Reign of Metal - Rebirth Saga - Part 1

[Typheus]

Delete this post, please.

[Gideon]

Gideon lay in his coffin for the longest time, unable to move, breath, dream, feel, or more or less exist. His body had been shut down by the forces that be and he may never awaken. He did not know of this of course, because he was severely shut down. His body stopped and now he no longer felt anything. He wasn’t dead, but he was as close as one could come without stepping over the line.

The first thing to break the silence was a scratching noise. It started very faint and Gideon managed to hear it through his damnation. The noise steadily grew, and with it, a very faint glow started to form above Gideon, it was the first thing he had seen since…a time he did not know of. It was as if these were his first glimpses of the world, but he knew that they couldn’t have been. Logical thoughts persisted in his mind, and he knew that he was born long ago.

The scratching grew louder and the glow turned into a ray of light, fluxuating as the cause of the scratching passed over the hole it had made, clearing away more of whatever was above Gideon. The scratching reached its peak and abruptly stopped. Something stuck its head into the opening, but Gideon could not see it. His vision was blurry, and he did not know why.

The scratching continued, pouring more and more light into the place where Gideon slept, or better yet, barely existed. The source poked its head in a few more times to examine its find, and Gideon was worried it was some kind of animal coming to feast on him.

When all of the dirt was uncovered, Gideon’s vision came back even more and he finally saw the source of the scratching and digging. It was sort of like a wolf, but it was a bit awkward. Gideon couldn’t put his finger on it, because of his still blurred vision, but he knew it wasn’t like other wolves.

Finally, when everything was said and done, the wolf did something weird. Various parts of it started glowing and soon, feeling flowed into all of Gideon’s limbs, releasing him from his moment of quaint existence, and Gideon slowly but surely stood up and found that the hole he was in wasn’t deep at all. It came up to his knees, and he easily stepped out of it and onto solid ground.

Everything seemed new to him as his eyes finally returned to their usual gleam. The world around him was full of trees, grass, sky, sounds, wind, heat, and feeling. He felt as if he had been dead for a very long time, and he may very well have been until the wolf freed him. Suddenly remembering the wolf, he turned around and saw it sitting on its hind legs look up at him.

The main difference between this wolf and any other is the fact that it was not flesh and blood. It was metal and circuits and sensors and gears. Its blue and silver exterior was made of many joined parts, most of which were joined by bolts and screws and hinges. It looked up at Gideon with its blue glowing eyes and had its mouth open, revealing metal teeth and fake metallic tongue.

It looked up at Gideon and when he made to examine it, it started wagging its tail.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Gideon said, petting it on the head.

“My name is Liol. It’s nice to finally see you again!” The wolf responded, ending his sentence with a bark and wagging its tail even more. Its speech startled Gideon, but for some reason, it didn’t actually scare him.

“Do I know you?” Gideon asked, hoping to find out just what was going on.

“I am Liol, first model Eternity Project. You built me, Sir Gideon the Magnificent.”

“Sir Gideon the Magnificent? What the hell…” Gideon said as he scratched his head and tried to figure out if he remembered anything of the sort.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

((Moderator note this quest takes place after The Dead and Undying (FQ Mission) thank you.))

My spirits were down-trodden. I'd come to this land of the High Elves to fight some wars and potentially have enough credits to my name to join the Tel Algrim. The Bladesingers' organization caught my eye. I was left weakened at the heart, badly bruised and injured, and worst of all, humiliated. Separated from my friend Typheus, the battle got chaotic to the point where I lost track of it all. Out of desperation I ate one of the zombies and found that it adversely affected my body. I was changing. Into what, I don't know. But I was no longer the proud warrior, Lexxum Vordic. A man of my people. I saw that the Red Forest had truly become crimsoned stained. Blood from the march of Xem'Zund's forces seemed like it was splattered across every tree.

Ravaged corpses of various beasts in the wild littered the landscape. Vultures fed from the corpses of the dead. The whole Red Forest smelled like death as scavengers fed upon the dead like carrions. My heart was heavy. As heavy as the cold breeze that kissed my scaly skin. I wanted to go back to Eluriand in order to report a victory for freedom. Instead, I was coming back to report failure. My enemy at the battle of Valinatal had proven to be too strong for me to handle. I'd bitten off more than I could chew, metaphorically and literally. My injuries were taking their sweet time to heal, it seemed that Lord Mitra had forsaken me.

