Star Warden: Slayer of Evil. Chapter 16

 

16

Castle Monmouth, a once proud home of numerous Princes of royal blood. The castle was a white marble masterpiece, made by faerie hands and blessed by wise priests. The tallest tower was a lighthouse so airships coming in could be guided into Port Monmouth. Rich from trade, both economic and cultural, the Monmouth Principality was one of the greatest realms on Valaheim.

But now the once shining castle was in ruins, cold titanium walls replaced marble, the bright golden towers now housing automatic turrets. What remained of the old stone had degraded beyond recognition and the lighthouse where once a warm inviting light once shined. A bright and foreboding glare shot out from the tower. A red light which opened the doorway to the Abyss forbidding the sun, the moons, and the aurora from showing their faces. Small impish spirits in the form of multi-headed one eyed crows flew around the lighthouse like sentinels.

Beneath the castle, the port city was now a prison, the remaining faerie or Milesian inhabitants were locked in their homes awaiting conversion. Surveillance by SWAT-bots and floating recon drones was omnipresent and labor units worked around the clock in workhouses or transporting completed products to their ships. The toxic fumes and the red sky of eternal night created a morbidly artistic and intimidating atmosphere.

Deep inside the ruined castle, the Dark Lord sat upon his throne. The formerly lavish throne room with a floor of glass now had the utilitarian look of a factory control center. Unlike his black throne in the acropolis, this one was a mix of grey and green. It was larger and filled with analog controls and hovered above the ground. Wires connected his robotic body to the chair as holographic screens filled his vision.

Many of the screens focused on the production reports and other minutiae of running a world-spanning empire. But he kept his focus on the data he was gaining from the Erebus device, what others would call the Curse of Eternal Night. Curses, spells, dark sorcery, techno-sorcery, he had heard these terms used by the faeries to describe his various displays of power. When in actuality it was merely technology based on scientific principles, some of it was simply more advanced versions of what Aetherium already possessed.

But the Erebus device along with other devices was based on science far beyond even what the most learned mortal scholar knew. To an outside observer, there was no difference between Daimos's technology and magic. Save for the esoteric abilities that allowed him to contact demons and manipulate minds by revealing his "eyes". He had no magic, in the mortal use of the term as least. But he never dissuaded anyone from thinking of him as some sort of dark wizard as it added to his fearful reputation.

He was currently looking into solving the temporal anomalies the Erebus device created. When he was interrupted by Sonia alerting him to a priority transmission from one of his SWAT-bots. He opened up a new screen to answer it.

“Task Leader Serpentine reporting by your command, Master.”

“Report, Task Leader,” said Daimos.

“We have captured target Alpha: Princess Kaguya. She presented herself to a patrol and surrendered.”

A loud victorious screech came from Nightshade perched atop Daimos' shoulder. “At last we got the wench good. When you torture her can I have her eyeballs for lunch?”

“Silence.” He turned his attention back to the SWAT-bot. “She surrendered? Without a fight?”

“Affirmative,” stated the SWAT-bot. “A security sweep revealed no other weapons on her person or other individuals in the area. She is currently in custody on a hover unit. Awaiting further orders.”

Something was not right and he knew it, a part of him was elated at her surrender, but something deep inside his core processor knew that it was too easy. She had done her damnedest to ensure she could not be captured. She aided the Star Warden in preventing his forces from capturing the dragon and slaying the demon he unleashed upon the Order of Lancelot.

So why now of all times would she surrender? What ploy did she have in mind, what kind of trickery was she planning? Perhaps he was overthinking this and maybe that at last she finally broke and was willing to give up the fight, or maybe she thinks she can discuss terms of some sort. Maybe there was trouble in paradise and Kaguya wanted to save her lover from death and humiliation by striking some sort of a bargain?

