The cold air got colder and she could hear the shambling Thrall racing in their direction as their feet scratched distant floors. The Hunter threw some totem or fetish behind them. Ihzen didn't have time to see the object in question but could guess it created some kind of barrier or ward. It was clear they had very little time left. They began racing forward into the darkness. Just around the bend, the ceilings expanded upwards, the temperature dropped a good 10 degrees, and noises greeted them from all around. There, in an extraordinarily large chamber, was a lake. It went on as far as the eye could see. A dock had been built and at some point boats were loaded. Those boats stood motionless in that perfect serene water that possessed no currents. A thin layer forest covered the cave floor it was so frigid.
At this dock lay a creature. It was pale white. It had more spider-like claws than eyes could count. The body was almost emaciated. Spikes lined its back, thin like tall grass. Its eyes were as dark as the abyss and its crooked, barbwire phallic horn gleamed jet black. A true horror infected Ihzen. It was kneading at a pile of corpses like a pet kneads at a carpet. Its tendril fingers flinging in and out of the bodies. The mass writhed in a state of undeath. If they could scream, it felt as though the sound would be sucked into the gaping maw of the beast. It fed on their pain. And with a jolt of pure ice that sliced through her heart, she felt its attention turn towards them.
In its eyes, a thousand memories and words rushed into Ihzen's mind. Countless nightmares and utterance. She saw the last male Proto-Vex on his death bed, millions upon millions of years ago, cursing all his daughters and raging at them. They sobbed at his anger and recorded none of his words. She a saw large metallic plane centered in the void that disobeyed the laws of physics. Its inhabitants were lead by a vicious looking Vex who eyed the multiverse greedily, Ihzen's own world in her sights. She saw the Empress at the gates of a tower, honor guard to an crowned figure, and beside her stood a unnamed twin. She saw the terrible cost The Black Flame had paid to ascend to Godhood. How many people she killed to achieve it. She saw the Huntress in the armor of the Head Hunters of Seunalla. Ihzen saw the Hunter's life in all its most horrible moments. She saw the awful truth of the Hunter's daughters. She saw the Hunter make a deal with the last true unicorn before betraying it. She saw that her hundred daughters were not Vex. Each one was a disgusting hybrid of Vex and Unicorn. Ihzen saw that she had birthed each of the Unicorns she had hunted. They were her hundred children. Each one was truly her child. Worst of all, she did not merely aim to kill all of her children. She had devoured them, ripping their flesh apart and eating them bite by bite... alive.
A voice stood out amongst the madness. It whispered into Ihzen's thoughts, 'She is our mother, she will devour us all, she will betray..'
Ihzen felt a hand grab her and she flew through the air. Ihzen braced for clawing death at the maw of the unicorn. Instead she hit the icy carven floor hard and tumbled over herself several times. Her nose was broken and bleeding, her hand had boxer's fractures from trying to stop the tumbling. Her ears felt pain as the cannon boomed. She realized she had been tossed back at the entrance and not towards the creature, with great relief. As she spun on the ground she caught a glimpse of the beast. A chunk of the Unicorn's neck blew to bits, smoke everywhere, and blood splattered about. Its spinal chord was intact but the beast's throat was open and gushing blood. It couldn't move. The Hunter must have broken the sound barrier with how fast she reached it. She hurdled daggers in all its joints and eyes. With a swift motion she reloaded the massive rifle, placed it dead against the beast's head, and sent gore across the cavern floor.
The beast began to try to edge itself into the water. It was making a retreat at a snails pace but there was no stopping The Hunter.
“Throw all the explosives on it now!!!”
Ihzen picked herself up, staggered as best she could towards it while rummaging through her packs. Her broken hands looked for a remote detonator for the explosives. The closer she got, the more pain she felt. It seemed to amplify everything horrible about her own body. Her muscles ached more, the broken bones seem to get worse. The tendons and ligaments in her knees started to atrophy as though she had been bed ridden for month. She grasped the detonator's switch and tossed the bag with the explosives right on the thing. The Hunter wrapped the bag around the horn, doing as best she could to never touch the horn directly. Ihzen began to fear there was no retreat. This was it. End of the line.
The that same hand that had thrown her grabbed Ihzen and dragged her out. She was being hauled by The Hunter like a sack. The Hunter broke through her barrier, and kicked through the Thralls with ease. She raced as fast as she could. Ihzen kept wondering when The Hunter would let go. When she'd be left behind. Then the sounds of nature greeted them. They made the distance to the entrance in a fraction of the time it took to find the lake. They Hunter screamed at the Page-Officer to open the door but the Page-Officer refused. The Hunter was banging on the shuttered door with the butt of her cannon. There was no time left to wait, Ihzen had to make the hard call. Sacrificing herself to complete the mission. Ihzen flipped the switch and the wall of flame and sound slammed against them. Her ears rang. Everything hurt. The shockwave hit them like a wall of bricks. Ihzen faded in and out of consciousness.
In the darkness Ihzen thought they'd be left for dead. The Hunter began to perform some ritual. The door began to waver and quake. At last the door opened. They bolted outside and the door slammed shut behind them.
“Is it dead?” asked Ihzen.
“No.” The Unicorn Hunter lamented. “Maybe it will be pinned down there. Maybe. This was the best scenario given the enclosure and what I was being paid. The job was just to stop it from escaping.”
The Hunter then raised her voice so the Page-Officer could hear.
“Job done, you cheap little half Vex. Your ministry is always doing things half baked to save some Bank Notes. Its no wonder you didn't think any of this through. Pff! The gall of trying to double cross me. Like that wee bit of metal would keep me in.”
