It is a disturbing thought to have. Is any mortal even able to comprehend the peak Arts? True masters may have grasped at them, a shred of their power enough to level landscapes. But with this in my possession, the possibilities are endless, the fundamental laws of nature now broken. I must burn these pages. The risk of discovery is too great. I am not powerful enough to oppose Her. Yet.

Last Diary entry from Aqueel nur Yiban, the Inventor, dated 336 b.f., one year before Al-Talash’s disappearance.

A shrill scream tore Silas out of his sleep. Zaya looked around frantically, her fists clenched.

Nurana’s form appeared through the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“See any creature?” the words stumbled out of Zaya’s mouth.

“No, there’s nothing here,” Nurana assured her with a calm voice.

“Bad dream?” Silas asked her.

“Was more than dream. More real.”

“This place is completely deserted, there’s nothing alive in this facility,” Nurana tried to calm Zaya down. “You should go back to sleep.”

“Agreed,” Silas leaned back down with a deep sigh. As he closed his eyes, fragmented memories of unwanted dreams taunted him from the edge of his mind. Silas shoved them back down. He needed to rest, and sleep. Hardly a fortnight had passed, and the effects of the Taint were beginning to show. They needed to hurry.

***

The facility stretched on and on, one workroom coming after the other. Broken and half-finished parts of automata were lying around everywhere, gray wires hanging from the ceiling like threads from a spider. One room stood out from the rest, however. Not only was it bigger and better equipped, but it also sported a door, its metal now flaking with rust, barely able to hang onto its hinges. After throwing a glance at Zaya and Nurana, Silas pulled it open. The door immediately broke away, clattering to the ground with a loud bang that shook the floor.

“Is this…” Silas began as they entered the room.

“It has to be,” Nurana whispered.

A pedestal of white, polished marble stood at the back, on it a thick, rectangular glass vitrine with a single metal object inside. Behind it, an automaton had been embedded into the wall, its body at least three times bigger than the ones they had fought outside the academy. Not a speck of dust dared blemish the object within the vitrine, its metal defiant against the pass of time. A dozen pentagonal faces made up its surface, each one the same size. It was perched atop five golden fingers, the hand and wrist emerging from the base of the vitrine.

It was without a doubt the object the statues of Aqueel held in their hands, yet seemed much smaller and more contracted. The metal faces were all locked onto each other, each tube and wire leaving no space to peek deeper into the contraption. The whole room was littered with hundreds of similar versions of the cube-like object, some varying greatly in size and shape.

“I wonder what is so important about this thing,” Silas said as he walked towards the pedestal.

“As do I. Many stories speak of the wonderful creations coming from the fabled city of Al-Talash, but not one mentions a metallic dodecahedron. “I wonder why.”

While the object had at first seemed to be flat, Silas now realized its faces were anything but. Each side was made up of countless incredibly small patterns of intertwining metal bars and circles, some so small he could barely see them. A pinky-sized hole had been placed in the center of each side. It reminded him of the door to the academy, but on a much more intricate scale.

Nurana swiped dust from a metal plaque engraved at the bottom of the vitrine. “The Merger,” she read out loud.

“What do you think it merges?” Silas poked the vitrine.

“Could be anything, really. The ancient Drakh were known for their use and conversion of energy, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this did something similar. But why is it so small?”

Silas tried to lift the glass, in vain. “So, how do we get it out of the vitrine?”

“Not sure if we should take it, to be honest.” Nurana walked around the pedestal.

“We should take,” Zaya affirmed. “Aqueel be well known in the tribes. If this be item of statues, be much valuable.”

Nurana frowned. “I didn’t know the Adjhin’tor and the Drakh had relations in the past.”

“Long time ago, yes. Before the Crimson Dunes make travel impossible.”

“I propose we break the vitrine from afar to see if it triggers anything,” Silas chimed in. “Then Gnarly can grab it with one of his vines.”

“Creak!” Gnarly gave a thumbs up.

“Good plan,” Zaya nodded.

Nurana sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this,” she mumbled.

“It’s gonna be fine,” Silas assured her.

“U-huh.” Nurana took a few steps backward.

“Ready, Gnarly?” Zaya asked him after they had gone back to the entrance of the room.

“Creak!”

Zaya let a bit of gravel float before her and melded it into a sharp projectile that shot forward. The glass shattered. A vine immediately followed, latching onto the Merger and delivering it into Gnarly’s waiting hands. Gnarly’s gaze was transfixed on the object, a wave of immense sadness nearly overwhelming Silas as Gnarly’s feelings radiated through the bond. It almost seemed like he was familiar with the object, which was possible.

Something shook the room. A couple dozen prototypes of the Merger fell to the ground as ancient metal creaked in protest.

