[Suri takes 221 damage! HP: 81/5349]
Suri was almost as fast as Zarya now, her Primal Rage ability operating at its maximum effectiveness. She blocked half a dozen strikes from every direction as Zarya teleported around her, raining blow after blow against the broad face of the greatsword, then drove the Mercurion forward with a push of crimson heat that sent Zarya flying into the air. It corrected itself like a gyroscope, raining shards of brilliant white energy down across the arena. Suri somehow dodged them all: she was limping and bloody, her eyes burning like coals through the veil of her hair. Zarya hadn't even landed when the crimson energy around her burst out into a cloud of snake-like tendrils and drove her into a single-minded charge. I recognized the strike: it was one of her most powerful combat abilities, Gorgon Overdrive.
The now-vulnerable Mercurion landed like a cat and sprung up - right into the ferocious blow of Suri's blade. The sword crushed its shoulder all the way into its chest, almost taking off its head. The simulacrum crumpled to the ground in a pool of oil-slick hair, clawing weakly at the injury before expiring. Suri put her boot to it and pulled the sword free in an arc of crackling energy, then staggered back and fell over onto her ass as she ran out of stamina.
[Suri Ba'Hadir gains 1900 EXP!]
[Suri gains achievement: Slayer of The White Shadow]
“Yeah!” Karalti bounced up and down in excitement. “Go Suri! Best at fighting!”
The barrier dropped, and I ran to Suri with potions in hand. With over five thousand HP, my Concentrated Moss Tinctures would only take the edge off, but she took them and chugged anyway.
“Fuck me, that thing was fast. Got anything for stamina?” she rasped. She stayed on the ground for now, uncorking the third flask and downing it like a shot.
“Sure do.” I fossicked around for one of the brilliant red stamina potions. “Here.”
“That was crazy!” Karalti scampered over to the corpse of Zarya, but as she reached out to sniff, the body of the simulacrum melted and separated into black and white fluids that wisped away into nothing. There was only one item of loot left behind: [Signet Ring of the Artists]. It was the same symbol I’d found on the inside of the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith.
“Here.” I handed it to Suri. “She dropped this.”
“This wasn't THE Zarya, was it?” Suri traded me for the empty bottles, and pulled her gauntlet off with a shaky hand so she could don the ring. “Like, the 2000-year-old Mercurion?”
“Don't think so.” I looked over at the vaguely humanoid impression on the floor. “The Bioscan implied she… it… was some kind of copy of either Zarya or Tanis. I’ve never seen a machine move like that. Zarya must have been one hell of an artificer.”
“I guess so.” Suri looked to the far door, where the final palm print lock waited for her hand. “You guys ready?”
“Red-hot ready.” I offered her a hand. “It’s mech time, baby.”
Suri smiled, and let me help her to her feet. As a group, we crossed the room, but Karalti and I hung back as Suri pricked her finger and pressed her hand into the lock.
Chapter 53
The doors slid apart, soundless except for a shower of sand that rained down through the beams of golden light from within. I put Rin back on video feed as we headed into an entrance hall.
“How’d it go?” she whispered to me.
“No one’s dead,” I replied, trailing behind Suri and Karalti. “You should have seen the thing we just fought, though. I’ll tell you about it later when we… hello.”
Rin gasped as she spotted the same thing I had.
The Rose Vault could only be described as part cathedral, part aircraft hangar. The ceiling rose in a sea of precisely geometrical arches, framed around a huge central portal. At the end of the hall was a forest of pillars made of pure rose quartz, which towered up into a polished golden dome like a grand piano organ. It was a church made for a titan... the titan who knelt in front of the pillars like a knight meditating in front of an altar, head bowed against the hilt of a pair of swords that were five stories tall.
