12 Miles Below Chapter 20: They Can Talk?

They can talk? I asked, picking myself off the floor. The left side of my environntal suit was blackened slightly, the shoulders blood red insignia of House Winterscar still legible however. Barely. Id have worried about weave integrity from sothing like that, except I had bigger icicles to worry about. A lot bigger.

Father's hand whipped the knife back out of the creatures neck, shutting it off and flicking it back into his boot with his usual flourish. A fool can talk. That doesnt an he says anything.

But can we actually communicate with the automatons? I asked, Maybe we can find out why they hate us so much? Or where they co from in the first place?

He shrugged in response, walking to the empty window fra. The songs of faith imply that the machines ca from oblivion, deep in the space beyond the world. The gods are holding the worst of them from reaching earth, but the ones already here, that is our duty to keep in check.

I know what the songs say, but those co from our clerics. I an what do the automatons themselves say?

No one knows. Again he shrugged, climbing out the open window sill. Not all of them... talk either.

There isnt a single person that tried to capture one? That seed odd. Was there a technical issue in the way?

Maybe so have. If they learned anything important, they kept it to themselves.

I couldn't have been the first person to ask this question, so why hadn't a word about this make it up to the surface? The only way this made sense to is if they sohow evaded capture. Which was impossible in the long run. There had been a war with these machines for centuries.

Unless Do they explode if theyre captured? Or shut themselves down?

Father didnt give an answer, waiting for to pass over the barrier. He had used the open window, so I followed suit. Without the bulky suit heating systems, I was light on my feet. Pulling myself through was easy enough.

"We've never tried to capture one of these things while down here." Father said. "If they explode or turn themselves off during capture, I couldn't answer you. I've never seen the small ones explode before either. They're usually killed off quickly at range."

Considering it took only a well-placed round of bullets in their skulls to take them down, I could understand what Father explained. They seed more specialized at hunting down lone or separated targets. Surely machines could create more optimized weapons. It seed like terrifying people was their primary objective over being competent at killing. The thing had toyed with even.

Outside I could really see the scale of the drake. It was massive, even dead on the street it towered over . To think it had been killed in a matter of seconds, by a crippled man no less. "What makes these things tick? It said soone had sent it, who?"

Keith. Enough. Those questions dont have any answers, we need to leave. Now. He motioned to climb on his back. Seems like we were ignoring the possible salvage opportunity from the drake. Understandable, since other machines would be coming here soon.

A part of balked at that, it certainly felt like a waste to at least not nick sothing from all this. But I could recognize we had enough power cells in my pack and ti was more premium then another one.

He picked back up at a breakneck pace, jumping back onto the roofs to get a clear line of sight to our goal.

Can math theories be disproved? He asked a few minutes into the journey.

I imdiately knew that question was bait. It couldnt have been more obvious bait than if it had been a steel trap with a ration bar waiting over it.

But bait wasnt bait unless it was tempting. I bit. Yes? Where are you going with this?

Can you disprove that two and two make four?

No. I wasnt quite sure what else to say about that. Its not likely that sort of basic building block could get disproved anyti soon.

Automatons are the sa, He said. Theyre programd to kill us. Anything they say might as well have no correlation to their actions.

Well, that doesnt an it cant ever be disproved in the future. People in the third era thought magic didnt exist. I pointed at his knife. And look, today we have the Deathless and the occult arts. Soone must have discovered it by asking questions on things everyone else assud was fact.

He groaned in frustration, audible even over his running steps. Im trying to talk to you in a way you might understand, boy. These things - they cant be reasoned with. They simply can't! Youll only give them an easier ti killing you.

I decided not to press the issue. I didnt agree with him, but I could understand his point of view.

The first sign we had that wed co near the end of this city was the lack of teal glimring lights. The mites simply didnt appear anymore. It gave the surrounding environnt an eerie, lonely feeling. There were no people, no voices, no sounds besides that of Fathers tireless sprint forward.

The buildings here soon showed signs of disuse and destruction. Gouges on the sides of the walls remained unrepaired. Roofs collapsed. Walls broke down, and even the city lights were occasionally swallowed up by darkness. The only thing that remained undamaged was the light from above. It flowed from the surface, through the cracks in the impossibly huge roof of this city.

