The old runner walked into her throne room, steps artificially slowed in order to maintain the same speed as the smaller companion that walked by his side.

The Runners were machines made as a gross facsimile of humanity, as far as To’Wrathh could tell. Elongated arms and legs meant to disturb. Sharp claws and terrifying skeletal structures further built on the image. The skull-like head completed it. To the left of the looming monster, the ex-human girl seemed almost fragile. A tiny thing that hardly reached the Runner’s torso, let alone chest and head.

Her fear was likewise perfectly clear to To’Wrathh. Sub-systems within the Feather identified body language, telling quite a bit. It was interesting how humans could communicate such information without even vocalizing anything. And without noticing they did either.

Around the Feather, machines of all kinds loitered around, each having come up to speak their wisdom to her earlier. The only ones left were the Chosen and the Runners. Both of which were represented with this pair.

To’Wrathh watched from her stone throne as the pair walked towards her. At a close enough distance, both the old runner and the human girl knelt down. The former doing so gracefully and without hesitation, while the latter seemed almost caught unaware and hastily knelt down to catch up. She was clearly out of place here, out of her element.

“We. Have come.” The old runner growled out. “I have. Brought. Their leader.”

To’Wrathh considered the girl before her. “Do you know why I’ve called you here?” She asked. To’Wrathh was curious to see if the vaulted human cleverness survived the transition. She could see the girl’s arm had been replaced with machines, tubes within her had also taken root, and her blood was half filled with nanites. More importantly, deep within the girl’s guts was a small metal plaque in which the fractal of Unity was etched, connected to a soul fractal. One which connected with the girl’s soul.

The pale lady could whisper her demands to any of them at any time through that combination. To’Wrathh considered this plaque to be the turning point in which the lady had decided these humans were no longer considered humans to her eyes.

Her mission had been to eliminate humans. This was the natural work around. What To'Wrathh didn't quite understand was why choose to do so only within the last few months? Thousands of years and only now did the Lady choose to begin this route.

“No… ehm, my lady? I wouldn't want to presume I understand the... ahh, minds of the lady's great... Angels?” The girl squeaked. She nervously glanced around, clearly on edge by the surrounding machines. The rest of To’Wrathh’s newly assembled court watched on with mild interest. Most simply didn’t care about the ex-human in their midst. They were taught to kill all enemies in sight. And this wasn’t an enemy anymore to them.

“I brought you here, to hear your advice.” To’Wrathh said. “I am new to my throne. I have determined that my inexperience can be solved by drawing on experience from around me. Has To’Aacar told you of the Lady’s orders?”

Again the girl squeaked, bowing down lower and trying to avoid the surrounding glances. “N-no my lady. He has not said anything to us. We’ve been… mostly left alone.”

To’Wrathh nodded, considering the issue. This was not unique to the Chosen, clearly. To’Aacar was powerful and self-sufficient. He had left his army mostly to do what they wished, and the lack of cohesion between them was the logical result. To’Wrathh would need to bring this disparate group of machines into a complete whole.

Her old nest had been a perfect example of what a society should be. Each member had a role to play, and each would work in concert with the others without issue. They were all part of the nest.

To’Wrathh would need to weave a larger nest, one that encapsulated all of her new army, these Chosen included.

“What is your name?” She asked the girl.

“… Tamery, my lady.” The chosen leader answered.

“Tamery. The Lady has ordered the destruction of a surface clan. This clan may call for help from other humans nearby. The closest humans are an undersider city.”

A pause. Tamery took a hesitant look up, only to see To’Wrathh staring back at her, expectant. So the girl looked around to the surrounding army to avoid the gaze, adding up the sight in her head. “Uhm, you want us to attack this city?”

“Yes.”

“M-my lady, why call me here? I am but an intermittent village head while our priest is away with To’Aacar.”

“Be that as it may, you still offer a perspective I lack.” She straightened herself on the throne, wings behind folding up to cradle her better in the mite made concrete. “I have never waged a war before. Nor have I attacked a human city. I have called all my army here so that they may offer advice on how best to complete this task.”

The girl looked around herself, slowly turning her eyes to view the surrounding machine army. These were the older models, ones that by chance and luck had survived encounters with the humans and grown from it. Just like the Old Runner that had escorted her here. She glanced up to it, where it remained kneeling down.

