These huge furnaces behind the palace were the one and only thing King Smithy always looked at with joy.
He had already lost count to the mechanical Factory inhabitants who had found their end here. The ground around the furnaces was covered with broken parts of those rebels: every one of them, before being thrown into the fire, was pounded to death by his elite guards – Pounders, the giant Hammers.
Smithy's eyes slowly traveled around the heaps of metal scraps, then suddenly stopped at the one spot. Nearly at the very ground, a weird object was sticking out from the one of the heaps. To an Earth human, it looked like a large metal paintbrush with deep blue bristle. But the mechanical King recognised what it really was: a fringe of a Yari Spear. Of a female one, as cold colors belonged to the women of that clan. Of the very one he once took away her child from, when the tax day came.
…"Yaridovich, son of Yarid", she said, "may serve you. But he never will belong to you, Smithy"…
These words came to the King's mind, still like said just moments ago, though many years – maybe even centuries, – had passed since that day. Smithy could swear that he sees her now – still alive, looking straight into his eyes, with a stare sharper than any blade.
That's why he winced now, as if it in fact was a blade ready to slash him apart, and not an innocent fringe. He'd be scared less if she attacked him. Or screamed. Or at least fell on her knees and cried – like many other parents did, seeing their children at his throne, not allowed even to say them goodbye.
"Quit trembling, she's no more", Smithy said to himself.
No use. The spearit of the Yari woman only faded a bit, but didn't disappear.
"She is no more… But he still is. His very name screams that he doesn't belong to you, and never did".
Black fury started to cloud the King's mind after this thought. With all his strength, he smashed and smashed the fringe with his mallet, until only a handful of metallic dust and a few blue hair strands left. Only then Smithy stopped and roared, shaking his copper fist at the dark skies:
"I WILL BREAK HIM, HEAR ME?.. I'LL MAKE HIM BELONG TO ME!.. I WILL!.. AND JUST YOU DARE TO BOTHER ME!.."
The small Mercury Pond in the palace yard was smooth today, and Yaridovich couldn't help but admire his reflection once more.
Living in Smithy's palace with his adopted little siblings, the former Spear boy didn't even notice how he turned into a full grown Spear with a bright, bushy red moustache and fringe, who was now literally towering over the other children. All of them – Bowyer, the nimble wooden Bow, Mack the Knife Imp with an inseparable Pogo Knife, and the five curious, colorful Axem Kids – almost didn't change, only grew up a little. Was it Yaridovich's constant anxiety for his siblings that aged him so quickly, or was it simply because the Spears grow faster than other species, - he had no idea and no place to learn about that from.
But even despite liking his new look, Yaridovich still couldn't completely get used to it. The Spear who now was smiling to him from the pond seemed to be a bit unfamiliar: the moustache on his pointy face looked too massive and serious in contrast with the childish smile on his sideblades. But at the same time, it made his amber eyes glow warmer.
"Yaaariiii", sounded a deep voice from above. "Come sit with me, I'm booooored!.."
"Coming, Exor!", responded Yaridovich, walking to a tall tower.
The last several years had brought to Smithy's adopted children one more brother, this time – not taken from his family by force, like them, but forged in the King's own workshop. To create him, Smithy's underlings were ordered to use up almost all steel supply of the Factory. And so was born Exor, the Giant Sword.
But Smithy's pride instantly changed to rage as he learned about Exor's disease – the Sword, despite his undoubtedly intimidating size, turned out to be blind in his left eye; and the right one could see things only as blurry spots. Since that day, Exor was declared an outcast. No one but his siblings came into his tower to see the Sword from time to time, and King Smithy himself considered Exor not being even worth melting, and simply forgot about him. Until…
…But the reason for it was locked in his room and unknown to anyone yet.
No wonder why Exor was more than glad to see his elder brother now. Sitting on the giant Sword's shoulder (if that is the right word for the broad guard of his hilt), Yaridovich could clearly see both the castle and even the part of the town behind its walls. And, like they used to do many times before, Exor asked the Spear to "be his eyes" – tell what's going on below.
"Same as yesterday", sighed Yaridovich. "Nothing new to see, only the Pounders marching… and the furnaces smoking… and over there, the Factory Chief comes to the castle – wait, I hadn't seen him yesterday… " – He turned away to look at the town. – "And there… There's only little lights. And some moving dots."
"Dots", repeated Exor. "Maybe they're other weapons?"
