The world vibrated with aether. Nearly choking him as it replaced even the air around him. His eyes shot open as nearly every possible alarm Helmforað had blared to life. He was already up as Eliska struggled to her own feet.
They had both known this day was coming. The day the world would crumble around them. The day Nuriel would find them. It was something everyone hoped would never happen, but knew deep down it would. Though it had been nearly twenty-five years it was still too soon.
Combat suits sprang from dimensional storage necklaces that had all of the essentials. Their bodies reinforced with aethertech had kept them at their prime and now with the armor they were ready for anything. The Angel Core Isin had stolen from Nuriel all those years ago hovered over his shoulder.
With the suits active he and his wife could breathe easier. Facility venting should remove the dangerous levels of aether from the air soon enough. But they needed to be clear headed to make important decisions right now.
"Ulie, Give me an update!" Isin commanded. "What is going on?
Ulie, the facility's central aetheric program, spoke through his suit and patched in Eliska as well.
"Query: There has been an attack at the upper level facility." Ulie said in its normal monotone. "Two R-01 Seraph units are detected and emergency facility shutdown is initiated. S series units are engaging. Currently there are ten confirmed casualties. Three spatial gates have been detected around the facility. Aetheric signature identified as a match to Angelic Entity Nuriel Acavari Ni, Lightbearer of the 33rd Lesser Chorus."
"How can she be here with the storm?" Isin asked.
"Query: Nuriel herself has not been detected."
"Where are Edita and Mihr?" Eliska asked.
"Query: Citizen Edita of Isin on 3rd street currently en route to this location. Citizen Mihr of Isin is currently at address 17 West Avenue."
"Both of them are in the city, good." Eliska said.
"Start the evacuation order. Code Epsilon 4-57. If she knows where we are it is not safe here anymore." Isin said.
It had been a long time since he had regained his position on the council. Although he had been relegated to the ceremonial role of High Councilmen. It was to the dismay of many of his detractors, but the simple fact that people had to become his disciples to use aether meant that he was key to humanity's survival whether they wanted him in the position or not. Normally he stayed out of the powerplays of the others, but in times of crisis he would be the one in control.
As soon as he gave the order Ulie's voice played over the intercom throughout the entire city.
"This is not a drill. By order of High Councilman Isin, all citizens of Extraction Site Alpha-12 are to head to evacuation points."
"We have to go, Eliska." Isin said. "I hope we are ready.
***
The shuttle came to a smooth stop. Aurelius was the first out sword and shield raised. In a moment he was moving too fast for Tanisha to keep track so she turned her attention to her minimap looking out for any hostiles. So far the area looked clear.
She stepped out as well then used Arcane Shift to appear on top of the shuttle's smooth roof to get a better view. There were many other shuttles at a dock mirroring the one they had left. Though this side was in significantly better shape. No signs of combat at all. She jumped back down, at the same time Aurelius had returned from his initial scouting.
"Everything is clear so far," he said. "Looks like this is where your friends entered from. There is some signs of the gun wielding golems–"
"Androids." Tanisha corrected.
"Whatever," Aurelius waved it off. "There are a couple of scraps left from a fight the gun arms were removed though. Think they took them."
"They are pretty interesting." Tanisha said. "I have a couple of them as souvenirs. Well, Signe also wanted some as well."
"How far did you go into the facility?" Fuyumi asked.
"Through a few of the blast doors. They were all torn open from the outside like the one from the other station." Didn't run into anything dangerous. But the chaotic mana is definitely leaking in from further ahead."
"That means it's the way out." Tanisha said.
"It also means monsters." Fuyumi said.
"Right." Tanisha said more to herself than anyone else. "So we wait?"
"Yeah, I think so. Assuming we don't suddenly explode I think we should wait here at least until Bjorn is healed. Having another combatant if something comes up would be better than one of us having to carry him and…uh." His eyes fell on Fuyumi who just put a cup of tea to her lips.
"The poor crippled ghostborn?" Fuyumi asked pointedly.
"I wasn't going to say that." Aurelius defended himself.
"I would have." Tanisha chuckled.
"Well, I think it is a good idea. You all get in here and get comfortable." Fuyumi said.
"I will keep watch first." Aurelius said.
"Suit yourself." Fuyumi said. "Tanisha care to have a drink with me? Nonalcoholic of course unless you want something stronger."
***
Tanisha woke up with a loud yawn and an embarrassing amount of drool she quickly wiped from the corner of her mouth. Aurelius was shaking her awake and she quickly snapped to attention her armor appeared around her and she looked around for enemies.
"Woah, no one's attacking, just your shift. I need to sit down for a while." Aurelius said with a yawn. "Haven't seen anything so far."
Tanisha nodded and looked down at Bjorn, his wounds were still there but the partially severed neck had fully reattached. Scales were growing in leaving only a faint line that he nearly lost the limb. He was still missing one of his heads but his breathing was no longer labbered.
"That's a good sign." Tanisha said in relief.
"The fact that the world hasn't exploded?" Aurelius said.
Tanisha froze for a moment at the implication. It meant either the battle was still going on even several hours later or her friends won. Somehow they stopped the Great Serpent and the world was one less existential crisis from annihilation.
"Oh, yeah that too!" Tanisha said hiding the fact she was more worried about Bjorn than the world. "Guess that means they won."
"It means we won." Aurelius said then found a seat. "Anything happens, call for me."
"You got it, Speedy." Tanisha said with an exaggerated salute.
Aurelius rolled his eyes. "Stand down officer."
She stepped out of the shuttle looking area over one good sweep. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was a large dock with six other identical shuttles. The place felt liminal and kind of unsettling like it wasn't meant for you to just hang around.
