Anchor Escapement
Standing before the Alchemist workshop’s entrance, Diana tried to ignore the dread coiling in her core. It had been days since she was last in the company of a friend, only leaving her quarters as necessary to maintain battle readiness—food, baths, training. It was easy when most of her allies skirted around her with skittish steps, avoiding her gaze, fidgeting nervously when forced to speak with her. She wanted nothing more than to eschew all company and stew in her bed for the foreseeable future after what had happened during their last mission, and yet...Please come to Arisanna’s workshop at 2200 hours, read the small rectangle of smooth cardstock left in her mail slot, Rose’s curlicued signature scrawled near the bottom.
That night, Rose opened the door to see Diana’s hesitant fist hovering in the air as the clockhand struck ten, already accustomed to the markswoman’s timeliness. As Rose ushered her inside, Diana smiled—her military discipline was perhaps one of the few remaining virtues that the Gloamspire Lance had yet to atrophy. Arisanna was rushing back and forth, gathering a messy pile of notes and glimmering bottles into her arms to clear off a table.
“Sorry Di, I meant to finish this up before you got here, but...” She smiled sheepishly, dropping the pile haphazardly onto another counter nearby, burying various herbalist trinkets Diana had no name for.
“Forgive us for calling you so late.” Rose spoke after a beat as she headed to another room, the sound of clinking porcelain and a roiling kettle following soon after.
“It’s fine.”
The workshop used to always smell of herbs, the powdery floral scent of dried fraysia blooms being her favorite. Yet tonight it had the acrid sharp smell of gunpowder and oil, another simple joy taken by this never-ending war.
“Hey, Di...” After some fussing about the room, Arisanna took a seat at the cleared table, an empty chair on the other end. “I’m sorry about what happened, it was a difficult mission and—”
“I really don’t want to talk about it.” Diana replied as she sat, struggling to keep her voice even.
“It was an accident, you shouldn’t blame your—”
“I said I don’t want to—”
“Arisanna, I think we should respect Diana’s wishes.” Thankfully, Rose walked into the room just then with a tray, two cups and a pot of steaming tea atop it. “We have something else on the docket, don’t we?”
Diana bit her bottom lip to keep silent as Arisanna pouted at the table, Rose placing down the tray and filling their cups. Automatons had no ability to eat or drink, but since Rose was made with the memories of a human, she always said she retained a compulsion to follow certain patterns from life. Whoever that human Rose had been, she had doubtlessly been a caring and thoughtful woman, considering how their Rose always tried to make her more organic friends feel comfortable, in both body and mind.
“The reason I called you here is...” Standing patiently beside Arisanna, hands folded neatly in front of her, the red-headed Automaton spoke slowly while the two had had a sip of their tea. “Well, forgive me for speaking so directly, but I wish to ask Claude to leave the Automaton Resistance.”
Diana couldn’t hide her surprise, her teacup clanging as she placed it down. “Now? But, we need him! If something were to happen to you guys, who else would be able to figure it out?!”
“While he may be our creator, I believe Automatons have grown far beyond his designs. His methods are ruthless, and he—” She hesitated for a moment, eyes downcast. “He still fails to understand my heart, as he did with the human Rose’s. I no longer believe he can change.”
“And Rosie believes that my current understanding of Automaton construction has progressed far enough that we won’t need to consult him either.” Arisanna added, her voice colored by an unusually serious undertone. “If something did happen, I mean...”
It wasn’t that she disagreed with Rose, his involvement with the Gloamspire Black Market even before the war showed a ruthlessness that Diana fundamentally disagreed with. The more she learned of him, the more flaws she found in his perfectly respectable demeanor. However, what if Arisanna was wrong, and she didn’t know something crucial? What if he turned against them, feeling jilted by their rejection of him? Losing Claude would gain them the moral high ground, but that meant that everything she had done was...
“Of course, I will discuss this with Dahlia and the other Automaton leaders, but I felt that as Champions and protectors of the World Seed, your agreement was paramount.”
Diana nursed the cup as the ensuing silence pressed down on her, doubt slithering closer with its shadowy tendrils, nipping at her feet. She couldn’t understand how Rose felt anything but apprehension, as this one choice threatened to veer the course of the war straight into the unknown. Everyone was moving ahead of her, while she was still losing control of the Gloamspire Lance and endangering her allies on the field—
Across from her, Arisanna stared back with a quiet question, her shoulders squared with confidence, do you trust me, Di?
After everything they had been through in this battle-torn world, she owed her friend that much.
“I’ll follow your lead, Rose.” Diana conceded, earning a sigh of relief from Arisanna. “This is your world, and you’ll be the ones to live with the consequences once we’re needed elsewhere.”
