Violet lights jab at the soldier’s eyes, screaming warnings in coloured flashes. A deep, grumbling voice echoes through the soldier’s head, coinciding with the lights to create pure sensory overload.
“Sunblood leaks in the left forearm, voidstone plating on the right arm destroyed…” On and on the alerts went, detailing just how screwed the soldier was. Barely audible above the blood rushing through his skull was the din of battle. To his left the soldier saw friendly bolts of plasma thrust forward through the night sky, the superheated matter screaming with an eerie cry. To his right the soldier saw fireballs and missiles of lightning blast through the darkness with flares of jarring white light.
Too busy piloting his craft to look to the sides for more than a few seconds, the soldier returned his gaze forwards. More warnings flared across the various screens present in the cockpit and through his head.
“Oi, Bar-” The soldier was cut off as a lance of scouring frost cut through the several outer layers of voidstone and adamantine, reaching the cockpit and blasting the soldier apart atom by atom. The war was lost that day.
----------------------------------------
“You see, I’m not really sure I get this whole ‘war’ business.” Deek pondered. He was sitting on a large armaments crate, long since emptied, looking down at Emb.
“What’s not to get?” replied Emb, who was leaning on said crate, staring out across the battlefield. The front, such as it was, was composed entirely of slightly churned mud and jutting boulders of salt. It wasn’t called the Land of Mud and Salt for no reason.
“Well I mean… nothing really happens you know? We’ve been waiting here for days doing shit all. Isn’t it meant to be more exciting?” As Deek spoke a pillar of flare spells shot off in the distance, signalling another pointless charge by the enemies.
“I’m not sure what you were expecting, we’re waiting for the cataphract to be done. If I recall, you were the one who wanted to pilot the damn thing right?” Emb shifted her gaze towards the column of flares blasted by their side, signalling another pointless counter-charge.
“I suppose… Actually I’ve got a good question. Why does everyone signal what we’re gonna do in an extremely obvious fashion? If we wanted to win, whatever that means, why not be sneaky about like the guys in the Land of Rivers and Knives?”
Emb looked up at Deek like he was an idiot.
“Deek. You know damn well why we use flares. For one, it’s tradition, and for two, it allows for near flawless coordination.”
Deek looked down at Emb with a puzzled face.
“It might just be me, but I think the tradition is kind of dumb. I’m also not sure about the second on-” The whirring of motors cut Deek off. Turning his head around towards the muddied voidtech bunker, he saw an engineering crew carefully guiding a platform that carried his cataphract.
Like all voidtech structures, the bunker was once made of brilliant white stone that seamlessly flowed into itself, with doors that slid up or to the side, covering up any entrances or exits flawlessly. However due to age the stone had broken in places, replaced with crude metals and most of the doors had been replaced with cheap iron ones. The main bunker’s entrance was attached to a large courtyard that was filled with crates and artillery pieces. One such crate was where Deek and Emb had stationed themselves. To either side of the courtyard was a muddy trench that had been carved out of the landscape. The floors of the trenches often alternated between more of the smooth white voidstone and churned sludge.
In the centre of the courtyard was a large hatch that opened into the extensive underground network of tubes and hangars, although the mechanisms of the hatch and attached elevator often broke down. Considering that they, much like everything used by the Voidborn, used Sunblood made sure that no one wanted to fix them. Thus the engineers approaching Deek and Emb had to painstakingly maneuver the 5-metre cataphract carefully through the fragile inner bunker.
The cataphract itself was an almost unique device, and Deek had only ever heard of a few existing at most. They were positively ancient war machines used by the Voidborn to crush any opposition. While externally a cataphract simply looked like a giant suit of armour, on the inside they were a marvel of voidtech and magitech engineering. The main draw of a cataphract, apart from being heavily armed and armoured mechs, was that they could directly interface with the pilot provided they had an incredibly delicate and invasive piece of machinery inserted into their spine. Originally, such a Fluke would have to be carefully dug up and transported across several Shards, but ever since people figured out the precise mechanics behind Flukes, they could be made at a slightly reduced cost. That was to say, they were still incredibly rare and practically impossible to make.
