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But then again, Tenebros had good reason to be petty toward his older brother. After all, if it wasn’t for Phaeros, he would still be alive and ruling over the Celestial Heavens. Not trapped in the Underworld and forced to rule over the dead.
I was about to ask if I would be allowed to use the training ground—the idea of taking out some of my frustrations on the dummies was very appealing—when the north gates of the compound opened, and a rider galloped through.
My jaw dropped—not at the sight of Nyra, though she did look very impressive in her riding leathers—but at the beast she sat astride. It bore the majestic form of a horse, with a golden, lustrous coat that reminded me of the painting of the horse I’d seen this morning. Yet its powerful form was intertwined with undeniably mechanical parts. Each step it took was a study in graceful power, and the sound it made was unlike any horse I'd known—the familiar rhythm of hooves against the ground, yet overlaid with a soft, harmonic resonance that seemed to hum from within its mechanical components.
Nyra brought her steed to a halt in front of us, and the—animal? machine?—snorted, tossing its dark brown mane. The vampire smirked as she noticed me gaping, but I couldn’t rein in my astonishment. The seamless integration of muscle and metal was both eerie and captivating, delicate metallic filigree tracing along its legs and back to merge into flesh as if the two were born together. A series of metal plates were artfully arranged down the front of the animal’s chest, disappearing beneath the underbelly, and in the center glowed an aetheric crystal the size of a large fist.
I lifted my head to meet the beast’s gaze. “What are you?” I breathed as it stared intently back at me. There was no doubt that despite its mechanical parts, the animal was very much a living creature. Its eyes were deep and alive, glowing with an inner light beyond the power of an ordinary machine.
“Her name is Zephyra,” Nyra said, her smirk softening as the animal nudged her head against my shoulder. Enchanted, I ran my hand along the metallic bridge of her muzzle, then stroked a thumb across her velvet soft nose. “She’s an Aethersteed, one Eliza designed for me.”
Well, she certainly seems to live up to her name,I thought to myself. She had the long legs and lean, muscular physique of a thoroughbred, with a strong back that would allow her to sprint and gallop at high speeds. “You… invented this?” I asked, glancing sideways at Eliza.
Eliza's lips thinned. “No. That dubious honor belongs to Icarus Stormwelder, Emperor Vladimir’s personal inventor. The horses started dying off after the sun disappeared and we couldn’t grow enough grain to feed them. Vladimir ordered Icarus to come up with a solution, and he invented a mechanized animal with an aetheric core that doesn’t need food to live.” She reached out to scratch the underside of the aethersteed’s chin, and the animal tilted its head to give her better access. “I just improved upon it, with some input from Nyra.”
Nyra snorted. “You did more than improve. Stormwelder’s design was barbaric, focused only on power and performance. His aethersteeds were little more than machines with a few organic parts.” She dismounted gracefully, then gave the side of her mount’s neck an affectionate pat. “Thanks to Eliza, Zephyra has every bit of the grace and intelligence of her ancestors.”
My eyes narrowed at the fond look on the vampire’s face as she stroked the beast. “You were Ferae before you were Turned, weren’t you?” I asked. “From the Equinox tribe.” The painting in the hallway belonged to her.
Nyra’s gaze shuttered at that. “It’s rude to ask a vampire about their human past,” she said shortly, taking Zephyra’s reins. “Eliza, you ought to get to the factory soon. You need to get that inspection done before the commandant arrives.”
“Don’t mind her,” Eliza said as we watched Nyra lead her aethersteed to the stables. “Nyra’s touchy about her past. Her human life didn’t end the way she wanted it to.”
“Is that how she ended up in Maximillian’s service?” I asked.
“That’s how all of us did.” Eliza’s tone turned brisk, and she abruptly changed the subject. “I do need to get to the factory, but let’s kill two birds with one stone. You can ride with me, and I’ll give you a quick tour of the city along the way.”
I wanted to ask Eliza more—specifically about why she seemed so willing to serve Maximillian even though he had conquered her people—but I recognized that the subject was closed for now, so I dropped it. “Does this mean we get to ride on one of the aethersteeds?” I asked, a little more eagerly than I intended.
“Hells no.” Eliza shuddered. “Those things might be part machine, but they’re still way too alive for me. We’ll be taking my bike.”
7
“How in all the hells do you find this safer than a horse?” I screeched five minutes later as we blasted through the compound gates.
Eliza laughed over the rush of wind in my ears. “Are you kidding? I’m in full control here.” She maneuvered the aetherbike with uncanny precision, its streamlined frame cutting through the city streets. I could feel the pulse of the glowing aetheric core that powered the machine beneath us, and I couldn’t help shuddering as the energy buzzed along my skin. “I don’t have to worry about the bike deciding it doesn’t want to listen to me. It does what I tell it to, when I tell it to.”
As if on cue, the bike banked sharply to the left, hugging the curve of the road so closely, it felt like we were one with the pavement. The aetheric core's rhythm quickened, matching our increased speed, and the bike surged forward, responding to Eliza's command with a precision no living creature could match. The sensation was exhilarating and terrifying all at once, a futuristic dance of speed and magic.
We zipped through a busy thoroughfare lined with tall sunsteel buildings, and I noted Eliza wasn’t the only biker on the road. Citizens zipped along the paved streets on bikes of varying sizes and styles, and alongside, in specialized lanes, aethersteeds clomped at slower speeds. Walkways lined both sides so that pedestrians could travel safely, and there were flashing aetheric crystals hanging from each intersection to direct the flow of traffic.
“Okay,” I shouted as we slowed to a halt in front of one such crystal, which had turned red. The light gilded the side of Eliza’s face as she turned to look at me, her brass goggles pulled over her eyes. She’d given me an extra pair to protect my own eyes from the streaming wind. “But how am I supposed to keep track of anything when we’re zipping around so fast?”
“By paying attention.” She stuck her tongue out at me, then waved a gloved hand to indicate the buildings towering over either side of the broad street. “This is the Lumina’s technological hub. The empire’s top research and development facilities are located here—or at least what’s left of them.”
I frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
The cross-traffic began to slow, and I braced myself for Eliza to kick the bike into motion again. “When the sun disappeared, the amount of aether in the atmosphere dropped so drastically, we were forced to shut down all but our most essential labs and factories. We also had to disable large public utilities that took up too much energy, like the railway system we used to have.”
The light changed, and we zoomed off, dodging through the flow of traffic once more. I gripped the handles beneath the back of the bike seat and leaned forward, both to keep my balance and to better hear Eliza as she continued to shout points ofinterest. The massive sleek building to our right was an aetheric weapons development factory with fortified walls and guarded entrances, and a smaller building a little farther out was the crystal refinery where raw aetheric crystals were manufactured. A colossal structure with shiny turbines visible through large windows turned out to be the aetheric power plant. But for every building that pulsed with activity, there were half a dozen others with doors and windows shuttered, walls crumbling and roofs caved in.
“That shop over there is where I bought my first bike,” Eliza said a little wistfully, slowing in front of what had once been a mechanic’s garage. The building, now abandoned, had a faded sign hanging above the door, reading 'Aetherwheels Emporium'. Its windows were dusty, obscuring the dark, empty interior where rows of sleek aetherbikes must have once stood. Vines crept up the sides, nature slowly attempting to reclaim the structure.
A sense of loss filled me as I gazed at the abandoned building. Even though I’d never set foot in Lumina before, I could sense the grandeur that this city had once possessed, that it still clung to despite the damage Vladimir and the Eternal Night had wrought.
“Why are you helping them?” I asked.
She twisted in her seat to look at me. “Helping who?”
