Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.
Sunlight glistened off the surface of the snow as the dropship touched down amidst the frozen crags of the Yadrek Mountain Range. The ramp opened, and Phoney, X'lish, Jigafta, and Bartleby emerged into the glacial landscape. They walked in silence for several hundred feet, until the rock in front of them dropped off, forming a massive cliff face. Below them was the silent vigil of the Norgabard.
"I've never done anything like this before." Phoney said to Jigafta as the three looked over the edge of the cliff.
"Don't worry." Jigafta patted Phoney on the back. "It's only a three hundred foot drop."
"That isn't very reassuring."
"Well, neither are our odds of survival after we make this descent, so just think of this as the easy part."
"There!" X"lish shouted as she pointed at a lone lookout tower partially merged with the Cliffside that rose above the rest of the fortress. "That's our target." The other two made their way over to where she was standing. The three bones all drove rope anchors into the rock near the edge of the cliff, and clipped the other ends of the ropes onto the belts of the tactical harnesses they all wore.
"Here goes nothing." Phoney whispered to himself. He turned to Bartleby. "Are you sure you can make your way down without our help?" He asked.
"I'll manage, somehow." Bartleby responded.
"The drop levels out more the further away from the fortress you go." Jigafta told the rat creature. He also handed him a large satchel bag, which Bartleby grabbed in his teeth. "Make sure to keep these safe too." The rat creature nodded and bounded off along the cliff's edge to look for a way down. The bones, meanwhile, began their descent.
Jigafta went down first. Once he made it to the lookout tower, X'lish and Phoney watched as he took down a pair of guards. Then he gave them a thumbs up, and they rappelled down after him. Shortly after they made it to the tower, Bartleby launched himself through the air from a small rock outcropping and landed gracefully on the tower in the middle of the three bones.
"Now what?" Phoney asked as the four of them began descending a large spiral staircase from the tower to the rest of the complex.
"Now, we make our way to the center of the fortress. There are a few rooms inside the cliff itself. I'm willing to bet Glaian is in either the meeting hall or the throne room, since they were built the furthest into the cliff."
"You talk like you helped build this place." Phoney remarked as they exited the stairwell into a stone corridor. Jigafta didn't respond. Instead, he took the lead, pushing past Phoney and Bartleby.
"No one actually knows what he did before he joined the FIC." X'lish whispered to Phoney as Jigafta led them down a series of winding hallways. "There used to be rumors floating around that he was over seventy years old, because of how young he looks, but I just think he has a very large plastic surgery bill."
"Quiet." Jigafta hissed through his teeth. He swiftly crouched. X'lish squeezed past Phoney and did the same.
"What's going on?" She asked, her words barely audible.
"Two guards. That room." Jigafta pointed to an opening in the wall just in front of them. "Take the one on the left."
"Got it." X'lish nodded. The two of them rushed into the room and broke the two guards' necks before they could react.
"Clear." Jigafta hissed out the doorway. Phoney followed them in, while Bartleby stayed in the hallway. The room itself was fairly large, and contained several filing cabinets. The three looked at each other for a moment, and then immediately began going through them.
"These look like shipping manifests." X'lish remarked as she pulled one file after another from the cabinet in front of her. "Bulk mechanical parts, ammo, weapons…" She paused.
"What?" Phoney asked as he began to open his first file.
"Tanks. Glaian has tanks. And Armored Personnel Carriers. And dropships. This isn't just a widespread insurrection, it's a fully funded army. And it looks like it was all moved around by some company called "Export Systems International". I've never heard of it."
"My old friend Silas Cohen partially owns that company." Phoney said as he began digging through more files. "Maybe after this, we can pay him a visit, see if he knows who's backing Glaian's army."
"If he's still alive." Jigafta remarked. "There's no telling who Glaian's army has targeted. If he knows something, he might already be dead."
"That is probably the least of our problems right now." Phoney's hands started shaking as he read the contents of the file in front of him. "These parts were all things Archibald requested when he designed our military prototypes. Specifically the plasma missiles and stealth drives. Glaian could have a hundred, no, a thousand of these in play. He could hit us anywhere, at any time."
"Well, that's why we're going to kill him." Jigafta took the file from Phoney's hands. "When we get back to the ship, we'll radio your camp and let them know."
