ORIGIN 2: World Enders

Ato's Sojourn II

Ato slowly came to in the dungeon of truth. He felt weak from his encounter with the Shinobi Nobles. Flashbacks of the encounter started rushing through his mind like a vivid montage that caused him to briefly go back in time. After a painstaking three minutes of this, Ato tried to get on his feet, as if still fighting. That's when he noticed that the chains he had on were gone.

As soon as he gained full cognitive awareness and his track of real-time, he heard a voice say: "Calm down, my child, calm down." The voice was eerily familiar, as it echoed through the dungeon like soft thunder.  Ato began to get scared, so he went into defensive mode. He shifted into his noble fist-fighting stance and screamed out: "Show yourself, with honor!"

"Honor is but an illusion in the mind of cowards. You, however, exhibit honor like a young me." When Ato could finally tell where the voice was coming from, he turned towards it and focused his eyes on what looked like a metallic knight sitting in a chair. It was the Laughing Shadow himself.

Ato dropped his stance and went to bow down at his master's feet. "That isn't necessary, son," Laughing Shadow said. Ato stopped and raised back up on his feet and just stood there in silence. He started to approach the Laughing Shadow but the Laughing Shadow discerned his fearfulness, saying: "I, Sinkade Wulaw, am not who you fear. The Laughing Shadow is who you fear, my son. But that part of me has died."

Sinkade told Ato that he gave him a triple snake antidote while he was passed out. He apologized for the way his men treated him and how bad he felt for Ato's fallen soldiers, who sacrificed their lives with great honor. Ato told Sinkade about Vander Horeme. Sinkade knew Horeme as his nephew after he had gained his memory back after the Omega Default.

"I realize that I can never undo all of the decades of chaos and dismay I caused Volcrim and the rest of Plumorita. This has only brought me a plague of guilt, which is now the only human emotion I can exhibit as of late. Yet, I am still more machine than man. However...the faint reminiscences of my life before my repurposing are all I have left to avouch what minuscule humanity remains," Sinkade said to Ato, who sat at his feet.

Ato looked into Sinkade's eyes and said: "I believe you are more human than you believe. You just saved my life! But there's plenty more you can do to help make this moon and Plumorita a better place. Why don't you join the Origin Project?? Together we can transform worlds!" Sinkade slowly put his head down and said in a saddened tone: "I have been a warlord longer than your Origin Project has been around, my child. Even in my days as a vigilante on Solara, all I have ever known was war and blood." Ato took his hand placed it on Sinkade's mechanical hand and said: "I have heard the greatest legends about a warrior - one who would face torture before dishonor and give his life ten times over for the peace of an entire planet and every one of its moons. And that's exactly what you did! Not even the Supreme Android can change what is etched in history...our history!! Please master, join us! The only time it's too late to make a difference is when hope and honor are completely deleted from the galaxy. And that's something a machine can never possess. Join the Origin Project and finish your mission, not the Laughing Shadow's, but the legendary Sinkade Wulaw's.