Inferno Ascended

Glax reacted in the worst possible way.

He pushed the creature with a jerk, and the little girl landed butt-down on the floor, stunned. Alexandre, also taken by surprise, pointed his menacing saw at the child.

The girl, or rather the infernal dryad, saw the saw spinning at centimeters of her face, and screamed.

A high-pitched, piercing scream that seemed to freeze time and echoed across the forest.

Then the sacred tree leaves flew from the branches, and possessed by a sudden and unnatural whirlwind, swarmed towards the three men.

As soon as the first of the little leaves touched his skin with a sharp cut, Glax felt an unbearable burning. He was sure he would die of an allergy reaction in a matter of minutes!

Glax didn't have a good impression of how it was going to end, and he forced time back, changing the only thing he could _ his own reaction.

The girl had just looked up at him.

She was graceful and looked to be about 9 years old. Her long, slightly matted hair was dark with greenish hues. The dryad had the kind of stunning beauty that, in the world he came from, would be a reason for clickbait headlines like 'SHE WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD, DISCOVER WHAT HAPPENED TO HER'. Her dress and cape looked perfectly common, though.

Glax smiled and took her hand, crouching down to look her in the eye.

"What can you want, that you don't have yet?"

"W-where did it come from?" Alexandre asked, reaching for his weapon. But Glax waved his hand so he wouldn't threaten the nymph.

"I haven't seen you around here yet. And you stink. Why do you wear a mask?"

"A god doesn't like me." Glax shrugged.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. I was just walking around, and he detested me, out of the blue. My family said that I should wear this mask, and he wouldn't bother me again."

Tychos, who was out of the conversation despite being its pivot, approached, bringing his bottles. "Oh, dryad. We came in peace. I am Tychos, grandson of Melita, an Antusa. Greetings!"

She reacted with surprise, but not especially impressed by his respectful treatment.

"Oh! Greetings to her, too. I don't understand. What are you? And you? And what are you doing here?" She looked at them with big, concerned eyes.

"We didn't mean to disturb you," Tychos explained.

"Not sure. You are... stomping around in the forest like I haven't seen in a long time." The girl grimaced. "And those stinky objects you bring with you… Ugh! What are you doing?"

So Glax understood that, despite her appearance, she was not young ... Although, if she were the spirit of a tree, it made sense.

She kept her demands with an impish voice.

"I want to know why everything became noisy and that smell… What is on fire? Why don't you humans stop..." This time the dryad looked at Alexander and his circular saw, and her eyes widened in terror.

"Don't worry, Lady Dryad. This weapon is not for trees. He's not going to do anything stupid," The message to Alexandre was implied. "But did you happen to see a… a kind of centaur here recently?"

The girl returned to the tree. "Yes, a creature even stranger than you."

Glax was slightly offended, but shrugged. "Did other creatures like him emerge?"

"Other beings in the forest are fleeing. Those who can. That's all I know, I don't leave here. What will you give me?"

"Do I have to give you anything? Tychos has already given you wine and honey."

"GIVE SOMETHING TO HER, LORD GLAX." Tychos was not discreet in indicating that they didn't want to regret not attending to the little dryad's whim.

The Valosian scratched his head as the girl watched him with curiosity.

"I don't know what to give her! I have nothing that a dryad might want!"

The girl pouted.

"Listen, dryad. You probably heard it earlier, as do the loud roars in the early evening and morning. We must put an end to that. Or more machines will enter the forest. The last monster I saw was a giant and consumed trees like they were lettuces. We need to get through. Can you take my word that I will return to bring you a gift?"

Alexandre murmured,

"My mother always said that."

Glax punched the boy in the back to keep him quiet.

She flinched, and after being thoughtful for a moment, started walking.

"Follow me."

::::::::::::::

Kal hugged his friend, regardless of the plight of the other Aegeon warrior.

"Meleagor! What they did to you?!"

"MMNHN!" The cyborg centaur opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was an unintelligible sound that sounded to Glax like a breath coming out of a metal tube.

The centaur had been sheltering in a small cave. His torso, sewn in a grotesque copy of a horse's body, with its bronze and iron parts exposed, demonstrated the torture the man underwent. Glax didn't understand how he could be alive.

