Welcome to the No-Dragon sim-series, applicant.
As you go through the upcoming coursework, you will learn the following major items on the syllabus.
* Exomath-penetration and specialized Nether-breaching techniques against alt-consciousness entities
* Convention enemies: Bioforms, bio-rigs, viruses, bloodgrafts, shapeshifters
* Preventative measures against the Dragon-Curse
* Notable No-Dragon Heavens and thaumaturgic technologies
* Notable enemy Godclads and Dowagers
Foundations: The No-Dragons possess neither the overwhelming industrial might nor Ensouled superiority possessed by Highflame. They also don’t have the aberrant technologies and counter-network capabilities utilized by Omnitech. What they do have, however, is the means to overwhelm any other Guild through near-limitless logistical capabilities so long as there is a source of organic materials to drawn on and a mastery of the flesh that will leave you warped before you can even respond.
The Sang’s combat-eunuchs, bioforms, and bestiary of monsters come in practically every shape, design, and capability imaginable and not. And there are more of them every day. Their Heavens and thaumaturgical constructs likewise run the very edge of what can be considered biology, transcending these limits to nightmarish effect.
For those of you who have transferred over from the Highflame front, this primer will clarify a few things for you:
You will not be prepared. You do not have the endurance. You are not ready to experience the curse. You are not ready for your skin to slip off your bones and tear into your body. You are not ready for the food you eat to decay in an instant or to sprout spatial parasites that leave holes across localized sections of reality.
You will not be ready. And you will die in ways you cannot imagine, and will not be able to imagine. Accept that you will require a visit to the Menders. Accept that your Heavens have limits. Accept that this is a new foe, that requires new strategies and deep cooperation with our allies to overcome.
Above all, understand that the No-Dragons are not who they present themselves to outsiders. Their “destined cycles” aren’t just a curse, but a blessing they can use in combat, and a weapon they can wield against you—and your cyclers as well…
-Ori-Thaum Seeker Combat Primer Series “On Engaging the No-Dragons”
30-5
Half-Chained Love (IV)
Cas’ mind shuddered with misery. +You know, I really wish you would’ve just spent all that time hitting on Marlowe. We could’ve called the run. We could’ve gone somewhere else, done something else—+
+Cas, you know you whimper a lot for someone who’s supposed to be this battle-hardened cult leader. It’s not that bad,+ Chambers replied.
+I’ve been smelted into a giant bug's body. I think my eye is somewhere in its ass.+
+I don’t think bugs have an ass, consang. Especially not this bug. It’s like, engineered for war and shit. But not literally shitting. And also, you don’t technically have a nose either, we’re just organs or something. Like, hidden organs inside its body. It’s going fine. Trust.+
“Can fully deprive his senses! Burn the ears.” The Bioigniter’s sudden bellow made Cas’ mind recoil in shock.
+No. Bio, don’t fucking freak him out anymore. Come on, guy.+ Chambers sighed.
+Jesus Christ that was loud. It was like someone screaming at me from inside my skin. Do your Heavens talk to you like that all the time?+
+What? No. Bio’s special. His outside voice is inside. Heh. But Fucktopia is a pretty decent—+
+It’s a literal wall of dicks.+
+Now, that’s just mean.+
Fucktopia sighed. “It’s okay, Aedon. It is hard for people to understand. We are all chained to our own perspectives. Our own fetishes. The man that gooshes to anal incineration scat is not the same as the lady who likes pelvic organ prolapse BDSM.”
A sign escaped from Cas. +Holy fuck those are some search items I didn’t want to know about, and never want to hear again for the rest of my life. Also… I apologize for my, uh, rudeness, Fucktopia.+
“Thank you, Mr. Canduir. You are a good and decent man.”
+No. Just one that tries. I’m just… I don’t like getting my body changed is all. Never liked it. Never did. Always preferred being just human.+
Their conversation trailed off there briefly as the two lapsed into silence. Ignorant of the constant chatter happening inside its body, the bee-ape bioform simply flew on, buzzing back toward its corresponding Whalequeen after finishing its route.
