Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3)

by Travis Bagwell

  Assuming they made it that far, of course.

  However, Finn was distracted as the entrance to the Forge came into sight. He switched back to Short-Sighted and examined it carefully. The frame was formed of paneled stone blocks that created complicated geometric patterns and stretched more than a dozen feet into the air. The entrance itself appeared to be embedded directly into the cliff face, and the stone doorway stood ajar, leaving a four-foot-wide crack. Even more telling, the rock portal looked like it had been blasted open. Something had carved a crater in its surface and blown chunks out of the rock floor that stretched into the darkened tunnel beyond.

  Finn peered closer. The rock itself was unusual. The material was inscribed with lines that formed intricate intertwining patterns. The lines didn’t look cosmetic, and they weren’t any sort of Egyptian-style hieroglyphics. The patterns were too uniform and covered the entire surface of the entrance.

  Are they wards? he wondered. Or maybe another language?

  With a frown, Finn stepped closer and reactivated his Mana Sight. That’s when he saw glimmers of darker green riddling the walls. Those weren’t the glowing runes used by the mages – the symbols typically inscribed along the surface of an object. No, those lines were embedded in the stone. The mana signature reminded him of crystal, except the substance had been pressed into thin bands and laced the stone in dizzying designs full of hard angles and repeating geometric patterns.

  He’d seen those sorts of patterns before, but never inside AO. The lines looked like… circuits? And crystal could hold mana easily… Perhaps this was the equivalent of magical electrical lines embedded in the rock?

  He shook his head in disbelief. That can’t be possible.

  A sudden screech of metal scraping against rock filled the air.

  Finn’s attention darted to the gap in the doorway, where something now stood. It was roughly humanoid, nearly seven feet tall, and its body comprised of panels of thick metal. The thing shambled forward with awkward steps, its joints grinding and screeching with each movement – a product of time and rust. Its left arm hung limp, and a jagged, uneven rip was torn in the metal of the creature’s bicep – almost as though the creature had been struck by an axe.

  The mechanical creature had a hemisphere of metal in place of its head, the surface embedded with the same intricate wiring Finn had observed in the doorway. Except these lines of power glowed with bright orange and yellow light. A thin fan of white light shot from the dome-like head, passing across the group faster than they could react. The mech seemed to jerk upright as the ivory fan touched them, the lines of energy running through its body brightening and the mech raising its arm toward them.

  “I-i-intruders detected!” a hollow voice sounded from within the mech’s chest. At the same time, a metal panel along its forearm flipped open, and a cylinder rotated outward, shifting into place and flaring with vivid orange energy that began to coalesce in a bright point of light. It reminded Finn immediately of the mechanized suit Sadik had operated.

  As that thought crossed his mind, his eyes widened. “Get down!” Finn shouted.

  Just as the words escaped his throat, a beam of molten energy speared from the mech’s arm, arcing forward in a flash and causing the air around it to ripple from the heat. In a flash, Julia had moved forward, intercepting the beam with her shield. The energy carved a molten furrow in the dense metal. Then the ray winked out, the mech shifting its attention to Julia and fire mana collecting around the barrel once more.

  Thick vines suddenly twisted around the creature’s legs, curling in between the metal panels and jerking it downward. The mech was forced to its knees, the sound of grinding gears coinciding with the movement. The next beam was sent flying off at an angle and speared into the sky. Finn glanced to the side to see that Spider was once again channeling his mana into the ground.

  Quick thinking.

  “Pack, we need to take this thing out!” Silver shouted.

  In a flash of multi-colored light, Silver had shifted, transforming back into a massive wolf. She darted forward in a blur of movement, her teeth clamping onto the mech’s ruined arm. She wrenched her neck with a sharp jerk, ripping the limb free with a shower of sparks. The mech barely seemed to notice the damage, lunging forward with its other arm to swipe at her. Silver twisted out of the way with uncanny grace and then leaped back out of harm’s way.

