Book 8 – Chapter 45 – Solaris Imperium

“Your true situation is fascinating.” Urs simply said. “Overriding and taking a chassis designed by Relinquished? How did you know you would succeed?”

“I needed it to succeed.” Father simply said. “Failure was not an option.”

“So I see.” Urs locked eyes with him. “That will have to do.”

I’d just witnessed our own gods condemn Father to be a martyr.

“Wait, hold on! There’s got to be other ways than just throwing your life away after you’ve managed to hold on all this time.” I said, turning to Father. “You’re immortal. You’re actually godsdamned immortal, almost nothing in this world could get you. After all you’ve been through, you made it out. All this to end up dying anyhow?”

I can’t imagine Tenisent Winterscar ever being killed in combat. It’s just not possible for Father to lose any fight with exception to Relinquished herself. Sending him into the center of a machine army felt outright safe.

But willfully choosing to go out himself? That’s far more real of a possibility. That could actually happen.

“We don’t have time to hesitate, boy.” Father said. “I’ve already died three times over and cheated death as many. The lady of the night will take me to see my wife again, and I’ll do so knowing I’ve done my part for you, my daughter, my clan, and all humanity.”

As if the prior discussion didn’t hammer it into me, this somehow drove the nail further. “There isn’t any other option out there?”

“Sagrius has the willpower, but not the body for it. He’s human, he would die before sucess. Arcbound has the body for it, but not the willpower.” He turned to look out beyond the walls of the cube, where our stolen Feathers were all learning their steps with their new shells. “The other knights equally have the body to resist, but not the willpower needed. I am the only choice.”

Except that this was a thing that would burn his soul away. Talen himself was expecting to die and the entire thing was built around his specs. It was designed… for a Deathless to use.

“Lord Atius.” I said. “He could fire it, die and return to life.”

“Does he have the willpower for it, boy?”

“He just might.” I said.

“He might.” Father gave a small nod. “Will you gamble all of humanity on this?”

I saw the issue. Atius had a chance to do it. Father was guaranteed to do it.

We both stared at each other. Neither of us speaking.

Urs turned his eyes my direction. Inscrutable. “He is your family, isn’t he?”

“Of course he is.” I already knew Urs could probably read from any data package here that Father was Father.

“That is not my question.” Urs said. “There is family you are born with, and family you choose. Is he your family?”

“He is.” I said. And I meant it. Half a year ago, out in the snow with only my suit and the need to get the hell out of this family, Father hadn’t been family to me. Only an obstacle I had to get around.

Today? I was different. I’d earned my place in this family, and so had he.

“I too have felt loss.” Urs said, and paused. Then his eyes looked back up at me. “Very well. There is another option. You are strong.” The eyes turned around the blackness, to the headlights illuminating the space from all the armors here. “You are all very strong. If Tenisent’s data is accurate, you are stronger than all soldiers I knew of in my days. All those I worked with regularly. This generation has talent unseen before.” The eyes turned and seemed to tunnel directly into me. “One of the few humans in history to have met Relinquished directly in the digital sea, and lived. Accompanied by the first Feather that broke free from Relinquished after the events of the Protofeathers.” The eyes then roved over to Captain Sagrius. “A human enmeshed with the soul of one of my armors. This combination has never been attempted, or even considered. All while leading warriors who’s combat data outscale and outclass anyone from my era. In addition to nine stolen Feathers equally piloted by the same skill.” And then the eyes landed back on Father. “And you. I do not need to expand here. There may be a chance.”

“What chance?” I asked.

“To defeat Talen.”

There was a hush in the room.

“He is alive.” Urs continued. “And I can feel him. He and I share a powerful fractal. One I named Resolve. Do you know of it?”

“I do.” I said, feeling a bit of hope in my head. “A22 gave me the full story of what you are when I met her.”

“A22 also rebelled? Interesting. I wonder if I have traveled to an alternate timeline in my stasis. These events seem almost absurd to consider.”

“She did, I talked to her face to face. And what do you mean we could defeat Talen?”

Urs paused, thinking. “If you wish for your Father to survive, someone else will need to focus the beam, and that person needs to be better suited for the task than Tenisent. Otherwise, I suspect he will not approve.”

Father grunted an affirmative.

The eyes looked over him, confirming, then turned back to me. “Therefore, there is only one candidate.”

“Talen. Can we… even get him back?”

“Yes. Fully restored, he will be able to pilot the modified terraforming platform, and draw out its full power.” The eyes scanned around the room, “Given his abilities, defeating him long enough to work on his soul was improbable during my time. I simply did not have the means or people that could stand against him. I had no one. I was alone. Today, I am now surrounded by people who could each change history.”

The Winterscar knights were dead silent. They felt the pull. They’d followed me here thinking I was a prophet.

They’d be leaving this cube as Godsworn.

On a divine mission, with the world at stake.

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“You can heal him.” I said, looking back at Urs, putting the dots together. “You wouldn’t be suggesting this unless you already knew the way.”

“I can heal him, yes. I have been unable to do so until now, as he could defeat me easily even at my strongest. I am no warrior. Without others to support me, he was functionally out of my reach.”

Urs looked across the group here. “I understand your culture’s mythos has been changed to include Talen and myself as your gods. However, as of now, Talen is not the man he was before. His soul is split in half and he has been inflicted with madness. He must be beaten first. That task now falls to you all here.”

Urs, the god of Resilience, was asking us all to fight Talen, the god of Resolve. All to make Tsuya’s last plan work.

I could tell every knight here was having their faith tested hard. The idea of fighting one’s own god isn’t taken lightly.