The sirens began to blare loudly.
I adjusted the visor of my helmet as my hands trembled under the invisible weight of fear. The air was dense, saturated with gunpowder, burning metal, and toxic residue. We stood on a battlefield that seemed torn from a dystopian dream: the ground, formed by cracked metal plates, resonated under our boots with a sinister echo. In the distance, atop a hill, stood the great tower of our leader, a man who always filled me with terror.
We wore tight black combat suits, with green light silhouettes running across our bodies like shining veins. A black oxygen mask, decorated with green LED lights, covered our faces, protecting us from the nuclear radiation-contaminated air. Above it, a gray visor and a black metallic helmet sealed us off from any human feature.
Then, at last, I saw him.
He emerged from nowhere, bursting through the roof of the great tower with a dull explosion. He descended through the smoke and debris like a mechanical deity. His imposing silhouette rose above us.
His body, a combination of technology and inhuman beauty, glowed with a coldness that did not belong to this world. And his eyes... his blue eyes shone with superhuman intensity. A shiver ran down my spine.
Neo.
An android about whom we knew little; we had only been told that this machine was a mere obstacle preventing the conquest of that nation. Nothing more. We saw him as a threat, a target to be eliminated. And yet, observing him... something in his presence made me doubt all of that.
"This is your last warning. I do not wish to destroy you. I do not wish to end you. You still have a chance: lay down your arms and reclaim your destiny. Do not let ambition consume you. You can choose life... or condemn yourselves to death. Make your choice."
The wind blew fiercely, kicking up ashes and dust into the air, as if even the earth feared his response. Around me, hardened soldiers exchanged fleeting glances for an instant, a glimmer of doubt rising in their eyes. I swallowed. Something in those words disarmed me. I saw my mother, I saw my childhood, I saw the child I once was, before believing that killing was a duty.
My finger loosened from the trigger.
For an instant, I thought about lowering my rifle, about dropping everything and fleeing from that foretold massacre. But then I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't listen to that machine!" my commander roared, a man scarred by battles and with a voice laden with hatred. "We are the dominant force! No one will tell us what to do!"
Another soldier looked at me with a cruel smile and raised his rifle in mockery and defiance. "If we destroy him, the power will be ours! We'll have control of everything!"
My soul screamed in silence.
I looked around and saw the faces of my comrades, their gazes inflamed by fury and ambition. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps Neo was just a machine, an obstacle in our destiny.
The doubt vanished and, with a war cry, I raised my weapon along with the others. Because the fear of thinking differently weighs more than the desire to do what is right.
"Fire!"
──•─•──•✦•──•─•──
The roar of gunfire filled the air.
The order thundered in my ears, tearing me from my thoughts. My finger squeezed the trigger hard. The sky shattered into light and thunder. Neo moved in a blink, dodging the projectiles with inhuman precision. And then our eyes met for a fraction of a second.
I no longer saw hatred in them, only regret.
And I understood.
War, glory, victory... were fictions we inherited without question. A trap into which we fell again and again. We were not the dominant force. We were puppets of ambition, shadows condemned to repeat the same cycle of death. It was not Neo who had to be destroyed. It was us. It was me.
I opened my mouth. I tried to scream, to warn, to beg, but a burning pain shot through my chest.
My body hit the cold, damp ground, as life escaped me with every beat of unbearable pain.
Hot blood filled my mouth with the bitter taste of the irreversible.
My vision blurred.
I regretted it.
I had the chance to live...
And I wasted it.