Release Me From Heaven (Release Me From Hell Series)

Chapter 12: (System 86: Number 5/Askin) Distressed Eleven

        I watched from a distance, my body erect and hopefully to the gods working correctly. I still had some of Vyperaete's oil stuck in my teeth and on my hands, but I could just tell that Iskil Madoeken was not a machine of detail. It was interesting to me, too, because he had taken his memory chip out so his point of view was broadcasted to us. Too bad I could see everything right here. I just couldn't hear them. At all. It was watching the fight without having the audio. I saw Iskil grab the other machine, one I decided not to know the name of. Iskil looked down at the machine, some twisted grin or grimace.
     "Killing is easy!" Iskil screamed.
     How right he was. It made me stand on my tip toes to hear is drab voice stand against all its known, and I heard more as he continued to shout carelessly.
     "Living is harder," Iskil continued. "You don't know what either of those things are! None of you do!"
     His hand snapped away at the other's memory chip. From a certain angle, you could see the defeat in Iskil's eyes, something always omniscient and bold against the contrast. Iskil began to spew more nonsense, but I was not focusing on the ridges of his lines as they criss-crossed from human color to rusted metal. An odd man. Maybe in a different timeline, we would've discussed our differences, his frailty and my sleek look.
     Iskil killed the one machine with an Elite power I had not witnessed. The girl, Viania, also had an extraordinarily strong power. Fire and lightning. It did not deter me one bit to watch as Iskil not only destroyed the one machine, but turn on Viania like a vicious animal. No, it heightened me. I wanted Iskil dead. B-B-BUT WHY-Y-Y-Y <ERROR-R>
      Viania's left leg turned to ash almost immediately, and Viania screamed out until her entire body dimmed to death. But that was to be expected. However, I saw a tiny sliver of light from within her body which proved quite the opposite. I started running. I cleared my throat.
      "Oh my god!"
      Iskil stared at me, analyzing my movements as I caressed her body. I pressed my ear against her chest to hear an unearthly pounding. Life.
     "What's your name?" I snapped back. "Your numbers?"
     He seemed nonchalant as he answered. "System 11, Number 503. My friends call me Iskil."
     I held back my distaste. "I'm System 86, Number 5. They call me Askin. We need to get her to Matum. Can you come with me?"
     "She's dead." He spoke so dreadfully. I almost believed it. "When I showed up, that other machine had already killed her, and I stopped him."
     He was a good liar. I gestured him to place his ear against her to hear the thumping. He did. And then he seemed to almost freeze right there. I began to lift Viania from the ground, and Iskil seemed to follow. Good.
     "What was her name?" I asked him. I already knew.
     "Firadae, Number 732. Viania."
     His mind was rolling, and he wasn't telling me why. All I knew was that Nomedd wanted me to bring her, and I suppose that meant I needed to fix her in this sorry state. I immediately began to call Vaeshi, simply because even in times like this I needed her guidance. It rang once. Twice.
      "Yes?" she answered.
      "I need you to make it back to the house as soon as possible," I said. "We have two guest, and one of them is severely injured."
     "It will be about forty-five minutes," she told me. "I'm almost done up here."
     "Where... are you?"
     "At the Factory."
     "Well, then I'll see you in forty-five."
      She wasn't at the Factory, but I couldn't just accuse her of that without any basis besides the feeling in my gut. Iskil followed me as I waltzed on the outskirts of Matum, his body a marvel against the normalness of everyone else. Viania had barely made a breath, but it was there. Shallow. I tried not to focus on them as I thought simply of Vaeshi's lie. Why would she lie? I had been telling her for ages to break some rules, so why was she suddenly telling lies about where she was. And Alieka... That girl was with Vaeshi, too, so they must not have gone far.
      "Do, uh, you work at the Factory?" Iskil asked me.
       I laughed for a moment. "Elites don't work at the Factory. None except the head, but she lives in Japan."
      "Elites?"
     "Machines with feelings and a great potential for power. "Geez, did he seriously not know what he was called? "I'm an Elite. I can hack into other machines and objects with just a touch of my hands."
      "Hmph."
      Iskil closed his eyes, sensing the ground ahead by the touch of his feet to the grass alone. Regardless of the built up hate in my gut for him. I had to admit that he was quite exceptional. He seemed overly flippant for Iskilla's machine, but maybe I should've expected that from someone that was over six thousand years old. What a travesty. I should be the one able to live that long.
     "They called them Reacted back at home," Iskil sighed. "We were not praised. We were ridiculed, locked up for even the slightest inclination of humanity." He balled his right hand into a sturdy fist. "I killed millions when I learned of this."
     Millions? "Was it that bad?"
     "I don't know, maybe you should ask the machine that's eating dirt back there."
     Such anger. I could tell that he did not get angry very often, but it was still menacing to be next to a machine that killed millions. That wasn't something Nomedd mentioned, and I never saw that part in his memories.
     We walked into the subway, and Iskil immediately paused. His eyes scanned the train in a delicate manner until he rubbed away at some of the markings to reveal a destination. Calarian Circle.
     "She... settled at home then," he mumbled to himself. "It makes sense you would be here of all places, Mother."
     I continued to walk without asking him what he was thinking. I didn't have to. Iskil's eyes scanned the dead Firadaes as we passed, and he had this particular pull to the rusted letters on the train. I trudged on. Except... Iskil paused again, and I had nearly exited the train before realizing he was sitting on one of the chairs with a Firadae in his lap. I bit my lip, nearly barking at the man before finally sighing.
      "That machine is broken," I said. "It... was very sick."
      He seemed somber as he pet the Firadae's head. Something was wrong.
      "Sit for a moment, Askin," he pleaded. "Viania will survive the few minutes I rest."
       I stared at him with somber eyes, and I watched as he continued to hold the Firadae with his aged hands. I sat Viania down on one of the rusted chairs, and I sat across Iskil.
     "You're young, aren't you?" he asked me with his eyes closed.
     "Not really," I sort of chuckled. "I'm over a thousand years old."
     "You're young. Surely not as young as young as Viania, but young nonetheless."
     "Why ask?"
     "I hold a curious mind. I've been a wanderer since the beginning, one that analyzes rather than goes in head first. I can tell you're the same way, you know," he smiled. "It... is a curse."
      I nodded. "Yes. Curiosity can get you in a lot of trouble."
      "Yes. That's how I"m here." He held the Firadae. "Just trouble."
      K-K-KILL! <ERROR>