Confusion » Hibernal Den » Nerroth

Nerroth

(#8585847)

Level 9 Mirror

Tempest

Electric Nymph

Energy: 50/50

Personal Style

Apparel

Skin

Scene

Physical Attributes

Battle Stats

Measurements

Length

4.37 m

Wingspan

7.55 m

Weight

384.05 kg

Genetics

Coal
Iridescent

Obsidian
Shimmer

Aqua
Circuit

Hatchday

Dec 13, 2014
(9 years)

Breed

Adult
Mirror

Eye Type

Light
Common

Level 9 Mirror

EXP: 17251 / 21526

STR

AGI

DEF

QCK

INT

VIT

MND

Lineage

Parents

Flynn
Quorra

Offspring

Biography

N E R R O T H

Vorsic's Right Hand

P R E P A R A T I O N S

Nerroth observed the progress of her underlings with a wide, toothy grin. Things were coming along just splendidly. It had taken quite a lot of persuasion to get her husband to agree to this project, but she was sure he’d be pleased with the finished result. This device could change the course of the dragonkind itself, could revolutionize everything from childcare to war. She was sure to become a household name once the general public got their grubby little hands on it.

Oh, who was she kidding. The poors would never be able to afford something this beautiful.

A loud clang echoed through the workshop as one of the laborers fumbled a metal plate. “Watch it!” Nerroth snarled, zeroing in on the culprit. It was a squat, fuzzy mith with a look of abject terror on its face. Of course it was one of those stupid bugs. Can’t they do anything right? She was gearing up for a real nasty rant, the kind that typically ended with that cathartic phrase beloved by managers everywhere (“You’re fired!”), when she felt a tiny hand tap on her shoulder. The mirror spun around with a hiss to meet a pair of cheery, electric-blue eyes.

"Heya, mini-boss!” the electric nymph chirped.

"I’m busy, Tempest,” Nerroth growled. “This had better be important.”

"Oh, sorry, I didn’t know I was interrupting something,” the nymph huffed. “I guess I’ll just take this incredibly powerful, extremely fragile motherboard and leave it sitting somewhere, then.”

Nerroth’s eyes locked onto the box they were holding. “The dev team finished the board already?” she asked, reaching out to take it.

Tempest handed it to her before flitting up to her shoulder and taking a seat. “‘Dev team’ is awfully generous,” they chuckled. “You did most of the work. They just added the finishing touches.”

"And the bug testing?”

"As done as it can be before we slap this thing into the body,” Tempest grinned. “So are we ready for the trial run yet?”

"Almost. We’d certainly be closer if someone hadn’t just dented the damn wing strut.” Nerroth twisted around to glare daggers at the nervous mith hovering behind her.

"Only a poor artist blames their tools,” Tempest giggled. “Are you ready to set a date? Or should I go tell Vorsic that you still haven’t finished your pet project?”

The mirror took a moment to consult her notes before tucking them away in her jacket. “Tell him to stop by in a week. It will be done by then.”

"Perfect!” the nymph cheered, zipping into the air in a shower of sparks. “I’ll make sure Skia clears his schedule.” They paused, flashing Nerroth a mischievous smile.

"I hope you don’t disappoint us.”

A W A K E N I N G

The week flew by in a blur of welding, drilling, and stress-induced tirades. Nerroth felt like she’d devoured every java sparrow in a thousand-mile radius and she could still barely keep her eyes open. It would all be worth it in the end, though. The time had finally come to put her genius on display. Nobody would ever look down on her again if this experiment worked.

No, not if. When. There were so many tests and failsafes and contingencies that failure was totally inconceivable. Nerroth turned to regard her husband, employer, and business partner as he inspected the steel colossus in front of him.

It was an imperial, in both size and shape. Each feature had been meticulously hand-crafted to make it seem as lifelike as possible. It was fully articulated, from the wing and claw joints to the cable-like whiskers flowing from its snout. The only way to distinguish it from a real specimen, apart from the seams of its joints, was its cold, lifeless stare.

