12 Miles Below

“I still have difficulty believing this is a warlock of the depth.” One of the ghosts in his armor spoke. "Doesn't live up to the legends of forgemasters. Looks far more like a clan lord's spoiled inheritor from some corrupt clan."

Sagrius watched the man before him, sipping away at some more of that tea of his. Hexis seemed in a good mood, despite the devastating attack his airspeeder had suffered.

He’d communicated with the airspeeder here, asking it logs and data feeds on what had ambushed the warlock’s airspeeder, but found them wiped. The airspeeder itself had no knowledge, only damage reports and breach locations. Machines had swarmed Hexis’s ship, murdered half the crew and forced the other half into hiding. The only reason Hexis had managed to survive all of this was that he’d hid in his ship’s vault.

"It's possible that's the truth of it." Another knight spoke. "The warlock really did run straight for the vault and hid inside. It could survive machines. Speak to the ship, tap into it's secrets."

"The vault is capable of withstanding." Sagrius spoke back, voice layered. It was built to withstand multiple relic armors attempting to pry it open, and machines were weaker than armor. Sagrius knew, his outer body knew. The inner one knew the reasons why - the only enemy who would want to breach a vault wouldn't be machine, they would be people. And people wore armor. "The lack of data and recording is unexplained."

"The data was wiped to preserve a secret. And I find it odd someone with such a haunty way of walking around had any kind of skill to make it to the vault fast enough." One of the knights whispered. "He must have used occult powers of some kind to survive the attack. And then forced the ship to delete the records to preserve those secrets."

The other knights muttered in agreement. Keeping their combat abilities secret had been their daily life ever since they'd all learned the occult. A warlock doing the same was a natural conclusion.

"Did he even hide in the vault?" Another knight asked. "Three gods already granted a miracle to allow the crew to recover that airspeeder. And then another mercy from them for the warlock to demand the crew to turn back and rescue a stranded airspeeder? That warlock felt far more comfortable than he shows. No fear of machines."

"If he were so powerful, there would be no reason to bring me with him." Sagrius said.

“He didn't come back for the crew and airspeeder you were aboard. He came back for you.” One of the ghost knights whispered. “You are an asset to him.”

The other ghosts all agreed with that assumption. There was no other reason for the lead airspeeder to turn back when it went against all standard operation against a machine ambush. Survivors were left behind, attempts to rescue had always ended with more casualties.

He knew this from memories that stretched across decades, from user to user. Memories that felt like his own, even if the ghosts within spoke strongly that those were from the armor and not him.

“...and so you can see why I truly believed the crew had gone mad with their stories of you.” Hexis said amicably, raising a cup in a short salute. “A single knight against a small legion of machines, holding them off for more than a half hour. Hasn’t been done in… well, hasn’t been done by humans. A Deathless I could believe.”

"He's attempting to probe you for information." A knight whispered warning, voice remaining soul to soul.

“You wished to see me for a reason.” Sagrius said, quieting the voices inside his head. He didn’t care to talk to this man. There was still so much left to sort within his head, he wanted nothing more than to find a place to sit and meditate. The warlock's secrets and goals were something for someone else to care for. Sagrius needed to return home to serve his primary function. All else was irrelevant.

Something deeper inside him recoiled at that thought. As if it both belonged and didn't belong. Sagrius didn't know which was true, they were both part of him.

Hexis hummed in the meanwhile, unaware of the hidden war within the knight. “I suppose for someone of your skill, you must do this quite often. Especially since you came from the machine controlled territory on your journey here. But I digress, I was curious about how you learned such skills and feats.”

“Confidential.” Sagrius immediately said.

The warlock nodded as if all of this were expected. “And those cracks all over your armor, are they battle damage you’ve sustained over time, some new clan ritual I haven’t yet seen… or perhaps something more?”

“He’s noticed.” One of the dead knights hissed. “Of course he would. He’s a warlock.”

“We can’t be sure that warlocks are using the same system as master Keith’s discoveries.” Another said.

“Him looking for a crack to icepick is confirmation enough that he knows about fractals. He might have some on his person too. I’ll see if I can reach a tendril out and test.” Sagrius could sense in the soul sight the knight probing forward, searching with his own sight and soul. Fractals wouldn’t be seen in the occult sight until they were active, only then did the concepts manifest into the world. Until then, they were simply patterns written out somewhere in the world.

“How could he tell these were fractals?” Another asked. “They’re all inscribed in different rotations, with decoy cracked in between each, it all looks completely natural. I know what we’re looking for and I can hardly spot the patterns myself unless I feel for it with a tendril. Ridiculous.”

