> [Synchronous Mage Vault] - 5nd level spell.

>

> Element: Metal.

>

> Type: Enchantment

>

> Classification: Harmless, long-lasting, object, cooperative.

>

> Target: One metal trunk.

>

> This spell requires two or more casters. It locks a metal trunk and reinforces its structure to make it nigh impenetrable. The casters must cast the spell at exactly the same time from beginning to end. The trunk is reinforced as if the aptitude that locked it was equal to the lowest Metal aptitude plus three ranks for each extra caster. Duration is a decade for each rank above E. A rank of SS or SSS is achievable. To dispel the lock or damage the trunk the force of the attacker must be equal to the locking power. A second cast by the same group of casters can either unlock temporarily the trunk or dispel this enchantment.

>

> Extremely difficult to cast with several people, this spell nonetheless grants almost perfect security.

> Rumor has it that some stronger versions or enchanted vaults increase the duration of the effect by orders of magnitude.

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A few days later, the "God-Slayer" Dolion's party departed to search for slaver camps in the mountain passes. They departed early morning but Aidan still felt like waiting for a whole day just in case they forgot something and came back. Only then he relaxed.

They were in an inn room, the same Pearl reserved more than a year ago. The Crown Princess once again took over the entire place as her base of operations. The Baron didn't want to let her go but everyone could see it was just a polite resistance as the man previously belonged to a faction that opposed Pearl and would profit from playing two hands - as long as he wasn't caught.

"My, my, what a bother being near those five," Dawn sighed. Near meant less than half a county away.

Next to her on the couch, Sora leaned on her shoulder. "Yama is not bad."

"She is half-bad. She is making everyone think the God-Slayer is a half-wit muscle brain," Cythrel retorted.

"That's because you don't know my father," Aidan replied with a chuckle. When the elf gave him a weird glance, he added, "Yet."

"Your father is not dumb," Sora defended the senior God-Slayer. "He just... worries less than he should about everything."

A knock on the door interrupted their family chat. "Milord Aidan, her Highness is ready to visit the smith."

Aidan took that as his cue to stand up, take a heavy bag of coins and slap it on the coffee table. "Wives, your mission for today is to disrupt the local economy by dumping copious amounts of money on useless but pretty baubles," He ordered.

Sora gave him an 'I know you are up to something' wife-like gaze between slitted eyes but said nothing.

"Come on, Sora," Cythrel said, twirling her chin to cast a spell and making the bag float with an invisible magic hand. "I know a lot of dwarven Jewellers that make awesome pieces."

The two left the room and Dawn moved next to a trunk that remained unopened all these days. She raised two right hands and cast the locking spell twice in unison. That particular spell could only be undone that way. The trunk opened revealing a treasure trove, two of the most prominent objects were a broken mithril sword and a crystal case, glowing with enchantments.

Aidan moved these two objects plus some ingots and vials to a backpack, Dawn rubbed a smelly oil on her hands, donned her riding gloves, and made sure to have her rapier firmly affixed to her belt. Once all preparations were done, they left the room. Lola led them to the common room where Pearl was waiting for them. Like Dawn, she wasn't wearing the multifold petticoats their class was renowned for using to assert their personal space but comfortable travel clothes. Leather pants underneath a single skirt, made from a very flexible leather with intricate embroidery. A shirt made of a breathable fabric covered Pearl's corset.

"You are the only person with the courage to make a Princess wait, Lord Aidan," She scolded them. "Shall we go?"

Aidan bowed. "I'm sorry, your Royal Highness," He deferred to Pearl. The inn staff was waiting. "And I am eternally grateful for your help. Yes, let's go."

Aidan made it for the door but Pearl stopped him and dragged the Cosmos mage to a corner where they could talk with privacy. "Are you sure you want to do that? Isn't it... dangerous? They usually go berserk."

