Lycoris expected some mounting form of resistance after provoking the Whispers by smashing the terminal, but… there was none. Maybe they had actually taken her advice, and fled the facility and town. She knew that was a rather naive and unrealistic hope, but the way the Whispers had acted inside the facility was so different from how she had seen before, she couldn't give up on that sliver of light.  All four of the group—or, all three with weapons at least—remained alert, in the event that they were walking into an ambush. The tension that the moment they rounded their next corner, a horde of monsters would be waiting for them with arms raised, sent sweat trickling down their backs.

The facility was spacious, with several identical hallways and corridors, but it was almost entirely horizontal, with supposedly only one or two extra floors of elevation. Not that they cared about such things, as cloud generators were housed in special chambers on the ground floor, with ventilation equipment designed to send the plumes of smoke up into the sky.  At times, the path seemed to slope upward or downward, but it was in minute enough elevations that it didn't feel like they had gone up or down an entire floor. The layout made little sense, it felt as though they were going around in massive circles, but any time Lycoris tracked a landmark, she wouldn't see it again.

Unfortunately every other functional form of navigation that could lead them towards their objective was digital, and thus rendered useless by the Whispers' hunger for materials. The inconvenience was enough to make Lycoris wonder if the Church didn't have the right idea in decrying technology.

Well, I guess the Whispers are kind of a result of technology running wild in the first place. Still, there has to be some kind of middle ground. Like… maybe we can keep phones and cloud generators around?

"That'd probably be good enough… Maybe elevators too…" she muttered to herself.  Gier's ears twitched and he turned around to raise an eyebrow. "What's this about elevators?"  "Er, I was just thinking about how convenient they are."

They were presently walking up a flight of stairs. Despite the cloud generator supposedly being on the first floor, the nervous Count behind them had at one point suggested the path to it might be on the second-floor, when they first noticed the path was gently curving upward. Supposedly the cloud generator was housed in a massive open workshop, and such locales often had catwalks and balconies for the overseers to look down upon the workers, as Eltash had put it.  At the front of the group, Athena slowed her pace and readied in front of her, while moving her free hand to the sword on her hip.

"Your Highness, do you hear that?"

Lycoris tilted her head and wiggled her ears as she closed her eyes. Over the sound of Gier's breathing, and the slight hum of electricity powering the lights and running through the cables on the other side of the walls, she heard a crunching sound.  There were any number of unpleasant possibilities that flitted through her head, as she recalled the unpleasant sight of shambling Whispers wearing flesh like patches.

"Unfortunately, yes. What in the world is that?"  "Sounds like something eating its dinner," muttered Gier. "Y'know… I didn't expect Vampire ears to actually be good for hearing. Figured they were just long and pointy for show."  "How should we proceed, Your Highness?" asked Athena, pointedly ignoring the quip.  "I don't know if it will lead to the generator, but we should investigate just in case."

To satisfy her overactive and troubled imagination, if nothing else.

They crept around the next bend, and Athena slowly pushed open the door between them and the crunching sound. Inside was a brightly lit and spacious room, where multi-limbed creatures were prying open large ovoid shaped objects and pulling out random pieces of debris from inside of them. Others took the scrap out and shuffled over to feed it into a large maw-like structure. The crunching sound was said machine crushing the scrap into a fine mincing of nearly liquid shards, which it then deposited into a curved basin behind it. A third group of the octo-limbed Whispers scooped up the shredded matter and stuffed it into a small opening in the wall.  When the group peered into the room, the creatures behaved just as the shadows Lycoris had spotted before, skittering into the corners of the room or hiding behind whatever they could.

"What… is this?" asked Lycoris.  "I'm unfamiliar with anything resembling ecology for these creatures, but… they look like Whispers," replied Athena.  Both of them reflexively turned to look at Gier, but he shrugged with a sigh. "I don't know either. I've lived in Tenebreimen my whole life, never been to the Wastes."  And then all three looked at Count Eltash, who frowned. "Well? Are you going to dispose of them or not?"

