Ryke looked to Cassia with an unimpressed look. With a roll of her eyes, she pointed at something being held in a glass case. A foot and a half long piece of charred wood, golden vein like patterns stretching across the black surface like lightning in the night. “That. Apparently it’s called Fulgur Wood. Heartwood survived being struck by lightning, its vitality is different than normal.” She explained, repeating all that she overheard from others.
With a nod, the teen tapped on the case and looked at the young man. It was only now that Ryke realised he stood evenly with him. “How much for the wood?”
“The wood? That would be..” The man looked down at a piece of paper, took a moment and then finally responded with a grand smile. “Three Chrysos!”
Stunned, Ryke could only look at Cassia and then back to the young man. Chrysos was the highest level of currency within the desert. 100 Aes was 1 Argent, 100 Argent was 1 Chrysos. Even what Ryke believed was Fairrin’s life savings was only 50 Chrysos. Three could feed a small family for half a year. On one tiny material? If Gaeldir knew how hesitant Ryke was for a piece of Fulgur wood, the man would definitely teach him a lesson.
“What about 1 Chrysos? That’s not a large-”
“Three! No less!” The young man grinned, uncaring for the interruption. The smile quickly faded as he noticed the dark look hanging over Ryke’s expression. With a start, he looked at the shack behind him. “But maybe my grandpa will let you buy it for less..”
“You don’t need to bother the elderly. How about-” Ryke stepped forward to get a better view, thinking of suggesting a bundled deal, but the young man immediately darted off to the shack behind him. Stunned, Ryke could only watch as Cassia laughed at him. He wasn’t that intimidating, right? He didn’t know that his bearing had already undergone a change that most teens, rightfully so, couldn’t match.
When the young man finally returned it was with an old man in tow. Wearing shabby unkempt clothes, his short salt and pepper hair and clean beard betrayed his dirty appearance. His eyes seemed pure, devoid of darkness. Yet nonetheless he walked with a cane and a limp in his step as he followed behind his grandson, sizing Ryke up and down. He even had the vague sense that he could see Cassia, but he wasn’t sure. His expression paled immediately.
“I’m sorry to bother you, sir, I was just-” Ryke spoke politely, bowing his head slightly to the elder only to be interrupted once again. He felt his eyes twitch, even as the older man spoke calmly to him. The man knocked the cane against the stall and smiled.
“Bartering, yes, my grandson told me. You don’t want that Fulgur Wood though.” The old man smiled gently as Ryke lifted his head, before pointing to another case on the stall counter. “You want this instead. Vonus Heartwood.”
Ryke turned to see the man gesturing at another piece of wood. Similarly struck by lightning, the wood was a deep black colour. A dark purple light shone through the cracks in the bark, as if it was just a shell for what was within. Just looking at it made his ears ring.
“Why would I want that?”
“It would suit your friend better, no?”
At this, Ryke frowned. Taking a step back he motioned for Cassia to stand behind him. He was looking for something to make the hilt out of to finish his sword, the idea being to gift it to Lycus. He told no one. Seeing his response, the old man just sighed and shook his head. “I’m an Augur, young one. I saw what you were looking for, nothing more.”
“An Augur? I thought they were healers?”
“Some are. Some are divine the future. Some manifest their rage.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does and doesn’t. Anyway, I belong to those who See. I’m not some informant..”
He relaxed finally, knowing the man might be telling the truth. While he had met Ikeros, he never learned exactly what an Augur was. It was reasonable enough that the man was telling the truth, but he couldn’t be sure until he asked Sigmar. “So you ‘saw’ why I was here?”
“I saw you gift your friend a sword with a hilt made from Fulgur Wood. You believe his affinity is thunder, yes?” The Augur sat down with his legs crossed next to the stall, leaning his head against it. “But I’ve seen otherwise. You’ll prefer the end result made from Vonus Heartwood.
The young man found his courage once more, grinning from ear to ear as he watched the two talk. Cassia would have already gone and dropped something on his foot if Ryke wasn’t holding her hand and, by extension, holding her in place. He quietly opened the case for the Vonus Heatwood and got ready to wrap it up.
“Why’s he already wrapping it?” Ryke asked, watching it all with a confused look. He was starting to feel like he was being scammed. “I haven't said I’ll buy it yet.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“But you will.”
“You couldn’t possibly know that.”
“But I do.”
Speechless, Ryke stopped looking at the old Diviner and looked back to the young man. Getting ready to feel the pinch, he took out his coin purse and made a mental note to hear Lycus thank him for such an expensive sword. “How much?”
“40 Chrysos!”
“You want 40 Chrysos for some random Runic Material? Are you out of your mind?!
