With Elder Phagos still on his mission of rooting out every criminal organisation he could find in the Golden Plains Province, Elder Cinnabar managed to return home first despite the huge distance between the Sect and the war front. Though of course that might also have to do with the fact that she could power an entire teleportation formation mostly by herself, arriving just beyond the Sect with an entourage of disciples in a flash of warped space-time before most could have time to blink. Rusty Aurelium could see the world far better than most however and through psychically enhanced senses, aided by eyeballs he had gifted to his friend shortly before her departure, he could see the microscopic flaws and discrepancies that spoke of exhaustion enough to kill a mortal. His eyes had a limited range and did not pick up readily on sound thus he could not confidently say exactly what had transpired while she was away, but he knew she had spent countless sleepless days pouring her strength into the sizable formations which kept the front line strong. Sure, the Empire was vast and there were others that could match and surpass her strength, but organising the transfer of the rare Aberrants is a taxing task, and with her soft heart he knew Cinnabar would never rest until she was certain her services were no longer required. He wanted to chastise her for failing to look after her health as he slid over towards her position, but that would indeed make hypocrites of both of them.
Noticing his approach Cinnabar gave a wide smile that split her false-face down the middle. Scuttling towards him on her myriad legs and long arms outstretched for a hug she greeted him, quickly hiding most of her exhaustion just behind her eyes. “Rusty! It has been too long!”
Part of him wanted to say it has only been a few moons, but he really couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. “Indeed it has Lione, you certainly look like you need some rest. Come with me, there is much to discuss.”
“Bah! Let me get my hug first you old fool!” She demanded, wrapping herself around him. He noted one of her arms was coated with a thin sheen of dried slime, evidently recently regenerated. He vaguely recalled his eye sensing Cinnabar leaving her place in the formation to join in some important task on the front lines and the vibrations from the battle that ensued. But to actually land an injury on an Aberrant… even one that didn’t last… that spoke enough of the horrors that must have transpired in the Machine War.
“You and our brave men have clearly have stories to tell. I’m sure we have much to discuss in private.” He spoke gently, using careful language to reassure Lione of his understanding while not compromising her carefully crafted image of strength.
With a shift in muscles that would be unnoticable to a lesser being, Cinnabar allowed herself to relax slightly in her bear hug letting the slightest crack open in the barriers constructed to keep weeks of exhaustion at bay. “Indeed my dear Junior Brother… we have much to speak on…”
She let him go and they walked together like simpler times. Idly his mind wandered towards the youngest generation, the newest batch of initiates was smaller than the already rather low crop, in large part fault of the Sect’s strict standards. Yet he couldn’t help but feel proud of what his new heir had achieved in the short amount of time he had been truly active. Of course he had no intention of ending up like his own father, nor repeating his mistakes with Alexander, but some part of him could not help but see aspects of his son and his friends or himself and their little trio in John, Cobalt and that boy who always seemed to end up tagging along. Walking together with a Lione who looked closer to mortality than she had in centuries in his eyes made him wonder if they could finally avoid the heavy fate that awaited each generation. For while he indeed had power and to cultivate was to spit in the face of destiny itself, it is a truly daunting thing to fight against fate.
And judging by Cinnabar’s own eyes her thoughts rested in similar places. Focused past the Sect into a distant horizon, as if looking for something that would split the stars themselves.
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As the most powerful Sect in the region by sheer political weight and average power of cultivators the Lead Cave was expected to lead by example. Which is the excuse for why Cobalt had been drilling him and Magni over minor details of etiquette for the past few days, though in private John felt it had more to do with the arrival of Cobalt’s beloved Aunt. She made no secret she preferred him over her own blood father, or if she meant to she did a very poor job indeed. The difference in how she spoke of each of them was light night and day, and her behaviour had gotten much more uptight and young mistress-y since Cinnabar returned. Not that it made it less unpleasant to be informed for the millionth time that he had somehow arranged his forks wrong.
“Come on John, you heard her! A half inch to the left!” Magni mocked.
