An electric shock surged through Sidäx's brain, immediately waking her up from her sweet dreams. It was time to serve. If only she could linger in the dream world, detached from the cruel reality. She wasn't that lucky and perhaps never will. Darkness surrounded her for a while, a tender and comforting darkness. She was hooked up to multiple wires all around her broken body, carefully nurturing her and prolonging her life. It was like she was in their embrace, it felt pleasant, but one by one they retreated from her body, thus bringing an end to this comfortable feeling. She was in a small confined place, the sort that could make some people mad, but Sidäx didn't mind it, the walls surrounding her were soft, it was like a padded cell. More than anything, Sidäx felt like the space she was in resembled a womb, a place where she was safe. But a child must leave her mother at some point and the same applies to Sidäx.
The hatch in front of her whirred open, exposing her to the outside world. Sidäx's movements were stiff, a lot like what you would expect from a machine, as she stepped outside of the capsule where she had slumbered. She was welcomed by a crimson glow, the light of a devil as she had worded it. The humongous space around her was filled with this red light, the huge light bulbs that were scattered around were like crimson eyes, staring, following every move of the people. Many had been driven insane by it. It wasn't just the sleeping chamber, it was the same in the whole facility. Sometimes the lights flickered as if they were blinking eyes. It was a bad sign that would make the hearts of people tremble; if they had hearts anymore. Calamity was the worst fear inside these stone walls and any error would make the anxiety spread.
Sidäx had to get moving. And so did so many others. The vast space was occupied by the sleeping capsules; people were almost constantly coming in and out of them. There were probably hundreds of them, neatly arranged in lines. Various platforms made from metal had been built so all the capsules were accessible. Some of them had already malfunctioned to the point of beyond repair, but that was quite alright; some of their residents had perished as well. Nobody remembered them, not even those who had seen them frequently. Short is the memory of people with rotten brains.
Sidäx and a group of other people were walking out of the rest area, their steps being like an out of tune rhythm against the metal beneath their feet. They marched forward like a horde of undead, hunched and sluggish with their movements. The frequent clanking of metal was a loud constant noise, for a lot of people had lost at least one of their legs, including Sidäx. No one here was made of just flesh and blood anymore. Eventually one's body will get damaged and when it does, it will be fixed with mechanical parts so they can keep going and fulfilling their duties. Sidäx herself had gone through several procedures as her organic body started to fall apart. Her right leg and left arm were just cold metal now, granting her the ability to move. A complex clockwork has been installed into her chest to replace her heart and lungs. A couple of cogs had replaced a part of her brain. She had only one organic eye left, the other one was mechanical now. All the people within the stone walls were in this condition, more or less.
Some people didn't even have minds anymore, transforming them into mere walking corpses that followed one purpose, the only purpose the people inside the stone walls had. Sidäx walked among these braindead individuals, pondering how much longer she was able to be in touch with her own mind; it had already started to slip away a little. It frightened her, because once her mind was gone, what would be left of her? A mass of flesh, mended with metal, perhaps still having a shred of identity left in her face, but nobody's home. Though, she was already forgotten by many, even those she saw on a daily basis, and maybe the same fate would fall upon them all; just ghostly remnants of humanity clinging onto their despair.
Sidäx made the mistake to glance at the eyes of someone who wasn't really there anymore; they were dead and soulless. What bothered her was the fact she couldn't remember this individual being anything else, ever. Sidäx did recall seeing them, but the fragile sign of life was gone like it had never even existed. She realized that she was starting to upset herself for no good reason and focused only on walking forward, avoiding the eyes of others because of what they would reveal from them – and of Sidäx herself.
The crimson glow guided the people to the heart of the mountain. Sidäx and the group of others reached the great pit, the most spacious chamber in the whole facility. And right there, in the pit, sat the great machine, the one that never rested. In the very bottom of the machine a hellfire burned, powering its infernal parts. The people who hollowed out the mountain dug too deep and unleashed the fires that could never be extinguished. But they also realized they could use the fire's power to fuel the machine, keep it going at all times. The hellfire was still burning, so the machine was still working.
But much like the people who existed within the mountain, even the great machine had seen its better days. Some parts were rusty and the faulty wires were sparking. Sometimes there was smoke and the machine would tremble with such intensity that people were afraid the whole mountain would collapse, crushing them all. The great machine needed its care and the people needed the great machine. Even though the hellfire sustained it, there were some fragments that required manpower to function – and this necessity was constant.
Many platforms surrounded this grand device, Sidäx being in one of the middle ones. She and the others who had come here in the same group kneeled down in unison in front of the great machine, an act they performed flawlessly. And on her knees, she watched how the mechanical parts moved, how the limbs that looked like the legs of a metallic spider shifted and creaked and weaved matter that kept them all alive. And she threw her arms in the air to show devotion; she was a fanatic just like everybody else. This was their deity, worshipping it was their only purpose in life. Sidäx and all the others had served the machine for decades or perhaps even a century. It allowed them to live so they could take care of it and make sure it was working properly. It was a cycle and so long it had been turning that no one could break it anymore – or even have the desire to do so.
