The New Monitor War Act 1: Assault at the World's Edge

The New Monitor War was a series of events that occured in March of 96 AE, shortly after the events of the Sixth Child.
==Prelude==
This entire story is told from the perspective of Lux, one of Varrenholm’s Unknown Soldiers
To think its only been six months since we took down Tethris. I gotta say, time sure does fly when you’re occupied. I haven’t been doing that much work, but just enough to keep me occupied. It’s mostly been work fixing everyone’s equipment, since almost everyone had their gear broken. Vor’s armour lost a leg, but I don’t have near enough skill to replicated armour that old. Tov’s entire suit of armour was broken, save for 1 partially busted gauntlet, and 1 shoe. It took me almost 3 months to remake it, since its so heavy duty and complicated.
Meq lost one of his gauntlets, so I had to make a new one. He also wanted me to find a way to cover his pants with a material to let them burn longer. I ended up wrapping them in a special textile I made myself, so now they can burn for hours without torching the rest of his clothes. Haw lost his mask and chest plate, but both of those were pretty easy to replace.
I’m down to my last order, replacing all of Jex’s daggers. We don’t know what happened to all 12 of them, but we suspect that they’re at the bottom of the ocean in Stormvale. Ah well, at least they’re pretty easy to make. Save for the small holes I have to fill with glassed steel in the hilt and blade. The hilt one was pretty easy, but you have no idea how hard it is to shape diamond completely over a small object. Well whatever, I only have 2 left to ma-.
My thought is interrupted by a knock on the wall. I look up and see Meq staring at me.
“Captain wants to see you.” He said, “And I wouldn’t keep him waiting."
“Alright,” I said, “I’m coming.”
I set down the unfinished dagger I’m working on and take off my blast mask.
Meq’s right, it would be best to not keep the captain waiting. He’s not as patient as he used to be, back before he retired. I walk into his office, and see that he’s intently reading from a piece of paper, while writing on another. How he manages to do both with only 1 eye, I’ll never know.
“You wanted to see me, Captain?” I ask.
He immediately stops writing, and looks up at me with an annoyed look on his face.
“How many times do I have to tell you?” He asks, “Just call me Vor!”
“Sorry, Vor.” I say. I still haven’t gotten used to dropping formalities around my boss.
“That’s better.” He said, “Now as for why I called you here.”
He pulls a piece of paper out from a drawer, and slides it in front of me. On the paper is a picture of a man I don’t recognize, as well as some information about him.
“This dossier is of a man I suspect to be an agent of The New Monitor.”
The New Monitor? I thought we had hit a dead end with that guy months ago. We know almost nothing about him; only that he hired 2 different assassins, one being a member of Black Hand, to kill King Reginald Seigfried. With Tethris gone, he was currently the most wanted man in Varrenholm.
“Are you sure?” I ask, “What are you going off of?”
Vor’s expression suddenly turns serious, “I have multiple sources, and they all agree.”
I’ll take his word for it, “So, you want me to track this guy down or something?”
“Yes,” he replies, “Though it’s unfortunate that I have to send you alone. Normally I would send a partner with you, but there aren’t any available right now.”
“What about Meq?” I ask, “He was the one you sent to get me, isn’t he available?”
Vor shakes his head, “Unfortunately, I have him following another potential lead. Sorry, but you’re the only one I can send right now."
As if on cue, the black ink patterns on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the entire base begin to glow. I turn around and see someone I don’t recognize standing in the middle of the entry hall.
“Am I too late to the party?” He asks. I may not recognize his face, but I do recognize his voice. It’s Jex. So, he’s finally back.
“Perfect timing, Jex.” Vor says, “Get in here.”
Jex walks in and stands next to me.
“Hey Lux,” he says cheerfully, “How have you been?”
“I’ve been alright,” I reply, “Been busy making you new daggers.”
“Oh really?” He asks, “That’s good to hear, though I could have used them earlier.”
What was he talking about? Whatever, not my business. However, I do take this opportunity to get a good look at his face.
I had never seen Jex’s face before, since he never took his mask off. I know that light can burn his skin on contact, so he never wanted to take it off. But now, for whatever reason, it was off. His skin was extremely pale, a little bit paler than other shade mages I had seen. His pitch black hair had gotten longer in these past 6 months, stretching down to the back of his neck and spiking at the end. His pure black eyes stared intently at me, with small white pupils in the middle.
Hold on, since when did shade mage’s have white pupils? Not important, what really got my attention was the black vein patterns along his neck. That was new; I had never seen a shade mage with veins like those.
“You can catch up later,” Vor said in an annoyed tone, “We have work to do.”
“Oh?” Jex said, “So now you’re the captain, Vor? Congratulations on the promotion.”
“Jex,” Vor says, “I’m sending you with Lux to track this man down.”
“Really?” Jex asks, “You don’t even want me to fill you in on everything that’s happened?”
“No.” Vor says blatantly, “We can do all of that later.”
"Not even a simple 'Hey Jex, its been six months, how have you been?'"
"Definitely no." Vor replies.
Jex sighs, and cups his face with his palm. “I see you haven’t changed at all. Alright, who are we looking for?”
“A potential New Monitor agent.” I say, “Here, look at this.”
I hand him the dossier, and he quickly looks up and down it.
“Alright, let’s go get this guy quickly.” Jex says, “I’m in need of a good nap.”
“Go ahead and take it now.” I say, “I still need a bit of time to finish making your daggers.”
“Nah, it’s alright.” He says, “I can manage with just a few. Besides, I know Vor here won’t stop bugging us until we leave.”
Vor’s expression didn’t change at all. Guess he knows that Jex is right then.
“Alright then,” I say, “Let’s go catch us a spy.”
==Act 1==
===Part 1===
Target located. He’s moving at a walking pace down a dirt path in the middle of Markkland. It doesn’t look like he knows were here, but I can tell he’s being very cautious. He continues to walk while I tail him from the treetops. Jex is down there somewhere, following him from the shadows.
We’re waiting for a good opportunity to corner him, but we haven’t had one. For whatever reason, there have been a lot of people walking down this path so far. We don’t want any civilians to get involved, on the off chance that this guy isn’t really an agent.
Twenty minutes pass, and we still haven’t had a chance to grab him. Suddenly, however, he veers off of the path and begins to walk through the trees. This could be our big chance. To my surprise, I spot a cabin amidst the trees ahead of us. Is that where he’s heading? It could be where he lives, or it could be his base of operations. I look down and see Jex with his back pressed up against a tree. I signal him to wait, hoping that hes looking at me. He gives me an ok signal, and sinks into the tree.
I watch as the man walks into the cabin and closes the door behind him. I quietly jump to the cabin’s roof, and peer through a small hole in the woodwork. I can’t see a whole lot, but I do see him sitting at a desk. It almost looks like hes writing, but I can’t say for sure.
I look around for Jex, but I can’t see where he was hidden. Wherever he is, though, I know hes watching, and has my back. I pull a wooden glyph chip out of my pocket, and start connecting it to the wooden beams in front of me. Its now or never.
I bend the wood around me and drop down into the cabin, blades in hand. The man jumped up from his chair and started walking backwards towards the wall. His expression was that of shock and terror, can’t say I blame him. However, he pulls a sword out from a barrel against the wall and points it at me. I can still see the terror in his eyes, and the blade wont stop quivering.
“Who, who, who are you?” He asks, “And what do you want?”
I lower my swords to my sides, and begin to walk towards him. If hes already terrified, intimidation will be the easiest way to make him talk.
“You first runt.” I say, “Who are you?”
“Me?” He asks, “On Im nobody, nobody really, honestly I’m nobody special oh god PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”
Huh, either this guy isn’t an agent like we thought, or hes just a coward.
“That depends on how you answer.” I say, “Who do you work for?”
“Work for?” he asks, “I don’t know what you mean-THE NEW MONITOR! I work for him alright? Is that why youre here? Are you here to kill me to silence his network like you did with The Old Monitor?”
Wow, this guy is a god damn pushover.
“As I said,” I say, “Whether I kill you or not depends on how you answer.”
I point one of my blades at him. “Where is he hiding?”
“I… I won’t tell you. I know you’ll kill me if I don’t, but whatever you would do doesn’t even compare to what HE would do if he found out. Nu-uh, I ain’t talking."
“Oh you’re gonna talk,” A voice behind the front door says, “Because whatever you think hes gonna do to you? We're gonna do it 10 times worse."
The door suddenly bursts open, and a black mist begins to pour through. After a second or 2, Jex walks through the door, black mist oozing out of his entire body.
“Stand aside Lux,” he says in an extremely serious tone, “I’ll handle this.”
“What,” the agent mumbles, “What are you gonna do?”
“Me?” Jex asks, “Well, I was thinking I should start by pulling your intestines out through your chest. Or would you prefer I just start cutting off fingers?”
Jex continues to walk towards the agent, black mist oozing out of his body. I’ve got to say, my intimidation tactics don’t hold a candle to a man who controls shadows. No pun intended.
“Hold on, stay back!” the agent yells, “Don’t get any closer!”
Jex ignores him, and continues to approach. The agent continued to shout at him, but Jex just kept walking.
“No, no, GET AWAY!”
The agent suddenly thrusts his sword forward, right into Jex’s chest. I see the end of the blade pop out of his back, but… something’s wrong. The blade passed through way too easily, as if nothing was there. On top of that, there was no blood oozing from the wound, only more black mist.
Jex calmly looks down at the wound on his chest, sighs, and shakes his head.
“Boy, you just made the biggest mistake of your life.”
Jex takes a step forward, and the blade embeds itself deeper into his chest. However, he shows absolutely no reaction, and just continues to walk.
After a few steps, the agent let go of the sword, and it simply passed through Jex’s body and hits the ground. The spot where the sword had stabbed, as well as the path it fell through, were suddenly gone. There was now a large line straight through Jex’s torso, a line which I could see through to the other side with. Was this an illusion? A mirage?
The black mist oozing out of the hole suddenly collected together, and the hole closed.
Jex held out one of his arms, and bent all of his fingers back. He slowly pushed his hand towards the agent’s face, which was continuing to step back. The agent’s back hit the wall, and he began to slide down towards the floor.
“I’d start talking if I were you,” I said, “Jex isn’t one to hold back.”
“You..” The agent mumbles, “You’re a monster!”
“Oh I’m a moonsteer,” Jex says, “Haven’t heard that one before. But shes right, better start telling us what we want to know. Else I’ll have to make your face look like your ass.”
“AHLI KEN KUHTAL!” The agent shouted.
“I’m sorry,” Jex muttered, “What?”
“Ah-,” the agent mumbled, “Ahli ken kuhtal. Its where he’s hiding!”
“And I’m supposed to know what that is?” Jex asks in an aggravated tone.
“N… No, probably not.” The agent said, “I just heard its where he’s hiding.”
“A name that sounds made up won’t help you here boy,” Jex said, “Tell me WHERE!”
