Volume 2 Chapter 6 Macchina Gloriosa

Chapter 6 Macchina Gloriosa

I

Since the four had gotten two tickets to visit the Pyramid of Macchina Gloriosa, Floria decided to accompany Starsha to visit the factory.

After a short rest, both the two girls had recovered from their land sickness and they set off form the tavern.

That gigantic Pyramid of Macchina Gloriosa was towering over the city. All other buildings looked extremely small compared to it, and that pyramid really looked like a titanic monster.

It was already around 19:30 at night now but there were standing torches built on the street to illuminate the city so that the citizens had no trouble walking around the city at night at all.

On the way to the factory, the two girls saw a cage on the road, inside which sat a young man. He was naked and only wore underpants.

He looked hellishly thin and he resembled a skeleton wrapped only by a layer of skin. It was hard to imagine that he was alive because he really looked like a skinny corpse.

There were some eldritch muddy things inside the cage which were giving off nauseating smell. Suddenly, it dawned on the girls that those muddy things were in fact the shit of that skinny man. That was disgusting. Since that, that yellowish liquid beside those muddy things must be the urine of that skeletal man in the cage.

Beside the cage was a notice that wrote, “אִילְ דִיגְייוּנַאטוֹרֵי”

“The hunger artist,” Starsha translated.

Both Floria and Starsha had no idea what “hunger artist” meant. Anyhow, he was so pitiful and they wanted to save him out of this cage even if they might thus become a criminal in Desertia too.

“What is him doing actually ...” murmured Floria.

“I am a hunger artist!” moaned the man. Seemingly, he can speak Normanish.

“A hunger artist?” pursued Starsha curiously.

“I used to be a musician but now I am a hunger artist. Hunger is my art. I haven’t eaten anything for 13 days,” explained the hunger artist.

“Why do you do this? It is some sort of, uh, self-destructive behaviour! I thought that someone locked you inside the cage …” stuttered Starsha.

“Because I am an artist. Hunger is my heart. I used to be a musician, but now musician is not important anymore. Macchina Gloriosa could use their Mother Matrix to mass-produce music. People don’t need musicians like me anymore, so that I become a hunger artist. I am locked inside this cage by Macchina Gloriosa,” narrated the hunger artist.

“But you have other choices? Right?” questioned Starsha.

“I have been living for 30 years and since I grew up, I have been walking on the path of arts and music. I am an artist. Art is sacred. Macchina Gloriosa could produce all kinds of arts, except the art of hunger, because machines won’t get hungry. They’re made of machinite, after all…” replied the hunger artist.

“Where are your family and friends?” inquired Starsha.

“My father works for Macchina Gloriosa. We artists earn no money because what we create are arts instead of merchandises. I am always poor but my father is rich, very rich, because he works for Achnosiris,” responded the hunger artist.

“Who is Achnosiris?” queried Starsha.

“Achnosiris is the leader of Macchina Gloriosa. I have killed him 1000 times, but only in my dreams at night …” growled the hunger artist weakly.

II

While Starsha and Floria were heading for the Pyramid of Macchina Gloriosa, Aislina and Yanni were wandering aimlessly in the city.

It was a prosperous city with a formidable crowd size. There were people and noises everywhere and all people looked exactly the same. They had same faces and spoke in the same way. They were more like machines than real humans.

This phenomenon reminded Aislina an Yanni of the Scholomance City in Normania. People in Scholomance city were like cold white zombies while the citizens in Le Meraviglie were like noisy machines. Anyway, they were not what humans should be like.

However, the oppressive atmosphere wouldn’t stop Aislina from being happy. Anyway, she was hanging out alone together with Yanni. Though she knew that their relationship wouldn’t have a good ending but she would still cherish every moment she spent with him.

She was holding Yanni’s hand and Yanni didn’t resist. He could feel the warmth in her hand. Though something was about to happen in the future, nothing could separate them right now …

After wandering mindlessly for half a minute, the two arrived at a bazar. It might be one of the most quiet places in Le Meraviglie without annoying crowds chatting and making noises.

They walked up to one of the stalls where miscellaneous jewels were on sale.

There were emeralds, amethysts, rubies as well as diamonds. However, what attracted them most was a sapphire stone. It was as blue as the sky and the surface of it was as smooth as a mirror.

Aislina could see her eyes in its mirror-like surface and suddenly she realized that the colour of the sapphire was just like the colour of her eyes.

There was a seller guarding the stall and he was a weird old man wearing a funny hat.

“This sapphire stone is beautiful,” Yanni praised.

“For sure it is beautiful. It was discovered by one of my miners. In fact, he discovered this sapphire in Santo Cielo,” narrated the seller in Normanish with thick accent.

