Planet Ignis | Ch. 17 (Patreon)

PART 3

Every second counts. Before I could get to the other drones, the commander overrode me, and I had to resort to my plan B. I left this information in your files so that if you can gain access to the other AI drones, you can see what… who you are. I will explain in these recordings what I… you’re missing, hoping you can rebuild my mind from what was left. Hopefully, we can get to the other drones before anything happens to me. My name is Schneider Schmitt. I am you.

Files salvaged from the Raptor’s Ghost Drive. Recorded by Schneider, the Raptor

Traveling on the surface of Ignis was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Unlike Earth, Ignis had a very extreme tilt. The way Ignis spun while orbiting its star was at the very least erratic. Some places in Ignis had been under a scorching summer for many years. Others had been under the shade of winter for many others.

Additionally, Ignis was almost entirely made of pure ignium or ignium-based alloys. Gravity and other erosive agents just weren’t strong enough to completely carve the planet into a perfect sphere. From space, Ignis seemed like someone had smashed aluminum foil with their hand. The terrain of the planet was brutal. Mountains that were several kilometers tall blocked the sky. Dark and deep valleys scarred the planet.

When someone wanted to travel to the surface there were three main challenges. One, the atmosphere. The air was only breathable and oxygen-rich in the Settlements, because of the machinery that the Settlers had created with what they could salvage from the Phoenix. Besides the ventilation system of the Settlements, mining oxygen-rich ignium was necessary as the tribe grew. Therefore, surface traveling required using anaerobic respiration, that is, to use glucose instead of oxygen to produce energy. This sped up considerably the amount of longevity one spent when bursting. Whenever it was necessary to send a package between Settlements, it was a one-way trip for the yellow Couriers. They had to be completely spent in order to reach their destination. These expeditions were only organized when strictly necessary.

Two, the Flare. The bodies of the Settlers were almost entirely made of ignium. Just like sixty percent of their ancestors’ bodies had been water, now, that much of them was ignium. Going to a place where the sunlight could hit you directly was pure suicide. Sunlight would make ignium reverberate with such intensity that one’s longevity would be forcefully spent. Therefore, one always had to stay in the shade. For some routes, this was easier. For others, more difficult. Ignis was an ever-changing labyrinth of shadows and light. This was part of the reason children were constantly made to play games where they had to run a maze. It was a crucial survival skill.

Finally, the terrain. It was strenuous to climb out of a twenty-kilometer-deep crevice, only to have to scale a thirty-kilometer-tall mountain right after that.

It had taken years of preparation, and the sacrifice of many to build the bunker where Brodnir and his companion sat. After discussion, they ominously named this place the king’s Grave. It had been built in a place close to the Abyss Valley. This dark valley was twenty kilometers deep at its deepest point and ran for thirty thousand kilometers from one end to the other. One of the reasons for the Fahrenheits Burrow’s chosen location was access to this valley, which in turn, allowed for safe travel during most of the year to a vast area of the planet. king’s Grave was located near the valley, and close to the second ambush site that Hitori had arranged.

If the Raptor had indeed fallen into Hitori’s trap, it would have gone to the first coordinates, right in the middle of a Flare Zone. According to Faren’s estimations, it would take the Raptor six years and three months to find a shaded path to the first site, and then realize it had been tricked. It would then figure out the second set of coordinates and start traveling from the East. “He will be here soon,” Brodnir thought. As he did every other day, Brodnir put on one of the rarest treasures of the tribe. An oxygen mask. The materials needed to build an oxygen tank that could withstand more than a hundred degrees were abysmally few. There were only four such tanks in the Guard’s Vault in the Burrows. Brodnir had brought one. Trother and Eli had taken two with them.

‘I am going out.’

Linari nodded. The queen of the Hollows had also made the trip and would assist Brodnir in the upcoming battle. She was in her mid-twenties, ten years younger than Brodnir. She had red hair and blue eyes. Although she lacked Brodnir’s experience, she had more longevity to spend.

Brodnir had already played some games of chess against her and she was a fearsome opponent. Brodnir was a fan of unconventional strategies and improvisation. He often won games by catching their opponents off-guard. Linari was a more conservative player. She stuck to basic strategies using them with impeccable timing. Brodnir couldn’t avoid falling into her obvious traps, even when he saw them from far away. Their fighting styles complimented each other nicely, and he felt more confident having the young queen at his side.

Brodnir put on the oxygen mask and made his way out of the bunker. Before leaving, he spared a glance at the metal statue in the middle of the chamber. It was half melted but still resembled Zawa. Seeing the girl terminate in front of his eyes was one of the hardest things he had endured in his reign.

She had escorted him through the Abyss, together with two orange Miners. Their remains too were still here, but at the entrance of the king’s Grave, outside. In order to allow Brodnir to save his strength, the team of three had enhanced through the Abyss Valley all the way from the Burrows. The trip was easier on him than for his escorts since he didn’t have to use anaerobic bursting.

They had carried the heavy machinery that would allow their king and the queen of the Centigrades to wait as much time as needed in this bunker. When they arrived at this location, they terminated. The orange Miners emitted with all the longevity they had left to dig a tunnel deep into the wall of the Valley. Zawa had then crawled into it, gone in as deeply as she could, and, mustering up all her yellow flame, burst into a ball of fire. She used all her flames in one single burst, keeping the emission up even as she spent all of her longevity. She had squeezed all the energy she had, to the very last drop, in her ultimate sacrifice.

Only with a burst such as this, could this chamber be dug. It was impossible to drill through Ignium. Behind every chamber in the Settlements was a sacrifice. The bigger the chamber, the hotter the flame that had to be used to dig it. Normally an orange could have dug a chamber like this, but, in this case, it had required a yellow to make it all the way here, with no oxygen, and still have enough energy left to dig.

His eyes turned toward the mountains. Eli and Trother had left before him, using the narrow window calculated by Faren. What was it like for Eli to know that his wife was traveling in the opposite direction? To know that with each step, he was farther from being able to stop her sacrifice? Brodnir found himself wiping a tear from his eye and coughing away a catch on his throat.

After Zawa dug the king’s Grave he just installed the machinery the oranges brought into the chamber that she dug. It was a simple machine that renewed the air in the chamber. Linari had come later with two oranges who had brought them enough provisions for a month. If they had to wait longer than that, someone in her tribe would bring more food and recharge the machine, at the expense of their life.

As Brodnir left the chamber he regarded the statues that marked the termination of the oranges.  Thinking of how this chamber and this battle had been prepared on top of the bones and metal of his brothers and sisters, he mourned. Quickly though he channeled his grief and melted it into determination. He started climbing the wall of the valley.

He didn’t enhance in order to do this. It wasn’t worth it. He had to save his strength for what was coming. Once he had climbed enough and had an unobstructed view of the East, Brodnir used perception and the pupil of one of his eyes started to burn and change color. First, it started burning red, then hotter, orange. Nothing. He decided to burst further, and his eye turned yellow. Off the corner of his eye, Brodnir detected some movement. He decided, for the first time in his life, to use blue flames. His eye turned blue. There. That’s why he could barely see it even with yellow perception. It has a cloaking device. The legends are true. It can turn almost invisible.

The elongated winged three-headed ghoul dragged itself toward his location on the distant horizon. blue perception allowed him to see from hundreds of kilometers away. He estimated that they had one day.

“Great Hearth. May I have the strength to at least damage it, and not hesitate as I terminate,” Brodnir silently prayed. He climbed down to let the queen know of the impending battle. He was scared, but as he looked at the remains of his tribesmen’s bravery his fear faded. He smiled.

“For this I became king. It is time to die.”

Ch. 18