Book 6. Chapter 24: Chasing after embers
Light swirled. Expanded. Then reality returned to focus.
Teneric felt his boots touch ground, flattening the silver flowers under him. He took a breath, centered his mind, and opened his eyes.
His HUD remained fixed with the same information he’d read earlier. Flatline vital signals on all of his fireteam, with exception to Drakonis. Killed in action, dismemberment, critical armor failure, again and again for every one of his team.
In a matter of minutes, an entire army of Deathless had been beaten at their prime. Annihilated. Without even scoring a single counter-kill against the enemy.
“What the fuck was that?” Drakonis hissed at his side, kicking his helmet with a vicious punt. The thing hadn’t even fully rematerialized, blue motes of occult still reconstructing the gear. “Goddesses golden fucking tits on a priest. Surface knights are already rare, and now we run into a fucking army of them - and they're all Deathless?!”
Teneric didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Even the Feathers he’d fought deep underground didn’t methodically wipe out a smaller team of Deathless that quickly. The metal monsters didn’t operate in teams as large as the surface clan he’d fought just now, but they were near the same level as far as his instincts screamed at him.
He replayed the fight in his mind, studying the differences in strength.
The second in command - he’d moved as quick as a Feather would. There was something about him that made Teneric’s gut roil. It was worse than fighting a Feather - they had ego’s and would often take breaks in a fight to monologue or wax poetry about their powers and superiority. This one fought with all the skill and strength of a feather without any of their weaknesses.
It was odd, the feeling of relief and frustrating at the same time. Here were Deathless that could stand and challenge the machine empire. Not simply follow through with smaller missions to harass and destroy key infrastructure - but actually break a hole through the very heart of the empire. Deathless of a caliber the world needed.