Gears of Eternity: The Anvil of Souls

In the area of Scrap Iron Town, which is a mixture of the industrial zone of Rotterdam Port and elements of East Berlin, at night, Old Tom's tavern becomes as bustling as a beehive when the honey is being harvested. The old oak bar counter is covered with whiskey stains and is cracked to pieces. It looks just like a dirty T-shirt of a drunkard in a London punk bar, being as slovenly as it can be. I, Aiden, just have a liking for this kind of hustle and bustle. Drinking a little wine amidst this noise and commotion, I can cast all those troublesome matters to the back of my mind. The pendulum of the gear clock in the tavern moves back and forth with a "click — click —" sound. Listening to it makes me think of those rusty cranes in Marseille Port, which are old and dull, as if they are narrating the vicissitudes of time with their heavy, Ruhrgebiet mine pit elevator-like reciprocating movements.

I was idly twirling my wine glass when suddenly, the pocket watch with gears in my pocket went crazy and became extremely hot, making my palm burn with red marks in da Vinci's Vitruvian proportions, reeking of Birmingham foundry soot. "Bloody hell!" I instinctively flung my hand, and well, as ill luck would have it, I knocked over the beer glass on the next table. "Hey! What the bloody hell are you doing? Are you blind?" The big guy next door stood up with a whoosh, his face full of anger, as if he was going to devour someone. Just as I was about to apologize, I saw the light of the pocket watch getting brighter and brighter. Then, with a "bang", it was like an old-fashioned boiler exploding, and the iridescent steam like that when quenching in a Venice glass workshop burst out with a "whoosh".

At that moment, Lia's hairpin started to deform as if it had gone haywire. When the hairpin popped out, it made a click sound like the disassembly of a Swiss watch, and the spring revealed a spiral pattern like that in Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts, which really gave me a start. "Scheiße! This decoder is more troublesome than the London Underground during the morning rush hour." Lia mumbled while fiddling with the deformed hairpin. "Wait — the rhythm of that pendulum doesn't seem right. It's like... like the rhythm of the gears when I repaired the train schedule in Berlin last month?" Such a thought suddenly flashed through my mind. Why does it feel like there's some connection between the explosion of this pocket watch and the rhythm of this pendulum? [Annotation]: //Was zum Teufel ist das?//

Before I could think it over carefully, the tavern was in utter chaos. "Oh no! The oven exploded!" I don't know who shouted at the top of their lungs. I turned my head and saw that, goodness me, the fragments of the oven were flying everywhere as if they were free. Some even directly stuck into the wall, revealing the residual stardust traces of the underlying pipes, in the shape of a fluorescent projection of the Copenhagen Metro lines, just like the grid of a tulip field in Amsterdam. At this time, a strange smell got into my nose, a smell of Brussels waffle caramel fused with Rotterdam shipyard metal, which immediately reminded me of the burnt apple pie made by my mom, exactly this smell.

I looked at the scar on my palm, which was like a jagged scar scratched by a fragment of the Berlin Wall. My heart was filled with panic. This scar was exactly the same as the one when my skin presented red marks in the proportion of the Vitruvian Man in Birmingham last year. [Annotation]: //Was zum Teufel ist das?// What on earth is this pocket watch with gears? Why did it suddenly explode? And why does this explosion scene seem so familiar?

Just as I was thinking, the door of the tavern crashed open with a "whoosh", and five guards from the Flint Group rushed in. Their mechanical eyes flashed with light, just like the searchlights of the Neustadt Security Bureau, sweeping over everyone in the tavern. "Don't move!" The leading guard shouted at the top of his voice, "Someone reported that there is someone here stealing the relics of the High-Dimensional Energy Aggregates (HEC)." My heart skipped a beat. Relics of the High-Dimensional Energy Aggregates? Could it be this exploded pocket watch with gears?

"Don't talk rubbish!" Lia stood out at once, tugged at her collar, and mumbled, "The fabric of this uniform is rougher than that of the Madrid police uniform. We didn't do anything sneaky."

"Hmph, the evidence is conclusive." The guard snorted coldly and pointed at the still smoking pocket watch with gears on the ground, "This thing exploded right from your hands."

I was so angry that I was just about to retort when suddenly, I saw something strange. After the explosion, the iridescent steam seemed to form a pattern in the air, like the meshing pattern of the gears of an old-fashioned loom, but this pattern disappeared in a flash. I rubbed my eyes, suspecting that I had seen things wrongly.

At this time, the hairpin in Lia's hand was still spinning non-stop, making three and a half turns in the steam, just like the swirls stirred by the turbine of a cruise ship on the Thames River. "This decoder is much more sensitive than the Paris Metro turnstile!" Lia complained while using the deformed hairpin to touch here and there. I was wondering in my heart, how did this hairpin turn into a decoder?

"Aiden, do you remember what happened in our hometown when we were kids?" Lia asked me out of the blue. My heart tightened. The things that happened in my hometown were something I had always been reluctant to recall. When I was a kid, there was a change in my family. I can't remember exactly what happened, but I just remember that there were some strange things at that time, which were a bit like the current scene.

"What are you talking about, Lia?" I didn't want to mention those things at this moment, so I just perfunctorily replied.

"I bet zehn Euro that this thing must have been produced in a Ruhrgebiet Workshop." I quickly changed the subject and pointed at the pocket watch with gears on the ground.

The guards from the Flint Group didn't care what we were saying and started to search everywhere in the tavern. "You'd better be honest. If you are really related to the relics of the High-Dimensional Energy Aggregates (HEC), you'll be in big trouble."

