Draith
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Chapter 105 - Actually Needed
🕑 Added 2025-05-20 14:00:11 +0000 UTCWith the wheel separated from the rest of the rollerbug, it was light enough for Selvi and the other Tethered to take back on their own. They might have to stop to recharge, but I figured it was worth getting our prize back to Inertia while Calbern and I investigated the source of the mushroom cloud. The others weren’t as durable as we were, and other than Selvi, would be more of hazard than help.
Not that I told them that.
Once they were in the air, Calbern and I flew south towards the bunker and the new mushroom cloud.
I'd been expecting some form of super ant or other heavy duty machine that had smashed its way through the stone.
Instead, we got a twisted landscape of torn metal and debris.
Nothing was moving, so, after circling several times, we descended.
The bunker, which had seemed so solid, was gone. Mostly. All that remained of the seemingly durable structure was a few scattered supports and a hinge for a door I'd never noticed. Everything else had been scattered for half a mile along the bottom of the new crater.
Beneath where the bunker had laid, I could see the tunnel leading down into the depths of the mountain, the angle steep and the stone floor far too smooth.
"Think there's more of them down there?" I asked as we set down in the crater where the bunker had once been.
"That is a certainty, master Perth. Though whether they remain active, I cannot say," Calbern said, detaching the Pedal rod from his glider, kicking it into an entirely unnecessary spin. "However, I believe it worth investigating."
"Hmm," I said as I pulled out my grimoire and channeled Detect Mana through it. A moment later, the spell activated. There wasn't much to read in the destruction, other than a faint amount of Alloy essence. At least, I thought it was Alloy essence. The dark greyish essence wasn't one I'd seen on its own, as it was so valuable that it was almost always worked into magical items of one sort or another.
Mainly cause it allowed the merging of other essences without the breakdown that was so common in most low cost magic items. Which is where it got the name. I'd never seen a spell with such an essence, though that might've been because it didn't have as much use in an active spell. Combined affinity spells were already possible without adding an extra essence just to complicate things.
Either way, the traces were so faint, I was barely able to gather a few grams of the metal the essence was attached to. Back west, in Arcadia, those grams would’ve been worth a couple thousand Thorns. Wasn’t sure what the market was like in Spellford, but I was sure it wouldn’t be cheaper.
Even if nothing else worked out, the Alloy essence made the morning a worthwhile diversion. Plus blowing up over a dozen rollerbugs had helped me work out some of my worry.
With the Alloy collected, I looked towards the tunnel. The dark tunnel that led deep into the mountain, with no ventilation I could see. Deciding I didn't want to chance toxic gas causing us to pass out, I covered Calbern and I with the same air Shield I'd used to dive off Mount Aeternia. Fresh air was fresh air.
With a press of my mana I created a multicolored orb of my essence affinities to light our way and we descended into the tunnel. While the entrance to the bunker had barely been wide enough for a single one of the rollerbugs to pass through, the tunnel was more than twice as wide. Every step we took, we were pressing against a constant pressure, the air from below whipping past us on its journey upward. Maybe this was the ventilation shaft.
The thought made me glad I’d thought to use the Shield.
We made it a few hundred feet when we came across the first of the ant-like machines. It had been crumpled from behind, smashed against the first turn in the tunnel. It was impossible to tell what had done so. It was equally impossible to tell if it had been traveling up or down the tunnel.
Passing by it, we continued our descent. The farther we went, the more of the rollerbugs we passed.
Neither of us spoke though we did share a lot of glances. The tunnel continued at a perfect angle, before bending back on itself every so often. The bends were again, perfect, at a smooth ninety degree angles.
After nearly ten minutes of walking we reached a set of doors. They hung open. Beyond them the stillness of the tunnel was finally broken. The faint echo of repeated thudding reached us. As we moved closer, I realized my orb of mana was no longer our only light. Above, in broken lines of twisting script, orange radiance spilled forth.
Letting my orb fade, we both took a moment to allow our eyes to adjust.
"A most disquieting place," Calbern whispered, his voice softer than even the distant thudding.
"Yep," I agreed, not quite as quietly.
Deciding I could spare the extra drain for a little while, I cast Hush on both of us as we moved through the doors. It was like stepping into a whole new world. The thudding that had sounded distant a second before was suddenly loud enough to shake my teeth. The gentle orange glow we'd allowed ourselves to adjust to became bright enough to make me feel like I was standing under the noonday sun back on our old tin roof.
Calbern recovered before I did, pulling me back out the door.
The sudden lack of sensation was nearly as disorienting as the original overwhelming experience of stepping into the room. As I turned to look at Calbern, I realized I couldn't hear him over the ringing in my ears.
Casting Restore Form, I barely caught Calbern saying, "-was rather unpleasant."
"Bit of an understatement there," I said, shifting my gaze back to the room. "Did you see what that was? It was too bright for me to make out anything and all I can see from here are those scripts on the ceiling."
