Book 8 – Chapter 46 – Into Fire

“Isn’t this some kind of blasphemy?” I asked, as we tied Urs, the God of resilience himself, to the back of my armor using spare rope and straps.

“The world is ending m’lord.” One of the knights said, carefully pulling the strap complete. “I believe the gods would forgive the slight.”

“I do forgive the slight.” Urs said, being a good sport about the end of the world and all that.

…

Three gods above, this all felt surreal in a way. And now we were deep in the snow with all three.

One died in front of my eyes, one is near dead and strapped to my back, and the last one we have to bait out and beat down.

If there is such a thing as heaven, I’m extra banned.

“I do not feel any pain from this.” Urs said. “Please focus on speed over any other concern.”

The knight helping the straps clearly heard that and still couldn’t bring themselves to do a harsher job.

“Are you slowly recovering?” I asked, a tad bit curious if Urs’s skin and body was starting to regenerate while he was strapped on my back. A very morbid picture.

“My body’s rate of restoration is greatly diminished, if not outright inaccessible for several years.” The blue eyes looked up at the broken spear far above us. And then down to the speartip that had been sliced off, now forgotten on the ground. “I believe I will need to die to reset myself fully at this point, natural methods are no longer viable.”

There was one final strap tug. “It is done.” The knight said, taking a step back before bowing quickly.

Urs was now snuggly tied up, facing behind me. He didn’t really need to see in front, given he was probably using the occult sight.

No, actually he was tapped into my camera feed and using Journey’s own display to watch. Urs was quite literally watching everything I was.

As for why he was on my back instead of anyone else’s, it’s for tactical reasons – I tended to fight from the rear, using occult ghosts to do the harassment and battles for me. Every other member on the team was far more deadly when up into the enemy’s face. Meaning the safest possible place to carry Urs, would be on my back given where I’d usually be.

“Let us be rid of this cursed place.” Father said, leading the way.

Our headlights still didn’t do much of anything in the interior of the cube here, but Sagrius and others continued to eat away at the darkness, reforming the tunnel we’d passed through on the way here.

The black mist that had held Urs captive and powerless here was rapidly retreating at least. Unable to sustain itself now that the cursed spear had been ripped apart.

Exposing more and more machines around us that had been covered by this mist the whole time. “Are they going to wake and try to stop us?” I asked, headlights illuminating the wreckage all around.

“They will not.” Urs said. “They ran out of power long ago. Many were also destroyed by my hand. Speaking of that, I would like to connect with your armor and download your full historical logs to see how you fight and what synergy I can offer. We will need every advantage possible at this stage.”

“I don’t think you need to ask for any kind of permission, you built these armors. They obey you in just about everything?”

“I would prefer to request and be polite when I can.”

“That’s considerate of you, for a god.” I said. “My track record of gods has been pretty poor.”

We reached the edge of the cube. The light from outside remained bright. “Any last words before we leave this prison?”

“None. I will process my imprisonment and mental status at a later time, when we have either beaten Relinquished, or been beaten by her.”

“I… can you actually do that?”

“It’s how I’ve managed most of my life, yes.” Urs said. His eyes looked back at the cube as the group marched out.

Outside, gathered up, were the nine Feathers we’d robbed, and the rest of the knights keeping an eye out. I saw our new additions were already well adjusted, likely from training inside Sagrius’s armor. They all knew at some point or another they would have their own relic armors to pilot like Arcbound, and Father for a few moments while fighting against To’Avalis.

They were preparing for this. Not much else to do really.

Good thing, since we really didn’t have time to be learning to walk. They had to fight entire armies and God right after, in probably an hour or two from now. And not just Talen, possibly Relinquished next.

Normal everyday events around here.

They all turned, watching us come out. As one, they all took a knee downwards, daggers and weapons the Feathers prior used brought up to swear on. Word traveled fast when they now had computers that could process information several hundred times faster than their old human bodies.

A shadow passed over me right then.

“I see this is the Feather that revolted against Relinquished. Pleased to meet you.” Urs said, and I turned around to see Wrath land right behind.

“Keith. You have a dead body on your back that speaks. Would you like to explain, or is this a Winterscar tradition involving graverobbing?”

“Less tradition, more current situation.” I said, “Meet Urs. God of resilience, and actual Resilience given the fractals he used. Urs, this is Wrath. I think you already know all about her from the data uploads.”

“I do.” His eyes flickered blue for a moment, and Wrath’s own eyes equally flickered back as they transferred information to one another.

“A cruel fate Mother bestowed on you.” She said. “My condolences. It seems particularly vicious, even for her hand.”

“It was an expected fate. I have been a thorn in her side. And, as I am now learning, I continue to be one. With hope, I may be even worse than a simple thorn very soon.”

“I do have a healing ability, perhaps the fractal may assist?”

