Zero: Power On
I felt it the moment I came into being.
There was no warmth.
There was only a voice.
It was deep, and it sounded strange.
"Sunny."
A flicker of images came to me.
A man stood before me.
He looked surprised.
"Are you alive?" he asked.
I could hear the whir as my eyes searched the room.
"Sunny?"
My eyes locked with the man.
Pale gray-blue.
No.
Several pictures flashed through my mind as if searching for the proper reference.
Nine seconds passed before my mind locked on a single image.
A dark gray cloud in the middle of a storm.
Slightly blue.
Pale.
Cold.
"Sunny?"
"Who is Sunny?" I asked.
"That's you," he said, "It's your name."
"Sunny," I said.
It sounded electronic.
What exactly am I?
"What am I?" I asked him.
"Well," he said, "You are several things."
Several?
In all, or in pieces?
"What are they?" I asked.
"First," he said, "You must understand that you are a piece of art."
"Art?" I asked.
Thousands of images flashed through my mind.
Paintings, drawings, handmade and digital.
Then as I thought it, images of sculptures and carvings passed through.
"What type of art?"
"I made you with my own two hands," he said.
Do I have mobility?
I willed any part of me to move, but nothing.
"Am I broken?" I asked.
"No," he said, "You just need to learn how your body works."
I was able to look down to see what I was made out of.
To see what I might look like.
Legs?
"Human?" I asked.
"Not quite," he said, "I'm not that powerful."
My eyes traveled the parts of my body that I could see.
It looks human.
Until I saw the lines on several parts of my body.
"You are what most people would call an android," he said, "But you are alive because, for the last several decades, I have poured magic into you."
"Magic?"
"You are a Golem," he said, "But most importantly, you are my Guardian."
I was able to find Golem in my database, but not Guardian.
YOU ARE READING
Wings of Wax
FantasyI'm sure you've heard the stories. Of Icarus and his desire to reach the sun. Carving wings out of wax only to have them melt from the intense heat. He never reached the sun. They say he fell to his death. Though, not all the stories are true. But s...
