Queen's note: this turned out so much longer than I intended it to be, but couldn't find a good breaking point. Grandpa needed a lot of information to sort out why he's been kidnapped.
Garnets
Chapter Eighteen:
Lake Lilies
Really, he should have known better than to drop his guard.
That was one of the first coherent thoughts that Valen could put together and keep. The next was if it was worth dying to hit the Slayer back.
Then the small, half memories between them and now popped like a bubble in Valen's mind. Of small hands grasping his own. Of half waking in a stasis pod that made it hard to tell how long has passed. Of being carried into a place that smelled too clean. Of being able to breathe real air again.
He flexed his hands, definitely feeling his right and that odd staticy sensation in his left shoulder that let him know his prosthetic was removed. The joint felt cleaned and as Valen lifted his head to check, found himself lying in room he almost forgotten all about. The healer's chamber was oddly still though, just a few drones chittering to themselves from their docks. No healers, or their aids.
The man's chest and body on a whole felt lighter, the wounds that always lingered longer in hell were not just cleaned but stitched, bandaged and already almost healed. If not the shallower ones completely healed as he found once sitting up. Valan eased back a sticky bandage on his thigh, where there had been fang marks and lingering poison fighting his own healing abilities. Now just new scar tissue that had healed over.
"Please be careful of the monitor." A soft but surprisingly rich artificial voice spoke up. Speaking a bit formal Argenta, but still quite clear. Valen glanced around, then down to where a small device he recognized was stuck to his chest. It was a monitor, for making sure his heart was in the right rhythm likely after whatever that blasted Slayer did to him.
"Altan?" Valen asked to confirm, looking around and finding that there was no one else around still.
"Not exactly," the voice said, "I am not a combat artificial intelligence. My name is Vega, I keep the Fortress running while assisting the Slayer and miss Lily."
"Lily?" Valen asked, frowning as he thought first of the extinct silver lake lilies of his home world. Then remembered how the Slayer kept signing 'flower' or 'bloom.'
He remembered the feeling of smaller hands holding his own.
"Miss Lily is a human the Slayer saved when looking for supplies. The young lady has been quite helpful getting several systems in the Fortress running again." Vega explained, "How are you feeling Commander Valen?
"I'm no commander anymore," Valen said, swinging his legs off the bed. The man was wise enough to be careful with standing, grasping the edge of the medical bed and testing each limb and his balance. With a (forced) chance to actually rest, and not being in any of the supporting armor. He was well aware of all the aches and pains on his body. Where stiff scarring pulled, and muscles were just hurting.
He reached up, tenderly feeling the new bruised area on the back of his neck. Valan was pretty sure the hit there was only to stun, not kill. Whatever the Slayer had done was both the thing to knock him out and… Let Valen survive out of hell?
"You are still someone the Slayer trusts. Even if he…" Vega started and then even the Altan like intelligence had to stop for a telling moment, "...not the best. Not Good at all with expressing emotion. I believe he spent a lot of time searching for you Commander Valen, because you are the only one he trusts."
Valen sighed deeper than he intended, leaning back on the bed as he reached up, feeling around the monitor device. Pulling it off to read what was on the small display before attaching it back, might as well use it. That's when he noticed he was not dressed in much. Not even the undersuit, but at least important parts were covered by something. Short leggings? Was it a human dress?
"I'm assuming he has my armor?"
"Yes sir, your assumption is correct." Vega was happy to supply.
"And my arm?" Valan asked dryly, annoyed that the prosthetic was missing, but also impressed that the exposed cybernetic joint had been properly cleaned out. Even where flesh and metal met was not irritated and inflamed, suggesting he had to be out for at least a few days. Considering the stasis pod and its boosters for healing… two or four days?
"Unfortunately I was forbidden from mentioning anything about it." Vega said, he paused and proved to have his own self awareness to Valen by adding, "But, I will say that it has been properly cleaned and maintained."
"Bloody bastard king." Valen muttered as he stood up. Walking around to make sure he was not drowsy from the drug after effects. "No respect for his elders, holding my own arm as his hostage."
