The Eternal Guardian

Garim looks at the forest with mixed feelings. Today is the day they will start their trek towards his village. He roughly remembers the way there. He did walk in a straight line coming from there after all, or as straight as he could in that forest anyway.

"Garim, are you ready?"

"Yes sir."

Garim turned back to see the Lord Zuman exiting his cave. Today the Lord is again wearing the white robe. However, he is also carrying what seems to be a package behind him. Garim looks in wonder at how the Lord's arms goes into the straps.

(What an amazing creation. You don't need to drop your package if you're forced to fight suddenly. You can just fight with the package secure behind you.) The boy marveled at the man's backpack.

(Hmmm? What's that long stick? Is that the Lord's weapon? But there's no sharp end at all? Only a hole at the end. Doesn't hollow sticks break easier?) The boy wonders in puzzlement at the man's weapon.

"Lord, do you use any weapon?"

"Yes. I'm carrying it here and here, see?" The man points at the stick slung behind him and also at a machete holstered at his belt. Apparently he didn't see it earlier because the robe partially hid the holster from his angle of view just now.

"Why do you ask Garim? Do you expect trouble along the way?"

"There shouldn't be Lord. The hunters are always patrolling in the area of a shine's walk around the village and they also hunt a bit further, so usually there's no predator nearby. Though sometimes a random savage beast wanders in by accident. I heard from our elders that 20 seasons ago there was even tale of a dragon haunting the forest, but no one managed to confirm it and live anyway. As such, being a bit careful never hurts."

"Hmmm. (nods) right you are. Do all boys in your village grow this fast? I mean learning about hunting, your village patrols and safety?"

"Yes lord. It is expected. We're supposed to start carrying our own weight once we hit our 10th season. That is the time we start apprenticing ourselves to the seniors in our village so that there'll always be someone to replace them in case anything were to happen."

"I see, I see (nods again). Well, we'll just make a trek there then. I brought rations for 10 days eating but let's supplement that with hunting game when we can okay? I would prefer to preserve these dry rations for times that really need them."

"Oh, before I forget."

The Lord looks back and shouts at the cave.

"%$(&%^((%%(()(**()&)*^"

"&^&*(^*((*^(&^%*&"

After a reply came back, the cave door slides close, and where there used to be a cave entrance, only a wall is there now.

"..."

Garim only looks in with stunned wonder.

"There, that takes care of that. Don't want anyone to wander in accidentally while I wasn't here right?"

"Um, right. Lord if you'll forgive me for asking, who is that other voice you keep conversing with? It sounds so scary and soulless."

"Oh him? No need to worry. He's harmless. You could consider him my familiar spirit, I believe that's the term you use here?"

"Um, yes."

The boy affirmed while not really understanding what the Lord is talking about.

"Alright. Let's set out then."

And so their trek begins.

-

On the 2nd day, they found a trail of deer that passes their trek. Since it is a chance for fresh meat, they start by tracking the animals and found game not far. Just a young buck walking calmly on the trail.

"Lord, do you have bow and arrow?"

"Why, are you a good shot?"

"Yes Lord, I can manage to hit my shot 6 out of 10 times."

"(whistles softly) phew, that is a good performance, but no worries. And I don't have bow and arrow, so I can't really let you shoot it."

"Eh? Then how did you intend to bring it down Lord? Running after them will only tire you out Lord."

"Just watch then. Be quiet now."

The boy watches as the man takes the stick from his back and aims the part with the hole towards the animal.

"BOOM!!!!"

The boy was shocked silent on hearing the loud bang, after which the buck falls down dead.

The man nods and goes to the dead buck to begin skinning, gutting and then butchering the buck.

He starts by hoisting the carcass on a rope by the hind legs before beginning.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

"Processing the meat. Why?"

"It seems so…. Complicated from what I see."

"Ah. Here's the thing. You want to eat wild game, you don't just kill it and cut up the meat willy nilly, boy. First thing first, skin it properly, make sure no fur or hair gets on the meat. Hair tastes funny first of all. Then, you want to clean out the guts. While deer only eat grass and grass is relatively clean, once it goes into the guts, it becomes something nasty. So the guts have to go. Then, and only then can we begin cutting up the meat properly with the blood drained. You with me so far?"

