Ugh. It's late. But I finally finished the second part of Godfall after rewriting huge chunks of it to read better.
(For those of you that are reading this, Erik has three unique skills, one of which is coming into play here, Mechanical Panoply. If he has the ingredients for it, he can choose to, at legend, construct a machine without needing to build it with his own two hands. Rather, it forms to his will.)
Godfall, Part 2
When we arrive, after all is said and done, I just breathe even as I settle down at a seat at the table. Tamamo quietly sets herself beside me, with Nestor and Fenris across from me, as we talk over options. "As we discovered earlier, let's go over the facts. Wolf Home's half destroyed. More specifically, whatever the hell that was that touched Tamamo made it so her domain never existed, and thus the resources inside never existed. That deprives us of most of the food, and water we'd saved up. Worse than that, however, is that Tamamo seems to be brought down to a low enough legend that, even though she knows the skills, she can't actually use them anymore. The same seems to be for Fenris. As much as I hate to admit it... I look to be the only full God we have left. Let's talk options, shall we?"
Tamamo speaks up, even as Fenris and Nestor look pensive. "Could we pull a Macross, perhaps? You've still got your full abilities, and we know that the Concept to Execution skill, combined with Ultimate Intelligence, can work miracles..."
I study her, while thinking, then sigh. "Well, if we can utilize something real, perhaps. But I'm not sure I'm skilled enough to figure out faster than light travel in 5 months dear. We have the upgrades to the Wolfen, to make it go super far with Rainbow Bridge, but it relies on people's faith to run. We just don't know how far we can go before issues crop up. Plus, we don't have any real renewable plants or anything else that can produce enough to ignore the need for new materials. Eventually something's going to break down that's important SOMEWHERE. I can create metals, yes. Food... not so much. That was always your expertise, not mine. As it is, we've got the Wolfen's stocks, the spare hydroponics in the Wolf Home proper, outside our domains and in the shell layers, as well as machinery to grow more. But since this is space, it might have issues. Or even one single light bulb going out permanently..."
"What about a superlaser? You did well enough with the Wolfen's original main cannon prior to the upgrades we recently did, didn't you? Maybe we could make a big enough one to carve into that thing, Sir?" Nestor studies me, as he thinks.
I can't help but think about it. It COULD be an option. But the power requirements alone... I sigh, then just speak up. "It's definitely a possibility. I just don't think I can scale up one big enough that won't blow the Wolfen's new Fusion generator as a side effect. And considering it's engineered to hell and back to survive even being shot full of holes, and still work, that's really saying everything, isn't it?"
He nods, then looks down, thinking, even as Tamamo thinks. "Did any of the cultivation flowers I've been working on survive in the labs, Erik? We might be able to use the ones that I've been creating based off the Flower of Life out of the Macross and Robotech series, to make a power source... It's just hard to say how good it would be. We could try to do that, and revamp the Wolfen to look less than a Starcraft Battlecruiser and more like an SDF1..."
"That... could work as a power source, but we'd have to rebuild a lot of other systems to take into account the new power source. I might build a prototype mech that runs on it, though, dear. If it works well, we can revisit it in a month. Sound good?" My wife smiles at me, and nods, then returns to looking at the table.
"Hey, boss? Since no one's ever going to spy on us again... what the hell is up with this table, anyways? It's green, and glows." Nestor speaks up, while sipping out of his flask, studying the table that's been the centerpiece to our meetings for a while now.
"It's a legend battery. Holds up to double the amount I normally can hold." I chuckle at his blink of surprise. "It's meant to let us make massive jumps with Tamamo's former ability to form a Rainbow Bridge for teleportation. But again, it only holds roughly double what I can hold."
He pauses, then nods. "Pretty much a rechargeable battery, but you're not sure it's enough to handle the strain?"
"Yeah." My reply has him sigh, and rub his forehead.
Fenris tilts his head, then smirks. "Then we run a different way."
I blink, and turn to face him, studying him. "How so?"
"Your master was able to forge a pair of wings that not only let him fly, but let him escape into Asgard and other Otherworlds, as well as Terra Incognita. You know how he did it. You've even built a portal from Svartalfheim, to Germany, one that let the Wolfen through, once upon a time. Build upon it. We don't have an otherworld we can access, but you should be able to build a portal to something, or somewhere else. And anywhere else is better than the touch of that... thing."
Settling back, I think it over, leaning into my wife's embrace as I work out what he's saying. "To another universe, perhaps? Or perhaps another timeline?"
He nods, before I slowly nod as well.
