Kercy of OakMoor (a Short Story) - Part 2: The Manifestation of Old World - Transforming Evil Spirits Into Steam | Mixed Media Project

The gavel was Judge Bixby's only weapon against the chaos that had erupted in his makeshift court. Almost shattering the sounding block, he struck until only whimpers were noticeable. His voice rose not to quiet the crowd, but to admonish Axel.

"Mr. Hartway, you are out of line and out of order. You stand here today and utter the words you know are forbidden in our land. How dare you speak of Old World! It is the law of OakMoor that you helped pen. We must have order else we will be divided. The devil has indeed possessed you as well as your daughter."

Jonas Krebb sat until his assistant whispered in ear. He rose immediately.

"Judge Bixby, I object to your labeling my client in that manner. You are prejudicing the jury. I demand to call my next witness instantly without delay."

Judge Bixby bristled, but he understood the solicitor perfectly. He'd no choice but to allow the unscheduled witness.

The town hall was suffocating, packed with angry townspeople and the heavy stench of fear and damp wool. Weary, Jonas wiped sweat from his brow as he stood next to Kercy who sat at the wooden defense table, her wrists raw by heavy iron shackles.

At the center of the room, standing before the elevated bench of the town elders, was a small brass-and-iron boiler seized as evidence of dark magic from Kercy's barn.

"The defense calls its final witness," Jonas announced, his voice echoing off the timber beams. Master Machinist Thaddeus Ironwood, of Old World."

A murmur rippled through the crowd as the heavy oak doors groaned open.

Master Ironwood did not look like a man visiting a court; he looked like a man walking into his own forge. He wore a heavy leather apron scarred by stray sparks, and his silver hair was unruly. He didn't look at the judge. Rather, his fierce, dark eyes swept over the crowded benches.

He didn't take the witness stand. Instead, he raised his right hand. "I swear to tell the truth here today against all odds and at great peril to my self and young Kercy over there," pointing toward the defense table.

Next, he marched straight to the center of the room, slapping his hand hard against the brass boiler.

"Look at you all cowering in the dark. Praying to the dirt. Do you think I don't know the names of OakMoor? Your grandfathers sat at my workbenches! Your grandmothers calculated fluid dynamics before they could even weave wool! To put it bluntly, they were masters where you who sit here today are minions and cowards."

Ironwood boomed, his voice cutting through the whispers like a buzzsaw, berating them in a thunderous tone while pointing his finger aggressively at the crowd.

"Two generations ago, your people left Old World with a vision of building a peaceful life in this valley. Why they chose to abandon the clarity of reason and return to the ancient ways of ignorance is utterly beyond me!"

"They mistook peace for stagnation. They forgot the math. They forgot the science. And now look at you...broken and on the brink of starvation, terrified of a pot of boiling water!"

"But that evil magic cauldron screamed, old man!" a voice shouted from the back. "It moved without a hand to touch it!"

Ironwood inhaled deeply, then roared back.

"It moves because of the universe's law, you absolute fools! "and if you burn this girl, your descendants will pay the ultimate price for your ignorance. They will die in the dirt, their spines snapped, their bellies empty, while the rest of the world moves into the light!"

"Instead of six days of human agony, a properly calculated steam engine can turn the massive, heavy top millstones (runners) over the stationary bottom stones (bedstones) indefinitely. A single boiler can grind more grain in an hour than the entire town's children can crush in a week."

"Kercy learned and learned well, then returned home not with black magic, but with the calculations of pressure, heat transfer, and metallurgy required to forge a boiler. She meant to free her brother and the remaining children from crooked spines. But, in your ignorance, you could see only the roaring fire and screaming valves as a demonic ritual summoning invisible spirits."

At that point, Kercy let escape a weak smile as she glanced at her former Master, recalling her initial confusion.

"I don't understand, Master. My brother's back is bent into bows from lifting the millstones. How does a fire and a pot of boiling water fix a broken spine?"

I knew Master Ironwood as no other did in OakMoor. He was a brilliant visionary of Old World, whose workshop smelled of iron and ozone. He taught me that "magic" was just science that we have yet to understand. He taught me the unforgiving laws of thermodynamics, which is the movement of heat, fluid mechanics, and steam power. ¹

Master Ironwood possessed a deep understanding of how hidden forces could be manipulated to do the work of a hundred men. He didn't just teach me how to forge and weld; he taught me the knowledge behind the machines.

He showed me how heat is never truly lost, but transformed, and how the rapid expansion of water into steam builds invisible, tremendous force within enclosed vessels.

He demonstrated how a fire, fed by simple wood or coal, could boil water within a sealed iron boiler. Under intense heat, he explained, water expands into steam at a ratio of over 1,600 - 1,700 to 1, creating a massive, invisible buildup of pressure (psi). ²

He taught me to calculate the precise psi needed to drive heavy iron pistons and turn massive mill gears, translating raw heat into controlled, rhythmic power. ³

He taught me to read pressure gauges, tune safety valves, and use the "invisible spirits" of expanding steam and magnetism to coax heavy metal into movement.

He showed me how to direct that high-pressure steam through narrow valves into a heavy cylinder. The expanding vapor forces a metal piston forward. By connecting this moving piston to a crankshaft, the linear thrust of hot air is converted into continuous, tireless rotational energy. ⁴

I would stare at the miniature iron boiler on Master Ironwood’s workbench. My hands were blistered. My mind was weary from weeks of advanced mathematics.

But I was knowledgeable. And happy. And in the end, he showed me that moving metal wasn't sorcery; it was simply the masterful harnessing of energy, pressure, and invisible vapors.

When my apprenticeship ended, I realized the pot of boiling water could change the course of OakMoor.

But none of my knowledge could help me now if Master Ironwood couldn't convince the townspeople of OakMoor that the machine he helped me build was not an evil contraption that housed spirits sent by the devil to destroy, but simply a tool emitting steam to assist in milling the sorely needed grain.

[to be continued]

^{Source 1: Thermodynamics
Source 2: Steam
Source 3: How to Calculate psi
Source 4: How A Steam Engine Works}

For Part 2 of my mixed media project and story, I wanted a different design to reflect the iron beast that Kercy returned home with. With the help of the master machinist, Kercy learned the mechanics of steam and how it's used in machinery. The design I created in StarryAI, the stable diffusion program, reflects the two at work in the master's forge shop in Old World. I love how the image portrays an intense conversation and attentiveness on the part of Kercy, as the apprentice. Quite unusual for a female during that era.

I utilized the description in my story of how Ironwood looked to create the project's design. Since the theme of the story is a forging shop, I wanted the background to reflect various tools of the trade. Finally, I included one of my pure fractal veils to cover the entire image. I feel as though it gave the scene an old world look of a forge shop.

StarryAI Text Input:
Prompt: "Elderly master machinist with unruly silver hair, a weathered look dressed in heavy leather apron scarred by stray sparks, and his poorly clothed female apprentice building a mini iron boiler in medieval times."

Style: Cyberpunk Nouveau

Also, for the story, I wanted to continue with the trial in which Master Ironwood is called as a witness. I utilized Canva, my design program, to blend the different type images. I began with a blank, white canvas, then added layers of elements.

Below are the images I included in my project.

^{StarryAI - Instructor and apprentice building a mini iron boiler ~ Wood Name Plate ~ Pure Fractal titled "Julian Veil ~ Shipwrecked Fire Low - Contributed to #LIL by @donroberts}