But of course, he had nothing useful to add. The man was even more hopeless than Athena when it came to exploring thoughts beyond the rigid box he had been raised inside of.  With an aggrieved sigh, Lycoris lowered her scythe and walked past Athena into the room. In response, all of the creatures let out a strange mechanical hiss like static white noise.

"Uhh *ahem* I'm not sure if you can hear me, or understand me if so, but I will bring no harm to you."  "Your Highness?" Athena quizzically tilted her head.  "Shh, I have a plan," she whispered back, before addressing the Whispers once more, "But only on the condition that one of you lead me to this… Heart of yours. If you understand, then one of you, step forward."

Everyone waited with bated breath—though really that only applied to one person by Lycoris's side—as they carefully watched the movements of the strange octopods. While she held it in what looked like a non-threatening manner, Lycoris kept her scythe ready to retaliate if they decided to take any sudden moves.  The silent standoff remained for what felt like minutes, with the Whispers making no clear sign of reacting to the ultimatum or deliberating at all. Some had changed color to match the plain white striped markings on the wall behind them, though their camouflage was poor enough that Lycoris could still make out exactly where they were.  Eventually, the Whispers made the first move.  Just as Lycoris instructed, a single one inched forward across the floor, as though testing Lycoris's reaction by rather deliberately approaching her.

"What in the Dragon's…" Gier muttered under his breath.  "Hmhmhm, Her Highness is truly something else!" Athena beamed proudly, briefly slipping out of her combat-ready stance.  "Um, hello. I assume that you're going to—"

Lycoris attempted to greet the Whisper, but it didn't even react to her gesticulation. Instead it continued to slither and waddle its way along the ground, moving right past her without adjusting its pace. Her party stepped back and gave room for it to shuffle out, and as it continued on its merry way.  The party exchanged a look and began following, a mixture of caution and bemusement in their posture at the sudden turn.

＊　＊　＊

The group followed behind the Whisper at a casual pace in stunned silence, their caution having gradually eroded as their initial confusion faded into curiosity.  Well, such was the case for three of them, but Athena at least remained ready to strike at a moment's notice for Lycoris's sake. But they hadn't met with any resistance since arriving here, and no matter how trained of a soldier one was, tension could only last so long before fatigue overtook the mind.

So instead Lycoris held her scythe to the side in as relaxed a manner as possible while following behind the Whisper at a safe distance, keeping one eye on it as she glanced around at their surroundings. The facility remained the same, but at one point the Whisper moved right up to a wall that literally melted and revealed the hallway extended beyond. The same thing happened a few more times, and a sinking realization settled into the group that they could have been going around in circles for ages and would never have noticed.  Or at least, too long for comfort.

"Your Highness, all of this is territory far beyond my expertise, but… I do not know if we can trust this creature."  "I would hope that much is obvious," Lycoris snipped back. "But it's already given us some hints. And there's still the possibility that it will lead us to the cloud generator."  "I think that it might be stalling for time though… which feels utterly ridiculous to say, I didn't think Whispers were capable of such a thing. But after seeing how these ones have behaved, I… might be starting to agree with your assessment, Your Highness. N-Not that I would ever dare to claim that you might be miscorreous in any way, save for youthful ignorannocence of course."  "Right…" Lycoris drawled while rolling her eyes.  "Well," Count Eltash pushed forward to speak up, "technically they could just be copying from an old internet database. It's not unreasonable to assume there could be some excerpt on tactics."  Lycoris frowned. "But that still implies they have a reason to do so, right? Where's that impetus coming from?"

Everyone fell silent again as nobody had a good answer to her question.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do at present to uncover any evidence one way or another. They lacked the technical expertise required for such an analysis, Lycoris being about as far from such a thing as she could, unsure where to even begin looking for something like that, or who she could even contact who might have an answer.  Well, there was one person who came to mind as being knowledgeable enough in all things terrestrial and beyond, but everything about said woman threw Lycoris's humors into disarray.

Her impatience grew the longer the silence stretched on, and just when she thought about ordering Athena to disarm and grab the crawling critter in front of them, it froze in front of another wall and slowly turned around.  In response, Lycoris, Athena and Gier all prepared to retaliate, but instead of attacking them… it burrowed into the floor, the hole instantly sealing back up behind it.

