Jace made his way through the forest in his companion. His friend’s heavy feet leaving deep craters in the strange mix of soggy ground and smoldering greenery.
“Why can’t you just fix everything like you did when we were fighting?”
~I didn’t fix everything; I simply replaced the machine with myself~
“Well, can’t you do it again?” Jace was already feeling like an addict who’d gone too long since the last hit. The feelings he had when his comrade took over. The overwhelming sense of comfort… Jace wanted more of it.
~I cannot. Not now. If I’m overzealous about it, I’ll only end up making myself weaker in the process. Awakening is something best done over time. That’s the goal we’re moving toward Jace. That’s the dream we both share. Until then, I can repair, refuel, and rearm the current machine parts, but it takes time~
Jace felt a deep sadness that seemed to take hold of him entirely. Just yesterday he was more than happy to be in a cockpit. That much comfort was more than enough. But after having experienced that… Jace had become spoiled. He sighed and tried his best to look on the bright side: he would accomplish this goal, he was certain of it, “You know, you’ve known my name this whole time, but I still don’t know yours…”
The fighting had slowed down considerably. It wasn’t a situation where either side had been winning, it was just a consequence of everyone dying off. It wasn’t just soggy dirt and ash that his friend’s metal feet sunk into. Piles of scrap and corpses were scattered around the slow-burning forest, providing a mix of a crunch and a squish. Jace wondered why he heard and felt these sensations as clearly as he did.
The staccato gunshots and heavy base of the artillery had grown slower and softer as the battle drew closer to an end. The quiet underneath the veil of smoking husks of trees made the mechanical whirring of each step all the louder. The orb-like MAC that they had released and recruited followed along with a strangely slimy suction sound that managed to invade Jace’s cockpit. Its tentacle leg moved in an entirely erratic way, but it seemed stable enough.
Jace felt like he and his machine were the closest of companions. The distance between them so short that Jace could feel and hear what it could hear.
Jace appreciated these things, these feelings, as he waited for a response from his comrade.
As he waited to learn his dear friend’s name.
~Bau, this name suits me~
“Alright then Bau, what exactly are we doing?”
~You would do best to leave the thinking to me~
Jace thought about pressing the matter, but it was only out of some far and away pride. A pride he was no longer a slave to. He was actually quite happy to not have to think.
Jace was going to achieve his goal, help his friend, and he didn’t even have to bother thinking about it.
Jace nodded sagely to himself, it was actually quite the deal.
He and Bau continued on through the forest. The layer of ash and the rain that wouldn’t let up made traveling even more difficult on the soft forest floor, but they simply forged ahead.
It wasn’t until Jace heard the familiar sound of furious cannonades that he focused once more on the controls in front of him. The sound was surprisingly easy to identify: large guns, very large. The kind that would have been placed sparsely throughout the walls of Atlantis. They were the kinds of cannons that Callista always wanted bolted onto her machine in place of the large missiles. Guinevere always agreed and they would hatch plots to cannibalize the walls while Lionel threatened to throw them out of the city once he was sober.
Jace looked down at his stomach.
~Jace~
“Yes Bau?”
~What are you doing~
“I’m… I’m not sure. It suddenly felt like…” Jace felt stupid and completely incapable of putting words to what just went through his body, “it felt like there was a big hole here for a moment.”
~Focus Jace. I’ll tell you when you’re injured. For now, you need to focus on the next fight. It won’t be so easy, and I no longer have the energy to take control. So focus~
“Yes Bau.”
Yes, Bau was right.
Bau was right.
Jace and Bau had entered the parts of the forest that hadn’t been touched by the rampant fires that had spread so quickly behind them. The ground beneath them was still soaked, but the rain above had let up. Jace could see blue sky through the strikingly green canopy. Any birds and animals had long since fled the sounds and smells of war, but when Jace zoomed in with the camera he could see a menagerie of insects doing their best to survive the incomprehensible acts of humanity.
The cannons stopped firing and Jace exited the forest and landed his comrade’s metal foot deep into the sandy beach. The foot-shaped crater reached deep into the beach. Water pooled underneath as a cascade of sand collapsed in to fill the hole. With his camera still zoomed in Jace was able to watch as a slurry of sand and water began to pour into the cracks and crevices that covered his machine’s ankle and calf. It was strange to see such indomitable armor being infiltrated by mere grains of sand.
His newly freed friend creeped its way onto the beach as well, almost mindlessly. The strange tentacle that walked the machine around seemed to have some difficulty moving about on the loose sand of the beach.
