The Record of Unusual Creatures

The Furnace of the Ancestors, the massive ancient machine groaned in pain. Its surface was dark with all heat-dissipating grids and signal lights lifeless. A deep, bizzare growling came from deep within, it sounded like a beast whimpering in its death throes. There was still scars of the earlier explosion on the outer armor that had suffered a vicissitude of fate. A clear obvious scar rent across the a good part of the outer shell of the reactor, almost cutting through almost one-third of the main body of the Furnace of the Ancestors, and smoke and sparks still shot out from the rents of the armor as if something was still operating within. But under these circumstances, getting the whole thing to fully shut down was much more reassuring than it trudging along on its last legs. Hao Ren was very afraid that it may explode again.

“The reactor core had shut down.” the MDT had ran a quick scan of the energy readings within the Furnace and gave everyone a reassuring answer. “There are probably still electrical current in some of the buffers, but that won’t cause an explosion in the near future.”

Hao Ren heaved a sigh of relief. He had smelt the scorched air that lingered and he thought at first that the smell came from the Steelbeast’s engine that finally gave away. Only belatedly that he realised the rank smell was the residual smoke from the explosion. The reactor had blasted out a whole load of gaseous content during the explosion and the long neglected filtration pump within the sanctuary was no longer up to the task, and the entire area was engulfed with a scorching chemical smell.

Under Willy and a few royal city guards guide, the group arrived at the capital of the Kingdom of Highspire. The royal city was indeed much grander than Hearthfire, a farcry from the frontier cities that look no different than a rubbish dump. The royal city was clearly built by many talented labor. It stood beside the Furnace of the Ancestors, and an ancient telecommunication tower or something that served as the center of the kingdom. All around the tower, the artisans had used cement and steel to create a seven-layered hexagonal fortress. Bright banners fluttered all across the castle wall. Equally brightly dressed knights stood guard and hundreds of intact glass windows gleamed under the light. All along the fortress was neat residental areas and wide roads and avenues. The residential areas were original buildings of the sanctuary that were lightly spruced up, while some were rebuilt from ground up, that negated the need to use rubbish and discarded items to reinforce the wall, and the houses looked much more beautiful and stylish.

At least when compared to the other city states.

The royal city was surrounded by another ring of high wall, and these too were built using new brand new materials. ‘Brand new’ in the sense that the materials were not outright rubbish. No one knew where the artisans and labourers building the royal city had scrounged up such a quantity of cement and brand new metal plates, but yet they managed to build a wall that was both strong and beautiful, it was probably not materials gathered from the wasteland. Perhaps that the Kingdom of Highspire had the fortune to stumble upon some ancient construction material depot?

Regardless, building the royal city would have incurred an eye-watering amount of expense, especially in a sanctuary like this.

The Highspire royal city was very populous and was much more prosperous compared to other city states within the ark. There were civilians dressed in bright clothes and the knights were in high morale. Crowds moved about the streets as peddlers and merchants sold various weird items: mostly wares, food, cloths and pristine metal sheets. The prosperity of the area was surprising, almost looking like a normal and prosperous middle age city. There were no signs of the ark at all unless you look up, another area hung upside down on the other area.

The Steelbeast that Hao Ren came on, and the ‘Skeleton Tank’ of the Eisenstadt were stopped outside the city. Those loud and dirty machines were not allowed into the city, like how a guards during the medival era back on Earth would have stopped a village mule from entering the royal city.

“Amongst the four kingdoms, only the Kingdom of Highspire is the closest to the Furnace of the Ancestors.” Willy introduced his country’s capital to Hao Ren and the rest, pride brimming from the lad. “In the legends, the Highspire’s capital, Fort Furnace was the first human city state every created. God had created man at this very place and allowed men to live within the city. The top level of Fort Furnace overlook the first ring of the Furnance of the Ancestor, and that is the Path of the Ancestral Spirits. Every person who had died here will need to go through that first ring into the Furnance to be one with the world again. As the Kingdom of Highspire owns the tower, so it was the closest to the place of rebirth. No matter how brutal the fighting between the four kingdoms, this great city had never fell once.”

