The metal ring spun rapidly in the air, emitting a sharp, piercing hum. Raine felt the world spin wildly, as if it had been shoved into a kaleidoscope. The bird named "Dagger" let out a pained screech. At the center of the metal ring formed by its mechanical tail feathers, space twisted and warped like crumpled parchment.
"Hold on tight! We're about to land!" Ravenna's voice fragmented through the distorted space.
Raine instinctively hugged the infant in his arms and tightly grasped Ravenna's belt with his other hand. He noticed Ravenna's shoulder was still bleeding, the wound caused by the black arrow edged with an unnatural purple — clearly poisoned. Blood dripped down her dark red leather armor, forming strange suspended droplets in the warped space.
Two hundred breaths later, the twisted space suddenly normalized. They plummeted straight down from thirty meters high. Dagger desperately flapped its damaged wings, barely slowing their fall. With a thunderous crash, they slammed into the dense canopy.
Branches cracked repeatedly. During the fall, Raine instinctively twisted his body, taking most of the impact on his back. Sharp branches scraped across his cheek, and the crystal clusters on his right arm pierced his skin on impact, sending a stabbing pain through him. The smell of decayed leaves filled his nose, mixed with the acrid scent of overheated metal.
Finally, they landed on a thick layer of decomposed leaves. Raine's vision darkened and a buzzing filled his ears. Yet the infant in his arms remained unusually calm, clutching tightly at his collar with a tiny hand.
"Damn…" Ravenna groaned as she crawled out from a pile of broken branches. Her orange dreadlocks were tangled with leaves and tiny twigs. The leather armor on her right leg was slashed open by a sharp branch, revealing intricate mechanical components beneath — a finely crafted prosthetic limb, with tiny magical crystals embedded at the joints.
"Dagger!"
The Ashfeather Crow lay not far away, sparks flickering from the mechanical device on its chest. Ravenna staggered over and pulled out a set of delicate tools from a pouch at her waist, skillfully beginning repairs. Her fingers moved deftly among the mechanical parts, occasionally gripping a small piece between her teeth. When focused, her left amber eye would narrow slightly.
Raine struggled to sit up and looked around. They had landed in an unfamiliar forest, where the trees towered high, their trunks wrapped in vines that emitted a faint blue glow. The air was thick with a sickly sweet smell of humus, mixed with the scent of metal oxidizing. Judging by this, they were already outside the Rottenbone Marsh.
"Where is this?" Raine asked, his voice hoarse from pain.
"Black Crow Forest," Ravenna answered without looking up, as she adjusted a part on Dagger's chest with a fine screwdriver. The handle of the screwdriver was set with a gem that changed color with temperature. "The edge of the Thieves' Guild Shadow Guard training ground. We're lucky — we fell into the buffer zone." She glanced up briefly; her right eye, a dark red, looked like a drop of congealed blood in the dim light.
Suddenly, the infant in Raine's arms stirred, his dark green eyes fixed on the depths of the forest. Following his gaze, Raine faintly saw several dark figures darting between the trees — their movements too agile to be human.
"Someone's coming," Raine said quietly, his right hand instinctively reaching for the surgical kit at his waist.
Ravenna finally finished repairing Dagger. The mechanical Ashfeather Crow let out a weak cry, then curled up into a ball and entered sleep mode. "That was fast," she sneered, pulling out a serrated dagger from her boot. The blade's spine was etched with fine blood grooves. "You think the Shadow Guard's 'hounds' are harmless? They can track any intruder within a ten-mile radius in under three minutes."
Suddenly, Ravenna grabbed Raine's wrist, her body heat startlingly high. "Listen, Raine," her heterochromatic eyes gleamed brightly in the dim light. "I know a way down underground, but it needs your elven magic to activate the mechanism."
Raine frowned. "You—"
"Cut the crap," Ravenna interrupted roughly, pointing to the shadowy crystal earring on her left ear. The movement tugged painfully at her shoulder wound, and she grit her teeth. "This thing hasn't lit up once in four years—until three days ago, when it suddenly started glowing, guiding me to you. Now it shines bright enough to use as a lamp, clearly because it's near you."