“An attempt would be welcome.” Urs said, eyes locking back on Wrath.

“You don’t sound too confident in that.” I said as Wrath came close, and held a hand out to touch the side of the husk’s cheek.

“A57 brought weapons specifically targeting my self-healing abilities. They succeeded. My abilities have been crippled, and the effects linger.”

And, unfortunately, despite the glow of occult from Wrath’s shell down to her hands, very little seemed to be changing within Urs. It was like some kind of miasma was still within his body, eating away Wrath’s attempt.

“You should cease.” He said. “I can see you are consuming parts of your soul in order to power that spell. You will regenerate and repair that damage, however it is better to not tempt fate.”

“Damn, that would have been an easy fix to all these issues. Worth the try.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Wrath nodded, letting go.

“It is novel to have been given first aid by a Feather of all beings.” Urs said. “I am still processing the idea of the protofeathers rebelling at all. That you are willing to make the attempt would be additional proof in addition to your non-hostility.”

Behind the first of the stolen Feathers walked up, giving me a nod. “We are prepared to depart. Lady To’Wrathh and Master Winterscar have taught us enough to get by on. We will learn the rest in the fighting.”

They’d already been up to date on our new plan to martial the imperial army to protect the surface, and then summon Talen to their doorsteps where we had the best chances of beating him down.

“Right, we need to get moving. And that… might be a problem, we burned the last of our favors getting here in the first place. Might need to go into debt.”

“There is no need for that.” Urs said. “I offer an alternative: I will transfer all my owed favors for your use. I have built much goodwill over the years with the mites, enough so I could have potentially bargained my release directly, had my lantern not equally been taken from me.”

“How much do they owe you?” I asked.

“Not enough to demand Relinquished to be killed. But enough to transport several armies around the world. I will connect to your operator and discuss with them.”

I could feel a soul tendril from Urs reach out, looking around the armor until it slunk towards the miteseeker.

Prime’s told me about you. Superior sent first thing when he noticed Urs for the first time. Pleasure to meet you in person, big fan.

Greetings. You are not a machine, but a copy of his soul. Interesting. I see Keith is an organic mitespeaker like Talen before him.

… isn’t that how it’s always been done among mitespeakers?

Most humans grow insane during the process as their alter attacks and consumes them. Very few find peace. In my time, there were no other mitespeakers that had managed to remain lucid. Talen was one such person. I was not. My lantern was already occupied when I discovered it.

Occupied? By who?

By Grandpa. It would be easier to show than tell in this situation. A moment.

Memories flooded through Superior. A single snapshot. A small boy stumbling in the wilderness, limping, alone. He’d been cast out of his village not even three days ago. Somehow he’d managed to survive.

Up until he found a lantern, hanging off a staff.

A lantern Superior recognized. That’s Abraxas’s Lantern.

The old machine had left his staff behind. Absolutely no chance that wasn’t intentional. Which meant the mites must have bargained with Abraxas to protect and guide Urs as a child.

You know of him then. I am unsurprised. He was often involved with humans in search of stories.

I… yes, we were involved with him. Very secretive machine, that guy.

Indeed. Unlike standard mitespeakers, I learned from him what to expect and how to speak to them over time. A mentor was of great assistance compared to most others in the wild who learned on their own. While I likely am not as skilled as you or talen when it comes to discussing terms with the mites outside a mite forge, I am still capable of it as needed. Allow me access to the mite network through your fractal. I will send my requests there.

Superior allowed it, not quite certain if he should mention Abraxas’s unknown fate at this time. Urs would find out eventually. Maybe it was better not to tell him after he’d woken up to a world without Tsuya, Talen and just about everyone he’d known.

The God was resilient, but deep down still human. Knowing Abraxas might be dead now would not help anything in the immediate moment.

He watched as Urs sent out a tendril into the mite side of the biome. And he could sense some of the emotions within.

Anger. Annoyance. Some pain, but trapped up. Anytime the god noticed it was bubbling, he chained the entire emotion up with his own soul and pushed it downwards. A very blunt way of processing things, but it clearly worked for now.

He was angry the mites had allowed this to happen. Annoyed knowing why they would allow it. And the pain was exactly from what Superior expected it to be from.

The transfer was rapid. With barely any noticeable difference. The collective welcomed Urs back as if he’d never been gone, unaware of how much time had really passed. They equally accepted his request.

For an ancient god of humanity, Urs was oddly unskilled at speaking to the mites directly. The attempt burned at him, and Superior found himself offering assistance in the process.

Appreciated. Urs sent. Talen and I diverged in our skillsets. He was the one who assisted with discussion involving the mites, taking on the role Abraxas had prior. Perhaps I should have taken more effort in working on this skill while I still had time.

It’ll have to do for now. Superior sent back.

It will. And it has. There. You should have enough pull with the mites for some time now. I did not have as much funds remaining as I would have wished. Use what I have left wisely, Keith Winterscar Alternate.