The man let out a quick scream, “I, I DON’T KNOW!”
Jex’s fingers started shaking, and he clenched his fist. He pulled his arm back, ready to punch.
“IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER?!” Jex yelled, “OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY AGAIN!?”
“I SWEAR!” The agent shouted, “I DON’T KNOW. I JUST OVERHEARD THE NAME!”
“Well that ain’t gonna cut it,” Jex said, “I’m going to need more ‘convincing’ that I shouldn’t turn you into a pile of paste.”
“You,” the agent muttered, “You could probably try his ship!”
“He has a ship?” Jex asked, “Well thank you, THAT’S VERY HELPFUL!”
He clenched his fist once again.
“WHERE. IS. IT?!” Jex yelled.
“I DON’T KNOW!” the agent yelled, “It’s always moving around! None of us know where it is!”
“Then how,” Jex asked between his teeth, “Does your info. Get. To. Him?”
“We,” the agent mutters, “We compile everything into books, and drop them off at a specified location. I don’t know anything else! I’m just a low level information collector!”
“Hmm…” Jex mutters, “Nope, can’t do it.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” The agent asks.
“I can’t consider that good enough.” Jex said, “I’m gonna need more.”
Jex opened his palm, and once again began to reach for the agent’s face.
“Don’t stop now,” Jex mutters, “Unless you want to be a flesh milkshake!”
“Wa-wait!” The agent yells, “I-I don’t know anything else! I swear! That’s it! That’s all they told me!”
Jex ignores him, and continues to reach for the agent’s face.
“Hold-Hold on!” The agent says, with a bit of excitement in his tone. “I remembered something!”
“Oh?” Jex asks, “Well you better make it snappy, cause my arm ain’t stopping.”
“I,” The agent mutters, “I heard something about a flashlight… Wait no that wasn’t it.”
Jex continues to slowly reach towards the agent.
“Was it a flashlight? A flash machine? OH, A FLASH TELEPORT!”
Jex’s arm suddenly stops.
“I’m listening.” Jex says.
“I don’t know much,” the agent mutters, “just something about a flash teleport to get around. I think it had something to do with his ship?”
The agent begins to mutter to himself, and Jex quickly grows bored.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Jex yelled, “I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU OVER ALL THE THOUGHTS OF HOW TO MAKE YOU SUFFER!”
“WAIT!” the agent yells, “I swear this time! I swear on my life that that’s all I know! Please don’t kill me!”
“ARE YOU SURE?!” Jex yells, “BECAUSE I DON’T THINK IT IS!”
“IT IS!” the agent yells, “I SWEAR ITS ALL I KNOW!”
“ARE YOU FUCKING SURE?!” Jex screams.
“YES!” the agent yells, “YES I SWEAR!”
“Well alright then.” Jex says.
Jex suddenly stands up, and his hand falls to his side.
“Wait, what?” The agent asks, “Are you… are you letting me go?”
“Letting you go?” Jex asks, “What gave you that idea?”
“Hold on, you’re not?”
“No, of course not.” Jex says, “We can’t afford to let you go back to your boss and tell him everything that’s happened.”
While I can understand the need for caution, this seemed a bit over the top.
“No,” the agent mutters, “No I won’t go back! I can’t go back! If he finds out I talked, he’s going to kill me! Or worse!”
“Yeah, see,” Jex says, “That sounds reasonable and all, but I just can’t take any chances here. I’m sure you understand.”
Jex begins to reach his palm towards the agents face again.
“No! No! STOP. STOP IT!”
Jex’s palm reaches the man’s face… and disappears.
The agent begins screaming in terror, but something isn’t right. It almost looks like his hand just… broke apart right as he touched his face.
I walk to the side to get a better look. Jex’s arm is positioned so that his hand should be on, no, IN the agent’s face, but its not. His hand isn’t there. Instead, black mist is oozing out of the stump. The agent continues to scream, his eyes closed, for a few seconds, but he eventually opens one eye.
“Ho-hold-wait, what?” He asks.
“Oh, did I forget to mention?” Jex asks, “I’m not actually here.”
“Wha… what?” The agent asks.
“Yeah, you’ve just been talking to a projection. One made out of darkness. Honestly, I thought you would have figured it out when you stabbed me earlier.”
A projection? One that could move around and even emulate his voice? Since when could he do THAT?
“You couldn’t touch me,” Jex says, “Yet the thought never crossed your mind that I couldn’t touch YOU either now did it?”
“Wha-wha-wha-wha.” The agent continued to mutter. I guess his mind is broken.
Suddenly, Jex bursts into a black cloud, which quickly dissipates into the air. I hear footsteps behind me, and turn around to see Jex standing there. However, this time there was a noticeable difference. The Jex that had come in here didn’t have any of his daggers sheathed along his belt and torso, while the Jex in the doorway did.
“Lux,” he says, “You go ahead and report this back to base.”
“Alright,” I say, “But what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make sure our friend here stays quiet.” He says, “Though I would rather not tell or show you any details.”
I nod my head, “Fair enough. See you back at base.”
I link my teleport glyph back to base, and teleport home.
===Part 2===
After our meeting with the agent, I immediately reported back to base. I filled Vor in on everything we had found out, right down to the last detail. There was just one problem.
“I have no idea what this Ahli Ken Kuhtal place is.” Vor said.
That’s to be expected, honestly. The name sounds made up to me, like the agent had just slapped some syllables together to try and get us to spare him.
“Unfortunately,” I say, “I don’t either. Honestly, I’m not sure if he was even telling the truth about this.”
“Hmm…” Vor mutters, “Well, the only option immediately available to us is to locate this ship of his.”
“Do you have any idea on where it could be?” I ask.
“I wish I could tell you yes,” Vor said, “But honestly, I don’t have even the slightest clue. Even with all of my contacts, I haven’t received a single report about an out of place ship. It’s likely he isn’t moored anywhere, but is constantly at sea.”
“Well he has to stop at land at some point,” I say, “No ship can stay at sea forever without supplies. Plus, he has to pick up the information his agents bring in.”
“Its possible everything is delivered back and forth via airship.” Vor said, “So we can’t rely on that theory being true.”
I clench my chin, trying to think of anything that could help us here. My thoughts are quickly interrupted, as the black markings around the base suddenly glow. Somebody is teleporting back to base. It’s probably Jex, I doubt he would take that long to dispose of a body.
I was wrong, as Meq is the one who appeared in the center of base behind me.
“You’re back.” Vor said, “Tell me you have good news.”
Meq walks in the room and stands next to me. He looks back and forth between me and Vor a few times before speaking.
“Was I interrupting something?” He asks, “I can come back later.”
“It’s fine.” Vor says, “What did you learn.”
“Unfortunately,” Meq says, “I was only able to find out 1 thing. 1 small detail that… may prove to be extremely valuable.”
“Oh?” Vor asks, “What is this detail?”
“A name.” Meq says, “A name used by The New Monitor. I don’t know if it’s his true name, or just another code name.”
“Enough with the delays,” Vor says, “Just say the name already.”
“Ko.” Meq says, “Ko was what he said.”
Ko? That’s an oddly simple name. I find it unlikely that it’s his true name.
“Ko huh…” Vor mutters, “That name… doesn’t ring any bells.”
“It only rings 1 bell for me.” Meq says, “Though I seriously doubt it’s the same person.”
Vor looks back up at Meq. “I don’t care how insignificant it is, tell me.”
“Alright,” Meq says, “It’s very similar to one of the names I found written in Ockthain Krivos’ laboratory. One of the artificial humans he had created was named ‘Subject K.O.’ But it’s only 2 letters long, could be a coincidence.”
“In my experience,” Vor says, “Coincidences tend to be true. But for now, we need to go over all of what we have, in hopes that we can find either this ship, or this Ahli Ken Kuhtal place.”
“Wait a minute…” Meq muttered, “What did you say?”
“What part?” Vor asked, “The plan? The ship?”
“Nonono,” Meq said, “After that, it sounded like a name.”
“Oh, you mean Ahli Ken Kuhtal? It’s where Lux says her source claimed The New Monitor is. Why, does it sound familiar?”
Meq stares quietly for a few seconds. “Oh you have got to be SHITTING ME!”
Meq puts his hands over his forehead, and begins to pace.
“You know something about it, don’t you?” I ask.
“Unfortunately,” Meq said, no longer pacing, “I do. And you’re not gonna like it.”
“Spit it out.” Vor said.
“The place you’re searching for, it’s actually called Ari’Ken’Katel. The name you gave is just how you pronounce it with a Ranovitrian accent.”
“Ari’Ken’Katel?” Vor asks, “That sounds even less familiar. What is it?”
“Ari’Ken’Katel,” Meq says, “Or Ari for short, was an island that was mentioned many times in Ockthain Krivos’ journals.”
“Ockthain again huh?” I ask, “Maybe your connection with this K.O. guy might be true.”
“With this recent development,” Meq says, “I’m thinking that same thing more and more.”
“Keep going,” Vor says, “Tell us about this island.”
“Ari is, from what I understand, the single most inhospitable place in the Overworld.” Meq says, “And that’s saying a lot, believe me.”
“Even more so than Gelidades?” I ask.
“Comparing Gelidades to Ari is like comparing a grain of sand to a desert.” Meq says, “There’s just no comparing them.”
“What is it that makes this island so inhospitable?” Vor asks.
“Geez,” Meq says, “I don’t even know where to start. The temperatures that range in the tens of thousands; the terrain being glacial on one side and volcanic on the other; the unstable magnetic field that prevents all forms of navigational equipment and magic from working; and magic energies that basically prevent all life from approaching.”
“That sounds…. Bad.” I say.
“If you plan to traverse it, yeah.” Meq says, “There’s no way for anybody to travel more than a few feet from the center of the island without dying, brutally.”
“And I thought the name sounded made up.” Vor said, “How is any of that even possible?”
“I don’t know,” Meq says, “Hell, I don’t know if it even is. For all we know, the island doesn’t even exist. It was just talked about in Ockthains journal, but who’s to say he wasn’t just recording his dreams?”
“You think that might be it?” I ask, “Maybe the agent used the name to try and lure us away for a while.”
Vor contemplates for a few seconds, and finally looks up at us. “As much as I hate to say it, we're out of options here. We don’t have any other solid leads on this guy. Getting to this Ari place might be the only choice we have.”
Vor looks back to Meq, “Do you know where this island is?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Meq says, “Though Ockthain claimed that even HE didn’t know where it was.”
“Wait,” I ask, “Are you saying that Ockthain didn’t actually visit this place?”
“I never said that.” Meq said, “Ockthain visited the island many times, according to his journals.”
“If he doesn’t know where it is,” Vor says, “Then how the hell did he get there?”
“That’s where things get… complicated.” Meq says, “We found a device in his lab that, until we found his journals, we were unable to identify. After researching these journals, we believe it is the device he refers to as a ‘flash teleporter’ that can get him to the island through its anti-magic fields.”
