Chapter One - The Shiniest Piece

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[THIS CHAPTER IS NOT FINISHED]

Running her eyes over the piles of rubble and debris, Kaida sighed to herself.
"Nothing." She grumbled.
"Little hard to hear you over there, sweetheart!" Called her father, Akuma, from behind a large pile he had claimed earlier.
"I said 'Nothing!'" She yelled in frustration.
"Ah," he mused, popping his head up. "That's a damn shame. I happen to have found quite a few." He said with a sly grin before dipping back down out of sight.
"That's great, Dad." She replied more to herself.
Just once she would like to be able to find something more than tiny fragments of centuries old glass. Just once she could be the one who brought it back to her mother with pride. Her mother would hug her with excitement and tell her what a good job she had done. Maybe the Guardians would even see fit to give her family extra food allowance. Or clothes! Shoes. And even socks. But not for wearing outside. She would keep them tucked away, ready for cold nights—
"Ehem," Akuma cleared his throat, bringing Kaida out of her daydreams.
"I—" still lost in her thoughts, Kaida struggled to form a decent excuse and instead shrugged sheepishly.
"I know," Akuma said wiping the sweat from his brow and taking note of the shadows cast around them. "We've been out longer than I was planning today. Your mother is likely starting to get worried."
"Isn't she always?"
Without replying Akuma nodded in tacit agreement.
"Nonetheless, we should start heading back. The sun won't be out much longer."
Kaida sighed again.
"Should I get the Crawlers back, then?" She asked.
Hearing no reply, she knew the answer. It was always her responsibility to deploy and guide the Crawlers. She had often wondered if that was why she was brought along. It sure as hell wasn't for the mountains of treasure she was bringing in.
At least the Crawlers made sense to her. Mechanical. Logical. They did as they were told. And even when they malfunctioned it was decently easy for her to fix them up. She had a knack for it and always had. They weren't like people or animals. They were simple.
Not seeing them in the immediate area, Kaida listened. Both a positive and a negative, the Crawlers made enough noise to be located even when they had trekked off around the other side of vastly sprawling buildings. Sometimes they even ended up inside the structures. Their primary goal was to find loose debris and collect it into neat piles far enough from the buildings that Kaida and Akuma could search through it without having to enter or even go near the buildings themself.
They weren't far. Kaida started to walk down what used to be one of the great paths. Very wide, made of concrete, with thick rebar throughout it. These paths encircled the Old City and criss-crossed throughout it. It always felt unsettling to walk in the middle of the great paths. Why put so much resource into making it so wide? What kind of Crawlers did they have back then that were so big as to need this much room, but couldn't handle natural terrain? It was hard to imagine the people of the Old Cities were human at all. But her father assured her they were. Not that he was any authority on the subject at all.
Balancing along the edges of the path, jumping from piece to piece, Kaida finally rounded the tower they had spent the day near. The path split in three directions. One continuing forward, one heading directly into it, and the last heading away from it. The paths stretched so far and wide. Kaida had always dreamed of getting on one and just walking. Never looking back. Just following it to the horizon and beyond. What lay out there? Was it all the same?
The low drones and clanking of Crawlers drew her attention a little down the path heading into the city. The two of them were attempting to push their shovel-like heads into a particularly large piece of rubble. With each push their legs failed to gain enough grip, resulting in them slipping and falling into each other over and over. Their barrel shaped bodies clanging together repeatedly.
That was the other negative. They weren't too great at decision making. Not only was the piece of rubble completely worthless, it was also obviously far too heavy for even their joint effort.
Kaida gave a sharp three toned whistle. The Crawlers immediately froze. Then with a click of her tongue they both pulled their heads from under the rubble and slowly moved backwards. Having cleared the space they turned, located Kaida, and followed her back toward her father. They might not be terribly smart, but they never questioned.

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Upon returning to her father's side Kaida noted his puzzled and displeased expression as he looked at the crawlers.
"What?" She asked knowingly, "This is what we get for buying from Kals."
Again, Akuma had to admit she was right. Kals' parts were the cheapest in the region, and for good reason.
"We'll make do." Akuma concluded, hefting his rucksack onto his back with a jangle of small metals. "Plus, I got a few nice pieces today. Nothing extra special, but enough to at least get Gerald here a new board."
"Gerald? No. We're not calling either of them Gerald." Kaida said, stifling a laugh. Her father was terrible at naming things. But that never stopped him from trying.
"Fine. Kaida two, and Kaida three."
"Does that make me Kaida one?" She questioned, tightening the straps of her backpack.
Akuma started his way off up the hill in the direction of home, yelling back "Nope! That was the first Crawler we lost out here!"
"I love you, too!" She shouted.