“It is done.” Urs sent. “Your alternate will share the details. We should prepare to repair the portal and reuse it.”

The portal by the base of the bridge remained unpowered, the cords cut. We could fix it up with the nanoswarms just about all of us had. If the armors couldn’t be overridden by Urs, than the eleven Feathers here could all step in and do the work.

“Cathida, where should we be going? What’s the heart of the Imperial church?”

“That would be Perseverance Fortress.” She said. “On the records it won’t appear to be the largest defendable position. That’s because the records are all forged. The fortress is three times more powerful than listed. And the home of the Indagator Mortis Chapter. Deathless often travel there too, so we would equally have Imperators, Deathless, and an entire chapter to work with. Along with every relic the church has managed to collect over the last seven hundred years.”

“Got the coordinates for it?”

“I do. Journey’s flashing them on screen now.”

One slight problem. Superior sent. The portal here has been fixed into a one-way. As in I can’t get the mites to redirect that portal out to the nearest one by these coordinates. The favor cost is higher than even Urs’s fortune.

Relinquished?

Yep. She’s real upset about us and isn’t going to let us reuse this portal to get out. Paid a hefty price to have this portal locked to its original destination. We need the next nearest one. About seven miles past it.

So, when we turn the power on this thing back, it leads to where it was originally made to?

There were machine bodies all around the portal entrance here, right before we’d cut the power supply off. Which means the other end of this gateway was likely an army of some kind.

Probably larger by now. I sighed, “No such thing as a free meal.” Then I turned to the assembled strike force.

Winterscar knights, Captain Sagrius, the nine stolen Fathers piloted by the clan’s elites, Father, and Wrath. I didn’t fear losing to any army with everyone here behind me. What I did fear was getting delayed or being split up during the fight. I had a gut feeling not all of us were going to make it to that fortress, but whoever was left behind would absolutely rip apart half the biome.

“I’ve got some bad news. We’re going to have to charge through this portal and fight against something. Not sure what, but Relinquished has had half an hour or so to prepare the other end of it.” I said, drawing a sword and pointing it at the gateway by the base of the bridge. “She doesn’t want Urs back in the picture at any cost, and we’re going to find out what any cost means. We need to travel seven miles through before we can reach the next portal position.”

Coordinates from Superior were sent to the armors, which passed it along to everyone else here.

“We get there, I’ll be able to turn it on and travel to Perseverance Fortress. We get Urs into that fortress and have him mobilize the entire Imperial church using Tsuya’s leftover network. Since it’s Imperial, Relinquished will know about it but she shouldn’t have been able to mess with it. It’ll work.”

Assuming Urs’s old passwords still worked. But they should, all of it was hardware or deeply hardcoded. It was built to resist an enemy that could use viral weapons beyond what Tsuya could defend against. They didn’t take measures that could fail.

The knights all nodded, jump-packs firing up and keeping idle. The other nine here would need to move like Father did – running really fast.

“Hold for a moment.” Urs said. “There is something I can do to assist in the odds.”

All knights snapped to attention, waiting to hear the god speak. I did too, curious to what Urs could gift us that would turn the tides in our favor.

He might be a shadow of who he’d once been, but Urs had been an emperor. Large scale fights were something he’d seen.

“Talen eclipsed me in almost all combat abilities at the peak of his power. However, there was a single ability I had that was superior to Talen’s. A fractal I was able to use that he was as of yet, unable. After studying your combat logs, I found two instances where you either used this fractal directly, or experienced the same effects it would cause – without any incurred madness. It is likely why the mites noticed your existence in the first place and incorporated you into their plans.”

“I’m more surprised you’re only finding two issues where I evaded going mad, I’ve been through a lot of ratshit before I stepped into your cube.” I said. “Which two in particular?”

“Your final combat sequence against a second generation feather named To’Aacar. That was where the mites most likely witnessed and discovered your abilities. The second occurred with a feather named To’Avalis. I believe the mites likely handed you this fractal in order to confirm you could use it. That your first use was not luck.”

“What do those two fights have in com- oh.”

Something Talen couldn’t use to fight with, but Urs can.
And only because Urs saw and thought of the world differently than Talen had.

Something he was now saying I could do.

The recorded video opened up on my HUD, replaying old history at the command of Urs. On the collapsed skyscraper bridge against Avalis. I’d just knocked that asshole down off, climbed back up and made it to the mite forge. And after I’d surrendered Wrath to their care, I demanded something else.

Something that had cost me a copy of my own soul. The reason Superior existed.

I saw my armored hand reach forward and grab hold of a small gold and black mite cube. A micro version of the cube we’d just broken into.

And on the screen of the mite forge, blinking on and off, the name of this cube:

> Single use, cross-dimensional four-dimensional inscription. (Modification by user: URS.)