i've been writing this since January and i'm almost done with the third fic in this series (there's gonna be four!) so i was like shit i better start posting it. this is the big thing i allude to sometimes, the AU that's absorbed most of my life since i got back into the fandom in like 2015/16. i've posted it a couple times before with wildly different titles and plots and main characters, but i'm glad those didn't work out because now Ukkon exists and it would have been criminal to not include him. i hate Ukkon.
i'm scared because i don't have the best track record with these things but i REALLY want to get this out there before Gears 5 comes out and i'm hoping this will motivate me. once everything's said and done i'll have about 400k to edit and that's going to take an ungodly amount of effort. i have approximately 275k written as of right now.
this is the only portion of it that's good enough for posting.
i'm gonna die.
but i'll have Tons of Fun until then.
PROLOGUE
Atop Shibboleth, everything looked small. Karn's blight swarmed around her legs, resembling pale insects from his perspective. Sitting a hundred feet above them and the lights they carried, he was in almost total darkness. The only sound that reached him was the slow drumbeat of Shibboleth's legs against stone. Their pace was almost relaxed, because they hadn't seen battle for days.
Despite that, Karn couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him from the shadows. His Locust eyes were good in low light, but there were some areas, high above and to the sides, that were pure black. He told himself he was just being jumpy. Somewhere in his brain was an ancient animal that got eaten by things lurking in the dark, and it didn't want to take chances. That was the logical explanation.
This tunnel was one straight path for miles, and the vegetation grew thick in many places, creating a nearly constant haze of bluish light. There were no faults that could be used by stalks, and no branching paths for another several miles. Behind them lay areas that had already been scoured and scoured thrice again, because that way lay most of the nurseries and, at the end of the road, the entrance to Nexus. If any Lambent hid there, they would have been purged, either by Karn or one of the other patrol groups.
It made no sense for him to fear.
He halted Shibboleth and listened for a moment to prove to himself that everything was fine. Shibboleth drew her legs in and growled at anyone who got too close. She could pick up on his feelings, but whether she was expressing her own displeasure or trying to be protective of him, he didn't know.
There was a heavy rumbling, not unlike a Corpser. Dust fell from above. The quake was over in a couple of seconds but another came right after, slightly louder and harder. He heard a distant disturbance among the Drones. They'd realized it too; there were no digging operations here, nor wild Corpsers. Whatever made that noise wasn't supposed to be here, and that meant it was likely a threat.
"Ready!" he shouted. "Whatever the fuck is coming through that wall better get shredded!" There was commotion below as maags and vurls prepared for battle. They should have had more forewarning, but earlier quakes must have gone unnoticed beneath Shibboleth's movements. Karn had no time to consider his mistake.
It was like the entire world exploded. Shibboleth jerked sideways and sent Karn flying.
He struck the ground and rolled forever. Rocks stabbed him from all angles until he snapped against a rock. All the air and thought were gone from him and it was dark. For a long moment he thought he was dead, and when he realized he wasn't, he took a breath. It was the second worst pain he ever felt.
The worst pain he ever felt came an instant later, when his brain finished tallying up the events of the last several seconds. His whole body ached, but the pain centered in his lower back, opening a door to incalculable agony. But his legs did not hurt.
His legs did not hurt whatsoever.
He heard gunfire, settling rock, and screaming.
Karn opened his eyes to a world that spun in a nauseating mess of light and color. He focused, and as the Inner Hollow stabilized he saw what happened.
There was a hole in the tunnel wall, large enough that Shibboleth could have walked through. Scores of Wretches and Lambent Drones poured out, cascading down a small mountain of rocky rubble. The men closest to the explosion had died under the collapsing wall, but there were some survivors and they were being picked off by their former brothers. Men further away from the hole were retreating, shouting, and shooting.
Karn almost didn't notice Shibboleth's body pinned under the debris. Lambent landed on her, using her as a ladder to the ground, but paid her no heed. She was a stone to them. She made miserable noises, trying to pull herself out with her one remaining good leg. Her eyes, shining behind her shattered faceplate, somehow found him laying among the scree, and she scraped at the ground with increased fervor. She wasn't that far away, but she wouldn't be able to save her master, and he couldn't ease her suffering. He looked away, unable to bear her pain on top of everything else.
