As the subjugation force entered the city of Babai they encountered no resistance, to Sofie that was currently standing outside the walls this was as unsettling as it was infuriating, she was aware her mystic powers were flaring her temper, but knowing about something and doing something about it was two different things
“Tell the vanguard to speed up”
The old squire nodded wordlessly and went to pass down her orders as he had long since noticed the silent fury that radiated off his mistress, she was furious over the loss of her knight whom she had spent more time with than her closest family
‘I will avenge your Jaric…’
A series of pops sounded out which brought her back to reality along with the familiar pain in her fingers as she loosened her grip on her board sword handle which she had once again made imprints in at the cost of the bones in her fingers, a few moments passed and the pain disappeared once again, this made her remember that Jaric once had told her other people didn’t heal from bone fractures instantly like she did
“Reporting”
Sofie glanced over at the old squire that delivered his report with a blank look on her face before it twisted in anger as she learned the scouts had lost two figures that had fled North along with the discovery of a metal obelisk in the central plaza which had a piece of metal with the Arimir sigil on it, Sofie pulled her broadsword up from the ground and squatted down slightly as she put force into her legs and kicked off, within moments she accelerated to a speed that could rival Matthew as she leaped over the outer wall and landed in the ruined city, from there she quickly made her way towards the central plaza where she found the metal obelisk
“Princess Arimir”
A scout announced her arrival and the rest of the advance guard in the plaza kneeled down with respect, Sofie silently approached the metal obelisk, her eyes locked on the Arimir sigil which she had ordered engraved on the metal plate armor she had gifted Jaric with a few winters ago, she reached up with her hands trembling slightly and grabbed the piece of metal which separated easily from the mat metal surface of the metal obelisk, she glanced at the sigil for a few moments before she turned towards the still kneeling advanced guard and yelled with her voice booming
“TEAR THE CITY APART, IF THE HEAD OF THE INSECT WITCH IS NOT RETRIEVED BEFORE DAWN I WILL…”
Sofie suddenly stopped yelling, her acute senses had picked up a different sound from the soft hum which the metal obelisk had been letting out so far, she quickly turned towards it only to be blinded by a light that outshone the rising sun.
-
The sun rose on Matthew’s right side, up ahead the awe-inspiring mountain range gradually grew larger, he had been running through the night almost uninterrupted, he had only stopped once at a creak where he had dunked his hand into the water for a few minutes as Aea had resupplied his body with water
“Matthew, are, are you sure you are okay to keep going?”
‘How about it Aea, I don’t really feel tired yet”
[Current calorie store reads 48%, current physical drain can be maintained for another 10 hours]
“I’ll be good until around noon, we should reach the base of the 2nd mountain by then”
Alina nodded before she spoke
“Let’s stop, stop at the peak of the first one instead”
Matthew nodded, so far he had been outrunning any hostile fauna they had come across so far, but as they moved further away from the insect witch’s former territory the frequency of encountering large animals increased, it was only a few hours ago Matthew had outrun a pack of large wolves which had given chase to him when they had passed by them a little too close.
“Sure, conserving some energy for securing food sounds like a good idea…”
As the two neared the first mountain, the open plains ended and gave way to forest that gradually got more difficult to traverse and by the time they reached the top it was around noon, Matthew let down Alina before he sat down on a fallen tree as his back opened up fully as Aea voiced a report
[Trauma pattern 1, 2 and 3 patching physical strain, all Blood, Organ and Maintenance nanites are at overclock level 1 for the next 15 minutes, venting waste heat]
While Matthew himself barely felt out of breath having covered over 450 kilometers over the last 12 hours the bio nanites that had made this feat possible had been running at 90% capacity the entire time and needed time to take care of the task that had been neglected during the last 12 hours
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“Are, are you sure you are okay Matthew?”
Matthew nodded
“Give me a bit and I will be fine… How long do you think it will take before we enter the territory of the mountain tribes?”
“Not, not long… the tales I heard about them when I was alive was they began attacking outsiders as soon as they set foot on the 3rd mountain”
Matthew nodded and let his gaze wander around the forest as he sharpened his senses, the ancient forest around him showed signs of large animals, the cries of birds and insects was near constant but so far he didn’t feel anything stalking them yet, but he kept his guard up as time passed
[Overclock ended, 4% total nanite mass lost]
Matthew let out a sigh as the planes in his back closed, he had pushed the Code Arrow 09 too far since he had lost nanites which he wouldn’t be able to resupply without some pretty advanced machinery
“How is it, Alina, have you sensed anything yet?”
Alina nodded
“The whole area is, is under surveillance… Looks like you were, were right Matthew”
Matthew nodded, the two of them had been talking about it on the way towards the mountain range, from the tales Alina had told him the Turman kingdom among others had sent numerous expeditions to subjugate the mountain tribes and each and every single one had failed, after hearing this Matthew had suggested that the savage tribes might not be so uncivilized as they seemed
“So it's under surveillance, but not directly at us?”