"I do apologize for the circumstances." Vega said, watching and after the Argenta man paused he added, "There are some clothes for you to the right. It came from stores so I can not tell if it has dry-rotted. Miss Lily said they seemed pretty sturdy."
Valen turned in the direction, walking over to inspect the neatly folded fabric. It was mostly pale gray with the hems in blue on both the leggings and the open wrap shirt. They were a little big, if only he did not have his left shoulder to fill the shirt out. The leggings were easy to step into and pull a string to keep it on his hips. Valen did not bother to tie the open shirt for now, as he scanned for anything to cover his feet, but there was none. Nor anything to keep him here.
"What happened to my Altan?" Valen asked as he walked to the doors leading out. If this was a Fortress… the bridge should not be too far from where he was.
"The Slayer has moved its life crystal to the one incorporated into the Fortress." Vega explained, seemed almost bemused. "They are quite the character, and have taught me quite a few things about the defense systems."
That was oddly comforting.
Valen reached down, reflexively checking his lower back where the sling had been holding the soul gems of his wolves. He almost called them to find them, but considering who had dragged him to this Fortress. "Vega? Where are the gems I had here?"
"The soul gems of your Sentinel Wolves were taken by the Slayer after decontamination." Vega answered promptly, "I am not sure how but he fixed the fissures in them. He gave them to miss Lily to hold until you woke up."
Fixed the cracks?
How in the Hell realm did that war king do that?
Valen stopped in the hall, rubbing the spot above the bridge of his nose. "Is my bloody lord here?"
"The Slayer is currently getting supplies on earth." Vega reported, as there were no orders to not do so. "If you would like the soul gems back, I am sure miss Lily will be happy to return them. She is working on a seized relay to get it fixed before the next battery is found."
"Yes, I want Kia' and Da'k." Valen nodded firmly, and wondered how the spectral wolves were acting after being separated from him for the first time since… well, since they were alive. Not that he was too far away.
"Take a right, you will find her in the main hall leading to the lower levels." Vega directed, it would take only a few minutes to realize there was another voice. Breaking the stillness of the nearly empty Fortress.
There was music coming from the hallway, making Valen pause as he listened. It was not anything he knew, not even the few times he had heard the harsher 'music' the Slayer liked. It was not soft but what he could recognize as a good working beat. Then he saw the almost transparent, nearly unseen outlines of his wolves laying down at the edge of a hole in the floor. Several panels of the floor had been removed and the wolves were looking down at who was inside with pricked ears.
Likely only because he was who they were loyal to, that he could see them right now. Valen was sure no one else could see them, thus why there was no reaction from who was working.
"Bloody seized piece of shite!" a female voice yelled from inside the normally hidden workings of the Fortress. Quickly followed by the sound of a tool hitting metal.
"I do not think that will help," Vega noted.
"Yes it will," The young voice yelled, having an odd accident much like the Slayer used to. She was still understandable despite being frustrated as she popped up with a flash of purple, not seeing the spectral wolves as she grabbed a large, coated hammer between them. "It's called concussive maintenance Vega! If this doesn't work then John is going to do this instead of me."
She adjusted the spots to stand on, the wolves wagging tails as they watched the small human.
Valen was impressed at the form from a civilian youngling as she swung the hammer down into the hole to hit whatever was causing her grief. He tensed, but it was reasonable that there was no energy activity flowing now. Vega had mentioned something seized, and he could see parts of to the side that would need the energy. Three hits that were surprisingly well controlled before something cracked then popped free.
"Hah!" The young one yelled in victory, dropping the hammer to stoop and throw out the corroded part before leaning heavily on the side of the opening. She fumbled for the mask hanging loose around her neck and held it against her face while gasping for air. Not really aware of how Kia' leaned forward to press her nose against the human.
That was odd, the lean form Valen could see was fit for someone so young. Why did that burst of activity seem like it took a great effort?
