Gears of Eternity: The Anvil of Souls

Aiden stands in a Brussels-style mechanical repair station. The vibration of the steam pipes is just like when the Paris Metro Line 13 is running, buzzing non-stop and crashing back and forth in this small space, making his head ache. There are various tools and parts piled up all around. A smell of machine oil mixes with the cheese aroma from somewhere (cultural note: cultural note: Brussels is famous for its beer culture while the cheese aroma may remind people of neighboring regions, and here the cheese aroma may remind people of it) and gets into his nose. He holds the universal wrench tightly in his hand and stares at the delicate and complex patterns on it, which are like the knitting of Belgian lace. His brows are furrowed so tightly that a fly could be trapped in them. "This thing is harder to deal with than the cranes in Rotterdam Port. It's really a pain in the neck." He mumbles and casually picks up a piece of ragged cloth, absent-mindedly wiping the wrench.

While he is wiping, a trace of stardust, which is like the glitter on Christmas decorations, slowly drifts down from the ceiling. As if on purpose, it lands precisely into the gear gap of the wrench. Aiden sees it and his heart skips a beat, but he doesn't show it on his face. He still mutters, "Tsk, what impact could this have? Don't scare yourself." He continues to wipe the wrench on his own. Who would have thought that in just a short while, the wrench suddenly goes crazy and gets extremely hot, as hot as a clay pot used to cook Spanish paella just taken out of the oven. "Bloody hell! This thing is hotter than the crust of a freshly baked farmhouse bread!" Aiden shouts at the top of his voice and instinctively shakes his hand, trying to cool it down. But the wrench seems to be stuck to his hand, and he can't shake it off no matter how hard he tries. He panics and quickly looks down. He sees blisters forming on the tiger's mouth of his hand. The texture of those blisters is like the mosaic tile patterns, looking rather scary. Even worse, the lava patterns, like the spreading of Bordeaux red wine stains on a linen tablecloth with right-angle turns at the edges that don't conform to gravity, [margin note: the author insists this is from actual observation during the 2023 Brussels Steam Expo] creep up his forearm along the cracks in his glove, just like the branching of the tributaries of the Seine River, spreading little by little.

Aiden is completely flustered now. He tries in a hurry to get the wrench off, but it's no use. "What's wrong with this wrench? Why did it suddenly become like this?" He is anxious and scared, and sweat keeps pouring down his forehead. Just when he doesn't know what to do, the world around him, as if under a spell, suddenly changes. The raindrops that were originally pattering down actually hover in mid-air and form a shape similar to a Prague crystal chandelier, which is sparkling. It looks beautiful, but in this strange atmosphere, it exudes an indescribable weirdness. Looking at the ground again, a squirrel that was originally stealing bread now moves extremely slowly. Every movement of it is like being split into three frames, just like an old early movie with a projection effect of 3 frames per second, a funny comedy.

"Mein Gott! What on earth is going on here?" Aiden's eyes widen in shock, and his mouth opens so wide that an egg could fit in it. His thoughts are all in a mess. For some reason, he suddenly thinks of the rhythm of the stitches when his grandmother was knitting a sweater. What does this have to do with the current situation? He himself feels baffled and shakes his head vigorously, trying to shake off these messy thoughts.

Aiden tries to move his body. Hey, he finds that his movements are much faster than everything around him. He instinctively raises his hand to touch his hair. When he does this, he almost laughs at himself. He sees that the speed at which his hair is falling is much slower than his body's movement. In an instant, his hair becomes a hairstyle like the dynamic photography effect of Dutch windmill blades with the blurred edges resembling early 20th-century postcards (with a 0.5-second delay in the description of the hairstyle). That appearance is just like the trajectory of the rotation of Dutch windmill blades (cultural note: Dutch windmills are very famous in the world). If it weren't for the urgent situation now, he would have laughed out loud. What's even more amazing is that some stardust particles are adsorbed around this "exploded hairstyle", twinkling, just like the faint projection of a holiday fairy lights net. It looks quite nice, but he has no mood to appreciate it at all.

Aiden calms himself down and thinks in his heart that this wrench probably has obtained some magical speed-reducing function. He takes a deep breath and tries hard to calm himself down, but his heart is still pounding like a drum. He moves the wrench carefully and stares at the surroundings without blinking. As the wrench moves, the time flow rate around him seems to be really changing. He is both surprised and delighted, but more than that, he is scared. Who knows whether this unknown power is a blessing or a curse?

In this chaos, some memory fragments flash through Aiden's mind again: "Wait... The crêpe recipe I bought last week? Oh, my god! What am I thinking about this for at this moment!" He pats his head irritably. Now he must concentrate on figuring out the secret of this wrench.

