Mevi and her companions began to venture forward into the darkness once again. The desolate ruins of a once-city surrounding their path as they continued further down into the oppressive darkness. Zelkan had said there was only an hour or so left before they reached Modrak’s facility, but Mevi began to silently wish they wouldn’t find it and turn back towards the surface. Yet within the determined steps of Zelkan, there stood no chance of fleeing from this quickly darkening quest.
It was only thirty minutes after their start when Mevi noticed an abrupt change in scenery. Almost suddenly, all the structures were gone. As if an invisible wall prevented the residents of the Undercity from building any further, so they all just stopped. Here, in the wide open of the dark chasm, Mevi felt a chill run down her spine. The ruined huts and decaying buildings were imposing, but they at least offered sanctuary from the wide open, and promised that living people might’ve once resided here. Yet even as the party slowed to a half pace in the dark plain, a bright beacon could be seen shimmering on the horizon somewhere below their current position. Zelkan pointed, “That is what residents of the Undercity have grown to call, 'The Castle'. It is also our destination.”
“Incredible, its so bright I can almost see again. Almost.” Saerin said, trying to lighten the mood.
“It is almost… Ominous.” Mevi replied, still hesitant after the dreadful story from last night.
The group continued further, almost more relaxed than they were when creeping through the ruins. The bright sign of their destination seemed to almost put the rest of the group at ease, but Mevi couldn’t help but feel something was going to go wrong. Yet despite her trepidation, the group continued forward. Cresting a small cliff, Mevi could now see the source of the gleaming light. A vast facility, layered with four separate walls, all of the city-like structures within the tall walls climbed higher and higher until the centermost spire reached up like a jutting metallic earth-bone climbing in a vain effort to reach the surface. The walls were covered in spotlights, stretching their beaming illumination back and forth eagerly searching for any sign of movement. While the buildings inside, which there was easily a city’s worth, glowed with an orange light reminiscent of the City of Light above. The entire complex seemed much too large for a single person to build on their own, let alone live within alone. The towering structures seemed to fight for dominance against the high walls, which both stretched tall with sleek curves lined with strange runes similar to the ones within Maphet’s facilities.
Mevi’s party stopped atop this cliff, the sheer cliff wall dropping ten or so meters below to rounded metal hills. Zelkan seemed hesitant, while Saerin was just glad to be able to see once again, and Ouapi showed no emotion other than silent curiosity. Mevi felt a powerful force of unease come over her. Something was wrong, or this place was wrong. She felt as if she were moments from retching, even so far away the feeling was like a foul stench hung in the air only she could smell. Mevi held her instincts back, but couldn’t stop herself from leaning against her Sentinel. The large bodyguard didn’t seem to mind, and its cloaked head looked down at her and Mevi pretended there was a look of concern under the Sentinel’s hard armored exterior.
Mevi gathered herself just as the rest of the group began to venture along the edge of the cliff, eventually finding purchase enough to slide down without too much danger. Following Zelkan’s lead towards the well fortified facility, the group made their way towards the outer wall. It was here, slowly approaching what looked like an open gateway, that Mevi could see strange creatures.
Occasionally, as if following the beams of light, there were floating metallic constructs. Orbs, for lack of a better term, with strange thin appendages dangling below them loosely. Large lenses dotted the orb in a ring around the midsection that gave it the look of a many-eyed monster. Even Zelkan seemed to be surprised by the appearance of this construct, becoming wary but still pushing the party forward towards the large gateway entrance.
As Mevi and her party neared the gateway, only ten or fifteen meters away, one of the floating constructs seemed to finally notice them after they fully entered the light of the facility. Its eyes seemed to light up green, and it approached quickly towards Zelkan. Suddenly two other of these constructs also appeared as if from nowhere, both also glowing with green lights in their eyes. The three constructs encroached near enough to smell oil and rust, putting their green-glowing lenses close to Zelkan and the rest of the group. Saerin laughed awkwardly to herself, “Zelkan? Did this happen the last time you were here?”
“No, these things weren’t here when I came here before. Neither were the fortifications so high.”
