As they stood before the dark cave, chills of fear and adventure shake their bodies. This should be the right cave. They got directions here from an old explorer. The two best friends nodded to each other and took their first step into the cave. The darkness consumed them. The smell of moistures filled cat’s nostrils. Cat wondered if her friend had a nose as well.
The cave was pitch black. Cat felt natural in a dark as his eyes adjusted fast, but Robot needed to do some configurations first, in order to see well. As they walked along the path, Cat scratched her nose because she had felt some rotten odour mixed into the natural wet smell.
The path was long and sometimes little rocks would fall from the ceiling, giving two friends quite a spook every time. This cave was definitely the right one, yet something felt wrong. They didn’t know how many eyes were watching them.
After some time they finally reached a lake inside the cave. Rays of light reflected playfully from the lake’s surface. From far away they could hear how the river changed into a waterfall with a burbling sound. The view was breathtaking. But what was that strange light? It emitted from the ring platform made of stone. Robot wondered how this didn’t seem to be a natural ray of sunlight that sometimes finds its way into the darkest of caves. This was the place that the two friends had been looking for. They got so excited that they forgot to notice their surroundings. Something horrible had crept really close.
The cat felt something breathe down his neck and every fur on his back stood up. She turned around quickly. It was something big and terrifying and it smelled unbearably rotten. Big teeth and countless white eyes stared at her hungrily. The cat had always thought that the robot had a big build, but this thing was two times bigger than her friend. The cat knew that a fight would be hopeless. She hissed as Darkness approached them. Robot understood cat’s movements but his feet couldn’t move.
Darkness moved, faster than should have been possible with its large body. He charged at the robot. The robot realized he wouldn’t be able to dodge the attack, so he decided to sacrifice his left arm. Darkness sank its teeth into the hunk of metal and ripped it off like it was nothing. The robot used his right arm to pick up the cat and throw him to a safe distance. After all, cats always land on their feet
The Cat didn’t understand what had happened until he landed on the light-emitting platform. The platform was covered with soft grass, making it perfect for a soft landing. Cat saw how his best friend was consumed by Darkness. While the rotten smell didn’t seem to reach that far, countless empty white eyes were still glaring at her intensely. She felt utter sadness flowing over her. Cat has lost her best friend.
But then, an unexpected sphere-shaped object landed right next to the cat. It barely made a sound. somehow, the strange object felt familiar, like an old friend. The Cat was frightened by all these sudden events but her curiosity overtook her saddness.
While investigating the sphere, cat accidentally gave it a push. The object looked pleased to able to move forward. It seemed to knew something that the cat did not.
Suddenly the cat realized that the platform was full of small bits and pieces of robots. As the sphere-shaped object touched one of the old robot corpses, it came to life. All kinds of wires came out of the round object and attached themselves to the broken robot. The sizzling sounds filled the air as the sphere transformed its consciousness into the old robot. The robot opened his eyes. With stiff movements, he started to get up.
Now in this small and fragile body Robot moved closer to the Cat. Cat recognized her best friend purred while letting Robot pet her. She knew that it was her time now to protect her friend.
United again, the two friends happily realized that their adventure has just begun. They found the place they were looking for. The place where the firsts robots had been made.
End of Chapter 1