A small part within ToWrathh felt that this was humiliation unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
She was supposed to walk among demi-gods. And yet, here she was, hiding inside a box in the street like a wounded animal. Using every bit of active mitigation to block relic armor scanning. Curled up, wings fully enclosed, her weight squishing the soft fruits that had originally occupied half of the roomy crate. She hoped the walls would keep the crushed bits of fruit from leaking out. Hoped that the enemy didnt happen to open up the crates around this particular shopfront.
The war had gone against plan. Sohow the humans had managed to shore up their defense and batter her army away long enough for the pillar to light up again - and shed been caught in the blast, inside the city, with enemy signals rapidly approaching her location.
The first thing shed done was find a place to hide. None too soon, footsteps and sounds had quickly swamped the area. First civilians returning to gawk or pillage the broken machines. And then the army to establish order and push away the looters.
Damage to her system was oddly missing. Things were still responsive, albit sluggish. The Unity fractal wasnt responding either, as if dormant. ToWrathh couldnt guess what could possibly interfere with fractal power. That was supposed to be above reality itself. No technology could outright mute fractals. And yet the pale ladys most powerful weapon had been nullified.
How had she survived the blast? No Feathers or machines had ever lived through a pillar. The only difference in her shell that she could consider novel for machines was was Tenisent.
"You did this." She hissed at him, in the privacy of her mind.
The ghost remained locked deep inside, watching the world through her eyes. There was curiosity coming from him. He hadnt expected her to survive this either.
Where is the body? Where is she?! ToWrathh could hear a womans voice, even muted under her relic armor helt. That girl had arrived soon after, her heavy relic armor crushing the ground as she landed into the plaza with little care or grace.
We havent found her body yet. A mans voice. A pause. Uhh, miss ambassador? Or should I refer to you as mlady?
My title doesnt matter right now. Where is she? Kidra answered back, nearly snarling. Clinking sounds of armor moving. She must have grabbed him, ToWrathh suspected. Tis like these, the Feather was thankful she didnt need to breath. Her shell could remain perfectly still, no heartbeat, no twitches. No secondary bits of information relic armor could pick up on and make guesses for.
O-only the machine wrecks that ca in with her have been found so far. We aren't sure the amount that ca in, the pillar might have vaporized so of them even. This is the first ti machines have gotten this far into a city before pillars co back online. A mans voice answered. There were footsteps all around the alleyways and areas. She might have crawled into a house and died inside there for all we know, were still searching. But there isnt a possibility that shell survive the pillar. Even Feathers cant stand against the power of the goddess.
Unless I see the body, I will assu shes well alive, and scheming. Kidra said. Find her body and do not stop searching until you do.
Theres little point to that, miss Winterscar. We got here too late, looters were already stripping the power cells.
And?
The Feathers body is going to be impossible to find. Look, if looters were fighting each other over simple power cells, all the big wins must have already been scavenged. A Feathers body is going to be an exotic thing no one would miss. Goddess, I wouldn't even be able to rely on my own n not to turn rogue and try to profit themselves.
The value of her corpse is not important to , captain. Its the threat she can pose. I want evidence that shes no longer a threat. Your n or the looters can have all the wealth you want.
I get what youre scared of, but shes dead. The battles over. Her bodys commands problem to deal with now, theyll find word or an auction for it soon enough and youll get your evidence then.
Kidras voice took a lower pitch, too low for ToWrathh to hear. Another pause. Quick footsteps, like soone stumbling backwards. Pushed backwards even.
With respect, miss Winterscar, Ill have to refuse that request. You dont have the authority to set commands to and my n. Youre only a guest from the surface. The man said.
Fine. Kidra growled. I will return with a signed order from your commander, if thats what it takes to order common sense. Youve seen the footage of my duel with her?
... I think everyone in the army already has, and many of the citizens too. Its been leaked a few dozen tis now. While I respect your combat abilities, that doesnt change the chain of commands. Were not like surface sava- surface dwellers. Martial might does not an obedience here.
If you think the clans only care about martial might, then youve sorely mistaken my culture. But thats besides the point. Youve seen the footage. You know the kind of danger this machine can cause. You need to find her body and make absolutely sure she isnt a threat. I need to see it in person. There's sothing that Feather has that I want to recover. Everything else, I don't care for.
Again, Feathers are on a level for the Deathless to handle, but there hasnt ever been a record of one surviving the barrier pillars. This ones no different. Panic isnt going to get us anywhere.
