Dorothy finally stood up, no longer feeling the pain or restraint that once resided in her back. The purple Astral did exactly as it was supposed to, reviving her once-destroyed hearing and reducing the Ho’som’s severed corpse to nothing but a brittle skeleton. As she stood, she raised her head to face the ceiling and exhaled deeply, internally casting away her anxiety over the loss of ears, and the potential struggle she may have faced, had her back remained how it was.
“Are you, uh, ok now Dorothy?” asked Toto cautiously, coking his head towards her. Dorothy exhaled deeply one last time before responding.
“Yeah, I think so,” She said as she slung her right leg up in the opposite direction it usually faced, holding it behind her head and stretching out everything within her strong legs, before placing it back down and repeating the stretch with her other leg.
“Looks like his notes weren’t completely useless,” Dorothy said, seemingly unbothered if the dog looked up her skirt as she stretched her legs. Wearing shorts underneath got her used to not caring at this point.
“See!? I told you, he’s the most knowledgeable about this,” Toto said with pride, “You’ll need to thank him when we get back,”
“Maybe I will,” she said half-heartedly. The dog remained silent but gave Dorothy a longing stare. The raven-haired teen stopped her stretching to give Toto an annoyed look.
“What? Out with it, what do you want?” asked Dorothy.
“Are you forgetting you should thank someone else,” he said in a raised pitch with his tail wagging behind him, his voice exuding more smugness than Dorothy liked.
Still, Dorothy rolled her eyes, walking up to Toto and placing him back on her right shoulder, holding her grumpy expression.
“Thanks, I guess” she said flatly, not meeting his gaze fully, imparting as much gratitude as someone like her could, and disappearing down the empty metal halls of the factory, ready to endure Toto incessant teasing regarding her sudden gratus.
The pair snooped slowly through the dingy factory, the smell of oil welded to the walls. It reminded Dorothy of the overpowering smell she got from passing garages. Machines ground and whirled throughout the rooms in different intensities, most being visible through the grimy glass displays, and nearly all of them were a mystery to the pair as to how they would work. Each one had drastic differences in the colour they exuded, with most of them having a compartment where they brightness was focused fully, to the point it made it blindly hard to look at.
“How are these machines getting Astral,” asked Dorothy,
“They make it,” said Toto,
“I thought OZ said it comes from spots where Luster is dense,”
“That's how it normally forms, but the bearer had been trying to make their own,”
“Like cheap knockoffs?”
“Maybe, I don’t think anything has come out of the factory though, I think OZ just wants to play it safe,”
One after another, the machines OZ spoke of were all destroyed, their internals all ripped out carelessly, left to rust at the flat feet of the machines, oil pooling from its internals and spilling out onto the metal floor. Dorothy cautiously walked around the fifth one she had seen, taking in how it was maybe a foot or two taller than her, and made of some sort of metal that she had no way of striking through without the assistance of her Astral. She couldn’t imagine how they would look if they began to move, the fact they had no discernible face or head was the most creepy part to her.
“It’s a good thing these things are all broken,” Dorothy said as she proceeded further into the Factory, reaching a ladder that took her and Toto atop a mesh catwalk.
“More like destroyed, this was definitely Dandillion,” proclaimed Toto
“I never asked but who is this Dandillion guy?” Quered Dorothy
“He lives with us at the church. He’s technically a monster affected by the Luster but he’s actually very friendly,” assured Toto
“That…doesn't seem like someone who tears holes in metal,”
“No it doesn't, you're right.” admitted the dog, “Dandelion is very strong though, Luster has made it so he can grow muscle to be nearly as strong as he likes, it's a bit hard to describe,”
“That…sounds gross, I hope I don't need to see that,” cringed Dorothy.
“It is a little, but that’s probably how he broke these machines,”
“If he’s so strong then what happened? Why am I getting sent to save him?” asked Dorothy.
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“Well, Dandelion can be a bit…insecure, I think he doubts himself sometimes,” Toto said.
“That’s stupid, a guy who’s capable of doing this shouldn’t be afraid of anything,” spouted Dorothy.
“I’ve tried explaining that but…he’s just…I don't know, I've tried I really have,” Dorothy decided to stop pushing the matter, Toto’s waning enthusiasm telling her everything she had to know, in addition, they had spoken of the devil.
Curled up in the corner, well, taking up far more than just the corner, lay the aforementioned Dandillion, as he rocked and sobbed in his own arms. He was giant, several feet taller than Dorothy, and looked to be a cross between a human male and a lion, but leaning heavier toward the form of a lion. The face specifically looked like an uncanny galvanization of the two.
He was covered head to toe in a pelt with thick golden fur, no sign of being a mono laid within his pallet, though, blood and oil were matted within his fur that made it horrid to look at. Though that was nothing compared to the strange wide scars across his body that broke up his pelt, they looked…unhealthy and ranged in sizes and severity, even from Dorothy’s limited view of him. Altogether, his view was startling to the mind.
Dorothy stopped in place as she stumbled across him, freezing on the spot and placing her arms up cautiously.
“Is that him?” Whispered Dorothy towards Toto, who still sat on her shoulder.
“Yeah, that’s him, Dandelion!” Shouted Toto as he leaped off Dorothy’s shoulder and frolicked towards the cowering beast.
“Are you ok?” asked Toto dotingly. Upon hearing his voice, the lion slowly lowered his large hands, revealing his whimpering uncanny face.
“Toto, my friend, what are you doing here,” he said in a voice that was both low and gravely, yet had a caring, submissive undertone, or perhaps that was just there due to the sombre mood they had found him in.
