The Chronicles Of Bone: Truth

Chapter 2: Intrusions

On his typical trips through the gates summoned by his faithful, he was always greeted by them prostate on the ground with faces full of awe and ecstasy. Seeing his faithful servant rotting on the ground is really bad form to say the least.

His mechanical eyes looked around, piercing through every dimension's and plane's veil in under a millisecond. They then fed the images to his technologically enhanced brain as data in the form of electric impulses, which were interpreted in half that time by his brain's explosive processing power.

He stepped outside the gate, moving with the speed of ten meters per microsecond thanks to his powerful robotic body, making the room around him look like an incredibly realistic painting frozen in its canvas of reality.

One moment the man was absorbing his enemy's life force and the next he was holding only air. He blinked once bringing forth his recent memories. He noticed that before the interruption of his feast, there was a blur in his vision. A skull made of metal, which wore a shining ancient crown and its teeth grinned broadly at him as it snatched the soul from his grasp.

He brought his focus back to the chamber and looked around. His eyes fell almost immediately on the new arrival.

His memory was accurate after all; a humanlike being with robes similar in color and style as the strange mage he had just killed, was standing a few meters away from him. His head was a skull made of metal was adorned with an ancient Elven Crown.

The skull was grinning broadly at him even now. Next to him were floating the remnants of his opponent's soul giving off an aura that the man could only translate as awe. Even with his senses still limited from his long confinement, he could tell right away that there was something divine about this being.

It seemed to radiate a heavy force held in complete control, a force he had felt countless times before in his long life; that of a Demigod's presence. The bizarre Demigod's metallic teeth parted slightly and a flat mechanical voice devoid of any emotion came out.

"I apologize for my interruption of your meal, but this soul you were eating belongs to me."

With that, he opened his palm and a small vortex gate appeared over it. The opening absorbed the soul remains of Ardanis inside and then disappeared. After it was gone, the Demigod turned his attention fully to the man.

"My matrix of Obvious Revelations informs me that you defeated my faithful Metal-Mage. Also, my Speculation Nodes indicate that you were most likely in that sarcophagus along with the precious Soul Metal. But, my Threat Indicator places you at a level just below that of a Demigod. How is it that a God-ling came to be trapped along with such a unique treasure?"

When he received no answer to his question, he realized his mistake and slapped the forehead of his metallic chassis.

"Oh, pardon me, my Obvious Revelations matrix informs me that you are probably as old as this edifice and thusly have no knowledge of the modern languages."

His robotic hand came up, pointing a finger at the man and shot something so fast only the man's eyes could follow. Alas, his body still weakened could not and though he tried to dodge it, the shot penetrated his skin. It stung a bit, but he knew his regeneration would eventually push the shot out.

To his surprise the shot started to writhe and burrow deep in his flesh, heading towards his head. Instinctively he tried to claw it out but his efforts were in vain, as it seemed to detect his fingers and dodge them as they dug deep furrows on his skin.

They reached his head and he was half-sure they were going to poison, explode or just disintegrate his brain when he felt a sharp piercing pain. He brought his hands on the sides of his head, but the pain was gone before the grunt had even escaped his lips.