Twisted Skies, Chapter 12 - Lost Knowledge

After Theodoro had destroyed his fleeting good impression, he and Thurain marched through the night in awkward silence, towards a goal that was unknown to the young cultivator. At least they didn't have to walk for long until they reached Theodoro's home, so Thurain didn't have enough time to suspect foul play. No wonder the scammer had passed by that alley, he thought. It turned out that his home was only a few houses away.

“It's up here. Pure luxury, upper floor apartment,” Theodoro quipped, though much quieter than before. After he had stowed away his cart in a shed in the back, he turned with a flourish and began to climb a metal ladder that was receded into the wall as a permanent fixture.

“You're not serious.” A baffled Thurain stared up at the door at the top of the ladder. Were they entering a home or a tree house? Although Theodoro didn't complain, the young cultivator could still see the scammer's face scrunch up as he looked down. Though he had no idea what he had done wrong.

“You weren't expecting a grand stairway, were you?” he said instead, still in a quiet tone. “This is Heliana's inner city. Only mansions get a stairway. The cheap rooms just get a ladder, that's how it is. Stairs take up way too much space anyways.”

“So the higher the place, the cheaper? Because the yin rises to the sky and rains down onto the top floors, is that it?” Thurain guessed, unconcerned with his host's silent warnings for silence.

“Shhh!” After Thurain's careless comments, Theodoro turned and stared down at him again, this time with warning eyes. He hadn't even looked scared when Thurain had held him up by his collar in the alley. What could possibly terrify this man to such a degree?

“Do you wanna kill both of us?” the scammer hissed, as sweat formed on his brow. “You think this entire apartment is mine? My landlord sleeps right below us, and I'm behind on my rent.”

Although Thurain wanted to make fun of the panicked Theodoro, another intense stare kept him silent. After all, he didn't want to be ungrateful to the man who had helped him deal with his gangster problem and even provided a room for him. Thus he waited on the ladder for a bit, until Theodoro up above had opened his door and managed to squeeze inside. The young cultivator followed soon after.

The inside of Theodoro's home was very different from what Thurain had expected. Considering his flamboyant and show-offish nature, he had expected the room to be filled with luxuries, taken from his many grifter jobs. Or maybe it would be filled with all manner of complex tools to forge or cheat or steal from the unsuspecting. However, the place was almost entirely empty.

A single bed and a short salon table in front of it, as well as a single clothes rack on one of the walls. That was the entirety of Theodoro's furniture, at least all Thurain could see in the dark. The small window opposite the door would let in some light during the day, but right now it only opened up into a black void.

Though Thurain called it a window, it really was just a rectangular hole in the wall, with no glass or even paper to keep out the elements. Worse yet, the room's ceiling was so low that both the host and the guest had to bend their heads or they would have brushed against the stone up top at all times.

Once both were inside, Theodoro put his hand over an area next to the entrance to activate the array that had been inscribed there. Although most normal people in the city couldn't cultivate, Thurain had already heard about these useful tools that would allow even ordinary folks to use the powers of qi for their own benefits.

Though of course, the sects that produced these arrays and sold them to the common people always benefited more than anyone else. Rather than complain about such injustice, Thurain marveled at the two thin strings of bright color that ran from the array’s focus point underneath Theodoro’s hand up to the ceiling. As they slowly turned in circles up above, they began to glow in a dim, warm light.

However, as soon as the light was on, Thurain forgot all about the fascinating array, since it not only illuminated the worn-out carpet on the floor, but also the strange installation all along the room's walls. Apart from a single door and the clothes rack, the entirety of the room's periphery was taken up by countless strange constructions. Made of metal and wood, he could see pipes, rails, wheels and all kinds of shapes he didn't have proper words for.

“Maldo, I'm home.”

Unconcerned with his guest's fascination, Theodoro called out to another member of his household. In response to the call, a tiny black shadow ran from underneath the bed's blanket and jumped into the scammer's arms. “You've waited a long time today, huh? Sorry about that.”

