Katie

“Beware of the broken clock that ticks, thus do demons of steam and steel follow.”-Imperial Daemons, chapter 8. 

Heavy footfalls and shadowy figures close in on the girl, weapons drawn but low. Behind them stands an relaxed Ironguard, idly sharpening its blades. 

A giant of a man stands at the doors, yawning and popping his thick, callused knuckles, thoughts lost in boredom. 

One of the figures reaches for her.

Katie opens her eyes and spits the poisoned drink at the man, who out of shock ingests it. He feels his head grow light and dizzy. 

She kicks her feet’s back and with a boom sends the chair rocketing backwards, knocking the man behind her to the ground with a satisfying thud. 

The poisoned man clutches his forehead and loses grip on his axe.

She leans her arms on the table and twists them around, spinning her legs in a circle and slinging the chair through the room. Each and every of the remaining mercenaries fall on the ground as the weaponized chair rams into their bodies, until only the mechanical soldier and the giant remain. 

The intoxicated mercenary feels his knees grow weak.

The iron guard charges her. Fury twists her face and with a scream she kicks a gale of wind against the long table and it flies at the robot, who flicks its blades and calmly strides through the destroyed table. 

It thrust its sword forward but Katie vaults on its tip and stabs its eye sockets with a knife. 

“Error. Ocular sensors compromised. Probability of successful capture 23%. Switching power to Auditory sensors.”

She smirks and in a blur of motion bounds backwards and perches on the giant's shoulder. 

The envenomed man’s eyes roll into his head, his consciousness slipping. 

“Over here!” She chirps, patting the man’s bald head with an impish wink and pounces away. 

“Target located.” The machine screeches. With terrifying speed and blades at its sides it runs at the oversized thug, and he retaliates by grabbing them in the air. 

“It’s me you dumb scrap!” His rough, but surprisingly high voice shouts.

Katie comes down on the ground, she whips her hair up and kicks her back feet like a ram. 

A gale of wind howls to her enemies, and they crash against the wall, unconscious and defeated. 

The poisoned mercenary finally falls to the floor at last. It’s over. 

“A shame none of these arseholes thought to duck.” 

A terrible high pitched static shrieks through the air. 

“Judging by all the noise it seems you’ve escaped Katelyn.” Pietro’s distorted voice taunts. 

“Where the fuck are ya, ya cunt?!” She roars, her normally soprano voice closer to a contralto now. 

“Oh, somewhere far, far away. But worry not! I can communicate through these speakers and see you through cameras and sensors, at least here.”

“What the hells are you talking about ya daft tit?”

“Oh...nevermind.” He chuckles, as if he was a child playing with his food.

“Do you know where you are? You’re in the Clockwork mansion. A very special place. Only a few of its kind exist! One for me...and a bigger, better, and more..special one for the emperor himself.” 

The sound of gears shifting haunts her ears. The room shakes, then seemingly splits apart in the middle, twisting her legs apart. 

“Ashes!!” She hops to a side and crouches, panic flaring in her green eyes. 

Within a matter of moments, most of the floor was gone. The hole that was left in its wake was nearly as big as the room itself is.

“Did you like that? Just a taste of what’s to come.” 

Her eyes twitch at the unnatural sight before her, she smells...Sea water? Her eyes flick down and she finds herself looking straight at the exalted ocean, bordering both the empire and the mainland. 

“I…” Speechless, she stumbles on her feet. 

“This is a new age, Katelyn. An age of steel and machine. The time of magic...is over.”

Her pupils dilate, and her body reacts to the bulky footsteps behind her. She throws her head back, and stares down her reflection in the shiny blade as it just barely misses her.

With raw fear gripping her veins she crawls away, each dodge of the steel creature’s swords closer than the last. 

She chokes out a gasp, and she takes a leap of faith across the gaping hole in the mansion. 

Katie rolls onto the opposite side, and bares her teeth at the machine. “Come on then.” She whispers coldly. 

“Delinquent found. Estimated chance of successful capture, 47%. Moderately acceptable odds. Assessing memory banks for distance measurement.”

She waits, jaw clenched. 

It lowers it’s rusted limbs, and jumps in the air like a springrazor. 

Her pupils flash a daisy white, and she slides her leg across the floor. Her motion creates a searingly sharp blade of wind, rushing for her artificial opponent with breathtaking speed. 

Her magic meets the creature of artifice. The wind magic makes it miss its leap, Instead it barely catches the edges of the floor, before slowly losing its grip. 

“Probability of demise, 99.7%. Shutting dow-“ An abysmally high static noise bleeds her ears. “How interesting…” A low baritone mumbles. The same static noise comes from the ironguard once again, then fades away.

