Chapter 7: The Price of Obedience

  “It’s been how many days now, and I still can’t believe I’m not waking up surrounded by fog or going to sleep listening to screaming!”

  Shryke’s mood had been significantly improved over the few days they had been out of the fog. Much like themselves, it seemed as though the spirit that had once been dampened was slowly emerging through its own fog to come rest in the light. Frelka couldn’t help but smile and relish the sliver of success he had been able to salvage from his initial failure. I’ve at least changed the life of one person, he thought to himself.

  His mind immediately flickered to Stitch and the other Holy Nation outlaws in Mongrel. Well, I suppose not the only life, he conceded.

  He was opening his mouth to respond when the coarse ground underneath turned smooth. “What the…?” he blurted.

  They all froze as the others stepped onto the same smooth ground. Frelka slowly moved his boot around, tapping occasionally. “It’s metal,” he said after a few moments. “Smooth metal. How is this possible?”

  “I have no idea,” Shryke answered, her voice a mixture of reverence and fear.

  “Beep, where are we? Beep?”

  They both looked at Beep, who was trembling in place, staring ahead of them.

  “What is it, Beep?” Shryke asked, placing her hand on his shoulder. When he didn’t respond, she followed his gaze, and a small scream escaped her lips.

  Frelka followed suit, and he felt goosebumps form as he looked at what had frozen the others in fear.

  Large metal structures jutted from the ground in front of them. Giant scaffolds scraped the sky, tilted and destroyed after who knows how long, their original function long abandoned and forgotten.

  As he looked at the different abandoned buildings, he saw another sight that made him feel like a cold, metal hand had grabbed him by the spine. A giant mechanical hand and arm, the size of the buildings around them, reached upward from the ground as though reaching toward the sky for help. It was similar to the prosthetics they used now but much more advanced–and on a much larger scale.

  They all stood in fear and awe until finally Frelka recovered. “Where are we?”

  “Beep does not know,” Beep finally responded.

  “Pull out the map,” Shryke added, her voice still dazed. “Maybe we can figure out how to get out of here.”

  “Oh,” Beep chirped, “right. Yes. The map. Beep has the map.”

  He quickly pulled his black pack off and began rummaging around frantically before pulling out a folded-up piece of paper.

  “Here it is,” he exclaimed, his relief evident.

  He unfolded the map and began studying it. It wasn’t the best map, but it had a few locations outlined and some cities marked. And it was certainly better than a brand-new blank map–or no map at all. Still, Frelka and Shryke had had no desire to try their hand at cartography, and since Beep had become their de facto scout–though they admittedly hadn’t utilized him in that capacity yet–it still made the most sense that he’d be the one to keep hold of the thing. However, Frelka feared Beep often forgot to fill in things they had found.

  For the next several minutes, Beep would look up from the map and stare at the horizon around them. Frelka and Shryke took that time to recollect themselves, though Frelka noticed they all stood much closer together than they had a few minutes prior.

  Finally, Beep put his finger on a fogged, rounded area north of where they had marked Mongrel and the delineation of where the merchant in Mongrel had outlined the Foglands. “It appears we are likely in an area called ‘Obedience.’”

  “Obedience?” Shryke echoed.

  “At least, that’s what seems most likely. We’ve kept mostly north since exiting the Foglands. Unless we forgot which way is north, that’s where we should be.”

  “That’s certainly an ominous name,” Shryke commented.

  “Indeed,” Frelka added. “And Beep, you don’t know anything about this area?”

  Beep shook his head.

  “Well, what’s the fastest way out of here?” Frelka asked. “Should we continue north?”

  Beep shrugged. “I’m not sure. Straight north would just lead us to mountains… and require us to spend much more time in Obedience. To our east is Holy Nation land,” he said, tracing the outline of the Holy Nation Empire that Stitch–who had helped them fill out more of the map after they bought it–had drawn for them. “Which leaves the Purple Sands to the northwest, or the Floodlands to the northeast.

  “Based on what Stitch told us, we should probably head through the Floodlands and begin heading northeast.”

  Frelka and Shryke looked at each other and nodded, happy to spend as little time as possible in this place.

  “Seems as good a direction as any,” Shryke said, “and it looks like heading that way will get us out of Obedience quicker, which I’m all for. Let’s go.”