"Yes, I'm sure, and no, they won't go berserk. The reason for this erratic behavior is forcing a soul to be something it doesn't want to be. I, however, developed a way to eliminate that problem. We made a test prototype and it is behaving as expected. No problem whatsoever."

"You really made one?" Pearl asked, alarmed. "What is it and where is it? Did you bring it to Gohar with you?"

"Yes, we brought it and it is not dangerous. We did not make a full one, just one part," Aidan replied.

"And what part was it?" She asked, curious.

"I can't say, sorry."

She saw Aidan blush and found that Dawn was blushing even harder. Then she added two plus two and suddenly some strange events during their trip made sense. "You didn't!"

"Maybe we did. I won't tell though."

"I'll leave it at that," She opened a predatory smile and reached out for Aidan's ear, "You naughty Princess."

Aidan shrunk down and said nothing. They made their way out of the inn, Pearl took his right elbow and Dawn the left one. Together, the trio, followed by Lola a few paces behind, walked down the streets of Elmhill and into a particular smithy. The plume of smoke rising and the ringing sound of metal being hammered by several smiths betrayed how much master Gaemon's smithy grew.

The apprentice watching the shop gasped and looked to the sides in confusion as the Princess and Lord entered the smithy. "Yo-Your Royal Highness!" He shouted and splayed himself on a knee, wobbling to keep his balance and lowering his head as if he was about to be knighted. In the process, he dropped a bucket of horseshoes, making a loud noise.

"At ease," Pearl said with a soft voice but did nothing else.

The teenage boy was trembling and didn't move. A raspy voice came from inside. "What is this commotion?" A dwarf, older than Gaemon, appeared from the leather curtain separating the ambients. "Milord, Milady, how may I be of service," He said once he recognized the visitors as nobles.

"Your Royal Highness, please forgive him," the apprentice pleaded. "he comes from the subterranean clans," he tried to explain.

"Oh, it is fine. A visitor from down under, then? Tell me, master," Pearl asked, trying to defuse the situation. "Are you related to master Gaemon?"

"Third cousin from my mother's side," He answered. "Are you Jett's daughter? I've met the King-above-mountain once."

"Indeed, I'm Pearl of house Juvela, first Princess of Gohar. I'll be in your care for the day, master."

The dwarf nudged the human apprentice with his foot. "Get up, lad! Princess, there won't cut off your head or throw a tantrum for you being yourself."

He then returned his attention to Pearl, "Thane Gralkus, princess. Come, come. Gaemon is venting his frustration on the anvil, let's go save his tools."

Pearl chuckled at what could only be a joke. Aidan remained neutral.

They entered the smithy and while everything was much like what Dawn remembered, it was busier. Enough dwarves to fill one or two platoons were busy molding metal into weapons, armor, and tools. More of the former than the latter. Gaemon was at his anvil in the central forge. He was hammering at an ax head. Gralkus moved next to him but didn't stop the other dwarf until he quenched the metal.

"What is it, Gralkus! Why are you there, tainting my metal with your bad breath?" Gaemon growled.

"You have Royal guests, cousin," Gralkus shrugged. "Jett's child is here."

Gaemon raised his head and smiled. "Princesses! Zombie lad! I'm glad you are back," His gaze drifted to Dawn's waist. "How may I be of service to you?"

Pearl nodded, "Master Gaemon, I am here to request your assistance. My friend here has a very unusual request only your skills at forging magical metals can fulfill. Please, I ask you to led him your aid," She delivered her request as if asking otherworlders to kill the Maou and save the realm although there was never a maou in recorded history. Demon god five thousand years ago? Check. But heroes are just political tools.

Gaemon stared at Adain and then Dawn. He took a step closer to the latter and spoke. "Let me see your weapon, girl." Dawn detached the rapier and handed it over to its creator. Gaemon unsheathed it and glanced over. "There's a scratch," He groaned. "What did you do to her to scratch my secret alloy, girl?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"I had to cut my brother's enchanted mithril sword, master Gaemon," Dawn replied calmly. They needed the master smith's help and had to butter him up. "In a single strike," She added with a smirk.