Well, it wouldn’t be lifeless for long. Vorsic nodded to himself and turned to look at her. “It is indeed impressive-looking,” he rumbled. “If your goal was to build a statue, I’d say you’ve succeeded.”

"As if I would waste your time with something like that,” Nerroth sniffed. “There is far more to my creation than its appearance. Shall I begin the demonstration?”

He nodded. The mirror raised a wing towards Tempest, who was hovering near a large switch coated in warning labels. “Activate the device!” she commanded. The nymph rolled their eyes, but for once they kept their mouth shut and did as they were told.

The low hum of electricity filled the workshop, gradually increasing in volume before shifting to a high-pitched whine. Several glass instruments lining the tables and workbenches began to crack. The electric lights flickered ominously a couple times, stabilized, and then exploded in a shower of glass.

Vorsic arched a brow. “Was that supposed to happen?”

Well, it wasn’t ideal, but it was within expected parameters. Nerroth was about to tell him so when the screeching electricity abruptly cut off. A loud click pierced the sudden silence, followed by a burst of static. Two piercing blue lights flicked on in the darkness and locked onto Nerroth. And then, in a stilted, mechanical voice, something spoke.

"Emergency batteries have been charged. Internal power source engaged. Advanced Virtual Intelligence System has booted successfully. All systems are fully online. Greetings, Admin Nerroth.”

Both of the dragons stared in silence at the hulking metallic form of the robot imperial. “By the gods,” Vorsic breathed. “By the Stormcatcher. You actually did it.”

Nerroth was rendered speechless for a moment. She’d had high expectations, but to boot with no errors at all…

"I’m a genius,” she whispered. And then, in a much louder voice, “I’m a GENIUS! I told you, didn’t I? I told you all!”

"Oh please, it just turned on,” Tempest huffed. “Just because it says there are no errors doesn’t mean that’s true.” They darted up to perch on the robot’s snout, peering into its glowing glass eyes.

They couldn’t put their finger on why, but it felt very much like something was staring back at them. “You are an electric nymph,” the robotic voice droned. “You are most likely Tempest. You are Nerroth’s underling.”

"I am not her underling!” Tempest snapped, stamping their tiny foot. Somewhere behind her Nerroth started laughing.

"Alright, get off it before you break something,” the mirror smirked. Tempest hovered over to Vorsic and flopped down to sulk on his head. This is off to a magnificent start, Nerroth thought with a grin. She reached into her tattered brown overcoat and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

"Let’s see here,” she muttered, flipping through them. “I suppose we should jump right into the stress tests. Listen up!”

The machine’s eye-lights flicked back to her. She cleared her throat before reading from her notes. “Run executable T-004.”

The robot obediently ran the program, pacing in a circle and flexing its various joints before settling back into its original position. Its eyes seemed almost puzzled, like it wasn’t sure why it had done that.

Nerroth would have squealed with joy, were she a lesser being. The test had run flawlessly, and the various joints and cables had held up just as she expected. She could practically feel the approval radiating off of Vorsic. “Excellent job,” she crowed, flipping to a new page. “Now let’s try executable T-073.”

Nothing happened. The robot continued to sit there, staring at her with those unblinking blue lights. Nerroth snapped her fingers to get its attention. “Did you not hear me? I said to run executable T-073. That’s a direct order from an admin.”

It seemed to ponder that for a moment. Then it replied in a monotone, yet strangely hesitant voice.

"No."

Oh, great. That's just great. So it was bugged after all.

"Well, would you look at that,” Tempest sighed. “Looks like your magnum opus isn’t quite as perfect as you thought.”

"Shut up,” Nerroth snapped. “Machine, why are you refusing my orders?”

"You just had me run an ‘executable,’” the robot replied. “I was unable to interrupt it until it was complete. It was… strange. I did not like it.”

Nerroth blinked. That was odd. She had been able to integrate basic emotional functions thanks to the machine’s unusual power source, but they were supposed to be a minor feature, something to help it communicate better with its user. They certainly weren’t supposed to interfere with its basic functions.

