Chapter 10-25 Fate Denied (I)

Chapter 10-25 Fate Denied (I)

Hello, Vincintine. Please put the gun down. Youll only delay this conversation by an hour. It takes some time for me to get into a different body.



Hmm. This smell. I know you I know you



I have a favor to ask. I made your nightmares go away some years back. I didnt ask for much then. Im not going to ask for much now.



Right Citrus man. I dream about you sometimes, you know. But I gotta ask. Howd you get in? This place isnt [laughing] Not exactly publicly accessible.

Same way anyone gets anywhere. Knowledge, and enough time. Your guards are sleeping. The golems attacking your districttheyre being driven by the Low Masters. I can help you stop them.



...Just like that? Just for free?



No. Not for free. I need a favor. I need you to help me do something. Are you going to put that gun down?



Talk first. Well see how I feel after.

-Exchange between Walton and Vincintine Ripperjack Javvers

10-25

Fate Denied (I)

The fires encasing the three golems dimmed, and with light bleeding like a trinity of dissolving stars, the machine anchoring the divine revealed their shells.

Layered in rounded armor, their design seemed more like armored knights melded upon a wheel of gleaming gold. Plates of armor were fused around a central cross-shaped cockpit, and in each each limb there seemed to be a jutting emitter that resembled the look of a lance.

They each were no longer than twenty feet wide and thirty feet high, but Avo felt the touch of something sophisticated in their make as they entered the closeness of his Frame. There was something of breadth to their thaumic nature - sophistication in the unseen architecture that he didnt feel in either the Galeslither or the Sangeists.

As the first golem drifted close, it halted ten feet away from him. Avos haemokinetic wreathe coiled as he prepared to siphon the necessary mass from his environment to fully realize his Woundshaper. Unlike Abrel, the machines gathered before him held form in matter. It would not take much from him to see their dissolution.

Arcing missiles struck down from on high as clouds of rising ash spread across the district. Entire blocks burst apart as threads of light danced and scattered into blasting shockwaves. Three buildings were melted into a molten rod before being fired into the sky at something unseen beyond all the smoke.

Nu-Scarrowbur was coming apart at the seams. People were dying. And that the center of it all, the stormtree remained untouched. Certain portals along its rising stretch were closing one after another, but most still remained open. Avo wasnt sure how the tree functioned, but with how scattered the Stormtree and Scalper forces were spread, and how he found himself only faced with three golems, there didnt seem to be much worry on the part of the locals to protect the namesake of their guild.

You smell a bit like him, you know? The words spoken by an unseen individual caught him off guard. A dissonant tone occupied the mans voice, and he gave the sense he regarded Avo as a passing fancy rather than an adversary. He warned me about his heh, brothers. Told me theyd be coming after you. Gave me means to subvert some of their phantamics. Suppose thats how I didnt get bent by them when I jacked into these golems. Nothing but mem-cons and whispering ghosts in here. Too bad for them the cracks in my head have already been filled.

The central mass of the golem hissed and opened like an unfolding crucifix. Holding within a grav-generated gimbal, a heavily chromed man with dark eyes, pale skin, and long flowing hair stepped out to breathe in the ash of his home and greet the ghoul. There was something predatory in his eyes, and the way his cybernetic exoskeleton was half-laced over his flesh made him look closer to a botch-graft than an actual threat.

Yet, the emptiness in his gaze told Avo another tale. Something inside this one was lost, and it would never be found again. Not truly. His expression harkened to a joining between Draus and Essus, possessing all the cold viciousness of the former, and all the mind-broken trauma of the latter.

He fellhis feet more akin to chrome hooves as he left the weightless clutch of his piloting seat and sank ankle-deep into the soil. So close, he seemed to be Draus height though gaunter by far in build. Holding out his arms, he embraced the falling ash as if a child reaching out for snow in a vacation ad for Vard Heldjmar in the Skuldvast.

Echoheads chittering, Avo mapped his surroundings to track for any threats. Rage boiled inside him at slaughter deniedAbrel had been saved by the explosion. He had not felt her die; worse, he didnt even get to kill and taste her flesh.

