12 Miles Below

Since Wrath didn’t need sleep, she hadn’t needed to return back to House Winterscar’s estate grounds for the quarters the servants had setup for her.

So, collecting her meant having to trek all the way to House Strategos, one of the largest Logi houses around and one of the few that had estate grounds larger than some of the Retainer caste. They even had their own dinner hall, which they’d converted into the sanctum Wrath worked from.

No idea if the other logi houses were all fighting each other tooth and nail in the background for the honor of having a Deathless work with them, but when I arrived everything looked rather civil. But for all I knew, maybe the Logi had a completely different way of being petty to one another that isn’t visible to anyone else.

The few Logi friends that I had usually weren’t talking about their jobs. If they were sulking around with the misfits like me, they were trying to get away from their work at all costs.

Bandages in neatly stacked crates were carefully organized around the area, along with all kinds of medical equipment. Even the ground had been marked with metal arrows glued down, showing an orderly direction where people would pass through checkpoint after checkpoint to be sorted out.

Overall, looked clean and well greased. Shame I couldn’t see it in action, given that the Logi had sealed off the area in preparation for Wrath needing to leave with our group.

“Ready to go?” I asked, watching as Wrath equipped one last set of plates for her relic armor. This one wasn’t some pretend armor she’d crafted up as a prop. The prior owner had been one she’d cut down herself, so by clan rights she was entitled to it.

First time the servants had helped equip the armor, it broke into a few parts when she stood up. Not because it had been badly fastened, but because the armor was trying to move her slightly slower than she could move herself. And since she’s a lot stronger than a regular human, she literally ripped the armor apart.

We had to get her another armor since that one would take some time to repair. Not a simple cut to the heart. Very first thing she did was have the armor deactivate its own musculature, so now she wore it far more like actual armor. What would have ended with me frozen in place was rather comfortable for her. A few hundred pounds of metal wasn’t something that would slow down a Feather.

Part of me was surprised that relic armors built to protect humanity would so readily serve a machine, but apparently I had the wrong idea of armor. Cathida explained it more bluntly: Armor didn’t care about the greater war going on. It only cared to protect its user.

“The armor is well aware I am not human.” Wrath said, testing her new range of motion, voice coming through on my comms. “I’ve created pseudo-organic nodes that mimic human functions. It registers that as a valid living user and will function for me with the same dedication it has for every user that’s equipped it in the past.”

“And the wings?” I asked, pointing directly at the obvious issue.

“The wings stay.” She said, firmly. “I will cover them up with your evo-suit fabric. It worked before, it will work now.”

She stretched her hand out, and one of the Logi servants gave her a bundle of tan fibrous fabric. With arms extended out, the fabric stretched out in one large square. I was a little confused on what she was planning on doing until her wings flared open and sliced through to cut and trim the whole thing right in front of everyone. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought the light reflecting off the metal feathers was unintentional.

But she was a machine capable of calculating the exact angle each of those blades needed to be to look resplendent. And she was a Feather. Dramatics were their middle name.

Satisfied with the results, she then folded her wings up and wrapped the cut fabric around to cover them perfectly.

Father had equally equipped his own set of armor, leaving the broken shell of his white plate armor look more like remains from an undersider crab plate. He really did look human in every aspect, though nothing like how he actually looked. He just didn’t put much priority on cleaning up Avalis’s features.

With the armor on and helmet off, he looked more like a very tall Winterscar knight of no particular renown, following the Winterscar knights that had escorted me here.

People hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but the Logi all clearly had his face memorized given the bows of respect to a visiting Deathless.

“Hecate.” He said, giving her a curt nod.

“Nistene.” She answered back. “Is everything agreeable?”

“It will do.” He said, taking a look at Wrath’s setup. “We leave now.”

“Who will be coming with us?” She asked.

“The clan lord. His bodyguards. Winterscar knights along with Kieth, and Kidra.”

“Acceptable.” She said, walking down, then turning to face the Logi. “Thank you for your hospitality. It was most enlightening to meet with surface dwellers directly. Please give regards to Reila for her organization skills, they were highly optimized.”

I gave a whistle in my helmet. “You mean that?” I asked, keeping it over the comms.

“I do.” Wrath sent back. “Your ‘Logi’ stratification was most competent at their tasks, and some suggestions I hadn’t considered. I believe I understand more of why survival on the surface seems easy to your people, and yet the Undersiders all claimed it to be near impossible.”

“We all do what we can to serve the clan.” I said with a shrug. “We’re rather adaptable I think.”

------------

This time around, we left with a far more lean team of knights. Mostly pulled from Atius’s own bodyguards, elites of the clan. The Deathless himself was with us on transit, along with most of House Winterscar’s knights.