Infusing themselves into the bioform had been a tricky operation. It ultimately came down to timing. Chambers needed to use his Heaven without getting noticed during or after altering the bioform’s biology. Even with the active assistance of the now awakened Bioigniter, combusting himself and Cas into hidden tendrils of flesh and burning that into the passing bioform’s flesh was only possible when a Rendbomb required almost all of Chambers’ cog-cap. Smuggling his and Cas’ genetic material over into the Whalequeen upon biomass recycling wasn’t going to be any easier.
Marlowe remained back at the bar, continuing with her social intelligence gathering. She said that she might explore the area around the block of a bit, was more inclined to stay in place until they returned.
As for if they didn’t return… well, she had her was of getting back down to the gutters. All she needed to do was make contact with one of the Syndicates, and the Council of Fuck would probably see her properly cared for. But that was the worst case scenario, and Chambers had no intention of dying. Not when he was finally free to “get to know himself” again.
Once was not enough.
A rumbling groan sounded from the distance as the structure that got nuked a few hours ago finally collapsed in on itself. Chambers felt a final few patterns of Biology wink out inside. People died, nu-pets, and other bits of organic matter. But aside from a few rescue drones spraying dense foam over the building to reduce the spread of radiation and some specialized bioforms dispatched quaratine the area, no one really tried to save the people. And the district itself didn’t care.
Thousands died in that block. Thousands died every second. Thousands more would die to fuel the war between the Guilds. Thousands, and not nearly enough for the Fifth Guild War.
A high-pitched warble cut through Chambers’ thoughts as the Whalequeen called to the approaching bioforms. Tapping into the drone’s sensory organs, Chambers saw that they were fast approaching a loosening slit on the underside of its body. Beneath layers of chitinous blubber was a slick pod that would first be filled with dissolving acids and then blood to carry deconstructed bioforms away. Thankfully, Chambers was going to avoid the horrible fate of being dissolved slowly by turning himself and Cas into the acid first. Then, he would circulate through the Whalequeen’s body and hide inside one of its twelve “stomachs.” Whatever it was called.
Their bioform was the first of the drones to arrive, and the rest qued neatly behind, hovering in midair while they squeezed through the slit.
+Alright, Cas,+ Chambers said, +goop time.+
The Columner just shuddered mentally. +Oh Heavenly Father, deliver me from this twisted bullshit. Keep me guarded in these times of madness…+
+What are you doing?+
+Praying. It helps me process… life.+
Chambers kind a got that. Except instead of some Heavenly Father, he had Dannis Steelhard vics. Cas might not appreciate that kind of comparison, though, so Chambers kept the thought to himself.
“Goop time!” the Bioigniter crackled, its flames flicking through the bioform’s insides, turning the organs that constituted Chambers and Cas into dissolving acid just as the Whalequeen’s internal recycling pods began to fill. His timing was impeccable thanks to the Bioigniter’s coordination, and if there was hint that the No-Dragons noticed what he was doing, they were being real quiet about it.
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Meanwhile, linked to his mind, Cas progressed his prayers, most of the words a litany of practiced murmurs.
Chambers paused as he funneled himself and Cas out from their former “ride.” The bioform didn’t react to its impending demise. It just crouched in place and accepted its dissolution. Its wings melted first, followed by layers of chitin, exposing the ape-morph arms beneath and the mammalian musculature as well. Two trickles of hissing fluid rejoined with the greater flood. Watery substances were harder to control for Chambers, but he managed. It just took more active focus on his part. And finally, he was starting to feel the discomfort too—was like willing himself to move while being trapped in a sensory deprivation pod.
The human mind knew a certain morphology. Some people had higher tolerances, but go beyond even that to something entirely alien, and you start slowing yourself. Freaking out. Graft dysmorphia was a real thing, but Chambers and Cas were even further from that now. They weren’t even solid entities anymore, and every second they lingered in this state, Cas’ prayers grew louder.
