Edgar cleared his throat as he stepped on top of a chair, “Folks, silence, it is time for the grand unveiling. You wonder why I brought you here? What all these items are? I mean it seems strange, right, these mechanical dolls that are human sized? I crafted them last night, does anyone know what I am going to do?”

A man in the crowd raised his hand, and as Edgar pointed at him, he spoke up, “You are making some kind of robot that will help us?”

Edgar smirked, “No sir, I am going to raise the dead.” Gasps and murmurs went across the large crowd. He called out, “Silence, someone who has recently lost a dear person, come forth. Today only, the resurrection will be free, so you can be sure I am not just talking out of my ass.”

A woman pushed her way through the crowd, “My husband Carl died, can you bring him back?”

Edgar grinned, “You don’t believe, I am able to bring back your grandma, your parents, your child, whoever you want, even your neighbor! You doubt me of course, which is clear, you might think I have gone insane.”

The woman looked at him, “Well, bring him back.”

“Alright, miss, what was his full name?”

“Carl Bolton was his name, he died last week.”

Edgar went to his workbench and started powering up the battery, as he did, the crowd went silent, you could hear a pin drop. If he was indeed going to bring back the dead, then this would be remarkable. Edgar made sure the Elysium concoction was adjusted properly. Then he spoke up, “Carl Bolton, I summon your ghost, come back to the land of the living.”

Nothing happened for ten seconds, then the mechanical doll’s gears started turning, he tried sitting up and looked at his mechanical hands. What happened to me? I am no longer free, can someone take me back to Elysium? Why can’t I talk? Help, someone, help me. Wait, Lilia, is that you?

Lilia gasped, “Carl?”

He nodded slowly, making his mechanic joints creak.

Lilia looked at Edgar, “Why does he not talk?”

“Coming back from the dead is not easy, it is a miracle process, you can be with them, they can make gestures, and even play music. You can see it, I brought your Carl back from the dead, he is now living inside this quality mechanical doll that I made with my bare hands.”

The crowd went wild and started chanting, “Carl!” Another woman walked forward, “Can you bring back my ex? We had a fight before he died. I want to apologize to him.”

Edgar nodded, “What is his name?”

“Higgins Albia.”

Edgar smiled and resurrected him by using the second doll, it went flawlessly, Lilia was holding Carl in her arms, she had to keep him steady. The woman was overjoyed with her ex being back in the land of the living, she apologized as he played sad music.

Edgar chuckled, “What does the crowd think?”

They went roaring wild, except for Fay and Silof, she must have told him what happened. He resurrected another woman for a man, a woman he wanted to love. Edgar smiled, “People, I will make two dolls in the coming day, first come, first served, the price can be negotiated, but can you really put a price on having your loved one back? In the future, I intend to make carts like this one. That way you can easily take them home and bring him to all of your favorite places.”

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Everyone clapped and was thrilled as Edgar started bringing back his gear. The demonstration was a great success. He can only imagine the droves of people coming to his house to bring back their loved ones. Fay walked over to him with Silof in tow. “Edgar, what have you done?”

He looked at her, “Why did you bring him? Are you showing him off?”

“No, we both came here to see if you were actually going through with it. Are you insane? These people are miserable, I told Silof everything.”

Edgar put his case on the ground and walked closer to Silof, “How dare you come to my house, with my wife to be. Do you think you are better than I? I will make you eat dust, I will destroy everything you have.”

Silof scoffed, “I am not impressed by your talk, Fay is right, this is wrong, the dead should not walk among us, or sit. You have blinded the people of New Albion, and as for Fay, I think the reason she left you, is all your fault.”

Edgar shook his head, “You can talk tough all you want, but as soon as my business is up and running, she will come back to me, isn’t that right Fay?”

She shook her head, “You have gone too far Edgar, do you know what can go wrong?”

Edgar seemed to be thinking, “I think the worst already happened.”

Silof tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

“One of the dolls resurrected himself and wandered off, if you see someone wearing my hat and coat, please let me know.”

Fay frowned her eyebrow, “Are you fucking with us?”

“No, I made four of them, one wandered off, you can ask the woman who is looking at us right now.”

Silof looked around him, “I see no one but the dispersing crowd, what are you talking about?”

“She is invisible, but she is here, she is always around, I am sure of it. The woman with the top hat.”

Fay grunted, “Have you been drinking? What is all this nonsense you are spouting?”

Edgar sighed deeply, “Look, all you need to know, Silof, you are going down, big time. And you Fay, you will come back to me, marry me, and you will be happy.”

Silof let his head hang, “I think you are delusional my friend, Fay has free will, and you are taking the free will of the dead. Which is just wrong, why people cannot see that, I don’t know. You are a good businessman, it is sad you are squandering it with your evil intentions.”

“Me, evil? If anyone is to blame, it is you for spouting lies about me to Fay.”

Fay stepped forward, “Stop it, he did not spout lies or told me to leave you, his words simply made me realize that I was not happy with you. That is why I left, like I said, if I had known you would go off the deep end, then I wouldn’t have said anything.”

Edgar looked at them, “I am going to my lab and create more dolls to earn money, and with that money, I am going to burn you to the ground Silof, mark my words. As for you, Fay, you will come back to me.”

Fay looked at him wandering back to his lab, she looked at Silof, “I told you he had gone off the deep end.”

Silof nodded, “You were right, I am glad I listened to you, all the people are going to listen to him and bring back the dead in those creepy big dolls with the weeping dead inside them. How is he going to force you to come back?”

“I fear he will bring back my dad, Silof, I don’t know what to do, or how to stop him. I am not as smart as Edgar, no one is. There is only one person who can undo what he has started.”

Silof rubbed his chin, “About whom are you speaking?”

“The woman who raised me, Annabel, if she had not died, this would probably have never happened. She has told me all the secrets, one of them is hidden within my bracelet.”

Silof let out a deep sigh, “Look, I am sorry for all of this.”

“No, don’t be, I meant what I said, I would have left him one day, be it now or ten years later, he would have reacted the same. Right now, he is spiraling out of control, I even tried to kill him despite my love for him.”

Silof looked into her eyes, “You tried to save New Albion from the horrible plague that is about to embark on New Albion. The dead will fill the streets, the alleyways, our homes, unless we can stop him, maybe we should ask the Mafia to help.”

“No, Edgar has them in his pockets, he even had them spy on us during our date.”

Silof grunted, “That is bad, can’t we enchant him with something, to stop him? Is there anything we can do? To save our dear New Albion?”

Fay shook her head, “No, it is already too late, New Albion is headed for disaster, who knows how many years it is going to take. But I can feel it in my bones, if only I could talk to my dad, but that is wrong, he is dead, and he needs to stay dead.”

Silof put his hand on her shoulder, “I will stay by your side to try to fix this, his words are not scaring me.”

“Silof, if he truly is going to become that rich, he’ll destroy everything you own.”

Silof let out a deep sigh, “I know, but saving New Albion is more important than money or any possession.”