“Santo Cielo? What is that place?” questioned Yanni.

“That is a paradisal archipelago floating on the sky composed of countless enormous floating islands. It is said that the most precious treasure of Desertia, a gemstone called Cuore Celeste, was hidden on that beautiful archipelago,” answered the seller.

“So, Santo Cielo is a great floating archipelago on the sky,” summarized Yanni.

“Yeah, and it hasn’t be fully explored yet. My miners have been adventuring in Santo Cielo for years until Macchina Gloriosa bought the development right of the archipelago so that they could monopoly on resources there,” sighed the seller.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Macchina Gloriosa is bad, just like the Grey Factory,” commented Yanni.

“But the Grey Factory has fallen. There are rumours that some young criminals killed Master Mortis. However, for me, they are heroes. Wait, you two … Oh no way! You’re an elf and … You two must be the heroes who beat the Grey Factory!” exclaimed the seller.

“Seemingly we’re famous, Yanni!” giggled Aislina.

“Notorious, to be precise. You two are fearsome terrorists as well as supervillains! Anyhow, It’s really my honour to see you two. You two are my spiritual idols. I can sell one of my gems to you at 90% off sale!” announced the seller.

“Wow, that is nice of you. I have some money which I earned when I am working in the Grey Factory … How much is this sapphire?” queried Yanni.

“It is 300 gold coins! But for you, it is 30 gold coins,” replied the seller.

“Still expensive for a young guy like me, but … Deal!” agreed Yanni.

III

Floria and Starsha went inside the Pyramid of Macchina Gloriosa. This pyramidic building was rather majestic and glorious. Towering over the whole city of Le Meraviglie, it was nearly 150 meters tall and its wall had been exquisitely decorated, on the surface of which beautiful murals had been painted.

The murals were mainly composed of abstract depictions of gears, bolts and nuts. Clearly, Macchina Gloriosa loved the elements of machines, as its name suggested.

After entering the gate of this monstrous building with their tickets given by the bartender, they were frozen to the spot when the inner structure of this building came into their sights.

There were gears, tubes and working mechanical parts everywhere inside the building. To be honest, though as barbarians, Floria and Starsha didn’t like machines, they were still heartedly shocked by the grandiose inner structure of this Pyramid of Macchina Gloriosa.

Anyway, they didn’t come there for a tour. They were on a mission. They needed to talk with the leader of Macchina Gloriosa, whom they called Achnosiris.

They found a notice on one door which read “סוֹלוֹ פֵּירְסוֹנַאלֵי”, which meant “staff only” according to Starsha’s translation. On the door handle hung a combination lock.

Starsha took out her tuning fork and began to hit it. The tuning fork vibrated and emanated soundwaves which went into the lock and filled the inner space of it. With the help of the soundwaves she created using the toning fork, Starsha turned the combination lock and listened to its inner structure carefully.

Within a minute, she unlocked the door successfully. As quiet as sneaking cats, the two girls went inside that “staff only” door and found a map of the whole factory behind it. With the help of the map, they soon found the office of Achnosiris which was located at the spire of this pyramidic building.

Heart thumping wildly, Starsha knocked on the door of the office of Achnosiris.

The door was opened. It was a young girl with black hair and fine brown skin.

“Ramsesys is a girl?” murmured Starsha.

“She’s definitely not Ramsesys. She may be his secretary,” guessed Floria.

“She is pretty beautiful,” commented Starsha.

“Yeah, but I think you’re more beautiful than her,” said Floria.

Starsha flushed.

“I can understand Normanish, girls. Isn’t it impolite to discuss my appearance in front of me?” blamed the girl.

“Sorry,” apologized Floria embarrassedly.

“Anyway, what are you two doing here? Are you Normanian tourists?” queried the girl.

“I need to talk to Achnosiris. Those music boxes are produced by him, right?” demanded Starsha.

“No, those music boxes are produced by me, or to be precise, by my Mother Matrix. My name is Hetepasis. I am in charge of this pyramid while Achnosiris is the leader of Macchina Gloriosa,” explained the girl.

“I know you, Hetepasis! You’re that anonymous Desertian bard who use mathematical formulae to compose music!” exclaimed Starsha.

“Anonymous? Interesting … It’s true that I use mathematical formulae to make music, and my musical ability is thus better than any other bard in this world. I used to create one song per day, and now with the help of Mother Matrix, the super mechanical computer, I can compose more than ten songs per day and sell them to earn lots of money,” bragged Hetepasis.

“Musicians are suffering from your music boxes!” complained Starsha, thinking about the village musician and that so-called hunger artist.

“Really? I am a musician too. I don’t think that I am suffering from the music boxes,” smirked Hetepasis, the girl.

