The ceiling sped by in a blur as the group rushed down the halls of the prison. Jesse was being carried by Lord Valrith and Cleb, both freshly healed from the essence they had absorbed. No one gave chase but Jesse knew it was only a matter of time. The thunder of their footsteps rang in his ears. Aegis’s whining and Tormund's rushed orders came from around him. Jesse felt disconnected from it all. His body had been healed, well most of it anyway, but the mental strain of losing more of himself put him in a sort of fugue state.

  Jesse was losing himself, piece by piece. This was both in the literal and figurative sense. He had lost two limbs now. He was also losing himself, like what made him himself. He knew it but didn’t know how to stop it. He had killed several people in that battle with no hesitation. He couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer. He had to find Rebecca and get them home. This world was many things; amazing, full of life, full of mysteries to be studied and unlocked, but most of all full of danger. It was far too dangerous for his family to live in. Life under the consortium on earth was also many things but dangerous was not one of them. Labs being sucked into an alternate dimension or wherever he was not withstanding.

  “I don’t like that we had to leave them behind.” Jesse could hear Cleb say.

  “They knew the risks when we came.” Lord Valrith said with some strain in his voice.

  Finally they reached the sewer. Their noble friend jumped down first, catching Cleb, then Aegis, and finally Jesse. Cleb carried the large dog, with great difficulty, but she was ultimately smaller than Jesse so it had to work. Lastly, and following behind a fair distance, was the young woman they had rescued. She had covered her half transformed state in a cloak and her blackened eyes darted around warily.

  Finally, blessedly, after what seemed like ages of being carried through the stench filled sewers, the group exited into open air. A portion of the sewer system was still an open air canal, an idea that disgusted Jesse but proved useful for access. They trudged up a slope that acted as a sort of rainwater drain into the sewers.

  After retrieving a change of clothes from a nearby dead drop they prepared earlier, they proceeded to walk to the nobles manner. Nobody spoke, Aegis even stopped whining. Jesse walked supported by Cleb and Tormund, though he used his good leg to hold some of his weight. Jesse felt a knot of worry that the Archon had somehow determined who the nobleman was and had attacked while they were away.

  He soon let out a breath of relief as the manor came into view. The land was unblemished with no signs of forced entry or any hostilities. They rushed inside, attempting to avoid as much suspicion as possible for a group of four men, one missing a leg, and a larger than normal dog. As they entered it occurred to Jesse that they would certainly need to hide his canine companions' presence. She was just too recognizable. Likely Jesse himself was now too, between the metal hand and his missing leg. His company brought him to his rooms and laid him on the bed. All Jesse wanted was a bath but he couldn’t bear to ask for help.

  “Get me a cane or crutch please.” He asked the departing guard. A few moments later the man came back with the requested item. It was then that he noticed the half monstrous woman from before was just standing in the corner of his room staring at him.

  “Uh. Hello.” Jesse said awkwardly. The woman merely looked at him without answer.

  “Can you speak?” He asked her. After a long pause came a very slight shake of her head.

  “Okay then. You know they can get you a room.” He said to her. She turned towards the door with a fearful expression.

  “Okay, you know it’s fine. You can stay over there. Just don’t follow me into the bath chamber.” He told her and she proceeded to sit on the floor. She hugged her knees and just stared at the floor. Jesse sighed and moved to get up.

  Jesse used the cane to stand. It was awkward to walk with it, was really more of a hobble, but he made it to the bathroom. The manor had a boiler that kept hot water supplied, apparently a luxurious but known technology. He sank into the tub, attempting to scrub the grime and sewer, but most of all the death, off himself. He didn’t think it would ever come free.

  The next morning Jesse called to have paper brought to him. He had found the half necrescent sleeping on the floor where he had left her when he rose in the morning. Oddly the resistance leaders had avoided him since the arrival. They probably resented his loss of so many of their number with nothing to show for it. Well he would do this with or without them.

  The next several hours were spent in a fervor as Jesse drew schematic after schematic. The first batch was discarded and soon others took their place. Tormund had come to check on him but he simply waved his friend away. He had to make the design perfect. Throughout the ordeal he had his AI pull up old world designs, speculate on the use of essence to power various functions, and act as a general sounding board. His constant companion was clearly still growing. The AI now freely offered its opinions on if it believed a design was feasible with the level of technology displayed by the natives.

