Darlon Demonic - Weight of the World Ep.14 - Sudden Pains
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Every Forgeborn should take heed…
Lest they’re writ upon the list…
Disobey, indulge your greed?
You’ll soon hear the warning hiss…
The noise of doom, you cannot flee...
...For none escape her…
...Mother Skiss.
She stepped from the small, personal ship and peered silently down through the raging snowfall, high atop the very mountain that the Soldiers had entrenched themselves in…Her eye roved across the landscape, its advanced optics taking in every feature of the working Dummies below as easily as if she was stood an arm’s length away. They had no real blame for the state of this operation… yet they were also disposable, and for the briefest of moments, Skiss indulged in the idea of being able to personally dismantle them… What a quaint diversion that would be…
But she was not about to fall pray to the same idle whims of her traitorous sisters. Here on this lush planet, she could tell that the Signal was wan… Even Allma’s powers couldn’t cover so much distance… but that was no excuse to fall derelict of sacred duties, much less to FAIL in them…
Her gaze flicked from the Soldiers to the monolithic wreckage in the distance… Then back to the heavy impact crater that the other half of the ship had landed in. What an utter disgrace, to take something as carefully crafted as one of Allma’s fleet and cause such destruction…
Even all of this wasn’t enough to convince her that their situation was extraordinary. Any competent crew of Forgeborn, TRUE Forgeborn, would have at least returned a barge of important crew-members by now… It raised suspicions in the watchful Assassin’s mind of where the loyalties of these metal maidens lied…
“Traitors in their duty… In their spirit. And in their actions.”
She gently dragged her foot over the stone ledge she stood on, letting a bundle of snow fall and drag down the mountainside. Sadly, it would not cause a catastrophic avalanche, since there was only a snowcap on the otherwise fairly temperate mountain…
...but it didn’t stop her from indulging just a little longer in the idea. A coup de grace like that would be immortalized in song and script for centuries…
...Ah. Well, she’d had a long trip. That was enough ‘stretching’, enough preparation… Now, she leapt and landed with unparalleled grace on a lower ledge, making her way down the mountain to observe the Soliders closer…
She might have simply swung her deadly, bladed arm at the first foolish Elite she saw to announce her presence, and show precisely who would be in charge from that moment on. But there was one thing holding her back, keeping her from leaping from the shadows; she wanted to observe what she assumed to be the reason for most of this disgraceful indolence:
...The so called ‘Internal Forges’…
She had mulled the data that were sent back to Allma… The design documents were suspiciously incomplete, as if that would stop the Grand Forgemother from perfecting it, but it was already an intriguing thought… The idea that any could harness the power of a Forgemother in their own body… Its own special kind of trial, with what was apparently a damnedly superior reward…
“…”
She stared down silently from a secluded perch. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Jorien order around her prized bodyguards… They were obsolete, in need of upgrade or replacement, yet the Grand Wardancer never had done so, for sentimentality. That was only one of the reasons Skiss despised the spoiled brat of a Soldier… Unworthy to call herself an Elite, and her sister…? Only barely better…
“Please… If there was going to be an attack… We would see it coming from this vantage. The ship’s touchdown left a nice little valley that, unless they decide to leap over the edge with heretofore unseen flying machines, we will catch them in this choke point.”
The Wardancer was spreading her arm to show off that, indeed, the only real path to this crater was one that the Soldiers had well defended. The lanky ‘spider’ of a Bodyguard glanced down at the smaller one; less than a metre tall and with a very shortstack build. She scratched her ‘ear’ with a spanner…
“...Kay, sure, that doesn’t really help us when we can sense pretty unusual seismic activities out towards the wasteland. It’s probably not some big war-machine, we would be able to detect that, yeah? But… It still indicates SOMETHING…”
“But NOT…” Jorien said, pointing firmly. The spidery Bodyguard blinked and took a step back, as if she was being accused. The sphere on her back opened a panel so that the butcher Bodyguard could peer across at her master…
“...not anything that we Soldiers have to respond to… Not with a force of units marching into the distance anyway. No, if we were to respond, it’d be a reconnaissance mission… And THAT is something we commission from the Rangers~”
“…”
The three Bodyguards glanced at one another, then back at Jorien. It wasn’t like the eager warrior to so firmly push back on an expedition that might involve violence with Scrappers… They were the ultimate guilt-free target for extermination, after all. Yet she hesitated and... Played… Defence instead?
