Technomancer: Birth of a Goddess

A month later, Emily receives a ping from Mensacus requesting her presence. She pauses her work on the large metal dish that's suspended in the air, taking up most of her workshop, and takes to the slowly growing compound's tunnels.

The number of prisoners she passes has dropped since her last visit, and one of the holding cells has become a storage room for desiccated bodies and bones, but she doesn't spare them a glance as she heads straight for her son with machina and anticipation simmering in her heart. When she unlocks and pushes open the door to his current dwelling, the telltale scent of rot and decay hits her even stronger than the corpse store, along with the underlying metallic tang of blood.

A chill runs unbidden down Emily's spine as six familiar, glassy white eyes lock onto her the moment she steps in. Her Invisible Light illuminates the space for her, and she gets a clear look at five inhuman forms held tight in Mensacus' grip. They all have pale skin flaking off in patches and leaking blood, exposing the greying flesh beneath. None of them look like they've eaten in weeks, with their taut skin hugging their bones and their grey hair thinning to brittle wisps. Their lips are shredded, peeling back to expose the jagged remains of their teeth.

Emily immediately notices a few differences compared to the wendigo that attacked the Salvia expedition years ago. These creatures' arms are still human in their proportions, and though their mouths hang open, occasionally clicking shut in a show of hunger, none of them make a sound beyond a light wheezing. Two of them look to be in a worse state than the others, curled around Mensacus' tentacles and not sparing her a glance as she approaches, and Emily can practically smell death emanating from them.

"Only two failures?" she asks as she takes hold of one of the nascent wendigo's chins, raising it to get a good look into its eyes as she scans it with machina, cataloguing its internal changes and the strange way its circles have begun to fracture, suffusing the rest of its body with its magical nature.

"Their wills were too weak," Mensacus replies. "They won't survive their first meal."

"Then don't bother," Emily says before backing up to the doorway. "There's no reason to waste high-quality feed."

Mensacus chuckles and begins to unravel his metal tendrils. The monsters flinch at the sound and let out low, keening growls, saliva dripping down their chins as they ignore Emily and turn towards the two failures still curled up in pain and misery. They stagger forward, lacking the unnatural grace and speed Emily remembers as they set upon their old allies, tearing at them with cracked nails and fractured teeth.

Emily watches in fascination as the wendigos lose their old nails to the hardened flesh of the failures, turning their fingers red with a mix of their own and their victim's lifeblood as they shear away strips of flesh to shove into their waiting maws. The failures don't even fight back as they're stripped down to the bone and, within a few minutes, their betters have consumed them. The three survivors stagger back, each taking to a corner of the room to lap the blood off their fingers with their slightly-too-long tongues before curling up and shutting their eyes, falling asleep to let their bodies process their first meal since being locked in this chamber.

"They should be ready for another meal in a day," Mensacus whispers, approaching his mother and dipping his head, seeking praise.

"Well done," Emily says, stroking the scales down his neck as she gathers the bones of the dead fourth circle mages to add to her growing collection. "You have permission to use any of the prisoners if you think it will help accelerate their stabilisation, but we'll be moving to magical beasts once we run out, so bear that in mind."

"Understood."

***

Emily tightens the final bolt to fix her new transmitter to the roof of the gathering array, releasing the magical grasp that was supporting it and floating back on a gust of conjured wind.

"Connect it now!" she calls down to Pod, who plugs the transmitter's cable into a port waiting at the base of one of the array's arcing columns.

The massive construct purrs as its magnetic dishes adjust before releasing a soundless wave that Emily feels resonate at the centre of her being, sending a shiver down her spine. She connects to the transmitter with a stream of machina as it slowly rotates, adjusting the signal to send out a rhythmic beat of intensity pulses.

"Is it working?" Pod calls up, recovering the hatch he had opened and stepping back to gaze up at the rotating signal dishes.

"Yes," Emily replies, dropping down beside her apprentice.

"What are you saying?"

"Nothing complicated, just a little pattern to draw attention." Emily leads him back into the relative calm of the gathering array. "I can't be sure who will receive my message, and it's better not to give away too much information before we get a good look at them."

Pod nods in understanding as Emily connects to the base's internal network, broadcasting her voice through the speakers far below.

'Mensacus, meet us in the gathering array. Leave your toys.'

They settle down to wait, with Silica padding over to sit with her mother as Pod taps through several screens of diagnostics on his tablet, making sure there are no issues before they leave. A few minutes later, Mensacus rises through a hatch in the ground, pulling himself up and approaching the group.

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"I left their needs to your soldiers," he says as Emily rises and begins to cast Long-Range Teleportation, wrapping them all in a dense matrix of magic.

"Are you sure we shouldn't bring the monsters along?" Pod asks. "They could be useful."

"No, it's not worth it," Emily replies before muttering a mana-filled chant under her breath that Pod can't understand.

"They won't be delving into The Abyss with me and mother," Mensacus explains in her place. "They could help us in getting there, though."

The world distorts around them, and, in the blink of an eye, they reappear outside Chroni's walls, standing on a windswept circle of complicated geometries that Emily scatters when she creates a platform of wind to carry them into the city.

"It's not worth the effort," Emily says. "I don't intend to spend long getting there, and we can't be certain The Abyss won't mess with your control. It is what you were born from after all."

She doesn't carry them towards The Dome, instead heading for the noble estates. They touch down in front of a gate with the Hibiscus crest above it, and a servant lets them in, pointing them towards the only building in the garden.

The front doors are standing open, and Emily follows the faint sound of conversation towards several magical signatures gathered in one of the front rooms.