"Why do you care so much?" Phoney asked abruptly. "I know X'lish is here to avenge her husband, but why are you here?"
"I have my reasons." Jigafta responded as he headed for the doorway.
"Would one of those reasons happen to be named Kelkaid Nagratek?" Jigafta stopped dead. "His name came up a few times in some of your old FIC files, and I know he had a hand in killing Faldr's father. But who is he, exactly?"
"His birth name was Kelkaid Betredin. He took the name Nagratek to gain some credibility after he rose to power in a terrorist organization called the Order of the Hollow Soul. We destroyed it, and he's dead now. Faldr rushed here to kill Glaian because he thought Glaian might have some connection of Kelkaid."
"Do you?"
"That remains to be seen." Without another word, Jigafta left the room. X'lish rolled her eyes and followed after him.
"That man is a riddle." Phoney remarked to Bartleby as the two of them followed after Jigafta.
"He smells weird too." Bartleby responded, wrinkling his nose. "His scent faintly reminds me of the Hooded One."
"It's probably just the cold air messing with you." Phoney patted Bartleby on the head. Internally, Phoney took note of Bartleby's remark. Even though he trusted Jigafta in the moment, he knew the stranger was keeping some big secrets. And he vowed, then and there, to uncover them.
Archibald and Glaian stood on opposite ends of a large square table in the middle of an even large stone room in the middle of the Norgabard. Sprawling on the table were documents of information, an array of charts and figures, sections of ancient writings translated into modern language, and several large maps of the same area of land in the middle of the desert. Archibald rubbed the stumpy wrist where his right hand used to be as he explained what the maps meant. "We've finally begun to process the photos we took a few months ago with the hacked satellites. The results we got were… strange, to say the least." He pointed at one taken using infrared sensors. "We found a patch of land almost one thousand square miles in area where the average temperature was almost seven degrees lower." Then he pointed at a normal picture. It showed a plain desert. "But when we looked at it with a normal camera, there wasn't anything special about it. Until we pointed a receiver at it. Then we discovered that it gave off a strange, low hum across every radio frequency. So we sent a short burst of radio waves at it, and they all bounced off. I think what we're observing is the Dreaming actively shrouding the area from detection, though how it simultaneously reflects electromagnetic waves and gives off the illusion of a desert to our satellites baffles me. And if the dreaming is protecting it, then that must be the location of the Valley."
"Did you find a way around it?" Glaian asked, intrigued by the situation facing him.
"It took me a bit, but I figured out that it doesn't reflect ultraviolet light, so I managed to put together a working prototype UV communicator that I'm hoping will allow us to communicate with the outside world while we're inside. It's allowed me to stay in mostly constant, albeit patchy, contact with the drones I sent in, so results are looking promising."
"And what of the dreaming itself. What is it?"
"It appears to be some sort of quantum field able to interact with and modify atomic properties. It doesn't exist everywhere, but the area it covers is slowly expanding. In a few months, it'll start reaching across our borders. We've tried to influence it with electromagnetism, weak interaction, and strong interaction, but it seems to have no charge whatsoever. Which is baffling, considering it induces EM pulses the quartzite isomer in the pre-frontal auxiliary cortex found in most animal species with complex brains, referred to Fone Bone as the "Dreaming Eye", which is how we now think dreams occur. Whatever this thing is, the two small scout ships we sent out near Wadralia have detected it there as well, though it isn't moving in from that direction. It, or more probably its absence, might be what makes this continent so toxic to sustained human life, but allows us to thrive perfectly normally. And if we look at Fone Bone's book as entirely accurate, which is one hell of a stretch by the way, then it could bring most of his fantastic imaginings, like talking animals, into the realm of scientific logic. As a last note, it appears that, in the areas of the desert it does cover, it is weakest around that temple we found in the desert in our initial expeditions. And what we've translated so far of the texts in the temple make it out to be less of a tomb or place of worship, and more of a prison. Frankly Glaian, I think we've stumbled onto something really, really big here that we can only begin to grasp."
"This is not fiction or conspiracy, Archibald, this is war. Our enemy is humanity, and if they draw upon these fields as a means of power, then if we eliminate that, we can cut off their supply lines and cut the head off the snake." He picked up one of the myriads of wall-text translations lying on the table "And if this section of wall we found in the temple really translates as "Prison of the Awoken, slayer of Dreaming" then we might have a method of doing just that. But first we need to open that chrysalis we found there and figure out just what's inside. And preferably before that field reaches our boarders and makes human habitation of our country possible. If that happens, then we'll be facing another prolonged Wadralian occupation of the coasts at least, probably more, and this war might as well be lost. We have a time table Archibald. Make sure we stick to it."