  Frelka nodded, and they set off.

  For the next two days, they continued trekking through the area marked as Obedience by Stitch. The metal scaffoldings and up-reaching hands continued to haunt their path and cause their nights to be restless. The silence they had come to enjoy after exiting the Foglands now turned as unsettling as the screams, as the cold metal creaked in the slightest wind, making the entire area feel like one giant mechanical graveyard.

  Finally, the smooth metal gave way to dirt again, and their minds felt at ease.

  Shortly after exiting Obedience, they began descending into a large valley pockmarked with numerous pools of water.

  “Whew,” Shryke said when they got close to one of the pools. “I am thirsty!”

  She bent down to scoop the water into her mouth but was stopped when Frelka screamed, “Shryke, stop!”

  Shryke froze, looking back at Frelka in hopes of learning why he had felt it necessary to stop her heart.

  “You okay, big guy?” she asked.

  “Ja, Frelka is okay. But you will not be if you drink that water.”

  “But,” Beep interjected, “it is just water.”

  “Und corrosive,” Frelka finished.

  Beep and Shryke exchanged worried looks. Then, her eyes squinted at Frelka the entire time, Shryke reached down and scooped up some of the water. Frelka lurched to stop her, but he was too far to make it in time. He watched, horrified, waiting for the scream of pain that would come once the corrosion began eating into her skin… but it never did.

  After about a minute, Shryke looked back at Frelka. “Well, doesn’t feel corrosive.” She took a deep sip and let out a long sigh. “Doesn’t taste corrosive either, whatever that tastes like.”

  “But…” Frelka began. “But where I grew up, there is an area called the Iron Valley.” He stopped and pointed to the portion of the map he had filled out, tracing the area to the west of the Skimsands, where he was from. “There, the rain that falls eats away at your skin, ja, und the water is dangerous to drink. Is it not like this everywhere?”

  “No,” Beep and Shryke answered simultaneously.

  “Wait a second,” Shryke started. “Didn’t you say you crossed through The Holy Lands on your way to Mongrel?”

  “Ja…”

  “And I assume you went through Okran’s Pride,” she added, circling the one stretch of green on their map of brown.

  “I did.”

  “And you, what? Avoided the water there as well?”

  “Ja, I did,” Frelka said defensively. “I thought it was corrosive!”

  “But the farmers use it for their crops,” Beep interjected, his voice betraying the disbelief he felt in Frelka’s lapse in reasoning.

  Frelka could feel the blood rushing to his face as Beep and Shryke struggled to hold back their laughter. Their struggle didn’t last long though, and soon Frelka watched as they both collapsed to the ground laughing at him.

  “Alright, alright,” Frelka said. “Go ahead und laugh at the desert boy. Here.” He walked over and reached down toward the pool of water. Even after seeing Shryke drink from it, it still took Frelka more willpower than he hoped he showed to scoop the water up and bring it to his lips.

  The water was cool and… well, not fresh, but it didn’t burn as it slid down his throat, so it would serve. Once Beep and Shryke had recovered from their bout of hysteria, the three filled their canteens and continued their journey through the Floodlands.

  ~~

  “What is that?” Frelka asked the next day, pointing at a large, domed metal structure surrounded by water.

  They had passed a few empty, dilapidated towers during their walk through the Floodlands–even spent the night in one the night prior–but this building looked different. It seemed to pull at Frelka; for some reason, he felt like he should explore it.

  Beep’s eyes widened, mirroring the wonder Frelka felt. “We should check it out.”

  “How ‘bout we don’t?” Shryke said. “It’s almost noon, and if the time you buffoons wasted in those empty towers is any indication, this building will take you forever to search.”

  “But we didn’t know they were empty,” Beep defended. “What if we had found supplies?”

  Shryke sighed. “Fine. Go ahead, but be careful. And know I’ll be staying back toward the door waiting for you two. I don’t feel like following you around again while you pour over every broken crate and machine just to come up empty-handed again.”

  Beep and Frelka smiled at each other, and the three made their way toward the building. Shryke was right about one thing: the domed building was much larger than the thin towers they had come across. It also appeared as though the left half of the first floor had sunk into the water. Thankfully, the water that surrounded the entrance was still shallow enough for Frelka to wade through. He didn’t know how to swim, and he would have hated missing out on the looting just because of that.

