Dungeon Robotics 10-8

Good morning, Monday Zombies. I have to admit, even working from home. I still hate mondays. HAhaha

Chapter 8

Louella

Standing on the deck of the ship, I stared at the tower that Regan had created over the capital city. It was as tall and almost as wide as a mountain, while being several times more deadly. There was no out right hint of danger from it, but when I looked it over, there were spots that gave off a deadly vibe even to me.

“I’m glad someone thought to warn the people,” I said shaking my head. It might have appeared at night, but there were still plenty of people that were awake even in the dead of night. If something like this had appeared without warning, I was sure there would be more than just a riot on my hands. The people were already at their wits end with the war after all. I turned to Wrakras. “When should Izora be joining us?”

He checked his watch then the sky. “A minute now. They were only out doing some scouting of the area to make sure there weren’t any dissents remaining.”

Pointing at the tower, I chuckled. “With that thing there, I doubt a dragon would be much of a danger.”

“That might be true, but it is the ant that can bring down the elephant if the elephant starts to ignore it,” Wrakras said with a shrug.

“That sounds good, but what is an elephant?”

“I’m not sure. Master Regan said it to me once,” Wrakras replied with a headshake.

The thrumming of mana engines pulled my attention to the half a dozen airships that were pulling along side of us. A few seconds later, Izora flew from her ship over to ours. She gave me a salute like the soldiers, even though I had repeatedly told her that she didn’t have to.

“Permission to join you, my lady?” she asked stiffly.

“Of course,” I replied, and she nodded. “Seriously. We are friends. You don’t have to do things like this.”

She released a breath and stood much looser. “Thanks, but it’s the principle of the matter. You are my queen now. That means I have need to show you the respect you deserve. If you are not careful some people might see it as a sign of weakness.”

“To which they will be answered with a bolt of lightning to their face,” I shoot back with a grin.

Wrakras opened the door to the ship, and we made our way inside. Preparations to leave were well under way now that we’d resupplied with Regan’s help. “Be that as it may, I’d rather just go through the gesture. It is almost freeing at times, knowing that there is someone with more pressure on her shoulders than me.” Wrakras held up the door to my office. I thanked him and made my way over to my desk. Izora following afterward. He left us alone after that.

“How are your people?” I asked with concern. “Jade Port couldn’t have been pleasant from what I read in the reports. Seeing it firsthand must have raised a lot of anger.” In the blitz to capture Thonaca Kingdom quickly, she had led her forces up to Jade Port where her people were reduced to slaves and forced to use their knowledge to build airships. It was frightening how fast the tables could turn and reminded me to keep an eye on my back.

“They are adjusting well. It has been one thing after another for my people this last year. The situation at the port might have added insult to injury, but at least everyone was alive and able to leave in one piece.”

“That is good to hear. They are welcome in Vaihdetta for as long as I am queen.”

“Thank you. It makes you think about how things might have gone differently,” she said leaning back and looking at the ceiling. Her eyes appeared to see beyond the wooden panels to something in the distance. “If Lord Regan had acted any differently, the entire gnome people might have ceased to exist once the necromancers took over, or worse they might have welcomed the necromancers with open arms that the face of the continent might be very different.”

I gave her a small smile. That was one of the many things that crossed my mind when I took a moment to think about the last year. The image from the other world, what I could only describe as the evil Regan flashed through my mind. The valley in that world was nothing more than a crater. I hadn’t spoken to Regan about it, other than to mention that the sun energy flowing through me had sent to a strange place.

Shaking away the thoughts, I tapped my desk with an idle finger. “I do think about the last year a lot, but in the end, we can only keep trying to make the best decisions with what knowledge we have. As they say, the benefit of hindsight.”

“I agree.” We lapsed into silence for a few minutes before Izora cleared her throat. “Now then, on to business. We’re heading down around the cape to assault the Lelune Theocracy from behind. I’m sure they have a few of the airships that they’ve managed to gather since the start of this war parked to defend it.”

I tapped on the tablet in front of me and pulled up the map. A path that led south then around the edge of the mountains was displayed. Other than the three ships we were leaving here for policing purposes, the entire fleet would be heading south. Melhagen was officially declared a neutral zone and I wanted to avoid bring heavily armed warships near it. “Those were my thoughts. My only concern is the maelstrom and how it acted up when you were passing near it.”

“We were pretty close to the storm when that occurred. If we hug the coast and only go over sea when we pass the mountains, I think we should be fine. On the safe side, we should reduce our mana output to the minimal amount during the crossing.”

I bit my nail as I mauled that over. It was dangerous. If our mana output was reduced and we were attacked, we would be hard pressed to respond adeptly. It would take everything just to power our shields and keep the vessels aloft. The only consolation was the enemy would be in the same situation.

“We’ll risk it, but I want a scout moving ahead of the main fleet. Storm or no, its too dangerous to get that close to enemy territory without full mana generation.”

“Of course. Now for the formation…”

The discussion of our plans lasted well into the night. I wanted to make sure everything was covered before taking it to the captains and the soldiers. As their leader, it only made sense that I tried to think of everything to make sure that they came out of this alive. Not that I was totting my own horn, I knew I couldn’t think of literally everything. That didn’t mean I couldn’t try to.

