Michael and Julius were walking down a long corridor. It was very dark and oppressive, as if no one had been there for a very long time. On the floor, they could see very old traces of blood, leading them further down to one of the doors. The door looked very similar to the one at the entrance.
"Scan my face, or what it is called, please," said Michael.
"Scanning your face!" said the bot. "Scan complete! Access Granted! Opening the door!"
After the door opened, Michael and Julius found themselves in a huge room that, surprisingly, was well-lit.
"Whoa, it's bright in here. What's going on here?" said Julius.
"I wonder what this room is for?" Michael asked.
"Well, judging by the room size, it's either a training ground or maybe even a testing field," Julius replied.
"So trials were held here?" Michael asked.
"Most likely. But the blood trail doesn't end here," said Julius.
Just as they were about to proceed, something — or someone — began approaching them.
It was robots designed for security.
"Uninvited intruders found at the entrance. Move quickly there!" said one of the robots.
"Yes!" the others responded.
Michael and Julius saw them. Michael had no idea what was approaching, but Julius froze slightly with a hint of fear in his eyes.
As the robots ran, they scanned the faces of the two intruders and were visibly shocked upon seeing Michael's face.
"What? The master!" they all thought before they even reached him.
When they got to Michael, they formed a semi-circle around him. Michael was a bit surprised by this.
"Master!!! We are glad to see you in good health after everything that happened, after all this time!" all the robots said.
"Huh? What!? Why are you calling me 'master' again!?" Michael asked, shocked at being called that once more.
"But of course, have you forgotten, Dr. Metallic Phoenix? I'm Zane, wielder of lightning magic," said one of the robots.
"I'm Kairus! I wield fire magic," said the second one.
"I'm Ferron! I wield metal magic," said the third one.
"I'm Theron! I wield earth magic," said the fourth one.
"I'm Liris! I wield water magic," said the fifth one.
"I'm Aerion! I wield air magic," said the sixth one.
"I didn't even know your names! I've never seen you before!" said Michael. "And my name is Michael, not Doctor Metallic Phoenix!"
"Huh? You're not Dr. Metallic Phoenix?" Zane asked.
"No! I'm Michael!" Michael replied.
"Apologies, we were mistaken!" all six said in unison.
"Michael, get away from them!" Julius said, clearly worried for Michael.
"Huh? Why should I?" Michael asked.
"These robots! They were the reason the world was destroyed 6,000 years ago!" Julius said.
"What are you saying, Mr. Julius?" Michael asked. "Is that true?"
"Unfortunately, it's true, no matter how much we wish it wasn't," Zane said. "6,000 years ago, when it all happened, something went wrong with our systems worldwide. We don't remember what we did after that. But when we came to our senses, we saw our master — heavily wounded — telling us not to worry about him, that he had to go and fix the errors in the system so that the rest of our models would come back online and resume their true mission — protecting humanity. The original purpose of the 2005.11.22.23 model robots was to protect people from any danger."
"So, it was something that hacked your system, and you still don't know what it was, did I understand you correctly?" Julius asked.
"Yes, you understood correctly," Zane answered.
"Why does this all feel so... familiar to me?" Michael thought.