12 Miles Below

“You are interrupting my duel, Winterscar. Didn't you have a city to go hide in?”

The boy gripped his sword closer, looking haggard from the last few minutes of constant fighting, but unbowed. “Put in a complaint to my secretary. I'll get back to you in one to fifty business days about that.”

“Hilarious.” To’Aacar said, clearly unamused. “How about an alternative? Be a good little human and die somewhere nice and out of sight.”

Keith glanced back to To’Wrathh, standing side by side with her. “If he’s going to be gloating on the side of a rock, we should start making plans.”

The girl nodded, sending an audio connection request to the boy’s armor. Journey accepted, downloading the package with great care and suspicion. Cathida chimed into the helmet’s speakers.

“She’s sent a set of tones that should cancel out loose vibrations. Fancy stuff Journey hadn’t calculated, or known it could do. Not sure I understand the math behind this, and Journey didn't come with math libraries beyond the basics. We'll have to trust it'll work, wouldn't hurt to be loud about everything else I think. Just in case.”

“I’ll find some pots and pans to bash together,” Keith muttered.

“Not thrilled about working with a Feather of all things,” His armor continued, “But Journey’s insisting this is the best way to stay alive. Golden tits, the world has gone crazy. Fighting with a Feather to kill a Feather.”

To’Aacar on his part remained at his post, watching. To’Wrathh knew what the enemy was doing, allowing his systems to cool off completely before reengaging. And likely planning out how to deal with Keith. The last few clashes had put his own systems at a higher temperature than her own.

“He’s stalling for time.” She told Keith over the comms. “Feathers are susceptible to heat above all other machines. Our systems overclock themselves during combat. Heat builds up from that and needs to be vented. Every moment he steps away from the fight, he’s recovering.”

“Good to know I’ve got just the right thing for that.” The human cheerfully said, palms starting to glow bright red.

Heat truly was the enemy. It was a force that could only ever be placated, never eliminated. In the vast fractal archives, and among all the technology developed, there were no true ways to eliminate heat waste that had been discovered. Many ways to mitigate and slow down the damage, yet entropy always wins in the end.

“You know, Winterscar,” The enemy called out, observing the human’s glowing palms. “You’re not the first sorcerer I’ve fought. I suppose every now and then, your miserable kind gets uppity and needs to be reminded of where the ground is.”

Keith tapped a foot, humming. “Ground’s right here last I checked. Need a map?”

The Feather growled, and occult pulsed across his features. To’Aacar reappeared behind the boy, spear lashing out. Once more, the boy seemed to have a supernatural reaction speed to where the Feather would strike from and had already started spewing forth flames from one hand, while his other hand wielded his blade with dexterity. His lack of skills were offset by the mirror images that would strike out with each of his hits, adding just enough chaos that To’Aacar could not fully batter past the boy’s defense with the few seconds of combat he had before To’Wrathh joined in.

She wove her blades expertly, dancing at the edge of the super-heated flames, forcing To’Aacar to remain within them or retreat entirely.

Engulfed in the super-heated air, all heat dispersal systems took a complete loss in efficiency, forcing the Feather to back off and allow his systems to cool off. Even if the Feather’s shields protected his systems, the surrounding air would saturate with heat, leaving the internal heat generated no place to escape to. If he remained within the torrent, To’Wrathh could overclock her system further than he could, and the advantages would become too steep for him to recover from.

The enemy attempted three more times to break through against Keith, and all three times were rebuffed.

“We’ve got a good setup here, Hecate. Or To’Wrathh.” The human said. “Whatever name you go by. But we can’t just keep the fight tied like this, how do we actually kill the bastard?”

She considered what they had to work with. So long as Keith remained nearby, he was able to predict where the enemy would appear from. His mirror images could also deal far more damage faster than she could.

“I need to grapple him.” She said. “Or pin him in some manner so that you can deal true damage to his shields and shell. That or we force him to overclock his system past the limit by giving him no reprieve.”

“Yeah, don’t think that’ll work. Bastard’s more slippery than wet ice. No way he’s going to let us keep exhausting him.”

“I concur. We will need to grapple him.”

