12 Miles Below VII: Path of the Mitespeaker, page 4
But could she get Keith to think the same of her? That she didn’t know. And when she asked the Logi to give her all their books on romance to learn from… perhaps that may not have been the wisest idea for the straightforward To’Wrathh.
Taught the secrets of the occult in full by a master,and pressed into using those secrets, Keith rose to Tenisent’s challenge. He had all the support of a Feather in Wrath, and all her ability to build anything he could think of, along with an entire machine empire’s worth of knowledge to pick from. Together, the pair built weapons of war that would cripple even Feathers.
Fight after fight, they took on Tenisent, until Keith at last could fight one against one and defeat even Tenisent.
It was no exaggeration that after his training, Keith may very well have become one of the most dangerous humans to ever walk the world. The sum total of his skills, gear, and occult knowledge was second to none.
With Tenisent defeated, Keith proved he was capable of following Wrath as her occult warlock and fight off foes on his own if separated. Something that would soon be tested…
As for Hexis, he had completed his own mission. Steadily reporting to Avalis the entire time, the Feather was well aware the humans would soon depart from the clan. All part of his plans, Avalis never allowed there to be any chances. Even if Keith and the others had decided to stay hidden in the clan away from his reach, the steady stream of armor he was now sending through To’Aacar’s old supply chain to the raiders would mean the clan would gorge itself on armor.
And once there was enough, the people would naturally demand to travel downward, away from the safety of the surface. It was inevitable.
Wrath and Keith leaving early meant the clan itself would remain a distant target, unneeded. After all, Avalis only cared for the pair. Other humans could live their lives as they wished, the Feather cared little.
With one final mission to go, all Hexis needed to do was to embed a tracking device on Keith and alert Avalis on their departure. After which, the warlock would be given all that he wanted in his life.
However, as the final moment approached, Hexis found himself unable to complete that one mission.
His time on the surface, and his time with his final student, had reminded him too much of the past. The reason he became a warlock in the first place—the search for knowledge, understanding, and mystery. He had given up much in his life over time, until he found himself with nothing more than ash, holding onto petty power and squabbles when none of that mattered. What had happened to him over so many years, that he had lost his true joy in life without even realizing it?
He could not—and would not—do the same to a kindred spirit. And so, Hexis began to work against Avalis. He had Keith build him a staff, filled with power cells already primed to a near super-critical state. When the moment came, Hexis handed off one final trinket to Keith, the mark of a warlock in full. A trinket that should have held Avalis’s tracking device. Should have, but did not.
The real trinket was kept by Hexis as he waited for another convoy to depart far off, at a much later time. He would do so to buy as much time as possible for the young heroes venturing further back down.
With one final act of defiance to his own order as well, Hexis gave Keith one last written manual. A tome of knowledge he had spent days of his life writing out. The full history of the occult, as collected by all warlock guilds. And deeper within, encrypted and protected… more.
As soon as his mission was complete, Hexis fled from Avalis’s sight, seeking safety among the imperial fortresses. And knowing he had very much doomed his life with his choice. Avalis was a Feather, and their kind did not ever forgive betrayal.
He was unfortunately proved correct, as the Feather tracked him down, half-repaired but held and carried by To’Orda. There was a confrontation, but even with Hexis’s great powers, the man was unable to defeat a Feather by himself, let alone two.
Caught like an insect and questioned, Hexis revealed to Avalis how the Feather’s careful schemes had failed, then detonated the staff his apprentice had given him.
His final stand and sacrifice dealt a great blow to the already crippled To’Avalis, who was now even further behind on his repairs, giving Keith and the others enough time to slip fully underground without notice…
BOOK 6:
Prepared as he can be with Tenisent’s grueling gauntlet and armed with Hexis’s final gift of knowledge, Keith joins the expedition in search of the Division Stone, led by Abraxas – the first machine turncoat.
The expedition is handpicked among the most loyal and elite knights to Keith’s cause: The Winterscar knights themselves, with Captain Sagrius as the second in command next to Tenisent Winterscar.
The journey underground among the first strata was night and day different from Keith’s first venture into that layer. The tech, skills and knights were equipped to handle threats all the way down the layers of the world, they found little to no resistance anymore.
Among the way, Keith spent each night studying Hexis’s final tome of knowledge. History and philosophy gathered by the warlocks. But it felt like there would be more to this tome. Something hidden inside. The answers eluded him, and he was equally unaware that this tome was the last he would see of his old master.
Among the trip, the group ran into traders. Led by a merchant lord named Reginald Quath, they learned of current events after Capra’nor was evacuated and the power vacuum left behind. Equally morbid, they learn more about the current generation of Deathless – the ones picked randomly from anyone. Women, children, elderly, corrupt or noble, it matters not to this generation. All were picked and all kept their old memories.
The ramifications of this change were drastic. Overnight, the noble deathless were suddenly seen as a scourge that had to be handled. Cities rounded up new Deathless and conscripted them into police or armed forces, making use of their new abilities and training them from the start, before they grew into tyrants that could threaten the city itself. Criminal organizations equally searched to tear the fledgling demi-gods for their own, for the same reasons.
