Travel underground ended up being categorized by three speeds. The first was a walking caravan. Slowest, easiest to attack, the tool of the desperate but nobody could argue with the sheer carrying capacity if they had prepared ahead of time for the journey. The second speed were Relic Knights, or just soldiers as the undersiders called them. They’d sprint for quite some time but could only carry a limited amount. Usually they ran with a hand on a hover sled that carried the important things, like people or ammo, and whatever could fit in their sacks. The third speed was for military and nobility use, which involved renting out airspeeders. Undersider versions had no external handholds and were smaller than their surface counterparts. They could go very quickly, but only among wide enough roads and stretches.

At knight speed, the temple was expected to be three days of travel. The clan knights sprinted the entire way, pausing only to consume ration bars when needed and only for a few minutes to rest the mind and return to sprinting. The winterblossom technique eliminated even the small fatigue of moving an armor that regular knights had to deal with. It was, after all, only the armor moving. At first, the entire clan moved as a unit, since the general direction matched up with the surface recovery point. Day one passed and the group split with only a few words of goodbye.

And now only the dedicated remained, racing against time directly to the mite forge.

The flooded temple of Ordritz wasn’t named for some lost god or people. A hunter team stumbled on this while on expedition to map the surrounding areas during the days the Undersiders were deciding on settling here or in a few other locations of known pillars.

The scout master was named Ordritz, and his team had discovered a lot of landmarks along the way. However his massive ego wouldn’t put his name on anything that wasn’t impressive enough. The temple counted, and that ended up being the only thing Ordritz put his personal name on.

Interesting fellow. And it did not bode well for the size of this temple.

First sign we’d come close to our target was the water. We loped down a mountainside path, easily clearing the rocks with vaults and precise jumps before landing into a puddle that just never ended. It looked like Capra’nor’s lake, except shallow enough to reach only our boot soles and we couldn’t see the other end of the shoreline, if it even existed. Further past the initial empty stretch of water were trees. Not bunched up, but close enough to slowly obscure any vision through them. They all grew in this pseudo-lake, bright teal and green leaves.

The clan knights dove right into the forest, weaving expertly between the wide trees and leaving only ripples extending out on the otherwise mostly still water. Somewhere at the center of this forest, we’d find the temple.

“Think we made it before To’Sefit could show up?” I asked over the soul link I had to Wrath. It hadn’t taken any effort to keep another tendril of soul linked up to her own fractal, so long as she was close enough to me. And the sack I used to ferry her on my back was close enough.

“Feathers can be rebuilt anywhere in the world. They use a teleportation network in the lower stratas to then move closer to where they need to be, the final mile will need to be traveled on foot, however Feathers will be faster than you are.”

“What’s the time frame we’re working with?”

Wrath hummed in thought. “At best, To’Sefit decided to take her time and wait in line for the next available forge. Then, when she travels up to the city, she’ll discover it empty. Only then will she suspect and possibly come here. That would give us perhaps a week at most.”

Maybe this expedition wasn’t quite as doomed as Lord Atius had made it out to be. We could be in and out of the temple within hours. The worst we could run into was whatever machines had already made it their home, and against us they wouldn’t stand a chance.

So long as we remained hidden on the way back up, To’Sefit wouldn’t be able to tell where we are. The Unity fractal that connected all machines could only connect to the soul fractal, of which wouldn’t give much information at all other than the immediate surroundings if even that. Machines didn’t have a soul sight, they needed a wired connection to any kind of sensor.

The Feathers would know she’s alive, but so long as she didn’t allow any intruder further access into her systems, there was nothing they could do to locate her.

“What about the worst case?”

“The worst possible situation I can calculate is that To’Sefit already knew of my allegiances before she arrived to the city. I find this unlikely, as To’Sefit would have used a surprise attack directly to neutralize my shell before I could react. Instead, she allowed me to get close enough to speak.”

“Counterpoint, she’s a Feather. They like to gloat. Maybe she was doing some kind of ego thing, where she went ahead of her team just to kill you early?”

Wrath stayed silent for a moment before she gave a resigned sight. “I admit that maybe be a possibility. My kind are prone to certain… vices.”

“So if she was doing it all to toy with you, what’s next?”

“To’Sefit would not have expected to have been defeated. I would imagine she would spend everything she’s accumulated in order to pass the line and recreate her body at the first available spot and then rush directly to the city. I calculate six to eight hours before To’Sefit is within range. She would first search for my shell, find it missing and assume it would have been brought back to the city.”

“No way Zaang could evacuate an entire city that fast, even if they had been preparing for it. They’re not nearly that ready.”

