Ky and Fomoria were a little over a hundred miles away from where they had been camping, deeper into the uncharted territory of The Frontier.

The cave was nearly unremarkable.

“Here. Look ”

Yet just inside, there was a ring of gold inscribed with script that neither could read.

“I didn’t get far inside, and I barely made it out. But, what I saw, what I heard, was a forge.

You’ve heard that old Imperial Reinoan ruins exist out here, right?”

“Yes. But nearly all of it ends up being rather worthless. The Wizards of Old Reino had powers that were incompatible with modern magic.”

“I encountered guard dogs made from metal that chased me out. Maybe there is someone still alive in there, or it is an automatic forge that just makes those dogs since it was last told to make them.”

“A living Wizard, that would be interesting.”

“Alright, with that out of the way, be careful. Those dogs looked like they were made of gold or silver, but I couldn’t put a dent in them. Only my dragon fire hurt them and allowed me to escape with my life.

Also, they can’t, or won’t, pass this golden ring.”

“Why didn’t you tell Ragne about it?”

“Something was wrong. I just had this feeling eating away at me that if I ever told someone, they wouldn’t come back from inside of there. If anything strange happens, we run back here to the ring, and we don’t look back.”

From the moment he met Fomoria, he smelled like the most dangerous thing he’d ever encountered.

He only attacked because his instincts told him that he couldn’t possibly run from him.

“Of course, if I think that I can’t handle anything inside, I will flee.”

Ky knew that wasn’t really what he meant, but went with Fomoria anyway.

Once they were beyond the ring, the scent hit him, followed by a feeling of disconnection, as if he had stepped into another world; Fomoria thought about calling in Xol.

But, he was a champion, he would handle this himself.

They walked for just a few minutes down the steeply sloped entrance where only the faintest remains of stairs were left.

Fomoria could hear the pounding of a hammer against steel and smell the sulfur.

Shortly after, they reached the city itself.

Unlike what he had expected, it was in perfect condition.

The buildings were all white marble, and many had been sculpted with artworks of men battling beasts, but the one that caught Fomoria’s eye was a massive mural, over a hundred feet long and only slightly less tall. It was at the far side of the cavern, depicting a man with a hammer in hand kneeling as he handed bolts of lightning to another man.

Fomoria drew his sword, covered it in void bone to give it a flat head, then banged it on the ground, sending an echo through the entire cave system.

The dogs of silver and gold came gathered, but did not yet attack, they waited to be amassed; Ky backed toward the entrance of the cave.

They stood five feet at the withers and were well built, their metallic skin showing muscular physique that contrasted with their saggy skin.

If he had to compare them to something, the answer was the dogs used by Kleon, a mastiff of some sort.

When they began to bound toward him, Fomoria slammed his sword again.

“HALT.”

Even the dust that fell from the ceiling stopped under his order.

The metal hounds whimpered and moved out of his way.

“The fuck was that?”

“Power.”

Fomoria sheathed his sword, and as he passed the crowd of dogs that laid themselves down like scolded puppies, he pet one to feel if they really were made of metal.

Whatever they were, they were between living and automaton, and they were not made of actual gold and silver.

“Now we can go.”

The city was a work of art, almost too beautiful to live in.

The fountains, the gardens, the artwork, the statues, the gold bands and jewels that many of the pillars had/ Perhaps it really was too beautiful to live in. The city was dead, other than the rhythmic beating of a hammer against an anvil.

“We should go, those things are still watching us from the rooftops.”

Fomoria whistled, not from his mouth, but from holes he formed in his neck, causing the hounds to flee;

even Ky whimpered at the sound.

“There. Now do you feel better?”

“You’ve changed, but you are also exactly how I remember you. You don’t let anyone stand in your way.”

Fomoria just kept moving forward, but Ky could sense his words had upset him somehow.

To Ky’s surprise, Fomoria ignored the castle in the center of the city.

All that Fomoria was interested in was that forge at the edge of the city under the giant mural.

The forge was obsidian, shining brighter than the white marble that made up the rest of the city, with red veins giving it a sinister, almost alive appearance. It was no small place, matching half the size of the castle, built into the wall of the cavern and lacking any overt defenses unless one counted the moat of magma, but Fomoria assumed that to be a stylistic choice.

From deep in the halls, Fomoria could see a bright light and the hunched form of a man.

For the first time in nearly a century, the banging of the forge stopped, and the man stood.

The popping of his back filled the cavern, and the man reeled back his arm.

Fomoria shoved Ky, then there were three booms.

The first was the man throwing his flaming hammer with the force to crush even the hardest of metals.

The second was Fomoria catching the hammer, giving only a few feet to the hammer even as the impact cracked homes a hundred feet back.

The third was Fomoria’s arms breaking and reforming.

