A Tinker's Job

Chapter 1

"are you sure about this?"

"how many times do i have to tell you," he snapped. "just do it already."

you sighed and opened a plug, having a wire in your other hand. "alright. ready?"

"do it."

you nodded so he could see it in the mirror, moving the plug and plugging it in its rightful position. purple eyes followed every moment up until the insertion. scaramouche flinched in pain, feeling the rush of energy course through his body. the purple energy from the gnosis flowed through him, filling him to the brim with energy.

"yes," he mused. "more power. this is what i was made for."

you stayed quiet.

"beelzebul made a mistake, abandoning me alone. how dare she... after i'm done with this god creation program, i'll seek my revenge. she will bow before me after this."

she'd still clap you, you thought. as much as you can handle this type of power, your vitals and mental state are unstable. there's no way you can measure up to a god who has been having this power for longer than your existence.

you tightened the cable, making sure no energy would leak out from the sides. the purple energy glowed, the buzz of the static making the wire vibrate while you checked for any misfits.

"all set," you murmured out loud, brushing your hands off and admiring your handiwork. "i'll be off now, my lord."

"you've done well," he chuckled, checking out the source of his power with the mirror. "now i can truly ascend to godhood."

not a word left your lips as you jumped down, making sure to use the four leaf sigils that were floating in mid-air. you landed effortlessly, walking towards the grand sage who had made his entrance.

"well done," he praised you. "i can always rely on you to perfectly execute such tasks, {name}."

"i'm glad to be of service," you said between clenched teeth, trying to prevent bile from slipping out of your throat. "i will be taking my leave as i have a meeting to attend to."

"very well," he said. "take the day off tomorrow. due to the heavy amount of progress we've made, i believe a little rest would be beneficial."

"what are you talking about down there," scaramouche sneered, watching you about to leave. "what about {name} taking the day off tomorrow?"

that was the first time he said your name, making your eyes open slightly in shock. he'd never call anyone by name, only using their name like a title that he saw fit to give. only those who mattered to him would be called by name.

"i believe that she deserves a small rest," azar spoke. "she has made massive jumps in our plan. tomorrow she should rest."

"no," scaramouche retorted. "in order to become a god as soon as possible, we need to continue making jumps. {name} come in tomorrow."

"if that's what you'd like," you called to him, bowing your head, and taking your leave.

you know you'll get your ears chewed off tomorrow by him, but for now it doesn't matter. for now, you had a meeting with al haitham who suddenly requested your assistance. he requested for you to meet him at his house, considering kaveh was out in the desert working on a project.

"{name}, you arrived."

you closed the door to his house, seeing al haitham reading a book on the dining table. "hello scribe al haitham."

"you can drop the formalities," he assured you. "just call me al haitham. aren't we friends?"

"alright, if that's what you want," you smiled at him, sitting across from him at the table. "what did you want to discuss?"

"well, there's a rumor floating around about a god creation plan concerning the akademia. and who would be better to ask than the grand sage's personal engineer?"

you tried to keep a poker face, hand unknowingly tightening while you tried to keep yourself composed. "a god creation plan?"

"yes," he mused. "would you happen to know anything?"

"i believe i don't," you lied through your teeth. "why would you need this information?"

"if this is true," al haitham placed his book down, looking at you intently with his grey-green eyes. "the sages will have to be placed under investigation for going against lesser lord kusanali."

"..."

you didn't reply, shifting your gaze from his face to the table in front of you. a sigh left your throat. how could you bring yourself to tell him that you're a key member in their god creation plan? it wasn't even that you wanted to. you were a devout follower of lesser lord kusanali, but you had no power to go against the akademia. if you were, you'd have to abandon everything that you had and probably either be exiled or killed by the "new god" himself.

"{name}," al haitham placed his hands on yours in a comforting grip. "you can tell me."

"i don't know what you're talking about," you snapped back. "i don't know about the grand sage's plan."

"then find out for me," he released your hand. "can you do that?"

"scribe al haitham, i don't see how it's any of my concerns. i'm one of the very few engineers in all of sumeru, investigating and overthrowing the akademia is not part of my job description."

"i'm asking this as a favor from a friend," he tried to reassure you. "i'm not asking as a scribe. i'm asking this as a person who wants to see sumeru flourish, and we can't do that without our god."

you stood up, walking towards the door. before you could open it, al haitham slammed his hand on the wood, holding it closed. his body wasn't directly touching yours, but it was very close. your heart started to beat faster out of fear. both of you knew it though, he could see right through you.

"{name}, if we create a plan to destroy this false god, we'd have a chance to stop this corrupt system. we could save lesser lord kusanali. we could do what's right. don't you think that's a good enough cause to fight for?"