by Sean Davies
“I'll stay on my toes and keep an eye on you all,” Genevieve said. “Dragons, you all good to clear a path?”
Both Stitches and Quoronastra nodded, and readied themselves for the charge.
Ricardo Stern emptied all of his Archmage ball-bearing grenades into his hand. “Hold on, I’ll soften them up a bit first. On your command, Genie-Jay.”
“And I’ll buff you all, before I fry these walking trashcans,” Zelphinas said as cheerfully as he could manage.
Genevieve assessed the group one last time, making sure that everyone was ready, and then stared down at her faceless mechanical foes. “Good luck, guys, I’ll see you on the other side—and I’ll buy you all a round of drinks for every one of these glorified toasters that you kill!”
As the group cheered, Constance and Genevieve blew each other a kiss and took deep breaths, hoping that they weren’t about to face their end.
The blue-haired Vampire Nightclaw looked Ricardo in the eye, spinning her Katana before firmly instructing him, “Do it.”
The adventurer lobbed the grenades into the air, as Peter released his shockwave of beneficial magic to enhance his allies, and the mechanical army instantly reacted by hurling javelins, firing metal bolts of energy, and flinging themselves forward.
Constance threw up a wide barrier to deflect the automatons’ assault, and Ricardo’s grenades exploded over and over in frightening red energy blasts, blowing a large dent in the guardians’ neat ranks and easily allowing Stitches and Quoronastra’s dragon breath to cut a path through the surviving robots and smash forward.
Valkeria, Charlotte, and Leanne fired wildly into the clockwork guardians closing in from the side with their weapons, while Kyle used his energy bow to pick off the flying units who were trying to assail them from above. Constance aided him with wondrously lethal displays of fiery golden magic in-between maintaining her defensive spells.
Kieran the warrior deflected projectiles of all types with ease, thanks to his ancient enchanted shield, and hacked through any robotic enemies that Quoronastra’s big powerful jaws missed with his red and black sword.
Az, Peter, and Ricardo covered the rear, always keeping themselves between Stitches’ and Quoronastra’s lashing tails to be sure that they weren’t falling behind. Lightning whipped out of Peter’s fingertips, melting gears and singeing circuitry, and Az used his knowledge of witch hunter magic to create large shockwaves of intense holy energy every time he swung his bastard sword. Meanwhile, Ricardo used his priceless onyx wand to score black beams of pure death across the advancing machines, rusting them to ruin and turning them into piles of discoloured dust.
The original Conclave’s clockwork guardians lacked the incredible regenerative and ability-mimicking capabilities that the Creator’s own mechanoids did, and the expedition team made great progress fighting their way through to the exit of the massive chamber. Just as the team were beginning to get their hopes up, however, the robots on the outskirts of the rooms began to disassemble themselves, reconstructing and combining together into bigger, faster, and more lethal forms to replace the foot soldiers in the centre of the room. Angelic hosts—now more akin to fighter planes than humanoid figures—manoeuvred expertly around the dark chamber, hammering Constance’s defensive shield with rapid fire bursts of bright gunfire, while tall monstrosities scuttled over their smaller allies on golden bladed legs and launched ear-shattering salvos of ordnance at the expedition team.
Connie was struggling to hold off the ever-increasing damage when a four-legged robot, which looked like a cross between a rhino and a tank, charged into Quoronastra’s side and butted the Dragon mercilessly with its multiple piston-driven horns.
Quoronastra roared and instinctively took flight, almost dropping his three passengers in the process, but the clockwork soldiers below impaled his unprotected underbelly with lances, javelins, and bolts. Despite the damage and the immense pain, Quoronastra navigated himself to the closed door, scorching the foes beneath him with purple fire breath before crash-landing beside the thick slab of sealed metal, and reverting back into a weakened and injured humanoid form.
Cut off from the others, Kieran hacked, slashed, and bashed the encroaching crown of guardians who were charging in for the kill, while Charlotte and Kyle gunned down any robots that got too close to Quoronastra, who was desperately clutching his mortal wounds.