Only then did Raine notice the deep blue crystal was indeed softly glowing. Stranger still, as his right arm's crystal clusters approached, the earring's light intensified.
Ravenna suddenly leaned in close—close enough for Raine to smell the scent of gunpowder and rust on her, with a faint herbal fragrance beneath it. "I need your help," she whispered, breath slightly ragged from pain, "My mechanical heart is barely holding on. It needs the Breath of Life from elven magic to recalibrate."
She spoke while undoing the buttons above her leather armor, revealing a glowing metallic device just beneath her collarbone. Through the translucent crystal casing, intricate gears and conduits could be seen operating precisely—but the core crystal was already cracked.
"An accident happened during a mission three years ago," Ravenna explained briefly, her tone deliberately casual, but the tight line of her jaw betrayed the pain. "Old Sana saved me with his bizarre alchemy, but it lacked the Breath of Life from elven magic as a stabilizer." Suddenly, she coughed violently, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
Raine stared in shock at the device. It was perfectly integrated into the girl's flesh; metal conduits connected directly to major blood vessels, pulsing rhythmically with her heartbeat. This went beyond ordinary machinery—almost forbidden life alchemy. Tiny runes were etched across its surface, some of which Raine recognized as elven script, but arranged in a very strange pattern.
"Why me?" Raine asked warily.
Ravenna gave a sly smile, though it was slightly twisted by pain. "Because you're the only elf I know who I could find. And…" she suddenly lowered her voice, "the crystal clusters on your arm and this device share the same source technology."
At that moment, the baby suddenly let out a soft whimper.
Ravenna's gaze finally shifted to the child, her expression instantly turning strange and teasing. Her heterochromatic eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Wow—haven't seen you in years, Raine, and your kid's grown so much," she deliberately dragged out her tone, trying to mask her pain with a joke.
Raine frowned. "That's not my child."
Ravenna was about to reply when a rustling sound came from the distant bushes, accompanied by the faint clinking of metal parts rubbing together. Her face changed instantly, and she quickly fastened her armor.
"No time. Follow me!"
Without hesitation, Ravenna led Raine through the dense forest. Her mechanical leg emitted a faint hum, clearly nearing its limit.
The baby grew restless in Raine's arms, repeatedly pointing toward the front right.
"Is he guiding us?" Ravenna asked in surprise.
Raine nodded. "He's been doing that since a while ago."
Ravenna suddenly stopped, carefully studying the baby.
"Interesting... there really is an entrance in the direction he's pointing," she said, turning to Raine as the silver bells woven into her dreadlocks jingled crisply.
"I'll let your little one lead the way, but a heads-up—this place is said to be riddled with ancient elven defense mechanisms."
Following the baby's guidance, they arrived before a massive ancient tree. Its trunk was etched with elven runes Raine recognized, though most were obscured by moss. The roots twisted and intertwined underground, forming a natural archway.
"This is..." Raine reached out to brush the runes. His crystalline cluster on his right arm flared uncontrollably, resonating with the runes. Some moss-covered symbols began glowing on their own, and the moss visibly withered and fell away.
"An ancient elf obsessed with alchemy once lived here," Ravenna said, glancing warily behind them.
"The Thieves' Guild has been searching for this place for three thousand years."
She pointed to an inconspicuous groove at the tree's base, shaped like a leaf.
"It needs elven blood to activate. They say only pure elven blood can unlock it."
Raine hesitated, then used Ravenna's short knife to prick his finger, letting a drop of blood fall into the groove.
The moment his blood touched it, the runes on the trunk lit up one by one in a blue glow.
Accompanied by the clicking sound of mechanisms, a slit slowly opened in the trunk, revealing stairs descending downward.
"Awesome!" Ravenna clapped excitedly but immediately winced in pain.
Her shoulder wound had soaked through half her leather armor, and her face had grown pale from blood loss.
