“What the hell was that?” Jesse wondered aloud as he looked to his companions. He and Tormund had encountered it in the last waystation, but he honestly had not given it much thought at the time. It wasn’t that he wasn’t curious, but he was mostly just trying to stay alive at that point and so much had happened all at once.

  “I have no idea.” Tormund shrugged. “It really didn’t like you though.”

  Lord Valrith stroked his white beard. “Well clearly it seemed to be some remnant of the ancient Tekessara people. There have long been reports of spirits or beings made of pure essence haunting the long lost places of the dead. It seems these rumors may have more weight than most give credit for.”

  “Well it was clearly crazy.” Cleb said with a shrug. “The thing just kept screaming about corruption. No idea what that means.”

  Jesse frowned in thought. Hadn’t Mordrak in the strange forest they had teleported to called him corrupted? What did that mean? The thought raised a new wave of anxiety in Jesse, but he pushed through it. “We should move on as quickly as possible.”

  He looked around, truly looking for the first time since coming down here. With his increased experience with essence crafting he could now see the purpose of many of the items in the room that hadn’t made any sense when he was in the first way station. He noticed the crystal, barely visible, that lined through the pillars of nearby stone and into a pedestal. He knew that pedestal was a directory where one could query information. It appeared to be attached to an information kiosk, like the ones he had seen in old movies of airports on Earth.

  Jesse examined the tablet on the pedestal. He wanted the information it contained. He tapped it and much to his surprise it lit up.

  “Why would it do that?” Jesse asked.

  “The power source does not appear to be burnt out like the others from the previous waystation.” Golem responded.

  Or someone else already replaced it. Jesse added to golems statement, frowning. What if the Archon had been researching these ruins? Was that why he had them guarded? As Jesse looked down at the tablet, words overlaid the symbols of the ancient language.

  “Transfer Station Zeta Information Kiosk.” Scrolled across the screen, translated by Golem.

  Jesse tapped it again and different words scrolled by.

  “What assistance may we provide?” It read. There weren’t any button prompts. Was he supposed to talk to it?

  “Uh, Do you have a map of the transfer stations?” Jesse tried out loud.

  Words scrolled once more. “Unidentified language. Unidentified user. Please register language with Tekessara Administrator. Locking system to user.” And with that the tablet turned off. He tried tapping it a few more times but nothing happened.

  “You could connect me.” Golem suggested.

  I don’t know, last time you connected to that construct thing, it almost killed you. And me for that matter. Jesse responded mentally.

  “I have increased in strength since that time. The additional pathways provided by the exoskeleton should also increase your ability to deal with the neural backlash. Though your point is taken. Perhaps we should investigate the archways.” Golem said.

  Jesse stood and began walking towards the portal arches. As he neared he scanned each tablet for signs of use. There were three of the ten portal tablets that appeared to have power. Jesse rubbed his scraggly beard. “Do you think the Archon was messing with these? Maybe he already powered the one that goes into the palace.”

  Tormund shrugged at the suggestion. “No idea. I had only met him once. The court Arcanescent, usually kept me away. I think he worried the Archon would kill me. He wasn’t a bad man you know, my former master. He was just trying to survive.”

  “Perhaps.” Jesse said noncommittally, examining the nearest console.

  He tapped at the buttons. “Unidentified user. Unidentified user. Please register with the Tekessara Administrator.” Scrolled across the screen.

  “Great.” Jesse said with a sigh. “I guess these systems talk to each other. I wonder why the other waystation didn’t have the same security functions.”

  “Perhaps because I connected to that one myself?” Golem suggested in his mind. Jesse shrugged. There were so many things that could cause the change in behavior from the pedestals, he wasn’t sure what to think.

  Well we can connect you now I guess. Maybe you’ll learn something. I don’t have any better ideas at the moment. Jesse said back mentally. He opened the back panel on the pedestal, like he had before in the previous ruins. This time an alarm sounded. It was shrill and didn’t come from a definitive source, just permeated the air around him.

  “What did you do?” Tormund yelled at him.

  “Nothing different than I had before!” Jesse yelled back.