Footsteps walking away. Im not panicking. But you should be. If you happen to be wrong on your guess, it will be the city that suffers your lack of judgnt. A roar of jet engines, and then nothing but silence and the ever present footsteps around her. The girl must have gone.
What a paranoid bitch. The man muttered. Just as twitchy as everyone said theyd be.
Another set of footsteps approached. Another voice, right by the crate she hid inside. Might be a savage, but goddess grant us she's on our side at least. You think she might be right though, captain? That the Feathers still crawling around sowhere? Gold gildings protect us, that sends a shiver down my spine thinking bout it.
No, the battles over like I said. We won. Pillars wiped out any machine inside the city, done as done. If Feathers could survive through the pillars, theyd have done so before already. Think about it. The feathers dead as shit, and Im not stupid enough to fuck with the black market. Let them have the body in peace. We lived through the war, Im not going to get shanked in a back alley because I followed the straight and narrow now of all tis and annoyed the smugglers. Are you?
There wasn't an answer.
"Didn't think so. Make it look like we did a search and pack it up."
Hours passed inside that crate. But ToWrathh was a machine, and patience was easy.
She heard fireworks at so point. The city was celebrating, noise and clamor all around. Like the beating heart of the city, coming down from adrenaline. Realizing they were safe again for another week.
For the most part, once the power cells had been looted from the runners, the rest of the alleys nearby had been closed to traffic while workers were scheduled to clean and break apart the machine shells for parts. Those workers hadnt yet arrived, too busy getting drunk and reveling in the city heart.
Night began to fall, according to her internal clock. Mites had setup the artificial sunlight to dim, waxing and waning at periodic intervals. Truly the chaotic misbegotten programs had an affinity for humanity. They helped in just subtle enough ways that Relinquished hadnt seen fit to wage war on them for. That these massive structures were well adapted to host a human city was one such proof.
ToWrathh remained in hiding, despite the silence. She contemplated if she should simply give up on this shell, and attempt again. ToAacar would see it as weakness, but her odds of victory alone here were slim.
Slim, but not impossible on further consideration.
The pillar would likely be heavily guarded against saboteurs or rogue fringe elents that want to watch the world burn. Could that guard stand against a Feather for long? She only needed to break a few parts of the fragile structure, make sure it cannot be fixed and then have her army grind away the defenses.
Under the cover of darkness, only then did she dare lift the top of the box and slowly leave her hiding spot. The city around her was anything but quiet. Noise and celebrations were happening everywhere around, while this street seed outright empty.
Even in the darkness, there were lights and colors everywhere in the city. The base parts of the structures seed to be mite made. More of that strange false city, except repurposed by the humans to beco an actual city. But it was hard to spot the mite creations with the human ones. The city had grown around the initial template. Occasionally shed see walls made of mite tal, but more often it was composite wood and cent that outlined the streets. New additions the Undersiders had grafted.
ToWrathh hand shot out to one of the walls, and with barely a push, she began to scale the sides, leaping from place to place, making light use of her wings to angle herself. She had to keep hidden. To keep the lights on her body dim, even her eyes.
Past the first story is where the mite creations truly began to disappear entirely. The wood composite took over from there, light enough to be stacked on one another, but durable enough to hold the weight. Further up, she saw far more of the city.
Rooftops were a dizzying array of colors, even in the dim twilight of light. She realized why almost imdiately - none of the roofs were made with durable material, instead it was all linen tent-like cloth, usually draped in artfully setup triangular shapes. They fluttered slightly in the calm wind. Making the landscape before her look more like a tapestry of a strange multi-colored ocean. It seed almost still, except bits of loose roofing were moving slightly, while the more rigid and well anchored cloth roofs refused to move against the wind.
What sort of city is this? She whispered, knocking lightly on the door holding the demon caged. He appeared floating besides her, half materialized.
A typical undersider city. Tenisent answered with a lazy droll. Depending on the architecture of the mites, so cities will look different, but they all share so common features.
The tent roofing? Why cloth?
Why wouldnt they use a cheap material like cloth? It doesnt rain here. The weather remains constant and tepid. No elental issues like the freeze to deal with. They have little need to protect their belongings besides for privacy. And they dont wage war inside the cities, that is taboo among their culture. The main reason I've been told, is expansion. They cant build houses outside the walls, so they build upwards or downwards. Cloth roofing is easy to take apart so that another level can be constructed.