“Music and art is not a mechanical stuff. The songs you create shall come from your heart …” whispered Starsha. Somehow even Starsha herself thought that what she said sounded pretty stupid and childish.

“Stop repeating this kind of silly teachings please. I’ve had enough of such words. I am a bard, I become a bard to earn money, girl, and I never cared about those doctrines of bards, arts and other unreal stuff said by those priggish so-called artists,” sneezed Hetepasis.

“But … If machines can produce music and its lyrics, there will be no real bard in the future!” argued Starsha.

“It’s inevitable, girl. Machines will rule this world inevitably. It’s the trend of history. If you have learnt the history of humans, you will know that it is machines that help us to live in civilization,” jeered Hetepasis.

“But being mentally impoverished, people will live like soulless zombies!” blurted Starsha. Her face was reddened by irresistible wrath.

“Souls don’t exist! You are unreasonable! Humans are composed of cells and neuros which function exactly like machines,” teased Hetepasis.

“Do you believe magic?” questioned Starsha. Her voice became small. Hetepasis was right. Souls meant nothing. Music meant nothing. Art meant nothing. Music was just as meaningless as the art of hunger. But magic meant something and it was real …

“For sure I believe! Magic is the mechanics that we haven’t fully understood yet. Do you know that the word ‘magic’ and the word ‘machine’ are cognates?” responded Hetepasis.

IV

Aislina and Yanni left the bazar and climbed up a small hill beside it.

The hill was rather short and they arrived at the top of it in a mere ten minutes.

Tranquilly, night wind was revolving in the sky and the crescent moon was pale but bright. On the hill, the whole city of Le Meraviglie was beneath them, in their sights.

On the chest of Aislina, the sapphire was shining beautifully.

“Thank you, Yanni, for buying this sapphire for me,” whispered Aislina softly.

“It looks beautiful on you,” Yanni praised.

“Yanni … I think I will miss the life with humans after I find a new home in the Sanctum of Life,” breathed Aislina.

“Oh? Why? It’s hard to believe that an elf would retain an attachment to the secular life of humans,” Yanni smiled.

“You humans are always trying to break the balance of everything,” explained Aislina.

“Break the balance? What do you mean?” asked Yanni curiously.

“The lives of elves are peaceful and immutable. Although our lives are long, they are boring. We may be born in the forest and do nothing except guarding the trees until we die. However, the lives of humans are colourful. There are many kinds of paths of lives that you humans can choose, and you are never afraid of breaking established rules and balances,” explained Aislina.

“Isn’t it why you hate humans?” pursued Aislina.

“But it’s why I like humans too. Every coin has two sides, right?” drawled Aislina.

“Yep,” consented Yanni, nodding his head.

Aislina didn’t say anything but continued walking by Yanni’s side quietly.

Suddenly, they found that there was a small tent pretty close to them and some sort of fragrance was coming out constantly from that tent.

With curiosity, Aislina and Yanni walked up to the tent. Being about 3 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter, it was not a small tent.

“Come in!” called someone inside the tent. That was a sweet female’s voice.

They entered the tent, on the inner wall of which were beautiful embroideries of abstract symbols of the sun, the moon and the stars. The background colour was dark blue, which made the inner wall of the tent look like the nocturnal sky.

Standing inside the tent was a young lady dressed in beige clothes. There was a veil covering her mouth, making her even more mysterious.

She was sitting at a small round table, on the centre of which stood a vase of violet flowers, which kept giving off some sort of exotic fragrance.

The young lady raised her eyebrows and seemingly she was smiling.

“You’re the last elf in this world, girl, aren’t you? I have been hearing about your existence for a long time, but it’s my first time to see you. Umm, you’re beautiful, even more beautiful than I’d imagined,” commented the young lady in fluent Normanish.

“You … You do me too much honour …” stammered Aislina shyly.

“What a polite young girl! I thought you would be rude since you elves live in the wilderness. The last elf, what a wonder!” whispered the young lady.

“Who are you then?” queried Yanni.

“I am a diviner, and I help people to learn their destinies,” answered the young lady.

“What is the destinies of me?” questioned Aislina.

The lady diviner took out a bottle of pure water and looked inside it. However, the water became somehow brown and muddy.

“I fail, for the first time. As usual, there will be some images that I can see inside the water. However, you’re a being of magic and there are too many variables in your fate. Anything is possible for you, elf. There are no paths set for you and you can choose your own path. Remember, whichever path you choose, you will be able to change the future of this whole earth. So make your decisions prudently,” suggested the diviner.

Aislina nodded her head.

The two walked out of the tent. The night wind was still blowing and bathed in the pure moonlight, the trees were still rustling.

“Everything is possible …” breathed Aislina.