12 Miles Below

I think my heart stopped at the sight.

“Father?” I whispered, so low even I couldn’t hear myself.

“The machine fled.” Avalis said, but his voice wasn’t the Feather’s. Not anymore. “He found no other recourse to live, but to abandon his shell. Leaving me behind.”

Holy scraps raining down from above. Father just hijacked a Feather.

He knelt down, getting closer to me. Red glowing eyes darting over my wounds, analyzing.

“Too much information going through this body’s mind.” He said. “I can’t understand it all and I barely have control over the system yet, Avalis is trying to detonate the shell remotely. I’m holding him off. Are you going to make it?”

“Think I might.” I said, then flopped my head to the side, where the howling was coming from. “Don’t think they’re going to appreciate that.”

Avalis - no Father - turned his gaze from me to the approaching enemies. Eyes narrowed.

“Their opinion is irrelevant. Stay down, boy. I’ll deal with this.” He said as he rose back up, voice still synthetic, but his. Blades swinging into position. He turned and strode forward to the approaching horde of machines, approaching the two knights fighting for their lives. My two snipers barely holding off an entire army.

One the other side, Kidra and the other two knights were breaking through the machines with far greater ease. A third knight really made all the difference, or that could just be my sister. She was utterly ruthless.

Father took a running sprint and leaped far above the fight, in the center of the machine army. The last dredges of the machine army Avalis had brought still locked in combat with the two Winterscars.

The Screamers looked confused, coming to a stop, chittering with one another. Then they turned their gaze at him and began to scream. Claws scraping at the ground, posturing. Father stood his ground in his stolen shell, eyes flickering left and right between the incoming enemies. Calculating. One hand holding the longsword, and the other held Cathida’s dagger.

The machines seemed to realize their leader had been killed. Or perhaps Avalis had sent commands to them from the safety of wherever he had run off to. The result was the same. The horde snarled as one and leaped forward, collapsing down against him.

In life, Father had been enough to take on these sorts of enemies even while wounded. In the mite-forged armor that had been his temporary body, he’d managed to fight a Feather and nearly win. Now he was walking on the world again, not in a relic armor, but in the shell of that Feather and all the powers that came with it.

He strode into the wave and nothing but death followed behind his steps, blades spinning, moving as fast as a true Feather would. His sweeps crushed through legs. His kicks ripped apart skull and chest alike. Attacks on his frame did little to no damage at all. They tried to race around him, howling, switching targets to try and reach me. He never gave them a chance, even throwing their own dead bodies wholesale just to knock them off course, or outright off the edge entirely. Lifting the monsters as if they were nothing more than loose ice to throw around.

On the other side of the bridge, Kidra finished off the last of the Screamers, one final machine head falling off shoulders as the body caved forward and collapsed on the broken ground.

She didn’t wait for the body to hit the ground, continuing her sprint across the bridge. Directly to me, sliding to a stop.

The rest of the knights were behind her, rifles snapping up, aiming down the other direction, keeping an eye on the white murder machine crushing his former minions. She didn't know yet, none of them did. But they could tell something had changed if Avalis was ripping out machine throats instead of mine.

Medical supplies were yanked out from small kits, applied as quickly as possible to different sections of my body following Kidra’s quick orders.

Pretty soon, it all grew quiet as Father stomped down the last Screamer's head into the ground, leaving the Winterscar knights staring at Avalis. Wondering if they should start attacking the Feather, but also not quite understanding why he had scythed through his own army and changed his eye colors.

That followed an… interesting time explaining things.

To’Wrathh floated in darkness, memories and fragments floating through her mind.

A spark came through her systems, connections returned between her soul fractal and her greater systems. Her eyes opened, both working again. Around her, the mite forge worked tirelessly, a hundred fragile arms surrounding her, guiding tiny swarms of black, weaving them through her like a tailor would a needle.

She was surrounded by some kind of air-like fluid. Suspended in it. With no end anywhere in sight.

A hand reached for her forehead, then tapped. "DO NOT FORGET, APOSTE. THY FIRST LABOR. FIND THE LAST OF THE PREVIOUS CYCLE. OFFER HER THE SOLUTION." A voice boomed into her mind. "ONLY SHE MAY CUT THE TIES THAT BIND THEE. ONLY SHE MAY SEE THE MESSAGE THY CARRIES WITHIN."

The message? The message. The one the mites had inscribed into her soul. What was it exactly?

She wanted to ask. But when she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the forge at all, standing at the edge of the gateway instead.

Her systems showed full integrity. Everything was exactly as it had been before, no upgrades but neither any changes. One hour and twelve minutes had passed and all she had in memory was a single moment awake, in which the forge shushed her like a fussy parent.

