Z'ress Hun'ana.
***
I knew not why the Matrons remained huddled within G'eldantaar while Elg-Horr graced the Falls. Simultaneously, I knew next to nothing about this allegedly legendary being. I only knew what the Abbot of House Za'Darmondiel said upon his return, and so I made it a point to witness him with my own eyes in Mii'etus Praesyris.
There was but one problem. No one knew when Elg-Horr would arrive at the Tower of Might. Thus I placed it upon myself to make regular ventures to the gates until I saw him. Such diligence was rewarded in droves. Yet, as the saying went, 'No good deed goes unpunished.'
Granted, it was only the second time I made the journey since his arrival, and the journey itself was not difficult. It was a mere test of drow might, after all. Scaling walls, leaping, levitating, and casting Faerie Flames were all things Drow should have been proficient with; doubly so for those of the Eight Eyes and their Legs.
All things considered, it would have been difficult to miss the wave of blue crumbling our vibrant mushrooms to dust; the pervasive darkness and golden motes of light spreading through the Falls; or Evar, leaving the tower; for the former two were unignorable, and the latter was a rarity to say the least. It could have only meant one thing.
He had arrived.
In terms of those in the Eight Eyes and Legs, his Arcane Well was small. That could be changed, however. It was the organs surrounding that well of Arcana that made him powerful. The darkest sorcery in existence that made death a suggestion, the power to unearth a lake a hang it in the sky, or bring the sun to the ground to destroy an army; those were the tales we were told of his magic, yet I saw nothing of the sort.
The mana radiating from him was surely divine, however, for it was noticed only by those with the wisdom to understand its subtlety. Not that it always was. It could not be felt as one sensed a spell being cast.
It infected the subconscious, making one stare and gawk in awe, fear, or any of the emotions born from his strange visage. A diadem of arcane sigils wreathed his head in a blue-green flame that radiated no light. His eyes were filled with color, yet remained the same gray as all else in the dark, so expansive and empty. The others were similar, but I cared little for them. At first.
The girl- not the drow- with the same blue spirit as the wave that swept across us. Her divine mana all but demanded my attention. She had the same blue in her eyes as that wave, but not when I first saw her, when the yellow rings in her eyes took notice of us.
According to House Za'Darmondiel's Abbot, the wings and talons she had when she descended to the Falls were her machinations. A mere sliver of the truth, I believed then and knew as a fact now. Doubly so when I turned my eyes about the Falls.
The wave sent out by this blue one robbed Zimysta of its bioluminescent mushroom forests. It turned the ancient stalks into a shower of dust that could out-compete the Falls themselves, now illuminated only by the Faerie Flames scattered within. Not even hours later, thousands saw the one they called Blude, dragging a defeated Raki Za'Darmondiel by the leg as she swam up the Falls. And now, the Falls saw that dust become mud that gave rise to life made of both darkness and light. The same twilight the Bodhi Tree's monastic cat was reported to have.
Even now, those beasts were skittering, flying, or pouncing through the ever-increasing and oft-magical darkness. Although it was difficult to spot them, I could easily sense them killing and eating and infecting all manner of creatures. Even spiders.
While my House and a few others were hardly affected by the blue wave and those sinful things, they were not something we could turn a blind eye to. Not when even the slaves witnessed and were moved by their acts.
Amun and his troupe sinned against Lilith; yet he was Telin's Champion, thus I assumed he could or would not be punished. Not without him living up to the name we gave him. Then again, Zimysta Falls had been spiraling into destruction since he arrived.
In just two days, the only place I had ever known had changed into a place I had never been. All I could do was wonder about the ensuing changes as I spent the next several days inside the tower with this… creature, where I resolved to witness this history with my own eyes; and maybe learn more of their artificing prowess.
In hindsight, it took less than a day to forget about everything outside the tower. While that was made a priority in the design of Zimysta's 3 towers, it seemed his divinity was pouring into us, as I grew all the more curious as we- me and my sister Z'rynda, listened to their greeting from afar.