  “How do we stop it?” Lord Valrith yelled.

  Nearby Aegis whined and shook her head. “I don’t know!” Jesse yelled back. Time to see if this works. He said to golem mentally. He reached out his mechanical hand and touched the tip of his middle finger to the crystal. Immediately the alarm stopped.

  “I am connected.” Golem reported. The wire fixed into his finger connected the AI to the crystal, good. Jesse had hoped that design would work. Much better than removing the power module cover and manually connecting with devices.

  Suddenly, a boom shook the room. The door on the far side, opposite the side that Jesse’s group had come from, slid open. Behind it was a large group of mechanical constructs. Many of the designs Jesse had seen in the visions were present. Some were on wheels and others were humanoid, both larger and smaller than normal humans. No construct as large as the one that they had originally fought, the one that had taken his arm, was present. All of them had glowing blue eyes. Wait, blue? The construct they fought before had glowing red eyes. Was that a design choice or something more sinister?

  The constructs charged forward. The resistance soldiers formed a shield wall facing the mechanical force, with Jesse, Aegis, and Tormund behind it. The constructs stopped a few feet away, they had their arms raised menacingly as one. Some even had weapons that appeared to be in good repair. Unlike the construct they had fought before, these were in pristine condition. They were shined and didn’t bear the dents and scratches that that one had. They almost appeared new, or at least unused.

  Together they all bellowed at them, words in a different language. This must be the spoken language of the Tekkessara peoples. Jesse thought.

  “I am not able to translate this.” Golem said. “I only have records of their written language, which isn’t phonetic and is pictographic in nature.”

  The resistance soldiers looked at one another. The constructs tried again, using the exact same incomprehensible words. After the third attempt they immediately charged. The soldiers met the charge but most stood little chance. The heavy machines bowled through the shield wall like it was made of paper, all except Lord Valrith that is. A construct slammed into his shield and he held it back for a moment before slamming his sword into its face. The sword instantly bent but the construct went still as its head snapped backwards. The man stared at his weapon for a moment before tossing it to the side.

  Tormund began firing lightning at the constructs as they rapidly approached him. Some remained to finish off the resistance fighters lying on the ground. They struck down with a cold efficiency, ending those lying on the ground near them. A bolt struck the leading one nearest to Tormund and it veered to the side on its wheels, crashing into a nearby archway. A small crack formed on the archway's surface.

  A second neared the arcanescent and was sent flying backwards by a bark from Aegis, she then pounced on it and began tearing it to pieces. It seemed her enhanced teeth were able to pierce the metal of the construct. Jesse was shocked at her increased effectiveness against the things. Perhaps when he took all of that essence from the spirit it somehow impacted her too? They were soul bound after all. As he thought about the implications of that, he also watched the battle.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  A third approached Jesse this time. He stepped forward and slammed a mechanical arm into it. He held it back, feeling the exoskeleton creak with the strain. He also felt pressure along his body, though the frame he had built but it did its job and protected his squishy flesh quite well. He brought his right fist down, energized with electricity, on the humanoid constructs head. The impact dented it but it was the electricity that was sent coursing through it that really did the damage. It sizzled and the smell of ozone filled the air. A moment later it went limp and he pushed it to the side.

  Jesse surveyed the battle once more. Lord Valrith seemed to be faring well but the resistance soldiers had no such luck. A couple stood their ground but the constructs were quickly pushing them towards a wall. Jesse could see two were already dead, their bodies broken by the metallic foe. Cleb was on the ground, not moving. He was being ignored by the constructs however, who now all focused on the few defenders who actually seemed to harm them. Finally Echo was cowering away from the battle, though Jesse noted with a spike of alarm that one of the wheeled constructs veered off in her direction. There were 7 remaining constructs, two humanoid holding large swords and four that were on four wheels. The last was a curious one that had four legs and looked almost like a dog. It leapt on the support columns, sticking to the stone and stalking from above. Jesse could faintly hear loud extremely loud footfalls approaching. He hoped he was wrong on what that was.