Jace hinged open the cockpit and stepped out onto the edge. A strangely fleshy cord seemed to be tied around his feet. He stared at it for a while, waiting.
~I’d prefer if you didn’t leave Jace~
Jace smiled at the organic chain that bound him to his promised place of comfort, “You worry too much Bau.”
He looked back up and dragged his eyes slowly across the scene before him.
The beach was blindingly white in the harsh sun’s rays, but the day still felt chilly. The late-autumn blue of the sky seemed entirely at odds with the summer-y picture he had of beaches in his mind. The ocean seemed to endlessly pour itself onto the sand and retreat just as quickly in some endless war of attrition. The white clouds that towered over anything Jace had ever seen seemed content to sit in the sky and watch the day pass by. They lingered loftily, unafraid of their own beginning or end and all the more impressive for it.
The city that sat in front of him was truly mesmerizing. The glass structures seemed to grow out of the ocean as naturally as a coral reef, though far less colorful. Beneath the waters Jace could just barely make out the rest of the city that had been there long before. Houses and stores and asphalt roads and parking lots receded off into the distance. The shallows showed it all so clearly, but as the water continued outward, it continued downward as well, storing all kinds of secrets. Any and all of the secrets this city may have once held. The glass-laden skyscrapers suddenly felt more like tombstones in a cemetery.
The beauty of the reflected ocean and sky and clouds made each tower feel far more spectacular than they possibly could have been when the city was whole and the reflections were more concrete and steel than nature. There was an unsettling beauty about it all. The rickety bridges of scrap and garbage were entirely at odds with the scene. They were strung from building to building and floor to floor. Ultimately though, they all led to one place: a central tower.
The tower was far larger than any other. At least twice the height and three times the width of the average towers around it. It was crowned with a solar apparatus that seemed to catch the very essence of the sun and store it in a golden ball to imitate the solar system’s prized star.
Jace liked the place. He liked it a lot.
The cool fall breeze brought the ocean scents and mixed them with the smells of the forest. It was an intoxicating combination for Jace. And when mixed with the smells of war, the gunpowder and smoke and death, Jace felt as if he may pass out from the splendor of it all.
He vomited off the side of the cockpit door and watched as his rainbow-tinted puke seeped into the white sands far below.
Jace wiped his mouth and turned his eyes to the final sight: a ball of flesh similar to his new orb-like follower was fighting a machine painted in swirls of white and black.
Fighting was a strong word, however. The white and black machine had completely and utterly cornered its opponent. All that was left was for it to make the final killing move.
Strangely though, it was hesitating.
Jace wasn’t stupid enough to miss the opportunity, “Should we free that one while it’s distracted? We could save the other one as well.”
His companion responded immediately.
~No. One is a fool who rushed into things. The other would be… difficult to free. Too many minds fighting for control. We’ll have to wait~
The white and black machine finally pushed the massive, curved blade home. It sunk deep into the flesh and metal mix of its enemy. A powerful explosion engulfed them both and a following splash in the water as they fell brought a series of furious waves crashing onto the shoreline.
~Truly a fool. Now Jace, to the top of the tower~
Jace closed the cockpit and a voice almost immediately began to broadcast out to him and likely anything else nearby.
“Now see here,” the elderly voice carried a barely contained hatred so pure that it sent shivers rushing through Jace, “I’m sick’a this. Ya murdered my boy.” The tower that reached above all the others started to change. The upper six floors had the glass walls lowered, “Ya took my valley.” The lowered walls revealed a completely open floor at the top with a gargantuan figure hidden away within, “Ya ruined my graves.”
~Careful Jace, this is the one~
The voice continued, “And now ya worthless runts are here ta try’na take my damn city? My Capital? My goddamn home!?” The voice brimming with hatred and violence lowered for just a moment, almost as if the words hurt him to say, “I won’t bury a one’a ya. A grave’d be too good for beasts like you.” And then, once more, the voice boomed, “ROT! Each and every one’a ya! Rot like the poisoned beasts ya are!”
A new cloud was formed at the top of the tower as the fumes from the machine’s launch billowed up and around the top of the structure. A blur of red-hot flame could be seen flying out of the cloud, reminding Jace of the lightning that courses inside of storm clouds; the bolts that never fall to the ground and instead travel between suspended skies. Though this color was far more threatening. More gore-tinted. More primal.
Jace felt like a caveman seeing fire for the first time. He was both in awe and entirely terrified.