“-Shutting down.” It let’s go, falling into the exalted sea below.

Before she can catch her breath, the floor creaks again and begins to split apart even further. Katie gulps and darts to a lone, rustic red door. 

“Ah. I have to admit this is more entertaining than I thought. But a fair warning, girl...I think you’ll find that time...isn’t always what you’re used to...in the heart of the mansion.” 

Her lip trembles as she reaches for the door handle. 

A feminine, but twisted voice echoes from the swappers. “Arrival of Imperial Guard forces in T minus 59 minutes.” 

“Better hurry up, child.” Pietro taunts, before breaking into mocking laughter. “They’ve brought Witchborn...they eat Fabled with powers just like yours for dinner.”

She draws a steady breath, and enters the depths of the clockwork mansion. 

Her feet drag across the cold, titanium floor and she shudders, hugging herself. Katie had been in the mansion more then she’d care to admit, but she barely recognizes it anymore. The halls had a warm, inviting if slightly prudish feeling to them before. She was particularly fond of the many torches and cozy fireplaces decorating the manor. But now? 

Strained, artificial screeching and clanking noises emanate from the walls, and the ever present ticking sound sends shivers down her spine. The torches, cancels and fireplaces had all gone out, instead light shone from the windows and places she couldn’t even see. She has to get out of this horrible place! It was as if the mansion was haunted by a crooked inventor’s spirit.

A clicking sound ripples through the air, her neck snaps to the source. She gawks at the moving fireplace as it seemingly...switches places with something behind it, like it’s on a twisted carousel. 

Katie locks eyes with Lando and Eliza, a soulless look in their eyes. 

“Are...you guys alright?” She whispers, hugging herself. 

In perfect sync their empty eyes look at her, and they just...stand there, motionless. 

“Um…” 

There’s that sound again, tick, tock…

The servants tilt their heads, still in sync. 

“I’m...just gonna go, aye?”

The ticking grows louder, faster. 

The servants charge at her with clunky, but eerily precise movements. 

Katie gasps and breaks into a sprint, putting as much distance between them as she can. She cranes her neck to face her attackers. “What the fuck is wrong it’s ya?!”

She came to regret looking. 

Their eyes move with unnatural, calculated speeds. And in the sharp lighting she saw a faint glimmer in their eyes. As if light was being reflected off glass. 

Then it hit her, she stopped dead in her tracks. 

“They’re nae...human.” Her face pales like bleak snow on a freezing winter’s day. 

“Fuck…” Katie mutters under her breath, her face stuck in a silent scream. 

The humanoid machines reach for them with their cold hands. But she tumbles away and continues her sprint. 

“Yes, they’re machines. Prototypes to be exact. Who knows?” Pietro laughs darkly. “Perhaps you’ll find the real ones somewhere. If…”

“Arrival of Imperial forces in T minutes 51 minutes.”

“You have the time.” Pietro taunts, his tone is high-pitched and jovial, like a mad jester. “Better run along, Katelyn. Isn’t that what you’re good at?”

Katie’s lips twitch. “Fuck you!” 

Low laughter rings through the halls. 

She turns a corner, the floor shakes and vibrates. Cogs turn and creak beneath the floor under her feet, and likewise, several bursts of steam escape the numerous pipes on the ceilings. All while that constant, soft ticking sound goes on still, as if unbothered by the mansion's workings. 

Before her very eyes, a whole room moves backward. Then lowers itself down, only to be replaced by another. The new room settles in with a loud boom, and opens its doors, revealing nothing but darkness inside. 

“Okay?” Katie shrugs, brows furrowed. 

She waited, for ironguard or more mercenaries or clockwork humans. Or anything really! But nothing came, and her attackers had suddenly vanished. 

There was little noise left, save for the maddening ticking. 

Katie stands there, gawking at the beckoning darkness, in silence. 

“The bloody fuck is this shite, Pietro?” She shouts, clenching her tiny fists. 

A shrill screeching noise echoes in the distance, only aggravating her further. “Answer me!!”

But no reply from Pietro ever came. 

“Arrival of imperial forces in T minutes 48 minutes.”

Katie blinks, a flash of fear crosses her face. But her fear gives way to hot-tempered rage as she stamps her foot. “Oh, go to the burning hells ya bastard!” 

“I’m nae scared of some darkroom! I’m nae a child…” Without mulling it over she rushes inside the black room, anger fueling her courage. 

A sudden flash of light blinds her eyes. When Katie’s eyes leisurely open she finds herself staring at an audiograph, centered in the middle of the empty room. 

She takes a deep, courageous breath, and moves to turn on the device. 