“Wait,” I say, “Did you say ‘flash teleporter?’ The agent Jex and I interrogated mentioned that same thing.”
“Which means The New Monitor is getting to this place using that thing.” Vor says, “Has anyone used it while there have been researchers down there?”
“Absolutely not,” Meq says, “We’ve been working for nearly a year now, trying to figure out how to make the damn thing work. No, if anyone had used it since we’ve been down there, someone would have known about it.”
“Then perhaps he has another one of these teleporters somewhere else.” Vor says, “Likely onboard this unknown ship of his.”
“So, what,” I ask, “Is it another dead end?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that,” Meq says, “I’m sure we can figure out how to get the teleporter in Ockthains lab working, if we focused more on it.”
“Any estimates on how long it would take?” Vor asks.
“Honestly,” Meq says, “I don’t know. It could take days, months, years, or even decades. This is high powered Trikash technology we’re talking about here. There’s a chance we won’t even be able to operate it at all.”
“Hmm…” Vor muttered, “Alright Meq, I’ll leave that in your hands. In the meantime, Lux, I’m sending you out to try and locate this ship. Portmasters, traders, fisherman, talk to anyone that might have seen this boat.”
“Understood.” Meq says, “I’ll get to work right away.”
“Roger that.” I say, “Just tell me when and where.”
===Part 3===
Its been almost a month since I set out to look for the New Monitor’s ship, and lady luck has not been my ally. Fisherman, traders, sailors, dock salesmen, and just general people I find on the docks. These people and more are the types of people I’ve talked to, in no less than 4 nations. Even with all of that, I’ve learned literally nothing about this ship. Not even so much as a report of an unidentified object in the distance.
Despite this dry streak, my determination has not wavered. Today, I find myself standing on a dock in Krolesk, talking to one of the fishermen.
“I’ve seen fish that don’t swim right, professional sailors crashing into rocks, and islands that seem to disappear. I’ve seen all sorts of mysterious, maybe even unexplainable shit out in those waters, but nothing along the lines of an out of place ship lass.” He says, “You got any details about it that I could go off of?”
“I don’t, sorry.” I say, “But thank you for your ti-“
Before finishing my sentence, I’m interrupted by an incredibly loud ringing sound. It doesn’t sound natural, and it feels like its echoing inside of my head. It’s a feeling similar to when Tethris used that sound magic on us.
I cup my hands over my ears, and fall to my knees, no longer able to stand. I look up at the fisherman, but he doesn’t seem to hear it at all. All his face shows is concern, and it looks like he’s trying to talk to me, but I can’t hear him. Just what is this sound?
“…ca…..hea…..nec.…..ba..”
I feel like I hear someone talking, but I can’t tell if it’s getting drowned out by the noise, or is cutting out.
“Wha……t now….n you…..me now..”
The talking happens again, this time more clearly. I still can’t make sense of what I hear, but I know now that I definitely heard talking.
The ringing suddenly stops.
“Testing testing, hello hello.”
“What?” I ask out loud.
“You ok lass?” The fisherman asks.
“If you can hear me, cough.” The voice in my head says.
I let out a quick cough.
“Next, I want you to hold your right hand up in the air, with every finger except your index facing up.”
I do what the voice says.
“What’s gotten into you lass?” The fisherman asks, “Have you gone mad?”
“No, I’m fine.” I say, “It’s just…. Nothing. I’ll be going now.”
I turn around and walk off, with the fisherman protesting for me to come back. I walk down the road a little, and slip into an alley.
"Ok, Ill admit it. I cant actually see or hear you, so I can't tell if you did either of those things or not. I'm just going to assume you can hear me, so I’ll get right down to business. I’m sure you want to know who I am, and what this whole voice in your head deal is. Well if you want the answer to those questions, then head back to base."
I recognize the voice now, its Meq. I guess that means he figured something out with the teleporter. With this in mind, I quickly connect back to base, and start the teleport.
“There she is!” The fisherman from before shouts, “Theres the mad woman!”
Oh you’ve got to be kidding me; I hate this god damn country! A guard comes around the corner, and starts walking towards me. However, he stops just a few feet short of me.
“What the?” He asks, “What the hells going on with your forehead?”
Shit, I forgot that I had my mask off. My teleport glyph to get back to base is on my forehead, but it’s usually covered up by my hair. I guess my hair isn’t thick enough to hold back the glow of the glyph activating. Well whatever, the teleport connects, and suddenly I’m back at base.
I turn to Vor’s office, and see that he’s the only one in there.
“Good, you’re back.” Vor says, “Now get in here, we have things to discuss.”
I walk into his office, and notice Zel leaning against the wall.
“Well its about time.” Zel says, “I was starting to get bored.”
“Sorry for the delay,” I reply, “I ran into some… annoyances in Dawnguard.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” he says, “I was there during the Monitor Invasion. Was not a fan of the locals.”
“Are you done?” Vor asks, “Because if so, I would really like to get down to business.”
“Yeah,” Zel says, “sorry, Vor.”
“Good, now on to the matter at hand.” Vor says, “Lux, did you find out anything of use?”
“Unfortunately, no.” I reply, “But considering what little we were going off of, I can’t say I’m all that surprised.”
“Indeed,” Vor says, “Well that is unfortunate. Fortunately, however, Meq contacted me with news that he got the teleporter in Ockthain’s lab working. With that in mind, Im sending you and Jex down there. Consider Meq to be your captain for the duration of this assignment. Any questions?”
“No sir.” I say, “I’ll start getting ready immediately.”
Vor nods, and I turn around and leave the room. I walk downstairs and into my forge, but find that Zel had somehow made it there before me.
“How the hell did you get in front of me?” I ask, “You know what, never mind. Stupid question.”
“I won’t be joining you on this assignment,” he says, “but I came to give you a gift.”
He tosses a bow at me, I catch it, and begin to look up and down it. Its extremely high quality craftsmanship, and the stock seems to be made out of Black Tanglewood.
“I made that bow a while ago,” he says, “but never got around to using it. If what Vor told me is true, and that you really cant use magic on that island, then I feel that bow will help you out a lot more than your typical glassed bow.”
“Wow,” I say, “thank you, Zel. I’ll be sure to put it to good use.”
“You better.” He says, “I’ll be going then. Good luck out there.”
“Thanks,” I reply, “and you as well.”
He nods, and begins to walk out of the room. He brushed past me as he was leaving.
“Don’t die out there.” He says, “Or I’ll never forgive you.”
I turn around, but he had already left the room. I smile, and walk over to my weapon rack. Zel’s right, it would be better to use high quality gear over my typical glassed gear. I grab my armour, and manually put it on. I can’t remember the last time I actually put my armour on, I had gotten so used to teleporting it onto me. I grab 2 diamond swords, 2 quivers of arrows, and a dozen throwing knives.
I’m not used to carrying all of this gear on my person while fighting, but it shouldn’t slow me down too much. I run a quick check, just to make sure I grabbed everything I might need. I guess this should be enough, time to head out.
===Part 4===
So, this is Ockthains lab huh? Ive gotta say, its really not what I was expecting. I was expecting to find a cave with a few machines scattered around, maybe with some empty tubes along the wall, and a portal frame for the teleporter. Instead, I find myself standing in a massive cavern, with ornate walls covered in lapis and quartz, a massive vat covered in ice, complex machinery surrounded my research tables, and even a second story with glass walls overlooking the cavern. Whoever this Ockthain guy was, he really knew how to make his lab stylish.
But this is no time to be gawking at old ruins, I need to find Meq. I start to walk around, noticing dozens of researchers from various nations, but no sign of Meq.
“Oh good, you made it.” A familiar voice says. I turn around and see Jex walking towards me.
“You’re here too?” I ask, “I guess that doesn’t surprise me. Wheres Meq?”
“Hes over by the teleporter,” he says, “Come on, I’ll show you.”
Jex leads me to the other side of the complex, and Im greeted by a large door identical to the entrance. We walk through, and I find myself in a large, spherical room with a large contraption hanging from the ceiling. I notice Meq; currently disguised as his alter ego Tabarinth Savegaze; hanging on the side, fiddling with something.
“Shes here, Savegaze.” Jex says, “Is everything ready up there?”
“Shes here?” Meq asks, “Excellent, I’ll be right down.”
Meq fiddled with the strap holding him up, and fell to the ground.
“You took your sweet time.” Meq said, “Scenic route?”
“You could say that.” I reply.
“Well theres no time to waste.” He says, “Let me give you the rundown.”
Meq walks over to the wall, where a whiteboard is set up. Theres a lot of scientific stuff drawn on it, which I assume has to do with getting the teleporter working. Meq clears the board, and begins writing. Or drawing, it kind of looks like both. After a minute or so, he steps away from the board. On it is a large circle, with the right half coloured in blue, the left half coloured in red, and a large circle in the center coloured in green.
“Alright, this is a rough map of what the island looks like.” Meq says, pointing to the drawing.
“That’s…” Jex mutters, “Veeery helpful, but do you think you could give us a few more details?”
“I wish I could,” Meq says, “We don’t actually know what the place looks like, We’ve only seen a brief description.”
“But back on topic,” Meq says, “Half of the island is made completely out of ice.” He points to the blue half, “While the other half is comprised of a bunch of volcanoes.” He points to the red half. “Finally, theres a small area in the dead center of the island where its survivable.” He points to the green circle in the middle.”
“The teleporter should bring you in right at the dead center of the island, in the survivable area.”
“When you say survivable,” Jex says, “Does that mean everywhere else will kill you upon entry? How does it do that?”
“Temperatures are…” Meq mutters, “Well, at levels that you would think I’m just making shit up.”
“Try me.” Jex says.
“Alright,” Meq says, “The glacial half is estimated to be around -10,000 degrees, while the volcanic half is estimated to be around 7,500 degrees at lower elevations, and around 20,000 at higher elevations.”
Jex and I stare at Meq for a good few seconds. He was right, those number sound made up.
“How is that even physically possible?” I ask, “What could POSSIBLY be on that island that can cause temperatures that… extreme?”
“I don’t really know,” Meq says, “But Ockthain was under the impression that it had to do with the unique magic energy emanating out of the island.”
“Magic energy?” I ask, “What kind of magic energy?”
“You may have noticed the 2 tanks filled with red and blue materials on the way in,” Meq says, “Theyre both filled with samples of each side of the island.”
Meq starts pacing, “The red energy, which I’ve started calling Meltdown Energy, is a semi gasous energy that causes anything it touches to melt.”
“Anything?” I ask, “And how does it work? Does it sink in and melt things like black energy?”
“As far as I know, yeah, it can melt anything.” Meq replies, “As for the how, no, its nothing like that. It doesn’t sink in, it doesn’t weaken as it works. It simply melts anything that touches it.”
“The other energy, which I’m calling Glaciate Energy, does the exact opposite.” Meq says, “It causes anything it touches to freeze."
