12 Miles Below

To’Wrathh believed she’d escaped mother’s gaze.

She’d successfully diverted the lady’s attention in her prior conversations with her mother, making it seem as if To’Aacar had killed off the last lead the machines had on her original goals with the bunker. After that misdirection, she’d declared her part of the mission complete.

The city was hers. There was footage of Keith and Kidra being captured, interrogated, toyed with, and killed - exactly the kind of treatment that would appeal to what To’Wrathh knew of the pale lady.

Mother had responded well, giving her free reign to do as she wished, her part complete.

The follow-up investigation threw it all out the airlock, with To’Sefit arriving to investigate the matter. The additional battle at the temple had only made things far worse.

Fortunately, Mother and Feathers in general did not take to news of defeat well, especially if they had to report defeat against humans of all creatures.

That was the only faint hope To’Wrathh had - that Keith killing both To’Sefit and To’Avalis was a black mark on their record that they would stop at nothing to hide until they’d have full victory to report. And that having one of their Feather’s bodies be stolen by a human…

It seems she had miscalculated. To’Avalis must have been too pragmatic. He’d chosen to confess early, even running the risk of his own destruction in order to stay loyal to the original mission.

Images of destruction flashed through To’Wrathh’s mind. How quickly she could be snuffed out, chained to the unity fractal. Mother had just to wish it, and To’Wrathh’s own body would rebel against herself, destroying her from the inside out.

The connection lit up to life, the unity fractal glowing bright in her chassis, instantly throwing To’Wrathh into a virtual world.

White in every direction, all except for before her, where one giant stone throne towered over her. And sitting with her legs crossed, was Reliquished.

The violet goddess slowly sat up, taking leisurely steps down the stairs, the throne behind unoccupied.

She had seconds to decide a strategy to survive this audience. To’Wrathh decided to feign ignorance. “The lady has called for me?” She asked, taking a kneel before the goddess, looking down.

“I have.” Relinquished said slowly. “There are far more important tasks to attend to and yet… here I am again. The calls to attention here seem far beyond the scope of one simple mission. Can you guess what has transpired, my dear child?”

The lady was toying with her now. She knew.

She forced herself to relax. This had been the same fears she’d have the first time Relinquished had come to speak to her, after her unworded betrayal.

“My lady, did the Feathers you sent find my mentor?”

She laughed, “No. Your old mentor has returned on his own.”

To’Wrathh paled. That was impossible. Keith had severed the concept of self. Even if the human had mis-understood the situation, the strike had cut through To’Aacar’s soul fractal faster than the machine could safely trigger the unity fractal and escape.

She couldn’t feel the Occult as he could, she was an artificial soul. But that pulse of occult, that feeling of severing, was so pure and powerful she could feel echos of it right there. She’d been close enough.

Had he escaped somehow?

“It seems he didn’t run and hide after all, as I had once thought.”

He’d been under flames, unable to overclock. Much of his face remained ruined, open seams giving the superheated air direct access. The speed of thought and presence simply wouldn’t be there for the Feather to safely escape.

Keith had appeared out of nowhere, directly behind, flying at full speed directly at the enemy, and stabbed him within a half second.

But if he’d returned… what had he told the lady?

“I am pleased to hear my elder brother has returned to duty, and has not abandoned it.” To’Wrathh said, carefully. She didn’t fear being caught lying by any kind of algorithm. The separate language transformer turned her text to speech, and it had no links to any other information, acting like a neutral party.

“You are far more forgiving than I, child.” Relinquished chuckled. “I had to teach him a lesson in hiding defeats from me.”

“Defeats?” To’Wrathh asked, hoping to get a more accurate picture.

“Oh yes my dear, defeats. More than one. And it seems, you have as well, from lack of knowledge.”

The pale lady walked down the steps, her virtual avatar far taller than To’Wrathh. She looked down upon the small Feather. “An enemy has appeared. One that can defeat Feathers by himself. A new Deathless. He fought, and killed To’Aacar’s shell. Killed To’Sefit’s shell. And then permanently killed another I sent to investigate.”

“Permanently killed?” This sounded… like the lady hadn’t been told the truth. But what had she been told then? What was the story? “There is no method to permanently killing one of ours. Not unless the Feather is unable to escape in time. It has never happened before.”

“Regrettably child, war is rarely so forgiving for us all.” A white arm patted To’Wrathh’s shoulders, before the pale lady turned and walked back up the stairway. “Time grows long. Some Deathless succeed by sheer chance in eliminating a Feather faster than they can escape. Full body destruction - where my deluded child believed they could survive, or were too foolish to notice the jaws of death closing in on them in time. This… is different.”

To’Wrathh remained kneeling down, head bowed. She could tell Relinquished wasn’t done talking.

