Shadowbane

I felt Arkaios reach out and connect part of my soul to the temple.

"Now that was a familiar feeling... Did you just create a reset point for me?"

{I know of your mission. A bold and very dangerous choice. Use it in case of an emergency.}

"... Thank you, Lord Arkaios."

I knelt down and prayed for a little while before looking around the temple. It was as pristine as all the others, but this one felt lifeless. It was clear that nobody had been here in ages.

"Sir, um, how do I word this..."

{As I have said in the past. My children do not follow nor worship me anymore.}

"But wouldn't your powers be a massive boon for them against the machines?"

{Indeed. They were quite the 'boon' back when I had hundreds of warriors here. Unfortunately, with the diminishing support from my followers I was forced to send my warriors elsewhere. One at a time I lead them to other worlds, other temples, until one day, I no longer had any warriors or supporters left here.}

"Doesn't the temple also naturally gain power through your connection to the planet? Surely you could have continued to support a few warriors who would preach your name to the people?"

{Half correct. I draw very little power here because I can't draw more. The land is rife with Demonic corruption, and it increases in strength underground until a point where I can barely connect to the core. This temple, my very first temple, was doomed the moment I began to lose followers.}

"Demons?! But how could..." I shook my head and waited a moment for my mind to clear, "I'm sorry but how could there be Demonic corruption here? There's still a lot I need to learn about Caedrus, but not once have I ever heard someone mention Demonic corruption."

{I do not understand either. The corruption has been here from the moment I connected to this realm. In fact, this corruption is the very reason I ended up in Arcadia. Xerathian corruption is the easiest to grasp and use as a connection, while Demonic is the lowest. However, the corruption here runs deep. I have only seen Demonic corruption this deep in areas they've owned for a decade or more.}

"Have there been Demon sightings? And I know there is a lot of snow covering things up out there, but you'd think there would still be signs of Demonic corruption somewhere. I've been to areas they control before and I specifically remember all of the red spikes sticking out of the ground."

{A few Demons over the years, but that's normal everywhere. And they were slain by the machines; my children only found their frozen corpses afterwards. Alas, you are correct, there should be signs of corruption, and yet there isn't.}

"... This is very strange. I need to talk to my Uncle and Bertram about this."

{Very strange indeed. However, I have long since given up on such a mystery. And this temple is now full of energy, despite the flimsy connection to the planet, so feel free to use the reset even for transportation if you want. It matters not anymore.}

Wow, he really has given up on this place. And while his words have always been monotone in nature, that last sentence almost sounded kind of sad. But if my Uncle truly is right about the people here, it'd be impossible to create new branded warriors even if I tried. There's no way these people who live in luxury would sign themselves up for an eternity of fighting and pain.

I stood up and walked toward the exit, "Thanks again, Lord Arkaios. I'll be back sometime."

{Reimia.} He said as I reached for the door.

"Yes?"

{My children go to bed every night with full bellies and nigh a worry in the world. After the second clan house was activated they still struggled to survive, but on the third they began to have much more leeway, and by the fourth they became lazy.}

"You're confirming what my Uncle told me already, albeit with information he didn't have, but are you trying to tell me to not acquire the emblems?"

{They matter not. Two more fully functional clan houses would only create more strife and drama. Mere entertainment for the useless and lazy. What I am concerned with however, is the core codes. I do not know what information is hidden in the mainframe, nor what kind of systems it will open up, but I do know that if it leads to something dangerous, my children will be doomed. They may be lazy and useless, but they are alive. You risk them being not alive. I merely want to confirm that you are okay with this.}

"I don't know how it could lead to that, but I'm willing to take that risk. Their unpreparedness is on them. And I refuse to quit because of some 'what if'. Hell, this whole damn continent is a massive 'what if'. The machines seem to be mindless for some reason, but who is to say that will last forever? And the Elves lost an entire fort for reasons that are still unknown to them. Whatever wiped it out stopped there, but that doesn't mean the threat has disappeared forever."

I continued, "I could go on forever, listing reason after reason as to why I'm not going to stop, so instead I'll ask you; do you truly dislike that I'm bringing the codes back here?"

{Not at all. I only wanted you to know the potential risks involved. And it's as you say, anything that happens is on them. I still love my children; the only living creatures I have imbued with my own energy, but they have forsaken me, so they need to stand on their own two feet or die in the process. I can no longer assist them. Not anymore.} He repeated the line 'Not anymore...' a moment later.

"... I see. Well let us hope that I don't bring ruin to the city then."

