Isin's Angel Core flared, shaping raw aether into a razor-thin beam that cleaved a rogue S-02 Sabre clean in half before it could strike down a fleeing woman. All of the androids in the facility had suddenly started attacking people. It happened without warning as the evacuation protocol was overwritten.
Nuriel had somehow forced her way into the position of Site Administrator, something Isin had believed was flatly impossible thanks to layers of safeguards against that possibility. Apparently human understanding of aethertech cybersecurity was still lacking. If the earlier evacuation was not already in effect the death toll would already have been catastrophic.
The halls of Helmforað had become a war zone. Panicked civilians surged toward the shuttles just down the corridor, while Isin and the defenders held a trembling, shrinking line. Gunfire, aetheric blasts, and the mechanical shrieks of corrupted androids blended into a deafening roar. Energy chants punctuated the chaos as magecrafters poured spell after spell into the advancing machines.
Worse at least for Isin his daughters and wife were all mixed in the crowd of defenders. He had told them to leave but they all refused to abandon him and not fight for their people. It was noble but also distracting to have to worry about them and the people he was sworn to protect.
"Dad, look out!" Edita yelled.
She ran into place at his side in a blur of aether-light, intercepting the strike of a S-01 Silhouette. Sparks flew as the gynoid's invisibility flickered revealing the silent assassin. Aetheric energy flashed from Edita's sword as she cut through the opponents weapon then the gynoid itself. The machine fell in two halves at her feet.
Edita's armor glowed softly with aether around the arms and joints. She had been pioneering a new form of magecraft; this was its first real combat stress test. Most magecrafters used outward projection of aether in forms of spells or incantation. Her method was internal augmentation instead of external projection. No incantations, no sigils, no flourishes. Just raw aether boosting her speed and strength to inhuman levels. She was a whirlwind that moved like a storm given human shape that cut down android after android.
Isin had been so occupied defending the survivors as they rushed to the shuttles the attack almost caught him off guard. He refocused on the rogue androids, his Angel Core focusing his intent into deadly beams. He pulled out his own sword as the facility continued to empty. Nuriel hadn't made it to the lower levels yet likely because she was sadistically enjoying killing as many people as possible.
"Query: Notice: this unit has been renamed to Doxy by the Site Administrator for being a 'naughty slut' and disregarding Aetheric Program Prime Directive."
"Notice: All humans within Extraction Site Alpha are to evacuate."
"Warning: All humans currently within Extraction Site Alpha have been issued Kill Warrants for failing to evacuate. This Kill Warrant is retroactive to all humans, including those who evacuated within the allotted time."
"Warning: Lockdown protocol initiated."
Blast doors were slammed shut cutting off many peoples exit to the shuttles. Isin's stomach dropped as he realized nearly half of the citizens of Helmforað were stuck on the other side of that door.
"No! Ulie! Open that door!" Isin roared. "Ulie! This is High Councilman Isin, open the damn door. We have people that have not evacuated yet!"
There was no answer from the Site Aetheric Program. It wouldn't have answered from where they were anyway. They separated the Shuttle Station and evacuation point from the main facility. Separate power source separate Aetheric Program all as a precaution in the event Nuriel took control of Ulie.
Silence fell like a shroud as the final android on their side of the door collapsed, smoking and sparking. Every remaining defender stared at the sealed blast door, comprehension settling like ice in their veins. They all knew what that door coming down meant. No one else made it. No one else would survive.
"Damn it." Isin took a deep breath. "How much more are they going to take?"
It wasn't the time for an outburst, he knew that. He took a breath then long and deep then strengthened up. Looking at the defenders his eyes landed on His wife who just holstered her gun. Then their daughter Edita had joined the defence force and was in her armor, her helmet off and under an arm revealing a face that looked far too much like her mother. Mihr was among the crowd when she stepped up next to Edita. She was in civilian clothing her gun borrowed from a fallen guard sometime during the escape.
"Secure the station," Isin commanded, voice like iron. "Make sure no one gets left behind."
His Angel Core burned at his back, mirroring the fire in his chest.
"We'll repay this," he vowed. "We'll pay it back to the Angels a thousandfold."
***
Bjorn's eyes opened with a start he tried to stand but his body was slow and unresponsive. The last thing he remembered was acid blood falling around them as the Great Serpent and Riots fought a titanic battle over them. His vision was hazy but the bond was calm. At the moment it meant Tanisha was fine and likely everyone was as well.