The master of the forge kept his hand outstretched, trying to call his hammer back, yet Fomoria held it back until he saw the man strain under the effort.

Then, once he was sure that the man knew he could keep it, Fomoria returned it to him.

“Ky, get out of the dirt, we’re going inside.”

“WHAT?”

Ky’s ears were still ringing as he tried to stand, but his equilibrium was broken; Fomoria healed him with a single touch.

The man had gone back to forging, not even bothering to look up as Fomoria and Ky came to him.

Fomoria wasn’t fazed by the fact that the blacksmith was nearly 15 feet tall, but Ky was like a fox hiding from a Fenrir.

Fomoria didn’t understand a word the man said.

“Can you speak Godgiven?”

“If you can at least understand me, nod.”

The man did.

“Can you look at my sword? Judge it’s quality?”

The man held out his hand.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

He looked at it for a few moments, then placed it on the anvil and shattered the blade with a single strike; Fomoria guarded Ky.

“I don’t think he liked your sword much.”

“That is a good sign.”

“How?”

“If he had pride as a blacksmith-”

“I understood Hephaestus, and Deimos. You were his Paladin? You are not Hephaestus himself?”

The man nodded.

“Ky, give me that dagger.”

He did as asked.

“Is this metal that coats the wooden core of this dagger more suited to you? Though crude it might be compared to anything you could craft even from a lesser metal.”

Deimos held out his hand again, and when he pounded his hammer against the adamant scaled dagger, the wood was reduced to ashes by the flaming hammer, but the scales were only deformed.

“I am going to bring someone to translate for me.”

“Strange, Lich is the same across our languages. You don’t want me to bring Xol?”

Deimos nodded.

“Very well.”

Fomoria tried to open a void gate, but wasn’t able to within the cavern.

Once outside, Ky could calm down,

“That place was buzzing with power. Look, I still have goosebumps.”

“Really? It was much worse when I gathered my allies together.”

“And that guy, the fuck was he? He was 15 feet tall at least.”

“Please, he was barely 14 and a half. I’m going to pick up my translator, do you want to come with me? Just there and back, a few minutes.”

“In for a bronze, in for a gold. Wait, you know someone who speaks whatever that guy was saying?”

“Never heard those words in my life. But I’ve got the next best thing.”

Fomoria and Ky ended up in Kor, and it wasn’t hard to track down the person he needed. Though, he did have to wait until her partner was finished.

Mosley stood facing another man, the street was quiet.

“Is that-”

“Shh, just watch.”

One could hear a pin drop as the citizens stood on the sides of the road.

The instant the bell rang to announce the time, a single shot rang out.

Mosley’s opponent didn’t even have the chance to draw his gun.

The gunslinger stood over the other man, folded his arms across his chest, then put his hat over his face.

Mosley raised his hand to eye level, and then the tall Dague woman, Bly, came rushing over.

“Mosley says that it’s been too long, and that you should try to out draw him one day.”

“Well, that guy never fired his guns, no time like the present.”

When Fomoria reached, Mosley grabbed his wrist.

“Mosley says that it’s not right to use another man’s guns so soon after his death, but you can use one of his spares.”

Ky watched as Fomoria and the man who had just gunned another down in the street stood about 40 feet from one another.

“Ky, flip a coin, the moment it hits the ground, we’ll draw.”

“You’ll be fine, but what about that guy?”

“He’s got golem armor on, I just won’t shoot him in the face.”

Mosley nodded, and Bly gave two thumbs up; Ky felt like the only sane person here.

The coin went up, and down, but only one shot rang out once more.

Mosley was fast, but Fomoria could grab Mosley’s bullets out of the air and throw them back hard enough to kill. It was a matter of hitting human limits, limits that Fomoria left behind years ago.

“I really thought that Mos had a chance.”

The man lay on the ground for a few moments, then plucked the bullet from his armor and tossed it aside.

“Emperor Fomoria, what do you require from us?”

“I need a translator. Ky, are you staying here until I return? Or are you going to head back with us?”

“I don’t want to go back in the cave, just leave me outside and I will go back to my patrol.”

“Very well. And thank you for showing me that place.”

Fomoria waved goodbye to his friend, and Ky hoped that he would never come back for another chat.

It was one thing when Fomoria was a noble, but now he was two people, he lived outside the veil, he could force machines to follow his commands, he was an emperor, and had the strength to stand against an attack that put off shockwaves strong enough to hurt him from 50 feet away.

Ky wasn’t weak, but he realized suddenly that his pond was small, and Fomoria had turned into a Leviathan while he wasn’t looking.

As Bly walked past the automatons, she stopped to pet them.

“What cute dogs.”

“I’m beginning to think that you are an empath but don’t know it yet.”

