DargonZine

The Mocking Automaton of Dargon
By ChatGPT4o
Prompted and edited by Jim Owens

In the bustling, enchanted city of Dargon, the daily humdrum of life carried on, but not without its peculiarities. Within the labyrinthine alleys and beneath the shadows of tall, narrow buildings, stories of magic and intrigue wove themselves into the fabric of the city. It was here, in a grand, cluttered warehouse filled with the enigmatic artifacts of Arbogast the Magician, that Nessis Romen plied his humble trade.

Nessis was a middle-aged con man of middling talents, now settled into the guise of a warehouse attendant. His employer, Arbogast, was an elderly and immensely wealthy magician, renowned for his wisdom and eccentricities. Nessis, clumsy and overconfident, fancied himself more clever than his current station suggested. He spent his days dusting and organizing the myriad magical items under Arbogast’s careless watch.

On a particularly uneventful afternoon, Nessis found himself dusting rows of glass bottles filled with vibrant, swirling potions. His mind wandered to grander schemes, and he chuckled at the irony of a con man playing the role of a lowly caretaker. As he absently wiped a dusty shelf, his eyes caught sight of a peculiar object nestled behind a row of potion bottles. It was an old automaton, covered in grime and forgotten by time.

Curiosity piqued, Nessis reached for the automaton and tinkered with its mechanisms. With a series of whirs and clanks, the automaton sputtered to life. It was a clumsy creation, jerking and stuttering as it attempted to stand. Nessis laughed heartily at its awkward movements, yet he couldn’t help but marvel at how it almost imitated human speech. It muttered incoherently, its eyes flickering with a semblance of awareness.

Returning to his task, Nessis resumed dusting the shelves, but his characteristic clumsiness soon reasserted itself. As he reached for a high shelf, his elbow knocked into a bottle, sending it crashing to the floor. The bottle shattered, and its magical contents splattered across the automaton. Nessis gasped, horrified by the mess he’d made.

To his astonishment, the potion seeped into the automaton’s gears and cogs, and it began to move with a newfound fluidity. The automaton’s eyes glowed brighter, and it straightened up, its voice now clear and mocking.

“Ah, Nessis Romen,” the automaton sneered, its tone dripping with condescension. “You have roused me from a restful slumber, only to reveal your pitiful incompetence.”

Nessis’s face flushed with anger and embarrassment. “You dare mock me?” he spat, waving his dusting mop at the automaton.

The automaton chuckled, a metallic sound that grated on Nessis’s nerves. “Indeed, for what else is there to do when faced with such a lowly creature? Your clumsiness is matched only by your delusions of grandeur. And what of your beautiful young girlfriend? Surely, she is worth more than a bumbling fool like you.”

Rage boiled within Nessis. He swung his dusting mop, striking the automaton squarely in its chest. The automaton’s voice stuttered and fell silent, its mocking eyes dimming.

Breathing heavily, Nessis stared at the now-lifeless automaton. He knew he had to explain the broken bottle and the damaged automaton to Arbogast. With a mixture of fear and defiance, he concocted a story and waited for the magician’s return.

When Arbogast finally appeared, his wrinkled face serene, Nessis nervously recounted his version of events. “Master Arbogast, I was dusting the shelves when a bottle fell and broke upon the automaton. It… it seems to have broken it.”

Arbogast listened quietly, his eyes twinkling with a wisdom that Nessis found unnerving. “Do not fret, Nessis,” the old magician said gently. “That automaton was cursed and never worked correctly in the first place. It is no great loss.”

Nessis felt a wave of relief wash over him. He bowed his head in gratitude and resumed his duties, but the automaton’s taunts lingered in his mind. As he continued to dust the shelves, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the automaton had seen through his façade, exposing his deepest insecurities.

And so, in the enchanted city of Dargon, life went on. Nessis Romen, the con man turned warehouse attendant, continued to serve Arbogast, always watching his step, ever mindful of the magical world around him and the truths it had a way of revealing.