“Is this the forge?” Leo asked.
“Did you just enter the castle?” Raligoth asked.
“Correct,” Avardis chimed in.
“Then you should be standing in the planning room. Every weapon and item ever manufactured here has a diagram somewhere on the walls, and all the papers document their creations,” Raligoth explained.
“I’m surprised this place is still intact. The rest of the city is a dump by comparison,” Garrote said.
“Yes, well, this room was a closely guarded secret. The whole place is lined with protective runes of every type. Breaking in is practically impossible and no force can peer in from the outside,” Raligoth said. “Take some time. Explore around. You should be safe here.”
One by one, they split off, absently flipping through the dusty tomes and gazing across the various items on the walls. But one in particular caught Trenton’s attention, a poster depicting a simple leather glove with a rune on the back. It looked an awful lot like the glove Trenton had taken from the blood crazed man back in Wyrm’s Perch.
Trenton summoned the glove to mind, calling it from his personal storage. Unlike most items, however, he hadn’t simply been holding it when he put it away. He had been wearing it. So, just as when it had been stowed, the glove reappeared over his right hand, rune on the back still glowing, albeit dimly.
Sure enough, it was the same glove, smaller etches in the palm Trenton hadn’t noticed before marking it as this, supposedly, legendary artifact. Trenton wondered how a random man roaming the streets had acquired it, but it didn’t really matter anymore. It was his now.
Apparently it was called “Luradin’s Gage,” an item constructed approximately 2400 years ago by, shockingly, a man known as Luradin. Although, the poster didn’t contain any more details about the history of the item, just details about how it was made, how it was used, and, very interestingly, how it could be refilled should the magic wane, as signified by the brightness of the rune on the back of the glove.
“Watcha looking at?” Karfice asked, sidling up next to Trenton. “‘Place the glove in the crucible. Lower the Crucible into the flames. Allow it to sit for exactly 10 minutes. Raise the Crucible. WARNING: The Gage is not meant to be worn by fragile warriors. It will burn the hand of any that wears it.’ Seems a little simple for an artifact, doesn’t it?” Karfice said, glancing down at Trenton’s hand, noticing the glove, doing a double take, and looking back at the poster. “...how’d you get that?”
“Looted it off a man I killed.”
“Figures.”
“I guess I should try and recharge it while we’re here. Doesn’t look like it’s got much left in it. I’m a little worried about the warning, though.”
“Doesn’t look like it hurts.”
“It doesn’t right now, but it might if fully charged.”
“The Gage, is it? I’d be careful with that one, lad. To say it can burn is an understatement. Luradin was far and away the greatest pyromancer of the old ages,” Raligoth said.
“But consider how cool it would be if you had a fully charged artifact,” Garrote butted in, sliding in to Trenton’s other side.
“You make a fine point,” Trenton said.
“Just be careful. These aren’t items to be handled lightly. That you have it at all is remarkable. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of journey it’s been on all these years,” Raligoth finished.
“Hey,” Leo called out from across the room, looking over at their little ground, “you should come look at this.”
They all shifted over, gathering before the poster Leo was standing before.
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“Wait, is that…” Garrote muttered, eyes scanning the details of the massive poster.
Unlike every other poster in the room, this one was massive, stretching nearly top to bottom with different diagrams and instructions. And unlike the other items, it also happened to be one known to all of them–Theoclas–the Conqueror’s axe as well as his armor.
“Armor and a weapon forged 25 years ago and then again 10 years ago. Synthesize iron from the blood samples…mold…dip in the flames…wait, his armor is made of him?” Trenton remarked, feeling as if he’d just been struck with a bolt of lighting.
“Looks like it. No wonder no one else can make it. The iron comes straight from his own body. Odd that it’d be different from regular iron, though,” Karfice said.
“I…didn’t even know that was possible,” Leo said.
Garrote shrugged, “You can do a lot of things with magic.”
