The ander led her south of the military camp, stopping right after they passed the final minefield. A few surprise patrol parties and re teams noticed them and inquired about their purpose here, but Ravager sat still, listening to the distant tremors only she could hear, and Jaook it upon herself to expin their reason for being here.
It was m, but the clouds draped a shadow over the army. Engioiled to remove the buried shield geors, officers oversaw the abando of the city so the agents of the Iigation Bureau could seal its gate, officially g the region for the Recmation Army. The pn was for the pain an abandoned necropolis until the terraformation could elimihe most severe hazards, allowing the settlers to arrive.
In truth, it won’t be so. In mere days or weeks, if they are lucky, after their redeployment, sgers would arrive, disarmi behind traps and mines. From there, these people would either take the city apart or sell its location to one of the many raiding gangs. Life, wlessness, and disease caused by the toxic waste would still permeate this region for decades to e, until the Recmation Army’s return. The region was cimed to keep the Iternian noses out.
Speak of the devil. Four Iternians filmed the white pods moving out of the city. Each pod traveled on an individual ptform. Ihem floated the victims of Teo-Queen’s madness. Students of Till Ingo, men and women of various shapes, fhis procession, refusing to let the reporters speak or film the injured.
Reporters…Heh. Three Iternians looked exactly as one would expect from the press, elegant blue suits, pale faces behind illumiransparent visors without a hint of scars. Round, h drones hovered soundlessly around them, rec everything as the trio tried to engage a shaman assigo their prote in versation. Armbands embzoned with “PRESS” encircled their arms, and the same glowiers decorated their chests and the backs of their helmets. They stuck out like sore thumbs, ae their cims of the ability to keep themselves safe, Ravager had assighem prote.
Because the Iternians didn’t know better. Corpses of their people were often found in the vast wastes or abandoned ruins. Rival try or not, Janine approved the ander’s decision to see them safely tlo, where they would be escorted to Iterniaory.
The st ohough. He was er. The man had the same eager expression on his face as his panions, but he had the entire camp in view, never leaving his back open or failing to spot an approag soldier. Holsters and sheaths grown from his nanomae armor kept his ons within perfect reaotig her stare, he smiled and pressed a fio his helmet, admitting her suspi.
Graverobber. Explorators, as Iterna called them. Geically enhanced humans, their muscles enrged and pressed, their ans made immuo poisons, their bohicker than those of a Normie. No longer Normies, explorators worked as spies and bodyguards. A sudden steel glint in his eyes and the speed with which he sed her ned sides warhe warlord that he had killed before.
The shaman Janine’s look, wordlessly telling her she had the same suspis. The explorator had probably po visit the city after the army had left, but there was no reason to make it easier for the Iternians. She had no fear for the shaman’s life. Iterna was their rival, not an enemy. And if needed, no pseudo-New Breed could hope to stand up to the real deal.
“What is the reason for ander Ravager’s presence here in the open?” a reporter asked after being pushed back by the shaman. “The public has a right to know! ander Ravager! A few questions, please!”
“Fine,” Ravager said, and swung her head to examihe iternian. “Your name?”
“Jacob,” the startled reporter answered. “Jaakarevich, ander.”
“Date of birth?”
“April, two… Wait, this isn’t what I meant, ander! I wao ask you questions, not the other way around.”
“Bme your own poor w. Date of birth. I am waiting.”
Janine caught the exploratrinning at Ravager’s interrogation of the man. The Blessed Mother demao know everything about him, his family, how many cubs he had sired, where he was born, and what the weather was like on Iterna at this time of year. The warlord heard chuckles of the passing soldiers ahem have their fun.
Her feet caught it. Faint tremors raced through the ground, intensifying with each passing sed. Bae, that would be a warning of an impendihquake. While irely inaccurate, another kind of natural disaster roag them.
“Wele to the inner circle,” said Dragena, ing closer with other warlords. She tio wear her full bat gear.
“You owe me a coat,” Alpha growled instead of greeting, looking ridiculous in her cargo pants and a white shirt that quickly turned b the acrid winds. Alpha sniffed Janine, leaving a st mark. “Took you long enough.”
“I’ll aim to be better.” Janine shook Alpha’s wrist, steering clear of the ginormous cws. “Sorry about the coat. How much…”
“No. Give me a new one.”