“Is Deek present?” one of the engineers shouted.
“Present! Is that the cataphract?” Deek leapt off the crate and hurried over to the large platform containing his mech.
“Sure is. Now we have some orders concerning the rest of the repairs. What you may notice is that Barbatos here is lacking an arm.” The engineer pointed to where the right arm of the cataphract should have been.
“Barbatos huh, did an outworlder name it?” Deek looked around the platform.
“Yeah. An Outworlder from Terra was on the team that unearthed it. Barbatos apparently means ‘bearded’ or something, which makes sense.”
The cataphract was a behemoth of a machine. Even in a seated position it dwarfed Deek and had an imposing presence. Its limbs were predatory and thin, with its one hand tipped with wicked claws. The torso was slightly bulky in order to accommodate the pilot, but the plating was sleek and layered in such a way as to completely enclose the cockpit. The most striking things about Barbatos however were its helmet and spine. Jutting out of its spine was a long metal spike that looked like a curved spur with gold inlays. Its helmet was strange, as its face was covered in layers upon layers of slightly phosphorescent metal shards that gave it the appearance of having a beard. Barbatos’ eyes were a dark purple in colouration, with several lenses hidden underneath the slightly opaque glass casing. Finally, crowning the cataphract’s head were several thin spines that were made of the same substance that composed the ‘beard’ surrounding Barbatos’ face.
“Anyway, to fix Barbatos you’re going to need to take it through to the next bunker over that way,” the head engineer pointed towards the trench on the left of the courtyard. “Now because we don’t want to be accused of treachery, only you and,” the engineer glanced at his clipboard, “Emb are allowed to go. Luckily you only have to go behind our lines so you shouldn’t expect any combat.”
Deek stared at Barbatos for a moment longer before returning his gaze to the engineer.
“Wait how are we going to carry the platform over ten kilometres of fucking mud?”
The engineer simply stared at Deek.
“Just pilot it over, again you’re not going to face any fucking mages or anything. Once you get to the bunker they will have the replacement arm. From I know the power they put into that thing should be enough to end the war.”
“Great, so how do I get into the cataphract?” Deek glanced upwards at the enclosed torso of Barbatos.
The head engineer barked a few orders and another technician who had a tablet hooked into the machine tapped his screen a few times. In seconds the smooth plating slid open without a single hiss, revealing a stark black interior that seemed to suck up the midday sun. Deek hopped up onto the platform to get a better look inside the machine, and saw dozens of screens wired into the back wall of the cockpit. He could also make out a thin seat that had a sharp needle jutting out in the place his Fluke would naturally sit when he got into the mech.
The technician tapped a few times at his tablet and a rope descended from the internals of the cataphract, which Deek grasped. With another tap the rope ascended and Deek settled into the set. He found two jutting hand grips that were connected via thick tendrils to the inner workings of Barbatos. When he placed his hands on the grips he found that they had several triggers he could push.
Comfortable with the state of the cataphract, Deek settled back into the seat and found the cold needle pressed against his Fluke. The sensation of the metal pressing into a node that fed directly into his spine was an uncomfortable one, but Deek pushed further back and found the needle slot easily into the Fluke. He made an involuntary spasm as the link connected to his spinal cord.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
In an instant the cockpit sealed back up and a dull violet glow filled up the dark void as all of the screens lit up simultaneously. A whirring sound filled Deek’s ears and suddenly a bright pain seared its way through his body as the cataphract parasitised his central nervous system. He opened his mouth but couldn’t scream as Barbatos linked his mind and the machine’s, however he could feel several spurts of blood shoot out of his nose. Deek’s hands tightly gripped the controls, and he felt them move of their own accord. The cockpit rumbled slightly, before finally all of the screens turned fully on. Most of the screens were diagnostic trackers and various bits of information, but the large central screen that dominated the front of the cockpit gave Deek a view to the outside world. Almost immediately he noticed that the rumbling he had felt earlier was the cataphract stumbling around as the two minds merged.