The Nox. Undying Reaper. Elven Devil. World Weaver. ArcaTech. God of Mana. I could only guess as to what half of those meant. At least until the self-proclaimed God-Emperor of Goblins listed off his titles, where I felt as if I desperately needed to know more of this 'Bonewater' so our goblins could learn to make it. But then the other one spoke.
I found it a cruel joke when I first heard she was adopted by Elg-Horr- Amun, but to find she carried his blood was something else entirely. Unfortunately, I knew not what it was. Nor did I know what a Praefectus Noctis was, nor this 'Technology' she was the alleged Goddess of. But what I- what we did know was military structure, industry, and information. The domains of this supposed Goddess.
Rather uncannily, Iris Cole saw fit to explain just what that meant to Evar. Yet I could not help but feel like it was aimed at us. Aside from being a general, mine was a similar case to hers, being the 5th daughter of Matron Z'ryliss Hun'ana; the youngest Matron of Zimysta Falls.
It was her endless drive that caused her to gather so many slaves and send them into tunnels deeper than any before her. It was that risk that gave her the bountiful industry that made House Hun'ana the Fifth Eye of the Falls. It was her matronly standing that gave her a complete family, as Lilith decreed. Two High Priestesses. Two Priestesses. Two specialists. Two males. We- me and Z'rynda, were those specialists.
Where Z'rynda chose to specialize in our industry, carving the path of an artificer. I chose to remain devoted to Lilith another way. The way of holy might, the Paladin. That, I surmised, was what led me- us to develop a sense of understanding of Iris Cole as the days passed.
She carried with her the flair of the Champion, as seen by how she casually carried on conversations with Evar, a centuries-old War Master. In turn, I grew just as intrigued as he did with this 'Room of Darkness' and their so-called Legions of Night, but then the conversation took a turn for the worse.
He began speaking of necromancy. Then carelessly imbued Evar with the strength and constitution of a minotaur. A simple act that would have made the War Master unstoppable were it not for the fearful webs strewn over his mind, yet even that was tampered and toyed with. As were we. Albeit by a different being.
She had been watching us, I realized. Ever since she laid eyes on us or perhaps before, Iris Cole had been observing us, gathering information just as we were. Unlike us, however, she had been acting on it.
Ruefully, I only realized such when she giggled at my apparent disdain. She played it off as if she meant to agree with the goblin's words, but I saw through her ruse. She was feeding us information through Evar; and not only knowledge of his divinity or his Legions, knowledge of hers.
Ruefully, that was verified by his blatant blasphemy; an act that placed the thousands of drow in Mii'etus Praesyris in range of Lilith's mandibles.
Such blatant blasphemy left me speechless. Me, Z'rynda, and the hundreds of drow cramped in this hall, but not Evar. He desperately attempted to drag the conversation elsewhere. Yet Drow of all ages, lingering at all altitudes, heard him say it. And so, we heard what the Matrons- my mother so cautiously feared.
Amun saw Lilith as his enemy. In turn, any drow who did not see Amun as their enemy would lose Lilith's favor and be branded a traitor to their kind. Thus the Matrons were his enemies. Them and their High Priestesses, Priestesses, and…
"I can see much with these eyes, you know."
I tried to shut them out. The words born from this Devil's Tongue and the tempting implications they carried. It conjured images in my mind of the potentials hidden within my sister and I. Classes of legend and the grandest station one could imagine; the likes of a divine paladin and an artificer bound together as the Eternal Champion's Valkyrie. It produced feelings in my senses of what could exist, a drow body made of a web of mycelium-like mithral and arcane crystals. But then I saw red.
I felt red. Heat. Anger, born not from me but from the mention of the traitor- the Abbot of House Za'Darmondiel; and yet, I sensed blue. Cold. A calmness, born from this strange girl and the metal skull she wore on her chest. And so, in that state of equilibrium between vengeful anger and defiant calmness, I listened to a tale much different from what was heard by the ears of Zimysta. A tale about the so-called 'traitor' being fated to leave the Falls of his birth as Elg-Horr's lifelong teacher. A tale of him holding the same station as Iris and Leary within the Elven Devil's Troupe.