The strange constructs bobbed up and down as if they were getting a better look at the party from different angles. Where Mevi and her companions had stopped they were only moments from reaching the gateway, which was open welcomingly with a cobbled road leading straight toward the central spire. As Mevi looked towards the spire, confused as to what these constructs were doing, she saw what seemed to be a crowd of people rapidly marching towards them. Before she, or any of her companions, could react the Sentinel pushed itself in front of the group protectively. Just as the Sentinel did so a blast of energy careened down from the central street, blasting against the Sentinel’s back as it attempted to cover them with its large body. Crackling energy sizzled in the air, and static made Mevi’s hair stand on end, but before she could comprehend they were under attack the Sentinel already made to grab her and dash off.
The Sentinel grabbed Mevi in one quick sweep, and the rest of her companions quickly attempted to follow the large being. Yet as the golden guardian’s powerful build began to run, the others were quickly left behind. The many-eyed floating constructs began to blare red in their eyes and grabbed at her three companions with their spindly appendages. It was moments after Mevi noticed many others of the floating constructs swarming over the walls, they had been mere seconds before descending in a horde of metal and red light. Before Mevi even knew what was happening Zelkan, Saerin, and Ouapi were tangled in a mess of metal claws while a group of others chased Mevi and the Sentinel. Yet the Sentinel used its power and build to the fullest, quickly outpacing the comparably slow constructs and leaping back up the cliff in a single bound. Mevi flew through the air as the swarm of robotic assailants clattered against the cliff face like a wave of metal.
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The Sentinel didn’t stop there, it continued to run with Mevi over its shoulder. Mevi had barely had enough time to process her companions being swarmed before they were already leaping back over the cliff. Mevi began to bang on the Sentinel’s back, trying desperately to get its attention and listen to her. Through confused huffing and angry tears that began to well, Mevi demanded the Sentinel stop its flight and go back to save her companions. In response the Sentinel slowly came to a halt, but by this point they were much too far away to see more than the highest of structures from The Castle.
The Sentinel placed Mevi back on the ground, where she was still deliriously banging her hand against its hard-armored waist, most of its cloak had fallen off in the haste or had been signed badly enough from the opening blast they began to rip apart. Mevi wasn’t even fully aware of what she was saying or doing, dropping into a heap on the floor, memories of Kalesi being wounded flooded back in. The anger and pain of losing her only friend, her newly acquainted family, in the rust-covered Pipes. The trauma that had sent her into a mad rage, overtaken by her emotions and driven to the brink of madness that allowed her Daemon to take control so to wreak havoc and death. The memory of the incident flooded back to her, and before she realized it, she had fallen to the ground and was heaving heavily as she held herself for some pretend comfort. Mevi tried to force herself out of the episode, but its power over her was more than she could bear. Seeing herself so powerless to do anything to save people she cared about made her again realize how weak and useless she was.
Suddenly, Mevi felt a hand placed on her shoulder. Her eyes shot open, not even realizing she had closed them because the images in her head were so vivid. The Sentinel had placed its massive hand on her shoulder, the creature seemed five times its normal size as Mevi cowered against herself on the ground. It almost seemed to be attempting to comfort her, it knelt down with its hand on her shoulder, its massive frame blocking all of the orange-glowing light that came from the direction of The Castle. Mevi wasn’t sure how long she had been in this state, but she suddenly felt her physical faculties return. The dust clinging against her skin, sneaking its way through the heavy clothes, and dirt crusting against her face turning to thin mud where her tears fell. The feeling throughout her body slowly returned to her, and her breathing began to stabilize.
Mevi pulled herself up, the panic that gripped her gave way like a tide receding back into the ocean. She couldn’t be distracted by fear and panic, not after her friends were taken by a horde of robotic horrors. Looking at her Sentinel, its ragged disguise giving way to the golden armor underneath. Mevi took in a breath of air to fully calm her nerves, then Mevi began back towards the cliff. The Sentinel followed wordlessly, keeping close behind her. The two of them arrived at the edge of the cliff, and Mevi attempted to sneak close to the edge as carefully as she could, but the large frame of her guardian didn’t assist in her attempt at stealth. The Castle was swarming with activity, like a hive of insects disturbed to an intruder. Floating constructs swarmed the walls and patrolled the gateway, but otherwise seemed distracted by the excitement up the street. Humanoid constructs, not dissimilar to the ones seen within Odion’s tower, patrolled the streets of the facility. A large crowd of these humanoid constructs seemed to be crowding upwards toward the central spire, hopefully that was a sign of where her companions were taken as there was no sign of them in the open. Mevi looked at the Sentinel after crawling back behind the edge of the cliff, “We need to get in there and save them and find out why they were taken…”
The Sentinel continued to look forward at the fortifications, its steely silence evident of its opinion.
