Mask of Humanity

Nicolai sat himself by the desk in his room, looking to Kleos. Onwards and upwards. All of this was only a minor event. His course was unchanged.

‘You felt the castle shake?’

‘Hard to miss it.’

‘What does it mean?’

Kleos looked uncertain, chewing on its lip. ‘I’m… not sure. Perhaps a simple earthquake, perhaps something more. A castle in good repair would typically resist any tremoring of the earth. But this castle has greatly decayed from those days. That’s why the undead are so weak and listless, why everything is falling apart. Something must be wrong with the Castle Core, otherwise it would have prevented the tremor from having such an effect.’

Kleos, at least, had no questions, no prying. The head had noticed the others reaction when they saw him in the painting, but it seemed to believe what had been seen to just been some strange thing from his world. Nothing for it to worry about. At least there was that.

He smiled at the head, and continued his questions. This was an important matter. ‘Are earthquakes common, here?’ asked Nicolai.

Kleos shrugged. ‘I’m not sure where “here” is. My memory is… hazy. I recall some facts about this castle, such as the location of the library, but I’m not sure where that comes from. I don’t know where we’re actually located within Nightmare. But, some places earthquakes are common, yes. Others, they are practically unknown.’

‘I see,’ murmured Nicolai. ‘I suppose that the sooner I leave this place, the better. If there is one quake, there may be another.’

‘You need to get me my body, that’s what you have to do,’ said Kleos, eyes narrowed. ‘Starting with the library, then heading down. Somewhere down in the depths of this place there will be a Cocoon.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Something castles like this use to create living tools. It’ll be someplace central, near to the Castle Core. If you can get to it and put me inside, after putting my name in the book, I’ll be able to get a body.’

‘Why are you only telling me now?’

‘I figure you’re finally about strong enough. It’ll be protected, that’s for sure. I still don’t know if you’re capable, but you should be able to go and have a look around.’

Nicolai nodded. ‘There are some other things I need to do, first, but I’ll get to that soon. Tell me about the Castle Core, what is it, why is it important?’

‘The Castle Core is the spirit of this castle. Were it doing well, it would protect the castle from harm. It collects the souls of slain undead and sends them out again to repair and rejoin their bodies, that’s why they come back if you fail to destroy the soul.’

'Where is it?’

‘In the depths of the castle, near to the Cocoon. Well, relatively. It’ll be even harder to get to, though.’

‘What if I did get to it? Could I do anything with it?’

The head snorted. ‘Only if you were far, far stronger than you are. Castle Core’s are high level existences. As you are, without protection you’d be burned up just from getting too close to it.’

‘I see.’ Nicolai sat back, considering. He was reminded of when he’d been a part of Zero-Twelve. Back then, he and the other Module’s had occasionally been tasked with getting to the central hardware of super AI’s, such as those controlling warships, important buildings, large gunships, or anything else humans had thought to put one into. Reaching the hardware such an AI operated on was typically the best way to destroy or seize control of it, so long as you could get past its countermeasures.

This Castle Core sounded similar, something that was involved in running and looking after the castle.

When he’d been a part of Zero-Twelve, he had been at the peak of what could be done by a single, relatively small actor. Zero-Twelve had been a cutting-edge military killbot, capable of taking out such AI’s if it played its cards right.

In this new reality, if the Castle Core was the central processors for the AI governing this castle… then what was he, Nicolai?

Certainly not a Zero-Twelve. If he were to encounter a killbot it would kill him. Doubtless he stood just as little chance against this Castle Core. He wasn’t strong enough to take it on, even if he got into its most vulnerable location. Even so, he wanted to feel it out. Kleos said it must be encountering some difficulties. If it was weakened, perhaps he would be able to gain some value from it.

Nicolai tsked, shaking his head. He considered the events of the day, checking to see if there was anything else he wished to plot and plan, any questions to ask. One occurred to him.

Those knightly undead had had very powerful armour. In fact, he would say that their armour was more desirable than the Imbued they had carried. It had resisted 7.62 rounds from Jo’s rifle, and 12 gauge from close up. If he could get such armour, he would be invincible.

