12 Miles Below

Fido howled, trying to lift his head out of the stream of fire. This was working even better than I’d hoped for. My plan had been to use the fractal of heat as mostly distraction since machines were made of metal - and metal does better against heat than fleshy human enemies, but given the instant reaction from him, heat might be more dangerous to machines than I’d thought.

He wasn’t getting away, of course.

With nothing truly holding me down, I ripped the loose claws off me and lunged forward with my true arms. Straight for that howling head of his, right through the inferno fading away.

Journey’s armored gauntlets grappled the drake’s artificial fangs, and the relic armor did the rest, holding its own against the machine.

My grip tightened. Occult pulsed once more and another set of translucent hands snapped up, palms up, a torrent of fire leaving each.

My vision went blinding yellow for a moment as both Fido and I were engulfed into the inferno. Journey auto compensated a moment later and the visual feedback inside my helmet turned to a dimmer darkness, letting me see what was going on. Relic armor shields had flared to life, protecting me from the ambient heat. Superheated air dangerous enough even Journey had made the internal call to protect itself.

Fido did not have the same luxury.

The teeth were already turning black, the ceramic material cracking from the intense temperature differential passing breakpoint after breakpoint. The metal parts inside his jaw had started to turn red-hot, glowing brighter and brighter. Soon they’d start to melt off if this kept going.

Fido twisted his head sharply, launching me off my feet. He then slammed his head down on the rock cliff-side, dragging me through it. Journey didn’t even need shields for this, that sort of diffused damage wouldn’t do much to the armor itself. It was enough to disrupt my concentration, however, the occult fading away.

Another twist of his head flung me straight up and the damaged fangs I was holding onto finally snapped off, crumbling into pieces. I flew straight up a good few feet, twisted like a cat in midair, and landed back safely on the ground. Atius’s blade was drawn out and ignited already.

Fido hadn’t bothered trying to see what I'd do. He’d already decided that this was a losing battle, and it was time to peace out like the upstanding machine denizen that he was.

First, he tried to grapple onto the cliff-side, to escape vertically. Except that his forepaws had been cleanly sliced off, leaving him with two stumps and his hind legs to work with. Not enough to get him up the cliff. So, he turned tail and tried to outrun me across the field.

I ran after him, screaming every kind of insult I could think of. My raised blade looking to close the gap between us so I could slice him properly.

Drakes normally outrun relic armors. In good shape and with a clean bill of health. Fido was very much not in that category. Running on the two stumps that remained of his forward limbs slowed him down far too much. I chased after him like a shadow, following the path of crushed silver flowers.

I caught up. His tail flicked out at the last moment, attempting to knock me out of the way, only for my sword to slice down and out the other side while I vaulted over the swing.

No more tail for Fido. Shame.

This was when the drake realized he was nothing more than spare scrap running around, doomed. The drake made one last desperate plan, turned, and tried to fight me off.

He twisted and lunged out with an open maw, attempting to catch and crush me with those. Journey’s shields were still nearly full, so that was futile even if he landed the attack. I didn’t let him so much as scratch me out of pride, easily dodging past the strike and letting the old occult blade slice off the jawline as I slide under. I didn’t stop there and followed through, spinning on myself to regain momentum. The blade took out the closest hind leg in the same motion as Fido’s bulk passed next to me. The Winterblossom technique made me too fast.

Fido, bless his metallic heart, tried to roll over and flatten me as a response. That was even easier to jump over, slicing off the last exposed limb as it passes by me on his roll. Now the drake was crippled for good.

He collapsed onto the ground, struggling to adapt to the sliced limbs. My boot found the top of his skull head and stomped down, driving the entire drake back into the ground. “Sit.” I ordered.

The drake struggled, trying to lift the head until I once more flatted him into the ground. “I said sit.” I said, twisting my boot side to side to really rub it in. “Time you got what was coming to you.”

