Tag: 03: the automaton

03.13 – Mechanics and Knowledge

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Isla slowly regains consciousness some unknown amount of time later. Her head feels clearer, and she’s not aching anymore. She’s still on the sofa, and someone’s put a light blanket on top of her. It’s warm enough in the room that she doesn’t really think she needs it.

“Miss Isla, are you awake?” a servant asks from the door. “Are you feeling better now?”

Isla takes a moment to drink from a glass of water on a nearby end table, then says, “Yes, I’m feeling a lot better now. What time is it?”

“It is two o’clock in the afternoon. You have slept for an hour and a half,” the servant says. “If you are feeling better, the master would like to see you at your earliest convenience.”

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03.12 – The Palace Toll

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Voices.

“–at me, Isla! It’s me, Lucian!”

…Lucian’s voice. Where is it coming from?

“–have to get out of here, Isla, get me out of here, don’t–“

“–look at me like that, it’s me, you know me, please, don’t–“

Lucian grabs her by the shoulders and holds her against something hard. A wall? A table? Where is she?

Lucian isn’t smiling, isn’t doing anything, really. There’s no hint of recognition in her eyes as Isla pushes back, tries to move, and can’t. She tries to open her mouth to scream, but she can’t seem to–

There’s a knife. Lucian stares down at her with blank eyes and there’s voices all around that Isla can’t understand, words she can’t hear. The tip of the knife touches the hollow of her throat, just between her collarbones, and–

Darkness.

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03.11 – Nightfall

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Isla stumbles her way out of the building, her whole body shaking. Her head hurts, and she aches all over. She more collapses than walks through the door, and Aurel catches her by the arms.

“Are you okay?” he asks. “You are not injured?”

Isla shakes her head and takes a shuddering breath. “Lucian–Lucian’s been captured by someone. I saw her, she was in some kind of prison cell, I don’t know if she’s okay, she might be in danger right now–”

“Isla. Isla, please. Take a deep breath,” Aurel says, carefully guiding Isla to a seat. “Take a few deep breaths, then tell me what you saw.”

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03.10 – Visions From Afar

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If it was a long walk from the infirmary to the library, it’s a positively enormous distance from the library to Aurel’s workshop. The servant leads her down several corridors and paths of the palace, including a long glass walkway that she takes care not to look down in. At the end of the hallway is one of the palace’s great spires, and the servant takes her up a glass lift to yet another hallway filled with more tapestries and mosaic floors. It smells vaguely acidic.

Even going slowly, Isla is out of breath after all that walking.

“This is the master’s workshop,” the servant says. They pull the door open, and Isla goes in.

Aurel is at the back, working at a drafting table. He’s wearing a set of magnifying artificer’s lenses, which he carefully removes as he glances up at the door. “Isla. I hope you were well in my absence. Was your stay in our library informative?”

“You could say that,” Isla says.

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03.09 – The Artificer’s Library

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There are shelves. Rows and rows and rows of bookshelves. There’s a tinted glass wall at the back that lets in blue sunlight, and servants bustling back and forth with books gathered in their arms. Between the many shelves, there are tables and chairs placed at regular intervals for patron use.

“This is the section where we keep our translated texts,” Aurel says. “We have servants translate texts as needed, which are then archived here. Of course, since we have had these texts for so long, some of these translated texts are yet again unintelligible to all extant human societies. You will likely find the most use in sections over here.” He gestures to a set of bookshelves to the right. “As I said, we take the safety and preservation of our texts very seriously. One of the servants will supervise you whenever you are here alone to ensure you do not steal or damage any of the texts. You may make copies as you please, however.”

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03.08 – Elucidated Symbols

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Isla wakes up feeling generally like crap. She opens her eyes slowly, and sees a blue ceiling and walls. Her head feels foggy.

“Isla,” Aurel says from beside her. “Are you feeling well?”

Isla turns to see Aurel sitting in a chair beside her bed. “Where am I? What happened?”

“You lost consciousness in the gardens about an hour ago, and I brought you to the infirmary immediately,” Aurel replies. “The conditions are harsh for humans at this altitude, when you are not acclimatized, and I apologize for not being more mindful of it. How do you feel?”

“I…” Isla slowly sits up, and immediately regrets it. “My head hurts.”

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03.07 – The Palace Grounds

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Isla wakes up feeling light-headed and woozy. It takes her a few moments to remember she’s in the palace, Aurel’s palace. She looks at the bedside clock and sees it’s half past ten.

She stares at the white walls of her palace room–and what a strange concept that is, that she would have a palace room–then goes to wash her face.

She aches all over, but in a distant sort of way that she can ignore if she doesn’t move too quickly. There’s a new set of clothes set at the foot of her bed, so she goes ahead and changes into it. As she does, she notes that the bandages that had been on her arms that morning are now gone. Maybe she took them off before she went to sleep–she can’t quite seem to remember.

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03.06 – Old Histories

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Isla stares at the crackling flames for a while longer. She’s still a bit chilly, though the fire has helped significantly. “I…I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help more,” she says. “That was the only wayfinding spell I know, and my book, uh…” Her eyes widen. She turns towards Aurel. “My bag! Sorry, the servant earlier said you found my things with me? I had some really important stuff in there, and…”

“Do not worry,” Aurel says. “Your possessions should be in the same state in which we found them. I had them delivered to your room while you ate. We did not return them immediately because we were concerned you might wake up confused, and that is clearly not the case.”

“Oh, thank you.” At least she doesn’t need to worry about that.

“As for what you can do to help find your friends, well, this palace has an extensive library, which includes many resources on magical arts,” Aurel says. “It focuses on artifice for obvious reasons, but you may find information about magic that is more topical to you, as well.”

A library. All of this enormous palace with its strange and magnificent constructions and artifice and contraptions, and Isla hadn’t even considered that there might be a library.

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03.05 – Spells and Words

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After Isla describes the necessary preparation for the spell, Aurel takes her to a large and empty room with stone floors and a high ceiling. It’s nowhere near as ornate as the main atrium or the dining hall or Aurel’s study, but it is still elegant and clean.

“We used this room for storage until thirty-two and a half years ago, when we completed a new tower, and moved everything there,” Aurel says. “Except for special experiments, this room has remained empty since. This should be more than sufficient for your spell casting needs. Your requested ingredients should arrive imminently.”

Isla nods. “Thank you.”

Not even a minute later, another servant–or perhaps the same servant, it’s difficult to tell with their masks–arrives, bows, and hands off a tray with her needed ingredients. Isla accepts it gratefully, then takes the chalk and starts to draw.

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