"It isn't that simple. We don't even know how the chrysalis operates, much less what the material it's made out of or any vague idea of how to crack it open. It broke two diamond drill bits for crying out loud! And that didn't leave a scratch on it! I think the way to open it, if there is one, could only be found in that Valley. In these "Dragon strongholds." If these dragons are as attuned to this force as Fone Bone dictates, then they must have some connection to the chrysalis and this ever encroaching doomsday field. The map my drones have been constructing is nearing completion, so whenever you say the word, we can depart for the Valley and find some answers for once."
"That does seem like a logical course of action. But first, we must wait for President Phoncible to step out of the shadows and look me in the eye. And when we have him, we can proceed with destroying him."
"You can't seriously believe he'd come all the way out here do you? I mean, I did kill his cousin, but he's too smart to just walk into an enemy fortress he knows he won't walk out of."
"I know, but he'll send another one of his assassins after me. And another one. Until he finally gets enraged enough to try to kill me himself. And then we'll capture him. Honestly, it's a good thing you failed to kill him back in the capital. I want to see him suffer all the more as the arbiter of the House of Bone's madness. We'll drag him to the Valley and make him watch as we kill another one of his cousins. And then we'll destroy his precious humans. And when he finally begs for death, I'll kill him in the slowest way possible, all the while reminding him of how he let it all happen."
"You're insane, you know that." Archibald laughed. Glaian gave him a cold, unamused stare. Suddenly, a soldier ran into the room gasping for breath
"Sir," He said wheezing, "The two guards in the records room have been killed. They're necks were broken."
"Alert the interior guard. It looks like his assassins are already here." He said to the soldier. The man nodded and ran back out of the room. "Nibet!" Glaian shouted.
"Yes, Lord Glaian?" Nibet Trenya was standing in the corner of the room, awaiting orders.
"Keep an eye out. Make sure no one slips in here unnoticed."
"That won't be necessary." Said a voice behind him. Glaian turned around and saw three bones and a hulking purple creature standing in an opened hatchway on the back wall. "Glaian Nagratek, the All-Consuming. You have been marked for death. Prepare yourself for the end. Know that it will not come swiftly or mercifully." Phoney spoke, his voice cold and malicious, but with a slight edge of fear.
"Ah, Phoncible. I knew you would be sending assassins after me, but I didn't think you would be so idiotic as to try to kill me yourself. By all means, speed up my plans even further. I can only thank you at this point, you really have made conquering this country a simple task. When you sent Faldr Milzaek after me, that really sealed the deal, but-" X'lish snapped at the mention of her deceased husband. She drew her sword and rushed him. Nibet moved equally as fast, intercepting her sister, catching her sword mid swing.
"Sister." She said as she threw the blade aside.
"You lost the right to call me that when you drew your blade against my husband." X'lish threw a punch at her face, but when Nibet blocked it. X'lish immediately shifted her weight, drew back her arm, and kneed her sister in the gut. Nibet staggered back, winded, and X'lish lunged at her with another punch while Jigafta advanced on Glaian.
"You are a madman and a murderer. You have killed thousands through your actions. And when you fall today, know that Jigafta Utenki put you in the ground and ended your reign of terror." He drew his blade and readied his stance. He could tell by Glaian's movements that his anatomy wasn't natural.
"As yes, Jigafta Utenki. The Wrath of the Shard. The Great Betrayer. The False Prophet. The Walking Nightmare. You held many titles, once. A mythos of death and destruction surrounds you. If anyone here is the murderer and the madman, it is you. From what I hear, in five short years you managed to tear apart the entire Order, top to bottom. I'm going to enjoy feasting on your power."
Glaian entered his own fighting stance, without a weapon, and leapt at Jigafta. His hands immediately went for the assassin's face, but Jigafta rolled to the left. He stood up as Glaian was recovering and brought his sword down upon Glaian's neck. Only it didn't hit his neck. Glaian whipped around and caught the blade with his teeth, breaking it in half with a twist of his neck. Jigafta immediately dove backwards, but Glaian jumped into the air and landed behind him. He straightened up and cracked his knuckles as Jigafta braced himself for another attack.
