Days Pass

It's been far too long since I've had a lavish meal. I've been subsisting on some of the packaged meals that we've brought along with us, but the chances that we'll be able to get anything good out of these tundra lands is minimal at best.

I could feel it though, the hum of language and tongues impossible to me. The feelings of being so beyond us it seems like universal truths, something so perfect, that it almost seems too good to be true.

The nexus was close. It was far closer than what I'd expected. We'd been stuck trying to go around a local mountain range, but overall, I'd say that we were making good time.

For once, I can hear the silence. And what was beyond it. The chirp of small birds, babbling brooks, fallen lumber. We were close to a good area. An area that was lush with life.

It's a real shame that I can't really say just how saddening it'll be to see this entire place get covered with meteorites. It just occurred to me as well as to what was actually causing all of these not so common meteorites fall down from space onto most of the planet.

I've also noticed that the other factions seem to be taken my gifts of uranium as something worth fighting for, when the chances of them getting their own uranium meteorites were more than adequate.

It didn't make sense to me, even before I did any of this, but I just set it off to a different part of my mind and just let it be. It was almost certain for me to say that I was getting into some of territory when it came to what sort of things I should talk about.

I could just throw this thought to the back of my mind, but thy isn't a good thing. I have almost five or so days left of travel before I reach the nexus, it shouldn't really hurt to try and have a good thought about what I dealt with in this world.

The scaria infested creatures were more or less a gamble when it came to food. They were good in some cases, but in others, when I was in full abundance, it was relatively pointless for me to have to hunt them down when they were rather hurtful creatures.

Those, I just sent out some allied fighters to get rid of. It was mainly mechanoid raids and large waster raids that had me terribly concerned for my safety.

The apocriton, the highest levelled mechanoid "boss" that could be summoned. In the highest degree of human deterrence, they could bring up to fifty centipedes, or even ten diaboli. They could also make use of war queens, those annoying little buggers.

I won't deny, the diabolus was the most dangerous out of all of them, by a long shot. The incinerator cannon that they pack with them, beyond dangerous.

They were also capable of setting fire to a predetermined area around them, so even if they have enemies that are within the minimum range of the cannon, they have fire to work with.

There was also an auto charge cannon that shot out rounds at rather slow rates, but those were more or less pointless. They weren't exactly the be all end all.

But that's why they were so dangerous. A single shot from their incinerator cannon could take out a fully charged centurion shield. They can't go past a low shield pack, but the burn radius that comes after was just devastating.

I lost Paul, a good friend of mine, in a fight with a diabolus once. We were fools. We left one of the doors open, and allowed that bastard to flank us.

I couldn't even bury him, there wasn't anything left after the bastard took the shot. I hated them, they were too destructive. But when you get rid of them, things are slightly more handleable.

That is, until we get to the apocriton itself. The apocriton as an enemy isn't all that dangerous. If you had somebody that was a region-known master in melee, give them full cataphract and an excellent zeushammer, they'll get rid of it after a good fight.

What was the problem with them? They were more aligned to being support. They can revive any of their allied mechanoid from the same hive if they decommissioned in battle.

I hated that aspect to the damned thing. But that didn't mean that they were capable of having infinite charges to revive their comrades, like some of those psycasters I've heard about.

Oh no, oh no no no no no. They had thirty charges. One charge is used per bandwidth. If I had a couple friendlies go out of their way and fight for me, I could have them waste all of the charges that bastard brought along by resurrecting militors and scythers.

That was normally the most effective strategy that I made use of. Have friendlies kill off the small fry, wasting war queen births, mech resurrection charges, while I had me and my family pummel the larger ones with mortars, over and over.

It normally left a weakened group of them after all had been said and done, but it was far too good as a strategy. Well, I had the killbox and a lot of other procedures that I could make use of, so it wasn't particularly useful.

I went out of my past for a moment, hearing a crack from the nearby rocks. I pulled out my charge rifle, ordered my scythers to be close to me, and had Rambo come over to the site.

I didn't really know what was I supposed to expect. I thought it was some lone impid from the Clade of Likazhak, those bastards had a deep grudge since I kept using their women as ovum farms.

It was a decent chunk of change every so often, so I didn't really know why there were still some that popped out of the woodworks every so often.

This time, it wasn't an impid. This time it was different. It was a kid. One that I wasn't familiar with. Or rather, what I thought was a kid at first. I should have known that something like this would have happened all those years ago.

(State your name, xenotype, and current alliance, or I'm going to send a diabolus to cook you into dust in 10 seconds.)

The child raised their hands up, as I realized something. They were a highmate.