“She’s right, Rosie.” Arisanna turned to their ally, reaching to lay an empathetic hand on her forearm. “It's your future to decide, and you already know that I think your logic is sound.”
“Thank you.” Rose gave a slight nod of her head, smiling gently. “I am ever so glad that you two came to our world, and that you confided in me about your mission.”
Arisanna giggled at her formality as the Automaton walked away with a small nod, before turning back to Diana with a burst of nervous energy. “There’s something else, Di.”
Rose made her way back with a large, gleaming artifact in her hand.
A rifle that glimmered in the darkness like a lodestar.
It was almost resplendent when Rose placed it on a nearby countertop; the lamplight hitting the curling tendrils of gold that snaked around its mahogany body just so to reflect dappled golden light on the counter. Diana stood to inspect it on reaction. The craftsmanship gave the body a wooden, organic impression, with whatever metal it was shining like a lacquered antique. The most peculiar aspect was how it interacted with the shadows, nestling into the darkness instead of blending into it, the astral shard serving as its scope lens flickering in the lowlight.
“Which is why the Lance only eats through the bad stuff. But, it consumes it too quickly, creating a positive feedback loop for negative emotions until you burn out. Shadow’s Twin works by, as the name suggests, only reflecting emotions you already have, regardless of their alignment. In theory, by utilizing Umbra’s inherent qualities it—” Arisanna stopped herself with a small jolt, before smiling sheepishly at Diana. “Sorry, I’m rambling now. You, um, don’t have to use it, of course! It’s totally up to you.”
We always have the power to change our future, Di.
“I’ll take it.” Diana answered, more sure of this than anything else in recent memory. “It can’t hurt to try.”
Mechanical Oscillator
They raced through hallowed marbled halls surrounding Dorumegia’s Exalted Throne, Dahlia shouting commands to those behind as Arisanna and Diana led the contingency. Each second flowed past them as swiftly as sand down the hourglass, but Diana felt the scrape of their passing like lightning down her spine. Still, she felt none of her usual anxiety, no longer running away from but rather alongside her power; she’d even say that the weight of Shadow’s Twin in her grip was a comfort amidst the chaos.Chaos that threatened to consume Azoth whole. The Obliviate had infiltrated Dorumegia and taken control of the Kaiser’s glorious iron-wrought castle, Polhawk and Nico tricking both Cordelia and Tonoris into deploying onto the battlefield and leaving their home defenseless. In the midst of that, Vanitas had captured Rose, and Claude was nowhere to be found. Only with Dahlia’s help did they realize that Vanitas had sequestered himself inside the Exalted Throne, Rose’s life-signature blinking in Dahlia’s sensors like a heartbeat.
Every moment spent without Vanitas in her sights was a chance for him to escape, or worse. Diana imagined the world crumbling around them—the loss of the World Seed heralding doom for all sentient life in Azoth.
When the hallway was dyed an iridescent rainbow, stained glass windows detailing Dorumegia’s mythology looming overhead, they knew they were almost there. The pair of massive doors leading to the Exalted Throne came into view, but Diana heard the whistle of a projectile hurtling outside just as the shadows screamed at her to, “Stop!”
The crash was deafening; a thousand shards of scintillating colored glass heralded a veritable meteor. When the dust settled, Diana found herself crouched on the ground while Arisanna stood before her with her arms outstretched. Above the group shimmered a brilliant dome of refracted light, protecting them from the falling debris, each shard of glass and dark onyx rock bouncing harmlessly off it.
Amidst the smoke and refuse stood the luminous Aurous Kaiser, Her Excellency Cordelia. She wore her ivory and gold battle raiment with the majesty of an angel, her red mane of hair trailing behind her in a long and thick braid. The Atmos Shield, the embodiment of Dorumegia’s resilience and ingenuity, reflected the sunlight streaming directly into the hall. With no small amount of pride, her voice rang loud and overwhelming, the full weight of her royal blood behind it, “You shall trespass upon Dorumegia’s territory no longer! Leave or suffer our judgement!”
As if to punctuate her words, two more meteors crashed behind her, albeit with less destructive force. Diana immediately recognized the glow of Tonoris’ sword in the dust plume as Hector, Cordelia’s knight, rushed to her side, “Your Majesty, that was much too reckless!”
It was Arisanna who spoke first, letting the shield fall into sparkling motes of starlight around them. “We’re here to save not just Dorumegia but all of Azoth. Wasting each other’s time fighting is exactly what Vanitas wants!”
“Silence!” Cordelia stepped forward, “Once you leave, it is we who will rid the Exalted Throne of Vanitas’ scourge and retake the Mercurial Heart. It is only your stubbornness that dooms us!”
