Edgar started shoving machines aside as he searched for anything meaningful in the attic. He grunted as he found nothing of significance. After a few deep sighs, he thought about going to sleep. As he walked towards the exit, something glistened in the corner of his eye. He looked at a strange machine with crystals. “What is that?”
Edgar walked over and investigated the machine, “My mom never told me about something like this. What can it do? Is this what I am looking for? How would I even figure out how to turn it on?” Edgar wanted to turn it around, but he lost interest as he saw something hidden underneath the dust, a trunk.
Edgar gasped, “That, looks promising.” He kneeled in front of the trunk and tried opening it, but it was locked. With one of the crystals in the machine behind him, he smashed the lock to smithereens. With glee in his eyes, he opened the trunk. A small box was in it, it had a ballet shoe in it.
“Come on, where are the notes?” He picked up a cross, “Why is this in the trunk? Oh, look, candlesticks. Didn’t dad once say my great uncle loved candlesticks?” Whatever the case, here is a dress, for a child, it is hardly worn. It had a note, but the name on it was scratched through with a pencil.
He found some other junk, and as he had emptied it, he found nothing significant. “Dammit, I really thought I had found something instead of a trunk of trash.” Edgar investigated the crystal, “Maybe this will do.” After shrugging, he threw it into the trunk. For a moment, it seemed as if the bottom moved, “Perhaps that booze was too much, wait, hold on a moment.”
Edgar started grinning maniacally, “Of course, that is clever mom, I would not have expected differently from you,” he started fiddling and removed the fake bottom of the trunk. “Oh my god, what is this?” He grabbed pieces of a mechanical doll, there were vials, potions of some kind. They strangely glowed. And underneath that, notes, he found many notes.
Filled with anticipation, he grabbed the notes, as he started reading them, at that moment he realized what his mother was truly capable off. She raised the dead. This doll, it used to be Fay’s dad. If I can bring her dad back, no, if I can resurrect the dead into these dolls. Build an empire, yes, that will get her back. New Albion will be in my hands, and those of the resurrected dead.
He closed the trunk and dragged it to the lab, “Yes, Edgar, this is it!” He noticed a note had been delivered to his home, he picked it up and read it out loud. “Thank you for the note, Edgar, we have tracked down Fay, she is on a date with a man named Silof.” Edgar grinned, “I am going to destroy him. It all starts with these experiments.”
Edgar started rearranging items in his house, putting the workbench in the middle, taking the potions, reading the notes. Somehow his mom had gotten essence from Elysium, he did not know how to get more of it, but he can recreate these vials. He took the pieces of the mechanical doll. “Oh Jasper, you will be so annoyed if I read these notes correctly. But to be quite frank, I don’t give a fuck.”
With a malevolent grin, a drive he had never felt before, a drive to get his Fay back, regardless of the cost. He will change New Albion. He repaired the mechanical doll with clockworks and the right gears. As he read the notes, he even found a way to perfect the invention, made it easier to resurrect the dead. He adjusted the batteries to hold the vials.
Edgar meticulously arranged the batteries, each carefully calibrated to deliver a precise amount of electrical energy. Alongside them were small vials of Elysium as he started calling them, a mysterious substance known for its connection to the afterlife that his mom somehow created. The soft glow emanating from the vials hinted at the otherworldly properties they possessed.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
With a focused determination, Edgar connected the batteries to a series of intricately designed mechanisms. Tiny copper wires snaked across the table, connecting the batteries to the heart of the mechanical doll that once embodied Fay’s father, Jasper. The doll, a silent witness to past events, seemed poised for a revival that defied the laws of life and death.
Edgar uncorked the vials of Elysium, their ethereal essence intertwining with the mechanical components. The room filled with an otherworldly luminescence as he carefully injected the elixir into the batteries. The combination of the perfected formula and the mystical properties of Elysium held the promise of a resurrection, an attempt to bridge the gap between the mechanical and the metaphysical, just as his mom had done once before.
As Edgar activated the mechanism, a low, rhythmic whirring echoed through the lab. The doll, once frozen in time, began to stir. Its joints creaked and gears turned, responding to the surge of energy coursing through its mechanical frame. The soft glow of Elysium infused batteries illuminated the room, casting an eerie light on the scene.
After a brief moment, anticipation hung in the air as Edgar watched the mechanical doll. Then, with a series of mechanical clicks and whirs, the doll’s eyes flickered to life. The once lifeless gaze of the mechanical creation now held a spark of recognition. Edgar chuckled with glee, “I’ve done it, I raised the dead, I know you are in there Jasper!”
Jasper moved his mechanical hands, back here again, he looked at the man in front of him, Who is this? He looked at the notes next to him, and the vials he once saw. That must be Annabel’s son, Edgar. Why did he bring me back? I was talking to his mom, his dad, when I suddenly got ripped out of Elysium.
Edgar scrolled through the notes, “If I am right, these notes say you cannot talk, but you can make hand gestures. It also mentions the person in the doll would be miserable. I have to make sure to put in my will to not get resurrected into a doll. Jasper is a smaller doll, but if I want something new, I need a life-sized version. But only for the people I want to sell dolls too.”
Jasper perked up, He is going to do what? No, this is bad, he gave him a thumbs down, knowing from the past how to communicate.
Edgar looked at him, “What? Are you sorry I made you a smaller doll? I just followed my mom’s notes. She hid them very well, I have to admit, I almost gave up hope.” He picked Jasper up and put him in the office, “Here is what is going to happen, I am going to create human sized dolls to sell, and I will convince Fay to come back to me. After I destroyed Silof and became the richest and well known man in New Albion.”
Jasper let out a mechanical gasp, This is all about him and my daughter? Jacob mentioned they were going to get married before he died. Something must have gone horribly wrong if he decides upon this action. Annabel and Jacob made it clear that they tried telling him to let the dead rest.
Edgar smiled at him, “I wonder what is going through your mechanical head, whatever the case, I need to start working on making three dolls, as big as humans, I have an idea for another smaller one. But if I show people on the street what I can do, everyone wants their loved ones back.” Edgar rubbed his hand and grinned, “And then, I will have Fay back.”
Jasper started rummaging through radio broadcasts, there were a lot more now compared to the last time, he found an angry song and played it for Edgar.
Edgar grimaced, “What are you going to do to stop me? You can barely move or walk, I will make sure the others can’t walk either, but I will make sure their arms can move better. It would be a bit too creepy if they could walk. People would not buy them.”
Edgar left the door open as he started gathering parts and laid out items for three bigger dolls and a smaller one. He even hummed gladly, “I will not lose Fay to some other man, I deserve to be with her.”
Jasper let out annoyed mechanic grumbles as he tried getting Edgar’s attention, but he just kept on working on the dolls and reading the notes. He must be stopped, if he brings this into the open, New Albion might fall. Everything will be destroyed. Whatever Fay did, she must have had a good reason, but I sense an evil man in there. Who is that smaller doll going to be? What is he planning? How did he perfect the experiment? If only I could tell Annabel, we were just, resting in Elysium, and now, here I am.
Edgar looked at the door that opened up and Fay walked inside, “Edgar, we need to ta-”
Edgar stared at her, “Yes?”
Fay kept staring at what he was doing, she realized it instantly.