The storm raged over the Russian landscape, the sky a swirling mass of dark clouds and electricity. Wind howled through the valleys, rattling the underground lab where Emery worked, his fingers stained with chalk and ink. The lanterns flickered, casting jagged shadows against the stone walls.
His mind, however, was clear.
By the end of winter, he will change the world.
Emery adjusted the final connection on his device, a crude energy storage unit built from a mixture of glass, metal plates, and conductive wiring. His assistant, Callum, watched with skeptical eyes, arms crossed.
"You're telling me this jar is going to hold lightning?" Callum asked.
Emery didn't look up. "Not lightning—controlled energy. We've seen it before in nature. Now, we tame it."
With a steady hand, he connected two terminals. Sparks crackled as the device absorbed static charge from a manually operated mechanism. The first attempt failed—too much energy at once, causing the wires to snap.
"Damn it—adjust the resistance" Emery muttered, already recalculating.
The second attempt was more controlled. As Callum turned the crank, the device held the charge this time. A faint glow appeared between two connected wires—a steady arc of energy. The room filled with the sharp smell of ozone.
Emery stepped back, eyes gleaming. "It works."
Callum swallowed. "So... we can store power now?"
"Not just store it" Emery said, gripping the edge of the table. "We can use it."
"Then we have to test its limits" came a confident voice from the back.
Emery turned to see Lianfei, arms crossed, her sharp eyes scanning the experiment.
Lianfei learned how to speak English thanks to Emery and Callum. She struggled alot at first but since her raw IQ was almost the same as Callum, she adapted fast and in weeks just like Callum who knew mandarin, she now can speak English well.
"If we can use it, we need to know how much and for how long. Power without control is just chaos."
Callum snorted. "She's got a point. No use in making sparks if they burn out instantly."
Emery smirked. "Then let's find out. Lianfei, get the others. We're going to push this as far as it'll go."
The chalkboard was filled with calculations, rough diagrams, and theoretical applications. The storm still raged outside, but inside, a different kind of storm brewed—one of discovery.
"If we can store electricity," Emery mused, "then we can transport it. If we can transport it, we can use it for more than simple sparks."
On the board, he outlined his next steps:
Energy Storage – Perfecting the electric capacitor (a version of the Leyden jar).
Sustained Power – Creating a stable energy source (a version of the first battery).
Light and Heat – Applying energy for illumination (arc lamp experiments).
Magnetism and Motion – Discovering electromagnetic forces (key to motors and dynamos).
Energy Conversion – Turning stored power into usable force (electric generators).
"You're insane!" Callum said, watching the rapid expansion of plans.
"No, I'm right" Emery countered, chalk dust coating his fingers.
"And if I'm right, this—" he gestured to the messy board "—is the start of a new era."
Lianfei, arms still crossed, narrowed her eyes at the board. "That's great and all, but how do we even build this generator? We don't have limitless materials, and we're not exactly sitting on a factory."
Emery smirked, pointing at the first set of calculations.
"We don't need a factory. We need precision. Here's how it works."
He tapped the section labelled Energy Conversion.
"First, we take a coil of copper wire—the thinner, the better—and wind it around a rotating iron core. That core sits between two opposing magnets. When we spin the core, it disturbs the magnetic field, creating an electric current in the wires. That's the principle of electromagnetic induction."
Lianfei followed along, nodding slowly. "So we're stealing power from magnetism?"
"Not stealing" Emery corrected.
"Converting. It's the same principle that lightning follows—nature is full of energy, and we're just redirecting it into a controlled system."
Callum leaned in, frowning. "And how do we spin the core? If we have to do it manually, that's not exactly efficient."
Emery grinned, flipping to another section of the board. "That's where mechanical motion comes in. A hand crank, a wind turbine, even a steam engine like Layla's one—anything that can apply rotational force can power the generator. But for now, we start with a simple crank. Once we prove the concept, we scale it up and we so happen to be sitting on a big engine thanks to Queen Layla before."
Lianfei huffed. "So, if we get this working, we're making the first ever electric generator?"
Emery crossed his arms, confidence radiating from him. "No. We're making the first power grid. One that won't need fire, coal, or manpower—just science."
Over the next weeks, Emery built, failed, refined, and improved.
The development of the energy capacitor became a collaborative effort between Emery and Callum, with Lianfei contributing key insights. The first iterations were crude—glass jars lined with metal sheets, connected by thin copper wiring. Their initial tests resulted in inconsistent storage; sometimes the charge dissipated too quickly, other times it surged and shattered the containers.
"We need better insulation" Lianfei pointed out, rubbing her forehead
"If the energy escapes too fast, we'll never maintain a steady current."
Emery nodded. "Right. We refine the layering—glass as the insulator, metal for conduction, and we control the discharge rate through adjustable resistance."