I walked out of the temple and headed straight for home. All things considered I hadn't actually been out all that long, but I was feeling weirdly exhausted, just like I had been back at Bertram's bar. I decided to put off meeting Yulong until I was back from the mission. There would be plenty of time to talk to him about the Abyss before I left for the core's codes since that mission was going to require far more prep work.

"And who do you think is likely to win the tournament this year?" The host asked.

"Why that'd be Clan Uruguay of course. They've won the past three years, so why would this one be any different? The other clans can change their rosters all they like, nobody is going to beat Leon." Her guest replied. It was a woman whose name I had already forgotten.

A tournament to see who kills the most machines huh? At least their entertainment involves them actually doing some work out there. But from the looks of this years schedule, it appears this is one of only two things that actually involve the clans going outside to kill machines.

I returned my focus to the blood spreading out over the backpack again while vaguely listening to the TV drone on about a tournament I wouldn't be partaking in nor watching. I continued creating a thin sheen of armor over the backpack until I saw a familiar figure on the TV out of the corner of my eye.

"What about Lady Eve? She's been making great strides for Clan Inoue the past year. She even upgraded her mech license to cover nearly every known mech in less than a year!" The host said.

It was showing several images of a girl named 'Eve' from different angles while changing her clothing in each image. Oh hey, that's the girl who was glaring at me back in the mission building.

The next image was at ground level and it was aimed up at her from behind. Whoa, interesting angle there... She has one hell of a nice body on her.

"Eve has improved a hell of a lot the past year, I'm not about to deny that, however, she is far from ready to win this tournament. I'll give her points for having improved so much while not having the funding a full clan house would have, but there's only so much you can do with such, how do you say, mediocre funds..." A different male guest said.

"My! Master Gale, surely you aren't suggesting that only the top six clans have a chance of winning, are you?" The host said.

Gale shrugged, "That's exactly what I'm saying. She can get all of the licenses she wants, but if she can't afford a mech, or doesn't intend to pledge herself to a clan who can afford a mech, then they're nothing more than achievements without value. Words on her keypass that mean nothing. This will upset the general populace, so I'd just like say that if you don't like my opinions on the matter, then too fucking bad! BOO HOO BITCHES! WELCOME TO REALITY!!"

The end of the show devolved in a shouting match that was very reminiscent of the talks I saw concerning the forts. In between the screaming I managed to pick up some interesting tidbits about Gale. He was the brother of Clan Uruguay's leader, and one of the few clan members who actually went on missions outside. He may or may not have described 'Leon', the tournaments number one contender and his brother's son, as a 'self-absorbed loser'. It was hard to tell with all of the yelling, but that's what it sounded like.

While that was going on I completed the finishing touches on the backpack. All done!

I flipped the backpack around and tested its latches several times, confirming that I hadn't sealed anything shut while hardening its outside.

Perfect. Now I just need to fill it up with food and soda. I could heat up the snow and drink that but eh, that's a last resort. The network says the water tastes fine out there, but I'll pass if I can help it. I'd like to take a break from all of the survival nonsense now that I'm finally back here and enjoying good food and drinks again.

I muted the TV and walked over to the console. Once there I navigated to the phone menu and dialed my Uncle. He didn't pick up so I called Bertram's bar instead. His daughter picked up and told me that Irvine and Bertram were on the porch as usual. I thanked her and hung up before leaving my home. I'll stay one more night and then head out. All I need to do tomorrow is grab the food and drinks, which will only take a few minutes.

About ten minutes later I walked up to the porch and waved to the two old men who were both pointing at a large plate of food behind my Uncle. It was sitting on a small round table near a bench placed up against the wall.

"I assume that's all for me since it's the same shit that I ate last time. Thanks for ordering ahead of time for me you two!"

Bertram shook his head, "It wasn't us. It's an all-you-can-eat day so the place is packed, that's why we're out here. But uh, my daughter made a plate for you and said you could have it. The fairy says she'll be done by the time you return, so my daughter is happy as all hell."

"We all are!!" Irvine began rocking in his chair, "Man, I haven't been this happy in ages. My niece is back, my daughter is going to be cured, and the core codes might be found... I'm just waiting for the inevitable bad news to ruin everything."

"And you're about to double your income, right?"

"Heh, yep. As soon as you come back I'll be making an enemy out of Clan Uruguay after taking that much money from them, but who gives a fuck. They shouldn't have taken the bet if they weren't prepared to lose." Irvine said with a big smile on his face.

I sat down and ate while the three of us chatted about my mission. It went on for a while but the two of them went silent after I brought up Arkaios and the Demons.

"What's the problem? You two run your mouths about everything, but I bring up Arkaios and suddenly you have nothing to say?"

Bertram sighed, "It's not that, girl. This is just a topic that I struggle with, but hell if I know why your Uncle is silent."