  The outside was sunk mostly in the water, but what stuck out revealed that the building once had a large patio with railing that circled the structure. The railings couldn’t help but make Frelka wonder if the dome he saw now wasn’t just the top of a much larger tower that had long since sunk beneath the water’s surface.

  He was just about to comment on this to Beep when the two entered through the large open doorway–wide enough for six of Frelka to walk through. Unlike the towers they had looted before, this building definitely had stuff to loot!

  Beep and Frelka looked at each other, smiled, and walked over to the first crate they could find. There was an anticlimactic sense of disappointment as they opened the crate to find nothing inside.

  “Well,” Frelka started, “I guess we wouldn’t be so lucky as to have treasure in the first crate we searched.”

  Shryke scoffed from the doorway. “That sounds familiar.”

  “Beep will check this direction.”

  Beep moved off to a large pile covered with a moth-eaten cloth tarp. He pulled the tarp off and gasped.

  “What is it?” Frelka asked.

  “Nothing good,” came a voice from the doorway. “That’s an Iron Spider! Be careful, and let’s get out of here before you two idiots reactivate it–or worse, attract its friends!”

  Beep laughed, puffing out his chest. “Beep is a mighty warrior! He does not run from some small metal insect.”

  Frelka laughed. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Beep. That thing’s about as tall as you are just lying there.”

  Beep waved Frelka’s comment away and turned toward the Iron Spider, drawing his sword. “Beep will show you what he does to his enemies!”

  He swung at the spider, and the sword clanged against the bracings, leaving no evidence of Beep’s strike behind.

  They heard a gasp and turned to look back at Shryke standing in the doorway.

  “What?” Frelka asked, struggling to suppress a laugh.

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  “Do you idiots have a death wish?” Shryke whisper-shrieked. “What if that had wok–”

  Her face froze and she stood in place, shaking.

  “What is it, Shryke?” Frelka asked.

  “Beep!”

  Frelka turned just in time to see Beep’s limp form fly against one of the crates and crash to the ground. The Iron Spider, dormant mere moments before, now stood, its four metal legs lifting it close to Frelka’s height. Two pronged pincers raised in front of it, ready to attack. Frelka didn’t even have time to draw Falling Sun before one of the machine’s pincers struck him in the head–and his vision went black.

  Shryke stood frozen in fear as the Iron Spider knocked Frelka and Beep unconscious in a single hit.

  Unconscious? I’ll be lucky if they’re not dead!

  The Iron Spider scanned the two forms on the ground. Content with its job, it looked up and scanned the room. Its pincers froze in the direction of Shryke, and her blood ran cold.

  Maybe if I stay still, it will just go back to sleep.

  Too late. The spider began clinking its way around Frelka, Beep, and the crates that stood between it and her. In a moment, all thoughts and concerns cleared from her mind, and survival was all that was left.

  Shryke disappeared from the doorway and began to run.

  ~~

  He could hear clinking as metal struck metal. His head throbbed, and he could feel the cold, wet floor underneath him. Guess Shryke was right again, Frelka thought as he slowly opened his eyes.

  He pushed himself to a sitting position. He could hear the clinking increase its stride and come closer. He turned just in time to see a metal pincer come crashing down on his head.

  ~~

  Shryke sat, shivering against the wall in one of the abandoned towers across the lake from the domed building. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she had run into the tower to hide, but the spider hadn’t pursued her past the deeper water. She had hoped it would forget the building and begin patrolling the surrounding area, but she had no such luck. Instead, it turned back and went inside.

  “What do I do now?” she muttered to herself. “I can’t make it out of this area on my own. But even if Frelka and Beep are alive, that damned spider’s not going to let me drag them out. If I can even drag that big ox more than two feet!”

  She couldn’t stop the shaking of her hands as she tried to wipe the tears from her face. Had she really escaped one hell just to die in another?

  She looked down at Spite in her hands. Could it really take down an Iron Spider?

  No. No, of course you can’t. Stupid! Who do you think you are? You can’t take something like that down by yourself. Just give up and die already!

  The sound of falling rocks outside made her jump a full foot from where she had been sitting, Spite clattering to the ground.

