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Memories - The First Gear

Dealthagar hunched over his workbench. A small pile of gears, axles, sprockets, hinges and other widgets sat next to a handful of half constructed assemblies. Drayek's sandsucker worked admirably for gross clearing, but the force still damaged some of the more delicate relics hidden in the sand. A nest of sand scarabs had cleared part of the dig, claiming two laborer's lives, but the insect's ability to dig effortlessly through the sand was far more concerning to the Technocrat Primus. He had spent the last twelve hours manipulating gear ratios and drive mechanisms trying to make the most efficient replicant of the bug. They would make excellent scouts as the dig got deeper.

"The sun is nearly up. You've been down here all night."

He had been so infatuated with the drive mechanism, he hadn't noticed Ceinwyn enter the laboratory. "I am nearly done with this. I will be up soon."

"Is it critical?"

Interlacing his fingers, he rested his palms on the crown of his head as he contemplated the pile of mechanics in front of him. "Not really."

Her cool arms wrapped around him, and she kissed him between she shoulder blades. "Then you're done for now."

He smiled in pleasure as the kisses on his back and shoulders became more insistent. Her embrace grew tighter, and he realized by touch that although he was only wearing a wrap, she was wearing far less. He turned to face her, and was immediately lost in her violet eyes. "My apologies, my love. I nev..."

His atonement was silenced by a passionate kiss. His work on the translations, sorting the relics found at the dig site, and the day-to-day operations of Umbra kept his time at home short and busy. Her work to complete her task for the master of the Scholomance ate up most of her waking day. In truth, over the last weeks, they had seen very little of each other alone. A pang of guilt washed over him realizing he had spent most of a free day tinkering in his lab rather than with his consort.

Her arms enveloped his neck, and as her tongue parted his lips, he felt the beast in his chest growl in anticipation. He lifted her, and knowing this would not wait until they reached his chambers, he turned and dropped her on the stone counter. She immediately leapt from the workspace with a yelp, the force knocking them to the floor. As she hissed through gritted teeth in pain, he looked over her shoulder, to see a handful of his parts embedded into the pale flesh of her thigh.

---

Ceinwyn lay on her stomach turning a gear over in between her fingers, studying it. She flinched at the sharp pinch and heard the plunk of the part being dropped into a pewter bowl, as her lover tended to her wounds. "You really find these that fascinating?"

Dealthagar frowned. "I told you I was sorry. And yes...there is something entrancing, something alluring about the complexities and subtleness of the humble gear." She flinched again and he extracted a small cog that had buried itself deep.

"You've said that before." She shrugged. "I can see the power of technomancy. Your vats and my breeding program aren't that different. You can see all that in a gear?"

Free of the metal intrusion, Dealthagar rubbed his thumb over the wound, knitting the flesh back together, and then kissed the spot where the wound had been. "All done." She turned over, and opened her arms to him, beckoning him into her embrace. As they nestled into each other’s arms, he took the gear from her and held it up. "The gear is a symbol of destiny...of my destiny. Without it, I daresay we wouldn't be here, you here in my arms, any of this."

She rested her head on his chest sleepily, her hand caressing his stomach. "You don't think so?"

"It changed everything."

---

"Fools!" Dealthagar flung the door open, black sparks trailing from the edges of the eyeless leather mask he wore. "The future is here! A power we can be the lone masters of, and they deny it!"

Anna paused at the door, making sure none of the Order was within earshot. Dealthagar's manor was on the Southern edge of Caina, but Death knight patrols still kept the area free of rogue orcs, bandits and madmen. Closing the door, she turned to the red-clad wizard. "You need to control your temper. If one of the Ebon Council heard you..."

"I am not threatened by them." He snarled. "I am the Herald of Oblivion, the High Necromancer! I will not allow them to damn me for their lack of vision."

"They could convince Azalin to act against you." Her voice was low. "Smogg has already mentioned that it could be unhealthy for me to be associated with you."

Between the large cowl and the eyeless mask, most mortals assumed his vision was only otherworldly or limited in breadth. The opposite was true, as his surroundings were always clear to him. He watched her shuffle her feet, her subtle body language spoke volumes. She was an excellent travelling companion, and shared his enthusiasm for exploration. Was she was actually concerned for his well being? "Azalin would need to exit his crypt first. To be honest, I am more concerned with the Lord of the Death knights taking matters into his own hands. His and my relations have always been strained."