+...deliver us from sin and atrocity, and smite down this final shadow of Soddom evermore. Amen.+ Cas finished.
+A-man?+ Chambers asked, doing his best to distract himself and pass the time. As they poured through the Whalequeen’s body, he began burning himself and Cas into nearby tissues. Some grounding was better than none.
+A-men. “So be it.” That’s what it means. Or so that’s what I learned.+
+Oh. Why don’t they just say so be it?+
+Different time. Different language.+
Chambers wasn’t sure what to say about that. +Well. I guess… amen, almost we’re through, right?+
+Yeah. And say it again once we’re back in our own bodies.+
The deconstruction of the other bioforms was thankfully quick. Most of them came apart in seconds, and when the last of them slipped into their assigned recycling pod, the Whalequeen started moving toward the quarantined block. It circled through the air a few times before twisting at an odd angle. For a moment, Chambers nearly lost his focus as he felt his ontology clip against something hard.
Then, he jolted through. He, Cas, and the leviathan they hid within. The world around them shivered and changed to a claustrophobic realm with curved corners. Everything was drowned in colors of red. Droplets of moisture quivered in the air, their flavor salty upon the Bioigniter’s mind like sweat—and something more. Neon red lit every droplet with a festering glow as the Whalequeen swam in further, and through the breaking mist and the drifting fractals of space, Chambers found his host flying in concert with a dozen others of its kind, heading toward an enshadowed edifice beyond the veil.
But Chambers’ senses reached beyond sight now. And he felt the wrongness before he ever gazed its warped form. The resonance of broken Love pulsed through the Bioigniter and Fucktopia like a distant siren. It was a note that trembled the very bones of his ontology and made his Soulflame quiver.
The hells was that, Chambers muttered
“Something that shouldn’t been broken,” the Fucktopia answered. “And it wants to be whole again.”
As the last folds of fog passed over the Whalemaw, Chambers beheld Everpeace Tower for the first time and only spoke two words. +Holy fuck.+
+What?+ Cas asked, snapping to alertness. A vibrant hum of strings shivered inside the Whalequeen. +What’s wrong? Chambers?+
It took just a thought to patch the Columner through the Whalequeen’s senses as well. Chambers let Cas see iinstead of explaining himself; words couldn’t do the scene justice anyway. Whatever intel they received earlier, it was far and away outdated.
+Didn’t Calvino said the outbreak was on the forty-third floor or something?+ Chamber gasped.
+They did.+ Cas confirmed.
+Yeah, well, it’s spreading a lot further than that… looks like the rash is changing too.+
The Everpeace Tower was Sang-made tower. It was supposed to resemble a night big tree with some enamel extending out of its top, forming a sort of inverted pyramid shape. The interior remained of glass, plascrete, and other supporting alloys due to Highflame investments and mixed designs, and as a whole, it looked like your usual upscale residence block in Light’s End. Nothing nearly as good as what you migth find in the Tiers, but quality enough.
Not some den for aratnids halfway between rubble and fortress, anyhow.
Now, a gaping mess of flesh stretched out horizontally along the middle of the structure. The block was large, running kilometers before, but now it was stretched further, and a ghastly sight to behold. An ugly, twisted slit pulsating with tissue and anomalous marrow consumed Chambers’ attention. It was a chasm of impossible flesh meshed into the surrounding matter. A cage of bones was layered over it, creating a skeletal barricade from easy access. A few hundred accretions dotted the surface of the bones—people were here. People studying and examining the Rash.
Using his Heaven of Biology, Chambers identified some of them to be No-Dragon bio-shaped war eunuchs—large humanoid monsters sporting bladed appendages and shrouded in humming locusts. They stood guard for a few well-dressed Sang interfacing with some others. Agnosi, if Chambers were to guess.
A tremble of pressure emanated from within the existential disfigurement eating through the block.
As he refined the Whalequeen’s eyes, he saw that the biomass composing this spreading infection was not merely a sprawl of cancerous flesh, but people. People, fused into the architecture. People, melted into the folds, the outlines of their bodies reaching out, coated within. Thousands twitched within this new expression of the Rash, and more rose to bulge the slick surface of the slit with each passing second.