  “Go activate the gateway!” Tormund yelled at him, slamming another lightning bolt into one of the wheeled automatons. These didn’t leak the red essence mist when killed. None of the constructs they fought here had, and so they must not contain any living creatures. Interesting. As he thought this, Jesse moved toward the pedestal. The stomping continued to approach, Jesse could hear it was close now. He again touched the crystal within the pedestal.

  “The system is resisting me.” Golem said. “It seems that if several are powered then they form a sort of nexus with a basic intelligence and firewall.”

  That made sense. If the society was advanced enough to create automatons of a sort then they probably were advanced enough for basic IT. “How long do you need?” He asked.

  “Without interruptions? Between five and seven minutes.” Golem reported. “I am confident I can break through.”

  That was too long. They wouldn’t hold out that long if what he thought was coming was true. He surveyed the battle once more.

  Lord Valrith fought ferociously. He flew this way and that, presumably burning through huge amounts of his essence reserve to smash constructs to pieces. He was bleeding heavily from several gashes however, blood pooling on the ground beneath him. Without being replenished from the kills he would not last long.

  Tormund had fared much better and was blasting lightning at any approaching constructs. He seemed to be holding the line quite well, at least until he was knocked down from the four legged construct that had crawled down from a nearby pillar that rose to the ceiling. Jesse felt a spike of fear for his friend and looked upward to find a small group of six legged constructs with needle pincers on their front swarming down the pillar as well.

  Aegis leapt for the four legged construct before it could clamp its maw on Tormund’s neck. She tackled it off of him and he could feel sharp stabs of pain through their connection as it dug its legs into her in an attempt to throw her off of it. “We have to do something!” Jesse told Golem. The AI didn’t respond.

  Nearby, while Jesse was distracted, Echo had completely smashed the wheeled construct that was near her. She bled from a few small cuts but nothing seemed life threatening. She shook with either rage or fear.

  Booming sounds rang across the room, stopping Jesse’s heart. He looked up and to his horror, found what he had feared. A large construct stood in the doorway that the other machines had come from a few moments prior. Unlike the construct that they had battled in the other ruins, this one was pristine and shining. It’s joints didn’t grind as it moved smoothly, though not quietly, across the room.

  “I’m sorry Golem but we have to fight.” Jesse said. He pulled away from the console and charged.

  One of the six legged bug machines leapt at him from the support pillar and he caught it in his machine hand. It felt like it weighed a ton, but it was nothing his enhanced exoskeleton could not handle. It flailed in his grip, but being about the size of a dog it had no chance against his mechanically enhanced strength. A thought occurred to him however. “Do you remember what we did to the other construct?” Jesse asked the AI.

  “Of course.” Golem replied. “Let’s try it.”

  Jesse slammed the bug construct to the ground, pinning it. He extended his sword from his right arm and smashed into its back. The metal there cut and a small hole formed. Big enough for him to put his fingers through. He touched a wire within and after a short moment, his vision was drawn into the machine. This time however, he maintained his own vision as well. Golems enhanced capabilities must have been the cause. That or this machine was simply easier to control.

  “Is there a way to control it without touching it?” Jesse asked Golem mentally.

  “I believe so. They are all connected but touching it allowed me to more easily interface with it. I can transfer the connection to my own network. I can’t use my network to remotely access theirs; however, they appear to have planned for that. Only after we physically touch their controlling system for the first time can I change their communications to something I can interface with. Additionally the big construct overheated my AI matrix and burned your nervous system before. This was due to an overload of my processing power, which has increased along the way. Even still, I am hesitant to try such a task again.”

  Ah so it was like plugging a portable storage device into a computer vs trying to break in through the firewall. Some systems guard against the physical interface as well, but it is usually a much easier target. Good to know. He wouldn’t try to take over the large construct then. Jesse idly wondered how many of these small creatures he could control at once.

  Jesse controlled the six legged creature, seeing through its eyes and sensing its surroundings. The experience was surreal but on an innate level he understood how to control it. Not only that but he could parse its sensory information and his own at the same time, allowing him to actually function while controlling it.