“What’s happening?” Nurana took a step back.

Suddenly, Silas felt it. A pulse of energy, coming behind the pedestal. The automaton, previously embedded into the wall, now tore itself free. It raised one arm to aim at Gnarly, a long tube attached to it. Metal clacked a few times, but nothing happened.

Zaya was the first to act. Pulling bricks from the nearby wall, she began to pelt the huge automaton with stone spikes. It staggered a few times but seemed unaffected as the stones bounced off its armor.

“We need to hit it between its joints,” Silas said, pointing to where the midsection was connected to its legs. “If we can cripple one leg, I doubt it’ll be able to follow us.”

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The automaton lumbered towards them, each step rattling Silas’s teeth. Being at least twelve feet tall, its head almost reached the ceiling. It held a long, barbed halberd in its right hand, the tip half as long as Silas’ spear. Taking one big step, it stabbed forward, its massive size belying its speed. Silas pushed energy into his legs to fling himself to the side. The spear tip narrowly missed his stomach, the edge of his cloak tearing as the halberd bit through it.

He hurried towards the door. “We need to get out!”

Nobody needed to be told twice. Fighting this thing, especially in such a cramped room would be suicide. Stones crumbled from the wall as the automaton forced its way out of the door to follow them. “I will distract it for a moment. Gnarly, I want you to pull at the seams of its knee cap so Zaya can cut away at whatever is inside. If we can disable one leg, we should be able to shake it off.”

“Sure. But don’t get hit,” Zaya said as she formed thin blades of stone that floated beside her.

Silas crouched low, eyes focused on the automaton’s weapon. “Never,” he smirked, legs catapulting him forward. He could feel the machine’s attention focusing on him. Its arm swung the massive halberd effortlessly, its blade coming at him from his right. Jumping over the weapon, he stabbed at the creature’s head, his spear bouncing off the metal without causing so much as a scratch.

Vines forced their way into the automaton’s joints just as a blade of stone cut deep into the wires inside its knee. The creature buckled. Two more blades joined the first, each one cutting a bit deeper.

But the creature was far from done, and Silas had landed just in front of it. The halberd cut through the air as it threatened to bisect him. He ducked under the other hand, forcing the automaton to abandon its strike. From the corner of his eye, he saw the massive hand moving as he braced himself for the pain. Its slap felt like being hit with a sledgehammer. Bones cracked as Silas was tossed across the room.

Zaya let out a scream of rage, her fists a flurry of punches as one rock after the other impacted the automaton. The creature stumbled backward. With a final scream, Zaya hurled a head-sized rock right at its kneecap. The automaton finally toppled over, its back crashing into the already-ruined doorframe. Stones crumbled from the wall as the metal giant fell.

Nurana rushed to Silas’ side, brow furrowed in concentration as she held one arm onto his back. “Thanks,” he gasped, trying to heave himself up.

“Idiot boy, I tell you not get hit!” Zaya said as she put an arm under his shoulder, pulling him back up. Silas winced in pain and leaned on her smaller frame as they stumbled away from the automaton.

“I tried,” Silas panted out.

“Try harder, next time.”

The stinging pain eventually subsided as Nurana’s energy flowed into his bones. Metal screeched as the massive automaton heaved itself up again, multiple dents visible in its armor.

Nurana turned towards the goliath automaton, both hands forming hooked claws. Swirls of black gathered between her hands, some of them dissipating again as a small vortex of energy formed. With a grunt, she pushed it forward, the ball leaving little wisps of black as it flew at the metal giant. It hit the goliath without making a sound and disappeared somewhere beneath its armor.

Silas looked at Nurana with surprise. “Was that your new Art?”

“Yes, but I don’t think it did much. We should really get out of here,” Nurana said, already moving towards the other end of the facility. Stones rumbled off the goliath’s back as creature pushed itself back up again.

“Agreed,” Silas panted.

Zaya didn’t seem to hear them. Spikes of stone shot at the machine as she screamed in her native language.

“Zaya!”

She didn’t react. Silas cursed under his breath and sprinted towards her. One hand on her shoulder, her head whipped around to face him. Her eyes were wild with rage. For a moment, he thought she’d attack him.

“Zaya, look at me. We need to leave. Now.”

She blinked once, twice, before sending another glance at the automaton and nodding. They had just turned their backs on it when the machine picked up a few boulders from the shattered doorway and hurled it at them in a surprisingly nimble movement.

“Down!” Zaya thrust both palms forward and to the side to steer the boulders off their path, another crash echoing through the facility as stone collided with the countless workbenches.

With legs as long as they were tall, it didn’t take long for the Automaton to catch up with them, even with its limping leg.

“Cover me, boy!”