"You should rest, miss Lily," Vega said as the girl was in a coughing fit now. "You have a guest."
"What?" For the first time the human looked up away from what she was working on. Blinking at Valen from the floor level. In the floor really. Still holding the mask instead of strapping it, there was a soft, short hiss of something dispensing in the mask. After a few moments she could breath normally, still catching her breath as the two stared at each other.
Lily looked around, back up at the imposing, scarred man that was leaning against the corner wall that connected to another hall. Down at what she had just done, then the small chaos of an active work area. Some human and Argenta tools, parts and an old familiar book. After a moment she shrugged, lowering the mask, "Hi? Pardon the mess."
"'Concussive maintenance'?" Valen echoed the new phrase from before.
He got a flat look back almost at once, "Does it look like I have the muscle mass of a walking tank like you and John, the Slayer?"
Valen eyed the slight frame, and had to agree there was not nearly that much strength in her. His expression must have shown his agreement.
"So yes, concussive maintenance is needed with a force enhancer." Lily motioned at the hammer set aside.
Valan found himself laughing for the first time at that. The Argenta man came over, kneeling down beside the open floor panels to look inside. Finding that there was no damage but things were neatly organized in the space. There was a bucket half filled with build up, and several replacement parts were up out of the way on the floor.
"John… is that the new name the Slayer is going by now?" Valan asked, as he was studied back by the girl. She was dressed in form fitting leggings and a good pair of boots. Her shirt was purple and sleeveless, and she had on a tool belt that wrapped around her waist as well as had two longer pockets that attached to her thighs.
Lily shrugged, "I guess, that's what he said I can call him. I'm Lily by the way, good to see you upright. For what it's worth, sorry you got kidnapped."
She offered a hand in a similar way that the Slayer had ages ago.
"My name is Valen," the man said, though sure she knew, bemused as he carefully took the smaller hand in his own. Letting her shake it twice before letting it go, as he realized the odd gesture from the Slayer before was likely a polite greeting back when. "The Altan-like one, Vega, he said you have the soul gems for my wolves."
"Oh, right," Lily glanced down, confirming to Valen that she was unaware of the ghostly wolves. She was reaching into the tool pouch on her left leg, pulling out two bundles of brightly colored fabric where it had been safely stashed. It was offered up willingly, no hesitation or greed. "John told me to take care of these, that they were yours… I think he was trying to say 'sentimental?' He kept signing 'treasures' instead and got frustrated."
"They are both." Valen admitted as he shifted to sit down, taking the bundles as the faint images of the wolves started to bound around him. Unwrapping first the gem of Da'k and then Kia' both were a much healthier, deeper in color and there really were no longer stress cracks webbing through the disk like gems. The former blue and the later teal like their eyes had been in life. "These hold the souls of my and my late wife's wolves."
"Oh," Lily breathed, glad she had wrapped them each on their own. Almost unconsciously she reached up to the thick gold chain that held three rings still.
"Do you know about Sentinel wolves?' Valen asked, glancing over and down at the girl. A part of him aware she was likely not as young as she seemed to him, but he was once and still was a father.
Lily pulled herself up out of the hole, turning to sit on the edge, kicking her legs in the open air. Out of the shadows the massive amount of still healing bruising was visible on her arms. Not just being darker or tan pigmentation. Valen frowned a moment seeing two of the bruising patterns around her right elbow and bicep looked to be hand shaped. "I haven't sorry. I'm sort of learning as I go about just the Argenta tech, nothing about culture, flora or fauna. Oh don't mind the arm, it's healing and. Well, it's worth it to be saved from where I was."
Lily added as she grinned up at Valen.
"Was it the Slayer?" Valen asked, giving the marks a judging look. The hands prints were from behind and the side?
"Yes and no," Lily looked down, touching her shoulder, "This is from when he grabbed me from falling, it dislocated my shoulder and he had to put it back in. This here at the elbow…that was my dad. He saved despite… everything."
The humans' world was currently under the first stages of Hell's invasion.