  She waited, frozen in fear for whatever had made the noise to charge in and kill her. When nothing came, she slowly stood, grabbed Spite, and walked toward the door. She looked outside and immediately saw where the sound had come from: a pile of rocks had fallen onto the hard earth. She looked up to see where they had fallen from and saw a large pile of rocks on the second floor of the tower–remnants of the collapsed upper half of the structure.

  Shryke steeled herself and took a deep breath. Then another. Then another. Then she turned and looked at the path from the dome to her. She began walking the shoreline over to the outside of the domed building. She peeked inside. Empty.

  She felt a moment of hesitant relief as she scouted the rest of the room. There they were! From the looks of them, they had woken up a few times since she had run. They hadn’t made it far, though.

  She crossed the room and began looking the two over. Great, no broken bones. She moved over to Frelka and gave a lift.

  Yeah, didn’t think so. Even if there were no enemies and a large downhill slope, there was no way she was getting that mountain of a man out of here. She looked to Beep. He’d be easy enough. She had just gotten Beep into the right position to pick up when she heard it: a clinking metallic sound. She quickly looked up and scanned the room. She was alone. She scanned and found a rounded ramp leading up to the second floor.

  The clinking sounded closer. A soft crumble of concrete dust pattered onto Shryke’s shoulder. She looked up to see it: the Iron Spider hanging from the ceiling above her. In a moment, the machine loosed its grip and came crashing down toward her. She had just enough time to push Beep away and jump out of the crashing spider’s path. It landed, crushing the crate she had braced Beep on under its immense weight.

  Shryke scrambled to her feet and dashed toward the door. She had just enough time to fire Spite before ducking around the corner and out of the range of the charging machine. The bolt pinged uselessly against the metal carapace.

  “Shit,” she swore. She turned to ensure that the spider was still following her before beginning her path along the shore back toward the tower. She finished reloading and looked back. “Dammit! Why is the fucker so fast?!”

  She fired again and rejoiced as the bolt caught one of the lines that ran from the spider’s body to its leg. Hydraulic fluid began squirting and leaking, and the leg sputtered as it became out of sync with the other legs. Her victory was short-lived as she watched the spider rotate its body to place its malfunctioning leg behind it and begin dragging it, using the leg only to keep itself from toppling over.

  No way I get that lucky again.

  She continued her path while reloading. Once she finished, she turned to fire another round. Her heart stopped as a forked metal pincer lashed out at her. She dove to the side, catching only a scratch on the outer portion of her arm.

  Before she had a chance to stand back up, one of its legs came crashing down on top of her. She rolled just in time to avoid being snuffed out like a candle. Another stomp. Another roll. She kept her momentum and used it to bring herself to a crouched position right as another leg stomped down in front of her. She could see the tower just on the other side of the spider. So close.

  Without thinking, she jumped toward the leg and scrambled up it. She jumped from the top hinge of its leg to the center panel of its body. At her feet she saw an opening into the machinery beneath the paneling, worn away by time and combat. She fired and was rewarded with a shower of sparks. She jumped to the opposite side as the spider began to convulse. She didn’t wait for its response. She dashed toward the tower and ran to the second floor. She looked out over the remains of the crumbled wall. The spider continued to convulse and spit sparks in place. She reloaded Spite and fired. This one stuck in the paneling, but whatever it had done stopped the spider’s convulsing. It looked straight at her and charged.

  “Oh shit,” was all Shryke could make out before she felt the shudder of the tower from the spider’s impact. She peeked back over the wall and saw the spider was right where she wanted it. She tossed Spite to the side and moved over to one of the larger rocks in the debris pile. She pushed, straining against the weight of the collapsed tower. Slowly, she felt a nudge, then a shift, then a tumble, and the pile gave way, crashing down to the earth below. She heard the crushing of metal and sparks of electricity as the debris found its mark. Then there was silence, nothing but the echoes of the crash throughout the vast valley.

  Shryke could feel her entire body shaking. Her heart was pounding in her throat. She could have sworn she tasted blood. She collapsed.

  Fuck, I’m so damned tired. I just want to rest.

  It was over! She couldn’t believe it. She had won!

  “Ugh,” she groaned, “and now I have to go figure out how to rescue them.”

  She willed the encroaching darkness away and sat herself upright. She had never felt so exhausted. Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet, grabbed Spite, and made her way to the first floor.