"Wait, get back here!"

Lycoris dashed forward and drove the tip of her scythe into the ground like a hoe, dragging it through the floor plates. But all that she cut through was metal, revealing nothing beneath. No hidden escape tunnel or burrow that it had hid in.

"Damn it! What do we do now?"  "Your Highness, language."  "Why'd it pick now to run away?" Gier grumbled.  "Perhaps it overheard us?" The Count suggested.  "But that implies that it was capable of understanding us," replied Athena.  Lycoris furrowed her brow. "They were presumably able to understand our intent in the first place, since only one of them approached us. Perhaps it heard us talking and fled because it thought we were about to attack…"

The group fell back into silence.  The scar Lycoris had made in the floor was already sealing back up, and as the group looked back down the hall they came from, a thought occurred to her.

"It's almost like we're inside some kind of living creature…"  "Your Highness?" Athena shifted uncomfortably.  "I mean, think about it. Walls and floors don't normally do that, and the… err, 'customer service AI' called the cloud generator a heart. If Whispers thrive off of mana, then perhaps they… turned this facility into a gigantic Whisper using the cloud generator as its core?"  Gier wrinkled his nose, "Why's it still look like a regular power plant, then?"

He pointed at a random potted plant sitting against the wall, adding some much needed greenery to the otherwise bland scenery around them.

Lycoris shook her head. "I could no more answer that question than my own pertaining to the nature of their existence. All I know is what I've seen with my eyes. But, if my theory is sound…"

She crouched down and pressed her ear against the ground. Closing her eyes, she recalled her conversation with her mother, and heard a deep whooshing sound as she felt the blood rush to her head, concentrating on the mana stored within.  Lycoris heard the sound of Gier's muscles as he opened his jaw to say something, and she heard the sound of Athena's clothes rustling as she silently shushed him before he could make a noise.  She heard the Count shifting his weight from one leg to another impatiently, and she heard the faint hum of electricity coursing all around them. She heard the sound of grinding machinery and distant Whispers going about their strange business, and beneath it all… she heard an out of place and discordant buzz, its volume growing louder and softer at erratic intervals.

Wrenching her head back up, Lycoris stared wide-eyed at the group. "I found it! …I think."  Athena clapped excitedly, "That's fantastic news, Your Highness! How do we get there? We should finish our business here and leave this place as quickly as possible."  "One moment."

The maid seemed… less than enthused about the idea of being in the belly of a beast. Lycoris couldn't blame her for that, considering the time Mizar's party had nearly been eaten by a landwyrm…  She walked over to Gier and gripped him by the arm, dragging him down to the ground as he let out a strangled cry of surprise.

"Wh-What the hell?!"  "Shhh, listen. You hear that too, right? It's sort of arrhythmic. I don't know if it's the generator or just more Whisper nonsense, but…"

Gier fell silent as his ears twitched, and after another moment of silence he raised his head and nodded in acknowledgement.  That was all the affirmation she needed. Swapping her weapon back into axe mode, she stared at the wall with a devilish smirk. Her muscles tingled as she attempted another trick, empowering her arms in the same way she had her ears. Though it was still heavier than a person by orders of magnitude, her orichalcum weapon felt completely weightless in her hands.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.  Lycoris was done going around in circles, and even if all that waited was another dead end, she'd keep forging a path forward toward whatever suspicious sounds she heard.

"I may not be the best at geometry, so correct me if I am mistaken, but there's nothing shorter than a straight line, yes? Gier,"  "Y… Yes, Princess?"  "I'll need you to make sure we're still on the right track. Cover your ears until I signal for you, this might get loud."

He scrambled to comply, tucking his shotgun awkwardly between his legs and clamping his hands onto his head moments before Lycoris smashed her axe into the wall, tearing out a huge chunk of it. A tremendous rumbling filled the hall as a distant wail reverberated all around them in response, but she ignored the mournful sound and raised her weapon once more.  A second slam ripped through more of the wall, and a third, and fourth, until eventually she had dug her own path through to an adjoining corridor. The "wound" she had made was slow to heal, the edges of the wall convulsing in a manner no piece of metal rightfully should as she beckoned for everyone to follow her.  The space beyond was completely different, a far more cramped hall that the other three had to bend down to stand in, illuminated deep red and filled with frigid, ionized air.