Tanisha never really felt a connection to this place the same way Fuyumi or Aurelius had. It was one of the origin points of humanity and their religion but she wasn't human. From the things Laxy and Ivoi had told them about this place it seemed like humans were at war with their Trues. A war they nearly lost. She hoped that The Forest Father wasn't as cruel. She may not worship him or consider herself a wendigo anymore, still Yuhia was her home and the wendigo was her origin.
She had tried to repress the thoughts on the binding that used to be on her soul before she became connected to Bjorn. It was something she supposed all wendigo had which connected them directly to Odin. She didn't know if it was some kind of bond of servitude or maybe how he could bless those he chose like a tether to his power. She hoped it was the latter, but something told her there was more to having a soul connected than that.
Tanisha shook the thoughts from her head, she was on guard duty and she also wanted to explore the station a bit. She reached for her staff which always floated around her even without any input from her to the point she could forget it was even there. Of course the appearance was a shell; it was actually the Angel Core Bjorn had created for her.
She walked around the other shuttles for a while. There wasn't any difference from them and the one they arrived on. All and all the station was immaculate. She walked to one of the stairwells going upward. The door that was ripped open from the outside like Aurelius had said. It didn't look to be as high a quality as the ones inside Helmforað proper. As she knelt down to inspect the splintered metal it looked like blue steel plated orichalcum. Not the platinum looking metal most of the blast doors in the facility were made from.
Orichalcum was better at mana conductivity than blue steel. From her brief investigation it looked like it also was more resistant to corrupted mana. The plating meant something, maybe a corrosion resistance or added strength. Neither material was better than what they saw inside the facility up until this point. Maybe this location was built much later and with inferior material to cut costs or usage.
She looked out to the stairwell going up and decided she would have a look.
[Warning: Corruption of Creation Detected]
The level of the corruption was climbing but nothing her suit or aura couldn't deal with. The upper level was just a larger space. There were several doors, all of them were open but seemed to go to different locations within the facility. She wasn't the best at reading the language but she saw the words for medical ward, cafeteria and other things she didn't understand. One door was torn open from the outside and she assumed that was the way to the exit. She wasn't willing to go any further without her team.
She turned to leave when she heard a sound coming from the other side of the destroyed portal. It was chittering and clicks not like the normal androids that she had been fighting for nearly three years.
[Fourth Activation Initiated: System Overclocked - Aether Draw Battery]
Her bardiche manifested in her hand rose gold electricity sparking from her Walking Armory. The sound of the electricity and even the illumination was muted to the point it looked almost like a normal weapon to not give away her position. Electrokinesis gave her total control of her own arcane electricity.
The sound of footsteps and the continued chatter made her wary that it was some kind of monster that had made its way down. Then a foot stepped through, it was clawed and scaly. Rust colored feathers followed soon after, then thick leather clothing. Tanisha blinked at the being cautiously looking around.
They were short about the size of a goblin covered in red plumage. Their clothing was functional and colorful, looking like an adventurer exploring ruins. They stood on digitigrade legs and had a large backpack full of scraps likely from around the earlier parts of the facility. They stopped to pick up more of the metal scraps from the door, throwing off their bag and stuffing the metal into it.
A second one cautiously poked their head through. This one was a vibrant green that shimmered under the light like gems. They had on a matching outfit and unlike the first, was more interested in looking around than at the precious metal they had just found. Their eyes found Tanisha instantly. She wasn't hiding and was standing out in the open. The fact the first didn't see her was just because they were more interested in the metal.
Rapid chatter erupted as they got the attention of the first. It sounded like a language Tanisha had never heard. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, they weren't monsters but she had never seen their species before. Judging by their equipment they were scavenging. Which meant a settlement was likely close by. It also meant the corruption levels outside shouldn't be a problem. Which was good news as that meant the world hadn't ended.
Identify
Name: Akair of the Stoneswallow Clan
Species: Kobold
Level: 15
Vocation: Arcanist
Identify
Name: Haika of the Stoneswallow Clan
Species: Kobold
Level:16
Vocation: Arcanist
Kobold sounded familiar, she had heard Aurelius mention them before. Though she couldn't remember in what context. She thinks they were a people that lived in small communities outside of the Force Isles. At their level they weren't a threat unless they had some serious magic weapon tucked away somewhere.
"Hello," Tanisha said cautiously. "Can you understand me? I mean you no harm as long as you don't attack me."
The green kobold, Haika, grabbed the red kobold, Akair, by the hand and they both ran without answering. They were in such a rush that Akair didn't have time to collect her bag. She watched on her mini map as the two vanished into unmapped sections of the facility.
"Geuss I am not making any friends." Tanisha shrugged.
The abandoned bag was full of metal and android parts. She remembered Aurelius saying there were some destroyed androids at higher levels. Which gave Tanisha more credence that the little feathered people came from the surface. She didn't see anything harmful in the bag and had no need for either the items or the bag itself so she left it.
She was tempted to go and investigate further but she was on patrol not adventurer duty. She returned to the shuttle and found everyone still sleeping silently inside. She looked over Bjorn to see how his healing was going. She was surprised to see not only had he fully healed his wounds and regrown his missing head, but was he also the proud owner of a fifth head.
The fact that he had five heads now was both interesting and concerning. His mother had presumably a thousand heads but if that was the case then she had to lose a head five hundred times. Tanisha felt bad that Bjorn had lost any of his head. Most familiars die after decapitation yet she let it happen to her precious boy multiple times now.
She didn't spend much time in the shuttle and instead went back to the stairwell. Now that she knew they weren't alone in the facility she wanted to be more vigilant in case things escalated.