The Page-Officer stepped outside and The Hunter made a gesture. The Page went rigid. The Hunter approached and places her fingers on some the wires connecting to The Page's head.
“My fee has just quadrupled. Not just for betraying me but also for my silence. You were the one who wasted soldiers trying to find it. Quadruple. Pay. NOW!”
The Page was released from whatever enchantment had kept her locked. She hurriedly produced a slip of paper, signed it, and The Hunter pocketed it. The Hunter than shoved the Page to ground absent-mindedly and began to stalk the perimeter of the entrance.
The Page-Officer picked her self up and then began berate Ihzen for about a half hour. Punching down seemed to be the order of the day. Ihzen's mind was still transfixed on the black soulless eyes of the Unicorn. The Page went on about dereliction of duty, possible desertion charges, and conduct unbecoming. It all fell on deaf ears. How could Ihzen take this miserable Vex seriously after all that had transpired? After all she had seen in those black eyes? Who was this tiny creature before her compared to the gigantic Hunter?
The Hunter herself looked far more haggard in the light. She was immortal but not youthful. She was muttering an incantation in preparation of a complex spell she would use to seal the cave. The Page finally gave up her tirade and returned to the cabin. She emerged several minutes later with a small rifle and a pack. The Page marched off into the woods but not before giving Ihzen one final order.
The Hunter took a few moments to finish enchanting the entrance. She made an off hand comment about going the length of the cave to enchant other exits as well, that she'd call for reinforcements once that was done.
Before leaving, The Hunter looked Ihzen dead in the eye.
“You're a not a soldier. You don't have the knack. If I were you, I'd make a run for it. Now's your chance.”
“Do you have any idea what they do to deserters? I might as well shoot myself than face that. I'm not going to betray my country. I will not betray my Empress.” Ihzen said tersely.
“If you're smart you'll live. If you're really smart you'll thrive outside The Empire. But if you stay here, all that will happen is another one of those power hungry little shits will throw you back into the fire. All this waste and death over a pitiful chance to make a wish. Wanna know why the unicorn wouldn't grant the Page any? Why she gave up and had to cover this whole affair up? Because they only make deals with Vex who are powerful enough to have something they want. It's a deal, not a wish. You have to trade something. So she traded Vex and got nothing. That's war, that's this empire in a nutshell. They're gonna trade your life in for nothing. And that unicorn? It will remember you. Oh yes, you better run sometime in the next century before it gets out. Because it won't come for you directly. It's gonna have someone or something else hunt you down for it. Sleep with one eye open, child. They never forget anything.”
The Hunter paused for a moment. Trying to find the right words.
“It showed you only what you needed to see to break you. Not the truth, just what it would take to break you. Every time I fight one, I see...”
“Your daughters,” said Ihzen.
The Hunter stopped suddenly. She opened her mouth to speak and nothing came out. She gave Ihzen one last look. The look you give a child who won a tantrum and was going to now get themselves hurt. With that, she slowly walked away to begin her new task.
Ihzen didn't know what to do with herself. The Page-Officer gave her an order to stay and guard the facility. She did. In silence. Alone in that cabin. As far as she knew no relief was ever sent. She could see the inside of the cave through the vid cylinders. Some of them still worked and others had been blown to bits. The ones that did work revealed little beyond cave insects. Eventually they all stopped functioning. After some time Ihzen realized why she saw nothing. It had all collapsed. Rubble. But it didn't feel like nothing. She couldn't sleep at night. She knew it was still down there. Pinned, exploded, guts strewn across the cave floor. Still it was there. Exerting its influence. Calling out. The enchantments may protect her but for how long? Vex are ageless. She could be stuck here... forever.
Her mind mulled over the vision the unicorn has shown her. Some meant nothing to her. A dying male Vex from a time before written history that no one was around for might as well have been a fever dream. The visions of the metal platform floating in the void did make her question just how far some of the Vex's past empires had truly reached. The question of who was the Empress an honor guard for in a previous era stuck in her mind. Who was her sister? Why is there no mention of that sister? Did she die? Did she have as much power? The only other Vex she could think of that matched the Empress was senator Archon. Were they related? The thoughts of The Black Flame's ascent to godhood made Ihzen's stomach churn. And that of Ehlnara, devouring her children. Is this the fate all Vex have in store for them? That should they live long enough they will become and birth monsters? Did she really want to live long enough to find out? What about after the Empire falls, if it falls. What would she do? Who would she be?
After a month with no contact it was clear that she had no choice. She would have been written off as a deserter by now. The visions never ceased. The questions never stopped. The woods were too dark. The noises kept her up at night. The clawing at the walls, the howling, the sounds of pack hunters circling the cabin at night. The forest was out to eat her alive. Everything she held dear was taken away from her. No one was coming. There was no where to go. The visions got worse. There was only one thing left to do. Ihzen steadied her resolve. She focused. She took out her rifle. She placed her head above the barrel and gripped the trigger. It was surprisingly easy to muster the strength to kill herself.
A unit of regulars found her body several months after the war had ended. It was already half mummified. Skin leathered and pressed tight against the bones. The purification had long passed. Now the cabin smelled of nothing but leather and dust. The regulars had been sent out on what was being called a clean up assignment. They were not informed as to why they were required to fill in the basin, bury it under as much concrete as they could muster. Only that it was to be done. Within that cabin, next to the body was a note by the controls to the cave entrance. The switches had been welded together and the wires cut. The note simply read 'bury me far from here or burn my body.' They did neither.
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