There, between the crevice shone a flicker of light as well. The brightness of Soulfire. The presence of a broken Frame—a shattered Heaven calling for a new sheathe. And so an impossible beckoning called out to Chambers, commanding him to venture forth into the eldritch valley before him.
Aedon…
Chambers’ mind went cold. It sounded like Avo. It sounded like Kae. It sounded like his mom, like Jhred, like Dannis, and like so many more. His name was spoken with such yearning, such want, and such desperate love it scared him.
But more than anything else, it charted his path forward. They needed to be inside. And he needed to find that shard before anyone else decided to claim it for their own means.
+Cas,+ Chambers said. +I’m going to burn us free when we get close. You ready to take over?+
+Always. Chambers—do you feel—+
+Yeah. I know. Did it say your name too.+
Cas went silent. +Yeah. And it was like love itself was speaking to me.+
+Can’t seem to avoid the creepy fucking runs, huh? Avo would have loved this shit. Well, he’s the reason why we’re here so…+ Chambers trailed off. No point in ruminating. Their “bus” drew close, drifting over to what seemed like a large bulbous island in the air. There were four others of its kind, and it was an entity filled with gas and bursting with nutrients. It gave a deafening warble before extending its tubes down to interface with the Whalequeen Chambers was using.
+3… 2…+ Chambers counted, preparing his transition into Cas’ Heaven. There were some drones patrolling here as well. Different from the ape-bees the Whalequeen spawned. These ones were long and flat, with far too many eyes on the top and bottom of their bodies. They drifted above and below the area—full spectrum monitoring. But they weren’t going to see anything. Not if Chambers did this right. +...1!+
He and Cas slipped out within one of tthe Whalequeen’s spawning pods in a burst of sparks. A half-second later the Columner strummed his guitar-arm and they vanished into a bubble of vibrating sound. As they shot out from inside the large bioform, it warbled in confusion, noting the strange feeling as tendrils reached down to sink into its flesh to being genetic exchange and caloric refueling.
Through the air, Chambers and Cas traveled as a near-silent echo. The slight plucks of a string accompanied their movements and there was a faint sense that they were beyond notice. Unnaturally so. Like someone was keeping them wrapped in shadows. So far, they hadn’t encountered any hostile Godclads or golems—no directly clashing Domains. With Chambers’ Bioigniter running at near zero-burn, things had gone as well as they could have, but the gig wasn’t over. Not even close.
Odds were that they would need to go loud in some way if something happened inside the building. Which was when the Fucktopia came out. But with how the rash was expressing itself here….
Chambers wasn’t even sure if the Fucktopia would generate the same effects that they needed.
“I don’t either,” Fucktopia admitted. “But using me here will do something. Something I’m not sure about. Be careful, Aedon.”
Think it might be a bit too late for that, Chambers though.
As they passed closer to the enormous blockade of bones sealing the exterior of the block, Cas’s strings vibrated over dormant groups of No-Dragon warforms. +No… no…+ Cas muttered.
+What?+ Chambers asked.
+I’m listening in on their conversations using sound waves,+ Cas explained. +Nothing useful so far. They have a First Daughter here talking to the Agnosi. Apparently, they are trying to get the Agnosi to extract the rash but the thaumaturgists have no idea how. It’s also spreading at an alarming rate. Consuming more matter, force, sound, even space. What they’re calling the ‘Fold’ is growing larger. They think it's some kind of anomalous representation of a… well…+
+We’re literally about to go cunt-diving,+ Chambers muttered.
+Yeah. That’s a way of phrasing it.+
Once more, Chambers thought back to the bright flickers escaping the valley of tissue. The people trapped within. Reaching out. Not struggling. The feeling of love and belonging. Was that going to be them soon? +Cas?+
+Yeah?+
+You got any of them good prayers to teach, because…+
+Yeah. I know. Fuck.+