~Fight~
Jace pushed everything immediately to maximum output and barreled straight toward the cloud, passing above the wrecks of the battle that had just taken place and sailing above the nest of skyscrapers.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
There was no point to trying to play it safe. Jace decided the most important thing now would be pure and unfiltered aggression. Yes, Jace truly was feeling like a caveman today. It was a good feeling, Jace thought.
Unfortunately, rushing in meant he had to leave his newly freed companion on the beach for now. The newly birthed creature simply wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Fighting someone that was filled with so much hate would always end in failure if you tried to play cautiously.
Jace led the charge with his dragon-like claw.
Even if he didn’t manage to inflict any real damage, making the first move like this should put the old gravedigger on the defense.
How impressive of a pilot could a gravedigger be in the first place? Not to mention his age was a clear sign that he hadn’t done much piloting in his life. No good pilots lived this long.
Well, Ukko did, Jace supposed. But Ukko was a monster, not a gravedigger.
Jace smiled to himself as his claw connected and screeched with the sweet sound of steel on steel. And to think Bau said this wouldn’t be easy.
Jace could barely see through the exhaust-fueled smog in front of him, but he could make out his claw shearing its way through a glinting metal object.
Jace was fairly certain he could see two arms being used to block his attack, which is why the sound of metal being crushed and cracked seemed to come out of nowhere. He checked his cameras to see three hands that had latched onto Bau’s legs.
Then things got uncomfortable.
Jace was spun in a tight and extraordinarily nauseating circle in a fraction of a second and then he was flying straight up into the sky. He tried to use his own dragon-wing boosters to counteract the force, but all the billowing fire and brimstone in Hell itself couldn’t hope to oppose the strength of that throw. Jace felt the burning sensation of vomit, all too soon considering what had happened on the beach, and tried to hold back the urge to further empty an already empty stomach. Jace wondered for a few moments about how fast he must have been spinning. He didn’t get sick when he was pulling all those g’s while scything through the forest, so this speed was probably almost death-inducing if he had to guess.
Jace watched as his machine dragged some of the gravedigger’s white exhaust fumes with him into the sky. A second pillar of smoke in that mass of launch fumes was quick to chase after him, but this plume was far larger. It shot up past Jace at a speed he could hardly comprehend.
Then Jace’s vision went entirely white, then dark grey, then a mix of the two with brief flashes of golden lightning. In just a few breaths Jace had managed to shoot up through one of the massive clouds that had been floating above… well, now floating below.
Jace tried to orient himself as he slowed down and was barely able to bring the shield that was attached to his left arm up in front of him before feeling another sudden and violent force that nearly cracked through the heavy shield.
Jace flew backward and took the time to check his left arm. The shield had protected the beam cannon he was holding, but the shield itself was very nearly useless now. Four large cuts gouged deep enough into the metal for light to shine through. The steel skeleton had been opened up and the semi-liquid used as a type of radiator for the beam cannon poured out in a rainbow tinted stream. The stream seemed to sink right into the clouds below.
Jace finally got himself under control at the cost of nearly half the propellant that Bau had made for him.
Jace was only dimly aware of the beautiful battlefield he found himself in.
The tips of the towering white clouds were soaked in the golden rays of the sun and gleamed brightly enough to blind a man. Underneath the golden lining was a storm of colorful flashes that gave life to the giant, lumbering beasts of the sky.
Between the clouds were clear shots straight to the ocean below. The darker blue of the ocean was a stark contrast to the lighter blue of the sky that he felt like he was drowning in.
And, though Jace tried not to take his eyes off his opponent in the process, only slightly above him was the pure black canopy of space. Curving around the Earth like a blanket of horrors.
~Jace~
It was too late. He’d lost focus and in turn lost any initiative he had left.
Which, Jace admitted, probably wasn’t much at this point.
He brought up his claw in a vain defense and tried his best to boost away from the barrage of strikes that rained down on him.
The machine was easily four times the size of Bau’s current form, in both width and height. The bottom of it was made up of a singular triangle that endlessly poured out gouts of flame from hidden thrusters. The core of the machine was an upturned triangle that seemed to balance precariously on the tip of its brother with support beams connecting the two pieces securely. Eight arms, two for each face, sprouted out of the upper triangle and four of them held massive scimitars; each one poised to follow up an attack by the others with lightning quick precision.
Finally, a sort of throne sat on the top. An old man was strapped into the throne and tied down with an obscene number of cables.