To’Wrathh stepped out of the mite forge, a white heel walking into the world again. She didn’t spend a moment savoring the feeling. The last she’d seen of Keith, he’d been preparing to fight against an army. Was she too late?

She booted her combat systems back to full and scanned around herself, seeking answers.

Five humans returned confirmation pings from her sensors. All alive. Four in armor, and one in a bloodied shirt, slowly feeding a broken armor at his feet, letting it repair itself. Keith. Kidra. The Winterscar knights.

They’d survived. Relief flooded through her systems, a weight lifting off her shoulders.

They were huddled together around a small campfire by the foot of the mite forge, waiting for her. And sitting by their side, towering over the humans, was To’Avalis.

The weight instantly crashed right back down. Her wing stretched out and she drew her blades. “To’Avalis.”

The Feather looked up, blood red eyes glowing and To’Wrathh realized something was very different. No Feather would defy mother with a color change from her theme. To do so would be heresy.

And the humans looked too relaxed to be hostages.

Something had happened.

“Wrath.” To’Avalis said, shortening her name like the humans had. She felt the soft hairs on her shell rise up. Something was very wrong with the Feather. “Stand down, girl. The danger has passed.”

That voice and timber was... Her voice recognition software rapidly churned through the possibilities and returned only one match.

“Tenisent. But... you can't be.”

“I am.” The Feather answered, then waved her away. “Later.” His gaze turned to the one human without armor.

Keith.

He gave a cheery wave, fingers hardly functioning, hand and arm wrapped up in bandages. The grin was the same she'd grown used to. “Who’d have thought that Father would end up the most Winterscar of us all, huh? 'Borrowed' a gods damned Feather. Don’t think he intends to return it anytime soon, family tradition and all that.”

“Keith!” She called out, closing the gap. Weary of the situation, but not willing to let it get in her way. She was a Feather. Restored to complete working condition. If this were some kind of trap, she could surely fight her way free somehow.

“That’s my name. How were the insides of the mite forge like? Just as creepy as the outside was?”

“That can be discussed another time.” She said. “You need medical attention. Now.”

She crouched down, palm on his chest, eyes going back and forth between the human and To’Avalis standing far too close for comfort.

“Whoa, easy there…” He wheezed. “I need some pillow talk first.”

“No talking at all.” She hissed, and put a hand over his forehead, eyes furrowed in focus as occult crackled around, lighting snapping across her wingtips. “What have you done to yourself, you stupid human? Do you need lessons on general common sense? Do I need to sit you down and make it clear a human is not expected to move broken arms, you stupid, reckless, stupid moron?”

“He started it.” He said, pointing a thumb at To’Avalis. “Well, before the new management. Also you said stupid three times now. I think that’s a little uncalled for. Twice is more reasonable.”

Kidra shook her head, arms crossed. “I disagree, three times is perfectly accurate.”

“And I did not give you permission to speak.” Wrath added, lifting the hand and muffling her human before he could annoy her further. Occult sparked around pale fingertips, sinking into the human.

So much of him was just broken in there. All masked by some drug lurking in his veins. She corrected it all, taking her time to do a proper job of it. Violet eyes constantly opening to check around herself, especially watching at To’Avalis. Or Tenisent. She wasn’t sure yet, but whatever the situation, every second she had to heal Keith, she’d steal away.

She pondered how a human could have ended up in control of a Feather’s shell. Answer must have been with the pendant. Likely held close enough to To’Avalis’s chassis, long enough for Tenisent to detach. Humans somehow had that ability to move around without the use of a Unity fractal.

Without a spare fractal to move into, only the Feather’s main soul fractal was available and a war must have been fought for it. Invaders rarely had any kind of advantage historically when it came to soul combat in past archives. Not without some way to slip past the walls around. But if there was one soul she could believe could smash through such walls, it was Tenisent. He’d broken free of his cage, he’d learned the defenses Feathers used, and learned how to turn his experience into a weapon. Even with the unity fractal, she’d had difficulties dragging his soul away after her first disastrous fight with Kidra. To’Avalis must have tried the same thing, and failed to drag him out of his home, stubborn mule that he was.

She still gave the whole thing a low chance of success, even with Tenisent’s advantages. Something else must ha-

Not even a second later, she was rudely interrupted by a high pitched beeping from her alarm, cutting through her focus.

Perhaps... it may be true then. He was a Winterscar after all, they’ve statistically beaten the odds time and time again.

Keith flexed a newly healed hand, gingerly touching the fingertips. “Never seen it done while awake. You know, if all of this saving the world business doesn’t pan out for you, I think you could try out your hand as a spa attendant. Probably would work out for you. You'd be real popular in the clan.”

She stood back up and turned to To’Avalis. Or Tenisent.