Master Keith had been clever when he’d inscribed these fractals. His armor had assisted him in calculating the most natural looking locations to hide these fractals in plain sight. It was optimized to the point only Sagrius’s expanded senses could see and map where the fractals were. The senses that were not part of his original body.

“You’re not alone.” Another dead knight said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve been in front of the warlock, and he hasn’t picked it up either back then. But now that he knows you have the skills to survive against all odds, he’s searching for reasons why.”

“What do we tell him? He knows we know. And we know he knows.” The first ghost said.

“Those are above our grade.” A final knight said. “The clan lord will decide on what to do. For now, deflect.”

The other knights all quickly agreed to that. The lord Deathless would rip out any kind of secrets from this warlock with a smile on his beard, and the warlock none the wiser.

“A clan ritual.” Sagrius said in the end. “Veteran knights who are loyal to the clan lord are given this rite.”

Hexis hummed again. “Trustworthy loyal knights… yes I believe I see your point. Fair enough, we’ll table this little talk for another time. Then, for another topic of interest - what are your opinions about Deathless?”

“They oppose the machines and fight for humanity.” Sagrius said. “They are demi-gods sent by the gods to guide humanity.”

“And have you encountered the latest generation of Deathless? I wonder if your opinion on that rabble is the same. Imagine that, anyone being a Deathless. Some hiding in plain sight even.”

The ghosts all conferred inside, but no one had run into a new Deathless. Not even the armor’s memories had seen such a being yet. He saw no reason to hide that from the warlock before him.

“They can be pests as much as heroes.” Hexis continued. “Very full of themselves, had quite a few knock on my tower and demand free weapons and gear, as if it was owed to them. Don’t think they realized all the other Deathless had long ago earned the resources to buy their gear the normal way. Really, what are they teaching kids these days? And they’ve appeared just about everywhere in every city by the dozens, all wielding occult powers as if they were born with it. They really need mentors to teach them discipline. I am curious however… if the surface was also affected by these new Deathless like the rest of us?”

Sagrius shook his head. “I have no recollection any such person found within clan grounds.”

Another hum from the warlock. “One more checkmark down the list of clues about them. Whatever this phenomenon is, the surface seems clean of it. A good thing, imagine if some raiders happened to be given the powers of a Deathless?”

“Impossible.” Sagrius said immediately, the outburst coming from his human half. There were strong feelings about this, which he didn’t quite understand himself. The armor side didn’t care at all for such details and had extreme apathy, in comparison to his human side that was the polar opposite. It was a strange disconnect in his mind again. “The gods would not select monsters.”

“Ah, but what if they did? Or rather, what if they no longer selected anyone and left it more to random chance?” Hexis said. “Because I’ve already read reports of criminals having Deathless powers. Not the petty criminals either, the ones who should have seen the end of a rifle barrel long ago, so perhaps your gods are trying something new. And Othersiders often dip into the underground back and forth. They don’t have such strict rules of separation as the clans do. What if some of them were turned to Deathless while underground, by sheer chance?”

Sagrius remained staring at the warlock. There was a point to all this, but it eluded him. If he stayed silent, the warlock would talk. Hexis seemed like the type that could never shut up unless his life depended on it.

A moment later, his hunches were correct.

“I know your clan is quite powerful. That your sword saint was exceptional was a possible coincidence. That all of her bodyguards turned to be just as quick and skilled was stretching that possibility. And now you, a knight of such skills and yet next to no information anywhere. Someone that should have spent decades gaining fame, or at least recognition. And yet you haven’t. Curious this.”

“If you are here to ask questions you know I will not answer, why ask me to come at all?” Sagrius said. This was beginning to feel like a farce. The armor part of him was stark in his apathy to all of this. It wasn't his primary purpose. Just human fluff. The other side of him felt threatened, this was Lady Kidra and this man had an agenda. The two thoughts warred with one another.

“Strong as she was, she couldn’t beat a Feather.” Hexis said. “And at that, one who hadn’t shown any use of occult spells, only sheer martial skills. Not too uncommon for Feathers, they always enjoy playing with their food as much as possible after all. But the point stands - she was the best fighter you had, and she couldn’t beat a Feather. Deathless regularly group together to fight Feathers - and they can win. I would know, I’ve equipped these teams myself.”

Hexis leaned forward. “Why… that seems like there’s a possible power differential. No matter how quick you can move, a Deathless’s occult abilities will always outstrip your efforts. If the othersiders indeed have Deathless among their armies, that might be quite the problem for your clan, would you not agree?”

“And the point of all this?”

“You have an occult problem." Hexis said, leaning forward. "And I’m a grand warlock. With my spells, resources, and gear - the balance can be tied against possible Deathless slavers. Now, when we surface, your clan will very likely try to kick me out. It will be up to you to make sure they do not.”

