Chapter 29: Amalgam(3).

When Salvatoris entered the outer perimeter of the ruin the androids had taken over, he was left speechless. He was torn between the idea that this place looked miserable compared to what he'd seen in Reiner's memories, but another part of him was impressed to see these ruins still standing.

This place lived up to its name of ruin. Vegetation had long since reclaimed the imposing ruins that were once proud buildings, rubble staining the surrounding ground with broken stone. Yet a thick fence, topped with sharp barbed wire, seemed to protect the central building where the androids resided. With Melissa's help, he passed through this fence, to the puzzled looks and whispers of the other androids, while the old sentinels kept his appearance in their sights. None of the androids seemed intact. Some were rusted to the point of hardly believing they were still working, others were chipped all over, or even had parts of their bodies missing.

"Say, do you really think it's from home?"

whispered an android in relatively good condition.

"Impossible, all humans lost their heads to demon gods..."

Replied another, his face wary, yet tinged with a vague hope.

"It's true, we're simply doomed to be hunted. It's a good thing the underwater colony is here to-"

Acquiesced another with a depressed face. However, he couldn't finish his sentence as another android forcibly closed his mouth, slightly panicking.

"Idiot, don't talk about it in front of him! Imagine if they found them!"

Salvatoris couldn't listen any longer, however. Melissa had just opened the door to a dilapidated old building. It looked like an old android production factory, loaded with broken cardboard boxes and rusting parts.

They seemed barely functional, so marked had they been by age.

Once Melissa closed the door, the sight of being surrounded by a multitude of deactivated androids made Salvatoris dizzy. The building was filled with machines broken by time eons ago, nothing having escaped rust and decay. Even the vegetation seemed to have reclaimed its rightful place inside, while the thud of their footsteps kicked up dust everywhere. However, as if all this were usual, Melissa whispered something, ignoring the wind seeping through the holes in the roof that made her hair twirl.

"Excuse their attitude... When-and the fall happened, we lost everything. We all tried to resist...but, in the end, what's the point."

Melissa smiled wryly, a sign that she'd given up as she shrugged her shoulders. She had long ago given up on life, the idea that everything could work out. However, the other androids needed hope, a motivation to periodically emerge from their dormant state, and protect the few survivors. So Melissa took on the heavy burden of embodying the hope everyone needed, even though she had lost everything too, even her precious voice.

Salvatoris didn't understand what she was talking about at first, then remained silent as he realized it. She must have been talking about the day they'd ended up isolated in this place. He didn't know how it had all happened, but he couldn't help feeling deep compassion for Melissa.

"En-fin, merci. Thank you for bringing Alice here. I really appreciate it."

Melissa added, bowing deeply to Salvatoris.

Not knowing where Melissa was coming from that this could mean deep gratitude, Salvatoris didn't know how to react, although he understood Melissa's intention from her words. However, he sketched out a question.

"How long have you been here?"

"Huh? Haven't you seen him through Alice?"

Melissa replied, confused.

"No, I couldn't see the whole vision...otherwise I'd have died of thirst...and even if I had seen it, how will I know when it's from?"

Melissa took a moment to think, before again letting the broken voice leave her throat.

"I see. We've been here over a thousand and seven hundred years. Of course, we don't stay awake like this all the time, there are ron-des, so... we must have stayed conscious for about two centuries each. I've been the most active, so... maybe I've lived twice as long. Honestly, I wouldn't know how long, most of my functions have been broken for a long time, so it's already a miracle that my second internal clock is still running. But wh-...why are you here if you don't know everything?"

"I want to know what happened next, how it all ended. I must know. I come from the dictatorial Ares, it's my duty to-"

Salvatoris stopped his own words as he widened his eyes, putting both hands in front of his mouth. Why was he saying this?

When Melissa noticed his confusion, as well as his incoherent words, she instinctively understood what was going on. She remembered talking to Alice about this possibility. The possibility that whoever received the new memories might think they were the people whose lives they'd seen, or even forget who they were. Salvatoris seemed affected by just this, letting Melissa speak as a moral dilemma played out in his mind. The dilemma between following Alice's plan and being able to have even a slim chance of getting away with it, and sending this young man to the point where he would lose his mind, or stopping him now, and saving his life.

"I- If you pursue your vision, you may well get lost and never come back. Do you realize the risks you're taking? This is a fate that-i could be worse than death."

"I..."

Salvatoris tried to answer, but he didn't know what to say. He'd been confused lately, and what Melissa was saying concurred with that impression. Nevertheless, he shook his head quickly, trying to banish his thoughts. But he didn't have time to answer as Melissa caught him unawares.

"I could tell you what happened à-à-à instead you know. You don't have to relive everything to know. You probably know the most important thing now. Where did you stop about?"

Salvatoris took a moment to think, scratching his chin, before answering, sure of himself.

"Reiner had just been killed by a black demon god, and Alice had been destroyed in the desert with you."