Garish yellow light continued to gush from the hole, like pus from a wound. Karn patted his hips but found both of his Boltoks missing. A wave of bioluminescent death was closing on him and all he could do was watch.
He rose, and at first his battered hearts sunk with the resignation of impending death. Then he realized he was being pulled up by a Drone.
"Vold," the Drone said. "We must retreat."
"Agreed," Karn coughed. He was slung over the Drone's shoulders and had a sideways view of the world. His maggots were trying to fight even as they ran away, dozens of rifles bursting at glowing, hateful things. Black spots began to dance across his vision as he watched the battle, and he fought to not let the void claim him.
The Drone hefted themself over the uneven terrain, bouncing Karn against rough, hard armor. It helped him stay awake, but he had to grit his teeth down on his own screams.
A Reaver touched down in front of them, its front tentacles buckled so its rider was close to the ground. Karn was lifted by this other Drone, and he glanced back to see his rescuer drenched in blood—his blood.
The rider passed Karn to the gunner, who held him tightly and pressed thick hands against his body. The black dots in his vision blossomed into black seas. He couldn't make out what the Drone was saying to him. It was like he was being pulled under dark water.
He always thought he would fight death until his body gave out on him, but at the moment all he wanted to do was sleep. Everything smelled like blood, but the Drone was warm and he was exhausted and in so much pain.
His last cognizant thought was that Lambent shouldn't have been able to make holes that large. Lambent weren't supposed to be here and there weren't supposed to be that many. It didn't make sense. It wasn't his fault.
RAAM was the last to arrive to the council room. It was quiet, which, in his experience, was a bad sign. He stood at the table and tried to look like he wasn't anticipating anything.
All the councilors were in their high-backed chairs. RAAM wasn't happy to see Ketor Vrol again, but the Kantus's expression was hidden as always. Uzil Sraak scowled at nothing in particular. Machinist Ukkon was asleep while Karn, who sat next to him, gently elbowed him to no avail. Vold Kaise stood next to RAAM, only the lower half of his face visible with his helmet on. He was curled over the table, tapping his fingers absently, but straightened when he noticed his fellow vold scrutinizing him.
"Just in time," he muttered. "We're about to pull out the party games."
"I literally would not miss this for the end of the world," RAAM replied. "I hope we play spin the bottle." He gave a pointed glance at Sraak, who glared back as though offended by RAAM's mere existence.
Kaise began to laugh and turned it into a cough instead.
From the darkness in the north side of the room came a sharp stomping, which did more to rouse Ukkon than Karn's pinching and shaking. Everyone sat up nice and pretty while Queen Myrrah emerged from the shadows. She sat in the ornate throne at the head of the table and looked at the group, her eyes narrowed and appraising. "I trust you all have been keeping in good health. Whatever passes for good health these days."
"We're holding on, Your Majesty," Sraak said.
"Some better than most," Ukkon muttered.
"My queen, I have a question," RAAM said. "Why am I here? And Kaise?"
"You do not wish to be?" Myrrah asked.
"It's not that. We're the lowest ranks present. I know Karn's here because of Ukkon, but why two volds?"
"Kaise knows Nexus better than anyone," Myrrah said. "And you were there, in the Inner Hollows. Your perspective will be important for today's discussion."
Before he could dwell on those words for long, she called for Vold Kaise to speak. He was short for a vold, and slender; hardly intimidating, but his voice was deep, smooth, and commanded attention.
"The city continues to degrade." He fixed Sraak, across from him, in his gaze. "There are more stillborns every day. The longer the mothers live in this air, the more deformed the children become. If the trend continues, the stillborn rate will be fifty percent in a handful of weeks. In another season, we might not be having children at all."
Sraak tensed, narrowing his bloodshot eyes at the Theron. It was like the rest of the room fell away for both of them, and they were the only ones present. Kaise wasn't speaking for the queen's benefit; he was talking to the uzil. RAAM prepared to take action, whatever Kaise might need of him.
"Our containment measures have obviously been inadequate," Kaise went on, his tone becoming sharper. "Our food stores are starting to run out in some districts and people are rioting. Killing each other. Soon they will bring their fighting to the palace."