“This Deathless has unerringly found the soul fractal upon my Feathers. And he has the means to make that knowledge dangerous. And he’s hidden those powers from you, leaving you to believe you’ve ended his life for good.”

Was… was this what she thought it might be?

“The human, Keith Winterscar?” To’Wrathh said, giving the trace of surprise in her voice. “That is impossible.”

“Perhaps it would be easier to hear it from your old mentor himself and those your little human killed.” Relinquished said, then snapped her fingers.

Three Feathers materialized next to her.

To'Sefit. The woman coldly stared down at To'Wrathh without a hint of emotion. Then turned to Mother, and knelt down with reverence.

To'Orda, who remained passive. A giant that loomed over them all.

And the last one... He was truly back. Alive.

To’Aacar.

This was over. She was dead. Here to be exposed, toyed with, and killed at the lady's leisure.

The old Feather looked over at her, a scowl of disdain written over his features before he wiped them off, turning to Relinquished. “Is there more you require, my lady?” He asked, kneeling down with a deep bow.

There were no accusations. Nothing. To'Wrathh remained silent, watching.

Relinquished barely spared him a glance, turning to her instead. “Your elder brother here had grown… unorganized with information logging and tracking. Deliberately. After his defeat, he thought it wise to hide himself until he had brought together all evidence needed.”

Despair flared through To’Wrathh again. This hadn’t been a summon. It was a trial.

Relinquished shifted her gaze to the old Feather, but... she was not smiling. “That was most unwise. I do not suffer failure from my instruments, and I certainly do not forgive or forget. However, given his attempts to amend his path and provide knowledge of our enemy, I have granted him the chance to redeem himself.”

Was this a trial? Redeem himself? What was going on?

“Explain the threat we face.” Relinquished said, sitting down on her throne, legs crossed.

The Feather nodded, then stood, a video request sent. To’Wrathh opened her eyes and found herself in a visual memory.

Before her, was To’Aacar. Body half ruined, running ragged. Beyond him, the remains of the stone brick he’d tried to crush To’Wrathh with. The one that had crippled her shell, and let him finally win. His spear was drawn, aimed down.

But under his spear wasn’t To’Wrathh. It was Kidra.

How? To’Wrathh studied the recordings but found no evidence of tampering. No artifacts, nothing that made it seem unreal.

Was her own memory tampered with?

The footage continued, with Keith appearing out of the occult portal as before, flames licking the air before him, the rest of the recording growing dim gray as To’Aacars vision was constrained down from the sub-speed processing. Only Keith was in vision at this point.

“As you can see, little sister.” To’Aacar said, voice straining on the words, as if he were swallowing something poisonous. “The human performs the occult with the same command as a Deathless or occult wielder would.”

This was To’Aacar. It had to be. The sheer derision and hatred in his words were exactly what her old mentor had shown her time and time again.

Still images of Keith in his armor appeared. Using the fractal of heat at his helmet’s center to cause a fireball ahead of him. Images of him pulsing the occult, to manifest a shield on his armor. Or spectral blades. More images of him fighting beyond the speed of a normal human.

Some were taken from To’Aacars old combat with the boy. Others were taken from… from To’Avalis’s viewpoint. Or camera recordings from the lessers as they battled the knights.

“I nearly defeated the human’s sister, but his stealth and powers took me by surprise. The insect is adept at hiding his nature and powers until they are absolutely needed.”

The video unpaused, images around them vanishing. Lord Atius’s sword sliced straight through the cloud of flames, and then unerringly into To’Aacars soul fractal. The video froze. And re-wound. The blade he used was highlighted.

“There.” To’Aacar said, pointing at the blade. “That blade is what I believe caused the death of To’Avalis.”

The… death of To’Avalis?

To’Wrathh felt her mind spin at that, but she remained quiet, trying to understand what was going on.

Another video footage appeared, this time with To’Aacar having his hand cut through by the clan lord Atius. It fell limp at his side.

Again the same sword was highlighted. “In the past encounter with this Deathless, that same blade was used and severed my hand in a way that goes beyond physics. I’ve done searching through the archives and discovered this is a more complete version of the division fractal. It can cut not only through material, but also the occult itself.”

The recording changed, now on the ruined skyscraper bridge. There, To’Avalis fought against Keith, both heavily damaged.

“As you can see, he’s used some manner of acasual power to compromise that Feather’s subsystems. You can see it in the lack of coordination, the loss of command. Unthinkable from a mere human.”

The Keith in the video drew out that longsword, then stabbed To’Avalis directly through the malfunctioning Feather.

Except that hadn’t been what happened. She’d seen the recordings from the knights and others on watch.

