A-Ka lowered his gaze to stare at the ground, murmuring, “What about now?”
“Now?” Heishi thought for a moment, before responding, “Everything is very good.”
“A-Ka.” Karna had brought Percy to them. A-Ka began to smile, and Percy ran toward him, hugging him tightly.
“It’s so great that you came back safely,” Percy said, his voice quivering.
“Sorry, Percy.” A-Ka choked on a sob. “I-I made you worry…”
“Shh.” With his eyes still blindfolded and a smile on his youthful face, he pressed a finger against A-Ka’s lips and gave his forehead a kiss.
“I’ll no longer dream about the future soon,” Percy said warmly and affectionately. “Each of you will be well. After all, my dreams aren’t always accurate, right?”
“Yes,” A-Ka said, smiling. “Your dreams predicted things wrong. We’re here, safe and sound.”
“Before you head out tomorrow, can you keep me company for a bit?”
“Of course. When that time comes, you’ll be able to see me with your own eyes. You’ll see us, and Heishi…”
Percy nodded and handed A-Ka a flower. Gripping it in his hand, A-Ka smiled a little, until Percy turned and left with Karna. Then, Heishi walked over and rested shoulder to shoulder with A-Ka on the swing.
“I don’t want to sleep tonight,” A-Ka said. “Could you keep me company for a bit?”
Heishi hummed in response and leaned against A-Ka’s side. A-Ka laid the flower onto the chair, and the two of them rested against each other, swaying gently with the motion of the swing.
Tomorrow, this world would no longer be the same. It was a pity that he wouldn’t be able to see it in person. How nice it would be if there was a pair of eyes that could go see this new world in his stead.
“What are you thinking about?” Heishi asked.
A-Ka couldn’t help but smile over Heishi even caring about what he was thinking. Watching him slowly become like a human gave A-Ka such a strange, miraculous feeling.
“I’m thinking about my past,” A-Ka murmured. “About this world that I’ve come to know, ever since I could remember.”
What kind of a world was it? A-Ka still recalled a blurry fragment of memory from when he was three or four. That was a day when he and many small children in the Ant Nest’s nursery had been undergoing human thought training. They sat together in a darkened room as the robots played a movie.
In the movie, a human was exploring a desolate world, facing countless dangers and horrors. A-Ka kept feeling that in the next instant, the main character would die. Thankfully, with the help of the robots, he managed to escape mortal danger each time.
The next fragment of memory was from when he was learning how to be a technician. He had always wanted to see the outside, and every year he tried to get a job that would take him to the surface, but no matter what, his request wasn’t granted. After many years, he had never once gained the opportunity to go to the surface. However, one day when he went to the garbage disposal to find scrap parts, he unexpectedly also found the exit that led to the beach. He was so excited he couldn’t contain his shaking. It grew difficult for him to sleep at night, because from time to time, he would sneak out to look at the vast ocean and craggy rocks. That small patch of land and sky became his entire world.
As the years went on, he absorbed knowledge like a sponge, planning for a day that he would be able to leave his huge, icy cage. He designed and slowly began to build K.
Though human bodies were frail, they were the beings that had the most adventurous spirits. He couldn’t explain clearly where this desire to escape had come from or when exactly it had taken root and grown in his heart. Was it because of the loneliness and hesitation he felt when he was on his own? He kept thinking that, at the end of the ocean, there must be an even bigger world.
That day, when the robotic guards notified him that it was his turn to undergo the inspection, he had thought without a doubt that Father would find his little secret, and it would end him.
But that hadn’t happened. In the endless sea of blue light, according to convention, a human could ask Father to grant them a single wish. Supposedly, as long as they worked hard their entire lives, giving their all for the City of Steel, then this wish would be granted after they died. Legend also said that when one’s mind was searched by Father, they would lose all sense of self. The wish that arose would be the deepest desire in their heart.
A-Ka slowly remembered the details of that day when he’d almost drowned in the sea of light.
“I wished…for someone to accompany me,” A-Ka said. “Someone who would take me to change the world, to search for…freedom.”
Afterward, he peacefully left Father’s consciousness as if nothing had happened. His robot and his secret passageway were not discovered by Father, and it wasn’t until the end that he learned that Father’s programming didn’t allow it to read the inner hearts of humans. Humans were the most complex living beings in this world—even the omnipotent Father couldn’t tell what every human was thinking.
With that, A-Ka continued to carry out his plans for escape. His courage was so strong that even he was taken aback. And then, he met Heishi.
The clouds appeared and disappeared; the tides ebbed and flowed. Today, they were here, and Father’s era was already history.
In the early morning, the thunderous buzz of machines woke A-Ka. When he opened his eyes, the sunlight that encompassed the air above Dragonmaw City was shadowed by humans, clones, and the Curia; everything that had life in it was currently gathering under this sky, with the Hall of Faith in Dragonmaw City as its central headquarters.
“Are we heading out now?” A-Ka asked, exhausted.
“Not yet,” Heishi replied. “We still have time to prepare.”
Later, after he’d bathed and had breakfast, A-Ka traveled the hallway to the Hall of Faith. Inside stood the commander of the clones, Angus, and a dozen of his clone generals, plus Huixiong with the other members of his Mercenary Association Board.
“You don’t seem to have slept well last night,” Moran said with a smile.
A-Ka grinned back. “Yeah, but it was enough.”
“In that case,” Moran said, “Everyone? Today, everything will depend on you.”
Percy sat on the chair in the middle of the hall, and Moran gently untied the white silk wrapped around his eyes, tenderly wiping away the remnants of the paste that had been applied to them.
“Percy? What do you see?” A-Ka asked joyfully.
Percy opened his eyes. Karna, A-Ka, and Heishi were standing in front of him. Just as Percy’s eyes opened, they closed again. This repeated a few times until they finally adjusted to the sudden influx of strong light.
“Can you see me?” A-Ka asked, worried.
Percy’s eyes lit up. His clear eyes looked like black obsidian.
“What do you see?” Moran asked.
“I see…light,” Percy said. “And hope. A-Ka, I see you, and Heishi too. You guys are just like I imagined you!” As he exclaimed, Percy rose to his feet and pulled A-Ka into a hug. A-Ka was so moved that he could not say a thing.
When Percy walked out of the hall, the light made it almost impossible for him to open his eyes at first. Outside the platform of the Hall of Faith was a sea of battle airships stretching as far as the eye could see. Amid the roar of the engines, shouts of humans and clones echoed under the endless sky.
Before Percy’s eyes, a new world opened its doors wide.