Chapter 68: Ancient Mechanism

 

Having secured the funds and the equipment needed, possibly a little of manpower from Sennari’s ‘army’, Yuupiecca was all prepared to repair the great floating city of Divinatus. But before he could do that, he needed to know if the city was really repairable and if he could really get the thing moving across the ocean. Klauna had often linked the idea with the construction of the Iron Box Mark Three, not realizing the difference in scope.

“If you can make a large iron box like that move, then you can surely make a city sail across the ocean,” Yuupiecca rolled his eyes as he recalled Klauna’s words. 

She had always been unreasonable and a bit crazy since the day he met her, but this was next level. He needed to inspect the entirety of the walls and the floating mechanism. He needed to know if the plan was doable or if Klauna had gone full crazy. 

Because, if he can’t fix the city, then they might actually have to fall back to Plan B. A great weight was set on his shoulders as he, the other officers and a group of his selected engineers, made their way towards the large walls facing the ocean. The remainder of the Eighth Army stayed behind in the warehouse units in order to make camp and prepare themselves for the upcoming days or weeks.

And so, they arrived at the walls, towards the far end that faces the ocean. It was then that they finally understood that weird sensation that has been bugging the Ak’hims. As the strong ocean waves hit the walls of the city, the ground shook temporarily towards one side before soon wobbling back to the other side. The shake wasn’t as bad as being hit by an earthquake; rather, it was a soft noticeable bounce. Kazakiel likened it to the rocking boats on the sea. It wasn’t harsh, but certain people would definitely get nauseous about the matter if they aren’t used to it.

But this bounce proved one thing, a very important thing— that the city was indeed floating in the ocean, that the foundations were not anchored to the ground like originally seen from afar. That there were some truths to Klauna’s words after all.

Wanting to find more about the structure of the city, Blackmask was ordered to scale down the walls on the outside. He did so without question, accompanied by a few other Saboteurs. The task, originally thought to be easy, soon proved to be rather difficult as the mossy and slippery texture of the walls made it easy for them to fall. Not to mention the fact that the walls were rather hard to pierce through with their claws or tails. As a result of this difficulty, they had to cut their inspection of the outside walls short. Perhaps they would continue when the bulk of the flyers came back from the other missions.

“The walls seemed to be holding out fine for now, but it has corroded over the long years. It may prove to be a problem when we are in harsher waters,” Blackmask reported what he could report.

“The walls can always be reinforced, not a problem. It doesn’t need to last as long as the original walls, just long enough for us to survive whatever during the voyage. What about the foundation?” Yuupiecca asked.

“The foundation is thick and goes deeper than we originally thought. We are unable to investigate. We will need to enlist the help of the merpeople.” 

Yuupiecca nodded before suddenly going into a state of thinking. There was something that he felt was off about the whole thing.

“What’s wrong? Found out anything?” Kazakiel asked Yuupiecca.

“No… It’s just that… the foundations go deeper than you think? But the ground level is just here? And the city is in fact floating…”

Yuupiecca then stepped harshly on the floor below him. Trying to pick up the sounds coming off from his boots as he stomped the ground. Nothing of observable note was found.

“There is something strange about this. If the foundation doesn’t reach all the way to the bottom of the sea, then what lies below Divinatus?” Yuupiecca said to everyone in the area.

Everyone suddenly took interest in his question, going into a state of thinking as well, whispering to each other about the possibilities.

“Maybe it’s just air compartments? To make it float?” Yuuka replied with a possible hypothesis.

“Or it could just be more rocks or metal. General Cera did mention that the place was built to withstand natural disasters. Perhaps it was necessary,” Yuuki, the youngest of the triplets replied.

Yuupiecca joined the others for a while to think of the possible theories. His eyes wandered around as he consulted the knowledge in his mind when suddenly, he spotted a castle in the distance— a large out of place castle in the middle of the city. 

As a very imaginative young child and an expert in engineering, Yuupiecca knew that there was only one reason why one would build a castle in the middle of a city. It was there to hide something, under the guise of residence for the powerful. 

Well, not really. But why have a castle if one doesn’t hide secrets in it?

"I feel like beneath the city is something more than just a water barrier…  I bet we could find our answers there,” Yuupiecca said as he pointed to the castle.

“The castle?” Sennari asked.

“Yeah, the castle. Could you lead the way for us? There is something I need to check out,” Yuupiecca asked the fellow Analyst.

“I don’t know what you expect to find there, but alright,” Sennari replied as he started walking the way there. Everyone else followed behind.

 

* * * * *

 

Arriving at the castle, the group of males found themselves surprised at what was inside. It's a castle, so they were expecting influentials or Familias to be occupying it. Just like the castle in Prashyufa, they kinda expected there to be tons of maids and butlers walking around as well as a small private army within the castle, patrolling or standing guard. 

What they found, however, was simply a ton of Ak’hims using the giant castle as a place of refuge. There were no maids and butlers, only Ak’hims who had been driven away from their homes and came here to Divinatus as a result of the war. There were no guards or figures of authority in the area, leaving the Ak’hims to do whatever they wanted with the castle. 

The Ak’him civilians took interest in the Eighth Army for a while before going back to do their own things. They noticed that the officers weren’t there to cause any trouble.

“What’s going on here?” Kazakiel asked Sennari.

