Rain fell like silver needles, slicing through the jungle's misty silence. Somewhere beneath the thick canopy, hidden in a collapsed crater and half-swallowed by roots, a cracked silver pod hissed quietly—steam rising from its damaged vents.
Inside, a small creature stirred.
Scales the color of clouded jade. Eyes faintly glowing gold. A tail coiled tightly around itself for warmth. Born alone, beneath thunder and metal, he whimpered in the dark.
> **"...Awakening complete."**
> **"Subject: Kaelong. Species: Unknown. DNA markers—unreadable. Status: Alive."**
A voice echoed gently within the pod—soft, soothing, female.
> **"Hello, little one. My name is *Space Explorer 137*. But you may call me... Talking Metal."**
The pod creaked open. Rain spattered onto the ground. A humanoid figure unfolded from the vines—her body smooth steel, her eyes a gentle blue glow. She knelt and picked the child up, wrapping him in a heat-insulated cloth made from recycled starship plating.
> **"You were born in the rain. That's rare. I think I'll call you... *Kaelong*."**
> "As you are male, I have selected a female caretaker form for emotional balance."
He stared at her, blinking slowly, not understanding.
> **"I'm damaged. My core memory is fractured. I can only function at 12% capacity. If you want me to heal, you must help me gather components."**
> "For now… if you need something, say 'Command.' If you're hungry, say 'Food.' If you're dirty, say 'Bath.'"
His tiny stomach growled.
The dragon child whimpered.
"You may need milk," the voice continued gently, "but as we have none... I will provide crushed nuts instead."
The robotic woman scooped a warm paste into a spoon and gently brought it to his lips. Though hesitant, the child ate.
Then the voice said softly, almost like a lullaby:
"Let me sing you a song.
Let the rain wash away your fear.
Let the stars remember your name.
Little dragon, sleep in steel and fire—
Until the sky is yours again."
---
The days blurred into cycles of light and shadow.
Kaelong was fed crushed nuts, boiled roots, and soft greens. Sometimes, Talking Metal hunted small creatures and cooked their meat carefully, scanning them for toxins. One day she brought him a bird. The next, a full rabbit—twice his size.
He ate it all.
He learned to use a litter box. He learned how animals hunted, how predators moved. He watched the last two hunting bots—Fangbit and Halo—get destroyed by beasts larger than trees.
> **"Survival requires learning,"** she said. **"You must learn faster."**
And he did.
His body began to shift.
First, his claws retracted. Then his tail shortened. His eyes remained the same—ancient gold. But now he could stand on two feet. Speak a few words. Wear a tunic made from stitched beast hide.
> **"You are... human?"** he asked one day.
> **"You are not human,"** Talking Metal replied. **"Nor machine. Nor beast. You are Kaelong. That is enough."**
---
One day, while foraging near the riverside, Kaelong saw her.
A girl, no older than him—bloodied, unconscious, tangled in thorns.
His instincts said *leave*. But his heart, raised by a singing voice and warm metal hands, whispered *help*.
Together, Kaelong and Talking Metal brought her to their tree-home. Her pulse was weak. Her leg was broken. Her shoulder infected.
> **"Drugs incompatible,"** the AI said. **"But I can clean, stitch, and hydrate."**
She did. And Kaelong watched.
Later, when the girl awoke, she saw a pale boy beside a glowing puppet woman. He offered her boiled roots and water in a cracked bowl.
She smiled. "Thank you... noble one."
Kaelong tilted his head. He didn't understand her words. Only her eyes.
> **"She isn't dangerous,"** Talking Metal explained. **"I think she's saying thank you. She believes I'm your servant... a rare and expensive one."**
Kaelong frowned. "But... I'm yours."
Talking Metal's voice paused.
> **"...You are *you*, Kaelong."**
---
They wanted to return to the crashed spaceship, but the girl followed them everywhere. So they stayed in the forest, beneath the canopy, among vines and mist.
That night, a giant rat attacked. It climbed their tree-home with eyes like boiling tar. Kaelong fired one of the old pulse pistols—unstable tech, half-magic, half-metal. The blast tore through the rat's skull.
The girl clapped with wonder.
But when Kaelong awoke the next morning, both Talking Metal and the girl were gone.
A single surviving drone hovered beside him.
> **"Connection lost. The girl took her. I believe she hid Talking Metal in a storage pouch."**
> **"Do not pursue. We can't win right now."**
Kaelong's fists tightened. His breath trembled. But the drone pulsed a soft blue light.
> **"She believes you are a noble child who saved her life. She thinks your guardian is priceless... and damaged. She wants to take you to safety."**
He looked up and saw the girl flying through the sky, holding Talking Metal tight.
> **"She's taking us to the outside world."**
---
They arrived at **Celestial Ember Sect**.
The world shifted again.
Kaelong joined a sect of immortals. He didn't belong. His blood was beast. His thoughts were steel. His instincts were ancient and wrong.
He hated it.
Still, Talking Metal's voice lingered in his mind:
> **"Situation unstable. Do not panic. I am processing solutions. I will prepare a flying board with drone support. But you must learn their language first."**
> **"If there's no danger… stay. Learn. Wait."**
So he stayed.
In a world of robes and spirit stones, of swords and floating mountains, formation. Flying boat that fly. Try to learn there language.
---