All around me I could sense the eyes of greedy predators ready to lunge at me at a moments notice. They would take me from my misery and send me to the there after. I followed Lord Mitra to the very end but I had lead my people down. Tears flowed down my eye until they stung with a certain dryness to them. Already, I was developing quite the collection of battle scars from the various conflict I've been in. I trudged forward until my nostrils caught the scent of something else in the wind. Slowly, this took me out of my melancholy state and back to the mission at hand. I was always about the mission. Even with the betrayal of fellow warriors, I had fought to the very end for Valinatal, but alas, it had fallen. We'd all fought bravely against unbelievable odds.

It was a glorious battle indeed! Though we lost it, there would be a chance to confront Netha'Tu in the future. I need more power to take him. I'm still too weak even by the standards of my people. If only I were stronger, I could take him. The lost had shattered me to my very core. I had a sense of might and invincibility about myself ever since I defeated an armed Atra in glorious battle. That had been a fine skirmish indeed. The scent became stronger, it was a distinct scent of death, old death. I walked over off the main road I walked upon and made my way to a structure that resembled an old Mausoleum more than anything else. The scent I detected was coming from there. I hesitated when it came to entering that structure. Instead, I bent my legs down and leaped powerfully through the air, jumping atop the structure landing on its low-built roof top. I landed with a small thud and crawled until I was on top of the building, crouched low to its roof. I clung to the structure and waited for the scent I detected to emerge.

It might be food.

[Gideon]

"Sir Gideon the Magnificent, huh?" Gideon said, trying to understand the wolf.

"Yes. Don't you remember? You built us!" the wolf, Liol, stated, almost a little too happily.

"'Us?'" Gideon repeated, perplexed. "How the hell many of you are there?"

"Well...there's the workers, the military, the landscapers, the fliers, the bureaucrats, and the government in general. The city was built by the workers, which were built by you, so I guess it's safe to say you built the city. The castle was built by your elite workers, which were also built by you, so you built the castle. The Dexorium was built by your elite workers as well, which means it was built by you. The XS-RAZOR was built by-"

"I GET IT! I GET IT, GODAMNIT!" Gideon said, frustrated that the wolf wouldn't give him a complete picture. "I BUILT STUFF! IS THAT ALL!?"

"But...master...you don't remember? You're the greatest techno mage of all time. You fought in the Grand Endeavor, or the War of the Tap as these lesser beings are calling it these days. You had an army that could conquer Raiaera ten times faster than Xem'Zund!"

"Liol...these names don't mean a thing to me. I think you have the wrong guy. I'm not this Sir Gideon the Magnificent."

"Preparing to transmit history file: Foundation of Azure City!" the wolf cried out in a monotone before he pointed himself at a flat wall and projected a vivid image onto its side. The image was first a blur of colors, but it soon expanded into an image of a large city, simply beautiful, with towers that reached towards the clouds. The towers where mostly silver and there were light blue windows and domes on top of each one. Gideon stared at the city, unable to take his eyes off of it.

A voice came from the wolf, a recording it seemed, and spoke of the image on the wall as it sprung to life and started moving.

"Built in order to harness the productivity of-" the voice began to say, but Gideon had lost interest in it. He was only interested in the moving picture on the wall.

The point of view swept past building after building, revealing more and more of Azure City. The streets were alive with what seemed to be humans similar to the robotic wolf. The skies were blurred by devices that could fly, and the streets were blurred by devices that could roll along without a single horse attached.

A large shadow started looming over the city and the camera panned up to find a very large airship looming over it.

"The Dexorium is the single most powerful attack and command vehicle-"

"My God," Gideon said, stunned at this. He built all of this? There had to be some kind of mistake, but weirder things have happened. For instance, there was a little robotic pet wolf at his side, capable of speech, telling him that he built a city.

The image started zooming out from the city and the sheer size of it shocked Gideon to his core. It was easily about ten miles in diameter and had a self-moving wall around it so that it could expand unhindered by construction of a new wall. The image started to fade out, showing an image of a lightning bolt crossing a gear.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

I felt powerful energies at work. A strange scent came at me as I waited on the roof of the single mausoleum. I looked all around me and saw that a simple graveyard rested upon this neck of the Red Forest. Still getting used to the way this land functioned, I knew I was perhaps the only Saurian present in this area of Raiaera. I'd heard rumors of dragons living somewhere on the continent but I couldn't verify if these rumors were true or not. My main interest these days lay in joining the Tel Algrim and becoming a skilled Blade Singer. But for that to happen, I knew that I had to prove myself worthy. The loss of Valinatal was not the right way to go.