"Maybe…" – Yaridovich sighed again. – "I don't know. I can't see them anyway. And couldn't, even if I wished: father never lets us go out beyond the wall."
"And what if he did? Then you'd go?"
"You bet," beamed the Spear. – "I'm dying to see what's beyond the castle… I'd run, I swear – just grab all the guys and run away…"
"…And forget me?" – interrupted Exor. – "Like father did?.."
"Forget a brother?" – re-asked Yaridovich. – "Look, if I were up to that, would I be here now?" – He patted the giant Sword on the handle to calm him down. – "Come on, don't be silly. We'd never see what's there without you. So we'll try to whip up something…"
The Sword wanted to answer, but suddenly, winced and chuckled.
"Easy, Exor!" – Yaridovich barely managed to grab onto his brother's guard, or else he'd fall down. – "Easy! What's up?"
"Hehe…" – the Sword could only say. – "Tehehe… C… Can't resist… Tehehethat tihihickles!.."
Yaridovich looked down and saw a small bright pink dot moving up Exor's blade. In a couple minutes the dot turned into a little – almost the size of the Spear's gloved hand – mechanical girl with a big backpack. It was none other than their only sister, Axem Pink, one of the five Axem kids (or Axem Rangers, as they called themselves now).
"Pheww… Hi." – Pink climbed onto the Sword's right shoulder and took the suction cups off her hands and feet. – "Sorry, Exor. Just wanted to test them… What news, boys?.."
"Nothing except Yari being my eyes", responded the Sword.
"I see". – Axem Pink got a big eyedropper out of her backpack. – "But I'd be more grateful if these eyes of yours could come and help me when I was trying to make a medicine for you, and nearly blown up the entire room because of Black and Red."
"Wait, didn't you lock it?" - amazed Yaridovich. - "Is everyone okay?"
"Yes", Pink answered, slightly shaking the eyedropper. – "They are, but there's now a hole in the door. And guess why? – Because Yellow ate the lock!"
"Foremother Anvil," groaned the Spear. "They can't be left alone for a minute! Why can't I split into two?.." - For a second, he remembered the Factory Chief, and jumped up. – "I'll better go and mend the door before father sees it! Is my help needed here?"
"Nope, good luck." – Pink closened the eyedropper to Exor's right eye. – "Okaaay… Open wide and don't blink…"
Yaridovich already couldn't hear what happened next –except a low sigh of relief as he reached the castle.
"Some brothers you are if you can't even learn to agree to each other… pass me that screwdriver… So that's – and the screws too… – that's what I get every time I'm out for a minute?.."
Luckily, Smithy hadn't seen yet what happened to the room. Now, when it was more or less clean, Yaridovich was mending the door. All five Axem Rangers (five, because Pink was already back) were standing around with tools and a spare lock.
"That's all Black's fault!" - grumbled Axem Red, the eldest of them. - "He wanted to make an electric potion!"
"Without knowing how to?", frowned the Spear.
"Oh, c'mon! I've seen Pink mixing it, like, a thousand times!"- exclaimed Axem Black, adjusting his shades to hide a nervous look.
"So?" – Yaridovich turned to him. – "Now you see what happens when it's prepaired not by Pink?" – He turned back to Red. – "And you? Did you stop him?"
"I-I tried to", nodded Red. "He didn't listen…"
"Red is right, I've seen that myself", agreed Axem Green.
The Spear didn't answer, only mumbled something like "…and what am I gonna do with them…", turning away and not saying a word. In a couple more minutes the door was almost like new.
„Phewww..." – Yaridovich finally straightened back up and glanced at the Yellow Axem. – „And you, Yellow... Eat the lock once again, and I'll eat your axe."
"Ow!.." – The pudgy Ranger quickly grabbed onto his axe, as the rest burst into laughter. Of course, Yaridovich was only kidding. Which meant his anger at them finally was over.
After the lock accident, nothing else seemed important to him. Not even the Factory Clerk's call:
"Master Yaridovich?.. His Majesty awaits you in his chamber!"
"Yeah, yeah… Coming", replied the Spear. "Only me?"
"Only you, Master! He said he's got something extremely important to discuss with you personally."
Extremely important? Well, at least, it's not going to be like the last time, when they all had to spend two days in the Lead Cooler – only because he, Yaridovich, accidentally forgot to call Smithy father.
He heard the door of Smithy's chamber slam upstairs, and then a small and dark shadow nearly knocked the Spear off his feet. At first, he mistook it for Axem Black, but then, when the shadow stopped for a moment, he saw that it was a robotic Ninja – the Factory Chief he'd seen before.
