"VICEROY! COME IN VICEROY!" the Commodore roared through my armour's comms system as I slowly got up. Having recovered enough to realise where I was. To acknowledge what had just happened...
"Get me... A transport, Commodore." I ordered him with a pain-filled voice as pieces of armour fell off of me. Broken shards of something that should've been nigh-indestructible. But, I suppose that was the issue. It was not indestructible!
There was a greater issue for us all, however. That mountain, it held a threat far greater than any silver bomb the humans had. All this poisoned gold was so insignificant in comparison... A vile and evil champion of the Great Poisoner was there!
Lightning that scoured and seared the world shut of all life. Imposing booms that crushed warships as if they were sticks! Damnation for all of my people should it decide to fight... Should my failure prove grand.
But I had a chance to make things right. I just needed to beseech the Holy of Holies. To request the greatest miracle that they could call upon! Though I was no great warrior, I had to admit, this armour doing most of the work for me...
I had the most experience here. Experience that I would not just be able to discuss with them. I was the one who had thought that creature. That inferno-loved beast!
"We got the Viceroy!" one of the soldiers called back as a transport blasted the ground before it flat. A firm, armoured hand then reached out for me as soldiers disembarked to help me up.
"Go! Go! Go!" one of them barked as I collapsed against a chair. More pieces of armour coming to a clattering stop as the drop shook them loose.
"He's stable." a doctor they had brought with them commented before one of the pilots made sure to notify the Commodore.
"Back off." I demanded from the doctor as I struggled to breathe. And, to my sadness, I tore off the damaged mask that I wore. Only to soon get a respirator shoved against my mouth. And while I could, I kept on looking back at that mountain with worry.
Worry that these men clearly shared as many were unnerved by the wreck we left behind. If they had anything to say, they professionally kept it to themselves. Something else was also made clear by the brief parting sight with that mountain. We were pulling back.
The Commodore was ready to abandon the other two airships... One having been destroyed by a sudden eruption of the earth. While the other suddenly exploded after something had pierced straight through it. And we could all still see that object out there.
A focal point for the foreboding storm that now lingered in this land. Strike after strike of lightning marked out where it was. Even if someone had survived either loss, they would not live in such horrid conditions. Regretful as it might've been, I could see why the choice was made.
But a new kind of fear was now filling me. If that thing ever left that mountain then our race was doomed. The humans had already launched a genocidal campaign against us that we returned with equal measure! But there was nothing that we had that could stand against that thing...
Warships had crumbled and our greatest relics proved to be nothing. Main batteries cut neither flesh nor stone. And although that thing screamed as I unleashed the Lord's power on it. It stayed intact and beat me back with no effort...
The sky had turned on me and beaten me back both times!
"The overland is not safe anymore... Commodore, get me a direct line to my family back in the capital!" I ordered as I suddenly lurched forward. The doctor tried to fight back but some power in the armour remained.
"Viceroy, you need to head to the medical bay!"
"DO AS YOU ARE ORDERED! THIS WAR JUST BECAME FAR MORE THAN WHAT IT ONCE WAS!" I roared with terrible fury. Scaring the troops near me with the last vestiges of my power while the Commodore shirked back slightly.
"Of course, Viceroy." he nodded after a brief moment of quiet.
"And you two, land us in the hanger closest to the bridge! I don't care if you have to ram another transport aside!" I angrily demanded as I forced myself to my feet. Stumbling out of the transport before it had even landed.
"S-Sir!?" one of my Life Guards let out as I stumbled into his arms. But I forced him back and stood on my own two feet. And I stomped the rest of the way despite my injuries. Struggling through the final door before I collapsed into the large chair at the centre of the room.
"W-Where's my line!?" I demanded to know with an angry slam of my fist. Spooking one of the officers as activity began to fill the place.
"Coming up now!" one declared as a screen came out from the ceiling. A hiss signified its stop and I took a moment to catch my breath.
"Big Brother!" my little sister let out happily as she played about with the communicator on her end.
"Liadanann, can you get Mother and Father, please?" I asked of my little sister who had no way of telling what was going on.
"You look tired..." she commented as one of her fingers went near her mouth. She then pulled out one of her play pretend toys and seemingly tried to apply it to me. So, for a moment, I briefly smiled, wishing I could hold her before I had to tell my family this.
"Liadanann, please, can you get them?" I reminded her. Knowing that her age made it easy for her to lose focus in moments like this.
"Okay." she told me before she hopped down from whatever chair she was on. Her little bowl of snacks came with her before she ran right into Father.
"Aneaur, what's wrong?" he asked just as Mother came by to help Liadanann clean up her mess.
"By the... By the power invested in me as the Viceroy of the Glenxe, I authorise all members of your household to partake in the Pit Slumber project. And with the greatest urgency do I order you to head there now!" I snap at him as my body trembled with fear.
"A-Aneaur... What is the meaning of this?" Father demanded to know. The severity of my words drew much attention to my wounds. And vice versa.
"Do as this viceroy commands!" I snap again as I force myself up despite the injuries covering my body.
"But that means we will never see you again!" Mother protested as Liadanann caught on somewhat.
"Where is Big Brother going?" she wanted to know as she became visibly upset.
"Nowhere, my little red beauty, he's going nowhere, right?" Mother told her before her stern gaze looked me directly in the eye.
"Goodbye, I will ensure that troops are dispatched to our household so that you do as you are ordered."
"W-WAI-" Father began to protest before the transmission was forcibly ended by my signal.
"I'll be in my quarters..." I breathed out lowly to the men about me as I slowly stripped myself of what was left of the armour. Awkwardly fumbling about as pain build up in my chest. My wounds hurt very much so, but my spirit ached more now. There was just so much I needed to...
"Viceroy, where to?" the Commodore asked me as he stopped running after me.
"Rarfaeron." I stated, my goals clear as they had ever been since seeing that abomination. One that would surely dominate my nightmares for years to come. A mass of lightning that spelt doom for my people... Apocalypse lay within that mountain.
Only briefly beaten back by me... But possibly awakened by me or by those humans as they ran. They, within their unholy mountain, beseeched their unholy god. And he answered with his terrible wrath.
His roars sounded about us and his venom dripped from the sky with scorching fury...
But none of that existed here within my quarters. And I just collapsed on my bed. A tremble filled my body as blood stained my bedsheets. I was scared, just like everyone else on this airship. But the duty fell on me alone to save our people.
Presumptuous and arrogant, maybe... But it had to be me. If it really was me that created this evil, or provoked it... Then it had to have be me that resolved it.
"I should've just let the Commodore fire!" I angrily let out as fury locked my body up. But there was nothing that I could achieve by thinking on my mistake. I had to go forth to Rarfaeron and beseech his Holiness. I needed to assemble the clergy and create a new weapon.
One that far surpassed even the great potency of my now shattered armour. A relic not exclusive to me, but powerful all the same. It was hard to conceive of it, personally. Something that strong would need so much blessing...
The Lord himself would have to walk among us to grant it!
Yet, it was clear that we would have to fill any price to ensure that the price was met! That damning power in that mountain could not be dealt with by half-measures. It had to be everything we had. Everything we could give.
All of it had to be mounted into our people's greatest work...
A masterwork of the physical crafting arts and faith. But what good would it be if I did not contribute myself? If I was to atone for this great sin that I have committed. It would have to be me that showed the greatest piety.
So I went before my personal shrine and I kneeled, "Dear, Lord-"