Withering Rose was at least twice the size of Nocturne Lament, built on a scale that was so overwhelming it stopped us in our tracks. It was easy to picture this thing wading through the ocean, battling kaiju and kicking down skyscrapers. Yet despite her size, everything about her was built for grace and speed, from her streamlined head, to the fluted lily-like contours of her armor. A long metal mosaic trailed from her back like a cloak or a wedding train. As we cautiously resumed our approach, the details of her form came into sharper relief. The intricate engravings, the detailing on the flexible plates that flowed down along her spine... and the battle scars of the Drachan and Aesari Wars. Long, twisted claw marks, places where her aurum shell had been burned and warped from magic, and - most alarmingly - gigantic tooth marks. There were twin rows of them on her upper right arm, top and bottom, where something proportionate to her size had grabbed her and worried the limb like a shark.
“Wow,” Rin said softly.
“I…” Suri breathed. “My gods. They had to build TEN of these? Just to fight the Drachan to a stalemate?”
Karalti caught my arm, eyes widening.
“What have we gotten ourselves into, Hector?” Suri looked back at us.
“We're about to get ourselves into a Warsinger.” I hung back nervously. Like Nocturne Lament, Withering Rose had a hinged jaw... and if this magitech artifact was like her prototype predecessor, she had an efficient industrial-grade meat grinder concealed under that elegant helm. “This is your show, Suri. Just be careful.”
Beautiful as she was, the Warsinger had a subtle aura of menace: an aura that intensified as we came around the front of it and saw what Withering Rose had been keeping vigil over for so long. There was no altar at the front of this great hall - just a single sarcophagus. It was made of plain slate, much larger than the one we'd found in Karhad. The bas reliefs showed scenes of war... of a woman who looked like Suri standing over the piled corpses of bird people, and of Withering Rose and other Warsingers battling against twisted, multi-limbed, writhing monstrosities straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare. The Drachan.
Suri had an odd expression on her face as she walked around the sarcophagus, taking in the illustrations, before stopping at the side of it. She gingerly laid her hands on the edge of the lid, and closed her eyes.
“It's strange,” she said. “When I was younger, I wanted the whole world to end, you know. I hated everyone and everything. But I feel… I feel connected to this woman. We share a story. The Khemmemu Dynasty tried to erase Sachara and the Fireblooded and everything my ancestors did to protect this world, just like Nicolas and Jacob tried to erase me. But somehow, we're both still here. And so is Archemi.”
I nodded, and squeezed Karalti's hand. Neither of us said anything as Suri slid her palms over the edge of the sarcophagus.
“Looking at the damage on this thing, I don't know if we can beat 'em,” Suri said. “But I think I'm willing to give it a go, if we can figure out how to use her.”
“I’m guessing the answer might be inside there.” Karalti nodded to the sarcophagus. “Open it. It’s okay.”
Suri set her feet, then pushed forward. She had to put her weight and all of her strength into sliding the lid off the tomb. It budged up, scraped along the edges, and toppled off the side, revealing... nothing, other an inscription in Old Aga.
“I'm pretty sure I can translate that,” Rin said. “Okay... let me see. “To enter the Heart of Knives, you must leave everything behind save for your Name - capital N. Once you are inside, you will lose everything: even that.”
“Your Name is your Words of Power. They’re written into your body and your blood,” Karalti said. “Same as mine.”
“Erm.” I grimaced. “Given this coffin does not and has not ever had a corpse in it, I have some questions about this whole 'once you're inside, you lose everything' stuff.”
“We either do this or we don't. Hold onto
my gear.” Suri began to unequip her armor, stripping down until she was down to her base layer. She dumped her entire Inventory on the ground - it appeared in a convenient, but extremely large cloth sack.
“I'll carry it,” Karalti said. “I'm not holding much anyway.”
“Thanks, kid.” She turned to look up at Withering Rose. “Rin: any idea how I'd get into this thing?”
“You have to find the cockpit,” Rin said. “And open it, I guess. Nocturne Lament doesn't seem to have been built with a cockpit, so I don't know where exactly you'll find it... but I have a feeling it's not in the head.”
“Not unless the ancients were dumbasses,” I said. “Powered armor sat the pilot at chest-height and kept them out of the head, if the machine even had one. The largest types had the pilot sit off-center, so that they were less likely to get shot through the vital line if something managed to penetrate their armor.”
