The Iron Forest: Ancestor's Legacy

Concrete and steel jutted from a thick layer of brush and spruce. A minimal amount of moonlight reflected off a door made of glass and steel. Victor paused in amazement—the cement structure survived an untold amount of time and weather, even water tanks still subsided with rings of rust. A water treatment plant.

Jinlin typed a code on a keypad tucked off to the side. The roll-up door groaned as it struggled against age and wear. Light illuminated the building’s interior, but not from fire. Instead, tubes of glass flickered with white light. Inside, the building appeared to be a living, breathing entity with beakers and flasks bubbling an assortment of liquids. Electrical arcs sizzled and sparked from relics of technology. Victor’s nose itched from a mixture of chemicals and ozone.

Jinlin paid little attention to his guests. He jumped right into tinkering with machines of unknown purpose and stirred boiling liquids. It’s a science lab, Victor thought, slightly amused. He nudged Sana to share in his surprise before realizing she had no clue what any of this equipment was for.

The old wizard turned his focus to Victor. “So, my boy. Where do you come from?” he said in near perfect English.

Victor was caught off-guard, not by the sudden use of his language, but the lack of any accent. It sounded crisp and educated, with no foreign influence.

Jinlin turned to Sana, speaking in her language. “He does speak, right?”

She nodded, glancing at Victor with an unreadable expression.

“You speak English,” Victor blurted.

“Of course, I do. It is the divine language of Mother Gaia herself—the ancient words that were spoken before time and all creation.”

“Pennsylvania. I was born in east Pennsylvania.” The memory returned in a flash. Images of Independence Hall and the cracked Liberty Bell manifesting from the perspective of a child. From his perspective.

The wizard smiled, glancing aside. “I don’t know of such lands. Is that far beyond the clouds?”

“The clouds? No, it’s about a thousand miles to the east.”

“Then how is it you fell from the sky?” Jinlin asked. He made a steeple with his fingers and pressed them to his lips in anticipation of the answer.

Victor scowled. “How do you know that?”

Sana approached. Still holding her spear with both hands in a protective stance. “What did he say?”

“He knows I fell from the sky.” Victor crossed his arms. “I’m guessing he’s been following me.”

“Well, of course I have. It’s not every day you see a man appear from the heavens. I moved as fast as my old bones allowed, but Queen Ranina here beat me to it,” Jinlin said, returning to speaking the common tongue.

Sana snarled at the name.

“That’s right, your Majesty. I know who you are as well,” the magician said, smiling. “Next time you stab and burn a Chotukhan king, you’d better make sure he’s dead before running away.”

“I had little choice. King Shunlin’s priestess arrived before I was able to finish.” Sana smirked. “I promise, the next time I’m wed, I’ll be sure to cut off my husband’s head and run a spear through his heart.”

Victor cleared his throat. “Is that some sort of marriage custom I’m not aware of?”

Jinlin and Sana chuckled.

“No, my boy,” Jinlin said, pouring a glass of honey wine. “Damn shame, though. King Shunlin is ruthless as he is powerful. Every day, his obsession with Abaddon grows stronger. Thank Mother Gaia, the black god still sleeps.”

“King Shunlin is trying to awaken Abaddon.”

Wine sprayed from Jinlin’s mouth. “Why on Earth would he want to do that!?”

“The arrogant fool thinks he can take control of the machines as a reward for waking Abaddon,” Sana said.

“No. No. No. That’s ridiculous. No one can control Abaddon. Not even Mother Gaia. It will be the end of us all.”

Victor frowned, lowering Sana’s spear, that she still held at the ready. He figured if the wizard was going to do harm, it would have already happened. “Can we not fight the machines? Sana made short work of one the day we first met.”

Jinlin bellowed in laughter. “Let me show you something.” He wrapped his twig-like arms around Victor and Sana’s shoulders and escorted them to a massive double door of corrugated metal and concrete.

It groaned open, revealing a monster of steel, bristled with guns. Sana bore her spear and shoved Victor back.

“What the hell is that?” he shouted.

“It’s a Destroyer,” Sana said. “Get behind me!” A flick of her thumb sent glowing blue lines up the spear’s shaft and across the bladed tip. The sharpened edge burned with light.

Jinlin stepped between the Destroyer and Sana’s spear, waving his arms. “Don’t be alarmed. It won’t hurt you.” He caressed the machine, pressing his cheek to the fiber-reinforced plate. “It’s okay, my love. I won’t let them harm you.”

Victor glanced at Sana before asking, “Your what?”

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Jinlin sighed. “Been working on it for years—trying to figure out how it ticks.”

Victor approached the beast, noting some of the covering was removed, showing a chaos of cables, tubes, and fiber-steel mesh. “It’s a Heavy Combat drone. That’s what you call a Destroyer?” He held up a hand to touch the smooth armor plating.

“Victor stop!”

He waved her back, though understanding her concern. The last time he touched a machine he fainted, but he wanted to know more about his past and maybe they were the trigger. “It’ll be fine.” His hand rested on the steel plate.

Nothing happened.

“Victor?” Sana asked with her arms out, ready to catch him if needed.

“I’m fine.”

Jinlin’s eyes shifted between the two. “Anybody want to tell me what’s going on?”

“When I touched a Guardian, some of my memories returned. I was hoping the same thing would happen.”