When Melissa heard this, she seemed even more hesitant than before. She had at hand the chance to live again, without hiding in these ruins, to save all her comrades waiting here, who had faith in her. She had already sacrificed people, she had killed countless times. But now, it was a question of breaking someone innocent, whom Alice, as well as herself, had brought here by force thanks to their plan. Killing an enemy was simple, far simpler than the decision she was about to make.

"You...you don't know very much, actually. To explain it all to you would be so long-"

"Then help me to see the rest! Something compelled me to know it... if I didn't, I'd have an unbearable sense of incompletion."

Salvatoris fervently interrupted. However, Melissa's response was not as direct as he had expected.

"I'm going to need some time to get Alice back in shape, probably the rest of the day if I'm lucky. In the meantime, you-you can do what you like, but if you think the risk is worth it, I'll help you get the full story."

Salvatoris nodded, torn between joy and disappointment. He understood Melissa's desire, and even shared it. Bringing Alice back could only be a good thing, after all, it was thanks to her that he was here. Unless it wasn't thanks to her, but because of her. So he made his way to one of the corners of the ruined building, curiosity filling his mind.

Each of the boxes contained mechanical parts of stealing complexity, which fascinated Salvatoris, in addition to a huge quantity of destroyed, or barely functioning, weaponry. The parts were more complex than anything he'd ever seen in his village, even the schematics used by some mages seemed simple by comparison, and Salvatoris was fascinated to see such terrifying weapons still working after all these years. However, he soon came full circle, as several other androids were now surrounding Alice to repair her. Salvatoris therefore decided to leave the old building, leaving the androids to get on with their work. But when he came out, only the fearful whispers of the androids waiting outside awaited him. They hadn't seen a human who wasn't trying to kill them for centuries, to the point where they'd even come to regard them as the enemy, even though none of them would ever dream of harming a single one of their creations.

As Salvatoris wandered around, trying to find an android to talk to in the hope of passing the time, and learning more about them, he was caught on the shoulder by Melissa. She looked at him, a certain concern showing on her face, now stiff with age.

"You know, I've told you this before, but think really hard about what you want. You might never be the same again."

Salvatoris looked at her, smiling with pure joy as he replied.

"I understood don't worry, but I think I've made up my mind. It's too late to back out, I either know too much or not enough."

Melissa stared back at him, her gestures showing her discomfort. Nevertheless, she took Salvatoris's arm, dragging him into one of the small ruined structures around the factory, as she whispered to him.

"Follow me. It's best to talk out of sight. The others are going to need time to acclimatize to your presence, and I don't want us to inconvenience them by talking here."

When they had both entered, she continued her sentence, looking a little embarrassed.

"You know, when you've lived a certain life for centuries without the slightest change, living in fear of meeting humans every day... it's hard to change. Even I...seeing you...it terrifies me. What if you'd come with a group of adventurers to exterminate us in search of an object we'd know nothing about?"

Melissa paused, taking a deep breath as her hands trembled slightly. She then stood up, turning on a small, barely functioning radio, located in the corner of the tiny ruined building, whose broken roof let the sunlight filter through, as well as the wind breeze blowing in their ears. The music coming out of the device was barely understandable, full of static and barely comprehensible. Yet it calmed Melissa's tremors as she took another deep breath.

"Sorry about the music...it's the last thing I've got left now to tell the truth, it helps me calm down. Without it, I don't know if I'd have lasted this long."

Then she let out another ironic laugh.

"Even my internal recorder is ruined. If I lose this radio, I'll really have nothing. Anyway, now you've brought Alice...I...I still find it a little hard to believe. I feel bad for doubting you, but... I can't get it out of my head that everything's too good. This is the-first time we've seen hope since the fall of civilization, it's like a mirage."

Salvatoris seemed a little embarrassed to hear what Melissa was saying. He knew nothing of what she'd been through, and didn't know what to say to her. Yet he breathed a question anyway, trying as best he could to keep the conversation going.

"You talk about the fall, but how did it go? What's happened since you've been alone?"

Melissa almost gasped, surprise showing on her rigid face at Salvatoris's question.

"After Alice left, everything happened very quickly. We found ourselves isolated. The demon gods were everywhere...no human reacted, it was as if time had stopped for them...and then...the carnage began again. All those who tried to save the world were ba-a-alayed like insects...all the survivors, myself included, hunkered down, hoping not to be-been annihilated as the demon gods tried to expel the demons who were helping us on the American continent...it was...Pa-arfois, I wish I could be human, just to forget those moments."

Salvatoris' eyes widened as he hurriedly replied.

"Wait, the demons were on your side!"

"Yes, we tried to resist, but voilà... in the end, we to-all lost. All our efforts were for nothing, well... it's nothing to write home about, I'm sorry about that."

Salvatoris shook his head in response. Melissa didn't need to apologize for that.

The two continued talking in the building for a while, listening to the music on the radio. Then, just as the sun seemed to be almost setting on the horizon, the door opened. From it, an android stood awkwardly, announcing the news.

"Alice has been stabilized. We've also checked the condition of our transplants, and some are still working, so... the human should be able to find out what he wanted."