As Lassim followed Rlyis and Eno down the narrow staircase into the basement of the workshop, the room at the bottom came into view. It opened wide, into a dimly lit, and vastly different room from the orderly, by comparison, workspace above.
Piles of parts lay stacked in corners; half-finished constructs stood silent, their metal frames catching and reflecting the dim light from wall-mounted runes.
On a broad platform at the center of the room, a large construct unlike any Lassim had ever seen loomed, intricate in both design and aura. It stood taller than any standard model, with plates of shimmering metal fitted over a streamlined skeleton, the runes and channels faintly illuminated with enchantments and radiating a spiritual pressure even though the construct was not yet active.