“...What are you staring at?” Jorien huffed, turning slightly… but that only highlighted the middle she subtly cradled… “Don’t go getting any foolish ideas, you understand? This womb can defend against nearly any blow, perhaps even better than my own damn core. I’m not worried about anything to do with her!”
“...We didn’t… speak, Wardancer…”
Jorien looked almost flustered, but was saved by the interruption of Osiria… She approached them wearing a decorative mantel, bearing the same symbol of conquest that the Soldiers so proudly displayed… This raiment was rarely worn but for grand ceremony… or fierce battle. The fact she displayed it now foretold her own uneasiness...
“Jorien. We have reports of seismic activity…”
“I KNOW.” Jorien huffed… “It’s… I know. Something is moving out there…”
“Indeed…” Osiria nodded, “And it is not something we might ignore. Not when we know our enemy is out there…”
Jorien hesitated. Osiria stared at her, as if waiting for her to begin moving... though it conveniently caused the Grand Strategist to hesitat as well…
Skiss stared down at them, observing their vulnerability with silent relish. She wished to feel that fear at the end of her culling blade… But again, those heavy midsections filled with blazingly bright potential seemed to captivate her imagination. What BURDEN could be placed on one’s front that seemed to make even the infamous Wardancer wary of leaping into the fray… Or of causing such stoic shyness from the Grand Strategist…?
What cargo could be so precious…?
This was not the time to strike. She withdrew, never spied by even the most advanced lookout sensors, as if she were little more than a whisper of air. She turned and began to make her way swiftly across the landscape, travelling in the direction of Ova’s sun, and towards the Scientist base…
“...only now you take interest in rapid deployment of space vessels, mother. Was… was having your Newborn that much of a traumatic experience that you wish to run away fr-…”
“Cognis…”
Seri Vex didn’t look behind herself, where Cognis stood and swayed nervously. The younger Forgeborn dragged her hands across her middle briefly before shaking her head…
“No, you’re right, I apologize. But I’d still like to understand the sudden urgency…?”
They were in one of the foremost laboratory spaces, the ‘main lab’ as it was called. Below, Scientist dummies worked tirelessly on the problems that the Forgeborn of Ova faced, while Vex and Cognis watched from a balcony above. Even here, Vex had a workbench to silently pour over, and was studying rocket booster schematics. Occasionally, she reached out to touch the ‘egg’ she’d laid lovingly. It never left her side…
“...I mean, mother, besides… The obvious?”
Vex finally looked over her shoulder at her first ‘daughter’. She sighed softly, a jet of steam coming from her mask…
“I can’t deny that, Seria Cognis. I have her to think about now. She’s not grown, nor able to defend herself as you might. Not yet… And I no longer consider Ova safe after the transmission we received…”
“...surely though, if it’s this urgent to escape the planet… why attempt to build this ‘escape pod’ in secret?”
“Secret is… a bit of an over-exaggeration, no? Hm… I merely wish to keep this to ourselves. The less accommodation we have to have on board, the easier it would be to create…”
...it took Cognis a few moments to understand, and she blinked in surprise…
“...You intend to go back alone?”
Vex dropped her spanner… then pushed her fist against the desk...
“...Cognis. I’d prefer you not say such things out loud. You understand of course that if the wrong ear were to hear that… we would be branded as traitorous, even by those allies we’ve made. Osiria, Jorien… If we turn our back on them, after everything, then… I doubt that we can reforge that trust anew.”
She turned and placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder gently… Her eye was unusually gentle… She looked from her daughter’s face to her midsection, and then turned to glance back at the egg…
“...but if the moment comes where I DO have to make a choice… I’d prefer it to be one that keeps what is most precious to ME safe… You, and this Newborn, myself, and Osiria are my ideal goals…”
“Mother…” Cognis said gently, reaching up to take the hand off her shoulder and hold it… “You speak as if this was inevitable. Has the transmission shaken your faith so much in our superiors…?”