I looked at those guards, feeling angry and anxious. At this time, I suddenly found that some of the mechanical patterns in the tavern seemed to have some slight changes under the influence of this steam. Those patterns seemed to come to life, faintly exuding a kind of energy. I tugged at the corner of Lia's clothes and whispered, "Look at those mechanical patterns. Aren't they a bit strange?"

Lia took a look and nodded, "It seems a bit, but we can't care about this now. We have to find a way to get rid of these guards first."

Suddenly, a guard saw the hairpin in Lia's hand, rushed over and grabbed Lia's hand, "What's this thing? It looks very suspicious."

"Hey, let me go!" Lia struggled hard, "This is just an ordinary hairpin. It's just deformed."

"An ordinary hairpin? Hmph, I don't think it's that simple." The guard didn't believe it at all and turned the hairpin over and over to look at it.

I was so anxious that I rushed over to rescue Lia, "Don't mess around!"

Just when it was in chaos, the lights in the tavern flickered a few times, and the whole tavern was suddenly filled with a strange atmosphere. I felt my heart beating faster and faster, as if something big was about to happen.

"Aiden, do you remember the thing your father left you?" Lia suddenly asked me again in the chaos. My heart shook. The thing my father left me was a piece of old metal with some strange non-Euclidean geometric topological patterns on it, which seemed to have an inextricable connection with the current scene. But I have never figured out what this thing was used for.

"Stop talking nonsense. This is not the time to talk about this." While dealing with Lia, I was thinking about how to get out of this predicament.

At this time, a guard accidentally touched a mechanical device on the wall, and the device suddenly made a harsh sound, just like the whistle of an old-fashioned train starting. Then, some mechanical parts in the tavern began to loosen and fell down crackling.

"Everyone, be careful!" I shouted at the top of my voice and pulled Lia to hide aside. Those parts fell to the ground and splashed up a cloud of dust.

In the chaos, I suddenly remembered a sentence my father once said to me when I was a kid: "Son, some things are not as simple as you see. There are big secrets hidden behind them." At that time, I was still young and didn't quite understand what my father meant. Now that I think about it, is it related to this pocket watch with gears, this strange steam, and these mechanical patterns?

"Aiden, we have to leave here quickly." Lia said in my ear. I nodded. While those guards were still dealing with the falling parts, we secretly sneaked towards the back door of the tavern.

But when we just reached the back door, we found that the door was locked. Lia looked at the hairpin in her hand and said, "Let's try this." She used the deformed hairpin to fiddle in the keyhole a few times, and with a "click", the door actually opened. "See, this decoder is quite useful." Lia said proudly.

As soon as we went out, we heard those guards shouting behind us: "They've run away. The holographic projection blockade protocol is activated!"

We ran desperately in the alleys of Scrap Iron Town, and the footsteps behind us were getting closer and closer. At this time, I suddenly found that the surrounding environment seemed to have changed as well. Those originally dilapidated buildings, in the moonlight, cast long shadows, just like monsters stretching out their claws.

"Aiden, what should we do?" Lia asked me out of breath. I had no idea either, and my heart was in a mess. Suddenly, I saw an abandoned factory ahead and said, "Let's hide there first."

We rushed into the factory. It was pitch-black inside, and there was a smell of rust in the air. We hid behind a pile of old machines and didn't dare to breathe loudly. The footsteps of those guards sounded outside, and they were searching for us everywhere.

"They must be around here. Search carefully for me!" The voice of a guard came over.

Lia and I leaned closely together, and my heart almost jumped into my throat. At this time, I smelled that smell of caramel mixed with metal again, and it was stronger than in the tavern. I was extremely scared and didn't know what would happen next.

Suddenly, an old machine in the factory, as if triggered by something, started to make a "buzzing" sound. Those guards heard the sound and immediately surrounded towards this side.

"It's over. We've been discovered." Lia said desperately.

At this critical moment, I suddenly saw a strange symbol on the machine, which was a bit like the meshing pattern of the gears of the old-fashioned loom I saw in the tavern before. I don't know where I got the courage from, but I reached out and touched that symbol.

Hey, a miracle happened. The sound of the machine suddenly stopped. Then, a hidden door appeared on the wall of the factory. I pulled Lia and rushed into the hidden door without hesitation. As soon as we went in, the hidden door closed automatically, the machine groaned like a Ruhr coalmine elevator

The curses of those guards came from outside: "How did they disappear?"

Behind the hidden door, we listened to the footsteps of those guards gradually fading away, and finally heaved a sigh of relief. However, we knew nothing about what was going on here and where this hidden door led to. I just knew that since this pocket watch with gears exploded, my life had completely changed, and all of this seemed to have a great deal to do with my mysterious life experience. I suddenly remembered the piece of metal my father left me, with the engraved coordinates of the Earth's core (57°N, 24°E). What does this mean? When the pocket watch exploded, the old wound on my tiger's mouth suddenly ached, and that feeling was exactly the same as when I touched the relics of the High-Dimensional Energy Aggregates (HEC) when I was ten years old. What kind of connection is there between them? It's really hard to figure out. Moreover, at the moment when we rushed into the hidden door, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of some rusted inscriptions in Dwarvish on the inner wall of the hidden door. Those strange symbols seemed to be telling an ancient story, but the situation was urgent at that time, and I didn't have time to take a closer look. I really don't know what strange things I will encounter on this journey.

[//Runic Anomaly//]: Non-Euclidean inscriptions matching Odin's sacrificial ritual described in Poetic Edda (Codex Regius, fol. 32v)