In fact, he understood. And the realization of the secret behind this technique made him suddenly sick. The mechanism had attracted the orb, and it revived.

Some mechanisms had this property. Like his clock. Like Chriseis's arm. And possibly, like Nikandros' wheels.

But at that moment, the entire group felt penalized by Meleagor's situation.

The dryad explained. "I found him. Look at his feverish eyes. I can't cure him, no matter how hard I try. He's suffering a lot. What god did that, and why?"

"I don't know if it was a god's making..." Glax shook his head. "But we'll have to find out what it was, and stop it from continuing."

Meleagor himself, prone on the ground with no strength to stand, used a stick to communicate. He drew a tower, and a circle around it. He designed what Glax guessed to be wheels, symbolizing a machine inside the tower.

Glax already knew that not every Stygian really knew how to read and write. This was a privilege of a few.

When the poor centaur finished his drawing with great difficulty, he was sweating and coughing. The wounds from his fight with Arsenio and the group were still open, but there was something strange about that.

While his friends conjectured what could be done to solve both problems - Meleagor's wellbeing, and the tower that had transformed him into it - Glax was distracted looking at the machine in front of him. Pistons, gears and cables, tanks and exhaust fans ... And he wondered if he could help Meleagor.

Glax thought so. That it would take some time, and it would take a lot of effort. But he could FIX IT.

"Hey, Meleagor. We will take you to the fort. We will help you, okay? These damaged parts ... Maybe I can fix it. "

The poor cyborg's bloodshot eyes flashed in despair, and he began to hit his own chest violently.

His will was clear. He didn't want any of that.

"Ahem!" Pydna bit his fist, showing some emotion unintentionally, and moved away from the group.

"Soldier! General Nikandros did it, so can you!" Zotikos tried to cheer him up, but the mechanical centaur shook his head.

Alexandre pushed Zotikos away. "Just shut up, we don't know the horrors he went through, I mean, is going through… Besides, my uncle has a hellish life… like, Old Hell."

Swallowing, Glax nodded. "I know it mustn't be the best thing, but you have to make up your mind. We are going to destroy this machine that turns people into unwilling creatures of flesh and metal. But as for you...

Kalliaris spoke, with red eyes and a contrite face. "If you want to go ahead, I will do it for Meleagor. This is no way to live. My friend, I hope you have a good rest, not suffering without deserving it! "

Meleagor nodded, for the first time, showing a slight smile mixed with all the pain she felt. The dryad spoke for the first time, wiping tears from his eyes.

"I couldn't take it either ..."

Tychos was taking the younger ones, and the dryad, away from the cave. "We will wait for you near the sacred tree. I wish your friend a painless start ..."

Glax stayed. Once again, he tried to prepare an obol so that the warrior could reach the Stygian. Meanwhile, Kalliaris was talking quietly to Meleagor, trying to comfort him about his destiny ahead, and everything that was left behind.

Kal was quick, and buried his sword in the centaur's bare chest. They saw the relief in Meleagor's eyes at his last moment, but they were heavy-hearted.

"Let's make a pyre," Kal suggested, already turning to collect kindling, but Glax grabbed him by the arm. "Wait a minute. I have a suspicion..."

"What suspicion?"

"Lord Arsenio wouldn't be a Tagmatarchis if he were not an excellent warrior. If Meleagor was in good shape, perhaps he could defeat Lord Arsenios, but he wasn't. I'd put my coins on Lord Arsenio's side, this time. And Meleagor has most of his body replaced by this machine..."

"Sorry, Lord Glax, but I don't understand."

"If I'm right, you will see with your own eyes why no Aegeon is returning from Stimhena."

"Well, you are my lochios, but can I at least collect the kindling?" Kal wasn't content with Glax's suggestion of waiting around his friend's lifeless body.

The Valosian nodded, never taking his eyes off the fresh corpse of the mechanical centaur.

About twenty minutes later, Kalliaris had already made a considerable pyre for his friend.

A little disappointed that nothing had happened, and at the same time relieved to be wrong, Glax helped the soldier to place the heavy body on the pyre. And he put the coin in Meleagor's mouth.

His friend had a stoic face all the time, but the Valosian doubted he wasn't suffering for the soldier-turned-monster.

Kal picked up his flint to light the fire, and was working on it, when Glax saw the body move on its own.