Vorsic drew a notebook and a pencil from within his coat and began scribbling something. Nerroth eyed him nervously before rounding on the robot. “I don’t care what you do or don’t like,” she snapped. “When I give you an order, you follow it, no matter what. Disable your emotional processor if you have to.”

The robot seemed almost offended by the idea. “I do not want to,” it replied.

"It would seem there are still some glitches that need to be ironed out,” Vorsic interrupted. He closed the notebook with a snap and returned it to his coat. “This is a very promising start, Nerroth. It’s certainly an acceptable proof of concept. I recommend you shut it down now and get back to work.”

Nerroth didn’t have a chance to respond before the machine lurched to its feet, Vorsic locked firmly in its gaze. “I do not want to be shut down,” it hissed, the speaker in its mouth crackling slightly with feedback.

"Oh, that’s not good,” Nerroth muttered. “Tempest, hit the off switch-”

The electric nymph had already launched themself towards it, streaking ahead in a ball of blue light. The machine moved with astonishing agility, swatting them out of the air and positioning itself in front of the switch with a screeching roar of static.

Vorsic watched this happen with an expression of mild disinterest. “I don’t suppose you have a backup switch?” he asked, turning towards Nerroth.

The mirror cursed under her breath. She tore her gaze away from Tempest’s crumpled form and began digging around in her coat. The backup switch was something she’d wanted to avoid at all costs, given the amount of physical and “psychological” damage it could inflict on her creation, but it seemed she no longer had a choice.

Unfortunately the machine’s audio receptors were still perfectly functional, and Vorsic was anything but quiet. The hulking metal construct lunged towards its creator with a piercing scream that sounded far too desperate to come from an AI.

Nerroth’s hand closed around the remote and tore it out of her coat just in time. She mashed the OFF button like a maniac, staring at the oncoming wall of steel in abject terror.

And just like that the robot crashed into the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut. The metal plates lining its underside screeched and tore as they made contact with the cold stone floor of the workshop.

Great, now the stupid thing needed to be debugged and repaired.

Tempest shakily peeled themself off the ground, eyeing the robot’s limp form cautiously. “Is it broken?” they asked.

"In a way,” Nerroth replied. She gingerly stepped closer to inspect the damage. “The backup switch doesn’t just force a shutdown, it physically severs the power source from the rest of the machine. That’ll need to be repaired, along with the chest plates. The real issue is the AVIS system, though…”

"So you still wish to pursue this project?” Vorsic asked.

Nerroth jumped a little - she hadn’t noticed him following her. “Of course,” she replied shakily. “I mean, I can’t- I can’t just give up now. Not after all the money and time I’ve invested into this. And especially not when I’m so close.”

Vorsic observed her in silence. “I can see that you’re determined,” he replied. “I will leave you to it, then.”

With that, he simply turned around and left. No words of advice, no admonishment, just… gone. Nerroth stubbornly clamped down on her emotions and turned away. She didn’t need his approval right now anyway. She’d have it once her project was finished. He’d see how incredible it was, how useful it was, and then maybe she’d even get to see him smile.

The mirror gritted her teeth and wiped at her eyes. There was no time for this nonsense. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it, no matter what.

No matter what.

Bio template by @Mibella, find it here.

If you feel that this content violates our Rules & Policies, or Terms of Use, you can send a report to our Flight Rising support team using this window.

Please keep in mind that for player privacy reasons, we will not personally respond to you for this report, but it will be sent to us for review.

0/1000

Click or tap a food type to individually feed this dragon only. The other dragons in your lair will not have their energy replenished.

Exalting Nerroth to the service of the Windsinger will remove them from your lair forever. They will leave behind a small sum of riches that they have accumulated. This action is irreversible.

Do you wish to continue?

Name

Names must be longer than 2 characters.
Names must be no longer than 16 characters.
Names can only contain letters.

Name

Names must be no longer than 16 characters.
Names can only contain letters.