Chapter 10-20 Daemon (II)

Chapter 10-20 Daemon (II)

Did you plan all this?

Hm?

Killing the Bloodthanes and caging Nu-Scarrowbur in with the compromised golems. Jhred Greatlings psychological compromise. The ghoul taking too long to kill him. The arrival of the Highflame Cadre

[Laughter] Planned for all this? No. I have but a desired destination, but the paths that are offered to me are myriadever and always. Truly, this turn of events is as surprising to me as it is to you.

Then how

Because you think the future is a structure to be engineeredyou see a thing in terms of analogy and simile. A construct of fate, perhaps. I see it for what is.

And what is it? And what the fuck is your Heaven other than absolute proof that fate

Do you believe you have free will?

What?

Because you do. Its powering our Souls. Its the reason why I see paths and not a path. Its why Im putting up with this boring, boring conversation with you right now. Presently, you are destined. You are destined as you have been since I noticed yousince I gave you a destiny, pruning away all the path-ending obstacles while feeding you all the soft meat like the helpless little bird you continue to be. In this measure, the only thing that can be said is if there is a fate for everyone, it is because I made it so.

...Wow. Before I met you, I thought I was the single most narcissistic half-strand in this city.

I am not a narcissist. I am but a simple gardener, and there are so very many paths to prune, seen and unseen. Such as oh, what a delight! Abrel Greatling! Sister to Jhredour poor patsy. Hmm. [Temporal Distortion Detected] Very well, I have fixed matters. I am away to indulge in Suncloud now. Do not bother me for the next nine hours for I will be dead across most that duration from repeated overdoses.

[Temporal Distortion Detected]

What? What the hells did you just do? Zein? Zein? [DAEMON DETECTED] Zein! What the fuck did you just do! Shit. Aegis? Hyperwave, now! Patch me through to Sunrise. Zein did something again.

-Zein Thousandhand and Cas eldCanduir, Ninth Column

10-20

Daemon (II)

CLASSIFICATION: SPHERE III [EST. 881 THAUM/c]

->STRIDER UPON THE HIGHEST, FALCONESS OF THE SLAIN COMET

CLASSIFICATION: SPHERE III [EST. 459 THAUM/c]

->[HEAVEN TEMPLATE: AEGIS OF TIDES]

Heavens bared, two Highflame Godclads descended from on high, their ontological weight pressing down on all that was. The block groaned to the symphony of crackling glass. Blood ungrasped by Avo shivered and rose as steam. Feet away, the alloy pylon groaned and bent. An eldritch force wriggled and wore the concept of light itself, the intensity of the radiance like a thousand knives gliding across Avos plates.

Chambers howled a yelp and threw himself behind the ghoul. Essus held up his hands, his implants screaming as unseen edges carved sparking grooves into his metal.

Of Avos group, only he and Draus stood unshaken, the former pleased with his weight advantage, the latter long-used to dealing with the eldritch and no longer burdened by shock.

Invoking his Woundshaper, Avo maintained the haemokinetic links enchaining him, Draus, and Mirrorhead as conduits to a limited network. Slowly, he reached out for three more signatures as well, slipping from within blood and matter to loop in Essus, Chambers, and the Shadowcrawler.

Holding his hands out slowly, he did nothing to provoke an assault while the two new unknowns did nothing to pursue one. He wondered if Zein had plotted thisif this was another one of her schemes unraveling into more schemes, or if she merely failed to foresee this path as she did the Incubi.

As with all things Zein, anything was possible.

+Aghhh!+ Chambers screamed mentally as well as physically, clutching his bleeding nose. +I think the light took the tip right off me! Fuck! My nose! My nose is the best thing about me. Other than my ears and my eyes andoh, Jaus fuck Im blind too fuck me!+

+Chambers, be quietDraus,+ Avo said, flicking over the necessary mem-data to incriminate Jhred as Zeins patsy, +know what Heavens these Clads got?+

A dissonant sensation ground across her mind. Her helmet had closed around her face just in time to spare her what Chambers suffered. It was like her bio-rig was fending off the dull blades of an omnipresent blender. +No idea what the hells the Strider is. Must be some new shit they cooked up. Aegis though Yeah, I fought along that series. Give those to the Newsouled just out from Atraxis. We got a rookie on our hands.+

Avo grunted. Possibly exploitable.

GHOSTS: [11565]

The ghosts transferred into Jhreds mind as the Guilder moaned. Considering the condition of his Metamind, Avo was effectively stuffing an open wound with foreign flesh. With a sweeping motion, the cutting brightness slashed across Avos cordyceramic plates before slipping off him and cleaving into the surrounding infrastructure, plascrete bursting apart; plasteel wailing as lines and new markings lined the metal.

Suddenly, the world wasnt so blinding anymore. Looking up, Avo gazed upon the revealed visages of his two unexpected guests.

Past the Guilder, Essus eyes were fixed on Abrel, his body frozen stiff as if he didnt know how to respond.

+Essus. When the dark comes. Jump into it.+

The father looked at Avo. First mistake. And then he gave a reflexive, tentative nod.

Second mistake.

Abrel caught the action and her eyes narrowed. She gestured down at her visor. Your auditory implants. Turn them off. She sighed. Take your helmet off first.

+Chance shell recognize you?+ Avo asked.

Draus went still. +Pretty high.+

Alright. Use Jhred it is then.

Enough of facing unexpected requests. It was time the turn this interrogation in on itself.

Injecting suggestions whispered by hastily infused ghosts, Avo brought Zeins incriminating memories to the forefront. It was time for a false confession.

Confused and lost beneath the collapsing structures of his own mind, Jhred began to cry uncontrollably, choking on the rain as Avos fake memories suffused all that was missing.