He raised an eyebrow and asked in disbelief. "Really? Can I see your hands?" Dawn removed her gloves and showed him her hands. She knew Gaemon was looking for calluses and he would find some. He patted her hand where the calluses should form. "Not enough practice, eh?"

"I'm a Princess, master Gaemon," Dawn started her defense and retrieved her own hands but not before Gaemon smelled them, "And I am just a bit away in Air affinity to become a Metal mage. Until then, I was using rough-root oil on my hands during my training sessions."

"Ah," Gaemon interjected knowingly, "That was the smell in your hands. Good, good. Now, you said you cleaved enchanted mithril with this baby?"

It was a lie, the fact that Dawn was using rough-root oil, a magical plant that would toughen the skin temporarily and avoid the formation of calluses. She had just acquired the ointment and applied it before leaving. She was using Life magic to keep her hands soft as it would be unfitting for a Princess to have the kind of swordsman's calluses Aidan had, for example. But she was practicing the rapier nonetheless so keeping the method of maintaining her hands a secret was no problem.

"I have the mithril sword here, master Gaemon. You can examine it if you don't believe my Princess," Aidan added with a tiny bit of annoyance in his voice. They couldn't let the dwarf roll all over them.

"Show me!" Gaemon demanded.

Aidan took his backpack off and took the sword's scabbard, handing it over to Gaemon. The dwarf quickly removed the broken pieces and examined them closely. "I see, I see! Indeed a faint trace of the enchantment lingers on the blade! And I can see now, the white scratches on the rapier are indeed this mithril," He guffawed then showed the weapons to his cousin. "See this, Gralkus you knave! I told you my adamantite-steel alloy was awesome!"

Gralkus examined the weapons and sighed, "You are right, cousin. You are right. Now, since the Princesses so kindly brought you the proof you needed to convince the guild, you are going to take their request, aren't you? We would be troubled if a word comes out that you turned the future Queen around."

"Do you want this blade reforged, lad?" Gaemon asked Aidan. His bad mood was long gone.

"I don't know, master. I might need the mithril for my project."

"Well, if you need this much mithril for your project, what exactly are you doing?" Gaemon asked, his curiosity spiking.

"It is better if we dismiss all the apprentices for the day, master," Pearl suggested. "This is an important matter," She added in a more commanding tone.

Gralkus walked to a bell hung from the roof beam and rung it. The sharp noise soon drowned the hammering. "Everyone out! You knaves got a free day," The thane shouted. "Now stow your tools and scram, the last one to stay behind is polishing all anvils until I can see my beard reflected on them."

Like a licked anthill, the smithy became chaotic, with the young humans and dwarves swarming everywhere. Soon they vanished one-by-one.

"I'll stay and help," Gralkus butted in. "I'm also getting a clean bench and some refreshments for her Highnesses."

About half an hour later, the smithy was emptied, only the five of them remaining inside.

"I guess it is time to show what you have in stock for us, lad," Gaemon broached the main subject.

"Surely," Aidan replied. "I need your expertise to work an alloy of mithril and orichalcum for an enchanted item, master. Although it will sound strange, you don't have to worry, this project was cleared by the headmaster of Yutis' Royal Magic Academy and Princess Pearl herself."

The fact that it was Dawn that approved the project abusing her status as acting headmistress was omitted. She was officially invested anyway.

Pearl nodded. "Indeed, masters. Please give my champion Aidan your full support. This is a vital project. He has my full support but I have somewhere else to be. As I won't be helping with either the smithing or the enchanting, I leave you to your endeavors."

"I'll escort you out, your Highness," Thane Gralkus bowed. "Your maid is waiting outside."

With Pearl gone, Aidan removed the crystal box from the backpack along with the ingots and vials. Gaemon looked inside the case and his eyes went wide open.

"What are these?"