Callum adjusted the wiring, connecting a refined capacitor to a manually operated charge mechanism. He turned the crank, slowly building voltage. Sparks danced between terminals, but this time, the charge held.
Emery grinned. "This is it. We can store power for longer periods. Now we move to controlled output."
Callum chuckled. "First, let's make sure we don't electrocute ourselves."
Emery wiped sweat from his brow, eyes gleaming. "One step at a time."
Using chemical reactions, he developed a crude power cell, stabilizing voltage for the first time. This time, however, he wasn't working alone. Chen and Feng, two of his more enthusiastic but initially clueless students, had been working alongside him.
"I swear, if you two mix the wrong chemicals again, I'm sending you back to counting grain sacks" Emery muttered, watching them measure out the solution.
Chen scowled. "Hey! We're learning!"
Feng nodded in agreement, though he was squinting a little too hard at the measurement lines on the beaker. "Yeah, and we only almost set the lab on fire once this week. That's progress."
Lianfei, standing nearby, sighed. "Slightly less dumb is still dumb."
"But we're learning!" Chen insisted.
Emery pinched the bridge of his nose but smirked despite himself. "Alright, then, prove it. Explain what we just did."
Feng perked up, straightening his posture. "We combined the right metals and solutions to create a controlled reaction that releases electrons, which—"
Chen finished for him, "—flow through the circuit to create a steady current."
Emery clapped his hands. "See? That's what I like to hear. Maybe you two won't blow yourselves up after all."
Callum smirked. "That's debatable."
The two grumbled, but their growing understanding of electricity was undeniable. A month ago, they had been simple students who only knew martial arts—now they were helping make history.
He experimented with coiled wiring and magnetic fields, discovering the relationship between electricity and motion.
And then came the breakthrough.
"Magnetism and electricity… they fuel each other" Emery whispered to himself as he adjusted a small coil near a rotating magnet. The moment it spun, energy surged—self-sustained.
He had just invented electromagnetic induction.
Callum, staring, asked, "Did you just… make power from motion?"
"WE made power from power" Emery corrected, breathless.
"This is the foundation of something greater."
For a moment, the lab was silent, save for the soft hum of electricity in the air. Then—
"Holy shit!" Callum muttered, pulling back his hair in disbelief
"We actually did it."
Chen and Feng, eyes wide, looked between each other before grinning. "Wait—so this means we actually made something that works? Like, properly?"
Lianfei crossed her arms, exhaling sharply. "Unbelievable. A few weeks ago, you two barely knew the difference between metal and stone, and now you're part of a breakthrough."
Feng puffed his chest. "Yeah, well, we had a great teacher."
Chen elbowed him. "And by 'great teacher' you mean Mr Emery screaming at us every time we almost blew something up."
Emery, still catching his breath, smirked. "You're damn right I did. And look where it got us."
By the end of the week, the lab had transformed into a chaotic workshop of wires, coils, and experimental devices. The air was thick with the scent of burning metal and ozone, the remnants of countless failed attempts and minor successes. Zafira (Ezra) and Seraphine arrived, watching in cautious awe as Emery made his final move, their expressions unreadable.
Callum wiped the sweat from his forehead, eyes darting between the chalkboard filled with frantic calculations and the mess of cables surrounding them.
"This is it" he murmured. "Months of work, failure after failure, and now… this."
Lianfei, arms crossed, exhaled sharply. "We built something no one else has. No one in history has ever come close to this."
Chen and Feng exchanged nervous glances. "Are we actually about to make history?" Chen whispered.
Feng swallowed. "Either that, or we blow up the lab."
Emery let out a breath, his fingers trembling slightly as he reached for the final connection. He looked at his team—Callum, who had been at his side through every failure, every breakthrough; Lianfei, who had grown from an observer into a full-fledged scientist; Chen and Feng, once clueless apprentices, now standing at the edge of something revolutionary.
At the center of the lab sat Layla's engine—the one Emery had perfected, a mechanical masterpiece waiting for true power. He had spent weeks refining the pressure ratios, ensuring that when connected to the dynamo, it wouldn't just function—it would thrive.
Emery's voice was steady, but his heart pounded. "Final checks. Callum, voltage?"
Callum scanned the readings. "Stable. No surges. We're within safe limits."
"Lianfei, connection points?"
"Secured. Conductors are wrapped and insulated. If it fails, it won't be because of the wiring."
"Chen, Feng?"
The two stood by, tools at the ready. "Ready when you are, boss" Feng said.
Emery nodded. His fingers hovered over the switch. "This is it. The first electric-powered engine. If it works, the world changes tonight."
Zafira crossed her arms. "Are you sure about this?"
Emery grinned. "Never."
With a flick of the switch, the dynamo engaged. The copper coils spun, the iron core rotated, and for a breathless second, nothing happened.