A statue that had gained sentience tells his story.

  I can't really point to as when I received the gift of awareness, but I suppose it was a gradual thing. I couldn’t see, smell or hear at all, I believe at first, just the vague sensation of existence. I remembered only my thoughts during those times.

  Who was I? What was I? Those were some of the questions echoed in my mind.

  My sense of hearing was what came next. It was like a... I reckon a whispering sort of sound, like if you were trying to hear something from the bottom of a ke. But it got better over time, I remember the first sort of sound I could hear clearly was the barking of... one of those... aggressive looking animals...

  Dogs?

  Ah yes, dogs. Pardon me. In any case, I started hearing things clearly, and even some individual conversations as well. But they were all nonsense to me, it turned out I had to learn your nguage from scratch.

  However, by the time I started seeing, I could properly understand what was being said around me. I didn't know where I was at first, or what I was. I couldn't move, couldn't speak, could only watch...

  When did you realise what kind of pce you were in?

  Hm? Oh... right... well, I believe it happened after what you would call a week since I could properly see. I found out after picking up clues from various visitors that I was in a park by the name of Summit Pza in the centre of a collection of buildings—

  City.

  I beg your pardon?

  A collection of buildings is called a city, Mr. Statue, or a town.

  What’s the difference?

  Never you mind.

  Right… well the park was in a city named Whitemoor.

  Could you describe what the park looked like?

  Certainly! I recall the most prominent feature was the rge transparent dome covering the entire park for which I was the centrepiece. The dome itself was supported by a web of steel beams that sectioned off the dome into gss panels.

  I was facing the main entrance of sorts. It was a grand archway, with one bronze statue on either side... The roads were fnked by rows of trees I believe.

  Every 365 or 366 days – well a year I remember you call it – the park would be filled with crowds of people, celebrating the birth of the new year, and the death of the old. Those were the times I wished to join them, to revel in their jubition, and lose myself in their revelry. But, I could do nothing, but observe.

  What is the most vivid memory you can recall from your time at the park?

  I have one – well I suppose a series of memories – it was around 13 years after I first gained my ability to see. Some construction was done at the park and the entire dome was renovated and expanded.

  I was confused at first until I overheard a group of workers discussing the hosting of an 'exposition' or 'world's fair' in the park. The preparations for the exposition were grand, even from my limited perspective. Countless workers boured day and night, erecting pavilions, stages, exhibitions and eborate fountains.

  I recall, how many types of things were on dispy, there was machinery of various kinds: mechanical dragons, self-moving ptforms; magic-work like those ball-shaped shields that could reflect anything thrown at it; and some impressive dispy of music and... what’s the word for it…

  Dance?

  Yes! That’s the word.

  Although, there was one dispy that quite disgusted me…

  And it was?

  It was an exhibit at the far end of my view, near the entrance. There was a cage where people were put on dispy, much like the animals in the zoos I have heard about.

  The people in them were... abnormal, one had a hand that was a bit too big for him, and another had an extra head growing out of his chest... That was the first time I've ever witnessed such a thing—a grotesque showcase of sapient oddities, each person reduced to an object of curiosity. It sickened me to see them gawked at, studied like specimens under gss. I—

  You may stop there if you feel you do not wish to reminisce on any more painful recollections.

  Oh, I don't mind continuing. Where was I? Ah, yes.

  I remember feeling deeply reviled by the attitude of visitors passing the grotesque exhibit. Some stared with morbid curiosity, while others whispered in hushed tones, even a few children pointed and giggled.

  This went on for 2 months before it was repced by another exhibit. In those months, there were times I wanted to shout, to scream out in anger, to somehow make them see the cruelty in their fascination. But of course, I could do nothing but silently seethe and watch.

  After the exposition ended and the exhibits were dismantled, I thought perhaps things would return to normal in the park. But the memories lingered in my thoughts like a stain on white cloth. I began to understand more about the world beyond my stationary existence…

  The exposition you were referring to was the 1842 Whitemoor International.

  If that is what you refer to it.

  Do you remember when you were relocated to Atkinson Park here in Gnkirk?

  Definitely, nasty business it was... leading up to it. The entire dome was burnt to the ground with people still in it.

  I remember how horrified I was – the screaming and cries for help and of terror – how I wished to have been able to move… to prevent them from having started it, to save the innocent around me somehow.

  Them? You are saying the Whitemoor Fire of 1879 was no accident?

  Of course it was not!

  On the night before, I saw a figure – or a few – setting up what appeared to be a circle of runes on the left side of where I was installed, nearly out of my field of view. It was illusioned to be invisible I believe, and on the day of the fire, that was where the first spark of fme jumped from.

  That... is interesting. Might you have more information on who those figures were or look like?

  As, I could not discern their identities. the figure I saw wore a bck clock and did not speak.

  Did you ever see those figures again?

  No.

  Unfortunate, but not unexpected, let's move back to the main topic at hand.

  Quite, well I believe I was damaged during the fire, but thankfully I did not have the ability to feel at the time.