  “Cleb!” Jesse shouted from his bed turned workstation as the sun set. He hadn’t grown used to movement without the greater portion of his right leg. A moment later the man entered once more. After the death of Dan, he had been much more subdued. Jesse felt for him but didn’t know what to say to offer comfort to the grieving man.

  “What can I do for you Jesse?” He asked neutrally.

  Does he blame me too? Well no matter. I will find her.

  “Could you take these designs to the Myra at the smithy? I need to get mobile again. There is a lot to do.” He said, handing the man a roll of papers.

  “Oh, you have a plan?” The man said, perking up slightly. “To find Rebecca?”

  “Well, no. But I will. If nothing else I’ll go confront the Archon himself and make him tell me where he is keeping her.” Jesse said.

  “Well I don’t think that would be wise.” Cleb said hesitantly. “The man overpowered your daughter after all and she is a virescent. No offense but you seem pretty ordinary to me. Aside from the weird metallic arm and essence type weapons. “ After a pause the man continued. “Hmm okay, well I admit that don’t sound too normal either. Either way I’ll get the smith on this.” He said, rushing off.

  Jesse scratched Aegis’s ear. She lay next to him on the bed. She seemed to feel his melancholy, likely through the arcane bond they shared. He sighed. “We should get up. There is more planning to be done.” He said to her. She of course didn’t talk back.

  Jesse struggled out of bed and over to the library. The fledgling Necrescent followed a distance behind, silently watching He was slowly getting the hang of walking using the cane but lacked the strength to fully carry his weight on one arm. What resulted was using his momentum and what strength he did have to give himself time to move his other leg forward and catch himself before he fell. It was an exhausting and slow means of walking but it wouldn’t be long before he built himself a new leg.

  He entered the library. The Lord and Lady were both present, as was Tormund. They all looked surprised to see him. They next looked at the young woman with suspicion.

  “Do you really think you should be up and moving?” Tormund asked. “And I’m not sure about letting her walk about freely.”

  “You know the essence healed the wound.” Jesse said back. “And she has been free since our arrival.”

  “Not the mental ones. Losing a limb has got to be a shock. Losing two is going to be overwhelming I imagine.” Tormund said back. The older woman nodded behind him. “And she has been locked away in your room, which was guarded.” Tormund shot back.

  “I’m fine. I just need to find Rebecca and get her out. And she is no threat. I don’t know what we should do with her but she has not shown any signs of hostility since we met her.” Jesse responded.

  The noble woman scowled at this but Lord Varlith put his hand on her shoulder.

  “We were actually just talking about finding Rebecca.” Tormund said.

  “Yeah I know. I got those men killed. The resistance won’t support us any longer and we have to do it ourselves.” Jesse said, anticipating what he was about to say.

  “No Jesse. We aren’t blaming you. Well…” he looked at the lady of the house. “Most of us aren’t anyway. We were fed bad information. No, we actually have the start of a plan.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?” Jesse asked, finding himself relieved. His friend didn’t blame him. Jesse still did deep down. He had gotten Nira killed and now Dan and the rest of the resistance fighters that came with him. It was taking a toll.

  “Well we have new information, we think it’s good this time, that your daughter is being held in the palace itself.” Tormund continued.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “How are we going to get in there?” Jesse asked.

  “We don’t know yet but we do have the palace schematics and..” he hesitated again, looking down. “Well I know the palace. I lived there much of my life. I know where she would be kept if the Archon had a special interest in her.”

  “Okay… so what’s the plan?” Jesse asked slowly, his mind racing.

  “Well the sewers don’t run under the palace in the same way. It’s actually connected with pipes that we aren’t going to fit in. The only thing underground is the basement.” Tormund continued. “I do think our best bet is to tunnel in.” He blurted out quickly.

  “Won’t that take a long time?” Jesse asked.

  “Well I would use essence to shift the earth.” Tormund said with a shrug. “But yeah it wouldn’t be fast.”

  “Wouldn’t that make a huge target if they have more necrescent?” Jesse asked. “They are clearly attracted to essence use.”