Phoney meanwhile ran at Archibald and grabbed him by the neck. He pinned him to the ground and pulled out a pistol.
"The assassins I brought with me use mainly blades, but I decided to bring a gun along, just in case. I was never very good with swords."
"Trying to make small talk with me as you're trying to kill me. Man, killing your cousin must have really sent you over the edge." Archibald retorted, but before he could get out another reply Phoney's hand pressed deeper into his windpipe preventing him from speaking.
"Did you know that scientists say that because our people lived in the desert for so long that we adapted to its conditions to some very extreme degrees? We super condensed our muscled to save time transporting energy and blood. Our noses got huge to pick up slight scent changes, while our outer ears dropped off because the harsh desert winds made listening for potential dangers useless and distracting. And our genitals even condensed themselves inside our guts when we didn't consciously need them, to preserve our reproductive functions in such a hostile environment. I wonder how many shots to the gut it'll take before I can rip yours out of you. Or, what's left of it anyway." Silent terror ran across Archibald's face as Phoney pulled back the firing hammer.
X'lish's fist slammed into Nibet's nose, and she sent her sister careening through the air. Rage burned across her mind as she advanced on her broken form on the ground. X'lish kicked Nibet hard in the stomach, and she reacted spitting up blood all over Xlish's boot.
"We swore an oath!" She shouted. "To ourselves, and to each other! That we were done being played for fools by the Order! And now, you kill my husband in the service of the same ideals!" She kicked her sister again. Nibet started to stagger beck up, but then collapsed again. "Is this all you can muster, you coward?" X'lish dropped her guard.
Without another word Nibet swept her sister's feet and slammed her fist into X'lish's stomach. She drew a dagger from her belt and brought it against X'lish's stomach for the kill. X'lish rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding death, and sprung back up onto her feet, only for Nibet to lunge at her again and pin her to the ground.
"I have not gone back on my word, dear sister. The Order's way of thinking was weak. But I have pledged myself to a new god, a stronger god, and nothing you say or do will shake my resolve in serving his ultimate might. Now die, afraid, like your husband." The dagger descended upon Xlish's stomach. She bucked upwards, sending Nibet into the air and scurried back a few feet to resume fighting.
"How do you know those names? Most haven't been spoken by people since before I assumed this name." Asked Jigafta as he caught Glaian's fist inched from his face.
"I'm privy to some of your secrets." Glaian mused as he struck out at Jigafta again. "Even your real name. I must say, I expected more from the man with such an extensive file in my father's collection."
"I'm not going to waste all my energy fighting a runt like you." Jigafta smirked as he dodged Glaian's attack and grabbed his arm, spinning him into a choke hold. "You also seem to have been modified extensively. I doubt you're entirely organic anymore."
"You catch on quick. Archibald modified me years ago. I'm faster, stronger, tougher, and smarter than almost everyone on the planet. And I come with an added bonus. I can copy the neural patterns of my victims upon contact. Feeding off their talents and memories, growing stronger and more skilled as I add to my collection. That's how I earned the title "The All-Consuming." I can literally consume what makes you, you, and leave you a broken, dead husk." Glaian broke free from Jigafta's grip, and narrowly dodged his kick as it careened to his side. He brought his own leg into Jigafta's stomach, sending him flying across the room and into Phoney as he was about to take the first shot. Archibald immediately surged up and sprinted as far away from the president as he possibly could.
"You can't beat me Jigafta. And your partner can't beat Nibet. Give up now, while you still have a chance to join the right side." Said Glaian. X'lish retreated back to where the two others stood, and together the three of them faced their adversaries as one.
"We weren't trying to beat you Glaian. We were just buying time. You didn't even notice where the rat creature went during all of that, did you?" Said Phoney. Bartleby descended from the ceiling behind the three intruders and let out a terrifying growl.
"It's done." He said.
"Then blow it." Phoney smirked. X'lish pressed a small button in her hand, and suddenly the ceiling buckled as plastic explosives lining it detonated, turning the whole ceiling into rubble. The four made a break for the exit, but Archibald jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Phoney before he could make it to the archway. Phoney kicked him in the face, and kept running as the four of them made it into the maintenance tunnel. He looked over his shoulder as he saw Glaian and Nibet dragging Archibald's unconscious form into a doorway right before the ceiling totally collapsed, blocking his view.