Jhred, Abrel said, swallowing to keep her own unbalance in check. Jhred. Get. Yourself. Together. You have shamed our family enough. Jhred? Do you hear me?

I did it, Abrel, Jhred said, his voice a maddened howl. I did it for mother. I dont know I cant remember why but I I did it I killed those peopleour people.

His sister went very, very still. What?

The golems and the traffic and the killing up topI did it! I dont remember how, but I did it! I made I made our own people go to war against each other! I I Avo withdrew his suggestions and let the mania burn itself out in Jhred. The Guilder was mostly impulse now. Impulse and emotion. Thoughts were slippery things to his grasp.

Abrel shook her head. You no. She shot an alarmed look over her head at the distantly floating Aegis and whipped back around. No. You didnt. You couldnt haveyoure a fuck-up, Jhred Greatling! A fuck-up. I know youI love you but you dont have the skill or the will to do this. She hissed a jagged breath. Suddenly, she realized she had lost control of herself in front of complete strangers. Her face went ice-cold.

Someone altered his mind. Was it you? Any of you? She asked Draus.

Draus shrugged. Were just dumb street squires, Higher. Aint no Necros among us. Besides, aint no sensible Necro willin to stick their head out in the open oror leave their mark half nulled. Thats just lack-preformance.

Avo shot her a glare from the corner of his eye as he reached down to pick Jhred up.

I changed my mind, Abrel said, her harsh voice slipping out just behind him. His Echohead chittered startled, and he realized she had closed the gap between them in a near instant.

Even Draus seemed taken aback. +Girls got some high-end augs cookin in her.+

Aside, Abrel said as she pushed past him.

Avo obliged. He diverted his focus to groping around the shadows using his connected golem, looking for fragments of glass. He cursed himself for being so total in his destruction, so willing to liquefy matter. He could direct it along a detour to where the walls of glass once stood. Better chance hed find what he needed there, but the risk was greatthe movement of the Shadowcrawler would be

A lance of pure light punched down from above, plunging through the darkness of his Shadowcrawler and outright evaporating through a hundred more feet. Shadowcrawler's link vanished. Around them, all forms of darkness began to bubble anomalously, twitching free from the bodies they were bound to as blood and debris sank into their depths.

Avo felt his flesh sizzle from the sudden spike in heat, hissing reflexively as he threw up his hands and guarded his eyes. It stung like a fusion burner did from a hundred feet away.

Both Essus and Chambers shared in his pain, crying as their flesh bubbled and boiled as well.

Only Abrel and Draus gave muted responses.

At least until the Regulars breath hitched. +Shit. Avo. Up. Third Clad.+

He looked up at the same time Abrel did, both of them catching each other in the act.

Directly overhead, masked by curtains of encroaching rain, what looked akin to a shrouded dawn bloomed beyond the haze, a swirl of obsidian spheres dancing around it.

It had been looking down, and it had spottedor felt the Shadowcrawler somehow.

He glanced at Abrels face again, and he saw her pupils dilate, saw her eyes widen.

An unseen force solidified around him via the vectors of falling rain. A swirl of light built around Abrel, falcons flaring free like exhaust from her elbows and ankles. Above, a needle of flame speared atop his scalp like sinking pain. Firing his Celerostylus, Avo snarled as he conjoined himself with his blood

Only for a bell to chime from inside Drausringing out in an echoing tide as it struck him. Zein somehow unlatched from his very being, tearing free from his ontology and beating all four other Godclads to the draw.

Her glaiveso fast Avo couldnt perceive it even with boosted reflexeslicked out a dozen blows, all of them overlapping as her form flickered.

Impossibly, Abrel spilled apart into partitions of spraying gore. Two distant screams sounded in unison as the rain suddenly broke and the heat vanished entirely, waves of cold rushing in. The Aegis split into two and through the last droplets of its falling rain, fell embers followed by a bifurcated corpse.

Zein appeared next to him, shaking her head as she hummed with amusement. I must admitthe cadre was beyond my anticipation as well. But not anymore. She turned to him and smiled thereafter, her form a temporal ripple upon the rushing torrent of time itself. Let us count those kills as but one. A moment of reset for the coming battle to be more favorable.

And then, as the streams of existence began to unspool from her being, her eyes flashed as if she suddenly noticed something. Glancing out at the horizon beyond the clearing rain, Zein frowned.

Ah. A closed-loop. Well-made. A pity what must occur. She gestured up to the sky itself. A demiplane is caging you right now, and I will break it for you. This is two. Eighteen left. Make these chances count. And seize the chance to kill the daemon. Captain Draus still needs her Frame, you know.

To accentuate her point, she blinked over and struck Draus over the back of the head. Keep him in check next time. Gloat after you secure your prey. She reappeared next to him.

Before Avo could ask Zeinor her avatarwhat was happening, she flickered next to Jhred and overlapped her Meta with his. The last words, before she vanished out of existence, were spoken thusly in mind and sound: Vent.

The Guilder obeyed. Avo dove out of the way. Light speared out from his being like a prismatic scythe, cleaving through matter but spraying gouts of Soulfire free upon contact with the rain. And then, the gouts exploded free into a supernova and diluted themselves into structures near and far.

All that was glass began shattering and tearing free from its anchors; all that bore the nature of reflection broke loose and twisted space itself into knots.

Reaching out with his Heaven, Avo manifested the Woundshaper as he pulled Draus and the others into the embrace of his being before whatever might follow rendered such an act too late.

It was a wise decision.

Then, space itself shattered apart like glass as a Frame-shaking screech tore across existence like nails upon chalk, and through the fissured flesh of reality, Avo fell.