"Did anything hap…" – But before Yaridovich managed to finish the phrase, the Chief had already run away.
"Weird..." – The Spear shrugged and knocked on the chamber door.
"Come in, sonny", responded a creaky low voice. Even more weird. Smithy rarely called him even by name, not to mention resorting to such words.
"Whatever happens, it won't be worse", finally thought Yaridovich and entered the room. – "Did you call me, father?"
"Yes, come in, don't just stand there."
In the chamber, Yaridovich had to slouch down – or else the blade on his head could scratch the celling. King Smithy, whose height wasn't as great, was standing in front of the Spear, leaning his back against the wide table with a big heap of unfolded scrolls and what appeared to be some maps on it.
"…room …dom", mindlessly read Yaridovich on the corner of one such scroll, then gave the mechanical king a confused glance.
"This mess?" – Smithy waved a hand. – "Never mind, just a few small projects of mine. And besides, I was going to talk to you about something different. Here, sit down."
He waited as Yaridovich sat down on a stack of old blueprints (because there was nothing else to sit on in the entire room), and handed him something resembling a flat golden plate with five points. It didn't look like any kind of metal found on the Factory.
"Yes, I see… Very… eer… shiny", nodded the Spear, still confused. "But father… Is it all you called me here for? An useless golden plate that's out of our world?"
"Exactly!" – Smithy lowered his voice, bending down to his adopted son. – "Not as useless as you… think, Yar…ridovich. You guessed right, it came from beyond our dimension. Only to you, as my eldest son, I want to reveal its secret." – And before Yaridovich opened his mouth to say something, the mechanical king continued: - "I heard… no matter from where… that there's plenty of them under our Factory. And each one of such things can grant one of your wishes."
"Fine. Let it make me able to split… and merge back, too", - Yaridovich grumbled what came to his mind first, still not believing Smithy's words.
The mysterious golden plate in his hands glowed brightly for a second, and them… disappeared.
"So what?" – The Spear got up, glanced at himself, even clicked his fingers, but nothing happened. – "Either this one was broken, or someone just lied to you!"
"No. No one told the wishes are granted instantly", smirked Smithy. "You can believe me, son. Because I'd made a wish on another such thing myself a while ago, and it came true."
"A-and… what was that?"
"Well, let's say so… A thing that will… hmmm… help you – all of you, I mean – get beyond, and see what's there. Not just my castle, the entire Factory. Don't tell anything, I already know you were dreaming of it."
"How…" – started Yaridovich, but for some reason again remembered the Factory Chief, and corrected himself: - "How… long will it take to get granted?"
"Can't say." – Smithy shrugged with feigned indifference. – "All right… sonny. You may leave now."
The very moment the Spear left, a slight smirk on the king's face turned into a sinister grin.
"Soon…" – cackled Smithy. – "Already… soon."
"Time to go sleep!" – the metallic voice of the giant talking clock, Count Down, echoed around the castle. – "Time to go sleep, everyone!.."
"I still can't believe father praised you!" – Mack finally hopped off the window ledge and crawled underneath Yaridovich's wide cloak, snuggling up among the rest of his siblings. - "Tell us again about that shiny thing!"
"Come on, Mackie, there's not much to tell", laughed the Spear. – "I told you, I don't even know where did it come from. It looked like gold, but wasn't even metallic. And… it glowed. Not like fire in a furnace. Way brighter."
"If father told you the truth, you won't have to worry about us so much anymore", said Axem Pink. – "Imagine that: we'll have a castle full of your doubles! Yari, the Jack-of-all-trades!"
"Right, and have everyone else complain that their eyes hurt to see grey and red around all the time", jokingly replied Yaridovich. - "What I'd like to see the most is…" – He sighed. – "…Who else lives beyond our castle. And the Factory… It just can't be that there are only same Pounders, Clerks and Managers everywhere."
"Follow you I will anywhere", squeaked Bowyer in his fancy wooden dialect. "Stop hurting my head will beyond our Factory?"
"I don't know, Redhead." – Yaridovich slightly ruffled the little Bow's hair. – "And now it does?"
"Nyat. The glow of that thing it has: stop thinking of it I can't. Healing it is, maybe…"
"Father says there's plenty of them under the Factory", the Spear said. – "I'll ask him tomorrow if he's got any left. For you. And for Exor."