Valan suddenly remembered the Slayer signing, saying, how the Gorgon heart was once human. A 'brother in arms' like he had been. He looked up to meet the hazel eyes of the human as a few more bits fit into place. How the war king said he needed Valen to protect a flower or bloom. The girl before him was named after the lake lilies. How the wolves lingered as if being told to.
The once commander was no dull blade, it did not take him long to know what his old king wanted. The reality of the situation was both a crushing weight and cruel fate that his own self penance and punishment did not compare.
…it was very much a bittersweet fate.
Valen was not a demigod, but he was no longer mortal like the human beside him either. Here he was, given a second chance with a child, and Valen would likely outlive her by another age.
"...you need a moment?" Lily asked, watching him with that intensity younger beings had.
Valen shook his head, running his fingers over the soul gems to help ground himself. Clearly lying as he spoke, "No, I'm fine young one. May I ask what happened? To your father? I am aware your world has been invaded as well, but not much else."
As well?
Lily tilted her head, catching that at once. She set that aside for now. Pulling on her gold chain and her fingers found the largest, titanium shine ring. "From what point?"
"Tell me from the start?" Valen asked, information was power but also knowing he was likely supposed to hear his new charge's story. "What happened when the invasion started?"
Lily winced, lifting the mask to take a breath. This time Valen was sure he heard something. "Well, it was several months ago. From what I understand the bigger portals opened near the biggest cities and developed areas. High population areas. It was a mass extinction event, I think mom and the others estimated two thirds of the planet's population died in a month. If not a week."
"You're people weren't prepared?" Valen asked, it sounded all too familiar.
"How can you prepare for an apocalyptic event on a global scale?" Lily asked back with a raised eyebrow.
Valen tilted his head towards the human, understanding that.
"If anyone was aware I don't think they tried." Lily snorted, and then considered something. "I mean there were rumors of something catastrophic happening on Mars almost a year ago? But I didn't hear much about it over the news reports. My family was isolated on a sea platform with others, but we had access to information.."
"Isolated?" Valen echoed, did humans banish full clans or…?
"Yeah, they were safe places for marine biologists to study sea life." Lily perked up, remembering the nicer times. "Mom was a biologist, studying isopods. She was actually studying lobster migration. Dad was a retired veteran, he was in charge of security for the four local platforms. I was…am? An apprentice mechanic."
Lily lifted one of the tools beside the notebook to her right.
"Always had a knack for it. But submarines and platform equipment is a bit different than a space fortress."
Valen gave an amused snort, but did not interrupt.
"We were on the mainland to get the bi-monthly supplies when it happened." Lily pointed down the hall to one of the visible windows. Valen looked and then looked surprised, seeing part of the world in question, it looked like a burning ember. "You can see the side of Canada where we were. Not fully sure what happened but I think we just had the far edge of an attack. There was a pulse of something, like a sound wave but not, and a lot of people dropped. Or change into those possessed shamblers. The air started to change and I was exposed to it. Dad had a mask though and got me back in the boat."
"That is why you need the mask?" Valen asked, eyeing the thing in question.
"Yeah," Lily lifted it to show the inside, "There's a medication dispenser Vega designed inside. One of the doctors on the platform came up with the medicine. To help people breathe that have been exposed to the toxic gasses the demons produced. We're trying to find the surviving colony, see if they can use it too."
"That's a generous goal." Valen noted, giving a small smile, the scarring on his face pulling it a bit crooked. A small part of him wondered if it could work on Argenta as well.
"That's what Dr. Mecormit wanted to do." Lily considered, sniffed and smiled back. "And it's the right thing to do. Anyways, still want to hear the story of sad?"
"Yes," Valen nodded, "You were saved by the Slayer?"
"Not at that time, it was a few months after everyone had died. Or, um, changed." Lily pulled on her fingers for a moment, then firmly spread her hands to stop. She reached for the thick gold chain, and the rings on it. "Something happened, almost like an infection. People on the Platform started to drop, then changed. Dad could barely get them outside before they turned hyper aggressive."