With a sigh, Aidan confessed, "They are exactly what you think, master. We need to rebuild the internal structure using the metal and then some external filigree to hold the enchanted glyphs and diagrams."

A pale Gaemon stared into Aidan's eyes, "Are you a necromancer?"

"Master gaemon, I am a person of many talents. Yes, I can use necromancy but it is far from my only specialty."

The dwarf's shoulders slumped from the weight of the task. He picked the vials and examined the contents without opening. "You have a King's ransom here, boy."

"I hope nobody kidnaps a King to ask for these supplies, master Gaemon..." Aidan chuckled, "Because I'd be forced to let the King die. And you will have to find another punishment for your apprentices. Excuse me."

Aidan sterilized the entire smithy, using a spell that removed any trace of swarf, slag, dust, soot, ash, grime, or impurity. An otherworlder would compare the smithy's cleanliness to a modern surgical center if there was any around. Only then they opened the crystal case and took the precious pieces held inside its enchanted chamber. Then work began in earnest. Aidan peeled the outside layers carefully as to not damage them, exposing the inner support structure the dwarf smiths had to copy using metal. He immediately put the soft parts back in the case, to avoid any contamination or damage.

Gaemon used a special clay to make molds of the several pieces while Gralkus kept the forge hot to smelt the mithril and orichalcum.

"We are going to melt the sword," Gaemon announced once they checked the crucible where the two mythical metals were alloying. "This mithril is too low quality. See the amount of slag it is forming? That's normal silver. Orichalcum hates impurities, we need to improve the quality of the mithril."

And without a shard of regret, the Third Princess of Yutis put the national treasure in the crucible herself. The reaction was immediate. The orichalcum dust melted into the pure mithril and alloyed, becoming a tarnished silver. Meanwhile, Aidan was painstakingly carving the animation and soul transfer glyphs and preparing the stone slabs to receive the two soul gems.

Gaemon took the crucible and poured the magical alloy in the mold. Smoke rose and dawn tensed.

"Relax, it is going to work. I'm more worried about assembling it back inside without ruining the outside."

"We can only hope, master."

With the internal frame cast, Gaemon broke the clay and exposed the paired metallic parts. Dawn took them to a workbench and started to engrave the minute diagrams that would combine into the magical circuit of the finished product. Gralkus and Gaemon then started to weave thin mithril sticks, bending them and shaping into a set of four ornate filigreed cups, mimicking vines with flat surfaces on the inside to receive even more magical diagrams. While Dawn kept engraving the inner structure, Aidan double-checked the stone plates that would transfer the soul fragments and empower them. Satisfied, he took the cups and started to engrave the diagrams on the inside. When it was all done and checked, he took the soft parts from the crystal case and drew some glyphs on them.

Then it came the moment to assemble everything. Dawn took the metal inner frame and Aidan the soft outside.

"Giant Growth!" He cast a spell on his part, enlarging them enough to push the frame inside without much damage.

They reassembled the parts and Aidan used another spell of the Genesis Element to mend and bind the metal to the organic parts. Then they slid the ends into two of the cups and he activated the enchantments in sequence, making two enantiomorphic pieces. One left one right.

"And now, we will grant them life," Aidan declared. "Princess, please move them to the plates. I'll start placing the charged cores."

The two mages moved with deft movements, in perfect coordination. Gaemon thought they must have done that dozens of times and he feared what Yutis had hidden in their secret magical vaults. But he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the two pieces they crafted. It felt as if these two delicate pieces were timeless. Then Aidan activated the soul diagram and he sensed the dark magic at work. That ephemeral moment of appreciation disappeared with dread.

"Imbue, empower, bestow, pacify. You who were once pieces of the same whole, become as one again!" The mage mumbled and chanted as he directed the magical energies of the two diagrams like a maestro conducting an orchestra. Gaemon saw tears forming in the boy's eyes, filled with a drive and determination he saw few times with his senior dwarven master craftsmen when they were making artifacts of legend.

