Kismet’s Tale

      In the middle of the night, Mavin left the room without a single sound. His footsteps leave not even a trace of sound. He continued lurking the great manor’s halls until he found an area with a potted plant. Mavin moved something from the potted plant, and then pulled a panel. Veins appeared on his arms as lifted the panel off the floor. He then pressed the switch on the floor. There was a click heard in the wall he was facing. He pressed two panels with his bare hands, the panels giving mechanical sounds.

Mavin then fingered the last panel that appeared and hooked his finger to pull a ring  inside the panel that was connected to a contraption. When the contraption was pulled, there were gears moving behind the wall.

A doorway opened and although the noise was momentary. Mavin entered through the doorway, closing the wall behind him. The smell of dust assaulted his nose after entering the hallway. He followed the staircase before slamming his foot down. There was a pole that appeared, he slid down the pole and then landed on a platform.

Always hated how they built this, Mavin thought. He continued moving until he found himself at this steel door. He pushed the door open, revealing a twenty feet and five inches in width filled with equipment and contraptions alien to this era.

There was a person standing next to an exoskeleton frame, his hand working on the ligaments of the frame.

“Working hard, Ike?”

Ike Dunfell wore his white laboratory coat. It was covered in stains of grease, old, and various substances and concoctions. His face was placid, as if the ‘servant’ look that he sported in the day was nothing more than a mask.

Ike Dunfell’s looked over his shoulder. He regarded Mavin with a dull interest before his eyes narrowed. He placed his tools down, left the exoskeleton, took a piece of paper attached to a clipboard and handed it to Mavin.

Mavin took the clipboard. His eyes pointed on the data that was recorded on it.

“Mav should have enough strength to lift half a ton,” Ike said calmly. “The ligaments, the veins, and the areas around the hips will be locked tightly to coordinate the movement between the spine and upper body area.”

“How’s the plating?”

Ike took the clipboard from Mavin forcibly. He led him to the next crafting station where a ten foot tall suit of plate armor covered in an obsidian color was held up by struts and lifted by metal craft.

“The vein of iron that Mav provided took us two years to melt. The iron that you use to handle the hand of the Imperator is in the station already. The armor-plating took four years to mold. It’s a waste how we are using this piece of iron, but as instructed all black iron has been used to create this armor and the following gears.”

“You followed the manual?”

“I was planning to from the start, Mav,” Ike spoke slowly. “However, your manual, although detailed,  was lacking in any how-to’s and thus I have to refer to the blueprints of the Holmians and create a piece of armor similar to the Storm Vanguards. It should be able to lift the black iron and move accordingly.”

“It should take about forty shells of artillery before you are destroyed, Mav.”

Mavin looked at the black iron molded into a suit of armor for the power frame. “You say that as if normal humans could withstand forty shelling.”

“The shockwave, the impact, will naturally give anyone a deadly concussion,” Ike‘s voice was normally paced. His expression hadn’t changed ever since Mavin had started asking.

“It’s enough. What about the weapons?”

“It’ll be attachable so that Mav can change it in battle. The problem is that once the sockets are damaged then it would be useless. The sturdier parts are naturally the limbs and the chassis.”

Ike moved to another station. There were about five stations in this laboratory. It was about twenty meters away from the surface and with the thick walls. There was no possibility of anyone knowing this place other than Mavin and a few of Ike’s followers who had remodeled this ancestral ruin to their liking. A former dungeon turned into a laboratory where they tirelessly work for Mavin.

“This is the gear that we’ve recovered from the Nullers,” Ike pointed at the shield with tubes attached to it. “It should be able to withstand  ten blows using this shielding,” he took out a note from his pocket. “Should we continue in this direction?”

“The Nuller’s tech? We have the hydroelectric crystals so go on.  I won’t be here to stop you, will I?”

“Indeed.”

Mavin knew it better than to prevent Ike from studying these technologies. He simply didn’t believe that this one had the self-control to hold back in studying them.

Ike studied Mavin’s face for a moment before nodding. “It’s good that you understand, Mav.” He behaved as if he had known what Mavin would say.  Ike pocketed his notes, and then flipped the switch on the equipment. There was a reaction and this thin light appeared on the surface of the shield.

“It looks like their shield at least.”

“It is fragile. It is an imitation of what the Nullers wield. But it should be sufficient enough to be used in the field.”

Ike walked to the next station. He was like an employee presenting the products to his boss. In a way it was similar to that, the difference was that he was presenting one-time products that wouldn’t be available after Mavin used them.

“Because the black iron is limited we only had made enough to craft a gun-axe.”

It was undoubtedly an axe that was impossible to wield by any normal humans. It was like a giant bladed maul that weighed about 90 kilos. Mavin took the axe and swung it around, producing a gust of wind.

“Wonderful, it seemed like it was well-crafted.”

“We have employed a suitable craftsman, the payment is enough to keep him quiet, and his integrity is unquestioned.”

“Ah, that old man.”

