Harold Etton stepped into the forest in a cheap black trench coat and torn leather boots, looking like someone who had a rough day. Light skin, ruffled black hair, and an exhausted face. Harold Etton was doing odd jobs around the city for some extra cash, and for this job, his elderly neighbor told him a rat had been scaring him outside his apartment and scurrying into the forest nearby. The apartment complex was right next to the city border, with a forest that stretched far into the mountains. The natural scenery that the forest provided complemented the city that was built on cogs and frequently emitted steam.
The neighbor offered 20 silver coins and stated, "Those useless police officers did nothing as per usual!" So Harold decided to take the job. He figured that since rats liked to hide in bushes, he could get rid of them with a rat trap. It was odd that he was being given 20 silver coins for a task that probably would've cost 5, but he wasn't going to complain. What could go wrong?
Stepping into the forest, he was silent and focused. The wind stilled, as if it held its breath to the tense moment. Then he heard it. Rustling in the nearby bush. His focus sharpened as he prepared to stomp on his target. "Welp, I don't need to set up that rat trap. That rat is coming right out."
The bush then burst out something Harold hadn't expected.
It was a rat, but not any normal rat. It was as large as a wolf, and it had scales that covered its body. Harold barely had time to react before something lunged for his throat.
"WHAT THE FU-"
He dug under his trench coat, which held a strap that contained his favorite weapon, a trusty frying pan. Whipping it out, he slammed it into the monstrosity before him. The blow blocked the impending long, sharp teeth and claws that reached for Harold, sending the creature flying back. "That's not a normal rat, that's an Apex Rat!" An Apex Rat was a common monster, yet he never expected to be facing one for the job.
Before the Apex Rat could get back up, Harold immediately took out a dagger from underneath his coat and smashed it into the skull of the Apex Rat, turning its body limp. "Luckily, it hasn't repopulated here yet. I would've been swarmed by them if it did."
He carried the corpse back and dropped it in front of his neighbor, expecting answers from him. "You said it was a rat, not an Apex Rat! I could've gotten seriously hurt!" he said, raising his voice. But seeing the guilty face of the elderly man, his anger subsided. "S-Sorry, Harold. It was a genuine accident." He couldn't get angry at an old man like him, even after a disastrous mistake like that. "It's fine, just let me have the 20 silver, and I'll be on my way."
The neighbor quickly pulled out his coin pouch and handed him the silver coins. "Sorry again, boy. I'm wishing you get a fancy ol' Artifact using these coins. I've heard from your father that you've been working a lot recently."
Harold chuckled. "With my luck? The most I'd get is a lump of rocks."
"Don't say that, boy, life can give you miracles. You just need to believe."
With an abrupt ring, Harold's communication stone was contacted. Picking up the stone from his pocket, he activated it. "Harold, meet me at the Baymore Resturant, I want to discuss something." The person who called was Val, his beautiful girlfriend with distinct and silky long red hair that no one else had in the city. The day she approached Harold in her purple, lavish dress paired with a smile he could never forget, he felt like the luckiest man alive. "Val is calling, I gotta go!" he cheered with glee, waving off his neighbor.
*
*
*
*
*
"Let's break up."
Harold Etton couldn't believe the words he was hearing. He was getting dumped even after all his efforts. "Wait, Val, why are you breaking up with me?!" he asked. The voices in the cafe were muffled, and he could only focus on his beloved's response. Intently listening, he awaited her answer.
Val sighed, spinning the straw around her cup, not looking at Harold. She spoke with a nonchalant demeanor without the slightest care. "I just feel that you aren't for me, Harold. Yes, our time together was fun, but I think it's time for us to move on." She stood up, stepping away from the table. "Now, I have a date to get to. Goodbye, Harold."
"Val... what do you mean by a date?" Harold asked, seeing Val walk away. Stopping in her tracks to respond, she turned her head back to Harold with a smirk. "Yeah, a date. You heard me, didn't you? I've already found somebody else."
Harold was speechless. He had spent so much time being there for Val, loving her, and giving her his utmost loyalty and dedication. He had truly loved her from the bottom of his heart. So to see her just simply toss him aside like some used cigarette shattered him. Without saying another word, Val left, leaving only Harold at the dinner table.
"What just happened? Did Val just dump me like that? She didn't even give me a proper answer or look like she cared at all! T-This has to be a joke, right?"
Sitting there in silence, a clockwork waitress approached Harold's table with a bill. In a monotonous tone, the waitress says, "Your total is 23 silver coins." Her voice box was of an older generation, so it sounded quite raspy from its low quality.
Harold had realized that Val also left without paying her bill.
"Crap."