"There were several items of note, though I too found it rather overwhelming. I suspect my body can withstand it better due to my increased vigor. Perhaps we should delay entering until you can supplement our strength with your spells. Would your Shield spell suffice?"
"I mean, I've been working on a variant for noise, just cause I've been working with Inertia so much," I said, pulling out my grimoire. "Won't help with the light though."
"I believe you will be able to adjust, given sufficient time," Calbern said, laying his hand on the edge of the door. "And if not, I can retrieve you once more."
"Fair ‘nuff," I said, squatting down and flipping through my grimoire. I grimaced as I realized I hadn't quite finished the spell. I'd only worked out the new components I'd needed, the fun part, then decided I'd finish the rest later when I actually needed it.
And now I actually needed it.
Grumbling under my breath, I pulled out my scribing pen and enough silver dust to finish the task, the heavy wind blow past the entire time. Which meant I needed nearly twice as much dust as I’d planned.
Calbern patiently watched over me, using his body to shield my work as I spent the next fifteen minutes scribing the remainder of the modified first Order spell. Once I got back, I intended to check with Keeper for a second Order version of Shield. Suspected such a spell would let me do a lot more with a single cast. And much as I enjoyed spell design, it was easier to swipe bits from other people than to build them from scratch.
Once I finished the new spell, one that should filter both air and sound though it would offer no actual shielding, I nodded to Calbern. Once I cast it on him, I asked, "How's it feel?"
He opened his mouth in response, but, of course, I couldn't hear him.
Doubted he could hear me either.
Instead, I gave him a thumb's up and motioned towards the open door.
Nodding, he led the way, pushing the door open and took a single step inside. He stood there for a moment. Only after he took another step forward did I follow, subjecting myself to the flashbang like effect.
Thankfully, the new spell held, and the bang part of the equation was mostly negated. I could still hear the faint thudding, though it was the only sound outside my little bubble.
Even with Eagle Eyes it took nearly half a minute before my eyes adjusted to the brightness. Around us, piled in neat stacks, was the refuse from the surface. As we moved deeper, the stacks changed in composition. Once we were a few dozen stacks in, the random materials were sorted into rough categories, the tar removed by a new version of the Rollerbugs. These were larger, with two wheels on the outside and a multitude of arms hanging slack between them. Most of those arms had tool-like attachments at the end, though two ended in simple graspers. More like a rollerbuilder than a Rollerbug.
Whatever had blown out the bunker seemed to have taken them offline at the same time. Unlike the hundreds of smaller Rollerbugs, there was only a single pair of these larger sorting rollerbuilders. To the sides, previously hidden behind the piles, were massive assembly lines. Like the rollerbugs, the massive factory was frozen in place, partially assembled Rollerbugs hanging in the air by little more than chain or claw.
One of the rollerbuilders had frozen up in the middle of spraying one of the bundles with a hose full of some sort of solvent, which had the effect of washing away everything except the stone and metal through giant grates in the floor. Even as we edged past there was still liquid dripping from the end of the large nozzle.
At the far end of the room sat a set of steps, rounded like a collapsible funnel sawed in half and pushed up against the wall. Atop those steps sat a throne of shifting gears and blades. And atop that throne sat a figure much like Keeper, though with several striking differences.
Its eyes flared orange instead of violet as we stopped before the lowest step, though it was possible that was simply the light of the room. What wasn't just a trick of the light was the metallic coating that encased every part of the being. Instead of two massive horns, it had one, though there was evidence that it had once borne two, since the right side still had the jagged broken remnant.
The tongue was exactly the same, the black surface flicking against glistening teeth as we both stopped at the stairs leading up to it. Like the factory around us, I’d thought it frozen before I saw it flick its tongue.
"So, my brother spoke true," the being said, its voice having a much deeper tone than Keeper's. It took me a second to realize what it meant for me to be able to hear it over the sound of the thudding that filled the room. A shiver passed down my spine at the thought of what its voice would've done to me if I'd approached it unshielded. I had so many questions for the being on its throne, but before I could choose one, it continued, "A nugget of newly forged potential stands before me, alongside a die long miscast."
It lifted a hand to its chin, the other clicking against its throne. And I suddenly realized… that little motion, the continuous striking of a single finger… that was the source of the thudding.
"So… unrefined one," the being said, its hand suddenly stilling as it leaned forward. "Why should I not simply kill you and claim the legacy of Aeternia for myself?"
Comments
Jason Hardman
I realised that I picked up a few typos in the previous chapter to this, but got distracted and forgot to post them. I might re-review later if nobody has picked them up since.
Munirah Hutchinson
These creatures are definitely not from the world. They were summoned or made much earlier than any of the living dragon souls based on their vibes. This is gonna be so interesting
Jason Hardman
TYFTC! Typo: before bending back on itself ever so often. -> every so often.
