Chapter Text
The Human Kingdom of Porphyal. Prosperous and bountiful. Forested lands, with mountains and valleys and peaks and rivers. Settlements dotted along the dirt and cobble roads, occasionally broken up by larger cities, where humans live out their days in service to the kingdom. A farmer tends to his crops to feed the people. A weaver hones her craft, clothing the people. A stonemason works tirelessly, housing the people. Civilization, teeming with life. Each of the cities, each of the smaller towns and settlements, loyal to their kingdom, and loyal to their king. It almost seemed effortless, each human a cog in an endless machine, all working towards one goal, all united in a single effort. To survive. To win the war. A war that began so long ago the stories of its beginning have been lost to time.
Some say it began with an assassination. Others say with five. No two families tell the same tale, nor is it the same between each telling. There is only one universal truth between all versions, a truth known by even the youngest human.
It is the automatons fault.
The Kingdom of Atomata, a land not unlike Porphyal. Equally mountainous, equally beautiful and vast. This landscape, however, is not as it first appears. It is a grim reflection of nature at its most basic elements. As the trees hit the border between kingdoms, wood turns to hollow plastic, rocks to colourful, spherical balls, and grass to squishy foam. The rivers remain the only landmark that does not change as it passes over the boundary, the water running smoothly over rainbow beds of rocks, over waterfalls of rust and metal. All things past the border of this kingdom, with water as the one exception, unnatural copycats of what the human kingdom knows as the true way of the world. Colour and a playful, dreamlike appearance find themselves as the backbone of the landscape of Atomata, just as nature and reality the backbone of Porphyal. A child’s dream, made reality, and made, in the human kingdom’s opinion, wrong.
Horrible creatures inhabit this kingdom, made of metal and oil, of grinding gears and electricity that crackled underneath their skin. Large, sharp teeth line each and every one of their mouths. If not on the outside, then on the inside. They move stiffly, with robotic joints and glowing eyes, announcing their presence with heavy feet and whirring, clicking sounds. Their mouths move too slowly for their words, their motions too precise and practiced to be real. They are not human. They are wrong.
They began the war. There is no question about that. And the humans will see its end.
At least, that’s what your mother tells you. She reminds you of all of the history between the two kingdoms, the generations upon generations spent fighting one another. The bloodshed, the tragedy, the horrible losses and the kingdom brought to the brink of collapse. She recites all of this to you as your ship grows ever closer.
You don’t catch many of the details. You aren’t really listening much. After all, you’re only six.
The fights of the adults are not yet yours to inherit, and all you have to worry about in the world is the trip you are currently taking with your mother. Your father is absent, as he always is, and you continue to question if he even really exists. You’ve only ever seen him once, and from what your yet undeveloped mind remembers, it wasn’t pleasant. It will be many decades before you forget the smell of rot that surrounded him, or the tone of his skin.
You decide to shake off the memories of your father by looking out the window of the seafaring carrack ship you were currently voyaging on. You could hear the thick canvas sails flapping in the wind just over the rushing water crashing against the bow, spread easily by the ornately decorated prow, adorned with the rabbit that made up the majority of your family crest. You and your mother were staying in the aft of the ship, in the captains cabin. He had given it up for the both of you without question, not needing a single reason to do so other than the fact that his Queen and her heir needed a private room. Large arched windows made up the back of the ship, giving you an excellent view of the churning waves. This view had grown old over the week of sea travel you'd endured, but with the Kingdom of Atomata on the horizon, the water had begun to change colour. From a deep, rich blue, to an almost watercolour teal. You were able to see the faint outlines of mechanical fish swimming past as they were caught in the wake, being sent spinning out from the ship back into the deep. You giggled as you watched a robotic squid spin in the waves, letting out a multicoloured spray of ink in surprise, before shooting itself out as far as it could get from the human vehicle. Your mother was still talking in the background. A few words catch your attention, but the other things she’s droning on about don’t manage to retain it. You’re much more invested in the scenery. From the way it was described to you, you were expecting the Atomata Kingdom to be a dreary, dull place, with few trees or pleasant sights to speak of. The mechanical monsters that lived there made it so that nothing would grow or thrive, their heavy feet and demand for resources flattening every beautiful thing into mud and gravel. This was becoming clear to you as blatantly false, as the colourful trees and foliage grabbed your eye and held it. A plastic forest lined the ocean and beaches, with unnaturally colourful foliage shaped in a perfect facsimile of the trees you'd come to know. A rainbow of rocks dotted the shore, and the sand appeared to almost glitter in the sunlight. The sky was a brilliant blue, with soft, fluffy clouds rolling overhead. Glass flowers sparkled as they caught the light, and you stood on your tiptoes to get a better view of the way they cast light onto the wooden ship. Everything in this new kingdom looked so fun, you couldn’t wait to finally arrive and see it all up close.
