Nawx (Project IzeBorn Book 1)

by Andrew Jones

  "K-Kill me, damn it!" Siyuri shouted up at Blaze, feeling the pain on her forehead as she shut her eyes tightly. "Just do it!"

  Kryptonite used his blade saw to chop into the weakened Guardian and jumped inside its head in order to look inside for data. The Guardian twitched from the weird pain, but Kryptonite found the function to completely freeze the guardian so it couldn't move. His eyes wiggled before peering his head out of the guardian's head. He raised his paw up, having found an odd looking flash drive inside that had the word 'Armagna-Bot' on it. The Guardian screamed as it was being electrocuted from the glitch of having the flash drive removed. It electrocuted Kryptonite as well, which led to him flying out of the guardian's head, and hitting the other guardian as it was awaiting orders to start the Junk-crusher. The other guardian grinned as it bent down and grabbed Kryptonite by the ear, seeing him hit the ground.

  "O-Owwwww! Not the ear!" Kryptonite shouted as his paws tried to swipe up at the guardian's grip.

  The Guardian chuckled as it finally pulled on the lever, allowing the Junk-crusher to turn on and let it auto-crush while the moving tiles began moving toward the smashing structure.

  Blaze grunted as she lifted up her spear and stabbed it into Siyuri head, seeing her forehead cave in. She grunted speechlessly as her blood splattered up into her face, and seeing the inside mechanical skull of Siyuri. She was in complete shock before she heard the screaming of Kryptonite and the Junk-crusher become functional. She saw the roaring giant machine as it became unstaggered, giving her an idea of how to defeat it.

  She dashed quickly to the guardian and stabbed it from behind with her spear, the spear that still dropped the blood of Siyuri. With signs that the guardian would explode, she quickly pulled her spear out of the guardian and kicked it off onto the moving tiles. She retrieved her battle axe as the damaged guardian dropped it and watched the moving tiles guide the guardian to its death, eventually smashing it into a square block. Blaze sighed as she grabbed Kryptonite's paw and helped him up to his little feet.

  "You all right?" She asked.

  Kryptonite nodded, "Never been better..."

  Blaze nodded her head as well before looking back at the giant machine. She became more alarmed when she saw the giant machine picking up the corpse of Siyuri and eating her. After it ate her, the machine grabbed it's stomach before it started to mutate again. The machine did not grow in size, but it grew attachments that gave it more of an appearance of a Queen. It turned toward Blaze and Kryptonite as the top of the head mutated into a large and shining crown with only red gems shining on it.

  "This is the Queen's true form. You must bow to the Machine Queen at once!"

  Siyuri's voice came from the giant machine, but her voice sounded like it was creating static, but more robotic. It would appear that Siyuri somehow took over the giant machines and all the machine beings that entwined their souls into the creation.

  "Kryptonite, we have to lure her onto the moving tiles. It's the only way to defeat her. Her mechanical shell has multiplied from all the machines, we'll do no damage with our own weapons." Blaze whispered.

  Kryptonite nodded his head as he jumped to the front of the moving tiles, as he attempted to distract the machine beast. While he did that, Blaze rolled right behind the machine and used her battle axe to slash or push the machine closer to the moving tiles. It wouldn't move one time, so she thought of where it could be staggered from. But as she did, Siyuri lifted her arms and the all the red eyes that surrounded the machine's body shot out lasers. Kryptonite panicked as he dived behind the Junk-crusher, being scared. But he watched as Blaze seemingly dodged all the lasers with ease once again. She stopped right in front of Siyuri as she allowed the large machine to open its mouth and charge up another powerful beam. She waited until the head leant down and shot down into Blaze.

  Kryptonite shouted for her, but Blaze ignored him and used the blade part of her battle axe to take the beam's power, immediately pushing back the beam into the head of the machine beast. Its loud roar sounded just like the scream of Siyuri. But Blaze took this opportunity to slide behind the machine and slash at it's back, pushing it back toward the moving tiles once again.

