Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age

Councilwoman Anna was walking down the glistering halls of the lord's castle. She was late for a meeting, an important meeting that would dictate the role of the council for the days to come. She bid the two red scriptures mages that were with her farewell as she closed the large doors behind her.

The room was average in size but grand in stature. Five council members were already sitting in the round table, one empty seat was the only scorn to the eye, that empty seat was for Anna. She was silent and so were the other council members. They were all wearing cloaks and the cloaks had hoods over their heads that covered the upper part of their faces.

But the hoods failed to hide that every one of the council was already wrinkled with old age. Their skin had already begun to fold and only their magical power preserved them. They are all way over a hundred years old and the oldest of which, was Anna.

Anna had been councilwoman for 130 years ever since she ascended to the position when she was 70 years of age. She managed to maintain her long life span through the heavy use of her mana to keep her body going, save for some small and barely noticeable wrinkles on her cheeks, she still looked young.

She has watched 3 popes come and go, the last of which was found in such a horrid state that the scene still lingers in her mind, bringing her nightmares every night. That being so, she has refused to sleep more than 4 hours every day fearing that the nightmares would only get worse if she exalts herself in the practice of sleeping.

She sat down on her chair and the council meeting has officially begun, the other council members did not scold her, no, they had no time for petty disputes. There was an emergency at hand and had to be quick in making decisions.

"We lost all our armies,"

After those words were uttered, the council went into a flurry of arguments. The council argued among themselves how ridiculous that they were defeated, stating points that the scriptures that were assigned to each army were more than enough to support them against the overwhelming superiority of the metal men. Even the goddess gave them blessings that were for sure to have significantly improved each soldier and mage of the Theocracy.

"But no! Hundreds of thousands of our men were slaughtered in a single night! How could this be?"

"The enemy is truly a demon incarnate! This could only mean that the forces of the devil have begun to flood through the gates of hell and into this world, we may be seeing another Great War!"

"Councilman, if I were to add, these demons possessed no magic whatsoever, not even dark magic! How can they be simple demon incarnates? Regardless to say, they are of something we have no knowledge about!"

The feud went on and on, at this rate no decision would be made and the Theocracy will be really done for. At this time, Anna decided to finally speak.

"Fellow councilman, I plead you all to cease your mouths,"

The council immediately fell silent and all council members leaned back on their chairs and looked at Anna as she removed her hood and revealed her face.

"This is no time for blame and senseless excuses! We must decide on our response!" Her voice was loud, it signified that the councilwoman was of no mood so to speak and was dead serious.

"We deeply apologize, dear Anna," One of the councilmen said calmly.

"Pay it no mind, now, Councilman Von Snow, tell us the situation, I have been informed that your informants have gathered all the information they could about yesterday's attack by the enemy,"

Councilman Von Snow removed his hood, revealing the snow-white hair he possessed that was spiky as pine trees.

"Councilwoman Anna, the enemy has dealt us a crushing blow yesterday and all of our armies have been defeated with only fewer than 50 thousand from each army expected to return while the rest of the survivors have routed to the countryside or have become bandits,"

"Tsk," Anna gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Her anger boiled over and she proceeded to slam the table with her right fist. This act startled and frightened the other councilmen who looked helplessly as Anna lost her composure for a second.

"Continue, Councilman Von Snow,"

"Uh-uhm, yes, of course, the enemy has been sighted approaching from all directions from where our armies were once positioned. Scouts have sent word that the enemy is already attacking many of our reserve camps and the results of the battles have been no better, it not, they've become worse,"

"How about the wyverns riders?"

Von Snow was silent.

Anna repeated her question but with more strain in her voice.

"Councilman Von Snow, how about the wyvern riders?"

"They're all dead,"

The council room fell silent.

Many began to whisper to each other, their looks displayed the fear that was now running deep within their person.

"Impossible,"

"Councilwoman Anna, my informants are true to their word, none of our wyvern flights ever returned from last night when the enemy finally defeated our armies, we no longer have the power of the flying beasts by our side,"

"Then all hope is lost," A councilman suddenly spoke. He removed his hood, revealing his bald head and the many scars he had.

"No, the war has not been lost yet, the crusade has not failed and the goddess will surely help us!" Anna retorted.

"The goddess has sent us her blessings but her blessings have been far too weak at this time,"

"Councilman Barak! What you're saying is blasphemy against our goddess!" Anna was angry and scolded Barak.

"Councilwoman, I did not mean to disrespect our goddess, I only wish to stress the fact that we are still too weak! I say that we pray and request a more powerful aid from her!" Councilman Barak made sure to stress his point in the matter.

"But by doing so, we risk offending the goddess!"

