(I) Dragons

-60 (I)

Dragons

“These rewards… are ample,” Adam said, a sound of apprehension entering his voice, “but the price for failure—It’s unacceptable.” His expression and posture both hardened, his gaze turning to something of steel. “How long?” he asked the Composer. “How long do we have before they reach Gate Theborn?”

“Two days, perhaps,” the Composer admitted, sounding unsure herself. “My Shadow Cells—they spotted the fleeing Dragon-Knights passing through our territory but hours ago, and confirmation came from the Descenders far too late. We do not have time to amass an army, but thankfully, we are only dealing with a Lance.”

“A Lance?” Valor cried. “A Lance of Dragon-Knights! This is worse than an army. An army can be broken. It can be made up of Adepts. The Lance will need to be cut down to the last before they surrender, and every single one will be a Master at the least.”

“They are traitors,” the Composer said, though to Shiv it sounded like she was trying to comfort herself. “They have betrayed their own virtues and spirited away with agents of New Albion. They will not have proper support.”

“No support for them sounds good,” Shiv noted.

Valor shook his head. “Traitor or not, knights are made—they are forged through crucible. One does not become a Dragon-Knight through happenstance or luck. You must enter a mana storm, find a great gate, then enter it and slay a primal dragon within. Only then will the Draconic Matrimony commence.”

The Legendary Pathbearer was more on edge than Shiv had ever seen.

“So… they’re dangerous,” Shiv said.

“Dangerous?” Valor laughed. “Boy, they will teach you death in ways you cannot imagine, and then they will teach you more of war. I wish there was more time for your preparation, but it seems you are fated to learn in a more... practical fashion.”

“As I always do,” Shiv said, not understanding what the problem was.

Valor paused. “Well, I suppose this is a good thing for you. You’re not burdened by this. In fact, you will likely enjoy fighting the dragons. The others…” The ancient Pathbearer’s eyes regarded Adam and Uva.

“Considerations have been made,” the Composer said. “Sister Uva, you are cleared to continue wielding the Jealousy.”

“What?” Uva said, stunned. “But Elaboration…”

“Elaboration can wait. The dissection and investigation of the Greater Demon can wait. We need someone who is already acclimated to its mind—someone who has the proper Skill Evolution to shroud themselves in another’s thoughts. There is no better candidate, and frankly, we do not have time to discover a better candidate. Do you accept this weapon I bestow?”

Sister Uva looked stunned, but she had also tasted a flavor of elation and wonderment. She enjoyed using the Jealousy; she enjoyed investigating and weaving her Psychomancy with the Greater Demon. It teased her with what power she could achieve, but also what she could unleash right now if borrowed from the broken mind of a Heroic Psychomancer. “I… I do. Oh, Composer, I thank you. It is an honor beyond compare.”

Uva bowed and gestured her fealty to the goddess, and the Composer played a high note acknowledging her. “And I will name a song after you for this, Uva. You have already done more for this city than most others.”

Uva’s lip twitched. She felt a heaviness in her heart, but she didn’t cry—Uva wasn’t the crying kind, Shiv had noticed.

“That still doesn’t explain how this all happened… All of this—it’s too overt, too fast,” Valor said. “What is Aviary hoping to gain? Why did they even take a fragment of me? They’re just going to trade it to Compact as… as what, bribery to reach the surface? We’re not seeing something here…”

“We’re not seeing a lot,” the Composer said, “but assumptions will only lead us astray. I fear something far greater and more ominous is looming in the backdrop, Valor, but I cannot tell what. New Albion’s birds are scurrying through the Abyss. Something calamitous is coming. I can feel it—I can feel it within the System. Handing me so many Quests… I can feel it on the winds.” The Composer sounded uneasy, uncertain. “We must prepare. However we can. To hand a fragment of you away so easily means that there is a greater prize to be won. Aviary never trades—unless it gets them something grander.”

“What can be grander than the fragment of a Legendary Pathbearer?” Uva asked, her mind cold with dread.

“A fragment of the divine, perhaps,” the Composer said. “Or something taken from my progenitor—the Great One—themselves.”

A silence spilled over the room. Shiv wasn’t sure what that entailed, but considering how grave the atmosphere had become, he guessed it wasn’t very good.

“Can someone do that?” Shiv said. “Just… steal a piece of the Great One? Isn’t the Great One really felling big?”

