Chapter 5: Fram Doolytter of Turning Gears

It has been postulated among a number of magicians that damyne were the first of all magical spirits. Being formed by raw magic and strong feelings, they are thought of as primal spirits. Given this nature, it should be no surprise that Awarth and the underworld, Urlbris are where they most commonly form. Those who aren’t magicians think of them as annoying pests, terrifying monsters and lords and masters, each sentiment folds neatly with the different kinds of damyne.

The damyne that form from raw magic and strong feelings are called imps. The main features of imps are their glowing red eyes, their two horns and their long whip-like tail. These three features are universal to all damyne. Imps in particular come in any colour are about the size of a small child and have no face or mouth, the eyes being the only feature. They are neither man or woman. They seem to have a will and mind on the level of a crow. What they are best known for is causing havoc with their natural curiosity and mischief.

Like all damyne, they feed on ambient feelings, they also however begin to change in form and gain powers in accordance with the feelings they consume. This makes damyne that feed often on feelings of impotence often either pathetic or terrifying, depending on what way it goes. Each damyne is unique, due to each feeling never being quite the same. One Damyne feeding on happiness might be woolly and colourful, another might be betentacled with musical horns on the ends of the tentacles. It is generally agreed in magic circles that damyne are kind of weird, even for magic spirits.

Now, after feeding for a certain length of time, or having fed on particularly strong emotions, the lower part of a damyne’s featureless face splits open to form a jagged maw. It is generally agreed among most folk that this is a horrific sight to witness. Apart from being the stuff of nightmares, this change marks an important turning point in a damyne’s life.

Upon gaining a mouth, the damyne gains a voice, and with a voice it also gains a full will and unbound mind. So, instead of randomly messing about and being a pain, they can specifically and with predetermination, mess about and be a pain. Many Damyne at this point begin to meddle with those they feed on, trying to generate more of the emotion they fed on most. Some however fall prey to a new power gained with their maw.

Rather than feeding on the ambient feelings, they can devour the emotion or dream that they fed on. This leaves the unfortunate being with no emotions, dreams or feelings, in effect it is like the reverse of what golems become, it makes golems of people. Empty husks. Will-shorn people.

It is because of the damyne that do this, that they are feared as a whole. A Damyne that does this monstrous act is corrupted, losing its red eyes, instead its eyes cast sickly yellow light, like all fallen beings. These damyne still have their mind to an extent, but they are prisoners of an all-consuming hunger.

Damyne that feed on negative things may often be wicked, but they do not become the hunting hunger that the will-eaters do. If a damyne avoids these traps, if they feed enough and well, they can sometimes stabilize, gaining a more humanoid form, also naturally becoming a man or woman. However, damyne that have fed on feelings that are just strong enough form a damyne egg around their body, though it has more in common with a cocoon. After some years they hatch from this egg as a Damyne Lord or Noble. If they have not become a man or woman by this stage, they do so.

These Nobles hold great power where the lesser damyne had mere tricks. They are at least as powerful as a middle-aged dragon. The nobles can create imps at will, which share attributes with their sire. No lesser damyne can resist the commands of a noble. Of the nobles and imps there is a third kind. Those that are born of a damyne man and a damyne woman can never be lords, are humanoid and share attributes and powers with their parents.

Fram Doolytter was no damyne lord, if he was, Aira and Bab-Lin would be kneeling from the sheer power emanating from him. As it was, it was likely he was the child of some damyne, or was one that gained a form himself.

Speaking of his form, Fram was an odd one. What first stood out was his eyes, which beneath his eyelids were a pair of slowly turning golden gears, with dim red lights in the hole. His skin was the grey of some dull metal. Fram’s face was oddly angular. He had no nose, and his mouth was that strange jagged maw that damyne have. His ribbed horns were golden, and stood out horizontally from his head. Flowing from his scalp was a mane of oily hair, indeed it seemed more like liquid than hair, though it would not drip away.

His torso blended into more gears. His arms were like thin sticks of metal and had cogs at the joints, his fingers were also this living metal. His legs were like that of some clawed mechanical monster. His tail swished behind him.

He wore a scarf of spun moonlight. He had a coat of golden scales, which was opened to show the turning golden gears of his lower torso, his upper torso was covered in strips of brown fur secured by a belt. The inside of the coat was lined with something similar to what the ruff of Bab-Lin’s jacket was made from. Fram sported a billowing purple loincloth with various toolbelts keeping it bound and fram decent.