“I did that once before. Can confirm he didn’t like that at all. Don’t think he’ll let either of us do that again anytime soon. But I think I know where another weak point is.” Keith pointed a sword at the opponent, still standing, waiting for the last bout of heat buildup to fade, watching them intently. “He takes small jumps off his toes every time he portals. Started thinking he’s not doing that just to make the jumps look more dramatic. I think it’s so that he’s not touching anything. His teleport could be limited to matter, not air. And there’s probably some kind of size limit to it. Whatever it is, he doesn’t want to be touching anything other than his spear when he chucks it at us at least.”

She reviewed the past combat log footage and noticed the human was right. To’Aacar had disguised the habit by mixing it in with running leaps and motion. “How do we make use of that?” To’Wrathh asked.

“Knock a pillar or rock down on him in a way he can’t shake it off?” Keith shrugged. “Or if you know some kind of net nearby to use. Maybe a bunch of dust will have enough matter to make it not-air. Worth a try. We’re at a standstill for now.”

To’Wrathh nodded, scanning the battlefield. The lightning blasted rocks were desolate. Nothing grew here unless it was within the larger pillars. However, there was still an option. “If we can bring him close to a cliff-side, I can cause a landslide to collapse on top of him. If it’s quick enough at the base, he won’t have time to perform a fractal jump.”

“Come up with some plot yet?” To’Aacar said from the distance, a haze of heated air still rising above his head. Internal circuits still glowed dim red, exposing some of his innards from the unrepaired slices that remained of the knightbreaker round. “It’s been long enough, I expect something entertaining.”

“Something like that.” Keith said. “We were hoping you’d agree to just lay down and let us stab you a few times, you know, for fun.”

The Feather smiled. “What a delightful idea. I have another suggestion. You stand still and I squash you with a rock.”

He jumped into the air, and swung his spear down, occult lit across the blade as a blue wave of energy leaped from the strike into the rocks before him. The instant the wave hit the ground, it shattered everything into chunks, large broken rocks flying up. He landed at the center of the maelstrom, and kicked the flying rocks, occult pulsing at the end of his feet.

A moment later, occult portals opened up around her and Keith, large chunks of kicked rocks came speeding out. To’Wrathh could react without issue, the stone too slow to catch her. Keith however was not as quick, dodging the first three hits and getting cobbled by the fourth chunk of rock half his size. Journey’s shields flared, holding easily against the kinetic force, but the armor was still sent flying off as the multi-hundred pound rock easily outweighed the armor.

To’Aacar stepped through a portal and struck out at To’Wrathh, the girl no longer near Keith from the barrage earlier. A few strikes between them lingered in the air, before he aborted and reappeared above again, an arc of blue occult swinging from his spear down into the ground.

He dove down, kicking rocks left and right again, causing occult portals on each as he brushed past, sending the missiles Keith’s way, keeping the sorcerer knight out of the fight at a distance all while he remained locked in combat with To’Wrathh.

She snarled and dove after him with fury, striking out with her blades, before revealing the entire combination had been a feint. She leaped backwards at the apex of her movements, using her wings to buffet her at high speed, directly at Keith.

“Grab my back!” She yelled out over the comms.

The knight on his part ducked a slab of rock thrown above him, and leaped up into the air, colliding with To’Wrathh speeding past. One arm wrapped around her neck while his other remained ready to strike out with his blade.

Carrying him like a glorified backpack, To’Wrathh zipped around the flying rocks with alacrity, steadily retreating to a cliff-side wall. To’Aacar attempted to strike personally a few times, each time he was rebuffed by a torrent of flames from the surface knight that clung to the Feather’s back.

If adding an extra four hundred pounds of armor behind her had any effect on her speed and performance, To’Wrathh showed no hint of it. Internally, she noted the drop in efficiency at twelve percent, but the added benefit of Keith’s ability to burn To’Aacar wherever the Feather appeared was invaluable. His occult strikes increased drastically as well, now that the human didn’t need to focus on moving himself.

To’Wrathh reached the cliff, holding her ground here. She’d calculated this would be the best position to execute her plan, though it had brought her a long way from the original position she’d sent her SOS signal from. Whatever help Yrob was sending, she hoped they would be able to track her down here.

The enemy remained unamused, reappearing a further distance away, letting the heat from the last scorching attack fade away from his systems. “Seems I need to pry you out of the way in order to have my proper duel.” He said.