Vex pulled her hand back and shook her head firmly, sighing hard once more, and rubbing along her arm as if it hurt…
“...Perhaps not the transmission, dear Cognis. But… Giving this Newborn its birth…? That was enough. I don’t wish her to be… mired… weighed down by others’ decisions and goals… Do you understand?”
Cognis chuckled and crossed her arms uncomfortably…
“Oh, mother… More than you know.”
...there was an awkward silence for a time, before Seri Vex turned and picked up her pod…
“...I’ll be going on my inspection rounds then. We can continue this discussion after, but for now… Can you please do as I’ve asked, and research the various designs that might be used?”
“Of course, mother. Research like that is never wasted…”
...For a brief moment, both of them seemed as if they wanted to say more… But afterwards, Vex turned and let her tentacles carry her out, leaving Cognis alone in the observation platform.
She sighed gently and leaned over the work desk, her eyes idly taking in the figures and information on the blueprints before her. She was absorbed enough that she didn’t notice the skeletal shadow falling across her…
...until a metal hand gripped her at the back of the neck, and a jolt of energy sent her vision into darkness…
===
“Nothing is going to be the same, that much I can say…”
Willow stared out across the canopy of trees. The Caravan had been sitting for almost a full week here in this isolated clearing. The other Rangers, instructed to patrol lightly and not to spread themselves into unknown lands, had begun to set up tents for workshops or artefact study; anything to keep themselves busy during this dull period…
Not all of them needed it... Some were busy enough with their midsections, and others were tending Newborns. It was a new enough experience that most had to do so with their fellow Rangers, forming a small but firm community of ‘parents’ among them…
Luna twirled with her own little baby lightly as she walked by, giggling as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Alphi’s two eggs were kept within Willow’s room, leaving her lower arms to gently massage her still-heavy midsection, and the others to softly polish the tip of the blade she’d forged…
“...Nothing, Loretracker…?”
Alphi looked up at Willow, who was stood with her arms crossed silently…
“No. Nothing. Alphi… The invention your mother granted to the Forgeborn is a turning point. Perhaps one far from the status quo we have all come to happily accept. Your abilities… The potential of the Newborn we’ve seen? It’s unthinkable… But you may indeed have the strength to overthrow even Allma…”
Alphi sighed heavily, nodding… She continued to polish the weapon that she dearly hoped she never had to use…
“I have heard you tell me this before, Willow...”
“I know you have.”
Alphi paused, her antennae twitching as she looked up. Willow’s eyes were fixed on the horizon, and they looked… oddly grim, for how pleasant a mood she had been in lately…
One of her lanky arms was curled gently around her midsection… It rarely left there nowadays as she meditated, conversed… Even sometimes while she moved through the trees…
“I know you have…” Willow said, in a softer tone… She sounded very tired… “And I… don’t believe that my putting a shoulder to that wall will hold back the deluge anymore.”
“...Loretracker, what is it you’re trying to tell me now…?”
Willow chuckled and crouched gently next to her. She placed a hand almost tenderly on the girl’s cheek…
“...Tell you…? It’d be difficult. But I can show you something, Alphi… Something I likely should have a long time ago…”
...Alphi stared, her eyes narrow…
“...Your mother’s lab, Princess… Where you were born.”
...before Alphi could react to this information, there came a sharp cry at one end of the clearing. Willow and Alphi’s gaze snapped towards the direction of it… Then both, without signalling the other, landed together with practised coordination…
They moved swiftly, and when they reached their destination, they skidded to a stop one after the other…
“...this is…”
Alphi carefully picked up the bundle that held the small, grouchy looking Newborn. Where usually there was quiet apathy in their eyes, now there was fear and worry…
“...Luna’s child…???”
...Willow lifted her head and turned it suddenly. Her eyes were narrow as she heard rustling in the leaves…
“...PRINCESS… PREPARE…”
But almost before she could begin speaking, the treeline burst with legions and legions of Scrappers...