“But theres more then that. Meltdown energy will always rise up when left to its own accord, while glaciate energy will drop down. Considering the fact that hot air rises and cold air descends, we believe these energies to be pure heat and pure cold in an energy based form.”
“And you think these energies are what’s causing the radical temperatures?” I ask.
“Preciesly,” Meq says, “but Im sure you don’t want to hear about any of the science of this island. You want to know what you need to do, and how to do it.”
“I wasn’t going to be rude by saying anything,” Jex says, “but yeah, what do we need to do.”
“Well,” Meq says, “Your mission is obvious, and already known to you. Find this New Monitor, and bring him in. While its not required for him to be brought in alive, I suspect a bunch of people will want to talk to him. So if you can take him down without killing him, that would be perfect.”
“As for how to survive, that where things get... complicated.” Meq says, “Since the island’s temperatures on either side are impossible to survive in, getting around might be difficult. Its possible that whatever base he might have set up there is situated in the center, where its survivable, but my gut tells me hes out on the outer island. Traversing it IS possible, however, with the help of Ockthain’s special suits.”
“You mean that big robot-lookin thing they made me drive earlier?” Jex asks, “Cause that thing was pretty hard to use.”
“Yeah, exactly that.” Meq replies, “Those suits are capable of withstanding the worst temperatures on either island. Well, with the apparent exception of an island in the northwestern corner of the island. But if Ockthain wasn’t able to get there, I doubt this New Monitor could either.”
“So you want me to drive the 2 of us around the island in one of those things?” Jex asks, “And hope that we find him there?”
“Yes, precisely that.” Meq says, “That is, if there are still any around the teleport point.”
“Wait,” I ask, “You don’t actually know if there are any over there?”
“Well, no.” Meq says, “but Ockthain made it sound like he built a bunch, just in case one of them broke down. Hopefully there should still be one there.”
“What about the one that’s here?” Jex asks, “The one they taught me to drive with. Can’t we just send that one over?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Meq says, “While I figured out how to get this teleporter working, I can’t use it at full capacity.”
“In a language we can understand, Savegaze.” Jex says.
“It means I can’t send in anything more than 2 people.” Meq says, “And even then, I can just barely manage that.”
“So you’re sending the 2 of us in,” Jex says, “Praying that this guy is either at the center of the island, or there are still some of these suits left in a survivable environment. This doesn’t seem like a very well thought on plan, Savegaze.”
“Its not.” Meq says, “It’s really not, but it’s all we have. This is exploration into territories that man has never had any experience with. If there was something else I could do to help assure your victory, I would. But unfortunately, theres nothing else.”
Jex sighs, “Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but I’m still willing to try it. What about you, Lux?”
“I’m in.” I say, “I didn’t walk all the way out here for nothing but a science lesson, after all.”
Meq stares intently at us. “Are you entirely sure you want to take the risk? Not only can I not guarantee you’ll be able to do this, I can’t guarantee the teleporter will actually get you to where we want it to. I can’t guarantee that you’ll even survive the teleport process. And even if you do survive, and the teleporter does get you there, I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to make it back. With all of these factors in mind, are you still willing to go? I wouldn’t blame you if you walked away now. Nobody would.”
I look up at Jex, and think for a good second.
I turn back to Meq, “Yeah, lets go. We put our lives on the lines with a lot of no guarantees all the time. Why would this be any different?”
“Spoken like a true Unknown Soldier,” Jex says, “I’m still in as well.”
“Well you can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Meq says, “Alright, guess we should do this before you change your minds. Go stand over against that wall.”
He points to the wall opposite the door, and we walk over and stand against it. Meq climbs back up onto the side of the teleporter, and starts fiddling with it.
“A few more questions.” I say, “Are we the only 2 getting sent over?”
“No,” Meq says, “We can only send 2 at a time, and the teleporter takes 10 minutes to recharge, but we can send more. Tov and I will be coming in behind you, but you’ll have to wait 10 minutes before we get there. If you want to sit and wait for us, you can, but you can also just go ahead of us.”
“Alright, good.” I say, “Last question, how do we get back?”
“Ockthain built another one of these teleporters on the other side,” Meq says, “When we’re all finished over there, I’ll send us back with it.”
Something on the sides of the teleporter lights up. “Alright, almost ready.” Meq says, “Just remember, you won’t be able to use any magic on the other side, so you might want to get any gear you plan to use ready now.”
I brought all of my gear with me, and Jex already has all of his daggers hanging from his belt. I think we’re ready.
“Alright, we’re good to go.” Meq says, “Gonna need you two to get a little closer together.”
We both shift over, to the point that our shoulders are brushing against each other.
“Closer,” Meq says, “Like, give each other a hug.”
Well this is going to be awkward, but we do it anyway. Jex is a good foot taller than me, so my face is buried in his chest. Oh GOD he’s cold, and his heartbeat doesn’t sound right. Are all shade mages like this?
“Tighter,” Meq says, “Act like you like each other.”
We squeeze tighter, to the point that it feels like hes crushing me.
“Alright, that’s good.” Meq says, “Hold on tight.”
I turn my head enough that I can see the teleporter, but it doesn’t look like anythings changed since the sides lit up. Is it going to take a long time to charge or something? Because I don’t think I can sit in this position all day.
“Good luck,” Meq says, “And godspeed.”
The crystal on the end of the contraption facing us suddenly lights up, and in less than a second, the scenery was changing around me.
==Act II==
===Part 1===
My body was NOT ready for that. Not even a second had passed since the teleporter lit up, but I suddenly find myself in a completely different environment. Every part of my body is shaking, aching, and generally freaking out.
I pull my mask up partially, and vomit. It looks like Jex had the same reaction.
“That was..” Jex mutters, “that was… that was…. Wrong. That didn’t feel natural.”
I nod in agreement, not even able to speak. I remember we were in potentially hostile territory, so I immediately put my guard up and look around. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone else here, good. Wait, I feel something… an aura.
My senses take over, and I quickly turn around while drawing my blade, to find it intercepting a hostile blade. I look at the assailant, and find an extremely emotionless, very simple looking face. There is absolutely NO emotion in his face whatsoever, he’s completely bald, and his face has almost no defining features. He almost looked… basic.
I push his blade back and quickly swing across his chest. He drops his blade and goes down. I take a closer look at my surroundings, expecting to find someone else. But this time, I think it’s safe to say there’s nobody else here.
“Well, at least we seem to be in the right place.” Jex says, “He even has guard dog.”
I observe the room around me, taking it all in. It’s a large, very circular room, with high ceilings and windows wrapping all the way around. Apart from a second teleporter sticking out of the ground pointing towards a standing wall, the place seems to be empty.
I walk over to one of the windows, and stare in awe at what I’m seeing. An extremely flat, green ground in front of me, with large mountains that seem to be made out of pure ice in the distance. There appears to be a river separating the mountains from this island.
“Well, that definitely fits the description,” I say, “But what about the other side?”
I walk over to the window opposite me, and am met with an equally shocking sight. Massive, bright red mountains dominate the landscape, once again separated from this island by a river. I see multiple ash clouds rising up along the mountains. So, those must be the active volcanoes of the volcanic half.
“I think it’s safe to say we made it.” I say, “Now for step 2.”
“Step 2 might be a problem.” Jex says, “It doesn’t look like there are any suits around here.”
I look around again, and see that he’s right. The inside is extremely empty, and there are no suits to be seen.
“In that case,” I say, “I guess we need to wait for Meq and Tov. Maybe they’ll have another way to get around.”
Jex nods, and walks over to the eastern window.
“Uuuh, Lux.” Jex says, “You might want to see this.”
“What is it?” I ask as I walk over, “Did you find a-ooh…”
I see it now, I hadn’t noticed it before. On top of one of the glacial mountains, there was a large tower jutting out of the ground.
“Now I’m not a betting man,” Jex says, “But I’d bet my left kidney that that’s his base.”
“I don’t think I’ll take you up on that.” I say, “Because you’re probably right.”
Well, at least now we know where to start looking. But considering how we have time, I look around more, taking in the landscape. It really is beautiful, especially in that mysterious and questionable sort of way. Upon closer inspection, I see now that the glacial half is covered by thick clouds, with heavy snowfall and strong winds. I guess the temperatures are affecting the weather, so I wonder what the other side is like.
I walk to the other side, and gaze up at the sky on the volcanic side. Instead of thick clouds, the sky over the volcanic half is blanketed in thick ash clouds, which are really keeping the light down. If not for the lava falls dotting the mountains, they would probably be impossible to see.
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of stone breaking. I turn around to see Jex backing away from the opposite wall.
“What was tha-“
My sentence was cut off by the eastern door blasting open. Standing in the now gaping hole was a large metal construct, which looked almost identical to the one back in Ockthain’s lab. The only difference was the ice coating it.
“I think we just found our ride.” Jex says, cracking his knuckles.
Let’s hope these things weren’t designed for combat. Jex claps his hand together, but looks down after a few seconds.
“Ah shit.” Jex says, “Force of habit, forgot I can’t use magi-OH SHIT!”
Jex dives out of the way as a large metal arm smashes the ground where he had just been standing. I pull out my new bow, and draw an arrow. This will be difficult, I can’t break the glass windshield or damage the body. The construct turns to me, and begins charging. For a big hunk of metal, that thing can run pretty fast.
I dive out of the way, and it barrels past me. The construct isn’t able to stop in time, and crashes into the wall. Unlike last time, however, the wall remained intact, and the construct fell on its back. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jex charging towards the construct, and he jumps on top of its head.
“I’m taking your ride.” He says, “No hard feelings.”
Jex grabs a piece of metal under the windshield, which causes air to hiss out of the sides. The windshields lifts up, and Jex pulls the driver out.
“You again?” Jex asks, “Man you’re persistent.”
Jex stabs the driver, and tosses his body to the side. I walk over to the body, and find… The exact same face as the man I killed earlier. How did that guy survive? Never mind that, how did he get outside and grab this construct?
I peek over to where his body had been, and see it’s… still there. Wait, we have 2 bodies here that look EXACTLY the same? I guess they’re twins or something.
“Why are you staring at corpses?” Jex asks, “We’ve got people to see, and places to destroy.”
He’s right, we should get moving. I walk over to the construct, and peek inside. The cabin is pretty big, easily big enough to fit the 2 of us in. I wonder if Meq and Tov could squeeze in together though…
“Let’s go,” Jex says, “Burnin’ daylight.”
Jex suddenly crabs my collar, picks me up, and pushes me into the bottom of the cabin.
“That wasn’t necessary.” I say, “I could have done it myself.”
“Yeah,” Jex says, climbing in the cabin, “but my way was faster.”
The inside of the cabin is spacious enough that it isn’t tight, but it’s kind of awkward to sit down when the chairs are on their backs.
“Buckle up kiddo,” Jex says, “This might be a little bumpy.”
Jex flips a switch, and the windshield closes in front of us. The temperature inside suddenly changes to a more comfortable level.