He glared at older boy who had completed this hurdle on the first try. “Not everyone can cheat imbecile!”
Cobalt smacked him over the head with the back of a pale, clawed palm. “What did I tell you about language John?”
“Come on, the guests aren’t even here yet!” He complained.
“But they will be, and will you be ready?” Cobalt demanded.
“Like she said th- ow!” Magni started to speak before being backhanded.
“For all the mistakes John has made at least he doesn’t do most of them on purpose!” She huffed.
Magni rubbed at the red mark on his pale skin with a wince. “Come on princess! Lighten up a little, the nervousness rolling off you is practically curdling the air!”
Before any more bickering could start however there was a knock on the door from one of the many Wretch servants around the Sect. An old man in his late fifties named Tin if John’s memory served him right, near the end of the average lifespan for non-cultivators, and looking every one of those years on his world-weary curse-scarred face.
“Young Mistress… Young Master… Disciple Magni…” He addressed with a bow. “Master Alexander Aurelium has requested your presence in aiding the welcoming of some guests into the Sect grounds for the tournament.”
Cobalt perked up and gave a smug smile “Oh already! Come on boys, just like we practised! Follow me!”
Immediately afterwards she ran out the door following exactly none of the decorum she had so emphasised leaving John with one major question on his mind.
Say… when was Alexander in charge of welcoming foreign sect people? He asked Magni in his mind.
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Well, since never. The outer bound of the Sect are a bit out of my range for exact identification but I don’t feel any cultivators… oh I see now… come on John we can’t miss this for shit! Magni telepathically communicated before sprinting off as well, predictably not explaining shit despite having more than enough capability to do so instantly and effortlessly. Grumbling in annoyance John briefly thanked the servant for the information before following the others.
At the gates sat Alexander, third arm clutching a large walking stick, looking rather confused by the rapid response. Normally cultivators would heal most injuries pretty quickly and reliably but apparently given he had pieces of lead stuck inside him until fairly recently his recovery was slightly impeded, a painful reminder of the events that had transpired while he was off trying to earn glory by fighting, or perhaps more accurately being thrown around like a doll by, a Mauler. His worries faded somewhat when he saw his old mentor look at him and smile warmly.
“Ah John, I had not expected your friends to be so prompt, but I am glad the message was received so quickly!” He greeted before turning to Cobalt asking. “Now as I was saying earlier, Cobalt, why do you act like your spine was replaced with a steel beam?”
“It is imperative to observe proper etiquette and decorum when receiving guests!” She answered, stiffer than the rusty mechanical doors which could be found in the ruins John used to scavange.
“Well, I am afraid your efforts will be wasted on this group.” Alexander responded, chuckling to himself. “See, I had only managed to negotiate a very temporary arrangement with my charges and my father insisted on me not returning to the field for the time being so I pulled a few strings and arranged for the Rats to stay in the safest place I could think of…”
The gates slowly opened revealing a gaggle of familiar youngsters who spilled in greeting Alexander and John with various cheers. There were some new faces in the mix, with no small amount of sadness John noticed there were a few missing from his last memories, but doubtless most were just like he remembered them. Rubble, who now looked too big to fit inside small spaces, was helping Oliver haul the small amount of belongings that the group carried with them between each site and without really thinking John found himself wading through the crowd to help them.
Oliver’s eyes brightened at the sight of John. “John, old friend! It has been too lo- were those eyes always there?” He asked, pointing at the eyes adorning ARTOS currently flicking all over the place.
“Mutations.” He answered simply.
“Also why you look like you fell for the worm hole prank?” Rubble snorted.
“Yes.” John stated matter of factly.
“Huh… what does it do?” Rubble asked, now intrigued.
To answer that question John sent out a bolt of lightning to a chorus of oohs and ahhs.
“How does it work?” He heard Jamie ask.
“Is it safe to touch the red stuff?” One of the kids he didn’t recognise asked.
“It will probably hurt if you do! It looks like what happens to your skin when you touch too much spirit stuff!” A diminutive girl… Cleenr was it? Commented.
