The Union Siege-Walker was a testament to the arrogance of man. It was fifty meters of walking artillery, a machine built to dominate battlefields and crush rebellions. Its legs were reinforced with tungsten, its chassis shielded by kinetic barriers, and its main cannon capable of vaporizing a city block.
But in the Core Jungle, technology was just another form of prey.
And right now, the predator was a rock-man in a bad mood.
Gorgon stood on the massive, moss-slicked branch of the Titan-Oak. The branch was as wide as a highway, supporting the immense weight of the Siege-Walker. The machine loomed over him, its hydraulic joints hissing, preparing to stomp the tiny red speck into paste.
"Target acquired," the amplified voice of Commander Kain boomed from the Walker. "Goodbye, mutant."
The Walker raised one massive foot. The shadow it cast swallowed Gorgon whole.
Gorgon didn't look at the foot. He looked down at the bark beneath his boots.
"You're heavy," Gorgon growled, the red light of the Crimson Paladin visor flaring. "But the tree is tired."
Gorgon didn't strike the machine. He struck the world.
He raised his engine-block hammer high. The Crimson Armor pumped liquid rage into his muscles. His stone skin groaned under the pressure.
"BREAK!"
He slammed the hammer into the branch.
CRACK-BOOOOM.
It wasn't a simple fracture. It was a tectonic event.
The massive branch, already strained by the thousands of tons of the Walker, splintered. The sound was like a gunshot magnified a million times. A fissure raced from Gorgon's impact point, zig-zagging under the Walker's feet.
The Walker's pilot realized the mistake too late.
"Stabilizers! Emergency thrusters!" Kain screamed.
But the walker had no thrusters. It was built for the ground.
The branch gave way.
With a groan of tearing wood that echoed for miles, the entire section of the canopy collapsed.
The Siege-Walker tilted. Its gyroscope failed. It scrabbled at the leaves, trying to find purchase, but there was only air.
It fell.
Varian, watching from the edge of the Iron Nest, saw the giant machine tumble backward into the abyss. It smashed through lower branches, snapping them like twigs, disappearing into the dark fog of the Under-Canopy.
Ten seconds later.
THUD.
A distant, muted impact shook the tree trunk. A plume of dust rose from the dark.
"Gravity," Varian whispered, lowering the Sun-Piercer. "The ultimate weapon."
"Show off," Silas smirked, leaning on his cane. But his hand was shaking. Even he was impressed.
Gorgon scrambled back from the edge of the broken branch, panting. The red glow of his armor faded, leaving him exhausted.
"Did I get him?" Gorgon wheezed.
"You got him," Varian said. "But you woke the neighbors."
From the sky above, a siren wailed.
Red lights swept the canopy.
[Enemy Encounter.][Subject: Union Gunship (Hornet-Class).][Count: 12.][Weaponry: Rotary Cannons / Hellfire Missiles.]
The Siege-Walker had been the tank. Now came the air force.
"They're swarming!" Rix screamed over the comms from the Iron Sovereign. "Boss! Come back! Ship is leaving!"
The Sovereign was already moving. Scrap-Jack had engaged the treads, reversing the massive land-ship away from the crumbling branch.
"We need a lift!" Varian shouted.
"On it!"
A side hatch of the Sovereign blew open. Rix fired a heavy-duty winch cable.
It sailed through the air, embedding itself in the tree trunk next to Varian.
"Grab on!"
Varian grabbed Gorgon. Silas grabbed Varian.
"Onyx! Grapple!"
Varian's left arm liquefied, fusing with the cable.
"Pull!"
The winch retracted. They were yanked off the tree, swinging wildly over the abyss as the Sovereign accelerated.
Union gunships dove, their rotary cannons spinning up.
BRRRRRRT.
Lines of tracer fire chewed up the bark where they had been standing seconds ago.
They slammed into the side of the Sovereign. Varian hauled Gorgon and Silas into the airlock just as a missile exploded against the hull.
BOOM.
The ship rocked violently.
"We're taking hits!" Scrap-Jack yelled. "Shields at 60%! I can't outrun gunships on a tree branch! We're too slow!"
Varian scrambled to the bridge.
"We don't need to outrun them," Varian said, looking at the tactical map. "We need to out-climb them."
He pointed to the dense tangle of vines and smaller branches above them—the Upper Canopy.
"Take us up into the thicket. Their ships are fast, but they can't maneuver in tight spaces. We're a tank. We can plow through."
"Ramming speed?" Scrap-Jack grinned maniacally. "I love it."
The Iron Sovereign roared. Its massive boring-drill tilted upward. The treads bit into the vertical trunk of the Titan-Oak.
It began to climb.
The Union gunships pursued, weaving between the massive leaves.
WOOSH-WOOSH.
Missiles struck the Sovereign's rear armor. The Roach-Shell plating cracked but held.
"Turrets! Return fire!" Varian ordered.