“It does look difficult, but we can’t leave them. Besides, the Magi need me to find Modrak, wherever he is.”
The Sentinel looked at Mevi, no expression passed through the metal helm that covered everything but two gleaming red eyes.
“You probably think its too dangerous… But we need to get inside regardless. Do you have any ideas?”
The Sentinel almost seemed to think, before ripping the cloth off its arms to expose the gauntlets underneath. Then, with a twist of its wrists, long silvery blades shot out of the front of the gauntlets like a large singular spike on each arm.
“What would we do with those? I want to stab these constructs as well, but we couldn’t possibly take on them all with how many there were…”
The Sentinel pointed towards the facility, and it took Mevi a moment to realize it was pointing at the wall itself rather than the gateway entrance or anywhere within.
“Are you saying that we climb up the wall..?”
Without further ‘conversation’ the Sentinel stood tall, and offered a hand down to Mevi to assist her upwards. The Sentinel seemed to have a plan of some kind, and Mevi trusted its military instinct. If it thought there was a chance to climb the wall, or otherwise enter without alerting the hive, Mevi would trust her guardian to do what it thought possible. Mevi stood, taking the hand offered to her, and with the momentum of standing the Sentinel scooped Mevi onto its shoulders. After affirming that Mevi was secured, which was easy with how wide the Sentinel’s shoulders were, the golden guardian leapt down the cliff.
Holding on for dear life, Mevi was treated to a swift sprint across the open field. The Sentinel dodged the light being beaconed down by spotlights. Crossing seamlessly from shadow to shadow, avoiding detection of the patrolling constructs with many eyes. Within mere moments the Sentinel had delivered them to the base of the wall, dodging several spotlights in a few powerful leaps. Once it reached the base of the wall, the Sentinel waited in observation of the spotlights. Several of them seemed to beam down far enough to cover some parts of the wall, but never all of it at once. The Sentinel seemed to study whatever pattern the lights followed, and readied itself to ascend the wall. It ensured the gauntlets were secure before beginning its climb.
Ramming the spiked claw of the gauntlet hard into the metal wall, hardly a sound was made from the scratching metal despite Mevi’s brace against what she thought would be a screeching echo. Either the Sentinel was so powerful it made the scrap-metal walls seem as weak as cloth, or the blades it bore were so sharp to easily cut through metal; Mevi realized it could also be a terrifying mixture of both. As the Sentinel confirmed the durability of the walls, it began its climb upward. Penetrating the wall as if it were a completely mundane activity the Sentinel climbed upwards. As it began its ascent a spotlight began making its way towards where they were, and Mevi ducked close to the Sentiel, only for the light to just barely pass by where they were climbing. The Sentinel stopped only for a few seconds before resuming its pace upwards. As they made it halfway up the large wall another spotlight came bearing down towards them, this one the Sentinel seemed to deem a threat. The Sentinel thrust itself to the right, free flying with the strength of the quick push. Then, as the spotlight seemed to chase them through the air, the Sentinel rammed its claw once again into the wall, stopping their travel with a sudden jerk. The spotlight stopped just an arm’s length away from where they landed. The Sentinel continued climbing up, without issue for the rest of the journey to the top of the wall.
As the Sentinel reached the top of the wall, Mevi still clinging tightly to its shoulders and body, it waited for a few moments. There were several patrols of the floating orb-like constructs with many eyes. They passed up and down the wall with a rapid pace, and the Sentinel seemed to be eyeing them up to determine its plan. Mevi silently readied herself for a potential fight, but it wasn’t necessary. As a gap in the patrols opened, the Sentinel jumped up onto the wall past the parapet. Then quickly darted across the walkway, but the span of the walkable wall was wider than the Sentinel or Mevi had thought. At least fifteen meters wide, the walkway left them open in the light for several moments even with the Sentinel’s speed. As they reached the other side a construct began to turn around towards them as if alerted to something. In a moment of emergency haste, the Sentinel moved Mevi to the protection of its arms, and then threw itself from the wall’s heights into the lower city of The Castle.