No, ‘tied down’ might not be right. The cables were each inserted into the old man.
The old man himself wore a sort of spacesuit, presumably so he could survive the elements up here, but Jace was still amazed the man was even conscious after all those maneuvers.
The machine followed Jace relentlessly up here amongst the heavens. There was no rest for Jace as he fought desperately in the hopes of getting some breathing room.
“Y’ain’t so powerful now is ya? Rot ya disease ridden whelp!”
Jace caught a flurry of two scimitars in his outstretched claw and tried to press the advantage only to end up with two gashes deep into the legs of Bau. Jace used the dragon wing boosters to push his way through the enemy and ascend higher into the blackness of the sky above. The thrusters on Bau’s legs were now shooting flame out erratically through the cuts, shaking the machine violently.
Jace didn’t get very far away after his pitiful attack. The large dragon-wing boosters began to sputter and spit rather than pouring out a steady stream of flame. He lost altitude quickly as the weight of eighty tons sought to find its way back to the ground.
~Jace, we don’t have the functions to survive out there yet. Face him now~
Jace twisted his comrade into a spiral as he shot down toward the approaching gravedigger. He let loose a few low powered shots with his beam cannon only for them to all fly wildly off course as the shaking from falling at such speeds and the compromised thrusters ripped away any chance at precision. The thin strips of green energy infested the blue sky like the foreign substances they were.
But, to Jace’s surprise, one of the shots hit his enemy.
Though it wasn’t due to some wonderful aiming on Jace’s part. Instead, it was the gravedigger himself who purposefully flew his machine into the light.
The green line left a burning gash on the skirt of the bottom pyramid. Most of the melting light had been redirected by the armor and peeled off into the distance, but it did manage to burrow through just a bit, leaving a glowing orange hole in the pitch-black armor plating. A compromised propellant tank was ejected out the bottom of the machine and made for a beautiful explosion here amongst the billowing clouds.
~He did that for a reason Jace~
Jace responded to Bau with fury beginning to seep back into him. He’d almost forgotten this feeling after the comfort he experienced so recently, but now the feeling had roared back to life and scalded his mind, “Because he doesn’t care about his machine. He treats it like an animal.”
~No Jace, think for a moment, there must be a reason~
“That is the reason, and I won’t let him torture his machine any longer.” Bau continued to speak to Jace, but Jace no longer had it in him to pay attention. They were having such a good fight. It was truly beautiful seeing two MACs battle like this. One awake and one begging Jace to wake them up.
It was pure.
And now this old fool was defiling it.
Jace waited patiently while the gravedigger’s machine remained immobile up here in the clouds. It was clear the old man had been charging some sort of weapon, but Jace was doing the same.
The inverted triangle core opened a panel to reveal some sort of cannon that glowed a deep scarlet red. The beam of light didn’t travel so much as appear.
It was fast.
But Jace had no time to think about it. He’d already begun evasive maneuvers with his dragon wing, making the best of its dexterity and positioning. Jace zipped across the sky in a dazzling display that would have taken first at any air show, no contest.
The red beam tried its best to keep track of Jace as it slimmed down further and further, but Jace couldn’t be caught.
As the beam became nothing more than a trickle of light, Jace took his own turn.
~Jace, you need to get in close~
“I’ll get there, but there has to be a punishment.” Jace unleashed the green beam from his own weapon, painting the sky new shades as it hissed down toward the gravedigger like a spear thrown from God’s own hand. The heat of the weapon, now with nothing left in the shield-radiator to dissipate it, caused it to glow bright and droop. Molten globs of metal began to pour off of the rectangular cannon.
Jace made no move for defense, he simply focused all his efforts into dragging the beam across the sky and letting it fall directly onto the gravedigger who, in turn, did everything in his power to block the beam from hitting the city below. The sloped pyramid armor did its best to deflect the burning light off into the surrounding sky, making a veritable lightshow up here in the heavens. But the armor didn’t hold up for long. The beam of light left molten orange metal in its wake and continued to push further in. An absolute mess of explosions resounded throughout the sky as propellant tanks burst into gaseous displays of fiery chemical concoctions. The bloodlust within Jace had completely covered up the noxious smell that now floated here alongside the clouds.
After trying his best to wait out the attack, the gravedigger charged ahead through the light toward Jace in some desperate attempt at being a hero. He screamed wordlessly into the comms, but Jace had no interest in this man’s final moments.
