A winged silhouette cut across a multicolored night sky, silent in its flight. The only sign of its passing was the softest rustling of leathery membranes with each powerful stroke of broad wings, all other sounds of flight slain upon the feathers that sprouted from their leading edges. Igglovaniax's crimson eyes glittered with data as he soared over a small mountain range.
The maroon wireframe that his augmented vision overlaid far below divined the mountains' secrets. Just over a kilometer long, buried under a millennium's worth of tectonic movements and overgrowth, was the , once a mighty frigate that sailed the stars. A deep, satisfied purr ran through Igglovaniax's chest as he made out the vessel's shape. Her keel was intact, but the dorsal plating had split over the mountain's peak.
His augmented view highlighted several parts in amber as data inloaded from a powerful sensor array, marking them as just over a millennium old, compared to the original hull's age of almost seven thousand years. The droll voice of Tharith, Igglovaniax's majordomo, fed directly into the dragon's ear. One of his broad ear fans flicked as he slowed to a hover, bobbing in the air with each wingstroke. His eyes locked upon the vast engine array at the vessel’s aft, a shiver of anticipation running up his spine.
"Pleased, Tharith? Such an understatement. Her engines are mostly intact. Made only a millennium ago, but powerful enough to break atmosphere, with some tweaking. Perhaps she shall be the key to our re-ascension. Her beating heart still thrums, even if at a sickly rhythm." His words came from a dull reverberation in his throat, speaking into a subvocal microphone, thick with an ever-deepening purr.
The light clatter of the Vrass's claws against a metallic keyboard itched at Igglovaniax's ear across the link. Entropic Hymn He asked.
"Do so. I shall investigate the entry points. We shall see what secrets this old ship holds. The modifications we have detected are in line with the rumors we heard." Igglovaniax ignored the light burning of his flight muscles as he held the high vantage over the . Unfolding from the heavy harness locked around his torso came two limbs. Precise, mechanical, yet gracile as they flexed each of their six-jointed fingers. Five fingers to a hand.
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Data panes expanded in Igglovaniax's view, as each mechanical hand made a dozen different signs, sending code spinning across each pane's surface. One by one, accessible entry points light up in harsh green. Rents in the hull and maintenance hatches shattered in a shower of pixels at a wave of one of Igglovaniax's forelimbs, its rich black scales streaked through with light grey markings.
Mother's Fang Tharith clarified, claws tapping furiously against the keys now. Finally, the only remaining entry that Igglovaniax’s AR view highlighted was an airlock just aft of the bridge. His wings folded against his body with a snap, the air whistling as he hurtled earthward.
"Indeed." He churred, rolling and darting between the vast canopies of the trees that sprouted from the ship's ancient body, following an erratic line in the air that led to the door. With a final jerk, he snapped open his wings fully again just over the hull plate outside the airlock. His landing echoed like a crash of thunder, reverberating through the ship.
As the impact gave a last dying echo off the peaks, Igglovaniax felt a steady series of tremors. He craned his neck, turning to look through the canopy. He spotted the large hull of the striding through the tops of the trees and over the craggy sides of the mountain, carried aloft on six powerful legs. Her angular shape nosed over ancient trees and engaged the climb with ease; her deck remained level, bobbing only the slightest amount with each step. Tharith asked.
"Drop them outside the airlock." Igglovaniax churred softly. One of his mechanical hands made a half-sign, a new data pane sliding open. It showed the debris-choked solar system, covered in flickering IFF markers of dead ships. He ignored the morbid void-grave, the hint of a smirk tugging at the lips of his almost beakish snout as he peered at the suns. Five of them sat within the system. The Mother's Eyes. A huge white supergiant sat at the center, with two sets of binary star orbits spinning around Her. "Silgun's Eye is presented and aligned. I shall venture alone until I have need of them. Walk the Scholar's Path."
However, it has put a strain on me, and I need a little rest. I have been writing chapters for this the week of release, because my backlog got obliterated by said housing stress. Chapter 16 will be released next week at the usual time, I promise!
Patreon! Not only will I be posting it as I write the alpha versions of the chapters, but I will also be sharing audio versions of Neon Shadows chapters, recorded and edited by me! Hopefully those years of theatre I did will carry me through XD