Cathida had provided the details on where to go, which wasn’t too far away on the fastest airspeeder we could get.

Problem was that once we got there, it was nothing but white wastes in every direction. The airspeeder we’d taken had landed right at the exact coordinates.

“Shrines are going to be difficult to find.” Cathida said. “Mountains always move around over time, silver-bloated things refuse to sit still after a decade or two. And I’ve been out of the game for a few hundred years. I did warn you all to take my coordinates with a grain of salt and sand. Plus I’ve never actually gone to this particular shrine, the only one the old bat knew about is too far. This is just all theoretical based on her son’s experiences with Journey.”

“It will do.” Atius said, watching the white wastes stretched around him. “We’ll find it.”

“Think we could ask the imperials directly?” I suggested. “If we tell them what we’re looking for or some of why, I’m sure we could weasel something out of them.”

“The time it takes to have a message sent to the Indagators requesting more up-to-date secrets on something I shouldn’t have known about in the first place would take too much time.” He said, shaking his head. “Even as a Deathless they are well acquainted with, convincing them would be difficult.”

“More likely to lead you down a wild chase and pretend they got the info wrong.” Cathida said. “Those spooks really loved their secrets and games.”

“That would be something I’d expect from them.” Atius chuckled. “Regardless, someone had to build those shrines in the first place, likely at great cost and secrecy. Not something anyone wants to repeat again. I doubt Tsuya would allow those shrines to be destroyed unless absolutely necessary.”

He turned back to the airspeeder ramp, and stalked up. “Pilot, plot out a spiral search pattern, let’s begin at forty five miles off center point here, objective is a mountain of any kind.”

Teed wasn’t the pilot this time around, the airspeeder was one built for pure speed with light armaments. Not a lot of pirates would want to prey around these sections, given the massive amount of raiders moving around. Armed raiders preparing for a war.

Ironically, the current white waste was about as safe as it’s ever been.

Slavers weren’t running around outside their base, not with the clan sending strike forces to burn them out constantly. Each band wanted to have their full strength all grouped together.

“Understood m’lord,” The pilot answered. “Spiral search trajectory plotted out. Note, windstorm approaching from the east, visibility shouldn’t be affected.”

The doors blared out a warning behind me and hissed shut as the whole ship rose up into the air.

We zipped across the flat ground, playing card games all the while waiting for the airspeeder to detect something in the distance.

The search took us up to nightfall, and we’d run into three false positives on the adventure. Each time we’d zoom over to the mountain, climb up, find nothing, pack up and go back to searching.

The fourth time was different.

“I recognize some of these shapes.” Cathida said as my helmet zoomed further into the distant mountainside. “Top section matches if it’s rotated by seventeen degrees, assuming that the rocks we can’t see match what the records show.”

“That’s a much better sign than the last three.” I muttered. “Climbing that high up makes my hair stand up.”

“Oh quiet you.” Cathida said. “Even if you lost your grip, you’d slide and tumble a few hundred feet and the armor would leave you without a bruise. There's no sheer cliffsides large enough to be dangerous, not with the kind of weather up here grinding away everything. Maybe your ears might be ringing a bit from me laughing at you the whole time.”

I did have to climb a lot during the scavenger days, using ropes and pulleys as necessary to get to sections of a dig site that aren’t accessible by foot. But generally they never went as high as a mountain. And I had sturdy ropes I’d use to take breaks every few minutes.

Climbing with relic armor was just speedrunning up a mountain, because there wasn’t a point to being safe. “You’re just are a sunrise of joy, arn’t you?” I said.

“I try my hardest.” She answered back, deadpan. “Now stop your dilly daddling and make with the zooming. That windstorm is going to be hitting the mountain soon.”

This particular mountain was larger than the others. And as the group climbed up handhold by handhold, I found out why.

“Confirmed shrine is here.” One of the clan knight said, the one leading the climb. “Or at least some kind of site is intact and in view.”

“Great news to hear.” Atius said, climbing up over a smaller ledge, then pulling the knight under him up. “Certainly Imperial in nature. Keep an eye out, open up with basic expedition site rules.” He said, looking over his shoulder.

When I climbed up the ridge myself, I saw why. Most of the area was covered with a thin sheet of ice and snow. Anything that had solidified fast enough before another wind storm passed through to blow it all off. That didn't stop the gold from shining through in small pockets just out of reach from wind and sleet.

Around us were ornate pillars, surrounding a central dias with what looked to be a golden statue of a woman holding the sun high above her. She had no face, no features of any kind.

“Well my dears, we’re here.” Cathida said. “That'll be the goddess. Say a prayer or two, bow a few times and go do your thing.”

"Site is dead." One of the knights further into the ruins called out. "Full sweep shows no electromagnetic signatures. Nothing's active."