“Very interesting,” Jinlin said, tapping a finger against his lips.

Victor paced around the machine, observing the parts where the wizard removed its covering. “I’ve seen these before in my time. There were hundreds of thousands of them, bent on exterminating the human race.” Being this close to one gave him chills. If this is what Abaddon uses as his army, then there would be no stopping him from wiping out the humans of this time. He saw it once; he would not see it again.

“That’s what they’re designed for. The Shainxu stories say just one can wreak havoc on entire civilizations.”

Especially if the civilization only uses medieval weaponry.

“I found this one and brought it here.” Jinlin picked up a metal box tethered to a port at the machine’s side. He flipped a switch and manipulated a pair of control levers.

The Destroyer jerked with red and blue lights growing from within. It moved and heaved with short forward and backward steps.

Victor moved aside while Sana darted to the back of the room. “It works?”

“Of course, it does, you fool.” Jinlin scoffed. “They all work. They’re just sleeping. I found this one had fallen in a water pit.”

“You want to control it?” Victor guessed.

“Gods no. I want to destroy them. The first rule of combat is to know your enemy. It has been a long time since these creatures roamed the lands and I want to be prepared for the next time they do.”

Sana approached the machine with timid caution. “So, how do you kill it?”

*****

Sana carried a pair of bowls, taking care not to spill a drop. She placed one in front of Victor, who looked at the thin broth with some skepticism. A quick stir and he let it dribble back into the bowl.

“It’s wild onion soup. Trust me, you’ll like it,” she assured, taking a seat opposite of him. Her focus turned to Jinlin who already had a mouth full of hot soup. “A Destroyer has to have some kind of weakness.”

Jinlin shrugged. “Don’t know. Every system is redundant. I’ve taken one apart several times and no single piece will shut them down. With their armor and weapons, destroying them one at a time seems futile. The only way I can see is to shut them down at the source.”

“What source?” Victor asked, after slurping up some broth.

“That’s the big question. With Abaddon asleep, I can’t figure out how he controls them,” Jinlin said, looking puzzled. “I guess we’ll never find out, since there’s no signal to track. Besides, only one thing in this world that can defeat Abaddon and his Destroyers.”

Sana sat up. “And that one thing is?”

“Gaia.” Jinlin grinned. “If King Shunlin is successful in waking Abaddon. Only Gaia can defeat him.”

Sana slumped in disappointment, not wanting to leave the fate of the world in the hands of a goddess she has little belief in and plenty of doubt.

“I detect my fair queen doesn’t believe in the Mother Goddess,” Jinlin commented.

Sana shook her head. “I don’t. If Gaia was so powerful and caring, then why couldn’t she stop the Chotukhan from destroying my village or killing the ones I loved the most? Where was she when Lady Karmera tortured the will out of me and turned me into a slave?”

“I’m sorry, child, that you endured that. The Chotukhan is a plague that must be stopped, and you are the one who can do it. If King Shunlin can be removed from the throne, then it will be yours.”

“But I don’t want it.”

“And why not?” the magician asked, pressing his fingertips together.

“Besides the fact I never wanted to wear a crown to begin with, how am I supposed to rule a people I want to see destroyed? What they did to me, to my family and village is unforgivable.” And Ikesh.

Jinlin scowled, pointing a bony finger. “It doesn’t matter what you want or who you hate. According to their laws, you are their queen and can lead the Chotukhan with justice and bring peace to this land.” He tapped his finger to his lips. “So, what brings you two this far from Shankur territory? Hmm?”

Sana hesitated. “We are on our way to see the Shainxu. To ask for their assistance in defeating the Chotukhan.”

Jinlin’s eyes widened. “Charred circuits! Why would you want to go there? The Shainxu will not let you just stroll through the Iron Forest. Nobody can. Not even me.”

“Why not? Are you not Shainxu?”

“Long ago, I learned the ways of the old wizards, but not anymore. We had a slight… disagreement.”

“Disagreement?”

Jinlin sighed. “I questioned the motives of Mother Gaia, and they banished me from the Iron Forest.”

“Ouch,” Victor blurted.

Sana observed the old mage. What he did, back at the stable impressed her. Even though she didn’t like the use of magic, he could make a powerful ally. That, and he was Shainxu. Banished or not, he had knowledge of the Iron Forest and Sana saw that as a valuable asset.

Jinlin crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “And what, might I ask, do you have that will encourage them to let you in?”

Sana grinned. “We have Victor.”

“Hmm,” Jinlin said, rubbing his chin.

“Do you think it wouldn’t work? He is one of the Ancients, and they would listen to him.”

The wizard turned toward Victor. “And how are we going to prove it? All I see is a man, nothing more.”

Victor and Sana looked at each other for an answer before Sana sighed. “Well we—.

“If you have nothing else,” Jinlin started and got to his feet, “I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

Sana hesitated before reaching between her breasts to pull out a thin strip of black metal that glowed with lines of blue light. “We also have this.”

Jinlin’s eyes bulged. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes.”

Victor gave her a questioning look. Not surprising since she never showed him the artifact since receiving it from her uncle. “That’s a data spike, but I never seen one like that before.” He frowned. “What’s it for?”

“It’s the key to unlock Abaddon’s prison. I think this should gain the attention of the Shainxu.”

Jinlin nodded, his eye still affixed on the ancient relic. “Indeed, it will.”