His feet were unbound and them being quite metal-like, he had no need of footwear. On the whole, he seemed quite bombastic, though with quite questionable taste.

“GLORIOUS HONOURED GUESTS!” Fram Doolytter boomed.

On the whole, very bombastic.

He looked at Bab-Lin, though not for any great length of time. A cursory glance told Fram all he needed of him. A bespelled person was not among things that are rare. A curiosity.

However, when Fram looked more carefully at Aira, he froze as if one stuck by a binding word.

He looked at Aira’s legs.

He looked at Aira’s arms.

He looked at Aira’s head.

But what captured him most, was Aira’s body. In particular, the door on Aira’s barrel like torso seemed to draw his eyes. All this had happened in a few moments, but Bab-Lin saw it.

Fram’s eyes flickered. Aira knew not the ways that the body can speak of one’s deeper thoughts, but Bab-Lin saw it. Fram was faced with a difficult choice, then acting as if none of that had happened, he spoke haltingly.

“My… M-my creation? I… It is you, I had forgotten you, can you forgive me my child? Child assembled by my own hands”

Bab-Lin spluttered, smoke spewing, but held silent, for all he knew, that could have been true. It could even fit with what Doolytter’s actions said, odd as they were.

Aira however wanted to make sure.

Aira knew that it could get to complete three of its priorities if everything was as it seemed, which would be completely likely.

It is worth mentioning at this point that golems are as a whole generally extremely gullible. This results from a combination of most newly willed golems having little experience, and in general not seeing the point of lying, if indeed they even get the concept of untruth in the first place.

“Query: If you are my maker, how did you come to make me?”

Fram smiled, which sent shivers up Bab-Lin’s exospine. Damyne are creepy beings was Bab-Lin’s thought, ignoring the fact that he himself was quite creepy, being a thing similar to a skeleton.

Pulling some aged manuscripts from his golden robe, Fram spoke.

“Quite some time ago, I had need to build a particular mechanism, however, my knowledge was for naught, for I could not get it to work as intended”

“i’ll say, the spacial glutton beetles were the worst result, we were cleaning for days after that incident” Udalwut muttered

Fram ignored Udalwut, instead, melodramatic sorrow entered his voice.

“The mechanism was essential to this tower, so if I could not build it, all the efforts that I and the dutiful gnomes had put in would be for naught, despairing I locked my self away, hoping to find the solution to this dilemma. Just when I was on the edge of admitting defeat, the noble gnomes came and told me of an oracle that had recently moved into the area”

“His wailing was keeping everyone awake at night”

Fram continued “So, thus revived I did journey to this oracle to receive consul on what could be done.”

“Wait a moment” Bab-Lin said “So you, have visited that miserable half-snake hag Eurax-Fa?”

“No” Fram answered “It was some weirdo obsessed with eyes, Locke or some thing, can’t remember his name, may I continue good sir?”

Bab-Lin tapped the back of his head. “Uh, yeah, sorry.”

“So, as I was saying I did journey to this oracle to receive consul on what could be done, he told me to go to the glass mountain not far from here and that within it, I would find plans for devices similar to what I wished to build, though he warned me that the place would try to consume my memories, in that accursed place. Even now I cannot fully recall how I found these documents”

Fram said, shaking the papers in his metallic claws.

This seemed familiar to Aira.

“It was in that place you were built, and abandoned, can you forgive me, I could not remember you” Fram knelt before Aira at this.

Bab-Lin felt no lies in Fram’s words, though he could not shake the feeling there was something else there, but no matter. He only hoped that this would be the end of Aira’s journey and thus his curse, he guessed from Aira’s interest that Aira was seeking its’ creator.

“Query: If you are my maker, what is my purpose”

Fram reached out and touched the door on Aira’s torso.

“To make waste into power, to aid me and the gnomes in the construction of this wondrous city, I wish to fix your frame, get the mechanism there working again, I could not before”

“Joy: I believe you, and look forward to it” Aira said and Fram looked away.

So Aira was led by Fram to where he would fix Aira. Bab-Lin did not explain why he travelled with Aira to Fram and Aira said nothing, not being asked.

First, Fram cleaned Aira’s frame of moss, rust and fungus. Using his natural magicks he reversed the time of the metal, erasing the broken and shattered metal and bringing back missing parts, though he could not completely clear the weight of time on it.

