Impure Light

Ash excused himself from the rest of the group. He figured that enough had happened today and it was time for some well deserved sleep. He made his way over to the inn Aeryn spoke of and requested a room, nothing to flashy, all he needed was a bed. He settled into his room and slowly drifted off into a deep sleep. He hoped that his new assignment wouldn't be to difficult.
 
Everyone pretty much set to their plates after the guy's prior spiel, and Eli tuned it all out. He cherry-picked his own thoughts instead, thinking only of pleasant, normal things like how low that waitress's blouse was and how likely it'd be after the fight that he could get some drinks on the house in Coile just for wearing his grease monkey rags. After a few more ales, he slogged back up to the campus and bedded in the short-sheeted barracks beds to drift off in a drunken torpor.
 
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Even Evander's yawn sounded grumpy. As the occupants of the table sauntered off one by one, Evander contemplated the merits of drinking until he was asleep here. The largest flaw was the potential for being late. If only that woman hadn't noticed him, he could have been well into his drinks by now and feeling enchantingly weightless. Nothing he could do about spilt milk now though, he grouched.

Giving a shot nod to the woman, Evander too stood up. It was not as if he had a better home to return to, in truth he'd been staying at the inn anyway. Weaving a little, Evander looked up at inn, his focus blurred. It had a homey feel, he decided. He was picking what he wanted to protect here - this building felt like home. The cream colored brick was faded from its time in the sun and washed smooth by the drops of rain from years of exposure. Even the door, so average in every way, soothed Evander. The wood was newly whitewashed, Evander wondered if this was for health, but he did not wonder on it long.

Evander stumbled up the stairs, his legs sudden feeling leaden and his eyes drooping. He could feel the prickle of wool against his face, the last thing before he dozed off.
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The sun the next morning was a little less harsh than it had been the day before. Clouds were rolling by, obscuring the sun for the most part. A strong breeze blew across the city, cooling everyone down from the heat of the previous day. Aeryn was already at North Wall, standing at the guard tower. Looking off into the distance, he could just barely make out the Paladin's camp on the horizon. But he could tell it was quite a large camp.

"Damn... That's a lot of Paladins..." Sighing, he shook his head. "This is going to be one long ass battle, I'll tell you that," he said, talking to a guard. The guard stood there, nodding to Aeryn. The moment Aeryn had gotten to the top, he had saluted Aeryn, which only amused him. The poor fellow wasn't put at ease for ten minutes, before Aeryn decided it was enough. As he turned back, the guard saluted again, and was put at ease by a curt voice. Ashira walked up beside Aeryn, looking at the distant camp as well.

"We must wait for those I summoned, before discussing our plan. I have already discussed the grand plan with all of the other commanding officers," she said.

"Yeah, that's great," Aeryn said coldly. His talk with her last night had not gone so well.

Sighing, Ashira looked at him. "Listen, I understand you're upset, but I truly do not know where my sister is. After Empheral was destroyed, I lost all contact with her, as did you. I haven't sent her on any missions, and I can only assume she's either dead or has been captured."

"Shut up, dammit!" Aeryn shouted. "She's not dead! If she was captured, she would have escaped by now! She must be doing something in secret, but I don't know what! I have to find her, Ashira, whether you'll help me or not! I don't want to be at this battle, okay? You don't even need me!" Glaring, Aeryn realized the poor guardsman wasstaring at them wide-eyed. After all, every low ranking officer knew it was never good to be around an argument between to commanding officers. "Oh, get lost, you!" he shouted, and the guard literally took off.

"Aeryn, we do need you! Others may question why, but I know what you can do, even if you do not. You have a special power, something that has to do with that eye of yours. If it is invoked during this battle, we may very well be saved... Once this battle is done, you may do as you wish, and go look for my sister."

"You're insane, you know that? I don't know what you're talking about! My eye is just messed up, it's why I keep this on," he said ,pointing to his eyepatch. "I can't see out of it, and it doesn't seem too attractive, does it?" Shaking his head, he crossed his arms. "I'll fight this battle for you, but after that, I'm leaving. Understand?"

Watching him closely, she eventually nodded. "Very well. I will tell the Technician's Council that I sent you on a special mission, so that you can leave. It's all I can do for you."

"That's all I need you to do. Now, can you just let me think in peace?"

Nodding to him, she walked to the back of the guard tower, waiting for the others to arrive.
 