“The name 'Heart of Knives' would suggest something like that,” Rin said. “Check the left-hand side of the chest?”
“Actually, you know what? It’ll be in the neck,” I blurted. “Blood flows to the heart through the jugular. The entry is probably through the neck, behind the gorget. It's a well-protected area, and gives access straight down into the chest if that's where the cockpit is.”
Suri smiled at me. “Well, aren't you a clever boy? I'm going to need your help to get up there, though. Her Queenieness probably had scaffolding to mount... so can you ninja your way to the top and set up a line?”
I nodded, rolled my shoulders, and sprung off the ground. The Warsinger's knee was just out of Jump range, so I Spider Crawled over it, barely made it in time, and pulled myself onto the ledge formed by Withering Rose's greave. It was a long way up. I tied the first rappel line while standing on her wrists, and threw the rope down to Suri. Without Inventory or armor, Suri was able to Rambo her way up, arm over arm, until she reached me. We were able to see the gently swelling expanse of the Warsinger's breastplate, all the way up to the bridge-like collarbones. A second Jump, and a third, and I was able to catch hold of the edge of the gorget and swing onto a small platform between neck and collar. After setting up the line, I went to explore. The side of Withering Rose's neck was a flexible metal matrix that reminded me strongly of the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith. I hovered my hands over it, searching for a door. There was nothing around the jugular area, but as I went behind, I spotted a small recess in the back of the Warsinger's neck that was protected from above by the starburst crest of her helmet, and on every other side by the gorget. It had to be the door.
“Hector?” Suri called from around the front.
“Back here. I think.” I held a hand out, and a red magic sigil swum into view on the surface of the metal before winking out.
Suri joined me, her boots clumping on the metal walkway. I stood aside so she'd have access to the door. As soon as she pressed a drop of blood to the sigil, we heard a hiss. Bolts all around the rim of a six-foot circle of metal sunk inwards, then rolled across to reveal a dimly lit tunnel and a metal ladder leading down.
“Well, looks like it still works. It might even have some juice left in it.” Suri drew a deep breath, then stripped the rest of her clothing off. I arched an eyebrow.
“It said not to take anything in, right?” she said. “Just my Capital-N Name, which implies I'm not supposed to wear anything but my birthday suit in this thing. Now, give me a kiss for luck and get back in case the damn artifact explodes. I'll see if I can show you guys the inside of it.”
I chuckled as I leaned in, shared a long, lingering kiss, and then withdrew. I saluted her as she padded in and started down the ladder. The door rolled back and sealed with a puff of stale, metallic air.
“I'm worried.” As I started down, Rin finally spoke over the voice chat. “This machine is so old. The fact that it works at all...”
“I know,” I said, hopping over to Withering Rose's shoulder and sliding down to the edge of her breastplate. The machine was so large that I could comfortably walk along it... the aurum trim was as wide as a sidewalk. “If she dies, she'll respawn at Kalla Sahasi. That's my only consolation right now.”
“Right.” Rin trailed off into tense silence once more.
When I reached the Warsinger's knee, I set up a belaying line through the same decorative loop I'd used for Suri and threw the end down to Karalti while I tied knots and connected carabiners. “You know what to do?”
“Not really!” She chirped. “I know I'm not meant to drop you!”
“You sure know how to reassure a guy. Just run that rope through your harness and let it slide through at a not-too-ridiculous speed.” I put my back to the ledge, checking the tension on the forward rope.
“Okay! I think it's right!”
Bracing myself, I hopped off backwards into open air, falling about ten feet before Karalti figured out what she was doing. The impact caused me to bounce, rattling my teeth, and then I twirled elegantly the rest of the way down.
“How're you going in there?” I asked Suri.
“Needles,” she replied. “Dealing with a whole lot of needles.”
“What?” Rin chimed in. “Needles? Where?”
“Hang on.” Suri fell silent while I disconnected my ropes, shucked the harness, and folded them into my Inventory. Karalti and I split Suri's load between us so she could move at full speed and back well, well away from the giant robot that was apparently full of needles. A blue camera notification with a blinking red dot appeared in the corner of my eye.
