Steel and Mana
Chapter 414 – Flying Khulman

Arriving at the unnervingly dead lands of Markoth was, to Bakhi's surprise, not really as nerve-wracking as before. Still, seeing the flying airship in the distance caused him to flinch, but not as much as his newest companions, the group from the capital, representing the Kahn, riding alongside him.

For the most part, he traveled in silence. Behind him, the six warriors, wearing golden armor, rode with straight backs. It was ingrained into their stances because they were from the Kahn’s own guard, from his personal tribe, part of the best Khulman could offer. The ones blessed by the God of War, as the legends went. As if just to draw a contrast between their groups, next to them were the Avalonians, wearing their black armor, making Bakhi smile involuntarily at the mixing colors of gold and black.

He couldn't help but think back to being summoned by the Kahn, kneeling before his emperor, his head lowered, and touching the ground.

"You’ve seen their machines, their people... Their discipline, scout Bakhi." The Kahn said to him calmly, "Now I am going to send you with them with a handful of my best warriors to look deeper. I want you to keep an eye out for everything, even for their weaknesses, be it theirs or the liability of the Markothians. Don't forget, we are willing to make friends, but that friendship has to be built on equal power."

He wanted to protest, as he was not a court speaker. He was a scout, a lifelong rider. And yet here he was, being made to be the envoy of the Khulman Empire, sent to visit another realm. It was unlike being sent to scout on the field... He didn't want to attend meetings and fancy dinners like how most Western countries deal with their envoys. At least from what he heard... If nothing else, he didn't want this mission for the sole reason that he wouldn't want to embarrass the people of Khulman.

But there was no option to argue because the Kahn didn't let him. He made the order, and he had him go at once with no excuses.

Drawing his thoughts back to the present, Bakhi tried not to fidget with the sash pinned to his shoulder, the Kahn’s personal token granting him authority in his name. It just betrayed the nervousness he was feeling every time he did so...

“Troubles?” Lancelot asked, riding up next to him, easily noticing the changes in Bakhi's uninjured eye.

"Nothing." He answered, cursing the boy's sharp senses under his nose.

"If you are worried about etiquette or something like that, don't." He chuckled, forcing Bakhi to curse again, feeling the boy was reading him like an open book, "Sasha was a vagrant before. Luna, my Father's second wife, was a maid. Yuri, my mother, the third wife, was a bandit. Mikan, my fourth mother, was a priestess. So we are not really hung up on it."

"..."

For a moment, he really didn't know what he could say to that. So, he decided that the best course of action was to say nothing at all. However, he still smiled a little, one that Lancelot caught, giggling to himself. Both of them knew that the few weeks on the road together had left their mark. They weren’t friends, not quite, but the initial ice had melted, no longer made up of suspicion and distrust. They were, even in the eyes of the other Khulman riders, equal.

Even Pion and the rest of Lancelot's guards seemed to have relaxed their stances. Bakhi actually caught a moment where one of the Avalonians had taken to comparing scars with one of his own guards, trying to one-up each other through stories of battles they had partaken in.

“Get yourself ready,” Lancelot said suddenly, and Bakhi noticed a small circular thing in his hand, which he was lowering from his mouth. "There’s someone waiting for us near the city.”

"Huh?" The words were strange, just like Lancelot's smug grin, so Bakhi narrowed his eyes, asking with a tightening stomach. “Who?”

“My Grandfather, but... You’ll see.”

When they got close to the city, there it was—the welcoming warrior—but not as Bakhi expected. The whole situation was like witnessing the flying airship all over again—an actual thunderclap, not of sound but of vision, striking his heart and mind at the same time. He didn't need to look back to know the rest of his group felt the same way, everyone's eyes wide, their mouths hanging open.

The... thing... It stood at rest near the entrance to the city. It had to be fifteen meters of polished blue and gold metal, its armor etched with curling script and banners fluttering from its pauldrons. It was a bastion standing on two legs. At first, he thought it was a monster, but... seeing it was made of metal, he thought otherwise. It was too... human-like, especially with a massive tower shield resting against its left arm, its front bearing the image of a roaring, golden lion. On the other hand, it gripped a blade large enough to carve a monster in half without slowing down...

"Is that... a statue?" One of the Khulman riders asked, but Bakhi knew better.

It was no statue because its eyes behind that knight-like helmet were faintly glowing red, tracking their approach, just like the skull-faced Avalonian warriors did before. Maybe they managed to grow this big? No, of course not; that was a stupid thought, and he knew it the moment it surfaced in his mind. But now they suddenly learned that Avalon had more than flying ships and warriors—they had their own monsters made of metal.

“That is…” Bakhi began, his voice dry, making him lick his lips.

“That is the Lion,” Lancelot explained proudly. “It was the first mech my Father ever designed and built. Then, it became my grandfather’s machine and is the first Knight of Avalon.”

“It moves?” He asked, realizing what a stupid question it was, but the words were already out of his mouth.

“It walked out here to greet us, no?” Lancelot giggled, and there was a playful, prankster glint in his eye. “If it is here, that means the others were on monster-hunting duty, so they should be nearby too.”