"Because Arkaios is a sore subject for the Elves! That much should have been obvious. I mean shit, we did abandon him... And it doesn't help that his last warriors were sacrificed to Demons." Irvine said.

"... He left that part out of the story he told me earlier. But he did tell me about the Demonic corruption that's deeply embedded in the continent. Is it tied to that?"

Irvine shook his head, "No... Or so we believe? Honestly, Arkaios is the only one saying that there is Demonic corruption here. No one in Caedrus has ever said that they found signs of it, so it's a weird topic for us, because we do trust his words, but what are we even supposed to do with information like that when nobody can find this supposed corruption?"

The door to the bar opened up and Nia came rolling out on her wheelchair. She saw me and smiled, "Big sis! Come play with me!"

B-Big sis?? She was super scared of me before and didn't talk once while I was regaling my history to Bertram and Irvine---Oh, I bet it's because of Luna. She's probably been singing my praises.

"Okay! But what are we going to play?"

Nia turned her chair around and went back inside. I followed behind her and she immediately pointed to the pinball machine by the wall. "That!"

I've never played one before, but I know how they work and they seem simple enough.

I followed her over to the pinball machine but once we arrived she lifted her arms up at me.

"Um, what is this hand motion you are doing?"

"Lift me up, silly! And place me on the right side of the machine. I'll push the right stick, you do the left, okay?"

Oh, so that's how she wants to do this.

I bent down and lifted her up onto the pinball machine. Her legs were dangling off the right side, which lead to her twisting her torso to the left so she could see the game. I wasn't sure how to start it so she told me where to put my keypass and which button to press.

As the game started up I could see her mother smiling at me from the counter before another patron showed up and took her attention away. This place really is packed, but she can obviously see, so why does she have a blindfold? I'm really curious as to what her curse is, but I don't know if this is the kind of thing you aren't supposed to ask...

We played pinball for a long while(which was shockingly fun) before Nia said, "Luna says you're really sad and lonely. Is is true, big sis?"

Pfft... So much for singing my praises. Is that how she sees me? She's not entirely wrong, but come on...

"Uh, well... Maybe? Wait, is that why you invited me to play?"

Nia turned her focus back to the game and meekly nodded.

"I see... Then thanks for looking out for me, little cousin~." I rubbed her hair the same way I used to rub Aresa's hair. At first she went to push my hands away but she suddenly changed her mind and just smiled at me instead.

I'm still having a hard time seeing her as family. It's not easy when I thought they were all gone... I had a few other Uncle's and Aunts but I haven't asked Irvine about them yet, and he hasn't mentioned them, so it's not hard to guess whether they're alive or not. Even so, I really should ask him the next time I'm back here. For now though I want to relax with this cutie a little more before heading home.

And that's exactly what I did. I played with Nia while eating as much food as I could before saying goodnight to everyone there before leaving. On the way out my Uncle gave me directions to a good store for rations on R-4, so thanks to him I now knew where I was buying my food tomorrow before stopping at the head office.

On the way home I realized how much I had been enjoying my time in Arcadia. There was still this lurking dread in the back of my mind, always expecting the worse to happen, but all in all, I was pretty happy for the first time in a long while.

"... Miss, these aren't trial products." A worker said as he watched me eating one of the stores rations.

"I'm testing them to see which ones I want to bring on this super long mission I'm about to go on. Why, what's your problem?"

"My 'problem' is that you need to BUY the products before you can open them. You can't just take them off the rack and then eat them!"

"... Okay fine, I'll take one of each of these."

The store worker nodded, "Now that's better. And you'll also be buying those four that you already ate."

Yeah yeah, I know.

I followed him up to the counter and inserted my keypass into a hole in the counter. While he was doing whatever he needed to do to finish the sale, I began eating one ration after another at an abnormal speed, dropping crumbs all over the counter. The man looked quite annoyed but I ignored him and ate all thirty ration bars that were on that on one section of the isle before telling him to give me twenty five of the blueberry cereal bars, and twenty five of the chocolate granola bars.

While he was gathering them up I asked the lady attendant nearby to give me a bunch of red soda bottles, but she said that they don't carry soda in the mission supply stores because nobody brings packs full of heavy soda bottles with them.

So after the man returned with my bars I left the store and began searching for a store that sold soda. It didn't take me long, as the area I was in was filled with stores of all kinds. Most were mission oriented, but there were a few casual stores like this one, which carried all types of packaged food and drinks.

I ignored the strange stares from the attendant as I packed the survival bag full of blue and red soda drinks. Once I was done I finally set out for the head office.

