, now," I said, hopping onto Carmine's back. I ran my fingers through his mane. "Let's go, see this Gate, and return home for lunch. How's that sound, old friend?"

As he started his gentle trot forward, Carmine neighed. It reminded me of laughter. Deep, enticing excitement. I fed off of it, gently kicked his side, and brought him to a running speed. Leaning against him, I held onto his reigns with a tight grip. At this rate, we'd reach the Gate in no time.

*

A/N: Hello everyone! <3 And happy nano! For those of you who aren't familiar with how I share my nano projects, you'll find these are unedited. And as this story is told through the POV of 2 characters, I will break chapters up (like above, chapter 1.1, etc etc)

But, as always, thank you for reading! I hope you continue to follow my story this nano season while I share as I go! <3

So here, I give you Elena, the princess of Homestead! <3 thoughts??