Chapter 16: The Dream of an Inventor Girl.
The school hallways were calm; the only audible sound was the footsteps of two teenagers.
One was a boy with brown hair and yellow eyes. His curious gaze fixed on the person holding his hand—a shorter girl with messy yellow hair and dull brown eyes that remained staring forward.
Lux was curious about the young girl who was leading him by the arm. He didn't remember seeing her around the school before, and out of nowhere she had asked him to accompany her to who knows where.
He found it fun to figure it out.
On the other hand, Gul's heart was racing, her nerves were through the roof, and she couldn't look into the eyes of the boy she was dragging along with her.
The walk was silent. Neither of them said anything. They continued like that until they reached a place far from the school, a place where anyone standing there would feel their body tremble with fear.
The girl opened a wooden door, dragging Lux inside with her.
"What is this place?" Lux's voice broke the silence as he looked around.
It was a messy room filled with new and strange devices for the boy, who looked at everything with curiosity, while Gul moved around as if she were used to walking over that mess of cables, circuits, and tools on the floor.
"It's my workshop. Here I build, test, and store my devices along with my research" Gul replied without looking at him, her voice turning calm. In her space, she felt at ease.
"Research?" the boy asked doubtfully, looking at her back and how her yellow hair moved from side to side.
"I've been investigating you, Lux" Gul said, her voice turning serious as she searched for something on her desk.
"You're a new student. You're very extroverted. You tend to get distracted, but you always help others, and you have a relationship with Bianca, the popular girl. These are data points that your classmates show a tendency to use when referring to you"
"Well, it seems like they like me" Lux replied without giving it much importance. Since he entered the school, he had felt welcomed.
"Can I know why you were investigating me?" the boy asked doubtfully. It's not normal for someone to tell you so directly that they were stalking you.
Gul raised her gaze, looking into his eyes, showing something in her hands.
"Do you see this device? It detects energy at different frequencies. I built it" Gul began to sound confident. Lux looked at the device without understanding it, and she noticed.
"This morning, one of my devices detected two intense energy signals. They were so intense they could be compared to a power plant" Gul continued explaining.
"It would be logical, except those signals were moving" she narrated while walking toward Lux.
"It turns out this unnatural phenomenon comes from two living beings" the girl said negatively, centimeters from his face.
"Two students from this same school. The signals came from you and from Bianca" she finished, pointing her finger at him.
Lux opened his eyes. Everything was starting to make sense.
Magic is a latent energy within mages. Even if it isn't visible, it can be captured at a certain frequency like electricity or radiation without necessarily being harmful to the environment or the people around.
However, for a device to be capable of detecting magic, it requires highly advanced technology that should only be in the hands of mage hunters.
For a girl his own age to have the ability to build a device that detects magic was not good.
This girl knew things.
—
"Where could they be?" Bianca was walking through the school hallways, looking for Lux and the girl who appeared in the photo Zelena had shown her.
Although the rumors Zelena told her were surreal, she felt worried. If the rumors were true and the girl named Gul discovered that Lux was a mage, she would possibly lock him up and experiment on him. She only wanted to make sure everything turned out fine, but…
Where should she look?
The school was big, and it would take her all afternoon to find them.
There was only one option.
—
Lux didn't know what to do. If Gul turned out to be someone connected to the mage hunters, he would have to escape and cut contact. That wouldn't be an inconvenience if it weren't for the fact that Bianca would get into trouble. Just like mages, Bianca's ring emanates constant magic, as if a mage lived inside the ring.
If he escaped, he would leave Bianca unprotected against people who want to control magic for their own purposes.
How should he act?
"Everything you're saying is interesting…" Lux said, trying not to show any reaction.
"Mhmm… what was your name?" the boy asked doubtfully. He didn't remember hearing what the girl's name was.
"My name is Gul Metch. Remember it!" Gul exclaimed confidently, moving away from Lux. Her attitude was very different from the first impression she had given.
"Well, Gul, you still haven't answered my question. You said you detected energy signals from me and Bianca. What does that have to do with bringing me here?" Lux asked, while his hand moved to his pocket, ready to take out his wand.
"Before that, I want to show you something" the girl smiled, walking to the side of the workshop toward a curtain that hid something next to the desk. She grabbed one side and pulled it strongly, revealing what was underneath.
A giant robot two meters tall, reinforced blue mechanical arms, several containers on its back connected to hoses that ended in the robot's hands, yellow metallic legs with turbines coming out of them, and a head with a yellow crystal as a visor.
"Admire X1!" Gul exclaimed with joy and pride. The robot turned on at the call of its name. A yellow light shone on its visor as it rose from its resting place.
"I am awake, friend Gul" the neutral voice came from the robot, resonating throughout the workshop.
"Is that a robot?" Lux was astonished, his eyes wide with Glow from the impression, taking his hand out of his pocket.
"Did you create it?"
"It's my masterpiece, an adaptation and survival robot for catastrophes!" Gul proudly expressed, seeing Lux's reaction while closing her eyes, smiling, and puffing out her chest, satisfied for having managed to impress someone.
"I always wanted to be an inventor, but people made fun of me, calling me weirdo or lunatic" Gul explained bitterly.
"I wanted to make a better future for the people around me, but they didn't trust me or didn't want to be my friends" she continued.
"So I came to the conclusion that if nobody wants to be my friend, then I will build mine" Gul finished explaining.
For Lux, the motivation that drove Gul was sad, but the fact that she had achieved her goal showed her determination.
"It's exciting that you built it!" Lux's voice sounded soft as he looked at the machine from all sides.
"You're incredible!"