A Wolfkin encased in highly advanced pitch-bck power armor ed her arms around Jani. Zero didn’t care what the lower ranks might think of her; she rubbed her elongated helmet against her named sister’s forehead, her bck cloak fpping in the wind. Janine had only seen Zero’s face, when she ted into the ranks of the warlords.
Zero and Ravager were twins, indistinguishable in appeara different in size and personality. Zero shared every ounce er’s gift, healing as fast as the Blessed Mother. When Dominator punched a hole in the First Warlord, she healed in under a week. She led no troops, preferring to wage war fre, using her rifle and traps to collect lives. Many shamans still mistook Zero for a Ravager or cimed she was an ination of the Blessed Mother, so she scrubbed her face from most photos and always wore a sealed helmet, insisting on being her own person.
“gratution!” Zero spoke warmly, grabbing Janine by the paws and spinning her around like a young and expressive female. Her power armor was a masterpiece of teology; every joint worked soundlessly, and its alloy provided enough prote to withstand the fiercest explosions and fastest projectiles. “I always knew Big Sis would start admitting new gens closer to her eventually!”
“Sucks, it’s not my girl,” Ygrite chuckled. A Wolfkin, easily as tall as a warlord, waltzed in behind her, surveying Janine inquisitively. “Wele to the circle. Heard that, Kaisa? Janine has outsped you!”
“Adorable,” the Wolfkin replied casually.
“You are not a warlord,” Janine said icily, hugging Ygrite. Kaisa smelled like a wolf hag, but she was huge. Easily a warlord material. “Address your leader with respect befittiatus before I beat it into you.”
“You try.” Kaisa rolled her eyes. But at Ygrite’s look, she k. “Warlord.”
Ah, so this is why you keep dragging the girl around. Janine chose to ighe implied disrespeo write has been so stressed tely. The girl was, what, sixteen or seventeen years old? And is already prime material. Rapid growth without proper experience, backed by tless easy wins… Too valuable for the tribe to be broken, maimed, or killed; too votile to be left alone. Yes, had Janine been in Ygrite’s shoes, she would’ve ed the idiotic cub to herself until she wizened up enough.
e to think of it, Terrific had let Janine and Martyshki away with a lot of weird shit in the past. They once held their own warlord at gunpoint to protect a Troll, a prisoner whom their leader po kill. Terrific backed off, but didn’t murder them ter, seeing talent and promise in her wolf hags. She even gave them a pep talk once, when they were scouts.
“Keep your protégé on a leash, Ygrite, before someos her down to size,” snapped Ashbringer. She grabbed Janine in a bear hug. Jaurhe favor, matg her muscles against Ashbringer’s. With a grunt of admiration, Ashbringer let go of Janine. “Don’t lose this promotion as fast as you lost the title.” She lightly punched Janine in the chest. “Do nothing I wouldn’t do. If you are uain, e and talk, sister.”
“Will do,” Janine promised. Ashbringer was the first Wolfkin of the non-first geion to be admitted inter’s inner circle of helpers. It must’ve been lonely for her to be the you among her peers for so long.
The inner circle weren’t advisors. When she made up her mind, Ravager heeded no advice. The inner circle was responsible for smoothing out situatioing from the ander’s as, passing orders to the Normies, and listening to the pints of local govers and medical persohey were glorified helpers, rushing bad forth to try to mitigate the sequences of the Blessed Mother’s madness, but the lower ranks viewed the warlords privy ter’s words with almost divine reverence.
“Blessed be, sister.” Lacerated One said and joined Ravager.
“Always knew you had it in you.” Predaig patted Janine.
“Saw yirls retly,” Onyxia whispered in Janine’s ears, catg the warlord by surprise. Of them all, Onyxia was the most unique, beating even Jao the punch. Her body was like a dark portal that sucked in the light. Shrouded in utter darkness, she stood tall as Zero, with two amber orbs floating in the pools of darkness in her eyes. Envious tongues whispered that the womaed in several p once, and that is why she never mated. Janine dismissed these rumors; Dragena had no cubs yet, either. When Onyxia spoke, she did so in two voices: one sounded like a knife sharpening itself against a bone, and aone was that of a normal sister, secure in her authority. “How do they stack up against my Anji, huh?”