Genevieve ran over the top of the army of automatons, stepping from head to head and dispatching all that she could along the way, as she joined Kieran and the isolated group by the door so that they wouldn’t be completely overwhelmed by enemies.
“Boys!” Az screamed, scared witless for the safety of his sons, and he broke away from the others to run to the sealed doorway. He used a considerable amount of his reserved energy to shield himself in a bubble of defensive magic, allowing him to shrug off even the most fatal blows as he plummeted and barged his way through the faceless warriors to reach Kieran and Kyle.
Ricardo and Peter Zelphinas were shaken, but still managed to keep their resolve and focus their attacks on the rampaging rhino-tank, which was eventually reduced to a pile of smouldering scrap metal thanks to the Mage’s potent lightning and the adventurer’s rare, deadly wand. They had no time to recover as they spotted Stitches about to fly past them, and they grabbed hold of his fabric tail as the Alt-dragon sped forward to join his friends by the door.
With the tide of battle quickly turning against them, Constance pushed herself to the limit and forced her barrier to expel a massive amount of fire and lightning around Stitches, shooting down dozens of aerial attackers, and massacring the larger chimeric robots and hundreds of the basic foot soldiers. It still wasn’t enough to stem the tide of foes, who were now also using their deactivated comrades to upgrade and transform themselves into new, more formidable fighters.
Connie jumped from Stitches’ back the second they were beside the door, and held her hands against the wall. She focused on the intricate inner workings of the machinery hidden beside the doorway, concentrating on forcing it to work in her favour. Slowly but surely, the massive rectangle of metal began to rise, and Valkeria immediately dived at Quoronastra, rolling with him to the safety of the other side whilst already beginning the process of her precious healing spells.
Without Constance’s protection, the group were forced to dodge and deflect the robot’s endless assault themselves, and without any Supernatural talents Leanne and Charlotte had no choice but to fall back into the next room with Valkeria and Quoronastra, although they did provide fire support from beneath the rising door.
“Connie, run!” Genevieve yelled at the Book Wielder, who was still locked in a trance by the doorway.
“I… can’t, I… can’t,” Constance rambled, “it will close if I let go…”
“Get in, get in!” Genie yelled at the others as she protected her lover.
Stitches, who had been cut, torn, and ripped, shrank down into his normal Alternative form and slid under the partially opened door, before helping Peter and Ricardo clamber through.
A massive flurry of detached golden wings slammed towards Constance, and even with all of her speed Genevieve was unable to deflect each one in mid-air, but Kieran jumped in front of the exposed Book Wielder with his shield raised high.
Constance was saved, but not all of the bladed projectiles had hit the warrior’s enchanted shield; the rest of his body was pinned to the metal floor.
“Kieran!” Az roared in disbelief and rage, as he fought his way to his deceased son. “Get the fuck inside, Kyle—now!”
“Fuck that, Dad, I’m going to kill every last one of these fucking things!” Equally distraught and looking for revenge, Kyle thundered after Az, and was suddenly cut down by a barrage of laser fire.
Az howled in agonised grief, before pulling Constance away from the doorway and shunting her into Genevieve’s arms. “Go!” he yelled. “I’m staying here with my sons.”
The Vampire Nightclaw nodded numbly, res
pecting Az’s decision and knowing that the father’s terrible grief would be incurable by her words. She rolled Constance under the door and then joined her on the other side.
Valkeria was kneeling in a pool of Quoronastra’s dark purple blood, desperately summoning all of her remaining scraps of strength to save the Dragon from the clutches of death, when four humanoid clockwork guardians shoved themselves underneath the closing door, crushing the better part of their mechanical bodies in the process. In the split seconds before the group could dispatch them, the robots had already fired a hail of darts and barbs from their hands, arms, and opened faces at the Dragon and the Shaman healer, killing them both outright.
Constance sank to the floor in grief and shock, sobbing uncontrollably as Genevieve held her in her cold arms, while Stitches stood silently and stared at his dead comrades, seeming unable to move or speak. Charlotte, Leanne, and Peter were equally anguished, and they paced and cursed shakily as the reality of the losses shattered their already stretched emotional states.
