Chapter 9-5 The Stolen Thrones (II)

Chapter 9-5 The Stolen Thrones (II)

My dearest Uncle Vincentine:

Again, youre a piece of shit.

I told you this last we spoke, but I would like to do it again in case you forget and start developing a positive self-regard.

I requested seven days of leave for your matter and I will see it resolved in seven days. Coincidentally the four members of my cadre have also requested a period away from duties.

The Longeyes surprisingly approved.

Whatever youre involved in has them intrigued.

I recommend that I encounter my mother in the best of care unless you wish for me to break your other arm. You should tell her Im coming. Dont forget this time. You've failed her enough for one life.

Now, before I arrive, send me what you have on this Mirrorhead. It has been some time since I faced a Clad of Guild Highflame. I wish to know my prey.

-Reva Javvers, Bloodthane of Stormtree

9-5

The Stolen Thrones (II)

The spawning pools did not strike Avo as something comparable to the EGI Core. Few things could compare to the wonder of yesteryear struggling on for eons, still emitting enough natural power to boil a portion of the city. However, something equally ponderous burdened him as the architecture around them shifted again, the nexus shuttling them through the labyrinths of the SCS George Washington.

All through his travel, the weight of his fathers atrocities dwelled on him. Even devoid of the capacity for true empathy, Avo did pity those who dwelled within this ship. The cosmic injustice of their suffering was a thing more absurd than it was tragic to him. Imagine awakening after spending eons trying to outlast a nightmare, only to be cast into another.

The ghouls were always meant to be instruments; their fates deemed them beasts pre-broken to fit the groove of brutality and whatever other desires the Hungers and Low Masters deigned.

But the crew of the George Washington? What great transgression were they born under? What a miserable fate for so random an encounter.

In his infancy, Avo would have never considered such a thing. Never fixated on the fate of another beyond if they offered him nourishment. Now, even past his time with Walton, concept of self set free from shattered chains, it was a yearning for meaning that subsumed him.

The crew of the voidship met hell and torment through no fault of their own. No choice. All of this was injust circumstance upon circumstance.

And in that, Avo thought he could taste the bitterness behind their hollowed lives.

Walton looked regretful, but the younger man he was in ancient memory struck Avo as a weak creature, someone lesser that teased the beast itself. He felt the monster inside him yearn to taste the flesh of his fathers former self as if he was but meat instead of lord.

There was a liberation to such a desire. And a philosophical dread.

How fickle were the bindings of familial piety? Was this a continuation of the nodes actions? Of Waltons desire to see the chains between him and Avo broken? To free him from anything they shared, all toward the end of undoing the Low Masters. His claws dug into the oddly yielding railing of the speeding platform.

Avo, Kae asked. Her voice was thin. Uncertain. He noticed her then as he had not noticed her before. A mouse among wolves, her presence was the only to kindle the flames of his bloodlust. Do you uh do you think you can fix them?

She was asking about the trapped crew. The ones used as patchwork machineryphantasmal scaffolding enmeshed to the crippled coldtech. Their pain lingered, but came as faint echoes of dreamers where still wakeful minds would offer the fullness of screams.

How strange it was that she stood among them, shielded by the unshaken wall of Draus and Zein watching the bulkhead modules fly by. Perhaps this was empathy, then. She thought the crew her bedfellows in pain despite their differences. To him, she seemed their inverse. It was the Nether that she was broken in, and it was coldtech that kept her standing.

Dont know, Avo said, genuinely unsure. It would take time for him to review the damage. Time that would be devoted to many other things before that. Still, it was something worth considering. What shape would the mind of a freed ancient be?

Kaes worried fidgeting pulled him back to the present.

Only one out of all of us, Avo said.

She blinked. What?Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

You, he continued as she looked up at him. I thought my father was good. But it was a lie. Too much of him was a lie.

Empathy. It lay naked across her face when his words finally caught up with her. He found himself more unnerved by the fact she cared so much. He looked to Draus, to Zeintheir attentions sweeping the structure itself, poking Waltons frozen form still seated on the throne.

Im not not a good person, Kae said. I-if thats what youre saying I did something. I did something I cant remember. I should have died. W-would have without Draus.

He offered her nothing but a grunt in return. Perhaps she needed empathy also, but he hadnt the strength nor the want to fake it. Her damage had always captured his fascination, but watching her struggle he realized she was joined with him in mystery. The fullness of her past was lost to her as well.