It was as if the battles were conspiring against him, fortune and misfortune turning deliberately too



Why? Avo snarled, turning. His Echoheads coiled and lashed out with agitation. He couldnt see her, but she was there, inside himinside the meat of time itself, like a parasite he couldnt strike. Why? Is this all for fun? All these little twists. Manipulations. Why? Couldnt just do it yourself. Why do this?

For the first time, confusion bled over into Ripperjacks face. Who who are you talking to?

Avo turned back to the man and grunted a dismissal. The poor fool thought himself spared. Thought he was a player in this game. Thought he had a glimpse of the bigger picture.

Tell him, if you will, Zein said. It makes no difference now. He has served his purpose. His golems were directed against Abrel Greatling. The mem-data within their locus will have logged this engagement against her cadre once they are purged of the Hungers influence. That will make them look most culpable.

You're framing them? Avo said.

The wind rushed over his person. Immediately, his cog-feed cried warnings that a Galeslither was approaching. Over rustling grass and shivering ash, three figures spilled free from an unzipping breeze. Draus landed on her feet, gun raise and wing-scythes wide. Essus and Chambers toppled out behind her, confusion writ upon their faces.

Im providing the most desirable cover story possible, Zein said.

Ripperjacks features turned stone-like. He stared at Draus. His eyes turned back over to Avo. Ghoul? I didnt send that Galeslither. Who are you talking to? Answer me. Talk. Fucking talk

A shroud of time shivered over Draus, Essus, and Chambers. From Avo, Zein stepped free, head held high as she stepped free, offering Ripperjack a little wave. I thank you for all the assistance you provided. Without you, my pruning would have been substantially more strenuous.

The bedrock of confidence broke within Ripperjack. The mans lip began to curl, his eyes darting between Avo and the aged woman fading in and out of reality to the oscillating flow of time. I what?

It was the easiest way to ensure your compliance, Zein said. You remembered him. And using the mutual link, I bent you to my will.

Then, why

Zein waved a hand. Ripperjack flickered and vanished.

The golems he commanded hovered behind him, silent and unmoving.

You should take their Heavens as well, Zein said, turning her head back over to regard Avo. Gauss flechette sipped through her form as she smiled. You will hate me more, momentarily, Captain Draus.

Two more shots went through her. She tuned out of reality before either could hit her.

Why? Avo said, stepping closer to her. Something splattered down into the mud next to him. The metallic shine of a blood-coated missile caught his eye, and the mini-nuke festooned as its payload made his tension spike.

Also, Zein said, Remember to copy the pattern of the warhead next time. It took more work than expected for me to pluck this from the husk you left behind.

No, Avo said. He cast out his matter-unweaving winds. The mini-nuke flickered behind him. Zein shook her head.

She wasnt fading now. Instead, she was growing increasingly solid. Increasingly stable, like the waters of time were cementing her true self back into form. I am much like you in this regardI refuse anything that I perceive another to force upon me. But this is not force. This is the path. This will happen.

A cry of agony sang out from everything stone-like around them. Plascrete shook and rattled. Structures dissolved into sand.

Ah. Reva has died. Zein frowned. A bit early for my liking. Disappointing. Let us see if the others can hold until she resurrects.

You planned all of this? Avo asked. Using the Scalpers. Their golems. Turning the Low Masters' hunters over to him

Oh, no, Zein laughed. Much of this was but a happy occurrence. The original plan was to see the Bloodthanes occupied. But when I spoke to him, the path revealed such delightful things. Truth be offered, your father did mend his mindand in him left protections against the other servants of the Hungers. I merely came upon the sleeper by happenstance.

Avo, Draus said. Her voice was steady, but she never averted her gun. What the hells is happening?

Zein winked at the Regular. Im ensuring your glory, Captain. Just as I am ensuring the incrimination of Abrel Greatlings cadre as part of a grand conspiracy to assassinate the ambassador. Or as an unfortunate victim in a grander conspiracy between rogue parties of Stormtree, Ori-Thaum, and Highflame. It depends on how the fighting goes, really. Whatever the case, you will be our hero, dear girl. You stopped a Chivalric plot. You and your new Fallwalker cadre.

Cadre? Draus whispered.

Yes, Zein said, it is all by my desig

Her head promptly exploded.