Alexander’s eyes shot open and he jumped up, falling back into a wall, activating something, a bright prismatic light, in his hand and pointing it at Seff and Akhmin. He began panting, staring frantically around him. He remembers the tendrils suffocating him and holds his head while closing his eyes. Seff tries to calm him but Akhmin rests his hand on Seff’s shoulder and shakes his head as if to say there is nothing they can do at the moment. Alexander’s left eye starts glitching much more than before and a ringing in his ears begins again, but this time in real life. “Gahk!--” He curls up into a ball as it tears through his skull like the lightning that shot him. It’s as if a signal is trying to reach him as it displays audible morse through his head. Finally, the signal stops. 

Alexander feels great relief and lays on the floor breathing heavily. Akhmin stares at his core, still shocked to see such a fleshed out automaton. A small boy comes around the corner in the house’s corridors and rubs their right eye, yawning. “Uhm, what’s going on? I keep hearing a bunch of weird noises and the storm hasn’t been very fun either, I can’t get any sleep…” Seff looks at him and speaks “Ah Achiin! Yes, we took in someone who looked ill”. Achiin stares at Alexander in confusion as well as interest, “Why does he have glowy stuff on his skin?”. Akhmin tells him that Alexander is an automata and that they are testing him to hunt and figure out his origins. Achiin’s eyes widen, “a-automata?! You mean like a robot?!! I wanna see, lemme see!” Akhmin holds him back, “Achi, Alex isn’t feeling well, perhaps give him some space.” Achiin is confused, “Why ill? I thought robots didn’t get sick.” Akhmin puts his hand on his own chin still pondering the possibilities of why he’s here in the first place.

Achiin sips a cup of tea like his family and looks at Alex. “When will he wake up?” Akhmin thinks to himself. He wishes for Alexander to wake soon as the storm is letting up and the environment is ripe for beasts to roam. Alex struggles and jitters, opening his eyes in fetal position, His mouth still dripping with fluid. He stares at Akhmin awaiting a command. Akhmin nods at Alex and takes some spears, giving Alex one. Achiin pulls at Akhmin’s clothes, sparkles in his eyes moping and whining to go with. “Pweaaaase?~” Akhmin tells Achiin that it’s too dangerous for his age and that he must go through a ceremony certifying him as an adult, he is not ready for the dredging gore of the hunt. “You may learn to slice a body or two once we come back but for now you must wait for your time to become a man. Understand, finch?” Achiin looks down and mopes laying on his back staring at the ceiling as his father, Alexander, and his brother pass beyond the doors. “Hhhhh…” He sits on the porch as the acidic rains drip from the roof. Achiin starts to hear a weird sound, like white noise but louder, and some rustling. He then notices something skitter toward the village after a small flashing green light appears where it was. He squints at the sight of it but sits and waits for the hunting group to come back with fresh produce so he could help skin them for vendors.