{"sf1_id":701487,"sf2_id":"Rm0oJ4ve","title":"Clockwork: City of Gears","author":"ShingetsuMoon","words":654,"posted_at":"2014-05-06T00:40:00.000Z","tags":["City","Fantasy","Machines","Mechs","Poem","Poetry","Science Fiction","Steampunk","gears"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/701487-clockwork-city-of-gears","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/Rm0oJ4ve","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/32/9b/329bc76e-b144-4626-82f5-e3490952736c","description":"#10 of Poems\n\nThis poem is based off of a story idea of the same name that I came up with yesterday. It's a fantasy/science fiction world that stretches the limits of the imagination. I hope that I'll be able to turn it into a full length book one day!","content":"A city made up of gears.  \nSmall ones that could fit  \nin your palm. Large ones  \nthat stand as large as   \ntowering skyscrapers.\n\nThere are no buildings  \nor homes here. At least   \nnot the kind that you would  \nbe thinking of.\n\nGear driven machines   \ntangle and weave together  \nuntil they stretch down so far   \nthat everything turns pitch   \nblack and the earth itself  \nfalls away.\n\nTread carefully among   \nthe moving catwalks for  \nif you fall then some say  \nthat you will fall forever  \nuntil you reach the heart   \nof the earth.\n\nTowers of gears and metal  \nsides reach up into   \nthe heavens not quite able  \nto touch the sky.\n\nClock towers ticking away  \nat the hours lift their heads  \nup above the sprawling  \nmechanics. Forever staring  \ntowards a horizon where  \nthe sun never fully rises  \nbut never seems to set.\n\nSome say they are counting  \ndown but to what? No one  \ncan say. Is it to the birth of a  \nhero? Or to Clockwork's   \nfinal day?\n\nListen closely in the twilight  \nto the birds of gears and wire.  \nFor they tell of a dark day coming  \nand a chilling threat most dire.\n\nBathed in the eternal   \ntwilight haze the gears  \nturn on and on. Unaware of  \nwhat they count down to.  \nOr the fate that looms ahead.\n\nWater to drive the gears.  \nGears to draw up the water.  \nEverything runs in a cycle  \naround the pulsing energy   \nof Clockwork. A beating  \nheart that turns countless  \ngears.\n\nBut beware the mighty  \nDrakenguard. The great  \ndragon mechs who guard  \nthe gears. For they have  \nlong forgotten their purpose  \nfor creation and now forge  \na new one based around   \nlittle knowledge they have left.\n\nProtect the humans.  \nGuard them at all costs.  \nDo not allow them to be   \nexterminated.\n\nLive quietly and obey the   \nstrict rules of your masters  \nif you wish to live to see  \nanother day.\n\nFor the Draken may be   \nharsh masters, but they shall  \nfight with dying breath to  \nfulfill their duty and guard  \nthose few humans who remain.\n\nSlavers, overlords, call them  \nwhat you will, but they are  \nnothing compared to the  \nevils they keep at bay.\n\nWedged in among the gears  \nin constructs of ancient metal  \nis the last settlement of humans  \nthat yet remains.\n\nCarefully watched over by the  \nsentient machines who control  \nevery aspect of their lives from  \nbirth to death.\n\nBut fear not the Drakenguard  \nand do not disobey. For they  \nare the guardian angels who  \nshall keep the darkness away.\n\nGreat evil is coming closer  \ntheir lust for power growing  \nstronger. Do not let them near  \nthe heart of Clockwork or   \nanother city shall come to a stop.\n\nFrozen in time for all eternity.\n\nYou see Clockwork is not a true   \ncity at all at least not the kind you  \nmight imagine.\n\nIt is quite literally a machine.  \nAn endlessly moving mechanical   \nstructure blow up to massive   \nproportions.\n\nEach corner of it pulsing with   \npower and smoothly turning  \non in precisely the right   \nrhythm. Each and every gear  \ninterconnected with all the   \nothers around it.\n\nA sprawling, interconnected  \nmachine that stretches on for  \nmiles both around and below.  \nEach piece set exactly in the  \nright order. Each gear operating  \nsmoothly. From those that fit  \nin your hand to those that   \ntower larger then mountains.\n\nAncient does not even come  \nclose to describing the great  \nmajesty of the City of Gears.\n\nA place that counts time  \nyet is older then time itself.\n\nListen to it hum and shudder  \nturning and clicking around  \nthe tiny lives making their way  \ninside its metal structures.\n\nSearch to the ends of the planet  \nto the farthest corners of your  \nimagination but there is none  \nother like it and never will   \nthere be again.\n\nBecause for all the great cities  \nthat exist like the most priceless  \nand unique artwork...\n\n..there is not a single one in   \nthe world that operates just like  \nClockwork.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Poems","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/700237-twisted.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/706610-disease.json"}}