Crimson Clockwork Pt. 01/03 - Sex Stories

Crimson Clockwork Pt. 01/03

... mattered was getting out of there alive.

As more thuds hit the ceiling and more debris rained down, I rolled onto the floor. Yellow light flared from the other side of the room. A sharp bang and a wave of hot air dispelled most of the mist, revealing several holes in the ceiling and the rear wall of the manor.

Crab-shaped machines skittered through the breaches, moonlight gleaming against their dark blue hulls. Glowing runes adorned their sinister claws and mandibles.

I'd seen similar automatons before, in my father's factories and in those of our competitors'. They were usually designed for use in shipyards or fisheries. Never before had I heard of them being used as combatants.

Answers would have to wait.

As the revelers screamed and ran for the exits, masked priests rushed at the machines, using their censers as improvised flails. A brave but futile effort. Razor-sharp claws lashed out, slicing through robes and severing limbs.

Terror roiled deep within me, for I had never witnessed such violence firsthand. I'd read detailed firsthand accounts of soldiers at the front, heard stories from survivors of bloody riots, but no story could compare to witnessing bloodshed up close.

Fear, however, did not immobilize me completely.

I gripped my choker and tore free the amethysts. Turning them over revealed glowing red runes. A tap on the symbols activated the clockwork devices hidden within the gems. The amethysts shattered, revealing a few small, golden, ...

... beetle-shaped automatons.

I'd spent years tinkering with those little things in the hopes of contributing to the family business, and had tested them in my workshop over and over again.

They'd yet to be tested in the field.

Now seemed an apt opportunity.

Another tap on the runes activated the razorflies, unfurling their gleaming wings and sending them slicing through the air towards the nearest machine. They buzzed about, their sharp wings slicing into the mandibles and claws of the crab-machines. One razorfly flew right into the clockwork underbelly of a machine and detonated, blowing the hostile automaton apart from within.

"Come on!" someone shouted, grabbing my shoulder.

Gripped by fear and confusion, I kicked at his leg, sending my would-be savior pitching the floor. A moment later I was on my feet and sprinting through the fading red mist.

The surge of panicking revelers and cultists hampered my escape. We all piled up at the door, screaming and pushing against one another until the hinges ruptured and the door fell outwards.

Outside, the half-collapsed stables of the abandoned manor burned. Dead priests and automatons were sprawled out before the rusted gate. Three blood-spattered crab-machines skittered over the dead towards us.

I caught sight of one of my own guardian automatons just beyond the gate, swarmed by smaller variants of those same crab-automatons.

Some of the revelers screamed and rushed back inside. Knowing better than to rush ...