CHAPTER 5

I had to shove the wolf to get him off of me when Echo said the weapons were ready. It looked like the beast hadn’t slept in a considerable time due to the hunger and had decided to use me as a pillow. My legs were completely asleep and I had to walk around for a minute to get rid of the pricks.

Once most of them had gone away, which coincided with the sunrise, I headed over to where Echo had been using the drones over the night. “What have you got for me?” I asked.

“Good morning, Lex.” Echo’s voice sounded in my head. “I managed to create a couple suitable weapons, as well as some armored clothing.”

“Excellent. I knew it would be best to leave it to you,” I said with a grin kneeling to pick up the nearest item. I could create things as long as I knew about them as well. I technically had access to Echo’s database, but it was like looking into a library that went on forever. Information sort of piles up when several thousand species are working together to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

The first thing was a black leather trench coat that went to just below my knees. Most of the dark green metal was in the torso area as my limbs were relatively armored now. Echo had managed to take that into account and made it look like my chitin was part of the outfit. It would make a good addition to my defense. He had even included underwear that was a bit more comfortable then the haphazard ones we’d made earlier.

“You never understand certain things until they are realvent to yourself,” I commented as I took off the sheet and coverings I had been wearing so far.

“How so?” Echo inquired.

“I honestly thought that women wore some of the things they did to appear sexy, or alluring. You know, attract the opposite sex. After being a female for a few days, I realize there’s much more to it.”

“Try being an AI stuck in a human’s head all day,” Echo replied humorlessly.

“Touché.” I laughed at the thought. The new underclothing fit nicely as well as the coat. There was even a holder that allowed the plasma rifle to hang off my waist. It would make drawing it much quicker if it came to it.

Reaching down, I grabbed the next item. A decent sized sword though thankfully, it weighed a fraction of what it looked like it would. The blade had lines that separated sections of the blade that led up to a deadly looking point. There were a few buttons on the pummel just above the hilt.

Unable to resist, I pressed the first one causing the sections to separate and an energy field of some sort to form in between the sections. If the blade couldn’t cut something. I was sure this field could. Testing it on the nearby wall of the tower, it sliced clean through. I clicked the button again and it turned back to its original form.

Pressing the second button, the area around the hilt lit up with another field in the form of a shield. It reminded me of the riot shields that police used to use back in the day. The shield covered close to a third of my body, though I wouldn’t know its threshold until I tested it some.

The last item was the one I knew I would be able to use the best. Another rifle, it was mostly dark green with a few splotches of black intermixed here and there. If I didn’t miss my mark, it was similar to a railgun. It was about that time those types of weapons got to the point of being personalized.

“You really out did yourself, Echo,” I said with a grin as I tested the sights of the new rifle.

“I was able to make a handful of daggers with the left over material. Nothing fancy,” Echo said moving his drone back and forth around me.

“This is plenty. Better than my hands. I see you adjusted the trigger to take account of my new fingers.”

“No point making something you can’t use.”

“Very true.”

“Unless you go on a firing spree, the nanites will keep the ammo pouches loaded for you. Please do not throw away the magazines if possible.”

“You got it boss.”

“New toys?” Imperia chimed in from behind us with a yawn.

“Yeah. You can obviously defend yourself, but I didn’t like my options so I had my friend make these.” I pointed at Echo’s drone for emphasis. Though he was in my head, I would be better in case something happened down the line.

“Can I see it?” she asked holding her hand out like a child wanting to see a toy.

“That would be a no. As the Queen of Demons, I’m sure you know your weapons, but I really don’t want you to hurt anyone.”

“Pity,” Imperia said with a pout. She slumped her shoulders and turned away, kicking a rock as she did so. It blasted through the air demolishing a tree or two in the process. I would need to be careful not to piss her off.

“Maybe we should create some anti-imperia measures down the road?” Echo asked and I was grateful he was in my head.

“Maybe.”

~~~

We stood in the center of the clearing looking in every direction. Echo had sent his drone out to several hundred meters, the max for its current design, and still hadn’t located any markings of civilization. For now, there was a mountain to the north and forest in the rest of the direction.

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Imperia says that the tower that imprisoned her once had a ward that kept living creatures out from hundreds of kilometers. Even if it degraded over the centuries there would still be a buffer, while stronger monsters moved in. Essentially, we were at the center of a very deadly maze where everything wanted to kill us.

“Damn, I hope you’re wrong,” I mumbled switching from south to east, unable to decide which way to go.

“I might lack a lot of the power I did from before, but I can still sense danger. I’m very mortal now, only I get to reincarnate every thousand years if I do die. Either way, I’m getting some serious bad vibes no matter which way we go.”

“Fantastic!” I grabbed a stick from the ground and chucked it into the air. When it landed it pointed south and I nodded as I decided to head that direction. “South it is!”

Moving the bag on my shoulder to a more comfortable position, I started out into the forest. Imperia and the wolf following after me. Echo would keep us heading straight until we reached an obstacle that we couldn’t go over. Though given our current coalition’s make up. I found it hard to imagine what could stop us.

The wolf rushed on ahead looking more like a playful dog than a wild beast. I supposed when on the brink of starvation and offered food, you’d want to stay with the person that helped you out. I had Echo make a few more protein bars so that I could feed him later.

“We need a name for him,” I said looking after the wolf.

“Yes. It will be annoying ordering him around otherwise,” Imperia said with a weird grin.

“I thought you weren’t going down that path this time?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

She looked at me then blinked. “Sorry. Old habits.”

I looked at the beast then thought about some of the old Earth dogs that had been made famous through various media. While hologram stories are fun, nothing beats the story telling of an old twentieth century 2d movie.

“I guess Argos will be fine. I don’t know if he’ll be as faithful,” I said after thinking about for close to twenty minutes.

“Oh. That sounds strong,” Imperia said with a nod. “Strong names are good names.”

“The name belonged to a faithful dog that waited twenty years for his master.”

“I see. Though this mutt is more likely to come chasing after you rather than wait,” she replied with a snicker.

I shrugged. “Well. That would have its own charm I suppose.”

