Steel and Mana

With the tests of our newest mech variant completed, it was time for the actual implementation of the theories we all implemented. Will it blow up in my face? Hopefully not. While transporting it to the Pride, I stood on the bridge of my Camelot, and yes, we had to give it a name, so it became the Prydwen. Thinking about it, the Camelot could have also been named that, but... Oh well. If I recall right, the original did have a shield named like that... Or...? Hm... ahhh... naming things is hard, but at least, most people don't know my struggles, and it's just a 'me' problem.

As for the passengers, Mikan and Sasha were also accompanying me on this trip. The former was still sleeping while the latter was down in the engineering, overtaking Merlin's post as he was occupied with working on and maintaining the Prydwen, making sure it would remain in a tip-top shape.

"We passed through the formation safely," Kustov called from the bridge. "We'll be over the Pride in three minutes."

"Bring us in slow and steady," I said, though he didn't need the reminder, "We will lower the Prydwen onto the wall so it can be ready."

"I still think that we should have painted it, decorated it a little," Behind me, Merlin walked onto the bridge while adjusting his robe, his voice slightly muffled by the scarf around his neck as it was cold within the Camelot, "You know, for something that's technically a mech, she looks way too... Barebones. A bit of color should have gone well with its black frame."

"She's built for war," I replied, shrugging, "Not for show. No need to flourish anything when it's still just a prototype. The Knights can paint and decorate their toys as they wish, giving them the personality and flair, but this thing is just a testbed. No need to go overboard!"

"And the name?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I still don't know how to pronounce it."

"Me neither," I joked, staring down as the shape of the Pride as it emerged through the blizzard raging around us. "Damned weather. It's worse on this end than back home."

"Don't worry, My Sovereign," Kustov chuckled, "We can deal with it."

True enough, the crew was already counting as veterans, manipulating the magic fields that kept my ship afloat and nimble, driving us into position, fighting against the strong winds with ease. After we docked, they lowered Prydwen from the belly of the Camelot, letting it gently drop onto the top of the wall. When we also got down, Lucca was there to meet us, his thick coat pulled close, pulling his scarf away from his mouth, so I could hear what he was saying. Of course, as always, Seltana was following him, her face also half-hidden behind a scarf, eyes squinting against the snow whizzing past us.

"Sovereign," Lucca saluted, raising his voice above the howling wind, "We haven't had any beasts come to us for the past few days. We expect that to change soon, though."

"Would any of them try to come in this bad weather? Even though they are supposedly brain-dead, turns out they aren't that stupid!" I grunted, grinning, while my breath came out as not only mist but freezing in the air. I kept walking through, following them towards the central tower so we could speak without shouting.

"Fair," Lucca admitted, opening the door for me, and when we were finally inside, all of us breathed out, shaking the snow from our heads, "The outskirts of the mountains became a chilly death zone."

"Meaning?" I asked.

"There are some..." Seltana's brows furrowed slightly. "Instant freeze-zones appearing."

"Explain." I looked at her, waiting for more, but there was not much to give.

"We don't really know," She sighed, preparing coffee for us, "We only noticed that even the snow, at some spots, turned into ice as cold air descended, rolling down the mountains. We fired a cannon at it, General Lucca wanting to see if it could melt the ice."

"The spell froze when entering the zone," Lucca added, being serious, "The firespell turned into ice and shattered at impact. I have never seen something like that."

"I assume you have all the relevant data?" I asked, just as seriously.

"I have already prepared it, and someone should be delivering it to the Prime Minister as we speak." Seltana nodded. "The zones are randomly appearing and usually last between a few hours and a day. We haven't seen any that lasted longer than that."

"Great..." I took the cup she was presenting, taking a sip, "I do hope the opening to the Pass remains intact."

Well, despite that, it seemed not much was going on. Or would go on for the next two days. The blizzard kept raging on all day, and finally, when the next morning came, it began subsiding, giving us a brief moment of silence. Most importantly, it gave us the visibility back...

"I don't believe I am saying this, but... This is almost boring," Merlin muttered as we stood beside the machine, up on the wall, watching the sunrise. "Think the beasts got scared?"

"Maybe." I shrugged, "Anything about the ice they mentioned?"

"As per my observations, it's the extension of what is happening with the mountains. For sure, otherwise, how would it freeze a fire spell? I would say, for now, we must avoid leaving the Pride and walk anywhere near the immediate edge of the mountain to avoid these traps. To understand more... I would have to study the mountain itself."

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"Good enough for me... I am not in the mood to go on a side-mission just yet."

"I don't think we would have the time," He chuckled... And that turned out to be prophetic because an hour into dawn, the sensors screamed everywhere inside the Pride and above, within the Camelot.

"Multiple heat signatures!" an officer shouted over the comm. "Six, no, seven! Closing fast from the forest, size range... Twenty to thirty meters!"

"Get to battle stations!" Seltana's voice came next through the comms. "Raise the wall shields. All artillery, prepare to fire!"

"Hold until the order is given," Lucca relayed the critical part, the one we agreed upon, because it was time for my turn.

While the orders were going in and out, the Prydwen's cockpit sealed around me with a hiss, and the world went silent just a bit longer than on regular mechs, waiting for the blood to start circulating. I was glad Sasha thought about installing some warming runes atop the cannisters and tubes, so it didn't freeze over... That would have been a massive blunder that none of us thought about. Well, well, well... That's why a good wife is essential for a fine husband! I was still grinning to myself when the interior was finally turning from shrouded in darkness into bathed in light as I linked up with the Prydwen, just as in the test runs back home. Almost as if I took a deep breath, every sense I had was now expanded, reaching outward, over the limits of my physical body. My awareness also stretched, passing through the Prydwen's limbs, into the ground, into the air... That was the best I could do to describe the feeling. I could sense the fortress, the moving gears within, how its cannons and artillery were turning to their marks, but holding back their anger, not yet firing. I tried searching for something new... But nothing. Were the monsters too far? Or... Wait! No. It's there.