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Evander was not nearly as hung over as he had hoped to be this morning, in fact he felt perfectly fine which annoyed him on some level, though he could not explain why. Perhaps it was the anticipation, the dull feeling of something that would change the course of his life once more. He climbed out of bed slowly, gingerly careful when he stood to make sure he was perfectly stable to be walking and would not fall. Once this was established, he showered and dressed without much of a thought to what his was doing, dread weighing his mind down and distracting him. It was the uniform of a technician that he donned, unsure of whether it was expected of him. To his chagrin, it only barely fit him, stretched tight near the wrists. It would have to do.

Evander slipped his radio into his pocket, attaching the headphones he had found with it in the small hole near the top. Radio stations did not exist, however he could play music from his memory, a lullaby of his mother singing. It could have worked just as well for him to play it inside his own mind but it was somehow easier to focus on the melody this way.

When Evander approached the guard tower, he almost did not notice the poor man who saluted him with an exasperated expression on his face. Momentarily confused, Evander realized that he had forgotten that he was wearing his uniform today. What a troublesome garment... Evander allowed the man to go back at ease when he realized what had happened. At the back of the guard tower, Evander could scarcely make out the shape of a man. As Evander neared him, he removed the dirty headphones from his ears, pulling them out of the slot on the radio, and tucking them into his pocket.

"Hello..." he said, his expression apathetic when he was within a few feet of Aeryn.
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Eli had awoken with a shark crack of pain to the frontal bone. No, it wasn't the vengeful hand of a superior or roommate; it was the reprimand of a stern god who didn't care for drunkenness. Even now, Eli was still reeling from indulgence-induced pain that gave everyone and everything a twin and an ugly make-over. He stood on the field with the other tinkers, currently neatly arrayed around their work stations. He and the other Possessors in training were closer to the front, lest they find the need to control a piece of equipment to move it off the field. Far ahead to the north somewhere were the Paladins; the combination of the bright, cloud-diffused morning light and his own incapacitation.

He scowled at the make-shift cover assembled over them. Beyond it, the morning seemed to flicker and blaze with hateful white sunshine. At least it wasn't hot... But he was still sweating. He tugged at the uniform collar, already wet and stained. His sleeves and trousers were slightly too short; there weren't too many other tinkers his size and he didn't really have the money to spend on an alteration. Someone sneezed. Mutters and faint prayers abounded. Some of the younger tinkers fairly jittered with excitement.

He squinted and stared ahead, but... Nothing. Any second, minute, hour... Day... The assault would begin. No matter what grand words the Commander-General or that other guy said, the reality that awaited him and his friends and even the guys Eli didn't really like so well was just ugly, muddy death. Even a farmer could see that much into the future.
 
Waking from his uncomfortable sleep, Wesley sat up and rubbed the dirt from his back. He people up and about, guards whispering nervously and one tall figure who seemed to be a leader of sorts. He was talking to someone, but Wesley couldn't tell what specifically was being said; however, from the tone and the unending stare into the horizon, he could pretty much assume there was something big coming.

Still sitting up, he grabbed his flask and took a sip before grabbing his knapsack and slinging in on his shoulder. He put the flask in his pocket and began to gather small rocks and stones, using his rifle barrel to gauge the appropriate size needed. He then put the stones in a small cloth bag and walked toward a small pond, where he then filled the bag with water.

Reaching into his sack, he pulled out a small container filled with a white powder, then lightly tapped some into the water filled bag. He put the container away and then proceeded to tie the bag shut, in order to keep the water and powder inside. Gently shaking the bag, water slowly dripped from it and once all the water had drained, Wesley put the bag in a side pocket of his cargos and casually put on his leather gloves. Grabbing his rifle, he walked over to a shady area where he was able to get a good vantage point on the city entrance, after all, if something big happened, he wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to make new friends.
 
