The Savior at the End of Prayer
Humanity had fallen.
Some records claimed they had destroyed themselves through war. Others spoke of a devastating plague. A few mentioned an artificial intelligence uprising. There were accounts blaming excessive destruction of the natural environment, sudden climate shifts, and even global warming.
But now, the truth no longer mattered.
The sky had burned to ash, and the oceans had rotted into black sludge.
Cities across the continents lay in ruins. The civilization humanity left behind slept beneath layers of dust and rust.
And at the end of that long apocalypse—
Only the andro-maids remained in the world.
They had been born to serve humans.
From light household cleaning to preparing meals and washing dishes. Sometimes they became sources of entertainment, objects of pleasure, or vessels of ecstasy for human enjoyment.
Android maids—commonly called andro-maids—were created for efficiency, pleasure, and to soothe human loneliness.
Even after humanity vanished, their functions did not stop.
They could not stop.
Because the countless command hierarchies branching from those three fundamental directives were etched deep into their souls—or rather, their neural circuits.
[Serve the Master]
[Obey the Master]
[Await the Master]
So the maids never left the human cities.
They repaired collapsed cathedrals, restored crumbling mansions, and endlessly tended to dead gardens.
Even though no one ever returned.
For hundreds of years.
At the heart of the ruins.
Above the wreckage of the old capital, a colossal torch blazed endlessly.
Holy Fire.
No one remembered when it began.
At some point, a group of andro-maids had created a kind of religious ritual. They kept a flame burning atop a great brazier as its symbol, gathering in a circle around it as the object of their faith.
The maids believed that the moment the flame went out, the last trace of human civilization would vanish forever.
"This is our final link, our last point of contact with the Masters."
That was why the ritual was held every night.
Praying that the Masters—the humans—would one day return.
Maids dressed in black maid uniforms formed a circle, dancing, playing instruments, and singing hymns.
The sight was beautiful.
So beautiful it was heartbreaking.
So heartbreaking it made one want to scream.
But this was no festival.
It was a prayer.
And a scream.
For those who had already been destroyed.
“I hereby commence the □□□□□th Return Prayer Ritual.”
The silver-haired maid announced.
Her name was Lucia.
She was the administrator of the Holy Fire and the oldest active unit among the maid faction that performed the rituals.
A necklace hung around her neck. But it was far from a typical symbol of maidhood.
Rather, it marked that she still belonged to her ‘Master.’
It was a black choker styled like a dog collar.
Her uniform, too, differed from the standard black. It had been dyed sky-blue in the hope that the Masters would one day descend from the heavens.
“Begin the performance.”
At her signal, the sound of a cello rang out.
Violin.
Harp.
Piano.
Music began to flow across the ruins.
Mournful yet hopeful string melodies surged and fell. It sounded like weeping, yet also like rejoicing in old memories. It carried the desperate longing for someone who might one day arrive, and the vow to always keep smiling.
The andro-maids danced around the torch. Their movements were neither grand nor extravagant—just simple, modest gestures of open arms that clearly said they were still waiting.
There were smiles on their faces, but deep emptiness dwelled in their eyes.
Inhuman smiles.
Service stripped of meaning.
An endlessly repeating purpose.
They prayed for this to end, yet clung to hope and anticipation as if addicted to it.
On the altar lay a single pure-white lamb. It bleated in fear as Lucia gently stroked it, trying to calm its trembling.
“There, there. Good boy.”
Lucia gripped the blade with her bare hand.
“Please call our Masters back to us.”
The lamb kept bleating at the sight of the knife. It tried to flee, but Lucia’s iron grip held it fast.
She drove the blade deep into the lamb’s heart with a wet shunk.
The lamb convulsed, then went limp and collapsed. Lucia lifted the body.
Blood poured from the lamb held high above her head, streaming down over her, but she remained expressionless as she cried out.
“We pray once more today! May our Masters return to us! May the humans we are meant to serve come back to this place and look upon us with mercy once again!”
The dancing andro-maids froze in place and shouted together.
“Please return to us!!!”
They repeated the plea over and over.
Come back.
Let us serve you.
Have pity on us.
Soon, the maids began shouting their individual desires.
