Chapter 343 - Clairoix

Foamy grey waves beat against a lonesome rocky beach, somewhere far away. Twilight was falling, casting cool indigo hues over the scattered clouds on the horizon. Light and shadow played off the sails of ships that were coming into harbour off in the distance. The darkened shapes of mountains broke up the horizon far to the east.

This is right by Seline Harbour. Yuzu recognized the shape of the city and its docks. It was only a day out from Noga City, and she had visited it many times before. Even though it was not the only port on the northern Kumin coast it was the largest, with a distinct bluish glow to its lights due to the gas that they burned to light their streets. 

Yuzu focused on the vision, spotting a woman walking alone on the beach. The tide was low, revealing a black silty sand bar. The woman looked to be foraging for clams, with a small lantern in one hand and a bucket in the other. After successfully digging up a pair of clams, she paused with a look of confusion on her face.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The faint sound of clockwork was coming from somewhere on the beach.

Curious, she walked toward the direction of the sound, sweeping the light of her lantern to and fro until the glimmer of metal in the sand caught her eyes.

The woman set down the lantern and bent over to dig out the object with her hands. She gasped as she lifted up a polished brass shell with intricate engravings.

The disc reflected off the eyes of the Reza family’s head of staff as she became enthralled by its power.

~

Yuzu followed the clockwork shell’s thread further back in time.

A storm howled around a ship in the dead of the night, towering waves crashed down on its decks as its sailors scrambled to keep it aright. 

The captain was yelling orders from the helm, when he was approached by three of his crew. Their eyes reflected an eerie brass light as they stabbed him multiple times and cut open his shirt, revealing the brass shell hanging on a chain around his neck.

The ship fell into chaos as the crew fought amongst each other under the thunderous waves, until it capsized and sunk into the depths.

~

Earlier still.

A battle raged on a different ship as it flew through a starry void. A girl in a bloodstained white dress fought against an Exalted crew, her face smooth like a steel mask. She moved with superhuman speed, metallic fingers long and sharpened like spears.

Eventually she fell, cloven nearly in two, and presented to the captain by his crew. The faint ticking of clockwork could still be heard from her heart.

“Toss her overboard.” The captain said with a grimace, “Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

~

The scenes were short, starting and ending abruptly. Yuzu didn’t have much control over what she could see, and in fact it took quite a bit of concentration for her to maintain the link to the thread.

At this point another vision bubbled up. Somehow she knew this was the last one, the first ‘memory’ of the shell.

A voice sounded in her ears from the darkness.

“There.” A soft female voice said, “It is complete.”

Yuzu saw a tall, thin girl sitting in front of a complicated and packed work bench. She had pale skin, long platinum hair braided in twin tails that reached past her waist. Her slender fingers were holding delicate looking tools as she set a final gem into the brass clockwork shell.

The girl, whose age Yuzu couldn’t determine, sat back with a straight posture, staying strangely still as she looked down at the completed trinket, as if she were a doll.

An old man with unruly white hair walked up next to the girl from the blurry edges of the vision. Without acknowledging the girl he picked up the object, bushy grey eyebrows furrowing as he adjusted his spectacles to examine the work.

After finding the work satisfactory he gently flicked the side of the shell with his hand. The intricate mechanisms inside the shell whirred to life and the gems began to glitter as spiritual energy flooded through it.

This old man must be the Clockwork God… Yuzu realized. And the girl must be his… servant?

“The design is still not perfect, but it will do.” The old man said. He then handed the shell to the girl, “Let us proceed, Clairoix.”

Clairoix nodded and stood, following the old man to another room. At this point Yuzu noticed that the girl’s chest, left shoulder and left arm up to her elbow were made of a polished yellow brass. Her flesh melded seamlessly with the mechanical parts.

On first glance Yuzu thought she might not actually be alive, but rather an extremely lifelike doll. After her experiences with the cultist servants who fell under the thrall of the Clockwork God, Yuzu felt that this god was tyrannically controlling his ‘followers’, using them as tools to meet his goals.