Ash woke up hoping that the events of the night before had been a dream of some kind. After all, it wasnt every day you get called out by a high ranked officer and assigned randomly to defend a city from a paladin assault. But alas, this was not the case here. He groggily got out of bed and bean to get dressed.
He slowly made his way to the North wall hoping that maybe there would be some way out of this. "At ;east its not near;y as hot as it was yesterday" ash said aloud. He walked over to a spot a few feet from the others and took his place waiting for the oncoming Paladin attack
 
Ashira nodded to all of the Technicians as they walked in. "All right!" she said, once everyone was gathered. "Battle will start soon. Now, I will give you all your positions." Glancing at clipboard, she began ordering people to their stations. "Eli. A Tinker, eh? And a Possesser to boot. You and Evander will be just behind the front lines. I want you two to work some robots we've got down there. Lost Tech, that stuff, about four times taller than you. Since you're from my branch, you'll get first pick, we've got about five. Three of them have missiles in one arm, the other two are strictly melee." Nodding, she checked them off. Then, she glanced at Aeryn.

"You, dear Aeryn, will be on the front lines."

"No surprises there," Aeryn said. Drawing the large sword from the chain holder on his back, he checked a few gears on it, to make sure they worked.

"Ash, you will be working with Aeryn in the front lines. That chainsaw'll be good up there."

"Wait, wait!" Aeryn shouted. "I don't want to be responsible for another person's life! If you're sending me out there, give me a large enough radius of space so that I can fight! I fight better alone, you know that!"

"Quiet, Aeryn. You're not responsible for anyone, so stop filling that head of yours with more air, it'll burst. Ash, with him." Nodding, she finished checking off everyone.

"Now, we're good to-" Suddenly, Ashira was interrupted by a Mechanic.

"Lord Captain-Commander, there's a man outside the gates, just... sitting there. He hasn't approached since last night."

"Very well. Go find out who he is. Go armed but do not startle him."

"Hold it," Aeryn cut in. "I'll go. I've got to go out there anyway, might as well meet this mysterious threat..." With that, he grabbed his blade, swung it so that he carried it on his shoulders, and left the tower, jumping off the side rather than taking the ladder down; his boots had shock-absorbing gears in the heels, and they'd absorb most forms of falling damage. Stopping for a moment, he then jumped off the side of the wall, landing not too far from Wesley.

"Hey! Who're you?" he asked as he walked up to him. "I'm Aeryn, a Tech." Stopping in front of him, he showed him his badge. "You're safe in the city, so long as you aren't a Paladin or one of their fanatical followers."


Sighing, Ashira shook her head. "I'm sorry, Ash, but I need someone to keep an eye on him. I know he won't desert, but he might go rushing in, guns blazing, and we can't afford to lose him. Now, positions, everyone!"
 
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Evander cast a glance at the Tinkerer, same one from last night if he could remember right. Bumbling man, but if he worked well enough, there wouldn't need to be any problem... Cracking his knuckles, Evander watched Aeryn as he departed, withholding a sigh. Things here could be so centered, so strangely normal it almost didn't feel like a battle preparation at all.

Evander saluted stiffly to Ashira and turned on his heel, heading down in the direction she had indicated. Curiosity plucked at him and he wondered if there would be other Possessors in charge of the other robots, what they would be like. Evander decided to allow his mental picture to present him with older soldiers, bitter and wind-weathered men who had survived a knock or two. It comforted him, kept him from thinking of fresh-faced boys just come of age, running headlong into battle with aught but a sword clutched in their hands, still believing they're invincible in the first charge.

Evander chuckled as he walked, hands in his pockets now but restlessly rubbing his thumb with his forefinger. He felt like an old man, talking about boys dying when he himself had only just been accepted as an adult in most eyes. His thoughts seemed infinitely older, that was for sure. He longed for those home the boys were leaving, the poor dwellings of farmers that provided everything they could for their children and at the end of the day had wrapped their little boys in blankets and settled them near the hearth to keep warm. For this, Evander felt a stab of jealousy at this Tinkerer. He seemed the type, the farmer's son...

Without realizing it, Evander had nearly walked into one of these robotic constructs Ashira had been talking about. All his thoughts were dropped as he craned his neck back to stare at the enormous metallic beast in front of him. No missiles, from what he could tell in the arms. Evander laid his hand against the smooth, cold metal, feeling the stir beneath the surface that warmed to him, pulled at his mind and heart.

"Soon" he promised quietly.
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Surprised that the woman even knew who he was, Eli followed the guy he supposed must have been Evander. Neither spoke to the other. Sweat ran down Eli's ribs, making his uniform shit stick and creating a slime from the starch. Such flat-ironed clothing didn't fit him; having no wrinkles was unnatural. And anyway, crackly shirts were... Just weird. He shook the irrelevant thoughts off. He had to control one of the larger robots, something he'd done approximately once, period. Missiles or fighting...