“Sss… this is not over. Flesh rots. Metal is eternal.” Fido snarled, still able to speak without a lower jaw, all the while pinned down into the dirt and stomped down flowers.

I increased pressure down on his head, watching as cracks on the ceramic armor began to spider out from my heel.

He grew still. The fight had finally gone out of the monster for good, now waiting for the inevitable execution.

“What, that’s it?” I tutted, aiming my blade. “Fido, I am disappointed in you. Days of hunting us down, terrorizing us at night, all your little clever plans and plots - and this is how you go out? No bang, barely a whimper even. At least go out saying something more ominous.”

The drake hissed at me, one violet eye glaring up. “Where I fail…. Ssss…. Another will not. You take nothing more than a brief respite from the inevitable. Ssssstruggle is meaninglessss.”

“That’s a lot better.” I patted the head with the tip of my greaves.

Father had executed a drake before, although he only had a dagger to work with. I think punching my sword through the skull would do the job just as well, more surface area to cut through. And then I can cut off the head for good measure. I lifted the old blade up, and found myself holding it still.

Fido’s violet glowing eyes stared right back at me, filled with malice.

What was I hesitating for? I’d already learned this lesson. Father himself had made it clear as ice.

I’m trying to talk to you in a way you might understand, boy. These things - they can’t be reasoned with. They simply can’t! You’ll only give them an easier time killing you.

The sword raised higher, ready to plunge down and end the creature for good.

Is it possible… that he might not have been correct about that point?

Hecate.

And her stupid, naïve fixation on possibly finding peace between machines.

“Ssss… your weakness shows.” The drake hissed. Crippled, unable to offer even the most basic threats to me now. If I spared it, it would fix itself and later return to possibly kill other humans in the future. Everything I know made it clear that destroying the drake was the only real solution.

If it had been Kidra or Father in my shoes, they wouldn't have hesitated for even a moment. All of my knights wouldn't have offered a shred of mercy either. They were all experienced veteran soldiers.

But I... wasn't them.

The occult blade blade flickered off and I sheathed it. “Maybe you're right about that." I groaned, more upset at myself. "Change of plan Fido. Against my better judgement... I’m letting you live.”

“What?” Cathida croaked out. “You’re joking, right deary? Tell me you’re joking.”

The drake simply stared at me, the closest a machine had to surprise. Then the eyes narrowed. “Sss…. you wish to relay a messsssage?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Got nothing to say to that scraphead you call a boss. I’m not letting you live for any reason that benefits me. I’m doing it for someone else who wants to believe someday there could be peace between machine and man.”

”Heresy.” The drake said. “There can be no peace.”

"First time I ever found myself agreeing with a machine, there can't ever be any peace." Cathida growled out.

”I think so too, but. Well.” I shrugged and took my boot off the lizard’s skull head with a few careful steps back. “Here we are anyway. Now go slink away to whatever hole you crawled out from.”

The drake lifted itself onto those remaining stumps, glaring at me the entire time. I thought for a moment Fido really would try to attack me again, despite how outclassed it was, but the machine surprised me. It turned and shambled off.

“Goddess protect us, you should have killed it.” Cathida groaned. “Did you turn into a silverlicker while I was sleeping?Mercy’s not something you can spend on machines, is it even capable of understanding that?”

“I don’t know.” I answered truthfully. “It just... it just didn’t seem right.” Maybe Hecate’s ideals wormed their way into my head a little too much.

The lizard shambled away, not at a run, but on a lopsided walk. I could change my mind anytime and finish the drake. There wasn’t anywhere Fido could hide from me in this area.

I searched the skies for her again, but nowhere I looked did I see her. My heart sunk further. She truly was gone for good. I don't know what I expected.

A deep breath, in and out. Nothing I could do about this anymore. She knew where I was going, so if Hecate wanted to see me again, it would be on her terms.

I shook myself out of the stupor. “Which way’s the Undersider city? You know we’re running late for an appointment. No thanks to you, Cathida.”