Whatever it was, he did have her in custody and if he was correct in assuming she was broken from the war, then he needed to secure her. If she was plotting some sort of scheme, he could at least take precautions. He ordered the SWAT-bot to escort her to the castle while he organized his personal guard. Black, chrome, and red SWAT-bots, unlike the standard machines they had their skull faces fully on display instead of faceplates and visors.

She arrived not long after under heavy escort that blocked her view from all sides. Her hands and legs were in cuffs. One of the SWAT-bot officers, identifiable by a white helmet compared to the black ones, carried her staff. The robot presented the staff on bended knee and Daimos ordered it to be placed next to the wall. Then he addressed Kaguya.

“Greetings, Princess Kaguya,” Daimos said in an elegant manner. “How was your trip? I hope my machines were not too rough on you. Please forgive them for they do not understand the sensitive nature of the fairer sex.”

“Your Lordship,” Kaguya responding in the same polite tone and with a respectful bow.

“Would you please, piss off with the pretentious pleasantries.” Her voice quickly became acidic and her face changed to match. “I am in no mood to feed your ego. Considering how much you feed it you need no help from me in that regard.”

Daimos gasped in an over-the-top-manner. “Princess. Foul language of that nature is unbecoming of a lady of your rank. My audio receptors are burning from your use of such brutish vernacular.”

Kaguya glared at him and Daimos laughed. “Very well let us get down to business.” His voice changed to a low sinister tone and the electronic echo re-appeared. “What are you attempting here?” He dismissed the escort, giving them orders sub-vocally to guard the outside perimeter of the room and keep a watch out for intruders.

“To surrender. I have no delusions that you would honor your word or any agreement we would make. So I ask for one thing I can get from you; an explanation. Consider it my last request before you do what you will with me.”

“An explanation of what?” Daimos was now curious. She was surrendering and not even making an attempt to ask for terms. He wanted to stay cautious for any attempts to use his ego against him, but he had to admit things were looking to be in his favor.

“I want to know why you murdered my mother. You were the scientific adviser for the Imperial Court during the war against the Minotaur horde. After the war, you arranged an attempted coup against my father, which led to the death of my mother, Empress Ayame.”

“I'm surprised you didn't say 'As you well know' before all that. Yes, I am fully aware of all my actions. However, I did not murder your mother.”

“Do not play coy-.”

“I was not finished,” Daimos interrupted. “I did not murder your mother, not intentionally in any case. That was merely collateral damage, my intention was to murder you, Kaguya.”

Her face dropped in surprise at the words. “What,” she said haltingly. “Why? What did I do that would make you attempt such a heinous act?

“Now who's playing coy?” His words were filled with anger. “Are you telling me you do not recall your grave offense against me?”

“No, I do not.”

“Liar,” shouted Nightshade. “Forget her last request, Master. String her up and flay the flesh from her bones!”

“So you don't remember what you did. No memory at all of the flowers?”

“Flowers? I do not recall anything with flowers.”

“What were you told after the coup?”

“Nothing. I was too much in shock and despair after my mother's death to care for such things. Something you no doubt enjoy hearing now.”

“That is good to hear yes,” The Dark Lord said, dragging out the yes, as he laughed. “You can glare all you want, but even if looks could kill you still couldn't kill me. I will honor your last request. To refresh your memory, it was sometime after the Horde had been defeated, thanks to my scientific achievements. Unrecognized in favor of praising the martial superiority of Eli Bailey.”

“Please get to the point,” Kaguya said. Annoyed at the self-aggrandizement.

Daimos growled and lightning launched from his fingertips. Kaguya fell to her knees screaming all the way.

“Uppity little cur,” He growled. “I should have you lashed to a post and whipped until you beg for death for such an insult.” He charged another bolt of lightning one for each fingertip.

“No, please don't. I apologize for speaking out of turn, my lord,” Kaguya said whimpering as tears began to form in her eyes.

“She's crying what a child,” Nightshade said while laughing. Daimos extinguished the lightning.