Deek was then hit with the surreal sensation of dwelling in two bodies at once. While he could easily move around in the cockpit, he also felt the rumbling power of Barbatos at the corners of his mind. Indeed while his hands controlled the cataphract proper, the machine itself used Deek’s nerves to adjust for all the little things a normal person didn’t usually worry about. Balance, energy flow, optical focus, all maintained by the machine’s mind, which was composed of a plethora of magical circuits and inscrutable devices. This was also not to even mention the dozen of messages Deek received notifying him of the feats and level ups he had achieved just by plugging himself into Barbatos.
“Are you okay in there?” Deek managed to reorient himself at the sound of Emb’s voice.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry it’s kind of weird being in two bodies at once. But hey, I got a feat just for plugging into the robot!” Deek saw Emb recoil at his voice, but thought nothing of it.
“Damn, anyway while you were having a… whatever was going on in there, I got some shit for the road.” Emb held up an elegant rod that was composed of the same voidstone craftsmanship that all voidtech was made of. The Sunblood “veins” that flowed through the device and the subtle trigger pointed to the rod actually being a type of gun. Emb also had an earpiece and a military backpack.
“I thought we weren’t going into combat.” After speaking Deek noticed that all of the engineers had vacated the courtyard, and the battlefield was silent once more.
“Well, not directly. But as a numbskull you might not have remembered that behind our lines are the old mage trenches. Our lines haven’t remained static for millennia.”
“Shit, true. So are golems on the table?” Deek flexed his fingers and tentatively made the mech stand up. Surprisingly there were no balancing issues, in fact it felt as natural as his own body.
“Probably not, it’s been thousands of years.” Emb hitched up her backpack and secured the voidtech rifle behind it. “Anyway, ready to hit the mud?” Emb pointed towards their destination.
Deek began effortlessly walking towards the back of the trenches. The Fluke wasn’t the only thing that provided excellent balance, as Deek moved thrusters on Barbatos’ legs and back flared to life and began correcting his motions.
“Sure am. Let’s go win the war,” Deek smiled in his cockpit and gave a thumbs up using Barbatos’ clawed hand.
----------------------------------------
As it turned out, the landscape about a kilometre behind the void shard battle lines were just as interesting as the rest of the shard. Which was to say they weren’t very interesting at all. Emb surveyed the landscape for any points of interest, and was sorely disappointed. For miles the only sight was dirt and salt rocks.
Deek however, was having the time of his life. While there wasn’t much to do inside the mech, simply piloting a behemoth of war like Barbatos was immensely exciting. Every jolt Deek felt as Barbatos’ feet slammed into the mud below reminded him of the vast power the cataphract held. Much to Emb’s chagrin, Deek occasionally picked up balls of mud in Barbatos’ hand and threw it as far as he could.
“Deek.” Emb stopped and looked up squarely at where Deek was sitting.
“Yes Emb?”
“Stop throwing mud balls. What if an enemy scout spots you? We could lose this war on accounts of treachery.”
“The fuck does that even mean, ‘treachery’,” Deek surrounded the word ‘treachery’ with one-handed air quotes, “I mean how is that a thing? Is this not a war in which two sides mercilessly brutalize the other in a display that traumatizes entire generations?”
“No Deek, it isn’t that kind of war. Honestly you’ve been reading too many foreign books. Also fuck no I’m not going to explain treachery, I know you know exactly what I’m fucking talking about.” Emb began glaring at Deek. “Also switch your audio output to radio rather than loudspeaker. Your voice is infinitely more grating when it’s backed up by massive fuck-off speakers.”
Deek tapped the various screens in Barbatos’ cockpit while leaking a string of expletives.
“Shit sorry, got it now. Is that better?”
Emb held a hand up to her ear and pressed on the earpiece.
“Much.”
“So anyway, as I was saying, uhhh… Oh right, so what makes these wars different from the ones in say, the Land of Cold and Dark?”