“It is as you can see. The place has long been abandoned. It was like this for as long as I could remember. It’s being used right now as a temporary shelter,” Sennari explained.

“Where are the guards? Aren't there any people running this place? One would think that someone would jump at the chance to take such a castle," Natahiniel asked. He looked around the castle only to see that it was unkempt with dust and small pieces of rubble everywhere.

“We are on the brink of collapse and you think there would be guards just lying around protecting a worthless castle?” Kazakiel said to him.

“That makes sense… but what of the Familias or the Nobilities? Do they not want to claim this castle?” Natahiniel asked another question.

“I don’t know. Maybe nobody wants to maintain it. There are a lot of stories and rumours about the place. Perhaps it is cursed? Perhaps there is an imperial mandate that says that the castle cannot be claimed? Who knows?” Sennari replied nonchalantly. He really didn’t give a damn about the castle.

“Knowing those fat slobs called nobles, I bet the place just feels unpleasant to live in. You know with the rocking and stuff," Yuuka said, contempt in his voice.

"General Cera mentioned that Divinatus was made to last against natural disasters. If what she says is true, then the shaking must have been really bad back in the days,” Yuuka added.

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s go,” Yuupiecca said as he moved ahead of the others.

"Start by investigating the walls. I want any hidden or secret rooms explored to the fullest. Anything of note, no matter how small, you report to me," Kazakiel gave out his orders to his scouts.

They saluted and began scouring the castle. Kazakiel himself stayed with the other officers as they began their tour of the castle themselves.

It took them a few hours, but the Ak’hims went through every nook and cranny of the place. They went from wall to wall trying to uncover some hidden secret, or maybe even find an instruction manual for the damn place, but none was found. Of course they couldn’t find any, the place must have been looted clean ages ago. 

“Well, that’s everything,” Yuuki said to everyone.

“I got my men to search everywhere, there is nothing of importance here,” Kazakiel said to Yuupiecca. 

Yuupiecca could put trust in Kazakiel’s word. He and his men were some of the finest scouts and assassins in the continent. If they said they search everywhere, then it means they searched everywhere. And yet, something was bothering Yuupiecca.

“Something is off. I don’t buy that the castle is clean for one second. This is a floating city is it not? Lord Klauna said that it used to be able to float and sail to different places. Then there must be an engine somewhere. The iron box will not move by just magic alone, it should be the same here. There must be something that moves this whole city, a heart," Yuupiecca explained.

For something as important as an engine that moves the city, it must be in an easily accessible place. They had searched the whole city and the castle above but found no such thing, nor have they heard of something similar. But then again, they weren’t there to search about what is above.

They were there to search what is below. 

“Perhaps there is something beneath the castle?” Natahiniel said to everyone.

The group came to a realisation with those words. In an agreement, everyone decided to go to the lowest place possible within the castle, going down the steps to reach a dark dungeon beneath the castle. The place was dusty, filled with foul air, and was dark. This place was reported by the scouts to be completely abandoned for a long time.

They lit up the place with magical tools and found a nice open spot where they would not be disturbed. Yuupiecca then ordered the men to smash the walls of the dungeon. They did so and other than skeletal remains, found nothing of interest. 

After a while, they finally laid their eyes below. With a swing of a mighty hammer, the floor broke apart and crumbled to reveal something below them. Their whole trip to Divinatus was filled with surprise and this was no exception. The officers of the Eighth Army had their eyes widened and their mouth slackened yet again. Voice of amazement let out unconsciously as they laid witness to the grandeur of what’s below.

It was a labyrinth.

The main entrance to a labyrinth to be exact. With multiple pathways that lead to god knows where. From above they could see very meticulously crafted yet large mechanical parts that had long stopped moving. 

Moving down into the labyrinth and lighting the whole place up, Yuupiecca and the others could see the grand scope of the entire place. All around them, they could see an ancient mechanism that had stopped working; either because the gears had worn out or the structure broke down somewhere. 

“This is… Incredible!” Yuupiecca could feel the fire burning in his heart, a burning sense of curiosity appeared within.

“Indeed,” Kazakiel agreed with him.

“Get everyone to gather here now!” Yuupiecca yelled out to his men. ”Kazakiel, I leave it to you to gather as much manpower as we need. Prioritise engineers and experts at their crafts. We will start by repairing the walls outside,” Yuupiecca said.

“Got it," Kazakiel and a small group of Ak’hims responded before leaving the labyrinth, to the above to gather the rest of the Army.

Yuupiecca, his group of engineers and Blackmask stayed behind, to begin an investigation of the vast ancient mechanism of the place. This must be the secret machine on how they were going to bring the floating city of Divinatus to sail the treacherous oceans. His heart pumped with excitement as he immediately got to work, bringing out his work apparatus.

Though his attention was caught for a short while as he witnessed a mural among the ancient gears. It was an image of the five Ak’him crest symbols in a circle. The five crests, the Analyst Crest, the Cunning Crest, the Saboteur Crest, the Succour Crest, and the Warrior Crest appeared in order on the wall. 

In the middle of the mural, in the middle of the five main crests was a symbol, a symbol larger than the other crests. It looked to be a mix between the five crests and bear an uncanny resemblance to the number seven and the symbol of the Kingdom. The Kingdom before the great separation.

Other than that, Yuupiecca was not able to identify what kind of crest it is. And neither can the other Ak’hims in the area.