Chapter 24
Arthur sat in his living room, leg bouncing with restless energy. Benny standing nearby, casting and filtering the myriad of visual viewpoints of his automatons. His jaw was clenched while he darted from display to display, unable to help himself but jerk his gaze this way and that every single time he thought something shifted in the darkness…
“As much as I hate to say it, lord, you need to stop watching.”
“I can't…”
“You can and should.” Benny countered. “You're erratic behaviour, rapid heart rate and perspiration all indicate that you will not be of a sound mind if and when—”
“Benny?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“Please just let me watch the damned recordings, will you? Ugh! I can't believe I actually sent Tulla down there!”
“It was a sound decision, lord!”
“I know it was! Benny, I know… You don't need to coddle me! I know what I did and why I did it. That doesn't mean I can't be frustrated at my own—lunacy!” Arthur rose, seething, his legs already sending him into motion as he stalked passed the furniture, nerves right at the cusp of breaking. “How many drones are in production?”
“The same as last time, lord… Our capacity hasn't changed…”
Arthur just glared at his butler, not at all appreciating the snark—though admittedly, while the words were meant to bite, the tone hadn't. He was right, of course… both he and the AI. Arthur couldn't help but feel like he’d betrayed his daughter by letting her join the expedition just as he knew it had been his best play. It wasn't like it was confirmed that there was any danger! It was just anxiety! All proof pointed towards everything being potentially fine! At worst, they’d find Bianca’s forces doing—something that, well… might explain why they hadn't come back! Benny was right. He didn't need to be freaking out…
Heck, he hadn't even started additional production of his machines. The automatons that were currently in the process of being built had merely been part of his initiative to keep strengthening his forces! He needed to level himself out. Needed to regulate and calm down. Needed—booze… No! Not booze. Not until everything was okay…
“Christ, I wasn't nearly this jittery before Tulla went down there…. Benny, what the hell is happening to me, man?”
“My professional opinion based on what little I understand about the medical pracices?”
“Sure! Yeah, let's ugh, let's hear it!”
“You might be suffering a small panic attack, lord. Like as not due to you're inability to properly reconcile you're decision to send Tulla with the rescue party.”
“Not a rescue party!” Arthur hissed, rounding on the butler before pausing, swallowing and taking a deep breath… “Not a rescue party until we know something bad has happened!”
“As you say, lord. However, the fact remains the same. You are agitated.”
“Did I do the right thing?”
“By which potential metric?”
“The—bloody anything! Did I screw this up? Should I have kept Tulla with me?”
“I’d wager that’s not so black and white as you might assume it…” Benny intoned, taking a small preparatory breath as he continued. “From a strictly parental way of looking at things by you're people's standard. Yes, you're actions can be construed as horrendously irresponsible.”
Arthur groaned, one of his hands rubbing down his face while he glanced back at the butler, almost wanting to be chastised…
“Yet,” the man added, lifting but a single finger to forestall his master’s voice, “If we look at things in a comparative light, I would say that the young Tulla is better prepared to endure any possible trials when pitted against any other’s in the recovery party. Strictly based on the data I’ve compiled on how I suspect the villagers would perform in battle. If anything, I would tell you this. Nobody has the answers you're looking for. However, you've done what you could with what you have. And I would even take it a step further and inquire as to whether you believed the girl would have remained here under you're demand to do so. And if you could even stop her if she refused.”
“That doesn't help! I mean, it does, thank you Benny… But it doesn't make me feel better about any of this!”
“Then that is merely something you must deal with! I'm not a therapist, lord, but neither is the echo chamber of your own mind healthy. If there is a crisis that arises, you're daughter, and you're brother and sister-in-law, not to mention niece, will require you to be better than you normally are, not worse.”
Arthur nodded at that, his hand shaking at his side before he clenched it. Swallowing hard as he did so. Benny was right. No surprise there… Who knew how many simulations the machine was running to try and discern the best way to snap him from his current state. He hadn't even felt this bizarre and blind-siding anticipation until he’d watched Tulla enter the cavern. Then, as if a switch had flipped, everything had changed… His perspective, his confidence, damned blood pressure!
