75: The Warden
Eris was able to walk, at least.
She was definitely sore, even after Bailey nicely tore off the entire lower half of her shirt to leave the blonde in little more than a button-up crop-top. All that leftover fabric was then bunched up and gently placed in Eris’s panties to help provide some extra cushioning and support. It made waddling around a little bit less comfortable and would have probably looked like Eris were trying to hide a diaper if her pants hadn’t already been bulging with overstuffed pockets, but it definitely helped to keep things from rubbing too much and causing genuine pain.
Eris could see the way that Elmas was pointedly looking away at all times, even keeping her gaze to the floor in obvious shame. After all, she had technically been one of the ones that did this to Eris- even if it had been someone else controlling her body. Unfortunately, that left a sour pit in Eris’s stomach, with some of it even being disgusted by herself. She knew that Elmas had zero control over what happened. She knew that Elmas and Bailey weren’t actually the ones that violated her. She knew that it wasn’t fair to blame them.
And yet, Eris couldn’t bring herself to look either of them in the eye. The same eyes that stared with lustful fanaticism, drinking of her body while hands groped and her flesh used.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t fucking fair.
Fuck, Eris! If you’re going to brush off what just happened to you as no big deal, you don’t get to blame them. If you’re going to see Bailey and Elmas as monsters, then you don’t get to play tough-girl and act like nothing happened. Pick a gods-damned side, you coward!
Eris grit her teeth and kept pace- one foot in front of the other. Her eyes were trained in the direction of the ocean, where even from this distance Eris could see commotion. People were rushing around into pre-determined positions, which was a slightly more eloquent way of saying that they were running for safety.
As Eris got closer, she watched an older gentleman disappear into a wooden bunker-like hut that had been constructed a few hundred feet away from the beach. Well, ‘beach’ was a generous word. Eris had never actually been to one, but any stories or paintings always showed sun, sand, and gentle waves and pleasant breezes. This wasn’t that.
The stone under Eris’s feet gently sloped downwards at an extremely shallow angle- dipping just below the surface of still and cold water. However, Eris knew that the ‘shore’ extended for no more than fifteen feet before the rocky shelf ended completely in a cliff so sharp it turned back inwards to open up into an oceanus cavern beneath their feet. The only light was from the Lightstone lanterns hung up on posts around, and from the pockets of it still embedded into the cavern ceiling that also served as the far wall across a watery opening about a hundred feet across.
Eris also took note that all of the lanterns that had been hung up on the scaffolding established for the trap had been taken down- leaving all of that manufactured structure shrouded in shadows and darkness. Eris had no idea how a creature made of metal could perceive the world, but if there was any chance that keeping things dark made it harder for it to see the trap it was climbing up into, there were no arguments against taking away the light. As for what that metal being was climbing in the first place, Eris could only hope it would continue to hold. After all, the winch was completely ripped out of the ground.
The primary winch- which Eris modified from its normal use for lowering and retrieving colossal fishing nets- had only the end of the chain wrapped around it. Actually, that wasn’t the right way to describe it. The very end of the chain was partially buried and bolted for good measure, embedded directly into the stone floor for over a dozen feet of the large links. The rest of it had then been wound around the primary winch that served as a pseudo-pulley system to lower the chain into the ocean in a controlled manner and even pull it back up if need be.
That entire winch assembly was several feet from where it was supposed to be, partially crushed, and completely worthless underneath the chain that was fully unraveled and held taught against the rocky floor. In fact, only about half of the winch was left in that crushed bundle. The rest of it was scattered in a hundred pieces across the stone floors. An elegant, feminine voice that made Eris wince chirped up from the side.
“It was lowering completely fine,” Pravala said- eyeing the way that Eris stared at the destroyed winch. “Then the Warden grabbed the chain.”
“How do you know it was the Warden?” Bailey asked, the disdain in her voice barely held back.
Pravala narrowed her gaze. “Because it pulled down on the chain with so much force that it shattered the pulley system on the winch and unravelled the entire chain, which in turn flung the winch twenty feet that way, that way, and that way. The biggest fish we’ve ever caught from this ocean is the size of a goat- and certainly nothing that would do that.”