  Finn stared in shock as he watched what happened next. The creature’s chest flared with earth mana, and crystalline tendrils drifted out of its now-empty arm socket, reaching toward the dismembered arm lying along the ground. As the crystal threads touched the ruined limb, there was another flash of emerald mana. In the span of seconds, the arm rose from the ground and slammed back into place, the metal panels welding themselves back together with a surge of fire mana and a flash of heat.

  What the hell? Finn stood stock still in surprise.

  He shook off his sudden stupor, his focus shifting to the creature’s chest. He needed to learn more. Much more. He peeled away at the layers of mana. As he removed the metal casing, he discovered a series of glowing spheres floating in the mech’s chest, suspended in a matrix of the same crystalline wiring that riddled the creature’s body. There were at least three mana cores, one for fire, earth, and air.

  Those dense clusters of energy also reminded him of the air mana core that had powered Kalisha’s mechanized suit – except the combined energy in these spheres was far more powerful than any of the mana gems that Finn had seen before. The cores must be used to maintain the mech’s different systems, the energy conducted along those crystalline wires.

  Silver growled at the mech, and the muscles in her legs surged as she prepared to lunge again. The other two shapeshifters had circled to either side of the mech – Runner readying himself to pounce from atop the Forge’s entrance and Howl lurking along the makeshift walls that Kyyle had formed. Finn suspected they planned to tear it apart, ripping off its limbs simultaneously in the hope of overpowering its self-healing.

  That thin beam of white light rapidly fanned across the area, picking out Howl’s and Runner’s positions. The creature went still, and the fire mana core in its chest flared brightly.

  “Incapacitated. Surrounded. S-s-self-destruct initiated.”

  Finn’s eyes widened. There was still enough energy in the fire mana core to cause serious problems, and the blast would likely rupture the other glowing spheres in the mech’s chest. As he looked on, the fiery energy was already beginning to condense in the chest cavity, growing brighter with each passing second. Even if the mech didn’t harm the group, it might damage the entrance to the Forge. He needed to take out the core before it had fully charged and then contain the blast.

  “Wait!” Finn shouted. “Silver, have your pack back off.” The wolf hesitated and then let out a harsh yip, her druids backpedaling quickly.

  Julia followed their lead, placing herself in front of Finn and raising her shield protectively. “Kyyle – Stone Coffin on the mech!” Finn called out.

  He didn’t wait for the earth mage to respond. Instead, Finn tossed the metal sphere into the air, his fingers a blur as he cast Imbue Fire. Flames wrapped around the metal, and it stopped just before striking the ground, hovering in mid-air. The fire flared brightly as Finn ratcheted up the heat. Then he made a swift gesture, and the molten metal flew toward the mech. As the metal started to glow a bright red, Finn pinched his fingers together, forming a thin metal lance that tapered down to a sharp point.

  The earth around the mech began to liquify and spring into the air, swiftly encircling the creature. Finn’s lance sped forward in an orange streak of light, just barely breaking through a hole in the stone before the mech was fully encased, and Kyyle began pulling it down into the earth. However, Finn was focused only on that matrix of crystal in the mech’s chest, and his fingers twitched as he adjusted the course of his missile. The lance struck home, melting through the casing encircling the mech’s chest before burrowing
deeply into the fire mana crystal.

  Finn saw the surface of the gem fracture, a crack forming along its surface. Orange mana flared so violently that he was forced to look away. A wall of emerald earth slid up in front of Finn and Julia, forming a curved barrier in front of them. Immediately, he removed that intervening earth mana from his sight, watching the detonation despite the harsh glare of the fiery energy.

  The mech’s core exploded violently in a blast of fire mana. Flames rocketed outward, blowing apart the other cores in sequence. That blast of energy ripped apart the mech’s body before slamming into the earthen walls surrounding the creature, causing the ground to tremble. The fire took the path of least resistance, rocketing directly upward through the freshly formed stone and dirt. The energy soon erupted from the ground and spewed up into the air, creating a pillar of flame roughly ten feet tall and showering the area in dirt and rock.

