Runt of the Litter - Tales from Alirast

Trillia's heart quickened in her chest.

She saw no doors.

No walls.

Had it escaped? Surely not.

"Status on the Eternal General?"

The panel responded yet again.

~Eternal General at 100% Vitality.
All Sub-Systems at 100% Vitality.
All Biological Batteries at 100% Vitality.~

Some of the words being used didn't make much sense. What the Infernus was a biological battery? Trillia shook her head. The system was seeing it as still locked up.

"When was the last inspection?"

The information on the screen vanished for a moment.

~The Year 29,710 Post Cataclysm.~

"Who was the inspector?" Trillia wrote down the date. Nearly ten thousand years ago... But the facility hadn't been shut down? The General was still imprisoned?

Once more, something itched at the back of her brain. Trying to remind her of something.

~The requested information is above the clearance of an agent.~

Trillia blinked as she read that. Above her clearance?

"Explain yourself."

The panel went blank. A few minutes dragged on before a list showed up.

~Chain of Command:
The Darktone Clan
The Hope of Vanishing
The Eternal Protector
The Eternal Guardian
The Eternal Council
Agents of the above mentioned commanders.
Agents of the ruling kingdom of D'Ankra.~

Once more, she began scribbling things down. All the listings after the Darktone clan had to be titles. What had happened that so many creatures were labeled Eternal? Just what was this place?

It also meant that whoever was here last belonged to one of the five groups.

By her best guess, she had been gone for twelve hours. All she had to do was free this general. She could get some more information from this. Perhaps something to help her fight the eldritch or the primordials.

But how? She didn't want to raise suspicion on her lack of knowledge.

She began tapping the journal against her head gently as she thought. The panel sat in front of her, lit up but empty.

"I...I wish to ensure that our records are in working order. Without breaking the Chain of Command, explain to me the purpose of this place." She chewed her bottom lip as she spoke, hoping that whatever system was watching believed her.

~The purpose of this place is to ensure that the Eternal General is kept alive and healthy and that the Protector and Council are ready to serve should the General be needed again by Alirast.~

Ok. That meant the Protector and Council were also locked up here? Or perhaps they were dead, and that was the smell.

"Give me a list of everyone who has worked here."

That was a bad idea.

Thousands upon thousands of names began to flood the screen. She let it go on for a few minutes before she shook her head. This wasn't some small operation.

"Give me all of the information we have on D'Ankra."

~D'Ankra: Ruling Emperor:
Noristo The Shade
Estimated Level of 3,750.
Species: Ingenium Animus.
Class: Radiant Psion
Age: Unknown
Pact: Formed with the 2nd Axle

Current Estimated Military Strength:
750,000 Holy Warriors between the levels of 300 and 700.
500,000 Radiant Mages between the levels of 200 and 500.
1,500,000 Warriors between the levels of 100 and 300.
3,500,000 Auxiliary members between the levels of 50 and 200.~

Trillia couldn't believe the numbers. Nearly a million people that were at similar levels to the Great Beast Generals? She shook her head as she quickly wrote and the panel scrolled further.

~D'Ankra, also known as the Burning Citadel. It is a stronghold on the Umbral Volcano located on the East Reach Continent.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
It is a leading force in steam-powered Machina and Golemancy.
It is currently the third largest city on Alirast with the fifth largest military.
The estimated population of the capital city of D'Ankra is roughly 9 million.
The estimated population of the greater Shade Empire is roughly 175 million.~

She wrote all of it down. The panel had gone still again, waiting for her next command. She sat there, staring at the words on the panel for probably an hour. Thinking and trying to process.

"What was the last battle that the Eternal General took part in?"

~The battle of Providence Valley.~

Waiting a few seconds for more information and seeing none appear, she nudged it a bit. "Show me information on Providence Valley."

An image appeared on a panel next to her. It had the words Alirast scrawled on it, but the landscape looked almost nothing like what she knew the realm to look like. The panel directly in front of her began to fill with words.

~The battle of Providence Valley was fought between the forces of Eternity and the two [Primordial] forces of nature that were still awake. In the Year of 7821 Post Cataclysm. Roughly 300 million soldiers across the continent gathered to battle the creatures, led by The Eternal General and The Eternal Protector. It was a battle that lasted for seven days.

Estimated losses on the side of the forces of Eternity were 210 million, resulting in a successful campaign that sealed the remaining two [Primordial] creatures.

Both the Eternal General and the Eternal Protector were unharmed and were put into stasis.~

Hundreds of millions of people dead, and that was a successful campaign? In seven days? She felt sick.