"Emily!" Dante greets her as she steps in, letting her eyes roam the cosy space.

There are bookshelves covering one wall, stacked with journals and historical records, and paintings on the wall opposite, depicting several women, one of whom Emily recognises as Dante's mother. Several plush seats fill the space, which is lit by a mix of the wide windows covering the front wall and the floating magical flames overhead. Familiar faces fill the seats, with Enzo and Ivor nodding their greetings as Tom and Hester rise to approach. Juliana catches her eye from the far side of the room, setting down the tea she was drinking to offer a hesitant smile.

Emily nods in greeting and turns her attention to the twins, ignoring her disconcerting lack of emotional response to seeing her first love again.

"Emily! It's been too long," Tom beams, pulling her into a brief hug before stepping aside for his sister to do the same.

"It's good to see you again," Hester says, with less enthusiasm than her brother but equal amounts of warmth as she steps aside and ushers Emily in, out of the doorway.

The twins and Juliana's eyes are all drawn to the entourage that follows her in, so Emily pauses to introduce them.

"This is my apprentice, Pod. He was the first mechanic I helped awaken, and he's been learning from me for a few years now," she says, gesturing to the man who grins and waves in greeting. "And these are my kids, Mensacus and Silica. Mensacus is a sentient curse I've been cultivating since my first expedition into The Glade, and Silica is a living golem created from an elemental's core."

Mensacus nods and ruffles his scales, keeping his deathly presence carefully contained, and Silica yips hello, sticking close to Emily but looking around the room's inhabitants with interest. Juliana looks uncertain, disconcerted by Emily's lack of acknowledgement, and deflects her attention to instead to Silica. She coos quietly, taking a biscuit from the tray set on a table beside her as she tries to lure the fox over whilst the twins retake their seats. Emily settles into the empty space beside Juliana, letting Pod take the only remaining chair, and nudging Silica over to accept the offered treat.

"I can have another seat brought in," Dante starts, glancing at Mensacus as he hovers behind his mother.

"No, that's alright." Emily waves off his offer as she pulls out her own tea set along with a few of her magical brews. "He's where he's most comfortable. Anyway, would anyone like some of my tea? Each blend has a unique beneficial effect, and I'm sure I have something that will interest each of you."

Ivor nods enthusiastically, and the twins and Juliana all accept the offer, relaxing slightly as Emily begins explaining each herb choice and passing out samples to try, falling into a familiar, lecturing tone.

"Okay, I'll bite," Tom says as they hit a lull in the conversation, earning himself a fierce glare from his sister when she sees his gaze locked onto Emily's raised metal hand that she's using to pet the large sandy fox who has settled onto the sofa between her and Juliana. "When did the cool metal hand happen? Before or after your most recent ascension?"

Emily glances at Dante and Enzo, half expecting them to have explained already, and receives two small head shakes.

"Well, after my initial deployment to watch an outpost when I joined the Silver Moon Mercenaries, the company assigned me my own squad to lead…"

***

After a few hours of catching up, the group moves out to the estate's garden, where the servants have set up a table covered in food for them to snack on. Virgil returns to the estate a little later and joins them to say hello. It doesn't take long for him, his son, Tom, and Pod to join forces and persuade Mensacus to engage in a friendly spar with the fiery mage whilst betting on the outcome.

"I'm surprised your first child isn't a bird," Juliana says softly as she approaches Emily, who's sitting quietly at the edge of the lawn with Silica's head resting in her lap.

"Oh? Why so?" Emily replies, meeting her gaze calmly and nodding towards the empty ground beside her.

"Harold."

"Harold?"

Juliana grins and pulls a small clockwork bird from the spatial necklace Emily made her years ago, presenting him with pride.

"Ah, Harold." Emily nods in understanding, reaching out to take the bird and inspecting the obvious signs of wear around his joints.

She gently unfolds his wings, brushing her fingers across his fine metallic feathers and letting out a gentle stream of mana and machina that strips away the old damage, leaving the bird unblemished as he shivers to life and takes off, fluttering around them while sparking with charge. He settles down again a few moments later on Juliana's open palm, and she gently folds his wings before putting him away.

Emily watches her delicate care with a strange emptiness that gnaws at her stomach, unsure whether to curse of thank her emotional dampening.

Did I ever really care about her that much?

"Thank you," Juliana says with a bright smile that Emily can't quite reciprocate before turning to watch their friends as a sad light creeps into her expression. "It's been… strange without you here, you know? We've all missed you."

"I bet it was made stranger being questioned about your involvement in my treason," Emily responds, watching Mensacus duck a flaming kick and lash out with a whip of poison-seeped thorns. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be." Juliana shrugs as Virgil parries one tentacle only to take a second to the chest before exploding in a raging fireball that forces the chimaera back. "I was… shocked by it, but I should have expected it really. It's not your fault. I'm sorry about what happened to your sister."

"Don't be," Emily replies, finally looking over to meet Juliana's sad gaze with an empty shrug. "Almost everyone responsible is dead now. I made sure they all suffered."

"Almost everyone?"

Emily doesn't elaborate, turning back to continue watching the spar in silence. She notices Juliana shifting uncomfortably beside her, her gaze alternating between Emily and the action, and after a few minutes gives in, accepting her apathy and changing the subject.

"So, a little birdy tells me you've met someone," she says, watching Juliana's face flush pink. "What's she like?"

"Well," Juliana starts hesitantly, bringing a hand to her warm cheeks and failing to keep a soft smile from curling her lips. "Her name's Verona. She's currently training to become one of my family's guards, and I've known her father for years…"