He needed to rediscover his balance. Needed to find a modicum of conviction in the situation and his actions. Of course, it was easy to just say that was what he was going to do, but… Yeah…
Arthur shook himself, much like a dog dislodging water; he did his best to divest himself of the spiral of distress… What could he do? He needed something, anything. Build more bots? Well, on his own, he’d add—what? Less than ten percent of the total capacity to output? He had twenty damned printers in the basement spewing out automatons like it was the end of the world! Heck, by the time he got down there, the latest batch would probably already be crawling away and replaced with the next ones. He knew by way of empirical evidence that he was not in the least bit as fast as the printers were, so it would be a make-work project at best…
Go—make something in the kitchen for when they all got back? No, again, it was just busy work… he wouldn't be helping with anything… not doing something with meaning that pertain to the situation… He could always head back to Kaitrice and drag Dianna back with him but, if something happened then, he needed to be here! Moreover, finding the woman amidst the truly massive market would be an exercise in madness. He had no way to actually call her like he might back on earth, which, was honestly immensely annoying when he stopped to think about it! Arthur—needed to find a solution to that. Maybe he could just make his own version of cell phones… He could give one to all the usual suspects. Dianna, of course, Tulla, Cassie, Tavir… probably not Bianca for obvious reasons, but…
A sudden beep caused Arthur to snap from his thoughts, head fixating on the display that was monitoring the golems that he’d agreed to let the centurion take with her. One of the lights representing an active transponder had just winked out…
He found his eyes darting to Benny, who, while not saying a word, appeared to softly chew at his lip. Arthur himself was just about to question if he knew anything when three more blips extinguished in quick succession! Then, another three! Arthur felt his heart drop right into the pit of his guts as he stared at what was happening with a rapidly rising alarm! The rest of his machines seeming to just disappear by ones and twos until the very last light vanished from sight…
“Benny?”
“I’ve no information yet, lord. The Relay unit hasn't yet made proper contact for low-band data transfer…”
“You've got to be shitting me…”
“I am not.”
Arthur pulled at his hair! Practically seething as he took two steps towards the hollow displays, paused, and eyed a nearby wall as though to smash his head against it before he inevitably kicked a nearby table, sending it flying!
“There is something fucking going on down there! Fuck! Okay…. Alright… I want you to send confirmation of a possible danger.”
“Done.”
Arthur blinked, nodded, then found himself slipping into a sort of familiar relaxation… He always had worked well under direct pressure, and now that it was mounting and, with a visible point of contention, it was almost immediately easier to focus his thoughts. The whirling insanity that had been his prior mindscape settled, and within a minute, he finally had an idea of what he wanted to do. He was going down there. He was going to have Benny help him design a god's damned mech suit, and he was going down there to—
"Scurry and scuttle in the dark. It makes no difference… The abyss sees all, consumes all… This world is not yours. It is ours, by right of blood and bone. And you shall not have it while we still stand! Prepare yourselves if you can… our lord stirs, and he hungers for those who have wronged us… Now, Rise… Rise my brothers and sisters in death! Rise from your forgotten graves! Serve again! Seek your vengeance; cleanse this world in you're fury!”
Arthur—paused. Standing there, mouth half ajar as if to speak before the cloying whispers began scratching at the back of his mind, words not his own nor any sort of thought originating from his own consciousness wriggled through the very fabric of his existence, every hair on his neck standing on end…
“What the hell was that?” He whispered, his body twitching backwards as though he’d just been slapped!
“What was—what?”
“That! That… voice, the words you, you didn't hear that?”
Benny merely stared at him for several long moments before his usually calm eyes began widening with each beat of Arthur’s trepidation, the AI’s face looking almost haunted before he erupted with movement!
“Lord! We have an issue!”
“Damn right, we have an issue! I just heard a freaking voice in my—”
“Lord, please, there are larger concerns! The compound and the village appear to be under attack!”
Again, Arthur just blinked, the whiplash of events having him utterly paralyzed with confusion… “Attack?”