Eris gritted her teeth. “Is anyone hurt?”
Pravala hesitated, then flared her nostrils with a decisive breath. “Rannir, the one lowering the chain, broke his arm when the winch shattered. Other than him, no injuries, and he’s being treated in that bunker.”
Eris thought briefly back to the end of their most recent… encounter, where Pravala was suddenly clutching her arm. More than anything, that was the confirmation Eris needed to know Pravala felt everything. Eris looked at where the chain was pulled incredibly taught across the rock- slowly dipping into the dark water. Ripples were expanding out from the metal in lurches, making it obvious.
Something was climbing the chain, and it was big.
Eris swallowed. “How long do you think we have?”
Pravala grimaced. “About a quarter of the chain was left before the winch was destroyed, so the bottom was fifteen thousand feet down. Other than that, I have no idea.”
Leyla looked down at the chain, rattling in place and straining against the reinforcement bolts holding it into the floor. “It’s moving quickly.”
Bailey nodded, even crouching to touch a tentative finger to the chain practically humming like a tuning fork. “Yeah, that thing is hauling ass. It’s got a big distance to go, but at that speed I wouldn’t bet on anything more than a couple of minutes.”
“Okay, this is happening. It’s happening…” Eris let out a shaky breath, then glanced to the Summoner with a sour feeling in her chest. “Is everything ready? Everyone in position?”
Pravala remained quiet for a number of seconds, seeming to stare off into space. Then, her eyes refocused.
“I had already informed everyone that it was starting, and everyone appears to be where they need to be now. A hundred in the bunker, waiting for the Warden to be trapped before coming back out and being my eyes. Except for Rannir, that is. A team of twelve has retrieved both the Ichryte carts and the Altar, and are wheeling them over here. Everyone else is starting to go towards the central courtyard to gather there and wait.”
Eris’s brow furrowed. “Weren’t they supposed to be waiting over in the castle, then come back out only when the Warden was dumped back in the ocean?”
Pravala gave a wicked grin. “Yes, but then I realized how stupid that was. If something goes wrong, they wouldn’t be safe over there anyway. Furthermore, it means that all of them are much, much closer if I ever need a few more bodies to aid me, or to keep an eye on the Warden.”
Eris’s eye twitched. Pravala was changing the plan. Obviously, she was preparing just in case Eris tried to do something unexpected. It was clear that neither of the Echoes trusted the other, and Pravala had the clear advantage because the Summoner knew exactly what all of Eris’s skills were. All Eris had was Pravala’s word that she was being truthful about what she could do, and that had also been proven to be half-truths at best.
However, Pravala couldn’t know that Eris was indeed planning something- merely a suspicion at best. Furthermore, the woman would also have no clear idea of what Eris was even planning in the first place. That was Eris’s advantage. Although her plan had to go right for the most part, her foe would have to try and guess every step of the way. This first step, the woman clearly guessed wrong. After all, having even more people nearby might just make this plan easier.
“Fine,” Eris said, faking a tense sigh. “Just as long as they don’t get in the wa-”
Naturally, it was that moment when the ocean exploded.
Eris’s sentence was cut short by the surge of water erupting from the shore along with shattered rock as the edge of the rocky cliff just under the water was demolished wherever it may have clipped part of the emerging creature. Not that Eris could properly focus on what it looked like, since she flinched so hard that she slipped on the smooth floors and fell hard on her shoulder. At least her own pathetic, panicked scream of surprise was drowned out by Bailey’s much louder and much more eloquent shock-response.
“FUCK!!!”
All of them scrambled back, both Bailey and Elmas quickly helping Eris to her feet as it seemed like the ocean itself had slammed its fist up onto the shore. It was too hard to make out any proper details- it was just a shower of water surrounding a dark shape that surged forward- directly towards Eris, Bailey, Elmas, and Pravala. The speed was immense- so much so that it was a blur in Eris’s vision. Of course, that went for both the creature and the trap it triggered.