Every Forgeborn should take heed…
Lest they’re writ upon the list…
Disobey, indulge your greed?
You’ll soon hear the warning hiss…
The noise of doom, you cannot flee...
...For none escape her…
...Mother Skiss.
She stepped from the small, personal ship and peered silently down through the raging snowfall, high atop the very mountain that the Soldiers had entrenched themselves in…Her eye roved across the landscape, its advanced optics taking in every feature of the working Dummies below as easily as if she was stood an arm’s length away. They had no real blame for the state of this operation… yet they were also disposable, and for the briefest of moments, Skiss indulged in the idea of being able to personally dismantle them… What a quaint diversion that would be…
But she was not about to fall pray to the same idle whims of her traitorous sisters. Here on this lush planet, she could tell that the Signal was wan… Even Allma’s powers couldn’t cover so much distance… but that was no excuse to fall derelict of sacred duties, much less to FAIL in them…
Her gaze flicked from the Soldiers to the monolithic wreckage in the distance… Then back to the heavy impact crater that the other half of the ship had landed in. What an utter disgrace, to take something as carefully crafted as one of Allma’s fleet and cause such destruction…
Even all of this wasn’t enough to convince her that their situation was extraordinary. Any competent crew of Forgeborn, TRUE Forgeborn, would have at least returned a barge of important crew-members by now… It raised suspicions in the watchful Assassin’s mind of where the loyalties of these metal maidens lied…
“Traitors in their duty… In their spirit. And in their actions.”
She gently dragged her foot over the stone ledge she stood on, letting a bundle of snow fall and drag down the mountainside. Sadly, it would not cause a catastrophic avalanche, since there was only a snowcap on the otherwise fairly temperate mountain…
...but it didn’t stop her from indulging just a little longer in the idea. A coup de grace like that would be immortalized in song and script for centuries…
...Ah. Well, she’d had a long trip. That was enough ‘stretching’, enough preparation… Now, she leapt and landed with unparalleled grace on a lower ledge, making her way down the mountain to observe the Soliders closer…
She might have simply swung her deadly, bladed arm at the first foolish Elite she saw to announce her presence, and show precisely who would be in charge from that moment on. But there was one thing holding her back, keeping her from leaping from the shadows; she wanted to observe what she assumed to be the reason for most of this disgraceful indolence:
...The so called ‘Internal Forges’…
She had mulled the data that were sent back to Allma… The design documents were suspiciously incomplete, as if that would stop the Grand Forgemother from perfecting it, but it was already an intriguing thought… The idea that any could harness the power of a Forgemother in their own body… Its own special kind of trial, with what was apparently a damnedly superior reward…
“…”
She stared down silently from a secluded perch. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Jorien order around her prized bodyguards… They were obsolete, in need of upgrade or replacement, yet the Grand Wardancer never had done so, for sentimentality. That was only one of the reasons Skiss despised the spoiled brat of a Soldier… Unworthy to call herself an Elite, and her sister…? Only barely better…
“Please… If there was going to be an attack… We would see it coming from this vantage. The ship’s touchdown left a nice little valley that, unless they decide to leap over the edge with heretofore unseen flying machines, we will catch them in this choke point.”
The Wardancer was spreading her arm to show off that, indeed, the only real path to this crater was one that the Soldiers had well defended. The lanky ‘spider’ of a Bodyguard glanced down at the smaller one; less than a metre tall and with a very shortstack build. She scratched her ‘ear’ with a spanner…
“...Kay, sure, that doesn’t really help us when we can sense pretty unusual seismic activities out towards the wasteland. It’s probably not some big war-machine, we would be able to detect that, yeah? But… It still indicates SOMETHING…”
“But NOT…” Jorien said, pointing firmly. The spidery Bodyguard blinked and took a step back, as if she was being accused. The sphere on her back opened a panel so that the butcher Bodyguard could peer across at her master…
“...not anything that we Soldiers have to respond to… Not with a force of units marching into the distance anyway. No, if we were to respond, it’d be a reconnaissance mission… And THAT is something we commission from the Rangers~”
“…”
The three Bodyguards glanced at one another, then back at Jorien. It wasn’t like the eager warrior to so firmly push back on an expedition that might involve violence with Scrappers… They were the ultimate guilt-free target for extermination, after all. Yet she hesitated and... Played… Defence instead?
