Chapter 115 The Aftershock
The ascent was not a flight; it was a violent ejection.
The Hell-Diver screamed as it rode the thermal updraft of the collapsing cavern. We were stuck in a metal bullet while a torrent of rocks and magma descended upon us. The G-force pinned me to the navigator's seat, crushing the air from my lungs.
Vane screamed through the sounds of the hull banging against the tunnel walls "Shields are failing!" The enemy was stripping away our defense through armor loss.
Ryker shouted "Hold it together!" while he held Sato's chair. Sato, aim for the fissure! Don't let us hit the walls!
Sato yelled "I’m trying!" while her hands moved rapidly across the controls. The aerodynamics are gone! We're just a falling brick falling up!
BOOM.
A massive object struck the side of the ship. The entire vessel spun. A strobe light of red and orange illumination filled the cockpit.
Vane yelled "We're breaching!" The surface will become reachable in ten seconds! Nine... Eight...
I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping the armrests. The ring continued to pulse yet it presented an altered sensation now. The connection to the Queen’s mind was severed, leaving behind a raw, jagged silence in my head.
Three... Two...One...
CRASH.
The Hell-Diver emerged from the earth in an explosion.
We didn't land gracefully. We smashed through the crust of the Deadlands, launching into the freezing air before crashing down onto a glacier. The ship rolled—once, twice, three times—metal screeching against ice, before slamming into a snowbank and coming to a shuddering halt.
The area had become completely quiet.
The building stood silent until the building began to make sounds with its hydraulics and the metal parts began to make sounds of movement.
Ryker asked "Report" while he struggled to breathe.
Vane coughed "Alive." in response. "Somehow."
Ryker asked "Baron?"
Wolf Alpha grunted from the floor "Bruised." where he had been thrown. "But angry."
Elara?
I whispered "I’m here" as I unbuckled my harness. My hands were shaking.
Sato opened the cockpit hatch by blowing the explosive bolts on the door. The heavy door fell away into the snow.
Cold, fresh air rushed in. The air carried the odor of ozone and burning ozone instead of victory.
We emerged from the destroyed area.
We stood on a ridge overlooking the valley where the Black Site had been.
"Look" Ryker said.
I looked down.
I expected to see green grass. The Rot should have transformed into mist which would have healed the world.
My expectations turned out to be incorrect.
The Rot hadn't disappeared. It had crystallized.
The valley below wasn't a lush garden. It was a forest of jagged, black glass. The trees and moss and ground transformed into brittle obsidian shards. The violet light was gone, replaced by a dull, grey fog that hung low over the landscape.
Sato used her scanner to detect"The signal... Sato whispered. "It worked... but it was too fast. The biological matter couldn't revert to normal tissue. It calcified.
Baron asked "It’s dead, though? when he kicked a piece of black crystal. "It’s not moving.
Sato explained to her that "The central consciousness is gone." while she examined the data streams. The 'Queen' signal is silent. But...
She frown while tapping the screen.
Ryker stepped closer with his body tense and asked "But what?"
Sato explained "The network didn't shut down." and the system broke into multiple parts.
She pointed to the distance.
On the horizon, miles away, a pillar of black smoke was rising. The smoke revealed violet lightning that flashed within it.
Sato explained that "The Hive Mind held the Rot together." while she began to panic. The Rot was kept under control through hunger management. "Without the Queen... the Rot has gone feral.
Vane asked "Feral?about the topic.
Ryker looked at the jagged landscape and realized "It’s not one army anymore." The area now contains countless separate cancers. Every infected creature and every node and every cluster have gained independence.
Baron added "And they're all hungry." The wind carried their scent to me. Their hunting behavior has changed from marching in step to searching for prey.
The blue stone in my ring was dim with a crack that extended through its center.
I whispered "I didn't kill it." The only thing I did was break the leash.
Ryker turned to us. The relief had disappeared from his face and now he looked at the battlefield with the cold, hard demeanor of a General.
Ryker stated "We bought the Spire time." The siege has ended yet the war continues.
He surveyed the Deadlands which had become a chaotic wasteland full of glass shards and monstrous creatures.
"The war just got a lot messier" Ryker stated at the end of his sentence.
A mechanical roar could be heard from the south of us.
The Beast.
We had left it miles away but it was coming toward us. It still functioned as well as it did when it was damaged.
Ryker said "We need to get back to the city." The Titan has broken all control because he has become feral. We fear that he will begin to destroy everything.
The deadly situation would require the city factions to stop fighting at once. The fear will vanish after the immediate threat finishes. The fear will vanish when people stop believing.
"The politics come back" Ryker finished. Jaxon won't be able to hold the Wolves and the Humans together if they think the war is over.'
He sheathed his sword.
"Let's go" Ryker said. "We have a kingdom to keep from tearing itself apart."
I turned to look back at the destroyed valley one last time.
The sun appeared in the east of the mountain. The sun presented a white, watery glow which penetrated the grey clouds. The sunrise did not represent a moment of triumph. The weather remained chilly.
Something moved deep in the field of black crystals which lay far away.
A large humanoid shape pulled itself free from the hardened glass. It had removed the glass shards. The being did not resemble a drone. The being appeared to be armored and intelligent.
The creature watched as we departed.
The being turned away from us before proceeding to walk into the wastes.
I said softly to Ryker "I think we just made things worse."
Ryker opened the door of the Beast and helped me inside.
"We made them different," Ryker said. "And we're still breathing. That’s a start."
The engine roared to life. We turned the tank around and headed South, back toward the Spire. Back to a city that thought it was saved but was really just waiting for the next storm.
The Queen was dead. Long live the Warlords.