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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 6.4, A World Apart

Julius awoke in a sweat, his tongue panting out of the corner of his muzzle as he bolted upright. Everything had been so sharp-- so vivid; it took several seconds for him to realize that he was still at the underground temple. Looking at his shaking paw, the old Bear realized that at no point in his varied dreams had he so much as thought twice about what he was doing when he killed victim after victim. The thought scared him but, what worried him more was the fact that he could see the truth in what his dreams had shown him.

At one time the Professor would have dismissed the power of dreams and attached to them the fancies of the sleeping mind but his many years among the Valley Tribe had shown him that there would always be at least a kernel of truth amidst the fancies of the subconscious. He reached for the cog ring he left laying on the simple wooden nightstand next to the bed and, before putting it on he held it in his fingers and simply stared at it. Although it was still dark and there was scarcely any light coming in through the slit-sized windows of the basement room wall he still saw what he needed: the cog symbol on the jewelry, as always, was as fresh as the day it had been crafted.

The Bear slid the ring onto his finger. He had escaped the world of the Mechanists for a time; the years he spent among the Valley Tribe were some of the happiest he had ever known. That break, however, had come to an end the moment Kesst and his party had entered the camp. Julius knew who and what Kesst was in an instant-- though he had parted ways from the settled people of Lehsunia the tasks given to him as a Mechanists were not so easily avoidable. It was one thing to try and keep Kesst from the wrong hands, but it was another thing entirely to sacrifice not only his scruples, but the safety and wellbeing of those who trusted him.

Even as he got out of bed he continued to ask himself, "Would the ideal world be worth the sacrifice of their lives?"

He laughed mutedly at his own naiveté, moving to the mirror so he could condemn the pitiful, foolish Bear that gazed out at him. "You can't sacrifice what isn't yours to give, old man. No world that requires that kind of cost could be ideal."

Julius' fingers went back to the ring as he twisted it and flicked it with his thumb. The Professor quickly dressed in an evening robe and went to his door. He glanced out into the hall, noting that it was precisely as early as he expected; all was quiet. The old Bear picked his way down the corridor without a candle, stubbing his toe more than once on the many planks of wood that had become uneven over the years. Given enough time entropy eventually led to an unraveling of the weaker elements to any system; were the Mechanists perhaps no different?

The Bear was still willing to put his faith in the ideals to which the Mechanists aspired but he continued to wonder if there were some within the organization that had different goals. It made plenty of sense considering the fact that they operated in cells. Yes, they were all supposed to have the same ultimate end game but it wasn't a far fetched thought to consider some factions within the Mechanists could have come up with different ways to attain that end. Would the end be worth the means? Julius was beginning to have his doubts... especially when he took the consideration of the local Mechanists into account.

His steps down the hall led him to the temple's store room, "Now what?"

As if to answer his own question, Julius reached forward and slowly turned the knob; as expected, the storage area was unlocked. The Bear pushed the door open and closed it quietly behind himself before he bothered looking around. A simple brass candle holder rested on a wooden crate beside the door; he was surprised to see that a faint stream of smoke was still rising up from the recently-snuffed wick.

Julius didn't have a match but it didn't worry him; using a trick taught to him by the Valley Tribe's former shaman, the Bear pulled a few strands of fur from the clump around his neck and held them to the candle wick. He blew softly against them several times before even more smoke arose and then, as if by magic, a small flame appeared, relighting the light source. Julius extinguished the singed furs between two fingers and picked up the candle holder.

The storage room was quaint in every sense of the word. The floor was little more than wooden boards resting atop bare earth and the walls were loosely paneled with plaster boards. Little more than a closet, the storage room was perhaps ten foot per wall, and the available floor space was stacked full of crates, barrels, and boxes. Although most of it was food and drink a small portion of containers held minor luxuries... but none of that was what Julius sought-- what he was after was set up against two crates toward the middle of the room.

The old bear slowly knelt down, both knees cracking as he opened the sack containing the red dracomaton. He smiled warmly as he regarded the clockwork dragon's blank stare, "Hello again, Kesst."

It took the Professor several minutes to inspect Kesst; Sister Yvette had mentioned that the Dragon had been active when she had encountered him and that he fell into torpor shortly thereafter. While Julius was no Techlar, and not even a tinkerer, the old Bear still knew his fair share about mechanisms, and all signs pointed to a power source. It wasn't until Julius was able to open Kesst's damaged chest panel that he identified something new: a diminuitive clockwork dragonfly. "Well... what have we here?"

