Michael

Hurriedly I sprint down back alleyways, leap toppled bins and scale chainlink fences. I know the cobblestone streets of the Iron City quite well, growing up on them, so whenever I get into trouble I’m always pretty capable at finding my way out of the situation.

“Stop thief!” 

Shouts come from behind me as two enforcers try to chase me down, the whirr of their weapons increase as one of them line up a shot. Climbing on a dumpster to jump another fence I hear a rush of air and release of pressure as a hook on a chain rushes by me, inches from my face. The hooks embed in the redbrick of the alley wall before releasing and returning to the enforcer’s ‘mounted claw’. The Iron City is home to Lux’s temple and as a result more disciples of Lux than anywhere. All disciples are told to learn and advance, discover and invent to gain favor with Lux. So it goes without saying that the Iron city would be the centre of all technological advancement. Weapons included. Just like the ridiculous hook and chain ‘clockwork claws’ all the enforcers use.

I’ve been chased before, it’s not uncommon for me to be chased by the law but I’ve never been caught. Really all I have to do is jump a few fences, maybe take to the rooftops then lay low in the industrial ares of city where the smoke from the smokestacks block out the suns. Really the industrial areas are the darkest places I’ve ever been outside of a black year. I rush around corners left and right, skipping into different streets. Until the enforcers are no longer on my heels.

I think I’ve lost them, I must’ve. There’s no sound of running behind me, although over the traffic of main street up ahead, I doubt I’d be able to hear anything anyway. I slow my pace to a walk, pull up my hood and do my best to blend into the crowd whilst walking in the direction of home. I’ve got to be more careful at the markets, they might catch me one day, honestly I think I use more energy stealing a loaf of bread than I’ll get from eating it. Oh well, at least Sophie will appreciate it. My little sister isn’t much younger than me, but she hardly get’s enough from working at the trading post to feed the both of us. She tells me to get a job at the clockworks, but no-one ever takes any regard of designs anyway. Sophie looks a lot like me: blonde hair, blue eyes and not too tall. She’s only fifteen - two years younger than me - but she more than handles herself.

Golems walk the streets between the crowds of people. Some carry goods, others are painted with the enforcer colors. Golems are one of the things that keep the Iron City ticking. Luxan golems are not like normal golems though, whereas golems animated by Shamans are composed of stone or wood and controlled by magic, Luxan golems are constructed of gears and elaborate clockwork by the most skilled clockmakers the city has to offer. Luxan technology is incomparable in complexity and the gear golems are forbidden to be leave the Iron city so their designs can’t be replicated. I hurry past an enforcer golem watching over the street, the 8 foot tall behemoth towers over even the taller citizens of the city. I cover my face little more to be safe and move quickly past it. 

I leave the busy main street and return to the quieter side alleys. Despite it being the main street, it’s the worst way to get across city. I used to sneak onto the commercial airships until I got caught. Sophie and I live on the far side of city and even taking my shortcuts the walk will take forever since the city is so huge. So, discouraged I dawdle. 

Without realizing I turn onto Clockwork Boulevard, the street on which Lux’s temple resides and I am met with stares from several giant gear golems. Lux’s temple itself is a majesty. The entire temple is composed of red brick laced with clockwork, giant weights rise and descend either side of the main entrance in a counter-unison fashion, a perpetual balance which winds the temple’s clockwork in a never-ending cycle. No one understands how the temple really works. Lux is known as the Devine watchmaker, he is the thought to be the smartest god and a thief of knowledge. It’s said that he gave his first disciples all his knowledge, sharing all that he knew and asked they build a magnificent temple in return but once the temple was done he stole the knowledge back and the disciples were none the wiser.

The two largest gear golems approach me, they dwarf the other golems on the street in comparison. Twelve feet tall and enormous, these are the two guardian golems of Lux’s temple. Metal plating cover their chests with Lux’s glyph adorned on them (Lux’s glyph of interlocking gears are found all over the Iron City). They tick loudly and giant cog protrudes from right shoulder of one and the left of the other. The guardians are mirror images of each other in all aspects except the glyph on their breastplate. These have been around since the temple was constructed, practically invincible and made by Lux himself to guard his temple. The clockwork guardians have guarded the entrance for as long as anyone can remember. They’re different from the other golems too, they have sentience of their own but rarely speak when spoken to. The fact they were approaching me was in truth a daunting.

Two giant red lights dimly illuminate what is obviously meant to be their eyes, it’s almost like a faint glowing cloud of red in each socket. One of them leans down and takes a-knee although it still towered above me. 

“Tell me Michael. Do you think you can steal the intelligence of others as well as you steal bread from a market?” 

I was taken aback. It knew my name. It knew I stole bread. It sounded almost human too. Not silent like the gear golems made by man.

“Of course I know you” It continued as if reading my mind, “I know you and your sister are struggling to survive on the streets of this city, I see the brilliance of your designs and I know that you are destined for great things.” It stood upright again, believing it has said all it needed to and returned to its post besides the grand entrance of the temple, the other guardian followed in turn. 

I gazed in awe at the clockwork guardians. They stood so still that its almost as if they had been that way forever. Had I really heard what I had heard? I walked up the stairs to the temple entrance. The entrance that only opens for those Lux deems intelligent enough of taking his oath. Lux stole the knowledge from his first disciples after giving it to them because he wanted his disciples to have to earn the knowledge of the gods. But he wants his disciples to be intelligent to begin with. You must want to learn and research and invent and master skills in all forms, only then do you get Lux’s blessing.

The main entrance is round with gear teeth along its edges. When I approach it the solid wood door lowers into the ground as the frame locks into place and rotates with the rest of the clockwork which lines the walls of the temple. I’ve never seen any of the other temples of the nine, but I’ve heard Lux’s temple is the most magnificent. The inside of the temple is huge. Giant wooden beams reach up to the ceiling and the floor rotates slowly around a huge round stone plinth. As soon as I step onto the floor I almost fall over. I didn’t realize how fast it was going. The plinth in the middle has a small fire-pit in the centre with flames that seemed to reach quite high. Spaced around the plinth is nine boulders, one for each of the gods and each inscribed with their own glyph. They actually look quite out of place in the temple.

I finally reach the centre and step off the rotating floor, an explosion of milky-white figures fill the what was once empty stone plinth. They look almost like ghosts, but everyone knows that these are people at the other temples, taking their oaths. I watch as two figures evaporate into a mist at Amlia’s shrine, there seems to be a line at Ur’s shrine and I see two figures attack another, the third figure goes down and the remaining two hold the fading light over Lokt’s shrine, most likely a blood sacrifice is part of that oath. Lux’s shrine stands out to me through the ghostly figures I’m surrounded by and I head towards it. 

Without hesitation I place both my hands on the top of the boulder and a rush runs through me. I’m blinded by light and ticking of clockwork fills my ears. The blinding light fades and suddenly I’m standing on an invisible plane in space, surrounded by the cosmos and right in front of me stands hooded figure whose face seems to fade away to an indistinguishable blackness beneath his hood. He reaches out to touch my forehead with his middle finger. His hand barely extends out the cover of his robed arms, his robe which covers his entire body but I could tell his hand was as mechanical as any clockwork I’ve seen. The moment he contacts my forehead the light flashes back and I’m lost in a rush once again.

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