“Still, how did the Conqueror know about this place?” Trenton wondered. “Everything else is two millennia or older.”
“There’s…a couple possible ways, none of which I’m confident in. He would’ve had to have had contact with someone who was around when it was constructed, and someone with insider knowledge about the city,” Raligoth said.
“Could someone outside the city circle have learned about it?” Leo asked.
“Potentially, but I don’t like the idea of it. I’ll need some time to think on this.”
Trenton looked back at the poster, “Armor made of his own body…makes you wonder why he even wears it at that point.”
“Cuz it looks cool? Obviously,” Garrote said, waltzing over to a different section of the room.
Trenton looked over at Leo, but he merely shrugged. The armor did have a certain sort of appeal to it, intimidating even in the form of a diagram. No use dwelling on it. Trenton walked over to the open doorway at the far side of the room, noticing a unique looking symbol carved into the wall. It kind of looked like a dragon, similar to the one they’d seen back in that temple outside of Zerital. Now that he thought about it, this whole place felt a little off, cozy in a way, but also foreboding. Maybe it was just his imagination.
Trenton steeled himself and walked into the forge. Instantly, the crisp sound of crackling flame rose to a deafening roar, the heat singing the tips of his hair. There must’ve been a barrier in the doorway to separate the two rooms.
He stood at the start of a colossal stone bridge. All around himself the room looked black, kind of like he’d stepped into a great void, nothing but him and the fires, which blazed on beneath himself, a pit of brilliant light too bright to look at for very long. At the far end of the bridge, a metal contraption was connected, what looked to be a great crucible basin fully submerged within the fire.. How a place like this has existed for so long without anyone maintaining it, especially the fire, was beyond Trenton.
Trenton took a step forward, running the steps to recharge the glove through his mind. He didn’t particularly care for it, but maybe Leo would. It would make a good gift in any case. But just as Trenton thought that, he froze, eyes locking on four small figures standing at the other end of the bridge. They turned to Trenton, taking note of his presence. And although Trenton didn’t recognize two of them, he did recognize the other two, a man with a large number 10 printed on a white veil covering his face and a woman with a large number 4.
Just as the crucible began to rise, Trenton bolted from the room, barely avoiding a rapid spray of stone shrapnel by ducking beside the doorway. The shrapnel tore through the room, slamming into the doorway of the staircase, completely demolishing its structural integrity. In one swift motion, the stairway collapsed in on itself, blocking their exit.
“What’s happening!?” Kiva shouted, drawing her sword from her waist.
“WE NEED TO LEAVE! NOW!” Trenton shouted, feeling the heavy footsteps making their way across the bridge at remarkable pace.
They had seconds, if even. Garrote raised his hand, attempting to shift the stone from the doorway, but besides a slight quake in the pile, it was no use, “The stone’s still guarded! I can’t move it! We’re locked in!”
Raligoth cursed, realizing the threat they were under despite his lack of visual appendages, “I’ve an idea! Everyone hold onto Trenton!”
Without a moment to spare, they scrambled towards the boy, dodging out of the way of more piles of shrapnel blitzing through the open doorway, everyone making it just Ten breached through the doorway, all except Millie, who tripped a handful of feet away from Trenton.
“You,” Ten breathed, holding his hand towards Trenton, a well of rapidly churning water forming in his palm.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…GOT IT!” Raligoth shouted just as Ten appeared, Trenton diving for Millie at the last moment.
The little water spirit reached out desperately for Trenton’s hand, tears flowing freely from her eyes like rivers. The last time he’d been in this situation, Trenton had been helpless, forced to watch as Lilly burned to death before his eyes. But not this time. He refused to fail this time. Just as Raligoth’s magic took hold, just as Trenton’s body began to fade, the tip of his index finger grazed Millie’s, extending the power through his body and into hers. And in an instant, they were simply gone, disappeared into thin air, the last thing Trenton saw–a new poster on the wall–one he hadn’t seen before. “Army Tr-” was all he could get before the scene switched.