Serena stepped closer to the miles-long hole that cut cleanly through the mountain. The inside of the tunnel was dark as light from the other side of the tunnel could barely penetrate through the twenty feet-wide circular tunnel. But from time to time one could see a tiny flecks of light, far in the distance.
"This hole connects to the other side of the mountain," Grandpa Luus explained without being asked.
"What's on the other side of this mountain?"
"The central valley, where all our first cities are. Before this hole appeared, contact with the central cities could only be made through the gorge several miles from here. This mountain used to isolate us from the Unifiers - that was what they called themselves after succeeding in their revolution. They call themselves the Royalists now."
"So it's a shortcut?" Serena asked as she took a step closer to the hole.
"No, we don't use it. They use it regularly, but we don't."
"Why not? Wouldn't it be convenient?"
"It is a symbol of our defeat, a monument to our failed resistance. Many among us wish to forget that battle ever happened. Some others refuse to use it because they fear they will lose their hatred the moment they started thinking "it's useful". So we chose to ignore it."
"I see," Serena said while touching the smooth wall of the tunnel.
"Careful, Serena. Some monsters made their lair inside the tunnel from time to time."
Serena pulled her hands in haste.
"Now that you know about our situation, I'm sure you understand why we can't oppose them," Grandpa Luus sighed before he continued, "We are a broken people, Serena."
Grandpa Luus started climbing down the mountain, leaving Serena to ponder his words. They climbed down the mountain in silence until they reached Clear Water. Before they entered the house, Serena stopped him at the door.
"When you said we are a broken people, did you mean the Kafri Revolution?"
"No..." Grandpa Luus continued walking and opened the front door while saying 'we're home' to Iina who replied with a welcome home while she prepared the ingredients for dinner. He then sat at the table before taking off his shoes and massaging his tired feet.
Serena, unable to remain patient, asked, "Then what do you mean?"
Grandpa Luus looked at Serena's face while still massaging his feet. Then he said, "We were broken long ago, Serena. Long before we reached the Valley of Snakes. Before we reached this place, we were wretched people. We begged, we stole, we killed and we sold ourselves for a loaf of bread. Only when we arrived here did we manage to farm, mine and craft magical items that sustained our lives. You as a lost hammer should know more than I do since you've spent all your early years out there, in a world where mycras are treated as no better than stray dogs."
Serena could only nod. After all, she wasn't really a mycra, let alone a 'lost hammer'. 'Lost hammer' is a term for mycras who never set foot in the Valley of Snakes, the old name for this place. It is now known as the Crimson Valley, a name taken from the colour of mycran eyes. Just over a week ago, she was just another sixteen year old highschool girl. She had accepted that she looked like a mycra and because she didn't know anything about how the mycran society work, she pretended to be a lost hammer.
"I know many lost hammers who managed to find this place, long after those who were supposed to guide them died for various reasons. A family who arrived just a month before you lamented how they had to sell their two daughters to a porkin brothel. But they had no choice, without Aelrea's blessings we are weaker than a sick rattanor. They also couldn't find work as a crafter, because without the blessed golden hammer, even a mycra is no better than an average crafter."
"But I thought all mycras receive blessed hammers?" Serena said.
"Do you have a blessed hammer?" Grandpa Luus asked in exchange.
"No... but I thought-"
"You think you will receive a blessed hammer at a certain age?"
"Yes," Serena said, playing along with Grandpa Luus's misunderstanding.
"An old wives tale. Too many mycran parents lied to their children, telling them they would receive their blessed hammer when they're old enough. In truth, most mycras would never get to hold their own blessed hammer to the end of their lives."
"Why not?"
"Ever since Aelrea was slain 300 years ago, not even a single newborn mycra received a blessed hammer at birth. Only those who were born before Aelrea was slain had their blessed hammers when we started our exodus south."
"Wait, did you just say Alrea was slain 300 years ago?"
Grandpa Luus nodded.
"Killed by Ukhlar?"
"I don't know the name of the god that slew Aelrea. Ancient records don't keep well when you're running for your lives while being chased by blood maidens and dreamreavers. We don't even know how our goddess look like with the statues left behind in favour of food and the portraits destroyed by the Unifiers."
Chased by both Ukhlar's and Falgur's kins, huh? I'm sorry, I didn't know what you guys went through, Serena thought as she said, "Did I - did Aelrea die at Monolith Square?"