In the video, Keith rose with little difficulty, grabbing the dead Feather’s chassis still frozen above him, then shoved it off of with contempt. It went limp, falling into the abyss below. To’Wrathh wasn’t there.

Anywhere. She’d been removed from the recording.

The video footage changed. To’Sefit was on the ground, beaten. Keith’s blade rose up. Then stabbed directly through, once more at the soul fractal’s location. She knew the blade was different in reality, though the killing stroke was the same.

Doctored footage. Perfectly done to the point she couldn’t tell it was tampered herself.

“My lady, if there is any blade that can end the life of a Feather it is that one. I felt it in person." To'Sefit said, for the first time in the audience. "This... Deathless clearly knows as well. His killing blows were far too accurate for any other conclusion."

"Deathless?" To'Wrathh asked, confused.

“And this, little sister, is where your failures come to light.” To’Aacar said, his voice every bit the sneer of disdain it had in the past. “Your human, the very one you swore to kill - gained more from that bunker than mere trinkets. And you never noticed. Observe the timestamp.”

To’Wrathh did. That part at least matched reality. The last two videos weren't reality, but the timestamps were accurate.

Another video flashed into evidence. This one she was familiar with. It was the one where she’d killed Keith directly. The timestamp was highlighted. It had all happened before the scene at the bridge. The implication clear: The boy should have been dead. And he was not.

There’s only one kind of human known to return from death.

"Tsyua turned him into Deathless." To'Aacar said. "Likely his sister as well. He’d kept that hidden until needed. You failed in the most basic of tasks.”

“I did as the pale lady instructed.” To’Wrathh answered, wings flaring with anger behind her, every bit as haunty as a Feather was expected to be. She played her role as best as she could. “I captured both, alive even. A task you failed to accomplish yourself. That I could capture and kill this Deathless despite him having killed you, To'Avalis and To'Sefit personally, is not a failure on my part. It is proof my combat skills are above all - and beyond your own reach.”

She knew her answer then - To’Aacar truly was dead. This was an imposter.

He was the one above all challenge and reach. To’Aacar. She’d claimed he couldn’t live up to his name. Even the mere implication, followed by undeniable proof, was enough to cause decohesion and confusion inside the Feather’s own identity, something Lord Atius had abused in his own duel.

To’Aacar - or the machine that pretended to be him near flawlessly - snarled and turned to her, eyes of pure anger and hatred, exactly as the real one would behave - And instantly cooled off to utter indifference the moment his features couldn’t be seen by Mother. Intentionally done.

He wanted To’Wrathh to know.

“You believe my pride to be a vulnerability? That I would break down and cry, or throw a small tamper tantrum as if it would change anything?” The one puppeteering To’Aacar’s identity laughed with the same voice the old Feather had, the same sense of contempt. “How adorable, little sister. You’ll have to do better than that. I’ve had a long time to reflect on my… decay in skills. I will not go challenged for long. Believe me, after I conclude my business, I will… settle the scores with you next.”

She locked eyes with him in return, narrowing them down. The message had been passed.

She knew what he was. There was only one Feather that was missing a body. Only one Father that could have known about To’Aacar and possibly even tracked down his shell. Only one Feather technically not in attendance here. This was none other than To’Avalis. Hiding like an insect from the pale lady’s wrath, surviving by any means he could.

To’Avalis could expose her, he had far enough evidence to do so in ways that To’Wrathh would never be able to escape.

And yet he didn’t. He’d done the opposite, built himself a throne of lies instead. And clearly brought the other Feathers into it.

The moment he exposed To’Wrathh, it would expose their own failures.

But...

Losing to a human was enough warrant death. To'Sefit knew that. At the height of their powers, if they could lose to a mere human, then they had to be defective. They weren't newborns like To'Wrathh had been. And even then, her loss to Kidra might have earned her death against Relinquished if To'Aacar's reports hadn't fallen on deaf ears.

Keith being a Deathless gave them just enough excuse. Deathless had killed Feathers before. Never by themselves, but this was what made him the most dangerous in the world.

To'Avalis would have found himself up against an even worse punishment for having his own shell stolen by one. That was unthinkable.

She didn't know how they'd gotten To'Orda to not turn on them both, that Feather was the only one who had nothing she could think of to tie him down. But To'Avalis and To'Sefit had managed it somehow. The large Feather had a vacant, unreadable gaze, and seemed perfectly content to wait.

That To'Avalis had gone down this path of lies meant he believed he could still complete his mission without being killed by Relinquished afterwards. Or there was a different plan in his head. To'Wrathh didn't know, but she'd need to ferret it out of him somehow.

They all knew every Feather in this audience was a liar hiding cards behind their backs.

But none of them would break that fragile truce before Relinquished, no matter how much they hated each other.