The wagon rolled down the busy streets of Johanneson as the group made their way towards Helmsworth as fast as they could. Truth’s father made it clear that he didn’t want to make the mistake they almost made before with Ami. There would be no squabbling or questioning. He’s heard enough “voices” in other people’s heads now that he’ll pretty much believe anything. Which was probably not a good thing, Truth thought, but she could understand. So much weird shit has happened to her family in such a short period that it only made sense.

  Everyone except Dr. Kegan had piled into the wagon and left shortly after Saria’s morbid warning. Despite the mind-rattled woman’s warnings, Kegan had firmly opposed leaving his patients.Truth was surprised by this.

  The man hadn’t shown any skepticism in his opposition. In fact, he seemed to believe her. It was hard not to, as something bizarre was happening. The temperature had plummeted over the past two weeks, and snow appeared at night. It was the end of spring and the beginning of summer, yet it was like Winter had returned to Heinmarr.

  “We have only hours now until it arrives…” Her Aunt Saria had said. The words still made Truth shudder.

  How long was “hours?” She wondered. Was it a couple? A few? The sky above was cloudy and dark, and she had felt a constant breeze here and there, though most of it was blocked by Johanneson’s looming buildings. She had said a storm was coming, a big one. Truth gritted her teeth as the wagon turned onto one of the city’s main roadways. The street was nearly backed up with wagons and occasional automobiles, and traffic officers could be heard shouting and piercing the air with their whistles as they tried to get people to move in an orderly fashion.

  “Why are we stopping?” Varis asked innocently as he poked himself into the driver's section where Isa and Slyran sat.

  “People are trying to flee,” Their father said. “This road leads to one of the major mag-stations.” He gnced over his shoulder and cursed as Truth saw a few other wagons rolling up behind them, trapping them on the road. “No going back,” He said with a huff.

  Isa shook her head. “It isn’t so bad,” she said, pointing ahead. “We’re only a block away. If traffic picks up, we can be there in…” She trailed off, and her ears began to twitch, a common trait Truth noticed when Isa was thinking hard. “Ten or fifteen minutes.”

  Slyran cursed. “That’s too long, we’ve already been moving for twenty minutes.”

  Isa nodded and looked at him. “Yes, but Saria said we have hours, Slyran.”

  “And how long is exactly that?” He retorted and side-eyed his sister-in-w, who sat across from Truth. Her legs were pulled to her chest, and her eyes gzed over. “She’s been strangely vague since she joined us,” he said, not caring if she heard. “This isn’t like her, Isa.”

  Isa gnced at the woman and sighed. “At least hours refers to more than one, Slyran,” she said softly but just loud enough for Truth to hear over the city noise. “I’m confident whatever may happen we’ll pull through. We have so far.”

  Slyran’s face hardened, and he turned to look ahead. “Those numbers,” he said hushedly, and Truth’s head perked up. “Do you know what they mean?”

  Truth’s ear twitched as she tried to listen while watching over her mother. She didn’t want them to know she was eavesdropping.

  Isa tapped her chin and turned to look at Truth. “Luna,” she said, “may I see your notepad again?” She asked.

  Truth straightened up and blushed. “Yeah, sure.” She reached into her enigma bag, pulled the pad out, and handed it over. “Find out anything new?” she asked, hoping to be looped into the conversation.

  Isa shook her head. “I just want to look over it again,” she said, taking the book and facing forward in her seat.

  Slyran gnced at her from the corner of his eye as the wagon finally began to move again, and traffic rolled along shortly. After a moment, Isa tapped the page with a cwed finger. “This seems familiar to me, and not just because of what Saria said,” she grumbled.

  “Luna thinks it’s a code,” Slyran said, “and I agree with her. Cailynn and I dealt with many of those growing up, but I haven’t seen one like this.” He pursed his lips. “Ciphers made up of numbers just seems far too confusing to me, and… nerdy.”

  Isa snorted, and Truth tried hard not to. The serelli shook her head and gnced at Slyran. “That’s what’s bothering you?”

  The man huffed. “What? Numbers are complicated. I look at that and they all blend together.”

