Chapter 29: The Death of the Senses

Chapter 29: The Death of the Senses

The machine was right above her, stalking her, hunting her.

Marianne could hear the clinks and clanks of its armor reverberating through the thin metal ceiling separating them. Though her gaze remained obscured by blindness, her mind visualized the creature from the sounds it made: a gaunt, two-meters tall skeleton of steel, with syringes and needles for fingers and a metal mask for a face. She heard the gears and servos grinding in its elongated limbs and the biomechanical organs pumping nutrients into its artificial brain. Her Blood-enhanced nose smelled the scent of oil and rust that followed it everywhere. Her hand sensed the sound of the machines feet traveling through the walls.

But the only taste in her mouth was that of her own fear.

Lord Bethor had guessed correctly. Pain was a great motivator to learn.

A drop of blood traveled down her cheek, but Marianne didnt dare to move. She was already holding her breath the best she could, in spite of the scars, the bruises, and the metal needle in her chest; a parting gift from her last encounter with the monster.

The noblewoman knew that running wouldnt save her. She had tried before, when the creature cornered her after Lord Bethor taught her how to use her hearing to walk straight and find her path. First she attempted to fight, only to discover that neither her fists nor bone bullets could get past the creatures iron shell; it didnt even have enough blood in its synapses for a telekinetic strike.

Marianne had tried to escape after realizing how outmatched she truly was. But the machine moved with superhuman speed. Even after she called on the Blood to strengthen her legs and lungs, it swiftly caught up to her. Its metal hand had grabbed her head, smashed it against a wall with enough force to break her nose, and carved a scar on the left side of her face; one deep enough to scratch the cheekbones.

It mauled Marianne the same way a cat would have played with a rat, tossing and kicking her around. And when it got bored after a full minute of that brutal treatment, it stabbed her in the chest with a metal needle right between the ribs. It hadnt struck any vital area, but it impaired her breathing and hurt whenever her muscles contracted. Marianne hadnt been able to remove it and doubted that anyone but a trained surgeon could.

Afterward, the machine had stopped beating her and fell inanimate for a few minutes. It gave Marianne a short window of time to put some space between them.

How long had she haunted this maze, unable to find an exit while pursued by that thing? Hours? Days? With only Lord Bethors occasional advice to rely on, Marianne had long lost all sense of time.

She controlled her breathing and slowed her own heartbeat to a crawl. It wasnt a skill Lord Bethor taught her, but one that she developed on her own while trying to avoid the machine. Its hearing acuity was downright superhuman.

Mariannes efforts seemed to pay off, the machine walking along the tunnel above without any change in behavior.

Then the drop of blood fell from her face and onto the cold iron floor.

Marianne immediately heard the machines servos grinding to a screeching halt, its metal head snapping down to look in her direction. Could its eyes see through the floors and ceilings? Marianne didnt think so but she felt its gaze all the same.

Think, think, she thought as the machine froze like a cat trying to hear a mouses breathing. Marianne called upon the Blood, and though a ceiling of steel stood between her and her foe, her magic ignored it.

There was little to target though. The machine had no heart, only pumps; no veins, only cables. In a way, it was the perfect killer. It didnt need to feed or sleep, and it had no higher thoughts to distract it from its purpose. It had none of the usual frailties of a physical body, nor an opening to exploit.

But it still had a brain and synapses. And if it could hear Marianne, it must have had ears.

Desperation gave her new strength and allowed her to focus like never before, with even the pain in her cheeks and chest unable to distract her. Using her enhanced hearing in combination with the Bloods psychometric insight, she formed a biological map of the machines nervous systems. She noticed the neurons linked to a biomechanical labyrinth of steel inside the creatures head; its inner ear.

The Blood couldnt alter metal nor the sound that entered this artificial organ but it could alter the signals traveling to the brain. Marianne was no neuromancer or illusionist. She wouldnt be able to make an elaborate deception.

I just have to slightly alter what it hears, Marianne thought as another drop of blood fell down from her face. Same sound, different direction.