"Hello, Reimia." The no longer tired attendant said as I arrived at her counter. I think my Uncle said her name was Shannon?

"I'm heading out, Shannon." I placed my keypass on the counter.

Her eyebrows went up a little when I said her name, but she said nothing as she picked up the keypass and placed it into a slot near her console. About a minute later she narrowed her eyes at me and said, "... Interesting first mission choice. It looks like your Uncle wasn't a fan of you returning after all."

"He's not sending me out there to die. You'll see soon enough when I return with both emblems."

"Uh huh." She mumbled while typing away at the console. After a little while she pulled the keypass out of the console and handed it back to me. "You know you aren't signed up for any convoys, right? I can't force you to stay here or sign you up for one, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out how stupid this is. Just how are you planning to reach Fort Weiss?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. And now I'm off!"

Before she could say anything else I left the office and walked into one of the nearby elevators. There was a group of eight people already in there, talking about their current mission. I vaguely eavesdropped while waiting for the elevator to reach the top level, and I heard one of the girl's whisper something about how I was going to freeze to death. I glanced back at the group and saw that they were all in heavy-duty winter gear, which is to be expected considering where we were going.

The elevator doors opened as it stopped, revealing a pure white landscape. After exiting the elevator all I could hear was the wind and the sound of plows. Damn, I forgot to ask my Uncle what they were doing with all of this snow. I doubt it's important but it's so weird! I could look it up on this console but eh, I'm curious to see what Uncle Irvine or Bertram say about it.

I thought about flying over the high walls but decided to walk up to one of the exit gates instead. Half of them had vehicles coming or going, which left the other half open. As I approached a set of guard one of them threw his hands up in the air in annoyance while the other one was clearly laughing at him.

After the one guard had stopped laughing he looked at me and said over his speakers, "S-Sorry Miss, this fool here had heard about a new arrival with white hair that showed up in this freezing climate wearing a black suit of armor and he thought that they were bullshitting so he placed a one week bet on it. And he was about to win since the men who saw you have been struggling to find any information on you. The head office refused to divulge information over a bet, so... Yeah, you showing up here means that he just lost a shit load of money."

I handed my keypass over to him, "So they clamp down on personal information even within Arcadia? I thought that was just to outsiders."

He scanned the keypass and handed it back to me, "You're good to go. And nah, we're pretty strict with information here. There were some problems in the past which resulted in the current situation. You should look into it when you're back. But for now, good luck on your mission!"

No comment about what the mission is? Whatever popped up on his console must not have described my mission then. It probably just said that I had one or that the head office had green-lit me.

I waved to the two guards and walked through the open gate. I continued walking for a little bit before activating my halo and flying into the sky. Ahh, it feels so damn good to be up here again...

I turned until my console said I was looking directly at Fort Weiss, and once I was aligned with it I immediately began flying forward.

Over the past week I had flown over multiple convoys that were mostly just driving along, but I saw a few that were parked because of machine attacks. I watched from the sky to see if they needed help, but it was clear that they didn't. It almost looked casual the way they were handling it, which I suppose was to be expected. There were over fifty men in power armor with large energy weapons decimating a horde of Warrior machines. They were aiming for their legs, so they could blow their heads off with projectile weapons. It was one of the easiest ways to secure power cores without destroying them supposedly(that's what I was reading on the console anyway).

Uncle Irvine said that Warriors always moved in packs and that they make up the bulk of the machines forces. Also, when a Screecher calls for help, Warriors will hear it from much farther away then other machines, so you end up with multiple different packs of Warriors barreling down on top of you. Which is a major problem for small groups of people, and an even bigger problem near the back half of the high hazard area, because that's when Warriors start using weapons, including ranged weapons.

Warriors are also the most basic in design. They quite literally look like ten foot tall Human skeletons made of metal(supposedly up to twenty feet near the dead zone). They're not as sleek as the Screechers, but they're pretty close. There's some open bits and tubes here and there, but in general they might freak me out the most because of how closely they resemble people.

A couple of red lights lit up on the ground before a hail of bullets pierced through the air in my direction. Looks like I'm on foot from here...

I was halfway to the ground when the closest anti-air machine fired a red laser at me that I barely managed to avoid in time. It fired a few more at me as I approached the ground but now that I knew it was coming it was much easier to dodge.

The second I hit the ground I blitzed into a home and turned invisible. I then ran outside while the sound of a Screecher echoed out from far to the north. I didn't see one on the way down, but I'm glad it was there. Now I know they keep an eye on the sky too.

I ran south away from the Screecher for about ten minutes before turning west toward Fort Weiss. Alright then, it should only take me a couple of days to get there, and then that's when the real fun begins.