Well, he told me, "Actually, I'm a human being."
Silence.
I stare back blankly at my robot for two minutes straight before I burst out laughing.
"Oh, I didn't know that robots could have their own sense of humour!" I say to myself wiping my eyes. It's funny how comically serious he was and I even almost would have believed him if I didn't know any better.
I look up at Asmond who's perched upon a tree branch, perfectly balanced on his toes with his elbows against his knees while I am sitting with my back against the tree trunk in the garden behind my house.
My parents gifted Asmond to me almost a year ago on my nineteenth birthday because they felt sorry for leaving me alone by myself most of the time. They thought this might help alleviate the loneliness of their child and also make me happy when all they had to do was spend some time with me. Just like today. It's my Birthday and yet they are gone again. Sigh, well at least they were there last time...
But I will never regret the day I got Asmond.
Coming from a fairly well off family, it can be hard to find true friends and with parents who are always focused on their work, it's... lonely.
I would have never admitted it to him or anyone, but I'm glad that I got him and I often find myself wishing he was human.
"I am human." I flinch when I hear his voice.
I look up only to find him staring back at me. Wait... did he just...?
Before I could contemplate more, he jumps from the branch he was sitting on, landing perfectly on his feet and as always, I was spellbound by him.
He turns and walks towards me. Bending down such that he's at my eye level, and says, "I told you, I'm a human. Or... as close to a human being as I can be, I guess."
I'm shocked to silence yet again. Why? Because I can feel he's being serious. More than that I'm awed by the myriad of emotions flitting across his eyes. I have never seen this. Its like he's actually a human.
"Stop it Asmond," I say averting my eyes. "This is not funny anymore. I was the one who unpacked you remember." he cannot be a living being. I remember opening that packaging box which was bigger than me, only to see him inside, with his eyes closed. I remember when I switched him on and how he slowly opened his eyes and looked at me with that bewitching stare of his. I remember when I was handling all his manual settings since I have always been into tech.
I even saw his system and the wires at back of his nape! Is he seriously kidding with me. I didn't know that my robot had a mind of his own. Asmond sure is an amazing machine. His database and core are of excellent quality. Not to mention his other perks: he's got artificial organs and sensory and heating system to make him look more human. I have seen all of that firsthand!
I look back at him and his keen eyes are focused on my face. There's this emotion in his eyes that I can't interpret. I almost want to believe him; to fool myself into oblivion. But I know it's asking too much. I'm already glad that he's here with me, regardless of being a robot. I couldn't ask for more.
"Ugh... seriously-" my eyes widen when I hear a frustrated sigh from him. He doesn't sigh.
How come he's behaving like this today. "Hey, Asmond, are you okay? Is there some glitch in your program?" I ask, furrowing my brows. Suddenly I was panicking. What if there was some issue in his programming. I'm into tech but not capable enough to fix him. I can't let this happen. Eventhough he's a robot I have always treated him like a human, he's the only one I'm closest to.
I cup his left cheek and ask him again if he's okay.I don't even know if he can detect the issues in his own system, he should be able to, right? I'm beginning to panic more when I feel him place his hand on mine over his cheek; and all of my thoughts come to halt. I'm actually surprised with how good and warm this feels.
He has that effect over me sometimes... okay always.
He's being quite responsive today, just like humans. God, is there really something wrong with him?! He usually has his very boring, robot-like expression but today he's being very weird. And as if he can hear me, his eyes eyes narrow down staring at me.
"Tch! I knew this would be difficult..." he mutters as looks away, clicking his tongue.
"Asmond... what-" just as I ask him, he continues.
"I am not a robot, Lara." he says again with all seriousness and my eyes drift towards his right arm. From the shoulder joint till the end, his whole right arm is mechanical.
His face has two stripes on his right cheek which is faintly glowing with blue light. It glows when he's switched on. And even when his whole body is covered in what I assume is a cover layer to make it look like a human skin, I know there lies something similar to that of his right arm.