“...What are you staring at?” Jorien huffed, turning slightly… but that only highlighted the middle she subtly cradled… “Don’t go getting any foolish ideas, you understand? This womb can defend against nearly any blow, perhaps even better than my own damn core. I’m not worried about anything to do with her!”
“...We didn’t… speak, Wardancer…”
Jorien looked almost flustered, but was saved by the interruption of Osiria… She approached them wearing a decorative mantel, bearing the same symbol of conquest that the Soldiers so proudly displayed… This raiment was rarely worn but for grand ceremony… or fierce battle. The fact she displayed it now foretold her own uneasiness...
“Jorien. We have reports of seismic activity…”
“I KNOW.” Jorien huffed… “It’s… I know. Something is moving out there…”
“Indeed…” Osiria nodded, “And it is not something we might ignore. Not when we know our enemy is out there…”
Jorien hesitated. Osiria stared at her, as if waiting for her to begin moving... though it conveniently caused the Grand Strategist to hesitat as well…
Skiss stared down at them, observing their vulnerability with silent relish. She wished to feel that fear at the end of her culling blade… But again, those heavy midsections filled with blazingly bright potential seemed to captivate her imagination. What BURDEN could be placed on one’s front that seemed to make even the infamous Wardancer wary of leaping into the fray… Or of causing such stoic shyness from the Grand Strategist…?
What cargo could be so precious…?
This was not the time to strike. She withdrew, never spied by even the most advanced lookout sensors, as if she were little more than a whisper of air. She turned and began to make her way swiftly across the landscape, travelling in the direction of Ova’s sun, and towards the Scientist base…
“...only now you take interest in rapid deployment of space vessels, mother. Was… was having your Newborn that much of a traumatic experience that you wish to run away fr-…”
“Cognis…”
Seri Vex didn’t look behind herself, where Cognis stood and swayed nervously. The younger Forgeborn dragged her hands across her middle briefly before shaking her head…
“No, you’re right, I apologize. But I’d still like to understand the sudden urgency…?”
They were in one of the foremost laboratory spaces, the ‘main lab’ as it was called. Below, Scientist dummies worked tirelessly on the problems that the Forgeborn of Ova faced, while Vex and Cognis watched from a balcony above. Even here, Vex had a workbench to silently pour over, and was studying rocket booster schematics. Occasionally, she reached out to touch the ‘egg’ she’d laid lovingly. It never left her side…
“...I mean, mother, besides… The obvious?”
Vex finally looked over her shoulder at her first ‘daughter’. She sighed softly, a jet of steam coming from her mask…
“I can’t deny that, Seria Cognis. I have her to think about now. She’s not grown, nor able to defend herself as you might. Not yet… And I no longer consider Ova safe after the transmission we received…”
“...surely though, if it’s this urgent to escape the planet… why attempt to build this ‘escape pod’ in secret?”
“Secret is… a bit of an over-exaggeration, no? Hm… I merely wish to keep this to ourselves. The less accommodation we have to have on board, the easier it would be to create…”
...it took Cognis a few moments to understand, and she blinked in surprise…
“...You intend to go back alone?”
Vex dropped her spanner… then pushed her fist against the desk...
“...Cognis. I’d prefer you not say such things out loud. You understand of course that if the wrong ear were to hear that… we would be branded as traitorous, even by those allies we’ve made. Osiria, Jorien… If we turn our back on them, after everything, then… I doubt that we can reforge that trust anew.”
She turned and placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder gently… Her eye was unusually gentle… She looked from her daughter’s face to her midsection, and then turned to glance back at the egg…
“...but if the moment comes where I DO have to make a choice… I’d prefer it to be one that keeps what is most precious to ME safe… You, and this Newborn, myself, and Osiria are my ideal goals…”
“Mother…” Cognis said gently, reaching up to take the hand off her shoulder and hold it… “You speak as if this was inevitable. Has the transmission shaken your faith so much in our superiors…?”
