At Sol's rising the next morning, Hodge sat cross-legged, meditating. He began each day this way. The smell of burning offerings from the prior day was thought to calm ones soul, and bring clear thought and vision. Others sat in similar fashion around the fires, also meditating in the calm of the morning. He concentrated on the conversation of last night, trying to remember where he had heard the name of the God the people of Neggudah worshiped, and if he'd actually heard it at all. What came to his mind was an image of a row of corn. He saw it so plainly, bright green leaves waving gently in a light breeze, the yellow tassel at the top of the ears, the sprigs of yellow-green at the top of the plant. This vision was meaningful, the Gods never sent useless visions in a meditation, but he could not fathom the meaning currently. He filed it away and allowed the next to come to him.
This time he saw a large piece of white parchment with precise lines drawn all over it and the letters 'SV' marked in the corner amid numbers that seemed to be measurements of some sort. At first, the lines had no rhyme or reason, but when the image slowly pulled away from him, the lines began to take the rough shape of a humanoid figure. Hodge's eyebrows knitted in deep concentration as he tried to assimilate this form. He had never seen anything like this before. He was shown a table with many pieces of parchment such as this scattered about. A hand moved them around, pulled up another page, put it on top of the man-form, and flattened it out. This was an image of something cylindrical, with a pipe feeding one end, then coming out the other. Smaller pipes came out along the sides. Next to it was an illustration of this cylinder fitted on the back of the humanoid drawing. All of these looked like plans of some type. They reminded of him of...
"Machines." He whispered, without being aware of saying the word aloud. If Toddhelm had seen his vision, he would have known that he was looking at an illustration of a main boiler meant for powering something very large. He would have known exactly what it was, because he'd seen it before.
When this vision faded, another more ominous vision took form. This time, Hodge saw what looked like an underground lake on fire. There were rock walls enclosing the giant gulf of flames. He saw people running, heard screaming, smelled burning hair…was it his own? His eyes popped open now, all visions fading. The Gods were finished sending him clues. It was time to go in search of whatever these disturbing phantasms meant, starting with the stories Arnesh told them last night. He had the sinking feeling all of this was leading south to Abioye's settlement somehow and didn't bode well for the people there. He and Matiya had been so focused on the Prophecy and getting her in The Depths to cleanse the sword and aid Malachai. Perhaps too focused. He felt a moment of uneasiness, as if he had been taken unawares and was the victim of some plot. That he and Matiya weren't as ahead of the game as they thought and while they weren't being taken seriously here on the upper realm, the lower realm, and others yet to be named, were taking them very seriously.
Hodge sighed and tried to shake the feeling of dread that had built up within him. He finished with his daily meditations and made his way back to the hut. Toddhelm was also already up and leaning against the side of his vehicle sipping a steaming cup of coffee. "Breakfast is on!" He said, raising his cup in greeting to his travel companion. "Get a belly full, and then we'll be underway. I mapped us out at being close to things heating up, so this might be our last peaceful stay until we reach the plains."
Hodge nodded and went inside. He ate a most delicious, hot breakfast, trying to relish every bite, because the next time he tasted good food might be long in the future. He didn't share his visions with Arnesh at this time, as he didn't want to alarm his friend or his small settlement. They were already frightened enough. This morning, however, those he encountered seemed a bit more relaxed. Perhaps Toddhelm and Hodge's stop in Broken Neck helped to put their minds at ease. Certainly seeing Hodge recovered from his previous injury was a relief to Arnesh.
The travelers stocked up on water, both for themselves and the Extrabulous. Broken Neck's deep well was indeed a blessing. Soon after, they bid Arnesh farewell, donned goggles, caps, and various travel gear and climbed back into the vehicle to begin another day's journey of clattering and clanking along the dusty landscape.
"I have to tell you what I saw and heard last night, before I retired..." Toddhelm shouted over the noisy engine after they'd been underway for awhile. He relayed the tale of the thuds, fiery flashes and whitish smoke from the previous night.
"You saw nothing further?" Hodge also shouted. He tried to shift a bit closer to Toddhelm so he could hear what the man was saying.
"No, but I remembered something from when I lived in the northwest. A fellow making a large walking machine. He called it a 'Walkernaut'. He wanted to run it on Ignitia!"
"Ignitia!" Hodge exclaimed, alarmed. He knew what Ignitia was, and had seen some of the consequences of using it carelessly. "Who was this man?"
"That's the problem! I can't remember his name for anything! He was a crabby bastard! Didn't want to let too many see his 'prints. Very paranoid. The MechCon kicked him out because he insisted he be given a supply of Ignitia for testing. He wouldn't allow supervision or agree to the terms of MechCon on Ignitia's use. He argued so hard against their decision, they finally had enough of him, and told him he was excused from his contracts."
"What happened to him after that?" Hodge asked. MechCon kicking out a member was a sign of drastic and dangerous behavior. He knew the Mechanical Consortium had a strict code of conduct that included the safe use of materials. This man must have offended many of the members with his demands for him to be removed.
"No one knows. Packed up his bay and left town. Left naught behind, except for some big hunks of metal that were too big to take."
By this time, they had come quite a good distance, and Broken Neck was far behind them. They were both beginning to feel on edge. They knew confrontation with raiders was inevitable sooner now than later. Both men nervously surveyed the arid land around them, watching for movement behind rock formations or over the next hill.