“Hi sweetie,” Her mother’s gentle voice soothes her weary ears. 

“What?…” Katie’s eyes water at her mum’s delicate, loving tone. 

“If you’re hearing this, no that’s not right...I...I’m making this for you in case I don’t come back. I don’t intend to be gone long enough for you to notice as I’ve got a rare opportunity to rescue your sibling. I have no desire to frighten you, but, I know I might… not return. The empire has grown more powerful than I thought.” Her voice trails off, a somber tone in place of her usual cheery one. 

“Pee-to-I mean Pietro will take care of you. And if he doesn’t or he hurts you...I will end him. This, I swear. But…” 

Katie hears her mother sob, and tears of her own travel down her cheeks. Carefully, she hugs the machine, closing her eyes as she listens to the message.

“I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry. I don’t know if I’m being selfish but it sure as bloody hell feels like I am...I found you, wandering on the streets of this cursed land. Like a...miracle. I didn’t even know the empire took you! I only came here because they also took your sibling...if I had known...oh Kaitie, my Caity...I’m so very sorry...I intended to tell you when you’re older but…”

Katie hears her mother release a long, sorrowful sigh. Her grip tightens just a little. 

“If you’re listening to this, you’re probably old enough I suppose...you have a family.”

Her eyes shoot open, her breath catches in her throat. 

“They’re in Cintra. You deserve to know. You probably figured not to chase after your sibling as they’re god knows where now if I failed. Likely serving that Cúl tóna(dickhead) of an emperor… Listen to me, sweetie. You need to-“ 

Her voice grows distorted and mangled. Katie flares her nostrils at the intelligible recording. “I need to do what?! Come on you can’t do this to me!”

Eventually, her voice returned to normal, and Katie’s shoulders slump. “-I’m sure you’ll be happy there. Although if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably get annoyed with the rules and politics. All that prissy garbage...pfft.” 

Katie giggles, another tear trickling down her cheek.

“But I…I want you to know that it’s not your fault. Trust me, it isn’t! I love you, Katie.-“

“I love you too mummy.” She whispers, wiping her lashes.

“-I wish I could just stay with you but your sibling is in the emperor’s claws...it’s more than a mother can handle. I just can’t bear it. I know I’m…weak. But I’m crafty! Ha! These folks are too cocky to expect me to infiltrate them disguised as a maid! Heh...cocky…” 

Katie snorts, and for a moment, her heart beating a little easier. 

“Anyway...An empire is a dangerous place. Their hatred for all things magic...if my sense of time is correct, then it’ll be more dangerous than you know when you hear this. A shadow of old grows in the land of newborn steel...I didn’t make this up, it’s in the prophecy of Nimue! Stuffy bitch. Still, she’s seldom wrong with her work I guess...but you get the point! Maybe...maybe someday I’ll see you again. But even if I don’t...be happy, Kaitie. I’m proud of you.” 

A muffled voice calls for her in the background.

“That’s my ride. I hate goodbyes...so until I see you again, sweetie. Mummy loves you.”

Katie snatches the punch card from the device, and carefully puts it in her dress pocket.

“I have a family…” She dries her tears. “I have a family.” Her eyes blaze with a newfound determination. “And I’ll find them. I’ll find you, Mum..” 

She clenches her fists until they turn red. “This, I swear. By my blood and gods.” Slowly she turns, then kicks herself off with a shockwave of power, sending the Audiograph crashing against the wall.

“Arrival of Imperial forces in T minus 42 minutes.”

She moves to step out of the room, but squeals and stops herself at the last second. 

“Ashes?!” 

After being so lost in her mother’s words Katie hadn’t noticed the sounds of gears turning and cogs moving along in a perpetual rhythm, and she definitely hadn’t noticed the disappearance of the halls.

Instead, there was just a void where the halls used to be, save for the steel beams serving as rails. 

Her eyes were drawn to the replacement structure moving in, and with a racing heart, she waited. 

“Arrival of imperial forces in T minutes 39 minutes.”

“Shit!!” Katie’s breathing grows more rugged with every exhale. “Come on, come on…”

At last, the structure clicks into place. She hops inside and makes a run for it. Time wasn’t on her side and she hadn’t a single heartbeat to spare. 

A large pipe hisses, and opens its valves, revealing an infantry of wandering spheres. With the grace and magic of a child’s first steps, they wobble into Katie’s path, forcing her to halt. She readies her body: muscles tensed in an athletic stance. The spheres continue to move, each warrior sizing the other up. Katie watches her reflection in the movement of the polished bronze of the orbs until they stop.