“We came to rescue you, what happened?” he asked while he pranced around the large being.
“Well, I got to the factory, and I had to fight some scary machinery, but I found the panel to shut down the factory, but…but I-” he began to stammer and trail off his words, as tears began to fill his strange eyes.
“But what?” pressed Toto,
“I-I was scared of what may have happened if I shut it down! What if The Bearer found out?! She would have my head!” The scampering lion began to whimper more and threw his hands back over his face, rambling incomprehensibly about more worries he had regarding taking action.
“It's ok, it's ok, Dandillion, You already go this far right? Look at all the machines you destroyed! You’ve got nothing to worry about,” said Toto as caring as he could, bringing his voice almost down to a hushed whisper.
“B-but what if t-”
“Get up,” Dorothy interrupted coldly, having watched the lion's display for more than enough. Both the dog and the lion stopped speaking, turning to the tousled-haired teen.
“W-who are you?” said Dandillion, as he peered through his thick fingers to find her in her sight.
“T-that arm?” he stuttered out, as he gazed upon Dorothy’s black arm that seemed to drink the light of the Luster around it.
“I’m Dorothy, the person that was sent to come and save you, the person who just about died on the way here! All because you were too cowardly to save yourself, now get up,” commanded the young woman.
“Dorothy!” yelled Toto as loud as he could.
“I-I-I I’m sorry Miss Dorothy, I just- I just can’t” whimpered Dandillion.
“Dorothy, don't be so harsh, I told you how he is, remember?” Dorothy didn't listen or even look at Toto, only looking down at the coward who she had unknowingly risked her life for with a cold, empty glare in her dark eyes.
“So you can't walk? Or stand? Or even look? What’s wrong with you? How can you even live with yourself?” Dorothy uttered as she looked down in disdain upon the lion. The lion slowly removed his hands as she spoke, with whimpers and tears still being extracted from his ducts like a well-oiled machine.
“I’ve not even been here for a few days and I'm told to risk my life for you? Do you think I’m fine with you just giving up like this? Get up! I won’t ask again,” she told the large lion harshly. The lion did as she said, slowly standing up and towering over her as if removed from his mournful trance somewhat.
“I’m sorry,” was all he said, before placing his hands close to laps submissively.
“Quit apologizing, where's the switch to turn off the factory?”
“I-it's just there,” Dandillion said, pointing right next to him with his shaky finger, a panel lay, filled with a maze of knobs, switches, and buttons that were far too complicated for Dorothy to figure out. Nonetheless, She sauntered over to the panel and scanned the metal sheet, looking for anything obvious.
“Did OZ mention to you what buttons switch off the factory?” Dorothy shouted back to the pair.
“It umm that one there,” said Dandillion sheepishly “but, don't press it yet, I umm I'm not prepared”
“You've had more than enough time, I told you I won't have anyone dragging me down,” She flipped open the glass case hiding the switch, then grabbed it and turned it ninety degrees, before pushing it in firmly. The whining of the machines quickly faded and came to a stop, the factory was almost completely silent now. Dorothy turned back to the pair, opening her arms out in contempt.
“See? Not that hard,” her voice dripping with snark, “Let's go,” she said firmly, before picking Toto back up once again to place on her shoulder, with Dandillion following behind like a looming shadow, yet remaining reserved and fearful of his environment.
“Do you remember the way out, Toto?” asked Dorothy,
“Y-yeah, I do, I can lead ahead if you want,” Toto replied with a slight stammer.
“Sure, I’ll keep our friend from running off,”
“Dorothy…you went too far. You really shouldn't be so harsh with him,” explained the dog.
“We’ll get no-where if I don’t, someone needs to be the boss here,”
“Still, he has his reasons…” said Toto, trailing off his words with regret.
“Whatever they are don’t matter right now,” said Dorothy unsympathetically. “Just do what you asked to do,”
Toto waned in his resolve but did as he was told, hopping off her shoulder and rushing off and backtracking into the hallways. Dorothy followed ahead and leaped off the catwalk to quickly descend to the bottom floor, landing with a graceful roll aimed at her shoulder. As she rose, she turned back to make sure her giant had been following. Dandelion still stood timidly atop the catwalk, looking around anxiously, hesitant to leap off or descend the ladder.
“Dandillion, C'mon, nothing's coming to get you, you broke all the machines, remember?” she shouted up.
“I-I know but, I just-I just can't!” he protested submissively. Dorothy sighed, rolling her eyes, but insisted.
“Dandillion, nothing is in the factory but us, c'mon, let's g-” A loud crash interrupted Dorothy, followed by the clank of metal sheets plummeting to the ground, filling the large assembly chamber, which quickly echoed into the hallways of the factory. Dorothy instinctually hid herself behind a jut of metal wall, keeping herself concealed as best she could, then quickly poked her head out. Smoke and dust rose in a cloud as it slowly began to thin, revealing a tall, lean figure to rise within. The figure stood inorganically, its form shifting like a clock as it slowly stood up straight in twane with the smoke fully dissipating to reveal its form.
The figure looked to be wearing a grey tailcoat brimming with Luster, with ruffled white fabric coming from its collar. Its blonde, almost golden hair was tied up in a pair of buns on either side of its head. Despite this, the hair still looked untidy and tousled, almost resembling brambles or spikes, as some of them fell onto its face.
“I must have picked the wrong part of the factory, no-ones here,” said the mysterious figure as he looked around. His voice was male and sounded young, but also sounded like it was being played from a phone box or a radio, definitely not something that someone could imitate.
No, no, no, no, Dorothy’s face began to visibly show her panic, Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, is it even ok to breathe?