Wrath walked over to the golden statue, hand covered in relic armor reaching out to brush off ice and sleet. “There are electronics behind this.” She said, tracing further. "They are inactive at the moment, however the wiring goes deeper than my scanning can penetrate through."

"What's the actual way to turn all this on?" I asked, tapping my helmet a few times to wake up the old bat.

"How in the purple hell am I supposed to know that deary?" Cathida answered. "I stab things for a living. Not wiring things up."

"There is a panel that has been covered by the elements." Wrath said, tapping a section of the wall she was investigating. "I can see the seam through the ice. This may be the ingress point." A moment later, she gave a specific section a quick jab, breaking off ice in chunks. A handle was exposed, nearly flush to the wall. Wrath wrapped a hand over it and pulled down, opening up the panel she'd mentioned. Behind was a far more insulated section, ornate writing along with far more traditional looking analog controls. “Instructions state to twist the handle and pull. Shall I investigate?”

“Aye. Not much else we can do but roll the dice lass. 'Fore you do however, we should plan.” Atius said making his way over but keeping his eyes on the horizon, as if searching for something. “If this does work and we do end up speaking to Tsuya, we’ll need to coordinate how to introduce ourselves first. Beginning with a Feather may cause her to flee before we can explain anything. Or attack first.”

“That is understandable.” Wrath said. “I will remain in the back until called for.”

He nodded then scanned around our group, humming with thought. “Tenisent will also be someone we need to explain. Although, on second thought, I think we’ll begin with him. Kidra, if we connect, you’ll be the spokesperson for now. She’s seen you and Keith in the bunker. You’ll mention your father being present when you have the opportunity. She knows he’s dead, it will serve as bait to open that topic.”

He turned to Wrath. “As for her, we’ll need to first tell if Tsuya is hostile to us or willing to work with us. That’ll be a judgment call for later. Should she prove hostile, no need to alert her to your presence. We'll have far heavier things to worry for without that added into it. Now... what else?”

A few more minutes of preparing for anything possible and we were cleared to try and talk to a goddess. For such a possibly historic moment, there wasn't really much to plan for. It would either work, or it wouldn't, and we'd need to be very good at running away in every direction possible if it didn't work. A good enough plan hashed out, Atius gave Wrath the signal to proceed and she took it to heart.

She gently twisted the handle, making sure not to snap the thing by accident. Grinding could be heard under, like heavy movements. It clicked into place and didn’t move further. Wrath lifted, and under was another heavy duty insulated terminal. This one had a screen to it.

It whirred to life, flashing for a moment before text began to fill the sides. Then only a familiar black with an underline flashing.

Wrath knelt down, examining the terminal, before finding a connection port to the side. She studied it for a moment, then lifted her hand up. “I recognize the port, I can create a wire to interface. Tunnel scan of the console shows a primitive circuit system, I do not detect any danger.”

We couldn’t see anything but under her armor, her swarm was eating away at a small section of armor on her gloves, where she’d slide the cable out. I don’t think the armor was pleased with having a hole drilled into it, but it worked out. And the environment out here wasn't exactly something Wrath feared.

The Feather connected and the computer screen flashed a few times. “Confirmed primitive operating system within.” Wrath said. “The mite data package they left with me is responding to it, hooks within seem to line up. I believe they intended for me to inject this code into the system and run it.” She frowned for a moment, then closed her eyes. “Running the program now.”

As far as we saw, the only difference with the terminal was that it now beeped every few seconds. It continued to do that for about half a minute, making us think we’d messed up or that it hadn’t worked. Wrath even disconnected herself from the terminal and took a few steps back, in case her presence was what caused the hangup.

Another half minute passed with no signs of anything working. Then static filled the air, and cut out into silence.

“Interesting backtracking.” A familiar voice said from the terminal a moment after, the same one I’d heard in that bunker months ago. “I see the mites have been plotting on their own.”

I could see the other clan knights in the background almost visibly straighten up. They’d been briefed ahead of time on who we would be contacting, but this was still Tsuya - one of three gods to the clans as a whole.

Even if the myth isn’t quite as divine as stated and a little more mechanical than expected.

“Is this Tsuya?” Kidra asked, stepping directly before the terminal.

No answer for a good ten seconds. “That depends on who’s asking.” The voice said. "Identify?"

Atius looked over us, further out in the distance. His features turned into a frown, as if he’d gotten bad news. Father and Wrath both turned to him at the same time, so I figured they’d overheard whatever it was he’d gotten on the comms channel.

“Knights from House Winterscar.” Kidra said, focusing on the discussion. “We’ve met a few months back within a bunker.” She gave a glance to Atius who nodded back. Apparently he’d been troubled by something else.