An array of clicking and whirring noises escape the little balls. Her heart skips a beat at the sight before her. 

Featureless humanoid figures pop out of the spheres, armed with crossbows and hammers for limbs. Despite their humanoid bodies, their faces had a slight point to them. As if representing a bird’s beak.

The robotic spheres point their weapons at her.

“Bring it on.”

A volley of bolts zips through the air. 

Katie opens her hand, slides under the bolt salvo, and stops behind the creatures. She swiftly balls her hand into a fist, her eyes flash white, and a current of wind whips the bolts back to her attackers.

Undaunted by their damage, the spheres look at her. If they had eyes, they would’ve burnt with a vengeance. 

“Fuck.” She whispers, her voice tremulous and timid. 

Faster than most could keep up with, the artificial creatures reload and barrage her with another array with bolts. She draws a sharp breath. Her body moves like an agile snake and doges the bolts. her turn. 

She points her hand at her enemies. Her fingers tap in the air in a random but steady rhythm. Tiny balls of wind pop up all around the spheres. She twirls her wrist and snaps her fingers, the balls detonate. 

Katie grins at the spectacle of watching the robots clump together in a messy heap. Currents of wind cover her feet, and she charges the helpless machines. With a leap and a powerful kick the spheres scatter in the air and all fall down, she lets out an excited breath and continues her journey through the mansion.

What awaits her after one too many flights of stairs down is nothing but a hallway shrouded in thick, swirling fog.

Katie shakes her head and continues forward into the misty foyer.

From all the years she lived in Arivel, her trained eyes could see in the mist like no other. She spots rows after rows of display cases, this time housing many magical artifacts and dusty tomes. 

She wrinkles her nose at the antiques.“How boring…” 

Katie frowns, the air feels...different here, somehow. Staler, dirtier. Almost...contaminated. 

“This place is giving me the creeps...more than the rest, I mean…” She rubs her arms, sweating with fear. but she goes forward.

“Arrival of imperial forces in T minutes 38 minutes.” 

“Dragon curse you…” She murmurs, despair prickling her heart. Will she ever get out of this horrible, unnatural place?

She barely even notices the ticking noise anymore, until it rapidly picks up speed. 

Katie flinches at the sound of a footfall, heavy and sonorous. Like a giant’s foot. 

Her eyes wildly dart across the misty alcove, searching for the source. She meanders forward, and squeaks at a meek, ethereal voice’s murmurs.

“Who goes there? Please...I’ve told you...I do not know the answers you seek.”

Katie tilts her head, meandering forward. “Um...hi?”

“You are...Of the Fae, born of Fae and Sky. What brings you to this place?”

Katie grits her teeth, then slackens her jaw. “I trusted the wrong person. Or tried to anyway…”

“I see.” The voice echoes. “I was lured here by one of your kind. He promised to protect me.”

The mist around her dissipates. The sound of chains jingling haunts her ears.

 A humanoid figure walks out of the remaining fog, but their whole body is made of the same mist that surrounded her moments ago. She takes a large step back. 

“I do not wish to harm you, born of the Fae. I doubt I even could if I wished. I am...merely a spirit of water, inhabiting a form of vapors and mist.”

Katie’s posture relaxes, but she stays put. 

“Pietro, he calls himself.” The spirit begins, “But that is not his true name, this much I know. He...asks me questions I do not know the answers to. I do not understand the fog that covers this...land. I am no elder...he keeps me here, away from my home. I do not understand…”

She walks up to the spirit, and instinctively lays a hand on its shoulder. To her surprise, it doesn’t fall through. “I’m so sorry, what’s your name?”

“I have none your human tongue could speak.”

Katie shrugs. “I’ll just call you ceo.”

It was difficult for her to decipher its expression, its whole face being made of mist and all. But she thinks she sees the faintest traces of a smile. 

“Fog, in the tongue of the Fae of old. I approve.” 

Katie returns its smile with one of her own, and the mist making up the spirit’s body dances, as if it’s happy. 

“I am grateful, child of the mischievous ones.”

“You’re welcome, I’m Katie!” She holds out her hand, and the foggy spirit gawks at it. 

“You wish for me to admire your hand? Very well.” The being of mist stares intently at her hand. 

“Uhhhh...nae?…” 

“Oh.”

Katie clears her throat. “It’s a custom for when you meet somebody. You shake their hand and stuff.”

“I see!” The spirit gingerly shakes her hand. “What is next? A shaking of ones feet?”

She giggles. “Nah, just the hands.” Katie’s eyes fall on the Ebony chains clasped around their feet. Without hesitation she performs a slicing gesture, summoning a blade of wind to cut the bindings apart, but it fails.