We fought hard in that battle but in the end, the Magus, Netha'Tu proved himself a formidable enemy. I vowed to one day destroy the Magus and see an end to Xem'Zund's forces. I only lacked the on-hand power necessary to defeat him. With my body badly scarred and my soul injured, I was separated from my friend Typheus. I looked up at the sky and saw a clear afternoon sun from my perch atop the mausoleum's roof. I continued to wait until someone came out. I needed some directions to Eluriand or at least Anebrilith. A place where I could get the training I needed to grow more powerful. These days, I only thought of getting revenge against Netha'Tu for the crushing loss at the battle of Valinatal. One day, I would have my revenge...

If there was an Althanas left to defend.

[Gideon]

The wolf sprang back to life after the message was over and took two steps towards Gideon before it looked behind it, a low robotic growl swelling in its chest. It sat quiet for awhile, as if listening for something. The quiet persisted and Gideon was getting a bit nervous. Compared to the recent vivid colorful images of before, this silence was as dead as the coffin he had been in earlier. He was about to ask Liol what was wrong, but the moment he opened his mouth to make a noise, Liol shot him a nervous look, and that shut Gideon right up.

Liol suddenly got a surprised look on his face, at least as far as Gideon could tell. Liol's metallic face had a hard time conveying emotion. If Gideon really did build him, then he either did a bad job, or just didn't give a damn. Liol turned and took a quick look at Gideon. Gideon opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Liol started glowing and shouting.

"Enemy detected! He has the high ground! Long-range weapon required! Gideon, use the emergency crossbow!"

"What!? What crossbow!?" Gideon shouted back. He was starting to panic. Was he supposed to have a crossbow on him? If he did, he couldn't feel it. He checked in his pockets, what little ones he had, and couldn't find anything.

"This one!" Liol shouted, and a small device on his back expanded out like a small mechanical arm without a hand and held a crossbow up towards Gideon. It was wooden with metal patches helping hold it together. Gideon took it and held it in his hands. Something felt natural about it, but he couldn't remember if he had used one or not.

"You'll need these," Liol stated as another compartment opened up and a small metal box, attached to a belt, with crossbow bolts in it came out on another small mechanical arm. Gideon took these and quickly strapped the belt around his waist. The metal box hung limply and it was just wide enough for the bolts to sit directly on top of each other.

When Gideon pulled one bolt out, a spring shot another one up to the top to make it easier for him. "Yep, I guess I thought of everything..." he said to himself as he twirled it in his hands. It wasn't until he went to place it into the crossbow did he realize he forgot to pull back on the bow string in the crossbow. He dropped the bolt, Liol happily catching it in his mouth before it hit the ground, and readied the crossbow.

“God,” Gideon stated, trying to lock the bow into place. “If this were a real battle, I’d be shot a hundred times by now.” Gideon grabbed the bolt and shoved it into place and whirled around looking in every direction.

An eerie silence swept over them and Gideon was left jumping at shadows with the wolf getting more and more frustrated.

“He’s above us, Gideon!” Liol shouted and with this, Gideon looked up and saw something very awkward indeed. A lizard man was perched on one of the walls.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

"It's an Arta! An armed Arta!"

I immediately thought that Gideon was some sort of undead creature. After all what other creatures were known to emerge from mausoleums in the middle of the day after they were long rumored to be dead? The sky lurked overhead as clouds started to gather mysteriously. I shot a glance up at the sky noticing that the crystal clear blue afternoon was now turning dark indeed. A storm was coming. I stood up on the roof of the building, revealing my full height, and stared down upon the technomage. The Arta had a strange blue companion that oddly resembled a dog. A dog made of clockwork like my hand. I looked at my clockwork hand for a moment and then shot a deadly stare back at the Arta. My battle with Lorenor made me a careful warrior and I wasn't taking anymore chances. My battle with Netha'Tu refined my combat ethics.

The Arta before me was armed with some sort of crossbow type of weapon that I'd never seen before. I continued to look in the technomage's general direction as I prepared myself to attack. I took my massive form and jumped off the building, sailing through the air gracefully, and stomped downward with my feet when I was generally above Gideon's head. I continued my forward dive landing hard against the tightly packed earth. I flipped in a roll forward ending up several paces behind the man. Standing up, I was ready for combat. My body instinctively moved into combat position. My powerful muscles were knotted. Though I was unarmed, I had size and weight advantage and the skills of a veteran warrior. My clockwork hand would serve me as a powerful weapon for the time being. Made of steel, it added to my general strength. I hissed as I waited to see if I got a piece of the Arta with the talons on my feet at all...

I whispered a prayer to Lord Mitra.

