The door slowly swung inward with light pressure from Ethan’s finger tips, his eyes sweeping slowly about the room being revealed before him. Stepping through the entrance he just as carefully closed the door behind him. The door had been unlocked so he figured they were open, but he still felt a little uncertain. The fact that he had been so careful opening the door that the bell at its top didn’t jingle also added to the unnerving atmosphere.

“Hello?” Though he called out he didn’t realize it was at such a low volume. It was no surprise that a response wasn’t given.

Figuring everyone was simply in the back he moved into the shop and began to look around. Various weapons were on display first and while he didn’t have much interest in such things he still looked over them in appreciation. Even if he preferred shields, and he didn’t know all that much about smithing, he could only assume the collection of swords, maces, axes, pole-arms, and more were crafted with care. Their smooth surfaces reflected the light coming in from the windows in such a way that it was clear they were well oiled.

While making his way down the line he came to a stop near the end upon seeing a rather simple looking sword. The simplicity was in its design, in that it was composed of a blade, standard hand guard, a wooden grip, and then finally a flat disc like pommel. However, while the design was basic, it was the metal that caught his attention. Dark swirls and other patterns could be seen within the lighter metal creating a contrasted display on the sword’s surface. He didn’t think it was paint or dye, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what he was looking at. After looking over the blade for a few more minutes he finally gave up and moved on to the armor section.

The size of the armaments grew the further down the line he went. It started out with individual pieces; shoulder pads and gauntlets, but then began to transition into breastplates, chain-mail shirts, plate-mail leg armor, helmets, and then full suits. Stopping at one particularly impressive suit of armor Ethan stared up in awe at the dragon inspired design looming before him. The wing like flares on the helmet, shoulders, and hips were finely detailed but also seemed sturdy. The scale like pattern of overlaying plates also screamed powerful protection. The metal itself wasn’t patterned like sword he saw previously, but it seemed darker than the others. Upon trying to imagine himself in the armor he thought he would look pretty cool, well for about a second, before he coughed a bit out of embarrassment when his imaginary self struck a proud pose in the armor.

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Moving on his lips separated into a wide smile, well more like a childish grin, as he came to the wall of shields, his true destination. Needless to say the boy loved him some shields. Their shape, size, design, or quality all meant nothing to Ethan, so long as it was a shield he was happy. Well, the quality was considered when it had to be used, but to say he was a shield freak would be a severe understatement. Similar to the armor the shields went from small to large down the line from where he stood, and right now he was looking at a round buckler made of shaped wood with a metal plate and dome in the center. This boy was even studying the wood grain on the planks!

The sad part was, despite his love for, and infatuation with, shields, he didn’t really have any clue as to how to determine their quality. He just loved the way they looked and what they presented; to be wielded with the intent to protect. To protect oneself or another, the purpose and calling was the same for a shield, and for the one carrying it into battle.

Moving down the wall he suddenly came to a stop in front of a particular shield, his head tilting in confusion for a few seconds as he tried to figure it out. It looked like it was two shields placed next to one another but was firm as if it was one piece. It was about half his height and consisted of what looked like two diamonds that had their top points and both sides cut off. Only the tips were cut from the top but on the sides more of the material had been cut away. The flat sides of the two inner halves were firmly pressed up against one other creating what could be seen as a weirdly shaped “W” outline.

Even if the shape hadn’t caught his attention, which it certainly had, the material would have. Similar to the sword from earlier this one had a pattern inside of the surface, though the two colors were a blue and gold instead of black and gray. The blue was a bit on the dark side but was still clearly a blue, and the gold almost looked dirty but clearly wasn’t. It was an eye catching contrast and he could have sworn he felt some kind of power emitting from it. A combination of its design, metal, and that weird sensation overwhelmed his reasoning and he slowly began to lift a hand toward it, his fingers stretching out to bring their tips closer to the surface.

He knew he shouldn’t touch the shield, that it was rude to handle things that didn’t belong to you. He heard a voice in the back of his head telling him to stop being a naughty boy but he just couldn’t help himself. He was mesmerized by the shield, wrapped solidly around the idea it was calling to him. He could see it, himself standing in front of a wave of afflicted creatures, his body beaten and bloody, his clothing and armor torn and covered with gashes. Everything was in chaos, clinging to existence, wallowing in death and destruction, everything except the shield. The shield, held firmly by the young man shown like a beacon, its surface shining painfully at the hordes of deadly monsters.

However, just before he finally touched the shield in reality…

“Hey, boy, what do you think you’re doing there?!”