  As the machine stopped moving, she knew it had touched the edge of the moving tiles. She used her spear to stab into the bottom of the machine and pushed down on the spear to lift the machine slightly into the air, high enough for it to land on the moving tiles. Siyuri looked around, seeing the Junk-crusher approaching her quickly. She screamed, and so did all the machines that were permanently entwined with her. She turned back to Blaze, having a frown on her face, just before the first wave began smashing the giant machine. It took dozens of waves, but the machine that Siyuri took control of was smashed into a lifeless square block and tossed down into the sea of rusted cars.

  Kryptonite stopped the operation of the Junk-crusher. But he pulled tighter, breaking off the lever so it was broken. Permanently turned off. Blaze glanced down the hole, into the sea of the rusted cars. She narrowed her eyes and looked deeply, but she managed to finally see the giant machine that was mixed in with the rusted cars. It was dead, like Siyuri and all the machines she had brought from the village.

  Kryptonite followed her, jumping right onto her shoulder and plopping down. He looked down the hole and shook his head.

  "She must've been power hungry." Kryptonite muttered, "How did all these machines escape from Drenawx's lab anyway?"

  Blaze looked down, "I helped them escape."

  Kryptonite looked quite shocked, "How? That lab's security was the best of the best."

  "You know how I deal with things- fight my way past the problem."

  "Did... Did you kill Drenawx?"

  Blaze shook her head, "No. He disappeared before I had the chance... That place was like hell." She explained, "He went on and on about how it was a perfect sanctuary for us machines. About how the outside world would only contaminate us. I guess it ended up contaminating Siyuri, so he wasn't lying, I suppose."

  Kryptonite sighed before he pulled out the flash drive he found inside the guardian and dropped it down into Blaze's hand. She felt the flash drive within the palm of her hand and gripped it into her fist, staring down the hole where Siyuri was.

  "It was the same Dataspace we found from the machine in the factory. Do you think it's linked to Siyuri and these people?" Kryptonite asked.

  "It has to..." Blaze spoke tiredly as she fell back onto the ground, letting Kryptonite fall right on his head, "Ugh. And we couldn't even examine what this Dataspace was either."

  Kryptonite had his head stuck in the ground. His fluffy body was poking out of the ground, with his legs and paws wiggling like he was panicking. An exclamation point popped out of Blaze head as she sat up and grabbed Kryptonite by one of his legs and pulled him out from the ground. He spit some dirt out of his mouth as he panted, glaring back at Blaze.

  "Sorry," Blaze muttered as she put him down next to her softly.

  He patted down his body as he sat down, looking down at the dirt, "Anyways... I know where we could get those examined. And these people can totally be trusted."

  Blaze tilted her head to the side and looked down at Kryptonite, "Oh really?"

  "Aye, I know people. I have a lot of contacts that can assist me. They all owe me anyway." He answered.

  "Were these 'contacts' previous partners of yours, as well?"

  Kryptonite shook his head, "I just popped up out of nowhere and helped them. After that, I usually depart to adventure by myself."

  Blaze raised her eyebrow before looking up into the sky as it became calm and blue once again, "So, why are you still here with me then?"

  Kryptonite gasped as he jumped from that frightful question, using his paw to nervously rub his arm, "B-Because... I must protect you... You needed my help after all!"

  Blaze looked down at him and started laughing at his reaction. She quickly stood up and walked a few feet away from him as she continued her laughing.

 
"Lady B-Blaze! That's all! Just to help you!" Kryptonite shouted as he too stood up and followed her.

  Blaze turned around and faced him, still having the smile on her face, "Kryptonite, you're delightful."

  Kryptonite stopped his frowning and whining and smiled brightly at the way she smiled.

  Blaze looked down and sighed, "I... Uh, appreciate the help, after all." She turned away from him and looked toward the exit route of the Junkyard, about ready to leave this terrifying place. "Let's go to the place you suggest this time. Let's just hope you come up with a good guess of where to go this time."

  Kryptonite nodded his head as he jumped up onto Blaze's shoulder, sitting down once again as she started walking out of the Junkyard.