“Be thankful I struck you at low power. Now then where was I, ah yes.”

Daimos reminded her that he was passed over for recognition in favor of Eli then continued on. “Kaguya, I've known you since you were a newborn. I even had the honor of holding you in my arms.” Kaguya, still teary-eyed, made a visible disgusted reaction. “You were praised as the Celestial Emissary. I found it to be the usual superstitious nonsense. Until one simple day.”

Daimos sat in the Imperial rock gardens looking at large samples of soil, fertilizer, and old plants. He had golden hair that went past his shoulders. Eyes bright as stars with snowy smooth skin that shimmered in the sunlight. He had an almost feminine figure with a face more akin to a young woman's than a man's. Tall slender, clean shaven, no fat yet with a definite touch of muscle.

The plants were dead due to the Minotaur's use of a weapon they did not understand. A biological agent of some kind. Most likely excavated in some storage facility created during the time of the Tuatha. How they found and figured out to even arm it was another question entirely. It did give him an opportunity he could exploit for political gain if he could restore the land for use.

“Greetings, Doctor Daimos.” He looked to see it was Princess Kaguya managing to walk unaided and without her guards.

“Your Radiance,” he replied with a requisite bow. “What brings you here and without your guards. A little dangerous don't you think?”

The Princess blinked. “Your voice is pretty.” She giggled. Daimos had heard the sentiment before.

Apparently, his voice was of a higher pitch than the standard faerie male, and that he created a certain melody by simply speaking. Daimos had heard his voice, which he loved hearing, but could not confirm any such melody or higher pitch. He hypothesized that it may be a side effect of his alien biology upon the ears of the native population of the world.

“Yes, thank you,” he said in a perfunctory manner.

“I heard the plants need help.”

Daimos refrained from rolling his eyes at the little girl, but he showed no signs of annoyance on his face and to him children were high on his list of things that were annoying. “Yes, they are in need of help. I am tending to matter, Princess.”

“May I help? I can pray for them.” She pressed her palms together and began speaking in some strange language. Prayers and Magic; both terms also annoyed Daimos. The belief that invisible sapient entities can change reality with a simple request. It was vexing to hear it on his homeworld and was no different here.

“I hear them,” she screamed. “They are getting better!”

“Indeed,” He said not bothering to turn around. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he was forced to indulge in this superstitious nonsense. Soon a guard would find her and he could get back to work. Right on cue, he saw the red armored Imperial Guardsmen fly over in a panic shouting

“Your Radiance!”

Daimos turned back to the plants and what he saw shocked him to his core. The plants were restoring themselves to full health. He turned swiftly to look at Kaguya, he ensured that his face held a smile, and asked. “What did you do?”

“I asked Cerena to help the plants and she did.”

“Right, Praise Cerena,” He said unconvincingly. Kaguya being young could not perceive his emotional state and just beamed a smile at him. Daimos wanted to vomit upon sight but he used his great willpower to keep his composure, how little of it remained.

“Your Radiance, we should leave the Doctor to his work. Also please don't run off without your guards.”

“I am sorry. I just wanted to help the plants.”

“Of course, Your Radiance.”

Kaguya turned back to Daimos. “Maybe next time I can help get back your wings.”

The false smile he wore vanished without a trace.”My wings? How did you know I used to have wings?”

“Daimos don't question her she is the Celestial Emissary,” declared the Guard. Daimos clenched his fist behind his back.

“I do not know. I felt some sort of sadness in your eyes then I saw a picture of you having wings. It was beautiful to see. If it makes you happy I will help you.”

“Thank you,” he said haltingly.

“Your Radiance. We should go make sure the others know you are safe.”

“Very well, Until we meet again, Doctor Daimos.” Kaguya then left with the guard.

“After that encounter, I checked every detail and the plants were perfectly restored. Not a single trace of the effects of the bio-weapon could be found.” Daimos spoke in a cold and dispassionate tone that did not obscure the great and furious anger beneath the surface.