However despite Clairoix’s reserved and almost doll-like demeanour, Yuzu saw some humanity in this girl’s eyes when the old man said the design was sufficient. Yuzu felt that the girl had worked hard on the shell, and that the old man had acknowledged it.

She’s proud of her work. Yuzu thought. More than that, it feels that the Clockwork God entrusted her to do this important task. So she shouldn’t just be a mere servant. A devout apprentice, perhaps?

The Clockwork God led the way to the adjacent room. Clairoix followed the old man with complete, emotionless obedience.

Yuzu tried looking around, but the vision was blurry aside from the two Exalted and the shell. All she could tell from her surroundings was that they were in an enclosed space with no windows. A dull, low hum pervaded the space, as if the air were vibrating from the oscillations of some large unseen machine.

In the next room the pair arrived at a table, upon which the body of a girl was lying. Numerous tubes hung down from the ceiling, feeding the strange and complex brass equipment that surrounded the table. These tubes also fed into complicated looking implements that were attached to the girl’s arms, legs and head. From the numerous gauges and dials on the machines Yuzu could only surmise that they were taking measurements of some sort. But the complexity was far beyond anything Yuzu had seen.

The only part of the girl’s body that didn’t have anything around it was her chest, which felt indecently exposed to the open air.

 As they approached the girl’s features became visible and Yuzu realized that this girl was the same as the one fighting in her previous vision, that was eventually cut in half. The girl’s inhuman agility and violent ruthlessness as she battled in a blood stained dress had left a deep impression on Yuzu. However seeing her here on the table hooked up to countless machines, Yuzu felt a sense of sorrow for the girl.

“Make the incision and install the clockwork heart.” The Clockwork God said, “You’ve assisted me with this procedure many times, but this time I will only observe.”

“Yes, father.” Clairoix said, pulling over a small side table with numerous medical implements.

Without any hesitation Clairoix took a scalpel and drew a bright red line straight down the chest of the girl.

Yuzu looked away, feeling queasy as she caught just a glimpse of the chest cavity being opened by the tall girl’s slender fingers. The beating, pulsating heart of the patient was quickly exposed. Yuzu felt queasy at the sight, but resisted the urge to look away as the girl performed the surgery.

Clairoix worked quickly, her fingers steady as she replaced the patient’s heart with the clockwork shell. The major arteries and veins were attached to openings in the shell, and as blood began to flow through the tubes within the device its gears whirred to life.

After the installation was complete the Clockwork God finally stepped forward and examined the work. He used a thin, long screwdriver-like tool to prod at the various gears and machinery within the shell, observing how the dials on the machinery reacted as he made small adjustments.

Eventually he was satisfied and closed the lid of the shell. He stepped back to let Clairoix finish the operation and suture the wound. The old man began disconnecting the various measurement instruments as Clairoix cleaned off the blood and dressed the wound. She then retrieved undergarments and a white dress from a nearby container and dressed the girl.

The girl remained in a deep coma throughout the whole process. Now she lay upon the table, looking completely normal and healthy. If Yuzu hadn’t just watched the operation take place she wouldn’t have guessed there were anything wrong.

The Clockwork God reached out and gently took hold of the girl’s chin, turning her head to face him. He was gentle but firm. There was no sentimentality in his movements as he used his thumb to open the girl’s eyelids. He frowned thoughtfully as he looked deep into her glazed eyes from multiple angles with the same scrutiny that he had given to the clockwork shell when it was completed.

He seemed to be satisfied with his observations as he closed the girl’s eyes and stood back from the foot of the table with Clairoix at his side.

His eyes glimmered with a metallic sheen as he spoke a single word in ancient Fortus, “Awake!”

Mystical energies flowed in the room as the girl was animated by the command. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes as if she had just woken from a deep sleep.

The vision became hazy and dark, ending shortly after.