"We have no ammo!" a gunner shouted back. "We used it all on the mosquitoes!"
Varian froze. He had forgotten. The M-55 rounds were depleted.
"Rix!" Varian keyed the internal comms. "The mosquitoes! The dead ones on the deck! Did you clean them off?"
"No, Boss! Too busy screaming!"
"Good! Use the needles!" Varian ordered. "Their proboscises are diamond-tipped steel! Load them into the harpoon launchers! Turn the pests into bullets!"
On the gunnery deck, Rix's eyes lit up.
"Stabby trash!"
The Vermin-Swarm scrambled. They grabbed the carcasses of the giant Petrol-Mosquitoes that littered the deck. They ripped the meter-long needles from the insects' faces.
They loaded the needles into the pneumatic harpoon cannons usually used for anchoring the ship.
"Eat bug!" Rix shrieked, swinging the turret around.
He aimed at the lead gunship.
THUNK.
The pneumatic cannon fired.
The giant needle flew through the air. It didn't explode. It pierced.
It struck the cockpit of the Union gunship. The diamond tip punched through the reinforced glass like it was cellophane.
The pilot was skewered.
The gunship spiraled out of control, crashing into a tree trunk in a ball of fire.
"It works!" Rix cheered. "Reload! Reload!"
The Dregs worked in a frenzy, turning the bodies of their enemies into ammunition.
THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
Giant needles filled the air.
Another gunship took a hit to its engine intake. The turbine shredded. It fell.
A third gunship tried to dodge, but clipped a vine and spun out.
"Pull up! Pull up!" The Union squadron leader shouted over the open frequency. "They have... ballistics? What kind of ammo is that?"
"Biological penetrators!" a pilot screamed before his wing was sheared off by a mosquito beak.
The Sovereign crested the branch line, smashing through a wall of vines and disappearing into the dense fog of the Cloud Layer.
The gunships pulled back. They couldn't follow a tank into zero-visibility foliage.
"Target lost," the Union leader cursed. "Return to base. Let the jungle eat them."
The Iron Sovereign slowed.
The roar of the battle faded, replaced by the muffled thrum of the engine.
They had escaped the canopy. Now, they were drifting through the Fog Layer.
It was a world of white. The clouds here were so thick you couldn't see the front of the ship from the back. The trees were ghostly shadows, their branches draped in pale, weeping moss.
"Visibility zero," Scrap-Jack whispered. "Sensors are useless. The moisture is scattering the radar."
Varian stood on the observation deck. The adrenaline crash was hitting him hard. He felt heavy.
"Set a course for... down," Varian said. "Slow descent. We need to find solid ground. A plateau. A shelf. Anything."
"And if we hit the Dark Ground?"
"Then we turn on the lights and pray."
The ship descended. The treads whirred softly, lowering them through the mist.
Hours passed.
The Dregs slept where they fell, exhausted. Lady Venom was tending to Gorgon's burns—the heat of the Crimson Armor had scorched his own stone skin during the fight.
"You pushed it too far," Venom scolded, applying a green paste to his shoulder. "If you bond any deeper, you won't come back."
"I had to," Gorgon grunted, wincing. "The Walker was big."
"Next time, let the ship handle the heavy lifting."
"The ship doesn't have a hammer."
Varian smiled faintly, listening to them. They were a family. A dysfunctional, violent, mutated family.
"Varian," Echo's voice came from beside him.
The blind girl was standing at the railing. Her ears were twitching.
"What is it, Echo?"
"Voices," she whispered.
Varian stiffened. "Union?"
"No. Not metal voices. Throat voices. Deep. Growling."
She pointed into the fog.
"Singing."
Varian strained his ears. He heard it. A low, rhythmic chanting. Drums. And a deep, guttural melody that vibrated in his chest.
Hrum... Dum... Hrum... Dum...
"All stop!" Varian ordered.
The Sovereign hissed to a halt, hanging from a massive vine system.
The fog parted slightly.
Below them, suspended in the branches of a grove of Iron-Willows, was a village.
But it wasn't made of scrap metal. It was made of bone.
Massive ribcages—likely from tunnel worms or dinosaurs—formed the arches of huts. Platforms were woven from living vines. Lanterns made of glowing amber skulls hung from the trees.
And on the platforms stood the people.
They were humanoid, but covered in fur. They stood seven feet tall. They wore armor made of leather and teeth.
Some had the heads of wolves. Others, bears. And in the center, guarding the largest hut, stood warriors with the manes of lions.
[Genetic Archivist Scan.][Subject: Beast-Kin (Homo Fera).][Origin: Pre-War Genetic Splicing Experiments (escaped).][Society: Tribal / Warrior Caste.]
"Beast-Men," Silas whispered, joining them. "I thought they were myths. The Union deletes records of them."
"They aren't myths," Varian said. "They're an army."