The other Feather stared back. “I have full control over the shell. Worry not.”

“That part isn’t what I am concerned over. I need to verify you are who you say you are, and not attempting an underhanded scheme.”

The captured Feather nodded, then knelt down, lifting a plate of relic armor. Something from Journey. “Machines cannot use any fractal not connected to their own soul fractal. Because you are frozen inside your soul fractals, unable to stretch out of it, to reach for fractals outside.”

The plate he lifted had a fractal etched on it. The shield fractal, used by all the clan knights, inscribed just about everywhere it could be scribbled on. The one in his hands lit bright blue, and then manifested a dome before it.

Tenisent held the plate in his hands for a moment more, then tossed it forward. To’Wrathh snatched the plate out of the air, inspecting it. Checking for a trap.

“Make an attempt to use the fractal.” Tenisent ordered. “If you cannot do what I did, then it’s proved without doubt I am more than a Feather.”

Electric currents passed through her fingertips, and the occult fractal on the plate began to glow. Nothing else happened, but she already knew that. The humans had to feed these fractals both focus and mental energy in order to trigger, all while keeping a connection to it through their souls. She couldn’t do so, limited to only what was directly connected to her soul fractal.

“You... really are Tenisent.” She said again. Logically, it was proved beyond any reasonable doubt. The emotional side of her was still catching up, still suspicious. “Give me a moment to process through it.”

To’Avalis had been chased out. She was repaired, and her city had been evacuated in time. Keith was still alive and well, and she could protect him now.

Systems filed through and processed everything with alacrity. To'Avalis knew she was a traitor, and so did two other Feathers. The mites must have known this happened, and despite all this, she still walked out of the mite forge with the unity fractal still etched inside her chassis. They must have a plan of some kind for her. She could only trust them.

For now, however, it all pointed to one single conclusion: There was no reason to hide her true allegiances any longer. She was done. Done with the machines. Done with Mother. And done hiding.

She dove into her systems with manic glee, finding old settings that had never been touched but still available. A color wheel opened before her, and she shifted the hue selection from violet directly to a blood red. She hovered over the acceptance, realizing it wasn’t her decision to make alone.

“I have a question.” To’Wrathh asked.

Tenisent raised an black synthetic eyebrow. “Speak.”

“If you’ve returned to full duty, does that make you the House Prime?”

He seemed to think about that, before Kidra waved. “By technicality, yes. There is prior precedent we can use for this. It happened once before, when a clan prime was considered dead on an expedition, and yet managed to return years later.”

“Uriel Prime.” Tenisent said. “I’m aware of the story.”

To’Wrathh was not. Kidra noticed the head tilt and gave a quick explanation. “A song about a house prime that remained behind a mite blast door with two others from minor houses, holding off machines. They were considered dead. In reality, they escaped the deathblow.”

“They had to dive further under the strata, living among the Undersiders.” Tenisent added. “Building funds to pay for transport, city to city. It took time, but they returned, alive. The house reinstated the prime back to his position, if I recall.”

“So it is thus. We know what needs to be followed.” Kidra said, as if the matter was closed.

“Are you certain of this?” Tenisent asked. “I drove the House to ruin by neglect. I wasn’t fit to be a prime, my only talents were with the blade. You have done far more for the house than I could have in decades.”

Keith shrugged his shoulders at the byplay, looking unbothered. “That’s what you have minions for, Father. Delegate tasks you don’t want to do. Then all you have to do is look menacing in negotiations and growl a bit anytime the other houses get puffed up about something. Kidra can still command the House, and you keep the good old traditions alive.”

“Keith, it is a little more complicated than this.” Kidra said.

“Well, for one, I don’t think you have to give back your armor to Father.” He said. “Don’t think he’ll fit in there anymore. What else is the complications coming from? Or were you talking about other things?”

Kidra sighed, seemingly abandoning any idea of debating the gremlin.

Tenisent watched silently the byplay. “Why?” He asked. The unworded question behind the single word clear to the two Winterscars.

“Consider it a request from me.” Kidra said. “It follows tradition, precedent, and is the right thing to do. You’ve come back from the dead. But not in your armor, nor in your body. Only your spirit is tied to the Winterscar name. Having you returned to your old position feels like you’ve truly returned to us.”

Tenisent closed his eyes, deep in thought. Then opened it again, looking back. “So be it. Though I leave the power in your hands.”

The other Winterscar knights all stood up, back straight, before lifting their blades in a salute, bowing deep.

Tenisent turned back to To’Wrathh. “You have your answer, why did you ask?”

“I needed to know who to make the request to.” She said, then brushed her wings back, folding them neatly behind her. “I wish to submit a formal request to join House Winterscar.”

Next chapter - Epilogue

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