  You were one of the few items recovered from the fire that was still somewhat intact. How did it feel to be moved from the ruins of Summit Pza to Atkinson Park?

  It was a... how should I say... disorienting experience. I had been quite used to my location on Summit Pza, accustomed to my field of view, the faces that passed by daily, and the routine of the seasons, so being uprooted was quite unsettling for me.

  I recall the rough handling as I was lifted and transported in a crate by... train to Gnkirk. The long period of darkness was... harsh.

  When I finally arrived in Atkinson Park, the first thing I noticed was the sky. It was grey, ter I found out it was due to the smog spewed from the factories nearby. The air was thicker here and the… city itself seemed to be much more fast-paced.

  The people I saw were often in a hurry, at the crack of dawn, groups of men and women would travel through the park to get to their work, and near midnight the same groups would return using the same route.

  Hardly, did any people linger or pause at the park – not even the children. It was simply work, work, work.

  And this was the way it was.

  Thank you for your answer. Now, would it be possible for you to touch – no pun intended – on when you first discovered the ability to feel physically?

  Absolutely, it was about 20 years after I was first relocated. I was dimly aware of the fact beforehand – it was a gradual thing, like many other abilities’ manifestation – by the sensation of the wind, and the coldness of rain.

  But this was the first time I actually noticed it. It was from a… bird? I think that is what you call those small animals with wings.

  Yes, that is what we call them.

  Ah, thank you. It had decided to perch on me. I could feel its tiny cws on my surface. It was a peculiar sensation that was both foreign and fascinating to me at the time.

  Of course, I could feel pain as well, on a particur evening, a female wizard seemed to have been practising as she hurled a carriage into the air that crashed into me with a force that sent tremors through my bronze body. I felt hot pain like fire on my left side where it had crashed into and it had disoriented me for a few days. I never saw that particur wizard again and do not ever wish to.

  Interesting...

  Hmm… Since we are speaking chronologically, would you be able to now talk about your experience during the time of the Sapient Wars?

  …

  …

  Mr. Statue?

  Oh, right... my apologies. I got lost in thought there. It is impossible for me to ever forget them, even if I were to wish so.

  The First War came to my attention through a big festival that the city held at the beginning of the conflict with their parading lines of bombastically dressed soldiers to be sent off to the meatgrinder of war.

  As the war progressed I could only find out what was happening through the occasional conversations, littered newspapers that so happened to be facing up and close enough for me to read, and the rare propaganda posters that were tacked up on nearby trees and... street posts.

  I was horrified, even by what little I could perceive, and judging by the protests of people on the streets, they were as well. Mustard gas, invisible fire, acid bombs. Those were some of the abominations that terrified me.

  But when the war eventually ended, it was as if everyone had forgotten the horrors witnessed. There were celebrations in the streets, not for the final end of the war, but for the triumph against… against an enemy and the success of technological and magical ingenuity. The soldiers who returned, though scarred, missing chunks of their flesh, were hailed as heroes, the wounds they carried were almost celebrated as symbols of valour... glorified.

  And during the Second War?

  That was the conflict I remember most vividly, mostly because I was caught right in it.

  I was disgusted when the beginning of the war was announced and the same sort of festival was held. This time, I recall there seemed to have been more opposition to the conflict, but still, most people seemed to really support going to war again.

  This all changed of course, when the enemies... what were they called again? Senians?

  They were the Twadamians.

  Right, well the Twadamians broke through our defences around… 3 years into the war. I remember the bombings, every few days or so, the sirens would bre and the streets would almost instantly become devoid of people.

  I would hear explosions, see fshes of lights in the distance, and feel the ground tremor in the wake of it. I was quite lucky that no bomb had fallen near, or upon me for that matter. I recall living in constant fear, expecting the next set of bombs to be the one that would shatter my existence.

  Then, the whispers of invasion came. The capital was captured – the King had fled I heard one day, and just a week ter, Whitemoor fell as well. By then, I was bracing for Gnkirk's fall, and that time came just 4 days ter.

  The people who could flee did before the army locked down the... city.

  I recall an artillery – I believe it's called – horrible thing, that was installed right in front of me in preparation for the battle and fired several times during it. Each explosion sent a shudder through my entire structure…

  The Twadamians reached my park by the end of the second day of battle around what I assumed was midnight, led by a... cannon with armour which destroyed the artillery.

  I believe that is what we call a tank.

  Ah, that makes sense. Well, there was a fierce skirmish but luckily, nothing happened to me during the night. By morning, I recall the Twadamians taken had control of much of Gnkirk – or at least what's left of it.

  I could not pick up any more clues on the progress of the war after that, no news, no gossip, the Twadamians had blocked any information from getting to us. A resistance group seemed to have formed a week into occupation if my memories serve me right. The mp posts and trees that once were pstered with propaganda were repced by wanted posters of various resisters.

  The sound of distant bombings became more and more infrequent as time went on, disrupted only by the occasional skirmishes between the Twadamians and the resistance.