“Silas! My name,” Silas hurled one of the workbenches at the metal giant to get its attention, “is Silas!”

The wood shattered against the machine’s bulk, its arms already swinging the halberd at him in a wide arc. Silas jumped backwards, looking around for more wood to throw at the Automaton. “If you have a plan, now’s the time to—” Stone shattered as the ground beneath the automaton erupted into a gigantic claw that wrapped its fingers around the machine’s lower body.

“Won’t hold for long, run now!” Zaya said throuh clenched teeth.

“Creak!” Three thick roots sprang forth from Gnarly’s arms, further entangling the Automaton.

They hurried down the hallway as one, stone cracking as the machine began to free itself again. “There, that staircase!” Nurana pointed ahead of them, where a narrow flight of stairs went down. The machine would be way too big to fit through. This was their chance.

Silas glanced over his shoulder. Zaya’s stone hand was already beginning to crack, two of Gnarly’s vines ripped through. They were almost there.

Thundering steps shook the ground as the massive Automaton lumbered after them. “Faster!” Silas urged Nurana on.

Silas pushed Nurana through the stairway as he jumped after her, the high-pitched sound of the Automaton’s halberd cutting deep into the stone just behind them.

The foot of the stairway opened into a wide corridor. They had shaken it off, for now. Half-broken statures stood on both sides, each of them holding a different weapon or device in their hands. A door towered far to their left, looking similar to the one at the entrance of the academy. Large orbs of dull glass hung from the ceiling, all of them now dim.

“This door probably leads to the back of the academy and the main pipe. Let’s hurry, the Automaton will probably find a way to follow us, sooner or later. If we find a way to climb the main pipe, we should be able to get out of here.”

If. If something didn’t kill them, if these ruins didn’t just collapse and bury them under an avalanche of stone, if they could make their way back to the surface, and if they managed to escape the Crimson Dunes without going completely insane. Silas chose not to voice his doubts, however.

All they could do was try. The door was opened just a crack as if it were daring anyone to squeeze themselves through. Tall enough four people wouldn’t be able to reach its top, it made for an impressive sight, despite most of the engravings now nothing more than unrecognizable scribblings.

“Let’s be careful, we don’t know what expects us in there,” Silas said as he peeked through the gap. He could make out the gigantic tube at the back of the room, a statue of a sphinx sitting just before it, the huge statue missing one leg. Automata were strewn about everywhere, their body parts covering the floor like twigs after a thunderstorm. But the place seemed deserted.

Entering what appeared to be the final chamber, Silas turned his perception inwards. The Taint was stronger than ever, his Inner Landscape getting assaulted by foreign energy. It wormed its way through his defenses, its purplish tint infiltrating the slightly brownish mist of his Landscape. His fists shook as he struggled to keep the bubbling anger under control. He needed to stay calm.

One breath after the other, the unwilling rage slowly subsided, leaving him with a sick feeling in his stomach. Silas retched, grimacing at the foul taste of bile in his mouth. Zaya made a similar noise behind him. Nurana followed them into the chamber, holding a hand over her mouth.

“Hate this place,” Zaya growled.

The tube at the back was so massive the only thing Silas could compare it to was the giant redwood he had slept in, over a year ago in what seemed to be another lifetime. At the base of the pipe, a dome-like apparatus stood, thick wires and more pipes disappearing somewhere into the ground. The air was static with unbound energy.

“If this is the source of the Taint, where does the energy come from?” Nurana asked into the silent chamber. “Energy doesn’t just spawn like that.”

Zaya glanced upwards. The pipe went all the way through the top of the academy and then disappeared somewhere within the stone ceiling dozens of yards above. “We will know if climb up.”

They walked towards the statue of the sphinx sitting just before the large apparatus. “This looks incredibly detailed,” Silas craned his neck to gaze up at the sphinx. “I can still see the emotions on its face. How majestic such a creature must have been to have witnessed alive.”

Nurana nodded. “Sphinxes are incredibly rare and intelligent creatures that very seldomly mingle with humans. I wonder why they put such a large statue into this chamber.”

“No matter,” Zaya shrugged. “Let’s see if we can climb up pipe and leave city.”

“Agreed. The sooner we get out of here, the…” his words were drowned out by a deafening bang as the massive door behind them clammed shut. The group whirled around. The door had seemingly closed on its own, sealing them inside.

Stone grated against stone as a deep rumble echoed through the chamber. “Filthy thieves.” The words were drawn out, reverberating through their bones and shaking the dust from the walls. “You dare take what he died to protect?”

The sound caused a shiver to run down Silas’ back. Pressure descended on him, making his knees weak. They needed to escape. The words exuded power and age that were beyond his comprehension. This was not something they could hope to fight.