24:52

His destination is a bit different though. Instead of going to His city, He simply climbs a building nearby, which from what it seems to be the hiding spot of the person CHE5TER and His brother just talked about, waiting for the Great Leader to come.

[General]-Took you long enough... What was this "business" you had to take care of anyway?

[CHE5TER]-Doesn't matter. Now, if you are ready, we can go back to our matters and see if we can find your village, little outsider. You are bringing me problems each day, so let's solve this already.

[General]-*sigh* How impatient can you be, I swear...

But even if the Great Leader was getting ready to leave and continue His research, the boy still stood in its position, before looking back at the view of the place in which CHE5TER just went.

[General]-Hey, CHE5TER, I've been meaning to ask you something after you left.

[CHE5TER]-Hm? And what's that?

[General]-What's up with that statue in the center of the park? Is it important in any way?

[CHE5TER]-No. To me, it is as useless as screaming at a C born with no energy at all.

[General]-Then why is it there?

[CHE5TER]-Because this city has its beliefs. How exactly can I even explain it more than that? It is simply someone they worship.

[General]-Oh? So that person was important to them?

[CHE5TER]-He was the most important in this city unfortunately. He is the whole reason why my city is hiding, while this one does whatever it pleases.

[General]-Huh... But what did he do that made him so important?

[CHE5TER]-...He killed my people, General. Is that enough to you? He killed many of my people and lied to those that saw him as a protector. And I despite the most that they had to build him a statue literally next to the building which we all came from.

"...Then why does he look so familiar?"

Yet as He said those words, the boy got pretty curious. Knowing that this is the exact building in which their machine is hidden, it probably wanted to see how different is from its peoples.

[General]-May I see the machine?

[CHE5TER]-...What?

[General]-What? I mean, the building is right in front of us, isn't it? We can find a way in if we try!

[CHE5TER]-The building is open just for other beings to take newborns from it freely, not to visit the machine. Nobody knows where it is located.

[General]-Nobody?

[CHE5TER]-Yes. No soul ever saw the machine in flesh before. It's probably a mechanism that protects it from being destroyed.

[General]-Oh, now you made me even more curious! Let's give it a try!

[CHE5TER]-What!? Hold on a seco--

Yet the boy didn't listen, as it jumped off the roof and simply went towards the entrance of the central building. CHE5TER was hesitant though. He never went inside that place in His whole life before, and technically everyone says it's just a building with several rooms free for everyone to enter at the lowest level, in which all the newborns created by the machine are put. But as He said, nobody ever saw the machine before. And what's more terrifying is that His own father had a bad experience there.

"I somehow found myself being chased down by something which was searching for this crying newborn. I don't even know what it was, it looked like a machine, yet it was way more complicated than that..."

Only that thought made Him fear going inside it. Whatever is there, it is coming for Him. Why exactly is that? Who knows.

[CHE5TER]-*sigh* Of course I have to deal with Death again...

But He took His courage back and followed the boy which already managed to get right in front of the entrance, staring at it while waiting for the ruler. He didn't want to even imagine Himself going inside, but the stranger already made up its plans.

[CHE5TER]-...Why do you exactly wish to see it? It's not like we are able to anyway, but why?

[General]-Because I already saw my machine! And knowing that there is another one here, I have to see it with my own eyes!

[CHE5TER]-Again. We can't do that. Let's get back to our business already, General!

[General]-Oh, come on! We are so close to it! Why don't you give it a try? There has to be a way towards it, even if everyone from your lands says otherwise!

[CHE5TER]-Oh, for the love of...

So the boy got closer to the door which leads inside and looked around. Yet again, the Great Leader was hesitant, just admiring the boy and its stupid curiosity without getting any closer to that door, being closer to the statue itself not the building. But in the next second, the boy already vanished inside, as it opened the door, entered it and then closed it, leaving CHE5TER behind. Of course He was pissed, He didn't wish to even touch that door, but it seems as He is obligated anyway.

Even so, inside the building it's pretty normal from what the boy sees. Of course, probably it isn't the same architecture and all, but it isn't a place that would stand out so much. Once you entered it, you can already see the other doors that lead to the rooms in which the newborns are, being such a long corridor like none other, having from where to choose, and having glass-like walls, making you able to see inside each room in particular very easily. Yet not a single crying baby, nor a sign of a machine. Nothing at all. This is all that is inside it. There is no second floor either, even if this building is huge. It is just this floor opened for everyone else. So then, where is the machine? Where is everything that should be here? Or the fears that CHE5TER has? 'Cause this building seems ordinary.

The boy still continues investigating though, looking around, opening some doors and even seeing the newborns staying on some platforms, one by one, lifeless. After all, we already know that these beings are unconscious in the first months of life. But again, nothing special seen in it. It even looks for a way up, maybe thinking that it can get somehow to the higher levels, but no success. The machine is simply well hidden so no normal being can find it.

But something happens as the boy slowly gives up. In one of the rooms it has gone to investigate the area, it had looked around the newborns, maybe thinking that they could be related to a way towards the machine. Yet instead of finding what it wanted, it found something else that sure caught its attention. When examining the platforms themselves, there seems to be a weird symbol carved all over the margins. Something like a combination of an "L" and a smaller "F" that is turned backwards. Again, nothing interesting to us. But this stranger sure got confused.