The Princess hefted her axe once more, smiling cheerfully as she carved a path forward with her weapon.

＊

Outside the walls of the town, a barrier of glimmering blue light shielded a huge brazier-shaped machine from the rain overhead, leaving the billowing emerald flames and black smoke it belched into the sky unimpeded by the natural climate.  Standing in its shadow was a woman in slate-gray ceramic armor, wearing a pitch-black bodysuit beneath. Her armor was unadorned with decorations or designations, but that alone spoke volumes of exactly who she was. Strapped to her back was a large rectangular executioner's blade, its edge dulled and resharpened innumerable times over its many years of service.  She wore no cape, and the only unique quality one could point out in her outfit was the skull-patterned helmet she presently had slung under her arm.

Lesath Unglaria inhaled the scent of frigid rain, the worst of the storm having passed as a peal of thunder echoed in the distance. The storm was leaving as swiftly as it arrived, perhaps fleeing the tyrant on her way here.

All around her, the cacophony of soldiers marching and machines operating kept the downpour from feeling anything resembling peaceful or solitudinous. Trucks were still in the midst of coming and going, the temporary road sodden from the storm and torn up by boots and tires. A sizeable storehouse had been hastily erected for all the mana-rich ores and decommissioned machines. People shouted over each other and the noise as they took inventory, and beneath it all was the grumblings of a woman who thought this entire plan was absurd, and prayed to the Dragon for the impossible.

As she looked at the assembled "bait," Lesath muttered to herself, "at least nobody can say I didn't at least try to indulge her 'progeny's' foolish whims."  "Excuse me, Lady Executioner."

A man in armor similar to hers—only painted in the tacky golden-yellow hues of the Vanas, with a blood-red half-tipped chalice emblazoned over his chest—briskly paced up to her and flashed the Tenebreimen salute.

"Hm? What is it?"  "We've finished assembling all of the, er, bait as ordered. We're set to dismantle the pylon and head out. I would advise putting your helmet back on."  "Right," she lazily drawled and cocked an eyebrow at him.

As unpleasant as the subordinates to the Vanas were, they at least still followed orders when she gave them. It was nice that these soldiers could order themselves around and handle things without having their hands held.  And he obviously wasn't ill-intentioned toward her at least. There were few people who'd be so fatally stupid.

Slipping her helmet back on, she gave a terse nod to the soldier to shoo him away.

"Er, also, another thing to report."  "Out with it, then."  "The caved-in tunnel where we suspect Her Highness went missing has been fully excavated. There were no signs of the Princess, but two bodies were uncovered. Neither have been ID'd, but both have been sent back for further analysis."  Lesath near-silently clicked her tongue, "I see. I suppose we should send an expeditionary force into the town to investigate."  "You… suppose?"  "And to make contact with any survivors," she continued, ignoring his interjection. "Her Majesty has tasked us with saving Princess Lycoris, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what fate awaits us should we fail. Order the soldiers to disassemble camp and set a watch to see how the Whispers react, then assemble your team."  "Lady Executioner…?"  She turned back around to glare at him, "You're coming with me into town."

The symbol on his chest marked him as one of the Vanas' soldiers, but even if he had been with the Idra, her authority as Lilianna's left hand meant she could conscript him into her personal service for the sake of the Empire.  She saw little reason to ever actually exert that influence to bolster Her Majesty's personal forces; doing so would only cause unnecessary disruption in the ranks and chain of command—and potentially allow bad actors into the Aphtangloa's army. However, being able to "recruit" anyone at the drop of a hat for her immediate needs was a convenience she couldn't deny.

The man audibly gulped, nodded solemnly, and then turned around to regurgitate her orders to the others.