"There is something else..." I muttered.

"Leon?" Sasha's voice came into my ears.

"I'm working on it." I answered, "I do feel something. Let me figure this out, how this thing works... give me a moment."

Yes... There it was, a pulse, coming from far away. I don't know what Arthur was feeling, but for me it was heavy. If I need to phrase it better than it was a... Hm... Primal feeling.

"Okay…" My voice trembled slightly when I spoke again, "I think I feel them."

"Describe it," Sasha asked quickly, cutting off whatever Merlin was about to ask.

"The more I focus, the more it's like… drums in my skull. In the back of my head, going badum, badum, badumdumdum. I could make a song out of this."

"Not funny..." Sasha mumbled, while I just smiled, continuing.

"It also feels hungry."

It was. The sensation it gave me grew sharper with every passing meter as they were getting closer to us. When the beasts were about... what? Four? Five kilometers away? I began feeling them much more clearly. Each one was slightly different, like how there are various degrees to something being hot, but what was similar for all of them was that they were twitching with hunger and the drive to feed, trying to satiate that urge. I knew one more thing, though... They felt me, too, the moment I linked up with them. Their thoughts weren't words, unlike what I felt when I intercepted Zah'Ratil's message to Arthur. These were at best just impulses... trying to determine if I was an enemy or food. When I decided to 'look' at one of the monsters, trying to subconsciously activate the magic in the mech, the feelings I received immediately powered up.

"Careful," Merlin warned. "Stay grounded. I can sense that something happened, though I can't tell what."

"I have one in my head," I said through gritted teeth, focusing on not letting the sudden hunger make me lose my train of thought. Honestly, the connection hit like a punch to the gut.

I gasped as my own body suddenly could feel the weight of its massive figure, including the cold chill of snow and ice down between its claws as it was running, followed by the raw ache of hunger burning in my stomach. I felt like I was starving for weeks, and I wanted to do nothing more than to somehow get rid of this feeling and eat. And somehow, the tastiest meal was in the mountains... so I had to get to it.

"No…" I pushed down the thought, "You listen to me," I growled aloud, clenching my teeth. "Obey me, you piece of shit."

As if sensing something was happening to it, the bastard pushed harder back against me. Damn you! You want me to turn into a slobbering idiot? Fuck you. Fuck you from behind and from the front! I am Leon of Avalon. If you think I can be broken by some trivial hunger, hmph! Go back to your... whatever the hell you crawled out from! When I became almost angry at the thought I could lose to a brainless idiot, I pushed through it... Then, like a snap, all the noise stopped. The creature's mind went eerily quiet, and I knew that its body also stopped moving.

"Well…" My voice was hoarse when I spoke up, "I think I got one."

"Confirming!" Mikan said through the comm, her voice tight with awe. "One of them stopped! Are you... okay?"

"I'll be," I gulped, licking my lips, "Let's get the show going..."

Outside, the moment I thought about it, a battle had erupted. Best of it all, I felt like I had two feeds going into my brain at the same time. From one, from the Prydwen, I saw the possessed beast lunge sideways, slamming its horned head into the flank of a larger one. On the other hand, as if my two eyes were looking through two different.. holes, I saw how the others roared, disoriented, caught off guard, facing... me. I was the monster. Then it... Or I, in this case, tore into them, letting loose of the hunger the thing felt, turning it into ferocity, ripping through scales, scattering sinew and blood everywhere. Surprise attack motherfuckers!

"Leon! Disengage if you feel yourself slipping!" Sasha shouted into my ears, making me snap out of it suddenly. "Mikan says she feels that your vitals are spiking!"

"I'm fine!" I lied, my teeth clenched as I tightened my focus. "Just… need to steer it."

Okay, lesson one: don't let its feelings just break out, without control. That was... dangerous. But the beast obeyed at least. Slowly, and a bit painfully, its wild movements became more controlled, following the pattern I was commanding it to. It pivoted against a counter-attack, snarling, and then charged straight at another of its kind, their bodies colliding in a thunderous crash. Total chaos, and I wanted to do more, maybe let loose a spell, but I was reaching my limit, ordering Lucca to open fire. I was doing my best to cut the connection as the artillery began blasting, pulling out, but I still felt how the spells hit us, hit me, making me groan a little... but it wasn't as bad as I expected. Unpleasant? Yes. Headache-inducing? Double yes. But not... deadly.

I slumped back into the pilot's chair after I was 'back,' every muscle in my body burning and trembling as if I was done with a marathon, dragging weights behind me. Ugh... My skin felt feverish, my brain pounding inside my head... But it was a success.

"Status?" I groaned.

"We should ask that!" Sasha grunted, then I heard Merlin speaking.

"Firewall-spell seems to be working," he reported, sounding relieved. "No contamination detected, and the Prydwen seems intact."

"You're… unbelievably lucky." Mikan added, "That wasn't normal, nor was it easy!"

"I am lucky." I chuckled, "And stubborn. Damn... It was a thrill, but training Knights to use this? We need a whole new program!"

"Let's talk about that later," Sasha's voice came through the comm again, this time, softer. "Come out and let us take a look at you!"

"Yeah..." I moaned, because every movement made me want to lie down in the snow outside and let it cool down my body, "That sounds good... and... Damn... I'm thirsty. I think I just lost half of the water in my body..."