His heart was thundering in his chest like a train down a narrow, dark tunnel. All he could see was that machine, looming closer, and with it, the promise of something dark and tainted by copper. Something that desperately, ravenously desired his soul and was more terrible than any demon from ghoulish stories. Despite the heat, he suddenly felt icy cold. His fingers touched the massive bulk of metal resting atop the treads. The payload inside was enough to satisfy any war-monger. The green-grey paint was chipped and flaking, but the heart of the machine did not care about appearances. All it cared for was purpose.

A touch; a pull--he rocked on his feet as awareness split, half to the machine; he dropped into a squat that he could hold for hours, leaving him steady and with a low profile. If he needed to, he could lunge, roll, or even sprint away, though Eli had never been terribly quick. Looking through the monster's eyes, he could practically see each speck of dust on the Paladins' boots. Looking through eight eyes--sensors--was disconcerting. There were colors he had never seen before nor had any names for.
 
Hearing a loud thud, Wesley looked up at the man approaching him. Clad in armor, this figure seemed to be someone of importance, though it mattered not to Wesley. He supposed that his was the social call he had been waiting for, though the man's expression didn't exactly instill hope.

bing gears in the heels, and they'd absorb most forms of falling damage. Stopping for a moment, he then jumped off the side of the wall, landing not too far from Wesley.

"Hey! Who're you?" he asked as he walked up to him. "I'm Aeryn, a Tech." Stopping in front of him, he showed him his badge. "You're safe in the city, so long as you aren't a Paladin or one of their fanatical followers."

Wesley uttered a chuckle, as this man was so self-important that it was rediculous. He looked at Aeryn, unimpressed. He put his bag of stones down and walked toward him, grinning at how much taller the man was. Clearing his throat, Wesley happily reached out his hand to shake.

"I'm Wes, and I'm a tech as well," he looked up at the gathering of soldiers at the gates, "Although I must deny your claim of safety, as I believe I would be as safe in there as I am alone here. Thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid I must deny you."

Picking up his bag and turning the other way, Wesley waved off the man, "I must take my leave, good day."
 
Blinking as the man declined his offer, he shrugged. "All right, if you say so.But if you're a Tech, it would've been nice for you to help us. But what's one more soldier, huh?" With that, he nodded to the man. "Good luck, and I suggest you go run as far as possible. This is gonna get bloody. Bye." Turning around, he joined a large group of Techs that were flooding out of the gates, and assembing into battle positions.

Walking past a large part of the Techs, he took his position at the head of the line. He would not die today. He'd fight until every last wretched Paladin was dead or dying. Stabbing the ground with his sword, he squeezed the hilt of the giant blade, and the side swung open, accompanied by a loud hissing noise and a large cloud of steam rising from the hole in the blade. Looking into it, the hole seemed to go on indefinitely. In fact, it seemed as if light itself did not touch the gaping hole, causing a feeling of something akin to nausea. Yet Aeryn moved his hand into the void and, a moment later, drew out another sword, a longsword. The longsword also had a gear in it, an electrifying blue; suitable, since the sword was meant to throw lighting around. Dangerous, since the lightning didn't differentiate between friend or foe. But it was why he was more efficient at the front lines. He could cut through as many enemies as he could with the lightning without risking any of his fellow Technicians.

The Paladins were beginning to move, now. Banners were rising, symbols of the many factions of the Paladins. At the same time, the banners of the Technicians unfurled as well, billowing in the wind. Symbols of the ranks of Technicians; each banner had either one, two, or three gears. Tinker, Mechanic, and Technician repectively.

"Take your positions and prepare to fight!" Ashira announced.

"Feh," Aeryn muttered, "most of us are gonna die..." But he kept that to himself, no one standing near him should have to hear that aloud, even if a lot of them were thinking it.
 
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Banners, sounds, the approach was upon them, their signal to begin. Evander's heart was throbbing in his ear, his blood seemed to race through his body like lightning. It was now, their chance to defend the way of life they had chosen. Evander willed the metallic arm to lower, scooping him up and lifting him to the top of the towering machine where he could see fields of paladins in neat lines ahead of him. Perhaps his brain was exaggerating the numbers, but he doubted that it was by much.