Feeling more than a little overwhelmed John looked towards his friends. Cobalt was doing her absolute best to maintain all her proper image and decorum, but he could see her twitching every now and then as she focused all her power towards dodging a mass of curious children. Magni on the other hand simply put up a psychic shield to the amazement of all the rowdy Rats he was keeping away.
“Look where proper decorum gets you! Truly we must learn from the wise young Mistress!” Magni mocked, shit eating grin extra wide now.
“K- uh… matter of opinion junior brother!” Cobalt shouted, clearly suppressing the urge to swear.
“Settle down now all of you! You will be staying in the public spectator quarters for the duration of the Tournament and it is important that we get it all sorted before any other guests arrive or it might be tricky to arrange spots for all of you to sleep!” Alexander tried to corral his charges.
Lifting three pre-teens off the ground from his extended limb John mused how unfamiliar all this felt after such a relatively short time. But for all its flaws Rats truly belonged in a swarm.
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Rusty brewed another pot of mushroom tea, stirring the crushed Spirit Metal tablets inside to properly disperse the Si. He poured two glasses, one for him and one for Lione who was sprawled out exhausted on a plush couch, centipedal lower half sprawled across the floor. Hardly the image young Cobalt seemed to have of the woman he mused, then again she didn’t know her for well over two centuries.
“Phagos will be returning soon, he practically screamed through one of my eyes that he was getting impatient with the criminal hunting so I am guessing either the pool of suspects is running dry or he has successfully scared everyone underground.” He mused.
“For the honourable patriarch he certainly has never embodied the virtue of patience.” Cinnabar noted curtly, extending a hand to take her cup of mushroom tea.
Sipping deeply from his own cup Aurelium sighed. “With the Tournament just over the horizon it should at the very least make for a good distraction. Warlord and bandit attacks have been drying up as of late, persistent rumours of a Khan wielding a Dragon seems to have quieted down even the most rowdy of petty warlords in the south. An agitated Mars does nobody any good.”
“I know Phagos doesn’t like the criticism but it sometimes feels like he is unable to conceptualise life without violence, sure it’s our duty as Cultivators of the Empire to fight in these wars and bring order and justice… but sometimes I worry about the example he sets for his daughter. Not that I don’t understand where all this comes from, we are all a little kracked in the head aren’t we Rusty?” Cinnabar mused.
“Indeed. Speaking of war and violence… do you mind sharing what happened on the front if that is alright with you?” He asked his old friend carefully.
“It was mostly a lot of being used as a power generator for big formations, though there was one mission I went on where I and some Fleshwelded Knights were sent to deal with this walking mountain of a machine. Over a mile in height alone at its peak and much more in width and length, well beyond anything the mortal soldiers could deal with, it was more like attacking a fortress than a foe. One of its larger drones was acting strangely and wandered into one of the corpse cities before it was downed by a stray shot, and a small retrieval group was sent to collect the data packet in its core. It turns out the drone held more useful secrets than the big monster that I tore my arms off to drive back into the ocean!” Lione explained, rubbing the small nearly invisible scar where her limbs regenerated.
All of his eyes were now completely focused on her, leaning in closer curiosity took over Aurelium. “Oh? What did you find?”
“Something the flesh-scholars of Daltokki called a bio-encrypted code keyed towards the essence of humans, though not usable by anyone too mutated someone at the end of the Wretch realm or at the start of the Mutant could access the secret files buried deep within. As luck would have it, one of the retrieval team who was last in contact with the data packet only reached the Mutant Realm while handling the packet, allowing the contents to be revealed.” Cinnabar further elaborated before meeting every one of Aurelium’s eyes with a steely gaze, practically hissing in a conspiratorial tone. “The machines know much of the Ancestors’ secrets, that is obvious at a glance. But they have built upon that foundation to unlock secrets even our brightest can scarcely comprehend, to create horrors without compare. Worse they know where to find more, that is the whole purpose of their expedition to our continent. Not for conquest or slaves or even petty death… but to uncover the secrets that ended the world.”