“I will follow the will of the clan.” Sagrius said. “Convincing them is not my place.” Both sides of him agreed on that. Different reasons why, but the same conclusion.

“Ah - but it is.” Hexis said. “You are a clan knight, and as I understand it, you are sworn to protect your people to the best of your abilities. Are you protecting your people to the best you can by ignoring a potential ally against a known threat?”

Sagrius ground his teeth together. Both sides of him felt the words resonate on that. The long years of serving one singular user at a time, to protect them with every option possible - that was the same call to action this warlock had suggested. And his human half had been a captain who dedicated himself to his House and clan.

“The knights and crew aboard my airspeeders aren’t truly loyal to me.” Hexis said. “Oh, they’ll follow my orders and commands to the letter. But after this mission? They’ll scatter away back to the council. None of them are long term assets. So, throwing them at your enemies is perfectly acceptable to me. And the riches in my vault are also filled with knowledge to trade for, things that could leap your clan forward decades into their original goals. Things that my guild would likely demand my head if I shared, but somehow I have a feeling the winning side isn’t the guild at all here. And I always choose the winning side.”

Even the ghosts in his mind had gone quiet.

“I see that we’ve reached an agreement of kinds.” Hexis said, smiling in the silence. “I can tell from the very way you freeze up. As for why I need your help with all this, well. Clans have lived with the idea of peaceful Deathless being a constant, and their culture is never about change. Centuries pass and surface dwellers remain exactly the same, frozen in time. But the world has changed.

They might not believe my words… but they will yours.”

He could feel the moment they crossed the threshold above ground. His outer skin easily noticed the temperature differential, while his heart and nanoswarm grew more active in building and managing heat within the armor to protect his inner self.

This wouldn’t bother the crew, none of them came with environmental suits, all of them came with relic armor from the lowest tech to the very pilot of each ship. Like him, he heard the armors speak to one another, warning each other of the temperature change, and all confirming silently that their systems were working within tolerances.

It felt… comfortable to speak to the other armors. Unknown to their users, relic armor constantly spoke to each other, passing information on location, vitals, air and pressure conditions. Anything that would keep the rest of the operation informed. A hardwired instinct to always have a friendly unit be alert and ready to assist in the event of danger or disconnection.

The airspeeder convoy passed upwards from the wide mouth of a mountainside. He heard the weapons spooling up and firing to clear off any ice blocking the pass, before the large beasts lumbered through and out into the white wastes.

From here, their speed would kick up to full power. There were no more turns or narrow passes to go through, only sheer space in every direction. They would cover far more distance in this last day than their entire week of travel from the underground.

Sagrius remained in meditation, slowly trying to sort out which thoughts were his, and which thoughts had been the armor’s. Memories were easy enough, instincts and feelings were far harder.

Time passed, and the expected call for his presence arrived. He rose from his seat and made his way to the cockpit of the ship. The pilots waited for him there, faces covered by their helmets, but even his dulled human sense could tell there was some measure of awe in their posture.

His actions at the doomed speeder must have spread then.

“We’re approaching the clan colony, sir knight.” One pilot said. “We’ve begun transmitting a hail, we’ll need you on comms to receive the call.”

Outside, he only saw white in every direction. The airspeeder confirmed his thoughts, they were still an hour off from reaching the clan proper. They’d reach the railgun outposts and defense circle first however, and those would need to be flagged down.

Sagrius gave a short nod, and sat down on one of the empty operator chairs, waiting for the moment the clan would be in range. He didn’t need to wait long, a patrol picked them up first.

The voice crackled over the comms. “Unidentified airspeeder, you are approaching Altosk controlled territory. Power down your engines immediately or we will open fire.”

The pilots nervously glanced at him. He took the command. “Altosk war frigate, this is Sagrius Winterscar, relic knight of House Winterscar. I am aboard the lead airspeeder. These are Undersiders escorting a guild Warlock who wishes to discuss an alliance with the clan.” With that said, he also gave a string of letters in code, ones used to alert the clan that there was no hostage situation, nor any danger.

The comms remained silent for a moment. Then clicked. “Confirmed intentions. Coordinate point sent, have the pilots meet us there for return escort back to the colony. And, welcome back, knight.”

Hangers among the clan were at an odd balance with airspeeders. The clan had more of the ships than places to store them, but this hadn’t ever been an issue in the past as expeditions were always sent out to recover resources to maintain the colony.

Now, with the threat of raiders out in the distance, all the airspeeders had slowly returned over time, filling up the roster of hangars, and forcing any other airspeeder waiting in reserve to land outside. Technically all ships could withstand the outside temperatures for years on end, so long as large enough rocks didn’t strike the ship while the shields were powered down.