"Damn it!" Phoney shouted as the three of them swung onto Bartleby's back. He carried them back to the dropship via the route he took to the lookout tower. They made the journey in silence. After they all loaded back up onto the aircraft, Phoney slammed his fist against the wall.
"I almost had him!" He shouted. "He was in my hands and I let him live!"
"It's alright." Said Jigafta, "We knew we probably wouldn't beat them on the first go round. Now that we've assessed their strengths and weaknesses, we can get back to base and figure out a real strategy for killing them. I doubt they'll survive our next encounter."
"About that," said X'lish, "You guys might want to take a look at this. She was in the cockpit, sitting at the communications array. A message from HQ was playing constantly in a loop on the screen.
"Perimeter breech! All units to the front line! This is not a drill! I repeat this is… Oh God! They've blown the command center! All forces, fall back, fall back!" It cut out and re started. Phoney shut it off.
"So Zachary and Findrel are dead. And they've taken the southern provinces. All in the few hours we were gone. Now that they have total control over the country, I guess they don't need me anymore." He was silent for a long time. The tension in the air could almost be cut with a knife.
"FUCK!" He finally shouted. "I try my best to make this country a better place and in a couple of weeks this madman has killed almost all of my friends and undone all of my progress just to further some stupid grudge!"
"We should head to the Western Coast." X'lish suggested. "If we can get you to Wadralia, maybe we can secure some human reinforcements"
"Humans won't stop him." Phoney cupped his head in his hands. "Just look at what he did to Rhumena."
"Actually…" Jigafta rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "That was me." Phoney looked up and gave Jigafta his best confused stare.
"What did you do in Rhumena?" X'lish asked.
"I sort of… used their own experimental technology to knock out their power grid." She joined Phoney in staring at him. "What? I like to mess stuff up occasionally. It's not like I did it to hurt anyone." Phoney closed his eyes and took a moment to gather himself. Then he stood up.
"Even if that's true, there're more pressing matters to deal with. From what we caught of Glaian's conversation, he wants to destroy the Dreaming. If that's the case, there's really only one course of action we can take. We go to Deren Guard, find the dragons, and tell them that a massive army is about to break down their front door. Maybe with an army of three ton fire breathing lizards on our side we might turn the tide."
"Dragons! You really expect us to believe that dragons exist?" Asked X'lish. "Is everyone going crazy?"
"Everything Fone wrote in his books was the absolute truth. Bartleby is living proof of that. Though you don't have to believe me." He got into the pilot's chair and started the takeoff procedure. "When we get to the valley, you can talk to the dragons yourself."
"Brothers and sisters, I come with great news. Only a few hours ago, I killed the President, and we now control all of the country. We have successfully taken down this corrupt, humanist government, and in its place the clans will rise again under the Nagratek banner. Together, we will rebuild the empire our ancestors envisioned. And we will start by wiping away this effigy to madness." Glaian was standing in the middle of Argus city, in front of the statue of Argus Bone himself. He waved his hand. Ropes tied to the statue dragged it down from its pedestal, and it cracked with a thunderous boom as it careened to the ground.
"The House of Bone has fallen! Now the Nagratek Clan shall rise again!" Archibald Bone stood up onto the platform Glaian was standing on. "And our first convert is here. Archibald Bone, a man instrumental in bringing an end to this oppressive regime, has asked to be christened with my glorious name. And, being the last living Nagratek, have it within my power to bestow upon any and all who would choose to throw off their oppressive identities the name of Nagratek." He turned to Archibald, who proceeded to kneel. Glaian placed his hands on Archibald's shoulders and spoke an ancient chant. After a few minutes, he turned back to the cameras. "Brothers and sisters I present to you: Archibald Nagratek, the first in a new line that will reshape this country into a future free from oppression. Form pain. From Humans!" The crowd in front of him exploded with cheering.
"As I speak the retched humans plan to assault our shores. But fear not, my siblings in suffering, for I have found the source of their strength. It is an energy they seek to use against us, to retake our lands and drive us from our homes. That is why I, and all who wish to volunteer, shall journey into the wastes and kill this force at its source. Brothers and sisters, it is time that we kill the human's hopes. It is time that we kill their dreams."