They decided to spend the night under Eldrin's roof. Waking up early, by 6 AM they were already gearing up to leave the hut. As dawn painted the Gear Savannah orange, Marshmallow couldn't shake off thoughts about the new quest.

The Heart of the Forge. A very high-level optional quest... what a mess. The Grimgoat made me jump through hoops, and I almost bit the dust. Though, I gotta admit, the payoff was fair. The Goat Horse, the Titan Hammer, all those Exp points. With my perception tripled, I've developed a sixth sense. What kind of reward would I get for topping a very high mission?

Beside him, Eldrin marched with the energy of a young adventurer, despite his age. He wore his usual tattered apron, with a huge backpack slung over his shoulders, from which a wrench as big as a baseball bat peeked out.

"Hey, Eldrin!" Marshmallow called out, his tone betraying his anxiety. "What should we expect? This 'very high' level sounds like bad news."

Eldrin stopped, turning towards Marshmallow with a smirk that revealed his cheekiness. "Ah, my boy, danger is the spice of adventure! Don't worry, whatever we find out there won't be anything we can't handle together."

Marshmallow looked at him, unsure whether to feel reassured or even more worried than before. "And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

With a laugh that echoed among the metallic scraps, Eldrin clapped him on the shoulder. "Look, I've dismantled and reassembled things scarier than anything we're about to face, all before breakfast! What we need is a solid plan, a bit of guts, and maybe... a pair of lucky dice."

Still skeptical, Marshmallow couldn't help but wonder about Eldrin's capabilities beyond his evident optimism.

The Goat Horse, having followed the conversation with a mix of amusement and curiosity, decided to chime in. "So, Eldrin, exactly how do you think you can help us out? Got any special tricks up your sleeve?"

Eldrin glanced at his large wrench, eyeing it with the gleam a warrior might reserve for his sword. "Oh, I've got a few gadgets in my backpack. For instance," he said, lowering his voice as if to share a secret, "be it poisons to knock our mechanical foes off their feet or elixirs to patch us up, I've always got something handy."

Then, brandishing the wrench in an almost theatrical pose, he added, "And this beauty here isn't just for tightening bolts. It's surprisingly effective at persuading the more stubborn machines to cooperate if you catch my drift."

An offensive support. Good.

Marshmallow didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the old man's words. He attempted a smile, but his lips wouldn't cooperate; so, he looked up at the sky, slowly turning blue, and murmured, "Fingers crossed."

***

The machine depot Eldrin had pointed out the day before wasn't far, but the path was anything but straightforward. The terrain was uneven, littered with metallic debris and remnants of machinery that seemed to have been abandoned there from a bygone era. Marshmallow moved cautiously, not wanting to encounter a metal beast, and certainly not wanting to run into one of the Novgovians.

Eldrin, with his passion for DIY and mechanics, seemed right at home among those ruins. Every so often, he would stop to examine a particularly interesting piece or to share anecdotes about the various relics they encountered along the way.

"See that steam engine over there? It was once the beating heart of a gigantic crane. Not just any crane, but a marvel of engineering, the biggest in all of Gear Savannah. It could lift incredible loads, then came the day the crane stopped working. An irreparable fault, they said. Some suspected sabotage, but the truth never came to light. And so, what was once a source of pride and wonder became a sleeping giant."

Or again:

"Look at that cogwheel, guys. It might look like just an old, useless piece of iron, but it was once part of a monumental clock, the biggest in all of Gear Savannah. Every gear was meticulously calibrated; a true masterpiece of precision. It was so accurate it could predict solar eclipses years in advance. Then, one day, lightning struck it during a storm, and since then time has stopped, at least for that clock."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The Goat Horse followed with interest, asking questions about this or that mechanism, while Marshmallow remained focused on the goal. Despite the distractions, the thought of the mission that awaited them remained fixed in his mind.

Upon reaching the depot, they were faced with an imposing rusted gate, which Eldrin opened with a theatrical gesture, almost inviting his companions to enter a forgotten realm. "Behold, the Mechanical Wonders Depot!" he announced, with a smile that promised adventures and discoveries.