  Isa rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the page. “That means the cipher is doing its job, Slyran. They’re not supposed to be easy.” She pursed her lips, and the two fell silent for a moment. Finally, Isa turned back to Truth and handed her their notepad. “Thank you, Luna. I think I know what we can do with this.”

  Truth smiled as she took the pad back and stuffed it in her bag. “And what would that be?” She asked.

  Isa sighed. “I have a friend who’s good at deciphering tricky codes like these.” She said, “Problem is, they don’t live in Johanneson so getting their assistance will need to wait.”

  Truth’s ears fttened, and she looked at her mother. “But… What if the code could help, Momma? What if she’s trying to talk to us?”

  The wagon stopped again, and Slyran cursed and looked over his shoulder. “I don’t know about that, Luna,” he said, “Your mother knows many ciphers, but I never heard her use one like this… This one…” He trailed off.

  “What if this was one Momma didn’t tell you about?” Truth suggested, and Slyran bit his lip.

  “That…” He hesitated. “I don’t like it, but… You could be right.”

  Isa sighed. “I don’t like the idea of waiting either, Luna,” She said, “But unless we can find someone in the city who knows how to break this, we’re stuck.”

  Truth nodded. “I understand,” she said, looking at her mother as the wagon moved again.

  Finding a pce to park the wagon and Ruby was a little more complicated than anyone had expected. Like everywhere else, the road connected to the construction site was jam-packed with concerned citizens and others trying to go about their day, leaving little to no room to park off to the side. Thus, Slyran had to take them further down the road, about half a block, and park Ruby in an alleyway.Like before, he repeated a series of strict instructions to Ruby about not going anywhere until the strider chirped and bowed its head in understanding.

  With a sigh, Slyran leaned back and took a deep breath. “Alright, we’re here… Mostly.” He looked back at the others.

  Truth eyed her mother briefly and frowned. I originally pnned for us to leave her at the clinic to be taken care of, she thought. But with the supposed storm coming now, we were stuck with her. The thoughts made her cringe slightly at how cold that sounded, but it was true. Cailynn being unconscious was a burden. Truth didn’t have the time to watch over her in public, and there was no way in hell she would want to dump her off in some alleyway like they were now.

  “What are we going to do with Mother?” Truth asked, meeting her father’s gaze.

  Slyran frowned, his expression showing that he had come to a simir conclusion as her. “I don’t know, honestly, one of us can stay here and look over her?” He suggested.

  “N-No need,” Aunt Saria stammered. As they drew closer to the construction site, her mood stabilized somewhat. She was still rattled, but her ramblings had ceased, and her eyes had focused slightly. “There i-is an infirmary at the site,” she said, “reserved only for workers. Cailynn sh-should be permitted as a contractor.”

  Slyran blinked. “Ah, you’re right.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I should’ve known that, Aenorin showed me around the rooting pce.” He closed his eyes and sighed.

  Isa shrugged. “If you hadn’t gone to the park you wouldn’t have known of Saria’s premonition.”

  He nodded. “You’re right. Well then, Isa, can you help me get her out?” he asked, and the Serelli nodded and began to dismount.

  Truth hopped off the rear of the wagon and nded beside Varis. She turned to him and smiled gently. The boy stood there with arms crossed as he observed their father and Isa pull their mother out. After a few moments of watching, Varis said, “Why do bad things keep happening, Luna?” He looked at her.

  Truth met his eyes, his expression stern and focused. Despite only being nine years old, the look felt far older. Truth shifted from foot to foot under his blue and green gaze, and finally, she said, “I don’t know, Varis. Perhaps it’s just bad luck.”

  The boy frowned just as their father hopped off the back of the wagon and cradled their mother in his arms. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Do you think we’ll ever have good luck?” He asked. “Or is it that we used it all up already?”

  Truth’s eyes widened slightly at this. That’s such an odd question coming from a young kid. She thought.

  Truth shook her head. “No, I don’t think we used up our good luck.” She said, trying to smile and lighten the mood. “I don’t believe any form of luck is like some kind of money we can cash in whenever. It just… Happens.”

  Varis huffed. “It doesn’t feel like it,” he said. “Momma won’t wake up; she’s saying scary things, and Aunt Saria is creepy now; she said there’s a big storm coming.” He shuddered. When will the bad luck stop?” His hardened expression shifted, and he looked at Truth worried.

