THROUGH THE WOODS and up a dirt road, a lone Vex soldier marches on. Her tattered uniform stained by dirt and yellow blood, her antlers fractured. Her mind lost in thought, fear, pride, shame, and slowly detaching itself from reality. Alone in the woods, armed but unnerved, what good was she to anyone? Ihzen had been dispatched to scout ahead after her unit was wholesale slaughtered in an ambush. Only a handful remained, and they were in too rough shape to go on without aid.
Ihzen's grasp of time and history had waned entirely into a disassociative blur. The Shaludan Empire's civil war was drawing to a close. The Artificer's Guild troops were thinning. The Shaludan Imperial Government had switched sides, from supporting the Artificer's Guild to supporting the Libertine Party. The Artificer's Guild might have near infinite financial resources but no private military company would dare take their money now. Yet still they had cutting edge technology, gear, weapons, and military vehicles. Ihzen had watched first hand as two Artificer's Guild Combat Engineers mowed down three units. So she silently prayed to the Empress under her breath, hoping her involvement would bring the war to an abrupt end.
The Immortal Empress Shal Abaddon. A living god. Ageless, immortal, and infitely as cruel as she was powerful. The Empress herself had not only denounced The Artificer's Guide but now actively fought on the front lines against them. Ihzen prayed that The Empress would avenge her comrades. She knew that the Artificer's Guild would suffer immensely at the Empress's hands. One of The Empress's favorite forms of entertain was called The Imperial Seal. She'd wave her hand and the victim would levitate mid air, their bones would one by one snap, their skin would flay itself, and electricity would start to burn all of their organs as they unwound. They were kept alive throughout the entire affair, their lungs left functioning until the end so The Empress could enjoy their screams. On the battlefield she'd let her enemies plunge swords into her and shoot off chunks of her flesh and skull to give them the sense of false hope. She did this to amplify their dread as she'd pick enemy soldiers up and teared them limb from limb, with a gigantic smile across her face. With the Empress's aid, victory would come soon. So Ihzen prayed and imagined the ambush party's death. They would pay, oh how they would pay.
Paranoia swept through her nervous system. The woods south of the Zhir Sound were still wild. Undeveloped even after eons of Vex inhabitants. Apex predators roamed about. Several times while trying to move in stealth, Ihzen's unit had been set upon by the wilds. Some of the creatures didn't have names yet. From minuscule insects that carried fatal fungi on them, to large nocturnal apex predators. There were even never before contacted tribes of native Vex. Tribes who would headhunt if you got too close to their territory. This land had always been part of The Empire yet was left alone for good reason.
Ihzen attempted a return to reality as some vestige of civilization reappeared. At last a clearing presented itself. Down a slope and at the base of a small, unassuming mountain there a single building untouched among scorched ruins. A small building. A shelter. Ihzen was compelled to acquire it. She would have no choice. To stray this far away from her unit, or what was left of it, was skirting next to desertion. If she did not make contact soon the Honor Guard might issue a death warrant for her. Her fear of being accused of desertion greatly overtook her fear of death.
Ihzen approached the cabin, rifle at the ready. It was located at the basin of a quarry at the mountain's base that had broken through to a cave. This place should have been swarming with Shaludan regular troops. Instead, silence. Not a living being in sight. The breath of the cave greeted her with cold air. It was seeping out from the massive shuttered doors that kept the cave locked like a prison. She imagined there was a large military installation down inside there. Perhaps there were survivors of whatever attack had occurred. The cabin wasn't meant to be a military installation but the war had spilled over to all regions. This spillover meant the militarization of anything that was in the military's path. No stone left unarmored.
Ihzen took in the scene. No corpses. No signs of a fight. The site was just abandoned. She walked down eyeing the cabin pensively, still armed. Nothing. She needed supplies. She needed a place to rest. She needed to get out of the woods. Most importantly she needed to report in or she'd be charged with desertion. It was this or keep marching. She picked up the pace and crossed over to the side of the cabin. Any number of wires and pipes connected it to the cave entrance. It was still sealed tight behind a mechanical entrenchment.