“Alright baby,” Jex says to the control panel, “Let’s see what you’re made of.”
Jex pushes the throttle forward, and the construct suddenly stands up, and walks towards the hole in the wall. Once again, I’m surprised at how quickly this giant hunk of metal can move.
“Say your prayers New Monitor,” Jex says, “The cavalry is here!”
The construct walks through the hole in the wall, and begins walking towards the river. I see now that the river isn’t frozen, which is odd. With temperatures this low, there should be no way that the water can stay water. Oh well, science isn’t my field of expertise.
As we approach the river, I start to feel an uneasy feeling in the air.
“Looks like you’re finally starting to feel it.” Jex says, “That heavy feeling in the air.”
“Yeah, I can.” I say, “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” Jex says, “But I’ve been feeling it in my veins since we got to this island. Maybe it’s because we’re venturing further out into the so called ‘unstable magnetic field.’ Could just be our bodies adjusting to it.”
“That would make sense,” I say, “Let’s hope it IS that, and not something worse.”
The construct stops at the edge of the river.
“So… what now?” I ask, “Do we look for a bridge?”
“Fuck that,” Jex says, “We’re swimming.”
“WHAT?!” I shout. I forgot that this was a pressurized cabin, so my voice echoes painfully.
“You think you could, I don’t know, NOT kill my ears?” Jex asks, “But yeah, these things float in water.”
Metal that floats? What the hell kind of futuristic bullshit is this?
“Are you sure about that?” I ask, “That doesn’t seem physically possib-WHOA HOLD ON!”
He cuts me off by suddenly walking forward, and the construct suddenly plunges into the water. We sink like a rock, sliding down the edge of the island.
“Why would you do that?!” I ask, “Isn’t it obvious that metal does float?”
“Huh, guess they lied.” Jex says, “Oh well, this isn’t so bad.”
News flash buddy, it IS bad. The water is so dense that I can’t see anything in front of me, and the construct is still sliding down the slope of the island.
“What are you going to do about this?” I ask, “Because I refuse to die in a metal box at the bottom of a subzero river!”
“Uuuh,” Jex mumbles, “Don’t worry, I can fix this.”
He pushes a button on top of the throttle, and the construct flips over. Great, now we’re descending headfirst now.
“Wait no, that wasn’t it…” Jex mumbles, “Was it… this?”
He pushes a button on the side of the console, which causes the whole construct to shake. It feels like we’re going faster.
“Ahhah!” Jex yells, “I knew it was around here somewhere!”
“What did you just do?” I ask, “Why are we going down faster?”
“Relax,” he says, “I got this.”
Jex pulls the throttle back, and the construct begins to turn upwards. Good, now we’re ascending. After a few seconds, the windshields breaks water level, and I can see again.
“There we go.” Jex says, “I just forgot to turn the feet propellers on before jumping it.”
“Lets… not do that again.” I say. “Just get us to the shore already.”
“Yes ma’am.” He says, and the construct begins to move towards the frozen island.
We reach the shore, and the construct climbs up onto the land.
“Am I good?” Jex asks, “Or am I good?”
“Don’t push your luck.” I say, “And no more funny business.”
Jex nods, and the construct starts walking towards the tower in the distance.
We walk for a good 10 minutes, mostly because the terrain is super steep. Half the time, we’re climbing up using the constructs arms to pull us up. To think that someone had created something like this… It’s unthinkable in our era.
As we get closer and closer to the tower, I start to notice other buildings. They look like hallways jutting out of the side of the mountain, scattered all around us.
“Must be a pretty big facility.” Jex says, “Makes me wonder how the hell they built something like that.”
“They probably used these constructs to do it.” I say, “Or something similar.”
“That was rhetorical, smartass.” Jex mumbles, “Now start looking for a door.”
I look around, following the hallways down the mountain. And then I see it, what appears to be a large set of doors.
“Those look like doors down there,” I say, “Start heading for those.”
“Whoa whoa whoa,” Jex says, “Slow down there. That looks like the front door. What kind of infitrator uses the front door?”
“Considering the fact that we would be dead the instant we opened this thing up,” I say, “And that there probably isn’t a side door, I think this might be the one time we should actually go in the front.”
“Hmm…” Jex mumbles, “Yeah, you’ve got a point. Alright, front door it is.”
The construct turns, and begins making its way down the mountain towards the door. It doesn’t take long for us to get there, and the next thing I know, we’re standing in front of a massive pair of doors built into the side of the mountain.
“How do you think we get this thing open?” Jex asks, “Because I’m not seeing a doorknob.”
I clench my chin and think for a second. The interior is probably designed to handle these temperatures, but I have a hunch that its temperature controlled, just like this construct. With that in mind, we probably don’t want to break the door down. Good thing too, because from the looks of it, we probably wouldn’t be able to.
I start to look around the sides of the doors, trying to find a control panel, or maybe a switch. Wait, I have an idea.
“Get a little closer.” I say, “Maybe they’ll open for us.”
“Why the hell would they open for us?” Jex asks, “Its pretty obvious that we aren’t with them.”
“That’s true,” I say, “But this windshield is really dark. When the other guy was in it, I could tell that there was someone in there, but I couldn’t make out any features.”
“So you think they’ll just open up, assuming were that other guy?” Jex asks, “Well its worth a shot.”
We step closer to the door, and multiple red lights begin flashing above them.
“Well…” Jex says, “That was a bad idea. Guess they figured us ou-“
Much to our surprise, air began to leak out between the doors, and they started to open.
“uuut… Well.” Jex mumbles, “I stand corrected. Good plan, Lux.”
I smile under my mask, and we walk through the doors.
===Part 2===
I wasn’t sure what to expect to find behind the doors, but this… this certainly wasn’t on the list of ideas I had. Behind the first door, there was… another door. Between us and the second door, there was an extremely empty room, with absolutely no distinguishing qualities whatsoever.
“Well that’s one door.” Jex mumbles, “What are we going to do about the other?”
“Maybe get closer to it again?” I suggest, “That seemed to work the first time.”
Jex nods, and walks the construct closer to the second door.
A mysterious voice speaks in a slightly muffled tone above us. “Wait a minute. You aren’t MS203! Who the hell are you?”
“Looks like the found us out.” Jex mumbles, “Now what?”
“Seal the door!” The voice shouts, “Don’t let them escape!”
Immediately, the doors behind us slam shut. Great, now we’re trapped.
“To hell with this.” Jex says. He fumbles with the controls a bit, causing the construct to charge towards the second door.
“Are you insane?!” I shout, “What if this thing breaks?”
“It wont.” Jex says, “That door isn’t as thick as the first one.”
“How can you tell?” I ask.
“I have special eyes.” He replies.
The construct barrels towards the second door, and I brace myself for impact. We crash into the door, creating a large dent.
“See?” Jex says, “I told you.”
“But you only dented it.” I say, “What are you planning to do now?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He asks, “I rip them open.”
“No, that wasn’t obvious.” I say, “The fuck is wrong with you?”
“Oh where do I begin.” He mumbles, “I’ll think about it while I rip these doors open.”
The constructs arms grab the edges of the doors, and the whole cabin starts shaking. I can hear what I assume are the arm’s engines going into overdrive, straining to push the massive weight. To my surprise, the doors slowly begin to open, just a crack. Not quite big enough of a crack for people to slip through, but its progress.
I peer through the crack, and notice multiple soldiers walking towards us.
“When I say go.” Jex says, “Jump forward, and start the killing.”
The crack starts getting wider and wider, but the strain on the constructs arms really seems to be taking its toll. The sound of sparks flying, metal bending, and shit in general breaking starts to echo through the cabin. Jex lets out a loud grunt, and pushes the construct forward into the crack. Wait, the crack isn’t wide enough to fit yet! What is he thinking? The body of the construct squeezes into the crack, and the sound of metal getting crushed is added to the various noises echoing in the cabin.
“GO!” Jex shouts.
Immediately, the windshield shatters, and the two of us dive out. I roll as I hit the ground, come up standing, and draw both swords. I count 24 soldiers; 19 of them lined up in front of me with swords, 5 of them standing back with bows.
What I find unsettling isn’t the small army in front of me, but their faces. Every single one of them had the EXACT same simple, expressionless face as the 2 men at the teleporter.
“Oh GOD that is creepy.” Jex mumbles, “How many people are in this damn family?”
I don’t think they’re all related at this point. They look WAY too identical. It’s almost like they’re all clones of the same person.
I shake my head. This isn’t important right now. Kill first, ask questions later.
Jex and I both charge towards the group, weapons drawn. As we approach, they all raise their blades in perfect unison, while simultaneously taking an identical stance. Seriously, what is it with these people?
At least 6 swords come down on me simultaneously. However, they lack any form of technique, precision, or real force. Even an amateur could avoid these. I casually step back, easily dodging every swing at once. All of their swords collided with each other, causing them to recoil. I casually step forward and cut them all down.
I notice 5 more soldiers in the distance, drawing bows. Once again, they all appear to be using the same stance, and are moving in perfect unison. I won’t have time to draw my bow, so I pull my mask a bit, up to the bottom of my nose. I clench the hilt of my offhand sword with my teeth, and pull out a few of my throwing knives.
Distance: 21m. Wind: none. Obstructions: none. Estimated angle: 84 degrees.
I throw 3 knives, each of which promptly strike their targets in the forehead. 3 down, 2 to go. The 2 remaining archers let their arrows fly; 1 of which Jex intercepts with a quick swing with one of his daggers, while the other hits another soldier in the back. Was he aiming for his teammate? No… that’s not it.
The man had stepped forward, walking into the path between me and the archer. So not only do these soldiers operate in perfect unison, they appear to be extremely… stupid.
No, stupid isn’t the right word. It’s almost like they’re… programmed. Is it some sort of brainwashing? I’ll have to think about it later, we still have more baddies to kill.
It doesn’t take us long to take out the remaining soldiers. Avoiding their attacks is child’s play, and they don’t even try to dodge ours. This isn’t right. After all of that buildup, this is way too easy.
“Am I the only one that found that disappointing?” Jex asks, pulling one of his daggers out of the last soldier.
“I wouldn’t say disappointing.” I reply, “But certainly not what I was expecting.”
“No use pondering it.” Jex says, “let’s move.”
I nod, sheathing my swords. It’s best we get moving anyway. The second door isn’t able to fully close now, what with the construct jamming it. All it would take is opening the first door to suck all of the survivable temperature out, killing everyone inside. We spot a passageway at the end of the room, and start walking towards it.
I take this opportunity to get a real feel for where we are. The architecture is extremely simple, with moderately high ceilings, flat walls, and no windows. The only real decorations are a few supporting columns holding the ceiling up. I spot a few more constructs along the walls, all in working condition. Good, at least we have a way to get out. After that stunt Jex pulled, I wasn’t sure our luck would hold out.