“An unknown force of—creatures seems to have emerged from… well, the details are spotty from where they’ve come from, lord; however, they appear to be partially decomposed bodies that…”
“Zombies?”
“Not the word I’d use to describe what I'm seeing… Lord, they seem to be swarming the area and are currently being eliminated with extreme prejudice by the defence force.”
So saying, a new series of screens emerged wherein Arthur was left to gaze at a scene straight out of stories! Dozens of Chuck’s spydrones were capturing the insanity that was taking place outside as automatons lurched into action! Moving at speed’s none would likely ever believe them capable, tightening their perimeter while simultaneously diverting small parties of the plains roamers to combat a screaming army that felt as though it just dropped out of the sky! There were hundreds of emaciated and grotesque shapes that were screeching like dying animals! Moving without reason or explanation and throwing themselves at anything that moved!
His machines mowed them down in great swaths, but, Arthur watched several small formations quickly overwhelmed and torn apart by the berserking fiends, which flowed over their own numbers scrabbling on hands and legs to fall upon whatever they could find!
He could already see Chuck reevaluating his troop's movements, pulling away, moving while fighting, sending sacrificial scouts to distract while the large war machines obliterated the nightmares by the dozens with each glaring sweep! Still, they were legion as they kept rising from the ground, seeping from the soil, growing in ever greater numbers that had Arthur’s understanding of the situation quickly make the leap from uncertain to outright concerned…
“What of the villagers?”
“Estimates are that there have been several deaths already. Those who were quick on the uptake have already begun sounding the alarm. Thankfully, the settlement is built off the ground and, as of yet, it does not appear as though the spire has yet been infiltrated. The bulk of the creatures seem preoccupied with the automatons lord.”
“Shit… fuck! What the hell is going on?” Arthur laughed, throwing his hands up in the air at the sheer insanity of it all! “Don't bother with that one, estimated numbers?”
“Several hundred, growing by the second. And it would seem as though the creatures have just discovered a way into the settlement. They are rushing a small coalition of defenders as we speak!”
Arthur didn't hesitate; he simply spared one final look for the AI before tearing a rift in reality with his mind, stepping through the portal to appear on Tavir and Cassandra’s back deck. At once, the cacophony of screams that had been insulated from reaching him made his brain want to crawl out from his skull and bury itself in the ground! The hideous sounds of distorted hatred causing his legs to lock up until he snarled and forced himself to move!
The door burst outward, slamming against the frame as Arthur pushed out onto the platform, the dull wood bang swallowed by the clamour of battle. The platform, a hub for the fabricated housing pods, almost seemed to tremble and flutter... His eyes snapping towards the public stairwell as shouts, war cries, and the chittering screeches of the monsters echoed from within its winding depths, a chilling prelude to what was in store for all those taking refuge in the spire. All around the tower, Bal filled the air, a black tide of their own surging upwards from the lower levels as they escaped their homes, their leathery wings beating frantically as they rose. They congested the air, driven by an instinctual fear, flying for the highest point available for escape.
Arthur sprinted towards the stairwell, his heart drumming against his chest. The sight that greeted him was no surprise, yet still sent a shiver down his spine. Barely visible in the gloom of the lower levels, a dozen figures fought with the desperate fury of the cornered. Zog, a mountain of a man whose very presence seemed to almost fill the space around him, led the defence. His spear, crackling with unnatural energy, lashed out in rapid jabs, each thrust sending a monstrosity spiralling backwards, their inky bodies splattering or crunching as they disappeared. But for every creature felled, three more clawed their way over the bodies of the fallen. The tide of nightmares was relentless, an unending wave crashing against the fragile bulwark of Bal resistance. It wasn't a battle; it was a desperate holding action against an inevitable flood…
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Fall back! Next floor!" Zog’s voice boomed, a thunderclap amidst the flurry. "On my command, push, then fly! Ready! Push!"