“Me?” she croaked, indigent. “You’re the one collecting enemies like they were gold bricks for the shrine!”

A navpoint beeped into my HUD, showing the direction. I gave my thanks, and set off in the complete opposite direction, back to the cliff-side to go loot the hoversled.

If I was going to have to cover a few dozen miles of flat land all alone, I wasn't going to walk if I could help it.

The sled was still there when I returned to fetch it. I felt a little bad about taking it so far from where it had been initially given, but I had an Undersider city to get to and already lost a lot of time. I was on my own from here and I'd need every advantage I could get.

If the Winterscar knights had survived against To’Aacar, which I’m almost positive they had, then they’d know to meet up at the city. Searching around for me outside the city would be like looking for a needle in the chicken feed. Basically impossible. But we all knew where our ultimate destination was.

This far away, I didn’t need to be subtle about how I got there. Riding a hoversled using the full power of my relic armor to push forward would get me places quickly.

I guided the sled back to the outside, past the cube entrance, and found someone waiting on the other side.

Cathida swore.

“Didn’t think I’d see you again after you ran off.” I said, ignoring the old bat, pushing the sled into the artificial sunlight and giving it a friendly set of pats.

Hecate stood at the entrance, flattened silver flowers ringed around where she'd landed. Metal wings were fully unfurled from her waist, swaying slightly in the wind. The helmet hid any sign of her face, so I had no idea what was going through her mind. It felt more like I was being judged right here and now.

I reached and unclasped my helmet, tossing it into the sled, mostly because Cathida clearly had a bone to pick with Hecate just existing and was all too happy to start ranting about it.

“Gunning for Fido before I could get to him? That’s not exactly sporting of you.” I said. “Or did I scare you off somehow?”

She remained unmoving, gaze locked onto me for a moment, before her own hand reached for her helmet and unclasped it. Under the mask was curiosity. “I observed your fight with the drake from afar. I was… surprised.”

“I picked up a few tricks on fighting over my time.” I tapped my chest.

“That isn’t what surprised me.” She said. “You spared the drake’s life. Why?”

“Spared his life, sure, but Fido’s not a happy lizard after running into me. I cut off his hands, you know? And his legs. The lower jaw too. Oh, and his tail. You know, in hindsight, I’m noticing a disturbing pattern here…” I frowned, hand on my chin to complete the look.

She tilted her head to the side for a moment, confused. “All minor damage that can be repaired at a mite forge. And machines do not feel pain in any way that matters. Not from the physical shell.” Her gaze locked back onto me. “Why did you allow it to leave?”

“It’s what you were talking about earlier. About possibly having a peace with machines. Fido was crippled, and he can’t shoot lasers either. He’s no threat anymore, unless he can somehow insult people to death.”

“You let him go, simply for that?”

I nodded. “We’ve got to start somewhere, right? If not me, then who?”

I got the feeling she had a lot more to say and simply didn’t know where to start. Eventually, she shook her head, smiling. “You moved at speeds that shouldn’t be possible for relic knights. Like your sister.” She said, not so subtly changing the subject. “How?”

“You’ve seen her fight?” She knew about Kidra leading the rebellion in the city, it’s very possible a Deathless like her was on the forefront. Fighting side by side with Kidra during that doomed war.

Why hadn’t she told me this before? Instead, she’d only mentioned it in passing, as if Kidra was someone she’d heard of rather than an ally. The more I learn about Hecate, the more things make little sense.

Maybe she hadn’t taken part in the Undersider war at all because of her pacifism?

“I have seen her in action.” Hecate said, on topic. “She’s very skilled, and very fast. Her bodyguards also move as fast, though lack the skill she has. I hadn’t expected you to follow in her footsteps like so. If you all share the same trait, it must be something that can be taught. Were you behind this?”

“And what makes you think little old me is the one behind something like that?” I asked, crossing my arms. Kidra’s escorts all moving at her speed meant Kidra had shared the Winterblossom technique with them. Things must have been extremely dire for Kidra to share that with Ankah and her goons of all people. Not good, but that was to deal with later.

