NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: Worldwide announcement
Jeler leaned back against the palm tree, a long blade of grass between his teeth as he gazed lazily at the entrance to the valley. He had drawn the best watch spot for today from the lottery. It was the easiest spot to monitor, and he had plenty of comfortable places to relax.
To be honest, the whole job was pretty simple so far. A group of bore-bots had come into town a bit over a month back. They had paid handsomely to remain anonymous, then paid even more for the best mercenary group in town for a year's work. But instead of sending them out to go kill and murder stuff, all they had to do was hang around the compound and make sure there were no unexpected visitors.
The group's leader, a demon named Riniox, wasn’t as pleased as the rest of them. She felt strongly that too much rest would mean skills would dull and instincts would be lost. She would run drills every day when the shifts switched, something Jeler worked to avoid if he could help it. He made sure to volunteer in the kitchens or for cleaning duty at every available opportunity. Not that it helped much. Riniox seemed determined to get him in combat drills as often as possible.
The compound itself was rather large. Set in a natural valley, surrounded on all sides by mountain terrain. A single path led into the valley, too small for a large invading force, which meant it only needed light monitoring. Buildings were scattered throughout the area, they had been converted to dormitories, a kitchen, and storehouses. The largest building was a common room, with the building furthest into the compound becoming home for the bore-bots. The mercenaries weren’t expecting any danger, the bore-bots had indicated that they were here for private research and reassured Riniox that the project wouldn’t explode and kill them all (always a concern with these science types).
Jeler wasn’t very worried. If a problem emerged, the team would take care of it. Jeler had been a member of the team for over five years, not the newest member, but certainly not the oldest. He had seen enough though to know how capable this group was. Moments where he thought that they were all dead, only to come out the other side without a single casualty.
Well, this wouldn’t be one of those jobs, this was practically a year-long vacation. Even if war broke out in the demonlands over the death of the king of all demons, the Battered Bracers mercenary group was under contract for another eleven months. The only reason to leave would be whatever reward the High Deity was preparing. Maybe it would be a party or something that crossed the whole world, Jeler would be down for that.
Sighing contentedly, Jeler let himself relax. Things were going great, and nothing and no one would change that.
People of Drowl! I am Deis, and I will speak to you
Jeler’s eyes snapped up, staring at the sun in amazement. The God of all things stood within the orb that hung in the sky. He was enormous, the top and bottom of the God touching the edges of the sun. His voice boomed across the land, reaching the ears of all that could hear. Absent-mindedly, Jeler noticed others in the compound running out of buildings to stare up into the sky. He didn’t see Reph, Glimm, or Dirge though. He hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran towards their building even as Deis continued.
You have done what I have asked of you, and are deserving of reward. Your reward is a new form of magic, magic that will empower you and allow you to grow to untold heights of power and ability
Jeler didn’t let his mind dwell on the God’s words. Someone would explain the ramifications of what Deis was saying later. He still didn’t see the bore-bots. They should have come out by now. Did something happen to them? He was racing at top speed across the grass, ignoring others who turned away from the sun to look at him in confusion.
However, this magic is so powerful and untested that I will not risk giving it to everyone in the world at this time. Only when it has been thoroughly tested will I reveal it in all its glory. That is why I must ask another favor
Jeler was razor-focused as he ran. The door to the lab was closed, no one else had gone in to check on them. His mind raced as he imagined what could be wrong. He nearly tripped as Riniox slapped him on the shoulder in approval, sprinting past him towards the building. She had noticed him and must have gotten worried as well.
I need volunteers to test this magic, anyone in Drowl may try this. The only limitation is location. The one who will grant this magic to you is my agent. Created expressly to deliver your reward, his name is Jack. He is located-
Riniox reached the door but didn’t stop to open it. She instead shoulder-checked the door at full speed and completely destroyed it. Jeler was only a moment behind her as they both ran to the basement research room. Jeler nearly slammed into his boss as she came to a sudden stop at the bottom of the steps, the door swung open in front of her.
“Boss, I can’t see. Are they okay?” Jeler tried to peer around Riniox, but the woman's bulk made it difficult. Nearly seven feet of pure muscle meant that she took up most of the doorway.
