The Worldeater Saga, Part XXXIX: Copper and Indigo
On the five-hundred-and-ninety-fifth day of the Creators’ Monomachy, strange noises lifted up from the depths of the Manufactory known only as ‘Dia’varr’ by the locals of the Red Quarter. Though quietude reigned after their short-lived clamour, Sapience’s curious adventurers found themselves drawn to the location to inspect its breathtaking machinery for any changes or signs of interference. What they found, however, was a mechanical being familiar to many but strange to others: Copperhead of the Third Spoke, self-proclaimed emissary of the Kalchos Centrifuge.
The rustless Cogger called out for Iesid Mulariad, its foremost Sapient asset acquired during its last confluential expedition, stating that his attendance was considered ‘mandatory’. After realising that this summons would not be obeyed, Copperhead rapidly pivoted to a new plan that soon resulted in the reclassification of another Sapient individual: Legyn, the current Architect of the Archivium. No longer considering the man a traitor so as to expedite the process of its new assignment, Kalchos’ emissary insisted that Sapience as a whole should be audience to the work that the centrifuge would soon enact. Declaring temporary-asset Legyn as its translator, Copperhead informed the gathering crowd that several thousand cycles would need to pass before the dissemination of crucial information from the Kalchos thinking machine and then promptly descended into a low power state to await the moment when ‘the when would be the now’.
Though many Sapient adventurers were as confused as they were curious, they swore to come back in a week’s time to behold the mysteries beyond the northern border of the manufacturing plant and then dispersed.
Then, upon the five-hundred-and-ninety-ninth day of the furious duel within heavenspace, the Nightmare sought to further Her plans before the coming of Kalchos’ revelation. After handing orders down to Her Oracle, Omei met her trusted vassal atop the Great Rock and set forth to bind yet another Astral sphere to the Prime Material. Though Sekeres prepared an extensive, esoteric ritual in honour of an ancient cult now enjoined to the Imago’s purpose, she was not without interruptions. Before the ritual magic could carry out in full, Legyn – chosen of Chakrasul – swiftly leapt into the middle of things and attempted to end the Oracle’s life.
Though more of Omei’s courtiers were summoned to guard the ritual and ward him off, a battle swiftly unfolded. Joined by the renegade Akkari known as Amyie and adherent-hopeful Kiershu, Chakrasul’s servants attacked again and again in hopes of interrupting whatever machinations the Nightmare had in store. Omei’s own followers held fast and put up a valiant defense that only unraveled at the final moments of the ritual, though it seemed such success came at a price: in the chaos, a mysterious third party had interfered with the magical runes sketched out by Sekeres, ensuring a change in the fateful circuitry of her intent. Wasting no time, Omei dispersed Herself to the Astral Realm and carried out the final steps to bind the sphere – a process that left Her far more frustrated than triumphal.
Even as whispered speculation took to dark winds, the Kalchos Centrifuge ceaselessly calculated the odds of several events…
Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 7th of Arios, in the year 513 MA.
