(Tik-Tok The Machine Man)
*October 21st, 1905*
*Land of Ev*
A few hours had passed as some of the Wheelers grew bored and began to slowly retreat back into the forest along with their leader; however, two of the Wheelers guarded the area which Dorothy and Billina were currently resting at.
"Gosh, these Wheelers won't let up! We've been waiting here for hours and there's still some of them guarding us!" Dorothy had whispered to Billina in a rather annoyed tone of voice while the red hen nodded their head in agreement.
"I agree! But we also gotta find a way out of here or else those Wheelers find a way to climb up here.." Billina had whispered back to their owner in a rather concerned tone of voice as the pair looked around for any signs of an exit before Dorothy noticed a rather strange door that was located below her which piqued her interest.
"A door? Maybe we can use this to escape those terrible Wheelers but where would this door take us? Somewhere dangerous or maybe directly to Oz?" Dorothy had thought to herself while observing the door with great interest before turning to call on Billina by waving her hand as she began to whisper out to the red hen.
"Billina, I think I've found a door that could take us somewhere else so let's hurry and get inside before those awful Wheelers wake up" Dorothy had whispered to Billina as this prompted the red hen to quickly waddle over to their owner while observing the door.
"Interesting, let's take this door! I've been meaning to get out of here!' Billina had whispered back in a rather excited tone of voice as they had seen Dorothy carefully opening the door to reveal a ladder that could pave the way for our heroes to descend down.
"Okay. I'll climb down while I carry you, okay? It's the only way for us to ever get out of this place" Dorothy had advised Billina as the red hen nodded their heads in understandment.
"Sure, just be careful now! I don't want you to slip and fall cause that will be quite terrible indeed" Billina had spoken back to Dorothy in a tone of concern and understandment as they had felt themselves gently being picked up by Dorothy.
"Okay, let's go.." Dorothy had simply uttered out as she carefully began to climb down the ladder as she had used one foot to land on each platform while using her one arm to carefully hold on to each platform as this proved to be quite challenging due to her holding Billina.
"You got this! Just take your time, okay? It's gonna be while before those Wheelers wake up anyways" Billina had spoken out to their owner in hopes of offering Dorothy encouragement as the young girl continued to carefully make her way down the ladder and eventually, Dorothy was able to successfully climb down the ladder without falling as this left her slightly breathless.
"Gosh! That ladder was pretty tall but I'm glad we've managed to get away from those Wheelers but also, where are we?' Dorothy had spoken out to Billina while looking around at the rather strange room.
The room was very dark yet there was still enough light for Dorothy and Billina to see clearly as there were portraits of many people on each side with one of them depicting a rather beautiful woman while there was also plenty of storage scattered across the room.
"What is this place?! How could a small hill possibly lead to a room like this?! I truly don't get this place.." Dorothy had spoken out in confusion as she and Billina proceeded to explore the strange room while Billina nodded their head in agreement.
"I agree! It's quite strange indeed but hopefully we can find a way out of here and as far away from those Wheelers as possible" Billina had responded back to Dorothy as the pair continued to explore the room until they noticed a rather strange thing standing in the center of the room.
"Goodness gracious! What in the world is that?!"" Dorothy had spoken out in awestruck as she had never seen anything like this in her life.
For It was standing within the narrow chamber of rock, was the form of a man—or, at least, it seemed like a man, in the dim light. He was only about as tall as Dorothy herself, and his body was round as a ball and made out of burnished copper. Also his head and limbs were copper, and these were jointed or hinged to his body in a peculiar way, with metal caps over the joints, like the armor worn by knights in days of old. He stood perfectly still, and where the light struck upon his form it glittered as if made of pure gold.
"Don't be frightened now, it's surely not alive, I hope…" Billina had advised Dorothy while the young girl nodded her head in agreement before slowly walking towards the mechanical being with great interest.
"I'm not frightened; however, he reminds me of an old friend and his name was Tin Woodman but he seems rather ancient yet advanced compared to him.." Dorothy had spoken back while gently touching the mechanical being as she observed the being until notice a card which was on his head which prompted her to pick it up and read it.
"SMITH & TINKER'S Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive, Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking MECHANICAL MAN Fitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment. Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live. Manufactured only at our Works at Evna, Land of Ev. All infringements will be promptly Prosecuted according to Law." Dorothy had read out while Billina was rather confused by this as they were new to this type of thing.
"How strange! A talking mechanical man?! You only hear about those in stories!" Billina had spoken out in awestruck while Dorothy smiled back at the red hen.
"It is but my good friend Tin Woodman proved me wrong since he was able to talk and think for himself as well" Dorothy had spoken back to Billina as she turned the card over which had instructions to turn on the mechanical being.