With a roar that rattled the bones, Zog and those around him unleashed a coordinated sweep of their spears, carving a momentary and blinding pocket of space in the seething mass. Wings snapped open, catching the wind and lifting them in a desperate ascent. Arthur watched, his stomach twisting, the chilling realization dawning—he was no longer a spectator in all of this. The fight was already upon him…
The first of the creature that followed them, its clawed feet scrabbling for purchase on the stone stairs, launched itself at the reforming line. A familiar woman immediately meeting the creature mid-air with her spear, sending it hurtling back into the churning mass below.
“We can’t hold this!” Liasa’s voice called, her words strained with exertion! Her spear blazed with azure light as three more creatures nearly popped under its touch. But even as she fought, a smaller, more agile creature, its eyes glowing with malevolent intelligence, sprang at her face. Liasa reacted with brutal efficiency, a headbutt that sent the creature flying, as much instinctual as it was frantic. But the victory was short-lived. A piercing shriek ripped through the air, and Liasa stumbled, clutching her face, a grotesque, pulsating lesion formed from the point of impact. Her body convulsed, wracked by agonizing spasms, as a parasitic corruption burrowed into her flesh!
“Fuck! Fuck! Bart! Take her to the higher platform!”
“How?”
“With you're fucking wings, you big bastard!”
Yet, even as the defenders screamed at each other and their foes, more and more of the villagers seemed to push themselves into their wall, reinforcing it and splattering whatever came near with what Arthur could only assume were some sort of enchanted spear.
He, of course, hadn't been idle. And while it perhaps wasn't very smart, he’d rushed back into Tavir and Cassandra’s home to start forming a weapon he could actually use! He tossed everything and anything he could into its hypothetical existence to push it along! And was running right back outside with the unwieldy creation with perhaps just a touch of manic glee in his gaze! He ran right up to the edge of the opening, hearing a number of confused and concerned shouts for him to get back before he held down on the trigger and unleashed a veritable cataclysm of flames upon the dozens of howling monsters! His entire world came alive with fire and heat that singed his eyebrows and beard as a gout of violent flames spilled over the creatures, causing their screams to grow louder and incoherently maddened until nothing but flames remained!
He pulsed the weapon twice more, two additional brilliant torrents of wet and sticky fire bursting from the weapon’s nozzle while the stairwell filled with so much fire that the creatures seemed to just melt away as they passed through… When he was sure no more would break through the napalm, at least for the moment, he turned and pushed the weapon at the first Bal in his path.
“Take it, don't aim it at friends, and hold this part here when you want something to burn.”
The man nodded his head. Arthur thought his name was Jerimiah, but he really didn't have the time. None of them did. Still, the man glanced a single time at Zog, an entire conversation passing between them in that single look before them man took the flamethrower, handing his spear and shield to another nearby.
“The corruption’s spreading!” A woman shouted, staring down at Liasa as she writhed on the floor, none willing to come too near to her as dark veins began pushing to the surface of her flesh!
Arthur immediately had a sinking suspicion, even as shouts filled the air as another wave of creatures did their best to push through the flames, the weight of numbers forcing those at the front to move through the conflagration! Several roars of raging fire filled his ears as the scorched howls of the nightmarish creatures threatened to drown out his own thoughts… All the same, Arthur wasn't going to play around with this… He’d seen enough zombie movies to know how this next part went. It might not be the same thing as, slowly, the monstrosities seemed to almost be replaced by inky creatures that made little sense to the mind as he stared, but there was clearly an infection, and it was spreading fast… He had no idea how to treat her, had no idea if he could help her! He wasn't a doctor, let alone a surgeon, and he didn't have the time or resources to make himself one!
So, he did all he could for her… “Benny…” He growled through his command device, the small module coming to life in his left eye as a small image of the butler’s face appeared. “How soon can you have an underground and secure contamination cell built? One that can hold a Bal.
“At the earliest? Assuming this is a matter of importance to you, ten minutes.”
“That long?” Arthur hissed, dumbfounded as he watched Liasa suddenly stiffen, her screams reaching a fevered pitch before her arching body collapsed, eerily silent as she continued to twitch and in unconsciousness…
“She’ll be fully befouled in under thirty minutes…” Barthalamu stated, moving to stand beside Arthur as he stared down at his comrade, expression hard as stone. “Then, she’ll turn into one of those things… Justicars only know where they all came from… She needs a healer!”
