Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 42: The Mayfly

The AI pod was removed from under the head of the LWM-1000, and brought to Safe Haven's Research and Development platform. We hacked the AI inside of it and went through every single bit of information it had to tell us. It gave us details of Baroz's manipulation of the leaders of both Trident and the Regulars, his pursuit of even more War Machines, and even his plans for the future, which seemed to solely rely on killing a young Guardian named "Finn MacHilles" along with another one named "Nato". Princess Meridia was quick to say that just about everything from Hell and the Abyss was out for both of their heads. What quickly caught my attention was the mention of Baroz's relocation to Valedon. From what I could tell, the city had become more volatile and unstable since Trident captured it, with loyalists and insurrectionists becoming more at each other's throats every day. Enough to potentially cause a small civil war in the city itself. Everyone could very well be killed, just as Baroz intended. I wanted to go to Valedon to stop that from happening, but I had to officially resign from Trident, first. The entire time I had fought for them, it had been while I was under Tereza's control, not my own. Master Avanka sent me through an Alear glyph to Fort Arclight, but I wouldn't get to officially resign here. The entire fortress was destroyed, and an aura of darkness was hanging over it.

"Riley!" I screamed. "Riley!"

I walked around the fortress with my sword drawn, and scanning everywhere I went with my APID. All I found were dead Trident soldiers, and no Regulars. Giant lion-shaped footprints in the snow and spikes sticking out of the ground gave me a clue as to what happened. A manticore, and it was still overhead somewhere. I never felt Riley's light fade, so he wasn't dead, but I had to find him before the manticore got to him.

"Riley!" I called, then I said into my APID, "Fox, I need you here."

"Got it," the Fox acknowledged. "Master, can you...?"

An Alear glyph appeared next to me, and the Fox came through it.

"Woah," he gasped. "What happened?"

"A manticore," I informed. "Listen, there's an officer here that has blonde hair, he's about your height, and his name is 'Riley', okay? He's still alive."

"We'll find him," the Fox promised. "Before the manticore does, hopefully."

We both spread out over the fortress to look for Riley. I looked absolutely everywhere I could, but I couldn't find him anywhere. He must have been in the dungeons where we rescued the Regular POWs. I was about to make my way down there when I heard the Fox through my APID's radio.

"Mayfly, I have someone," he said. "A girl, brown hair. It's not Riley, but she's alive."

"Let's get her back to Safe Haven," I suggested.

"No, I don't think I want to move her," the Fox warned. "She might die if I do."

"Gods," I cursed. I was about to go down to the dungeons when I heard a roar echo through the air, and the darkness hanging over the fortress rushing towards me.

"I'll have to get back to you on that," I said. "Stay with the girl. Do not leave her. I think we can save her."

"Be careful," the Fox wished, and his transmission ended.

The manticore roared again, closer this time. I went to the top of the walls for a better view of the monster. I saw the manticore's lion-shaped body flying towards me with giant bat-like wings, balanced by a long tail with barbs all along it, and a large stinger on the end. I warped back to the ground as it landed on the top of the fortress walls, staring at me through its red, glowing eyes.

"Come on," I challenged.

A roar came from the manticore's jaws, unleashing a wave of force towards me. I was barely staggered by it, but the roar broke my aura shield instantly. I warped away before it could attack again, behind the wreckage of a tank. Once my aura shield recharged, I looked out from behind cover, seeing the manticore jump down from the wall, and rub its nose on the ground, sniffing through the snow. If it stung me, I wouldn't have to worry about dying from its venom because of my mutations, but if it bit me, I would be torn in half. I would have to take it from behind, sever its tail so it couldn't use the stinger itself, then go for its head. I rushed out from cover to charge at it, but the manticore suddenly swung its tail at me, launching several of the barbs at me. I deflected all of them with swings of my blade, then dodged a swing of its tail with a jump over it. Before I landed, I grabbed my sword with my foot and cut its tail off. The demon roared with agony before it bounded forward, whining with pain. It tried to fly into the air, but without its tail to balance it out, it barely made it ten feet off the ground before it fell. I took the chance to rush towards it, but it quickly turned around, swinging its wing, which slammed into me, sending me rolling across the snow. I jumped to my feet before I stopped rolling, then I launched myself forward with an aura blast from my feet. I went into the air, where the manticore couldn't reach, and put my sword in my foot as I came down, stabbing the monster right in between the eyes. I felt its aura of darkness fade as I jumped off its corpse. I twirled my sword to clean the black blood from its blade, and sheathed it.

"What were you saying, Fox?" I asked, through my APID.

"This girl I have is alive, but I can't move her," the Fox informed. "But I have an idea."

"What's that?" I wondered.

"She could survive if her body heals the same way ours do," the Fox suggested.

"You mean... if she was like us," I guessed.

"I'm giving her my blood, and a few of my nanos," the Fox declared. "At least then we can get her to Safe Haven without accidentally killing her. I still have yet to find Riley."

"I'll look for him, Fox," I begged. "Whatever you can do for that girl, save her."

"I will," the Fox promised.

"And I'll find Riley," I declared.

Suddenly, I heard a "click" that could only have been a rifle's chamber, and looked to where it came from to see Lieutenant Riley, leaning against a wall, aiming his assault rifle at me, with blood bleeding from claw marks in his torso. He eventually collapsed, with his eyes closed.

"Riley!" I screamed, rushing to his side. He was bleeding to death, and there wasn't anything I could do to stop it, except for one thing. I took one of my gloves off and slightly drew my sword, then I cut my palm to allow my blood to flow from the cut, and held it over Riley's wounds. He wasn't in as bad of a condition as the girl the Fox had could have been, so his body would mutate faster, and eventually heal.

"Fox, I found him," I reported. "And I gave him my blood to heal him."

"Well, I think the girl I have here is ready for transport," said the Fox. "Let's get back to Safe Haven."