The Wolfkin behind the dark warlord bowed, eagerly her neck. With a pristine white mane of hair flowing freely to her waist and bulging muscles barely cealed by a greenish jumpsuit, Anji looked breathtakingly beautiful.
“They’d lose.” Janine grinned, shaking paws with the respectful wolf hag. “You’ve raised a fine rept, Onyxia! Mahy cubs to you, girl.”
“Thank you, Warlord,” Anji replied in a sereone.
“Thank you, Warlord. Bootlicker,” Kaisa mogly grumbled.
She gasped as Janine elbowed her in the sor plexus, knog the woman back. Kaisa reeled, ing her arms around her sides, sinking her foot cws into the stone, aing out a low growl of annoyance.
“You are wide open and too slow for your temperament, girlie. Don’t drop yuard around those you wish to insult, lest you’ll gain a whole swath of fresh scars,” Janine advised Kaisa, not angered in the slightest. It happens sometimes. Rapid growth clouded judgment, aings is didn’t help a cub mature. No biggie; Ygrite will eventually shape this rough gem into a diamond.
“Slow? Wide open?” Fire fshed in Kaisa’s eyes. Her arms sshed out in a crisscrossing pattern, nding a heavy blow on Janine’s raised forearm, surprising the warlord with the impad speed behind the attack, as well as how fast the wolf hag closed the distance. Kaisa ched her fists, breathing hard from the excitement. “Why won’t you show me how it’s done, granny?”
Sorry, Ygrite, gotta break some bones. Jahought as she flexed her muscles. This wasn’t a challenge, not really. There was no hatred, rage, or anything simir behind Kaisa’s eyes; her st also betrayed just a desire for a brawl rather than a domich. The youngster wao test her strength. Janine has noticed the hungry look in Ashbringer’s eyes. If she withdraws from the challenge, Ashbringer will step forward and maul the fool.
“Stay calm, wolf hag,” the voices whispered in Kaisa’s ear, and her head was jerked to the side. One paw immobilized a shoulder, and the other the head, pressing a cw against the jugur. Onyxia grinned with her pitch-bck fangs, rubbing a nose across the strained neck. “There is no shame in receiving a remark. You easily lose track of your surroundings. Own your mistake, a’s act as adults, shall we?” The cw pushed, pierg the skin, and Kaisa shivered from an unnatural cold. “Or must I discipline a cub?”
“I obey, warlord.” Kaisa bared her neck, and Janine accepted the invitation, biting her but leaving the woman scarless out of respect frite and to preserve her honor. She shoved Kaisa to her knees.
“At attention!” Alpha barked, stopping the bickering.
The tremors intensified, and eveerniahem now, along with the thunderous roar of avanches ing down as a titanic mass moved across the pins. The roar of hundreds of engines pierced this chaotic cacophony, and the light of projectors pierced the toxic veil obsg the horizon. Dozens of reaissance vehicles burst through the swirling clouds, followed by rows of heavy tanks shielding troop carriers and mobile missile unchers. Orderly ranks of soldiers power armor marched in unison, moving as if on parade, rifles clutched to their chests. Their steps thundered like an approag storm.
The Sed Army has arrived.
Where the Third Army had three primary colors: bck for the Wolf Tribe, white for the Order, and finally brown for their troops, the Sed Army proudly wore the silver colors to honor their mighty leader. The Sed kept its vehicles in peak dition; no bullet marks marred the tanks’ sides, and no scratches from explosions ruihe silvery color of their infantry.
Their armor and ons came directly from the foundries of the Core Lands, not from the factories of the Outer Lands. Former raiders, their children, scripted vilgers, former refugees, and many New Breeds served ihird, making uniformity an impossibility. The brave men and women of the Sed came from the Core Lands, the Normies raised in the safety of the great bastions, now venturing out t stability and order to those who cked it.
The discipline of the Sed put the Third to shame. In this advahere was nance, just calm assurahat they could handle everything through the joint coordination of different divisions. What they cked in experiehey made up for in dedication.
Three crawlers rolled into sight. The Perfe, the Ideal, and the Hare, formerly known as the Snake Lord. There were still some traces of the former heraldry, ghosts of snakes’ images stretg across the Hare’s immense bulk. It was adorned with new images of leaping animals from the Old World. Shield geors kept the banners on the crawlers clear by sweeping away every particle of dust. A feeder, an a mobile kit, trotted e wheels in the shadow of its rger siblings, protected by enough onry to hollow out a mountain. This geed calories for a single person iire army.