“I know who you are.” Hecate said. “I don’t know how you’ve done it, however I am certain the root of this skill comes from you.”

She said that with such a straight face, I started thinking she meant more. That she knew be before she’d caught me falling from that cliff. But that couldn’t be possible. More the matter, I was genuinely unsure if I should tell her about the Winterblossom technique. A part of me wanted to trust her, except I didn’t know if that part of me was logical or acting on emotion. Cathida’s skepticism had really rattled me and all these piling uncertainties were growing now that I was aware of them.

Deathless were heroes, paragons of the gods. No one assumed they could be evil, there isn't a single story about an evil Deathless. It would be like questioning if the gods secretly had bad intentions for humanity.

Except Tsuya had tried to outright kill me for the greater good once. So there is a precedence for being skeptical here. And Hecate wasn’t just a Deathless, she was the latest generation of Deathless. The one generation that were rumored to not be all good.

But she’d saved my life. She wasn't trying to get the information from me to gain from it, she already could move just as fast with her own technique. And I owed her a life debt.

Whoever Hecate was, she at least has earned some answers from me. “It’s called the Winterblossom technique.” I said, blowing past my common sense before I could second guess myself more. “I invented it. Kidra gave it a name and perfected it.”

Hecate gave a soft smile that turned into a snicker within seconds. “I knew it. I had no evidence, little data, and yet I knew you would be the one behind it.”

”I can't tell you how it works, but I can tell you it isn't useable by Deathless.” I said, getting ahead of her before she started asking more questions. “There’s a part of it you’re incompatible with. But, you do already move just as fast with your own technique.”

Hecate continued to laugh, alternating from smaller hiccups to just smiling before breaking out into giggles again. Eventually she settled down, took a breath and asked the oddest question. “If we both can move as quickly as the other, then maybe our differences in power are more equal than I thought. Would you agree to a duel?”

“That’s a little out of nowhere, what’s the prompt? Did I look at you funny or are you shaking me down for my ration bars?"

She bit her lip, looking up, as if thinking of how to answer. “Nothing of that sort. I... fought against someone very much like you in the past. I lost. A part of me has always wanted a fair rematch, win or lose, if only to put it all behind me. A form of closure to my old history.”

”You want me to be a stand in for this guy?”

“Yes. Rather, you are the only one who could.”

I thought about that for a moment. If I was reading this right, either she no longer has any means of connecting with this guy, or he was dead and I was the closest person like him. Likely the second.

Before I could ask more questions, she continued. “If you agree to the duel, I’ll carry you to the Undersider city personally. With my wings and speed, you can arrive within a day. It will be far faster than any other method of travel.”

"Win or lose?"

She nodded.

Welp, free cell in the snow here, no reason not to take her up on that. I drew out my sword, giving it an experimental twirl. “Shields to fifty sound good?”

She smiled, drawing out her own pair of swords. “One more condition. I want you to fight with everything at your disposal, in any manner you can bring it out. That includes the fractals on your armor and the powers you’ve used against the drake earlier. Or powers you’ve kept in reserve.”

My hand froze halfway into the sled, reaching for my helmet.

Gods above. Hecate knew about fractals.

My first thought was that she’s a Deathless. Of course she’ll be using the occult.

Except Lord Atius was a Deathless, and he hadn’t known about fractals. Neither had his compatriots and expedition partners. The only people who knew were the warlocks.

"How do you know about that?" I asked.

"You have repeated fractals inscribed across all plates of your armor. I thought the conclusion was obvious? What I do not know how you discovered this field. It is highly guarded."

She's part of the warlock guilds?

"Afraid I'll have to take that one to the grave with me, that subject's not exactly light."

Hecate nodded, clearly unbothered by that.