Although Ricardo was as distraught as the others, he couldn’t help but to walk forward and see what they had accomplished. The room ahead of the remaining team members was pitch black, and in his heart, he already knew what he was looking at, but he couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge it aloud without being brutally sure. The adventurer reached a rectangular bronze ledge that simply ended, and he looked down, discovering that they’d arrived at the top of an incomprehensibly enormous hole which looked as though it had no bottom. Most devastating of all was the fact that there was no way down.
Genevieve looked up from Connie, who was still crying her heart out, and called to Ricardo, sensing that bad news was on the horizon. “What is it?”
“We’re trapped,” the adventurer replied unsteadily, tears welling up in his brown eyes.
Chapter 14
A Date with Destiny
Winston had rushed into his bathroom the moment he had awoken to check that his appearance had reverted back to its original state, free from both Omniosis and his Archmage side. Once he was confident it was just himself in the mirror, he had quickly returned to embrace his friend Alexander and his wife Veronica in relieved and thankful merriment, before calling for his ‘inner circle’, to discuss Mydia's dire situation.
After Winston and Veronica had changed into some formal wear (and spent a great deal of time snogging shamelessly), they gorged themselves on several servings of fine food, before relocating to the Primary Regulator’s office where Winston could handle the pressing matters in a formal yet comfortable environment when the guests arrived.
Alexander had made sure that there were enough seats to accommodate everyone, and then had proceeded to gather all his well-arranged documents of Mydia's current state of affairs for Winston to flick through during the important meeting.
Chloe O’Kelly and Alice Eve had been the first to arrive, followed soon after by the vampire Albert Tiberius and his Deputy Prime Minister Christopher Thorne, along with Cherriesa, Silvario, and even Kaine of the Trinity of Old (who had brought a strong bottle of Industrian beer along with him). Last to arrive were Queen Azalea and Lana Johnson of the New Desem Republic, who had been asked to also represent Neo-Industria East and West by the Foreman and Roy Green.
Once Winston was sure that everyone who could attend his hastily arranged meeting was present and ready to proceed, he stood up to speak, giving them all a quick rundown of what had transpired in his own mind before starting his speech.
“Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you for your efforts during my absence,” Winston began, “particularly the Lord Imperator and Chloe O'Kelly, who successfully rid the world of two of its greatest threats to date. Once the planet is safe again, you and all those who participated in the actions against Darkheart and Corriztis will be formally honoured in the amphitheatre grounds.”
“That really won't be necessary—” Alice said uncomfortably.
“The hell it won't,” Chloe interrupted. “Thank you, boss-man Winston, it will be a pleasure!”
Winston gave the excitable redheaded Book Wielder a wide grin, before continuing. “Secondly, I want to convey my deepest thanks to mistress Cherriesa of the Trinity of Old, for helping me overcome my inner demons. The resources of the Conclave and Justiciars are yours—within reason,” he quickly amended, causing everyone to chuckle.
“Good,” Cherriesa replied flatly.
The Mage leader, Silvario, looked aghast at his colleague’s lack of appreciation, and tutted loudly before rising to give Winston a small bow. “Thank you, Primary Regulator Reynolds, for your generosity, as always.”
“Yeah, cheers lad,” the burly Werewolf leader said casually, lifting his bottle of beer in Winston’s direction as if to toast him.
Winston returned the gesture with his half-empty glass of whiskey, before continuing on with his speech. “Lastly, I want to apologise from the bottom of my heart for my ill conduct over this past year, during my quite literal identity crisis. I hope you can all forgive me for any selfish, unpleasant, and psychotic behaviour I might have exhibited over the past months. I want to assure you all that going forward, I will do everything in my power to protect Mydia and regulate the balance of magical power.”
“It's cool. The worst thing you did was blow up the Manager and his magic-hating Darkheart sympathiser buddies,” Chloe joked with a shrug, earning a scowl from Alice.
