~~~~
Yole was an artificer, a master of
magic and machines. His little home and workshop in the mountains was his
secluded sanctuary, where he would dive into his work for months on end.
However, he was not alone in these endeavors, far from it, in fact.
As Yole sat at his desk by the
window, he fiddled with a prosthetic arm made from gears and metal. With
careful precision, he inserted a red crystal into the arm’s palm and closed it
with a glass hatch. The intricate piece of machinery sprang to life, the
multi-jointed fingers twitched and wiggled. The whole length of the arm
sputtered to life with the sound of hundreds of gears. He smiled, satisfied
with his creation.
“Has your work finally come to
fruition?” A soft voice came from behind him. “I do hope so,” slender arms
wrapped around his shoulders.
“You need not worry, my dear Hilda,”
Yole grinned as she stroked his clean-shaven face. “My prototype is complete,
it finally worked flawlessly.”
“And how did you power it?” Hilda
inquired as she snatched some of his notes off the table.
“About that,” he trailed off as she
pored over his handwriting.
“Helin Crystals? Yole, you should know
better,” she scolded.
“Do not fret my dear,” Yole assured,
“in lesser hands, they are nothing but danger, but in mine, they are
perfection. For you see, they will make my prosthetics the best in the land.”
“Yole, it doesn’t matter how
practiced your hands are when you’re playing with fire,” Hilda countered.
“No, you see, I call it the phantom
limb effect,” Yole explained. “The crystals trick the body into thinking their
new limb is the original, restoring both touch and feel.”
“I so desperately want to trust
you,” Hilda admitted, “but I can’t abide by this, you need better protection.
“It is unnecessary now,” Yole picked
up the arm and showed it to her, “look, it is already in place and safely-” His
words were cut off as the arm detonated in their faces, and the room was bathed
in a blinding, red light.
~~~~
Even the most experienced can make rookie errors.
This is the first part of a loose four part story, the rest will be posted over the course of this week and the next.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
~~~~
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