Toddhelm glanced down at one of the many dials on the dash to check the fuel levels when Hodge suddenly exclaimed, "LOOK OUT!" He was already reaching for the brake lever as he looked up, almost instinctively avoiding what he had not yet seen. The Extrabulous halted in a smoke-belching series of screeches and whines, sliding across the hard-packed road with it's momentum pushing it forward. It finally came to a stop scant feet from the edge of a huge, round indent that spanned the road. If he had driven the vehicle into the indent it would have taken irreparable damage.
Hodge's hands still clutched the bars on the cage beside him, and the bar across the dash in front of him in a white-knuckled death grip. "Gods. What is this?"
First taking a quick check of the surrounding area, both men cautiously climbed down from the vehicle and walked to the edge of this odd shallow hole in the road.
"Has part of the road collapsed?" Hodge said.
Toddhelm stood silent next to him, the wind whipping strands of white hair across his face, which he ignored. He turned to his left, then then began walking in great, exaggerated strides. Hodge followed him, and eventually they ended up at another one of the indentations, just like the one in the road. They saw a third ahead of them, and Toddhelm then walked to that one, again with the exaggerated strides. This time Hodge heard him counting his steps off. When he came to the third hole he stopped and looked up into the sky.
"Willem, bless my eyes that what I'm seeing be not true." He said.
"What? What is this?" Hodge circled around in front of him, worried.
"It's a Walkernaut. It must be. He made the damned thing. It's what I saw and heard last night. It's what those in Broken Neck have been seeing. The smoke, from it's stack, the thuds from it's feet." He looked into Hodge's eyes. "This is about a 50 foot tall machine, running on ignitia, and Gods know what else it's capable of."
"Please remind me of a foot." Hodge said.
Toddhelm held his hands out, "About fifty of these, or...perhaps between 22 and 25 of the cubits of your time, if I remember a discussion we had about measure properly."
Hodge stood in stunned silence attempting to reconcile this information in his mind, and to visualize this thing. How could a machine that tall actually move?
As he stood thinking, Toddhelm continued, "I saw two pages of his 'prints once as he presented the idea to the Consortium. This thing is man-shaped. It would look like gigantic armored man. The boiler was attached to it's back and fed internal pistons and external gears. I only got a glimpse and couldn't tell much more about it's construction."
Hodge remembered his vision from the morning's meditation and said, "Attached to it's back...is it a round object?"
"Yes! You have seen this?"
"This morning, as I meditated during the burning of offerings, I was sent this in a vision. I did not know what I was seeing at that time. I saw the man-shape marked in blue lines, and the cylinder you described. I also saw the letters 'SV' in a corner. This was an important point, as the vision was very clear and focused on these letters."
"'SV'. Those are creators initials. That was...was..." Toddhelm's blue eyes lit up in recognition, "Samney Vargeld! That was the bastard's name! You were seeing the blueprints I saw for the Walkernaut! Damned amazing. So it is him." His expression grew dark, "Now I remember more since saying his name. I recall he was from an unsavory period in history, and had unfavorable ideals, though I never spoke to him enough to hear any of them. His earlier machines bore the mark of a crooked cross inside a circle." The little man shuddered. "There was something ugly and dangerous about that mark. I didn't like it, and some others reacted violently to seeing it. Vargeld eventually stopped using it."
Hodge looked back towards the Extrabulous "We should return to your machine and leave here quickly. Hopefully we do not encounter this… walking machine before we get to our destination in the south."
"We HAVE to encounter it!" Toddhelm stated emphatically.
Hodge turned to him, surprised. "Why? We need to avoid this thing or risk the lives of everyone in Abioye's settlement."
"Because we have to destroy it! You don't realize the implications of this!"
Hodge frowned and gestured towards the Extrabulous, "I realize we have a duty to the people in the south! They will shortly be starving and sick if we do not get them these supplies as soon as possible!"
"Lord Hajiru, if we don't destroy it, this machine is capable of rampaging over everything and everyone. Nothing can stop it, not even you, as a Champion! Not Lady Matiya, or Lord Achilles, it will trample and flatten everything in it's path that opposes it." Noting the reluctance in Hodge's expression he took a deep breath and continued, "It was rumored Vargeld was creating these machines for destruction, even though he claimed they were for exploration. What I saw and heard is probably not the only one. Imagine an army of those things. Imagine them heading towards our people down south."
Hodge shook his head in confusion, "I cannot even imagine what one of these things looks like, let alone many."
"Mr. Kassan, you said the raiders appeared to be guarding the mid-desert and steering everyone away from it. While what I saw and heard was quite far from the mid-desert, I'm willing to bet whatever operation Vargeld has for making these things is what they're hiding. It's secluded, easy to keep an eye on intruders, and there's always been rumors of ignitia pools deep under the sand, coming up from The Depths. He'd need a huge supply of fuel."
Alarmed, Hodge exclaimed, "The Depths! What does this mean for Matiya's party going there now? Could this be something to do with Eridus and The Prophecy as well?"
"That I don't know, but it doesn't bode well for any of us regardless." The smaller man pounded a fist into his palm to emphasis his point. "We must put Vargeld out of commission immediately. He is a dangerous man, and we can't wait longer than necessary 'fore this gets beyond us all."
The two men regarded each other in silence while the wind moaned and called across the desert. Finally, Hodge crossed his arms over his chest and replied, "If what you say is true, then how are we two supposed to destroy it by ourselves?"
Toddhelm frowned, then said, "Let me ruminate on that. See what else I can remember. I shall make offerings to Willem tonight, and pray for remembrance. There is more to this. You saw the boiler spec as well. The answer lies there."
They walked to the Extrabulous, leaving their shallow footprints behind them.