“This place is rather loud…”
“Yeah, I had the thought it would be, seeing how they all try to make Money out of that stuff everywhere.”
It is loud, but when you try to sleep, you notice the hammering and grinding on Metal everywhere through the whole night. The Hotel is already far away, but the people seem to not know what sleep means, as they work Day and Night throughout, without a semblance of silence for even a Second.
What they mostly do is disassembly. They just cut the large things into small things and then use their Fuel powered Smelters to create as pure of Ingots they can manage to sell back to the main Continent.
Everything else gets thrown into the deep Pit…
… and that is where we have the first hint of where the Death Peaks gets their Names from.
They have a Pump restored pushing their most used up Fuel they can not again filter right into the Ancient Pipeline. Where it goes to? No one knows, but they have no problem pumping the deadly sludge right into somewhere they never saw.
What. The. Actual. F…
The Pump is apparently from the Ancient Kingdom and was a waste disposal system or something in that line of thinking. They at least say it is, but was it really? It could be a dried up ground Water pump and they replace all the pristine Water with that gunk forever polluting the whole Continent for all we know!
I need some answers, but I need a Body for this. Better not using something biological for that. So our next aim is the restricted trash.
…
‘We need to be careful. This place feels rather highly secured’
“Oki” squeak
Snow and I are in Mouse/Rat form right now. Searching through the restricted part, where the broken military parts get sorted before they get removed. Yep, they have Military trash here too, but that trash will be put into a gigantic grinder… also an ancient machine I expect.
Searching through the Hangars We come into contact with some Guards, but they are rather relaxed. At night they were all over, but at day? No one expects an intruder, while the Grinder is running, eh?
The Pipes are a no go. The channels all are coated with used Fuel and might be doing something I could not repair in Snow. Better be safe than sorry. While the Fences are rather large they have holes and we can squeeze through nearly everything easily.
…
‘That one too. Looks like a broken core, we might be able to use it.’
Squeak
While carefully looking, we found Conveyor Belts right before the Grinder. No one looks after it is thrown on the Belt, as the Place has only ventilation holes, and no one should be able to take something out through it. Our luck is their negligence.
To be honest, the Parts have already been broken down to near destruction. Nothing can be used as is, but with the parts I can at least reverse engineer the things I want.
‘This was the last. Let us stop and go back. Better to be back early than be in danger.’
While nodding to me Snow crawls back into the ventilation pipe and I travel right after her. The Exit goes to a rather large filter we just gnawed and clawed through. They will just think it was a random rodent I hope.
After all this it is great to go back to the Hotel. Snow took Surge back into her Shadow and I transfer my Consciousness into Nemo. Luckily he did not revert, as I had a sliver of my attention on him, but it was annoying.
…
With this we could go back to the Steppe. As we ran fast, we did not even visit the Bull Tribe, so we took our time to visit them on our way back.
The Welcome was a bit low, but I understood why. Red Horn is no longer with us. The death was last Winter in peace. While his last Words were written down he sent us also some.
‘Always remember, forgiveness is worth more than destruction. Keep your wrath low for what will come.’
“… Are you sure, this is what he wanted to tell us Spot?”
“Yes Null. He especially chose me to say it to you and not Hoof. Huffing Loudly is now our Chief.”
“May Red Horn be grazing on the evergreen Fields and be at ease…”
“Thank you Null.”
“I am sorry Spot. If I would have known, I would have been…”
“It is okay Snow. No one did know it was this Winter. We can suspect, but never be sure. I am glad you are my Friend. I will always be happy about this.”
“Spot… *hic* Thank you…”
Snow is so sensible sometimes. But to be honest I am myself sad to not have seen him at least one more time. It was my hubris, to not visit him last year at least one more time…
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Being with Hoof I talk a bit. He is also sad to have lost his father, but as he said, he was not going to get the Chieftain position, as he has other qualities that define him better. He chose his own path and albeit telling Hoof also cryptic last words Red Horn will live on in our hearts.
I already told Red Horn, I would keep my promise. Now I even know who is the attacker, by the Garbage I collected. Angry Metal is right. Those things can be angry. We got some Robot parts while dumpster diving and even some large electronics, which definitely belong to some kind of Tank or Artillery.
…
“...Welcome Unbeing. I am the new Chieftain of the Bovine Tribe. Our late Chieftain has made a pact with you, but I am a bit more reserved about you being in our midst. His dreams might not be the same I saw, but I think it is better for you to be working with my Brother Hoof in the future.”