Keith laughed, “Not happening, scraphead. I’m pretty cozy here and feeling a little lazy to walk around.”

To’Aacar answered with his weapon, spear lighting up with the occult colors as he swung. The arc of power flew directly at the two, only aimed above them.

Keith cursed, realizing the enemy wasn’t going to be fooled by the cliff-side plan. Instead, he’d turned that on them.

Rocks broke off in fury as the wave struck the cliff, chunks falling down directly above them. To’Wrathh raced out of the way, carrying Keith with her.

Just as To’Aacar had predicted.

The enemy Feather appeared above them, the spear thrown directly in To’Wrathh’s path. She was forced to defend against that, while To’Aacar collided against the two.

Keith’s flames engulfed the enemy Feather, multiple ghost strikes flying out and causing the Feather’s shields to flare up. He growled as his defenses dropped steeply from the onslaught, but remained undaunted, already committed to the act. His hand lit bright, reaching straight at Keith’s hold over To’Wrathh’s neck, right through the torrent of flames.

The boy realized he had to let go or have his shields ripped apart. With little choice, he leaped backwards.

To’Aacar’s foot raced out in a kick, slamming into the knight in midair. It took the boy directly in the chest, through disappearing flames and all. Occult pulsed, and a portal shimmered - but not around To’Aaccar - around Keith.

As the flames cleared, To’Wrathh found the human half dematerialized. Frozen in the air, translucent. Like an insect trapped in amber.

To’Aacar reset his position, rocks crashing down into the ground until it was silent again around them. “Kill teams like my own were forced to bring options to isolate our targets when we fought in the fratricide. Incidentally, that was one of my roles.”

“What did you do to him?” To’Wrathh demanded, keeping a wary eye on the enemy.

“My portals have an open and exit. I sent him through one that has no exit. He should be happily floating at the halfway point between dimensions.” He said, idly passing his spear through the ghost image of the frozen human. “You think I’m the same To’Aacar you started the fight with? Don’t be silly. Out there, beyond, is nothing more than infinity. But you won’t have to worry your little melting mind about that. I’ll have you killed long before your favorite human returns.”

A spear ripped from existence behind her, launched by the Feather. She turned and resumed the fight, partitioning a part of her mind to understand what had happened to Keith. The boy remained floating, locked in place. Pings sent to his armor showed no responses. In effect, she didn’t pick up any outgoing signals from the armor either. It was as if the point Keith hovered over was just empty space.

“He’s still alive.” Tenisent whispered in her mind with iron conviction. “Focus on the fight.”

To’Wrathh didn’t have a choice. She needed every scrap of processing power she had available.

Kidra landed on the broken ground, jump pack still humming at her sides. There was enough power to keep her moving for another hour. Windrunner landed nearby, a little less gracefully.

They stared at the shattered ground around them.

“Something’s brought a lot of explosives here.” Windrunner hummed, kneeling on the ground, hand brushing away some of the dust. “We too late?”

Kidra didn’t think so. They’d left as soon as To’Wrathh’s second in command had contacted them. When it had filled her in on what had happened, she’d been more than happy to let her two enemies kill one another. What had changed everything was the visual recording.

Keith was there. Her little brother had come down here and was tangled up in this mess, somehow. Of course he would be.

Of the rebellion she led, they’d stolen only a few jump packs from the military, and had even less knights capable of flying them. Not that any of those knights could be brought with her to fight a Feather. Only Windrunner could be trusted to survive that.

Ankah and her minions had been left behind, entrusted with the rebellion in the case she didn’t return home. Someone had to keep the light going.

The two surface knights had left the city immediately after, speeding across the terrain, directly to the last known coordinates sent. It could have been a trap, but Kidra couldn’t afford to pay the cost if it wasn’t.

“We’re not too late.” Kidra said, convinced. “The fight moved. See further down that direction? More rips in the ground. We follow the trail, we’ll find the fight.” It went a long distance. From rock plateau to plateau, some spanning far more empty space than a relic armor could jump.

Keith was too stubborn to die in a fight like this. He was still alive out there and Kidra knew it.

She just prayed that she’d get there in time.

Next Chapter - Shadows of older days (T)

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