League of Legends Shorts

A Clockworks Understanding

 “You are… Orianna?” an older man asked in a timid voice. He smelled of body odor and gases. His short gray hair was thick with grease and dirt and his glasses sat on the edge of his long nose. He hadn’t showered in weeks, perhaps months. It was impossible to remember.

                Since that day, he hadn’t left the basement, fiddling with his tools and gadgets until it struck him. If death insisted on taking his perfect daughter away then he would simply create a new one. He eyes were wide as hers began to flicker open.

                “Affirmative, memories downloaded. You are… father?”

                Tears began to steadily to roll down his cheeks as he threw his arms around the robot. “Yes Orianna, I am your father,” He chocked out. She sat perfectly still as he embraced her, unsure of how she should react. When he let her go she cocked her head for a moment. The man only looked at her, still crying. She didn’t understand, she simply couldn’t because she wasn’t his daughter, not really.

                The machine sat up slowly and took in her surrounds. It was a dark and messy room, molded food, gadgets, potions and empty vials lying around everywhere. There were several crumpled up pages lying about and a foul odor resided in the air. She stood up and slowly walked to a clear area in the middle of the floor.

                Her father and creator Corin watched her in amazement, she moved with grace just as his real daughter had. When Orianna stepped into the unsoiled space she stood on the tips of her feet and began to twirl until she lost her balance and fell over.

                She hit the ground hard, knocking over a table and all of its contents.  As her elbow joint slammed against the floor it popped out and her arm fell clean off. Corin jumped to his feet and was by her side in an instant, assessing the damage.

                “You need to be more careful Orianna, in the League I won’t always be there to protect you…” His eyes glanced just behind her at a photo of when he daughter was full of life. The picture was artistically shot as she threw a large ball into the air. An idea then clicked into his head, “Or perhaps I can…”

                He grabbed her broken arm and attached it to her body.  When she repaired he dashed to his work bench. Orianna watched in wonder as he went to work. It took hours of watching him, adjusting gears and creating sparks. Orianna reminded silent even when he put a large odd helmet on his head and it began to light up and shake his body.

 As the lights flashed and sparks flew, he turned to look at her and let out a dark laugh, “Now nothing will be able to take away my precious daughter!”

                In his hands he held a large mechanical sphere that was connected to the helmet by a thick black cord. It flashed so brightly human eyes would need to look away. Her father began to scream in agonizing pain and hysterical laughter. Then suddenly the lights ended and Orianna’s father collapsed on the filthy and grimy floor.

 For only being alive just a few hours Orianna already had a fairly good understanding of gravity, although her father fell to the floor the Ball remained floating in the air. It never touched the ground instead it glided towards her and made a beeping sound.

                Orianna reached out and patted the Ball on its top making it chime. A few gears in her face clicked as her mouth grew into an empty smile, “You are Father?”

In response the ball opened slightly and what resembled an eye popped out of it and looked at her. Again the Ball chimed, “Now we may be together always,” she said and embraced the Ball just as he had embraced her earlier. She could understand a little better now, it was a display of love.