I Dare Say that the Color of Stars are Blue[Star Piece Quest]

[Demetri Malius]

After just a few steps, Demetri noticed that the woman behind him was not exactly as nimble as she was a moment ago. After having reached out to grab her wine and follow suite, it appeared she might be a bit more worn that she was willing to admit. He stopped at the doorframe, taking a step to turn and look back at her, tilting his head with a bit of a chuckle.

“Perhaps it would be best if you stayed here for the night, the day’s journey seems to have taken its toll on you.”

The elegant woman leaned her hand on one of the bedposts, puffed up about the thief’s comment. “What? Nonsense, I am perfectly fine, and I shall accompany you wherev- Oh!” She yelped as she wavered, her hand slipping as she fell to the side, the thief luckily having the reflexes to catch her before she managed to end up on the wooden floor. He raised a brow and gave her a suspecting look, as he held her swirling glass of wine, the liquid just tipping over the edge and dribbling down to his fingers..

“Oh fine! But I shall rest tonight before I make my way back to the Guild tomorrow and direct our new recruits. If I cannot accompany you then I shall make at least some use of myself.” She swayed a bit as she pushed herself back onto her feet,stomping softly as she made her way to sit on the bed, a bit indignant about the situation.

With a bow the thief began to walk out once more, “your humble resignation is one I cannot refuse. Of course, I will keep in touch with you, so long as I am not in immediate peril.”

“I shall hold you to that Mr. Malius.”

A wave of a hand was the last she saw as he slid out of the room and around the corner.

“Creator!” Came a familiar voice from the stairs, the shards of glowing blue and dark metal swirling through the air to make its way to the thief.

“Greetings IRIS, Miss Ezzy will be staying here and returning to the guild tomorrow once daylight arrives. As for you and I, we will be pushing forward and heading to Dalaran, where we can investigate the location of this powerful item. Gather any more information?”

IRIS gave a few rumble of beeps before speaking up. “Well, I couldn’t find anything more about the item at all, but Ezrihel was kind enough to make me the blueprints for a new body! May we test them out?”

“Oh?, “ the thief questioned, a bit surprised by the act. He was still unsure of Ezrihel’s behaviours, but he couldn’t help but feel excited by the new blueprint. “Well then, it appears we must find a suitable area to create this body. I suggest we start on the road to Dalaran and do so along the way.” IRIS responded by floating around his head while beeping excitedly, following close behind him as they both left the tavern, leaving the dull ambience of voices behind them.
Lampposts scattered the city streets, lighting up the roads leading out of the city. With his cloak flowing behind him, Demetri slunk past each one, nearly invisible as he made his way through, IRIS in tow. He raised his hood and mask before picking up speed, quickly making it out of the city. He knew to be careful at this time of night, as nighttime robbery was common for cutthroats and bandits. He strayed from the road to keep himself in cover, finding it easy to weave through the bushes and trees, a shadow smoothly moving across the landscape.

Eventually, he found a nice spot to settle and spoke up aloud. “So, what are these blueprints that you have for us?”

IRIS swiveled around and formed a visor on his head, creating a hologram of all the details.

“Hmh, it seems like it would be fitting, what are your thoughts of it?”

“Well, it’s a pretty solid design, but I want to add my own adjustments. We just need to activate it and I can weave your om into its supply and adjust some functions.”

“Sounds fine to me, how do we activate it.”

“Easy.” IRIS seemed to take a deep breath as her glow gave a slow pulse.

”Andromeda.”

With the word the blueprint came to life, drawing from the omnilium within it to supply its manufactory, pumping out electronics and metal plates as IRIS weaved Demetri’s own supply in, morphing the body to her will. It was an elegant, mystical process as the body formed, looking nearly human. After a period of about ten minutes, the body was formed. Wispy white ribbons were in the place of her hair, with a integrated headgear for analyzation. Her outfit was fit to her body, covering up a decent amount of her flesh colored metallic skin, a microfiber nanoarmor that gave her enough defense to withstand a few heavy attacks. Small lines traced her body like veins, thin silver that showed the difference in metallic plates.

IRIS soon began lifting herself off of Demetri, flowing into the body as it glowed bright, her energy powering the android device. Soon the energy flowed through her electronics and her chest began to emit a bright blue light through her skin, before fading slowly. For a moment all was still, until she tilted her head up to look at the thief.

“C-Creator?”

“I believe it worked, IRIS.”

“CREATOR I’M LIKE A HUMAN NOW!” The android screamed at the top of her robotic lungs, nearly making Demetri deaf before she tackled him into a hug. Demetri gasped as he swear he felt his ribs crack. Either her body was very strong or he needed to work on his muscular training. He hoped it was the former. After IRIS felt satisfied with her hug, she let him go, allowing him to speak.

“Remember. We… whew… we need to stay quiet.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” The android meekly responded, embarrassed by her excitement. “Well, in this form I can fight pretty well, and I morphed my abilities to rely on more nanoshards for combat. I believe this should be sufficient for me to survive independently if needed, however, I can still adjust to become your armor as well. Simply say the code word again and come to me.”

