The Ironwood Forest faded behind them, replaced by the steep, rocky slopes of the Spine of Osgard.
The air grew thin and cold. Snow began to fall, dusting the black armor of the Pendelton Cruiser in white powder.
Arthur drove carefully. The road here was not paved. It was an old goat path, barely wide enough for the car's massive tires. On the left was a wall of rock. On the right was a thousand-foot drop into the clouds.
"It is freezing," Julian complained from the back seat. He was wrapped in three blankets. "Why is the heater not working?"
"I diverted the heat to the engine," Arthur explained, his eyes fixed on the treacherous path. "The air is thin up here. The steam boiler needs to work harder to keep pressure. If I heat the cabin, the car stops. If the car stops, we freeze to death."
"I choose being cold over being dead," Vivian said, rubbing her gloved hands together. "But only barely."
Zack sat in the passenger seat, holding the iScroll. The blue dot on the screen was blinking faster.
"We are close," Zack said. "The signal is strong. It is coming from that ridge up ahead."
Arthur looked up. Near the peak of the mountain, there was a dark opening in the rock face. A cave.
"We can't drive up there," Arthur judged the slope. "Too steep. Too much loose rock. We have to walk."
...
Arthur parked the Cruiser behind a large boulder to block the wind. He killed the engine. The silence of the mountain descended instantly, heavy and vast.
"Gear up," Arthur ordered. "We don't know what is in that cave. Weapons ready."
They stepped out into the snow. The wind bit at their faces.
Arthur wore his heavy engineer's coat. Vivian had her leather armor and a fur cloak. Julian looked like a walking pile of wool blankets.
They hiked for twenty minutes, trudging through knee-deep snow.
"This better be worth it," Julian panted, his breath forming clouds in the air. "If this is just an empty cave, I am going to be very upset."
"It's not empty," Zack said, pointing his wand (which he was using as a flashlight). "Look."
They reached the cave entrance. It wasn't natural. The opening was a perfect square, cut into the stone with laser precision. Ancient Atherian runes were carved around the frame, but they were worn down by centuries of wind and ice.
Arthur ran his hand over the stone.
"This was an outpost," Arthur said. "A Watchtower for the Old Empire."
They stepped inside.
The wind stopped howling. The air inside was stale and dry.
Arthur turned on his mana-flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness.
The cave was a small room. It was filled with crates that had long ago rotted to dust. Rusty tools lay scattered on the floor.
But against the far wall, sitting on a stone bench, was a figure.
It was a Sentinel.
But it wasn't like the monster they fought in the gym. It was smaller—human-sized. It was made of bronze and polished white stone. It held a long spear in its hand, resting across its lap.
Its head was bowed, as if sleeping.
"Is it... dead?" Vivian whispered, gripping her sword handle.
Arthur walked closer. He looked at the chest of the machine. There was a faint, pulsing blue light behind the stone armor.
"No," Arthur said softly. "It is in sleep mode. Low power."
Arthur knelt in front of the machine. He pulled out his iScroll and connected a cable to a port on the Sentinel's knee.
> CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.
> UNIT: WATCHMAN-7.
> STATUS: CRITICAL BATTERY (2%).
> LAST ORDER: HOLD THE POSITION.
> TIME SINCE LAST ORDER: 730,400 DAYS.
"Two thousand years," Arthur whispered. "It has been waiting here for two thousand years."
He typed a command: [WAKE UP].
.....
A whirring sound filled the cave. Dust fell from the Sentinel's joints. The blue light in its chest grew brighter.
Slowly, stiffly, the machine lifted its head.
Its eyes were not red (like the angry Golem). They were a soft, pale blue.
The Sentinel looked at Arthur. Then at Vivian. Then at Julian.
It spoke. Its voice was crackly and distorted, like an old radio.
"Relief... Crew?" the machine asked.
The team froze.
"Are... you... the... Relief... Crew?" the machine repeated, its head twitching slightly. "I have... held... the... post."
Vivian looked at Arthur. "What do we say?"
Arthur looked at the tired, broken machine. He knew the truth. The "Relief Crew" had died two thousand years ago when the Capital exploded. This machine had been waiting for ghosts.
Arthur stood up straight. He adjusted his coat.
"Yes," Arthur lied kindly. "We are the Relief Crew. Sorry we are late."
The machine let out a sound that sounded like a sigh. Its shoulders slumped.
"Understood," the machine said. "Traffic... was... bad?"