Deathless, latest generation. Stronger than Atius, pulling acrobatic moves that even Kidra would have issues with. A walking library, yet outright feral in some mannerisms. A strange armor. Possibly paralyzed under it, but also moving the armor herself at the same speeds as the Winterblossom technique. Wings. Ties with the warlocks and fractals. Extreme vision and senses. The ability to heal any life-threating wounds. Might have outright mind-controlled Fido and ordered him away, at the cost of being spotted by To’Aacar, which meant some kind of power that let her hack machines. And talking about that Feather - enemies with To’Aacar but still looking to have peace between humanity and machine.

Not quite Imperial, not quite Undersider, and possibly not quite warlock either given the pattern here. What sort of existence had all these things put together all at the same time? So much of it felt outright contradictory.

One thing was certain - Hecate was some kind of mythic figure. Part of some mite prophecy, chosen by them on a quest. That she was good at everything seemed on brand.

This had turned into some kind of puzzle where the more details got added, the more everything seemed connected and yet completely disconnected.

And I couldn't ask her directly about any of it. She was too skittish about her past. I could see her taking off for good just to avoid answering any of these. In a way she almost had.

My hands unfroze, dragging Journey’s helmet up close and equipping it again. I took a breath and put those thoughts aside. The duel came first.

The helmet pressurized and Cathida came out swinging like an angry feral dog let loose out of her cage. "Good job, way to let your head do the thinking." She snarked. "Feel like leaking some imperial secrets next? Or are you waiting for her to give you a wink and blow you a kiss?"

It was almost immediately clear to me Hecate could overhear Cathida. The Deathless looked... extremely lost and swiftly growing flustered.

"She can hear you, Cathida." I said, calmly.

"Oh she can can she?" The old bat said with poorly hidden glee. "Perfect. I have a few choice words I've been meaning to set right with that dolled up trollop..."

A few well worded threats about the mute button got her to stop talking, but not before leaving poor Hecate beet red and looking anywhere other than in my direction. Cathida was extremely efficient with the few words she managed to throw out before I gagged her, managing to string together an entire paragraph of insults in as little as a half sentence. Had it been any other situation, I'd have been genuinely impressed at the creativity.

She clearly had opinions and would stop at nothing to say them.

"Your armor's... language module is very unique. Cathida, you called her?" Hecate said in the awkward silence that followed, eyes constantly darting between myself and the cliff behind me, as if she couldn't keep eye contact out of embarrassment. "I did not expect armor to generate more complex personalities like this."

"It's not the armor itself. I think Journey genuinely doesn't care about anything so long as my heart is still beating. Cathida's something el--" I said and stopped when I heard the old crusader start to growl in my ear. "You know what? I'll tell you another time over a stiff drink, or ten. My armor seems to get more and more upset with you the longer I stick around. She's not exactly nice to other people and her first impression of you wasn't great."

"I apologize if my appearance is distracting." Hecate said, sounding supremely nervous. "I had.. erm, not thought about that aspect of people."

It felt outright surreal to have someone apologize for how they looked of all things. When things settle, I'm going to need to strangle that crusty old bat. Again.

For now, I bottled up my second hand anger and decided to do some damage control.

"It's not a bother Hecate, Cathida's just raking me over the coals for fun. I should probably clarify, when I said she's not exactly nice to other people, I mean she's not nice to anyone."

Servants, knights, squires and apparently even Deathless were all equally on her shitlist. Truly there was nothing she held sacred.

Cathida scoffed loudly, but kept quiet otherwise, clearly aware of my earlier threats and agreeing to keep the silence so long as I wasn't misbehaving, a small mercy.

I gave a traditional salute with my sword and took a standard stance, causing Hecate to instantly snap back into focus. Good way to clean up the air. There was a duel to go through.

I’d use some of my occult spells, but keep the rest of my skill under wraps. As much as I disliked admitting it, Cathida was right, I'd been leaking too much for sentimental reasons. Surprise was one of my bigger advantages, better that I reserve the big hitters for when it really mattered rather than a skill-based duel. We’d have a traditional spar, I’ll go all out with the best of my sword skills and then we’d be off to the Undersider city. Hecate didn't need to know everything I had in store.

