Chapter XXI: The First Rule

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Another bit of worldbuilding here, tying in one of the big mysteries of Shadowrun Lore. I think that this has been retconned/abandoned in current versions, but it was a big question in previous editions.

The 'end of story' talk is at the end of the chapter.

This is a two part update, and this is the second chapter of the two. Check back one if you missed it.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

"This is it." Nathan said. It was the first thing he'd said since leaving his dad, staying utterly silent as we walked deeper and deeper into the earth. We stepped forward into a long corridor - actually carved, not just hewn or naturally developed. The floor was intricate, whirls and whorls of lines splitting and combining into shapes that always seemed just on the border of being something before another line came in to break it up.

The walls were once again adorned with murals. Different style though, and a different signature. The titles were in what looked like printed font. Old typesetting style printers.

The first was a divided scene - I think they called it a tryptych. The central scene was colours swirling around a planet - I would've assumed Earth, but the continents looked wrong. Perhaps an older Earth, or a metaphorical representation?

The left panel had the colours looming like peacocks before human-like silhouettes. Were they trying to impress us?

The right, had colours taking flight and fleeing the Earth, fire and anger chasing them away. If they were, it clearly hadn't worked for long. I snorted. A lofty dream. A world without dragons?

The title was 'Sanctioned'. We'd approved them leaving? Were those weapons, or celebrations? Or were they fleeing from our sanctions? Another mystery from this damn art. And though the style had changed, the quality had not. The strokes were striking, the colours commanding. More masterpieces.

The next was eye-watering to look at. Another tryptych, burned across the middle. At the left, the colours collided into something, swirled into a half-burned sea of pure white that shattered as the image moved into the right and split back into the multi-colours. Dragons had found a place, after Earth, and joined it. Become a part of it. And then destroyed it, and separated out again?

But that wasn't what tore at my mind and made my eyes water. What was eyewatering was the streaks of not-colour spreading from the shattered image, behind but definitely in pursuit of the Dragons.

The next had them returning to a new world, continents changed again, and trying the impressive colours thing again. Only this time, apparently, it worked. And the Earth became a spiral of patterns, again and again, until the not-colours leaked in and jolted the repetition, just a little. But the colours of the pattern took the new not-colours into itself, mixing them all together and the beginning the repetition all over again. The next images were all the pattern, slight variations but overall the same. In the background, colours rose and fell, rose and fell, rose-

The image ended.

The next image was scarred, dragon claws through the centre of it. What parts were left showed the pattern degrading. The colours and not-colours were permanently changed, tethered by history to the rock that was Earth, but separated off back into the black and white.

I-… this would be something I'd be thinking about for a while.

And then we reached the end of the corridor, and the final door. It had been a hell of a journey, but we were here. Nathan stayed silent, but gestured to us. Chloe and I stepped forward and gave the door a shove.

The cavern was massive, dominated by alien-looking technology. Banks of computers and panels that aligned to a huge… thing in the centre, adorned with draconic data-crystals. The metal twisted and turned and bent in to the central dais, barbed lines of orange through- Oh. That was orichalcum. Actual, genuine orichalcum. This room was the most expensive thing I'd ever seen.

Nathan suddenly hurried over to the central dais, calling me over. He pointed out various keys on the dais and demanded I push them. For a moment, I was tempted to- but this was the plan. "Shouldn't we work out-"

"No. I know how it works. This is what got me killed. Do what I say and we'll all be wealthy, wealthy people. And Lofwyr will fall."

I sighed. "Fine."

"Great." He responded, getting more and more animated with every action. "Now, we need to upload me. Plug your jack into the slot there," I did so and felt his presence fade out of me. After a minute, the sound of stretching bones came from the machine. It took a moment, but then it whirred. The orichalcum spun like liquid flowing through the frames, and slowly the dais rose to reveal new consoles. Though in place of a traditional keyboard or deck interface, this had almost carved runes. In the middle, was a small, circular space. In a moment where he wasn't looking, I dropped the device in a shadowed spot.

Then Nathan flickered into being, something in this machine giving him the projection power my augmentations usually did. "Now. The Ring. Put it there."

I did, after a slight hesitation, and the ring began to glow. Then the runes around it glowed, and Nathan instructed me in which order to tap them. I did so, and then in the centre of the dais, Nathan's form appeared. Not as he is, but as he was. This one was a recorded message.

He rubbed the back of his neck, and smiled. It sat awkwardly on his face, and it took a moment for me to work out why.

It was honest.