His tongues flicked cautiously, slower than usual, each movement weighed down by dryness. Still, the taste of the air painted a sharper picture than his blurred vision. Some magic biology must be behind it, though there was no time to ponder. Even with just the scents, he could map the immediate surroundings: nearly everyone hovered within a few feet, Anasuya pressed atop him. Everyone, that is, except Tanisha, who lingered further off.
Bjorn's vision finally returned and sound came soon after. He noticed something unusual. The presence of split perception. Of course having multiple lines of perception was normal, he had four heads after all. But this time it felt… oh. Yep, he had a fifth head now. Unlike before, when he gained a new head his perception quickly adjusted. This time it was like there were fully two separate lines of thought.
He had been training, splitting his thoughts into parallel lines but it was a deliberate effort to maintain. Now however each of his heads felt both independent while at the same time all him. It was odd, like being one and many at once. He wondered if this was what a hivemind felt like. The feeling that you are both several independent entities and also one single entity.
"At least I am not talking to myself." Bjorn said in a long hiss that was just as much thought as it was verbal.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Failsafe responded in his head.
"Oh, right, I do have hitchhikers." Bjorn said.
"Does anyone else feel like they were kicked down a flight of stairs," Isin groaned. "Actually a couple hundred flights?"
"Oh, right… one of them is me." Bjorn sighed. "I think I am going crazy."
"I could have told you that." Failsafe said distractedly.
"We may feel like shit but, the world hasn't been destroyed, sooo good job team." Bjorn said in a long airy hiss.
"Do we have a new head?" Isin asked.
"It would appear so. Oh, and Isin, we are going to have to talk about how you managed to nearly kill us with your Bleeding Spellform nonsense. What even was that?"
"It wasn't really a spell but it was outside of our current limitations with animal magic." Isin said as if it were a defence.
"Yeah, I fucking know that! We almost died because of it." Bjorn said, irritation in his voice. "I asked what it was?"
"It was a backdoor into the R-02's primary systems. It wasn't like other androids in the facility. I was the key to its functionality. But we no longer have our old body so I needed to use our aether in a way that could show it who we are. Also change some of its directives to make it see us and all of our companions as allies."
"Could you do that to all of the S series too?" Bjorn asked.
"I don't think so. The other units are constantly monitored by the Ulie. If I changed one of them, the Aetheric Program would have just reset the android and also me backdooring one nearly killed us."
"I am glad our memories finally cleared up why that Site AP was called Doxy." Failsafe added. "I thought it was weird you named it a synonym of 'prostitute', but hey I tried not to judge."
"I also wondered, but apparently it was another cruel joke by Nuriel." Isin said.
"Soo, we ready to talk about our daughter yet?" Bjorn asked.
"What's there to talk about? She grows up and kills us. End of story. End of my story." Isin said with heat in his voice. "I failed her somewhere along the way."
"Yeah, I am not buying that." Bjorn said. "Sure she killed us but there had to be a reason. It's not like the angels came back or humanity was destroyed afterwards. So why kill us? Edita was our daughter with Eliska not Nuriel so it's not like she was motivated because of a misguided connection to her angelic parentage."
"Did you forget Bazaath, your dad?" Failsafe said flatly. "She still has a connection to the angels."
"Regardless, we don't know how long we lived. In the Higher Planes it could be thousands of years." Isin said. "Besides, it doesn't really help us right now. We survived Helmforað and I remember seeing a sky the night I died, meaning we weren't underground."
"And what would help us right now?" Bjorn asked.
"Looking at our bond. I don't think we are breaking it anymore, not by a normal means anyway." Failsafe said.
+ Delta Familiar Contract < Iota Familiar Blood Pact
Primana Cost: -300
[
You have undergone a profound Familiar evolution through abnormal means, mutating the bond in a manner beyond typical Iota Familiar progression. As participants in a Blood Pact, any compulsions normally imposed by a Familiar Contract are nullified. You are no longer bound to act under the constraints of a contract.
(I) Your bond grants magical energy regulation. While within five hundred feet of your Bloodkin, magical energy and regeneration are shared. As long as one of you retains magical energy, both may utilize it.
(II) You have communed with your Bloodkin, allowing you to serve as a conduit for her magic. From any distance, she may channel spells through you as a breath attack.