Quite a bit of time passes quietly as we walk through empty hallways. The ceiling isn’t high anymore, but the walls are still the same simple, undecorated design that they were before. I wonder how long it took to build this place. More importantly, how big even is it?
As we approach a corner, I start to feel a presence, a human one. Jex notices it too, as he stops in his tracks. I unsheathe one of my swords, getting ready for a sneak attack. Jex pulls out 2 of his daggers, and inches towards the corner. I hear footsteps now, from 1 person. Good, this should be easy.
A figure walks around the corner, reading from a book, but looks up right as Jex gets ready to swing.
“Wha-“ he mutters, but is interrupted by Jex smacking him in the face with the back of one of his daggers.
“OWW, FUCK!” he shouts, grabbing his face as he falls to his knees. “Who the hell just punches someone in the face like that?”
“Oh look,” Jex says, “This one has emotion. Maybe hes from a different family.”
“God my nose.” He mutters, “I think its broken.”
“Oh, I'm sorry,” Jex says sarcastically, “Would you like some ice?”
“OH YOU THINK YOURE FUNNY?!” He shouts, looking up at us. As soon as his eyes meet mine, they light up in terror.
He lets go of his face, and pushes himself against the walls behind him. Wait, I recognize that face. He's the agent that Jex and I interrogated back in Markkland. But what is he doing here? I thought Jex killed him after I left.
“Wha-wha-wha-wha-what are you doing here?” He asks, “How did you, where did you, why did you?”
“One thing at a time.” Jex says, “First, how did you get away? I locked you up in a cell after we interrogated you.”
“He..” the man mutters, “He broke me out. Probably put a replacement in the cell so you wouldn’t notice. Are... are you going to send me back?”
“That depends on how you answer.” Jex replies, “What do you mean replacement?”
“I told you I was dead,” he mutters, “I told you that he would kill me because I talked. A prison wouldn’t stop him. Nonono, theres nowhere you can hide.”
“Stop muttering.” Jex shouts, “Who is ‘he?’ are you talking about The New Monitor?”
“Ye-yes.” The man replies, “He broke me out, and sent me here. I think… I think it’s my punishment.”
“Where is he?” Jex asks, “And don’t sugar coat it, I’m pretty low on patience right now.”
“Gone.” He says, “He was gone before I got here. He just dumped me here with the rest of the rejects.”
“Rejects?” I ask, “Are you talking about those men we fought at the door?”
“You met them?” He asks, “Are they dead? Did you kill them?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.” Jex says.
“Oh… Oh…” the man mutters, but then looks up at us with a smile. “Thank you. Thank you for freeing them from their suffering.”
“Suffering?” Jex asks, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“They…” he mutters, “They were all failures. Early models. Something went wrong. Faulty memories, certain organs not working. They were imperfect. They couldn’t help him. He sent them here, along with me.”
“Early models?” I ask, “You make it sound like they were manufactured.”
“Oh, they were.” He says.
“Ah, I see.” I say. I think for a few seconds before it hits me. “Wait… WHAT?! What the hell do you mean they’re manufactured?”
“Artificial humans.” He says, “Born with only the memories to fight and follow his orders. It took time, many were failures. The failures taught him how to correct it. New soldiers are stronger, faster. Feel no pain, don’t hesitate. Can use high tech weapons. Terrifying.”
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Jex asks, “Start speaking proper Tavrosian. You’re starting to sound like a Skith.”
“Sorry,” he says, “Can’t think right. Proper language, unable to process. Brain doesn’t work well when scared.”
“Hold up.” I say, “Don’t tell me you’re one of these ‘artificial humans’ too?”
“Me?” he asks, “Oh no, I’m not. I’m just an ordinary human, who he forced to work for him. I’m just a little traumatized by our… last meeting is all.”
“Quit changing the subject.” Jex says, “You said he’s not here. If not here, then where?”
“I don’t know.” He mumbles, “I mean that sincerely this time.”
“You’ve calmed down.” Jex points out, “What happened to all of that fear?”
“I’ve gotten comfortable around you.” He says, “I know you won’t actually kill me, black ma-“
Jex shoves one of his daggers into the wall next to the man’s head. “Call me that again, you little shit. I dare you.”
“S..Sorry, sir.” He mumbles, “I’ll be good.”
Jex pulls his dagger out of the wall and stands back up. “Last question. What is this place?”
“I don’t know.” He says, “A prototype. Of what, I don’t know. But it seems bad. Very bad. I suggest you blow it up.”
“Hah.” Jex says, “You’re finally speaking sense. Which way to the control room?”
“That way.” He points down the hallway he had just come from. “It’s a bit of a ways away. But if you just follow this hallway, you should get there no problem.”
“Thanks for the help.” Jex says, “Now for the immediate question. What to do about you?”
“Do whatever you want.” He says, “I don’t really care anymore. Besides, I can’t get out of this place on my own. Kill me or let me live, I’m a dead man either way.”
Jex thinks for a good few seconds. “I see no reason to kill you now. I’ll let you live. Head to the hanger bay, we can probably take you with us when we leave.”
“Thank you, sir.” He says, “I think I’ll do tha-“ Hes interrupted by a sudden beeping noise. I look down and see a light flashing on his belt.
“Oh dear,” he says, “I don’t think I like where this is going.”
Every instinct in my body starts screaming out at once ‘DANGER.’
I instinctively grab Jex’s arm, but he got the same idea. We both start running down the corridor as the man behind us suddenly explodes.
The heat of the explosion passes over us, but is almost immediately replaced by a sudden cold. My brain processing goes into overdrive, as I look back to where the man had been sitting in slow motion. I see snow in the air, and mountains made of i…OH SHIT!
===Part 3===
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT! This couldn’t possibly get any worse! How is a wall that’s capable of withstanding temperatures tens of thousands of degrees below 0 able to break so easily?! Damnit, I don’t have time to think about any of this! I need to focus all of my brainpower on RUNNING AWAY!
Jex and I both immediately started running away from the hole as soon as we saw it, but it’s pretty clear we were too late. With a hole in the wall exposing the outside, the controlled temperature in this room is dropping at an unprecedented rate. It’s only been a few seconds, but I can already feel parts of my body shutting down. Are we really going to die here? Inside an enemy fortress, quickly becoming ice sculptures?
No, I can’t live with that idea. I absolutely refuse to die here! I keep pushing forward, even though every limb in my body is telling me it can’t move. Only a few seconds pass before I stop feeling, but it feels like hours have gone by. Oh, what’s this? Everything suddenly turned sideways, and I think I’m leaning my face against the wall. Wait no, that’s not right. Did I fall? I can’t tell at this point, nothing is responding.
In the distance, I can see something. I’m pretty sure it’s the hole that just blew open. Wait, that’s not it. This isn’t a hole, it’s just a wall covered in ice. Oh, what’s that now? A red light? Is that the light at the end of the tunnel I always heard appears when you die? Strange, I always imagined it would be white. Huh, where’d the light go? Something else popped up in my vision, I think it’s another wall? I don’t even know what’s going on anymore, nor does my brain have the capacity to think about it.
Aah, that feels better. I can feel my body suddenly warming up, and my feelings returning. Does this mean I’ve already died? Is this heaven? Strange, it looks exactly like the place I was just in. Wait… is it?
I sit up and look around a bit. Yeah, this looks exactly like the hallway we were just in. The only difference is that there’s a wall where the way we came from was. What’s going on? Am I dead or not? I hear a rustling sound next to me, and look over to find Jex laying a few feet away. He’s on his chest, and appears to be unconscious.
I start to hear footsteps behind me, and instinctively slide a throwing knife into my hand. I peer through the reflection on the knife blade to see behind me, and notice a figure walking towards me. Even if I am dead, I can’t take the chances that this guy is hostile. I quickly flip around, throwing the knife at the figure.
The figure swipes his hand, sending the blade upwards.
“Whoa there tiger,” the figure says, “Calm down, it’s alright now.”
That voice sounds familiar, yet… different. It’s partially muffled, kind of like the one that echoed in the entry hall when Jex and I came in.
Now that I’m staring at the figure directly, I get a real look at him. He’s a somewhat tall man, and he appears to be wearing some sort of full body armour. It’s almost like Tov’s, but… not quite armour. It looks more like a thick suit now that I look at his closer. On his head is a large helmet, which seems to be connected to the torso of the suit. What the hell is this guy wearing? And for that matter, who is he?
The figure suddenly puts his hands on the sides of his head, causing steam to burst out from the neck of his suit. The helmet folds up, revealing the figures face.
I should have guessed as much, there isn’t really anyone else it could be.
I found myself staring at the face of Meq.
“Are you alright, Lux?” He asks, “It was pretty touch and go there for a while.”
“I…” I mutter, “I don’t really know. I feel tired, and every inch of my body aches. But I feel like I should be… much worse.”
“You feel like you should be dead, I take it.” He says.
“Couldn’t have said it any better myself.” I say, “I don’t even want to know how my body survived in that temperature for any length of time.”
“Well,” Meq says, “Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t. But as I’m sure you could guess, this island isn’t really capable of normal circumstances.”
“I guess that makes sense.” I say. My brain suddenly reminds me.
“Jex!” I shout, looking down at him. “Wake up! Say something!”
“Cold…” he mutters, “so… cold…”
“Oh get over it,” Meq yells, “Quit sulking and get up already.”
“No sympathy for the dying?” Jex asks, “I guess I’m not hallucinating. You really ARE Meq aren’t you?”
“The one and only.” Meq replies, “Now quit talking and get up.”
Jex pushes himself up into a sitting position, but doesn’t seem to be trying to stand.
“Well?” Meq asks, “We’re waiting.”
“Yeah uuh..” Jex mumbles, “That might be a bit of a problem.”
“Oh what is it now?” Meq asks, “Are you too tired and you want to take another nap?”
“Heh, if only it were so simple…” Jex mutters, “No, its not that. I can’t feel my legs, at all. I don’t think I’m going to be able to stand like this.”
“Oh son of a…” Meq mumbles, “Whatever, give me your arm.”
Jex raises his arm up towards Meq, who promptly pulls him up and wraps Jex’s arm around his shoulder.
“I’ll only help you for a bit.” Meq says, “It shouldn’t take long for your legs to recover, after all.”
“I think we have other matters to discuss, Meq.” I say, “Like how you got here, and what the hell you’re wearing.”
“I can answer both of those at once, actually.” Meq says, “I got here BECAUSE of what I’m wearing. I like to call it a PCCE, or Personal Climate Controlled Exoskeleton for short.”
“So, what, like a wearable version of those constructs?” I ask. “Where did you even get something like that?”
“Funny story…” Meq mutters, “One that I’ll tell you as we walk.”
That’s probably a good idea. I stand up; wrap Jex’s other arm around my shoulder, and start walking.
“So as I was saying,” Meq says, “Tov and I got here right on schedule, about 10 minutes after you guys left. When we got here, we were greeted by a 2 strange men wearing these fancy suits. Naturally, they pulled out weapons and charged; to which we responded accordingly. The 2 of them are currently unconscious and tied up back at the teleporter. Tov and I figured out what their suits were, put them on, and now here I am.”
