M.R.L.N-7

Ch. 1 - A Newlight's First Breath

Sibyl zipped through the space between the trees that made up the jungle of Old Ireland. She stopped by every corpse she came across to peer into who they once were.

"No..." she said to herself after scanning a body. Thin beams emitted from her center eye to investigate each potential guardian.

"No. Not you either... Nope." She emerged from the treeline at the edge of a forgotten city. Her pace slowed as she began to glide above the rusted golden-aged vehicles littered that the overgrown street.

"Huh?" Sibyl said aloud. Segments of her rounded triangular shell, adorned with twisted branch-like decorations, bumped outward for a fleeting moment. A faint, distant signal from a few streets over washed passed her. The ghost shuffled excitedly before quickly floating toward the source. "You're close!"

She passed buildings twenty stories tall, forgotten guard posts established as the collapse began, and landmarks lost to history. Sibyl rose to meet an opening blasted into the side of what would have been a residential building. She felt that signal pulse again, now much stronger than before. Her scans rolled over everyone nearby; complete skeletal remains, Exos with quantum dot batteries damaged beyond repair, and even trace remains of otherwise eviscerated bodies.

"I finally found you..." Sibyl said in disbelief as she completed her scan on an Exo half buried under a collapsed wall. Her shell segments separated and protruded outward from her central core. She summoned all the Light she could into a bright silver ball around herself and funnelled it into the cold, unmoving husk.

The warm yellow light that brightened in the Exo's eyes illuminated the dark space beneath the rubble. The mechanical legs began to flail as frantic fists hammered against the brick blanket.

"It's okay!" Sibyl called out. The Exo paused and slowly allowed his body to relax. The ghost watched the glow flicker, and dim before brightening again as the trapped Exo calmed himself to take in his surroundings. "You're safe."

"Where am I?" his voice croaked out, still hoarse from centuries of no use.

"Someone's home, I think," Sibyl answered, rotating in place to map out the room.

"Mine?" The yellow glow shun brighter as he spoke.

"I have no way of knowing, sorry."

"Who are you? Who am I?" the Exo emphasised. He began to struggle as the fear of the unknown crept in. "What's going on? I think I'm stuck; can you help?"

"Sure! I need you to relax first though. I'm Sibyl," the ghost answered quickly. "I can't really help, but if you brace yourself against the floor, and push with open palms to flip the debris over your side, you should be free."

The Exo's green hands, lined with a grey trim around the joints, pressed flat against the cold stone. His feet planted firmly against the worn concrete, exposed now that the wood had rotten away. With as much strength as he could muster, the Exo pushed the wall away from his chest, twisting as it rose. "You got it!" Sibyl said cheerfully. The Exo's strained grunts grew from a low growl to a pained groan. He huffed heavily once the weight of the wall shifted and fell with a dense thud.

"Okay," he panted as he lay flat looking at the ceiling; the light from the back of his mouth activating as he spoke.

"Siryl?"

"Sibyl," the ghost corrected. "Sibyl... Right. Who am I?"

"I don't know that either," she answered, glancing downward as if to bow in apology. The Exo started to sit up to see who found him.