Alina nodded, Matthew clicked his tongue, the mystic powers of this world proved to be a bigger problem than he had initially thought, his inability to sense when they were in play was quickly proving to be his most obvious weak spot, but he still wasn’t in a position to begin investing the significant amount of resources and time it would take for Aea to develop new tech to help him
“Well, nothing for it, let’s keep moving”
Alina nodded and Matthew picked her up before the pair moved further North, Matthew took it slow and around evening they reached the peak of the 2nd mountain where they made an unexpected discovery
“Could you get that, Alina?”
The object that had caught Matthew’s eye was a small 4 meter long and around 2 meter wide black rock on the bottom of a narrow ravine
“That, that rock?”
Matthew nodded, and the confused Alina complied after making sure Matthew really wanted it and would have fetched it himself if not for the fact that he couldn’t find a place to enter the narrow ravine, after a moment the stone disappeared and appeared on the ground in front of Matthew that kneeled down and placed a hand on it
“How about it, Aea?”
[Deploying Data nanite pattern 1]
Alina poked the rock a few times, she still saw nothing special about this rock, the numbed senses that were registered as touch felt a strange resistance she ran her metal finger across it the tip of her finger was scratched slightly and as she looked at the tip of her finger she muttered
“...Metal?”
[Analysis completed, BlueArrow patterned heavy metal alloy#119]
Matthew showed a smile and spoke
“Not just any metal, this is a metal alloy, a BlueArrow metal alloy”
“Blue arrow?”
Matthew nodded as he silently commanded Aea to deploy all the Forge nanites, which began stripping away the charred outsides of the metal
“It’s the same company that made my bionic spine”
Alina nodded, she didn’t see the significance this piece of metal signified, still she didn’t feel the need to rain on Matthew’s happiness, instead she studied the side of his face as he watched the metal superheat and mold as the Forge nanites shaped according to the assigned schematic.
-
Deeper in the mountain range where the peaks pieced the clouds in the sky lay the temple of the forge god, as always the doors to the sacred grounds remained closed, in there the shrine maidens interpreted their gods will, accepted offerings and gave blessings, this was as it had been for the last 5 generations, young maidens would enter the temple doors and the worthy would never be seen again as they had been accepted into the arms of their god, the people closest to the forge god was the shrine maidens, but the people closest to the shrine maidens were the forge champions that guarded the temple doors
“Good evening”
The older forge champion greeted the younger, the young champion gave a nod to the old and quickly gave a ceremonial salute to which the old spoke with a cheeky smile
“I am here for the shift change, run along runt”
The young champion showed a sheepish look on his face as he glanced up at the sky
“But we aren’t supposed to change shifts before the sun has disappeared below the horizon”
The old champion’s smile widened to that of a cheeky brat as he turned around and pretended to leave
“Oh right, I guess I’ll pass along that message to Naina, I am sure she won’t mind waiting a few more hours for her dear husband to return hom—”
Before the old champion finished his teasing, a shadow had leapt over him and over the edge of the cliff which the old champion had just finished scaling leaving with a loud yell that quickly grew distant
“Thank old man Iaka! Naina, your husband is coming home!”
The old champion let out a chuckle as the other forge champion standing on the other side of the large metal door let out a sigh and commented
“That brat lacks the dignity of a proper forge champion”
Iaka nodded as he took his post on the other side of the door, the two shared a look and spoke in unison
“”Oh youth!””
Iaka and the other champion shared a hearty laugh before Iaka spoke
“How is Tui doing these days, Ruhi?”
Ruhi let out a sigh well know by any father having a daughter going through puberty before he grumbled
“You know how it is Iaka… I tell her no she says yes, I tell her yes she screams”
Iaka showed a wide smile and comforted Ruhi
“Don’t worry Ruhi, she’ll mellow out soon enough”
Ruhi was about to argue when a loud ‘clang’ sounded out from the metal door in between them, the two quickly stopped their bickering and took position before the metal door with their heads lowered as more ‘clang’ sounds echoed out as the door was unsealed before it opened as a shrine maiden stepped up to the threshold and spoke
“The enlightened one has commanded”
“”We receive their command!””
With the ceremonial greeting over, the shrine maiden passed on the command of their god
“An apostle has appeared, someone is bending metal on the 2nd mountain! Our god commands us, bring this apostle before these gates, no matter what it takes!”
The voice of the shrine maiden echoed out over the entire mountain, even reaching the deepest mines in the valleys below the massive cities above, after the echo had ended the once vibrant mountain had a brief silence before the voice of thousands of people boomed out in a massive crescendo of devotion
“We obey the words of the forge!”