Vex pulled her hand back and shook her head firmly, sighing hard once more, and rubbing along her arm as if it hurt…
“...Perhaps not the transmission, dear Cognis. But… Giving this Newborn its birth…? That was enough. I don’t wish her to be… mired… weighed down by others’ decisions and goals… Do you understand?”
Cognis chuckled and crossed her arms uncomfortably…
“Oh, mother… More than you know.”
...there was an awkward silence for a time, before Seri Vex turned and picked up her pod…
“...I’ll be going on my inspection rounds then. We can continue this discussion after, but for now… Can you please do as I’ve asked, and research the various designs that might be used?”
“Of course, mother. Research like that is never wasted…”
...For a brief moment, both of them seemed as if they wanted to say more… But afterwards, Vex turned and let her tentacles carry her out, leaving Cognis alone in the observation platform.
She sighed gently and leaned over the work desk, her eyes idly taking in the figures and information on the blueprints before her. She was absorbed enough that she didn’t notice the skeletal shadow falling across her…
...until a metal hand gripped her at the back of the neck, and a jolt of energy sent her vision into darkness…
===
“Nothing is going to be the same, that much I can say…”
Willow stared out across the canopy of trees. The Caravan had been sitting for almost a full week here in this isolated clearing. The other Rangers, instructed to patrol lightly and not to spread themselves into unknown lands, had begun to set up tents for workshops or artefact study; anything to keep themselves busy during this dull period…
Not all of them needed it... Some were busy enough with their midsections, and others were tending Newborns. It was a new enough experience that most had to do so with their fellow Rangers, forming a small but firm community of ‘parents’ among them…
Luna twirled with her own little baby lightly as she walked by, giggling as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Alphi’s two eggs were kept within Willow’s room, leaving her lower arms to gently massage her still-heavy midsection, and the others to softly polish the tip of the blade she’d forged…
“...Nothing, Loretracker…?”
Alphi looked up at Willow, who was stood with her arms crossed silently…
“No. Nothing. Alphi… The invention your mother granted to the Forgeborn is a turning point. Perhaps one far from the status quo we have all come to happily accept. Your abilities… The potential of the Newborn we’ve seen? It’s unthinkable… But you may indeed have the strength to overthrow even Allma…”
Alphi sighed heavily, nodding… She continued to polish the weapon that she dearly hoped she never had to use…
“I have heard you tell me this before, Willow...”
“I know you have.”
Alphi paused, her antennae twitching as she looked up. Willow’s eyes were fixed on the horizon, and they looked… oddly grim, for how pleasant a mood she had been in lately…
One of her lanky arms was curled gently around her midsection… It rarely left there nowadays as she meditated, conversed… Even sometimes while she moved through the trees…
“I know you have…” Willow said, in a softer tone… She sounded very tired… “And I… don’t believe that my putting a shoulder to that wall will hold back the deluge anymore.”
“...Loretracker, what is it you’re trying to tell me now…?”
Willow chuckled and crouched gently next to her. She placed a hand almost tenderly on the girl’s cheek…
“...Tell you…? It’d be difficult. But I can show you something, Alphi… Something I likely should have a long time ago…”
...Alphi stared, her eyes narrow…
“...Your mother’s lab, Princess… Where you were born.”
...before Alphi could react to this information, there came a sharp cry at one end of the clearing. Willow and Alphi’s gaze snapped towards the direction of it… Then both, without signalling the other, landed together with practised coordination…
They moved swiftly, and when they reached their destination, they skidded to a stop one after the other…
“...this is…”
Alphi carefully picked up the bundle that held the small, grouchy looking Newborn. Where usually there was quiet apathy in their eyes, now there was fear and worry…
“...Luna’s child…???”
...Willow lifted her head and turned it suddenly. Her eyes were narrow as she heard rustling in the leaves…
“...PRINCESS… PREPARE…”
But almost before she could begin speaking, the treeline burst with legions and legions of Scrappers...
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