Kara

Chapter 5: Activation

The slumped-over, creature of metal was still dead on my return to its resting place in the wild, sitting just on the edge of the forest and the black sands of the desert. There was a wind picking up and the sands shifted along with the gusts, tinking against the creature's shiny bones, and smooth face. I began scouring the metal husk for someplace to pour Mother's blood into, poking and feeling the cold nooks and crannies I could find. The points on the ring behind the creature's head were able to twist. The ones on the left and right didn't seem to do anything, but a twist of the top point made the ring drop to the base of the creature's back with a crank. There's no way I broke it already, at least I hoped not. I noticed an opening that the ring highlighted, and taking a peek through the small hole, I saw the glow of Mother's blood inside. What I could only guess was the creature's stomach was stained and lined with faded blue splotches and the glowing webs of the time-seeing liquid.
I needed to gather tendrils and pour the blood into the opening, so I readied my spear and dropped the jar Garo gave me into the satchel. It rustled around with some other objects that I would look through later. I'm on a mission. Like an explorer– like Nuctuk after the day of the rings. He bravely left the cave my people hid in and ventured out to the wild no matter who he left behind. I felt like I could hear my mother's wails in the wind. I locked onto a tree that I thought had plenty of tendrils. I scurried up into its branches, frightening away birds and other small creatures.
There's a trick to gathering tendrils, my mother taught me on the day of my ceremony years ago. "The part that passes through the wood is thinner and easy to break." I heard her voice in my mind, her hands guiding my fingers just like then. The first tendril snapped, and the blood dribbled out, cobweb-like wisps of the glowing blue liquid drifted off into to air as I quickly tried to gather as much as I could in my jar. It was dense when all pooled in one place. The jar began to warm my hands from the heat radiating from the blood as I hopped down from the canopy.
Moment of truth. I need to keep it steady. My fingers were stiff as I leveled the lip of the jar with the opening. It crept toward the edge of the jar, perfectly aligned until I got one smooth pour. A low hum filled my ears. It pulsed like the sound was whipping around by a long rope. It quickened, growing and spiking up to a high-pitched whir. It hissed and cranked back to life with the shrill grinding of metal. The ring on its back shot up to the back of its head. The neck snapped to the side, and the crackling of a spark of light blasted out from the side. It straightened.
The figure was still slumped on the ground and I grabbed my spear and ran into the brush, watching it before it could see me. The shoulder of the creature rolled in rough squares, and its arm shot outward as if stretching from a long sleep. It began to stand. Its legs emerged from under the void-colored sand creaking and groaning with every movement. Its full form was slender, elegant almost. The shimmering figure, stood among the sands, bathing in the gentle light of the forest and the moon above it. The creature let out a buzz, a shrill call of vibrating metal, and the pointed ring began to turn. It spun. The ring created another ring of light and wild sparks. It crackled with lightning jumping from the sides and flinging the loose sand out from around it in shimmering embers. The sand spun around it, hovering in the air, and the ring of light expanded, floating up into the air. The spiraling light grew larger and larger. Then it vanished. The ring of hovering sand dropped down around the creature. "Connection to lightway failed" a voice emanate from the creature, it was low, but mixed in with another higher voice that faintly echoed behind it. "It speaks..." I whispered to myself.
The creature only stood there now, an eerie beeping coming from it every few seconds. I didn't know what I had witnessed. There was confusion overpowered by dread, that swelling feeling that rises from your chest to your head like your brain is checking that you were still alive. The sensation was alien, that hyper-awareness of every limb of my body just to be sure I could sprint at a moment's notice. Its head started turning. This time the creaks had gone. It moved smoothly like it was young again. Was it young again? The only one question I could seem to muster in my mind like it had cleared every other thought. I had been reduced to a being of pure instinct in the presence of this creature I had rescued. It started to walk but in the opposite direction of me. My fascination was the only thing to overcome the primal uncertainty that held my mind hostage. I gave chase as quietly as I could, staying within the forest.