While the two kingdoms shared a mountainous border, their capitals were on opposite ends of crescent shaped continent of F'nauf. Atomata was centered on the tip of the small end, while Porphyal was situated on the furthest edge of the wide end. The front lines of the war were fought in the mountains of Lorre, almost exactly in the middle of the two kingdoms, with an advantage of size for Porphyal. This meant that a trip across the sea was a much faster route between the castles, lest you find yourself caught in the middle of an ongoing battle. Travel was already incredibly difficult between the two kingdoms thanks to the mountain ranges, but the constant fighting at the border made land travel near impossible. Thus, you took the ship. You were more than pleased with this fact- it was your first ever journey that took longer than the day it took to get to Sister's Island, where you'd been vacationing for the previous six summers. How exciting! You pressed your nose against the glass of the window, your breath fogging against it. You pulled away to draw a little smile in the condensation, adding little bunny ears for good measure.
You heard snapping fingers behind you, and you quickly turned to look to the source of it. Your mother’s sour face greeted you, a look that you were unfortunately familiar with, and you took a seat on the cushioned bench from where you had been standing next to her.
“Did you hear a single thing I said?” She chided, sitting draped elegantly on one of the chairs sat against a table, maps of Atomata spread out in front of her with notes written in cursive too hastily written for your already strenuous grasp of the written language to read.
“Mhm.” You nodded, inelegant, childish hands fidgeting with the hem of your fancy, expensive, and far too layered dress as you struggled to sit still. Your toes pinched in your shoes. Your underclothes were scratchy. Your crown pressed too hard against your temples. It was only thanks to years of your mother's insistence about manners that you held it together. “You said.. we’re almost there?”
Your mother sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, a strand of blonde hair falling for only a moment before it was swept back behind her ear. “Yes. You need to make sure you’re really listening. Atomata is dangerous, especially for a child. One as young as you, no less.” She dipped her feathered pen in the purple tinted inkwell sat on the desk, scratching out several more notes on blank parchment paper. A letter to your father to inform him of your arrival, most likely.
“Why are we here then?” You tilted your head, sliding off of the end of your mothers seat and wandering over to the other window on the opposite side of the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the neighbouring kingdom’s capital, and maybe even their castle. "If its so dangerous."
“I’ve explained this so many times we might as well record it and play it for you on loop.” She stood and smoothed out her gown, following you and pulling your wandering hand away before you could smudge yet another window. “We’re here for you to meet your betrothed.”
“Betrothed.” You repeated, pausing to consider the meaning behind it. “Mm.. I remember what that is.. but I think you should tell me again. So I can make sure you know.”
You received another of an endless supply of stern looks as you were walked to the door, your mother poking and prodding at you and your dress to fix the multiple layers you'd somehow managed to fold and press into the wrong shape before you left the safety of the stateroom. “You have been promised to the prince of Atomata. Your engagement and eventual marriage will, if everything goes correctly, put an end to the war.”
“A prince?” You asked curiously, hand reaching up and grabbing at your soft, child’s crown, before your hand was taken and removed from it, your crown taken off and repositioned for you to sit correctly on top of your head. “Is he little? Like me? I thought the Ato- At- I thought they were born grown ups. Like you.”