Or would he? Nicolai had learned that everything in this world possessed limits. If that armour was so strong, then why didn’t all the dead have it? It confused him. So, he asked Kleos about it. The head recognised the knights and their armour when he described it, and was quick with an explanation.

‘It’s a kind of active blessing from the Castle Core. Undead can go to it and it’ll infuse their armour with energy. It’s a technique unique to the Castle Core’s, I don’t know how they do it. The infusion only lasts for so long, though. It’s a good method and the armour can take quite a few hits, but eventually there’ll be one hit too many and that’ll be that.’

Nicolai frowned. ‘So, I could simply keep on shooting—hitting the armour, and it’d pop?’

‘That’s right. Probably wouldn’t take all that many hits, either. I guess you gave up on breaking it after realising how strong the armour was? Most likely if you’d just kept going, you’d have gotten through. Also, a lot of Symbiotes will work just fine regardless. Such armour is only effective against purely physical attacks and Symbiotes.’

‘I see. You’re right, I stopped shooting them after the first few times.’ He’d considered it a waste of ammo. He felt momentary irritation he’d failed to work this out himself, but at least now he knew. He also now knew that the undead’s armour was less desirable than he’d considered it, as well as less of an obstacle.

But, it would still be handy to have a set, assuming he could kill such an undead while doing as little damage to its armour as possible. Being able to shrug off all bullets, even for a short while, could come in very handy. It wasn’t desirable enough that he’d be actively spending a day or two attempting to acquire such, but if he found an opportunity, he’d take it.

The torch was dull and as he watched it flickered out. Time to sleep. Before doing so, he checked his Nodes.

User Interface 376 | User #53,217

- Cultivation

Total Nodes: 1 Major, 2 Minor

Available unconstructed Nodes: 0 Major, 4 Minor

- Nodes in progress;

Right Lung (Finalising: 24%)

Left Lung (Finalising: 24%)

Completed Nodes;

Heart (Flawless) (100/100)

###

The next day found Nicolai, Jo, Perro, and Azure back in the old safe-place, standing in the banquet hall by the entrance to the tunnel into the prison.

Jo had removed all of her weapons and equipment, only wearing her clothes, and she also had a Soul Trap, and a drone floated above, linked to her. The others were similarly stripped down, and each of them also had a Soul Trap. Other than that, he’d given them a pouch of sustaining seeds, a water bottle, a trio of decent-ish maces taken as loot from undead, and Jo also had a pistol hidden beneath her clothes, alongside a number of magazines and a silencer.

All of them had their Soul Sense floating around them, emerging from their Seeds. He’d been pushing them to remain connected to their Seed’s and using that Soul Sense on the journey over, part of his efforts to impress upon them the importance of practising. They would be completing their Seed’s down in the prison, but if they didn’t fulfil the bonding requirement they wouldn’t be able to Integrate. He’d tasked Jo with ensuring that when they had free time, they should focus on practising with the Soul Sense.

Of course, gathering Oma crystals took priority, but Nicolai didn’t see any particular reason not to encourage them to do this. It should be relatively easy for them to do, something to complete while at the same time gathering the crystals for him. The prison had everything they needed to complete the Seeds, after all. Once that was done, who knew? Nicolai knew his Mask would put significant resistance if he attempted to seize Symbiotes forcefully from Perro and Azure. But if they happened to get extremely good Symbiotes, he didn’t intend to let that stop him.

Although, the issue that they would receive only heart Node Symbiotes was worth keeping in mind. Whatever Symbiotes they got would have to be significantly better than his Blue Hornet for him to risk upsetting his Mask to such a degree, at least while he needed it to fend off whatever was going on with the dark and the hole.

‘Once inside, we’ll hide the Soul Traps, weapons and food somewhere. Then let them capture you,’ said Nicolai. ‘Otherwise they’ll likely take them off you. But once you’ve been caught and banded, you should be free to walk around with anything that isn’t recognisably a weapon. Keep the Soul Traps covered up with the helmet covers where possible. You’ll need to hide the maces and the pistol under your clothes.’

‘Are… are we gonna be safe down there?’ asked Perro, taking his eyes from Nicolai to peer warily in the dark. The boy had been giving him these constant searching glances.