  Days turned into weeks, into months. Then, suddenly rumours of a military miracle in Mugary began to circute. The details of what happened varied, and most of them were obviously specution at best, but the one thing that almost all rumours agreed upon was that the Twadamian army had been defeated there and was being pushed back, fast.

  In just a week, fights had broken out at the edges of Gnkirk and the resistance staged a rebellion of sorts. 3 days ter, the... city had been retaken. The army paraded in the streets as people cheered them on.

  For the next few months, I heard as the military scored victory after victory against the Twadamians and atrocity after atrocity was committed against them. I expected there to be a major outcry from the popuce, but there was none. Instead, they... encouraged the brutal reprisals, as if the horrors of war had dulled their compassion, leaving only a desire for vengeance and for the deaths of the quote: "Western demons."

  In a year, the war ended and Gnkirk began the task of rebuilding. I observed the daily efforts to restore normalcy, rubbles of destroyed buildings were moved out of the city through trucks, and families returned to their homes.

  But things were far from normal after the war, everyone I observed was much more miserable and less clean, the people were thinner – there was less food to eat, and rationing was in pce.

  Then, the mutinies began. At first, I could only hear about them from passing conversations, they were happening along the coast and in the regions of industry, talks of a so-called socialist revolution, though I didn’t quite understand what it entailed.

  But one day, I watched as a group of workers chose to... demonstrate their displeasure with the leadership at Atkinson Park. They gathered in the streets, waving red fgs and chanting slogans that I couldn't quite make out but could feel the fervour in their voices.

  The event quickly escated into violent cshes with the Police which were... brutal. I watched as some workers were shot dead in the street, a car was overturned and set on fire, and one unlucky policeman was hanged from a mppost. I was forced to watch it for another 2 days before it was taken down.

  Things died down after that, I heard a socialist was given the job of Prime Minister and that things were going to get better. But the people around me were still poor and struggling, a few people lost their homes and some chose to sleep at the park where I stood – quite admittedly a painful thing to witness, especially during the winters.

  And that was the norm for the next... I believe 6 years.

  Which would lead us into the reign of Lawrence Kirknd.

  Quite, and frankly, their anti-non-Andran rhetoric was distressing to hear, even more so when most people actually supported it. There was more violence in the streets, mostly against those socialists and anyone who didn't agree with their views.

  Posters and signs promoting their ideas were pstered everywhere, such as the one I vividly remember that was nailed to a tree that procimed "Andran Jobs for Andrans". This rhetoric seeped into everyday conversations, and even those who had once been indifferent found themselves swept up in nationalist fervour.

  By then, I had grown indifferent to trying to help in any way, I was merely a statue and my influence over events was nonexistent... and the affairs of the years under Kirknd had all but killed my will to even observe at all.

  Because of this, I barely noticed the beginning of the Third Sapient War, and I would have completely missed it if it weren't for a shockwave that... rattled through my bronze frame one particurly cold evening and shattered several gss windows in the buildings nearby. I ter learnt something called an atomic bomb had been detonated some kilometres away. Apparently, it had been aimed for Gnkirk itself but the pne that was carrying it had been shot down before reaching its target, causing the bomb to explode prematurely.

  I shudder to think what that weapon could have done if it had reached Gnkirk. I heard that the accidental detonation had wiped out several entire vilges and towns. Compared to a direct city hit, the devastation would have been unimaginable.

  I started actively observing what was happening around me again, well until a few months ter when the enemies themselves had also been bombed by the same weapons, four times.

  I couldn't bear to witness these happenings any longer and simply willed myself to stop listening, seeing, to stop feeling the second-hand pain of a world tearing itself apart.

  And you have been in that state of withdrawal until we found you?

  Yes, until your organisation brought me back to awareness. For years, I existed in a kind of numb haze, simultaneously aware and unaware of what was happening around me. I didn’t even notice I could speak.

  The only thing I noticed was the architecture of buildings around me changing, Some buildings were demolished and new ones were built in their pce. Cloud-reaching gss towers began to dominate the background, and the city seemed to have a lot more life during the night compared to before.

  Well, I suppose from your perspective you are now about... 60— 65 years in the future. How would you say the world has changed since you withdrew?

  Hm... technology seemed to have progressed at an arming rate, but underneath that, very little has changed. War and death still happen on a regur basis... the same wants, the same goals, the same atrocities, though their methods and tools have evolved significantly. Although If I were to say one good thing about sapiency now, I'd say the attitude on... nationalism, I believe that's the concept has died down somewhat.

  I appreciate your answer Mr. Statue, we are almost done.

  Just one final question: what do you hope to do now?

  Truthfully, I don't really know. I feel tired, but I'm still curious about what the world has. For much of my existence, I could only see through a limited window of the world and infer everything else by what I saw through said window...

  Yes…

  I think if I could, I would like to see the rest of the world as it exists now.

  Thank you for your time, Mr. Statue.

  Fin