⫸ [ TIME: 17:45 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: SECTOR 4 – SUBTERRANEAN NETWORK ]
⫸ [ STATUS: DESCENT ]
The tunnel was a throat of black rock swallowing them whole.
Elian walked at the front of the column. His floodlights cut through the gloom. The air grew hotter with every step. It tasted of metallic dust and old sweat.
Behind him the Deep-Kin marched in silence. They did not need lights. Their goggles shifted the infrared spectrum of the heat radiating from the walls into visible sight. To them the tunnel was bright as day.
"How deep?" Elian asked. His voice echoed flatly against the basalt.
"DEEP," Gha-Kull rumbled. "BELOW THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAIN. WHERE THE STONE IS SOFT."
They walked for an hour. The tunnel widened. The rough hewn rock gave way to architectural structure. Massive pillars of cast iron supported the ceiling. Intricate channels carved into the floor carried rivulets of molten slag like glowing orange rivers.
They emerged into the city.
Elian stopped. Even A.R.C. paused its constant stream of data.
It was not a city of houses. It was a machine.
The cavern was vast enough to fit the Horizon Seeker ten times over. In the center hung a massive stalactite that had been hollowed out. It was connected to the floor by chains the size of freight trains. Inside the hollowed stone fires burned with a blue-white intensity.
Thousands of Deep-Kin moved across the gantries. The sound was a physical weight. The clang of hammers. The hiss of steam. The grinding of gears.
But there was no joy in the noise. It was the rhythm of a prison.
Every worker wore the glowing collar. Every hammer swing was forced.
"The Iron Forge," Lin whispered. She pulled her flight suit tighter around herself. "The Golden Crows call it the Engine of Woe."
"WE CALL IT HOME," Gha-Kull said. His voice was heavy with shame. "ONCE WE FORGED ART. NOW WE FORGE CAGES."
He led them across a suspension bridge toward the central Smelter. The heat was oppressive.
◤ ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Ambient Temp: 65°C
⬢ Air Quality: Toxic (Sulfur/Carbon Monoxide)
⬢ Recommendation: Engage re-breather.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Elian's helmet clicked shut. He filtered the air.
"Where is the Void-Steel?" Elian asked.
Gha-Kull pointed to a heavily guarded sector near the lava flow.
"THE BLACK VAULT. WE MINED IT YESTERDAY. THE CROW-MASTERS COME TOMORROW TO COLLECT."
"They will be disappointed," Elian said.
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 18:30 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: THE REFINERY FLOOR ]
⫸ [ STATUS: ANALYSIS ]
The raw Void-Steel ore sat in a cart.
It did not look like iron. It looked like a hole in reality. It was a matte black rock that seemed to absorb the light from Elian's headlamp. It cast no reflection.
Elian picked up a chunk. It was dense. A rock the size of an apple weighed ten kilos.
"A.R.C., analyze."
[ Scanning... ]
[ Error. Sensors cannot penetrate the surface. ]
[ The material is absorbing the scanning laser. ]
[ Hypothesis: High-Density Aetheric Sink. ]
"It's a sponge," Elian realized. "It absorbs electromagnetic radiation and Aetheric energy. That is why it kills magic. It drinks the spell before it can manifest."
"IT IS COLD METAL," Gha-Kull grunted. "HARD TO MELT. HARD TO SHAPE. FIRE DOES NOT TOUCH IT."
"Because it absorbs the heat," Elian noted. "You can't smelt this in a normal forge. You need induction."
He turned to the Fabricator.
They had dragged the sled into the center of the workspace. The Deep-Kin workers had gathered around. They watched the strange machine with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
"Grom," Elian ordered. "Hook the power coupling to that steam turbine."
Grom hauled the heavy cable to the spinning turbine shaft. He stripped the wires and clamped them onto the generator output.
The Fabricator roared to life. The lights on the console turned green.
"We are going to refine this ore," Elian announced to the room. "And we are going to trick your masters."
He looked at Gha-Kull.
"Remember the plan. We need to change the magnetic signature so the collars don't detect it."
Elian typed commands into the console.
[ Process: Cryogenic Sintering. ]
[ We will superheat the ore to liquid state using laser induction then flash-freeze it using liquid nitrogen from the internal reserve. ]
[ This will align the crystalline structure to be non-conductive to the sensor frequency. ]
"Do it."
Elian shoveled the black rocks into the hopper. The grinder chewed them up with a screeching sound that made the Dwarves cover their ears.
The laser head inside the chamber flared. It was brighter than the forge fires. It focused megawatts of energy onto a microscopic point. The Void-Steel yielded. It melted.
Then the nitrogen hiss kicked in.
A cloud of white vapor erupted from the machine.
Inside the chamber a new shape formed.
It was not a bar. It was a segment of a barrel. A curved tube of pure, refined Void-Steel.
But it wasn't black.
It was grey.
The cryogenic process had altered its color.
The Fabricator beeped. The door opened.
Elian pulled the segment out. It was still cold.