Myrrah raised a gloved hand. "What containment measures are you talking about, Kaise?"
"You worm-bastard," Sraak growled, raking claws across the table. "You think before you answer her!"
Myrrah raised a brow. The uzil realized that was the wrong thing to say and cowered under her suspicious look. "Tell me, Kaise. It's all right."
RAAM saw the barest tremble in Kaise's shoulders. Would it be right to touch him, at a time like this? Before he could take that chance, the Theron took a deep steadying breath and opened his mouth.
"Killing the sick, my queen. Strict quarantines for anyone with even the slightest signs of symptoms that could look like Lambency." The strength seemed to run out of him as he spoke. He had been building himself up to this moment, RAAM realized. Kaise had wanted to talk about this for a while.
Which meant it had been going on for a long time indeed.
Multiple sets of eyes turned on Sraak. He pushed himself away from the table and started to stand, but sank back into the chair with a heavy sigh. His scales were dull and his muscles were unusually lean. He wasn't at the age yet where his body would start to destroy itself; malnourishment had stricken even him, and it made his bullying more difficult.
"So?" the uzil grunted. "It worked a little, didn't it? What else was I supposed to do?"
"Tell me that you were authorizing the killing of citizens, for one thing," Myrrah replied sharply, making him flinch. It didn't matter that she was the second smallest in the room. Everyone here feared her. "Secondly, are you saying that the Lambent infection might enter the city, even with the gates closed?"
Kaise nodded. "We don't understand how it works, my queen...but I've seen some very sick men—and Berserkers—the past few weeks, and I believe they could have been in the early stages of Lambency. We would take them...put them up somewhere and then we…"
"I've heard enough. Sraak, this was a gross oversight on your part."
"I know, my queen," he said, averting his eyes.
"You're lucky I don't get rid of you."
"I know…"
"It would destabilize us too much, and that's far from what we need now." Myrrah scowled, but after a second her expression became mild again as she put that miserable business out of her mind. "So, we know how the situation is in the city. We even know something new, thanks to Vold Kaise. In a way, his impromptu confessional was good, because I believe it is time for more drastic, radical action."
It was quiet. Maybe everyone's minds were wandering thanks to malnutrition and lack of sleep, or maybe the question was just that hard to answer.
"What action, Your Majesty?" Ukkon asked.
"I don't know." Myrrah gestured to the room in general. "That's why I've brought all of you here."
Silence fell again. She must be thinking of leaving Nexus, RAAM thought. Why else would she want my point of view? It would be very like Myrrah to know what she wanted, but to patiently dredge for criticism or better ideas from her council. The logistics of such a move boggled his mind, and he wasn't sure it was physically possible.
"Do not fear my or anyone else's reaction," the Queen said. "Speak. Anyone."
"Well…" Kaise glanced at RAAM. "He took care of himself in the Hollows, didn't he?"
Vrol whipped his metallic head around. "What are you saying?"
"Maybe we need to leave Nexus and take our chances in the wilds. If RAAM and Skorge can live wandering the Inner Hollow, injured, then I think we can—"
"No! It's heresy! You would abandon our holy city!"
Kaise frowned at Vrol. "This city is poisoning itself. We're trapped! We resign ourselves to a slow, terrible death if we stay here."
"The Gods will not allow us to perish," the ketor said, lifting his head proudly. "In Their wisdom, They allowed those two wayward children to wander alone, and returned them to us after eight weeks. They were found in a state not much better than death. Clearly, the Gods intended to show us that it would be unwise to venture into the wilds."
"That's obtuse," Ukkon said. "Why not tell Skorge directly? Doesn't he talk to them or something?"
"The Gods are mysterious."
"Of course." Ukkon smirked. "So mysterious it looks like stupidity."
"What did you say?" Vrol snapped.
"Your reasoning is stupid," Ukkon said, emphatically drumming his fingers against the table with each syllable. "Of course that's what I meant, since I don't think gods exist in the first place and therefore are neither intelligent nor stupid. I could just as easily say RAAM and Skorge surviving in the Hollows is a sign that we should leave. They didn't have anything out there, but we can take provisions, make a plan."
Sraak glanced between them. "We can't just pack up and leave," he said, with an uncharacteristically careful tone. "It isn't safe enough for everyone."