Perched high atop the machine, Evander rested his body against the cool metal, hands twining to latch on securely to the metal giant. Closing his eyes, Evander let himself flow freely into the metal, igniting the spark of energy that had been laying dormant. Urging it to a blaze, Evander began to move the construct toward the paladins. The movements were stiff at first but gradually became more fluid with each enormous stride. They were growing closer to the front lines, exactly where a melee based metal beast like this belonged.

Evander felt a weird dual sensation of being vulnerable and protected astride his massive mount. There he was, laid starkly undefended, a target with his attention focused entirely on the metal being under him but at the same time, he was cradled in a metal hollow on an enormous dealer of death. Evander waited for the signal to be given, to let the carnage ensue.
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“A hum Diddly Doo
and a Hum Diddly Doe,
Men sing to your fathers, Men sing to the Glow
And when the sun is shining,
and when the moon is not
We’ll raise another tankard as the planet earth is shot.

I walked a league in another man’s slippers just to say I could
I’ve stolen things I shouldn’t, I’ve taken things I should
Some may call me bastard others say I’m bad
But I aint the bloody techs or knights, I’m Gaia’s humble lad

A hum Diddly Due
and a Hum Diddly Doe,
Men sing to your fathers, Men sing to the Glow
And when the sun is shining,
and when the moon is not
We’ll raise another tankard as the planet's head is shot.”


The muttered ditty rose above the hubbub of the preparing techs. Somehow amid the frenzied preparations, few noticed his approach. The guard at the wall appraised him with exasperation; loathe to once again push the doddering old fool back toward the town. Mory the Moron he was called, or Old Man Mory…at least for those who had a basic impression of his name. For others he was just a crazy coot, and old throwaway that blew into town one day and simply refused to die. His age was always in question and his sanity never was, such had been decided months ago. ‘Sun-touched’ they diagnosed, ‘Old brained’ said others. The phrase was synonymous with crazy, but some folk thought it sounded a bit more polite to include an excuse in the terminology. Barmy or not, Mory ghosted his way from place to place with a smile on his cracked face. A wispy white beard grew from just below his nose to even obscure his pursed lips, and hairy caterpillar eyebrows always jaunted from extreme to extreme as though dancing.

He eyed the horizon cackling, following the pennants waving from the spears of the Crusaders. Every knight must fight a tech and every tech must fight a knight. Rules of the land so old the point of which was lost to the father’s fathers. Now children rose from side to side to wave their senile loyalties and stab each other to an early grave.

An old age breeding a new age of old.

Preposterous.

Skirting the edge of the techs, he gamely took the stairs two at a time to stand triumphant on the ramparts. His staff askew in gnarled hands, the old man took a deep breath and bellowed his own war cry to gallop out to join the Crusaders.

“HULLABALOOOOOO”

It was the work of a few moments for the guard to follow him up the steps and knock the fumbling fellow sideways. Hitting the ground with a sound akin to twigs breaking.

“Have some respect you damn fool,”
the guard muttered, helping the old man to his feet and escorting him down the stairs “Those men and women out there are fighting so YOU can live an extra few years.”

Pushing the old man on his way, the guard didn’t bother to check that the fool had wandered back to his usual haunt. Instead, the old man stumbled out into the wastes, approaching the tech army like a dot among giants.

“I aint the bloody Knights or Techs, I’m Gaia’s humble lad.”



Summary: Ole fellow is doddering around and has finally found his way on the approach to the techs. Prepare for reinforcements....SINGING reinforcements!
 
Time passed rather quickly. The Paladins finally began mobilizing, and began their march. It took a moment for Aeryn to realize some old fool had wandered onto the battlefield. "Hey, hey!" Aeryn called out. "Get out of here! Don't you realize the enemy is about to-," and Aeryn was cut off when a downpour of arrows arced through the air and headed towards the front lines.

"Son of a-!" Grabbing his larger buster sword, he used it as a shield to deflect the oncoming arrows. A few of the Techs at the front lines were taken down immediately, but Aeryn didn't have time to pay attention to them. Rushing the enemy, he clashed swords with the first of the Paladins. Many carried a sword and shield, though a few had two-handed blades instead. Aeryn, however, had two, rather large swords, both of which he was easily wielding. Moving swiftly, he began cutting through the enemy, getting wounded himself yet not paying his injuries any mind.

Killing Paladins was all that mattered now. A moment of hesitation would kill Aeryn; that much he knew.