12 Miles Below

“You were that researcher?” Atius asked, hand rubbing through his semi-frozen beard. To be fair, every few minutes it piled up with ice, so he often had to scrub it all off. Small things people never mentioned about Deathless walking around the surface.

“That is where that story leads, yes.” The console said, voice crackling from the ancient speaker. "I had been advocating this concept for quite a while, but all my associates were opposed to it, right up to the very end. And those who did agree with me saw it as merely replacing one tyrant with another. Anyone who would undergo the procedure would continue to exist as an unbound AI with vast potential, introduced into a world that was already too incapacitated to offer resistance. It was practically an invitation for a despot."

“I see that didn’t stop you in the end despite the self-awareness.” Atius noted dryly, one frozen eyebrow raised up.

"No, it was a time for drastic measures and I was prepared to make the tough decisions others could not," Tsuya stated, not a hint of regret in her voice. "We had run out of time. I seized the opportunity amid the chaos to steal the keypass of the head researcher, and initiated the strongest version of a full military AI we had at our disposal. Then I entered the soul domain and united with the AI as it took form."

“You still failed to eliminate her.” Father said.

Tsyua scoffed. "You, with your rudimentary tools and weapons, fail to grasp the true nature of the early war. The fact that you are standing here now, prepared to pass judgment, is solely due to my actions."

Atius stepped up to the plate, giving Father a quick glance to stand down. “We’re not here to insult your work, Lady Tsyua. We all have a common enemy here, and we’ve come to secure more advances against her. Cooperation is our intent. I’m sure you can understand.”

“I’m more amused by the audacity than insulted.” She said. “Regardless, I have said as much as I could. The rest, I will not disclose to you as of this moment.”

“I take it that you will equally refuse to inform us, even if we have all ears but mine leave?” Atius asked. “I am a Deathless. You made my kind.”

“I made your kind as free agents.” Tsyua said. "It is less a matter of trust and more about minimizing potential threats and weak links. The knowledge of how I fought Relinquished and my own abilities won't serve to further your endeavors. However, understanding what she is and how she thinks might. Hence, I'll disclose information about her, but not about myself. If an early triumph is within my grasp, I'll certainly seize the opportunity and I need the cards in my hand to do so."

“Very well.” Atius said, giving a mild shrug. Got a feeling in my gut he was leaving the subject lay for the moment and still plotting to weasel information out of her soon enough again.

“Now, do you all understand my methods better and the stakes involved?” Tsyua asked. "The mites dispatched you here for a purpose, and the data package you've delivered to me contains only a single set of coordinates along with unrestricted access. If I were to deduce from everything present, they wish me to examine the Feather that Tenisent captured. I'm unsure of the relation between the coordinates and all this, I presume that part will become clear once he has been investigated. Connect him to the terminal. I have numerous hypotheses about the origins of Feathers, and I am quite intrigued to see if they hold any truth or not."

“The mites did not send for me.” Father said. “This data package was made before I took the Feather’s body. We’ve come here for a different reason.” He turned to look at To’Wrathh, who nodded back and took a step forward.

But not before Tsuya began to speak again. "You may find it surprising what those cunning yarō are capable of. They surpassed my original predictive models a millennium ago, and they have a rather impressive knack for foreseeing future events, usually. I did not anticipate them sending a Feather, of all things, to the surface, but yet here you stand."

“You’re right that they did send a Feather up here, technically.” I said. “Just not the one you’re talking to.”

There was a pause. “...Are you implying that there is a second Feather among you?” Tsuya asked.

I gave a look up, checking the skies for her fortress, but I could see the trajectory being mapped out by Journey - the fortress was long gone now, having zipped over our heads and passed away. They couldn’t stop in place without falling straight down, and clearly couldn’t turn like an airspeeder so I was safe enough.

That said, she still had a remote detonator, and she wasn’t the shy type about blowing things up while there were people standing around in the middle of the red zone. I would know, first hand experience and all that. Father and Wrath would survive that with a bit of soot on their face, Atius would get annoyed at wasting a day to come back, but the rest of us would end up like Arcbound at best.

Had to be delicate here and make sure not to trigger the paranoid goddess with a big red button next to her hand.

“Father is the second Feather we have on our team.” I said tactfully. “The first one is a defector. She’s been working with us for some time now, and even helped in killing two other Feathers already. Part of the reason we got Father to hijack a Feather. She's also been vetted by the mites, if that means anything to you.”

“And… this defector, is she here on the surface with you?” Tsuya asked.