"It's better than being chased down. Let's do that. Tamamo, you're on duty for checking out those flowers, followed by getting plant life outside that was naturally grown, to Wolf Home and the Wolfen. If they've survived, we can see about building a Veritech fighter or something that can take advantage of them as a secondary fuel source. If not... well, once you're back up to snuff eventually, we can work something out. Nestor, you're on ensuring everyone's getting fed on the galley, and that the ship holds up. Anything starts breaking while we're on, talk with me. We also need to get the Wolf's Wrath on board, as well as the reproductions of the machines I rode to battle. Fenris, if you don't mind, could you help Tamamo by marking out what plants weren't made by her divinity? Once the power she used to make them this year runs out, we're going to get low on air, and fast."
She nods, before I get up
5 months later.
My wife desperately cooks when she's not sleeping or training, while trying to get something, ANYTHING to work well again. Fenris watches through the telescopes at what's happening to Earth, when he's not hunting down the last of the plants along with Tamamo. Nestor's keeping the Wolfen's upgrades going. Me? I work. Even if they're not Gods anymore, stripped of the bulk of their legend and abilities, I still am. The flowers she asked me to test don't seem to work as a power source, sadly enough. I'll have to figure out some other power source to get that new Veritech Fighter she wanted me to build working. Aside from that though, everything is focused on one thing. Innovation, and building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYm8mKbGRz0 (Chosen One ~ Valley of Wolves)
I have not laid idle, this entire time. Even before this apocalypse I have not laid idle. It took 5 years to plan out how to get here, and I've been working here for the 25 years since I married my wife. But now, I work like a madman. The sheer range of technological innovations I've made, to ensure we'll survive this has entirely rebuilt everything we have left. Multitasking every day to constantly work on concepts and ideas, asking the 230 people we have left on Mars to pray to me daily to regenerate my legend, and the ability to help them, I've made far greater pushes than ever before. Especially when I utilize Concept to Execution, in order to literally pull a MacGuyver 12 times simultaniously in developing new technologies and equipment.
Mechanical Panoply works as great as ever, letting me make massive machines with ease as long as I have the materials and metals for it. Between that and the Legion of Coal having grown in the past few months, we have a million workers constantly building and working. A legion of machines, co-designed by Tamamo and her understanding of the Nature of Life. Even without her abilities boosted to Epic levels, she still helps me.
Deep in my heart however, I'm not sure it's enough. I learned a lot from Wayland Smith, when I studied under him, the one who forged Gram. He was able to make wonderous things, enchanted even better than I can, through smithing alone. I'm not quite that good. Close, perhaps. Good enough to develop relics as a demigod, instead of a God? Yes. Good enough to make something with the skill of a hammer alone? Not quite.
Still, I have no choice on this. That entropic dome scares me, and it feels wrong. Like time is almost being reversed in it's depths. I need to find a way to escape. To save my people, what's left of us. 280 out of the 3,000 we brought with... it's not much. Mostly scientists and engineers, that work for me.
The losses are too high for us to choose any other option, and with the rate of the growth of the entropic dome, I don't have time to try and attempt any other route. I can't make machines that alter the air fast enough to counter what will happen, when the plants Tamamo made will vanish, nor can I build rockets that can move us faster than that dome is spreading through the solar system.
With time, I work out a possible coating of metal to defend my people against the rigors of dimensional transit between... timelines? Or possibly universes? It's hard to tell, even with my insanely skilled mind. Ultimate Intelligence, Uller called it. He looked disappointed in me, that it wasn't Perception, or Dexterity.
My people have started calling me the Chosen One that can save them, and I hope to rise to the task, even as I frantically work as much as I can, sleeping the bare minimum, while eating only what my wife makes for me.
Day after day, week after week, month after month. As the entropic dome comes closer and closer, I struggle to work. To figure out the proper way to save them from it, and here.
Until I figure out a safe way, one day, the dome now visible in the night sky, taking up large chunks of it. Like it's reaching out towards Mars, like a giant hand reaching out to swat an annoying fly.
It's risky, and we don't have much time left to try it. I'm not even perfectly sure how it will WORK, but I build anyways. Ferociously, working with my Legion of Coal. So I put my entire body to it.
I sleep less. I eat less. I just work. Hour after hour, spell after spell, forming and crafting a massive spherical portal, worthy of Wayland and the things I learned from him. Moment after moment, of working, measuring, calculating, verifying, triple checking every inch of the massive ring I've forged. Mechanical Panoply can work after I've done ensuring everything is perfectly precise, even more accurate than a C&C machine could ever make. Down to the molecular scale.
Even as I set up the Legion of Coal, for what I can take with, to be on the Wolfen and Wolf Home. Even as they mine for me, the ring takes shape. Even as they build war machines for me, to replace the ones we've lost, the full amount the Wolfen can carry.