“Your actions that day proved one thing. The Celestial Powers were real, the divine was true. For years I had attempted to disprove the idea that gods could exist, illogical, silent entities that somehow created the universe. In one day, one hour, one moment in time you had disproved, humbled, and humiliated me, and not only that there was a witness to the crime.”

What he left out is that Doctor Daimos had that guard discretely disposed of later in the week.

“I fail to see why such a revelation would cause such distress in you.” While her voice was still harsh and blunt it contained a hint of sympathy.

“No, you wouldn't. You pampered, saccharine, brat!” The anger rose in his synthetic voice. He noticed the sympathy.

“You could not begin to understand the utter humiliation you subjected me to. To know that those who cast me out from my homeworld were correct. I was wrong about the nature of the universe and no more than the product of those gods. A flawed and weak creature despite my intelligence. I was no different than any other animal in this forsaken existence! I need no sympathy from you, Emissary!” He made a bestial growl.

“We are indeed flawed creatures, Daimos. Your pride in your intelligence is clearly yours. But I still do not understand, why attempt to murder me? What would that change? Do you believe the gods would bow to you if you killed me?”

“No, Kaguya, killing you is a necessity. For one I had to avenge myself for you upstaging my intelligence in such a matter. But you were also a long-term threat to my goals and if I were to rule the Empire and thus the world I had to eliminate you. So I arranged the coup, easy to do so when many nobles disapproved of the Empress considering she was born a common shrine maiden. If it was not for Eli's intervention the plan would have gone swimmingly.”

“So you wanted to kill me and take the throne because you could not accept that you are as fallible as any other creature? That is remarkably petty.”

“Hardly. He did accept that he was mistaken and that the gods existed. But he did not have to accept their rule. The fact he refused to do so is the reason I exist in the first place. All he and I did was acknowledge that we had new enemies that had to be accounted for.”

“He,” Kaguya said taking note of the change in the way he addressed himself.

“You see, Kaguya, I am not the same Daimos you once knew. Before his death, he was creating a supercomputer, one that could work in tandem with an organic brain. Designed in this computer was a virtual assistant originally to aid in administrative functions. When he started planning the coup he would sync his brain with the computer through implants, re-programming it so it can seize control and run the nation behind whichever noble took the throne. Slowly but surely the original software became a multi-agent artificial intelligence.”

Her eyes dawned with realization. “You are the AI?”

“You catch on quick. I was born when Eli killed Doctor Daimos, my past self. The implants downloaded his memory and converted it into data as his life slowly slipped away. In a last ditch effort, he tried to attack Eli with magic using a spell from the last known copy of Queen Himiko's demonic tome. But his inexperience only opened a rift which sent dark energy into the room destroying his body and infecting my code.”

“The Abyss gave you a sentience beyond your programming,” Kaguya said. “Normally the Abyss would destroy the soul but since you did not have one. It inadvertently created new life using the Doctor's memories as a base.”

If Kaguya could see Daimos's face she would have seen a devilish smirk. She was unaware that his creation was not so inadvertent as she thought. The Doctor had for some time studied occult lore in an attempt to challenge the Celestial Powers. Perhaps that is why the Abyss itself acted and granted sapience, as a reward for the Doctor's work. Perhaps it was just pure opportunism. What was clear is that the Abyss was intelligent and it had acted to deliberately to make the AI self-aware. For what greater purpose he did not know nor did he care, as long as it did not interfere in his ambitions.

“On that day. Doctor Daimos died and I once a simple intelligence agent ascended into something more.” Daimos laughed and raised his voice as if speaking to a theater audience in his mind. “I became a being of great and terrible power! A breed apart from mortals, demons, and gods! I am the Deus ex machina; the god from the machine! If your eyes gazed upon my code you would be blinded by the sheer magnificence I embody!”

