This post contains part 1 to 4 of a 6 part story.
Part 1 of 6 - The whisper heard for miles
Master Fall hunched over his Whisper Chest. The chest contained a blueish sand with the consistency of fine sugar. Anything written in the sand would be replicated in the Whisper Chests of his students. He let out a sigh and, with a careful hand, wrote the last line of today's class. "That concludes our final lesson on pure Flux. Tomorrow, we will begin discussing the Mechablade."
A small gasp came from the single pupil sitting in front of the aged teacher. "You really mean it?" he asked excitedly. "We're finally going to learn about Mechablades?"
Fall looked up from his Whisper Chest to stare at Vapor. He was quite fond of the child. Raising him had reminded him of happier times. He recalled when his students didn't need to be distributed for their own safety. Times when his people were servants of peace and progress, and didn't waste their time learning the arts of war. The art of the Mechablade.
Times when the House of the Builder was whole.
Unexpectedly, the Whisper Chest began to emit a scratching sound. A student who lived nearby was writing to him. Fall read the message, and the blood drained from his face. In a messy hand, it read: "The Quiet Dread comes."
Part 2 of 6 - The Quiet Dread
Vapor immediately noticed the change in his teacher's demeanour. His normally unbreakable poise was abandoned. His face was white and his hands shook as he began writing again.
"Master Fall. Today's lesson is over. What's going on?" asked Vapor.
Fall ignored him and continued to write frantically. As the minutes passed, Vapor noticed a small tear fall from the Mechamancer's eye. It hit the Whisper Chest and the old man was snapped out of his trance. He leapt to his feet with shocking agility and bustled out from behind his desk. He grabbed Vapor's arm and his chair creaked as he was dragged to his feet.
"Master Fall, what are you doing?" Vapor squeaked.
There was a deranged look in the old man's eyes as he began rushing around the room, collecting gadgets and books, all the while dragging the boy behind him. Suddenly he stopped and crouched down to Vapor's eye level.
"The Stillblade of the Siteless God, she comes," Fall whispered. "We don't have time to run."
Vapor gasped, but something about it was strange. He felt his lungs fill with air, but he couldn't hear his own breath. In fact, he couldn't hear anything at all. He was in an impossible silence. He saw his Master's mouth moving quickly, but no words came out.
He held his hand up to his ears and clicked his fingers. He heard nothing.
From that silence emerged an enormous gold blade of pure light. It slowly but deliberately seared its way through the old teacher's cottage. Slicing it in half.
Part 3 of 6 - The End of Symmetry
Mith had many titles. To her allies, she was The Verdant Unbuilder, the Stillblade of Afterwhen, and eventually, The Silence. Her enemies had different titles for her. She was The Monster in the Still Breeze, The Hand of the Siteless God or The Quiet Dread.
There was a single title for Mith that both her allies and enemies could agree on. The End of Symmetry. For Mith was the only individual known to bring about the end of an age. She ended the Age of Symmetry.
However, that was well over a hundred years ago now. Mith hadn't picked up a new title in fifty years. Most of her enemies were long gone but an agreement she made centuries ago with the House of the Endless meant she could never die. At least not of natural causes.
So now she spent her time destroying Mechamancers wherever they appeared. She did this because she had to. The Mechamancers were evil. She knew something about them that no one else did. If they were ever allowed to reform their House, they would destroy the world. Still, having done this for many lifetimes, she had grown bored. Fighting Mechamancers had gotten decidedly less interesting when they lost the art of building Sendings.
She let out a slow, bored breath, standing in front of the unassuming cottage of the Last Master Mechamancer - divided in two by her blade.
Part 4 of 6 - A Masters Resolve
Master Fall stared at the smouldering emptiness that divided his home. He was stunned by fear. She was here. Her titles failed to convey the fear her presence inspired in him. She had taken so many of his fellow Mechamancers, his friends.
Thinking of his comrades, all at once, Fall was filled with an intense resolve. The Monster in the Still Breeze would take no one else from him. He spun around and saw the small boy, Vapor. He had his hands in his Whisper Chest. No doubt the boy was warning the others.
Feeling his voice originating from deep within his sternum, he growled, "She will not have him."
The silence was dispelled as Fall's voice exploded out around him in a transparent orb of deep red light. He turned his back to the boy as he faced the Quiet Dread. He held out his arm and a Mechablade of glittering copper formed in his right hand.
With his left hand, he gestured outwards and a wave of pure Flux exploded from his palm. It blew the wall of his cottage straight out towards his foe. The Last Master Mechamancer sprinted behind the debris of his home as it soared closer and closer to the enemy.
Mith smiled as she saw the Master's attack. "There was some fight in the old teacher after all", she thought. The debris vanished with a wave of her hand, only to reveal the Master storming towards her'.
She raised her Stillblade and met his Mechablade. There was an explosion of sound, and their melee began.