  “Oh right. I hadn’t thought of that.” Tormund said sheepishly.

  “This is going to sound insane but…” Jesse was the one to hesitate now. “What if we teleported? Like we did to escape Kaelan in the ruins?”

  Tormund thought for a moment. Then began nodding. “Do you think you could rig the teleport arches to allow us to exit where there isn’t an arch?” Tormund asked.

  “If I have to, I think Golem and I might be able to. I actually suspect that there is an arch in the palace itself though. Think about it! The Archon doesn’t want these ruins disturbed! It’s probably so he can hoard the technology there for himself! I bet he brought one back to study it. I’m starting to understand this technology. I think I can figure out how to do this.” Jesse said, excitedly.

  “The resistance is coming with you. Well just a few of us. If you are getting in the palace we want to use the opportunity to rid ourselves of the Archon. Permanently.” Lord Valrith said.

  “Makes sense. I will say in my world's experience, eliminating a dictator often leaves a vacuum for another to take their place. Someone will have to be ready to step in.” Jesse said.

  “We will handle that. Do not trouble yourself with those plans.” Lady Valrith said.

  “I won’t. I am going to get my daughter and figure out a way to go home. What you guys do once the Archon is dealt with is none of my concern.” Jesse replied.

  “You don’t plan on staying?” Tormund asked. His face showed a little bit of hurt but he also nodded. “Right. This world hasn’t exactly shown you its best.”

  “It’s not that. It’s just too dangerous to have my family here. Look at me. I’m literally being cut to pieces just trying to reunite with them.” Jesse said.

  “Fair point.” Tormund replied.

  “Okay so to summarize, we will attempt to portal in using the gateways in an ancient ruin. If we succeed we will bypass the majority of the palace guard and Tormund will show us to where the palace prison is.” Jesse said. “The resistance will come and after we have secured Rebecca, Tormund and I will assist in killing the Archon.”

  “I have something to show you. You brought these and said that Nira, and before her your daughter, wanted to give them to us.” Lady Valrith said, bringing out the scrolls that they had delivered the resistance in place of Nira. She unfurled the scrolls and they appeared to be maps of the region.

  “This map shows Tekessara ruins.” She told them. “There appears to be one not far from the city.”

  “That’s where we will go then.” There were agreements all around. “Alright then. It’s time to prepare.” Jesse said. Tormund helped him walk to his room where he sat in a chair at a desk. The half monster followed him and settled into her corner.

  “You know you can get a chair or something. Better yet you could go to the adjacent room and sleep in a real bed.” Jesse told her. She frowned at him and shook her head. She pulled her knees closer and tightly hugged them.

  “Do you remember your name? Could you write it out for me?” Jesse asked her. The woman shook her head after a moment.

  What can you tell me about her? Jesse thought at his AI.

  “She is a void of essence much like the Necrescent you fought before. Her transformation isn’t finished though so her constitution is vastly different from those creatures. Somewhat of a mix between a normal human and the monsters.”

  Jesse thought for a moment before continuing to speak. “Do you want a name?” The woman hesitated for a long while before nodding solemnly.

  Jesse sat and thought for a while before suggesting a name that came to mind. “How about Echo?” The woman shrugged and then nodded.

  “Echo it is then.” Jesse said, turning towards his bed. He was exhausted.

  Days passed as the group planned the assault of the castle and made what preparations they could. After a few days of this planning, Cleb entered with a large crate stuffed to the brim in metal components. He struggled to carry it, it looked quite solid. Jesse hoped that he would get it working.

  “Thank you Cleb.” Jesse said, having the man set the metal components on the desk in front of him. He examined it all closely, finding the work exacting.

  “Do you think this will work Golem? We aren’t going to overload your core are we?” He asked his AI.

  “It seems the natural regeneration of the crystals is quite impressive and little energy has been lost with the addition of your arm. These designs are much more elaborate howeve, and extensive use of energy may be required. We should include an alternate power source as well as the ability to interface with my core.” The AI reported.

  “Okay well here goes nothing.” Jesse said as he moved to attach the leg over his stump. It fell to the floor with a thud and he began connecting the wires. First he tested the foot motion, which rotated on a single joint. Next he tested the knee, again rotating on a single joint. It would do. He would need help for the next part.