(III) Having shed blood for each other, you now shed magic. While within ten feet of your Bloodkin, your auras intertwine, passively granting +15 Health Regeneration to both.
(IV) The bond extends to life itself: both you and your Bloodkin gain an additional twenty years to your lifespans.
Bjorn and Isin shared a glance at the wording of the changes to the bond. Well that too but more importantly the message from Poison calling Failsafe both dangerous and a parasite. She had given small hints about the supposed Reincarnation Failsafe spellform but never anything concrete. This time she went out of her way to tell them that not only did they need to get rid of it but also to do so very soon.
Bjorn didn't know what Failsafe actually was, just that he was somehow connected to the actual reincarnation spellform. Of course the description he gave himself was short to the point of being disarming. Like it was designed for him to let it slip past Bjorn's notice after the first time he read it. The fact that Failsafe had only ever been helpful designing the system and even creating new features also made him wonder if he really was malicious.
The spellform never tried to gain access to his soul at least to his knowledge. He never even suggested being granted that access even during times Bjorn wouldn't have had the cautions against such actions. If he was some kind of dangerous Higher Planes parasite perhaps he wasn't strong enough before. But what would be his endgame? If Failsafe was from the Upper Planes there is no telling what he could do if he succeeds in his plans.
Worst he couldn't say anything to get Isin's opinion as Failsafe would be alerted. The only time he was free to talk without the spellform knowing was in the Dreamspace. Honestly he didn't know how to enter it without being called there by his parents. He had entered it on his own the first time but, after Toxin corroded it he hadn't been able to return on his own.
"It solves all of our problems with the bond, right?" Failsafe said enthusiastically. "No more mind altering compulsion to help Tanisha, though I don't think we had that effect because you are a True but nice to have it spelled out."
"Ye-yeah buddy, we also can be used a conduit for her spells. How does that work?" Bjorn said, looking at Isin one last time before turning back to the spell list. "Does that mean that if she casts something she can decide to cast it through me? What about her walking armory, would I gain electric bardiche breath?"
"I have no idea, we should find out as soon as possible." Failsafe said excitement in his voice. "Once we verify that the world isn't going to explode, that is. Probably best not to try new magic in an enclosed space."
There was a moment of contemplative silence then.
"Oh and we are dying of dehydration. You lost a lot of fluids. I suggest we get something to drink." Failsafe added.
"That's why I am so lethargic?" Bjorn questioned. "You could have said something earlier."
Mages had the ability to use natural elements or magical replicas of elements. The latter was harder to control and in a battle can be turned against a caster if used against someone with better control of the element. This was different from created elements which was more magically costly but fully in control of the caster as it was in actuality just the magic of the person with the properties of the element.
Bjorn had Hydro-breath a communed ability and the only reason he had not died of dehydration in the Chaos Lands during his years long search. The water he breathed could be either actual water condensed from the air around him or created water from his magic. He would condense actual water and instead of firing the breath he would swallow the water. Which was something he did frequently to keep himself hydrated.
Bjorn felt relief as the cool feeling of water entered his body through his infinite water loophole. He hadn't moved much since his awakening and with the sound of snoring he knew that everyone was asleep. He didn't want to wake Anasuya but he needed to get a lay of the land.
He shuffled up to his feet and the half sleep hatchling nestled up against instinctively grabbed on to him pulling herself onto his back. He felt her latch on and soon after heard the soft storing of the small creature. Then a fart.
"Moment ruined." Failsafe said.
Bjorn walked out of the shuttle which he had no idea he was in until he left it. In fact as his vision slowly returned he realized he had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered coherently was well getting one of his heads cut off in the middle of Helmforað with a True snake and gnoll blowing up everything all around them.
"Bjorn you are awake?" Tanisha said as she appeared from nowhere. "Should you be walking? How is the new head? Is there any pain? Are you hungry, thirsty, need to go pee? Poop? I haven't found a place for that last one yet, but there are plenty of landboxes here, we can pry one open."
Bjorn nuzzled her with three of his now five heads. Which she took as an 'I am okay lets look around.' His other head surveyed the area. It was liminal and empty in an unsettling, there should be way more people here, kind of way.
"Okay big man," Tanisha said as she playfully pushed him off of her. "I am on guard duty you can come along but if anything happens no fighting until you've gotten proper rest."