Fafnir watched the matrix disappear on the horizon and knew he had to get it back. He cannot risk losing himself. He requested the drone with a thought, and viewed the map of his world. His home is marked with a gold dot, in the mountains. The great woods surrounded his home, and beyond that, are clockwork cities, transport rails, and empty plains. He ran a program through his assistant intelligence and predicted where the matrix would go.
He frowned at the results. The matrix has broken off into pieces, and each piece went on Its own way. Most have already exited the scan range, and further scanning would be futile. But one remained, atop a monument. He never visited it, but knew well that a faction was using it as a base.
His curious mind activated the drone’s search program and requested information about the main factions of this world.
+Industrialists+
+controls most cities and has immense political power, but is uncaring for its people.
+Aligned with the adventurer’s guild.
+Alchemists+
+seeks to combine magic and machine.
+spread out, with each cult having its own beliefs.
Fafnir paused. He knew well of some cults. They see the home of clockwork dragons as great vaults of knowledge but are too proud to have discussions with the dragons themselves, resorting to hiring adventurers to raid their homes. His own home was not found, as he concealed it well. Most members of his family used automated defenses, kill zones, and active protection systems to guard their homes. He had those as well but is resentful about using them.
+Resistance+
+have a strong dislike towards technology
+seeks to overthrow Clockwork cities and revert to a magical world
Fafnir knew well that he was going to need to fight to restore his first piece. The Resistance would tear him apart at every chance they had. Strength will be needed to prevail.
His body had many weapon mounts, but he has yet to decide on what weapons he will use. The control table opened a list of weapons he had made in the ages. Now he remembered why the alchemists were so keen on raiding dragon lairs. The weapons were leagues above the conventional weaponry employed en masse in the army, and only the newest prototypes in the greatest laboratories have comparable power but lack stability and reliability.
He decided to start with two coil cannons. Machine arms attached them to his shoulders, and they folded into their protective housing. Next, he loaded a chemical laser onto his left arm. The weapon was compact but still powerful enough. It retracted into his arm. He added two extra manipulator arms and a personal shield. He took a relic sword and finished by adding a heavy burst fire cannon to his back. The next step is the library, which contains a backup data vault.
Fafnir walked through the shelves of tomes, mechanical data storage, and computers. At the heart of the labyrinth of structures is his central storage. He lost some spells during the transfer, and he would need to learn them back. From his hand extended an appendage, and connected to the dataport. He was bewildered at how much he lost, but started to Inload data with a command.
At least, try to. Instead, he opened a hover mode, which made him gracefully levitate in the air.
“I had this the whole time while I was walking?” Fafnir exclaimed.
He remembered about the knowledge he lost. Most commands to his body are forgotten, flung away with the matrix, and spread across the land. He will have to get it back. The only few commands he can grasp out of his hazy memories are transmuting, hover, data commands, auxiliary boosters, and flight. Maybe a few more were hidden there, but he is not sure. Even using commands with precision is hard for him in this state. Trying again resulted in success, as the data started to load. With that done, he signaled the drone to set the automated defenses to active and locked parts of his lair with great blast doors.
The balcony had a wonderful view of the forest below. Fafnir allowed himself a moment of rest, then opened the window and stood on the ledge of the window. He carefully closed the window and tried to open his wings. Instead, he activated the auxiliary boosters, which almost flung him over the edge. The assistant intelligence sensed his incorrect move and turned them off. He laughed at his clumsiness, tried again, and successfully opened his metallic wings.
With a leap, he glided towards his destination, the forest.