“Wait, if that’s the case.” I say, “Then where the hell is Tov?”
“We split up awhile back,” Meq replies, “We found the control room to those entrance doors that you… broke. There were a few screens inside showing images of you 2 talking to some guy that was leaning against a wall, when he suddenly exploded. You both collapsed, but a wall fell between you and the hole that the explosion made shortly after. We weren’t sure if you 2 had survived, or where you were, so we split up to look for you.”
“So you don’t know where he is now?” I ask.
“Unfortunately, no.” Meq replies, “But knowing him, he’s probably already at that weird spinning tower thing at the top of this place.”
“Wait, spinning tower?” Jex asks.
“Yeah, spinning tower.” Meq replies, “Don’t tell me you 2 missed it on your way in? A big ass tower on top of the mountain, had a spinning thing on top of it?”
“We saw a tower like that,” I say, “But there wasn’t a spinning thing on top of it. In fact, it was completely still.”
“Oh…” Meq mutters, “Well, that’s a bad sign.”
“That guy we were talking to mentioned that this place was a prototype of some sort.” I say, “Are you thinking that the tower is the heart of a weapon or something?”
“Something like that, yeah.” Meq replies, “And if it’s spinning now, but wasn’t when you 2 came in…”
“Then it’s likely charging up.” Jex mutters, “I guess that means we don’t have any time to waste.”
Meq and I both nod, and start to pick up our pace.
===Part 4===
A good few minutes pass silently as we walk through empty corridors. Jex’s legs had been dragging for the most part, but now they’re starting to match a few of our steps.
“I’m getting feeling back in my legs.” Jex says, “You can let me go now.”
“Good.” Meq says, “I was getting tired of carrying you.”
We both let go, and Jex starts stretching his legs.
“Alright, good to go.” Jex says, “Let’ ge-“
Jex is interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind us. A LOT of footsteps. We all turn around, quickly drawing our weapons. Meq, who doesn’t seem to have any weapons, takes up a stance, like he was getting ready to pounce. In the distance, I can see at least a dozen figures. They all appear to be wearing black, but I can’t make out any features from this distance.
The figures come into view, and I finally get a good look at them. They’re all wearing suits identical to the one Meq is wearing, with the addition of large gauntlets. The gauntlets are what catch my attention, as they appear to have all sorts of tech wrapped around them.
The soldiers line up in 3 rows, and all simultaneously take up identical combat stances. So, more artificial humans. However, these ones appear to be better equipped. Maybe they were the ‘newer models’ that the agent had mentioned.
No time to think about that, time to fight.
Meq and Jex both charge, while I stand back and carefully aim my bow. That suit they’re all wearing seems to be pretty thick, need to aim for a weak spot. Right there!
I let my arrow fly, its headed straight for a thin spot of armour on the helmets cheek. However, just before it hits, another soldier raised his hand and blocked the arrow. As the arrow hit his gauntlet, blue lightning courses through the cabling on the outside. What the hell are those gauntlets? And how do they produce lightning without magic?
I ready another arrow. Colour me intrigued, this New Monitor has some interesting toys up his sleeve. Meq and Jex finally reach the soldiers, and begin hacking away. Unlike the soldiers at the entrance, these ones appear to be intelligent. They’re blocking, dodging, and intercepting blows with incredible efficiency. Enough that even Meq and Jex were having difficulty landing a blow.
On top of that, every time they swung their fists, blue lightning bolts shot out, singing Meq and Jex even when they dodge. I can’t just stand here thinking about it, I need to start shooting!
A few minutes pass, but we’re still making little progress. I’ve slipped a few arrows in, Jex has slipped a few shanks, and Meq has landed a few high powered kicks. We’ve managed to take down 3 of the soldiers, but the rest are showing no signs of fatigue, nor are they reacting to the blows we’ve dealt to them. That agent was right, these newer models ARE terrifying. Hmm… I wonder if these ones can talk. Doesn’t matter, keep killing.
A few more minutes pass, I don’t even know how many at this point. We’ve managed to take down half of them now, but we’re starting to get worn out. Jex is down to 6 daggers, I’m almost out of arrows, and Meq’s kicks are getting weaker. What the hell is going on here? We’ve fought larger, tougher groups of enemies before, but we’ve never gotten pushed back like this. How the hell can you even create an artificial person that can act like this?
I stopped keeping track of time, but now we’re down to just 1 soldier. I fire my last arrow, which manages to strike the soldiers cheek. He goes down, and we all stop to catch our breath.
“Man that was tough,” Meq says, “Where the hell did this guy find soldiers that skilled?”
“Apparently they’re artificial.” I say, “However that works.”
“Artificial people?” Meq asks, “Hmm… so this guy has more of Ockthain’s research then just this island. That’s bad, very bad.”
Meq shakes his head. “We can go into those specifics later. For now, pull a suit off of these guys and put them on.”
Jex and I both nod, and start to pull the suits off of the dead soldiers. Despite their design, function, the suits were relatively to take off and put on. There were a few latches that released multiple connecting layers, allowing us to partially climb into the suits.
Good, now we won’t have to worry about the island’s conditions. It might be a good idea to remember this spot. I get the feeling we might be coming back to this island when all of this is over, so having some extra suits lying around would be beneficial.
“We’ve wasted enough time here.” Meq says, crossing his arms as if to show off his new gauntlets. “Let’s move.”
Jex and I both nod, and we move forward. Only a few minutes pass before we find ourselves greeted by a massive metal door.
“Well this looks different.” Jex mutters, “Think this is the place?”
“Almost certainly.” Meq says, “Now lets find a way to get it open.”
We all start searching the door for anything related to a knob. From what I can tell, there isn’t anything of the sort. Not even a panel, or so much as an obvious hinge. How the hell do we open this thing?
“I might have an idea.” Meq says, “Not sure if it’ll work, but its worth a shot. You might want to stand back a bit for this.”
We both step back. Meq pulls something out of… I don’t even know where. He clutches it in his hand, so I cant get a look at what it is. Meq slams his hand against the door and… nothing.
“What was that suppo-“ My sentence is interrupted by ice suddenly covering the door.
Part 5
Is this some sort of trick? Is it some sort of hidden science-y thing that those gauntlets can do? Or is this really a case of Meq using magic on an island where you CAN’T USE MAGIC?
Whatever the reason may be, ice is quickly spreading across the surface of the door. Within about 30 seconds, a space just large enough to fit a person had been frozen.
“You uuh..” I say, “You want to tell us how you did that?”
 “Its simple, really.”  Meq says. He holds out his hand, which is clenching what looks like a glyph chip. “I just happened to find one of the few forms of magic that work here.” 
“I thought all magic was null on this island.” Jex says, “How the hell did you bypass that?”
“Theorizing and field testing.” Meq replies. “I figured that the reason magic wont work is because of the 2 radically different energies crashing into each other. So I had the thought, ‘what if I make a glyph out of those energies?”
“I take it you used the ice energy in making that glyph?” I ask.
“Indeed.” Meq replies, “Though I will say, Im a bit surprised it actually worked. I figured the black energy in it would interfere with its ability to function.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I say, “Now how do you plan to use this to get us through this door? I don’t think covering it in ice will really do much.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Meq says, “I didn’t cover it in ice, I froze the door itself.”
“I find that hard to believe.” I say, “But I’m open to being proven wrong.”
“Well alright then.” Meq says, “Would you two mind standing to the side for a minute?”
Jex and I both step aside, and Meq walks past us. After getting about 20 feet away from the door, he turns around, and takes up a running stance. He kicks off the ground, launching himself towards the door at high speed. Just before reaching the door, he jumps, pushing his leg out towards the door. His foot collides with the frozen section of the door, causing it to shatter.
He vanishes through the newly made hole. Well I’ll be damned, that actually worked.
“You alright in there?” I ask, “That looked like it hurt.”
“Oww.” Meq says, “I wasn’t expecting it to fight back that much. I’m ok though!”
Jex and I crawl through the hole in the wall, and I start to take a look around. If this isn’t some sort of control center, I have no idea what is. The room itself is a large sphere, with pipes and various bits of machinery scattered around. What really catches my attention is the strange construct in the center of the room. It appears to be a massive spherical object, suspended in the center of the room by pipes connecting to it from the top and bottom.
“Now I may not be a betting man.” Jex says, “But I feel like we’re underneath that tower right about now.”
“I agree.” I say, “and I get the feeling that that sphere in the center is some sort of power supply.”
“Or the core of functionality.” Meq says, “Whatever it is, we need to shut it down.”
I agree, the only question is how. I look around for anything that looks like a control panel, but I honestly don’t see anything like that. Where could it be?
“I think I found something over here.” Jex says from across the room. I walk over to see what he’s talking about, but I don’t really see anything noteworthy.
“What did you find?” Meq says, “I don’t see anything different.”
Jex points up to the sphere. I follow his finger and see…. Oh. On the side of the sphere, I see a small pad. It appears to have multiple buttons on it, but… Well its broken. The whole thing is smashed in, with a few sparks crackling between the buttons.
“Do you think that maybe turned it off?” I ask.
“It doesn’t look like it.” Meq replies, “That sphere is still making noise.”
“So… what?” Jex asks, “Do you think we should break it?”
“I would advise against that.” Meq says, “For all we know, it could explode. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be around a potential superweapon when it blows up.”
“So what do you suggest we do then?” I ask.
“Hmm…” Meq mumbles, “Maybe we…”
His sentence is interrupted by a sudden loud noise. Following the noise, I feel… different. Its like… an incredible weight is lifted off of my shoulders. My body suddenly feels incredibly calm… though I hadn’t realized that there was anything wrong with it before.
“Oh shit.” Meq says, “Did either of you feel that?”
“Yeah,” I say, “What do you think it was?”
“They just stabilized the magnetic field.” Meq says, “I think that means this machine uses magic and is ready to fire!”
“Wait, does that mean we..?” I snap my fingers, and a small fireball appears over my index finger. I was right, we can use magic again!
“Wait,” Jex says, “If so, do you really think its about to fire?”
As if on cue, the sphere begins making an incredibly loud noise, and steam starts to spew out of the pipes surrounding it.
“Fuck it!” Meq shouts, “Smash it!”
I decide not to argue. I notch a few arrows, coating the tips in lava. I guess it’s a good thing I brought a few glyphs. I had a hunch the anti-magic field might not have been absolute, good to see I was right.
We all start bombarding the sphere. Its coated in lava, impaled by black spikes, and constantly getting blasted with high powered force. Even with all of this, however, the sphere doesn’t appear to be getting dented in the slightest.
“Hit it harder!” Meq shouts, “Everything you’ve got!”
As if on cue, A figure climbs through the hole in the door. He appears to be wearing one of the suits that we’re wearing, but hes huge. Theres no doubt about it.