Wed reached the mountain base, buildings beca more sparse and rocky uneven, ground started to co into vogue. Chasms leading further down into the underground appeared, but if they truly led to the level under us or just a dead end, Id never know. It was really sothing to realize maybe a few dozen ters under our feet was the ceiling to a whole other world, the second layer down.

How any of it didn't collapse was probably sothing only the gods would know.

We werent halfway up before I heard distant shrieking. Father instantly bolted behind a rock, grabbed off his shoulder and dumped into one of the crevices. It was a tight fit, but I was completely obscured from view at least.

Stay out of sight, He hissed, staying up on the surface. A pack of screars in the distance, likely searching around the machine I killed. They have poor long distance eyesights unlike drakes. We should be able to hide from their patrol.

The automatons in the distance howled, moaned and scread fury. I couldnt tell if they were getting closer or further.

Father brought out his rifle. Muttering under his helt. I brought out my own pistol, freshly reloaded and ready. This ti I swore to myself I would do better then the first ti wed had to fight screars.

Minutes passed by in the tense silence.

The sounds faded away, replaced by relief.

Were clear. Father confird, breathing out a held breath. They didnt catch sight of us.

I breathed out slowly myself, muttering and climbing back out. How does anyone manage to live down here? Theyd be attacked day and night at this rate.

The undersiders would have all gone extinct a long ti ago if they had to constantly keep vigil against all sides. Even with their armors. No, they have so kind of repellent shield to protect their cities. Father said, lifting the rest of the way out.

"So kind of new lost tech?"

I never learned the details on what they used to protect their cities, theyd never let us surface dwellers anywhere deeper into their cities. Only the trade market zones allowed us entry."

Right, of course they wouldnt let savages like us learn how to live underground. I sighed.

Its not a perfect solution. It doesnt work forever. They need to fight off waves of attacks during the tis their shields go down. He stretched out his hand, making the hand sign for thirst. Have reserve water?

A check in my suit showed I still had a good amount left.

I took a big sip for myself and then unhooked the flask from the inside of my suit and passed it over. He sat down and leaned back against the rock with a groan, unclipping his armors water flask. He transferred over my flasks contents to his own.

Neither relic wielders or scavengers could take our headwear off to drink on the surface for obvious reasons, so it was integrated into the suit, closer to our bodies in order to remain unfrozen. Normally, Id be drinking from a straw, if I still had any of my headgear.

When he handed back the canteen, it was half empty but still had so reserves left.

Should we keep moving? I asked.

Best be sure theyre all gone, stragglers included. Eat sothing in the anti.

I brought out my rations, dried frostbloom wrapped around flash frozen printed at, with a few sweet spices and salt to mask most of the bitter taste frostbloom was notorious for. One stick could be a full al. Not the tastiest, but easy enough to eat. Can't argue with the results, that little miracle weed had everything needed by a human diet.

Designed by the gods so say, since it seed extrely unlikely that anything could survive on the surface - and also conveniently be able to sustain the human population indefinitely. Soone was looking out for us.

I had no idea when Id be able to eat another al, so good or bad, Im filling up. Wed been down here for just about half a day now, maybe a few hours more, this would let keep going for another day.

Father crossed his legs and fell into ditation, likely reviewing the past fights in his mind to see what could be learned. I did the sa, but instead considered the automatons and what people believed theyd originate from.

There were hundreds of sub-religions, each having their own unique take on that question, but none as popular as the big three.

The imperials believed the machines had been created by the violet goddess from deep in the heart of the world, to be her foot soldiers. At so point in the distant future, so massive apocalyptic war will break out, and that evil goddess was preparing for it. The imperials saw it as their duty to prepare their own army, so that when their sun goddess appeared to lead the fight, they would join ranks with her. Which made them the only religion with a heavily organized military structure.

Id never t Puritans, but Id read about them. They believed that the world had been one giant tallic mind that got split into fragnts. The 'good' fragnts of the mind found a way to cast away all tal and beco living beings. The automatons, naturally, were all the evil parts that chose to stay tainted with tal. So to them, we were even related on so level.

