THIS COULDN'T BE HAPPENING.
Suria fanned her arms out in front of her, and soft pink light fluttered between her fingers. She summoned a wave of energy and sent it crashing down the corridor. The guards steeled themselves against the onslaught, but while they were occupied, Ren leapt into the air, landing behind their line.
"Ren, wait!" Mori cried. "Don't let her do this!"
But Ren barely looked in his direction before escaping into the system room.
"Hold her off!" Terza commanded, before turning and following Ren inside. Cursing under his breath, Mori followed, leaving the battle to rage outside.
He hovered inside the system room amidst the rolling gears. Terza chased Ren through the tower, but Ren seemed faster, nimbler. He realised with a start that Ren would almost certainly destroy Mesembria as well if she wasn't stopped.
Now, now...this won't do at all.
The voice sounded at the back of his mind. The voice of the void. Mori jumped.
"How...?" Was all Mori could ask.
The tower's energy is my own energy. As soon as you brought it into the void, I was able to escape.
Mori started, remembering the chill in the synchroniser once he'd returned from the void. "You've been in the timepiece the whole time?"
The voice laughed. Yes, but you have more pressing problems right now. Ren will destroy this tower – my tower – if left unchecked.
Since you were kind enough to bring the energy from one of my towers into the void, I will do this as a favour for you. Something rumbled at the back of his mind. Let me out for a moment. I will sort this out.
Mori hesitated. For some reason, Argent's words about trust rose up in his head. "I'm starting to think there was a reason you were stuck down there."
Why this hostility, Mori? The voice crooned. You were trapped down there of your own accord. I was kind enough to offer a way out.
The kind thing would have been to let us out with no strings attached. You would have had us down there forever if I didn't have a way to stop you.
It had to be done. Some laws are inviolable.
Mori snorted. "I thought your power was absolute."
Mori felt the ice in the void's words. My patience grows thin, Mori. And you have little time. How long will you wait before another tower collapses on your account?
Mori stiffened. The void was right — this wasn't the time to be obstinate. But still, something about letting it out here made his blood chill.
"I want an agreement," Mori muttered. "You're fond of those, aren't you?"
A long sigh echoed in his mind, like a gust of wind in his mind. Very well, if you insist.
"I'll let you out, for one minute. Then you return back to the watch. That seems fair."
One minute? That hardly seems—
"We could go down to forty seconds, if you'd prefer."
A minute then. The voice tutted. Bargaining with a clockmaker. This is beneath me.
Above them, Ren hit Terza with a blast of light. The older clockmaker flew back through the system, slumping against a core gear.
Hurry, the voice urged.
YOU ARE READING
Machinae mundi
Fantasy❝ for is is not the nature of stars to burn; of that which is created to be destroyed?❞