When he catches me staring at his arm, he rolls his eyes and sighs, "Oh, this...". He brings his left hand forward and moves it over his right arm in a sweeping motion. And I swear my eyes would have fallen out of their sockets, if possible at what i just saw.
Right before my eyes, his arm turned to normal! It's like the air rippled around his arm and it slowly changed to normal as if all this time I had been seeing an illusion.
"What... H-How?" I quickly stand up, confused by what just happened. No way, I was dreaming, right? Right. Yup, just dreaming. I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Was I really so alone that I have finally gone insane and begun to hallucinate?
"You are not hallucinating, Lara. Hell, woman I told you. I am not a robot." I look at him and then laugh some more.
God, what was happening. I hear him Huff as he stands up as well. "Fine then, I'll show you." he says, and then looks around as if to see if someone was there before he looks back at me.
"Listen Lara. What I'm about to tell you can be really shocking but I am telling the truth okay?" he says but I just gape at him. Somewhere in the back of my mind I can tell what's happening and as scary as this seems, it's pretty confusing. So I'm not sure what to think or feel.
"Don't think about anything apart from me and what I'm about to tell you right now." he suddenly says, putting both his palms on the side of my head.
He read my mind.
So he can also read minds, huh? Or did I say that out loud again?
I see him shake his head before he sighs and checks around again. He flicks his right hand wrist towards himself. Within a second, the change happens.
Again it's as if there's a mist or ripple in the air as his look slowly changes and I swear I feel as if my heart leaped to my throat.
One minute he's standing there casually with his one hand in his pocket and the next second it's as if small flames are burning away at his clothes, only to give way to a different attire.
His dark brown hair slowly turns to red and his jeans and shirt burn away, replaced by a dark red and black attire. His clothes look like a royal robe with surprisingly smooth texture and of dark red colour with broad black hem reaching past his feet. He has these shoulder plates which slightly curve upwards at either sides but aren't too broad. If anything, they just make him look more...more majestic.
And even when I am feeling confused, scared and shocked all together, I can't ignore the fact that he look midblowing. If I thought he was handsome previously, now he looked no less than a God.
"Fortunately... or unfortunately for that matter, I'm no God, love." he chuckles, bending down to look at me as he hooks a finger under my chin and suddenly I'm back to panicking.
"Wait- wha... what are y-you?!"
He sighs running a hand through his hair, though it doesn't do anything to make him look any less handsome.
He steps towards me, his each step exuding confidence and authority. I never something like this before, especially not from him. He flashes a devilishly charming smile that instantly sends my heart beat racing and grabs my left hand, lifting it as he kisses the back of it.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Asmodeus, son of The Devil, part of the inner circle of Hell and... the devil of L*st." my eyes widen at that and I see how his smile turns absolutely daunting and screams danger. I might have not believed anything if I hadn't seen it for myself.
I still believe that somewhere he's still Asmond, my robot and my only companion and I guess that's why I'm not running for the hills.
In a swift second, he's back to how he looked like before. Asmond- no Asmodeus reaches forward, tucking my hair behind my left ear as he says in a low voice. "I can be whoever or whatever you want, love. You can even think of me as human if that makes you feel comfortable, but..." he pauses and I watch the adoring smile on his face turns serious, "... make no mistake, you are mine. And I'm not letting you go again. At least not for an eternity." he smirks.
Wait- what does he mean by 'again'?
He is suddenly looking at me with a sad expression as he continues, "You have forgotten everything..." he says it as if it's a comment more to himself. "In the past and in the present, you have and will always be my chosen... Leanne."
Le... anne? I... where have I heard that name? It sounds familiar...
Suddenly I am flooded by many emotions which I can't explain and memories which were forgotten. I clutch my head tightly because it feels as if it would blow up.
I don't realise I have slid on the ground and I feel Amodeus trying to soothe me. Did he already expect this? I can't tell. I suddenly hear shrieks and screams, only to realise that it is coming from me.
I can feel my consciousness slipping away, giving way to darkness before I hear him say, "I'll protect you this time with everything in me, my love."
Protect me? From what?...