Emb began smirking at the sight of Deek subconsciously trying to replicate his wild gesticulations he normally did in a conversation with only one arm and in a cataphract.
“Well, it’s quite simple really. If you look at the records, most of these wars only last for a year or two max and, according to the census from the last war, about a dozen people die per war.”
“On our side or?”
“Both sides in total. It’s actually pretty insane how few casualties occur on both sides, and most of them are due to accidents or whatever. But something about this one is a bit different. For starters, we now have you and the magic shard guys have some insane mage that has been decimating the battlefield.”
“So you’re saying shit might get violent?” Deek couldn’t help the slight tone of excitement that leaked through his voice.
“Possibly. The land dispute this war is based on is also a bit more violent that the previous ones. The new lord of the magic half of this shard is more… direct than the previous lady. So right now we’re hoping you can act as a sort of stabilizer so things don’t spiral more out of control.”
Deek stopped and looked down at Emb.
“Since when did you know all of this shit? You’re the same fucking rank as I am!” Deek sounded incredulous.
“You’re technically a different rank since you’re a pilot. As your ‘handler’ I guess,” Emb performed air quotes around the word ‘handler’, “I have more detailed instructions regarding your overall mission.”
“Cool I guess.” Deek faced Barbatos forward again, and continued walking forward.
“Hey Deek?”
“What?” Deek said without looking down.
“Can you give me a ride? It’s going to be a long walk and I don’t want to tire myself out while you get to just sit there.”
Deek let out a deep sight.
“Sure, hop on.”
----------------------------------------
“Wait here Deek.” Emb hopped off Barbatos’ back.
The duo had been walking for several hours, and the sun-like shard that lit the surface had gone from the centre of the sky to a flickering wisp on the horizon. However, in the dying light Emb had sighted what looked like a wall of stone men. At some point the two had found themselves entering a canyon, in which the only forward was either through the wall of figures or a nearby entrance that led deep into one of the ravine walls.
“Emb?” Deek’s tired voice echoed through Emb’s radio.
“Yes Deek?”
“Golems?”
“Shit, probably.” Emb’s frustration was clearly audible through her earpiece.
“I’ll let you handle it then, don’t want to wake them up. If they are golems though it’d probably be best that we just go through the tunnel.”
“I can look from here using my gun’s scope… annnnnd, yes they are fucking golems. They must never have been deactivated because they’re just kinda… staring... blankly.”
“Fuck it, we’re going through the tunnel then.” Deek grumbled through the intercom.
For all of Deek’s gaps in knowledge, there was one thing he had an extremely solid grasp on: the interactions between voidtech and magitech. As expected of two directly opposed elements, the two tended to mess with the functionality of each other when in proximity. This sort of short-circuit however was what allowed the relatively mindless golems to detect their “nemeses”. Provided Barbatos or any other piece of voidtech didn’t approach the golems, they would stay deactivated.
Not knowing how far the golems could detect his presence, Deek slowly walked over to the tunnel entrance. Before he could enter the tunnel, he heard the hissing of his cataphract’s radio.
“I’ll go in first Deek, just in case there’s more golems or other shit still left in there. It looks like an old mage bunker.”
“Got it. I’ll just sit outside and wait for the all-clear.”
As Emb scuttled into the bunker, Deek simply sat outside of the entrance and let out a sigh. The tunnel’s entrance was actually much lower than it appeared, so he would have to enter stooped low to the ground. Deek pre-emptively unhooked Barbatos’ spinal spur so it wouldn’t scrape against the ceiling. Looking towards the wall of golems he saw that indeed they were still in a semi-active state, as their eyes glowed with an unearthly yellow light. Over the years their armour had worn away, laying bare the intricate spirals and jagged angles of the mana circuits that gave the simple lumps of stone life. Before Deek could finish marvelling at the ingenuity of magecraft, he heard his radio crackle to life.
“FUCK DEEK GET IN HERE!” Deek heard the screaming sound of a plasma rifle firing.
Twisting with unnatural grace into a running position, Deek leapt into the dark corridors of the mage bunker.