“You can’t be serious...” Diana stood quickly, incredulousness the only thing keeping her rage in check, “We’re on the same side right now; rejecting a helping hand is worse than stupidity, it’s delusion!”
“Your Excellency!” Dahlia rushed to Diana and Arisanna’s side, ”All us Automatons have ever wanted was to be able to live alongside the people of Azoth as equals. If Vanitas succeeds, we die like any other human; why can’t you see that?! If you let hatred guide your blade, you will find it turned against yourself!”
Cordelia stood unmoving, her expression inscrutable but for the fire burning deep in her sunset orange eyes.
“There were no reported civilian casualties, human or otherwise, on the Resistance’s way here, your Highness.” Finally Tonoris came to stand beside her, speaking in his calming, steady tone. “It is the Obliviate who have sown the seeds of discord here, and it is they who threaten to snuff the light of peace in Azoth now.”
“So you want to bend the knee to our enemies? After everything they have done?!”
“A truce! A temporary truce, after which we can decide what happens.” Diana shouted impulsively, stumbling clumsily into an attempt at diplomacy. Her chest was full of emotion, so unlike the howling emptiness she had come to expect on the battlefield. “W-We can always change, your Majesty. The first choice we make doesn’t have to be the last. You were only able to change Dorumegia so dramatically because the people in the country understood that, and you can do it again!”
Goosebumps prickled up Diana’s arms as Cordelia’s sharp gaze settled on her.
“I agree, your Majesty.” Tonoris spoke firmly, as if she was an ally instead of the woman whose curses had forced him to remain shield-less even now. “I’ve only ever raised my sword against the enemies of peace; the markswoman has earned my trust.”
A hushed quiet fell over them, time slowing down to a glacial pace before it lurched forward with the tick of Cordelia’s reluctant nod, before turning her back to them. “A temporary truce. We will discuss the particulars later.”
Without another word, Cordelia and Tonoris dashed down the hall, as Hector rushed to Dahlia’s side to aid her. It was exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure to follow after them in almost the same instant, Arisanna giving Diana a wide, victorious grin as she ran beside her. Behind them, Dahlia relayed orders, the details of their assault on the Exalted Throne fading as their mad dash brought them to and through the gilded doors of the throne room. The doors parted easily before their master, and Diana stepped into formation behind her and Tonoris, her Imperial military training returning with terrifying ease.
Though not the first time Diana had heard him speak, the thrum of his tenor elicited the same shocking primal fear in her. The mask covering the left side of his face hid his monstrous nature, a preternatural light piercing through its golden eye. She prepared Shadow’s Twin, eyeing the hand gripping Claude’s throat.
“You underestimate Dorumegia to your peril.” Cordelia snapped, the Atmos Shield whirring to life in her hand as Tonoris began to radiate golden hues. “The guillotine would be a mercy for a cretin such as you!”
When the pair darted towards the dais, giving Rose a wide berth, Vanitas brought his hand up in almost the same instant as Diana lifted the rifle, sights set on his wrist. From his open palm a tempest burst into existence, the wall of verdant winds forcing Tonoris behind Cordelia’s shield and obscuring their sight. There was no room for hesitation, and for the first time on this long and arduous mission, Diana found that she had none. Behind her the shadows thrummed to the steady beat of her heart, and Diana knew the bullet had struck true before it left the barrel.
Vanitas shouted in pain as the winds dissipated into nothing, revealing Claude crumpled on the ground before him gasping for breath and the Temporal Spectrometer falling gracelessly onto the floor. Rose’s half-finished shout rang out, and the Kaiser and her mercenary wasted no time; Vanitas found himself on the backfoot before Cordelia’s blade, while Tonoris dragged Claude to the Champions, Rose by their side.
As Rose and Arisanna took the weakened Claude from Tonoris, Dahlia burst into the chamber; their Automaton allies close behind.
“D-Dahlia, Rose—Run, you cannot be here...!” Claude rasped, pushing Arisanna aside as he dragged Rose towards Dahlia, his eyes wild despite his voice straining to reach above a whisper.
Diana saw Vanita’s mismatched eyes looking through Cordelia’s assault towards the two red-headed Automatons with rage. “You will not waste the gifts of the World Seed on those dolls any longer!”
Cordelia glanced back for only an instant, but it was enough time for Vanitas to maneuver around her defenses and land a punch to her gut. Cold, emerald gales thrashed about the room, obscuring his approach in a hurricane; until Dahlia’s scream cut through from the eye of the storm.
