Chapter 5: The Maternal Corpse Sonata
The moment the mechanical fingers in the coffin pierced the water surface,the stained-glass windows of the entire sanctuary shattered in response.Lila and I leaned backward amidst the splintering glass rain,witnessing the swirling vortex of light and darkness at our mother's fingertips devouring the bronze chains of the altar.The clockwork mechanism in her chest began to play the tune of"The Starlit Ode"—a forbidden melody that was supposed to re-emerge only during the Blood Moon Sacrifice twenty years later.
"Cover your ears!"I tore off my cloak and swiftly wrapped it around Lila's head,but my own earlobes were already cut and bleeding from the sound waves.The mechanical elders'gear eyes suddenly burst into intense light,and they began to dance a stiff court dance to the melody,their gem-encrusted prosthetics firing poisoned needles in rhythm.
I swung my light blade,struggling to slice through the sound waves,and out of the corner of my eye,I saw the masked man dismantling our mother's mechanical arm.The screwdriver in his hand,engraved with raven patterns,was unmistakably forged from the missing Sword of Judgment from the Holy Temple.
"Give our mother back!"Lila's scream mingled with the clacking of gears.As the golden light in her pupils solidified into a clock,the second hand jumped backward three notches,and the stone slab beneath the masked man suddenly reverted to its state from three days ago—damp ground covered in moss.
Taking advantage of his stumble,I hurled a dark element tendril around our mother's waist chain.Her mechanical body was much lighter than I had imagined,and the gust of air when she landed extinguished the twelve eternal lamps.In the sudden darkness,the gear assembly in our mother's chest began to reconfigure itself automatically,and the sound of the winding mechanism made my molars ache.
"Look out!"Lila suddenly tackled me to the edge of the altar.Our mother's reassembled right arm grazed over our heads,and the dual-element cannonblast turned the bronze giant eagle into a shower of copper rain.Half of the masked man's face was hanging from a gear,revealing the mechanical cheekbones beneath—those metal surfaces were branded with the same wisteria pattern as on Roger's sword hilt.
The underground river suddenly surged with blood waves,and I felt an excruciating pain in my calf submerged in the water.Looking down,I saw countless tiny gearfish gnawing at my flesh,their eyes flickering with the same eerie green flames as the soul lamps in the secret compartment of my father's study.
"Brother's pocket watch!"Lila suddenly grabbed the gilded chain around my neck.She stuffed the blood-stained watch into the gear gap in our mother's chest,and the watch face numbers began to flicker frantically.When the minute and second hands overlapped,pointing to the Roman numeral VII,the entire underground space echoed with a voice I had never heard from our mother:
"My child,look at the reflection in the water!"
The moment I was overturned by the blood wave,I saw the horrifying truth in the upside-down world—inside the metal skulls of those so-called mechanical elders were the intact brains of our father's mistresses.The oldest mechanical body was humming a lullaby with Eileen's vocal cords.
Lila suddenly let out an inhuman scream.She tore apart the approaching gearfish with her bare hands,her palms sliced and bleeding,yet she seemed unaware:"Brother's blood...it's writing on the stone slab...look quickly!"
I wiped the blood from my face and saw that the droplets of my blood were tracing a star map on the altar's surface.As the seventh blood droplet fell,the emerald brooch left by our mother suddenly levitated,projecting the blood star map onto the collapsing dome—it was clearly the family crest passed down through generations of the Black family,except that the position of the wisteria flower was replaced by a raven pierced by gears.
The masked man's mechanical arm suddenly clutched my throat,and green slime dripped from his cracked metal mouth:"What a perfect test subject...when your mother was pregnant with you,she dutifully drank the soup mixed with sands of time every day..."
The moment Lila's wand pierced his energy core,I heard the crisp sound of the pocket watch chain breaking.The gear assembly in our mother's chest suddenly went berserk,and her cold mechanical hand pressed against my bleeding left eye,the missing clock gear being re-implanted,but this time with blood-colored patterns.
In the midst of the intense pain,I saw a montage of memories flashing back:our pregnant mother secretly pouring out the soup mixed with green liquid,our father using the pocket watch in the secret chamber to siphon the life force of the elders,and Roger's necromancy tutor with raven tail feathers embroidered on his cuffs...
"Lila!Grab the bronze ring on the west side of the altar!"I roared,igniting all my magical power.As the dual elements of light and darkness exploded around me,the entire underground space began to collapse in reverse.The masked man's last mechanical finger grazed Lila's hair,and before being completely annihilated,he screamed in an electronic voice:"On the night of the Blood Moon,you will strangle this girl with your own hands..."
When we tumbled out of the twisted space,we collided with the Holy Temple's Judgment Legion.The Cardinal's gold-trimmed white robe was soaked with night dew,and the prisoner bound with iron chains behind him raised his head—Roger,who was supposed to be locked in the dungeon,bared his bloodied fangs at us,his newly installed mechanical right eye flashing the same golden gears as Lila's.