He walked over to Gha-Kull. He held the metal next to the Dwarf's collar.
The collar did nothing. The red rune remained dormant.
"IT SLEEPS," Gha-Kull whispered. His eyes went wide. "THE CURSE DOES NOT SEE IT."
A cheer went up from the workers. It was a low, guttural roar that shook the soot from the ceiling. For the first time in a century they held the forbidden metal without pain.
"We have the material," Elian said. "Now we build the gun."
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 20:00 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ STATUS: PRODUCTION ]
The refinery had become a factory floor.
Elian was no longer just a scavenger. He was a Foreman.
He organized the Deep-Kin into assembly lines. One group crushed the ore. Another fed the hopper. A third hauled the finished barrel segments to the cooling rack.
The God-Killer cannon required a barrel twelve meters long. The Fabricator could only print in one-meter sections. They had to print twelve segments and fuse them together.
Elian worked feverishly. He checked the tolerances. He calibrated the lasers.
"A.R.C., status on the battery?"
[ The turbine connection is efficient. Batteries at 75%. ]
[ However, the 'Stasis Pod' back at the ship is nearing the critical window. ]
[ Time remaining: 36 Hours. ]
"We are moving fast," Elian said. "But not fast enough."
He looked at the schematic.
◤ COMPONENT MISSING ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Part: Fusion Core (Titan Heart)
⬢ Status: Not Acquired
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The barrel was useless without the power source.
Elian walked over to Lin. She was sitting on a crate cleaning a Deep-Kin dagger she had been given.
"The Titan Heart," Elian said. "Where do the Golden Crows keep it?"
Lin looked up. "They keep it in the Sun-Spire. The highest tower of their fortress. It powers the Grand Array."
"The shield," Elian confirmed.
"Yes. It creates a dome of fire over the mountain. Nothing can pass through. Not rain. Not arrows. Not men."
"What about underneath?" Elian asked.
He looked at the floor.
Lin shook her head. "The Array protects the rock too. It boils the earth if you try to dig under."
Elian looked at Gha-Kull. The Dwarf was overseeing the ore crushing.
"Gha-Kull," Elian called. "Does the tunnel go to the Sun-Spire?"
"THE TUNNELS GO EVERYWHERE," Gha-Kull said. "BUT THE SPIRE IS SEALED. THE ROCK IS MELTED SHUT. HARDER THAN IRON."
Elian tapped his chin. His armored finger made a clink-clink sound.
"Melted rock," Elian mused. "Igneous barrier."
He looked at the schematic of the God-Killer.
"We don't need to dig," Elian smiled. It was a dangerous expression. "We have a drill."
"A drill?" Lin asked.
Elian patted the newly printed segment of the railgun barrel.
"We are building a siege cannon," Elian said. "We are going to carry it through the tunnels. We are going to aim it at the ceiling. And we are going to shoot a hole straight up into their fortress."
Gha-Kull laughed. "SHOOT THE SKY-DEVILS FROM BELOW? I LIKE THIS PLAN."
[ Commander. Tactical Query. ]
[ The Railgun requires the Titan Heart to fire at full power. ]
[ We are trying to steal the Heart. ]
[ We cannot use the gun to steal the battery needed to power the gun. It is a paradox. ]
"We don't need full power," Elian argued. "We don't need Mach 25 to break a floor. We can run it on the ship's batteries for one shot."
[ Calculation... ]
[ One shot at 40% output. It will drain the batteries to zero. ]
[ You will be left in the middle of an enemy fortress with a dead weapon and no armor power. ]
"Then I better not miss," Elian said.
He turned back to the Fabricator.
"Double the pace!" Elian shouted to the Dwarves. "We march at midnight!"
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 23:30 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ STATUS: ASSEMBLY ]
The final segment hissed as it cooled.
Elian and Grom lifted it. They slotted it into the locking mechanism of the previous segment. Elian used a hand-held laser welder to fuse the seam at the molecular level.
The God-Killer was complete.
It lay on the factory floor like a fallen obelisk. Twelve meters of grey Void-Steel. It was massive. It was ugly. It was perfect.
Elian checked the breech mechanism. He loaded the single Tungsten-Carbide Slug he had printed.
"It weighs four tons," Elian said.
He looked at the Deep-Kin. There were hundreds of them now. They had stopped working. They were staring at the weapon.
"IT IS A GOD-HAMMER," Gha-Kull whispered.
"It is a key," Elian corrected. "Grom, rig the chains. We need fifty bearers."
Gha-Kull stepped forward.
"NO," the Leader said. "WE WILL CARRY IT."
He signaled his kin. Fifty Deep-Kin stepped forward. They placed the heavy iron chains over their shoulders. They were small but their density was incredible. They lifted the massive cannon as if it were a log.
"To the Sun-Spire," Elian commanded.
The army moved.
Five Giants. One Human. And a legion of Dwarves carrying a weapon that could kill a planet.
They marched into the deep tunnels heading upward toward the belly of the enemy.
[END OF CHAPTER 23]