So, it went back towards the exit, where there was CHE5TER who just entered the building for the first time and started looking for the boy...

[CHE5TER]-...Alright, have you gotten any lu--

...and who also got confused on the face that the stranger had. As if it was shocked. But no word given back, it simply left this place while the ruler started battling another puzzle. And of course, He followed it again.

When He left the building and closed the door, there was no sign of the boy. He started looking around, seeing maybe if it climbed another building or followed the road that circles the statue and leads to the exit of the park from very far away. Nothing. But after He looked left to right, He finally noticed the boy going towards a new destination, next to the building itself. So, He started running after it to catch up.

25:17

He managed in the end to circle the whole building, still following the boy that goes blindly to whatever destination it has in its mind. CHE5TER sure is confused, maybe thinking that the stranger lost its mind already and wishes to make a huge mistake. But nothing like that, as it finally stops in front of the back wall of the building.

Again, nothing out of the ordinary. The back of the building seems pretty similar to the main entrance. Whether you enter by using this door or the one from the statue, it will lead you to the same corridor from which you can take a newborn. But the boy simply stood and looked up at the wall, as if it wanted to see something in particular. Yet nothing was there.

[CHE5TER]-What's happening? Why do you wish to come here? What did you see there?

Yet no response.

[CHE5TER]-General?

The boy simply looked up and minded its business, perplexed. Seconds later, it finally moves, going towards the wall itself and looking at a specific area on it next to the door. Nothing is there. But it does something anyway.

The stranger takes off a small part of the wall by breaking it with its normal sword, struggling for a few minutes, while the ruler simply watches confused. He can't just scream at the boy to stop, it will bring even more problems. He can try to get it out of the area and try to forget about this whole day, but He sure got curious of its actions too. In the end, He simply decides to admire the show.

Then, after so much time wasted on just hitting an innocent wall, the boy managed to take off the part which it wished to, revealing a small panel with numbers. The panel itself doesn't really seem to have any meaning though, since it doesn't look like it is connected to a specific door or alarm. But even so, no matter how much CHE5TER saw that the panel is simply useless even if you press something on it, the boy still interacts with it. It presses a specific code of numbers, more exactly "2350706", and waits for something to happen. Nothing happens.

Or at least that's what CHE5TER thought, as a camera that was attached to the wall before, simply being one of the many other cameras that supervise the area in case something happens, now looks at the two men standing in front of the door without entering it. And without anything added, behind them now opens a new path towards the underground, which both of them look perplexed at.

It isn't a very long path, in fact, it's very very short. It contains a few stairs that lead to a specific door that is opened, waiting for the boys to enter. But both of them just go towards it to look inside before stepping on the stairs, the ruler sure having some hesitations. Yet the boy was sure of itself, being the first one to start and go down the stairs towards the opened door. What can CHE5TER do? He has to follow, even if He doesn't want to.

As they both enter, the door closes itself, now being clear this is not a simple door, but an elevator that leads them to a higher level, somewhere in the building. Of course the ruler was curious, confused, all kinds of emotions that struck Him when He saw a stranger know something He didn't. But looking at the stranger itself... it looked rather as if it was ready to fall in depression, with such a confused face it had as if it was ready to cry from all the questions from its mind.

And minutes pass, before both of them found themselves with the door opened that shows a whole new floor, one that is not accessible to anybody, but them. Looking out, it seems to be another corridor, with some more rooms but with no transparent walls this time. And in front was a door that stood out the most, which the boy started to go towards while the ruler followed it.

When they arrived in front of the door, even the boy had hesitations of opening it, as if it wasn't ready to face what was behind it at all. But still, it gained courage once again and opened it slowly. It was then when CHE5TER felt more confused then ever, seeing a simple room with all kinds of new technologies not known by Him and a huge window with the view of the whole city. Books were all around the two walls that were next to the window.

But what was the most confusing part was a desk, with the chair behind it turned towards the huge window. Such a creepy vibe that this room could give, since nothing seems familiar to these two boys when it comes to what's inside. And what's even more terrifying is that something started speaking to them too.

[??]-...You know... I couldn't believe my own eyes seeing these clothes again. Heh, I thought they were long gone, wiped from existence. Longer than I can recall... So how is it possible for you to be here? Were you truly guided here for a goodbye? Or it just so happened to be our lucky day to relive some old memories?

Of course, CHE5TER was already ready to strike down whoever this person was, putting His arm on His own sword and looking for the enemy in cause. But the boy wasn't doing anything. The more it was listening, the more it felt like it was ready to break.

[General]-...A-Are you t-truly...

But it couldn't even finish its sentence as all kinds of emotions struck it. So, hearing such a voice worth just of pity, this "enemy" that CHE5TER thought to be finally revealed itself. When the chair finally turned around, a man with half of his face being replaced with a mechanical skin and a bionic eye, an arm replaced as if he was half robot-half being, a cyborg if you wish, now standing to admire the perplexed boy that watches him.

[??]-...Indeed. It's been so long, dear friend. And when I thought you've disappeared forever... So, since you are here now... I have just one sentence to tell you. One that I've been waiting for so many years to say...

What is more creepy is the fact that those two seem to know each other, while CHE5TER has no idea what is happening. But the moment He hears the last sentence, His body begins to experience a whole new level of being uncontrollable, as weak as a feather falling from the sky.

"...Welcome home, God of War."