~~~

“I still don’t believe you,” I said for the third time.

“I told you I’m sorry. I don’t understand it either.”

Sighing, I shifted her to get a better grip on her. We had been walking for close to five hours and it was approaching noon when Imperia had just collapsed face first into the ground. It reminded me of a puppet who had its string cut suddenly. According to her, she couldn’t move at all so I had been forced to either set up camp there and lose half a day of traveling, or carry her.

“Lex!” Imperia suddenly shouted in my ear.

“Ouch! Fuck. What?!”

“I can move my pinky!” she exclaimed. I looked at the digit that was barely budging.

“Congratulations. Please don’t shout in my ear next time.”

She blushed in what I assumed was embarrassment. “Sorry.”

I carried her for the rest of the day until about an hour before the sun was about to set. I started looking for a place to camp, well, Echo did anyway. One of the benefits of being aerial. We would probably have to find a new form for him before we reached any civilization. Since magic was a thing, maybe we could give him an animal form and pass him off as a familiar.

“Lex. There is a clearing seven hundred meters in that direction,” Echo relaied to me as a path appeared in my vision.

“Thanks Echo.” I mouthed since it would look like I was talking to myself with his drone nowhere in sight. I adjusted my course and soon found the clearing. It wasn’t too large, but would serve for just the three of us.

I placed Imperia down in the center. While she was able to move her fingers and toes, the rest was apparently still out of order. She claimed she was immortal, but that didn’t mean that some bacteria or virus I brought from my home universe couldn’t take her out. I planned to have Echo scan her tonight once she went to sleep.

I dropped the bag next to her and started pulling out the stones inside. There was the ward and shield stone as well as a partially defective defense that was supposed to shot icicles or something, according to Imperia at least. The Ward was still functioning. I wasn’t worried about wild animals or weaker monsters, though Argos was acting like he didn’t notice it at all. I couldn’t be sure it was still effective without some tests.

The shield stones were supposed to function in a set of three, but I brought them as I wanted Echo to study them. If possible, reproduce them later. I wasn’t sure if this world operated on a monetary standard, but it would be good to have something worth trading either way.

Sitting next to Imperia, we watched the sun set through the canopy. “How was your first day being free?” I asked.

“Better if I could move,” she replied.

“You can’t think of any reason this happened to you?”

“…” I heard her groan under her breath and just sighed.

Argos came over once the sun set completely and plopped down next to Imperia. I burst out laughing when the beast started licking her face with his massive tongue. “Looks like someone is worried about you.”

“Stop him! Please! Ugh! It’s in my mouth!” I let Argos continue for about another ten seconds before I held up a protein bar. His tail started wagging fast enough to cause a small breeze and he rolled over Imperia to get to it. “Remember this mutt!” She growled as she spit to the side.

“Who’s a good boy!?” I cued as I pet his head earing another growl from Imperia. I couldn’t help laughing at the ludicrousness of it all.

Argos feel asleep at our feet soon after that. I leaned back and stared up at the stars. While I had moved all day, hadn’t eaten a thing besides the protein bar in the morning, and carried not only a bag of stones, but a supposed Demon Queen over close to a hundred kilometers, I wasn’t tired. I found it the strangest thing with my lack of hunger being particularly worrying.

Imperia also feel asleep quickly. For someone that slept for ten thousand years, you would think she would have more energy than she knew how to deal with. Either way, it was soon just me and Echo remaining among the conscious.

“Can you scan the girl?” I asked once I was sure she was asleep. “She is as light as a feather, but I don’t want to have to carry here forever. Plus, I’m worried she caught something from our planet.”

“That is unlikely. I checked when we first arrived, but most the common bacteria and virus that the current population carry was gone from your system like they never existed.”

“How is that possible? Even the nanites have trouble completely eliminating those things.”

“Conjecture. The portal did not transfer them.”

“But in all our other tests it was a prefect one for one. Down to the atoms.”

“Sorry. Lex. That is the only possible outcome my theories arrive at.”

I shook my head sighing. “No. Don’t worry about it. I know you’re limited right now. It probably is the case either way. We didn’t exactly follow procedure when using it this time. We should be glad just to be alive.”

A while passed as I watched the sky and area around us. We had a bit more distance to go before we got near the area Imperia said gave off the bad vibes, but it never hurt to be too careful. Argos already proved that hunger could overpower the weakened ward before. I’m sure there were other ways to bypass it for those that were desperate or powerful enough.

Around midnight Echo finally finished his scan of Imperia. “I was unable to spot anything physically wrong with her. The cause is not an illness.”

“Understood. Hopefully whatever it is will clear up soon then.”