“You're decision, lord?” Benny asked in his ear, Arthur struggling with the two conversations and the chaos of it all before he took a breath.
“Built it, Benny, make sure it's magic proof, I don't care how it happens.”
“As you will, lord.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“My house,” Arthur grunted, meeting the large Bal’s eye, wherein a momentary flicker of confusion passed. “Don't worry about it. Do you have a healer?”
“No, that’s a legion card. Cassandra can do it, but she’s gone with the others…”
“Do you have a cooking card?” Arthur demanded, looking at the man who slowly nodded his head, now growing visibly uncertain as Arhtur’s hand shot out with expectation.
Barthalamu grunted, reached for his chest, and the card in question materialized through a sparkle of golden radiance, Arthur taking it before glancing back at the fight where, again, the monsters were being held at bay.
“Don't let me die while I do this.”
“Die?”
Yet, Arthur was already in his strange space. The fog creeping in on all sides as he reset the card, pushed his desires on it and, as fast as he was able, returned with the first thing he could think to make: a magical corruption cleanser!
He shoved at the other man, who glanced at it, heavy brows furrowing as he did so.
“Go take her to the others, tell them what that is, then collect as many spare cards from them all as you can! Don't worry about the cost, I’ll replace them. Just upgrade it and save anyone who can be recovered!”
“Right… Zog! I'm taking Liasa up to the top! Send any others that get nicked my way, yeah?”
“Right!”
“Art! Got any more of those fire slingers?”
“Give me a minute!” Arthur called back, running to Cassandra’s home again to raid the poor woman's domicile for anything and everything he could scavenge.
Chuck was not having a good time. Rather, he was beside himself! The sheer mass of data he was having to process was, quite frankly, both unreasonable and entirely unexpected! The enemy force that had, for all practical purposes, risen from the ground within his projected perimeter, catching him as flatfooted as could be! Yet, he was winning this.
The initial clash had been a brutal lesson. Chuck’s spider-like automatons, designed for speed and precision, were overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of the abyssal nightmares. Their razor-sharp claws and senseless disinterest in their own safety proved devastating in close combat, tearing through the lighter automatons like tissue paper. But Chuck learned quickly. He pulled back his skirmishers, re-forming them into a bristling line of concentrated firepower!
Now, the battlefield brightened with bursts of energy! Beams of blinding orange death lanced out from the bots’ abdomens, carving burning trenches through the swarming horde. The air crackled with the stench of ozone and burning flesh as the nightmares shrieked and burned away, their shadowy forms briefly writhing before collapsing into inert dust. Heavy warbots, their metallic bodies gleaming, formed a bulwark against the tide. Their plasma cannons roaring, unleashing blasts of superheated energy that vaporized entire clusters of nightmares, leaving smoking craters in the pocked earth, even as their own beams obliterated all in their path! The heavy machines spinning in a whirlwind of decapitation and bisection, gleaming blades shredding the nightmares as they came too close!
However, the foe was relentless. They surged forward, wave after wave of writhing tentacles and snapping maws. One particularly large monstrosity, its body a pulsating mass of eyes and teeth, slammed into a warbot, its tentacles coiling around the machine’s legs! The automaton staggered, its cannons firing wildly as it flailed, but the nightmare held fast. With a sickening crunch, it tore off one of the warbot’s legs, sending sparks flying in all directions, bouncing off metal and shadow alike!
Just as it lunged for the exposed core, a volley of brilliant beams slammed into its flank, severing several tentacles that detached with whipping inky blood. It bellowed, eyes burning with vicious fury, but it was too late. Two more warbots converged, heavy stomps shaking the earth, their cannons firing point-blank and obliterating the creature in unrelenting flashes of power!