  Truth’s heart quivered at the sight, and she stepped forward and pced a hand on his side. “It’ll get better,” she recalled an old quote she once heard. “A while back, Varis. I heard something that made me smile,” she said as Isa called for them to start following her. The two of them began to walk out of the alley, trailing behind the adults.

  “And what was that?” Varis asked.

  “When you’re painting,” she started, “If you have light on light, you have nothing. If you have dark on dark, you basically have nothing. Just like in life. You gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come.”

  The quote was something Luna and, in turn, Truth heard in their old lives. It was from Bob Ross, who had truly inspired them to pursue their old passions. Even after all these years, his words had stuck with her. Varis curled his lips into a line as they stepped onto the sidewalk and turned down the road.

  “I want the sadness to end soon,” he said quietly but loud enough for her to hear.

  “I know,” Truth said warmly, “So do I. But we have to endure, and like I said, things will get better. You can’t have dark without light.”

  Varis nodded slowly, then looked at her. “Where did you hear that?” He asked.

  Truth blinked, blushed, and said, “I, uh, read it in one of Isa’s books during school.”

  Varis cocked his head. “I don’t recall her having anything on painting.”

  “It was from the book Wonderous Men of Eurion, y’know the one with all the biographies?”

  Varis nodded. “Yeah, she had me read a few chapters. I don’t recall a painter though…” He trailed off.

  Truth bit her lip. “Uh, I’m sure you just missed it.” She waved as they continued down the street.

  The sound of metal on metal and the sharp whine of powered tools grew louder as the family drew near the construction site. Up ahead, Truth could see the rge canvas tarps held aloft by tall wooden poles that stretched across a vast portion of the street. Muffled shouts from men and women giving orders could be heard from the other side.

  Her heart beat heavily in her chest, and her palms became cmmy with anxious sweat. The pn she had concocted earlier was about to come to fruition. Initially, she hadn’t anticipated Aunt Saria being with them, and hopefully, with her presence, she’ll be able to enter the construction site without the need to do what she had initially come up with.

  The street ahead mainly became clear of pedestrians as they approached the construction site's entrance. Large canvas-topped trucks could be seen bsting their horns at j-walkers who ran across the road before turning towards a sizeable opening in the canvas.

  A loud but familiar shout echoed up ahead. “Get those autowagons parked and unloaded fast!”

  Saria’s ears twitched, and her head perked up upon hearing the voice. It was Aenorin, Luna’s uncle. Without saying a word, Saria began to push ahead of the group briskly. Slyran cursed and began to chase after the woman, his grip on Cailynn tightening.

  “Come, children,” Isa said from over her shoulder, motioning for Truth and Varis to follow faster.

  “Halt!” a guard in a white shirt and bck trousers shouted. On his shoulder was a symbol of a gear and fist, and Truth saw a menacing-looking baton strapped to his belt. “Only authorized…” The guard began but trailed off as Saria drew nearer before coming to a stop, breathing heavily. “Lady Sartosi?” He blinked a few times and cleared his throat. “My apologies, please come in. Master Rosewall has been asking about you.”

  Truth and the others stopped a few paces behind her, and she watched as her aunt straightened up. Her prior ailment had faded, as she now seemed more in control of herself. She smoothed out her disheveled clothes and said, “Thank you. I’ll go see him as soon as I can.” She began to step forward, and as soon as Slyran and the others started to follow, the guard opened his mouth to speak, and Saria halted him. “They are my family, and I permit them access.”

  The guard started. “My Lady, I still can’t–” He froze when she pced a hand on his shoulder.

  “They can pass, if Terry throws a fuss about it. So be it, I’ll take the bme. No need for you to worry.” The guard immediately rexed, and Truth frowned at this. Something didn't feel right about this.

  The guard nodded. “Yes, My Lady, please go on ahead. Master Rosewall should be in the headquarters up ahead. Careful, though, we’ve just received a fresh shipment from the warehouse so the roads are busy.”

  Saria smiled. “Thank you, one more thing, have you seen my husband, Aenorin?” She asked.

