Episode 24

Before she could react, Scarlet felt a strong metallic hand grip her face, crushing her mask. In a panic, she scurried out of the mask and away from the android, landing in a patch of toxic plants. Her eyes swelled at the sight of the yellow gas pluming up around her. She could feel Helfeirch pulling her to her feet. Her eyes burned from the gas, causing tears to run down the sides of her face. Helfeirch's grip on her arm was tight as he drug her through the ruins in a dead run.

She could see an opening in the near distance through the tears. It was a great hole going through the ceiling and floor of the corridor they were in. Just then, she felt herself thrown to the floor harshly. She could hear Helfeirch screaming but felt she could not move. Her lungs were on fire. Her ribcage felt like it would explode at any moment, and no matter how she tried to breathe, she couldn't seem to catch her breath. It was as though her throat was swelling shut.

Rolling over to her back, she could see Helfeirch getting thrown up against a wall, causing the whole structure to quiver. The android moved to impale him with some sort of metal blade, which he managed to dodge. Behind the two, she could see another silhouette approaching out of the darkness.

'If you do not get up off the floor right now, you're both going to die,' she told herself. 'Come on, Scarlet, get up, get up!'

Pushing herself to her knees, she grabbed onto the wall and pulled herself to her feet. She could see the shine of a metal blade swinging right toward her. Unable to do little else, she raised her left arm to take the blow. But instead of the sickening sound of her bones cracking beneath the blow, she heard a ping as the blade struck her arm.

Looking at her arm, she could see that the blade had cut through the scabbing on her arm but seemed to have been stopped by what lay just underneath it.

'The scales?'

Within another second, the android struck her again, only to produce the same result. It continued to barrage her with assault after assault until it had backed her up to the edge of the hole. There, it paused, holding her at knifepoint.

"What are you?" it then asked with its mechanical voice.

"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" Scarlet's voice was raspy. Her eyes darted beyond the android to Helfeirch. He was now pinned up against the wall by his throat. The android before her pressed the tip of its blade against her chest. It intended to push her off into the hole. Grabbing the blade, she pulled on it, spinning herself away from the ledge and tugging the android toward it. It caught its balance keeping itself from falling.

Meanwhile, Helfeirch had reached for a knife and severed some wires and tubing on the android holding him. It released him, stumbling backwards. He felt himself gasping for air as he dashed toward Scarlet. In a combined effort, the two pushed the other android off into the opening in the floor. They watched as it pinged and bounced off of the various metal surfaces until it landed harshly on a grassy platform. It simply laid there, twitching. Turning, they could see that the other android had completely shut down.

With that, Scarlet felt that all her strength had been spent and her legs began to give way underneath her. She could feel arms wrap around her, keeping her from landing harshly on the floor.

"Easy. Easy, Scarlet." She heard Helfeirch say as he lowered her to the floor. She just laid there wheezing and coughing, the metal surface beneath her cold. Her body ached all over, and her eyes and lungs had not stopped burning. "Just breathe, in and out," he continued. Her eyes focused on a piece of metal blowing in the wind as her breathing began to steady. Overcome by exhaustion, she passed out.

---

"Good, Scarlet, very good."

---

Upon waking, Scarlet noticed that it was dark out.

'I must have slept all day… heard that woman's voice again. Wonder who she is.'

She couldn't help but think about the dream where she'd seen the woman. Something about her was very disturbing and left a lump in Scarlet's chest.

"You're awake." Came Helfeirch's voice.

"Yeah, but I wish I weren't." Scarlet's voice was still rather raw, but that was the least of her worries. Her lungs still burned, although, not as badly as before. Her body felt incredibly bruised and beaten up from all the times the android had struck her.

"Here, have something to drink," Helfeirch offered.

"Thank you." Just then, she noticed a pile of parts sitting next to her. "What's all that?"

"Just some parts I salvaged," he answered.

"That's not going to make them like us any better."

"I know, but it might help us survive the next attack if there is one." He paused. "Of course, what would be really helpful is if I could get the armor-like skin you seem to have."

She had to admit, the scales had saved her life. She thought back to the android's question. She was afraid of what the answer might be.

Being so close to Lygredd Grand made her mind begin to wonder what Helfeirch would think of the place. She imagined he would find it bright and noisy, and that her world would be just as alien to him as his was to her.

She sat there a moment longer, gathering her barrings and getting a bite to eat.

"So, do you feel good enough to travel?" Helfeirch then asked.

"Now, in the dark?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"My gift of sight isn't blessed like yours when it comes to seeing in the darkness."

"True, but it's a full moon tonight, good and bright."

She gave her surroundings a good look. She supposed he was right. It was pretty bright. "Well, alright."

"Besides, the longer we're here, the more likely we are of running into more machine people," he continued.

"You're right." She sighed. She slowly stood and began gathering her things. Helfeirch handed her a breathing mask.

"It's a spare," he stated.

She was thankful that he had that. She did not want to go through what she'd gone through today again.