Octogon

OCTOGON by JAWANN FLEET

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental. Copyright © 2025 by Jawann Fleet All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a review. First cover edition November 2025

** note that Octogon is not apart of the Blue Flame Tetralogy, Part 3 will be released sometime in the near future presumably **

The Hulls

[to vanquish]

He who hovers

Underneath

Lucifer's

Lair

Stoking the flames of evil and destruction .. …

OCTOGON

PART ONE

The Administrator [of the Command] had sent a submersible sentry out into Obsidia, routine almost aimlessly (for reconnaissance purposes) and had found that the previously underwater metropolis was now almost a ghost-town .. .. to maintain the drop on ALIAS counterparts [the Legion and the Council] he sent more submarine drones out towards the sunken city.

And even with the Administrators by now proven and established success with gill-like apparatus [re]wiring/coiling for the cybernetic outfits it still took even semi-established veering assets (by most accounts) like Tony Xendra a little bit of time to get used to the new guise of the eight-tentacled figures they’d come to inhabit.

'For even if the city was now relinquishable even the esperian agents didn't see the practicality or reasoning for assuming the abandoned ghost-metropolis at the moment.'

Because see what you had to understand was that Obsidia was previously a waterfront .. a coastal township that had some strategic importance to the ALIAS alliance before its almost sudden abandonment ..

'It wasn't a sudden abandonment however .. just more like a gradual filtering out of the exiles to other scapic colonies..'

Which remained true because for the most part during their brief tenure exploring the straits they found no semblance of livelihood .. nothingness.

They were trying to figure out the Administrators [and The Command’s] intentions within these ruined sunken undersea lots .. (maybe perhaps just an additional territory to have to prevent from falling back in ALIAS entities hands)

Tom Wilkinson figured something else was at play but he couldn’t decipher what exactly it was

TOM WILKINSON: To waste time and expenditure (the cybernetic dolphins, octopuses or whatever) just to obtain a property to keep it out of counter-forces hands would be trivial .. petty .. and The Command doesn’t operate like that .. known for their clinical coldness mode/method of operation .. something else must be behind this (he figured) .. ..

PART TWO

WHAT COULD ESPER DO WITH THE PROPERTY??

Lea Seydoux (had speculated): Moreso than just a pure territorial grab .. they figured it could serve as a means of further maritime exploits .. experimentation (like this H.U.L.L.S exercise for instance)

Oceanic colonization, further lands and arenas might be needed for awhile, at current everything remains pretty stable between the two fronts but perhaps calamity or a future strife could lurk off in the distance ..

What like an additional housing for displaced exiles perhaps then if conflict was to ensue?

An institution of sorts like think of an aquatic penal realm for deviants or hostiles even?

And then on top of trying to decipher their intentions you had to regard the oddity of trying to maneuver while simultaneously controlling the eight tentacles though after awhile you can sorta slip control of some of them to the subconscious/automation.

Zora Dunn had also noticed that the Administrator had approved of adjuncting their outfits via solar panel retrofits.

And the implications of this were that now the cybernetic octopuses had access to radiation, thermal pads, .. even possibly sonar outfitting and star refractory mechanisms as a result of the added kink/modifier.

And then when Vanessa upon wandering through the subrealm - trancelike almost had pondered on the notion .. a remembrance almost that the hulls were an esperian maritime organization .. and possibly even an elite one?

JOB: No there are other more prestigious units within both alias and esper ranks .. its up there though ..

And then you have their subordinate group kind of like their underling/feeder unit codenamed gyre.

Guardians

Yet Young

Resolute, and

Everlasting ..

PART THREE

THE RESOLUTION

What was formerly 'emerald city' Antje had recalled the Resolution vote agreed upon by both Alias and Esper representatives to rename the now oceanic property Obsidia©

Not to be overly conspiratorial or anything here but didn't they say that Esperian combatants have even more advanced glass refractory panels which can alter/disturb the stratosphere??

INQUEST

The Administrator: Ahhh here we go!

{What had happened was the Esper Scientific Office of Exploration received a telegram from ALIAS suggesting that due to the results of The Resolution that they had some say in events that were currently transpiring down in Obsidia at the current moment.}

STUART: Well how did they find out?

MARGARET: What do you think that we’re the only ones who are surveilling the outer-colonies and extra-territorial sites .. even the supposedly abandoned ones?

HAYDEN'S-MOSAIC

The Alias outer-realm council responsible for maintaining positive relations with even these (outer-bound) territories had sent out a sentry .. five bots in the pink dolphin guise were dispatched to the region for basic surveillance services when they saw the crew of radiating octo's veering around .. probing and then alerted their higher ups of course .. ..

PART FOUR

And while they didn’t have any direct contact or skirmishes as of yet .. both sides were urged to try and avoid conflict/interaction if possible as to prevent the possibility of a confrontation uprising.

Also pirates and buccaneers were prevented from salvaging any of the lands artifacts (architectural/technological or cultural so be it) it being protected by a maritime law clause .. which is why for the most part the the eight ‘hubs’ of obsidia are mostly defunct of any vessels or submersibles roaring through so constant security and supervision by the sects aren’t usually needed.

Though if that did become a possibility that’s where the G.Y.R.E cadets kick in .. security and patrol/roaming being a nice way for the subsects to gain cohesiveness together..

CHLOE: Yes it’s a way for them to get their feet wet essentially.

