Chapter 3 - ELIMINATE ORDER

  The tempestuous winds and dark night had overtaken the sky. The ice cold rain thumped Katlin’s wide brimmed hat that was now heavy with water. The hat's normally stiff brim sagged sadly around her head slightly, obscuring her vision. Normally, in this sort of weather, she would keep her favorite umbrella spell up but with this invisibility spell active, she couldn't waste mana on staying dry. She had modified her invisibility spells, much like other casters, so that the people she had marked emanated a light glow around their bodies, only visible to people the caster had selected. It was extremely useful and was a common addition to the spell- losing the connection of an invisible party member deep in enemy territory only leads to an unfortunate outcome. Looking forward as she dashed through the woodland, she could see Timalis’s green aura racing off. All she had to do was stay within range to keep him invisible. At times like this, she hated being the least fit out of the party. A few times her dress had been singed by fire or she caught an arrow or spear in the back; it was embarrassing having, typically Ithlix, turn around running into the danger just to pick her up like luggage and still be able to run faster than her, and then have Orthanis use her mana to fix her easily avoidable injuries. As she slipped through the bush, she felt a squirming come from under her hat. The feeling intensified as multiple slick limbs stretched out and pushed slightly against her head. After hurtling past a large oak tree, just barely keeping Timalis in view, Katlin felt her hat slowly rise as something wormed its way out.

  It hovered at eye level and sheltered itself from the rain as it pushed up the floppy brim of the hat to cover its form. The creature was an eye wrapped in many inky black tendrils, its iris fixed at the center of the mass of ebony tentacles was pink and slitted like a cat’s. The monster looked like it was slick with a dark grey liquid, but no matter how much Katlin touched the monster the fluid never came off or stained her clothes. Socks, Katlin’s bound spirit, stared absently at her as his pupil adjusted to the light.

  “Making me work hard recently, huh?” Socks grumbled in his androgynous voice “first you wanted to try out a new spell, now you’re using a high mana cost spell for a long time. The amount of mana you mortals expect spirits to convert is always astronomical.”

  “It's not like you don’t get anything out of it,” Katlin teased the floating spirit. “You’ll eat my soul eventually.”

  “Hopefully once you get stronger.’’ Socks spoke, hiding a yawn. “Well for all its worth i have some advice. The chaotic mana around the place you’re headed to is strange, it's like it's condensed at one spot dragging all the other chaotic mana into it.”

  “Hmm” Katlin felt uneasy. First it was Timalis- now Socks. She wondered what was happening here- Now that she thought about it, typically the guild issues survey jobs but to be commissioned by the Archwizard… It seemed off. First she thought it might be the kingdom expanding its borders, but now she was suspicious.

  “Well the weather doesn't look like it's going to get any better,” Socks broke her train of thought as she felt his tentacles push her hat up. “I'm going back in here, where it's dry.”

  Katlin felt her spirit clamber back on top of her head under the shelter of the hat, the tendrils pushing her hair out of the way as Socks made a nest with the other tentacles.

  Shaking off the feeling of the tendrils caressing the top of her head (which she knew she’d never get used to), she continued running forward. The trees felt endless and identical, their dingy brown trunks twisting and winding as their viridescent leaves drooped with water. Turning around a trunk Katlin almost yelped as a hand wrapped in a glowing aura grabbed her. It pulled her into an embrace and covered her mouth.

  “Up ahead,” Timalis loosened his grip on Katlin and gestured with what she assumed was his hand. “Just over the next line of trees is a clearing. Looking at the destroyed trunks. It looks artificial, it wasn't the work of kolbolds or goblins; these cuts are burned and clean.” He shook his head as he stared off into the heavy rain, his trained eyes piercing past the veil and seeing things Kaitlin couldn't without getting much closer.

  “Do you see the source of the light?” Katlin asked, peering past the trunk. She could see the rain being illuminated over the tree tops and the shadows darkening around the clearing Timalis mentioned.