She imagined the drop falling up rather than down, reaching the ceiling above the machines head rather than the floor underneath its feet. She clung to this illusion so much that she started to hear it inside her own mind, the Blood echoing her lie. Believe, believe

The drop fell onto the floor and the machine looked up.

This time, it didnt remain still. It crawled down on all fours, the joints in its limbs twisting until the creature looked more like a lizard than a humanoid form. It dashed at impressive speeds through the tunnels, but in the wrong direction. Believing Marianne to be above itself, the machine moved further and further away from her.

Once the machine was too far away to hear hera distance she had learned through trial and errorMarianne allowed herself a breath of relief.

Good, Lord Bethors voice echoed in the corridors. You have learned this spell well.

Marianne knew better than to answer. While the machine ignored the Dark Lords words, it always picked up on her own.

Her teacher hadnt expected a back-and-forth anyway. Illusion magic and telepathy are not so different, Lord Bethor explained. In both cases, you must conceptualize the input that the individual must receive and send them to their brain through the Blood. Obviously, it is easier to trick a fellow human than a dragon, as these beasts use different senses than our own.

Which implied that the machine had been intentionally designed to be targeted by illusions.

The more you can put yourself in your targets shoes, so to say, the better your illusions. To function, telepathy and mind-reading demand you understand the signals in the targets brain and the oscillations of the soul. Enhancing your senses is a necessary step towards mastering both arts.

When Marianne grew certain that the machine was many rooms away, she returned to exploring the maze. She gasped as her chest ached each time her muscles contracted to breathe, the metal needle embedding itself deeper and deeper into her flesh.

Turn left and go deeper, Marianne thought as she remembered her mental map of the maze. She had explored a good chunk of it, though each dead-end made her paranoid. She always wondered if the machine would sneak up on her from behind, leaving her with no way out.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

This ability to gather information through the five senses and tuning it with the Blood can go beyond mapping a monsters innards, Lord Bethor continued to dispense his wisdom. It can be used to learn the history of an object by studying its structure in-depth. If you escape this maze, I expect you to refine this power. You will find it useful for your investigations.

If she escaped.

The Dark Lords words said it all.

I mustnt lose heart, Marianne thought. Despair is the death of the spirit.

She refused to bleed and starve away in this tomb of metal with only a mindless machine for company. Marianne hadnt accepted death beneath Verney Castle and she wouldnt start now.

Her quest led her into a single corridor longer than all the others so far. Marianne considered changing her route, as it was too long for her to detect where it led. For all she knew, it might be a dead-end, a trap.

Marianne dodged by sidestepping to the left and struck back with her rapier.

Her bone blade was as strong as steel and her aim true, but the weapon bounced off the creatures armored chest. However, at the moment of contact, Marianne enhanced her sense of touch to analyze the vibrations. Her mind visualized the results and mapped out the internal workings of the creature. She saw the weaknesses in the joints and how the biomechanical organs all fit together.

It has a brain and spine, weak points, Marianne thought as the machine raised both of its arms and tried to find a hole in her defense. I have to strike the joints in the neck and sever it.

To allow the creature to turn its head, the builders made the neck flexible, fragile. One strike at the weakest point would do the deed.

Like a true duelist, Marianne waited for the machine to attack and leave itself open to retaliation. Its left hand twisted to attack from below, but as it moved the noblewoman noticed that the joints didnt move as they should.

A feint!

The true attack came from the right and aimed for her head. Metal needles lunged for Mariannes carotid with enough force to behead her. The machine had reached the same conclusion as she did and identified the neck as a weak spot.

Wagering everything in this one strike, Marianne let the monsters weapons approach as close as possible before dodging. The needles grazed her skin and hair without drawing blood, like a razor brushing against an invisible beard. Carried by its momentum, the machine moved a step forward just as Mariannes rapier lunged for its throat.

The blade struck true.