"And you care about that," Kaise whispered, low enough for only RAAM to hear.
Sraak had grandchildren on the way, RAAM suddenly remembered. For once, the uzil was thinking. Desperate times truly did call for desperate measures.
"And we can hardly defend ourselves," Vrol added.
"Those are good points." Ukkon shrugged. "I don't know what to do."
"We can't defend against what's in here," Kaise said, his voice hot. "We don't have to go out through the Highway. There are back tunnels. We can transport people by barge. If there are Lambent that way, there aren't many."
Vrol banged a fist on the table. He was wheezing from how hard he was trying to breathe through his suit's vents. "The Gods will kill us if we abandon the city, by Lambent or some other method. Queen Myrrah! You cannot listen to this heretic."
Myrrah looked tired. "I know what this city means to us, Vrol, and it is not anyone's intention to disrespect that meaning. Is it, Kaise?"
"I would not abandon our city, my queen. I would outlive it."
"We cannot needlessly cling to our emotions, Vrol. We must consider what would best ensure our survival as a species, even if that means leaving Nexus behind and never looking back."
"I support leaving Nexus," Ukkon said.
"But the uzil has a point," Karn spoke up. His voice was almost startling, as he hadn't made a noise the entire time. "How are people like me going to get around?"
"Reavers or 'mounts," RAAM said automatically. "Berserkers are an entire issue themselves, but you would not be left behind, Karn."
"I don't think we have enough animals for something like that."
Ukkon tapped his chin. "I think he's right. We started killing them for food, remember."
Kaise huffed. Another hole had been opened in his plan.
"Then other people will carry you," RAAM said. "I could carry like six of you. On one arm."
"Ah, thank...you...vold." Karn looked almost embarrassed and stared down at his lap.
"If we were to leave Nexus," Myrrah said, ignoring the squawking coming from Vrol's direction, "what is the best way to do so?"
The council carried on in that direction while RAAM thought to himself. People suggested various methods of leaving the city. They could send scouts out first, to draw the Lambent away, then bring the main population out. Several groups could leave at different times and in different directions, to divide the Lambent's attention. They could leave through the narrow and uncharted back tunnels, as Kaise suggested, and hope nothing too evil lurked in that darkness.
Everyone, save for the silent Vrol, proposed every single direction except what RAAM thought would be the most obvious one. He raised his hand, but Myrrah had to notice him and do the same so the men would be quiet. "What if, instead of the Inner Hollow," he started, "we went somewhere else? Somewhere free of Lambent?"
For a long moment, nobody spoke and instead stared at him, in shock or awe or maybe pity. It sounded insane to him, so he could only guess how deranged it was to others.
"The surface," Vrol mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Insanity," Sraak balked. "We cannot fight a war in our condition."
"Maybe we don't have to fight," RAAM said. "We can surface somewhere unpopulated. There aren't that many left of us. We'd be easy to hide."
"And I'm sure the humans would love to find us hiding in their backyards," Sraak sneered.
"What other choice do we have? I lived in the Hollows, and I could do it again, but it's not a good way to live. A big group of Locust would attract Lambent the way glowfruit attracts rockworms. There are vicious humans on the surface. Either way we're fighting for our lives. At least humans can't turn us into monsters."
"I'd like to say something again," Karn said. He looked around, finding multiple people staring at him. "Why don't we...ask them for help?"
Myrrah laughed. It was a sound like ice breaking. "Excuse me?"
"Even beings as mysterious as humans must want something. Don't they use Imulsion for fuel? We've got plenty of that lying around."
"You want us to appeal to the groundwalkers," Myrrah said.
"We can't fight. If we try to hide ourselves, we'll be found. If we can give the humans a reason to not kill us, they could be our greatest ally."
The queen was shaking her head.
"Of course," Karn said, grinning defensively, "you are the one most suited to this task."
Myrrah lifted a brow. "You're suggesting I negotiate with humans and convince them to save us."
"Yes."
Myrrah looked around, then leaned back in her throne. "I don't hear any objections towards this idea."
Vrol visibly squirmed, and Sraak's frown continued to carve newer depths into his face. Neither of them spoke.
"I'm skeptical that humans would help us," RAAM said. "But it's no more or less insane than anything else."