Wrath gave a sad nod inside her digital world. “Indeed. To’Sefit would find the migrants and likely attack them. She would hunt down the general, or any other high ranking officer and obtain information on us from there. If this is the case, we can expect her to appear behind us at some point, likely after we’ve entered the temple. It is possible we could have my shell fixed enough to leave early, before she arrives.”

So we had good chances even in the worst case situation to beat the feather to the mite forge.

Cathida chimed in, oblivious to our private conversation. “Temple’s in range young man. Chin up, sword out, and do us proud now.” She said. The mix of having the empire vindicated as real in addition to seeing Wrath absolutely trashed had made the crusader quite happy for the old bat. She hadn’t even insulted me all day so far.

The moment we passed the treeline, the group of knights came to a stop. Partly from natural shock, and party from Lord Atius’s call on the comms. Ahead of us was another long empty stretch of shallow water. And at the center stood what looked like a small city, complete with white walls. All across the ground were pillars with decorative ends, most of which had been broken down with chunks spread across the water ground.

The temple itself was one massive building, interconnected with sloping arches, bridges, and grand statues that look vaguely humanoid. At the very entrance was a set of stairs that must have reached three or four stories high before the actual entrance. Looked more like a city made for giants than humans.

Lord Atius’s voice crackled over the comms. “All of you lads should have read the packet General Zaang provided us a few dozen times now over the trip here. The temple has multiple floors to it, no doors or sealed chambers anywhere. The main floor will be flooded in at boot level like here. The subfloor under it has more pronounced flooding, up to chest level, and that’s where the mite forge will be located. We’ll travel above on the roof level to avoid being slowed down and make our way to the second floor once we’ve come close enough to the mite forge. Expected enemies will be spiders, screamers, locust, and serpents. Advance.”

We got about twenty steps forward before Father broke his silent mediation, yelling over the comms system from the medallion Kidra wore. “LEAP UP, NOW!”

Clan knights, having been trained from infancy to follow orders from a superior, didn’t question Father’s orders and leapt up high in the air. Even our Deathless didn’t take the warning lightly.

It saved our lives. Not even a moment into the air, seventeen beams of bright blue slammed all across the area we’d just been at, living only for a fraction of a second, cutting into the water and right into the rock under it.

A shockwave and steam raced out a moment after, the entire world engulfed in chaos and white blinding mist. Journey instantly compensated for that, highlighting objects on the HUD right through the steam including where the ground was, rock outlines, and outlines of all knights with us. On the list of names in the group, three had turned orange from their usual green.

To’Sefit had beat us to the temple. Worse, she’d been waiting for us to walk out into the open.

“Fall back behind treeline, now!” Atius commanded over the comms. Journey instantly highlighted a waypoint, showing me which way to run through the fog.

“A-1, dive!” Father yelled, and a moment later the chaos returned. Beams of blue lanced through the mist, casting them away like an exorcist cutting through a miasma. They weren’t aimed, hitting the ground instead of any target. One came close to a knight and the shockwave threw him off his feet. Shields flared up on the armor before another hiss of steam hid everything.

Two names on my HUD turned gray instantly. One turned flashing red. We were getting cut apart.

“N-2, four oh one on A-1” Windrunner spoke over the comms, keeping a level voice. “R-1, four oh one on N-1. Leave H-1 behind.”

In my HUD I could see two knight outlines break formation. One rushed to grab red flashing outlines of a fallen knight, lifting them up and continuing the mad sprint back to the treeline. Another did the same, running straight for a limp gray outline. I didn’t see the rest, already passing right by. A second later, our group sprinted out of the steam clouds like wraiths, vaporized water trailing behind the gust of wind we each left behind.

Another volley of beams sounded behind us, but we were too far out and those beams had been aimed at the cloud center. Trees started to blur past, and soon we were back in the deep forest, taking a steep left as a group and circling around to a more unpredictable location.

“All units, combat confirmed. Apply propranolol version 7, call out status. Casualties first.” Atius ordered, looking over the group. The knights all nodded, sounds of medical kits clicking open as each took out a cylinder inside, some already lifting it up to their necks and applying the drug.

“N-1, leg cut off.” One of the knights said, letting go of another who’d carried him this far. He wasn’t mincing his words either. The leg had been chopped off, armor and all, at an angle starting from his knee. There wasn’t any blood, the wound was blackened.

“A-1, KOS.” Another knight said, putting down a body he'd carried. This one was missing everything under his chestplate. Just a pair of arms with a limp helmet. His was one of the names grayed out on my HUD.

“Verify the soul fractal on the side of his helmet.” Father’s voice crackled from his medallion.

The knight who’d carried his fellow paused in his own medical application, then swiftly turned his helmet down to the dead body. In a moment, he was kneeling, drawing his helmet close enough to touch. “He’s alive!” The knight shouted, “His soul is in the fractal, he can’t return to his body, but reports status nominal otherwise!”