“Tov!” I shout, “Phenomenal timing!”
Tov looks up at the sphere, and seems to get the hint. He charges towards it, jumps, and smashes the sphere with his fists. I’ve seen Tov punch things before, he could probably dent metal with his bare hands. However, his punch didn’t seem to do anything either.
He jumps down, landing in front of Meq. Tov holds up both of his palms, creating a white sphere in each. Wait, is he making 2 crash glyphs at the same time? Is that even possible?
As if understanding his intention, Meq holds both of his hands out towards the spheres. They start filling in much faster, and in a matter of seconds are full.
“Go get ‘em.” Meq mutters.
Tov clenches both of the crash spheres, once again charging towards the sphere in the center. He jumps up, smashing the sphere with both fists. After a second or two, he is surrounded by a bright white light, which vanishes a few seconds later. With the light gone, the sphere dents dramatically, bending most of the pipes connected to it. However, even with a dent that big, it still seems to be running.
Or at least, so I thought.
After a second or two, holes start to burst in the pipes, with more popping every few seconds. One of the pipes starts blowing steam, but… the steam is falling instead of rising.
“I think it would be a good idea to run now.” Meq says. “Unless you want to start melting.”
What does he mean? I figure it out almost immediately. The falling steam hits the ground, which begins to instantaneously freeze. Wait, does that mean?
“Those pipes are full of the energy from each side of the island.” Meq says, “I don’t want to be around when they collide with each other.”
I don’t think I want to either. Not only that, but the sphere looks like its about to explode.
“Ok, yeah.” I say, “Time to go."
Without further comment, we all start running back towards the door. We climb through the hole, and charge down the corridor. As we run, bits of the floor start breaking, steam coming out of the cracks made.
"Masks on!" Meq shouts, putting his suit's helmet on.
I take my helmet out, and set it over my face. I dont really know what to do next, is there a button I press to make it unfold? I fumble around looking for one, but Meq reaches over and taps the side of my mask. Immediately after, the mask began unfolding, and latched itself onto the collar of my suit. The inside of the mask briefly echoed with the sound of air compressing, its likely the suit airlocking itself. I wonder where it keeps the air to breathe...
Oh well whatever, I charge through the rising steam, and the suit seems to stop the energy from melting anything. I let out a sigh of relief, so these suits do work.
A good few minutes of running passes, but we suddenly find our path blocked by even more soldiers wearing these special suits. They all simultaneously raise their arms, their gauntlets crackling with that same blue lightning. However, before we reach them, steam breaks out of the floor beneath them, and they all take a step back. Their suits are hodling back the energy, so why are they stepping back?
"Everybody stand back," Meq says, "I've got a theory."
He aims his open palm at the ceiling above the soldiers, and a blue bolt shoots from his palm, hitting the intended target. However, all it did was break a bit of the ceiling off, no real damage. What was the point of that?
I find my question immediately answered by mist falling down through the hole in the ceiling. It hits the ground, causing the stone to freeze over. It slowly slides outwards, approaching the soldiers, who are still just standing there.
"GET BACK!" Meq shouts. We all take a bigger step back, as the mist comes into contact with the steam.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I saw was even more terrifying than I could imagine. As soon as the mist hit the steam, the stone around it quickly began breaking apart, spreading outwards. In the spot where the steam and mist collided, I could see the air flickering, as if it couldn't handle what was going on. The spread of the vanishing ground reached the soldiers, and I watched as their bodies; suit and all; disintegrated into nothing.
"TOV!" Meq shouts, "BREAK THAT WALL!"
Tov immediately smashes a hole in the wall next to us, making a hole big enough for us to fit through.
"THIS WAY!" Meq shouts, "GO GO GO!"
We all climb through the hole in the wall, and I find myself outside, with snow falling on my head. Meq doesn't stop with climbing through the wall, and books it in the opposite direction. We all follow him, and I risk a glance back. The corridors that were sticking out of the sides of the frozen mountain before were disintegrating all over the place. I looked around for the tower, but it was nowhere to be found. Did smashing that sphere cause the base of it to disintegrate?
I guess I have a lot of things to think on later, once we get out of here. We haven't stopped running, but the ground around us wasn't disintegrating anymore, so that was a plus. Once we had put a large distance between us and the base, we all stopped to catch our breath.
"Well," Meq says, "That was a total disaster."
"Could have been worse," I say, "We could have been caught up in that disintegration."
"You have a point there," Meq says, "but even so; we didn't locate the target, we found no leads on the target, and any trace of evidence we could have looked over just... disintegrated."
Meq takes a look back at the base. While I can't see his face, I could feel his disappointment.
"We can discuss it more in the report." He says. "For now, lets just get out of here."
None of us argue, and we start making our way back to the central island.
==Aftermath==
While the mission itself was considered to be a failure, there were several revelations and perks that came with the results
*With the flash teleporter to Ari'Ken'Katel now operational, several representatives from multiple nations began to explore the island.
*The only part of the fortress that survived was the entrance hangar, with 4 of the large constructs left operational.
*Having recovered several of The New Monitor's PCCEs, research into their operation and potential reverse engineering of them began shortly after.
*Having recovered a single pair of the strange blue lightning shooting gauntlets, research into them also began shortly after.
*Whatever it was, the construct on Ken'Ka was destroyed. Those that knew of it hoped it would be a significant setback to whatever The New Monitor was planning.
==Epilogue==
This part of the story is told from the perspective of The New Monitor
May 9th, 96 AE
Three days. Its been three days since it happened, but word is only now getting to me. It seems my information network is growing much more slowly than I anticipated. No matter, it is not my primary concern. Nor is the fact that my fortress on Ari was completely obliterated by the Varren. I am curious to see what they're thinking with that whole ordeal. If only they knew that it was simply a prototype, one I no longer had any use for. Their antics haven't set me back in the slightest, but I'm sure they think I would be scrambling for a solution, maybe in hiding while I build my resources back up. It is no matter, my plan is proceeding on schedule. It shouldn't be long now, I'd estimate maybe 4 more months until its ready.
...It might be better if I stop writting down my thoughts on paper like this. It helps me remember, sure, but I do live near some humans. Maybe its time I look for alternative means of remembering...
I feel a prescene behind me, and I immediately stop writing. Theres no mistaking this feeling, I don't even need to turn around to know who it is. My eyes turn to the handheld flash teleporter sitting on my desk.
"I was wondering when you would eventually find me." I say, "Honestly, its shocking it took you this long, Na."
I turn around, confirming my suspicions. Standing in the doorway is none other than my younger brother, Na. Well, thats what I call him anyway. Unfortunately, he never really responds to that name, instead opting to use a false name. Touger Vazen. As usual, his face is relatively expressionless, but I can feel the hostility in his gaze.
"Since you haven't killed me yet," I say, "I assume you're willing to listen?"
Na gives me a cold glare, but does not reach for his sword. I assume he wants me to go on.
"I don't know how much you already know." I say, "But I'm just going to assume you know nothing. Nothing about my goal, my plans, or any of the details pertaining to either."
Na continues to glare at me.
"I can see you're not willing to waste any time," I say, "I understand, you're a busy man. No need to explain it to me. With that in mind, I guess it would be better to not waste time with idle and unnecessary chatter. Therefor, I will be brief."
"What I want isn't glamourous, unclean, or anything overly complicated. It doesn't involve overly complicated steps, behind the back actions, manipulation, or even the cooperation of those it affects. The victims won't need to be any the wiser for it."
I can feel the glare intensify. I guess I won't be able to buy any more time with unnecessary details.
"Don't misunderstand me," I say, "What I want is no different from what our master, and father wanted. I realized a long time ago that both The Monitor and Ockthain were right, humanity is indeed a species worth maintaining. They can accomplish great things in such a short time, I mean they managed to conquer the entire dimension in less than one of our lifespans. It is because of what they can accomplish that I want to save them."
I look back down at Na, now completely serious. "But I now know, that is no longer possible. Humans are also stubborn, stuck in their ways. But theres more than that, they're greedy, selfish, and don't care about the consequences of their actions, so long as they get what they want."
"Look at them now, Na." I say, sweeping my arms out for visual effect, "Look at what theyve accomplished in the last few centuries alone. All they've done is fight. Sure they've fought to defend themselves from those we consider the enemy; but above that theyve fought themselves. All they can think about is violence, all they can do is kill each other, and all they will ever do is bring themselves down."
"Tell me I'm wrong, Na" I say, pointing at him, "Tell me humans aren't stuck in their ways of violence. Except you can't, can you? After all, you saw it first hand 2 years ago. When we offered them salvation from this curse of violence, they greeted us with hostility. When we offered them the chance to redeem themselves, and make a turn for the better, they stepped forward and butchered us. When we showed them what peace looks like, and offered them the chance to finally know it, did they take it? No, they met us with nothing less than revolution."
I catch my breath, but I can't stop here. "Violence and murder isnt something they have a reputation for regularly partaking in, Violence is a part of their very way of life. Sure, they can say they kill each other for things like their sense of greed, their desire for power, hell even their attempts to carry out their own version of justice. But we both know that isn't the only thing they want. No, those are just what they tell themselves to try and justify their own actions. Its like they know its wrong, but they just never give up on it. Because they never CAN give up on it, because violence is a part of who they are. You could even say its one of the things that defines them as 'human.'"
I take a few seconds to catch my breath. "Don't take my distaste for their violent tendencies as giving up on them. On the contrary, its because its violence is the main thing holding them back that I truly do want to help them. But it was made abundantly clear to me, 2 years ago. Humans will never change. They will never shed their need for violence, no matter what we do. We could try again and again for centuries, but I doubt we would make any leeway."
I look back at Na. His expression has not changed the entire time I've been talking. "So if we want to fix a problem that cannot be fixed," I say, "the only logical course of action would be to start fresh. If we can't change them now, why not start over? It isn't entirely outside of our power. Look at us as proof. We are, in most ways, genetically considered human. The only real differences between us and humans: we live longer, and we don't feel many of the things they do. If we wanted to, we could go back down into our father's lab, create more advanced versions of ourselves. Human in every way that makes them human, with the exception of violence."
"As for the humans that already live," I say, "We can't just let them hang about, they could teach our new humans about violence. Therefor, I see no other action than a complete purge. Wipe every human off the face of the Overworld, leaving no survivors. Only when this world has been completely purged of the current infection of humans, can we truly grow fresh, can we truly begin again. Only this time, we start it off right."
I hold my open hand out to Na. "Now I ask you one question, brother. Will you help me? Or will you too be stuck in your mindless ways of following the man who couldn't do what needed to be done?"
Na's face shifts to one of disgust. "It is not our power, or his wishes, to commit GENOCIDE!" he shouts, grabbing the hilt of his sword.
I lower my hand, and give a light smile. I look down at my left hand, now clutching the handheld flash teleporter I had grabbed while talking.
Na begins to unsheath his blade, and lunges at me.
Category:New Voldrania Category:Story