Meanwhile, Lesath resumed brooding beneath her helmet, listening to the rain pattering against her armor and sliding off the weatherproofed material.  She knew that Lilianna's arrival was imminent. The Exaltare had been held up by politics, which meant the actual work fell upon Lesath's shoulders. It was a familiar song the two of them danced to, one playing with the suits and dresses, and the other with the guns and knives. The only difference this time was Lilianna's overbearing sense of urgency.  This wasn't the first time Lesath would've seen Her Majesty step across that invisible line and offer her personal touch to settle a matter personally, but each occasion was a strike against her pride, which was the only thing truly driving her to rescue Her Highness before Lilianna could intervene.  She hadn't suddenly grown any happier about the girl's existence than she was a few days ago.

If she couldn't change the outcome, then better to make sure the job was done correctly and by the proper parties. Such was her rationale.

The sound of ceramic plates sliding and clicking together reached her ears as she heard soldiers approach in a disorganized sprint. Lesath felt her shoulders tighten the moment she turned and saw the captain and his team arrive in a panic, hands on their knees as they steadied themselves.  Before anyone could even open their mouth, she took a step forward and addressed them in a clipped tone.

"What is it now?"  There was a collective gulp from the group as she made her disdain known. "There was… sudden movement from the walls."  "Already? Are the Whispers headed this way?"  "Well… that's the strange part. There are Whispers leaving the town… but they aren't coming this way at all."

Lesath momentarily froze as she processed what he was saying, before shoving the squad aside and marching past to stare for herself, sharpening her natural vision. At least a mile away, across the open plains, she saw exactly what he reported: several Whispers were simply… walking out through the hole in the town walls, heading back toward the wastes.  There wasn't any urgency in their movements, they weren't fleeing or chasing after anything. They were just… leaving.

High overhead, the rain had already stopped, and thin rays of evening sun began to shine through.

＊　＊　＊

It only took about ten minutes of Lycoris and Gier's strange excavation routine for them to make it to a massive room, where they emerged on a balcony overseeing a factory floor of sorts. The room was almost entirely empty; it looked as if someone had cleared out all the surrounding machines and devices—or perhaps recycled them into mechanical monsters—which left only the massive structure in its center to catch their attention.  Not that it wouldn't have been eye-catching regardless. Artificial light shone in through glass panes onto the cylindrical device, widest at its base and curving to the ceiling where it connected and likely proceeded above, like a fireplace chimney but made of immaculately smooth concrete and covered in metallic boxes and plates.

"I must admit, I have never actually seen a cloud generator before," said Lycoris in a subdued tone, "so though it may sound foolish, I must ask… is that it?"  There was a brief pause as everyone else took in their surroundings, but the Count was the first to reply. "It is, yes. Or at least, it's a perfect replication of pictures I've seen from my time in school."  "…School?"  "We should be careful, Your Highness," whispered Athena, "it could very well be a trap of some sort."  Lycoris shouldered her axe and smiled. "I think I already know what the solution is going to be either way, so we might as well get it over with. It's just like Mizar would say, 'overthinking the problem in front of your eyes is all well and good when people are involved, but an enchanted obelisk is only dangerous until it's rubble!'"  "Who's Miz—"

Before the Count could finish his sentence, Lycoris vaulted over the safety rails and landed on the floor below, her legs quivering as she bent her knees and huddled over.

"Princess! Are you alright?!"  "I-I… got too caught up in the moment… f-forgot it was…"

As she recovered from the rush of vertigo due to her reckless leap, the rest of the group took the stairs down to meet with her. Once she'd shooed Athena off from worrying over her with a sharp glare, Lycoris led the group to the base of the cloud generator.

None of the lights dotting it were illuminated, but after going one full rotation around it they didn't spot anything else out of the ordinary. Making their way back around to a maintenance hatch, Gier handed his weapon over to Athena for a moment and tried to pry it off… Before she handed his weapon back and gently wedged her knife into one side, popping the bolts out and ripping it out with a single light and confident motion.

"…Show off," grumbled Gier.  "Now now, you're not trained in breaking and entering, right?" asked Athena.  "Does… that mean you are?"