She looked up and saw he was mostly right. The city looked more like a hundred small square spires going up or mixing with one another at different levels. Further up, she saw floating slabs, filled with makeshift zip lines from one another, and the occasional rope ladder leading down. What are those used for? She asked.
Tenisent shrugged. I never found out. The tis Ive visited the insides of a city were few and in between. Always business, and never for long. Surface dwellers are not well seen.
Further searching, she found the ultimate target: The pillar that protected the city. It was much further on, at the center of a massive lake. It seed like the whole city was a crescent shaped moon around a circular lake, with a long and narrow bridge leading to the center of that lake, where the mite pillar stood tall. All around the edge of the crescent shoreline, there were docks of all kinds, with boats moored. Her eyes zood through the distance, and she saw racks on racks of fishing gear, nets, and other fishmonger tools. Drying racks, ropes, buoys, it felt like she was looking at sothing co alive from the historical textbooks shed read. Humanity hadnt changed at all since.
This was also where everyone had gathered. Boats were out on the lake, launching fireworks. People were on the docks, singing, dancing and screaming. In another life, this would be where Tary would have been, hawking goods and finding ways to generate profit. Vendors were clearly taking advantage of the crowds to peddle their wares at every shack and cart lined up by the waterside.
Shed never make it anywhere near the dock district, not without a disguise. So she turned her attention to looking around for exactly that.
Small bridges connected the vertical houses, leaving the streets open to walk, but giving the city a second or even third layout, made of elevated walkways. So of those walkways were sturdy constructions, others were made with rope and loose boards, clearly a temporary asure that ended up being more permanent than expected. Colorful ribbons stretched out from neighbor to neighbor, with lantern lights of many designs and drawings. They all seed hand crafted, so expertly made and others clearly constructed by a child. Compared to the stolen mories of the clan colony, this place was massively open and far more filled with color and light. Among the sights, she found what shed been looking for.
A residential sector, noticeable since quite a few of the rooftop canvases held a secret treasure just under it: Clothing lines filled with drying items. It seed every building had a communal spot of so kind, given the amount of clothing she found among the lines.
Stealthily, she jumped and glided through the air, always keeping a sharp eye for possible danger. Soon enough shed scrambled up onto the top, and slipped through the rooftop sheets.
The clothing here was scraggly, and clearly of inferior make. But it would do for now. And more importantly, she wouldnt get much more ti. The celebrations would end, and the people would return.
She snatched a few bits that would cover herself up. Using Tary and the other Chosen as a template, she knew what piece of clothing would go where. A dress and a cloak were all shed need for now. Sothing with a hood.
It took her so ti to find the cloak, but the dress was easy enough to find. Faded blue, but still not completely touching the ground. Her feet would be exposed - specifically the lack of them. Shed only had tal tips, a homage to her previous form.
It was outdated. So ToWrathh forced the nano-swarms within her to graft a lookalike for the mont. Tan pseudo skin, toes and digits all. The color mismatched her nearly bleach white skin tone, so she was forced to modify the coloring for her entire body, all parts that would be possibly seen. Hands, cheeks, nose, mouth. All of it had to be updated into a more natural human hue.
The result left her with little power remaining. Enough to continue walking for a few days, but not enough to fight with for more than an hour. Shed need to find a power cell. Her swords would remain hidden in the new dress.
You look passing for a human. Tenisent said to her side, floating by. Youll need to learn how to mingle as a human among the undersiders.
And you are willing to help? For no return?
The ghost humd. It is amusing. There isnt much else for to do.
Sothing in his tone made ToWrathhs hackles stand on edge. The ghost wasnt telling her sothing, but for now he was the only source of information on human behavior. She would make do with this.
ToWrathh slipped through the rooftop folds, and took a step off the ledge, falling straight down. The cloak beca an instant annoyance, blinding her as it rippled around against the wind. But in monts, it ca to a stop when her new feet hit the ground with a soft landing.
Youre going to need to walk instead of jump around like that. Tenisent said. "We don't fall down a four story drop and float to a stop.
She humd an acknowledgent. For now her wings would remain tucked away inside her dress, and she would walk the ground instead of fly through the air. She would act the part of a human, until she had a new plan of action to deal with the pillar. What was the worst that could happen? She'd seen plenty of excellent examples of human behavior.
Hood covering her white hair, the new cloak and dress keeping the rest of her inhuman features secret, she took a few hesitant steps out into the street proper. And then instantly stopped realizing she'd made a critical mistake. She needed so sandals.
Humans didn't walk around barefoot... did they?
Next chapter - The friends we made along the way (T)
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