"Uh, hey Tori. If you're hearing this, I'm probably dead." He laughed, "In fact, I really, really fucking hope I am, 'cause I just did something seriously dumb, and if I survived, either you're gonna kill me, or the dragon I just robbed is. Yeah, yeah. I know the rule. Don't fuck with the wyrms. Stupidest fucking thing I ever did. But I had to. I got into some trouble, found some things out about my old man. Bad things. Things that could take him, his entire fucking corporation, and every last Dragon on this filthy, stinking planet down for good if anyone found out. I couldn't keep working for him, knowing what I knew, so I had to try and get it out there. If it'd worked, we'd've been set for life, Vic. I could've given you the world, just like you deserved. But I failed. Just like I always did, huh? I did so many stupid things and fucked up so many times throughout my life. Marrying you was the only smart thing I ever did and I'm so fucking sorry for everything that happened. Sorry that I couldn't be what you deserved. Yours always, Nate."

The message faded out, and we all stood there in apparent shock. I wasn't sure what I was feeling, honestly. We'd been so toxic when we were together - that message was the most open and nice thing I'd ever heard from him. "Prescott!" Chloe shouted. "What the fuck? You promised us a haul, you promised us fucking retirement money!"

We all glared at Nathan. He looked as shocked as we did. "I don't know what that was. I- that wasn't supposed to be-"

Suddenly, the machine flashed, and he vanished.

Without thinking, we all rushed to the machine, all talking at once, trying buttons, panels, whatever we could to bring it back online, to find what we were owed, what we'd been promised.

I was the one to step back first. I stared at the machine for a moment, then remembered. "We should go."

They didn't go easy, but go they did. There was nothing any of us could do. This was the plan. Not that they knew that, yet.

—

"Awww, fuck." Nathan flickered back into being, long after we'd gone. "How was that worse than they said?"

He stumbled back to the machine, somehow plugging into it. In the space where his message had played, a planet appeared, hung in space. The red planet. It zoomed in, more and more, revealing pyramids, ruins, and a skeletal dragon. Nathan snorted, muttered under his breath, "Bastard thing. Wyrm's'll fuckin' pay for what they did. Humanity deserves better, and they'll all fuckin' owe me for this one."

The image changed into a slow symbol, saving the file. Then he tapped more of the old runes and the entire machine began to whirr. The channels of orichalcum began streaming blood, pouring more and more of it into the central dais. Nathan watched in silence as it slowly built a body - it looked a little like him, but more like a cousin than a twin. Then something snaked out of the machine and plugged into the back of the body's neck, and Nathan vanished.

The body's eyes opened, and Nathan smiled. He stood up, tore the cable from the back of his neck, hopped down off the dais, and walked out of the camera's view.

—

Nathan stood and paced in front of the datapoint. His auction was supposed to have started fifteen minutes ago, he had no idea what had gone wrong. The black market and unofficial agents hadn't turned up and- He looked up as a knock came from the door. One of his assistants opened the door and invited several of his guests in.

Slowly but surely, everyone he expected turned up and he turned back to the datapoint. "Thank you for coming. I promise you, this will be worth your time. How would you like to buy the information that'll take down the dragons?"

As a sussuration of discontent shimmered through the audience, he noticed a knock, sharp at the door. His face fell as I walked in, it was a joy to see. Bastard. His face went white when he saw who walked after me. The golden hair and shiny, threatening grin was a big giveaway. I'd seen those sharp teeth smile at me, too. Unnerving was too mild a word.

I lead my guest down to the back row, where we took our seats. I gave him an expectant look, and Nathan gulped as Lofwyr and I smiled at him, and the auction began.

Needless to say, we won, and Nathan lost. Big time. That last secret, the one he wouldn't have ever shown any of us, was ours now.

I started work with Lofwyr soon after. He offered me my company back, and I took it. With some conditions. I split myself, between the Company and the Shadows. Brought in a lot more assistance - I had a whole group of people sharing and supporting my CEO duties now.

Max once asked me if it was all worth it. All the sleepless nights, the death, the deceit, the stress, the life in the shadows. Chloe, Max, Rachel, and I made a good team. Lots of successful missions. And the Dragons told me far more, once they were assured of my quality. I found quite a niche, helping them out. What Nathan found was just the beginning. I understood why they wanted it secret. That knowledge was worth a lot. And my networks, my ideas, went surprisingly well with it.

In all honesty, I didn't know if it was worth it. But it felt right. For me, for now, that was enough.

—

AN1 - And that's another story down! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this weird exploration into the Shadowrun world. Left it open for the possibility of other stories in this fusion, as is my wont.