  “Dammit,” she swore as she looked at the door, now mostly blocked with rubble. “Well, Frelka’s not going to fit through there.”

  She crawled through the hole and made her way over to the domed building.

  ~~

  “Wake up, you big ox.”

  Frelka felt a slap and his eyes shot open. His vision slowly focused as the faces of Shryke and Beep came into view.

  “My head,” he groaned, reaching back to rub the knots that had formed on the back of his skull. “What happened? Last thing I remember was–” He stopped and looked around. “Where is the spider?”

  He looked back to see Shryke smiling smugly at him. Exhausted, but smug.

  “Well, since you two went and got yourselves almost killed, I had to take care of the thing myself. Now come on, we can talk about it later. For now, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be around if another one of those fuckers wakes up. Besides, it’s getting late; it’ll be night soon, and we need to find a place to camp…preferably somewhere far away from here.”

  He wanted to ask more, and he could see Beep felt the same way, but Shryke’s words left no room for questions. He nodded, and the two helped him to his feet.

  ~~

  The sun had set by the time Beep said, “There,” pointing toward the tower in the distance.

  They dashed toward the structure with the remnants of their strength, stopping only once they were inside. Thankfully, the door still functioned.

  Once they had secured it, they all took a collective breath.

  “Who’s there?”

  The question froze their breath in their lungs.

  “Who’s down there?” the monotone voice asked again.

  They heard steps as metal clunked on concrete. Lamplight shone from the hole to the second floor as the voice’s origin descended the wooden stairs.

  “Ah, I have visitors, I see,” the Skeleton said as it reached the bottom of the steps and looked at them. “Hmm, you all don’t look like the scavenging type…or the bandit type, for that matter. Must be adventurers.”

  Frelka heard a familiar gasp from Beep. “How did you know?”

  The Skeleton was built the same as most–tubes and a metal frame forming a humanoid shape. As with most Skeletons, its defining features were in its face. This one had a head shaped like an upside-down triangle with the top edges cut off. Its “eyes” were three lenses arranged in a triangular fashion, and a thin, covered panel served as a mouth. It wore simple rags and had no weapon that Frelka could see.

  “The Floodlands mostly attract the adventuring type,” it continued. “And why wouldn’t it? All the lost treasures–enough to make anyone’s mouth water at the thought of the Cats that can be pillaged from these ruins. Of course, the spider bots are typically deterrent enough to keep the more hostile trespassers at bay. Not you adventurers, though.”

  “Are you psychic?” Beep asked in awe.

  Frelka couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at Beep’s admiration.

  The Skeleton shook his head. “No, I am not, young Hiver. My name is Burn. I would offer you food, but I’m afraid my kind have no need for sustenance. However,” he added, grabbing a stack of wood from a nearby shelf, “I can offer you shelter and warmth for the night in exchange for your company.”

  “Ja, that sounds like a good deal,” Frelka beamed.

  The Skeleton nodded and moved the pile of wood into a burn pit in the center of the room.

  Before long, they had a roaring fire, and the three sat eating more of their slowly dwindling rations. They weren’t as tasty as meatcubes, but they lasted much longer and were, on the whole, more filling–though Frelka suspected that was simply because their cardboard flavor made the eater wish to quit eating.

  After Frelka and Beep finished peppering Shryke with questions about the spider, they finally turned their attention to the Skeleton, who sat patiently, listening with what appeared to be rapt attention.

  “Okay, okay,” Shryke said, “I think that’s enough questions about the spider. We’ve been rude to our host.”

  Their eyes widened as they remembered the host who had so graciously opened its home to them. They both turned and apologized.

  The Skeleton waved a mechanical hand. “Not at all. I enjoyed the tale as much as the two of you.”

  “Well,” Shryke said, “it’s still no excuse for us to completely shut you out. We’re sorry. My name is Shryke. This is Frelka. That’s Beep. And in case we forget again, thank you for letting us stay the night here. This will probably be the most peaceful night we’ve had since leaving Mongrel.”

  The Skeleton tilted its head. “It is nice to meet you. I am Burn. So, you have come from the Foglands. An impressive feat for a group so small. How have you found your travels since?”

  “Well,” Frelka started, “aside from the spider we were just talking about, the journey has been mostly stress-free.”