GLITCHING

- At this time we can’t conclusively tell if the octo’s were simply learning or expanding the full extent and potentiality of their powers or if they were simply glitching -

We say that because we know now that they have some sort of thermal pads affixed to their tentacles .. and we had seen them using the kink or device to warm up [Obsidia’s]/[the oceanic] core.

Noted observations which 1. Led us to believe that they were trying to artificially alter the climate/water pressure of Obsidia which is illegal according to environmental and energy clauses and commissions on both sides of the spectrum and/or 2. That the cybernetic octopuses were going rogue and/or malfunctioning.

Either way the Alias counterforce had decided their Esperian counterpart dealings and/or ‘experimenting/testing’ within in the sunken metropolis had crossed territorial bounds and needed to cease immediately .. .. ..

PART FIVE

VANGELIS: (now curious, inquiring) Do they [The Council] have any way to defend their claims to this now particularly ancient sea-land?

JUSTIN ROSNIAK: He (Vangelis) is not completely wrong, his conception of Obsidia as a now ancient sea-land is pretty accurate as it might have been considered a metropolis of sorts a few incarnations ago but now compared to the complexity of the sites, layouts and cities The Council, The Legion and The Command now house, Obsidia would be seen as quite archaic ; an artifact of sorts.

{** note Justin’s notable omission of The Generals scapic territory that’s because their land while advanced is mostly fog-filled forestry and small towns, shacks, huts and lighthouses **}

ANNA: Well of course the point of having a dispatch of five pink dolphins to the arena isn't to intimidate but rather merely just to survey/gauge what was going on.

But despite these claims the cybernetic octopuses showed no signs of retreat and continued to circulate throughout Obsidia.

But now see what you had to understand was that Obsidia when it was a city had a bunch of scapic 'hatches' built within it by a site-lord .. I think the architect was the Basineers own, the esteemed Oscar Yelverin ..

And this revelation triggered an inquiry by The Councils environmental department .. forcing them to pull up and comb through troves of archives of hydrologic data and information gleaned from incarnations past.

THE ELDER STATESMEN

Oh yes because Oscar Yelverin was nearing retirement but the site-lord could still contribute to (and even spearhead himself) slight stratospheric (and oceanographic) disturbances as need be.

RECIPIENTS

Yes cause then you had prospects like Axel for instance (who currently helps fortify noted luminary Axsil Imstadt portalization guise) receive an invite to inspect the (under)cities kinks and mechanics .. ..

PART SIX

Zoe had an inkling/revelation perhaps that the octos even if not necessarily going rogue were still nonetheless using their solar panel augments to overheat the oceanic surface which was creating ‘complications’

Noticing the growing (thermal) extremity started to make it feel like you were entering ‘the core of the world.’

And yes cause by this point ALIAS upper echelon had been alerted by the [predominantly] fuschia dolphins guise that their were officially belligerents in the area .. disrupting the already rather fragile ecosystem out here in the oceania.

.. The city was an artifact ; a now {aqueous} relic of what it used to be.

It used to have advanced metallic/orb/spher{ical} interfaces implanted into the buildings and infrastructure however ..

It wasn't an epiphany or longing .. just a recognition, an acceptance, of previous times when the city was afloat, bubbling and brewing with activity, to become this she noted as the fifty-something aquatic vessels vie'd for control of a territory long, lost and gone .. this was also a representation of both sides powerlust she felt

- but to what extent and when would it stop?

EMITS

It had to be noted here that despite the lack of civilization the metallic interfaces still seem to ‘hum’ and hue .. possibly an indication of something ..

CONCAVE

- Hmmm (pondering) for that’s a thought? Can a town cave in to itself? ..

PART SEVEN

THE SECOND VERDICT

- The second issuance by Alias became necessary because 1. The now thermal, radiating (not radioactive) octopuses weren't abandoning the foothold.

- And 2. The dolphins radiometer gauges were showing no drop in the oceanic area(s) in and surrounding Obsidia.

The metallic/orb interfaces implanted into the cities building and infrastructure were previously dulled and non-radiant.

And the now heated undercurrents were starting to become alittle unbearable for the pink dolphins so they opted to depart from Obsidia.

Then this actually benefited the Alias conundrum as they had only sent in a very few (less than a dozen) surveyors into the region unlike the platoon of octo's the esperians had running around almost rampant at this point.

Plus those esperian bandits should've known that ALIAS wasn't just gonna go down without a fight.

Upon hearing of the dolphins sentries departure from the region this was met with an uneasing suspicion rather than glee on the parts of the esperian overlords.

And this cloak of uncertainty and doubt hung over the radiating octopuses in the coming incarnations.

PART EIGHT

Now but see, what you had to understand was that [Oscar] Yelverin was a site-lord, not an architect .. what that constitutes is the ability to affect the elemental configurations of certain landscapes or terrain.

See the pulsating emblems within the interfaces right?

DEAD MAN’S SWITCH

- Well Yelverin had triggered them to ‘erupt’ still, even in Obsidia’s defunct state if the need ever arised.

This subjected the octopuses to self-imploding geysers .. spouts .. whirlpools opening up from various discrete points and locations ..

And gyrations .. vortexes even, as the esperian sentries jetted away from the former city as it cascaded upon itself .. .. ..

Jawann Lyndell Fleet is an American writer and digital author known for multi-genre works including science fiction, thriller, and fantasy tales.

** Please note that Octogon is not apart of the Blue Flame Tetralogy, the third installment is scheduled to be released sometime in 2026 **