"DIRECTIONS FOR USING: For THINKING:—Wind the Clock-work Man under his left arm, (marked No. 1.) . For SPEAKING:—Wind the Clock-work Man under his right arm, (marked No. 2.) For WALKING and ACTION:—Wind Clock-work in the middle of his back, (marked No. 3.) N. B.—This Mechanism is guaranteed to work perfectly for a thousand years." Dorothy had read out once more as this amazed both her and Billina as they did not expect something to work for this long; however, Billina quickly began to devise a plan in regards to the mechanical being.
"Wait?! If we can use this thing to help us with the Wheelers and even become our bodyguard than things will become easier for us, how does that sound?!" Billina had spoken out to Dorothy in amazement as the red hen had used their brains to come up with a rather good plan as this made Dorothy smile.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner? If we can just turn his clockworks to wake him up than he'll surely wake up!" Dorothy had spoken out in joy as she and Billina quickly began to make good work in activating the mechanical man, just as the card instructions had told and eventually, the mechanical man had finally opened its eyes rather slowly before moving around in confusion before resting its eyes on Dorothy and Billina.
"Good morn-ing, lit-tle girl. Good morn-ing, Mrs. Hen" The mechanical man had spoken out in a rather hoarse and creaky tone of voice while struggling to talk normally; however, Dorothy and Billina understood him perfectly.
"Good Morning, how do you do?" Dorothy and Billina both answered back in a polite tone of voice as the mechanical man began to slowly speak once more to the pair.
"Thank you for res-cu-ing me, Y-You h-have m-my eternal gratitudes" The mechanical man had spoken out in the same monotone voice once more as this made Dorothy smile warmly at him.
"Of course, but I'm curious, what's your name and how did you end up being locked up in this terrible place?" Dorothy had responded back while waiting for her answer as the mechanical man began to speak once more but this time it was more clear due to functions finally kicking in.
"M-My name is Tik-Tok, I was purchased by Smith and Tinker and I was created by a cruel king called Evoldo who ruled over the Land of Ev which is where you and the hen currently reside but going back to the story, Evoldo would always beat his servants until they were dead and even beaten me; however, since I was a mechanical being and wasn't able to feel pain, He would lock me up as punishment until I would stop talking.." Tik-Tok had explained to Dorothy and Billina as he had stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts before resuming his story.
"The cruel king had a very lovely wife and beautiful children, five boys and five girls but, one day! He had sold his very own family to the Nome King out of anger and the Nome King used his terrible magic to turn them into ornaments and locked them away; however, many months would go by and Evoldo began to feel a twinge of guilt and tried to win back his family but sadly, It was to no success and finally, Evoldo locked me inside of this place and ventured out to the oceans and threw himself into the ocean…" Tik-Tok had explained to Dorothy and Billina as the story shocked them since this was the first time they'd heard of something like this.
"That's horrible! Why would he sell his own family like that?! It's dreadful!" Dorothy had spoken out in righteous anger as she clenched her fists while Billina remained calm but was still shocked.
"I agree, It's quite terrible indeed.." Billina had chimed into the conversation while Tik-Tok slowly began to move towards his new companions.
"It's s-sa-d t-ale I-indeed. B-but S-ince y-you t-two s-saved me, I-I shall b-become y-your f-faithful s-servant u-until the end.." Tik-Tok had spoken out in a tone of gratefulness as he felt himself slowly losing his voice due to his clockwork dying as this prompted Dorothy to turn it around until she couldn't do it anymore.
"Servant? Don't say that! We could be good friends! We just need someone to take care of those Wheelers for us and also be our bodyguard but that doesn't mean you are our servant or anything, okay?" Dorothy had advised Tik-Tok while letting out a warm smile as this had confused him due to never hearing that term before.
"Friend? What is a friend? Is it another way of saying servant" Tik-Tok had asked in a confused tone of voice as he was met with Dorothy shaking her head before explaining the term to him.
"A friend is someone who you can always rely on for support, chatting, and other such wonderful things and most importantly, they'll make you feel loved and important. That's what a friend is.." Dorothy had answered back while still retaining her beautiful smile as this made Tik-Tok confused yet he was able to understand Dorothy at the same time.
"I see, well, I shall thank you for your kind words and by that, I feel truly motivated to assist you guys in whatever you guys might want help with" Tik-Tok had spoken out as he slowly walked over towards his right while moving some things to reveal another door which surprised Dorothy and Billina.
"A-Another door?! I wonder where this might lead us to?" Dorothy had spoken out in surprise while Billina nodded their head in agreement.
"I'm on the same boat as well!" Billina had spoken back while Tik Tok simply looked back at them.
"This door should take us back to where those Wheelers are; however, We must force one of them to spill some important information to us and once we're done with that than we'll have him take us to Princess Langwidere and she should HOPEFULLY help us from there…" Tik-Tok had explained to the pair as this left Dorothy rather curious at this new person that she had just heard.
"Who's Princess Langwidere?.." Dorothy simply asked her new friend as it seems that this adventure was far from over; however, the young girl hoped that this mysterious person was nice and would assist them on their journey across the Land of Ev.
