Enter Abyss

Chapter 19; Arnold.

When Archer awoke after what felt like a thousand year sleep, he felt rather disoriented. Good sleep did that to you.

Stretching, he looked about the room to find both Pip and Cogs gone. No doubt one was off crocheting with the girls and the other fighting to the death with live steel.

He did not need to think which was which.

Dressing in his day clothes, Archer wondered if he ought to find King Galen, or if he should go looking for Pip to make sure she didn't hurt herself... again. Then again, Galen might just let Archer have another look at his inventions, which was too great an opportunity to miss.

Pip would be fine, he assured himself, pulling on his leather vest and throwing the door open with gusto, nearly slamming into Galen himself on the way out.

Immediately, the king's face turned red as if he had been caught doing something wrong and though his mouth opened and closed, though no words came out.

Fearing an awkward silence was close at hand, Archer burst out with a cheerful, "Good morning! Fine, er, weather we are having today."

Smiling gratefully, Galen chuckled, his laugh sounding weak-- as though he lacked the breath to do it. "We are under ground, you know."

"Yes, that has come to my attention presently." he said, pausing. "Was there something you wanted?"

Galen rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "There's something I wanted to show you, I... I think you might like it."

Beaming brightly, Archer bowed elegantely. "Lead the way!"

And Galen did.

Through corridors and out of the palace, past the town houses and gardens growing bioluminescent moss and glowing flowers, Galen paused little to look at such sights. Whereas Archer wished he could pick an entire bouquet for Pip of blue lilies that glowed like fire and shimmered with an inner light.

She wasn't the type that liked flowers, but perhaps it would make her feel better. And she was sorry, that much Archer knew; he had felt her climb up in bed next to him last night, as though they were still small children too shy to verbally apologize. Though why she had been upset in the first place was still a bit of a mystery, but it seemed to have something to do with Cogs.

Ducking into a shadowy tunnel with only the chunks of luminescent rock to light their path, Archer spoke up casually, "Galen?"

"Hm?"

"What do you do when two friends fight with on another?"

The young king look surprised, "That's a bit out of the black, now isn't it?"

"I'm asking for a friend."

Pausing to climb over a mossy boulder, Galen panted slightly for breath as if that one movement had been too much for his frail body. "I think-- hypothetically speaking-- that if the friends are close enough to each other, they'll sort it out themselves. Does that help?"

"Very much, yes." Archer hesitated for a moment, crouching down as Galen led him through another tight, stone tunnel. "But--hypotheticaly speaking, that is-- supposing that this was a, erm, lovers' quarrel? Sort of?"

Galen turned about, which was quite a difficult thing to do in such tight quarters and positioned himself so that he was nearly nose to nose with Archer.

"In that case," he said quietly, "Definitely do not get involved."

They continued walking on for what felt like hours, but may well have only been a few minutes; crossing underground rivers cold as the grave and twice as dark, climbing upward, and trekking through caves where dragons the size of bats hung upside down from the roof of the cavern.

Archer gasped in delight as the tiny beasts spurted flame from their jaws, making the darkness part split apart like a curtain being drawn aside. It was amazing! The wonder of it all never ceased to make him smile as though he were still a young boy learning the secrets of the world. That innocent, raging curiosity that he had always had burned bright and wild here. There were so many new things to see, so many new places to explore.

It was no wonder that his parents had journeyed here.

Finally, Galen pulled up short and turned to Archer. "Don't... don't tell anyone about this. I want it to be our secret for now."  Stepping forward, he pulled aside a curtain of lichen to reveal a massive cavern. Its walls were dappled with sunlight-- real sunlight--  and moss grew on almost every surface, giving it a magical look.

Fireflies, or whatever was the equivalent to them here, floated around a giant metal object set in the center of the room. And it was this object that made Archer gasp.

Before him sat an enormous metal man; its body and head were round, almost circular, its limbs thick like tree trunks. It had no facial features save for two eyes which, at that moment, looked to be almost sad. They were lifeless. Unlit. The enirety of the thing stood nearly forty feet high and almost twenty across, almost taking up the entire cavern. 

But it was not only its shear size that amazed Archer; it was the fact that this--this automata had, at one point, worked.

Taking a few steps forward, he put his hand up to the bronze coloured surface, staring at his reflection. "Amazing..." he whispered, "I've never seen anything like it."

Galen seemed to blush. "Impressive isn't he? We-- that is, I-- call him Arnold."

Archer began walking the length of the mecha, studying the outer mechanics of it. "Who built it?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. Though," he paused, "I do know that there was an explorer by the name of Rosalind Everwinter who found him. She was the only one besides me who knew of Arnold."

Archer tried not to let his eyes betray his emotions the way his heart wanted to. "Oh?' he said simply.

"Yes. An explorer she was, and her husband was quite the inventor-- though he was Abyss born and she was of the surface world. They disappeared a few years ago and I know not where they went."

Disappointment clawed at Archer's gut, but he tried not to let it bother him to a great degree. His parents were alive! Most likely. They had been here! There was hope yet. He would find them and tell them who he was... as soon as he explored the Abyss a bit more, that is.

Looking once more upon Arnold, Archer felt the cogs and gears turning in his head as his mind wondered of the inner workings of the mecha. What had gone wrong? What could he fix and how? Slowly, he felt a smile tug at his lips and excitement at his heart.

"Galen," he said, giving the king a mischievous look, "How long do you think it would take to bring Arnold back to life?"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE; I hope you are all liking the story so far! I am definitely having a lot of fun writing it and I hope Arnold will play a bigger role in this book later on. Anyway, don't forget to leave a vote or a comment or two :) Thank you all so much for reading!

the_twilight_writer