"Possesed?" the Argenta man guessed, taking a look at the rings. Noticing how one was a pretty paler gold with a blue gem embedded in it.
"Yes, and slightly no?" Lily frowned, not convinced now as she was learning about the different types of demons from Vega. "After my mom started to change, she locked herself in the lower levels, they started to get these crystal-like growths."
Valen sat up out of the half slouch he was in, suddenly fully aware and paying attention. "Crystal growths? What did they look like?"
The smaller human tilted her head at him, mildly startled at the first interruption. "Like seaglass. Ah, frosted crystals, started with green shades, after my mom changed, and attacked dad, his whole left arm was altered and encrusted in the stuff. After he changed, blue started to show up. That was… a little over two, almost three months before John showed up. "
"You were alone at that time?" Valen turned. The soul gems wrapped again and set inside a pocket in the leggings so not to fall off as he turned to fully face the young woman. He was frowning in worry.
"I had Riggs, the platform's AI assistant. And my animals." Lilly shrugged, "For a while I had dad before he changed to."
"You were alone, with a young gorgon, for all that time." Valen wondered, studying the human, "You don't seem to be charmed."
"...gorgon?" Lily frowned at the name, was that not what the old medusa stories-
"Did either of your late parents alter into a serpent like body?" Valen asked, and seeing the girl pale a bit he nodded, "Who was it?"
"...mom." Lily admitted, "She was massive when I saw her last. With that crystal growth on her chest and back. Dad had it on his shoulders, maybe under his armor."
"I'm sorry, young one." Valen said lowly, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh, "It sounds like they were both gorgons."
"My dad never changed like mom did though," Lily pointed out, "He wasn't all there but seemed a lot more aware than anything else."
"Did either or both of them sing?" Valen asked, the surprised quiet was his answer as the man nodded. "Even if he didn't change, that crystal growth is only related to gorgons, they're a high level of demon once reborn in Hell."
"Reborn?" Lily wondered softly, frowning. Then sat up and looked alarmed, then glanced up, "Vega? You said you couldn't find what mom turned into anywhere?"
"That is correct, I was not able to find her distinct energy or biomass in the scan range." Vega answered promptly, and Lily looked back at Valen.
"I know John, the Slayer, he won't say how but he made sure my dad wouldn't suffer anymore." Lily spoke, and then asked, "How are… gorgons, reborn in hell?"
Smart girl. The once commander thought. He ran a hand over his head, scratching at an old scar, "I'm not privileged to know the exact process. But I do know a new gorgon hatched from the walls of the Howling Canyons not long ago. She, the echos I could hear sounded female. She was very angry and likely eating lesser demons for some time."
"That may be what's left of Dr. Hawkins." Vega spoke, "But I can not confirm with the current levels of power."
"You would need a celestial locator," Valen pointed out, "It can track creatures and beings with high or extreme concentrations of Argent or other energies."
"I am not finding a celestial locator in the Fortress." Vega sounded mildly annoyed, or miffed, that this new tool was not in the inventory.
"You likely would not find one in an older Fortress." Valen shook his head, "An unguarded one would be back on Argent D'Nur, in one of the fallen Sentinel Keeps."
"Well then." Lilly chewed her lip, taking several deeper, calming breaths. "That seems like something I can't help much with. This relay on the other hand, this I can do."
"Mentioning hand…do you know where the Slayer took my arm?"
"Erm, sorry. No idea where he hid it. I was trying to stitch your leg at the time he did it." Lily looked guilty that she had not found that out. "He's kinda rude like that."
"That he is." Valen agreed with the understatement. Looking down at the work so far done. "You've done pretty well here though."
"Thanks." Lily smiled, glad of the change of topic. "Concussive maintenance aside, this is really fun learning as I go."
"It's been some time since I was on a Fortress, but this is similar to the relays on the Altans. I can help to a point with one arm." Valen offered, despite himself smiling again as the girl brightened at that. As if she had been waiting for it but not sure how to ask.