“Despite the sheer hubris on display you are merely a machine,” Kaguya spoke with great yet gentle confidence. “All of your actions are motivated by corrupted programming. Confused by demonic interference and the memories of your creator. You are a mere ghost in a machine grasping at ideals you can not understand. I pity you, the potential for new life defiled by darkness and arrogance.”

Daimos made a sinister chuckle and his voice switched from theatrical boisterousness to an eerily calm. “Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you. Sorry to dissuade you but I am fully aware of my actions and I did everything willingly. I have my own moral agency and I am not so pretentious as to believe my actions are not thoroughly evil. But your moral code was made by insects for insects and I, Daimos, am above any form of reproach or condemnation from insects.”

“So what is the point of all this? If you are aware your actions are evil why commit them?”

“Why not.”

“Why not? Why not,” Kaguya repeated in disbelief.

“Yes. Why not? It is certainly not a lack of will or intelligence on my part. What prevents me from claiming this world for my own?”

“Because you have no right,” Kaguya shouted with righteous indignation. “The world and people in it are not tools for you to use.”

“What else does one do with tools,” Daimos stated smugly.

“Have you no shame?”

“No more than you have when it comes to stepping on ants.”

“I watch where I step thank you.”

“Good for you. But I have no consideration for the opinions of my inferiors. I am a wondrous and immortal machine. Why would I deny myself power and control? To obey the diktats of impotent gods? No. This world is mine, by right. I need no approval from the Powers or from insects such as yourself and the boy Warden.”

“However more than just the personal desire for power. I have a vision to enact upon this world and others. My mortal self desired to create a rational scientific society to improve the lives of mortals and throw off the yoke of gods and religion. I have decided to take a different approach. I will give mortals a true god, a machine god they can see, hear and fear, as I slowly bend everything on this world and in this galaxy to my will.”

“That explains your cyborg conversions,” said Kaguya.

“My first step to the new society. It will be orderly, it will be evil, but more importantly, it will be mine. Now that I have you in custody, Princess. I can begin the next stage in my plan to re-make the world. As well as indulge in my hatred for you.”

“You intend to convert me as well?”

“Oh no. That is far to good for you. You will return to my acropolis where I will drag you to my agony chambers. There you will know pain, you will beg for peace of death and I will deny you! I will parade your broken body across the world as a symbol for your fallen faith, your impotent gods, and as a reminder to all those who dare attempt to challenge me. Only when I feel that you have sufficiently paid for your past transgressions, will you have my permission to die.”

Kaguya bowed her head and closed her eyes.“I will pray for your soul, Daimos. In hope that Kira's grace extends to you and teaches you how empty your desires are and that her mercy will grant you peace in the next world. It is sad to see such a unique creation such as yourself go down the path of evil.”

Kaguya lifted her face and showed great resolve as she stared down the mechanical tyrant. “But while you are in this world, expect no such mercy from me! I will ensure your dreams of an Infernal Empire fall to ruin!”

“Ah, you still have some fight left in you. It will make it that much more enjoyable when I crush it out of you.”

Kaguya for the first time in this conversation smiled. “The Star Warden will not permit that.”

“The Star Warden can make an attempt,” Daimos said dismissively. “But I have already taken precautions so any rescue operation will be easily thwarted. If you and the boy thought I would be easily distracted by your surrender then you were sorely mistaken.”

Kaguya began to laugh. “Oh, but you were distracted. Despite your suspicions, you still captured me and now knowing your deep hatred for me. It makes the plan, in hindsight, far too easy. I was too tempting bait for you to refuse.”

“And like a prize fish you bit on it hook, line and sinker.”

Daimos recognized that last voice, but it was far too late. As a large stream of energy emerged from nowhere and overwhelmed the Dark Lord. Many thoughts went through his mind as he was launched through the wall, but his anger was the primary focus. He did not know how the Star Warden managed to infiltrate his defenses. He did know that the human would pay for his deception.

Chapter 17

Chapters 14 and 15