One leg stretching forward a bit too far- that was all that was needed. Then, the hair-thin length of twine stretched across the entire shoreline snapped. Even though Eris had personally set all of it up over the last week and a half, all the mechanisms went off so incredibly quickly that she couldn’t quite comprehend what just happened. It should have been a tripwire snapping and releasing tension held in springs and pulleys, then travelling up the scaffolding to the secondary triggers where other high-tension springs were ready to release a different payload. It was hundreds of parts in a complex, massive system that all needed to work together in absolutely perfect unison for it to work properly and deploy fast enough.
It was nothing like that.
In fact, it almost seemed as if the very presence of the Warden had been enough to set off all the releases in the top scaffolding instead of relying on the tripwire and that tension shooting up the system- it was that fast. One moment, a giant metal leg was touching the tripwire. Before the snapped string even had the opportunity to pull back from the weight it was holding back, the roof of the cavern was already falling down- even seeming to glide through the air a tiny bit so it could drop even more perfectly on top of the Warden.
Except it wasn’t the roof of the cavern- it was a huge, thick, iron net made of heavy chains.
The sound that rang out was like a thousand hammers striking the world’s largest anvil, followed immediately by the world’s largest flint and steel being struck. Eris, Bailey, Elmas, and the witch all stumbled backwards as the entire rear half of the net dragged forward across the rocky ground- chipping up stone and sending enough sparks flying in their direction to light a wildfire. Meanwhile, two boulders the size of train cars teetered down- toppling away from where they leaned vertically against the cavern wall- each attached to a rope at the tip. As those two counterweights fell, the iron net almost seemed to glide perfectly underneath each of the Warden’s legs in a blur of motion and sparks, ultimately being tugged back up as if to scoop the metal being into a bag.
“Pravala!” Eris almost forgot to signal the woman. Thankfully, the Summoner was already in action- knowing her part perfectly well. In a single instant, the woman standing centered on the shore to act as the bait vanished in a cloud of grey smoke. By the time Eris’s eyes flicked over to the other end of the beach where she should have appeared, Pravala was already there, standing beside a second winch and furiously cranking.
Normally, trying to cinch shut a rope holding a chain net this large would have taken no small amount of time, and putting a high enough gear ratio into the pulley system to close it fast enough would have added so much resistance that the winch would have been impossible to even turn.
Not for an Artificer that had a crafting skill multiplied dozens of times in power. A six-hundred-to-one gear ratio seemed nearly as effortless as winding a pocketwatch as Pravala cranked the winch as fast as she could. Metal groaned as loud as thunder while the Warden strained against the net to break free before the opening closed fully. It was deafening- a hideous screeching of grinding materials that almost made Eris want to rip her own ears off to get it to stop. It was so loud that it-
Everything went quiet.
Eris tentatively removed her hands from her ears and stared at the bound mass now remaining perfectly still. So did Elmas and Bailey. The lack of sound also let Eris clearly hear dozens and dozens of footsteps charging out of the bunker just off to the side as a hundred people ran out to their posts for more of Pravala’s eyes. The Summoner herself kept her own gaze firmly affixed on the trap for many moments- with both hands holding the crank of the winch in place. Only after every single person got into place around the bound beast did Pravala tentatively turn her own eyes away.
Exactly as they tested, the additional sin effects of the rope cinching the net shut continued to work. Eris didn’t need to Inspect it- she had it memorized. Lust made the rope more effective at restraining targets not wearing clothing, and Envy made it so that while a target was restrained by the rope and the captor could see them, the target was unable to move. Both of those most definitely seemed to be applying to the Warden, but again Eris resigned from trying to take a proper look. Instead, she was rushing towards that second winch.
“Let me lock it in place,” Eris said decisively.
“No, I can handle it,” Pravala spoke with smug confidence. However, it made Eris’s chest clench.
“You don’t know how it locks, I can secure it-”
“I will lock it.” Pravala spoke with cold authority that made Eris stop in her tracks and stare in panic. Many thoughts raced through her mind, though Eris was ultimately forced to bite her tongue. After all, if she tried to bring too much attention to the intricate locking mechanism built into the winch to keep the gears from spinning, it would raise suspicion. Though, that suspicion was clearly there already since Pravala was insisting on locking it herself instead of letting Eris do it.