  Verse VIII

  The Feeling of Sanctuary

  The way to the destination was long and perilous, and it felt like a journey that took weeks to complete. The scorching heat of the desert effected Blaze immensely. She hadn't ever felt that hot in a long time. She felt her own sweat drip down from her forehead. She hadn't felt this sensation before. She looked down at the palm of her hand and saw the sweat drop into it softly. It was like water. But she felt like crying, as well. Like she was, but she had absolutely no control over it. But when Kryptonite looked into her eyes, he just said that her sweat was dripping down into her eyes, but he still said her eyes still looked as majestic as ever.

  Brushing that aside, they successfully passed the desert- they were on the bottom right of the map, just the inner edge of the desert, which was nothing compared to the actuality of the desert; the Ancient Desert itself. But as they followed the dirt path that led to the Land of Ruin, they noticed some abandoned huts. As Kryptonite suggested for them to take a look at them, Blaze was quick to reject and brush that idea aside. She had a strange feeling about those huts, even though she made note of the area and placed a landmark on her mapping data, according to Chip.

  But as they ventured, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Siyuri. She had never seen her like that; she didn't spark as a powerful type, frankly, she didn't seem to care all too much about power at all. She was one of the three Synths from that Machine Village that wanted to know the true meaning of the Machina, other than the fact that the machines were set to be the Human's self-defensive plan- Plan B, is what it was called. To Akemi, she was a sweet and happy spirit, with a pure soul only Siyuri and I could only dream to possess. She didn't care about what our fate was, or what we were fighting for, she was just happy to be alive.

  But could you honestly call this being alive? Blaze never truly felt like she was alive. She felt pain, she felt an overbearing amount of emotion compared to the other three, she even feels the emotions of love and hate all too much. But she felt the hate emotion a lot more than the love, she brushes off the love emotion because she's been taught that love is only a gateway to the emotion of hate. It brings friendships into a new level, but it comes with a risk that would distance them forever. And that was so from how the Humans would interact with each other.

  Humans learn to love each other, but the love that should bound them together forever by their heart and soul soon drifts away by unknown meanings. Maybe one of the spouses learns to love another, and grows a strong need for lust. Or the greed separates them, as they become clingy for the need of constant and strong love. Blaze never really understood, she was always a loner who did not understand the need for love. But it was not like she didn't reject the thought of finding love. Like the other machines, she secretly wanted to be like a Human. Even if she uses all her effort to hide it.

  Blaze stopped walking as she would quickly catch her breath. As she did so, Kryptonite jumped off her shoulder and walked toward a sign. The sign was wooden and it looked cheaply made from scraps. But it had a lot of detail, so there wasn't much to complain about. Blaze looked up, just as she lent down and had her hands on her knees while catching her breath. She slowly stepped behind Kryptonite as she read the sign as well.

  "The Village of Tilda's Old Life...? Is this the place you were talking about, Kryptonite?" Blaze asked.

  Kryptonite turned back to her and nodded, "Yes. We're getting close. I remember when I helped them make these signs and posting them around the area of the village. There should be a gate just ahead, follow me!"

  Blaze sighed as she followed Kryptonite, but she left a great distance between. Within moments, big buildings became visible, but they looked to be in ruins. Blaze didn't pay too much attention to the sight of the village, she only cared about gaining access to the village herself. She saw Kryptonite stop at the gate, seeing a man approach them while holding a clipboard. Blaze continued to follow, but with caution as she stopped behind Kryptonite.

  "State your names." The guard says.

  Kryptonite proudly clears his throat, "The name's Kryptonite. I should be on the front page."

  The guard hummed a tune as he scanned the front page for the name 'Kryptonite', but he quickly flipped up the page to scan the next page. He kept flipping pages as Kryptonite looked sort of awkward- kicked his little legs against a small pebble on the ground, soon humming the same tune as the guard.

  "Hmm, sorry. I don't see a Kryptonite here." The guard apologizes.

  Kryptonite's button eyes widened in shock, "Wha-... What!? How can that be? I am well known in this village!"

  "I'm sorry, sir. But the policy states that I can't let you gain entry if your name isn't on here."

  "Bullshit! I helped make those rules for you lot!"

