Clockwork

A million ticks from a million clocks are the soundscape for this scene and in the center sits the man who sold his soul to be machine.

He could hear them coming for him, feel the impending doom he faced, but it was not what mattered. No, what mattered was his work. He had come so far in bringing the world his clockwork sciences and for it all to end by his own hand… It was a sin he couldn’t bear. A mistake he must fix before calamity took him, though it would cause him to commit his greatest and last sin.

With a rust covered finger he followed the divinations Kadiya had laid out for him and looked over his own probability comparisons. Psychic phenomenon had always fascinated him, but he never had the time to research it properly. Time. It was ironic for a man living long past his own, persisting in a body made of gears and glass. A clone, holding onto memories from a corpse that no longer drew breath.

“Yes, yes!” He loosed in his tin voice. “With this it becomes probable! The impossible made possible!”

As if in response, the entire room shook like an earthquake in the wake of a thunderclap. Strange contraptions and colorful beakers fell off the shelves and shattered while rusted tools toppled over violently.

Nikoli’s legs creaked and sputtered in their disrepair, but still they stood. He looked around at his little hideaway with his reflective yellow eyes. Steam was bellowing from a couple of the heavier duty appliances while the dull buzz of electricity ran through the smaller ones. It was a brief glimpse into the world that could have been. Could still be.

If Nikoli were still human he would have smiled. Smiling was something he was hoping to improve about his capabilities one day, but now he’d never get the chance.

He picked up a small brass applicator and walked over to the east wall. After entering a couple digits on a keypad, the west wall shuddered and then began rapidly pealing back each section to reveal a system of vials hidden behind. Each with a sample inside and a number running along the outside. He picked up #8162488 and seven others without a single glance back at his papers. He gently placed the first vial into the applicator in his right hand and entered a different combination on the previous keypad with his left.

A cage emitting a purple glow between thick brass bars arose before him leisurely from below. Inside, a dog with blue, black and silver patterened fur with intense golden eyes stood ready. It bore it’s black teeth at Nikoli as it’s fur begins to stand on end.

“No, no. Not quite yet.” Said Nikoli in a dismissive tone.

The dog’s ears bowed as it expressed its discontent and lied down on the floor more patiently. Nikoli took a long look at the heavy brass collar shaped like a spider he had placed upon the dog. It looked as if the thing was alive and choking the poor beast, a truly grissly allusion, but functionality mattered more than fashion. Nikoli soundly activates its passphrase as he reaches for a switch on the side of the cage. “Awaken, there is work to be done.”

Suddenly the collar whirs to life stretching out each of its spider like legs but retaining a good grip on the dog. After a moment it’s vocal response echoed in the same tin fashion as his own. “Understood. Please proceed.”

Here Nikoli hesitates. The weight of what comes next… An action that could not be taken without rumination. Even for a man who gave up emotion for cold and callous logic.

The clocks in the room all echo their ticks and tocks until eventually he raises the brass contraption at the animal’s snout. His right hand grips the switch and pulls as his left hand activates the trigger simultaneously. The contents of the vial rush out in a small cloud toward the pup as the purple glow around the cage dissipates. As the cloud reaches the beasts nose it sniffs and its eyes light up, soon coming to stand with an energized howl.

This was not just the howl of an energized dog. It’s fur was brought to standing on end, as electricity raced across its body, brightening even its yellow eyes. Just as fast as the transformation started, however, the dog vanished from sight.

Nikoli continues to stare at the empty cage for a beat before softly whispering, “forgive me”. He casually walks back to summon another cage, repeating the process until an unfortunate interruption during the last.

The enormous double set of doors which were the entrance to his workshop were made of the strongest metals and reinforced with a cavalcade of traps, protection magic’s and locks. Despite all of that, Nikoli had to witness it buckle in and slam against the far wall as if made of paper.

Obscured by a light steam which leaked from a broken pipe, several forms of differering mass stepped in one by one. With an ethereal stride a single figure stepped more forward than the rest and gestured to Nikoli. “Enough of this, inventor. We know what you are trying to do. It is time you accepted what is.”