  “Yeah,” he responded, his normally relaxed nature fading rapidly into bewilderment. “It looks like a lamppost… but I can say for sure that this light isn’t the same as the typical glowstones used in the city or the candles in villages.”

  “Is there anything else you can see?” Katlin inquired.

  “Slight movement. I don't know if its people or not but this lamppost is too bright to tell.” he said recoiling back behind the tree. Looking around he pointed to a tree that was taller than the others. “Let’s climb that tree, the light from the lamppost isn't on it so I can get a better view.”

  Katlin could only nod as she frankly couldn't see anything apart from the heavy rain and the bright light passing through the trees.

  With Timalis’ guidance and support, the two silently, under the cover of heavy rain, edged towards the towering tree. Each step they drew nearer, more of those ‘lampposts’ came into view. From how they were set up, it looked like they were pointing into the woods to scare off wildlife. An idea that held weight, as their party did not see any creatures on their way here. The two invisible forces to the outside world, only visible as the rain hit their clothes creating a strange void where rain did not go, reached the large trunk of the oak tree.

  “I’ll need to climb up to that branch to get the best look.” Timalis spoke in a hushed whisper, while pointing to a tall branch in the upper canopy. ‘’I assume that you will still need to be close so will that branch be good for you?” he lowered his hand down to a smaller branch that stuck out in a patch out of the shelter of the leaves.”

  “It’s a bit open don't you think,” Katlin had to squint to get a good look. Even though it was lower down than the branch Timalis wanted to get on to, it was still close to twenty five meters up. “It’s also a bit flimsy. Are you sure that's a good idea?”

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  “I know it's not ideal but I can tell that as long as you stay standing at the base of the branch and hug the tree it's unlikely to break. As for the fact that it's not covered, well unless you want to climb up higher it's the best one for you.” Timalis looked back at the glowing aura of Katlin. “The invisibility spell should keep you out of vision as long as they don't have a ranger as good as me.”

  Katlin could tell he was grinning by the way he spoke with such humour in his tone. So she rolled her eyes, however to his credit he wasn't wrong. Katlin took a moment until she nodded.

  “I trust your judgment over mine here,” she spoke softly while starting to get a foothold on the wet bark. “I’ll follow you.”

  She felt Timalis move away as he grasped a handhold and effortlessly pulled himself up. He climbed easily, even with the soaking bark making getting any foothold difficult. As he soared up, a gust of wind followed. Katlin struggled to climb even a small distance. After she made any progress, the bark would break and she would have to scramble to get another foothold. She spent a while almost hugging the tree and shimmying up it until she reached the first branches where climbing became easier. After a couple of minutes and a few quick rests, she reached the branch Timalis had mentioned. It was quite small, only large enough for her to tiptoe on the base while hugging the still large trunk. The rain also made it far worse as she felt the branch creek and sway. Due to the wind, she had to concentrate hard on keeping her balance. After straightening herself out, she looked out into the ring of lampposts. Even though her view wasn’t great, she still saw enough to make out what it was. A metal-looking fence encircled a small set of tents made out of perfectly coloured yellow material. In the center was a large box that almost reached her height at around twenty meters. Due to the wind and rain, she could only make out vague shapes and movement, so she tried not to focus on the strange camp and instead concentrated on her task.

  Timalis reached the branch he was climbing to get to. He wanted to observe the strange camp. With his keen eyes, the rain did not obscure his vision, so he visually collected as much information as he could. A metal fence made from the wires like that of a piano encircled around a second ring of lamp posts that lit up the area inside. The camp was organised, with a section of tents closest to them. He couldn't identify the material they were made out of, as they reflected the rain better than most fabrics he knew of or used. Following a dirt path leading from the tents, thick ropes that connected each tent and lamppost lead into a small makeshift building with two large towers that pumped black smoke into the air. What caught his eye was the large square of metal in the center. It glowed and pulsed with light. Walking the dirt path, figures in yellow suits, made of the same material as the tents, scurried around and into the tents. Many of these fully covered figures stood beside the glowing cube as they caused it to slightly change its colours and pattern. Timalis wracked his brain to think of what race they could be.

