Lux: Rebuilt

Lux stood in the middle of his workshop. Years and years of work stolen and run off with. All that remained was a few now almost useless items that he’d sat out on a workbench in front of him. A cracked pair of goggles, special very much so. They allowed him to see through the automatons. They were just the prototype, the best version was in the stolen goods. Next was an amorphous stone tablet trimmed with electrum. The source of runes used to connect the mind to mechanical parts. It looked overall like junk. The runes were carved into the individual parts meaning they could just copy them without the stone. After that was a mix of tools, most of which were either not suited for the job at hand or the few that were, were worn out or outright broken; a few could probably be salvaged and a few juryrigged to work but it wasn’t ideal. The last on the table were a few half finished armor pieces that were flawed, didn’t fit, chipped, and a few from early practice in creating the new material, but they might work. Lastly, it didn’t fit on the table, but there was part of a frame. Used to check the dry fit of parts. It wasn’t finished and it wasn’t designed to function as an actual automaton skeleton, but beggars can’t be choosers. Lux relit the forge and breathed in deep. This would be a ramshackle mess of scraps thrown together and stuck together with hopes and wishes.

A few problems were evident after taking full inventory of what random bits remained in forgotten places in the workshop. Under machines, fallen being tables, and on high shelves. Lux only had the parts enough for a single hand, unless it was made with three fingers on each hand. Not ideal but not a total loss, birds only had three fingers and they could take down prey. Only one eye bulb. Meaning a cyclops, lowered depth perception but it couldn’t be piloted without some form of vision, unless he could find a suitable replacement. It was painfully obvious this scrap job would be a one way trip, if it failed to get the activator to one of the complete models things would be over. Boman would send thugs to finish the job. And after that it's unlikely he would care. Life's work gone and no money to start over, it’d be not worth trying again, and he’d have done all this for nothing. Nothing changed, people would die just like his father, and the cycle would continue, not a world worth being in.

The sun rose and set more than once, but fewer than seven, only broken up by light meals eaten while standing, and naps that lasted no longer than a few hours at most. Lux worked around the clock trying to make a miracle out of mud. A few hours under cover of darkness were spent stealing anything metal he could get his hands on that had been thrown out, burlap bags full of the slag from the dwarves' workshops. Horrible quality parts with edges that looked like melted wax, covered in flux and slag. The whole affair looked like a slanted painting on a wall. Lopsided and annoyingly so. Parts of sizes that didn’t match made the machine an asymmetrical mess. But it wasn’t made to last. It was made to take back what was his at any cost. It only needed to function for a few hours at most, and it and Lux hated the thought, but needed to be able to swing a weapon with enough force to kill. Not injure, not maim, not incapacitate, but kill. Even with the knowledge of the separation of blood and bone to metal machine, Lux knew the blood would be on his hands and it made his stomach roil. But he wouldn’t and couldn’t let his work be used to do it ten fold, maybe even one hundred fold if Boman had his way. Selling the machines like they were simply swords. Things whose only purpose was destruction rather than prevention in the loss of life. If preventing that was the weight of a handful of sins on Lux’s back he would pay it. He’d gladly pay it.

The machine was grossly unfinished and still needed more than a few parts. The next part was the hardest part. The rune crafting. Anger was a bad thing for such delicate work. His arms and wrists ached and throbbed from forging loose slag of Orichalcum together to replace the missing plates, the farthest cry from mithril alloy, even if it was ‘fools’ mithril. But Lux kept reminding himself it only needed to work for one run. The softer metal would make the runes harder to make stick but he could do it.

Each rune delicately carved, Lux’s hands moved with near machine-like precision. Holding each piece up to the light and turning it slowly looking for flaws in the intricate work. Runes even at their best were a complex way to work magic on a small scale. Like empowering a ring or even a walking cane to dish out stronger blows than would be capable under normal strength or goggles to see in the dark, each example being a dozen or so runes at best. This automaton was several hundred. And like a chain one flawed link could collapse it before it powered on.

The first rays of morning light were starting to peek through Lux’s ground level windows as he clicked the last piece of slapdash armour into place. He stepped to its back and slotted in the carved stone. When it settled into its cradle there was a small hum, like a tuning fork being struck. “Well…at least it's getting power…” Lux thought of pulling the goggles from around his neck and fixing them over his eyes. “Nothing left but to test it.” Lux took in a breath and uttered a few words, and suddenly found himself looking at…well himself. And odd sensation, it was almost like looking in a mirror. But from the other side. The odder sensation was the single vision, it forced him to close one eye just to keep his head from swimming. “Note” he said. “Find a second suitable ocular replacement for cyclopean vision hinders the brain's capacity to perceive distance properly and limits field of view.” Lux mumbled the words again and was back to seeing the machine, wiping at a nosebleed. “Needs some modifications…” he said, pulling the stone free again, and getting back to work…