That couldn't be right. There was no way that the Great Beast Wars had such a massive death toll attached to them, especially with so few leaders and people of power...

Was this system lying to her? Or had information about the Great Beast Wars just been lied about?

"Show me any information on confrontations with the Eldritch."

The panel went dim.

The lights in the room went dim.

A low rumbling caused Trillia to spring out of the chair and draw her rapier. Leaf hovered silently behind her.

All of the panels in the room lit up.

~WARNING Eldritch Protocol activated!~

What?! She hadn't told it to do that!

The room entire complex seemed to groan in protest as the rumbling became deeper and deeper.

Slowly, it shifted from a rumbling to a low hum and gentle vibration.

The panels went dim again, except for the one that she had been speaking to.

~Eldritch Protocol has been activated.

Golem Foundry #1 is 100% operational.
Golem Foundry #2 is 85% operational.
Golem Foundry #3 is 73% operational requesting maintenance.

Begin Operation Breakfast? [Yes] [No]~

Trillia stared at the words. How absurd of a name...

As she approached the panel, realization dawned on her. Breakfast, the first meal of the day. Like waking up.

Fear raced through her veins as all of the information of the day flooded her mind. Shit! She hadn't scanned one of the golems. She had no idea what they were capable of. But this was why she was here, right? To wake up this General?

She growled and slammed a finger into [Yes].

-=====-

A voice? He hadn't heard a voice in so many years. Not since the Lord of the Infernal bands had come by to visit. At least not verbal ones.

His Lordship spoke to his mind frequently. Always an apology for how long he had been trapped in this infernal machine. He didn't mind. It kept his people safe, he'd sit here for an eternity if it meant they were all safe.

But his Lordship had been silent the past few years. Worry had begun to gnaw at him. The voice spoke a very broken version of orcish.

How odd.

The Forces of Eternity didn't have any Orc Generals that he could remember. But it had been hundreds of years at least, maybe thousands. Time was a difficult concept for him.

"I...I wish to ensure that our records are in working order. Without breaking the Chain of Command, explain to me the purpose of this place."

What? That wasn't normal. No one who would ever come into this room and be able to command it would ask such a foolish question.

Had they been infiltrated?

Perhaps one of the Eldritch Spawn had figured out a way to copy Darktone blood?

Dread filled him.

Or perhaps one of the Darktones had fallen to the eldritch.

No!

They would never allow themselves to be taken by those wretched abominations.

"Give me all of the information we have on D'Ankra."

His face screwed up in confusion. There was no possible way that D'Ankra still stood. It had been too many years. None of the ruling body of D'Ankra had visited this place since long before the Infernal Lord had come.

"Show me any information on confrontations with the Eldritch."

His blood ran cold.

This wasn't someone allied with the Eldritch. The edge and spite in her voice said that she was their enemy. Anyone who'd poke around in this place asking about the Eldritch needed weapons. He sent the mental trigger to alert the system.

If there was a threat, this odd orc would surely tell the computer system to push forward with waking the rest of the Eternals up.

A few seconds later, the curtain of Oblivion vanished. He saw the creature that had been speaking the orc tongue. Brilliant silver hair with piercing blue eyes. Small little horns made from the divine crystal material had started to form on her skull. Crimson red skin said that she must have been at least partially a descendant from the Bands of Infernus.

She stood with a rapier in hand, born of the same divine crystal. A blade from another realm hung in the air behind her.

Was that fear? He sniffed the air once more.

Why was she afraid? Despite her fear, she slowly walked over to the room. When her eyes fell on him, the fear turned to dread and sorrow, then into fury.

-=====-

More whirling and rumbling happened. Then, the black curtain that had been slicing the room in half fell. She couldn't see the entire room, only part of it. As she slowly approached, she saw massive metal blades slowly circling the room.

The smell of fresh blood filled her nostrils.

She took another step forward, and her heart sank.

The figure in the center of the room was held up by large hooks that dug deep into his arms. Five blades stuck into his flesh, slowly orbiting around him. A sixth had bent at an awkward angle and wasn't moving.

Fresh blood poured freely from the wounds, splattering against the ground and swirling into drains. The entire room hummed with mana.

The creature was looking down at her, it absolutely had to be a giant of some kind. It was only a torso and it still stood at ten feet in height. Its entire lower half was missing, another series of jagged blades continued to grind away and the rapidly regrowing flesh.

Thirty thousand years.

Thirty thousand years of being carved apart.

Thirty thousand years of torture.

Trillia's hatred for the gods filled her gut. Her eyes looked up at the creature's face and the dread and sorrow she had initially felt turned to vengeance and retribution.