Ihzen banged on the cabin door a few times with the butt of her gun. She heard the mechanical locks unlatch and then approached. The lights were a sickening yellow and the inside was littered with rations. There, near a monitoring panel, stood a Page; the inferior underdeveloped Vex. Ihzen was a good example of a Vex in her prime. Two meters tall, small antlers, sharp eyes, and muscular. She had been drafted into the army per meritocracy requirements. The Pages were those who for whatever reason never developed. They were prepubescent, slim, sterile, and never grew past a meter and a half. They were often modified to be servants and that made them valuable. No doubt someone important had left theirs behind in retreat.
“What happened?” Ihzen barked at the runt.
The Page stared up at her. She had half her head shaven with cranial implants and wires going into something affixed to her back. Her hair an unnatural red, face ravaged by something Ihzen couldn't quite grasp, maybe even age. After a moment of silence the page spoke.
“This site is quarantined until further notice.”
“I need to know what happened here. Answer me with exact details, Page. This is an order from an officer of the Imperial Military. You will comply.”
“No. I'm the acting commander,” The Page pointed to her coat.
On it was a Ministry of Intelligence badge next to her military rank, a commissioned officer.
“...and I'm ordering you to lower your weapon.”
Ihzen did as she was told in spite of her blood boiling at the indignity of it.
“As per your request for information, an excavation team was exploring the cave. The whole place is monitored but out of nowhere.... ”
The Page-Officer walked to a display and spun up the vid cylinder. There, on the projection, were workers. One moment fine, the next grasping at their heads and writhing in agony. The Page-Officer didn't bother making eye contact as she spoke.
“Something arcane, obviously. I called in a freelancer to clear it out. They're still in there. You will resupply them.”
There was no choice. Complying with an officer would clear her of any accusations of desertion. Within a minute of the order, Ihzen had been saddled with several packs worth of gear and shoved through the entrance of the cave so fast she couldn't even fully process it. Ihzen heard the clamor of the shutters slam shut. Alone in the dark, carrying twice her weight in food, armor, explosives, and equipment. She dumped the gear in a Loader and grabbed the controls. Its lights hit the cave walls and the unassuming benign nature of the cave dispelled Ihzen's imagination. It was small, cramped, and already stairs and guard rails had been mounted. All along the ceiling ran wires with sensors. She would be watched and judged. She flipped the auto-walk switch on the Loader and its spider like legs moved it forward at a cautious pace.
Ihzen wondered what might lurk within. No clue, no indication as to what could have happened. It was very unusual for the the Shaludan Military to preform any kind of excavation like this. It wasn't tactically necessary. There was no need for this kind of bunker, especially when going on the offensive. Ihzen had initially assumed it was a preexisting structure, some bunker dating back to another war. But this was something else. It wasn't near any vital trade centers. Whatever was down here, it was worth using resources during wartime.
Ihzen had once been told the thing about darkness is it fills your mind with whatever you fears most. But that wasn't true. She knew that fears of the darkness are quite justified. A person could fall to your death in a cave. In this part of the woods any creature could wonder in here. Large cave dwelling beasts tend to be carnivorous and viciously territorial. The legendary Streh'Ghiinir hunted in packs and enjoyed bringing live prey back to their lair, to teach their offspring how to hunt. The world is filled with painful ways to die and the dark can cleverly conceal all of them.
It was about 20 minutes of venturing forth before a voice cracked through the darkness.
“Leave the junk and get out. Cheap military crap for disposable soldiers, made by the lowest bidder. Now that I say it like that, just take it with you. I don't need any of that mass produced garbage. Except maybe the explosives. Leave those.”
It was a soft voice but still cold as ice. Judging by the accent, this was a true ancient. The Vex may be ageless but only a select few were the definition of immortal. The Empress was one. The voice speaking to Ihzen had that aura of power, even from an off hand comment.