As for us Exodites, the songs werent exactly subtle in their ssaging about outer space.

The problem is that all three possible explanations were completely different from one another.

Exodites believed the automatons co from the darkness between the stars and more of them could appear if our gods in their orbiting fortresses werent holding them back.

Imperials believed automatons had been created here in the heart of the world by a malignant force that wants us all dead.

And puritans believed we were all part of the sa mind at one point, and machines were all of our evil castaway thoughts cranked up to eleven - so technically we created the machines.

Which one was right?

I really wanted to hear sothing more evidence based, to hear from the automatons themselves. But for all I knew they might have conflicting religions of their own. If machines even worshipped gods in the first place.

That drake had said soone had sent it. So who had enough pull to command machines? An imperial would instantly say it was the violet goddess, but it really could be anything. Or just noise like Father suggested.

So far the imperials seed like they had sothing right, with the machines having a violet coloring. If those drakes were repeating the sa lines to anyone they attacked, it would make sense this sort of conclusion could slowly coalesce into a religion.

I mulled over what I knew, but there was nothing else I could squeeze.

Having exhausted that possible source of information, I turned to the other side of the coin. If there wasnt anything else to learn about the machines, perhaps there could be sothing to learn about their ancient enemies. And there was soone who might know more.

Can you tell more about the Deathless?

Father glanced at , breaking out of his ditation. No doubt you guessed by now that the conflicting rumors are intentional? I expect a convincing argunt on why I should share.

Id expected this. Not everything about them is going to be a kept secret. We know they can live forever, and stand on the surface of the world for example. Is there anything else that you can tell about them that isnt an operational secret? Were underground already, if you wanted to be in the dark about this part of the world, the snows already in the suit.

Father stayed silent for a mont, likely picking out how to answer. Everyone tunnel visions on their powers, but not on the patterns around them. There are... generations of Deathless. Different powers, different ways they've appeared, different drawbacks they have. Each generation seems to build on the previous successful iteration. Lord Atius is among the older generation.

Ive heard a lot of conflicting rumors, but this ones new. Generations of Deathless? Iterations? I can see how that contributes to all the confusion about them.

He nodded. Sothing they've leaned into. The Deathless themselves know very little about their own origins. One of the unifying factors across all the generations is that theyve all lost their mory.

Id heard that rumor too, though hadn't put a lot of stock into it. They lose their mories every hundred years?

No. As far as Lord Atius knows, only one generation loses their mories each century. The rest lost mories the day they gained their powers.

"How much do they lose?"

"All of it. There are no Deathless that rember who they were before they gained their title and powers."

So sort of experint happening underground? And the Deathless are the experint subjects, tossed out into the wild or sothing?

"You have such a strange imagination, boy. That's the first thing that goes through your mind?" He shook his head. "No. The earliest mory Lord Atius had was opening his eyes into an empty room with a written note, in his handwriting. Asking him to save a village. No lab, or experint. He suspects he'd stumbled on sothing, while he had been human. There's more to it, but that's all I would expect the public could know about. And all I can tell you.

That was a lot to unpack. If Atiuss previous self had the ti to both write that note, and direct it - that ant hed known what was coming. It could have been a choice to beco a Deathless. If he'd been forced into it, he might have ntioned that in the letter. And if it had caught him by surprise, there wouldn't have been a ssage in the first place.

Im guessing he succeeded in protecting that village?

For about a hundred years he did. But it grew too dangerous, so he led that city up to the surface.

Oh. The clan.

He nodded. That is part of the clan history. He doesnt go out of his way to point out hed lost his mory, although he wont hide the fact either. You could consider it an open secret.

All right. So the Deathless have generations, each building on the previous ones, similar to evolution? Makes a lot more sense now why theres so many different stories about the lot.

mory played so kind of factor that couldnt be avoided for any of them. Though there was one generation that had it worse in that regard.

Why is Atius not down here, fighting off the machines?

At that, Father shrugged. That is one question I do not have an answer. I suppose he is up here because he wishes to be. Perhaps the gods did not only choose the greatest warriors to beco Deathless, but they've also seen fit to choose wise leaders as well.