Not only that, but he reshaped the metal, forging rewound time into it, this made it whole and new but also meant that it would slowly return to wholeness after being damaged. The Mechanism in Aira’s torso however presented far more problems. Several times did Fram try to fix it, he did not explain what it was for, focused as he was on fixing it. Once when working on it, one of his hands was vaporized by it as it briefly activated.

Aira implored Fram to stop, but Fram simply smiled and went back to work, claiming he now knew what to do and that the hand would grow back anyway. Fram was right on both accounts and finally after several months, Aira was fully fixed and Fram’s hand had grown back.

During this time, the flame in Bab-Lin’s throat did not weaken one bit, he passed the time by playing various games with the gnomes, sometimes he even aided in the construction of the tower. Mostly he just played a game involving stone carved figures. The gnomes did not beat him even once and so not a small amount of gems went into Bab-Lin’s fuzzy bag. The gnomes did learn quite quickly to not play with valuables on the line against Bab-Lin.

“Arise my daughter” Fram said.

“Daughter?” Aira said wonderingly in a clear singing woman’s voice, like a crystal bell.

“Wah, my voice, what is this?”

Fram laughed.

“I replaced your worn out stringbox with a series of crystal tubes, and I upgraded your speech centres while I was doing that I discovered you are designated as female.”

“Oh” Aira said, lifting herself off the bench. “I have new functions, this frame is lighter… and”

She stared at her two hands with her crystal eyeball.

“Two hands”

Indeed, Aira was much changed, her metal gleamed brightly with beautiful flowery patterns on her arms. Her Torso was a bit more like a dress than a barrel now, though the door of the mechanism was still there, but it looked like a buttoned flap on her metal dress. Her legs were still like armour, but more elegant, the wolf head kneepads were less savage-looking. Her Cone head was now a bit like a witch’s hat, with a small head underneath dominated by her shining blue crystal ball.

What was previously her pincer was now a normal arm like her other, though the forearm was longer and bigger.

“My pincer is gone” She pouted, not sure how she felt, though feeling a bit cheated.

Fram chuckled.

“Not quite my dear, go into battlemode”

“Battlemode?” Aira repeated, checking her programs.

All at once her forearm snapped in two parts, her hand at the top of one. Between the parts were deadly shining blades, she still had her pincer, more than that inside the pincer at the back there was also a glowering darkness.

“Hmm, combat efficiency up by at least 190%, previous parameters were around 50% of full capabilities”

“Not all my child” Fram tossed a piece of scrap at Aira, she deftly snatched it out of the air, and closed her pincer arm again.

“What is the meaning of this?” Aira asked.

“Put it in your hatch”

Curious, Aira opened the hatch and tossed the scrap in, then she closed it again. For a moment nothing happened, then she went more ridged than usual, the swirling sigils on her torso lit up blue and there was no small amount of grinding and clicking, finally Aira burped.

“Oh excuse me” She said.

At Fram’s bidding she opened the hatch and out fell a small azure crystal of rough shape. Fram grabbed it.

“In goes trash and out comes power” Fram stated smiling widely.

Aira analysed the crystal in Fram’s fingers.

“Crystallized magic, faint phantasm alignment, highly receptive to darkness”

“Correct, not only can you produce these mana crystals but you can even power and overcharge your systems with with them.”

“Fascinating” Bab-Lin whispered, stepping out of the shadows. “You look much better kid”

“Thank you Bab-Lin, though I’m sorry you don’t”

“No worries kid, but my, that is a real rare mechanism you have inside that body, matter converters are very valuable, You know how to make them Doolytter?”

“No, I had trouble enough just trying to fix the thing, no idea how it works” Fram admitted.

“Right, Right, mind if I have a word with you Lordie? Alone?” Bab-Lin stood infront of Fram, staring him in the eyes.

“Bab-Lin?” Aira questioned, there was something odd about this exchange, Bab-Lin seemed hostile.

“Of course Sir Goldshadow, will the top of the tower suffice?”

“Not a bad idea to have the highground”

“Well then” Fram said, brushing his fingers off with a cloth “Shall we go?, oh, don’t worry my daughter, I’m sure this will only take a few moments”

“That’d be my line” Bab-Lin snipped.

Leaving behind a perplexed Aira, Fram and Bab-Lin ascended the clockwork tower.