Emotions clashed within Avo. He gnashed his teeth together. He wanted to tear into someone. Hurt something. That was what his biology understood. Yet, beholding the currently unmoving forms of the heliosthe creatures meant to serve as his mold, he succumbed to nobler desires instead. I wanted him to be who I dreamed he was, Avo said. The taste of truth was bitter, but through his newly obtained power and discoveries, they came without fear. I wanted something more than feeling. Something higher to believe in.

Turning his attention to the module that was the gene clinic, lines of mem-data spilled across his feed, telling him how much material was left for use. Things relating to alloys or functional nanites were missing. Genetic modifications likewise were limited to a few optionsmostly enhancements made for surviving in space like flatulence propulsions for travel through the void and dermal-thermal crystallines for heat.

Then, a few select options came up, marked for favored use. Claws. Enhancements to hearing. Night vision. Digitigrade legs. Prehensile claws. Omniskein musculature. Several others drifted through his mind, each piece carving the towering humanoid more into shape, more into being a ghoul. The final item on the enhancement list was not described, the functions of which were redacted. Error lines dotted its sides, leaving only its name read.

+Category-3 Haemophage,+ the hive said. +Cellular reconstructor.+

WARNING: THE USE OF THIS MODIFICATION WILL PRESENT SEVERE RISK TO UNPROTECTED ECOSYSTEMS; ANY DESTABILIZATION IS AGAINST SOL CENTRAL CHARTER AND WILL RESULT IN A FORMAL INVESTIGATION IN BOTH THE ADMIN AND THE EGI. IF FOUND GUILTY, ALL PARTIES WILL BE ASSIGNED TO REHABILITATION

Avo blinked. Admin and the EGI? A single person and the ship itself were to be charged? What manner of society did this vessel originate from?

Walton shivered. +By now you should have seen what we did to these things. Yeah. Every one of the helios goes through that. Hungers might tell you that your form is designed to be slave-shaped or something like that. They tell you that, know that theyre lying. Your body is the way it is because this is what we got. Had some success over the years changing your brothers with biomancy but those were special cases. This is our standard. All it takes for this to run is some organic components is all. Fed it to the cloud in the cloning pools and you got what you need.+

A brief lull came over Walton. +We tried putting other things in the pool before. It takes matter apart. I think it's a bit like one of the Voidwatch deconstructor swarms, except more toward factory use.+ He contemplated his words. Something popped underneath his coat. The rash was killing him. +I think they suspected we had this ship. Suspected it from the moment they realized the nature of your design. If you ever find an angle, you should try talking to one of Voidwatchs governors. The ships yours so if you can get it back to them without the Hungers noticing or stopping you, that might be something they want. I cant rightly say how theyll react to you. They never did like Noloth much. Not since the Hungers had us attack those ships of theirs.+

Ah, Zein said, nodding as if she was recalling a fond incident from her past. Yes. The alloy embargo of 44. The Nolothi managed to cripple a few Voidwatch humanitarian vessels, killing much of the citizenry they were attempting to extract. She smirked. I must say, I remember what came after most fondly. It was a rare thing, to see all eight of the Guilds working in tandem. The devastation they wrought on your fathers people was sublime.

She barked a laugh. And the Hungers mustve thought they had a chance. What hubris. But hubris is unbefitting of those unblessed by divinity.

+Theyre still not ghouls yet,+ Walton continued. +Not really. Something about them comes out missing. I think its related to damage inflicted on the core. Or something within the system that doesnt allow neurology to be transferred. But the Hungers they have a way about shaping a mind seeding something thats more than ghost but less-less than a person.+ He drew in a breath. Something was nudging itself under the fabric of his coat. He looked down. He smirked. +Well, Avo. Looks like you have a sister.+ He looked down again. +Had.+

Zein snorted a light note of amusement through her nose.

Somethin bout the air, Thousandhand? Draus asked.

Zein cocked her head at the Regular. The ghouls feelings are intact. Dont you worry, girl.

My ma and pa called me girl. Theyre dead. You call me Draus.

+The Low MastersNoloth they still have other facilities under them. Other instruments. But this was their sanctuary. Its someplace where we could all hide away from the topsiders. Plan our next moves. Strike from the darkness. And now, Ive stolen it from them, and I will it to you.+

Walton straightened himself and sighed. +I wish I named you something else. Avo. I took that name from my son. My dead son. Through all this, my hope had been that I could bring him back in another world. In the eternal city promised to me. But Ive lived for too long. Lived. Not existed. Ive seen the world and you know what, my loss isnt a good enough excuse anymore. Neither was my cowardice.+

Stepping forward, Avo faced his father as the man coughed. He reached out, as if to grasp the man, but his claws halted inches away. Walton wasnt there. Walton was dead. This was but a shadow; an echo.