"I assumed you would say that. It's not for nothing that I'll be the best inventor" Gul showed a bit of embarrassment, looking away. She wasn't used to receiving compliments.
She slapped herself, trying to calm down.
"The reason I brought you here is that X1 needs a lot of energy to stay active. Even though I have the capacity, the information, and the theory, I can't create an infinite energy source for X1" Gul explained calmly.
"When I built my energy-detecting device, I hoped to find a source that would power X1 forever. But when I confirmed that you could generate constant energy, I reached a conclusion" Gul's voice grew stronger.
"You are like me!"
A small awkward silence appeared, followed by a single word from Lux.
"What?"
Lux didn't understand.
What did she mean by saying they were the same?
That they both went to the same school?
That they both wore the same uniform?
That they both had short names?
"You're an inventor just like me. You created a device capable of providing energy to whatever you want, whether objects or people, since the brain generates electricity, treating people like batteries. That's why my device led me to you!" Gul explained confidently. For her, it made logical sense. She didn't believe something like magic existed; her thoughts were pure theory.
"You discovered me. Congratulations" Lux said, raising his hands in surrender.
For someone like Lux, who didn't understand everything Gul was saying, he only thought about how lucky he was to have found an excuse to justify magic through the ideas of the blonde girl.
"Now that I've discovered your identity, I propose a deal" Gul spoke with excitement.
"We can work together! We can combine our minds to create more inventions that help humanity" Gul's eyes released a lot of Glow, her fists clenched with excitement and a small smile on her face.
Lux thought about her words.
What should he say?
He couldn't accept that deal, because he wasn't really an inventor.
He had to reject her gently.
"I'm sorry, Gul, but I can't accept working with you" Lux apologized sincerely. She couldn't know about magic. It was dangerous for someone to know about it and its capability.
"Eh?… Why not?" a breath escaped from Gul. Her wide eyes looked at him, searching for a logical reason for rejecting the mutual collaboration.
Her fists opened, and the excitement she felt was turning into pain in her chest.
Someone was rejecting her again.
Why did nobody accept her?
Why did nobody want to be her friend?
Why are humans selfish?
The girl came out of her thoughts when she heard X1 speak.
"The system detected a harmful change in friend Gul's emotions. Friend Gul is crying. The present subject hurt friend Gul." the robot analyzed the situation it witnessed.
"The present subject is a threat. In conclusion, he must be eradicated" the robot's voice shifted from neutral to threatening. The yellow lights turned red instantly as it aimed at Lux and reached out with its left arm in an attack motion.
Both Lux and Gul were shocked.
Thuck!
Lux barely reacted in time, dodging by millimeters the blow that destroyed the floor where he had been standing.
"Wait, X1! Don't attack him!" Gul shouted, placing herself in the middle. Even though she felt hurt by his recent rejection, she didn't want anyone to get injured.
"I will not shut down until the threat to friend Gul is eradicated" the robot ignored her, preparing to charge again at the brown-haired boy.
Lux could only see the machine's strength. If he had received that blow, he would be badly injured.
If he used his magic to stop the robot, everything would end in a blink—but if he used it in front of Gul, she would know his true identity as a mage.
He had to find an answer.
Gul ran toward her desk. On her computer was software capable of shutting down X1 instantly as a precaution.
She felt awful. Because of her, someone was now in danger. Her own invention had become a risk, the complete opposite of what she wanted to achieve.
She quickly typed the shutdown code.
Click!
X1 jumped toward Lux, who kept dodging.
Nothing.
The code did nothing.
The robot kept attacking, not giving Lux any rest.
"Why? Why isn't it working?" Gul asked aloud. She had planned everything as a precaution against failure, but it wasn't working.
What was happening?
The girl remembered words that had always stayed with her—a bad memory, a bad experience.
You want to be an inventor? You're useless! Hahaha!
Gul's spirit fell again. Those words engraved in her mind were exactly how she felt at that very moment.
Useless.
—
Lux was breathing heavily. He had dodged every attack from the machine, which destroyed parts of the floor, walls, and tools with the power of its mechanical arms. Without his wand, he could only keep dodging.
If what Gul said about energy was true, the robot shouldn't be able to stay active for long. If he kept avoiding the blows, sooner or later X1 would stop moving. But he saw no change in his attacker.
The turbines began spinning rapidly. X1 raised its right hand, aiming at Lux.
"The threat is very agile. Deploy adhesive substance" X1's voice sounded cold and emotionless.
A blue liquid shot from its hand toward the boy, who couldn't completely dodge it.
Lux's arm was stuck to the wall, and no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't come off. He was trapped.
Gul didn't want to watch. The helplessness wouldn't let her move. She was afraid.
Everything she had done had been in vain.
What could she do?
There was no logical way to defeat an uncontrollable machine.
You're incredible!
Those words Lux had told her were real. His tone of voice, his eyes, his smile—they were genuine. The only person who had shown her some approval would end up dead.
She didn't want it to end like that.
Without thinking twice, Gul ran forward, standing between them.
"I don't want anyone to get hurt!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, raising her arms and placing herself in front of her own creation.
Lux watched her while still trying to free his arm.
X1 raised its arm above its head. Gul trembled but remained firm.
The robot lunged forward, regardless of who stood in front of it.
Gul closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.
CLANK!
Gul didn't feel the impact. Not understanding what had happened, she opened her eyes and looked at the scene.
X1 was on the other side of the workshop, lying on the floor trying to get up.
A girl appeared standing in front of her with her back turned, wearing the same uniform as hers, long black hair with pink parts, and a golden aura surrounding her.
It was Bianca.
End.
—
I wait you like it. The next chapter Will be called "Magic Vs. Science".