Now that the black blur had stopped moving, Thurain could get a better look. Once again, he was surprised. Wasn't this creature a tiny, black piglet? Again, it wasn't the kind of pet he had expected from his host, or from anyone in the city, really. The little thing sniffed around as it squirmed in its owner's arms to find the most comfortable position, before it let out a little squeak.

“Okay, okay. I brought your dinner,” its owner said as he put the little thing down and put his hand in one of his many jacket pockets. While Theodoro was busy feeding his pet, Thurain once again put his focus on the strange apparatus on the walls. Slowly, he closed in and reached out to a piece of string that was dangling down one of the metal rails. Yet before his hands could reach, a shout from behind interrupted him.

“Don't touch that!”

Thurain’s hand jerked back. Confused, he looked over to Theodoro, who had sat down cross-legged on his bed and fed small pieces of brown whatevers to his pet.

“These things are delicate, so I'd rather you wouldn't touch them like that,” Theodoro explained in a much calmer tone, before he motioned to the carpet next to the bed. “Have a seat. You want anything to drink? I don't have much to offer though.”

Rather than take the offer that really wasn’t one, Thurain shook his head. Still transfixed by the strange installations, his hand swerved around to motion at the room’s walls.

“What is this?” he asked in confusion.

“Ah, well, it's a Rube-Goldberg machine.” Theodoro made a throwaway gesture as if it wasn't anything important. “A mechanical toy.”

“A what toy?” he asked about the strange word.

“Mechanical. One second.”

From a tray near the window, Theodoro took a small metal ball away from its mound of companions and put it on top of one of the railings. At this point, Thurain realized that his host had taken off his gloves. He particularly noticed because he realized that the scammer's left pinky finger was missing, which drew his eye.

However, he didn't ask any questions. Since Thurain’s master had raised him the right way, he wouldn't ask a sensitive question to a relative stranger, and he was too busy with looking at the toy anyways.

With only a little push, the metal ball began to move downwards along the rail. Halfway through its journey, it stopped to push another ball further along, through a series of spinning paddles. In endless wonder, Thurain watched as the ball was transferred up and down various rails, pipes and wheels, as it made its way all across the apartment. In the process, all kinds of effects moved the rolling balls in all kinds of directions. The only thing that was unchanging was that the movements of the apparatus never seemed to stop.

“There you go.” Theodoro's open hand followed the ball's movement as he spoke. “Just a toy. It’ll go for another minute and then the ball will go on its way. I build it as a hobby.”

“I've never seen anything like it,” Thurain said as he finally sat down. The carpet was a bit worn out, but not unpleasant.

“It's a lost art, more or less. Now that everything runs on qi and arrays, most people no longer use mechanical tricks to move objects or convert energy. In fact, most people are no longer aware of any mechanical transformations at all.” Theodoro sighed, like a man who lamented the passage of time.

“Isn't this really impressive though?” Even now, Thurain continued to watch all kinds of objects run all over the room, until one little marble escaped out the window and disappeared into the night. “If you can do this, why would you scam people for money? Why not just sell these instead?”

“Well that's a rude question,” Theodoro said with a face that told Thurain that he didn't really mind the rudeness. “I'm an upstanding citizen and have never scammed anyone in my life! Rather than preach your morals, you should show more respect towards great masters like myself.”

By the end of his little speech, Thurain’s host had turned into a scammer again, with the same fake bravado that had been in his voice at the train station.

“Yeah, yeah,” Thurain said, eager to move on. “So why don't you sell these?”

“I tried, at one point. But they're a novelty at best.” With a sigh, Theodoro looked around his room. “Some of the richer folks were mildly interested in buying one. These sorts of peculiar inventions are a good way for them to show off to their rich friends. But these installations don't run on qi, it's all just potential kinetic energy. With all the new arrays that get invented these days, qi is in, and anything else is out. Plus, just look at all the wood and metal I need processed for these. An installation like this is ridiculously expensive, at least compared to the material costs of an average array. The cost to pay for materials and still feed me would have been too high. For the same amount, anyone can just buy a more impressive array from an outer disciple of the sect. In the end, I was the only one interested enough to actually own one of them.”