The Highspire that Willy was referring to was the spire at the top of the fortress. A transmitter antenna that was probably tens of thousands of years old hung upon the spire. The Kingdom of Highspire probably got their name from that spire itself. And the First Ring was the outer metal ring of the reactor core. It was probably a condensation component of the reactor. Buit in the eyes of the locals, this complicated and marvellous ring held a totally different meaning.

“So everytime the four kingdoms have any discussion about the Furnace of the Ancestors they would gather around the royal city?” Vivian felt that part was quite unbelievable. “Aren’t you guys enemies? And they just show up here for a meeting? And you let them in?”

“This is in accordance to an holy ancient accord.” Willy said, his face serious. “No one dare to violate the accord before the Furnace of the Ancestors. During times of ceasefire, no blood shall be spilt in Fort Furnace.”

Master Orrow took a more historical perspective in his explaination. “The Kingdom of Highspire was the direct descendents of the ancient First Dynasty. While the first dynasty itself had unravelled, the royal blood undoubtedly flows within the royal family. Thus the Kingdom of Highspire remains the rightful ruler of this world. The three kingdoms were formed by misguided folks after the curse. When danger threatens the world itself, all kingdoms shall put aside their differences and congregate before the only true throne to work things out. This is sacrosanct.”

Lily was particularly interested in this sort of mumbo-jumbo. “So the Kingdom of Highspire is the rightful heirs of the first dynasty? What about the others?”

“The Eisenstadt’s ancestors were machinists, while the Freistadt came from the common folk, merchants and artisans, the Starhold is the descendents of scholars.” Master Orrow said, with his usual slow pace. “The history books records it as such.”

“What a weird society.” Nangong Wuyue spat her tongue out. She saw a group of bombastically dressed group with their face painted with oil and carrying synthetic leather talking loudly as they went and was surprised. “Aren’t this the group of ‘vagabonds’ we saw on the way? They’re in as well?”

“No, they are the Freistadt’s scholars and soldiers.” Master Orrow explained. “While the Freistadtians may look like the vagabonds in the ruins, and people often mix the two up because their connection is rather ambigious. But the Freistadt is still one of the four kingdoms, and their capital is built on the Burond highlands on the farside of the world. Half of the leather and cloth of this world is from the factories there.”

Even if the Kingdom of Highspire stood on a piece of ‘sacred land’ by the Furnace of the Ancestors, all three other kingdoms have their unmovable place in this world. The Freistadt’s capital controls the lifeline for warm clothes, the Eisenstadt’s capital, the Core Mechanica is an important hub, and from Master Orrow’s description it sounded like the place was a material recycling zone. The Starhold was the smallest of the lot, but it is where the Tower of Knowledge is. It groomed generations upon generations of scholars and represents the world’s knowledge and wisdom. Amongst the feuding countries, the Starhold was able to utilise this to maintain neutrality.

Four kingdoms, squeezed within a hundred kilometer long enclosed world, bore their fangs at each other as the power struggle swayed back and forth, creating this bizzare and complicated situation. It is very difficult to actually explain how did things turn out this way with a span of a hundred or thousand years, but Hao Ren believed that any anthropologist would have been blindsided when they come here. This place was the model of a society turned upside down where logic and common sense seemed non-existant.

“So what should we do next?” Nangong Sanba asked. “When do you plan to check out the Furnace?”

“All scholars are summoned to mee the king to discuss this.” Master Orrow pointed to the fortress in the distance. “All of you can wait in the city, Willy will know where to go.”

A couple of royal knights came from the fortress. They were tasked in escorting the congregating scholars and Master Orrow left under the knights’ auspice, leaving Hao Ren, his crew and Willy standing where they stood.

“I know where the lodge is.” Willy dangled a small badge before his chest. “The mark of Hearthfire should get us a room each. Lets rest for the night. It is already late now. I’m afraid the scholars will only come back tomorrow.”

Vivian suddenly looked up towards the Furnace as she stared at the darkened heat-dissipating grids and coiled pipes. A frown started forming on her forehead.

Hao Ren noticed the change in her expression. “What’s wrong?”

“I suddenly heard….” Vivian continued frowning. “Something is calling me over there.”