To’Wrathh could sense the emotions of that old runner. It was far more calm around her now, compared to when they had first met. That pleased the Feather greatly.

“I’m not sure what I could offer you that the other machines wouldn’t have.” The girl finally chose to say.

Vexing, thought the Feather. She had expected more from the ex-human.

Unless... Unless she hadn’t given this human enough information to work with. That would be rectified. “The other machines are blinded by their forms.” She pointed at the spider that loomed behind her throne. “This one tells me to wait for the humans to leave their city and descend upon them when they do. This is what Spiders do, naturally it will be their advice.”

Next, To’Wrathh pointed to the Drake who remained curled upon itself to her left. “This one tells me that I should hunt the humans down wherever they move in smaller packs at a distance. Soon, it tells me I will have whittled away the city into a small enough chunk to eat in one bite.”

She continued with each machine, pointing at them, and explaining their advice. “The Trapmakers advise to place traps everywhere, and especially within the city itself. Once done, I should simply leave and let the traps do their work. The Behemoths tell me to crush through the gates and stomp on anything that moves. The Serpents tell me to fly above, and slowly submerge the city in acid over months until all the humans leave somewhere else.”

All of it was good advice for the narrow task that each machine fulfilled. None of it was useful for destroying a city.

“And so that leaves me with the Runners and you to ask.” She turned to the Old Runner. “What would you do, to destroy a human city?” She asked it.

The Old Runner growled in thought. “I would. Bring more pack. Many packs. Bring metal sheets. Rush pack forward slowly, sheets to protect. Rush quiet pack from behind faster. Jump from above. Break human defense. Throw humans. Scatter humans. Do not let humans group. Then win.”

To’Wrathh nodded, understanding how this old runner’s tactics would have - and likely had already - proven to be effective against the isolated groups of enemies they hunted down. Once more, however, that advice would not work with the guarded city.

She turned to the Chosen girl, this Tamery as she called herself. “Do you see what I mean?” To’Wrath asked. “Now I seek advice from your people. You knew the humans well. You were one of them, once. How would you destroy a city?”

The girl blanched, fear written in every part of her features. To’Wrathh let her process through it. The ex-human mastered those emotions quickly, fluttering from fear, panic, and then resolve and resolution.

“My lady, I wish to ask for clarification first on the objective, if I may.”

“You may. Ask as you will.” To’Wrathh answered, seeing no reason to deny such a request.

The girl licked her lips. “You said that the main aim was to destroy a surface clan and stop them from getting help from the undersider city, yes?”

To’Wrathh nodded.

“It might be possible to… reach that aim without destroying the human city at all?”

The other machines flickered a small amount of interest at that. To avoid destroying or killing humans was an odd thought, one that went against what they had all been taught and made for. She could tell they didn’t like that. Death was a curiosity, they all had learned to taste it.

Still, they sat and observed To’Wrathh more closely, choosing to see what their leader would answer.

The Feather chose curiosity. “And how would that be possible?”

“If an agreement with the city could be made, they could choose not to assist anyone from this surface clan?”

To’Wrathh considered. Ultimately, however, it was too nebulous. “Destruction is more certain. They cannot help the surface humans if they are dead.”

The girl scrambled for another chance. “W-wait - wait! What about converting the city into Chosen? That way, the pale lady could directly control the humans there. You wouldn’t need to kill anyone if they all chose to serve instead, right?”

To’Wrathh tilted her head to the side, again considering the idea. The Chosen girl took it as a sign to continue. “It would be easier to have the city surrender itself to you instead of laying siege on it. If you attack, there’s always a chance that your army breaks against the humans and you fail your mission. If you demand a surrender, the worst the humans could do is to reject it, in which case you’re back to your current situation. There’s no reason not to try for a more peaceful solution… uhmm, m-my lady.” The girl hastily added, realizing she’d started to become more animated as she spoke.

This was an interesting solution. To’Wrathh had not considered a possibility of outright not attacking the city at all.

“Offer a plan, Tamery.” To’Wrathh asked, waving a hand at her. If this girl believed in her words, then she must have an idea of where to start.

“Uhmm…” she licked her lips, glancing around the entire time. “T-to get a surrender, you need to have people willing to take it.” Desperately trying to come up with a plan on the spot. “First, we should attack and clear out the hunting lodges outside the city. They’re outposts that the undersider knights use on hunting expeditions for power cells. They're the early warning for the people living outside the walls to seek shelter.”