Nikoli noted the man’s shadow carried a sword that the man’s hand did not. That made it easy to guess who he was dealing with. “Azerioth. Your very existence upsets the natural order of my world. How could I possibly accept it?”

That answer was not met well. From the back a giant obsidian wolf with crimson eyes and wings with the consistency and color of darkened magma pounced upon Nikoli, ripping his right arm straight off. As he listened to the crunch and screeches of the wolf gnawing his arm, his eyes drifted to notice the final vial that had shattered on the cold hard ground just past the cage it was intended for. The dog inside sniffed nearby, but there was no way to be sure he picked up the scent. An act which drastically lowered the probability of Nikoli’s success.

“Let me devour him! Let me wrench and wreck this body he thinks protects him! Show him what a mortal man is meant to fear!” Raged the wolf with a voice that boomed like thunder.

Another of the silhouettes stepped forward with a calm arrogance, cool and collected, making a triangle with his mocha colored hands. His scaley dual-bladed tail hovering lightly but pointedly beside him. “Enough Vah-Halan. You have made your point.”

The wolf sneered at Amandi with malice that radiated off him in an almost tangible aura, but he obeyed. At least it had seemed like he was going to.

Nikoli barely had enough time to cover himself as Vah-Halan leapt past him, crashing against the cage to the terror of the poor dog inside. The wolf snapped and gnashed against the bars and magic that were put in place to keep the animal in, but now played a reverse role. Under the sheer force thrust upon them they were quickly shattered, rendering them useless. As the great wolf pressed its head inside, the bars pulled away like butter, but before he could sink his teeth into flesh, the dog’s hair stood on end and in a blink, it disappeared.

Vah-Halan howled in rage but as he turned back, another stepped forward. An elven female with long blonde hair who wore a purple butterfly mask covering the top half of her face. She began to hum softly to herself, causing Vah-Halan to avert his gaze from her and then quickly scamper from the room, knocking over everything in his wake.

Amandi, crouched down with a curiosity, pressing his finger into the liquid which spilled from the shattered vial, giving it a sniff. “What is this inventor? Tell me and you will find I am not without mercy.”

With great struggle Nikoli found his way back to his feet. He clenched his metal fist with a scraping noise and met Amandi’s eyes. “You call yourselves gods, but you’re nothing more than parasites slowly devouring your host!”

Amandi considered that for a moment and looked around at the others. “Let me handle this. See his reaction is to be expected.”

He rose as he slowly sauntered toward Nikoli, though they were of a height, it was if he was somehow looking down upon him. “You forget the nature of life, clock man. In order to live, one must feed. That’s the truth of the world. Now what would you call the being on the top of the food chain? The one whom only eats?”

Nikoli met Amandi’s cold blasé eyes, chewing up the scenery like a practiced thespian. He could feel his detached hand crawling, almost to its position. He knew he couldn’t let on. Couldn’t look away for even a beat. His sole advantage the fact they couldn’t read his clockwork mind. “I’d call him blind.”

Amandi gave a feigned laugh as he took another step forward, only stopping inches from Nikoli. “It was a trick question. Only the one on top gets to decide what he’s called. Not his food.”

Amandi’s tail slowly and gently etched an X on Nikoli’s chest, creating a horrible screech. Still no one reacted. No one even breathed. “Do you have any last words?”

Nikoli could finally feel his dispatched arm grasp the thing it had been searching for and activated it. A switch that would cause the power source of his laboratory to become unstable and combust in a powerful explosion within minutes.

He knew it wouldn’t kill them, wouldn’t slow them down, but he hoped it would blind them to what had already begun. What he had set in place.

Nikoli cocked his head and looked around at the ‘Gods’ before him. Knowing full well that his next sentence would be his last. “I hope you choke on your food.”

This provoked a cavalcade of laughter which briefly proceeded an incredible explosion that could be heard throughout the world.