Strange monotone talk, but he might be under stress of becoming the new Head of their Tribe. I just assure him, we will help them in need and go back out of the tent.
The short talk shows a bit apprehension, but to be honest I did see him for the first time. The Tribes are rather huge, but normally Family lives together near each other, no?
Whatever, we were already in another discussion with sudden visitors from the far South…
“We greet you, discarded Hero. Do not be alarmed of us, as we are the children of the dreaming Machine.”
The what now?
“Um. Hello, how can I help you, and why did you call me that?”
They are… Gazelle People? They have a rather ominous air around them and while the Bovine People did nothing against them they keep an extremely wide berth.
“Ah, some of us saw your fall from Grace and rise into an Abomination. Do not fear, we are no enemy as we are here to invite you for a short visit to our Holy Land. Please decide while your Bovine Friend tells you about not trusting us, afterwards we wait for you at the south side of the Camp.”
And with that they just… went away.
“Null, please listen to me.”
And right on cue Hoof with Spot scared silly came to us and wants to talk.
“Those guys are an occult bunch we never talk to. They are Members of the Steppe yes, but a fully autonomic cult praying and worshipping something strange. They not only are ominous, the way they work together and fight is like they are under some kind of mind control.”
“What do you mean?”
“Many stories were told. Fighting against them is suicide. They do not care about anything and die if they think they should die. There is always an anticipation of what you do before you attack and they sacrifice their own Soldiers, just to kill their enemies.”
“Only war Stories?”
“Not only deny they the existence of the eternal Fields, they pray to some thing under their holy place. Going there to talk to them will make you have scary dreams, and some who sleep there too long go either insane or become something like them.”
So some kind of Mind warping thing under the Earth is messing with their brains and gives them visions. To be honest they sound crazy and dangerous.
“I will go to them and look into it. Do not worry, I am rather immune to such things like Mind Control.”
“...If you say so. Just… Please be careful.”
With that I went south and there they are. Four Gazelles waiting for us.
“We appreciate your decision. While we knew you would make the right choice, we always be glad to know those were made out of free will.”
Wow… Those guys are more messed up, than I thought. With their speech over they showed us how fast Gazelles were in the Steppe. Snow and I could keep up, but they did not even slow down for a minute the whole stretch.
…
“Here… we… are…”
“Go… go in… we just… rest…”
And with that they just… fell over and panted like they did not even care about their image. You guys could have slowed down, you know?
huff huff “Those Guys… were fast… you okay… Null?”
“Yes Snow, I notice the lack of oxygen in the extremities, but not too much. Are you Okay?”
“Yes… Just need… A few breaths…”
With Snow huffing a bit, we enter the… How should I say it, Crater?
No, a Crater is that not. More like an indent of something big breaking under the Earth and indenting because of it. Some Ruins are sticking out, seems like another Facility, but this one… Total loss.
Going deeper into the Hole we were welcomed by two neat rows of Beast people of all kinds on each side bowing. In front is a Group of some kind of Shamans. They look old but their eyes… Something is wrong with their Eyes, as they look like some kind of… How should I put it. Miniature Lava lamps? Something is swimming in them and glowing.
“Welcome to our humble Sacred Place. What you are searching, we can lead you to it. The way back is not far, but you will have to use time to make yourself into what you are.”
“I do not understand anything what you just said after the Welcome.”
“We know, we know. You will understand, when you need to understand. Right now you are here for these.”
Giving me flaxen paper on them are… Runes! Those runes are descriptive and show how to create the sorting system for Miasma! What the…
“How do you get this?”
“We can not only see the Future, but the past. Our Brethren have dreams of things which might be happening, we are tethered to the source of those dreams. Chained to them to never be free of them. We know what you are and what might happen. To push you to the most favourable outcome you need some things we provide.”
“You are saying, you just giving me these things out of the reason of me doing the right thing?”
“Yes, we thank you for the things you will do for this World.”
What I am wanting to do is going home. Just because I help the Steppe…
“It is not cause of the Steppe, you remedy the worst Error of the Tilean Kingdom.”
“The who?”
“The Ancient Kingdom of the forgotten Time. The Tilean Kingdom did not only one or two mistakes, but many. The worst made the Crater you right now inhabit.”
“So the thing in the crater is…”
“Not the worst Mistake, but has happened because of it.”
DANG IT! It is so annoying to talk to those Loonies!
“I am sorry, we all are in a state of time dilation. Let me explain in full historically happening.”
And then he explained. What he told me was so far fetched, that it might be even true. What the hell did Tilean think, when they decided those things? Were they insane?!