At st, the Emerald Guard came into view—two thousand soldiers, veterans of the inal Sed, kept forever young and capable by Devourer’s personal coffins. They vowed to not die until they saw the Unification, and in their loyalty they followed first the Dynast and then Devourer into every hell, suffering, losing body parts, and rising again, refed by the nation’s fi cyberics.
Drones, a ret addition to the military, flew above them, mapping the area and carrying small-caliber energy ons, ready to add their fury to any struggle that might befall their allies.
The Emerald Guard were normal humans who had undergone tless augmentations and preferred to hide their faces under helmets. Initially, they fashioheir armor in the shape of snakes and dubbed themselves the Serpents’ Heirs. However, following Devourer’s total metamorphosis, which resulted in the perma loss of humaures, they rehemselves. The gold and emerald elements of their orion blended seamlessly with the alloys of their armiving them the appearance of ferocious, wingless half-wyrms.
The elites’ numbers dwindled, but Janine had no idea where they were enlisting reinforts to maintairict two-thousand-man limit. There were rumors that the Emerald Guard voluntarily provided their geic material to e factories, allowing them to reinate not only from metal, but also from flesh. While romantic, there couldn’t be much truth to such stories. If you could e someone from scratch, why create Normies and not New Breeds?
Ravager spread her arms, weling the guests. Immediately, the Sword Saints emerged from the camp and stood to the left of the Blessed Mother, while Janine and the others stood tht, leaving Anji and Kaisa behind. Janine caught Bertruda’s g ig, only giving a single amiable nod to enfor image of unity. Ighe Ice Boys. Never again will Janine allow herself to be tangled in any mess involving them.
Captain Cristobo Bulwashnikov, a tall and broad man wearing a brotain’s trench coat and a rebreather to withstand the harsh air of the surrounding nds, joihem. A small ente of officers and bodyguards fhe man as he stopped beside Ravager, saluting the ining forces.
“Put on the helmet, Cristobo, before you burn your lungs,” Ravager hissed.
“It’s fine, ander,” the coal-skinned man responded. Wheip er’s cw left a tiny blood mark on his neck, he trembled. Janine barely saw the Blessed Mother’s movement; to the eyes of the Normies, she never moved an inch, still standing with her arms outstretched iing.
“You have cubs at home, idiot.” Ravager smirked, and the captain’s eyes widened. He raised a shaking hand and removed the rebreather. “gratution. You are now a New Breed. No poison harm you. Ighe voice; it’ll disappear in a couple of months.”
Ravager herself was strong enough for many soldiers to revere her as someone mystical and divio see her topple a mountain filled the hearts of the people with nothihan pure awe. But there was ohing that struck fear in Janine. Prafting. At the touch of her cw, Ravager could give a person a power once per week. Sometimes she could trol this process and give it the exact power she wanted, but more often than not, it was a lottery. And sometimes, very rarely, it could trigger an involuntary ge into a skinwalker.
“Greetings, rades!” Ravager roared to the Sed; the ers of her mouth twitched and formed a warm smile. The re vehicles stopped, and the soldiers shouted greetings back, sounding genuinely happy. “We thank you for your loyal support! With you here, the Third Army finally mar again!”
“Greetings to you too, ander Ravager.” A deep lush baritone boomed across the pins, heard by everyone, and finally Devourer showed himself from within the clouds, leaving the Iternians gasping in amazement.
A giant—lohan a crawler—slithered forward; his body could stretch to the sky, his immense weight carving new roads in the ground as Devourer moved ter, cirg around his forces. Once he was a man, born after the Extin into a normal family. Acc to the official history, as a child, Devourer was exposed to the glow as a child, and his skin sloughed off and scales grew in its pce. He was one of the first New Breeds to join the Recmation Army, following Outsider and Ravager. Back then, he was just a rival to First and Alpha, with a simir build, a mouth full of fangs, and tough cws on his fingers. His ferocious nature and indiscrimiing habits had earned him the name Devourer. Atop his bike, Devourer led his forces to victory like some barbarian.