Riniox spoke quietly, even as God’s voice boomed in the distance. “What is that?”
A voice Jeler didn’t know spoke then. “Hello, my name is Jack! Nice to meet you.”
Jack was in over his head. Deis had basically appeared, then instantly frozen him in place. Then Jack had felt a sensation like falling, his vision fading away entirely, and then suddenly came to awareness on a table. He was in a room! Not some white void! As he moved to sit up, he realized some things in quick succession. The first was that his hand appeared to be made of some kind of metal. The second was that there were three robots in the room with him, and all of them looked vastly different from each other. The last thing he noticed was that he could hear Deis, the gods voice booming from somewhere, though it was faintly muffled in the room.
Jack took just a moment to look around and get his bearings. The room had no windows, only softly glowing balls of light near the ceiling providing light to the room. A single door on the opposite side of the room was closed, but the room itself was full of tools, parts, scrap, and seemingly random doodads. The three robots near him stood silently. They were all short and squat. Their bodies were round, egg or ball-shaped, with arms, legs, and a head coming off the body. They couldn’t be more than four feet tall, with a bit of variance in size between them. But that was where the similarities ended.
One of them was futuristic-looking, with smooth silvery metal making up its body. The joints and connecting parts of it seemed to be made of something like rubber. A flexible material that didn’t look like metal. Its head was like a sculpture, smooth except for various lines around the eyes and mouth that might let it make expressions. It didn’t have a nose but had metal hair that seemed to also be sculpted in place.
The second robot made Jack think of a clock. Made of a light brown metal, it had gears poking out of its body, all moving at a steady pace. He thought he could even hear ticking noises coming faintly from it. It was the tallest robot, its head having eyes and a mouth as well. It sported a mustache of gears above its top lip and its hair seemed to also be made of slowly ticking gears.
The third robot was the strangest though. Something straight out of steampunk, it was a dull brown metal covered in pipes, some of which released steam and various intervals. This one had a nose in addition to the eyes and mouth and had hair made of pipes that curved down behind its head. It wore glasses on its nose that seemed to be made of the same metal as the rest of it, and Jack had to wonder why a robot needed glasses.
Before Jack could say anything though, the door to the room swung open with so much force Jack was shocked it didn't break, and the biggest, beefiest woman he had ever seen burst through. She must have been seven feet tall, with dark blue skin, which would likely look black in certain light. Two horns emerged about three inches from her hairline, making her seem even bigger. Her eyes instantly went to the three robots, then relaxed slightly, the tension on her face draining away a bit. Then she turned towards Jack and froze.
She mumbled something that he couldn’t hear, and no one responded. He was starting to feel awkward about the prolonged lack of introduction, and no one seemed to be willing to talk. Deciding that manners would probably go a long way towards making the situation less awkward, he spoke. “Hello, my name is Jack! Nice to meet you.”
He smiled as he said the words, the feeling of his mouth moving was strange to him though he didn’t know why. But despite his self-introduction, the room remained frozen, the air tense for some reason Jack didn’t know. No one moved for a long moment until someone shoved their way into the room from behind the tall, dark-skinned woman.
The newcomer was a bit over five feet tall, covered from head to toe with a black coat of fur. A cat-like face looked at Jack in surprise as he entered the room. In fact, the person appeared to be an anthropomorphic cat! He looked quickly between Jack and the three robots before seeming to realize something.
He spoke, his voice deeper than Jack would have expected from a cat. “Boss, let’s get outta here. I think we’re intruding on a ‘private’ moment.” He stressed the word private as if they had walked in on something they shouldn’t be a part of, like a family meeting or a couple fighting.
One of the robots, the silvery one, turned towards the cat and said in a feminine voice, “No, I’m afraid you don’t understand. This is Jack, he’s…well he’s an agent of Deis. The rest of your group can likely fill you in on the details, but the long and short of it is that things are going to get very busy around here.”
Jack wasn’t sure what was going on, there seemed to be a lot of context that he was missing. Though he supposed that just made sense, considering he was now in some new alien world. He took a moment to try and examine his hand and was shocked to find that it wasn’t just his hand! He looked down in shock, then began to pat his body all over. Everywhere he touched clanked and felt completely solid. He had turned into a robot!