Knights Apocalyptica

TEXAS WALL COLONY

COLONY STATUS: ALIVE / SUCCESSFUL

DISPOSITION: UNKNOWN

POPULATION: UNKNOWN (EXPECTED: MASSIVE)

TECHNOLOGY: ADVANCED-INTERMEDIATE

DEFENSES: FORMIDABLE

DETAILED REPORT: Civilization. Theoretically, the biggest we’ve encountered of survivors from the event while searching. Per orders, maintained distance and utilized Light-Worth cloaking to evade detection. It’s not difficult to clock, though, from a distance, given they’ve somehow constructed a massive wall that you can see from miles away.

This appears to be a primary defensive structure—and would theoretically work well to keep any ground-based aberrations from attacking.

Remains to be seen how they handle air-based aberrations, as no guns were spotted during observation.

Unit observed for a week—rotating staff on the wall, unable to determine the size of the colony without finding a way inside. However, theoretically, based on the area, there could be a highly populated civilization there.

RECOMMENDATION: PASSIVE OBSERVATION, FUTURE INFILTRATION.

- Ranger-Captain Nottingham, Texas Wall Colony Report to Roswell (3rd Era, 306)

Being back in his Armor was like returning home—since his time back in the Kingdom, he’d poured extra resources and time into making repairs. Following the expedition, it had needed quite a lot of repairs indeed; fighting Dan had broken much of it, but even before that fateful fight underground, the entire expedition had been a long, extended affair of fights and patchwork repairs.

If nothing else, it gave Erec a vast appreciation for the Scavenging and Armor Modification class he’d taken—a class and line of education he was sure to pursue when given a choice next year.

Still, putting the Armor back on didn’t lead Erec to guess they’d inherently go outside the walls just because they were wearing it. There was a lot of training a Knight could do in their Armor. Oftentimes, classes and exercises would have them use the Armor for sparring practice, both for safety, the ability to engage in higher-level combat, and to get the Initiates used to wearing them since the bulk of fighting as a Knight was conducted in their Armor.

Boldwick had no time for that nonsense, however, and as soon as they were Armored, he had them run to the steel curtain, where Dame Robin was waiting, also in her Armor.

Then, it was a short conversation with the guards operating the gate… And just like that, exhausted, Armored, and sore beyond belief, the five of them were once more in the wasteland, plodding along at a slightly slower pace as Boldwick made them keep their eyes out for any threats.

About seven miles out from the steel wall, Boldwick finally debriefed them.

“Today, we’ll be taking care of pest control,” Boldwick explained, “Obviously, being a Knight entails fighting monsters. So today, we fight monsters. Recently, the aftermath of a particularly nasty Rift was detected outside of our Kingdom from a scouting expedition; however, as you’ll see, the threat of this monster spawn has been relatively low, so we’ve not spent resources in pursuing a clean-up. Given that our Kingdom will soon be seeing an influx of visitors, the King has requested the Knights to tamp down and control the lands around our border with increased control. This location now needs cleanup. I’m aware that you’ve seen more than your fair share of monsters, especially when compared to equivalent initiates; still, this training and the ability to conduct it yourselves, teach valuable lessons that can only be learned in real scenarios.”

“Boldwick has decided that your group has enough power to tackle this particular problem alone,” Dame Robin said; though Erec couldn’t see it, he was sure there was a proud smile on her face underneath her helmet.

“Once we are half a mile away, I will relinquish all control of this expedition. Dame Robin and I will remain as observers as you conduct your scouting and your planning and then take care of this issue.”

“We fully trust you to be able to handle this. But it does not mean it will be easy,” Dame Robin warned.

“There is always risk when taking on the unknown, regardless of intelligence ahead of time. In this case, other than the location, it will be on you three to determine the capabilities of these creatures and to handle them—in addition, a second nest of a different sort is near here, which will also be on you to handle; both of these nests must be finished, and we must be back within the walls by sundown, as that is our expected return time. Failure to do so will result in another expedition being sent outward for retrieval. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” All of them uttered at once.

“But I want to make one last thing clear: Just because we’ve said these should be within your ability to handle doesn’t mean that you should take this lightly. You should treat every foe as if they might be your last. Or you might very well die from underestimating them.”

With those grim words, Boldwick set to leading them forward again.

They cut through the vast dead lands surrounding the Kingdom, a familiar sight for Erec. From the cracks that ran into the dead sand and earth to the weedy and unhealthy yellow and brown plants that tried to make this place home and failed in the process, he was well and used to the waste more; he was used to monsters. ʀΑ𐌽ÖᛒÈṧ

Out of everything so far, this felt… A little like a trivial challenge. A practical lesson from Boldwick; the kind of lesson that he might expect as normal training.

Appreciated, but, well. It didn’t quite play into the dynamic that this weekend had been so far. Both days ahead of this one had been very taxing in their own ways. Try as he might, this didn’t give him the same feeling of pushing himself that he might expect. He appreciated that in this scenario, Boldwick was giving them full authority within the expedition, and while the gravity of that was understood…

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

With that nagging feeling, they plodded along. Moving at a fair clip until they reached the chosen destination.

From there, Boldwick pointed where they were headed… And left them to it.

Colin and Garin—to Erec’s surprise for the former—immediately fell into line behind him, an unspoken agreement as they defaulted to letting him take the reins, which suited him fine. This formation was a comfortable one to him, and he’d know no other Knights as fine as his friends.

With the sun beating down on his metal chassis, he led them the rest of the way to the scene of their next trial.

— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

“Dear Goddess,” Garin muttered, staring at the gaping hole of glass that made up the ‘nest’ of the monsters. All three of them stood as close to the edge that they dared, looking down a pit that stretched four hundred feet down—as calculated by VAL using what it referred to as ‘extremely easy and common math equations, it embarrassed the board director of Vortex Industries couldn’t perform.’

The sheer depth of the pit alone made this an issue; it also explained why exactly the Knights hadn’t seen fit to climb down this hole and deal with the problem. It seemed an impossible task. Above, in the sky, more than a few vultures circled.

From the height above, Erec could just make out a squirming mass at the bottom—an overcrowded thicket of moving appendages and haunting moans that echoed their way out from below.

It would be easy to mistake all the moving parts as belonging to a single creature, but upon further guided observation and using the built-in enhancements of his helmets, he could make out the fact that it was a pile of monsters on top of one other, each about half the size of a human. An absolute swarm of things—their bodies were thin and sunburned red, with bits of scorched and irritated skin as they languished about in this hole for Goddess knew how long, suffering.

Was this a kindness in disguise to put these dreadful things out of their misery?

“How do we get down?” Garin asked, stepping away from the sheer drop.

“No idea,” Erec said, chewing on his lip. They had three big problems, which were quite clear. “But even if we did…”

The first was—how did one safely get into the deep pit whose sides were completely glass, a sheer wall of lined glass—more than a few feet thick, at the edges. The second, as equally problematic, was if they somehow managed to get down there, they would have to kill all the creatures below. Erec thought that problem relatively simple. They didn’t seem that strong. There was an overwhelming quantity, but if these creatures had any real strength, they would have surely found a way to escape the pit or caused more damage than what he could see below.

The third problem, which he didn’t know how to wrestle with, is if they finished getting down there, killing everything, they would somehow have to get back up the slick glass wall. Add in the fact they had a time constraint—this wasn’t the only nest of monsters they had to kill today, and Boldwick expected them to be back to the Kingdom by the time the sun went down…

Yeah, now he understood why Boldwick thought this challenge was big enough to include in this difficult training week.

Colin let out an annoyed sigh, standing up and stretching, “Well, it is quite clear how this formed. Glass has remains of mana imbued all throughout it—the type similar to a Rift; the magical energy was released in a burst when these pests crawled into our world and damaged the landscape. Some kind of transmutation were I to guess.”

“Huh,” Erec said, impressed with the conclusion. To be honest, he wasn’t as concerned with the how as much as the what they could do with the problem. “Do you have anything that lets you fly—can you shoot them with lightning from here?”

Colin snorted. “Of course I cannot fly. Yet, you can, can you not?”

“That isn’t flying,” Erec answered, while the burst of silver flame propelled him in the air… It was more equivalent to shooting him off like a rocket, an uncontrolled, unhinged rocket of glory and rage. A very different thing from flying.

“Don’t be absurd; we’ve seen it twice now. Do so now and take care of the monsters below.”

“It’s… Difficult to summon that energy without being worked up. Not to mention, I haven’t exactly mastered that part of using my talent. Whenever I used it in the air, it was instinctive. I’m not sure I can get that heated up here, staring at those pitiful monsters. But… I’ll try.”

He squinted, looking down, trying to conjure up even a spark of Fury. The barest bits were there, from the simple existence of these monsters. Erec let that feeling of indignation catch, trying to at least give it a try. This was their world, and these creatures had trespassed and destroyed the land in their invasion…

But the anger… Vanished like trying to strike a flint and steel against bad kindling. There was simply too much pity, not enough personal investment for him to really conjure Fury. Let alone the much deeper and stronger silver fire it would take for him to launch down there, kill those things, and launch back up.

Erec sighed.

“Well, did it work?”

That conjured more sparks of irritation and anger, but it wasn’t enough.

“No,” Erec answered, choosing not to punch Colin into the pit.

“Shame. Have you been speaking to a therapist? I would not advise such a course of action; your anger issues are vital to our continued success. Please continue to have mother and family issues; this team can ill-afford you working through your low-born familial trauma. Does reminding you of them do anything?” Colin prodded.

[Jeesh, Buckeroo. He’s hit the nail on the head there, hasn’t he?]

Erec turned toward Colin.

“Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“Will it hurt your feelings enough to complete the objective?”

Instead of answering, he looked away and rolled his eyes. Embarrassed to admit that Colin insulting him had done more to catch Fury alight than it should have. The issue was that to get to the silver flame needed, they would have to actually fight, and Colin had to present enough of a threat to get him to that level; a risky and dangerous strategy, that was if Colin had enough power in him to even meet Erec there instead of getting wiped out early on by how much more power Erec had.

Still, it was maybe a solution. Better than the nothing he had before.

“Can you reach them with a spell?” Garin asked.

“The range is too long. The glyphs I know now are more suitable for medium-range. That is quite a long distance, and I would run out of mana before I managed to finish off the creatures below, as loath as I am to admit.” Colin said.

Garin looked up above—there was a pause—and Garin stretched out his arm. Out of the sky, a bird dived down and perched there, a vulture circling above the pit, no doubt flying down to feast on the death and decay below—the two of them stared at one another—then it flew into the pit. “Not going to solve our problem,” Garin explained, to their shocked expressions, “But more information on the enemy can never hurt.”

[It seems he’s finally gotten a handle on his odd talent. Remarkable. I think I’ve found the solution to your problem. Care to hear?]

Erec stretched his arm and looked over at Boldwick and Dame Robin, who was watching them in the distance—would it be cheating to take advice from VAL?

No. VAL was a part of him, and, well, this mission was supposed to include all of their resources to accomplish it.

“I’m all ears.”

[Tell me, do you know what happens if you strike glass with lightning?]

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