I'm starting to see a macro pattern here. The surface clans had a renewable source of energy from the celestial fly-overs, renewable food from Frostbloom, structures that appeared pushed up from the underground built to protect a population, and empowered immortal heroes picked from the best humanity had to offer, to lead the clans.

All added together, it pointed that soone powerful had a vested interest in keeping the surface dwellers alive. The obvious answer was the gods. Only they could have such a reach. I wondered what gifts they bestowed on those who lived underground.

Its unknown why the Deathless seem compelled to fight the machines, or protect humanity. Father said. Lord Atius has a theory that only a paragon would choose to give up all mory in exchange for power. Such a trade is akin to death, or to surrender your body to another soul. He believes that the person's nature remains even if their mories do not.

Well, I said, chewing on my ration. If I were a god in charge of picking people thatll stay around for eternity, Id pick the best humanity had to offer, thats for sure.

People like Kidra would have been whod Id elevate to Deathless status, were it picking.

Were it only like that forever. Father said, a note of trouble in his voice.

What do you an by that?

I doubt we will run into any, and I hesitate to tell you this. However... you might need to know what to expect. And it's only a matter of ti until you learn about it." He nodded, almost as if trying to convince himself. The new generation appearing, as of a year ago, are... unhinged.

Gods above. Unhinged Deathless? Machines were already an impossible feat to overco completely, but immortal demi-gods with paranormal abilities turning against humanity?

By unhinged, what exactly do you an? Are they attacking the undersiders?

Theyre still hostile to the machines and fight any they et, but they have also been known to attack civilians. They fight among each other mostly. For weapons, armor, trophies, or simply the thrill of it. They have their own jargon, guilds, and culture. They can talk to one another across massive distances. Lord Atius and all the previous Deathless dont understand these new ones. We don't know much about the situation down here, only small bits and pieces of rumor are added each ti we dive down for a mission.

Deathless are rare, its common knowledge that each year, perhaps five more appeared - in the whole world. Five unhinged demi-gods could be contained by the other Deathless working together. However.... You make it sound like theres hundreds of them running around.

Not in the hundreds. Father said. In the hundred thousands.

I froze. An entire army of them stomping around the world?

He continued the the strange news. Already more Deathless of this generation have appeared, than all the previous ones put together. Twice over perhaps. All in this single year.

How are the undersiders handling it?

Not well. Before, Deathless were heroes who were welco with open arms by their very nature. Now, cities keep a closer watch on them than they would a passing surface dweller like myself.

That must be a lot of scrutiny. The undersiders hated the surface clans. The only ones who had friendly relationships with us were the more recent clans who'd settled back down and hadn't yet lost their surface culture. And the imperial pilgrims.

Which makes sense since imperials worship the sun goddess. And the sun is visible only in one place.

We quite treasured the pilgrims when they did co up. Theyd offer us food and tech, and in exchange we would supply them with the best gear, guides and protection they needed to successfully go out into the surface.

I might be underselling just how much pilgrims are treasured in our culture: Entire blood feuds between clans or great houses were put on hold anyti the pilgrims were around.

Wait. Talking about the pilgrims, How are the imperials handling it? An army of Deathless appearing would be alarm bells for the great war of theirs.

Not well. He sighed. Many see this as the sign of the end tis, as youd expect. Most dont know what to think about this new iteration. They used to be seen as the ssengers of their sun goddess. Now, nobody quite knows what the future holds. The world is changing, that much is certain.

He stood up, signalling the break was coming to an end. Lord Atius had ordered information about this be kept secret. He wanted to see how events would play out first. However, he knew it was only a matter of ti until the next pilgrims arrived up and shared the news. You would have found out soon enough.

Rifle left hanging on his strap, he motioned over. Thats enough ti spent for now. We need to be moving.

I settled in position on his back, and he took off again up the slope.

Wed soon arrive at the tunnels, and leave this endless, multi-layered city. I prayed it would be safer in these caves.

I prayed these new Deathless were still friends with humanity in general.

But most of all, I prayed the gods were watching over us right now.