“The Manager would've been incarcerated for life, or executed for treason, after his dealings with the Darkheart Organisation came to light,” Alice said in a serious tone. “Although, it would've been handled in a far less theatrical way...” she confessed with the faintest hint of a smirk. “Dark Winston may have been a megalomaniac, but I have to admit that little stunt in Neo-Industria helped to diminish support for the terrorists immensely.”
“That's Ali's way of saying ‘all’s well that ends well’,” Chloe sniggered, before receiving another disapproving look from the Lord Imperator.
“Now that's out of the way, we've got to address what's come to light about Mydia's origins, and the Creator entity that seems responsible for the ill condition of the planet,” Winston said gravely.
Both Alice and Winston told the others what they had learned for themselves, stressing the Creator's likely objective to restore the planet back to the way it was—Archmages included—at the expense of Mydia’s mad mix of current inhabitants. Alexander spoke of the creation theories that he and Quoronastra had been unearthing, and then they discussed the null-zone spire that Constance and Genevieve had found and destroyed in Rura's countryside.
“I'm going to arrange another Conclave of Nations to inform the delegates about the entire situation,” Winston decided. “I think everyone has a right to know, but I'll leave it down to the representatives to choose how they inform their territories.”
“Do you think that's wise?” Alice challenged. “It could create a panic.”
“Ideally, I'd wait to see how successful Connie’s actions are before causing unnecessary worry,” the Primary Regulator replied, “but with the growing null-zones I'd prefer the population was ready to evacuate any afflicted areas at a moment’s notice.”
“On the subject of the null-zones,” Alex interjected, “the Mayor and his fiancée stumbled across a leech-spike when they were sightseeing on the Isle, and were able to destroy it and the strange metal guardians with ease. While the Alts are still affected by the null zones, these ancient devices seem completely defenceless against Gloom magic. Currently, Arria and the Mayor have disabled three spires on Central Isle—they're making a game of it, apparently. I suggest calling as many willing Alternatives into service, as our own forces are having difficulty overpowering the regenerative effects of the structure and the mimicking abilities of their mechanical protectors.”
“That's amazing news,” Winston grinned. “Please make the calls, Alex. I know for sure that the ex-Pollutian Alts will jump at the chance to unleash some havoc.”
&nb
sp; “Will it be enough, though?” Veronica asked, thinking about the prediction Winston's alter-ego had shown them before they’d left the dreamscape. “This Creator thing is going to get a massive surge of energy from the moons.”
“All we can do is buy Connie and the others as much time as possible,” Winston replied. “Who knows? If we disrupt as much of its operations on this side of the planet as possible, it might derail its efforts to reset Mydia. Also, I plan on taking every elite Book Wielder we have to the pillar, to attempt to deflect as much of the twin moons’ energy as possible.”
“You’re going to do what?!” Veronica exclaimed.
“I've got to try something,” Winston explained. “Even if there's a slim chance I can stop that energy transfer we saw, then I've got to take it.”
“Fine. But I'm coming with you, sweetie,” Veronica informed him with her hands on her hips. “I only just got you back, and no god-like beings will be taking you away.”
“I'll join you too,” Alice said firmly.
“Me too!” Chloe said eagerly.
“No, Chloe, I need you to stay here and help coordinate things with Alexander and General Stein,” Winston replied.
“Aww, why does everyone always leave me behind?” Chloe pouted.
“You normally end up slinking along anyway...” Alice mumbled.
“I'm promoting you to Chief Regulator—you've proven yourself on dozens of occasions, so chill out, O'Kelly,” Winston told her informally.
“Oh… really?” the redhead Book Wielder gasped. “Fuck yes, get in there!”
Most of the room chuckled at Chloe's cheerful outburst, including the Lord Imperator who quickly covered her mouth.
The Primary Regulator waited until the room was settled before asking, “Is everyone in agreement about my current course of action?”
The room full of high-ranking delegates agreed, but before Winston could conclude, the Lord Imperator coughed deliberately behind her hand to show that she wasn't quite done.