Kaida whistled a command again and the crawlers took their places on either side of her. This made her smile a little. She had taught them well. Or, well enough, given the limited motherboards they had.
As she made her way up the hill following her father, Kaida could see the one unofficially dubbed 'Gerald' was struggling immensely to lift its left legs. She cursed to herself. Not because she was going to have to fix the damage before moving on, but because she had thought to call it Gerald. Akuma's names always sucked, but they also had a tendency to stick.
"Hey, Dad!" She called out, looking up over the crest of the hill and onto the plateau that enveloped the Old City. Her father had already noted her lagging behind and was standing several yards in the distance with a knowing raise of his eyebrows. Kaida continued, "It's not a big issue! I just have to buff out the chassis on.." She paused but couldn't think of a better name in the moment. "On.. Gerald."
Akuma's face lit up as he raised his hands in a double finger gun motion. Then nodding to himself he pointed to the ground signalling to her where he'd be, then he plopped down.
Kaida couldn't help but feel partially pleased with having been able to make her father happy by going with that stupid name. She chuckled to herself, turning back down the hill and unstrapped her backpack.
"Alright buddy, let's a look at that.." But her sentence never finished. Looking back toward the city, Kaida was caught by the telling glint of reflected light. A shine. Her heart began to race but her excitement was short lived. The shine had come from behind the shadow of the old ruins. Right near the building walls. Her father would never let her get that close to them.
When she had first started coming on work trips with him he had taken great effort to impress upon her that she should never go beyond the shadows of the ruins. She had asked him many times what the reason was for such caution, and his replies were always vague. Always something about the buildings being old and unstable, or that she'd get lost. She never bought his excuses. He wasn't a good liar and they both knew it. Whatever the actual reason was, it was one that he wouldn't share with her.

But the glint was so bright. It was pure. And from this distance? The price it could sell for at the market would be more than a week's worth of the common rusted metal and glazed glass.
Maybe she could grab it and pretend it was lodged in Gerald. Being small was hardly ever an advantage, except when she wanted to be silent or unseen. Plus, Akuma was over the ridge and sitting waiting for her.
With deft feet, having spent the last two years navigating the Old City streets of rubble and debris, she was able to make it to the edge of the shadows without as much as disturbing a stone. Even she was surprised at how quickly and quietly she was able to cross the distance.
She halted at the edge of the shadow, looking upward for a moment at the dauntingly high walls of the building in front of her. It reached out toward the sky far higher than any of the buildings that were built these days. She had often considered the Old World structures out here. Why did they need to build them so high? That seems so dangerous. So needless.
Scanning the area again, she was met once more with the alluring glitter. Closer now to the shadows she could see the source of the shine more clearly. A tiny beam of light shon through the doorway in front of her, breaking the oppressive black void beyond, illuminating a patch of dirt no bigger than pin. To her bewilderment, the colours shifted as she moved her head. Reds, blues, greens. They all danced across her eyes like the flickering of river water under a bright moon.
There was no other option in her mind now. She had to have it. Stepping forward tentatively her bare foot was welcomed by the soft cool of the shadow. She waited, holding her breath. A few moments passed and nothing had jumped out to grab her. No earth shattering cataclysm had been triggered. The world hadn't fallen apart. The tower still stood. A slight sigh of relief escapes her, though she has convinced herself her father was wrong and there was born f to be worried about.
She moved forward more confidently, passing under the shadow completely. Quickly she knelt next to the glinting spot. With ease and control she gently removed the dirt. Underneath was more of the dancing colours, coming to life as they were exposed to the light.
Tracing her fingers around the edge of the item, finding its size to be no bigger than the palm of her hand, she dug around the outside and finally released it from the ground. It wasn't metal. Or glass. It was something entirely different. A dark grey block with what seemed a thin silver

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⏰ Last updated: Jun 15, 2023 ⏰

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