“It’s not about size,” the Composer said. “The Great One was a colossal being, beyond even divinity in terms of power. But they fractured, like the moon did as they landed. They fractured in the depths, but they are not dead—they are merely broken, and they dream on. To take anything of the Great One, you must venture within its flesh, pass through incredible mana storms, avoid colossal gates and nightmarish dimensions. And to return unchanged… To even find your way back is more than most could possibly achieve.”

“And that is another reason why we should worry about facing the Dragon-Knights,” Valor said. “The Descenders—they earned their name by descending deep into the Great One, by mapping out its ever-changing body constantly. They defend the sanctity of the Great One’s bones. Whatever problems I have with their stubbornness and refusal to turn from the archaic ways, they are warriors—true to their vow and oath—and they are all honed. I would not risk any of you against them if I had the choice. I don’t even want to risk any of you against them now.”

Then Valor regarded Shiv, and the flames inside the old Pathbearer’s sockets intensified. “But with a surprise of our own—a of our own, I think we might stand a chance. Just a chance. But this will take blood and death.”

Shiv shrugged. “Well, if that’s what it takes to rip a dragon apart.”

“Of course, you’re thinking about that,” Adam sneered. Then he paused. “I suppose it would be interesting—and rather impressive—if I shot a dragon out of the sky.”

“See?” Shiv said, holding his arms open. “Right?”

“Yes,” Adam said, his excitement growing. “Yes, I know. Especially because they’re more than just beasts. Imagine out-dueling a great knight—a great knight in the body of a monster.” The Young Lord’s eyes were glowing now. “This will be a feat. A thing of true legend!”

Uva looked between them, and despite the tension in the atmosphere, she simply smirked and shook her head. “Mad fools.”

“Well, at least you are enthusiastic about facing certain death,” Valor said, and then he chuckled as well. “Ah, to be young again. I think I would have rather liked being in your company when I was just a boy.”

Then Valor shed his brief amusement and returned to a state of tension. “Regardless, we must prepare now. In fact, we must leave as soon as possible. We do not have two days… The Lance is traveling at incredible speeds. We must prepare an ambush before the dragons ever reach the gate. That is the only way we might be able to stop them. If they get anywhere near Gate Theborn, then we will be facing the replenished gate guardians and the Dragon-Knights, and that is a fight we absolutely cannot win. In fact, if any other party intervenes or gets involved in the middle of this clash, I fear that defeat is certain as well.”

“Exalted Goddess,” Uva asked, “what other support might we get? My team—”

“Your team is not cleared for this,” the Composer said, her voice filled with regret. “They are brave and noble sisters, but I will not foolishly spend their lives this way. Cherished Uva… You fought alongside a System-favored, and now your future is destined for true strife as well. I fear you were locked to this path the moment you took the Jealousy into your mind.”

Uva paused, and she stared at Shiv. She understood, but there was a sense of worry inside her. Despite her bickering with Ikki and how she held the others at a professional distance, they were still her team. Without them in the field, things felt… odd.

Shiv whispered over their mental link. He paused.

Uva barely stopped herself from snorting out loud.

“There will be Shadow Cells assisting you. I believe you’ve worked with Still Water before,” the Composer said.

“Yeah, Still Water,” Shiv said, thinking back to the Weaveress with the Heroic Stealth. “She’s the one who found out about the Animancy Core in the first place.”

“Indeed. She and her personal cell will be responding. As will…” The Composer paused. “…as will ten others.”

“Just ?” Valor choked.

“I do not have the forces to spend in this amount of time!” the Composer shot back, sounding as frustrated as Valor. “These are the only ones I can give right now, Valor. They’re the only ones who will be able to move fast enough. Two days are not enough to amass an army, especially not after my raid on the First Blood, with my greatest Pathbearers still far away. Two days! Do you know how many Sisters will need to die to bring down a Dragon-Knight in two days? Do you know how much I myself for sending my people off to die every—” She caught herself, realizing she was losing control in front of one of her subjects. “I…” She coughed. “I apologize.”

“It… It is well, Exalted Goddess,” Uva said, eyes wide. She didn’t fully know what she had witnessed, nor how to process it.

The Composer sighed. “Adam, Shiv—Exalted Guests and heroes of my home, I have to ask another unreasonable thing of you again. This Quest concerns you and has been granted mainly to you, but it also concerns Weave and the entirety of the Abyss. If we allow this fragment to be lost to Compact, if we allow Aviary and these Descenders to reach that gate, I fear that conflict will be inevitable again. As the balance of power in the Abyss shifts, the Five Faiths will find themselves driven to conflict. If the knights are not stopped and the fragment is not recaptured, the Descenders themselves will march on Compact for the sake of slighted honor alone. And then everything will return to chaos. The gate to the surface will remain in lockdown for all but the Lance itself, and all the other penalties will follow.”