  The guard pointed. “Aye, I have. He’s manning the logistics team. Last I saw he was overseeing the arrival of the wagons.”

  Saria’s smile broadened, and she patted the man’s shoulder. “Thank you, dear.” She gnced at everyone else. “Those of you who haven’t been in here, stay close.”

  Stepping past the tarp felt like stepping into another world. The moment Truth was past the canvas, all noise from the outside world seemingly vanished, simir to what Luna experienced when passing the gate at the arcanium pnt. The noise was still there, but muffled, like she was deep inside the center of a building. Instead, a new orchestra of sound had repced the city’s ambiance.

  Shouting men and women, the banging and cnging of tools, the horns of automobiles, and the whirring cries of power tools assaulted her ears. She stood upon a sidewalk following a winding road that curved around a sizeable mechanical tower before ending in a cul-de-sac in front of a rge three-story office structure. To her left was a vast field composed chiefly of dirt, the grass extended, worn away, as in this field was a tent city, not so different from the refugee camps she’d seen.

  Yet, what drew her attention the most, however, was the tower. As mentioned, it was the heart of everything here. It stretched high into the air, so much so that it appeared above the canvas tarps. Yet how had she never seen it before? Such a structure would be visible beyond the construction site. At its height, she should’ve been able to see it from Central Park.

  Magic, most likely. She guessed.

  The tower itself was something out of a steampunk’s dream. It was not sleek in design; instead, the device looked hastily cobbled together with massive sheets of metal, exposed pistons, and massive gears and wheels.

  Truth thought as she looked over the machine. It seems like this was thrown together in a rush. Rows of scaffolding and pulleys erected along the outer edges of the tower were used for navigation up and down. The top of the tower was mainly composed of a metallic frame and skeleton. As her eyes moved back down along its length, she noted that the tower didn’t just sit upon the surface; it seemed to feed directly into the earth. The thing was massive, and as her memory shifted back to what Cereb had shown her and Luna, the blueprint her mother had been working on did the real deal little justice.

  What were you working on, Mother? Truth wondered as her eyes soon fell on Aunt Saria, who had again diverted from the group. She broke off to the right, stepping onto the road as another truck rolled by. She ran across the road towards a group of men across the street.

  “Dammit, woman!” Slyran cursed and hesitated as he adjusted Cailynn's weight across his arms. “We need to stick together…” He grumbled.

  Isa shook her head and sighed. “It is fine, Slyran,” She said, focusing on the group.

  Following her gaze, Truth saw Saria embracing one of the workers. Focusing her vision, she saw that the man was her uncle, Aenorin. Immediately, the two began to speak animatedly, and Isa smiled.

  “It is only natural she would run to him,” Isa looked to Slyran.

  Truth’s father nodded. “I get it, doesn’t help Cailynn here is making my arms sore, though.”

  Isa snorted. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “If I say anymore she’ll kill me when she wakes up,” Slyran said with a slight smile.

  Isa cocked an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

  Truth’s attention was drawn away from the banter when she felt Varis tugging on her dress. She turned to look at him. “What’s up?” She asked.

  “What do you think it is?” Varis asked, nodding towards the tower.

  Truth looked back at the tower and pursed her lips. “I recall Aunt Saria calling it a generator.”

  “Gene-what?” Varis blinked and cocked his head.

  Truth rubbed her neck. “Generator,” she repeated. “It’s a thing that makes power.”

  “Like a magrite shard?” Varis asked.

  She nodded. “Sort of, you remember Isa’s lesson about Renka?” She reminded him.

  Varis bit his lip. “Barely,” he admitted.

  Truth sighed. “That was literally only a handful of days ago, brother.”

  Varis huffed. “There was a lot to keep track of.” He puffed his cheeks.

  Truth rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s a thing that uses magrite to make power and shares it.” She expined that she didn’t even know the technical aspects of how a generator worked, at least not one in this world, as most technology she’s seen relied on ether rather than electricity.

  Thankfully, Varis seemed to understand this basic expnation. “So it’s a big power thingy,” he said, then frowned. “But… Didn’t you just get back from a power pnt?” He asked, looking at Truth.