{Ah dammit, the moment I left the base to search out the Archonexus, that's when the highmate I've been looking for so long decides to come along.}

(M-my name is Mela! Are you the Mechanitor?)

I placed the rifle on my shoulder as I spoke out again. (That depends on who's asking, kid. Now, you're a highmate, from what I could tell. What's a kid like you doing being all alone in a mountainous tundra?)

(I-I've been told to look for a base, by the Empire sir!)

{Did they really go this far just for the sake getting me back to their side? All of those donations that I gave them really did have that muh oomph on their economy, huh?}

(Well, sorry to say here kid, but you're a bit too late, my base is destroyed. Well, not so destroyed, but abandoned due to the annoyance that I had to deal with in regards to how long I've been walking on this shithole.)

I looked at my surroundings, while having half of my battle related mechs keep their guns trained on her. It was good to be able to watch things around me without any distractions.

(O-oh, I see.)

(Listen, you better just head back home. I'm off to somewhere no child should ever have to go to. And I can assure you, that there wouldn't likely be enough food for the both of us if I had to drag you along back to wherever you popped out of.)

She took a quick moment to think about her options, while I eyed the energy of each of my mechs. They were currently at half power, and while I did have the implants that give them shields and remote repairs, they wouldn't be as efficient in combat as I would have liked them to be.

(Is that so?)

Her voice was sadder than what I expected. I suppose I could lend a little bit left. I've packed lots of packaged survival meals.

(Yeah kiddo. But, you look like you're just skin and bones, so take this. Some potato meals that'll keep you going, you understand me?)

She nodded as I grabbed about ten for her, and started to pack up camp.

(I won't be here in this world for long, so I'll say this kid. You're lucky that I'm leaving. If I was still the same man who I used to be, then I'd be locking you up, and shipping off some materials in exchange for you. Good luck, and stay hidden.)

I jumped onto the muffalo as I began my expedition over once again. I never saw the kid again, thankfully enough. I do hope that she got home, otherwise it would have been a sad sad time for whoever cared for her.

And more days passed as the tundras disappeared, and something truly majestic appeared. The forests were changing, more robust, and metallic. It was near here. I can feel it.

{Come on come on come on! Years! Years I've spent trying to find this thing, years I've watched slave after slave after slave revolt from fear of being the next person to be ripscanned!

Years I've had to watch my loved ones die at rates I never knew that I could lose them at, waiting for the chance to get resurrector mech serums so that they could live life easier!

Years I've wasted, fighting raid after raid after raid, watching my mechs butcher, barter and weave their flesh and belongings into a secondary source of income for me and mine!

Years. Years I've spent wanting to know what's beyond all of this. Years that I've wanted to know what happens if a mechanitor was before the archotechs, begging on their knees.

I need to find it.}

And as I thought of it, slowly drifting into the madness that would have come to me in worse times, I saw it. One tiny little patch of grass.

More specifically, anima grass.

It was here.

I couldn't help myself, I ran, further and further than what I ever thought I could accomplish on my own. My archotech limbs, propelling me to speeds enhanced by my bionic heart and luciferium in my veins.

And right there, it stood before me. The Archonexus. The end of my journey. The reason why all of this started in the first place.

It was there, giant remnants of whatever purpose it served to the machine god consciousness. It didn't matter, I walked to the largest of the structures, with my mechs and even little Sunkiss right behind me, trailing as the beauty of the ground was more than what I could have ever imagined.

It was here. I was here. I made it.

There wasn't anything holding me back anymore. I knew it. I was closer than I ever could have imagined. My ascension. My moment.

{Paul. Zebo. Kinya. Mera. Baki. Galina. Samantha. The Stellarch. The Outlanders. The Tribespeople. The Yttakin. The Impids. The Toxers. And the Pigs. It's all over now. It's going to all be washed away from the beauty of this moment.

Apotheosis.}

I removed my glove, seeing the callouses and bruises that were once on me, slowly but surely go away. I was healing. I didn't know why, but I was healing.

I placed my hand onto the structure, while looking back at all of my mechanoids.

(You have done nothing but be loyal to me and my cause for all of these years. I thank you. You were all spectacular. I hope you would be brought into the arms of a mechanitor like me. And Sunkiss?)

The little husky that I raised all these years woofed at me, coming closer to nuzzle me as I held her tight.

(You were my best friend. The moment you were born I had a feeling that you'd be one of the few things that I could love. Thank you, sweetie.)

I placed a light kiss on her forehead as I slowly sat down, taking off the prestige cataphract helmet that obscured my vision.

I felt it. A sensation beyond sensation. The feeling that all said to have felt when they were in close proximity of archostructures.

Peace. Anticipation. Acceptance.