Out of the darkness, a pale pillar of light moved towards her. It was too huge to be a Vex. A Progenitor, the race that came before the Vex were Vex. Some of these were over 3 million years in age. She has silver billowing hair, tall proud antlers, and a ragged white coat. She had fabric wrappings over her light pale armor, daggers bound to wherever she could holster them. She fit in the cave was by elegance alone. Her 'rifle' was a true cannon. It could probably punch a hole in through the cave wall. She held it in her hand and made it look effortless.
“I said get out, idiot. You'll muck this up. I could hear you from a mile away and so can everything else here.” spoke the ancient giantess.
“I can't. I've been ordered to assist you.”
“Useless generation,” muttered the giantess without much emotion. Then something snapped in her and her tone became accusatory.
“You just do whatever you're told? Like a child? No wonder they drafted you. Where are the days of warriors? Gone away to live in ancient dreams. But even back then, a warrior was still a fool.”
“I'm a soldier.”
“You're a puppet. I've seem worms with more spine than you. That Page sent you in here to die, you know? Great officer that one is. No soldier too good to be wasted out of spite.”
The giantess eyed Ihzen up and down. There was a palpable annoyance in her eye. Like some urchin off the street was caught trying to pickpocket her. She seemed half way to backhanding Ihzen's face. The her eyes narrowed.
“Down to business if you're going to stay. What do you know about Unicorns?”
“Nothing.”
The giantess sighed. Her disdain wound down into annoyance. Her tone took on that of someone reciting a nursery rhyme to a child refusing to go to sleep.
“Of course you don't. Here are the rules. The only things you need to know. Don't speak to them. Don't even look them in the eye. And don't ever make a deal with one. Oh, and most importantly, watch out for the claws and teeth,... and the pines on its back. They're all poisonous.”
“Why are you telling me this? I wasn't going to talk to it. You point, I shoot. A soldier's duty.”
The Unicorn Hunter's eyes closed and for a split second it looked like she was about to go to sleep on her feet.
“So you've given up on a near infinite lifespan before it even began? What are you, a hundred? This is your chance to escape. That Page can't stop you if you run for it. What's she going to do, get tripped on? We're right on the border too. A few kilometers south and you're safe. But no, not you. I can already see it in your eyes. So this is it, eh? You want to be useful, you want to be a soldier? I could use some bait. Now march on ahead like the tin wind up toy you are. Orders are orders, after all.”
Ihzen lost it. She exploded at the Vex before her.
“Do you have no loyalty? No origin? No sense of duty? No country to take you in? No one you love and want to protect? No sisters? No mother? Have you outlived everything but your own selfishness?! I became a soldier to reunite this empire! I became a soldier to start my life! To toughen me up for what lays ahead! This is how we sort the wheat from the chaff, elder one! I am afraid, yes, I am very afraid! What I fear most is my loyalty being questioned. So congratulations, you can pull my strings. If you think I'm a child then you must be so proud of yourself for picking on children, you miserable old hag! I'd be happy to die here rather than become like you! If this is what an endless life makes you, I'll choose death!”
The Hunter said nothing. After a moment she gestured forward and together they marched in a hateful silence.
The minutes seem to stretch out much like the cave itself. The cave system seemed to have marks and carvings from previous attempts to explore it. It was hard to tell how old they were. The Vex have had mechanized technology throughout the majority of their species history. Sometimes a minor extinction event or societal collapse would plunge them into a dark age but the ability bore into rock and build metal structures was never lost. Ihzen couldn't escape the thoughts that a more learned Vex would be asking the Vex myriads older than her questions about pre-imperial history. Almost all of it was lost to the ages for a variety of reasons. The main one being that Vex often outlive their own memories. Something world shattering someone swore they'd never forget would inventively be forgotten. Most written records seem to only date back as far as 7,000 years ago, give or take. Fragments survived. Tales of the Mountain Eater civilization. The last Great Extinction event. How much of it was discarded because it had become inconvenient? How much was simply never written down to begin with?
To be continued in part 2
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