Once through the gate, the landscape changed dramatically. They were surrounded by neat piles of machinery, pieces of automatons, and gears of all sizes, arranged in corridors that formed a true metallic labyrinth. Eldrin led them confidently, demonstrating a knowledge of the place that left Marshmallow and the Goat Horse agape.

"How do you know where we're going?" Marshmallow asked, following Eldrin through an intricate path among the piles of debris.

Eldrin turned around, with a smug grin. "Oh, my boy, this place is like an open book to me. Every piece, every scrap has a story, and I... I know all these stories."

After a few minutes of walking, Eldrin stopped in front of a cascade of gears that seemed to block the passage. With an expert gesture, he activated a hidden mechanism, and the cascade opened up, revealing a narrow staircase descending into the depths of the earth.

"Here's our secret entrance to the Heart of the Forge," Eldrin said, nodding towards the staircase. "Are you ready to discover what awaits us down there?"

Eldrin led the trio deeper into the depot, where the hum and clatter of metal seemed to tell forgotten stories. His face took on a more serious expression as they approached the heart of the mechanical complex.

"But now, let me tell you about the Heart of the Forge," Eldrin began, his voice filled with a mix of reverence and concern. "This place, this structure we're about to see, is not just an engineering marvel. It was, and I hope can still be, the lifeblood of the entire Gear Savannah."

He stopped in front of a huge metal door, its surfaces engraved with complex patterns that seemed to dance in the dim light. "The Heart of the Forge coordinated all the machines here. It was like a conductor for an infinity of mechanical instruments, ensuring that each piece worked in harmony. Thanks to it, the Savannah thrived in a perfect symbiosis between nature and machine."

With a sigh, Eldrin continued: "But then the virus came, a malignant code that corrupted the Heart's mind, turning it from guardian to jailer. The machines, once peaceful, went mad, acting against their very nature."

As Eldrin spoke, Marshmallow and the Goat Horse could almost hear the echo of that lost harmony, a harmony now shattered under the weight of dissonance.

"Yet," Eldrin said, lighting a torch and gently pushing the door, which opened with a mournful creak, "there is still hope." The interior revealed a vast and dark room, at the center of which stood a console covered in dust and cobwebs.

"See this?" Eldrin pointed to the console with a mix of triumph and challenge. "These clues, these lights that still pulse faintly, are proof that the control system is still active, albeit in a dormant state. If we can restart it, we might restore the Heart of the Forge, and with it, order throughout the Gear Savannah."

The determination in his eyes was contagious. Marshmallow felt a surge of resolve, and even the Goat Horse seemed more focused than ever. With Eldrin leading them, they approached the console, ready to undertake the task of awakening the sleeping giant and, perhaps, healing the land they had learned to love.

As Eldrin's fingers danced over the console, attempting to decipher the codes and circuits that might revive the Heart of the Forge, a cold shiver ran down Marshmallow's spine. Something was off. The silence, already oppressive, seemed to deepen, like the calm prelude to a storm.

"Guys..." Marshmallow's voice was a whisper laden with tension. But before he could finish his sentence, a metallic roar tore through the air, making the ground beneath their feet vibrate.

From a shadow in the corner of the room, emerging like a nightmare from the depths of a twisted dream, appeared a huge mechanical figure. Three fierce heads, eyes glowing like burning coals, and a mouth full of gears sharp as teeth: a Mechanical Cerberus, a guardian of what was supposed to be the pulsating heart of the Gear Savannah.

Eldrin turned just in time to see the beast, his expression a mix of surprise and recognition. "By all the gears... I didn't think they were real," he murmured, his usual confidence shaken by this living revelation of mechanical myths and legends.

Eldrin grabbed his wrench, his stance that of a warrior preparing for an imminent battle. "Well, it looks like we'll have the opportunity to test your potions, Eldrin!"

Marshmallow summoned the Titan Hammer from the amulet as his heart raced wildly. It wasn't the first time he'd faced a dangerous creature, but a Mechanical Cerberus was well beyond anything he'd imagined finding in the Gear Savannah.

With the beast advancing, its heavy steps resonating like drums of war, the trio found themselves facing a crucial choice: to fight this mechanical monstrosity or to look for a way to escape, hoping to save the Heart of the Forge another day.