The Bear looked around the room and saw an empty glass bottle resting on a nearby box. Julius picked it up by its neck and, with carefully planned force, struck it against the side of a crate. It took two attempts before the bottle cracked. The Professor carefully massaged the glass until the cracks spiderwebbed and then, after covering it with a bolt of cloth, he hit it against the ground. When he pulled the cloth away, Julius was able to pull out the bottom of the bottle and held it up to the dragonfly, using it to help magnify his vision.

The craftsmanship, as expected, was exquisite. The Bear followed the numerous parts of the mechanism until he found what he sought: a tiny lock... with a miniscule key still in it. Using just the very tips of his claws, Julius managed to clumsily take hold of the key and give it several slow, purposeful turns. He had just enough time to withdraw his paw before Kesst jumped with a start, "WHAT?!"

The Professor held up a paw, sitting back on his haunches as he did so, "Calm down, young man... you're safe."

Kesst was understandably confused, "You-- you're the Shaman... from the Bears."

Julius nodded, "From the Valley Tribe. Yes."

The dragon looked around the interior of the supply room; the Bear didn't miss the faint inner glow from his eyes. "What are you doing here? Where ARE we?"

The Professor chuckled calmly and reached out to close Kesst's chest panel. The Dragon recoiled from his touch, then did a double-take when he saw the broken panel. Julius rose up and quickly took hold of Kesst's wrist, "Shh... Calm down. Shhh."

The request didn't seem to help much as Kesst jumped up. "It's... not a dream! What-- what am I? What's going on?!?"

Julius motioned back to the floor, "Please, Kesst... calm down. You need to keep your wits about you, my boy."

The Dragon stood there, confused and obviously disturbed but, after staring back at him for nearly a minute, Kesst finally sat back down facing Julius. "I don't understand."

The Professor nodded patiently, "It will take some time, I'm sure... but what you need to know is that your father is looking for you."

Kesst's response was a snappy growl, "My mom and dad are dead."

Julius shook his head, "No, Kesst... you don't have a mother... just a father."

The young Dragon covered the hole in his chest with a talon, "I remember them..."

The Professor let out a sigh, "Kesst... have you ever heard of the term 'Techlar'?"

Kesst scowled, "Church men. They create clockwork creatures that are so real it's almost like they're alive. Back when the men from the Church tried to--"

Julius waited patiently as the gears (both figuratively and literally) worked in Kesst's head. The Bear clarified, "Techlars don't just build clockwork creatures, Kesst... in order to be a Techlar any initiate has to have the True Breath."

The Dragon was immediately taken aback, "You're not a priest... how do YOU know about the True Breath?"

The Bear smiled, "Your father has it."

Kesst was understandably hesitant to believe him, "My... my father was... he was just a tailor in Altenburrough... he... he--"

Julius shook his head as the young Dragon spoke until he trailed off. "Weisen's father was a tailor."

"Weisen?"

The Bear nodded, "Few Techlars have the skill to create something as great as you, Kesst... and Wiesen was one of those few."

Kesst shook his head back and forth, eyes tearing up, "But... my... my parents... I... I was born in Altenburrough, and my mother sold flowers on the street corner..."

Julius reached out and placed a paw on Kesst's shoulder, "The Breath does many things, Kesst... and one of the things it does is it ties you to your father. You're feeling HIS memories... HIS life... not yours."

The hesitance in Kesst's eyes was replaced by defiance, and the young Dragon slapped Julius' paw away, voice coming out at nearly a shriek. "I don't beleive you!"

The old Bear would normally have been worried about the volume, but, at that moment, something louder and much more concerning drowned it out: an explosion. The entire room shook and Julius was barely able to raise his arm in time to protect himself and the damaged Dracotomaton from falling boxes. Forced to ignore the emotional flare-up, the Professor looked straight at Kesst, "We need to go."

The young Dragon was up on his feet in moments. He looked to the door, then paused long enough to help Julius up, "What's going on?"

Julius sighed, "They're after you... and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get you."

Kesst looked aghast, "The Church?"

The old Bear shook his head, "No... something much worse."