~Ah, he’s protecting them~
The beam died out and still the gravedigger approached, though now at a snail’s pace with so many propellant canisters blown away. Only the power of the core was keeping the behemoth afloat, and it wouldn’t hold out much longer.
Jace moved the melted beam cannon out of his way and readied his claw. The endless screaming of the gravedigger had grown shrill and insane. The only words to be made out were ‘my city’ over and over and over.
It disgusted Jace.
And so, he began his descent.
He crashed directly into the gravedigger’s machine and sunk his claw in deep. The eight arms all flailed every which way, swinging the sharpened scimitars endlessly onto Bau’s armor plating.
The gravedigger’s machine was so weak, barely even a sign of life within the core. The strikes that were so recently biting through even the toughest armor Bau had to offer were now simply grazing the surface, leaving nothing but thin lines of scratched paint.
But the machine continued to flail.
And the old man continued to scream.
And the clouds continued to rush past.
And the ocean continued to grow closer.
And the city, Jace was sure, continued to wait in horror.
~Jace~
Jace ripped out his claw, separating the two pyramids of the machine. The upper half, the core, stayed there in front of him, hovering only a few hundred meters above the tower it was birthed from.
The bottom of the machine continued to fall toward the sunken city. It was constantly changing direction as explosions continued to rock the gargantuan chunk of metal back and forth.
Jace waited patiently, ignoring the core of the machine beside him and the view of the old man being covered in new wires that had a different color and texture.
The bottom half made contact with one of the skyscrapers, sinking deep into the building and only stopping around the halfway point. A dangerous mist of glass and steel and concrete surrounded the crash site.
~Well, I suppose I was planning on doing this part for fun anyway. Good job Jace. I’ll tell our friend on the beach to start swimming~
Although it surely seemed like an eternity to the inhabitants of the city, the people cowering in fear amongst their glass towers, it was only an instant for Jace.
The bottom half of the machine exploded in a truly brilliant fashion.
Shards of molten glass shot out in every direction, coating buildings and humans alike. The explosion itself completely incinerated four towers and caused a collapse of six others. Little human bodies rained down into the ocean alongside their impromptu bridges.
After the initial blast, fires roared to life all across the city. A slurry of chemicals poured out of certain pieces of infrastructure and tainted the blue waters. The ocean that some were using as a bastion of safety now turned into a surface of roaring flame and choking toxins.
Jace turned away from the devastated city, trying his best to ignore the strange pricking in the back of his mind and the odd feeling in his stomach. He stared across from him toward the gravedigger who was now entirely hidden behind thick tentacles that glowed from the inside.
The sky was so very beautiful.
The tentacles constricted in one forceful movement and a scarlet puff of mist escaped into the air. The drifting, crimson-tinted blood swirled into the blue expanse of ocean and sky, connecting the two in Jace’s vision.
The sky was so very beautiful.
A deep and agonized scream somehow made it into Jace’s cockpit. It seemed to echo endlessly off the walls. Jace wondered if it was the same sound being played over and over beneath him.
The sky was so very beautiful.
The pyramid-shaped core of the machine retracted into itself. The void it created bubbled and boiled placing a strange pitch-black shadow onto the surroundings. The bubbling continued and grew more vigorous with each passing moment. It didn’t take long for the void to begin bubbling out into a larger and larger space, growing in size slowly but surely.
The sky was so very-
And then it happened.
It stepped out from the void, easily dwarfing Bau in size.
It seemed to place one foot and the next upon the very air, somehow finding purchase on the existing oxygen.
Each and every movement it made was pristine and calculated and drew Jace in like a hypnotist would.
The being, seemingly made from light itself, continued to step forward into the ether and made its shape more defined with each step.
The being grew human feet.
And human legs.
And a human torso.
And human arms.
And a human face so beautiful it brought tears to Jace’s eyes as he gazed upon the sight of such perfection.
The being of light stared down upon the burning city beneath it, though Jace had no idea what it could possibly be thinking.
As Jace was thoroughly lost in the sight before him, he was horrified when he realized the being had turned its face to look directly at him.
The mouth opened, separating the light and showing the space-textured void within, and said something Jace couldn’t understand.
The being then flowed, like water, down into the ocean below. The human shaped creature that towered over all became a stream of bright light that flowed into the undulating waters.
~Follow it Jace~
Jace didn’t even need his companion to tell him to. He was already tracing the path the light was taking beneath the cool-blue expanse. His battered machine struggling along the bright and glowing path.
How could the beauty of the sky possibly compare to this?