  “Well,” Shryke interjected, “except for when we passed through Obedience. If I don’t step foot on those smooth lands ever again, it’ll be too soon.”

  “Then you passed through Obedience?” Burn asked.

  They all nodded.

  “And how did you feel standing amongst the Behemoths of the First Civilization?”

  “Behemoths?” Frelka asked.

  “The First Civilization?” Shryke added.

  Burn nodded. “That is correct.”

  “We know nothing about these things,” Beep said. “Can you tell us?”

  Burn nodded again. “Very well. You entertained me with a story, so it seems only fair that I should do the same.” He adjusted his posture and continued. “Long ago, it is said that the First Civilization–long believed the creators of us Skeletons–built an army of Behemoths to fight some unknown enemy. Whatever this enemy was, the Behemoths completely annihilated them from history, leaving us to only guess at what they were.

  “However, so thorough were they in their work that the First Civilization became paranoid, afraid of the power the Behemoths wielded. They ordered them all to Obedience, where they buried them under the metal that now makes up the ground you walked, leaving only scaffolding and the remnants of what was not covered.”

  Frelka heard a beep.

  “They were too effective and were destroyed? Maybe it’s better to be defective after all,” Beep said quietly.

  “That seems so…unnecessary…and cruel,” Shryke whispered.

  Burn nodded. “That is true. The order was neither appropriate nor deserved. It is believed that this massacre, which came to be known as ‘The Price of Obedience,’ is what turned the Skeletons against their creators and sparked the war that ended the First Civilization.”

  Shryke scoffed. “That’s ironic.”

  “What happened next?” Beep asked.

  “Well,” Burn began, “that is a story better served for another night. I’m afraid it is already late,” he nodded, “and it seems your companion has already fallen asleep.”

  Beep and Shryke looked over just in time to see Frelka slump to his side on his sitting pillow and begin snoring.

  “Oh gods,” Shryke groaned, “it’s going to be a long night.”

  ~~

  Frelka yawned and stretched as the three of them said their goodbyes to Burn. “Well, thank you for your hospitality, Burn.”

  “Indeed,” Burn replied. “It is always good to share shelter and exchange stories with fellow adventurers.”

  “Oh,” Frelka said, “are you an adventurer too?”

  “Used to be. Skeletons aren’t as perishable as humans like yourself, but we still have a limit to our existence. We start to seize up over time. Or we stop working suddenly, without warning. My time is near–my parts are wearing, and I’m not as fit for exploration as I used to be. So, here I am, retired in the solitude of the Floodlands.”

  Though its tone was monotone, Frelka couldn’t help but sense a longing to it.

  “Burn, do you miss traveling?”

  Burn’s head tilted downward. “At times. I’ve traveled to many places. From the Eastern Ashlands to the Southern Swamps. I spent my years recovering relics and lost history–something that’s always brought me great satisfaction. That, and watching human behavior as the world evolves and falls…”

  Frelka’s eyes widened. “Have you truly lived so long? Tell me more about the human evolution you’ve seen!”

  Burn shrugged. “Nothing ever truly changes. Trends, cultures, languages, rulers–they come and go. But behavior bred from greed and fear holds human evolution at a standstill. Any kind of progress made is usually destroyed…reset in one way or another. Like a wave, it evolves, and it falls again…”

  Again, despite the monotone voice, Frelka sensed a great sense of loss in the Skeleton’s words.

  “Well, that’s a depressing thought,” Shryke said.

  “A Skeleton has a lot of time for deep contemplation. Especially one who has lived alone with nothing but spider bots as company for the last three years…”

  “Three years?” Beep asked. “Doesn’t sound to Beep like you are ‘getting ready to die.’”

  Frelka perked up. “Oh, ja! Beep is right! Why sit here and wait for the end? Why not take one last adventure with us?”

  “You owe us the rest of your story anyway,” Shryke added.

  Frelka looked over, surprised, as Shryke averted her eyes.

  “What? You two want him to come anyway.”

  Frelka smiled and looked to Burn. “Well, Burn, what do you say?”

  The seconds ticked into minutes as Burn slowly looked back and forth between the three of them. Frelka could hear the whirring of his processors as they sped up and slowed down. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Burn nodded.

  “You lead, I’ll follow.”