As I listened, I felt those red webs shift and multiply, trapping my spirit in a pit of purplish blackness streaked with red. I felt that anger transition to fear- hate and fear projected at me, my sister, and all the drow gathered who had yet to turn their blades on the Eternal Champion.
We had sinned against Lilith, thus she had forsaken us.
Evar felt it as much as I did. I could see it- feel it from the force of these black webs in my mind, blocking out the blue. A testament to Lilith's displeasure.
"Stop." Evar weakly muttered. "Please… you'll damn us all."
"We're already damned, Evar!"
"I- I cannot."
"Why not?" He leaned forward, and the red flared as he rattled on with his blasphemes, gesturing to the lot of us to make the crimson webs tighten their grip. Thus I sought to right my wrongs in the only way I was taught.
I attempted to punish the traitorous male. "Yes, Evar." I stomped forward, snarling. "Why not?"
I wanted to scream when she stepped in front of me without her blue light. Ruefully, all there was to be found in her irises was the same darkness of her pupils. A much, much darker black than otherwise possible. "You stay out of this."
"Yes, Z'ress Hun'ana."
'No, please!' I internally pleaded- yet another sin that forced the crimson webs to intensify.
"You stay out of this, for She who is worthy of becoming my Valkyrie has a decision to make. So think hard about it and speak to my daughter; you and your siblings"
I could hardly comprehend what I heard for I hardly believed what was happening. I could only struggle between the darkening red webs and the brightening blue light as the Elven Devil tormented us more.
"Do you think they will kill you if you agree?"
'They will! And worse.' Another flash of red forced out the blue, pushing my hand toward my hip.
"Do you think they will torture you?"
I could only sob beneath Lilith's ire in response; as did every drow in the tower minus Evar.
"Seek to change you? Like they did your son?"
"Yes!" I sobbed, yet it came out as a despairing whisper, for it was all I could do to fight through that crimson web of chaos. I thought I would please my mother at last by bringing her the information she so desperately sought. Yet all there was to show for my efforts was disdain by the very Goddess I had been raised to worship. All there would be to show for it would be my corpse, mutilated and offered to the Demon Spider as repentance.
Yet salvation would never come.
"Do you really think I'd do nothing if that happened?"
Like claws, those words carved into those webs of chaos and cleared my mind for but a second. A single second to grant me a single word I could use to encourage all those gathered into making the right choice.
I chose wrong.
"Stop!"
As did my sister.
"Evar!"
But not Evar.
"The matrons and their demon queen be damned!"
Once again enveloping my mind, the reddish-black webs forced me to react to Evar's hand reaching out. An act that saw Iris step before me with mana packed densely in her fists; only, this mana was of a much darker blue than I witnessed before. Blue and pure enough to rid me of these crimson webs for good.
Not me- us.
I did not fight against either the red that consumed my mind or the blue rushing toward my heart. I was so tired of this madness, and so I just wanted it all to end, knowing fully that one of them would not let it.
I felt nothing on impact yet I sensed everything. I sensed… detachment, both from my body and those foul webs that influenced my mind; mine and the minds of all drow who wavered in their allegiance to the Queen Demon Spider. All I could see was a field of blue pouring from the eyes of that skull on Iris' chest as I fell into its maw of bolts and screws. Then… darkness.
——
I awoke a shell of gears and pipes spreading from the twin crystals above that gave the chamber its blue glow. Within moments, I felt the presence of others nearby; my sister, our brothers, and our slaves, I knew them to be, floating amidst my formless self as they stared through those blue windows to see Iris tinkering with our lifeless bodies.
"I've heard a lot about you, the youngest daughters and sons of House Hun'ana."