  She nodded. “Yeah, it had a big magrite crystal inside it. So big it was powering the whole city.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “That’s weird,” he said, and Truth frowned.

  “How’s that weird?” She asked.

  He motioned towards the generator with his head. “Why Aunt Saria and Uncle Aenorin be building another generator thing if we already have one.”

  Truth opened her mouth to expin, then stopped. He had a point. Why would some company build this here? The other power pnt was hidden on the edge of town, away from view, except that this one is smack dab in the middle of everything.

  “I… I don’t know,” Truth said.

  Varis smirked. “Maybe, they’re trying to double the power. More magrite means more strength right?” He asked enthusiastically. “Momma said magrite helps with magic, so maybe if we can get enough magic, we can blow away the Veinrites! We can make our own big scary storm and send it back at them!”

  Truth couldn’t help but giggle; his energy was contagious. “Perhaps,” she said, “They have been very secretive.”

  “Kids.” Slyran’s words caused them both to perk up and turn, and Truth noticed her Aunt Saria and Uncle Aenorin crossing the road toward them.

  “Slyran!” Aenorin called out, his arms outstretched and pleased. The man wore a blue colred shirt and denim overalls, all caked in oil and white powder. Yet as he approached, his expression faltered when he noticed Cailynn limp in Slyrann’s arms.

  “What’s wrong with Cailynn?” He asked in a stern voice.

  Slyrann took a breath and looked to Truth. “We can’t expin here, not openly,” he said, “But it’s a long story.”

  Aenorin hesitated and nodded. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a watch, opened it, and checked it. “I have an hour lunch scheduled in just a bit, but I can take it now.” He closed the watch and stuffed it away.

  Saria nodded. “You go do that, dear,” she said, patting his shoulder. “I’ll show them to the infirmary to drop off Cailynn, and we can meet in my office.”

  “What about Rosewall?” Aenorin asked. “He’s been asking for you ever since he and that old Ionan and kid showed up.”

  “Old Ionan and kid?” Isa said, then her eyes widened. “Are you talking about Oscar and Anne?”

  “Were those the names of the two at our dinner?” Aenorin said. “I couldn’t remember.” Isa nodded, and Aenornin pursed his lips. “Then yeah, those are the two. They arrived with Rosewall a few hours ago and began making quite a fuss. The next thing we knew, Lord Terry instructed us to do all that we were doing overnight.”

  “At least you’re getting hazard pay now,” Saria said, and Aenornin snorted.

  “Took the Veinrites dropping bombs on us to get that.” He sighed.

  Saria patted his arm. “Well, fine. I’ll deal with Master Rosewall after I show them the infirmary. You still have my room key?” She asked, and Aenorin nodded. “Then you guys can meet up there without me.”

  “And if he happens to drag you there? You know I can’t be–” Saria shushed him.

  “I’ll keep him distracted. Just go.”

  Aenorin sighed and nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. I’ll see you all in a bit.”

  Saria released Aenorin, who bid each of them a farewell before heading across the road towards a distant warehouse building. “What is Oscar doing here with Terry Rosewall?” Isa asked, then looked at Truth, who simply shrugged.

  “I don’t know. He is an engineer. Maybe he hired him, " she suggested, and Isa simply shrugged.

  “Perhaps we will find out.”

  "11100010 10000000 10011100 01000010 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01010110 01100101 01101001 01101100 00101111 01010011 01101000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 00101111 01000100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01111001 00101110 00100000 01010010 01100101 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101111 01000110 01110010 01100101 01100101 01100100 01101111 01101101 00101111 01001100 01101001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101110 00100000 01010010 01100101 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01001111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01010011 01101001 01100100 01100101 00101111 01000010 01100101 01111001 01101111 01101110 01100100 00101111 01000101 01111000 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101111 01110010 00101110 11100010 10000000 10011101."

  Name: Piper Pepperton

  Time of death: 5/15/1943

  Time of death speech: 5/18/1943

  Notes: The subject of this death speech was a Heinmarran halfling woman who was recorded on 5/18/1943. Cause of death: natural causes. We are unsure of the meaning of this bizarre rambling. I’ve reported my findings to the Guiding Hand for immediate evaluation.

  ImmortanJoJo