The Machine God Series: An Endless Nightmare

Chapter 4

Chapter 4: As Leaves Fall

"Oh good, you did change into your dress." Krystal greeted her daughter as she walked up to the car.

"I can't believe you picked this dress." Nehna said, sounding slightly irritated. "It looks like I should be going to a party, not a funeral.

Nehna now wore a strapless black dress, with plain black high heels that were hard to walk in. As she sat in the car, she continuously adjusted her elbow length black gloves, which kept sliding down when she moved her arm too much.

"So, how was school?" Her mother asked.

It was the question she had been dreading. All after lunch, she couldn't stop thinking of Yahnhinko. Luckily, she didn't share a class with him after lunch, so she was spared the awkwardness that she would have to endure tomorrow. Admittedly, he really had caught her on an off day. She really hadn't meant to say that to his face, no matter how much she felt it. But, it was probably better to just leave it be. Or was it? She didn't know what to do anymore. To be honest, she would rather just avoid him altogether. She got a weird vibe from him. She felt... somewhat uneasy around him. Not necessarily fear, but he didn't feel quite... normal. Nehna had been raised better than to judge people by their looks, but how could you not with him? Yahnhinko looked so abnormal, it was hard imagining him as Zirosu. Even people who change their eye color with contacts can't get such a striking gold color. His eyes are rather beautiful, but they're still so unnerving.

"It was ok. " Nehna replied finally.

"Just ok?" her mother pried. "Nothing interesting happened at all?"

Somehow Nehna didn't think she'd get out of this easily. Her mother had a way of getting what she wanted out of people. She'd hate to be in a real interrogation with her. She would just have to be as vague as possible, without revealing too much of the day's details.

"Well, there was this weird mountain boy..." she started.

"Weird? Nehna, I thought I raised you better not to judge someone like that just because they're not from around here. I mean, think of how hard it must be for them-"

"Mother, would you let me explain?" Nehna cut her off. "He just looked different. I mean, his eyes were a color of liquid gold. He even had a double set of sharp pointy teeth! Now tell me thats not weird."

Krystal was silent for a few moments, obviously thinking over what she just heard. Sure, her daughter could exaggerate, especially when it came to drama, but even this was a little far fetched for her. Was it true, a Zirosu that looked like the Demon God? It seemed a bit ridiculous, as it was technically impossible. Unless, his DNA had been artificially modified, and heavily so at that. But, that was no simple feat, near impossible in fact, and really served no purpose other than changing aesthetics. Krystal had to admit though, the world of science could be a vicious one. Was it possible he was a survivor of some strange and illegal body modification? Could they possibly be realistic cyborg eyes? Hmm, but even the most realistic ones usually you can tell up close... Not that you'd want to draw so much attention anyways... The poor thing, I can't imagine what he has to go through.

"Mom?" Nehna drew Krystal's attention back.

"Yes sweetie?"

"What were you thinking? I'm not making this up you know."

"I know. I believe you.

"You do?"

"Well, I'm just going to jump to conclusions and say that maybe he was an unfortunate victim of some sort of illegal modification, be it DNA or cybernetics. But, we don't talk about that. I'm sure it's been very hard for him, especially coming to a new and unfamiliar place." Krystal reached over with one hand to pat her daughter on the head. "You be nice to him, alright. It'd probably make his day."