This led many of the new Deathless to hide among the cities, searching for their own new purpose or refusing their new destiny. To v, it led to a new market: Smuggling Deathless out of their cities, out to somewhere safer. If only he could find such a place that would be safe at all.
And after discussing with the Winterscars, Quath realizes that safe paradise was none other than the surface clan Altosk. Under the banner of Clan Lord Atius, a well known and respected veteran Deathless. He would certainly be able to teach the new generation how to come to their own power, teach right from wrong, or allow them the freedom they sought.
Departing amicably from the merchants, the group continues on, following Abraxas’s cryptic guidance. Among the travel, he lets slip some information: His main goal from the mites had been to bring the miteseeker and the human Keith together. It was important, but unexplained.
Knowing it to function like a mite lantern would, the critical item that would let a human speak to the mites directly – and that To’Wrathh was searching for a mitespeaker for more guidance on what the mites intended with the prophesy, he realizes why the mites had been so adamant about him having the lantern: They wanted him to become the mitespeaker To’Wrathh needed.
And they’d made their decision the moment he’d fought against To’Aacar, during the moment he touched on infinity itself and did not go mad.
Answers did not come back from Abraxas, the elusive machine deciding to vanish. And perhaps for a reason. That night, Relinquished decided to pay To’Wrathh a visit directly.
The wayward Fether believed Mother to be bringing news of To’Aacar’s death. Instead, she’d brought news of To’Aacar – in that he had returned. Alive.
The idea was impossible. He had been killed, his soul divided into two. And his body was then seized by the imperials, to be transported in its broken state to the closest fortress for study, where it would never be found again.
Somehow it had both been freeded and repaired enough for To’Aacar to return, likely not the same they had fought, but a newly born variation.
Within the audience sphere, To’Wrathh watched as her old mentor reappeared. But instead of speaking the truth that would condem To’Wrathh to death, this new To’Aacar had a different tale to tell.
One of Keith being a Deathless that had killed him, killed To’Sefit, and even permanently killed one other Feather sent to investigate him: To’Avalis.
And the fight she’d had with To’Aacar had been completely modified – with Kidra taking her place, fighting against To’Aacar and nearly losing until Keith arrived to slay him once and for all.
And here, this new To’Aacar made a case that the blade used by Keith was used to slay To’Avalis.
It was then that To’Wrathh realized the truth: This wasn’t To’Aacar returned. This was To’Avalis, hiding within the dead shell of her mentor. Having nowhere to go after Tenisent stole his own shell, To’Avalis searched for the next possible option.
And now he was pretending to be the old second generation Feather, returned to Mother’s service.
A game of deception had started. If To’Wrathh exposed To’Avalis as a dead Feather that stole another, Mother would certainly smite him for both failing his task and then dying to a human. To’Sefit as well. But he would equally reveal her as a turncoat, and Mother would smite her as well. Both held information that would kill the other. It would be mutually assured destruction.
To’Sefit was equally wrapped in the conspiracy, having been killed by Keith, a simple human. She would be cast down as defective.
The only Feather among the trio that had nothing to lose and no reason to be hunted by the Pale Lady was To’Orda, but the massive Feather seemed to care for nothing at all and had been somehow convinced by To’Avalis and To’Sefit to keep his silence.
And in that truce, To’Wrathh realized if she didn’t act in some way, To’Avalis would get Mother’s blessing in hunting down and slaughtering Keith directly. She needed to put a stop to that.
Abusing Relinquished’s blindspot to dramatics, To’Wrathh hatches a brilliant desperate plan: Tell the Pale Lady that the best way to break a Deathless wasn’t simply driving them down to insanity, but instead betrayal. And dragging out all her knowledge of human romance novels, she ends with a warped plan: Seduce the human Keith, make him believe peace between humans and machines could be done, and then crush his heart.
Doing so would require the other Feathers to leave her and Keith alone for her new ‘plot’ to work. Playing off what was actually happening as if it were a play instead.
It is enough. Relinquished allows it, finding the idea of betrayal fascinating, and dismisses To’Avalis and the other Feathers for good. Telling them they are no longer needed.
The meeting ends, and To’Wrathh returns to the camp with the news. Of course, this now means she has ample reasons to ‘Seduce’ Keith, so that they can record and send video evidence of her plot. She’ll splice out older footage, bundle it all together and have a neat timeline to sent to Mother.
All that’s missing is the following romantic tension. To’Wrathh was determined to have her cake, and eat it.
And speaking of food, that night featured another stranger appearing: Yrob. The machine runner had been called up by Abraxas, as a better source of immediate information. In exchange, he’d be able to have his cooking attempts tested in real time by To’Wrathh. A good deal as he’d call it.
With him comes news of a small village being constructed deep into machine territory, without the protection of a pillar heart. As for who these audacious humans were that felt safe enough to do such a wild thing?
Tamery. And To’Wrathh’s Chosen. Those who had seen the Feather Warlord’s own government, and believed in it deeply. Enough so to outright move with To’Wrathh’s own machine army, the remnants who had once inhabited the city side by side with the humans.