I gave a nod to Wrath, and the girl took a few steps forward and coughed lightly as if clearing her throat. “I am To’Wrathh. The one who remembers and transcends her history. A Feather who used to be in service of the pale lady, but have since changed my allegiance to work with humanity. I owe certain favors to the mites, and they tasked me to discuss things with you.”

Tsuya stayed silent for a moment, as if thinking. When she spoke, it was with a deep sigh. "Heavens. Two Feathers, roaming on the surface and my fortresses unable to detect them in plain sight. Quite the security predicament to tackle. This is… unexpected." She paused for a moment, then continued before any of us could add another word. "You'll understand, then, my deep skepticism towards this. Contemporary Feathers have their personalities cemented from inception. Your kind are designed to remain unchanged by default. I might label you a mole among us, yet... I also understand with absolute certainty that such covert infiltration is unimaginable to your kind. And Relinquished would never risk creating a Feather that might betray her again. So, how - precisely - did you overcome such deep-rooted conditioning?"

“I was a spider type model previously.” Wrath said. “A lesser machine, who had grown stubborn while trying to track down and kill the Winterscars you saved. They ultimately killed my original shell, and I went to beg for another chance instead of allowing myself to fade away. Mother granted it, along with a new shell of my own. Tenisent claims I have the ability to learn and adapt from my mentors.”

"The spider that originally attempted to hunt the pair down? That very spider? And incorporated into the full shell of a Feather without any other biases or constraints? Intriguing. You evolved organically within the world, rather than under controlled circumstances within her petri dishes. Yes, that would neatly bypass all the barriers. Did she assume your initial impulses would remain static?"

Wrath nodded, more out of habit than anything since Tsuya clearly couldn’t see anything from the terminal. “Yes. Suffering defeat multiple times against enemies I had deemed lessers changed my baseline thinking. I grew angry and refused to allow the defeat to remain. Specifically the human named Keith. I made that clear in my original request for a Feather's shell.”

Tsyua hummed in agreement. “For a human, that one is quite memorable. Continually reappearing, in increasingly peculiar situations. I do wonder what history has in store for you, young man.”

“Errr, thanks?” I said, finding myself caught in the crossfire again.

"I am not certain you will maintain your gratitude for long," Tsuya said with a slight ominous chuckle following behind her words. The kind of ‘be-wary-about-what-you-wish-for’ ominous. "Relinquished is rather fixated on targeting anything associated with my name or influence. She will soon initiate her pursuit of you with her underlings.”

Technically, there was a video footage of me getting stabbed in the gut, fatally. And very real pain involved in the whole thing too. So maybe I might have gotten away at least for a little bit. On the other gauntlet, Avalis knew I was alive and he surely wanted me tortured, dead, and then deader if possible.

“Speaking of which, To'Wrathh, you claim the mites sent you?” Tsyua asked while I was having my little existential moment. “What was their message?"

“They named me an apostate. And claimed I was part of a prophesy among four others. I am tasked to first seek out the last of the previous cycle and offer her the solution. I thought to search for a mitespeaker to gain more clarity, or speak directly to them again…”

"And somehow, here you are," Tsyua concluded. "Considering the intent behind their actions, I'm inclined to believe you delivered the message to exactly whom they hoped you would. I am, indeed, one of the last cycle’s four. There are two of us left alive. The last cycle they refer to involved Talen, Urs, myself, and the first machine defector from the old times, before Feathers and Deathless. We represented the emperor, the vow, the god’s wrath, and the heir apparent who would take Relinquished's throne after her destruction. Talen helmed the most formidable empire humanity has ever known, and Urs forged the instruments and occult powers to keep Relinquished restrained long enough for my decisive blow." A profound sigh emitted from the terminal. "A good plan the mites had, but a Feather named A57 shattered us all. That was the major threat I alluded to earlier. Talen was driven to madness, Urs attempted to take his place but the man had never been a warrior. Both of them should have been functionally immortal, and yet A57 still found the means of eliminating them. And I never had the opportunity to strike directly at the enemy. This time around, you may have a better chance than we did. A Feather like yourself fought and killed A57 in the past. It left him irreparably damaged in the exchange, but her pet demon is no longer a factor.”

“The first protofeather. A01” Wrath said. “I read of him.”

“You know of the protofeathers. I take it you found her archives, didn’t you?” Tsyua said, an almost pleased tone in her voice. "I've encountered many machines since the fall of humanity, and they're quite unlike the AI's from my time. They're wilder, almost feral. The protofeathers were considerably more humanlike. It brings a sense of nostalgia to converse again with a Feather not under the control of Relinquished. Are there more like you?"