Monolith Square, from Serena's memory, was the center of the old mycran capital of Hammerdale at the foot of the Aelrean Mountains. It was the final battlefield where Serena as Aelrea, alongside her hero units Pegasus Knight Heriane, Guardian of the Forge Meristes, Mechanical Knight Alou, Spearmaster Gardi and Forgemaster Eri made their final stand against waves after waves of Ukhlar's cash items. He even made them so busy fighting that the only way she could summon her own cash items were by sacrificing her hero units to buy time. In the end, she couldn't even summon her cash items on time and she was assassinated by Ukhlar himself.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
As for Hammerdale as a whole, it was built in a region of permanent winter. Serena chose the site for being close to the previously unnamed mountain range that was rich in all kinds of minerals. But the coldness never bothered the mycras, for they were the people of the forge. The whole city was warmed by the fires of all the forges in the city, so much so that even snowstorms shied away from the city. In comparison, the Valley of Snakes was hot all year around, for it was at the center of the equator. Serena could only imagine the suffering they had to suffer, having to traverse the treacherous path to safety.
"Yes, our goddess was slain at Monolith Square," Grandpa Luus confirmed, "The only thing passed down throughout the generation without any deviation in storytelling was how the enemy god impaled Aelrea's body on the Iron Monolith at the end of the battle and how her burning blood continued to flow down the monolith for days, melting the monolith slowly and covering the ground in flowing magma."
Burning blood? Flowing magma? I'm pretty sure I have normal blood. I don't remember choosing the perk 'burning blood' or something cool like that. But according to this story, I or this world's Aelrea have been dead for the past 300 years. Wait, something doesn't click.
"How old are you?" Serena asked as the average age of the mycras were only specified as 120 years in AGO.
"I'm 104 years old. It is almost time for me to hand over the blessed hammer to Iina," Grandpa Luus said as his eyes drooped, looking tired as he looked at Iina who was chopping some kind of bird with a small cleaver for dinner.
Iina stopped what she was doing to object. "No grandpa. Please, I don't need the hammer. You still have many more years. You're still strong, grandpa. There is no need to hand the hammer to me so soon."
"What do you mean hand over the blessed hammer? Didn't you just say nobody born after Aelrea's death received the blessed hammer at birth? You can't give your blessed hammer to others, right?" Serena asked.
"While that's true," Grandpa Luus said while materializing a glowing golden hammer with handle as long as his arm and head much large than his fist, "There is a method to grant the new generation their own hammer."
"How?"
"You know that blessed hammers can't be inherited or handed away, right?"
Serena nodded. Of course she knew that. She explicitly stated in AGO's blessed hammer equipment setting that a blessed hammer would be soul bound to the person it was granted to. It could not be gifted away, sold away or be inherited. When a mycra dies, their blessed hammer disappears with their last breath. So how would Grandpa Luus hand over his hammer to Iina?
"There is a method. It is not exactly a transfer of ownership. It is basically crafting a blessed hammer using another blessed hammer."
Serena pondered about Grandpa Luus's words and tried to make sense of it based on her knowledge of the game mechanics. Blessed hammers are special items granted to mycras upon birth. They are S-class items thus giving them the ability to deal 75% damage to gods despite having low damage. Another characteristic of the blessed hammer is its ability to craft another S-class equipments at the cost of the user's life.
Wait, this means...
"You transfer blessed hammers by sacrificing yourself?!"
"It's the only way. Otherwise, my blessed hammer will disappear when I die. This hammer," Grandpa Luus looked at the glowing golden hammer in his hand, "I received it from my mother, who crafted it with the last strength of her life. Even at her death bed, she practiced, trained so that she could have the required skills to create an S-class equipment. She in turn received her hammer from her father. I do not know who my grandfather received his blessed hammer from. He couldn't have received it at birth since he was most definitely the generation born after Aelrea was slain."
"But that... there must be a better way!"
"There is none. We lost thousands of blessed hammers before we found out that you can make a blessed hammer using another blessed hammer. It's usually passed down from parent to child at the end of the parent's life. It is considered an honour for the parents and for the child. These days, the amount of mycras with their own blessed hammer is less than a hundred people."
"Grandpa, please wait for a few more years. There are still a lot of things I need to learn from you," Iina pleaded, holding on to his arm as drops of tears flowed down her face.
"Yes, there is still much you need to learn. I guess I won't die so soon after all," Grandpa Luus chuckled.
Serena could only watch the exchange. As Aelrea, she would most likely be able to change this cruel fate, but she was not Aelrea. She entertained the thought of herself being Aelrea because she created and played that character in AGO. However, if she was Aelrea, then how come Iina hasn't received her blessed hammer yet? She specifically stated in the item settings that all mycras were born with a blessed hammer. Could this be the proof that she was not Aelrea? Could there be a real Aelrea and she was just playing the character all along? If there was a real Aelrea, then why hasn't she revive yet? It's been 300 years, 290 years longer than it would've taken in the game.
She had a lot of questions. Questions that could've been answered in less than a day if it was still a game. Questions with answers easily acquired, yet at this moment, she was alone. There was no forum to get her answers from, she would have to find the answers on her own.
While Serena was feeling sick of herself and wondering if she was or was not Aelrea, Grandpa Luus patted Iina's head and said, "Enough of this depressing talk. How about we have Serena cook this fried chicken she talked about early this week?"