Because he was. One year of research, of frustrated attempts, of resource gathering. It all came to this. Aidan's eyes were deep like the night sky as he focused his sight entirely on the magical realm. The two soul fragments departed their receptacles and eagerly entered the place where they once inhabited. The pieces became whole and they jolted as they came alive.

Golems.

Made of flesh and metal, imbued with a burning desire. The two golems moved for the first time, like newborns trying their muscles for the first time. The metal vines of the filigreed cups merged with the flesh and the metal bones inside. The properties of flesh became those of metal and vice versa. Thus the alloyed mithril rigid structure could move as if it was articulated and the skin outside became as resistant as magical plate armor.

The two golems attempted to crawl, unsure, touching around and wriggling their slender protrusions. Aidan caressed their backs and the golems calmed down.

"What about the two other cups?" Gaemon asked, breaking the silence.

"These, we will put on the rightful owner of these," Aidan replied. A knock on the door sounded right as he delivered his phrase. "And they are here. Let's move these two back in the box for now, and cover it."

"You may enter!" Dawn announced after Aidan hid the product of their crime.

Pearl, Sora with Skippy cradled on her shoulder, and a feverish Cythrel supported by Deb entered. Lola came behind and closed the door.

"Aidan!" Sora called. "What is going on? Pearl told us we should get ready for an outing but then Cythrel started to feel ill and we were brought here. What is going on?"

"Bring her to me," Aidan replied. "Master Gaemon, the remaining cups."

Aidan sat on a chair next to the covered box and sat the elf on his lap. She was burning with fever.

"Aidan? I feel strange. My arms, they itch," Cythrel mumbled.

He caressed her cheek, "Do you trust me, Cythrel?"

"With my life, husband," She answered, a meek cheeky tone slipping on the last word.

"Let me put these on your arms," He presented the cups to her.

Cytrel raised the stumps of her arms. "HA!" Gaemon shouted, unable to contain his feelings as he understood what was happening. Aidan slipped the two cups like cuffs on the stumps, covering them. Then he activated the final enchantment on them.

"Ah! Ah!" Cythrel gasped and moaned, her magic drained into the cups as the metal grafted on her skin and bound to her. Her eyes rolled, unfocused. Aidan hugged her against his chest.

"She is not in pain," Dawn explained. "She just has to adapt to the new feelings. It is more like an itch or an inflammation than real pain. It will pass soon."

The box underneath the cover shook and jumped as if something tried to push the lid from inside.

"I can feel them," Cythrel mumbled, delirious.

"Yes, yes," Aidan soothed. "Does it hurt?"

The elf sobbed and tears rolled down her face. "No. I can feel them, Aidan!" She crowed in disbelief. "I CAN FEEL THEM!" She rose her mithril-clad arm stumps and exulted.

Dawn removed the cover and took the crystal box to Cythrel. She lifted the lid and the two pieces inside attached themselves to the cups on her forearms. The elf slid out of Aidan's lap and moved her arms, showing everyone what happened. The women watching made faces of disbelief, surprise, elation.

And Cythrel wiggled her fingers, rubbed them against one another. She reached and touched her own face, feeling, poking her skin. She pinched one hand with another. She traced down from one wrist to the matching mithril cups and then up her own arm. She reached out and grabbed Aidan's hand.

"What are these?" She asked, breaking the silence, her voice still clad in confusion. "Are these my hands?"

"Yes. These are your hands. The cheat power of the otherworlder may have changed your soul, but two can play this game. Astro and I kept your hands in stasis after the incident. And after that... Do you remember the fragments I took from you when we were... healing Lumina?"

Cythrel nodded then put everything together. "Are these golems?"

Aidan nodded. "They were made from your very flesh and soul. As far as I care, they are part of you. Improved, even. But that's irrelevant for now. How do you feel, my love?"

She nodded, wiped the tears and smiled.

"I feel whole."