"Nice you are", chuckled Bowyer from under the cloak and yawned. – "Gnyaaaaaaaaaah… G'nyaight, Yari…"
The mild amber light in the room went out: Yaridovich closed his eyes.
"Good night."
"Pssst… Your Majesty?.."
The door of Smithy's chamber creaked again, as a small dark shadow slipped in.
"You again?" – The mechanical King lifted his head from the map, glancing at the late night visitor. – "Now what happened?"
"We can't delay any more, Your Majesty!" – reported the Factory Chief. – "Our radars say that the black hole which threw the stars up here is about to disappear soon… It's our only chance to pierce the space!"
"Where it is now?"
"It moved under the tower where Ex- I mean, that huge outcast – resides, and as far as I know, it'll remain there only for a day..."
"Go and tell everyone to wait for Count Down's signal", Smithy ordered. – "Go this instant!"
"And what are you going to do, Your Majesty?"
"None of your business. You heard me. Now move!"
Having sent the Chief away, the King walked to a chamber wall and pushed a hidden switch on it.
Part of the wall slowly went up, revealing a dark niche with thick smoke seeping from inside.
"It's time, pal", hissed Smithy. "Rejoice!.. You're finally going out!.. Rise and shine, gwa-ha-ha-ha!.."
It was Mack who smelt the trouble first. A weak smell of smoke reached the room the little Knife Imp and his siblings were sleeping in, waking him up.
"Yari!" – whispered Mack, pulling his big brother by the moustache. – "Yari, wake up! Please wake up! There's smoke in the castle!"
"Wh-what?.." – Yaridovich shook his head, then rubbed his eyes, not understanding what's going on. - "Mackie?.. Is that your nightmare again?.."
"It's not! It's smoke!"- screamed the Knife Imp. - "Fire! Fire in the castle!.. We're burning!.."
"Burning?.."
…The smoke, although filling already all the hallways, was still thin enough for Mack and the rest to see each other. Not a soul except them was in the entire castle - even the guards left their posts, and the door of Smithy's room gaped open.
"Thic…ker it gets", coughed Bowyer. "Outside… cough… we must run… to check… cough, cough… Exor…"
"And quick!", exclaimed Yaridovich. "Quick, before it's too late! This way!.."
Luckily, the smoke hadn't reached Exor's tower yet. As they were running up the narrow spiral stairs that surrounded the gigantic Sword's blade, no one of them even heard the sound of Count Down's clang from outside, and a loud bang of the door shut.
"What happened?" – asked Exor, awakened by the sudden noise. - "Yari? Guys?.. Is that you?.."
"It's us!" – shouted Yaridovich. - "The castle's burning!"
"Burning?.." – re-asked the giant Sword. - "I don't see any fire… Only smoke…"
"We need to activate the protective dome!" – remembered Axem Green. Easier said than done: the switch was placed nearly at the very top of the tower – right where was a small balcony at Exor's chin level – and it'd take long to reach it. Even Mack on his Pogo Kinfe couldn't jump this high.
But what's that? The dome suddenly activated on its own, slowly, with a screech, covering the top of the tower – and Exor's head sticking out of it.
"What's going on?" – shouted Mack, who smelt the smoke again.
"It wasn't me!" – responded the Sword. – "Someone else must've sneaked in!"
"First time in your life you're right, outcast", sounded the another, weirdly familiar voice from the balcony.
Smithy! None other than the Mechanical King of the Factory himself was now standing there, his eyes flashing with anger. And near him, in mid-air, floated a weird copper-colored spiky creature. Smoke was coming out of its mouth – the same smoke that filled the castle before.
"Father?.. Are you hiding here too?.." – Yaridovich looked up, confused, and pointed at the creature. – "And what's this?"
Smithy grinned, clutching something in his hand.
"Your new playmate. Smelter! Remember my promise about helping you see the outer world? Here it is!.. Are you glad?.."
"It scared us!"- exclaimed Axem Pink. – "How this smoke is going to help if it nearly killed us?"
"You'll now see!.." – cackled Smithy and raised a hand with some papers in it, holding them close to Smelter.
"Our blueprints!" – screamed Bowyer, recognising the papers. - "Don't! Please, don't!"