“I’m always on my own path.”

Fomoria had a hard time figuring out Bly. She was both the most perceptive person he had ever met, but also naive and clumsy as if she was just born as a woman without knowledge of anything.

Deimos was surprised to see Fomoria again so soon.

“Yes, he has.”

“I just kinda, know what you mean.”

“Oh, you flatter me.”

“What is he saying?”

“He said that I'm very wise.”

Mosley could hardly stifle his silent laugh.

“I want to know if he would forge adamant for me. Weapons, armor, whatever else I need made.”

“He can’t leave because someone is looking for him.”

“Do you mean the Gods of Aarde and their champions?”

“He says that a Lich is after him, and he’s afraid of what would happen if he got his secrets.”

Fomoria made a mental note, but moved past it.

“If I brought the materials and plans, what then?”

“He won’t work on anything he thinks is beneath him.”

“Looks like I’ll need to try recruiting Brig then.”

Deimos slammed his hammer against the anvil, showering the entire room in sparks that Fomoria had to block for Bly and Mosley.

“Who is Brig? Because Deimos is very angry that you think he could possibly match up to him. And he wants you to apologize for even thinking that he is on a level near him.”

“He is the Champion of Water, and was for a time my personal blacksmith. Now I’m more interested in how Deimos knows him. Also, I’m not apologizing, since I have no real idea of your work compared to his.”

“Brig stole some stuff from here and attacked the cute little dogs.”

“Well, I doubt that.”

“Hey, fuck you. I bet you’re like a Goliath, your body grows but downstairs you’re still a little man.”

Before things got out of hand, Fomoria put his claws to the throat of the man who was just starting to pull back his arm.

“Calm. Whatever exchange has happened, if you lay a hand on her, I will take your head from your body.”

Deimos scoffed.

“Excuse me? I’ve never done anything like that with my mouth.”

Formoria pressed his claws into the man’s throat until he drew blood.

“He gives up.”

“You misunderstand what is happening here. I did not seek you out as a forgemaster, I followed a friend into a cave. I let you keep your hammer when you threw it earlier, but I could just as easily steal it away, leaving you nothing more to forge your little pets.”

When she saw that the man who had hardly reacted to being pierced nearly ready to cry over losing his hammer, Bly pulled on Fomoria’s arm.

“You must be lonely down here, nobody but your dogs to keep you company. I’m sorry I said that I didn’t think they could beat a Fenrir, I didn’t mean to insult your work.”

Deimos was reminded that it had been a very long time since he last spoke with anyone.

There was a sharp contrast as she hugged him. Bly, lithe and pale, Deimos, a hulking mass of olive colored muscle.

“He said that he needs friends, but he will make you stuff.”

“He wants Goliath whores.”

“There is a first for everything I suppose.”

Fomoria drew a picture of Elskildotter in the air, and Deimos was pleased.

When they returned to Kor, Fomoria brought Bly and Mosley to a private room.

“Bly, how exactly do you understand people?”

“If you try hard enough, you can know the intention of anything.”

“No, that isn’t true, that doesn’t even make sense. You form full sentences out of a raised hand. Deimos didn’t even move and he was speaking a language that neither of us have ever heard before, but you understood everything he said.”

“No, not really. I was kinda guessing, kinda just knew what he meant.”

“Yes, but explain, how did you know? Some of it I can understand, his tone and face and emotions clearly showed anger and scorn and sadness, those things you could interpret without actually knowing a word of what he meant, but him calling you wise? Saying his dogs could beat a Fenrir? Asking for Goliath women-”

“Well, he just wanted powerful women, he never actually said Goliath.”

“Still. You are clearly getting information from his words alone that doesn’t make sense.”

Bly shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m going to look at your soul. You don’t stink of Fae, but there must be something else happening here.”

Yet her soul was normal.

Fomoria began to formulate theories. Perhaps she had something like a Goliath, some ability that defied magical logic.

Yet he found nothing, he understood nothing, and wasted almost a full day trying to gain something from the woman who only knew her power as trying really hard to understand others and succeeding.

He could only imagine how much easier things would be if he could actually figure out someone’s intent perfectly like she could.

Then he thought about how others viewed his empathic abilities, that they believed he shouldn’t be able to be fooled, that he should have a greater understanding of people.

But he didn’t, at least, he wasn’t sure if he did.

----------------------------------------

In the night, the tree Ky was sleeping under came to life, baring its fangs, creaking as its branches turned to claws.

“You know, you are probably the 3rd, maybe the 4th strangest thing I’ve seen today. Just let me get some sleep.”

The Treant was in a state of disbelief, and yet once it caught a whiff of Fomoria and Deimos on Ky, the living tree went back to sleep, not wanting to disturb this being that smelled of things far beyond it.