The Deathless smiled and took her stance. My blood froze over at the sight.

I recognized it. Recognized the way her swords flourished into stance. That was no Undersider posture, nor an imperial one. It was from the surface clans, the same one Father had used time and time again when facing an enemy of unknown skill. A defensive variation, waiting for the opponent to take the first strike. She modified it to fit both her wings, stature, and dual swords. But at the core still had the ghost of his style. There were too many unique flairs to it, beyond what the standard instructions for those movements were. It was him.

“Who taught you this?” I asked, voice coming out more of a whisper.

“A... mentor of sorts.” She said. "A surface knight I met."

I swallowed hard, mind flashing through reasons. Father had lived an entire lifetime before I was even born, years spent underground. He must have met people. Must have had a team. Friends even. So much about him I wouldn’t have known.

Three reasons surfaced. Father could have learned from someone underground, and that very same person taught Hecate. Or sometime in the past, their paths had crossed by each other and Father had trained her personally. The last option... we were hundreds of miles in the wrong direction from the final place I'd seen him. The bunker, sunken down and hiding among the mite ruins - if it still looked anything like a bunker after the machines got to it. Could Hecate really have stumbled on the bunker? By chance? Unlikely.

I don’t think the first option was likely either. Father would have told me at some point in the years we’d trained if he’d learned from someone else. Other than sparring with Atius, he hadn't mentioned any other mentor. This had be the second option. We were around the general area of the undersider city, the same city that often has trade and connections with us. Father would have traveled down here many times before. He could have really met Hecate in her past, before she became a Deathless.

“A mentor, eh?” I muttered, mulling it over. I wasn’t fighting just Hecate, I realized. I was fighting a fellow disciple. Both of us trained by the same teacher. We were Father's legacy.

However this ended, I think I understood Hecate’s desire. A rematch against an opponent she could no longer fight ever again, with me being the closest she could come to him. Win or lose.

I knew who she was talking about.

It was the same for me too, wasn’t it? An opponent I could no longer prove myself against ever again. I knew it in my heart for a while now, right from the moment I had dug my hands into the family armor. Expecting the bunker to be intact in any shape was a pipedream, not with the amount of machines that had been crawling around. I'd still go search for the ruins once the slavers were dealt with, if only to find closure myself. But I knew what I would find.

My stance shifted, away from the traditions of the surface clans, crouching lower, one foot sliding back, sword held still. Inside my helmet controls, I toggled the mite button before Cathida could even squak.

I changed my mind. I was going to go all out, even if it meant using everything I had. This was a fight I wanted to win. Had to win.

“I do not recognize this stance.” Hecate said, head tilting slightly.

“That’s because this is my technique.” I said. Rakurai, the lighting style. My head rose to stare her in the eye. “I’m more than I look. Don’t underestimate me, Hecate.”

She flinched for a moment and then smiled, weapons ready. “I know. I’ve learned. I have my own ways to remind myself.”

I took one more deep breath and fully stepped into the soul fractal, the colorful world fading away, replaced by my occult sight. Tendrils spread out back into my mind, perfectly forming the roots of the Winterblossom technique. More tendrils went further, reaching for all the different fractals within my armor. Occult pulsed around, the shield fractals inscribed all over my armor lit up dim blue, now being powered. Inside my armor, every other inscribed fractal was being awakened. I’d trained and drilled this until the entire process took hardly a second with little thought. A far cry from the first time I'd had to use it in a duel, against Shadowsong.

Senses stretched out from me in a pulse. The concept of a relic armor appeared first along with all the dozens of fractals shining within it. Concepts of the ground under us came after as the pulse raced out. Life, plants, flowers, insects. My awareness bloomed outwards, speeding out.

And when my sight reached Hecate, I was utterly unprepared for what I saw.

Next chapter - Deceit

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