Amelia, Ch 225- Riley
It's cold here. That wasn't exactly a surprise, of course, it was the middle of winter. But on Avalon, the temperatures tended to be pretty even thanks to the Yggdrasil's regulation of the weather. Or maybe it's because I'm accustomed to the weather near the coast, which is still warmer than this far inland.
"Are you going to be okay?" Amelia asked. No, I reminded myself. This is a mission, she's Gaea here. I smiled as she placed a hand gently on my shoulder. She's concerned about my wellbeing.
"Dinah gives me almost ten percent better odds than anyone else," I answered, looking up at her. "Besides, it's Clarice, not me. I'm perfectly safe."
"I know," she answered, her breath visible in the chill air. "But this is still Nilbog."
She's scared of him, I realized. What he is, what he represents, what he's done. A dark mirror to her own power, what she could have become. What she would have become, if Jack had gotten ahold of her. "I know," I answered with confidence, though it didn't seem to make her feel better. "You don't have to worry, there's nothing he can do that compares to me. He's a fairy tale. I'm a goddess."
She didn't seem comforted by that, either. If anything, it seemed to upset her more. I suck at making people feel better.
"Everything's ready on this end," Khepri responded. "Relay bugs are through, I'm expanding out to cover the city. It's strange, though. Even for this time of year, there should be more bugs. There's barely even any worms in the soil. I don't have the ability to search for anything."
"There's still time to cancel the mission," Defiant asked us. He had been the one most vocally opposed to this plan from the beginning. He was also the one that Dragon trusted to monitor this mission up close.
"No," Minerva answered immediately. "Our odds plummet if we wait much longer. Whatever inconveniences we face now, keep in mind we have an over ninety eight on this. Besides, we need this victory now, after the destruction of Behemoth got claimed by the CUI."
"Hardly seems we can consider Behemoth and Nilbog to be equivalent," Defiant countered. He doesn't like Minerva. That's a point in his favor. Then again, that was a point in almost everyone's favor.
"Not even close," she agreed. "But better than nothing by far."
The pair of them and Yum Kaax were managing our command center for this mission. Our other tinkers all had their own projects. Tir was working on large scale shunt devices for Japan alongside Hecate. Dragon would listen in, but she was putting most of her efforts on our world into establishing an industry base and moving the core of her operations to our world. Who knew populating our own nation-world would take so much work?
Their advice wouldn't make the difference in this mission, anyway. I'm the key component, I'm the one whose actions determine success or failure.
We had positioned at the epicenter of the city, the heart of it. Finding the Goblin King would be Taylor's job, but it was likely near us, or in the most impressive looking building left standing.
"The scan's complete," Yum Kaax informed us. "We're bringing up the dimensional viewer system."
There was a shimmer as the sky changed and our otherwise barren landscape was replaced by buildings. Most suffered from general lack of repair, but were mostly intact. Snow coated the ground in thick drifts. Old snow, from the looks of it, but still pristine. Throughout the city there was no sign that the smallest bit had been touched by life since it had fallen.
Big Sis saw it, too. "Everything's dead," she muttered.
"Not everything," Minerva answered. "We're getting life signs. Nilbog's monsters. There's not a lot of them, but they're there. Buried under the snow or hibernating in buildings. You'd think they were dead. In fact, a lot of them are dead."
"It's the cold," Yum Kaax replied. "His creations, they've stripped this city of resources. Probably running on solar energy just to keep themselves alive. But Nilbog isn't like Amelia. He can't just magic up biosystems and remodel them at will. He imagines and he creates, but that's it, there's no understanding of how or what he's creating. More like Genesis than anyone on our team. They may be stronger than anything Amelia or I can build conventionally, but they're starved for raw material. Proteins. Some of the complex saccharides, perhaps. And he doesn't know how to grow something that can make more."
"Wasteful," Defiant muttered. "He could have grown gardens. Potatoes and soybeans would cover most needs."
Yum Kaax simply shrugged. "I never said that he was smart. Clever, maybe, but definitely not smart. Then again, by the time he ever realized he needed seeds and other supplies, they were probably eaten by something."
"He'll wait until spring and have the living bring him the dead," Minerva added. "Then he'll consume what he has to and replace what he can. That's why Dinah said it had to be now, during this cold snap. It's the time when he's weakest, when he's most aware of the inevitable point when he no longer has the resources to keep his creations alive."
"If we were going for an assassination," Defiant volunteered, "Now would be the time. Or we can simply allow him to die of starvation."
"Dinah says that results in the death of millions of people," Minerva responded. "No matter what plan I suggest, or what counters we propose, it always results in millions of deaths. And, yes, I verified that it's human people, not Nilbog monster people. Yes, that applies to just leaving him alone. Eventually he'll get desperate enough to break out of containment."
"I believe I've found him," Khepri answered. "It's the one building with heat, and it's about a block from here. Aceso, time for you to shine."
"On it," I responded, taking a seat. Clarice and Bella, or stripped down models of them both, started to move. A couple buttons pressed, Bella stretched her beautiful wings, and they both shunted over into the heart of Nilbog's realm. My sensors started relaying data immediately
It was far colder here than on Avalon. Temperatures well below freezing, although nothing that could threaten our constructs. Calmly, I approached Nilbog's throne through Clarice. The building was obviously once the town hall, but was now covered in wild growths of plants and vines that had either died or went dormant. Flags and other colorful cloth draped the area like something from a medieval reenactment, but had long ago started to tear and fade. Now they were mere rags.
Two monsters barred the door. Both were large, feline in nature. Their heads were distinctly humanoid, however, and they had almost comically large breasts with much of their torsos keeping to a mostly human form. Their eyes were enormous in proportion to their faces, and they had minuscule mouths in comparison. This is the work of a man who forgot what humans looked like, I realized. Something intended to be beautiful, but instead only fit to disgust and disturb. This is why I'm the ideal candidate. I know how he thinks.
"Sphinxes," Minerva informed. An obvious statement, if there was ever one. But I waited for the insight that should come. "Nilbog's put more effort into these than most, and he's keeping them active despite the cold. They're some of his favorites. There were three, but they died recently. These two are what he had the supplies to rebuild. This is why Dinah's numbers spiked recently."
I might be able to use that.
"Who are you," one demanded. Her voice was wrong, irregular, an unnatural combination of high pitch and loud that wouldn't happen in most normal life. It was more like listening to Minnie Mouse with the volume up far too high. And her inflections were stressed, as if from a second rate actress trying to mimic royalty or dramatic speech. Or a child imitating something she watched.
"I wish to speak with Nilbog," I told them. "I am an emissary from the gods."
"Going a bit off script there," Gaea whispered, although there was no need to.
"No, it's perfect," Minerva insisted. "Riley, you're a genius." To my surprise, the insulting comment comparing me to Doctor Frankenstein or something similar didn't follow, a rarity. Probably just doesn't want to be unprofessional during the mission.
The sphinxes moved toward me, but a simple command brought Bella back and took her further off the ground. The gust from her wings disturbed the snow only barely. Neither of Nilbog's guards came out to mar the perfect white. "I will speak with your master, he is worthy," I told them. "You are not."
"Offer him a gift," Khepri responded. "Or, no, call it a blessing. We'll get it ready."
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A/N- Next chapter is either meeting Nilbog, or me cutting to a different scene entirely. Guess which!