And the entire assembly was once more placed under disarray and no decision was again made. Councilwoman Anna, through her wisdom and experience, has not seen such a chaotic and dumbfounded council in her entire life. And never has she encountered a problem as troublesome as the metal men they now face.

Hundreds of thousands of lives wasted in a single day.

Such embarrassment for a country that calls itself one of the most powerful in the continent. Indeed they were but their power was often dwarfed by other, more powerful and influential nations. This time, however, their enemy is not someone from their world and they knew it. The gates of hell have opened upon their world and must do everything to stop it!

The council meeting came to a close with no decision being made, disagreements and hopeless bickering were the main points of the entire session and all parties went their ways disgruntled and dissatisfied. Councilwoman Anna tried with all her ability to unite the council in this time of crisis but it seemed like the old steam that once powered this powerful group of individuals had already faded along with the Pope.

She went through the door and was greeted by her two red scripture mage guards.

"Councilwoman!" They exclaimed at the same time.

"Fary, Jin," Anna simply said and walked past them. The two mages quickly walked behind her and asked questions.

"Councilwoman Anna, how was the meeting?"

"Did the council make a decision? Are we going to launch an attack?"

The councilwoman continued walking.

"No," She replied in a sad voice.

The two mages realized that the councilwoman was disappointed and so stopped their yapping and went silent. They escorted the councilwoman to her room and locked the door.

"The councilwoman said she needs rest for today," Fary explained as she locked the councilwoman's door.

Jin leaned against the wall and crossed her hands.

"The councilwoman did her best, the council itself is the problem," Jin said with stress.

"The council has not been as strong and united unlike when the pope was still alive, the power vacuum that followed proved to be the most fatal blow to our church," Fary leaned against the wall opposite of Jin. She then summoned her magic weapon, a fiery rod of fire.

"You know you risk burning the entire place down?" Jin pointed out. Fary, however, frowned.

"This place is made of bricks, how can bricks catch fire?" Fary countered.

"Stubborn as ever," Jin smiled.

"Whatever, sister," Fary replied.

The two stayed near the door that lead to the councilwoman's room. They were both tasked in guarding the councilwoman while the rest of the red scripture handled the military retreats of the central army back to the city.

"It's been a rough year for the church," Fary began to spin her rod of flames. The spinning would create a red circle around each tip of the rod that amused Fary.

"Did you hear of the wyvern defeat?" Jin suddenly asked.

"Oh? The wyverns? Didn't a few of them survive and flew back here?" Fary replied.

"No, none of the wyvern riders that rode off last night returned, not even the reserves that were called up,"

Fary continued to spin her rod as if she did not care.

"A lost indeed but I doubt the enemy has gone that far into our lands," Fary was confident of the Red Scripture Captain, he was a powerful mage with power equal to that of an archmage. He had the magical ability to stave off an entire invasion alone, he had done it before during the beastmen invasion a few years back, how can he not do it again with the metal men?

"But even the archbishop Frederick was killed by the metal men in his own castle, I doubt that this crusade would be won," Jin was not as enthusiastic as her sister.

"Sister, don't lose hope, what's wrong with you lately? You've never been like that,"

"I don't know Fary, everything has been so sudden, the Theocracy is not as it was before,"

"How so?"

"Well, for one, the death of the pope and the annihilation of papal scripture are two main reasons to blame for my sudden shift,"

Fary stared at her sister as she stressed her mind.

"And lately, ever since the goddess gave us her blessing, I've been feeling rather down lately with everything that's been happening. It's.. strange, it's as if the goddess actually cursed us instead of blessing us,"

"It.. it seems so, lately I too am experiencing the same, it may be blasphemous to say but the goddess might be with the metal men," Jin continued.

"But it's too much to assume such a thing without any evidence, don't you agree?" Fary wanted to give the discussion a happy ending and also she wanted to avoid invoking the anger of the goddess.

"I hope so-"

The palace began to shake.

"What the heck is happening?!"

The palace shook and shook, prompting everyone inside to run out.

"Councilwoman!" The two sisters burst into the roo of the councilwoman, amid the shaking of the earth, she was not in her bed nor in her room. The two sisters frantically searched the room but noticed that she was actually standing outside over at the balcony connected to her room. They rushed by her side.

"Councilwoman! We must go!" The sisters pleaded but Anna was paying no attention towards then, instead, she was staring into the distance.

The two sisters both stared at where the councilwoman's eyes were locked onto and found the reason for the rumbling. In the distance, trails of smoke appeared from the ground. Hundreds, if not, thousands of beings were gathering around each wall accompanied by magic beasts. Suddenly, flying beasts, the same beasts that destroyed the entire wyvern flight of the Theocracy flew low and terrorized everyone below.

The enemy has arrived.