The Pillar of Enera

[Book II Chapter 86] HELIX: Artemis

------------------------------------------------

Deep within the bowls of Roskild, Aery’s second highest floating island, Helix Karel fingered the controls absentmindedly while staring at the projection before him.

“Anything to see yet?” Gali called out.

Argon Blast had stolen Astrolis an hour ago, using Hope Skyfell to fly it right out of Palos. The brazen act had captivate their interest enough to separate them from their work.

He was directing Atemsis, the all-seeing monitoring system they’d developed, to track all mobile armors within a thousand miles. He zoomed in on a group of mechs east of the Sarada.

“I’ve found War Machine, but Astrolis doesn’t appear to be with them.” He answered.

“Let me see.” Gali stopped her enchanting and hopped over.

“They’re on the edge of our detection radius.” Helix gesture to the projection. “For some reason, Nihilister is traveling separately high in the sky.”

A indicator lit up, and he brought up an image of the mobile armor which had just shot out of the earth. “There’s Astrolis! It’s moving at tremendous speed towards our airspace.”

“And Nihilister is dropping to intercept it.” Gali mumbled. “What’s going on?”

“Maybe Hope tried to escape, and they’re hunting her down?” Helix guessed.

The two watched the blurred figures with dispassionate curiosity. There was little they could do to influence the distant events. Then suddenly everything came into focus, and the details of both mobile armors were crystal clear.

Helix jumped up in his seat. “What on Enera…?”

“Wow, there’s been a fluctuation within Atemsis. Its primary identification field has been extended nearly three hundred miles west…” Gali reported, poring over the data on her own console.

Helix frowned appraising the blazing flames surrounding black mobile armor. “Nihilister plainly intends to destroy Astrolis.” He observed.

Enchanted machinery roared to life around them, and the room vibrated as unimaginable power flowed through magical conduits. “Sister, what are you doing?” He asked apprehensively.

“I don’t intend to let that happen before my very eyes.” Gali declared. “Do you?”

“I suppose I agree.” He smiled. “Time for Artemis’s first live test?”

Gali grinned back. “Isn’t this a wonderful excuse for it?”

While they were best known as the two twin immortal engineers who oversaw Aery’s airship production from within Roskild’s interior, their true passion was weapon development. After reaching the wall, they’d retreated from the world to toil away in their private sanctuary. The Artemis system was their magnum opus, the result of centuries of hard labor.

Helix deployed stabilizing magic, and the trembling ceased. He engaged the targeting arrays and selected Nihilister. “Trajectories entered and locked in.” He reported.

“All accumulators running smoothly.” Gali responded. “Charging at 63%… 79%… 95%…”

“Do you want to do the honors.” He asked.

“Love to.” Gali smirked. “Charging complete. Firing in 3, 2, 1… Engage!”

From all every corner of Roskild, thick beams of pure energy shot into the sky at several times the speed of sound. They curved downward towards the Sarada desert.

Helix and Gali chuckled watching Nihilister break off its attack and retreat. Artemis isn’t something you can dodge. The beams converged on the hapless mobile armor in an overlapping sphere a quarter mile wide. Everything within was incinerated.

“Test successful.” Gali announced with glee, observing the falling debris.

“And there are no pursuers.” Helix added. “Astrolis will safely reach our airspace.”