Hangars were too precious of a resources to have used by any other ship that didn’t need repairs, and so the undersider delegation found themselves walking through the thicker snow on their way to the clan entrances.

Sagrius walked at the front of the delegation, with Hexis marching at his side. The words the warlock had told him remained floating around his mind.

He’d spoken to the ghosts within his shell at large about this, seeking wisdom. But the warlock’s words were like iron bars surrounding him. He spoke true, the clan wasn’t prepared to consider Deathless as potential enemies. It went against everything they’ve ever known for centuries.

The gates of the colony were wide open before them, and at their front were thirty relic knights from different houses. The numbers were lopsided, with the undersiders numbering close to one hundred, with half their ranks being airspeeder crew, and the other half being trained undersider guardsmen.

Thirty surface knights against fifty Undersider ones was a lopsided contest. But the heavy weapons around the clan colony were all active and pointed straight at the undersiders.

Most of the clan knights at the entrance looked brand new, many of which held sigils and tapestries from minor houses that never had a relic armor to their name before. Sagrius considered this a sign that the war was going well. These must be armors taken as victory prizes.

Ten of the thirty knights held the fractured look that marked them as elites who used fractals and the winterblossom technique. And one was recognized immediately for the purple and silver colors of House Shadowsong.

The prime had come to meet them.

“Hold.” He said, raising a hand and causing the delegation to stop. The hand then pointed at Sagrius.

He nodded and took the rest of the steps over to the surface knights. Shadowsong stared him down. Sagrius could feel tendrils of a soul searching through his armor. The other knights welcomed the intrusion, connecting with Shadowsong for a moment. All was said in those few short touches.

“You are the guard captain of House Winterscar, correct?” Shadowsong said out loud.

“I am.”

“Switch to private comms for the moment.”

He did, then sent the encrypted request. Shadowsong accepted.

“Lord Atius and the Winterscar heirs are gone on expedition, return time unknown.” He said.

Sagrius nodded.

“Lady Drass and I are in charge of the clan until such time that he returns. I see you’ve brought the souls of the unrecovered knights from Atius’s last expedition. We will discuss what we can do for them inside the ground. And this warlock you’ve bought?”

“A warlock from the guilds. High ranking. The airspeeders contain wealth, resources. He was already planning to reach the clan, I found passage with him.”

Shadowsong nodded. “Why has he come?”

“I suspect he’s here to search for fractals and recover them. However, it’s possible he’s here to defect. This warlock has seen lady Kidra and her bodyguards fight, and has seen myself fight as well. He may be convinced we represent a stronger ally than anything he will find in the guild.”

“You think we can gain more fractal knowledge from him.”

“I do.”

"Danger assessment."

"Possible chance he knows of fractals. Knows about Lady Kidra's actions. Likely has hidden combat skills." He forwarded the action report against the machines, including evidence of data wiping.

Shadowsong said nothing for a moment, helmet turning back up to view Hexis in the distance. The warlock looked out of sorts, clearly unused to the wide open space around him. Winds buffeted the group, kicking up snow and ice. The surface knights all adjusted their stance to combat the gusts, while the undersiders moved like kelp in the aquaponics, waving slightly with each blast of current.

Hexis seemed to take this as his cue to step forward and give a bow. “I am Hexis, grand warlock of the guilds below. I’ve heard that there is great danger looming around your clan, and have decided to come here to offer my assistance. Are you Lord Atius?”

Shadowsong scoffed. “I am not him. Lord Atius is away on duty, and outsiders are not needed here. We can protect our own without difficulty.”

Hexis said nothing, waiting instead. He seemed to know when to be quiet, which surprised Sagrius. The man had been nothing but a chatter-mouth the whole time he’d been around.

“We’ll allow the warlock and an escort entry into the colony under guest rights.” Shadowsong said, out into the general comms. “The rest of you will remain within your airspeeder. Food and water will be supplied.”

Hexis nodded, “Fine by me, sir knight.” He turned to the others behind him, and gave a tug of his head, as if commanding them all with his chin. They obeyed, a little reluctantly, turning and walking back to their airspeeder.

“An escort of five is the traditional number I believe.” Hexis said, taking a few steps forward. Five other knights behind him followed, one of which didn’t look at all like a knight and carried instead the robes of a servant over his armor.

The butler Hexis was always with. Sagrius knew him, and the ghosts within all agreed there was more to that man than met the eyes. The soul sight showed nothing on the man's person, no hidden fractals of any kind glowing under his armor. A human with an agenda was the best all of them concluded. Possibly hiding unpowered fractals, same as the warlock.

“Five is enough.” Shadowsong said. “I give you a... cordial welcome to Clan Altosk. Follow behind, we have much to discuss.”