Vanitas’ hand hovered inches before Rose’s chest, held in place by Claude’s torso, shivering and bleeding. Diana had already known Claude’s love for his adopted daughter Dahlia, but she felt foolish for not realizing the depths of his devotion towards Rose herself until this moment.
“Live... All I wanted... was for you two... to live...”
Even if she never loved him back, even if friendship was all she could ever offer him, it had never mattered to him. Long after her human death, when all that remained was her visage preserved in alchemy, Claude would give not only Azoth’s World Seed to bring her back to life, but would trade his own to preserve it.
The man sputtered blood one last time before the winds picked up again, Vanitas retracting his hand and attempting another attack.
Yet his fist clanged uselessly against a shield. Rose was prepared this time, a sphere of geometric light patterns encasing the two Automatons and their fallen family, protecting them. He would not try it a third time either, as the Kaiser and Tonoris, as well as Diana and Arisanna, had fallen upon him in a riot of metal and lead and light. With a shield bearing all of the World Seed’s power before him, and the might of Azoth’s heroes at his back, Vanitas had no choice but to seek a path to escape. An outcome that Arisanna had been working tirelessly in preparation of.
Vanita’s winds gathered in Arisanna’s hands, absorbed by her magnum opus, the Prima Materia. The artifact surged with life, overwhelming the chaos of the royal gallery with gentle moonlight, powerful streams gathering the latent energies in the air into the relic’s orbit.
With resounding finality, Arisanna commanded, “By the moon’s call, you will be judged!”
Astral Alidade - Epilogue
Rose and Dahlia stood before three graves. The elements had dulled two of the headstones, but the third was still bright, the sunset reflecting off its simple but freshly polished facade—Claude, Fated Visionary, and Loving Father. May the flowers bloom for you wherever you go.A few feet behind, Diana was rubbing her neck nervously, looking at Arisanna’s tearful expression and struck by how empty and restless her hands felt. She rummaged in her pockets for a handkerchief but found only a small oil-stained rag for wiping down her gun. “Sorry Ari, I don’t have anything useful on me...”
“It’s okay!” Arisanna sniffled, smiling despite her wet cheeks. She took out her own handkerchief to dab at her eyes, its scalloped edges messily embroidered with stars. “Thank you for always worrying about me...”
The Automatons joined them soon after.
Dahlia clasped her hands and bowed her head at the pair. “We can’t thank you enough. You are Azoth’s Champions in every sense of the word.”
“The real Champions were you and Rosie!” Arisanna chirped quickly, hands raised in surprise at Dahlia’s formality. “You two managed to change not just your own fate, but the world’s!”
“True change is yet to come, unfortunately.” Rose sighed. ”Cordelia only agreed to a ceasefire whilst she reviews our proposed treaty.”
“That in itself is a miracle.” Diana comforted her, shifting the locked case she carried over her shoulder as she laughed nervously. “If I had known how stubborn the Kaiser could be when I first arrived, I don’t know if I would’ve been nearly as hopeful.”
“Well, let’s not think about that...” Arisanna brought her hands together excitedly, “Assuming everything goes well, what do you guys want to do after the treaty?”
The two women looked at each other, smiling, before Rose finally answered, her hand hovering over her heart. “What Claude wanted for us from the beginning... We’ll live and find our own purpose in Azoth, just like anyone else. Our lives are a miracle, and a gift.”
They walked down the path out of the cemetery, and once at the entrance Arisanna leaned over a pillar to pick up a heavy-looking backpack she had abandoned there earlier. It was bursting with herbs native to Azoth, and Diana imagined every overstuffed notebook Arisanna had accumulated during her stay shoved inside. By comparison, Diana had packed light, essentially only taking Arisanna’s gifts. The small astrolabe was tucked away safely in her coat pocket, and Shadow’s Twin laid snug in a plain carrying case over her shoulder.
As they were saying their goodbyes, Dahlia asked a question. “And you? What will you choose to do after this?”
A difficult question threaded with implications. When she’d first arrived in Azoth she could have never imagined the crooked path that awaited her, the relentless race against her own shadow. Yet here at the finish line, Diana looked inside and found herself hale and whole—her reflection in Dahlia’s bright eyes weary but proud, and entirely her own. In pushing past the dark and into the light, Diana had found herself winnowed of the doubt that had plagued her, finally able to find her answer.
An answer she finally accepted as the lock on the Gloamspire Lance’s case clinked to a close, left with the Automaton Alchemists of the Resistance for safekeeping.
“Thanks to all of you, I think I can see a clearer path ahead now.” Diana smiled, stars in her eyes at the thought of her undiscovered future. “I want to learn more about myself. I used to be an archer before, so... Maybe I’ll go back to the basics there too.”
Art by Solis
Written by apricot