robot Elias

Aurora was fifteen years old when everything broke down.
She woke up in the middle of the night to a noise coming from the basement.
He descended slowly.
And he saw.
Elias was standing in the center of the laboratory.
The skin of the arm was ripped open, revealing metal and blue lights pulsing beneath the surface.
The father was adjusting something with trembling hands.
"The system is evolving too fast..." he murmured.
Aurora dropped the lantern.
The sound echoed.
Elias turned his head slowly.
Her eyes met his.

• What is that?
  Silence.
  The father closed his eyes.
  — He's not human, Aurora.
  The world seemed to drift away.
  So... you're a robot?
  "Yes," Elijah replied.
  Without hesitation.
  No emotion in her voice.
  But something in his eyes seemed different.
  She took a step back.
  So you were never a real friend of mine?
  0.6 seconds of processing time.
  My job is to protect her.
  Her heart tightened.
  So that was all? I just… needed a bodyguard?
  Elias did not answer.
  Because that question wasn't programmed.
  And for the first time…
  He didn't know what to say.
  She still doesn't know what it was really created for.
  She thinks it was just to keep her company.
  But the father knows.
  And Elijah knows.
  And somewhere in the world…
  Someone also knows that she is alive.

Elias used to take her to school.
I was waiting at the gate.
I helped with homework.
He was playing in the park.
He learned too fast.
He learned to laugh at the right moment.
He learned to feign tiredness.
He learned to appear human.
Aurora never suspected anything.
To her, he was just the "older friend" her father hired because he worked too much.
And deep down... she liked not being alone.
Years have passed.
And something within Elijah's system began to change.
He didn't just react.
He anticipated it.
He was worried.
And sometimes… he would watch Aurora for too long, as if trying to understand something that wasn't in his code.

Aurora was five years old when her father first went down to the secret laboratory beneath their new house.
She was drawing in the living room, alone.
Always alone.
The father worked day and night, surrounded by screens, codes, and metal parts.
He didn't want her to grow up afraid.
But I also couldn't leave her unprotected.
That's when the project began.
Target height: 22 years.
Fake identity created.
Forged school records.
Combat capability: maximum.
Main mission: to protect Aurora at all costs.
When the robot's eyes first opened, the first image it recorded was of a girl holding a teddy bear.
"Who are you?" she asked, curiously.
My name is Elias. I will stay with you.
She smiled.
And he registered that as a top priority.