“Yes, they usually are. Their King .. ‘made’ his heir around the same time you were born, a new sort of automaton, and there was a deal struck.” Your mother stepped out onto the deck of the ship, cool ocean air breezing past and instantly making a mess of the hairdo she so tirelessly worked to upkeep.
You giggled at her frustration, and covered your mouth with your hands when she glowered at you. “..Sorry, mother..”
“It is crucial that you make a good impression. Do you understand that? Your marriage to this automaton will be the most important thing you will ever do.” She rummaged in the bag she had on her hip, pulling out a soft, yellow rabbit plush and holding it out to you. "You forgot your rabbit in the cabin. Do not lose it."
You took it eagerly, and the small twinge of anxiety that had been building at her words faded when you clutched it to your chest. You pulled it back to gently stroke its soft face, your fingers gingerly tracing its purple-tinted eyes, and the purple bow tie it wore fashionably around its neck. You loved this rabbit- it had been a gift to you from your father the day your Mother announced this trip. She had made it very clear to you that you were to have it with you at all times, and to never let it out of your sight, or fall into the hands of one of the mechanisms. It wasn’t often your father gave you gifts, and you cherished it dearly.
It shouldn’t be too difficult of a task to keep it with you, as it had stayed glued to your hand throughout the trip. You felt the shame at having forgotten it in your excitement to see the new Kingdom settle over your psyche, before being replaced just as quickly. You looked up excitedly as you heard the bells clang and the shouting of sailors as they pulled at the mast and the anchor, preparing to dock. You expertly took off from your mother, racing between the legs of annoyed crew and surprised servants until you reached the edge of the ship, and peeked your head through the bars of the railing to see what this new kingdom looked like up close.
Rows and rows of plastic palm trees lined the beach where you’d docked, colourful fake shells along the shimmery sand, and tiny metallic crabs rushing back and forth, before diving into small holes they'd dug for themselves. The buildings almost looked hollow from the outside, as if they were simply giant toys, sized up to fit people; or more accurately, automatons. The cobblestone of the square that the harbour docked to was pastel and bright, looking almost like huge chunks of chalk, so much so that your excitement was bubbling up over the edges, your feet unable to keep still as you bounced up and down. You were distracted from your first examination of this new kingdom by the sound of clapping suddenly beginning, and you looked back to the dock.
You were greeted by the faces of dozens of animatronics awaiting your arrival, most of them animal-like in nature, so entirely inhuman that you felt your first wave of apprehension towards this new place. They were all clapping and cheering for your arrival, the sound of metal tapping together far louder and more jarring than the human audience you were used to. Metal teeth and claws reflected back to you with their smiles and cheers, and fear slowly froze your feet as you remembered all the stories you'd been told about what those teeth and claws could do to a human. You took a few steps backwards, bumping into your mothers skirt and looking up at her, your rabbit clutched tightly to your chest. She watched you for a moment before relenting, scooping you up into her arms as the catwalk was lowered. She waved passively, putting on a practiced smile, your guards stepping off the ship before her to scan the area and the crowd.
You scanned the crowd again yourself, searching for just one human face amongst the creatures, just one familiar thing to cling to. The previous moment’s wonder and delight now replaced with a worried hesitance. You found nothing of comfort, nothing even remotely familiar. Even as happy as they seemed at your arrival, the feeling of dread did not dissipate. Though something else did catch your eye. Something new.
A bright yellow automaton, and a pale blue one, both standing next to a carriage on the opposite side of the crowd, accompanied by an incredibly large bear- who was dressed like a king. They were both looking over to you, one of them giving you a gigantic wave with both arms when you made eye contact, while the other simply scowled and turned his head.
“That’s the king.” Your mother whispered to you as she gracefully made her way down the plank one arm holding you while the other lifted her dress, servants following behind her with all of the luggage she’d brought for your two month long summer visit. “King Glamrock Freddy.”
You nodded, but truthfully, you couldn’t care less. You were focused on the two smaller robots. “Who are they?”
“The yellow one is the prototype. The blue one? That...” Your mother gave a cheerful wave to an animatronic that bowed to her, though you didn't miss the way her nose twitched. “Is your betrothed.”