+It is with another atrocity that you were born,+ Walton said, staring through Avo. +All the dreams and thoughts and ghosts. Once, they could only exist in a locus. Linger within the crystallized puddles of time. But with the Hungers trapped, the world finds an engine for the Nether to keep growing. But with it comes nightmares. Pain. Suffering. And through us, they pour it into the bioforms, and we mold it into shape, into you.+

And for the first time, a shiver of determination surged through Walton. +Listen to me: I didnt catch the rash on accident. I know you never asked, but you know how I was. I could have neverI got it because its canons would blind the Hungers and stop them from looking through me. It gave me a chance to alter my Helix, to prepare and plan this.+

Why, Avo asked. His Echoheads chittered and rattled, his frustration bleeding over into them as agitation. One of the cracked against the ground as he demanded, What are you saying?

Walton swallowed. +The memories you had as a ghoulling. That was a collection. I didnt I harvested the experiences from all your previous selves. The idea came to me the first time I saw you, dying in that playground. It stayed with me after that instance of you died, but I plucked the memories from you. From there I I took other things from people I knew. Apprentices I taught the art to. Stole sequences from other ghoulsthe ones that exhibited the most control. And then, finally, I poured all that I had all that I could into you. And added some parts of me as well, just so there would still be something left of me after Im gone.+

Suddenly, the man who had been his father seemed so small. One could accept horror, but it seemed they could not turn from it. Not fully. +You are my greatest work. My instrument of hope. My well wishes. You are the new shape of my dreams. The day I perfected you and finally brought you back up the Tiers with me, to that block, that day when the nukes fell and you asked to learn the art from me properly. That was when I knew I made a new life. Something more than just a monster meant to serve as an instrument of vengeance; a dumping pit for traumatic bandwidth.+

+The Hungers they dont grow. They dont learn all they do is eat and hate and cling to the past. They are stagnation incarnatea city refusing to change its ideals, to transform and face the truth or the future. And for so long, I was the same. But in living in building you, I think I finally breathed life into something that mattered.+

Walton swallowed. +There was a myth. A myth I found while diving through this very ship. It was of a god that breathed fire into clay. And was punished for it by other gods. Punished because it taught the clay how to perform the same art. I see how you suffered for us. All of you. It shouldnt be this way. I should have been a better father. I was never a better father. But+ He steeled himself. +You can be what I never was. You have all I consider virtuous. To seek a higher path than rank cruelty, but I kept the monster inside you. Made it stronger even, because I never want you to mistake the nature of this city, this world.+

+New Vultun wants to eat you, Avo. The Godclads want to eat you. The darkness between the stars, the things that lurk in the Ruptures We live in a world of monsters. Man isnt enough. Never enough. But you are beyond pain. You have the potential for cruelty and gnosis both. You are my cure for this city, for this unending war.+

More pustules opened. A loud screech came muffled from within Waltons right thigh. He took a step forward. Avo took a step back. +I dont know what future youll bring. If youll even succeed. If all my desires will bear fruit or wither on the vine. But I dont care about that anymore. I just want one thing, and thats for you to see all the colors that life can bring.+

A sound came from beyond the memory. Walton froze. +I think thats all the time I might have. The Hungers. The Low Masters. Their operations are hidden in the EGI. You have the advantage. You can take from them without them seeing you coming. Use Thousandhand. End the mistake of my parting.+ He drew in a breath. +Be who you want to be. Never let this city, this world bend you from what you choose. We have been denied too long. Thats all I ask.+

And with a final nod, he took a step back. +Goodbye, Avo. I ah. It is as it goes. Nevermind me. Do what you will.+

With a final step back, Waltons leg gave out from beneath him and he tumbled down and the ghosts dissolved, the phantoms unraveling. Silence reigned. Avo stared at a void inside him expanding.

A hunger grew. A hunger grew greater than ever. For memories. Experience. Wholeness. Totality.

A light breath unsheathed itself from Zein. I suppose with that passed, we should move on to more meaningful matters. Congratulations, little dagger, you have an ancient voidship. Now, let us talk about the war it's going to help us fight.