"I agree," Ukkon said. "I mean, why not? We're probably going to die anyway. And I heard humans like science a lot. Cutting things open, et cetera. They might want to keep us alive just for that." He sounded optimistic enough.
"How many are in favor?" Myrrah asked.
RAAM knew his answer before she posed the question, and raised his hand immediately. Kaise, Karn, and Ukkon agreed. Sraak and Vrol were still, and at least one of them was glaring at Karn.
"I see," Myrrah mused. "Well, I do try to be democratic. I did say I wanted radical action. I will be truthful; I am not confident in humanity's kindness. Of us, I am the only one who has had personal experience with them, and those are memories I would rather not have. But if it is agreed that this is the best course of action, I will use those memories to my advantage.
"You're all dismissed. Uzil Sraak, come with me; I need your help planning my...trip."
The huge Drone bowed his head as if in defeat. "Yes, your majesty." He followed her out of the chamber, melting into the darkness.
Vrol was the third out of the room. He practically threw himself down an adjoining tunnel to be away from the heathens. Ukkon worked himself out of the chair, stood on his feet, and swayed.
"That certainly did just happen," he said. "But I don't have time to discuss it. I've so much to do. Are you coming, Karn?" He spoke while walking on stilt-like legs towards an archway. It was hard to notice since he wore such voluminous clothing, but he too was much skinnier than RAAM remembered.
"I'll catch up with you." Karn rolled around the table and approached the two volds. "That was a bold idea, Vold RAAM."
"The Queen wanted bold."
"Yes, and you inspired me to speak up as well. You're so much more useful than the uzil."
"Not much of a compliment, considering..."
Karn laughed. "...Hey, Vold Kaise, you look sick."
Kaise did, indeed, look unwell. "I'm fine. Er, I'll be fine eventually. I'm actually not doing well at the moment."
"Does it have to do with what you said?" RAAM asked.
Kaise nodded. "It's like looking at a healing wound. It starts to hurt again, you know?"
"You won't have to do that ever again," RAAM said. "Myrrah will make the humans help us. They have medicine far beyond ours."
"I hope you're right."
"For the record," Karn said, "I think it's a stupid plan. Going to the surface and talking to them."
"But...you came up with it." RAAM frowned at him.
"Yes. I still think it's stupid. It's just marginally less stupid than all the other shit we could do." Karn started turning around. "I'd better find the mad genius. He won't remember to drink water without me. That's not a joke, don't laugh."
Kaise stepped forward. "If the humans decide not to help us, and try to finish us off instead, is there truly nothing we can do?"
"We can do something. We just wouldn't win. Bye, you two. Try to stay alive." He continued rolling down the path taken by Ukkon.
Kaise and RAAM were alone now. "I think it will work," the helmeted Theron said. "I believe in them. In humanity."
RAAM scoffed. "You've never even seen one."
"If their technology is more advanced than ours, then their society must be as well. I don't think they'll hurt us." Kaise started on his own path down a hall adjacent to Karn's, and RAAM followed him, having nowhere in particular to be. "After all, we wouldn't hurt them."
"I literally suggested war."
"And it was shot down by a more peaceful solution."
Their footsteps echoed in the corridor, the lit braziers making their shadows dance on the walls. This hallway would take them in the general direction of the Reaver stables, and then both of them would return to their posts to prepare for this upcoming change. They had to make sure their own maggots knew what was going on. Getting the people to accept this would be tricky.
Less than sixty weeks ago, nobody thought the surface might be their only hope. Humanity was a mysterious presence lingering above everyone's heads, and the truth of their existence wasn't even a universal belief. RAAM didn't expect his own suggestion to come out of him, and had never given humans a second thought before today.
The world of one season ago felt like a distant dream; so much happened so quickly...
"By the way, have you heard from Skorge?" Kaise asked, as if able to read his thoughts—knowing Kaise, maybe that was possible.
"He's alive," RAAM muttered. "I'm able to get that much from him."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. Maybe meeting with the humans will change things for him too."
"It'll give him hope," Kaise said, walking a little more proudly. "If we have hope, we'll survive...right? We'll survive the Lambent and the humans."
"We won't know until we know." RAAM sighed. "That's just the way it is."