Just as he is thinking, a fragment of black mist suddenly appears in front of him. Aiden becomes alert at once and stares at this fragment of black mist. He sees some ancient Dwarvish characters slowly emerging on the fragment of black mist. He leans closer to take a look. Goodness me, it turns out to be the logo of Riga Central Station. This confuses him. What does this mean? He racks his brains, trying to find some clues from these ancient characters, but after looking at them for a long time, his mind is still in a mess, and he doesn't understand anything.

Aiden is not willing to give up and continues to manipulate the wrench. As he becomes more and more proficient in mastering the speed-reducing function, the world around him becomes more and more wonderful. He finds that his hearing has become extremely sharp. He can even distinguish the sound of glasses clinking in a Munich beer hall, that is, the dull sound of 500ml ceramic cups colliding. The clear sound echoes in his ears, as if there is a small loudspeaker next to his ear. And the sound of the metal cooling is like the cracking of ice edges on the Swiss snowy mountains, clear and with a hint of chill, making his heart tremble with fear.

As time goes by, the speed-reducing function of the wrench starts to show signs of getting out of control. Aiden's hair becomes an "exploded hairstyle" again. He reflexively reaches out to touch his hair to check it. As a result, he accidentally rubs off the scab behind his ear. He hisses in pain, frowns, and feels extremely annoyed. "This damned thing is more expensive than the maintenance cost of Cologne Cathedral!" He can't help complaining. While trying hard to control the wrench, he observes the surrounding environment. He finds that the vibration frequency of the steam pipes seems to have something to do with the energy fluctuations of the wrench, and the deformation special effect of the ripples of the Venice waterways presented by the mechanical patterns is also constantly changing with the passage of time. What on earth is going on here? The more he thinks about it, the more confused he becomes.

Aiden tries to touch the surrounding objects with the wrench again. When the wrench touches a metal plate, red crack warnings suddenly appear on the surface of the metal plate with a "whoosh". Aiden's heart skips a beat. Now he knows that although the power of this wrench is powerful, it also hides great risks.

During the process of manipulating the wrench, Aiden's thoughts drift away again. He looks at the energy shield around him. For some reason, he suddenly associates it with the protective net of the tulip fields in Amsterdam. Those neatly arranged protective nets seem to have something in common with the energy shield in front of him. Then, the sound of the gears turning in the dome of the court rings in his mind, which instantly triggers his memory of the rehearsal of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The passionate music seems to be echoing in his ears. He quickly shakes his head to drive away these distracting thoughts. This is not the time to think about these things.

Aiden tries hard to bring his thoughts back to the present. He knows clearly that he must master the power of this wrench as soon as possible. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable. He grits his teeth and continues to try various operations. As he keeps trying, the power of the wrench becomes a little more stable.

But who would have thought that the good situation didn't last long. The wrench suddenly starts to get hot again, and this time it's even hotter than before. Aiden feels that his hand is as if it's going to be roasted. He instinctively shakes his hand again, trying to relieve the pain. He looks down and sees that the lava patterns on his forearm have spread even further, like winding paths, covering his forearm. What's even stranger is that when these lava patterns spread, the reflection of cherry blossom gears actually appears, twinkling, like some kind of camp logo, but he has no intention of pondering what it means now.

"Goodness! The purity of this energy feels enough to cook twenty pots of goulash (cultural note: Goulash is a traditional Hungarian dish)!" Aiden shouts at the top of his voice. His voice echoes in this empty mechanical repair station, sounding extremely helpless.

Aiden looks at the wrench in his hand, his heart full of helplessness and confusion. He doesn't know where the power of this wrench comes from, nor does he know how to control it. He only knows that since this wrench absorbed the spiritual energy core and awakened the speed-reducing function, his life has completely changed.

Just when he feels desperate, he suddenly finds that the cracks on the surface of the wrench form the sequence of a Swiss Army knife being unfolded, and in this sequence, he can vaguely see the Dwarvish rune verification code. What's going on here? A glimmer of hope rises in Aiden's heart. He thinks that this may be the key clue to unlocking the secret of the wrench.

Aiden takes a deep breath. He decides to continue exploring the secret of this wrench. He leans against the railing, panting heavily. The feeling of exhaustion is just like having just finished a Munich Marathon. When he wipes the sweat off his face, his sleeve accidentally catches on an old burn. A sharp pain shoots through, but he doesn't care about it now.

He looks at the wrench in his hand, his eyes firm and full of determination. He secretly vows in his heart that he must figure out all of this. He knows that the road ahead is still long, full of unknowns and challenges, but he will never back down. Because he understands that only by facing it bravely can he find the answers.

Aiden carefully picks up the wrench again, ready to start a new attempt. His eyes are firm and full of determination. In this world full of mystery and danger, he will carry this magical speed-reducing wrench and continue to move forward to uncover the secrets hidden behind... Moreover, he always feels that in that afterimage of the squirrel, there seems to be a clue to the gap in the old-fashioned wall clock spring (replacing the star ring defense matrix), but he hasn't figured it out yet. It doesn't matter. He has plenty of time and courage to explore.