It was getting late, and Lotte decided to head back to the inn. Her vision hadn’t been designed to operate at night and there were fewer and fewer people up and about to observe, so the amount of information she was collecting was rapidly decreasing. That was to say nothing about attending to Cece. Although she had been diverted of her original purpose, she was still inscribed to take care of her and as long as it didn’t get in the way of learning about the world, would do so to the best of her abilities.
Her metallic joints glid as she walked down the cobbled street of the capital of Pharum. She walked through the budding darkness of the city with a mechanical analysis that could only be rivaled by her creator. Behind the scenes of her cognition, hundreds of strings of data were being logged and recorded. A spilled drink was on the side of the path thirty feet behind her, two men ahead of her were talking to each other as they packed up their stalls for the day, a single silver coin sat in the grass three feet to her right.
It was theoretically useless information, but a mechanical being like Lotte couldn’t differentiate between useful and useless information, so collecting everything was the only real solution. Eventually it did add up and every small piece of data propelled her mind ever so slightly forward.
As Lotte walked under the moonlight she heard the figure before her before she saw him. Music filtered through the air and the sound of strings being strummed met Lotte’s mechanical ears. As she continued walking she came to a bridge where she saw a young man playing an instrument, his clothes were tattered and he looked worse for wear. He had a hat out in front of him, and although Lotte was uncertain why at first, a definition for ‘busking’ revealed the answer. Lotte turned around immediately.
Lotte wasn’t a lot of things yet, but she was designed to help, and this man looked like he needed help. She walked back and picked up the silver coin she had passed. It glinted under the moonlight as it touched her porcelain fingers. Quickly she hurried back towards the man who eyed her warily. Still he didn’t stop playing, even as she gingerly sat the coin inside his hat.
“I didn’t know golems could enjoy music.” He said wryly.
“I cannot. I simply saw that you were in need.” She replied honestly. She didn’t understand music and couldn’t feel ‘enjoyment’ but she did try and listen as the man played. The man stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before he started to laugh.
“I can’t believe I’m being pitied by a golem.” Despite his words the man was smiling.
“I’m not capable of pity. I sought to help.” She stated simply.
“What a kind heart for a cold machine. Whoever your master is, they’re lucky to have you.”
“Thank you” Lotte said, while looking at the water past the edge of the bridge. Suddenly the world sank into complete darkness, the beautiful light of the sunset being blotted out instantly.
“W-what in god’s na-” The man stopped playing, before a piercing light erupted in the horizon. A pillar of white light emblazoned itself, perhaps only a few miles south.
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Cece half swam half let herself be dragged through the water by mercury magics, through the underwater passage. She pulled out a phosphorous scroll and placed it underneath the stone floor that now blocked the entrance to the ruin. It floated on the surface of the water as Cece propelled herself backwards, gaining a good distance before silently snapping her fingers together under the water. She felt the explosion more than heard it, it was a dizzying sensation. She swam forward again barely able to see from the dirt and stone polluting the turbid water. Her ghostly eye let her cut through some of that interference, but there was a great deal of feeling her way along with her hands before her head surfaced.
She hesitantly floated upwards, climbing into the dark stone chamber she had been ejected from not a half hour prior. The second her feet touched the ground she was running, occasionally jumping up and letting mercury magic and her own momentum propel her forward. Without having to guide Eibon, she was able to move as fast as she possibly could, her enhanced mind barely able to keep up with the constant analysis.
Quickly she made her way into the core of the structure. Inscriptions lined every wall, the floors, the ceilings, even the structural pillars. They no longer made her wary though, she finally understood them. Well, not entirely, even she had her limits, but she got the bigger picture. She had said earlier that this place was like one big construct. She had no idea how correct she had been. The entire structure was one incredibly large alchemical construct. She kept feeling like parts of it were familiar and she had finally realized why. The inscriptions reminded her of Lotte’s. The entire building was
Cece walked into a room that she found truly beautiful. A huge power source stood in the center of the room. It was different than any other magic storage she had seen before which immediately made her want to take it apart, but she refrained. She needed to help Eibon, and she had one way of doing it. She eyed the inscriptions around her one more time.
Not only was this ruin an alchemical construct, it was a weapon. It of course had many functions, but the vast majority of its inscriptions were for the use and maneuvering of a magic strong enough to be used in a siege. She looked up towards the center of the room, where she knew she would be heard.
“Iskaria lakos.” [Iskaria's light] She said the passcode hidden in the inscriptions. Modern inscriptions usually hid that sort of information, but she doubted rival alchemetrixes were an issue at the time, so she understood the lack of foresight. As the words left her mouth a musical chime resounded through the room and a stone table rose from the floor. On top of it were several different views of around the structure projected via silver magic, similar to the silver eye Cece had used previously. One of them had a small view of the angel and Eibon. Eibon was clearly losing, making Cece hurry even faster.
“Tiyat styr orom stari” [Initiate solar array targeting.] Ancient iskarian danced on her tongue.
Inscriptions blazed to life creating one of the most complicated work of magic that Cece had ever seen. Hundreds of light manipulating inscriptions were responsible for directing any and all light surrounding the structure into one singular point, while also creating a massive lens a few kilometers above the ruin. The result was spectacular.
The building shook menacingly and the stone table in front of her lit up with glowing blue light, a single sphere floated in the center acting as a control. She gently oriented the sphere to where she needed it, and looked around one last time.
“Scyro!” [Fire!] She called out. Darkness encapsulated the world for a moment before a pillar of light erupted where the angel once stood. The ground shook, the heaven’s split, and the air was flush with heat. Then as soon as it happened it was over leaving a charred angel in its wake, which howled a long and horrifying scream, before keeling over. Cece wasn’t allowed to feel relief though, as the aberrant tones began to pull on the strings of her mind.