Even worse, Pravala completely ignored the lever that would insert a metal rod into precisely-lined-up holes in the gears to lock them together. A lever that was specifically sabotaged to fail if any reverse force was applied to the winch from the rope being pulled.
Instead, a long, thick bar of black metal materialized in Pravala’s grip and was subsequently jammed down into the center of the gear assembly. It was followed by another, slightly smaller bar, then another, and another, and then a fifth as Pravala completely wedged the entire internal structure of the winch. She gave an experimental tug to the handle of the crank, which didn’t budge a millimeter. Doing the same to the rope coming out of the other end proved just as stable. With the winch effectively glued, Pravala turned to face Eris with a grin.
“There. We wouldn’t want that to come loose now, would we?”
Eris tried not to show that she was gritting her teeth. “No. No we wouldn’t.”
“Good.” Pravala let out a terse breath, then fixed her gaze back onto the mass held within the iron net. “Because that thing is absolutely filthy, and I’d hate for it to get free and make a mess.”
Now, Eris finally let herself take a proper look over the restrained, paralyzed Warden. She had a decent idea of what it looked like thanks to her little trip into Pravala’s memories a number of days ago, but it still left Eris unsettled.
It was the size of a small house- a spherical mass with six long, spindly protrusions that were folded in and pressed into its own body. Unlike during Pravala’s memories, there was no gleaming of metal, no runes carved into the body, and no razor-sharp claw feet on the six legs. Well, there probably was, but all of it was completely buried under what may have been a shell almost three feet thick at the thinnest sections.
Eris wasn’t able to tell if the mass covering every inch of the Warden’s body was some kind of rust, mud, bone, coral, rotted kelp, or a mixture of all of it. No matter what it was, it was disgusting, misshapen, hardened lumps of congealed matter clinging to its body like organic armor. In fact, now that the Warden was completely still, it looked like nothing more than a giant chunk carved right from the ocean floor. If Eris hadn’t seen it erupt from the water with her own eyes, she might not have believed that this wasn’t anything more than a big-ass rock.
“The Warden…” Eris breathed.
Pravala huffed while walking back towards the three girls still standing on the stony beach. “Mind telling me what the damned thing’s even supposed to do?”
The redhead narrowed her eyes, though Elmas was the one to speak. “You don’t know?”
Pravala shook her head. “Not a clue- other than it reacted violently whenever I thought about trying to escape. I can’t Inspect it.”
“Just like with most creations from the old Artificers…” Bailey mumbled.
“Obfuscation” Eris sighed. “More and more, it seems the only people that can see through what an Artificer displays for a creation is another Artificer.”
Pravala stopped, took one last glance at the ocean-encrusted being held within the net, then made a dramatic show of stepping off to the side and extending one arm in a sweeping invitation like she were introducing Eris at a fancy party. “Be my guest.”
Eris clenched her jaw and turned her eyes to the Warden.
Control Trap: Alda 3
Durability: 82%
A perfected imitation of life, driven by a single purpose of restraining a higher power. Created by Balzonest Exxinter and Ihxal Wb’bami. Made from iron, steel, cadell vigso, blood from Balzonest Exxinter, and the soul of a grizzly bear.
Additional effect: Restraining Order
The first time an Echo bound to Alda, The Promise, enters the territory that Control Trap: Alda 3 has been set to guard, that creature becomes marked indefinitely as an ‘Anchor’. Once an Anchor has been designated by Control Trap: Alda 3, it cannot be changed, nor can Control Trap: Alda 3 mark a different creature as its Anchor. Control Trap: Alda 3 will do whatever possible to ensure that the Anchor will never leave the guarded location.
Additional effect: Guardian Protocol
While a creature is marked as an Anchor, Control Trap: Alda 3 cannot kill the Anchor or take action that would result in the Anchor’s death. Additionally, Control Trap: Alda 3 will ensure the safety and survival of its Anchor at all costs.
Additional effect: Tether Essence
While an Anchor is alive and remains in their designated prison realm, Control Trap: Alda 3 binds the Anchor’s magical essence to the Abstract of Eternity.
Eris blinked. “Well… that’s certainly something.”