One In A Thousand Chance

"I wouldn't say that... it's more like... I haven't been able to forget about them. I didn't exist as you did four hundred years ago, so everything that's ever come from my memory was within the past eighteen years. But... not exactly eighteen years," Fico said. She held her hand up to her shoulder blade on her back, and by tapping it three times, the entire arm fell off of her body... Fico had a mechanical right arm?

"What is that?" I asked her, taking a closer look at the mechanical arm.

It was laden with golden strands, every bolt was lined with it, and something trapped in the innards of the arm was shining too brightly for me to look at for a long time.

"Part of having the talent of moving my back muscles in such a unique way came with a burden. All of those people... those thousand people who all had talents separate from mine, they didn't go to waste. I learned all of them, processed them, and made them my own," She said again. She was dodging something...

"Why are there so many strands in this arm? I don't get it? And, why does it look so real? I couldn't even tell you had that," I told her, trying to get a good look at the arm.

"The Souls of a Thousand. That's what I have. My speed, strength, and even the amount of things I can think about are all because the souls of the thousand people I beat in that competition are stored in my body. My experience isn't eighteen years... it's a thousand times that amount. Eighteen thousand years of experience, more than Overlord Eirikr, more than anybody," Fico revealed to me.

"Woah... that's... unreal... do you have multiple voices in your head like Austin does?" I asked her. She chuckled, putting the cheese back in the fridge and sitting with her legs crossed on the counter.

"No, it's all my voice. They are all me. We are all Fico, I'm just the one who wears the mask," She creepily said.

"You are all Fico? But... who are you?" I asked her.

"Fico," She blankly said.

"But, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? I wasn't asking who your souls were... I was asking who you are. What's your name? What do you want?" I asked her with extra emphasis.

"I don't have any of those things you do, Cole. I'm not meant to have aspirations. I do what I'm told and lead who I need to. My goal is to serve Overlord Eirikr until my untimely death. If we beat Sky Asterio here, we are stronger than him, and I can combine myself with Overlord Eirikr. That would be a very pleasing way to pass on. If we don't win, I'll retreat and try again. And I'll keep trying over and over again until there's nothing left to try anymore," She said again.

"You'll keep trying again? Where will you find more people like us? Like Quake? Will there be another Quake?" I asked her.

"Not another Quake. We are what comprises Quake. If we lose, I'll likely look into reviving the Top Ten... but that's not important right now. If we talk like we'll lose, we indefinitely will. Having a Plan B means Plan A was never meant to work. We kill Sky, make his friends watch, and then leave them alone. Overlord Eirikr will send them to their happy places anyway," Fico said.

Something she said didn't sit right with me...

"Why do you trust Overlord Eirikr so much? You give your life to that man?" I asked her.

"I suppose we all have our own reasons. That's all I'll really say to you, Cole," Fico said.

"Don't get me wrong, I respect him and obey him without question... but our reasons for servitude can all be different, right? I respect him because his position is so high up, yet he makes it look so easy... what about you? What about him makes you respect him?" I asked again. I really wanted a genuine answer here, but Fico's thoughts make it so hard to understand her.

"Why do I respect him...? Because... I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't. Overlord Eirikr has taken care of me since the day I was born, he's like my father. I obey him because I have him to thank for the life I have. My abilities, my everything is because of him. You were revived because of him too, that's a perfect reason to obey him," Fico told me.

"What about every bit of pain I feel? Should I thank him for that too?" I asked her. It wasn't malicious at all, and I wouldn't dare mean it like that... but I really cared for Fico and wanted to understand her more.

"If you're dying of thirst and sit under a pipe that hasn't leaked a droplet of water in over two days, and all of a sudden, one droplet comes out of the pipe, do you thank that droplet, or do you curse the pipe?" She asked me.

"Is this some sort of analogy? I guess... I would be thankful for the drop of water," I told her.

"Then, in the case that your life is full of pain and misery, I would thank Overlord Eirikr that I even got to experience pain. The thing about us, Cole, is that we're built on pain. You're meant to eat pain and turn it into healing. What kind of analogy should I use that you don't already understand?" Fico asked me.

I had no idea she could be so philosophical... I almost started to laugh.

"I guess you're right. Thanks for answering my questions... if I asked you out right here, what would my chances be?" I asked her next.

"About one in a thousand chance," She said. It was an obvious reference to her childhood, and she even smiled when she said it. At least she could joke about it in times like this.