Rain poured in the city streets as Harold walked back home. He could call in a buggy to take him back, but that would cost him at least 10 silver coins. "I didn't even bring an umbrella..." It was cold, but the pain of losing Val was greater. He clenched his fist, thinking about her. "Damn it, what did I do wrong?!" In his sorrows, he accidentally bumped into a man rushing through the rain. "O-Oh, sorry," Harold said, taken aback by the sudden collision. Looking at who he collided with, it was a man running away with a coin pouch in his hand. He didn't appear to be the friendly type. In fact, his mean glare at Harold already proved it.
That's when a police whistle is heard blowing from a distance, followed by footsteps approaching their location. "You bastard! Watch where you're going!" The thug shouts before running off. That thug couldn't get far, though, as a chain of mystical green light enveloped him and tightened, constraining his movements. "Damn it!" The thug screamed as he tried to break free from the chains. As the officers approached the scene, one of them had the chain in the palm of his hand. The thug, in his struggle, taunted the officers, seeing them approach him. "You think you officers are so high and mighty for having an Artifact, eh?!"
The officer picked up the thug's coin pouch and pocketed it. "Shut yer' trap!" The other officer says, slamming his baton into the thug. The thug made loud grunts as he was struck, repeating them over and over again under the rain. As Harold watched the scene unfold, he saw the relentless onslaught ensue against the poor thug.
Over the years, the police force has gotten worse ever since a new chief took position. Police brutality has risen, and corruption is now well-known in Argon City. Alongside the corrupt politicians in the city, it only seems to go down from here.
"He's not stopping..." he thought.
"He's going too far!"
That's when Harold defiantly spoke up without a second thought. "Stop it, you've beaten him well enough!" He boldly yelled, stepping up to the officer with the baton. The officer with the baton paused, seeing Harold's defiance. "Civilian, are you attempting to assist a criminal?" he asked, giving Harold a menacing side-eye. "Yeah, from terrible people like you!"
The officer suddenly whacked him with a baton, knocking Harold down. "It appears you need the same treatment then!" he said, grinning. When Harold attempted to crawl away, the cop with the chain redirected their target to Harold.
Harold saw the thug managing to escape with his distraction, giving him a soft feeling of satisfaction. But his issues weren't over yet. Harold struggled to break free from the chains as the other officer exerted more power with each push. Continuing the struggle, the officer gave one last blow that knocked him unconscious.
Later that night, Harold groggily woke up to the voices of people chatting. His vision was still blurry, and he could see two outlines. His hands were in handcuffs, and the concrete floor was freezing. He lay there, struggling to sit up, still gazing at the two figures in his hazy vision. Muffled voices chatted in the air, only getting clearer as he woke up.
"Please forgive my son!" the man said, kneeling in front of the officer.
"Hmm, we might forgive him... you just need to pay a hefty fine." the officer said, grinning.
"W-What fine?!"
"Well... due to your son's interference, he gave a mark to my baton. I'll need around 1 gold to replace it."
"1 gold?! That price is outrageous for a simple baton!"
"Oh, so you're refusing? Mr. Etton." The officer took his foot and stamped it right onto his head, applying pressure by the second.
"Okay, fine, I'll pay it, here!" he said, shuffling through his coin pouch and handing him the 1 gold coin.
"Heh, you're lucky your son is 16. Any older and he'd be biting the dust!" The officer said, putting it in his pocket. He then slid open the jail cell and took off the handcuffs from Harold's wrists. The tight cuffs released a lot of tension, a huge wave of relief gushing over him. As his cuffs were released, Harold's father ran up to him and hugged him. "Thank God you are safe, son!"
Harold sighed, saying, "Thanks, I guess..." Beyond his words, his face couldn't be hidden. It was bright red, feeling his father's hug.
The officer standing behind them grumbled at the affectionate sight. "You two, get out of here!"
After being forcibly taken out of the police station, Harold and his father walked down the dark city streets. The street lamps lit up, and the stone tiles on the floor glowed a neon fluorescent essence, bringing light to their pathway. It was powered by an energy source called Rysen, a particle that was invisible to the naked eye. This energy was everywhere, from every living being to floating about in the air.
The light glimmering in the eyes of sadness on Harold's father made Harold feel deep pity.
Looking back at the scene before, Harold felt ashamed at what he saw. "Father, you didn't need to bow down like that for me."
His father chuckled, seeing Harold's face. "Don't worry about it; I'm used to it." he said with a smile.
His father was named Shannon Etton, a great clockwork robot engineer. Clockworks were mechanical creations that represented humans or creatures. He produced many different clockwork robots that society ran with, such as waitresses, builders, clerks, etc. Even though Shannon made such important architects, there were two types of clockwork robot production jobs. Homemade and company-brand.
