The descent from the ridge was a blur of violet sparks and grinding metal. As they reached the outskirts of the village, the air grew thick with the smell of scorched earth and oil. The tripod machines—the Threasher, as the "Yesterday" girl called them—didn't just walk; they harvested. Their rotating saw-blades were tearing into the village's ancient stone foundations, searching for the ley lines that fed the Elder Wood.
"They're tapping the roots!" the girl shouted over the mechanical roar. "If they drain the ground, the Heart will starve again before it even fully wakes!"
The protagonist skidded behind a fallen merchant's cart as a red searchlight swept over her. Her pulse-mark throbbed, a warning heat that made her skin itch."We need to hit the central spire. That's where the cables lead."
In the center of the town square, a massive iron tower had been erected, its tip glowing with a sickly, artificial green light. It was acting as a vaccum, sucking the life-force out of the Earth and stopping it in the humming glass canisters.
"I'll distract the searchlights," the Yesterday girl said, her form begining to flicker into the semi-transparent state she had held on the bridge." I can't hit what hasn't happened yet."
" And I'll take the spire," the protagonist replied, her fingers crackling with lilac energy.
As the Yesterday girl sprinted into the open—a blur of afterimages that confused the Threasher's sensors—the protagonist leaped onto the back of a passing machine. She didn't use a blade. She pressed her glowing palm against the cold iron casing and poured the Pulse directly into the gears.
The machines didn't just stop. It bloomed.
Violet vines erupted from the stream vents, wrapping around the iron limbs and crushing them with the strength of a thousand-years-old oak. The Threasher collapsed into a heap of scrap and flowers.
But as she looked up at the central spire, the green light flared. A voice, amplified by brass horns, boomed accross the square.
"The Spark has returned," the voice echoed, cold and calculated. "Bring her to the Great Alchemist. We have a new battery to prime."