Others?! Bakhi realized that the fact he just said it was the first to be built... meant that there were more. How many? How many, indeed... How many such giants could be in Avalon...? Just as he recognized the meaning of Lancelot's words, so did his guards as they murmured behind him.

“Easy,” Bakhi said quietly, regaining his composure, glancing at his people, signing them not to do anything stupid.

But the image had burned itself into his mind. Could his Kahn defeat something like that? He didn't think so anymore.

“It's not for intimidation,” Lancelot shrugged, though his tone carried no apology. “But, you will come with me to Avalon, so you will see one sooner or later. Everyone knows about them back home anyway, especially since our fight with Ishillia.”

"You fought..." Bakhi blinked his eyes as even he knew about Ishillia, holder of another of the Gods' gifts, another weapon that was said to be on par with their Gauntlets.

"Yeah, it is a long story." He shrugged, waving a hand, "The short version is that we are now friends and allies. But my dad will tell you more when we get back home."

"I..." Bakhi gave a short nod. “I see.”

But even as they moved on, he was already thinking about how to write all these down on a piece of paper to send back home to his Kahn—and do it in a way that the Kahn understood. Fighting Avalon would be different from what they imagined.

...

....

......

The shock of seeing someone dismount the mech called the Lion and the realization that there were more of the same kind of machine, especially watching them return later that day, was maybe a bit too much. But neither Bakhi nor his men had time to deal with their thoughts because the following morning, they were already being told to board the airship so they could be brought to Avalon.

Cursing once, Bakhi tried not to look up too long when he stood before the descending machine. Just looking at it made his stomach shift uncomfortably... birds flew... people should not. More than that... things that were the size of multiple buildings should especially not!

No words had prepared any of them for this... and walking its lowered ramp felt like entering the mouth of a monster. The last time he ever saw the ship, it was from the ground, and even then, it felt too large, too foreign. Now, standing inside of it made him reinforce his views: It was a monster, and Avalon was a monster-taming beast of itself.

“Don't be so scared!” Lancelot appeared from nowhere, slapping his back and gesturing toward the open door deeper in, leading him forward. “She’ll take us home. It is a bit smaller than the main ship, but it is still fun riding it.”

"Smaller than what?"

"Ah, yeah. We have the Camelot, our main airship. These ones are escort vessels, really, only half of their size."

Baki turned to his warriors, locking eyes with each in turn, trying to see if they heard the same thing or if he was hallucinating. There were no answers in those eyes, but their expressions screamed at him.

He is lying.

Are we meant to trust this?

Can this thing hold us?

Will we survive the sky?

But all of those questions already had their answer, and every one of them knew it. With a deep sigh, he focused, forcing calmness onto himself, hoping the others did the same. They are here to represent Khulman... so they should act like it.

One by one, the others followed his lead, their faces wiping off the fear and trouble, hiding their feelings, but they could not hide it from their posture. Every time they took a step, each movement looked stiff and more robotic than any of Avalon's mechs.

Following Lancelot... The ship’s interior was... impossible. There were multiple floors and corridors leading to who knows where, but he was sure that Pion and his escorting men would not let them wander around alone. So, instead of asking questions that would lead to no answers, or at least give no honest ones, Bakhi kept his mouth sealed. He simply followed.

As they climbed the last staircase, they all felt the ship shudder. The motion made his stomach twist, though his body hardly moved with the ship itself. When it stopped and everything stabilized, the emerging question of what it was got stuck in his throat as Lancelot led them into an open room... revealing a great windowed chamber near the top of the ship.

And beyond it...

The emerging blue sky was wide and endless. And they were already unfathomably high—just like birds. He and the rest realized that what they felt was the ship leaving the ground and that they had become the first Khulman people ever to fly.

They watched as Markoth shrank into a pinpoint below them, and soon, all of it faded, swallowed by the growing clouds as they cut through them. When they broke through the last one, and the airship passed above the cloudline, several of them gasped aloud.

They weren’t meant to see this. No humans were... Especially not from this angle.

The fields of white cotton-like clouds stretched in every direction, glowing gold from the midmorning sun. The mountain on the North stabbed through them like spears from the earth, casting long shadows across the new, white field they were seeing. This was... the closest one could get to the Gods' territory without dying...

It was terrifying.

Yet it was... beautiful.

“Gods above us all,” one of his men whispered, unable to stop himself. “We walk in their realm!”

“Sush,” Baki hissed, his voice weak as his chest quivered and squeezed at the same time. “Do not anger them with blasphemy... I don't want to fall back to the earth in this iron cage!”

"Ahaha, don't worry, you won't." Lancelot appeared beside him, arms crossed, grinning. “Most people react the same way the first time. Even some Avalonians. I can't help it... But it is always funny.”

“This is sorcery,” one of the Khulmani muttered, eyes still as wide as they could get.

“Partially, yes,” Lancelot replied, “But most of it is engineering mixed with a bit of magic.”

Baki said nothing and simply accepted defeat, letting Lancelot enjoy their shocked expression. But he couldn’t look away from the view... The sky was no longer something above him. He was there, in the sky, and after letting go of his fears, he suddenly felt like... he really, really enjoyed it.