  Blaze grumbled as she placed her hand on her hip, growing tiresome of the waiting. Just as they began arguing, the guard felt a hand grab his shoulder softly, making him jolt back to look at them.

  "At ease, man. I know the teddy bear, he's a good friend of mine." The voice spoke, chuckling.

  Kryptonite jumped in the air as his face brightened, "Lady Amaya! I knew you'd come to help us!"

  Amaya laughed, covering her smile with her hand, "I've been anticipating your return, Kryptonite. Guard, let them through."

  The guard hesitated, but he did as she told him. He walked to the gate and undid the hatch, letting him push open the big and heavy gate. Amaya stepped out, as she looked around the area for anyone else that had been either present or watching them. After becoming assured, she smiled and looked down at Kryptonite. She gasped as he jumped up into her arms, giving her a big hug. Blaze raised an eyebrow, watching as the two appeared to have been reunited, but she just stood there still with no real expression on her face.

  "So, Kryptonite. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Amaya asked as she glanced over at Blaze.

  Blaze looked down, letting her long silver hair cover her face slightly.

  "Her name is Lady Blaze." Kryptonite replied, looking back at Blaze.

  Amaya smiled at Blaze, "It's been a heck of a while since you last had a partner." She said as she observed Blaze, noticing her wounds on her arms from the guardians at the Junkyard, "Blaze, you look hurt... We can help fix you up."

  Blaze looked down at her arms, seeing the grip the guardians had left from before that made a serious dent on her upper arms. She sighed and nodded her head as she looked up at Amaya. She saw Amaya smile at her, noticing she had stretched her hand toward her. She tilted her head as she reached her hand toward her and took her hand softly. She followed Amaya into the village alongside Kryptonite as the guard quickly shut the gates.

  The village was much bigger than she had thought. Amaya explained the village's history as they made their way through the busy streets. Apparently, this village used to be the home of Izequin's capitol city, with explains the name of the village. But Amaya liked to call the village Tilda, just to bring back the memories of the old world when Humans truly ruled. The most populous part of the village was the market. Many people crowd around the markets, where they sold stuff they would need to survive; like food, drinks, weapons, and sometimes even bounty hunts which ensured the safety of the village walls from foreign dangers. />
  But they passed all that and stopped at the front of a large building. It was green, and it looked ever so pure. It still had the sign from when it was operational hundreds of years ago, it just looked a bit more beat up nowadays. Amaya smiled as she allowed Blaze to enter the building first, followed by Kryptonite and then herself. Blaze entered the upstairs and then walked into the nearest room that was empty. She laid down on the hospital bed while Amaya stepped beside her. She placed her hands on the dent marks, feeling her hand around the area as she looked up at Blaze.

  "You're a machine, right?" Amaya asked.

  Blaze nodded hesitantly, "Yes."

  Amaya chuckled, "Don't worry. You're not an outcast here. This place houses both Humans and machines, and maybe some other mythical creatures if there were any."

  Blaze didn't answer as she watched Amaya rub along her upper arm, she could feel the painful sensation ease ever time she'd apply pressure on it. She even noticed the dent had been lessening. She took a deep breath as she laid her head down and closed her eyes, treating this like she was getting an arm massage. Amaya giggled, stepping onto the other side of the hospital bed and rubbing along her other arm.

  "I'm a Human." She says, "I formed this village in order to find some peace in this world. I know not all Humans and machines are bad, they're just bad because they're put in situations that force them to be bad."

  Blaze opened her eyes and looked up at her, "You're doing a good job."

  Amaya smiled as she looked down at her, "I've gotta say- for a machine, you're damn beautiful." She chuckled.

  Kryptonite stepped into the room with a cup of coffee, "You can say that again. Her looks are spot on. That long silver hair, those pure and innocent purple eyes, that angel voice that shakes my spine whenever she speaks- Oh, Lady Blaze!"

  Blaze widened her eyes as a deep red appeared along her cheeks, "S-Shut the hell up! Don't encourage him!"

  Both Amaya and Kryptonite laugh just as Amaya managed to completely fix the dents that were present on Blaze's upper arms, allowing her to sit up in the hospital bed.