Mavin recalled that old dwarf that he pestered. It was only when he lifted that bladed maul that he called a sword that the old dwarf agreed to craft for them. “Wait, is he the one who crafted the plating of the armor?”

“I had collaborated with the craftsman to produce such results. The parts were made individually, each one is wired so that it may interact with the power frame. It is somewhat similar to Holmian prosthetics, but it would require a much delicate touch. It would be impossible to wield without you wearing it. It could be wielded, but it would lose out to the speed of a Storm Vanguard.

“What about the exoskeleton that I need to move it?”

“It has been constructed to the station that Aunger had provided. It is guarded by Logain’s soldiers so the possibility of anyone taking a glimpse of the exoskeleton and the gears stored in place are impossible.”

“I'll take your word for it,” Mavin placed the axe down on the crafting station. He walked to the last station partitioned by walls where vials and concoctions were neatly placed on aisles. There was a chair with straps and two machines on both sides.

“I guess we should start then,” Mavin said. He removed his clothing, and let himself be strapped on the chair.

Ike called someone out. It was a woman whose hair only reached around her cheeks. She had a sharp face, tall nose, and rather small eyes. She carried an instrument and pinky finger-sized needles.

“Martina,” Mavin greeted.

Martina smiled at him. “It has been long, Mav. As much as I like to start this already, I must do some tests,” she took a piece of cloth and placed it on Mavin’s crotch.

Martina took Mavin’s blood and dropped the blood on the test plate where his blood reacted violently. It took about an hour before she was done. Mavin felt like he was freezing when Ike removed the cloth from his crotch. It was better that there was nothing on him if he wanted this done.

“That should be enough,” Martina said. She attached the tubes on the needle and inserted them around Mavin’s biceps, thighs, ribs, and then finally around the side of his neck.

Ike went to the left and started to run a voltage of electricity around Mavin’s skin. All the hair on Mavin’s body started to stand as the electricity passed on him. Mavin gritted his teeth as he silently signaled Martina to start.

“Let’s do this, Ike. Would you mind?” Martina attached the oxygen mask on Mavin.

Ike flipped the switch. Mavin suddenly saw the world became still. His thoughts were accelerated and slowed down. There was a clock not far from where he laid and he saw how each second became two minutes. It was irritating to him how slowly the concoction was entering his body. When the liquid did finally enter, he almost lost consciousness, it was similar to the feeling of being shot by a bullet. The difference was that the initial pain that would cause someone to kneel in pain did not go away. It remained on him, taking its time, and surrounded his body with a searing stain similar to a burning feeling.

Minutes became hours.

Hours became almost like an eternity to him as his slowed, labored breathing made sure that he could see everything in a slower motion.  Mavin wouldn’t have dared to take this experiment if Aunger didn’t give him the last boon.  Although there are parts of him that were failing, the concoction that Aunger had him drink boosted his body, regenerating what was lost, and at the same time molding them, refining them.

The electricity that came from the equipment on his left tuned his body. The vials and concoctions on the right stimulated every part of him that if it was anyone then their bodies would have outright melted.

Ike’s face showed interest. He noted everything down while keeping an eye on the equipment.

Mavin gritted his teeth while making sure that he would have the power to breathe, to keep himself awake. The boons in his body were keeping him alive, and although he had already known how painful it was.

The pain of the acid-like liquid going in his body was enough to chip away his will. He didn’t dare to stop however. In those ‘memories’ this was a necessary procedure in order to ensure that the one who would be doing this would gain a boost in strength and further enhance his body.

At the same time he knew that he was lessening his time even more by doing this. A year became merely months, and although he was in pain. Mavin could tell that his strength and senses were being doubled.

His tears had already come out.

He was pissing his pants as the electricity run across him. His skin became unhealthily pale and there were changes in his cornea as the process was being done.

Ten minutes became fifty hours.

By the time the procedure was done.

Mavin was momentarily brain dead.

His tongue was outside. His eyes rolled to the side. He didn’t move. He didn’t speak, and there was no reaction from him. Martina, who had done the procedure, called her assistants, taking Mavin to a bed in the inner laboratory where they put the vials that Aunger had procured, slowly injecting them while keeping an eye on Mavin’s eyes.

Ike simulated Mavin’s forehead,  then with help of two irons, resuscitated Mavin back to consciousness. His eyes moved and there were signs of weakness as he barely moved it again.

“It worked...but he shouldn’t be able to move within three days,” Ike said to Martina. “I’ll have to tell Lord Derrick that he has gone out. They shouldn’t suspect anything.”

“Are you sure?”

“Do you want to show him this way?”

Martina regarded Mavin. His tongue was still out, and he stared at the side of the bed. The assistants who were gazing at their Master were rather unsettled by this. 

“We would have killed him.”

“Yes. But if Mav doesn’t go through this...then it would be better if we had killed him here.”

Martina said nothing. Though she was displeased by what Ike said. She could not help but agree with him. 

This was the only way to make it easier for their stubborn benefactor.