"I- I…" I stuttered, unsure if I could even speak in this state. "I can understand why. We are similar, having a mind for strategy and artificing. Only, you were not infected in the mind as we were. And… you do not obsess over chasing your parent's love as I have. Strange though it is to admit.
"I am not surprised it came to this, our deaths. Our mother and sisters cannot be saved. Not that I want them to be saved; either in life or this…" I removed my gaze from my lifeless body and tried to look at my formless soul. "This… undeath."
"You're not undead," Iris said with a flat tone. "Your souls and spirits are in my holy pendant- a temporary measure so your squishy bodies can be sent to the Underworld, maintaining the balance to allow your souls to stay on the Mortal Plane, housed in new bodies created by me and enhanced by House Hun'ana's industry."
She looked down so we could see our bloodied hearts cradled in her right arm, then turned her gaze to her left to focus on our wells of arcana, stripped from our spirits, cracked, and floating in a field of her blue-black magic. On the ground before her sat our bodies, looted and stripped bare atop a bed of darkness to be taken, just as she said.
Like the days before, a pulse of blue poured from her frame, rippling across the Falls to illuminate the sovereign drow towering over the drow who remained; but from our place within this jewel- from Iris' place in the tower, we could see its destination. Not the entirety of the Falls, the only place we've ever known. It swept through the only home I ever knew like a plague. Our proud gates withered and crumbled to dust just like mushrooms just days ago. A mere prelude to the cacophony of confused screams emanating from beyond.
I lamented the fact that neither my mother nor my older sisters stood among them. Simultaneously, I had a thought that had never once crossed my mind before. A thought of happiness due to the fact my brothers were freed from this madness.
However, such thoughts were fleeting.
The returning wave of blue demanded my very attention, for it carried in its wake my new flesh and blood: Mithral and all the crystals unearthed and polished by our deep gnome slaves; all made divine by Iris' influence. When it arrived, the field we were gazing through blossomed with light. Words, numbers, and images cascaded before our eyes like the Falls of Zimysta. Or rather, like a ladder twisted into a tight coil.
Though I had no way of deciphering it, their meaning flowed through my mind all the same. What I saw was the code of life written out in sequence. It was almost like a blueprint of dwarven machinations, with specific instructions for how to form a drow body with my features. Yet there was more. 'Instructions' passed on from my mother and father, with some like the tainted essence of Lilith's webs.
Those tainted instructions and other faulty ones were cast aside readily, changed in ways even the Trees of Life could not replicate. Our wells of arcana, cracked to the verge of destruction, revolved around topaz pearls and converged in the blue-black field to be woven into crystalline hearts that did not need to beat; for the hot arcana within flowed on its own volition, acting as my blood.
The same was the case for the rest of our organs, manufactured using the crystals and gems taken from House Hun'ana and infused with Iris' divine essence to make something arcane.
These… ArcaTech Organs formed in midair around our crystal hearts, constructed in real-time via processes I could not fully understand. All I knew was that each building block of each crystal was imbued with a different affinity to mimic natural body processes and then woven into something with the properties of organ tissue; an acidic affinity in the stomach; many affinities in the skin; an air affinity in the blood; and more.
In some cases, however, there was a touch of divinity. Our brains were made of divine diamonds, grayish pink in color and wrinkly like the organs themselves. Blue-veined gold made our nerves, connected to divine sheets of black and blue-green tendons, ligaments, muscle fibers, and even hair.
While great in their own right, it was what held those organs together that truly made me want to inhabit this machine body. Skeletons of mithral, infused with the power of the Tech Goddess to have it behave like sentient mycelium. In turn, granting us a truly divine power. Assimilation.
"Whether you decide to reboot or not is up to you, but in doing so, you agree to a pact to become Amun's destroyers; and his Valkyrie, Z'ress. You will live, travel, and work with me. But when Amun calls on my Corps to fight, you'll be the first to go, taking orders directly from him as Commanders of my Arion Division. I understand your slaves are treated the best in Zimysta and hold little resentment toward you but they will be slaves no more. Nor will you ever claim slaves again."