Although in some cases, homemade clockworks do function better than company-made clockworks, it requires immense talent to do so. The issue is that Shannon had no talent for making clockwork robots, yet he insisted on producing them.
"Father, you had just given that police officer our month's rent." Harold said, still disappointed in himself. Shannon smiled, saying, "Don't worry, I have three more gold coins in my savings. We'll be fine."
"But father-"
Shannon cut Harold off, saying, "Listen, I still got enough to pay for your school tuition AND to buy you an Artifact stone, great, right?!" The school tuition made Harold hide a tiny smile that slipped through his lips. He always wanted to attend a prestigious school, but his parents could never afford one. "Thanks, Father. I appreciate it dearly, but shouldn't I wait for the perfect moment when I can get a good Artifact?" Harold had held back for a while because he was hoping he'd get his hands on a powerful Artifact. After all, the shape and function depend on the type of Rysen it contains, the amount of Rysen it has, and the user's soul. The more Rysen it has, the stronger the Artifact will be.
"Listen, you're going to a prestigious academy! Almost every person there will have an Artifact! You must get one too, okay?"
He was right. The academy he was about to enter was called Kane Academy, one of the top schools in his city, Argon City. Running on large cogs and contraptions, it was also considered one of the most complex academies in the nation. If people were attending there, they would most definitely have an Artifact.
His father's financial status was poor due to his profession, and his mother had disappeared 7 years ago; he was in no condition to be picky.
In a reluctant tone, he looked down, eventually agreeing. "Okay, fine, I'll go to the Artifact market and get one."
Delighted, his father teared up. "Oh dear, my young boy has turned into a fine gentleman!" Shannon said, having an outburst of tears. "S-Stop it, Father, someone might hear us!"
As they continued walking down the city streets, a figure could be seen watching them from behind a steel steam pipe chimney in one of the buildings. Harold, sensing the staring intent, looked in that direction, only to see nothing. "Strange..." he thought. Focusing even further, he saw a clockwork robot sweeping the roof of a different building, continuously doing the task that it was assigned to. "Maybe the clockwork was looking at me." he said, moving forward without thinking.
Getting back to their home was many clockworks in the making. Some were odd, like one with a chicken head or a birdhouse with arms and legs. The same sight as usual for Harold. Not to mention the one clockwork that always had Harold on the edge. Its eyes were bulging out of its head, and its pupils were functioning to always stare at anyone walking by. "Father, when will you get rid of that thing?!" Harold asked, sick of its presence. "Don't call it a thing! This was the last thing your mother made before she disappeared!" Shannon said, wiping it squeaky clean.
Harold sighed, seeing how it was no use. Before going back to his room, he saw another clockwork—one that stood out from the rest. Its design was just like an average clockwork, but it was in a glass container, full of a bizarre liquid with many tubes interlocked inside of its head. "Father, what type of clockwork are you making now?"
"Oh, that? That's my biggest project yet!"
"And that would be...?"
"I've been researching the possibilities of clockworks and how I could insert a soul inside of it!"
"A soul? Dad, have you gone insane? That's impossible."
"Well, no one has been able to do this before, but if you manage to merge an Artifact within the clockwork robot, it will give it a soul, turning it into a real living being. Trust me on this!"
"Did Dad go senile?" Maybe it was because of their lack of money, or it was because of his wife abandoning them early in their relationship. All that he knows is that these theories make no sense. No one has ever injected an Artifact into an object—better yet, a clockwork robot. If he were to make this work, it would be a miracle.
"Whatever you say." Harold said, going into his room. He removed his coat and boots and planted them into the corner of his room. "I guess I'll have to resort to getting a cheap Artifact. If Kane Academy's emission fees are 1 gold, I'm pretty sure the budget my father has given me is 1 gold as well, knowing that he said he had 3 gold in his savings." Knowing that Artifacts are stuck with you for the rest of your life, Harold accepts his harsh reality. Knowing that this reality might make his ideal career a struggle worsened the pain.
"My father told me my mother was a great monster hunter. She killed monsters for a living and went out on many different expeditions. It's just that one day, she never came back. My father requested multiple search parties, but they were all futile."
She was an irrelevant monster hunter, one that no one cared about. People talked down about her and her profession. And even people close to our family always talked badly about her choice to be one.
Harold punched the wall in anger, shaking the whole house. "You jerks, stop talking about my family like you know them!" He let out heavy breaths, his anger subsiding with each one. "I'm getting too angry again. I need to calm down." He lay on his bed, getting into a comfortable position. "I'll just rest for today..."
He sighed, closing his eyes, slowly falling into a deep slumber.