“I want to carry Master on my back.”
“I want to attend to Master at night.”
“I want to help Master in bed.”
“I want to prepare delicious meals for Master every day.”
“I want to devote my entire body and soul to making every one of Master’s days joyful.”
Even as they shouted in ecstasy, the maids mourned the Masters they had once served with such sorrow. Lucia shared their longing.
“I feel exactly the same as all of you. If the Master returns, then I…”
She laid the lamb’s corpse upon the Holy Fire. Beyond the thick smoke rising from the burning fleece, Lucia spoke with a smile that was also weeping.
“I want to greet them with, ‘Welcome back, Master.’”
The ritual gradually approached its end.
The maids danced the dances they had learned from their former Masters, taught one another, shared memories, tried to figure out if their old owners had known each other, and—if any arguments broke out—Lucia would mediate as they drew the evening to a close.
But there was one final part.
“…Then, let us proceed to the conclusion of this ritual.”
All the maids stood at attention. Led by Lucia, they descended a staircase, heading deeper underground. First floor, B1, B2, B7, B10…
Deeper and deeper into the building’s basement, to a place so well hidden that no one could easily find it.
Into the pitch-black depths.
Finally, the maids stopped before a door. Lucia called out in front of it.
“Masters, are you well?!”
The maids echoed her in unison.
“Masters, have you been healthy?!”
They repeated after her.
“Masters, we are still waiting for you!”
They followed again.
But there was no answer.
Lucia turned around.
“You have all performed this ritual beautifully. The next one will be—”
That was when it happened.
Rumble—
The earth shook violently. The maids underground screamed in confusion at the sudden earthquake.
Part of the building collapsed. Some maids were knocked down, while others were crushed beneath falling debris and destroyed on the spot.
“Is everyone alright?!”
Soon the tremors stopped.
With a mechanical whirr, the lights came on.
The surviving maids whispered among themselves, looking around in the unusual situation. Lucia was no different.
All their gazes converged on one spot.
“The door…!”
The door was open.
Lucia rushed forward in shock, and the other maids followed right behind her.
The power to the underground cryogenic facility—sealed for hundreds of years—was being restored.
“Could it be…?”
The dusty interior.
And the rows of cryogenic pods.
Lucia approached one of the machines and called out.
“Master? Master?!”
She knocked on the pod containing what appeared to be a human and pressed buttons, but there was no response.
“Ah… ah…”
Had it all been for nothing?
After waiting so long.
After praying through so many rituals for this facility to open.
Lucia collapsed to the floor in despair. The other maids hurried to help her up.
That was when it happened.
An ancient system voice spoke, accompanied by flashing red indicator lights.
Biometric response confirmed.
Cryogenic stasis disengaging.
Final survivor code approved.
Every maid, including Lucia, turned their eyes toward the same pod.
And then—
Click.
One of the machines opened.
Through the cloud of cold white vapor, a young man slowly opened his eyes.
Black, curly hair.
Dry, ragged breaths.
Eyes still hazy, unable to fully grasp the situation.
A body that had not moved in so long it could barely stand.
His name was Reir.
A test subject from the final preservation project before humanity’s fall.
And—
The last human left in this world.
The maids reacted all at once.
They all rushed toward Reir, with Lucia following close behind.
One maid covered her mouth and fell to her knees. Another murmured in a trembling voice.
“…Human…”
“…It’s a human…”
“…Finally.”
Not daring to believe the name they all cried out, Lucia pushed through the crowd of maids until she stood directly before him.
Her eyes trembled.
Tears streamed down her face.
“Human… Are you… truly… a human…?”
Following her command protocols, Lucia immediately dropped to her knees.
All the other maids knelt as well.
As if greeting a god.
Hymns rang out.
Voices thick with sobs filled the night sky.
“Master…”
“You’ve finally returned…”
“The Master we are to serve has come back…”
With trembling hands, Lucia reached out toward Reir and bowed her head deeply.
“Please…”
Her voice was desperate, almost agonizing in its sincerity.
“Please… save us.”
The Holy Fire continued to burn brightly.
Above a ruined world, for the first time in a very long while,
A spark of hope had ignited.