Without thinking, the little Bow jumped up - as high as he could – trying to reach them… A mere couple of inches left, when Smithy shoved the folded blueprints into Smelter's mouth. The creature gulped them down in a moment, expiring a cloud of black smoke. And if it hadn't been for Yaridovich, Bowyer would fall to the very bottom of the tower and crash to pieces…
"YOU!" – roared Smithy, turning to the Spear. – "YOU AND THIS RUSTED KINDNESS OF YOURS! All right… enough playing games!" – He gasped for a moment. – "Today… Now… At last… I'll teach you! No where to run, so don't even try… Just watch this!.."
At his sign, thick black smoke again started to come out of Smelter's mouth, filling the tower's interior. Yaridovich and his siblings didn't know that it actually was Smithy's own wrath: Smelter was a creature that could absorb its owner's emotions, turning them either into liquid metal to be forged, or into smoke like this. The mechanical King's mind was clouded with black fury almost all time; and now this fury, mixed with the ashes of the blueprints, was slowly soaking into his adopted children, poisoning them.
It reached the Axem Rangers first. One by one they froze, like chained by something invisible, each not even being able to raise their axe. Then, Bowyer fell onto the stairs, holding his head – the smoke made it nearly split with pain.
"The blueprints…" – sobbed the Bow kid. – "Saved them, I didn't… Hurt it does… Hurt… Help…"
"Th-th-this all is just a nightmare…" – whispered the frightened Mack, trembling and covering the Pogo Knife's eyes with his hands. – "We'll all wake up now… Th-this isn't happening… This isn't happening!.."
"Ya…ri…" – weakly whispered Axem Pink, trying to see the Spear through the thick smoke. –"Do something… Save us…"
"C-can't move!.." – groaned Yaridovich. "I-it… holds me!.."
The cloud of smoke that coated him now in fact turned into black chains. These chains tied him to the tower wall, and got only stronger as he struggled. Yaridovich couldn't even gnaw on the chains to break them apart: they were made not from metal, but from pure hatred – Smithy's hatred to him.
"Do you like it?" – gloated the mechanical king. - "Don't reply. Because I do! I've been waiting for this moment for ages! Now you are going to belong to me, like it or not!.. Gufaw haw haw!.."
Terrified, the little androids watched the clear steel of their eldest brother's body and blades getting darker with every minute: the chains started fusing with it.
Finally, Yaridovich was completely paralyzed – except for his eyes. For a minute, he still could control them… Only for a minute… he still remained himself.
"Again?" – A terrible thought flashed in Smithy's head as his stare met the Spear's, and, before fear took over his mind like then, he gave a quick sign to Smelter. The copper creature opened its mouth even wider, expiring so much thick smoke that it filled nearly entire tower, hiding all its victims from the royal eyes.
"Spare them, father", sounded a deep voice, Exor's voice, above Smithy's head.
"Shut up, outcast!" – hissed the king.
"What had they ever done to you?.. Spare them! Kill me instead, I know you don't need me anyway… But let them go!.."
"You'll be the first thing I'll get rid of when I'm done!" – barked Smithy. – "Now shut up and watch what happens to everyone who dares to go against my will!.."
An enormous tear rolled out of the giant Sword's eye as the black smoke covered him.
"F o r… g i v e… m e…" – was the last thing the mechanical king heard.
The cloud of hatred finally dissolved. Smithy turned off the protective dome over the tower, looking at what his former children had turned into.
At last he was happy like never before: not even a trace of former kindness left in them.
Exor frowned, ready to shoot a deadly beam out of his eyes at any moment.
Bowyer maniacally cackled, rolling his eyes.
Mack clenched his fists, about to land his Pogo Knife onto someone's head.
The Axem Rangers all stood in line, craving for a fight, waiting for orders.
And Yaridovich… The mechanical King simply couldn't recognise in this monster the same Spear that had been a thorn in his side for years. His formerly big and bright eyes now narrowed in a cruel glare, the broad sideblades more resembled hooks, and the very posture, formerly straight, was now crooked.
This was it. He, Smithy, the ruler of the Factory dimension, made the impossible.
First time in Smithy's life his joy had no limits.
He watched the ground beneath Exor's tower starting to quake, and then – after the tower exploded – the gigantic Sword falling down into the black hole, where he was to turn into a living portal between dimensions.
He watched his children disappearing in the portal one by one. Yes, now he finally could call them his true children – Smithy Gang, as bloodthirsty and vile as him. The exact kind of weapons he wanted to fill the entire universe with, getting rid of the power of wishes – a goal the King didn't doubt one bit he will reach.
"It's all going to be mine", he smirked, looking into the portal below. – "All mine…"