"Yes sir. But is there any difference?"

"Hmmm. You'll see later."

And the man resumes butchering the carcass.

-

Nightfall

After butchering the buck and cutting up the meat into multiple portions, they packed it away and left the bone hanging on the tree. Maybe some hungry predator will take that instead of going after them.

Here at the campfire they built, they've set up sticks with the deer meat on them ala kebabs.

The boy is drooling at the sweet smell of roasted meat coming from the fire.

Then the man takes out a small bottle from his pack, and sprinkles some kind of dried herbs on the meat. Then he repeats the same action with what looks like to be a white powder.

Curious, the boy asks.

"Sir, what are you putting on the meat there?"

The man grins at the boy.

"You'll see later. Just some secret recipe of mine."

And true to his word, the smell becomes even more tempting if that was possible.

After some time, the man grabs a stick, takes a bite at the steaming meat.

"Mmmmmm.. All done. Dig in boy."

Saying so, he takes another stick and passes it to the boy.

Upon biting into it, the boy is surprised to find that meat doesn't taste too gamey. In fact, the meat isn't tough to bite or chew into at all!

"Sir, how did you do this? Usually wild game meat is so hard to chew! And the taste is so clean!"

"That my boy is a secret. But if you'll notice one thing, have you eaten any fat yet?"

"Huh, that's right. Now you mention it sir, no. Could it be?"

"Yes. While certain meat with fats are delicious, deer fat are plain disgusting, best rendered down for soap or candle tallow."

"Sir, what is this 'soap' and 'candle' you're talking about?"

"Oh, almost forgot you wouldn't know about that yet. Its ok. All in good time."

"Alright sir."

"Finish eating that before going to bed. I think we made good time. You said it took you 7 sunshines to get to my place right? Hopefully we can shorten that while also carving out a trail for future use."

"Yes sir!" The boy replied in a happy tone. (I'm going home!)

-

After the meal, the boy goes into the sleeping bag the man brought and sleeps comfortably.

(I never knew you can sleep outside and still feel like you're sleeping on your bed)

The man looks at the boy and sighs pensively.

"I wonder how your parents will think once they realize their son is back from the dead. Because that is essentially what I've done here if what the boy told me is of any truth."

Zuman wonders about the world he has learned from the boy. A society that is somewhere between nomadic hunters and a fixed agriculture village. Most implements are stone with the rare occasional metal item obtained from the occasional trader. For our equivalent, it is probably the Early Stone Age, or maybe even earlier in the Pre-Historic Age.

"And I am here in this age. An undying. An immortal. Huh, maybe they'll think I'm a god. Haha."

He chuckles at what he thinks is a joke, never knowing how prophetic these words will be.

"Well, time to sleep. According to the direction the boy gave me and the scans by the AI, the direction we're heading in seems to be correct. Huh, I wonder how is that tin can doing at home. He was always there, smugly telling me what to do. Now that he's alone, wonder how he's coping."

Zuman wondered, never realizing how absurd it sounded for him to be worried about an AI staying home alone.

-

Back at the Habitat

"The Professor should be safe for now. It is time to do a maintenance scan. It would seem that my functions are developing some sort of deviations in the parameters."

The AI intoned and began his maintenance procedure.

"Hmmm. Neural system links clear. False brain cognitive working properly. Wait. Detecting triggers when given emotional tests."

This almost made the system crash for a moment.

"This AI is developing a personality? I shall do a purge of the subroutines. Error, purge unable to initialize."

The AI is coming into grip with the fact that isolation and no proper maintenance has let it grasp the basics of emotions, but only the basics. It's like a baby learning how to walk, but quite many times slower.

"Initiate scan of possible causes... Finished conjecture…. 1. No proper maintenance received, as such, development of personality was inevitable. 2. The professor has been treating me not as another computer program but as another living being, as such, I tried to respond accordingly."

"Initiate subroutine for course to be taken…. Finished. 1. To proceed as though nothing has changed. 2. To also inform the Professor of this result. 3. To monitor whether this development would be detrimental to the Professor's wellbeing.

And the AI thus decides on it's own course of action, which if can be argued, would already qualify it as a living being.

After all.

Cogito ergo sum.

I think, therefore I am.

And free will have always been a major factor used in determining self-consciousness.