But Lycoris had no reply of her own for their back and forth, her body going numb as she saw the "art" inside. It was almost as if it was specifically waiting for her.  It was half-covered by some sort of pulsating metallic growth—of which there were several growing all over the inside of the cloud machine—but she could still recognize the exact design of the glyph. The tiny runic script that formed the "lines" was completely lost on her, save for the fact that she knew it was some form of magical array. Much more obvious was the overall shape it took. From afar, the lines formed the shape of a round, slightly disfigured and cartoonish smiling figure, holding out two fingers in a V shape, with a big pointed hat atop her head.  Staring at the half-covered drawing etched in violet, Lycoris felt as though she'd momentarily been pushed out of her own body, the sounds coming from all around her echoing in the distance.

It was as clear as day.  This was the handiwork of Tatyana.  Lycoris knew she was still alive.  Lycoris knew she was behind all of this.  She knew.

But to see it in person, to have it confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt…  All those lives lost, all the unnecessary grief, all the headaches and stress she'd felt…

…

A massive, thunderous boom—louder than the weather, louder than the Whisper's throes, louder than the child screaming herself hoarse—resounded through the massive room.  The ground quaked, steel splintered, and something sputtered and crackled.  When Lycoris came back to her senses, her throat hurt, she felt out of breath somehow, and her hands were trembling. They were wrapped around the haft of her axe, its head embedded in the machine. No, embedded implied that it was stuck—she had cleaved straight down through it, splitting the cloud generator from bottom to top in a singular, furious strike.

She could have sworn she heard a delighted, malevolent cackling from behind her, and pivoted on the spot to stare with bloodshot eyes.

But everyone else present was deathly silent, not even daring to move a single inch. Not the Count, who was a coward at his core and showed it on his face. Not Gier, who had seen her lose herself to trauma, despair, and fury, his eyes wide in astonishment. Not even Athena, who had been privy to Lilianna's own outbursts—controlled or otherwise.  There was no grinning, violet-haired witch.

Lycoris wobbled unsteadily on her feet, pulling her axe out languidly and letting its weighty blade slam into the floor.  The staggered step forward seemed to trigger something, as Athena snapped back to attention and moved to her side in an instant, crouching down and embracing Lycoris.

"Your Highness?! What was… Are you okay?"  "No," rasped Lycoris. "I'm really not."  "I… could have told you that," muttered Gier in a choked breath.

But among the four of them, the Count alone furrowed his brow with indignant anger.

"You… You destroyed the cloud generator! Now what are we supposed to do?!"  "The hell are you on about, dude?! You saw it too, the thing was full of weird tumors. I've never seen anything like that before, but there's no way in hell that you're going to convince anyone that we could've recovered it from the Whispers."

He and Gier immediately began arguing with each other, completely missing the actual point of everything.

"Shut up."  "Huh?" "Wha—"  "I said shut up." Lycoris glared past Athena at the two of them, her hand still gripping the axe handle trembling. "I know who did this. I know who's responsible. She must still be somewhere nearby."  "C-Could… you fill us in, Princess?" Gier asked with drooped ears.

Count Verndil Eltash once more looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, until Lycoris mentioned a "she," at which point his brow twisted in confusion. Then realization struck, and horror followed in its wake as he realized that Princess Aphtangloa was staring directly at him.

"That… motherfucker," he cursed openly. "That son of a bitch!"

He spun around on the spot, about to march back to… but he realized that he was still in the middle of a factory, or the inside of a Whisper's body (or corpse).

"He mentioned a woman… something about a 'new year bash.' I swear to my Ancestors I am going to tear his head off!"  "Who."

Lycoris spoke with a coldness that startled even herself. Despite how warm and humid the factory floor was, everyone in the group froze as though shackled by ice. All but literal frost escaped Gier's lips as a shiver ran its course through his body.  The Count hesitated, as though he knew that answering her demand would be a mistake he wouldn't survive. But he also seemed to understand that there was no getting around it, now that he'd already slipped up.

"V…Viscount… Bartholomew Vanas."

But, much to his surprise—or perhaps dread—Lycoris didn't break away from Athena to split him in half.  Instead, she shakily reached up and dug her nails into her cheek as she clutched her own face, and laughed.

Her howl of hysteria echoed beyond the walls and throughout the town, as she realized her other objectives were all connected, and they had been in the palm of her hand this entire time.

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