The young man and Ryke went back and forth for nearly an hour before the Centurion Candidate just paid for the item. The young man refused to budge in price, seemingly thinking of the old man as his greatest backing. Gently putting the heartwood away in his bag, Ryke looked down at the Augur with a glint in his eyes. “You’re an Augur, yes? What’s your name?”
“I’m called the Heavenly Seer.”
Looking as if he swallowed a fly, Ryke finally left the family pair alone. The Heavenly Seer waited for them to be out of sight before he stood up much too fast for any old man and started packing up the stall. Even his grandson helped.
“Go, go! Before he brings that crazy spearman back!
----------------------------------------
He did in fact immediately meet Sigmar upon returning to the Underground Ludus and Sigmar did immediately insist upon meeting this ‘Heavenly Seer’. The moment Ryke even said his name, his instructor practically lit the room on fire in a rage unlike he’d ever seen. It took several of the Bastion’s Animus Centurions to finally restrain him long enough for the Lanista to calm down. It only got worse when Sigmar arrived at the old stall and shack to see it completely empty. Rumours spread of a flaming spear nearly 12 feet long being hurled into the hidden Forum, unable to be pulled out even now.
Ryke, however, saw none of that. The moment Sigmar left he went to meet Gaeldir to talk about carving the Vonus Heartwood into a proper hilt, asking if they needed to do anything special to attach it. His eyes practically glowed when he heard some Runesmith’s know ways to attach the vertices in a hilt to the rest of the weapon, but Gaeldir himself didn’t know. The Runesmith did assure Ryke however that all he needed to do was the usual method for attaching a sword hilt.
He carved the Runic Wood into a block and scraped much of the charred wood bark off of the violet wood within. Sanded it down so it would be smooth and attached a thin leather grip wrapped around the wood. He discovered the wood was rather hard, so he used it for the pommel as well and used the Teilus Corsteel as the crossguard. The moment he finished putting the entire handle together, the weapon’s vital pathways changed within his vision.
Ryke carved the handle around a piece of the wood that contained a vertex as he believed it was the strongest portion, and he watched as the pathways that made up this vertex slowly grew out from the handle, through the cross guard and into the rest of the blade. As if leeching off the strength of the other materials, it slowly connected to the other two vertices within. The glowing violet of the handle beneath the leather wrap dulled slightly, new glowing purple veins appearing all over the blade and mixing with the blue streaks of light on its surface. The weapon had become whole.
When he got around to Gaeldir to ask if anything was wrong with the weapon, he was met with the man’s wide eyes as he shattered the tea cup he was drinking from. Watching as the Runesmith practically ripped the blade from his hands, Ryke could only pout silently, inwardly proud that he could shock his teacher.
“How’d you do it?”
“What do you mean?”
“The vertex in the handle connected to the rest. How?”
“I just.. Did it normally.”
“What material is this, then?” Gaeldir gestured to the Vonus Heartwood, to which Ryke replied honestly. When he told him he got it from an old man called the Heavenly Seer, he saw Gaeldir’s countenance shake for a second time today. Second time in the time he’s known him for that matter. Ryke didn’t know how he should answer Gaeldir’s next question though.
“How much did he make you pay for it?”
“40 Chrysos.. ?”
The rumour of a raging beast roaring out from the Ludus similarly spread that day
. Gaeldir dismissed Ryke moments after and the boy, still confused by the overall happenings of the day, was happy. The sword he forged for Lycus could follow him until he was in the Astrum Realm at least, and according to his teacher there was a chance the weapon could keep growing well beyond that. Only now did he realise he actually underpaid for the Vonus Heartwood, though he didn’t know that wasn’t entirely true either. Having been able to forge a truly great weapon, meet what he now knew was a somewhat important figure and also piss off both his teachers in one day, the boy felt incredible as he slept that night.
In the morning he followed his usual routine until he met Ofrir and Lycus to train. Without giving the duo any time to question him, he took the Runic Sword from his back and offered it to the confused Lycus, who gently grabbed it by the handle.
“Put your vitality in it.”
“What?”
“Put your vitality in it.” Ryke repeated solemnly, his gaze piercing into Lycus’ soul. Quietly, the merchant’s son did as he was told whilst a light grey vitality appeared on the surface of his hands, then slowly entered the blade. Moments later he smiled when he saw Lycus’ eyes widen. “Congratulations!”
“Ryke, what is this?”
“A runic armament that can grow.”
“And what did I just do?”
“Attune to it.”
“Why?”
“Because thank you.” Ryke stepped forward and embraced the confused swordsman, his arms wrapping tightly around him. “For being my friend. But mostly for saving my life.”
Touched, Lycus almost didn’t have the strength to ask Ryke why it had no runes in it. When he saw Ryke freeze with his arms wrapped around him, he laughed and finally returned the hug. Ryke had forgotten the most important part of a Runic Armament.