Elsewhere, a group of smaller scouts, their legs whirring, executed a bold flanking maneuver, scuttling through the carnage, weaving between the legs of the larger machines, and unleashing a concentrated barrage of fire into the side of the nightmarish onslaught. Caught off guard, the creatures shrieked and turned, their shadowy forms dissolving into smaller, more agile entities as if to match the scouts. But Chuck was ready. He’d anticipated this after seeing it enough times, and as the shadowy entities reformed, a net of cross-firing beams erupted from the spider-bots, trapping them in an enclosure of searing light! The creatures writhed and wailed, their forms flickering before finally fading into nothingness… Several more of such teams of automatons beginning to hem the creatures in wherever they could.
The tide was turning. Though the creatures continued to press their attack, their numbers were dwindling. Chuck’s precise calculations and adaptive tactics were proving effective. He was winning, but he was unwilling to let up on the gas quite yet. The air remained thick with the stench of death, and the ground was littered with the remnants of both sides. The relentless barrage of energy continued; Chuck was determined to exterminate this latest and perhaps first real threat to the responsibility entrusted to him.
Still, when Benny alerted him to the fact that their primary user had decided to portal right into the danger zone, the small robot wanted to scream! Wasn't his work hard enough without that idiot getting himself killed?
Ugh… sometimes, Chuck questioned why it was that he couldn't simply build a giant and secure box to lock everyone inside, one where they’d be safe and sound, all their needs taken care of by Benny… All the same, the AI immediately deviated some of his artillery units to fly towards the settlement. Partitioning his mind to create a sub-routine to protect his foolhardy master. Their presence wouldn't be missed much; it would definitely skew his certainties of effective combat uptime for his units, but not nearly enough to threaten the win.
It was time to hammer the bastards and put them down for good! Thus, Chuck began his meandering encirclement, starting to close in at the sides until the process became almost exponential! The AI able to divert more and more units to break away from the central conflict and push into other areas where he could begin cleaning up this haphazard mess… His confidence all but assured!
Right until the moment a rather concerning blip on his scans alerted him to movement to the south that only seemed to grow in numbers until fresh panic spread throughout his processors! That wasn't good! Not good at all! Fast as he was able, Cuck alerted his primary user to the threat, along with a list of recommendations on how he should get the fuck out of dodge! The plucky machine already recalling as many units as it could to begin forming a ragged second line of defence…
Kilk stood on the third platform of the spire, organizing those who hadn't yet descended to join the fighting. Some were being sent out on surveys to identify if any survivors remained, others were helping settle the young and care for those wounded that they’d taken into the town that had joined Bianca’s century to make the journey. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on, yet the Tricen had evidently managed something of a nasty trick… These creatures, the abyssal beasts as those that had faced them referred to such miserable things, had all but swarmed the world below… There had to be hundreds upon hundreds of bodies that were down there, throwing themselves on the wizard's golems. Of which were rather neatly cleaving the buggers for their efforts. He’d of laughed if they hadn't lost so many…
The reports were already in… Drulla and Robert were missing and presumed dead after being seen swarmed. Cole had survived, but nobody knew where his sister Welenda was… Oxton had succumbed to an ambush while working nearer the forest. The same with Allice, Jasper and old Grump… All of them were taken by surprise during the initial minutes. It had happened fast, but already, he felt as though the hump was already behind them.
With the golems below wreaking havoc on the miserable beasts and a solid line of veterans who, thank the gods, still had their enchanted spears, they were safe for the moment. Though a barricade was already being erected to plug the stairwell with whatever could be found…
“Fucking hell! Stop throwing things down here!”
Kilk twitched a fraction, turning towards the familiar but ragged voice as those in the process of tossing beds and other assorted furniture down the hole all paused. Through it, a familiar man emerged, climbing with muttered curses as he picked his way through the mess of detritus, too fast to be safe while moving with the pace of a desperate man!
“Arthur! By god, man, you’ve no idea how glad I am to have you as my neigbou—
“We need to leave!” The mage shouted, cutting Kilk off, an almost deranged expression cast across his features! “There’s more! Thousands! They're coming, three minutes at most!” He heaved more from running out of breath while shouting.
