Chapter 2 Discovery's

CHAPTER TWO

After the training, we were dismissed to our camp. I didn't feel like returning, so I decided to take a walk to the Shirin at the heart of the temple. That's where I always found peace of mind. Nobody bullied me there, and I felt safe. Washa, our god, the protector of our realm and the universe, was my only friend. I always came to share my problems with him, hoping for solutions. Even when he seemed unresponsive, I never stopped visiting him. He was always ready to listen to my complaints, and at least I could speak freely without being rebuked.

Today was different. I wanted to beg Washa with my blood. I had heard that Washa responded to covenants involving blood. All I needed to do was sprinkle my blood in the Shirin and tell him my problems. I brought my short knife, ready to do anything to solve my problems permanently.

Washa was a giant chameleon statue with green and red paint, bigger than the king's castle. Under the chameleon's legs, there was enough shade for many people. Nobody had ever been to the top of Washa; it was taboo to touch him. We were only allowed to touch his legs for blessings.

I walked to the Shirin, sat down under the statue, and prepared to pray. I took out my knife to start my prayers. That's when I noticed an object at the top of the statue, where Washa's eyes were located. It caught my attention, and I was curious to find out what it was and why it wasn't dying after coming into contact with Washa.

The object was moving slowly, and I had never seen anything like it before. I was determined to learn more about this mysterious object and its connection to Washa. Little did I know, my life was about to take a dramatic turn.

I decided to try and scare the object away, so I threw a stone at it. The stone hit the object, making it fall to the ground. I was scared to approach it, but after contemplating for a while, I finally agreed to check what it was. I walked slowly, my heart beating fast, and sometimes I would come near the object and then move back quickly. I thought to myself, "What is this?"

Luckily, I saw a stick nearby, so I took it to scare the object into moving or running away, but it didn't respond. I thought to myself, "This object might probably be dead by now, after all, I used a big stone to hit it down."

I built up some courage to see what the object was, and when I walked very close, I discovered it was the same as the Washa statue, having the same color. It was a chameleon, but I didn't have any knowledge about chameleons. We were told in class that Washa was the last chameleon in existence. Could this be Washa? Did he turn small to answer my prayers? If this is Washa, then I must have killed him, and if anyone finds out, I will probably be killed too, or suffer a worse fate than death.

There was nobody around but me, so I had to hurry and do something before someone caught me. I didn't know what to do, so I thought for a while before I finally decided to pick up Washa and return him to the statue before someone found him lying on the ground. I picked up the object and lightened my body, then hit the ground, which made the impact push me up. I managed to grab a rope just above my head.

The moment I did that, I heard some steps coming. It might be the priests coming; the footsteps were many, so I guessed it might be 10 to 20 people. Out of fear, I quickly dragged the rope to go faster. I managed to clamp the statue with the object in my pocket.

When I was out of sight, it was really a group of priests who had also come to pray to Washa. They went under the statue down to the main praying ground. I knew that if I was discovered on top of Washa, the greatest god of the Wase Kingdom, it would be a very serious crime.

I quickly clamped up to avoid being spotted, but my leg caught a rope, so I tried to drag it out. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise - Buuuuum Bam Bam Bam! The rope dragged me into something I couldn't explain, like a cage inside a world outside our world. There were machines flying around, and I had never seen them before. They looked like birds but were made of plastic.

As I gazed around in wonder, I saw a mirror-like surface displaying strange and magnificent things. The room was immaculately designed, with a white color scheme that seemed almost otherworldly. I had only seen such designs in our study books. But what caught my attention was the object in my pocket - it was everywhere! I saw it being dissected by the iron human-like figures, which seemed to be walking on air.

The iron figures were dissecting what I thought was Washa, and they were doing it with a uniform precision that suggested they were building something. I felt like I was in heaven, witnessing things that people would never believe were possible. How could I be scared of being in a cage when I was seeing such marvels?

After about ten minutes, the dissection ended, and the figures extracted a syrup-like substance from the object. They placed it in a machine with other syrups, turned the machine, and then took out a colorless syrup. They filled an injection with it and placed it on the table.

Everything seemed like a dream to me, and I was anxious to see what would happen next. I had made a groundbreaking discovery - Washa, our so-called god, was actually a secret science laboratory controlled by artificial robots. They were conducting experiments on chameleons!

But my excitement was short-lived. Iron chains with object-like hands grabbed my hands and legs, and I was caught off guard. I didn't imagine that I might also be dissected like the chameleons I saw. My head spun, and I felt like today might be my last day on Earth. I wouldn't be able to tell the king and the people of Wase about this incredible discovery.

"Washa, save me!" I closed my eyes as the four objects dragged me to a bed, where I was instantly chained.

"No, no, no! Please, please, please!" I begged, but the robot didn't seem to understand. It picked up the syrup and pinned my head to the bed, revealing my spinal cord. I screamed in agony as I felt a sharp pain in my spinal cord. The robot had injected me with the syrup, and I could feel the liquid coursing through my system.

Just as they finished, all the robots collapsed, looking like they were dead. The chains on my hands and legs loosened, allowing me to stand up. I was still trying to make sense of what was happening when a red light scanned my body from head to toe.

"Congratulations on the successful procedure, Cosmos. I am your artificial intelligence, and you can call me Sister Lizzy," the computer screen said.

I was surprised, so I decided to talk back to make sure I wasn't imagining things. "Hey, did you just call my name?"

The computer responded with a red light, "I am not 'hey', my name is Sister Lizzy, and I am programmed to help you."

I understood that the computer was designed to talk, but I didn't know why it was talking to me. "Sister Lizzy, what am I doing here?"

"Thank you for rightly calling my name. You have been transformed from Cosmos to Manalizard. I am only designed to help you."

I was confused. "Sister Lizzy, tell me what Manalizard is."

"Thank you for rightly calling my name. Manalizard is the name given to you by my Creator. You are from the family of reptiles, and you are both a chameleon and a human being."

I didn't understand what the AI was saying. All I wanted to know was how to get out of this mess without being seen. "Sister Lizzy, tell me how I will get home."

"Thank you for rightly calling my name. Home can be anywhere you feel comfortable. The only place you feel comfortable is under the lap. Should I send you there?"

I realized the AI was referring to the temple outside.

"Sister Lizzy, I want to go back to the camp"

"Thank you for rightly calling my name, should I send you to the bed, bathroom, or outside"

I didn't know what it meant by sending me, so I decided to choose the bed to see what it meant. A portal appeared just in front of me, and I could see my bed inside. It was the first time I saw something like this. I walked into the portal like the instructions said, and I opened my eyes on my bed inside my room. I quickly stood up to see what was happening.

Oh no, it's just a dream, it's not real, I have been sleeping so deep, I thought to myself.