Advanced Clockwork: Young Writers Prize 2014

Chapter 1

The scorching sands seemed to go on forever and ever as the bright orb in the sky beat down with it's intense rays, making the beads of glass and rock shine like diamonds in the ruff. It was only midday, making the heat on this baron wasteland the hottest it will ever get. No one would be foolish enough to cross the sand stroked land during this time, not a single soul.

Except one.

On a creation of his own design, a young man traveled over the sand dunes with ease, the pistons and gears making loud ticking and popping noises as the steam escaped from the exhaust pipes. He revved the clockwork engine, letting it let out a small roar as it zoomed faster over the terrain. Letting his inky black hair swish in the wind, he kept a watchful eye on the landscape around him, searching. For what, he didn't even know. All he knew was that he was going to be the one to find it.

As a child, this young man grew up in a changed world. The Evolved, as the people of the earth have come to call themselves, found a way to make the world better. They brought back the soil, the trees, drinkable water, actual fruits, architecture, work, an economy, everything that was lost to them so long ago. The Evolved had made a perfect society, no one man holding too much power, no technology that would slowly kill the world and themselves in the process, no war. Only peace, serenity, and equality. They used the mettle's from the mines to create parts and machines that created the steam based power source, clockwork appendages to replace those which were lost at one point or never had, even some going as far as to create simple toys and luxury items. Everything had been harmonious, perfect in a simple seance of the word, till one dark day. One man, claiming to be a prophet of gods no one had know existed, gathered people up an army of followers and claimed himself to be the immortal king of this world. Not everyone was happy, but every attempt to dethrone the unwanted king lead to death, not one of them his. The traveler's father, being one of the closest and first followers gained the title of Lord in the capitol city of the New Steam Republic, Delphinium.

But, there was a story that the explorer had always held to his heart, the story of the Floating Cities. This story was vague at best, but so are most, but it had captivated him like a bird in a copper cage. As the story went, just beyond the borders set up by the King, there was a cities that used to float above the surface of the world before they fell. As some would say, the gods took their advancements as offences to them and struck the lavish cities of silver and blue down and barrier them in the sands to never be found again. Other people, the ones who did not believe in the tales of gods, said that this was actually from the time of the Apocalyptic Event that made the earth the way it is today. That these floating cities were what separated the rich from the poor people of the earth. And the day they fell from the sky was the day when their power source just shorted out.

This explorer, after at least ten to eleven years of listening to these stories, took off to the border to find out if they were true. Sure, he had to make a few bribes and a whole tone of false threats to get by, but it would be well worth it in the end when he was the one to shout to the world that he was the discoverer of the forgotten and finally earn some respect from his father at last. But, by the way the journey was going so far, it was going to take a a whole heck of a lot of wishing and a sprinkle of miracles to find it.

Stopping on the top of a high dune, he whipped the sand out of his brown leather goggles and ruffled his dust covered hair with brown workman's gloves that were equally as dirty. Groaning slightly, he removed the oil smudged bandana from around the lower half of his face as he retrieved a canteen of water from his archaeology tool belt and tilted the continence into his dry mouth. He whipped his mouth with the puffy white sleeve as he scanned the area, hoping that this was as far as he needed to go. He hung his head in disappointment when he spotted nothing from atop his perch, shaking his head as he readjusted the bandana and began to put back on the goggles.