Decades passed, and Devourer ged. His torso elongated, swallowing his limbs as he grew. And keep growing, being rger than most vehicles iate, t even above mountains. His jaws could stretch to an unimaginable size, swallowing sand reapers whole. The rattle at the end of its tail sounded like an artillery barrage, instilling fear in the enemy before his massive body crashed down, tearing wide holes in the opposing forces’ formations. His scales matched the toughest alloys of the Old World; his bright eyes spotted satellites in orbit; and the weave of his coils could put aire brigade to sleep.
Above all, Devourer had bee a match fer. The two battled each other, ruining mountains and creating yons. After winning the official matd tearing a gaping hole from the er of Devourer’s mouth to his tail, the Blessed Mother succumbed to Devourer’s venom and fell into a a that sted for a week. The sheer stubbornness of the Sed Army ander had earned him the respect of the Wolf Tribe. There was no scar on Devourer anymore, and this surprised Jahe costs to remove such a scar must’ve been astronomical.
She heard the Normies argue Devourer was envious er. Foolishness, she told them. ander Devourer was the uned ruler of the Stormfiend, the greatest archeotech city in the Core Lands; he was the patron of many built towns and an idol to the growing geions, a person surrounded by brilliant minds; he himself was well spoken and an excellently self-educated star of the Recmation Army.
What could such a person envy?
“Brave men and women of the Third, I greet you all,” Devourer said, raising to full height and swaying so his shadows wouldn’t cover the Third. “By your sacrifice, you have saved the popution of aire region! Braver! Excellent work, my rades! Glory to the Third!”
“Excellent work, rades! Glory to the Third!” his army roared.
Several groups and even whole squads shouted and waved their own personal cheers to the individual members of the Third they had worked with before, and Jaurhe gesture, letting out a howl to the troops who had dragged her from under a wre the past. The scheming Iternians filmed it, but there was no way to remove them.
Devourer let the thundering shouts subside, theehe tip of his tail ter, allowing her paw to grasp it for a shake. His snake eyes flicked and singled out Janine, and a pleasant smile, reserved for more private occasions, touched his lips.
“Ah, Ja’s been thirty-eight years since I st saw you! You have bee a warlord? Well earned, I say!”
“It warms my heart to see you in good health, ander Devourer. My apologies for distrag you retly.” Wheempted to bow, the tip of his tail stopped her. It boggled her mind how something so gigantic could trol the very edge of his body to be gentle.
“I will have none of this on this joyous day... Night? It’s hard to say in such a dreary pce. Occasion it is, Warlord! Call me Devourer. You are most wele to message me at any time of the day. Your sisters, you, and the fabled sword saints...” He nodded amiably to the Ice Fangs, “...have richly deserved such a privilege. How are the children? All well, I trust?”
“Just fihank you.” Janine forced a smile, hoping that Devourer would finally look away.
She felt herself drowning in his eyes, as if something was about to rip out her soul and suck it into those huge pools. Once, Janine worked with Devourer to take down an irrecoverable Apocalypse css. Against all rules and ands, Devourer came upon the girl they had been ordered to kill and talked, trying to vihe cub to step down a help. Upon hearing that she wasn’t needed by anyone, Devourer nodded. His tail dropped, and the apocalypse was averted.
“Superb, simply superb. Zero, Camelia, First, Alpha, Macarius!” His eyes shifted toward the group. “My dear friends, how I have missed you! We will speak at length ter, but for now I must steal Ravager away for a while; we have matters of state to discuss. But pray, don’t think I’m leaving you high and dry, my friends. We have brought enough refreshments for everyone, including our ued Iternian friends. Today we celebrate our reunion!” Notig Cristobo’s movement, the ander shifted his head and lowered himself to the ground. “And of course, everything mine is yours! Supplies, medie, and personnel—we will help however lease give orders to my troops as if they were yours, Captain Cristobo.”
“I thank you for the courtesy, your lordship.” The captain dropped to one knee, but the tail prompted him to stand up.
“Janine, with me,” Ravager growled, heading for the mountains on the west side. “Alpha, First.”
“Uood, Blessed Mother,” First said. He put a paw on the explorator’s shoulder. Courteously, but sternly, he apahe man to the feast while Alpha eaihe reporters, answering their questions in a mumbling voice.
The warlord followed her leader, shocked at the sudden call. Previously, Cristobo, First, or Alpha would apany Ravager duriiatioween the anders. For ossible reason could the Blessed Mother need her?