She nodded. Her hand fidgeted in her pocket. His Vision showed strands of arcane energy, loosely bound but accessible. "Anna, what do you have there?"

She smiled. "A gift." She took her hand from her pocket, and in her palm was a purple crystalline pyramid that glowed and pulsed with the energies it contained. "When we left the fortress the other night, I found this on one of the men we slew."

"Come!" He turned on his heel; he swept from the room, making a beeline to his private laboratory.

Most of his alchemical and necromantic experiments had been shoved aside after the first night they encountered Blackthorn’s forces. Handfuls of oddly etched gears and small alabaster catchebons that contained a powerful residual magical charge already sat in the midst of a dozen experiments. "This could be the keystone we were looking for."

He held out his gloved hand, and she pressed the crystal into his palm. "The bottom is the shame shape as the indent we found on that." She pointed to the mechanical gearbox they had taken from a smashed servitor. "I think it's a power source."

He smiled and pulled back a curtain, revealing a mostly reconstructed servitor. "That's exactly what it is."

Her mouth opened in shock and anticipation as he pressed the crystal into a small hatch and closed it. "I thought the Ebon Council banned you from performing the experiments on these..."

"Technomancy." His rotted flesh pulled into a wicked smile. "I call the art Technomancy, and I will not be denied." He touched several of the catchebons and the machine lit up. "Now let's see what it does." The contraption hummed for a moment before a grinding sound emitted from the chest and it turned back off. "Damnit."

"I cannot believe you have already gotten this far with it." Anna wrung her hands and her eyes darted to the windows. "It's loud."

"As long as I can make it work, I don't care how loud it is. Let it wake the dead." The ancient necromancer scowled and opened the chest casing, swinging it open like a cabinet door. "The damage we did was extensive. Most of the repairs have been guesswork." As he traced the lines and cables back to the center, he found a small cog that did not look right. Taking a thin chisel from the bench, he pulled it free.

It was a simple iron gear. Seven spokes. It seemed more ornamental that anything. Compared to the others, two of the teeth were damaged, rounded, cracked and out of square. Digging through a box of collected parts, he found a duplicate that appeared to be undamaged. Switching the axle from the damaged gear to the new one, he slid it back into the space in the chest cavity and closed the mechanism.

Touching the arcane gems again, the machine rumbled to life. "Servitor Unit HL-0341 Online. Query: Command?"

The wizard and the vixenish warrior's looks went to each other sharply. "What do you think it means?"

Dealthagar pursed his lips, regarding the machine's statement. He smiled, gambling. "Servitor, I am your master. You will protect me with all of your ability."

"Acknowledged." The machine turned to Anna, and long blades extended from its arms.

"Dealth?" Anna backed up, her hand on the hilt of her kryss.

The rictus grin returned to his face. "Servitor, stand down, she is an ally. You will protect her as well."

"Acknowledged." The blades withdrew into the arm housings.

"Go guard the front door of this structure, allow none to enter without my permission."

"Acknowledged." The machine stomped off, leaving the lab.

Dealthagar roared with laughter. Holding up the damaged gear, he rolled it between his fingers. "No weakness of flesh, no need for meat." He put the gear on a small length of chain and hung the loop over his neck. "Perfection."

---

Ceinwyn took the gear from Dealthagar. "So how did that lead you to me?"

He smiled. "Without Technomancy, I would not have left the Order. I would not have resurrected my flesh, and restored myself to life. I would not have embraced the Gargish virtues, and embraced Passion. Without Passion, I would never have felt love."

"And yet here you are again. Back in the service of Oblivion. Back amongst the Order." She pushed him onto his back and kissed his chest as she slid on top of him. "It lead you back here?"

"The gear, much like the Oruborous is a circle. The dragon eats its tail, the cycle begins anew." He lazily rested his hands on her hips. "As the gear turns, the rest of creation dances along with it. The beginning is the end is the beginning."

---

Original Post Date: Wed Feb 24, 2010