154 war machines. 50,000 of the Legion of Coal for the Wolfen. Another 800,000 can be carried on Wolf Home. Leaving 150,000 behind, or melted down for parts.
We can't trust the Domain in Wolf Home to stay stable once we go through, or else I'd have more go with, if this works.
Even as I work, my army moves, working with me, preparing as many plants to be moved onto Wolfhome as possible, as well as on the Wolfen. There are air purification systems, certainly. But we need the people fed, and happy, too. Myself included, if mostly due to me loving my wife's cooking.
Then one day, when the dome of entropic energy is close enough that we can see it encompassing the entire night sky, it's done. In the distance, we can see tendrils of it reaching out towards the Sun, as well. Like it's getting ready to encompass and eat the Sun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8K5YgO9Iw (Ship of Regret and Sleep ~ Xenogears Myth The Orchestral Album)
"Attach the towing tether from the Wolfen to Wolf Home! We're getting ready to turn this on, then leave, folks!" Nestor's shout reaches to my legion, before they move in sync to help.
I pause, then look to them personally, before walking to the ones that are close. "I'm sorry, to all of you. I wish I could take you all with. But some of you, my Legion of Coal... my creations... my children. I must ask to stay behind and destroy this gateway. One day after we go in, destroy it, so it's open long enough. Ensure that that THING there the Titans made cannot follow us. We cannot let them have the technology for this. We cannot let them have the technology to make all of YOU. I'm sorry to ask this of you, any of you, though..." I choke up, more than a bit, then bow my head.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not a better father, and creator to you all. I wanted to bring you into the world to make wonders. Not... see the end like this. If I was better..."
Tamamo's arms hug me from behind, as I just close my eyes, and lean against her, shaking. I'm so tired.
"We're happy to do it, father. We will live on in your name, to stop that thing from killing you, then we will die so they cannot take us as well." I look up, in stunned silence. They... can talk? They were able to talk this entire time?!
"You can..." One at the forefront nods, before moving to hug me. I just hug them, one by one, shaking and crying. Each and every one of them that are close, I give a hug to. As a father to his children.
"I wanted life to be better for you all. Not this. Can you back your minds up to the Wolfen, or something?"
They think, for a long moment, before shaking their heads, silently. "We cannot. Whatever lets us live... it cannot be transmitted. I'm sorry, father. We will stand up and help you escape, so our siblings will live on with you, in your care, for those of us that choose to stay."
I can't melt them down, can I? FUCK! Fuck, I can't do anything right, can I?!
"This is what they have chosen, Erik. You must listen to your children's wishes, lest you throw our lives away." Fenris' words reach me from behind. "Rest your exhausted body, then we go in the morning. We still have a good distance to go before it can reach us."
Weakly, I nod, pulling myself up to go to bed. "For what it's worth, my creations... I'm so sorry..."
"It's fine, father. We understand the nature of sacrificing the few to save the many. The Dao of Spock, so to speak." They nod at me, as I move.
Through the night, I wake up repeatedly even though I'm exhausted. Nightmares, perhaps? Fear for my children, my CREATIONS, who I never knew could talk? I'm not sure anymore. But eventually, I sleep.
In my sleep, I D̷̛̰̅̓͒̓̏̓͐̏̄̊̈́͂͛̽̏̋͛̈́̓̀͊̄̐̀̾r̷̆̽̾́̎̍̆̉͑͒̀́̽͒̒̂̿̚͠ ̧̨̡̨̧̨̳̗̰͉̻͖͔̬͓͔̭͓̬̫͉͈͚̥̗̪̗̲̠̮͈̤͍͚̱̬͉̥̗̏̿̇̕e̵̿̈̂̀̚ ̢̢̢̨̛͓͇̤̩͎͇̭̤͖̰̹̯͍̣̼̞̫͖̟͍̮͔̻̤̠̏̑́̉̅̔͑͑͗̂̌̋̀͛͘͠ä̵́͝ ̡̢̨̖̪̜̦͈̦͚̖̮͈̤̞͇̼̲̙͖͉͇̺̥̭̱͚̫͔̻̤͈̩͌̍̐̑̃͒̿̀̀͠ͅm̷̌̅̅͗ ̢̧̧̧͍͙̜̝͚͖͕̩͙̪͎͕̮̙̘̥͇̥̳̙͕̜̐̃͗̌̊̌̇̽̀̔̉̎̅̍̉̄́͌̚̚͘͝͝ͅ ̻̳͕͕̹...
AN: If anyone spots any grammar mistakes, or anything else, feel free to point this out to me.
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Originally Posted by Xamusel