"Very bad," Arthur nodded. "The roads are a mess."
"Report," the Sentinel stated, trying to sit up straight. "Sector... 4... is... clear. No... enemy... movement... for... 20 centuries. Supplies... are... exhausted. My... battery... is... failing."
"You did a good job," Arthur said. "You held the line, Watchman."
"I... did... my... duty," the Sentinel said proudly. Then, its blue eyes flickered. "Requesting... permission... to... transfer... command."
"Permission granted," Arthur said.
The Sentinel reached into a hidden compartment in its chest. Its metal fingers fumbled, shaking with age. It pulled out a small, heavy, rectangular object.
It was a card made of black glass, etched with gold lines.
"This... is... the... Key," the Sentinel said, handing it to Arthur. "Access... to... the... Royal... Pump... Room. I... guarded... it."
Arthur took the card. His eyes widened.
[Item: Atherian Admin Keycard (Level 5).] [Access: Capital Underground.]
This was it. This was why the signal existed. This machine was guarding the back door to the Capital. Without this key, they would have never been able to enter the pump room to fix the pressure leak.
"We have received the Key," Arthur said formally. "The asset is secure."
"Good," the Sentinel whispered. Its light was fading fast now. The blue glow was turning dim grey. "Mission... complete."
The machine looked at Arthur one last time.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Will... I... be... repaired?"
Arthur looked at the rusted joints. The cracked core. The corroded wiring. The machine was beyond saving. If he tried to fix it, it would fall apart.
Arthur swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Not today," Arthur said softly. "Today, you get to rest."
"Rest," the machine repeated. "I... like... rest."
The blue light in its eyes flickered once, twice, and then went dark. The hum of its core stopped. The Sentinel became just a statue of stone and bronze, silent in the cold cave.
...
The walk back to the car was quiet.
Nobody complained about the cold.
Julian walked with his head down. Vivian wiped a tear from her eye, hiding it quickly.
"It was just a machine," Julian said, breaking the silence. But his voice lacked conviction. "It was just gears and magic."
"It was loyal," Vivian corrected him. "More loyal than most knights I know."
Arthur walked in the front, clutching the Black Keycard in his pocket.
"It was programmed to wait," Arthur said, his voice flat. "It didn't have a choice."
"Does that matter?" Zack asked. "It still waited. For two thousand years. Alone."
Arthur stopped. He looked back at the cave entrance, now just a dark hole in the white snow.
"No," Arthur said. "I suppose it doesn't matter."
He thought about the "Glitches" back at the Academy. He thought about Alice, the spirit in the basement. He thought about the world ending because the people in charge forgot to maintain the system.
The Ancients had built wonders, but they had left their creations to rot.
"We are going to fix it," Arthur said, clenching his fist. "We aren't just going to stop the explosion. We'll fix the whole damn system. So no one else has to wait in the dark."
.....
They reached the car. It was covered in a layer of snow.
Arthur brushed off the hood. He unlocked the door.
"Arthur," Julian said, pausing before getting in. "That Key... it gets us into the Capital?"
"Into the deepest part," Arthur nodded. "The Pump Room. Where the blockage is."
"So we have the map," Julian listed. "We have the car. We have the gun. And now we have the key."
"We have everything we need," Arthur said. "Except time."
He checked the dashboard clock as he started the engine.
[Time Remaining: 27 Days.]
"We lost a day in the forest and the storm," Arthur noted. "We are behind schedule."
"Then drive fast," Vivian said, buckling her seatbelt. "For the robot."
Arthur shifted into gear. The Pendelton Cruiser roared to life, its exhaust melting the snow behind them.
They began the descent down the other side of the mountain range.
Below them, the landscape changed again. The snow and rock gave way to a vast, shimmering swamp that stretched to the horizon. Green mist hung low over the water. Massive trees with weeping vines rose from the murky depths.
The Rotting Fen.
"Swamp level," Arthur groaned. "I hate swamp levels."
"Why?" Zack asked nervously.
"Mud," Arthur said. "Rust. And things that hide under the water."
Arthur reached under the dashboard and flipped a switch he hadn't used yet.
[Amphibious Mode: ARMING.]
"Zack," Arthur said. "Check the seals on the doors. If we leak in the swamp, we sink. And if we sink... we become fish food."
The car rolled down the mountain road, leaving the lonely Sentinel behind to guard the silent pass and heading straight into the green fog of the wetlands.
End of Chapter 43