[Gideon]

Gideon watched as the big lizard jumped from its perch and became a silhouette against the darkening sky before it quickly came crashing down straight towards him, intending to crush him underfoot before Gideon had a chance to counter-attack.

As the monster was about to crush him, Gideon rolled out of the way and managed to avoid getting crushed just to drop his crossbow before being able to fire off his bolt. It went skidding across the dirt and came to rest easily out of his reach. When he tried to get up to get the crossbow, he felt a stabbing pain in his ankle and and felt that he had sprained it. His mind panicked as he saw the monstrosity standing over him.

"Liol! For God's sake, do something!" Gideon shouted as he was unable to do much of anything else. His insides squirmed as inevitable doom seemed to approach him. The wolf's eyes grew very narrow and he seemed to be in a moment of anger as Gideon silently begged for his help.

Liol jumped in between the lizard and Gideon and started growling. "I didn't bring my master out of stasis so that you could come and take him away again!" Liol looked ready to give his life for Gideon, his creator. Was he really looked upon as a great leader and savior for his creations? Something about it felt so wrong. Gideon would have to remember what things were like before his stasis so that he could understand why he was hailed as something he felt he was not.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

"You're the servant of an Arta! You're just as fell a beast as he is! By Lord Mitra's decree I shall destroy you both with my bare hands!"

Hearing the words of my Lord, I looked upon the beast that stood before me. It was some sort of clockwork abomination and not fit for this world. Seeking my cause of self imposed righteousness, I readied myself for combat against the creature. I would have no qualms about destroying it piece by piece and taking care of its master. I looked upon the man crawling on the floor and then back towards the dog. Moving down on all fours I prepared myself for combat against the clockwork beast. I was certain that these two were somehow connected to Xem'Zund's works of Necromancy and thusly were unfit for life. They were enemies of all of Althanas.

Netha'Tu defeated me in battle but I would gain my revenge upon him and Xem'Zund's forces. Narrowing my eyes to thin slits, I looked upon the clockwork mechanid before me. Preparing myself for assault, I suddenly bounded quickly forward at the highest speed I could muster. Spinning on the ground, I released a powerful kick with my left leg using my tail to balance me out. I kept my eyes locked upon my opponent in case it tried to pull something out of its metallic body. I would have to summon all of my strength in order land a deft blow against the monster. I waited to see if my skilled kick would connect against the creature before me. My hands grabbed the earth beneath me with my powerful claws. I felt my talons digging into the fresh earth as I attacked.

[Gideon]

Everything seemed to happen all at once as Gideon could simply lay there and watch. In his condition, he was unfit to fight or run or even walk. As Liol and the lizard went after each other, Gideon almost turned his head to avoid watching the possibility of his little wolf getting pummeled.

The lizard hit the wolf with a mighty kick and sent it flying over Gideon. He reached up and tried, foolishly, to catch the wolf in midair, but its weight was too great and Gideon was merely pulled along for the ride as he and the wolf tumbled down towards where his crossbow lay. This thing was far too strong. To fight Liol like that and have such an effect.

Liol lay next to Gideon with excess heat coming off of his body. He was twitching a bit and sparks were coming out of his left foreleg. A dull whirring noise could be heard from within him and Gideon tried to put his hand on Liol's head only to draw it back from a burst of heat radiating from somewhere within.

Gideon's eyes suddenly darted to the crossbow that was barely within his reach and he looked back at the monster that had assaulted him and Liol. It was too fast...there was no way Gideon could get the crossbow before it came and most likely smashed his hand flat.

A little whir signaled that Liol was raising his head to face Gideon. He seemed to be shaking as he tried to raise his head to speak.

"Sir Gideon, please, save yourself. I don't care how you do it, but do not let him get you too." Liol lowered his head, which was accompanied by another whirring noise and Gideon was leaning over him and holding his head. Liol looked away from Gideon and spoke again. "Sir Gideon, please. There's nothing more you can do for me. Repairs are not instantaneous and he would tear you to shreds by the time you got started. Just run!"

"I can't run..." Gideon said truthfully. "My ankle is sprained. Besides, I'm not going to leave you to him!"

"Then all is lost, Gideon." Liol replied. "I wanted you to come back with me. To restart Azure City and bring life back to it. You're the only one who has access to it." Liol ended flatly.

A strange image dawned in front of Gideon's eyes. A city that he built, that he must take care of. This damned lizard would not stop him from doing what he must.

Gideon used his good leg to quickly spin himself around, pointing him towards the crossbow. He pulled out a spare bolt just in case the lizard attacked before he could reach it. He could always try to stab the lizard with the bolt.