Tak

Experiments - Part 7

     Even the rak stared in incomprehension, and the undead creature had visited many alien dimensions where he'd seen things weird and bizarre beyond the wildest dreams of ordinary folk. "Some kind of, of, living statue, made of metal," he speculated. "I've seen such things, created by mighty wizards to do mundane labour, but none of them had such shapes and forms. Those things labour for the demigods, it seems. They were powerful indeed to have been able to create so many."

     The next scene showed a closeup of one of the metal labourers, and the wizards were astonished to see a group of men bending over it, removing parts of its outer casing so they could tinker with its innards. "What are they doing?" whispered Gannlow in complete bewilderment.

     "I don't know," replied Tak, "but look. There are symbols engraved on the plating. It looks like the same language as on this artifact we've got here."

     "You're right," agreed Gannlow, leaning forward to read it. "It seems to be... feeding instructions? Some kind of fluid that goes in the opening at the top. Also instructions on care and maintenance, as if it were merely a piece of equipment. I wonder. If these are their labourers, what do their warriors look like?"

     He pressed more buttons and the image changed. Now it showed some kind of huge reptilian creature, larger than the largest dragon. It was marching across the neatly tilled field, trampling crops and metal labourers beneath its gigantic clawed feet. It seemed impossible that mere flesh could support the weight of such a mammoth creature, let alone the horns and bony armour that covered much of its body. It was a moving mountain of muscle and bone, and now they saw the reason for the city's massive walls as the creature reared up against them and clawed at the piled rock and earth.

     It looked as though it would break through in mere minutes, to wreak havoc in the city of glass, but then something sped across the sky. It was some kind of flying creature, and the monster was thrown back by an explosion of orange fire. More of the flying things appeared, attacking in turn, and the wizards saw that they were also made of metal, akin to the farm labourers, and that they flew on tails of fire, as if they were powered by the furnaces of Hell.

     More of the giant reptiles appeared. A whole herd of them including females and young, and even the smallest infant towered twelve feet over the metal labourers that scuttled frantically around their feet. Now there were more monsters than flying warriors and the wall was in danger of being breached in several places. Just as the battle appeared lost, though, a new form of metal warrior came to the city's defence. These ones walked like men, but stood fifteen feet tall and hurled fire and burning light from their fists. The two wizards watched the battle in stunned silence until the giant reptiles, burned and crippled, turned and limped away, leaving one of their number dead on the ground and the farm a trampled ruin.

     "I've seen the bones of such creatures," the rak said as the image changed again. "They are to be found in the shale pits of Luggaria, and the people of Poppolos have pieced together a complete skeleton which stands in the high chamber of the Jatt's palace, but so far as I know the creatures are long extinct. We always knew they were fearsome creatures, but we did not know they were feared even by the demigods themselves. Maybe our semi divine ancestors drove them to extinction."

     Tak could only nod. He was too overwhelmed to speak.

     More images appeared, revealing the world of the demigods to be a place of unbelievable violence. More monsters were seen, some of which dwarfed even those they'd seen before, but they also saw creatures they were familiar with, including dragons, basilisks and hydrae. Whereas these were the most fearsome and terrible creatures of Tak's world, though, in the world of the demigods they were of only middling size and ferocity. It was incredible to realise that even the red dragons, the fire breathing terrors of the wilderlands which only the mightiest warriors and wizards dared to confront, had once crept in fear of even mightier creatures, and that they had needed all their formidable weaponry and intelligence just to survive.

      "So the mighty demigods cowered behind walls rather than confront them in their own territory," said Gannlow in disgust. "Perhaps our mighty ancestors weren't as powerful as we've come to believe. Tales grow in the telling, as we all know. It would seem that the legend of the demigods has also grown in the telling. Did they in fact have any powers at all, or was it all just made up by some nameless bard to make the tale more exciting?"

     "They had the power to animate their metal servants," pointed out Tak. "A labour force. Flying warriors. Carriages that move without horses."

     The rak nodded. "Yes, they certainly had secrets worth knowing. Very well, let's continue to search. Maybe we will see these metal servants being created and learn how to make them ourselves. And even if it's a vain endeavour, why should an immortal being fear wasting time?" He continued pressing buttons, therefore, and the scene shifted again.

     They saw only one other thing that was at all interesting, though. All they saw were repeats of what they'd seen before with minor variations until they came upon a scene of true wilderness, far beyond the city's area of influence. The owner of the 'diary' had ridden with two other people in one of the flying carriages, dictating notes to himself as they went, so that Tak and Gannlow only saw the land they were leaving behind, behind the man's head. Even that was a useful view, though, and as they flew further from the carefully cultivated farmlands they saw forests of deciduous woodland passing by below.

     It wasn't a natural wood, though. The trees were standing in unnaturally straight rows and were all more or less the same size. It was obvious that they'd been planted by the city dwellers, perhaps as a source of lumber for their construction industry, although nothing they'd seen in the city had been made of wood. As they flew further, though, other plants intruded between the oaks and elms. Trees unlike any other that Tak had ever seen with vivid purple leaves that stretched vigorously above the now visibly struggling normal trees. The oaks were stunted here, and their leaves were wrinkled and yellow as if the ground they were growing in was poisoned.

     The flying carriage passed over plumes of smoke where more of the metal servants were cutting down the purple trees and burning them, but he also saw areas where new purple saplings were springing up to replace those that had been felled and he guessed that their removal was a never ending struggle. "Extraordinary!" he breathed. "The only plants I've seen with leaves that colour were small weeds. I used to hoe them out of my father's crops. I had no idea they used to grow so big." When the rak made no reply he went on. "All purple plants are poisonous, you know. I bet it's them that are poisoning the oak trees."

     "We are not here to study the wildlife," snapped the rak irritably.

     Tak took the hint and shut up, but privately he thought that Gannlow was wrong to dismiss the matter so quickly. His opinion was strengthened by the next thing they saw, as the flying carriage descended towards a large area of bare ground beyond the planted areas. There, the virgin purple forest had been stripped away by giant metal creatures twenty feet tall armed with massively powerful digging and cutting tools. In the distance they saw great piles of purple wood being incinerated by more metal creatures that bathed them in jets of flaming liquid, while others ploughed the still smoking ashes into the ground. In the foreground, the owner of the 'diary' was walking towards a group of men who were supervising the planting of several species of green tree saplings, each one surrounded by a protective wire net.

     The man set the 'diary' on a tripod in order to record the meeting, and Gannlow watched the silent conversation for a few moments, just long enough to determine that they weren't going to reveal the secrets of their powers. He jabbed the buttons again with a snarl of impatience, looking for more images. Tak sighed with disappointment. He'd have liked to have watched the forestry effort a bit longer. He had the strong feeling that he was on the verge of some important revelation. The discovery of a truth that had been lost for thousands of years.

     The battle between the green and purple forests. The mighty effort to push back the boundaries of the human controlled world, to push back the poisonous alien growths and the hideously powerful monsters they harboured, only a few of which survived to the present day... What was it that was hovering on the very edge of his awareness, just waiting for him to make the final cognitive leap? The last connection...

     The more he struggled to grasp hold of it, though, the more it slipped away and eventually he had to let it go with a sigh of disappointment. Maybe it'll come if I just relax and wait for it, he thought, but it never did, and as later events overtook him he eventually forgot all about it.