‘I told you, it’s a big prison full of undead. It’s as unsafe as anywhere else in this castle. But once you’re captured they won’t harm you, you only need watch out for the centipede and the bugs. And if you see a pillar of living darkness, get away from it.’

They were all looking nervous, though Azure and Jo at least looked determined. He’d talked at great lengths about how in this place he’d been able to complete his Seed, and there was at least a degree of eagerness in all of them.

This was a bit of a risky plan, he knew that. He didn’t know what state, exactly, the prison would be in now. He intended to accompany them down and check it out, and while there he also wanted to see about completing one of his Quests; The Chained Titan.

‘Remember, if it looks like the undead are all… properly dead, and you see bugs, we’ll have to run.’

That was the main risk, in his view. The prison was an area where some kind of war was occurring. If the bugs had won then the others would not be met with the soft capture he’d experienced.

Even so, it was worth attempting.

This was the method he would use to solve his shortage of Oma crystals. The drone accompanying them was a bulkier version, one used back on earth for deliveries. It should be able to carry a decent number of Oma crystals, and in the book of rituals, he’d found one that would work to hide things from Soul Sense, sort-of. Items of power, Imbued and Oma, gave off small ripples in the Aura. When Nicolai shelled up his Soul Sense he had to work to extend that to the Imbued and Oma crystals he kept on his person, which effectively hid him and his things from Soul Sense.

The ritual he’d had old Ben put on the drone wasn’t quite as good, but it would at least hide the ripples and should only be detectable if an undead’s Soul Sense directly touched on it. For that reason, they were to keep it well away from the undead and it would make its trips by floating just beneath the ceiling. By doing so he hoped it would be able to carry the crystals out, and deposit them in the tunnel for Nicolai to collect.

It was a good plan in principle, but whether it would work depended on several factors. Jo was central. This could be considered a test for her. He felt she should be capable of getting herself and the two teenagers through the task he’d set out, and he’d comprised a detailed datapacket containing everything he knew about the prison and mines, alongside some of his thoughts on how they might farm the undead miners for Soul wisps. Now, it was up to her.

‘You can deactivate your Soul Senses, you’ll need your focus,’ he said, and saw relieved expressions skate over their faces as their Soul Sense tendrils retracted into their Seeds.

‘Let’s go.’ Nicolai stepped into the tunnel, taking out a torch for their benefit.

They formed an awkward, shuffling little band as they moved through the dark, everyone quiet. As he walked he palmed an Oma crystal and drew on it, refilling his Node which was half-empty.

Reaching the end, he saw that there was no freshly-built wall, as he’d worried there might be. ‘Wait here,’ he whispered, activating his poncho and shelling his Soul Sense as he crept forwards.

Nicolai emerged from the exit, and found the prison just as when he’d left it. He moved out, checking about, but there was no Warden. He even utilised the drone to check every cell nearby, and the nooks and crannies of the ceiling, recalling how the last one had hidden from him. But he found nothing.

He smiled. Good. The anticipated obstacle was non-existent. He gestured the others forwards and they all descended to the ground level of the tunnel, then headed deeper into the area. He had the drone land on his hand and tucked it away. No sense in risking an undead spotting it.

He moved to the side, keeping his distance as the four moved through the tunnels. He saw them checking their maps now and then to look over what he’d shared with them, which was all that he’d explored of this place.

‘Stash everything here,’ he told them after some time, and they moved to do so, hiding the things in one of the cells, then they all continued on.

Closer to the main area, not far from where the prisons became the pit, they encountered a warden. It reacted immediately, moving towards them and he saw them all freeze, tense and unsure, struggling not to run in spite of his orders to let the warden take them.

Its chains hissed out, and Perro let out a yell and stumbled away, but his instinctual attempt to flee came too slow, a chain catching at his leg and taking him down.

The warden stepped closer, its chains gripping onto all of them.

This was the moment. If there had been a change in the kill-or-capture policy amongst the undead since he’d last been here, then he was about to witness it.

He held himself ready, his SMG’s barrel poking through his poncho as he took aim at the Warden, positioning the reticle over the centre of its head. If it decided to kill them, he’d have to act fast.