Starblood

Prologue

Crelgoth stood at the edge of a towering precipice, overlooking the world. Everything he saw was rocky, bleak, and grey. There was no life, nothing but craggy hills, wind-carved arches, and an occasional magma flow. And so it made him happy to look directly down into the valley, and see green life flourishing. There was a circle of trees and undergrowth, where he knew Tiprokes would be hunting Gotrels.
It made him proud, he thought, as he looked up, because he had achieved something no other Starblood had. But his happy thoughts ended there. A giant, winged, ash-black beast approached, glowing blue at the joints. The creature was easily forty times as long as Crelgoth was tall, and a lone figure, looking like a living statue, stood on its back. It glided magnificently around the plateau, and its taloned feet met the edge of the plateau, while its long tail hung limply over the edge. It lowered its long neck to allow its rider off. The sound of the Starblood walking down his mounts back was muffled by the mechanical hum of the devices that the creature was made of. Jumping from the neck of the beast, the stone-like body of the newly arrived Starblood walked over to join Crelgoth.
"Jrakn," greeted Crelgoth, the sound of his humming, deep, voice coming from no part of him in particular.
"Crelgoth," replied Jrakn in kind.
"This means they're coming, I suppose?" Crelgoth inquired gravely.
"Yes. I'm meant to be here to tell you to stop, but we both know I didn't volunteer for that reason."
"Getting straight to business, as always?" Commented Crelgoth.
"We have little time for anything else," Jrakn said sharply. "Besides, I don't enjoy your company any more than you do mine. So, tell me about this weapon."
"It's a strange coincidence that you should talk about enjoying company and the weapon at the same time." Jrakn made to protest, but Crelgoth raised an arm to stop him. "The weapon is not of amazing scale, or power, but it is of great use." He raised his arm and pointed at the green circle in the valley. "A creation of mine exists down in that area. It has intelligence to match our own, and body in a similar shape to ours."
"And what use is such a thing to me? I may as well try and convince a Starblood to serve me!" he gestured towards the great scaly beast. "That machine has little intelligence, it simply follows my orders. It can kill a Starblood if it gets one in its jaws. If it could think, it would probably attack me, or fly off. But I built it to obey only me, and for that reason only, it can be a use to me. You say this creation of yours is weak, will not obey me, but will somehow be of use to me?"
"Out of those things, I only said it will be of use to you. Or rather, they will be. They are much like ourselves, as I said, but they can reproduce more of themselves. They are frail, but their wounds will heal by themselves. Most of all, they have a gift that we could never have nor want. Affection. They, unlike us, can enjoy each other's company. They can work together without arguing, and they see themselves as part of a greater whole. No Starblood has ever done something just to help another, but these will. One died to save its offspring from another creature, I saw it with my own eyes. This is their greatest gift, and their greatest downfall. They can be controlled because they do not hate easily, but they can be used, because of their sheer number."
"Used to do what, exactly?", Jrakn barked, almost like a laugh.
"How long, in total, did it take you to make that machine?"
Jrakn added up for a moment, then said, "Twenty-three pulses, spent in parts over a period of one-hundred and fifty pulses."
"And how much of that time was spent mining and refining the resources needed to make it?"
"Nineteen pulses. I don't see how any of this is rele-"
"Make that five pulses," Crelgoth cut him off. "You spent over ten thousand days gathering resources, when these people could have done it all in less than three thousand. A team of one hundred of my creations can produce resources as quickly as one Starblood. Within two hundred years, you could have a population of thousands of miners, all serving you, giving you more resources than you could need, and the more you have, the faster the population will grow! But their uses go beyond that. Reconnaissance, automation, construction, you could even give them weapons to fight other Starblood! This is the edge you want over the others, this would give you power over them."
Jrakn turned away, as if considering. He turned back suddenly. "I'll take your gamble, you crazy fool. Now, about what you wanted of mine."
"Hiskar's head?"
"So it's true then," guessed Jrakn, "That you have a machine to recall other's memories?
Crelgoth thought for a moment, before simply saying, "Yes."
Jrakn smiled triumphantly. "I might have to plunder that one once we kill you."
"I wouldn't be so certain of my demise, if I was in your position."
Jrakn laughed as he approached his ash-black monster. "There are eighteen of us who want to kill you. Eighteen! You're lucky I agreed to warn you!" He pressed his hand flat against the beast"s neck, and what seemed to be a smooth section of neck opened up to reveal a small storage cabinet. From it, he retrieved a Starblood head, coloured like stone and ornately carved, and tossed it the forty meters across the plateau to Crelgoth. Jrakn climbed onto the back of his awe-inspiring beast, and flew off. After watching the mechanical monster disappear over the horizon, Crelgoth walked a lap around his circular, artificial plateau, knowing he had won. Jumping from the cliff and landing comfortably a mile below, he prepared himself for the battle he knew he would have to lose.