“It will not happen,” Adam said, clenching his teeth. He stared at the Composer with the resolve of a man who could see the future. “It will not. You have more than my word—I will make this reality. And damn the System for giving such… gifts when the price for failure is so severe.”

The Composer regarded Adam, and, slowly, a smile crept across her face. “I believe you, Hero Adam.”

Adam coughed. “Yes. Good. I am… honored you believe in me. You have… good eyes. Beautiful ones, too.”

The Composer started. Then chuckled.

Shiv looked between them as an odd feeling passed through him.

His thought almost made Uva gag.

“It’s like we never have enough bloody time,” Adam said, sighing. He looked at Shiv. “We didn’t even get Shiv’s armor sorted—and I didn't have time to get a damned Magical Resistance Enchantment either.”

“Oh,” the Composer said, her eyes widening, “there is a final thing. The System passed the Quest upon me, but it granted me bestowals of its price and rewards.”

Everyone paused. The tunnel behind them opened once more, and Shiv’s jaw dropped as he turned.

Through the receding webs, five flying drones came carrying a large set of gleaming armor made from adamantine bone. Shiv recognized the bones and noted how the overall aesthetic remained the same. However, the armor also experienced a few alterations, like having three pairs of arms, with only two meant to cover Shiv’s own. One other set was human-like in design, but the joints and hands were clearly robotic, while the bottommost arms were industrial and clutched what appeared to be a large ballista of some kind. There was also something different about the helmet as well—the eyes were open sockets before, but now they glowed like pits of burning crimson.

The flying drones released the armor, and it impacted the ground with a resonant rumble. A few of the drones wobbled in the air before they managed a stable hover. And then came a hissing sound as the front end of the armor unfurled like a blossoming flower. As the front section expanded, Shiv saw Can Hu within, the automaton’s rusted, damaged frame fused with the armor’s inner spine. The bot’s half skull formed a second inner helm behind the outer dome made from Shiv’s bones as well, revealing why the helmet’s sockets were glowing earlier. “Shiv. Uva. I have arrived as promised to deliver your armor. It took many attempts—and multiple drafts, but I p-prevailed.”

“Are… are you Can Hu?” Adam sounded awed and surprised. “You’re… you're fused to Shiv’s bones.”

“That was the intention,” Can Hu replied. Shiv faintly heard a hum of amusement from the machine.

“I thought it was just a metaphor,” Adam muttered. “What kind of automaton would just literally shape itself into someone else’s armor?”

“A Penitent Chassis,” Can Hu declared with no small amount of pride.

Shiv observed the armor as his heart pumped with building astonishment. “I didn’t think… How long did this take?”

“I have worked. From the moment you departed to mere minutes before.”

“You didn’t rest?” Shiv said.

“I do not need rest when I have a purpose at hand,” Can Hu said. The automaton’s mood seemed much better than when they'd last seen each other. “However… The armor is too much weight for me to bear with my ruined Physicality. I will not be able to move or function normally without unlatching myself. You will have to provide the bulk of the locomotion. I apologize. With more time, perhaps I could integrate actual motors and finer pieces of machinery.”

“So… You're just bound to the armor?” Shiv breathed. “Can Hu… I didn’t want you to cage yourself.”

“There were sacrifices that needed to be made,” Can Hu said without a hint of regret, “but this will work. Integration is… has succeeded, and I believe you have the strength. I will be able to offer you other things as well. I can still craft and build by directing my drones and using my manipulators. My shattering was not complete. My sensors also… they function. And I was Master-Tier before my breaking. I am more than a match for any Master-Tier armor. More.”

Everyone stood in silence as the Penitent Chassis finished its passionate proclamation. Shiv couldn’t imagine making this sacrifice for someone else—to make yourself a thing, just a vessel for another to wear.

“Can Hu,” Shiv said, “I can’t ask you to give up this much…”

“I gain,” Can Hu retorted. “I do not lose. Through me, you will be shielded from new threats. And I will craft things for you all. I will provide far more than this broken body may. Through you, I will be a Chassis again. I will soar again. I will fight again—and this time, for a righteous cause. Please… Do not turn me away out of pity. I will not survive that. This is my honest truth. I must be armor again. I must be. To make up for what I have broken, I must…”

Shiv stared at the automaton and nodded. “We can… we can try.” An enormous weight settled on his shoulders. Before, dying was a carefree thing. Something that gave him more levels. Now, with Can Hu…

Shiv vowed internally.