Guided by her complete awareness of the space around her, Marianne hit the machine in the weakest part of its gaunt neck. Her rapier hit the spine between the joints and went through it. The noblewoman let out a roar of sheer anger as she used the blade like a lever, wagering all her strength and weight in the motion. She felt the needle already inside her chest tear through her muscles and draw blood, but she powered through.

Her sword cracked along its blade, but the machines neck broke first.

The head went flying like a bottle cap and bounced off the walls, while the decapitated body lost its balance. Marianne took a step back as it collapsed on the ground before her feet, her broken blade showered in oil and spinal fluid.

For a moment, the noblewoman could only breathe loudly, her body as tense as a cable. She almost expected the beast to rise back to its feet and strike her by surprise once again.

It stayed down.

And Marianne laughed.

All the stress accumulated in the last hour left her body, replaced with joyful ecstasy. A rush of endorphins traveled through her body, filling her with pleasure and the satisfaction of a perfect victory. She basked in her senses, and even the blood dripping from her chest, cheek and arm felt as pleasurable as a warm water shower.

Do you understand, Marianne Reynard? Lord Bethors voice asked with a hint of satisfaction. The lesson I meant to teach you?

Marianne breathed heavily, before calming down enough to answer. I was so distracted looking for an exit that I failed to study my foe closely.

If she had focused on fighting back instead of trying to escape the creature, she would have noticed the structural weakness earlier.

Yes. The beast defeated you in your first encounter because it focused entirely on one task at a time. Its mind was unclouded by judgment or distractions. It decided the goal it would pursue, and when it did, it dedicated all its strength towards achieving it.

Though she couldnt see, Marianne turned her blind eyes to the beheaded machine. The head was alive, desperately trying to move to get at her. In spite of the damage it suffered, it still wanted to kill her. You want me to become that?

Of course not. Tools cannot learn and improve. In our ability to innovate and think, we humans are superior to animals, mindless golems, and auto-machines. I do not ask that you relinquish your intellect or self-awareness. Only that you focus them on what truly matters. A blade cannot cut left and right at once. You must direct all your energies in one direction if you hope to prevail.

Marianne chuckled, though she didnt even understand why herself. I dont even have enough strength left for a healing spell, she thought. I broke your record.

You did, Lord Bethor conceded. You have passed this first round of training and your sight shall be returned to you. You may see small changes in your visual acuity.

Slowly, a veil was lifted off Mariannes eyes. She saw the lights above her head, the iron walls, the white metal carcass at her feet, and the black oil dripping from its wounds. Its like that pool, she thought as she remembered Verney Castle. Its wrong

It was wrong.

Something was wrong.

She saw the ripples in the oil and the blond hair on the machines claws. She saw the veins in the creatures biomechanical red eyes and the slight traces of rust around them. She saw the slight weaknesses in the ceiling, the tiny cracks in the steel.

What Marianne looked at her bloodied hands and the tiny microscopic hairs growing out of them. She noticed the countless lines on her skin, every single tiny scar. Her mind started counting them all, her eyes unable to look away. What is this?

You were fed a mix of the Elixir of True Sight and other alchemical components through your eyes, Lord Bethor explained. It will heighten your visual acuity and reflexes to near-perfection.

Marianne saw the microscopic black spots in her blood, and the tiny eyes looking back at her inside them. Its inside us, Bertrands words echoed in her head as the wound in her chest ached. She saw the colors of the eyes as droplets of blood fell on the floor, spreading the infection further.

Its its too much Marianne closed her eyes, but what little light filtered through her eyelids still caused her pain as her mind processed all the colors making up the visual spectrum. She put her hands over them in an attempt to cast her gaze in complete darkness. Its too much!

She was seeing everything in perfect detail, all at once.

Too many things Even her eyelids had eyes looking back at her. I cant I cant think

Your struggle will not be to learn how to use your sight but to process the information, Lord Bethor said without any warmth. Valdemar will take care of your wounds as you rest and figure it out. I will give you some time, and then we shall resume training.

Marianne let out a scream as her eyes itched so much that she struggled against the urge to tear them out.

By the time the door opened, her nails had sunk into her skin.