  “Can’t be dragonfolk, they have no tails. Can’t be beastfolk for the same reason. They look human or elvish from here but I'll need a closer look” he muttered to himself.

  Skittering around the yellow figures, smaller beings made from metal scurried around. They looked like spiders but the size of a dog. Many had boxes as they were delivering something around the base. A few on the far end of camp set up more of the mesh fence, starting the outer ring. Walking amongst the horde of metal spiders and yellow figures, a smaller number of large golems stood guard. Timalis could only describe them as golems as they towered over the human sized people running around. The wide shouldered figures did patrol occasionally but most stood stationary. The ‘’golems’’ looked like humans, but they had tube shaped arms with no hands, and they had boxes resting on their shoulders. Instead of a head a large ominous red eye surveyed the area. Timalis felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and a guttural feeling, warning him of incoming danger.

  The ranger surveyed the camp again quickly, trying to identify the threat. He started to lose his cool for a moment, until he saw one of the golems staring at their tree. Following its gaze, Timalis knew it wasn't looking at him, but the uncovered branch below. His eyes shot open, realising that these creatures knew they were watching. He started to hop down branch after branch still keeping an eye on the golem standing still on the muddy ground. Just as he was about ten meters from Katlin, who, from her lack of moving, was oblivious of the watching golem, it moved. Lifting its right arm, a subtle shift in the air followed as it started glowing. Another moment later a large bolt of light shot from the golem’s arm.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  The camp was swarming with activity as the engineers and scientists tinkered with the black hole maintainer. The weather interfered slightly with the readings, not enough to cause a meltdown but enough for the energy to be inefficient. Until the main force arrived and they could claim a water source for themselves to cool the nuclear fusion reactors, they had to power the base the old fashioned way: Using coal stockpiled for emergencies, which the board of directors gave explicit permission to use. The base ran relatively smoothly. The maintenance robots worked diligently as they set the foundations for a long term structure, while others were setting up basic fencing to ward off the local wildlife. The battle androids patrolled around the base while analyzing the local flora. TE-55 walked its designated path until it picked up a small disturbance in the ambient radiation to the right of the camp. Sending a request to investigate to the central mainframe computer (or CMC) of the base, its request was granted. Until the mainframe was hooked up to the main network of the Falling Mountains system, the only task the CMC was given was to investigate and gather information. TE-55 moved to approach the anomaly until it stood in a muddy portion of the base and stared at a large tree. As it approached, TE-55 routed additional power to its radiation sensor, drawing from the systems unable to perceive the anomaly.

  “Data processing…………. Data processing complete: Anomaly detected…………………….

  Radiation within the ultraviolet bracket (3.2353x10-7 ) detected in two places………………….

  Collecting data:......20%.......................73%...............100%.... Data collection complete…….

  Trying to identify signals using current data………….. No relevant data available……………..

  Unknown entities detected……RECORDING ANOMALIES AS: AL- 01_1, AL- 01_2 …………….. //WARNING//……. Requesting support from Mainframe…………………………………………………..

  Mainframe request accepted…. Support received…….. //ELIMINATE ORDER RECEIVED//

  SELECTING WEAPON….PRECISION LASER SELECTED…… ///LOCKING///10%....21%....67%”

  TE-55 raised its right arm, aiming at the closer of the two unknown entities. The power coalesced from its nuclear core into the laser cannon as its lenses locked on to the mass of unknown radiation.

  “...99%...100%... TARGET LOCKED///….FINAL ELIMINATE ORDER REQUEST ISSUED........ FINAL ELIMINATE ORDER REQUEST ACCEPTED….. OPEN FIRE”

  A searing beam of heat shot out of its arm. The high precision laser roared through the stormy night as the rain nearby sizzled into vapor. The shot hit true.