The passage was pitch-black, with only the faint glow from the baby lighting their way. The light shimmered with a peculiar emerald hue, illuminating exquisite bas-reliefs on the walls—depicting ancient elves coexisting with machines in harmony.
Ravenna took a small device from her waist, twisted it a few times, then tossed it into the air. It unfolded four metallic wings and emitted a soft yellow light, floating ahead like a firefly guiding their path. Under the light, the walls were covered with intricate gears and pipes.
"The guild's latest invention," Ravenna said proudly, though her voice trembled from weakness. "Much better than a torch. It senses magical fluctuations in the air and automatically avoids dangerous areas."
The passage sloped downward, growing steeper as they descended. The walls were filled with precise mechanical structures, some still running, producing faint clicking sounds. Raine recognized this as the ancient elven technique of merging magic with machinery—lost for over a thousand years. Tiny elven inscriptions were engraved on some gears, recording operational instructions.
"These mechanisms…" Raine said in surprise, touching a control panel on the wall. As his fingers grazed the runes, they glowed blue in response.
"Don't touch!" Ravenna snapped, grabbing his wrist. "Unless you want to turn into a porcupine, these mechanisms activate different defense modes depending on the intruder's species." She pointed to faint metal tubes visible on the ceiling. "For humans, it's poison darts. For elves, something far worse."
At that moment, heavy footsteps and clashing metal echoed from behind them. Ravenna's face went pale. "Damn it! The Hounds have caught up!"
At the end of the passage stood a metal door covered in runes, embedded with a complex mechanical lock. Ravenna hurried forward, took a strangely shaped key from around her neck, and inserted it into the lock, but the door didn't budge.
"It needs dual verification," she said anxiously, her voice weakened from blood loss. "Do you know if there's any unlocking magic among elven spells? Old Sanna's notes mentioned a specific elven hand gesture."
Raine glanced at the baby in his arms, who was intently staring at the runes on the door. Suddenly, the baby reached out a small hand and gently touched one of the symbols—a character representing "life" in ancient elven script. Immediately, all the runes glowed with green light, and the lock clicked open with a crisp sound.
"Damn…" Ravenna was stunned. "How does he know—"
Before Ravenna could finish speaking, an explosion echoed from the far end of the passage. Three fully armed figures appeared amid the firelight.
"Get inside!" Ravenna shoved the door open and dragged Raine into the chamber.
Behind the door lay a vast circular hall. At its center floated a massive model of a mother tree, crafted from magical crystal. Surrounding it were twelve statues of elves. Even more astonishing, the hall's walls were lined with intricate mechanical devices, gears and levers moving in perfect harmony, as if this underground facility was still fully operational. The air was thick with the scent of machine oil mixed with an ancient spice.
"Welcome to the 'Heart of the Machine,'" Ravenna gasped, sliding down against a stone pillar. "The last secret of the ancient elves. Old Sanna spent his entire life searching for it..." Her voice weakened further as black blood began to seep from her shoulder wound—the poison spreading.
The Shadow Guard had reached the doorway but strangely stopped at the threshold, unwilling to step inside.
"They can't come in," Ravenna explained weakly, "the defense system here only recognizes elven bloodline. Any non-elven intruder will trigger..." She suddenly coughed violently, blood flecked with metal shards spilling from her mouth. "...the ultimate defense."
At that moment, the crystal at the center of the hall projected a shimmering light screen, displaying ancient elven script. Raine recognized it as the highest-level warning; the edges of the text flickered with a blood-red glow.
"What does it say?" Ravenna asked anxiously, her mechanical eye flickering weakly from low power.
Raine's face turned pale: "'Final Protocol activated. Purge sequence initiated. All unauthorized lifeforms will be eradicated within thirty seconds.'"
Before Ravenna could respond, the entire hall shook violently. The twelve elven statues simultaneously opened their eyes, their bodies shifting to reveal hidden weapon systems. The mechanical devices lining the walls accelerated with a piercing shriek.
"This is bad," Ravenna swallowed hard, trying and failing to stand, "we've triggered something we shouldn't have..."