Broken Earth: Unveiling the Secrets of the Worlds

Hired

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

              Xerxes stares at Britt after entering the workshop with the craftsman so busy that he did not hear the both of them yelling n front of his house. “Britt, I know that you already know what I want to ask but is he really the craftsman?” Britt nod his head with a convincing disappointed face. ‘Yeah- sure he is but is he that engrossed that he doesn’t see nor hear everything except for the thing that he makes? If that’s the case then he will be a perfect man for the job. But if he is this engrossed then we might get into some complications later.’ Xerxes thinks to himself as he watches what the craftsman creates intensely.

              A second later and they both meet eyes but the craftsman then turns to his work like he saw nothing and only reacted a few moments later. “What?! Who are you people- oh! Britt! What are you doing here? Why didn’t you knock?” he ask after his chair stumbled due to shock. “Eh? We did knocked and we even yelled as loud as we can but you didn’t hear us. We entered your house because we are making such a scene outside that people are looking at us with suspicious faces, we felt ashamed and entered.” Britt explains as the craftsman continues to work.

              Xerxes can guess that he did not hear Britt’s excuse and might have even forget that they are inside his workshop. “I bet he did not hear what you said Britt.” Britt lets out a sigh. “That must be the case boss. He often does that so people calls him crazy or something.” Britt and Xerxes continue to stare at the craftsman until he finishes making a tool that would easily grind the crops. “Hmm- that’s an interesting tool but there are flaws.” Xerxes says after inspecting what the craftsman created.

              Britt get surprised about his boss’ remark and wants to stop him, expecting that the craftsman would be angry but the opposite happened. The craftsman is delighted to hear those words and even ask Xerxes about the flaws. ‘What in the?’ Britt thinks to himself and ask the craftsman if it’s okay. “Mr. is that really okay? Some people criticized you in the past and you got mad at them for some reason so why the different reaction this time?” Britt asked out of concern but the craftsman stares at him blankly and gave the young man an explanation.

              “You see young lad, the people in the past that criticized my work out of spite and blatantly told me that my creations are outright useless. But this guy, here. Points out that there are some flaws in my creation. That is the kind of people that you should listen to, they will help you reach new heights and later on would create a better path for you.” The craftsman said as he then turns to Xerxes who explains what is the flaw of his creation.

              The two take some time and talk to each other about the things that he should do to make it a better mill. “I recommend you to use gears that looked something like these. That would ease up the workload and the energy that people have to spend.” The craftsman stares at the very thing that Xerxes draw and fixed his eyes for quite some time. Then Britt snaps him back to reality. “Hello, Mr. we are here for some different matters other than that so why don’t we get to that first.” Britt says tot the craftsman but he doesn’t seem to be listening and continues to stare at the gears.

              ‘I did not want to do this but if he really is a fanatic then I guess there is no other way.’ Xerxes thinks to himself as he takes out the blueprint and puts it in front of the craftsman face to cover the gears. His eyes widen after seeing the complicated blueprint that even after Xerxes rolls it up, the craftsman insist on looking at the blueprint again.

              “Please! Let me see those things! Those wonderful things!” he begs Xerxes. “I can do that. I am an easy person to talk with after all but first let’s talk.” Xerxes smiles maliciously knowing that he already have tied the craftsman tied on the neck. He then hurriedly cleans the chairs and offered some drinks for his guests. “Now that is it that you want to talk about? I’m all ears.” He declares enthusiastically that even gave Britt some chills.

              “Britt here told me that you are a great craftsman and the only problem is that- I think I have already seen but that is not a big problem to me. I think that is your dedication for your work. We came all the way here to hire you. You saw those blueprints earlier right? I want to know if you are able to do create those things. Even if you don’t you might be able to create it in the future.” Xerxes said and the craftsman immediately said yes without hearing the rest of the details.

              “I’m in. let’s go immediately.” Britt got surprised and even Xerxes is taken aback by his sudden decision. ‘Whoa- that did not even take a few seconds. I got some ace in my sleeves that would make him come if he is stubborn but to think that it would be this easy.’ Xerxes thinks to himself while the craftsman glance at the both of them, trying to make anything out of their reactions.  

              “I will provide you with proper tools and a workshop so you don’t need to worry about anything else. And as promised, I will show you the blueprint again.” Xerxes says as he takes out the blueprint and the craftsman acts like a child that is excited to receive a candy from a stranger.

              FWOOOP!

              The craftsman feast his eyes on the blueprint while Xerxes and Britt marvels at how he stares at the blueprint with an enthusiastic expression. “So? How is the blueprint?” Xerxes asked the craftsman who seems to be engrossed in the blueprint but to their surprise he responds to his question. “I have never seen something like this. What does this thing do?” he asks and Xerxes answers him. “That things shoots out a metal, you see that small oval things beside it? Those are the projectiles that it shoots out. The projectiles must be easy for you to make, the other craftsmen also said that those are the only things that are easy to make but they declined my offer.” Xerxes said as the craftsman stares intensely at the bullets.

              Then all of the sudden he lets out a hysterical laugh that made the other two jolt in surprise. “KEKEKEKEKE! What a joke! A real craftsman doesn’t back down from a challenge and yet they dare call themselves craftsmen? What an utter joke! It indeed is hard to craft but I won’t know unless I try. Craftsmen live to make things, the moment we chose this way of living, there is no going back!” the craftsman says as he lets out another hysterical laugh. “KEKEKEKEKE!”

              ‘Looks like he is really different from the others that I have met so far.’ Xerxes smirks after realizing that he found a rare gem. “You know what Mr. craftsman? That is not the only blueprint that I have. I have other blueprints in store at our shop. So why don’t we leave sooner so that you can also see those.” Xerxes nails the final bait as he can see the enthusiasm and thirst in the craftsman’s eyes who immediately stands up.

              “Let’s not waste any more time idling here and let’s get going.” He says and gathers his things. “I think that it’s too late to introduce myself but I am still going to do anyway. I am Ferdrick Faral, and I am your craftsman.” The craftsman says as he offers his hand with his eyes filled with flames and burns with passion.  

              “Glad to have you onboard Mr. Faral. You are free to call me Xerxes or whatever you want. I think you are going to be delighted to have joined our shop.” Xerxes says with a huge smile on his face.

              Meanwhile back in the shop, something happened that alerted Rupert and the others. “What happened?” Cynthia asks the others as they stand in front of the storage room. “This is bad. I think somebody is inside the shop.” Rupert says as it alerts the others who almost immediately grab their desired weapons, realizing that the situation might claim their lives if they put their guard down. “let’s search the house, be in pairs. Don’t let anyone wonder alone. Losing someone is the last thing we want to happen.” The employees then group themselves and went to search the entire compound.

              THUD!

              Everyone is alerted by the certain loud thud that came form the second floor, in one of the girl’s rooms. They all then went to check it and opened every room to be certain. In the last room, they heard something rustling. Ramirez volunteers and slowly opens the door and what they saw shocked them.