Machinae mundi

xvii. severance

CLEAR, FRESH AIR SWIRLED PAST HIM.

Mori closed his eyes and breathed it in with a sigh. It looked like Ren's device dropped them right outside the clock tower on Aurelios: a tall, translucent pyramid-shaped building.

Mori couldn't help but stare. It was the first time he'd seen a tower that didn't just climb. It stopped seemingly just shy of the crystalline sky, a clear, cloudless blue that stretched on for miles.

The doors were already open. Ren marched through with long, determined strides. Mori and Argent followed behind, up several flights of crystal stairs until they reached the top room of the tower.

Their feet reverberated against the glassy floor as they stepped inside to a circular, open-air room. Crystalline arches surrounded the space. The sky seemed so close here. And behind its veneer of azure blue, Mori could make out stars splayed across the sky, a galaxy just out of reach.

He took in a sharp breath. They really were at the top of the world.

A seething mass of shadow sprawled out from the centre of the room. Dark vines trailed out over the floor, winding round the crystal arches. Ren approached the centre, glancing at the vines with a frown pulling at her mouth.

She reached the middle and drew back sharply. "Suria," she muttered.

Mori hurried over. In the centre of the shadow, a young woman lay unconscious. The tendrils wrapped around her body and dug into her skin, black veining spreading from the vines.

"What happened to her?" Mori said.

Ren shook her head. She reached for one of the vines, but it didn't move from Suria's body. "I need to get her out of here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mori said. "You said she was trying to destroy the towers."

Ren bit her lip. "If she's been trapped here this whole time...maybe she didn't."

"Then who destroyed Arkos?"

"I don't know." She looked at Mori and Argent. "Have a look around, see if you can find some unused timepieces. I'll try and get her out."

After they'd gathered enough, Ren got to work disassembling them and stitching together a new one with the spare parts. Mori watched her put it together, stunned she knew the system well enough to be able to make a timepiece right off the bat.

Finally, Ren wound it up. For a moment, nothing happened. Then light burst from the watch face. The shadows writhed and squirmed, and finally receded, shrinking back into the floor and disappearing.

Suria gasped and dropped to the floor. Her eyes flickered open, hazel-gold with flecks of green. She looked at Mori and Argent before her gaze fixed on Ren.

"Oh, Ren." She had a softer voice than Mori expected, airy and melodic. "You don't know how happy I am to see you here."

Ren frowned. "What happened to you?"

Suria sat up and got to her feet, brushing dust off her dress. "You were right. The secrets of the system, all the things we couldn't figure out. It was all hidden in the void."

"Don't tell me you were down there." Ren stepped away, shaking her head. "We agreed we'd leave that place alone, remember? What would happen if you'd ended up trapped down there forever?"

With a start, Mori realised she had been trapped. He'd seen her before, asleep in the void.

"It was the only way." Suria looked steadily back at her. "And I had a plan for getting out."