Meeting with the captains didn’t take nearly as long as I expected. They appeared to be satisfied with the plans that Izora and I came up with and were set to disembark as soon as I gave the word. Part of me felt relieved they trusted me this much, while another part was shocked that they could trust me this much.

Izora and I were on the observation deck above the bridge of my flagship when I sensed a surge of mana. I turned to greet Regan only to find a man and woman standing behind me. While the man certainly resembled Regan, there was a sort of…newness to him. He was shiner than Regan. If that was possible.

My guards reacted and pointed their weapons at the par, but I sensed no hostility from them. I waved the guards down and stepped forward. “May I help you?”

“Yes. I am Setor, and this Setoria. We came to speak of father, the one you call Lord Regan,” the man said with an almost too perfect of a voice. Regan’s creations always had an artificial quality to their speech, but this one lacked that in such a way that it almost went full circle.

I decided to just go with the flow. It wasn’t the first time that Regan’s creations have reached out to me for one thing or another. “Sure. If I can be of assistance.”

Setor waved his hand and a pair of benches formed for us. He gestured to Izora as well. “It is fortituest that both of you are present. We would like to speak with you.”

“I’m all ears,” Izora said as she took a seat as well.

“If we could have some privacy,” Setoria said glancing at the guards. I eyed her and Setor and decided that their combined power level was well above mine. I wasn’t sure what Regan had created, but I would just have to hope that I wasn’t about to find out that it was defective. Either way, the guards wouldn’t be of much help. I nodded for them to leave.

“Thank you,” Setoria said with a head bob.

Setor bowed in his seat with his hands on his knees. “I would like to ask whether you would die for my father.” Well that took a rather grim turn.

I tightened my grip on Helios but cleared my throat. “I would like to say it depends. If we were in the heat of battle, I might very well throw myself in the path of a lethal attack if it meant that we would win in the end. However, if someone told me to die for him simple to die, then I would have to say no. I value my own life, a life that Regan has saved on my occasions, too much to waste it.”

“I would die for Lord Regan,” Izora answered from next to me with all her conviction. “In fact, Lord Regan owns my life. Without him, I would not be sitting here right now.”

“I see. Then, would you live for him?” Setoria asked this time.

“Certainly. Regan has changed my life in ways I never could have imagined. Without him, well, I wouldn’t be sitting her talking to you,” I replied honestly.

“Same,” Izora added.

“Good. We apologize. Our inception into this world has given father some trouble. We want to make it easier for him in the future, but our brothers and sisters might not see that once everything is over,” Setor explained.

“Is it likely?” I asked wondering just what Regan had done now.

“We are unsure. We are the first and plan to check on the others. Sadly, we are all very intelligent, much more than mortals, and if we had a sinister motivate, we could easily hide it. Even from each other.” His voice was level the entire time. I could tell he was speaking and only saying what he saw was the truth.

“I think I understand. Let us pray that this is not the case.”

“Father will grow in power,” Setoria said as she stood from her seat. “He will likely grow too powerful for this world. If my understanding of your world’s history is correct, then he might become the first new god in a very long time.”

“He’s already reaching those realms of power?” I asked a little shocked. Just a few months ago, I was technically stronger than him. He just didn’t like to lose, did he?

She nodded, but I could almost see some sadness in her eyes. Though it could have been a trick of the light. “Yes. The circumstances are requiring it. Too many forces are engaged at the same time.”

I stood up and reached out my hand. “Then we’ll do our part and finish up the mess we mortals are making.” She took it with a smile.

“That would be wonderful. Mortals might be weak and sometimes even appear insignificant to the grand scheme of things, but me and my partner can and will attest to the contrary. It couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said, my smile morphing into a grin. We broke apart and the two nodded to us before vanishing.

“Lovely pair,” Izora said once they were gone.

“True. I thought my heart was going to come out of my throat when they asked if we’d die for Regan,” I said with a sigh.

“Let us work hard so that doesn’t end up being the case.”

I laughed loudly and took a deep breath once it passed. “Over a year later and that bastard is still making me scared for one reason or another. I almost miss the days when the most shocking thing he did was create a random building at the edge of town or a tower that pissed off the mages.”

“Looking back always makes us nostalgic,” Izora said patting my shoulder. She moved over to the railing and spread her wings. “Then to the Lelune Theocracy.”

I raised my hand in parting. “Race you there,” I called before she flew back to her flagship.

Wrakras came over once she was gone. “Everything alright?”

“Like you weren’t listening?” I asked with a snort. “Everyone that was sitting there likely sensed you.”

“Well. I heard something that scared the new life out of me. I couldn’t just stand there if they revealed themselves as your enemy. Regan or no,” Wrakras said without a hint of apology.

I walked over and gave him a light smack on the chest before laying my head against him. “Let’s not test that any time soon, shall we.”

“As you wish, my lady,” he replied before bending down and give me a kiss. I had to admit. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I pulled back when I felt he wasn’t going to.

“Time to work. We can make out like teenagers later.”

“Mind if I hold you to that?” Wrakras asked as I made my way back into the ship.

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