“These chains are made of Heartsbane. Magic will not harm them. But take comfort that even if you could free, it would not change my fate.”

Katie’s pupils dilate. “You’re dying?” 

The spirit watches helplessly as her eyes widen and rim with tears. “I am. I have been here too long, in this blighted castle. The air is infected with man-made poisons, and it has been many moons since I have seen clean water. But do not feel remorse, I will join my family at Alyria’s side.”

Her lips quiver. “You’re nae the first?” Katie whispers in a quiet, shaky tone.

“I am the last. There was one other, but she has long since fled. I stayed because I believed my kin yet lived. But now I take comfort knowing I will see them very soon. But do not mourn for me, child. Spare your tears for what is to come.”

She frowns, her throat tightening. “What do you mean?” 

“The way I say it.”

Katie suppresses a scowl. 

“Forgive me. I should not have said what I have.” 

Her features soften. “It’s alright. I’m just…confused.”

“Someday you will be bewildered no longer.” 

She chuckles, despite the sadness clouding her features. “Thanks, I think…”

The corridor shakes, as if but inches away from the epicenter of an earthquake. “My warden…” The spirit mumbles. 

An inhuman scream reverberates off the walls, she can feel her body tremble at the raw sound waves crashing through her. 

“Thank you for your kindness. You have made my final hour better than I could’ve hoped, now go. It is near.”

Katie frantically shakes her head. “I’m nae gonna leave you here!”

“Go!”

A colossal machine lifts its rusted, oil-soaked joints, its clanking bulky form stomping towards Katie. 

She chances one last look at the water spirit, then sprints away. “I’m sorry!!”

“There is nothing to be sorry for. Farewell, daughter of the Fae.”

She focuses her thoughts on her running, one foot after another. Katie looks up at the monster, and despite her trained eyes, even she couldn’t see how tall it really was or what it even exactly looks like in the fog. But the towering monstrosity of steel’s mace and a blowtorch, combined with its dozens of ever moving red lights shrouded in mist was deterrent enough. 

With nowhere else to go, she decided to brave the giant’s wrath to make her escape. Katie runs, stomps her foot down, and soars through the air. 

It’s over before she even knows what happened. Something icy cold and heavy hits her leg, and she slams into the wall, groaning.

Katie bites her tongue when she falls on the ground, her back and leg throbbing wildly with pain. 

She hears a monstrous, synthetic roar, and the unmistakable sound of laughter. Likely from the giant. “Fuck…”

Katie shakes her head, burying her pain. She couldn’t let the pain distract her, not now she has something to lose. 

She lowers her body, holding herself like a cat ready to pounce. 

Katie gazes forward, her eyes alight with burning tenacity. “And then the dragon said; O ye and your gods of metal. Your weapons and hearts of conviction and violence.”

The ground quivers at the steady march of the man-made giant. “I see a way out, a road ahead. A glimmer of fiery hope.”

The air currents shift and weave towards her. Katie’s hair streams around her as the air flows around her like a newborn tornado.

“There is a flame of my dreams at the end of this abyss. And I am not afraid.” Her feet tense and turn ever so slightly. 

She reaches her hand forward and closes it as if holding onto something.

“I will reach it.”

With a detonation of wind, Katie launches herself forward. Leaving behind a 

the shockwave that shatters the many lights and display cases, even momentary staggering the colossal metal beast. 

It screams behind her as she takes off, and just for a moment, she flies. Katie rushes through the door after door. Then she finds herself in a relatively open area, she could smell the sea below, but all around her were massive walls and dozens upon dozens of rooms on giants of carousels, slowly spinning around, to her anyway. 

At the middle of the turning contraptions are giant clockworks, their hands spinning in opposite directions. Hundreds, maybe thousands of well-oiled cogs, gears, and valves working in perfect unity to keep the giant machinery functioning and well.

Katie feels her well of power running lower then she’d like, but presses on.

Even though the carousels were enormous, they still didn’t encompass all of the mansion. But nonetheless, they have just about every room you can imagine, Dining rooms, theatres, entertainment rooms, libraries, armories and laboratories, dungeons…

For a brief moment, she gazes at the cells. Its prisoners are wide and varied, nobles and commoners, even a few street rats. She lays eyes on the real Lando and Eliza, and Eveline...from the bags of her eyes and thinly gaunt cheekbones, it looks like she’s been here longer than anyone else. But for how long? Weeks, months?

Her magic fails, snapping her out of her stupor. A few droplets of scarlet leave her nose, quickly falling behind her. She braces her arms and crashes through a window before her world fades to black.

“Arrival of imperial forces in T minus 29 minutes.”