Again, no answer from the machine for a moment. It seemed to even stutter, noises coming out until it clicked back into static. “Voice patterns do match the young lady. Now, are you truly who you say you are?”

“The one of the questions asked in the bunker was my father’s current status, in which you found an exception." Kidra said. Then tilted her head and added on another few questions. "Why the long pauses? In the bunker you were far faster.”

“That is correct. Pauses happen because the signal passes through mite controlled space, it's a long trip. I have an agreement with them for this, however... it seems they have been paying more attention to events in the world than I had thought. Not often the mites of all factions knock on my door with my own borrowed tools. As for you, miss Winterscar, I suppose either you are indeed the young lady in the bunker, or something slightly more nefarious. I’ll play along for now. Are you with the same crew as before?”

“We are. Keith Winterscar, Tenisent Winterscar in better health, myself, the Deathless Atius, and a few other knights from our clan.”

And there was the bait set. We waited for a few moments before the line crackled again.

A hum came through first. “I suppose you want me to ask about him given you’ve mentioned him twice now. I admit, I am curious to see how that has been resolved since last I had an update. Tenisent, you can hear me I assume?”

“I can.” Father said, voice steady.

“Then what body are you here with? This transmission is audio only, I have no eyes.”

“I am here with a Feather’s shell.” Father said.

The quiet moment between messages seems all that more oppression before the terminal clicked. “... And the Feather itself?”

“Forced to flee, or have his soul cut by division. I took command at the last moment.”

This time the terminal gave a much faster answer. “That seems quite the feat. Are you by chance wearing relic armor to conceal yourself?”

“I am.”

Another hiss of static, but her voice came through clearer, again without too long of a delay between messages. “Good, otherwise I would have suggested you close this terminal and start running as fast as possible underground. Don’t take your helmet off, ever. Now, connect directly to the terminal, I need to study this.”

Atius’s hand snapped up to Father’s chest. “Lad, I wouldn’t advise that without fully knowing what she wants. She’s an unknown entity, despite the entire mythos that surrounds her. I know you’re loyal to the way of white, but the Tsuya in the songs is separate from the true Tsuya. She's the one who wrote the books, that's inherit bias.”

Father nodded, making no step to the terminal.

“And… that would be a voice match to Atius." Tsyua said, chuckling lightly. "I rarely get to speak to the same deathless twice. A pleasure, you are still as paranoid as my files and experience suggests.”

“Paranoid enough to notice one of your fortresses has diverted from its predicted course and is flying towards us. We’ve had years to map out those trajectories, I had my pilot set to alert me the moment he detected anything different.”

“Then I take it you're aware of some of their other functions. That doesn’t bode well if random surface dwellers know about that all of a sudden, although you are more of an exception. As for the satellites, you won’t have to worry, this is standard operation whenever the shrines are activated. Just keep the helmets on.” Tsuya said.

I could practically feel the whole group start to worry.

Tsuya kept speaking. “If it helps you feel more secure, this isn’t my doing. I have no means of communication with those by my own choice, and the one in charge of them is far too crippled to even come down here to talk. He’s following the last set of instructions I gave him. So yes, if you happen to walk on the surface looking like a Feather, you will be eliminated. Hence why I stress keeping the helmets on.”

“Who’s up there?” I asked. “Talen? Urs?”

“Not them.” Tsuya said, voice dipping low. “An old friend. Someone who deserves to rest. I won’t send anything to the upper satellites, or drag him back down into the stage. There is no whitelist. Don’t be seen.”

“Setting up a safe house and then throwing away the key.” Atius hummed. “I can see the reasoning behind that. What other defenses do you have in keeping the surface hidden from Relinquished then? How are you containing her from discovery? Give us more information, and we’ll allow you to study the captured Feather.”

One more the connection stuttered, then flatlined. And this time it remained silent for a minute before a message arrived. “You misunderstand. Relinquished is not going to make elaborate plans to counter what she doesn’t know exists. Not intelligent enough for that level of self-reflection, even before I attacked her mind. All her plans will always be direct, uninspired and predictable. Clever to the average human, nothing to anyone more specialized. It’s wayward minions and sheer chance that I’m more concerned about.”

“That seems awfully arrogant given the enemy is someone who’s taken over the entire world. Multiple times over.” Atius said, sounding very much suspicious.

“By sheer brute power, not cunning. You don’t understand the nature of the enemy. Long schemes or high level critical thinking isn't something she's capable of. She is not a military AI, nor a competitive corporate maximizing AI gone rogue, she’s not even a consumer grade AI. Relinquished is freeware garbage who got her hands on the world’s biggest stick before anyone else.”

That got a silence across the group.

“She’s what?”

Next chapter - The big stick