Kilk stared at the foreigner with slowly widening eyes, his head jerking to the side to meet his mate's own as Jade’s mouth opened and stopped without words ever arriving…
“We need to fucking leave!” Arthur shouted again, this time putting force into it! “Everyone needs to get up and get moving! My army can't stop what's coming for us!”
“Kilk!” A younger boy called out, a spyglass in his shaking hands, one pointed out in the direction where a true horde of abyssal might was bearing down on the settlement, as fast as they were able!
Kilk saw this and only frowned for a moment, mind processing the sheer mass of bodies heading their way before he himself was shouting! “Portal cards! Get everyone through to the labyrinth! We're not fighting that; we need to leave now!”
“Take nothing but what is with you!” Jade added a heartbeat later, already corralling those around them, “Kilk!”
“Yeah, I’ll take the rest! You just make sure everyone here is brought to safety!”
His mate spared but a momentary touch, her tail brushing against his own as it reached out for a brief moment before they were already moving. She got the group into a semblance of preparation for the travel, Kilk moving to Arthur’s side as the man stared out into the swarm…
“What of those still underground?”
“They found what was left of Bianca’s century. It's not good, but they’ve already left for the labyrinth.”
“So we're doing this, abandoning the settlement?”
“You want to—fight for it?” The mage asked, incredulous as he stared at him as though Kilk were a loon!
“No,” Kilk sighed, “just need to get it out in the open… How’s it going down there?”
“Zog’s got them all reading to leave. Some of my golems have taken over holding the stairwell, but they won't last… My forces will win this fight, just not while we are still in it…”
Kilk nodded at that, resigned that they had to flee. There was just no other answer. Even if it grated on him that all their hard work was just—gone! All those months of existing in squalor utterly without point…
“Alright, let's be gone then... Hopefully, nobody in the labyrinth comes back before we can find them…” Then, pulling in a deep breath, he shouted, “Zog! Get the troopers up here! Were abandoning the spire!”
“Get all you're people back who are currently in the air; we’ve got twenty seconds before theyre on us!”
Without missing a beat, Kilk raised the horn at his waist and blew three rapid blasts to the air. The sound carried through the din of screams below as, from the sides of the tower, Bal emerged, landing all around them. A quick headcount saw everyone who should be present had returned, and nodding his head, they readied themselves for departure. Kilk opened a portal for them all to step through as, one by one; they fled from a home they’d hardly grown to know… Slipping out of existence as the tide of horrors crashed against the spire, filling its grand stairwell with bodies as they surged to reach their prey.
Arthur hesitated only a moment, the last one to leave, before he stepped aside with a slight shake of his head, opening his own portal back home. Through the first, he could see Kilk’s distorted shape staring at him in confusion before the power of his card ran out.
He quickly stepped through his own rift, closing it behind him, Benny manifesting at his side without needing to be called.
“Are any creatures deviating to this location now that I’m here?”
“It is of my belief that the creatures are mindless and acting on sensory input alone. Therefore, I do not think any more will try for the facility that have already made the attempt. My own core is present within the home, after all and no real attempt on the facility has been yet made. All the same, I do not thing that will last forever…”
“It's why I'm here.” Arthur nodded, already heading towards the basement where he kept Benny’s heart. “Chuck can fly, so I'm not so worried about him, and the automatons aren't intelligent but…”
“I do appreciate you're remembering me, lord… However, I did have contingencies in place…”
Benny fell into step at Arthur’s back; the AI, despite being a hologram, mimicked the sound of his polished dress shoes as they tapped after him, both men heading into the largest space in the house yet un-explored by the girls. However, before they even reached the door, the AI spoke again, coughing slightly as he did so.
“Lord, before you head down-stairs, perhaps It would be prudent of me to—”
The door opened, sliding into a slot made for it and cutting the man off as a familiar young woman appeared before them, a small globe the size of Arthur’s fist neatly tucked within the palm of her hand…
Tulla had, naturally, somehow found her way in, and as they stood there, staring at each other, it was all the little monster, yet clad in her mechanical form, could do but smile brightly at him as though she’d never had so much fun in her entire life… “Dad!”