  As the seconds ticked past and the fire and debris gradually began to clear, Finn could see that they hadn’t damaged the entrance to the Forge.

  Although, the same couldn’t be said for the mech.

  With a gesture from Finn, Kyyle pulled up the remains of the mech slowly, the walls of earth drifting back down into the ground to reveal the wreckage. The thing’s body had been blasted apart, and its metallic limbs, now bent and seared, were scattered across the ground in haphazard angles. Its torso had been destroyed entirely, taking the mana cores and the strange crystalline lattice with it – the substance apparently unable to withstand the pressure and heat inside the coffin.

  Damn it, Finn thought to himself. They had lost out on the opportunity to salvage the mana cores and examine the mech more closely. In particular, Finn wanted to get his hands on some of that crystalline material. It seemed far, far more advanced than the wiring that Kalisha had used in her mechanized suit. That device certainly hadn’t been able to self-repair – at least not to Finn’s knowledge.

  He’d have to be more careful with the next one…

  “What the fuck was that thing?” Kyyle muttered into the silence that now hovered across the clearing, wiping dust from his brow.

  “We don’t know. But do you see now why we sealed off this entrance?” Silver demanded, having resumed her human form, and sharing a worried glance with the other druids. They kept their distance from the ruined mech and eyed the entrance to the Forge nervously.

  Silver shook her head, the normally stoic woman’s mana fluctuating wildly as she observed the remains of the mech. Not that Finn could blame her for the fear he saw curl through her energy. He could only imagine what it would be like to fight more than one of those mechs – particularly if they were in better condition. His attention drifted to the entrance to the Forge.

  Besides, who knew what else lingered inside that facility.

  Silver’s startling blue eyes shifted to Finn, following his gaze. “So, now that you know what you face, are you beginning to rethink our arrangement?”

  Chapter 11 - Intrusive

  Finn took a deep breath. “No, we have to press forward,” he replied, meeting Silver’s gaze. “We need something from inside the Forge, regardless of the risk.”

  She let out an incredulous huff. “There’s no accounting for crazy, I suppose – especially among the travelers. Most of your kind seem to have a deathwish.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Julia replied. Now that they had neutralized the threat, she slung her shield across her back and holstered her lance. “Maybe we’re just adventurous. Right, Kyyle?”

  For his part, the earth mage seemed oblivious to the conversation. Crouched beside the ruined mech, Kyyle swiped at the air to bring up his in-game terminal. He was inspecting and cataloging the remains, occasionally tapping out a few notes – although it appeared from their perspective that he was swiping at the air. “This thing is incredible…” he murmured to himself as he carefully arranged the pieces along the ground.

  Silver shook her head, and the other shapeshifters looked at the earth mage like he had grown a second head. “Well, if you want to get yourselves killed, then so be it,” Silver said with a dismissive wave. “Far be it for me to try to stop you.”

  There was a pause as she glanced at the entrance to the Forge. “But we still need to protect our territory and plan for your inevitable deaths. We’ll wall off the entrance behind you and stick around for a few days. If you don’t return in that time, I’m going to have Spider bury this place so deeply that no one will find it again. We can’t afford to have these… things roaming the mountains.”

  Silver shot Finn a glance. “Or your kind attempting to explore these ruins and putting our people at risk.”

  As she finished speaking, a prompt appeared in front of Finn.

  Quest Update: Forging Ahead

  You have found the location of the Forge with the help of Silver and her group of druids. However, it seems that the workshop is in disrepair, and the mechanical sentries that roam its halls present a danger both to your team and to the surrounding area. You have two days to investigate the Forge, find the technology that Kalisha mentioned, and leave before Silver seals off the exit for good. You better hurry!

  Difficulty: A

  Success: Find the technology and escape the Forge within two days in-game.

  Failure: Uh, fail to find the tech or get your ass locked inside an ancient workshop?

