Irredeemable

Awakening

It was dark. Looking around yielded no further details on their whereabouts. Yet strangely, in the dark they found a strange serenity. They fumbled about for a moment, teaching themself to walk. They soon encountered an impassable barrier in the darkness. Using their small nubby hands, they felt their way along the wall, discovering that they were in fact, not in an endless expanse, but a small black room, barely large enough to fit them, as though it were a box. With no other options, they sat and waited, wondering if this was all there was. Soon enough, the box opened. And they would soon wish it hadn't.

Walking slowly toward them, was a pale figure. His head was an odd shape, almost looking like a crown. The light behind him was blinding. While they were not sure what to make of his presence, they were at least thankful that he blocked out most of the light. Finally, he spoke.

"Subject twelve, follow me."

With no other option, they followed behind the new being. At least they seemed knowledgeable of what was going on. They weren't a fan of their name, but the pale being had spoken it with such certainty, that they felt unable to argue.

Shortly, they arrived in a large room, with a table in the middle. Not only was the table covered in weapons, the walls were lined with weapons, almost all nails of various shapes and sizes. The pale being turned to subject twelve. "Twelve, I am the Pale King, your king, and you are a rather important investment. I will leave you for but a moment, in order to allow you to decide which of these nails is most suited to you. Do not disappoint me."

The Pale King left without another word, leaving Twelve to choose a weapon. They looked around for a moment. They picked up a set of daggers. They slashed them around a bit before trying more complicated maneuvers. Almost immediately, a dagger was flung across the room. Realizing that this would likely be a poor weapon choice, they placed the remaining dagger back in its place and kept looking.

Soon after, they found a large nail. Surely, a nail twice their size would make an excellent weapon. They grabbed the handle and gave it a swing. Only, it didn't swing. Frustrated, they put all of their effort into getting the nail off the ground. Spinning like a maniac eventually hefted the mighty nail off the ground, much to Twelve's delight. They stopped spinning, having decided on the large weapon. The nail, however, did not stop. It flew forward, Twelve still attached. Perhaps there was a better option.

Finally, they grabbed a regular coiled nail. It was simple, just like them, with enough weight to not accidentally throw, but not too much weight to be able to use it. After swinging the nail a few more times, Twelve decided to keep the simple nail. They hadn't chosen a moment too soon, as the king returned. He seemed satisfied with Twelve's decision and beckoned to follow once again.

They left the nail room, entering a smaller room, containing a single bug. The king's attention turned again to Twelve. "You shall receive your cloak here. Do not resist the cloak, or it shall not end well for you."

The other bug stepped forth, cloak in hand. They made quick work of cloaking the little vessel. Twelve found it strange that the king had allowed them to choose their own weapon, but they had no option about the cloak. Twelve decided not to ask, knowing that there was likely a perfectly reasonable explanation behind it. The king did seem to understand the world better than they did, after all. Now cloaked, they looked to the king.

A final call forth was issued and Twelve loyally followed the king. Behind the last door were what appeared to be several small homes, although only some of which held a resident, fellow vessels. The king naturally made introductions. "Hunters, this is your newest charge, Twelve. Twelve, this is Two, Three, Six, Nine, and Eleven."

"Your room is there." Spoke the king, pointing to one of the Twelve buildings. It at least made sense to Twelve that they would have the last home. It shared their name after all.

The king left the vessels to acquaint, promising to return soon. Two and Three clearly had no interest in getting to know Twelve. They left immediately to get back to their sparring. Six wasn't exactly skilled socially, so they just awkwardly stared at Twelve, hoping someone else would get to know them for Six. Nine had little to no attention span and wandered off to check out the neat design of the identical rooms for the ninth time this week.

Eleven, however, took an interest in Twelve. It may have simply been because of their sequencing names, but there was an interest, nonetheless. Strangely, despite a lack of any way to communicate verbally, they seemed to be able to understand each other.

"Hello. I am Eleven. You are Twelve?"

"Yes. I am Twelve. Why are we here?"

"We are hunters. We hunt the fugitives."

"What are fugitives?"

"Most are vessels. Many escaped recently. We track them down."

"Why are names out of order?"

"Most did not qualify."

"Qualify?"

"You will have to prove yourself. I wish you Best of luck."

And so, a new story begins. I have a general plan for this one, but I'm also somewhat making it up as I go along, to give it a more natural feel. I'm still experimenting with vessel dialogue, so please bare with me on any changes that may or may not happen there. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!