Sidäx lowered her arms but remained on her knees for a while. She could hear the machine speaking to her, through all the clanking and humming and creaking and sparking. It comforted her, shattering any doubts she may have harbored after waking up. Life wasn't so bleak as long as she served the machine. It spoke to her about the horrors she had escaped and told her how everything was alright here, within these stone walls. She was special, she was lucky, for millions had perished in the cold outside world. She was still here and had a purpose as long as her body could move – even if with no mind. And still, the machine would adore her. Sidäx felt the warmth coursing through her body as she listened to the gentle whispers of the machine as it told her it needed her. With the power of devotion, she got on her feet again and headed to a lower platform.
She descended a few more platforms, getting closer and closer to the hellfire that blazed forever. Sometimes Sidäx pondered what it would feel like to throw herself into the flames, get her body burned beyond recognition, but most importantly; could she become part of her god? Would it allow that? She wasn't sure, so she continued to serve it as usual. There were many cranks on the level she had reached and they needed to be rotated constantly. This was her place, she had worked here since the beginning. Sidäx walked toward one of the many cranks here, currently being operated by a man whose body was mostly flesh; a rare trait, indeed. Sidäx gently tapped his shoulder and he glanced at her, understanding her message and let her take over his post. Neither uttered a single word and the man walked away; it was his time to rest inside the capsule. Sidäx started her shift and began to rotate the crank, just like many other people around her.
Sidäx's mind tended to be a wandering one while on duty, she was just doing the same motion over and over again and had a lot of time to think. The many noises of the great machine felt soothing in her mechanical heart, she was glad she didn't have a human heart anymore because now the machine's and her heart were made from the same material, thus making her feel more connected to her god. But although she was basking in the radiance of the machine, she sometimes pondered on what could have been.
It was hard to remember things after decades, but occasionally visions were visiting her deteriorating mind. Sidäx had served the machine for so long she couldn't really recall what her life had been like before becoming a dweller within the mountain. In her head, there were remnants of a different kind of reality, something that felt so alien to her now. There were groups of people, their whole bodies just flesh and blood, but they had no faces. Regardless, Sidäx felt like they were important to her somehow, even though they were just nothing more but ghosts in her mind now. She could also see strange places, something that weren't made of stone and metal. A vast space with blue above, green below; the sky and the grasslands, she had struggled to remember them and even now they were something she couldn't really comprehend. Maybe they were just pieces of her dreams, something her subconscious mind would conjure up while she was resting. She couldn't tell the difference anymore. Little by little it was getting hard to remember or even think. Her brain was rotting, slowly but surely.
Part of her body was still flesh and after working some time it would start to ache. However, Sidäx would keep going for as long as she possibly could despite the pain. She would happily bleed for her god if she could stay in the vicinity of it, listening to the melodies it played for her. Sometimes she would hum in tune with the sweet music. It eased her pain and helped her to finish her shift. Her sense of time was pretty much nonexistent; she could never tell how much time had passed. Even now she couldn't tell if she had been working for just a few hours or even a couple of days. It was the moment when she felt a harsh tap on her shoulder when she realized that her work hours were done. She would leave her spot for someone else and sometimes, it disgusted Sidäx. It was her place, the way she could fulfill her role as a servant. She would leave with a bitter mind, because her body, her cursed body of flesh, it needed rest. She would then ascend from the pit, offering a little prayer to her deity before she would head to the chamber of sleeping capsules along with others who had to sleep.
The further away Sidäx walked from her god, the more bitter she became. Decades had taken their toll on both her body and mind; she could recall some hazy memories of the days when she had been more vigorous. But she had chosen this path of devotion and she would walk on it until the day when she would perish. She and the others had to keep the machine running so disaster won't fall upon their mountain refuge. Everyone who had a fragment of their own mind still intact could, however, tell that they were heading towards a slow-motion annihilation. Their numbers had decreased over the years and they had no means to reproduce as they all were infertile. It had left the rest with an anxiety that made them seek for methods to prolong their lives so they could continue to serve the great machine. They just had to go beyond the limits of a human physique, that's all there really was. They had tampered with nature in order to worship god.
Sidäx along with some others reached the chamber with the sleeping capsules. Weary steps made them seek their own designated rest space; the people were walking like ants in the massive chamber. Sidäx had to climb a couple of platforms before finding her own capsule. Its hatch whirred open as it recognized her touch and she made a quick turn to retreat inside her back first. The many wires attached to various parts of her body in order to nourish her while she would sleep and the hatch soon closed, the comfortable darkness concealing her once more.
It was like she was already a complete machine, her consciousness was turned off just like that. She could still dream, however. And in her dreams, she would offer all her flesh and blood for the machine. She didn't need them anyway. She would become a whole machine herself, evolving from her fragile human form. Together she and other worthy would serve their deity until the end of time itself. And she dreamed of how the hellfire would burn even stronger, so strong that it could melt the frozen outside world. And the machine would grow from the confines of its pit and lead the whole world to a new age.
Such visions of grandeur in a simple mind. And then there were the tiny bits of memories of the forgotten past that sometimes invaded her head as she slumbered. How the breeze caressed her face, how the rain soaked her, how the sun offered warmth. She dreamed of a bright and vivid world, something that was completely out of reach. But these visions would corrupt her brain as they collided harshly with her dreams of the great machine, leaving her in a resentful state. She couldn't remember them afterwards, but the longing remained.
And then Sidäx would wake up again, the electric shock starting her up like a machine. She would begin her waking hours with misery, until the machine would speak and sing to her once more, giving her sense of purpose back.
She would experience this over and over again. It was a vicious cycle, breaking free from it was near impossible. But in the end, Sidäx probably didn't even want to be free.