  He moved the construct to the back of the massive one and stood in front of it, though a ways back, himself. He unslung his shield and prepared for a fight, one that was much more even than the first time he had fought it.

  Remembering how he lost his arm, Jesse avoided the initial blast from its energy weapon. He felt the heat as he jumped to the side. The beam tracked him for a moment but he managed to avoid being directly hit, though he felt the heat through his armor and began to sweat. He had his newly acquired construct leap onto the monstrous one in front of him. This distracted it enough for him to close in. He smashed his fist into its torso. It jerked slightly from the pulse of electricity running through its essence circuit. It quickly overcame the shock and looked down at him. Shit Jesse thought as he desperately tried to put space between himself and the large machine.

  His personal construct but into its back but failed to do any significant damage. The huge machine focused on Jesse for a moment before swatting at him with a massive fist. This had shattered his arm previously. Jesse gave a mental command and a metal shield came from a slot of the exoskeleton on his left arm. It was not quite as sturdy as his other shield originally but he had added some essence circuit to give it additional strength as well as some other enhancements. The giant fist hit his shield, which he had now powered on, and Jesse went flying. Not again. He thought as he sailed a few feet before landing hard. He groaned and looked down at himself. The shield had a small dent in it. His exoskeleton was mostly unscathed, suffering only some scratches. Overall a much better result than the last time they fought one of these things. He then realized the crystal mounted on the hip of his suit that provided additional power to the exoskeleton had cracked in its center, though appeared to still be functional. For now at least. He looked at his mechanical arm to find it completely intact and undamaged. He breathed a sigh of relief.

  He noticed then that he no longer could see through the six legged constructs eyes. He furroughed his brow until he saw what had happened to his enemy. The construct had flown much farther than him, all the way to the back wall where it had entered from. It smashed into the wall and landed on the ground in a heap. It’s metallic shell looked heavily dented and it was completely missing the arm it had struck him with. Jesse gaped at it, he had so easily almost destroyed it? The shield with its enhancements was powerful. Maybe too much so, he might need to turn it down. The enhancements he had made to it had made it not only reflect force or damage to it but amplified that reflection. So while the blow had sent him flying, it amplified back onto the construct manyfold. No wonder the crystal had cracked.

  Aegis ran up and licked his face. Jesse didn’t have time to survey the others of the battle, he needed to end this thing before it could get back up. Jesse picked up a fallen spear from nearby and charged it. It was slowly rising from where it had landed. Next to him, Aegis let out a bark and sent a shockwave directly into it. The construct, already being off balance, toppled back over. Jesse used his exosuit empowered legs and jumped onto its back, ramming the spear into a hole that had formed when it struck the wall. The construct went still.

  Finally he turned to look over the battle. Tormund sat on the ground breathing heavily, sweat poured off his face. He looked a little pale. Lord Vlarith was checking on the fallen soldiers. It looked like they had suffered four losses. They had three remaining soldiers alive, one of which was Cleb. He had regained consciousness but looked pale and still suffered some grievous wounds. Seeing him, Jesse was somewhat relieved. He liked the man, and though he couldn’t say they were friends exactly, he didn’t want him hurt. Echo was fine as well, having destroyed one more construct that had approached her. Jesse idly wondered how she did that but figured the Necrescent claw and perhaps even enhanced strength must play a role in it.

  Jesse climbed off the constructs back. Red mist began to rise from it and be absorbed into him as he walked.

  “How is everyone doing?” He asked.

  “Running a bit low on essence. Cut up pretty badly.” Lord Valrith said with a wince: “I’ll be fine though. I’m sure we will have to fight some guards which should alleviate the issue..” He added, Jesse picking up the implication that he intended to kill a guard to heal and absorb his essence. This didn’t bother Jesse so much. These guards had chosen to follow the man who had taken his daughter after all.

  “I’m low on essence too. Not too beat up though all things considered.” Tormund reported.

  “I am okay, didn’t really take any significant damage in the fight.” Jesse reported. He turned towards the archways.

  “Let’s get working on these devices.” Jesse told Golem. “I want to get into the palace and get my daughter.” Jesse said as he approached the information pedestal.