Elise looked at the man in front of her with surprise. "You're the mechanic?"

"So that's what they call me nowadays?" he replied with a chuckle. "But yes, that would be me."

"I expected you to be… older…" she replied unsurely.

"Do you even know how old I am?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Well no, but I can make assumptions…"

"Well let's head to the council. Shouldn't keep them waiting."

"That's true. We can still talk afterward Elise." her mother agreed.

"Actually no. I was asked to take part in the meeting." the Mechanic replied. "I will see you later again. I still need to attach a few bolts to the chassis I'm almost done with." he explained slowly walking off. "After that I got time, I can simply work on the engine tomorrow."

"What's an engine?" Elise asked, turning towards her mother.

"I honestly don't have an answer for that honey. Probably some kind of machine."

Elise nodded, not asking further as they were currently entering the town hall and about to meet the council.

"Anything I should know?" she nervously whispered, unsure how to behave around the council.

"Well first of all their not nobles, so formalities like king, your highness, or lord are not needed and should just be avoided. Secondly, try to give all of them a bit of your attention but always the most of it towards the council leader."

She nodded, whispering a short thanks while mentally already preparing for the task, hoping that everything would go alright.

—000—

Gamma placed his welder away before taking a step back, observing his work.

The chassis of his vehicle had finally been completed and was now hanging from the ceiling being held by a few steel cables. His design had been made from Bronze Steel which had caused it to have a slightly brownish color. He had preferred using a full steel armor plating, but sadly there weren't enough resources for that.

Most of the mechanics had also already been added into the frame like steering or lights. Right now all that was left to do was to mount the chassis onto the track-propulsion-system and add the engine and final parts like the gearbox.

He smiled as he lightly tapped the metal. He had even already thought of a fitting name for his creation.

"The armory… Fitting for the first vehicle of this continent. Once I have completed your assembly we will go explore the world a bit and no dragon will be able to face off against you."

He sighed before turning away. As much as he had loved to continue to work on this project, he had somewhere else to be.

With that he left his workshop, heading towards the town hall.

He had to admit that he was slightly unsure about what was awaiting him. While he had been inside the town hall multiple times already, having been asked to upgrade a few things of the design, he had never actually participated in a council meeting before.

Despite that, however, he, strangely enough, didn't feel nervous in the slightest. A strange familiarity surrounded him as he walked up the stairs towards the entrance… Then suddenly his world changed.

[Flashback…]

Gamma was walking up a long set of stairs, the sounds of soft clanging of metal steps as well as the buzzing of mechanical pieces inside his armor accompanying him along the way. At the end of the staircase was a huge door that was almost three times his height. A painting of a shield was found on the double gate surrounded by a sword, torch, flag, and two intersected gears. Two Greek letters were painted inside the shield one being alpha and the other being omega which was located beneath it. The two were interconnected.

Flanking both sides of the entrance were two guards both of them wearing similar to the one he was wearing.

As he stepped closer the two pointed their weapons at him, causing him to slow down a bit, but he continued heading for the gate without nevertheless. For some reason, he wasn't even feeling the hint of a sign of worry.

Suddenly a shadow fell over both him and the guards causing them to flinch slightly, taking half a step back looking nervous.

Gamma turned around already having a slight suspicion who or what depending on perspective he was going to see his eyes recognizing the shape of the shadow. Turning around his it turned out he was correct.

Behind him stood as massive as ever the machine he had seen in his last vision, its two imposing blades still darker than the night, and its singular glowing white 'eye' still sparking with some twisted mechanical equivalent of high intelligence.

Right now its powerful blades were folded and peacefully rested against its 'underarms' as it slowly advanced in its three titanium legs each step surprisingly silent for its huge size.

"Elite force S.S.T., squadron one." was all it said his words directed towards the guards. "Command wants to see us."

"Roger, you can pass." came the reply as both guards gave a quick salute before they went back to scanning the perimeter.

Gamma gave them a nod before walking towards the door which slowly opened as he approached. The machine followed him like a shadow.

"I was expecting your arrival." a voice said from beyond the door. "It's nice to have you back project leader… or do you prefer to be called by your real name …"

[…]

"…Gamma? Hey are you alright?"

Gamma snapped back into reality, rubbing his head. He was on the staircase towards the town hall again. One of the guards had noticed his mental absence and was now giving him a worried look.

"Yea I am. Just… thinking." he replied rubbing his head. What had just happened?

The guard nodded but continued giving him worried looks.

Gamma gave the man a reassuring smile before entering through the door landing in the lobby of the town hall. He headed for one of the doors, him no longer required to ask for directions as he already knew the layout by heart from the experience of the many times he had worked in here either fixing or upgrading required technology.

It didn't take long until he could hear the voices of the council members coming down the hallway, slowly growing louder as he got closer to the meeting room.

A bit later he entered, causing the council members and the empress to turn towards him.

"Gamma, it's good that you're here. We were just walking about you. Our scouts brought troublesome news."

"Immediately to the point? I like that." he replied taking a seat. "Tell me, what's the topic? Me or my technology?"

"Both. Do you know the Indestructible City?"

"You mean that rival city whose lord is said to be having an ego bigger than his castle? Yea, news about them tends to circle around town quite frequently. To be honest with you, even as someone who doesn't tend to prejudge I was quickly able to believe the stories about their arrogance. Already starting by their cities name and the fact that the lord likes to be called invincible lord." He chuckled.

"This is not a time for jokes. Our scouts that returned this morning have reported that the Indestructible city has found an interest in you. While the scouts report the possibility that they try to steal your technology we fear a lot worse knowing how our enemy likes to operate."

The council leader's voice grew even more serious if that was even possible considering his current mood.

"Gamma, we're afraid that they plan to abduct you…"

Sorry, for the late post. This was actually already supposed to be out 3 days ago, but I had an extremely busy week at school. (6 big tests.)

I will try to catch up a bit now that it's calmer again and post the next chapter on my normal schedule of Friday/Saturday again, but I can't guarantee 100%.

And as always, feedback is highly welcome as well as questions. :D