Demetri raised his brow as he rubs his sore chest, stepping forward hesitantly. “Alright then, let’s see.” He began to head to IRIS. “Andromeda!” He spoke aloud, watching as IRIS turned and disassembled, reforming around him as he ran through her. He soon was covered in lightweight nanoarmor, similar to the form she was able to take before.

“I believe with this I am able to have more control over our synergy, as well as combat focus. Give me some time and I will notify you of our new abilities.”

“I’m impressed. Now, shall we head to Dalaran then?”

“Of course, onwards, creator!”

Demetri chuckled before taking a few steps, stopping as suddenly he felt a presence, then a  bolt fly across the air in front of his face.

“Nice reflexes there, but that’s not all.” A voice from the trees spoke. They must have been just out of his detection range.

“Oh, wonderful, let’s find out what we can do , Creator, I want to destroy things!”

“You say that with a little too much enthusiasm IRIS, you might concern me.”

“C’mon Creator, are you not excited to get a bit of action?”

“I suppose we can have a bit of fun then.” Demetri spoke as a smirk spread across his face.

“Stop talking to yourself and fight! Men, attack!”

An ambush of bandits came through the trees, packs of three attempting to surround the duo. They around and formed a circle around them, aiming crossbows forward. A man, assumedly the leader, came out last, holding a larger, modified crossbow that looked like it could pack a punch.
“Surrender, we have you on all sides, so there’s no point in fighting. And dont make me ask twice,” he spoke while reloading his weapon, Demetri still staying motionless in his position. “Not talking anymore are ya, well we can make it so you never talk again.”

As the man spoke, Demetri charged up IRIS, preparing for the right moment, waiting until right when IRIS predicted the danger.

“FIRE MEN. KILL THE BASTARD. THEN WE CAN LOOT HIS CORPSE.”

Pulse Charged.

A flurry of arrows were fired at Demetri, and it seemed that they were going to poke through every square inch of his body until the last moment, when a wave of energy reflected them all back, a few managing to lodge themselves in some of their attackers.

“Damn it all, its his suit, regroup and take him out!” The man took aim with his crossbow and fired at the still motionless Demetri, his eyes widening as it flew through his chest into nothing, and the thief appearing a bit aways to his left, a chain shooting out through the air and snapping onto the hilt of the modified crossbow, before pulling it out of the man’s hands and onto the floor between them.

“What the-! You damned thief!”

“Ah, finally I am recognized.”

The men around Demetri began to pull swords and daggers, rushing towards him. In the short span of time, Demetri managed to summon his swordbreaker, and began to deflect attacks with ease. Some came close as he pulled back, trying to find some room. Soon in his hand another weapon began to form, and the leader called out pulling out his own falchion.

“Fools! Focus on whatever he is making!”

“He’s too fast!”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

With that, Demetri flung himself forward with a burst of movement, the captain finding himself staring him in the face. With a gasp of surprise the captain swung, cutting just the air as Demetri feigned to the side and swung up with his fist, punching the man with the hilt of his swordbreaker.

“DAMNED LITTLE SHIT.”

Demetri smiled as he now held his right hand a grumbling chain attached to a blade, his very chainsaw IRIS developed earlier. A look of terror overcame some of the bandit’s faces, some of them even fleeing. Again they attempted to all dive in after the thief as the captain yelled about his bleeding nose, one by one being disarmed or injured by their own men. The chainsaw tore up blade after blade, any chance of retaliation reduced to shattered steel. Finally, the few stragglers finally decided to be smart about the situation and flee, following the rest of the crowd. Leaving just the captain. Demetri took a step towards the man, who in return took a step back.

“No! You bastard! Leave me alone!”

Another step.

“Stay away!”

Faster.

“You demon stay away!”

The man turned to try to flee, but in a rush Demetri was already there, tossing swordbreaker to the side as he grabbed the man.

“What do you want.”

“Well, had you been more skilled, I may have recruited you. However, I don’t accept cowards among my ranks. And for your punishment…” He desummoned his chainsaw, keeping hold of the man as he grabbed the crossbow off the floor and stuffed it in his satchel. He could sense the large beads of sweat on the man’s forehead. “I’ll be taking this. Oh, and also,” the man flinched as Demetri looked at him. “Goodbye.” He held his hand to the man’s chest and began charging up.

“NO PLEASE, I’LL DO ANYTHING, DON’T KILL ME.”

“Who said anything about killing you?”

Pulse charged.

FWOOOOMMMP

The mans scream echoed through the air as he too flew through it, flying over a tree while Demetri gave a chuckle.

“I do enjoy these abilities.”

“I can tell Creator,” IRIS replied with a chuckle.

“Well, off to Dalaran again, and hopefully we won’t have any more distractions.”

6985 + 2065 = 9050 words total

Demetri gained a crossbow into his satchel, with one bolt.