[Suri Ba’Hadir would like to share video with you.]
I approved it with a thought, breaking into a jog just ahead of Karalti. A HUD screen came up, showing a POV camera from Suri. She was looking at the face of a dark crystal ring that curved all the way around behind her. The camera swiveled around to show a magnificent chair that immediately gave me throne envy, until I noticed all of the cables, needles, and straps that were attached to the arms and headrest.
“Wow.” Rin let out a nervous giggle. “That's awfully spiny, isn't it?”
“Guess we know why it's called the Heart of Knives. There's one for each limb,” Suri said. “Hang on.”
The camera shifted to third person, showing her standing in front of the chair. She eased down into it, grimacing. Rin and I watched anxiously as she pressed her hands down, and the arm-rests shifted around and positioned themselves around her limbs. She was shivering.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. The seat's cold, and I'm starkers. It's just giving the girl downstairs a little nip, you know.” She gave us a nervous smile. “Now, how do I use this bloody thing...?”
As she said that, a small rumble passed through the machine. Rin and I watched as the needles shuddered, and then began to move. Suri stiffened as they hovered around her on mechanical arms, and then, one at a time, found their positions. They slid in like IVs, attaching to the backs of her hands, the inside of her elbows, the outer sides of her knees, and - most disturbingly - to her chest. I winced as it hooked in through the skin just under her collarbone. Suri flinched at that one, and the video feed abruptly cut.
Rin gasped. “Suri!?”
“What's happening?” Karalti rubbed against me anxiously, nuzzling her cheek against my shoulder.
“I don't know.” I looked up along Withering Rose's body, listening, scanning for movement, for signs of life.
The Warsinger did not move... but as we waited, keen to any change that would suggest Suri was still alive, the temperature of the room started to go up. I took another step back as a wave of heat washed over us, and frowned as heat haze began to gather around the sharp points of her feet. Embers crawled up along the dull metal spikes that formed her lower legs... more and more of them, in arcane designs that wove together until they suddenly turned red hot. Boiling wind blasted us from a hundred feet away, sending me skidding and Karalti tumbling over with a squeak of protest.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “It fucking works.�
��
There was a deep squealing groan from deep inside Withering Rose's body, and the golden shards shuddered and began to float. As we watched, huddling back near the door, they lifted along fine snapping tendrils of mana and assembled into a corona that spun around into place behind Withering Rose's back, hovering in a vortex of heat.
“Suri?” I called to her with my voice, then via P.M. “Suri! Are you in there?”
Slowly, jerkily, Withering Rose's head turned to look back at us. The dust laid over the metal by centuries of rest was starting to burn away, leaving streaks of black soot. Fire licked out from the grille of her helmet. Karalti hissed and shrunk back. Beautiful as it was, there was something... wrong about it. Wrong about the way it stared at us without eyes, predatory and effortlessly arrogant. A helpless wave of fear washed through me, rooting me to the floor the way that the Rostori Brute had done to Suri until suddenly, the Warsinger dropped its face and looked down at one of its own hands.
“I'm here.” Suri's voice rang out from unseen speakers, seemingly from everywhere. “But I'm... I'm fighting something. Something evil. It’s like… it’s trying to crawl back into me.”
“The Drachan,” I said, swallowing. “It’s the Drachan spirit bound to the Warsinger. You have to fight it.”
“Its name...” Suri trailed off. “My gods... it's horrible...”
“Fight it!” I lunged forward against Karalti's grip.
Withering Rose curled her hand into a fist as embers began to crawl through her limbs and up along her spine.
“This is bizarre. I can feel everything.” The Warsinger shuddered, a sound that sent a rattling rumble through its massive frame. “The air on my skin, my hands... I can hear you speaking. But I can see all the way around. And this... thing... pushing me. These Drachan? They're awful, Hector. All it wants to do is destroy. You, Karalti, me, the world. Itself. Everything. It hates everything.”
Warsinger Page 46