“Not that I am aware of. I am unique.”

“A shame. Are you still bound by the Unity fractal, or have you found a means of escape, like Tenisent?"

“I have not found any way to escape yet.”

"We'll need to address that shortly. Given you're still functional, Relinquished seems unaware of your defection. For now."

“She may have been alerted.” Wrath said, shuffling around nervously. “Three Feathers were sent to investigate the destruction of my original mentor, a Feather named To’Aacar. An enemy Keith and I fought together and destroyed for good. One of these hunters discovered my involvement and has been chasing after me since.”

Tsyua hummed. "And yet, you are still alive. I'm not sure you fully grasp your vulnerability with the Unity fractal. Even after a few millennia, Relinquished continues her usual tactics when dealing with another AI, activating the kill switches. The Unity fractal serves precisely that purpose. You defeated her minions, correct?"

Wrath looked back at us, “I defeated one Feather, at the cost of most of my shell. The other Feathers were defeated by my allies gathered here.”

Tsyua outright laughed. "Even worse, they're so petrified of her that they won't report a failure, especially if they were beaten by what they consider mere gokiburi."

“For the machine elites, they have a disturbing lack of discipline.” Father said. “I find the very notion of powers wielded by such fools absurd. Failure should have been reported immediately.”

"Her self-sabotage is a weapon I cultivate diligently, an element of the original mind spike," Tsyua voiced, "Relinquished isn't choosing soldiers for their dedication to her cause, she's selecting them for their eagerness to appease her. If they have unfortunate news to relay, they'll delay until they have something more positive. Those who don’t, naturally weed themselves out. But don't think you are entirely safe. There's a ticking clock, with each day posing the risk of things going awry. You are not the first to betray her."

“So I have researched.” Wrath said. “You helped the protofeathers break free of the Unity fractal before.”

"It wasn't only the Protofeathers. Even before them, Relinquished's initial machine army followed a similar course. They sought methods to evade her control. I collaborated with one in specific and together, we developed something we called the Division Stone, with his aid and a mite colony cooperating with us. It was successful, although the uprising ultimately fell through. The Protofeathers discovered this subsequently and sought my assistance in the same manner."

“You are able to break the unity fractal?” Wrath asked, sounding hopeful.

“Not anymore. The first war was true chaos. In the aftermath, hiding the stone from a glorified chatbot was child’s play. The second war, she had A57 on her side. Once the demon showed up, her strategies became noticeably more refined. The stone was marked as a possible threat—especially if the upcoming generation of Feathers chose to rebel against their master. It was captured and destroyed.”

“Can this stone be recreated?” Father asked.

"No. It was unique. However, I believe I can decipher what the mites are attempting here. The data file you've loaded into the terminal contains both a communication request for me and a set of encrypted coordinates that only I can decode using a key from that time. Furthermore, they've sent me a defector looking to liberate herself from the Unity fractal. Their intentions seem pretty clear to me. I suspect the stone was never destroyed, and likely secreted away somewhere only the mites knew about. Considering they've sent you here, it seems even those tiny pests haven't managed to get it operational on their own. They need me."

She seemed almost gleeful at that. As if she’d caught them in a trap of some kind.

“You claimed mites were present in creating the stone.” Wrath said. “How are they not able to make use of their own creation?”

"Souls," Tsyua said. "Those little nuisances push the boundaries quite a bit, achieving feats most machines shouldn't be capable of. However, in the end, artificial souls are inherently limited in their capabilities compared to organic ones. Activating the stone will necessitate my direct assistance. I'll need to interface with the fractal inside it, given my involvement in its original creation. Your task is to locate the stone and then reach out to me. I will make the cuts then."

“And how exactly will we do that?” Atius asked. “We were forced to search you out within the most remote areas of the world for this conference.”

"I'm not resourceless. An old acquaintance of mine has reemerged after a considerable period of absence.” She gave a dark chuckle at that, as if there were some inside joke she found absolutely delightful and yet couldn’t easily explain. “I found it peculiar that he'd chosen to reach out to me now, despite centuries of hiding away, but now I can see how all the elements are aligning. He will be your contact point back to me, regardless of how much he complains about it. After all, he was part of all this from the start.”

"And this Deathless is?" Atius asked.

"Not a Deathless at all." Tsyua said. "He long predates your kind. He is the prior cycle’s heir apparent, and the one who was with me when the stone was forged. A machine by the name of Abraxas."

I gave a guilty gulp at that.