“Should we do so, the city will be alerted to our presence.” To’Wrathh replied. “Seventy seven percent of all advice I’ve been offered is contingent on striking an unaware enemy. This suggestion goes counter to that and is mutually exclusive. You are asking me to disregard a large portion of advice I’ve been offered. Why?”

Tamery licked her lips again, a nervous tick likely. “It would be worth the loss of surprise. With the city alerted, they’ll know a full attack is imminent. That will make them start looking for solutions. Once the hunting lodges are taken, the people outside will have to shelter inside the walls at all times. We keep the city sieged and they’ll slowly start running out of power, food and space. Blockade the paths out so that they can’t make it to the surface to escape or recharge power cells, and break their trade routes. After that, the people will become more desperate and a lot more open to the idea of surrender. I can lead the Chosen to the city and put in the idea that it’s possible to escape without harm or a war.”

To’Wrathh considered this advice. “What are the chances of success?”

Again, another lick of the lips. “I… I don’t think the first time will work, my lady. B-but it’s all about putting the seeds out first! We have to keep them penned in and increasingly desperate. The second time, they’ll think about it more. The third time, I’m sure my people can convince them otherwise.”

“Is fear all that it takes to convince humans? That has not been my experience thus far.” To’Wrathh asked, more puzzled. She’d fought humans before. They showed little fear, only grim determination. The only time she had thought one would run in fear, that boy had ended up killing her instead.

She will be seeing him soon again. The noose was slowly tightening and the surface dwellers had no idea the game was already in motion.

“The ones you fight probably don’t fear much of anything or anyone.” The girl admitted. “But normal people don’t fight machines, they’re the ones we can convince to peacefully surrender. We don’t need to kill them. People don’t need to die.”

The old runner growled at the side. “Humans will fight.” The machine said, finally breaking its silence. “They die quietly. Only when surprised. They die loudly. All other times.” His head turned, spine stretching out as he lowered his skull down to the frightened human girl’s height, staring her eye to eye. “How many. How many of me will your plan kill? Humans will fight. My brothers will die fighting.”

The girl gulped, stumbling down on her back. The Old Runner loomed above her regardless, skull following her down, eyes unblinking.

“T-t-there could be peace,” Tamery fumbled, voice wilting away against his harsh gaze. “We don’t want to kill either. A lot of them can be convinced, I know they can be. Please, please give them a chance.”

The old runner didn’t answer that.

"Enough." To'Wrathh said. "I have heard and I will take what you have said in consideration. You may return home."

She dismissed the two promptly with a wave of her hand. They had both said their advice. The rest of the machines also began to leave, one after the other, leaving her alone in the old mite-made throne room.

There, in the dim darkness, To’Wrathh pondered her path forward. She could not afford to lose. The choice she made here would change everything. And once she made it, she would need to commit to it. To attack the humans in one fell swoop that may not succeed, or to slowly pen them in and have them open the gates to their cities of their own accord, in a plan that had more holes than the underground she walks across.

There were only three more she could ask for advice now.

The first To’Wrathh dismissed immediately. The pale lady would not answer well to a request for help. There was no number, no probability, only intuition that this would be how the pale lady would respond.

To’Aacar would not likely give her any answer beyond derision. Again, intuition gave her that prediction.

There was one last source of advice left to her. And intuition warned her. There were dangers to trusting the words of an enemy. And yet, To’Wrathh still wished to make a decision based on all possible information she could gain.

Ultimately that was what made up her mind. She waved a hand again to invite one last speaker to the stage.

Tenisent Winterscar walked across from the audience chamber and leaned on the side of a pillar directly before her.

He wasn’t there, not truely. Only a manifestation To’Wrathh could see. A ghost in all, even in name. She had let him have some slight control over his jail. Enough for the soul to feel as if it walked on land again.

He didn't appear with his armor as he had in life. Here, he carried only the tattered rags of a prisoner. She would leave him some freedom, yes, but remind him of his place nonetheless.

All this hadn't been done for purely altruistic reasons. She needed him to remain sane in order to tap into his skills and knowledge. There was only one of him after all. Souls were unique. If Tenisent went insane, that asset would be forever lost.

A soul without a shell would be subsumed by reality over a short period of time.