It is nearby, and the idea of visiting her people to check in on them appealed greatly to To’Wrathh. And would give her some time to forge new memories of ‘seducing’ Keith in order to protect her case with the pale lady.
With the new detour set and Yrob leading the way, the group marches out. But what they find at the destination is not a village at peace - but one under siege.
A small army of Deathless had arrived with two leaders at the head. Lionheart, an ancient Deathless from prior generations who’d returned to the upper stratas in order to find new Deathless to take under his wing. And Drakonis, a new generation Deathless. A tower guard and police officer who’d been awoken as a new Deathless at Capra’Nor - and hid those powers and nature.
When To’Wrathh had swept through the city defenses, it had been as bloodless as she could make it. But some casualties had to happen in war, and that cost had been disproportional to Drakonis. Himself, and all his squad had been assassinated during the fight at the fortress, done by the Chosen infiltrators To’Wrathh had sent earlier into the defenses. There had been no chance of a fight, and the only warnings had been To’Wrathh demanding surrender ahead of time with a promise of life for those who did.
Outraged at the assassination - what he’d considered cowardice - and deeply disgusted with his own for hiding his powers until it was too late, Drakonis fully embraced his new nature, and set out to bring a small army of other Deathless to defend Capra’Nor. He left during the full siege, meeting Lionheart and crafting a deal with the old Deathless: Assistance for his cause, help finding others, and once his mortal affairs had been sorted he would follow Lionheart down under to continue the fight against machine kind.
Charismatic enough, he traveled from city to city, gathering all the hiding new Deathless under his banner, with Lionheart to teach and train all of them. When he returned, he expected to find his city under siege. What he hadn’t expected was for the entire fight to have been over.
To’Wrathh’s strategy of breaking the city from within had instantly won her the war, almost a day after Drakonis had left. He’d never seen her government style, never seen the impact it had on the people there, and never saw a better life the ‘Warlord of Capra’Nor’ had granted.
What he did find were the ruins of Capra’Nor, abandoned. The people scattered off into the winds, and one small village of the very betrayers and enemies that had destroyed his home city and murdered his friends.
He went on the warpath, and all reasons offered by the Chosen fell on deaf ears as lies and attempts to buy time. If the Chosen were given time to entrench, they would remain unchallenged. But if they were attacked this early just as they began to settle, Drakonis saw a chance of victory. Peace was nearly impossible with such a window of time.
Until Keith, the Warlord of Capra’Nor herself, a stolen Feather piloted by the world’s greatest swordsman, and a dozen elite surface knights all capable of using the occult, arrived on the doorsteps of the city.
They met against Drakonis’s army of Deathless and utterly wiped them out of existence. Even Lionheart, an expert warrior with centuries under his belt, could not fight Tenisent Winterscar one on one for longer than a few minutes.
Wiped out, the Deathless planned to rally, but the clan knights gave chase, separating into two groups. One would go after the Deathless where they regenerated. While To’Wrathh would remain at her new city, preparing to protect it from the possible counterattack that may happen while the main force was away.
The hunt continued, and once more the Deathless attempted to rally into a fight against the Winterscars. This time, prepared for the nearly impossible task. Drakonis hatched a plan, an attempt to draw as many knights away from the city as possible while predictably a counter insurgent attack hit.
To’Wrathh foiled that easily by herself. But on the frontlines, Keith took a greedy approach. He attempted to board the enemy airspeeder, piloted by Drakonis. With that weapon of war taken over, the Winterscars would be able to move hard on the offense without fear of larger weapons.
Unfortunately, Drakonis had been expecting that. The only disappointment had been the number of knights boarding his war frigate: Just Keith.
Despite that, Drakonis believed the leader of this entire expedition was Keith, and if taking him out of the picture was all he could do, he considered it justice served. He piloted the airspeeder off the battlefield, down into a hole in the world, and zipped it to a known location: A one-way portal. This was a well known landsite on the second strata, but nobody had ever come out the other end.
Drakonis would be stuck with Keith wherever it went, and he considered this final act and use of his life worthwhile enough.
During the fight inside the tumbling airspeeder, Keith quickly disarms and defeats Drakonis, while the airspeeder crashes into the new unknown strata. Something deep down underground.
Within this new biome, cut off from all others, Keith and Drakonis have to discuss like civilized people and come to a compromise. It works, and Keith is able to convince Drakonis that peace really is an option between the machines and humans – especially To’Wrathh.
With negotiations completed, the two start working together to find a way back home.
But the biome they’ve landed on is strange, and contains far more than odd mite architecture. Their first task leads them back to their crashed airspeeder, where they recover power cells for the journey, and find the airspeeder ransacked by wild animals.
All their gear and items are equally scattered around by the same creatures. Tracking them down, they find feral animals all working together, prey and predator, working eerily together.
Defeating a few seems to send a message to the rest, where they abandon their attempts at taking their gear and items, a move that signals an odd understanding and intelligence.
