Book 8 – Chapter 31

“Quick raise of hands here, anyone got Tsuya’s personal address by chance?” I asked the room.

Father didn’t react to that, just a grunt instead. “Stand aside boy, there is a reason I came down here.” He simply stared at the console like it owed him something and it better comply or else. Oddly effective, since the mite terminal proceeded to do exactly what he wanted it to. “I do not carry the Unity fractal, I ripped it out of this shell within the first moments I could. Tsuya understood her secrets would be safe with me when we spoke. This was what I came here for.”

A ping went out into the mite sea at a very specific endpoint. And from deep beyond, something responded back.

Father turned to Wrath. “If the pale lady appears during this discussion at any point, you know what to do.”

We had a few basic plans in case that would happen. But his was the home stretch and at this point even if Relinquished caught us, she was too late.

We’d planned on Wrath simply shutting down into deep sleep the moment Relinquished showed up. She could reboot Wrath using terminal commands from the machine network – but that was down right now. Which meant Wrath could hide from Relinquished by turning off everything. Which meant the unity fractal would have no power to run either.

Would it draw attention and make Relinquished question things? Absolutely, at that point the game would be up. But she couldn’t get an army here fast enough to stop us from using the Division Stone.

A set of passwords were exchanged, the data feed flashing through on the display. Then the speaker crackled to life. I recognized the voice. Tsuya.

We really did have her personal address. And with her here, that meant the Division Stone plan was good to go.

She, of course, was all business from the start. “Tenisent.” She greeted curtly. “This line is secure on my end. I can see she is completely blind with the network turned off. There is no tracer or attempts by her to track my movements as of now. Is the biome on your end secure?”

The Winterscars all pinged green on their huds, the scouters on the rooftop and city proper hadn’t spotted anything on approach.

And around here, there were only dead shells of long unpowered machines. No concepts of power or life were here, and the Occult couldn’t be fooled.

“There is no machine presence here, only death and ruins.” Father said, equally agreeing with my own search.

“Understood. Is the Division Stone still intact and functional? What have you found on this biome?”

“It is functional. This biome is buried in snow as you claimed. We found more, a city. Old. From the golden era. And the ruins of a protofeather.”

I looked down at the dead protofeather laying up against the Division stone from here. Tsyua didn’t know this location existed, which meant she also couldn’t have known about A01’s ultimate fate.

I didn’t know who A01 was as a person, but I did know he’d fought for what was right at the end, and without him, I wouldn’t be standing here. Someone at least should know. “We believe this is the final stand of A01 before he was killed.” I said.

Tsuya’s reaction was different from what I expected: “That is impossible. He is in stasis, alive. And it is not in your current location.”

“Wait, I thought the records showed him wounded in a way that would be fatal?” I asked. “That’s how this guy died. If that’s not A01, what happened to him?”

“A01’s current status is not something I will disclose. I have a suspicion on who this may be, and I will need video or picture data to confirm.”

Father frowned, then sent a quick picture and recording snipped for just this moment. The rest of the Winterscars remained on alert. I could tell they were listening in, since this was Tsuya after all. One of the gods herself.

They still kept a tight hangar, teams keeping an eye for any signs of trouble around us. Captain Sagrius remained nearby, eyes on me. Waiting. Of all the knights here, he seemed the least affected by the goddess being with us.

“I see.” Tsuya simply said. “There were 56 other protofeathers in the conflict against Relinquished, many of them had their own goals and agendas separate from humanity. This was A07. He died during the fight at the Division Stone, along with his squad and the remnants of his army, which I see surround him now.”

His… army?

“A failsafe was triggered and nearly the entire biome was left a charred ruin.” She continued while I ruminated on what she meant. “Nothing could survive through that, not even a protofeather.”

The war in the past had many dead legends, and his group was one of many as Tsuya explained.

Like the other protofeathers, he’d turned against Relinquished. But unlike his fellows, A07 was apparently a dumb hothead who hated the idea of working under anyone else. A rebel with a cause, and that cause was mayhem and destruction.

Tsuya saw him as a liability. Four other protofeathers saw him as a role model. Their squad had been rather infamous for showing up unannounced and keeping things barely civil with the other protofeathers. That only got worse as they collected followers. “Huh, I always thought the protofeathers were all working together?”

Tsuya tutted, “The Empire and the Protofeathers had been fighting each other for years prior. There were deep grudges that remained. True cooperation was a rare thing. Many of them had different reasons for defecting. Some were far more self-centered. I freed all of them regardless of motive from the unity fractal, even knowing some would continue to be a thorn to everyone.”

“A07 was among that number?”

“A07 was… unstable and worshiped martial power. Relinquished was seen as a coward hiding behind her pawns, while A01 was seen as the pinnacle he wanted to reach. When A01 defected, he followed. And took steps to create his own faction.”

“That’s the machines here? His army?”

“They were. I recognize the chassis of these models. A07 seized factories used by Relinquished for a few moments, and he drew half-feral programs directly from the digital sea. None of his forces were ever under Relinquished to start with. I am uncertain why they are all killed here. Perhaps they dragged their dead together before the Division stone was transported and those who remain alive have left long ago.”

“You think he was trying to get the stone for himself for future use? If he didn’t tell you anything about the plan he had or where he was going.”

“He knew it cannot function without me.” Tsuya said. “I cannot accurately guess at his motives. Regardless, it was clear my failsafes had been triggered. Which would have obliterated the Division Stone alongside most of the biome. The four protofeathers who followed him were all found destroyed in different locations, while his chassis was never recovered. I assumed he had detonated the failsafes himself. I would recommend searching the location here to discover what he had done. Send me data and I can take more guesses given my own knowledge.”

The Winterscar knights snapped to work, cataloguing the area and what A07 had left behind. There was something off about this. “How did he actually die? There was no killing blow on his chassis.”

“I have a hypothesis.” Tsuya said as she studied the feed. “A57 required testing for his soul-rending weapons against protofeathers, he was the type to never take chances or gambles. However, that same testing could not be discovered by A01, or else we would have developed countermeasures. I believe A07 was wounded during the battle for the Division Stone, and realized he would be dying within the hour. Hence why he had time to bargain with the mites, move the bodies of the dead, and die on his own terms. We will not know until you connect directly with the chassis and download the logs.”

“You will not.” Father said, holding a hand out. He did have Avalis’s memories, and apparently one distinct memory of that asshole nearly getting killed by the dead body of a protofeather he was graverobbing. “No one is to touch the chassis. His fate is his own.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

There was still one more source of information on this. I dove into my soul fractal, and stretched a tendril of soul into the miteseeker, looking for Superior.

Know any other details about this guy? Specifically if there’s anything off about this. Anywhere A57 had a hand in, we should be careful.

Give me a minute to figure that out. Asking the collective now.

Father turned to the terminal while Superior was working.

I saw data being sent. Video data fast forwarding. He’d sent both his own data, and Journey’s entire dump. She jumped over the timeline rapidly, the video feeds fast forwarding on their own in the small screen.

The Odin.

The Icon.

A22.

To’Orda.

To’Naviris.

Abraxas, and the mission I’d inherited from him.