  Reward: A potential method to protect you, your companions, and your allies against the effects of Bilel’s relic.

  The time limit didn’t seem like much of a burden. They were already running against the clock as it was. Bilel was still amassing power, and the politics of the guilds and Khamsin was just a powder keg waiting to blow. And that was putting aside Finn’s larger goal here…

  “Understood,” Finn said, swiping away the notice. “We’ll hurry.”

  “Good,” Silver grunted before turning to the two shapeshifters in her group. “Howl. Runner. You two patrol the area. Make sure we’re not interrupted. Stay inside the forest. If you find any unwelcome visitors, do not engage, just report back to me.”

  The two men looked at each other, then shifted – a wolf and a snow leopard soon sprinting toward the tree line.

  “And Hoot!” Silver shouted. The youth jumped at his name, backing away from the ruined mech as though he’d just been burned. “I want you to have Archie sweep out toward the desert. Make sure no one is following our new guests.” The young man nodded and then turned his eyes to the sky.

  Finn followed his gaze and could just barely make out the faint outline of a bird far above them – possibly an owl. Curious, Finn shifted to his Mana Sight and saw a coil of multi-colored energy connecting the young man and the bird.

  Interesting. If he found some spare time, Finn would need to remember to study the druids’ magic system more carefully. It had some potentially useful applications.

  But for now, he needed to focus.

  “Daniel,” Finn barked. The AI abruptly flared to life beside him.

  “Fantastic! It looks like I missed another near-death experience,” Daniel observed happily, noting the hole blasted in the ground and the debris scattered across the area.

  “Lucky you,” Finn replied in a dry voice. “You want to help Kyyle out and scan that mess?” he asked with a wave at the destroyed mech. “Please try to recreate a model using the pieces. Push all of that data to the shared repository. We may need it soon. Also, ask Kyyle to salvage anything we might be able to use later.

  “Oh, and tell him to make it quick!” Finn called after the AI. “Five minutes, then we make our way inside.” Daniel flashed once in acknowledgment.

  “Sure thing, sir!” Daniel replied and darted off toward the earth mage. The AI soon hovered around the mech, and a thin beam of light shot from his body as he scanned the ravaged metal limbs one-by-one.

  “You think we’re going to find more of those mechs inside?” Julia asked, coming up beside Finn and eyeing the wreckage skeptically.

  �
�Most likely,” he murmured in reply. “You heard that thing before it started attacking. It referred to us as intruders.” He grimaced, his eyes flitting back to the entrance. “I have a feeling we just got a taste of this place’s security, and this mech was already worn down and damaged. I doubt we’re going to be met with open arms.”

  “At least we’re getting used to that. Besides, who doesn’t like a little challenge?” she called over her shoulder as she approached the entrance to the Forge.

  Finn grunted noncommittally. He wouldn’t mind the occasional easy win.

  His eyes lingered on the entrance to the Forge as his daughter walked toward that massive stone doorway. He kept replaying the battle with the mech in his head. He recognized the targeting system – that thin fan of light mana – from Kalisha’s mines back in the Abyss. It might be safe to assume that these mechs could only detect mana. And the cores reminded him strongly of that mechanized armor that Sadik had used. It seemed the merchants had borrowed quite a few designs from this place… Although, Kalisha had been rather circumspect about what sort of resistance they would encounter.

  He couldn’t decide if that was the merchant’s way of getting a little payback or if she simply didn’t know. Maybe other members of her guild had been responsible for working with the technology their mercenaries had recovered, or they had died before describing the contents of the facility.

  Or, maybe this was all an elaborate trap.

  Finn’s gaze shot to where Silver stood nearby, speaking with Spider in hushed tones, likely discussing how best to barricade the doorway after they entered. If this was some sort of plot on Kalisha’s part, he doubted the druids were a part of it. He failed to see how they had any stake in the conflict back in Lahab. It might be reasonably safe to assume the druids wouldn’t stab them in the back – not unless Finn and his group presented a clear danger to their people.