“...but don't you know of any arrays you can sell?” Thurain asked in confusion. Back at the train station, Theodoro had shown that he was a cultivator, even though he was a lousy one. Still, even the weakest of cultivators should have the ability to make rent without problem.

“Of course I do. This great master knows all the secrets of the universe.”

The constant bragging let Thurain lose all interest in a reasonable discussion. Instead, he challenged the fake to uncover his flaws.

“Okay, great master. If you're such a genius, why don't you make money with arrays then? Don’t tell me you’re not interested in material wealth or similar nonsense. You were willing to sell these machines after all.”

Theodoro scoffed in response.

“Those commoner dullards wouldn't know genius if it bit them in their behinds. Even though my arrays are so much better than those of the little sect students, I didn't come from within their system. Without a graduate degree from a sect or academy, no one will believe in my skills. Without the official title of engraver, I won't even be allowed to repair arrays, let alone set up my own. As for this?”

His hand once again traced the journey the little metal balls had taken before it had disappeared.

“It really is no more than a hobby to me. I learned it a long time ago, from an aging master of the craft. Back then, I thought it was a shame that such a unique art was dying, so I decided to keep it alive. I think there is great value in this, in the preservation of what others believe worthless. I think that any loss of culture and knowledge is always a shame to all of humanity. Don't you think so too?”

For a while, Thurain felt overwhelmed by an unexpected sadness. This strange cheater had somehow transformed into a thoughtful person. For a moment, it felt as if there was far more to the scammer than he had imagined, something veiled behind shadows and mysteries.

Yet at that point, Thurain realized that he had been roped in once again. Wasn't this just another psychological trick from a seasoned trickster? Wasn't he just manipulating him to appear mysterious and wise once more? Annoyed, Thurain shook his head to get the strange image of the 'great master' out of his head. Rather than play any more games with the cheat, he took his blanket from his backpack again.

“Thank you for letting me stay here.” He switched topics. “I will just sleep on the floor, if you don't mind. Tomorrow I'll look for some work, and then I'll be able to get my own room by evening to get out of your hair.”

“Well, you better.” Theodoro laughed. “You didn't think your pitiable compensation would let you pay rent here for more than a day, did you?”

Speechless, Thurain stared at his haughty host and remembered all the money he had been cheated of at the train station.

“That was sixty-eight Rai!” he shouted in indignation.

“Most of that was for my elixirs!” the cheat insisted. “Those were expensive!”

“It's brown water!” Thurain shouted back. How could a man be this shameless without blushing? At this point, Thurain was ready to fight tooth and nail for truth and justice. However, before the argument could develop further, a bang from below made both of them flinch and quiet down.

“If I get in trouble with my landlord, it's your fault,” Theodoro whispered, before he operated another array close to his bed and turned off the whirling lights up top. “Sleep, before I throw you out.”

Without another word, Thurain stretched out his legs under his blanket. Even though he lay down at an angle and even went under the table to cheat some extra space out of the narrow room, his feet still collided with the opposite wall.

Out of the open window, the stars were still blocked by the green smog of the city, but at least now, Thurain was no longer in danger. If nothing else, at least he had made one friend on his first day in the city, even though it was a shameless scammer. Tomorrow, he would find work and begin his proper life in Heliana.

As he thought about his plans for the future, the faces of all the people who had wronged him appeared in his head, one by one. The last was a shadowy figure, the one who had killed his master, and was still hidden in darkness. Like in a trance, the faces repeated, until he drifted away into dreams.

Hermit's Notes: It is time! Time to continue this one too, I guess. Over the past couple months, my brain kept wandering back to this, and I came up with tons of good ideas (I think). I'll keep writing on this for a while and see where it goes. 

There will be four chapters today, to catch up with the release on royalroad. 

Oh, and I also changed the title of the novel, because the old one was bad.