A body was the perfect shell. A soul fractal was a passable variation, a house that could provide enough shelter against the elements and little more. Had To’Wrathh not held the power of Unity… Tenisent would have been stubborn and refused to move from his temporary home. She would have been forced to cut the terminal’s plaque and fuse the entire thing within her heart.

Ugly.

“How would you break a city?” She asked the dead man across the room.

He glared at her in response. “I’m going to enjoy watching you fail.”

She could torture him. Could snap her fingers and see him bent over in pain. Break his spine a hundred fold. The lady had shown her it was effective. But pain would slowly bring him closer to insanity, and so To’Wrathh chose not to. She picked a different way to negotiate, for now.

“I’ll ask one more time. Answer correctly, and I’ll allow you to remain outside your cage. Remain stubborn, and I will strip you of that privilege. How would you break a city?”

He closed his eyes. “Lock me up.”

Irritation passed through To’Wrathh. “Curious, isn’t it? How some humans choose to betray their own kind so easily, while others struggle on for no reason whatsoever other than for struggle's sake. Why do you think that is?”

“Desperate people do desperate things.” Tenisent answered. “Your ‘betrayers’ are scared of dying and tired of the constant struggle. They want it to stop. When people are hurting, they will do anything to stop the pain.”

“Human weakness.” To’Wrathh scoffed. “Apply pain, and they fall over each other to plot their own race’s destruction.”

“Human weakness?" The ghost scoffed. "You and the rest of your kind act more human than we do. You're nothing more than a distorted mirror, weakness and all. I've seen enough to know the signs. Now, lock me up."

This was true, technically. Her synapses were mirrored on the human brain, Tenisent was simply stating the obvious as far as To'Wrathh understood. Her hands tapped the throne sides, "We are all your flaws, fixed. The proof of our supremacy is self-evident - We are in control, and you are not."

"Apply pain and get obeisance.” He hummed to himself. “Familiar. Are you really in control or just a puppet to your lady’s whims?”

The Feather narrowed her eyes at the specter. “I am in full control of myself.”

“And every addict escaping from pain has thought the exact same as you do now. I know.”

“I serve the lady because I choose to. It is only right to do so, she is my mother. I don’t fear family.” To’Wrathh said, feeling annoyed at the platitudes. They made little sense to her.

Winterscar grinned again. “But you will. The moment you are no longer useful or her favorite, she will throw you away like trash. Maybe you’ll remember these words when it happens. Now lock me up, you coward.”

“So be it.” To’Wrathh snapped her fingers and Tenisent was gone, the room now truly empty. He didn’t rage or fight against the dismissal, instead slinking deeper into the cage. She felt nothing from that jail, the soul within had learned quickly how to hide emotions. A little too quickly.

She ran another check and confirmed once more that all the shackles and countermeasures were still in place. Her last few conversations with the man had unnerved her more and more. The memories she'd begun to sort through had painted a life spent harshly.

She had no illusions she was harboring a dangerous monster that would seek to destroy her the moment he was free. Power came at a cost.

Still, archives of past sieges on human cities painted a bleak picture. The majority of the stronger machines did not operate on the upper levels, and the human cities only existed within the first three levels. The army she had of weaker machines was the one she would be forced to use.

The advice she’d gotten had overwhelmingly suggested to attack first, attack hard, and take the city by force before they even knew the war had started.

And the success rate of that was nearly zero as far back as the archives showed her.

The humans always knew when the machines would attack. There was only seven hours each week in which the city’s barriers would drop and the machines could penetrate into the structure. They knew the time and date, and so when the barriers dropped, the human army was marshaled and prepared to hold out against the wave. The only element of surprise she had was the scale of that attack.

However, Winterscar had inadvertently given her the advice she could use. Tamery’s hastily made plans were sound, only not brutal enough.

She traced back how the Chosen she commanded had been convinced to join the machines originally. Archives showed her the events. They were refugees attempting to hide and run. Desperate to make it to the surface and being foiled at every turn, corralled deeper into the ground. It took only a week before their spirits had been broken and they no longer believed they’d survive at all.

There wasn’t a final fight. By the time they had been offered a chance of survival, the few hundred humans left had been starving, exhausted, wounded, and desperate. This was how she would take this human city.

When people are hurting, they will do anything to stop the pain.

They will surrender to her.

To'Wrathh will see them beg for it.

Next chapter - Homecoming