  “Aegis, could you go get Tormund?” He asked his companion.

  She stood and ran from the room. Her intelligence had certainly increased since their bond. Jesse idly wondered how much it would grow. Soon Tormund came in with a confused look on his face. He was followed quickly by Aegis. “Uh Aegis needed me to come in here?”

  “I need your help connecting some of these parts. I won’t be able to reach.” He said. He explained to the man what he wanted to do. Tormund, to his credit, seemed to understand the purpose and smiled slightly.

  A short time later Jesse and Tormund found themselves in the back field of the manor. Jesse had figured out how to walk pretty quickly, with the help of Golem that is. He strode confidently across the field. He couldn’t feel anything from his new artificial leg but it still felt good to be moving again after a couple of days stuck or limited. Echo followed shortly behind him, watching them curiously.

  That was not the limit of his changes however. Jesse now had metal armor over most of his body. There were lines of runes made from wiring covering the inside of the metal in patterns that would have made his head spin a couple weeks ago. The armor looked somewhat crude, with ill fitting plates covering the majority of his body, with the exception of his head. His left arm had been replaced with an upgraded model with fully articulated fingers and a couple of hidden aces built in.

  Additionally the armor now acted as an exoskeleton. Truthfully, the armor plating had been more of an afterthought that he added to th exoskeleton he had designed in an attempt to match himself to the might of the virescent. It encased his healthy limbs and gave them the same power that his arterial ones held. Jesse figured these changes would level the playing field against virescents and the thought of trying them out made a grin spread across his face.

  “Want to test it out for real?” He asked Tormund. The man nodded, smiling.

  “I’m going to try to jump for starters. This suit is quite heavy so I may not make it off the ground. Ready Golem?” He asked.

  “Full power?” The AI asked reading his thoughts. “Are you certain?”

  “Let’s give it a shot.” Jesse said, excited. He knew that engineering best practice should call for a ramped approach, slowly increasing the output. This was a lot more fun though. He bent down with his new legs, one a shell over his healthy one and the other a replacement, and leapt. He let out a yell of surprise as he soared into the air twenty feet. Panic rose in his chest as he fell. This would kill him. Stupid of him to do it this way.

  “Jesse, land on your feet.” Golem reminded him mentally. He readied the legs of the suit and landed, bending at the knee. The legs absorbed the energy of the landing, spreading the force through his increased defenses.

  “That was amazing!” Tormund exclaimed, wide eyed. “You jumped as high as a virescent could burning essence!”

  Jesse smiled, testing the arms was going to be fun. The pair moved off together towards some archery targets. Jesse really wanted to punch one. As he walked he noticed something, the mechanical arm was moving without him telling it to.

  “Uh, Golem?” He asked.

  “I was curious if that would work. It appears that I am able to control the limbs as well.” Golem reported.

  “That’s uh… great.” Jesse said. He wasn’t sure how to feel about something being able to control his limbs. On the other hand it was Golem's connection to his nervous system that facilitated the ability to control the limbs mentally at all.

  “I am not going to steal your body Jesse.” Golem said mentally. His tone seemed to say disapproval, which was another thing Golem had never expressed before.

  “I know.” He said with a small smile. “It’ll be fine. I appreciate your help here Golem.”

  They neared the archery targets and Jesse squared up with one. “Let’s see what these arms can do.” He said. He swung as hard as he could and the little straw and wooden man exploded as his fist connected with it. Jesse grinned. This could certainly allow him to go toe to toe with even the most powerful virescent.

  Jesse spent a few hours testing and training with the functionality of his new suit. It was truly impressive. Jesse marveled at the power it gave him. I should have built this before the prison assault. He thought with a spike of guilt. He was so focused on finding his daughter that he wasn’t thinking clearly. This time he would be prepared for a fight.

  “Alright I think it’s ready.” He said to Tormund. The arcanescent stared at him.

  “You’re insane.” He said finally. “We might actually be able to beat him.”

  “Oh I intend to.” Jesse said. “Nothing is going to stop me from getting Rebecca out of there.”