The chanting stopped.
Hundreds of yellow eyes looked up at the Sovereign. They didn't look afraid. They looked ready.
Spears were raised—spears tipped with Beast Cores that glowed with elemental energy.
"We're surrounded," Rix squeaked. "They are in the trees. In the fog. Everywhere."
"Don't shoot," Varian ordered into the comms. "If we fire, we die. There are thousands of them."
A horn blew. A deep, mournful sound.
A figure stepped out from the central hut.
He was massive. Eight feet tall. His fur was pure white, scarred with claw marks. He wore a cloak made from the skin of a Union mech-pilot. A necklace of blue crystals hung around his neck.
He was a White Lion.
He didn't hold a weapon. He didn't need one. His presence alone radiated Monarch energy.
[Analysis: Alpha Male.][Name: King Leomon (Theoretical).][Rank: Monarch (High-Tier).]
The White Lion looked up at Varian. He sniffed the air.
His eyes narrowed.
"Descend!" The Lion's voice roared. It wasn't a growl; it was perfect, archaic human speech. "Descend, Iron Shell! Or we will cut your vines!"
Varian looked at Scrap-Jack. "Take us down. Slowly."
The Sovereign lowered until its treads touched the central platform of the village. The wood groaned but held.
Varian walked to the airlock.
"I'm going out," he said.
"Take the spear," Gorgon said, reaching for his hammer.
"No. If I take a weapon, it's a challenge. I take a gift."
Varian grabbed a crate. Inside were Union Medical Supplies—antibiotics, bandages, painkillers. Things the Wilds didn't have.
He opened the airlock.
Varian stepped onto the bone platform. Behind him, Gorgon and Venom stood in the doorway, ready to strike.
The Beast-Kin formed a circle. Wolf-men with axes. Bear-men with stone mauls. They growled low in their throats.
The White Lion stepped forward. He towered over Varian.
He leaned down, sniffing Varian's chest.
He didn't smell the medicine. He didn't smell the sweat.
He smelled the Abyssal Armor hidden beneath Varian's skin. He smelled the Sun-Piercer on his back. He smelled the Prism Scale in his pocket.
The Lion recoiled. He bared his fangs.
"You smell of the Deep Ones," the Lion rumbled. "You smell of the Shadow. And the Light. And the Void."
He pointed a claw at Varian.
"But mostly... you smell of Him."
"Him?" Varian asked, keeping his voice steady.
"The Dragon King," the Lion spat the name like a curse. "The Tyrant of the Core."
The Lion circled Varian.
"Why does a human carry the scent of the Tyrant? Are you his thrall? Did he send you to claim our village?"
Varian realized the mistake. The Prism Scale from the Leviathan. The Lion confused the scent of one Emperor for another. Or perhaps the Dragon King and the Leviathan were connected.
"I am no thrall," Varian said, standing tall. "I am a Sovereign."
The Beast-Kin laughed. A chorus of barks and roars.
"A Sovereign?" The White Lion chuckled darkly. "You are a soft-skin. A hairless ape in a metal box."
He grabbed Varian's shoulder. His claws dug into the flesh.
"We do not bow to titles here, soft-skin. We bow to strength."
The Lion squeezed.
"If you are a Sovereign... bleed like one."
Varian didn't flinch.
"Onyx. Spike."
The skin on Varian's shoulder—right where the Lion was holding—turned black. It hardened.
Then, spikes shot out.
SHINCK.
The Lion roared, pulling his hand back. His palm was punctured. Drops of red blood hit the white bone floor.
The laughter stopped.
The Lion looked at his bleeding hand. Then he looked at Varian.
He didn't attack. He smiled. A terrifying, predatory smile.
"Sharp," the Lion noted, licking the blood from his palm. "Good. I hate dull things."
He gestured to the village.
"You may dock your shell, Sovereign. But if you want to pass through the Fog Kingdom... you must pay the toll."
"What toll?" Varian asked.
The Lion pointed to the north. Through the fog, a massive shadow loomed—a mountain peak rising from the jungle floor.
"The Union has built a tower on the Ancestral Peak," the Lion growled. "A listening post. It screams with signals that hurt our ears. It kills the birds."
"You want me to destroy it?"
"I want you to burn it," the Lion said. "Destroy the Union tower. Bring me the head of the machine that guards it. Do this, and we will let you live. Fail... and we will eat your young."
He looked at the Iron Sovereign, where Echo and Elian were watching from a window.
Varian's eyes went cold.
"Threaten my pack again," Varian whispered, the violet light of the Void flickering in his eyes, "and I will wear your skin as a cloak."
The Lion's eyes widened. He sensed it. The killing intent. The Monarch Aura.
The Lion stepped back. He nodded, a sign of respect.
"A deal then," the Lion said. "The Tower for the Path."
"Deal."
Varian turned back to the ship.
He had a new mission. And a new target.