After Barda woke up after his not-so-brilliant idea of swallowing a wyvern's essence, he had immediately remembered everything that had happened as though it was him doing it. The AI could not risk interruption as it was in a high-risk state, therefore it had suspended the Personality Matrix Module from starting up.
Barda had been shocked to learn that he was a Personality Matrix Module. In a nutshell, what this meant was that he was not the whole body, just the guy behind the wheel. That meant every time the AI referred to 'The Host', it wasn't talking about him per se, but about the whole being. All this time he thought he could lord over the AI, suddenly he felt he was just a part of the entire whole. Talk about a chill pill.
It had taken the entire walk for him to process all this. He felt as though the Personality Matrix was his soul. If you think about it, are you just your soul or the entire being. If you switched off your soul, would whatever that remained still be you?
Barda remembered how he had acted with utter precision. Every strike with his fists and kicks that had been powered up by the newly obtained power of fire made him out to be like an angel of death, mercilessly reaping lives on the battlefield. With every hit, he would take a life, and sometimes killing 2 or 3 at a time.
He could understand how, from an amoral standpoint, what he had done was impressive. Humans were never built to be amoral, and with morality in play, things took a turn. He could justify killing to protect himself, but that was not what happened.
The AI had one objective:
[Terminate all threats with extreme prejudice.]
It had done just that, with one exception. She was more torn apart by the fact that she had lived, wishing she too had suffered a quick death. Thinking about this, he remembered that he had yet to question the prisoner he got that day. He added to the pile of things he had yet to find time for. He began to appreciate the work in logistics. Previously, he was always in operations as an agent. Now in logistics, there was a pile of work needed to get done.
***
As Lady Arnea walked over to where the blacksmiths were, she noticed her host seemed a bit distracted. Every day, early in the morning, Batoo had instituted a form of tradition by having every craftsman under Steel Street come together for a morning meal.
It had been a big hit and Barda approved of it. He never had time for such things before. What he didn't know was that the idea had not been Batoo's either, but Zoey's. After he had told her how they had come together for a meal the morning after day they got to Tristan, she was inspired by that.
Batoo, being a gentleman, worked hard to make the girl's suggestion into reality. It was all in a bid to impress her by showing his reach. People gave him face because he was Barda's right-hand man, so he got this organized right quick. Now even Barda would show up.
As he ate, Barda was in deep thought. Many wondered what cool ideas were swimming in his mind when they saw that look in his eyes. Everyone already acknowledged him to be a genius both in combat and in the forging and alchemy rooms. Seeing his look of seriousness, they guessed something big was going to be birthed. How could they have guessed that the emotion bugging Barda was so commonplace that even Barda himself had not figured it out?
Earlier that night, Barda had been relaxing in the Queen's chambers, when his AI, reliable as ever, sent a vital notification.
[Important Document scanned.]
Upon reading it, Barda was dumb-struck with shock. He had to read it several times to confirm that the writing on it was authentic.
The document in question was a scroll that was well concealed underneath the Queen's bed, and only she could have put it there. It was so well hidden that he would never have seen it, not in a million years. Of course, his AI scans were unrestricted and could see even beyond objects, hence the scan.
It was a love note, pure and simple. From the message, it sounded like a man who was writing to a woman he deeply venerated. The reason why this was giving Barda consternation was that he had no idea of its origins. It had been read, indicating the message had gotten to the intended reader. Which led to him wondering, why would she keep it, much less conceal it?
Barda wondered what it might mean. On one hand, he could be overthinking things. Could be this had nothing to do with her, a servant-girl lodged it there to hide a note she'd received from her lover. Or it could be someone writing to the Queen indicating his affection to her. Barda dismissed the writer to be just a nobody since the Queen would have done any other thing but conceal it.
Barda felt like a housewife who just discovered a text on her husband's phone. He chuckled at the thought. Who knew he would still experience jealousy even after he became a machine? He put off the matter and continued to eat, thinking up ways to defeat 200,000 enemies.
[Facial Recognition found a match.]
***
"My Lord, this is Lady Arnea, sent by the Queen." The soldier began.
"Yea, what for?" Barda was a little curt, but who could blame him.
"My Lord, I am an enchantress," Having taken the initiative to speak for herself, Barda had a good look at her. That notification had brought back some unwanted memories. However, this lady was something he had missed.
She had only been there for only a brief moment but she was unmistakable. He also remembered another one, but more masculine. Suddenly, everything was pushed to the back, she was his priority. In his mind, her arrival at such a time could not be good news.
"What is an enchantress?"
"I can infuse weapons with magical properties," Keeping up with the act, Barda raised one eyebrow assuming the normal reaction was disbelief. However, on looking around, he noticed most people were looking at her with veneration. Could she be a real mage? Barda wondered if such kind existed in this world.
In the galaxies, there were quite some magical beings, but hardly were humans considered magical. There would be some mages among humans, but they were extremely rare and very prominent. Most that claimed to be mages had been nothing but frauds or entertainers, and most didn't even believe in existence of magic. Still, as a galactic spy, he was no ordinary person, and he had met a few mages in his time.
"What's your name?"
"I am Lady Arnea of White River Valley," Barda picked up the inflection and emphasis on the word 'Lady'.
"Alright My Lady, join us for breakfast," Barda said as his expression got warmer. Time to put on his counter-intelligence boots, it had been a while.
***
As the Queen sat by her dresser watching the note getting consumed by flames, she had no idea the storm that it had brought. She did know that it was not the kind of document she could leave around for others to discover. She'd been interrupted by him previously and didn't get a chance to destroy the note, now she had.
Rising from her seat, she cast her eyes into the fast greying horizon wondering what secrets it held. Sometime during the day, she had received confirmation that they were surrounded, but the enemy had yet to show themselves. The 200,000-man legion had arrived and laid them under siege. It was only a matter of time before the first crash.
Already, 3 of the 20 patrols she had sent out did not return. Furthermore, no more message-carrying ravens and pigeons were coming in as they were being shot down. The spies posted to watch the enemy had returned a while ago carrying a dangerous message. The enemies seemed to be moving closer. They were itching for a fight.
That's when she heard it. A blast of a horn from deep in the forest surrounding the city. Shortly after, she watched as a force began to emerge from the treeline, armed to the tooth. Moreover, they were rolling heavy war weapons and war machines including trebuchets, battering rams, siege towers, and ballistae, and some others she didn't recognize.
All this was followed by a knock on the door. Time to be Queen.