There was a kind of wonder in his voice. The rest of the knights paused, implications settling on their shoulders.

“I had hoped not to test this theory out anytime soon Tenisent, for obvious reasons.” Atius said with a sigh, gravel in his voice. “Fortune smiles on us this time it seems. Cut free his soul fractal and hand it to Lady Winterscar. Tenisent, we’ll leave A-1 to your care. All units, keep focused on the mission, do not assume complete immortality.”

The clan knights nodded. There hadn’t been a change in posture, but there was a feeling of relief. As if the mission was no longer as oppressive as it had been during the run here, even if technically it had gone even worse than the worst possible case.

“M’lord, does that mean H-1 is also possibly alive?” Another knight from the A-group asked, the gray name of his teammate morbidly just under on the list of names.

Atius nodded. “Most likely yes, so long as his helmet was not destroyed. We can’t afford to grab his body just yet, he can wait until we’ve cleared out the threats.” Old eyes turned to the group. “I am not in the habit of leaving warriors behind. We’ll recover him the moment we can, or plan out a future mission to do so in stealth. Tenisent’s experience as a soul shows they can remain alive and in slumber for months.”

He pointed to eight knights, “Split into groups of two and scout ahead. We need to discover if the machines are attempting a surround or if they’ve sent forces after us.”

They gave a salute, and four scout parties instantly raced out, fading into the trees.

Windrunner walked over to Atius’s side. “Plan?”

“To’Sefit has already made a nest within the temple, likely at the high ground for full visibility. We should assume the other two Feathers are also within the temple guarding her. Plan needs confirmation first on viability.” He turned to me, or rather to Wrath that was secured on my back. “Is there any way for Keith to fix you himself on the surface? We could retreat back. Even if it took months, it would be the safest compared to continuing on.”

Wrath spoke over Journey’s speakers. “Keith could repair the majority of my shell’s systems with my guidance over enough time.” She said. “The control nodes for the nanoswarms could be fixed by hand, however the central command systems that could activate those swarms isn’t something that can be fixed conventionally. Neuromorphic and smaller chips within my head were not built to be operated on by anything other than nanoswarms, his armor couldn’t hold his hands steady enough to repair damage there.”

Atius nodded, looking grim. “Deadlock then. Is another mite forge viable?”

“No. Travel time to another mite forge would give the Feathers more access to resources, we would run into a far larger army each time we turned to search for a new forge. And they would still reach the location before we do.”

“I see.” He said, looking back in the direction of the temple. “So this is them at their weakest. They’ll only grow stronger from here on out. If we can’t win now, we can never win later.”

“How’d she even beat us here?” I asked. “Worse case she’s supposed to be interrogating some of the Undersiders and then leaving them immediately to come chase behind us. She should be attacking from the forest instead of on top of the temple.”

“She must have moved directly to the temple instead of searching for my shell near the city.” Wrath said. “It is the only possible way. I do not know how she knew we would come here of all places. My machines do not broadcast any relevant information back to the machine archive.”

“Is a full frontal charge using a scattered formation possible?” Windrunner asked, already moving past the why’s. “The open terrain before the temple would take only half a minute at a full sprint to reach. It’s possible the majority of our forces can reach the temple without being eliminated.”

Atius shook his head. “If we can’t find another way, that’ll be our last resort. Wrath’s report on To’Sefit showed the beams came from hovering plates around her. She could aim those freely. Even split into groups, To’Sefit could fire on all of us at the same time.”

Cathida cut into my helmet while the group was discussing possible strategies. “You haven’t taken the shot.” She hissed. “That drug existed even back in my day, don’t think I don’t know what it’s for. Take the booster, or I’ll rat you out.”

“I could mute you.” I said, hand over the medical kit to my side.

“You can’t mute a text message, brat. I’ll send it faster than you can blink through the menu. Try me.”

The medkit unhooked from my belt with little resistance. Inside were cylinders, all marked differently. Knights had a different set than scavengers used. My old one had large handles to manipulate through thick gloves, and a needle point to punch through. We also had a field repair kit right next to the vials so we could seal the hole made. This kit was different, the fat vials made to hook up to a socket on the side of the throat. The armor would allow it through.

I picked the right vial and started to give it a few turns, a measuring needle on the side moving with each twist. “I think I’ve got an idea on how to sneak into the temple.” I said to the crusader while working out the dosage.

“Pretend to be a walking tree or something?” Cathida scoffed. “The mission’s a bust. Give up on the minx and just go back home safe. No need to stick your leg out for a glorified calculator with a pretty face.”

“That so? Then you’re going to love this next part. We just so happen to have a guide following around us somewhere, haunting the place. Time I put him to work.”

Next chapter - Sneak level 10