I woke up to the shaking of several children. Their hopeful eyes bored into me, they were filled with the energy of youth.

The youngest among them called out, “Please tell us the next story! We don’t want to wait all day!”

Shaking my head I sat up on the bale of hay and some kids giggled and pointed up to my hair. I raked my fingers through it and pulled several large pieces of the dried materials. “Now children I have to earn my keep and do some work so I can afford some of the food.”

The children sighed around me as I stood and headed to the grizzled man that ran the village. On the way I overheard his conversation he was having with several men around him.

“We should be expecting our shipment of foodstuffs and repairing supplies we requested from the Duke. Everyone should be ready to chip in and get it all out of the rain.”

“How can I help? Sounds like I could pitch in pulling crates to your storage areas.” I opened my arms wide, “Better than chopping wood in the rain.” A few of the men chucked as Gregory looked me up and down.

“I thought you would earn your keep with song and tales. We will need the children out from underfoot so entertain them today and you’ll get your meals. We appreciate that you’ve been chopping wood with us but we would rather the children stay inside.” He gripped my shoulder and squeezed as he turned back to the group, obviously dismissing me.

The children that were eavesdropping started cheering and pulling some seating together out of the way. I retrieved my lute and tuned it slowly, taking my time. Once everyone was settled I noticed a few of the women were slowing down their work with ears pointed me way. I let a smile tug at my lips and began a tune.

“You’ve heard the story of Boneshaker. Now we see how Crafter handled the Calamity.”

Crafter, the smallest of her kind climbed down the mountain while facing east. She stared at the horizon and extended her sense of magic as far as she could. The air still tingled with the magic that had made the elementals they had to fight. To her it smelled of burning air like those above the burning dunes. Of smoke and ash from a snuffed out fire. She sneezed violently against the smell and descended further.

As she felt the air thicken around her she spread her wings and lightly hopped into the air and began to glide down the mountain staying low above the ground. Soon she climbed a little higher to avoid scraping her belly against the treetops. She closed her eyes and opened her other senses to the life around her. She felt it was in chaos against itself. Like some great imbalance had been made that pitted those with hearts and minds against that which was there before.

She flew and kept her senses as open as she could, waiting for any sense of the magic that had brought these beings to life. Soon she discovered a swell of it. It traveled through the earth below her like a hunting serpent looking for its next victim. Soon she was flying in a zig zagging pattern hovering over the energy and where it might be leading. Soon in the far distance she noticed a lake.

The energy she was following started to move faster and faster towards the water. Soon as it entered the water rippled and shifted from the energy. Within moments she saw blood begin to fill the waters and the corpses of fish rose to the surface. The energy in the water swelled slightly with each death. Knowing how quickly it could get out of hand Crafter dove down into the water and sent a pulse of her own life energy out into the lake.

Instantly the waters became violent around her. She felt that perverse energy flood around her and twist trying to grip and tear Crafter in two. She fought against the panic and instead harnessed her inner spark and shaped it like knives in her mind. In a moment of utter calm and focus as her body was tumbled violently she let loose the magic and tore apart the energy of the elemental and in that moment harnessed it against itself. In an instant the battle turned into a victory thanks to her skill and mind. An idea came to Crafter. It would be dangerous but if it worked she would save herself a lot of trouble.

The next morning she started to work on her idea. She started to find herds of creatures and began ushering them towards a center goal. She gave each beast a wave of calm energy to soothe them into obeying without question. Soon Crafter led a mighty herd of the massive plant eating animals. As soon as they were gathered she felt several groups of the vicious energy collect underneath the earth below as the herd placidly ate without being any the wiser.

Just as the elemental monsters were raising Crafter let loose a massive, powerful roar scattering the beasts to the winds as what would prey upon them emerged. She had prepared in her mind the weapon she would wield against the elementals that would destroy the creatures of the land. Using the time she was waiting in her mind she crafter a scythe of power so grand it could cleave across the entire field like a man harvesting wheat. Though such a thing had yet to be created or happen.

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With an amount of will unprecedented in history she swept that energy through the elementals and the beasts that couldn’t escape reaping them in a great harvest. It tore through the creatures as easily as air and dissipated their essence into the winds. The beast's lives were torn from them literally as they stopped functioning in any way. A necessary sacrifice for what was just accomplished.

She had to rest then. Much of what she had done drained her to dregs of power and energy. She would have to continue soon though for the world could not have her rest for too long. Crafter took to the air and found herself in a group of elves. She landed amongst them and quickly explained in their rudimentary language the importance of her quest and the need to be protected while she slept. Somehow the elves knew that was what she truly needed and nodded in agreement. They would wake her if any danger came. So she slept, a deep slumber for two days. The elves stayed vigilant and watchful. The oldest amongst them felt a disturbance far to the east near the great sea and woke Crafter.

Knowing that a great trouble was brewing Crafter took flight and headed towards where the sun was currently rising. She beat her wings furiously as she started to sense the wrongness in the air from the elementals’ presences. A great and powerful group had been in the ocean without anyone to stop them.

A sea filled with corpses stretched before her and the smell of rotting meat filled the air. Crafter landed and began to shape her inner energy like a suit of bladed armor. It was a meticulously crafted image in her mind that she would have to share with mankind upon her return.

She took to the air and plummeted herself into the waters and sought the great elemental that had made its home in the sea. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before it found her in return. A riptide of moving water sucked her deeper into the sea than she had ever been and the pressure of the water made her bones creak. Soon though she found herself being engulfed in a maw of energy that tried to snuff her own being out like she had done before.

The elemental made the mistake of bringing her into its core where it was both more powerful and vulnerable. She built the energy in her armor up like a pressure wave. All the while she was tossed and pulled deeper and deeper. Just as it was getting to be too much she released her power. It was like being gutted from the inside as the elemental flailed and was torn into smaller beings that fled from Crafter. She struggled to get to the surface in time before her air ran out.

Bursting from the waters she gasped for breath, she knew her work had just begun. She had defeated the main one but it had saved itself by becoming several smaller beings. Now she would be on the hunt. Crafter could not have known about such an ability before and slammed a claw in the waters before she started to swim towards the shore. The fight and riptide had pulled her far from the land.

Too late did she realize that her guard and senses were down. Several elementals had come back for her. Without a great amount of air in her lungs she was pulled under the surface. Surprised and shocked she panicked for a moment against the pull. One of her wings was twisted until it broke under the strain. The elementals had filled the water with grit and sand as it tore into her eyes and tried to force itself down her throat. With terror she thought her life over before she used the last dregs of her magic to lash out and destroy those attacking her. Two of the elementals died but there were more.

Without thought she tried something she did not know if it would work. Crafter pulled the magic of the elementals inside herself. A deep hatred for the living started to fester in her soul. The attack of the elementals lessened but she lashed out again killing more to absorb into herself. In pain and out of breath she regretted that she would die here. Crafter felt a great current come as she slayed the last elemental. It rocketed her to the surface and carried her to the shore.

Weakly and full of elemental hate and magic she collapsed onto the earth as the waters receded back into the sea. She could not fight off what was coming for dragons that exhausted would be pulled into Slumber. A sleep so grand and long that lifetimes would pass.

As she slept now the group of elves discovered her years later and worked together to pull her into a safer place to watch over her. Little did they know she would wake up still filled with hatred for the living and destroy their civilization before that seed of hate would be exhausted. A tragedy that still echoes in the souls of elves who forever after hated dragons.

Slacked jawed the children looked at me. They thought she had been triumphant and clever. I remembered having to stop her from her rampage back in those years. She had grown powerful as the elves laid all they invented and crafted at her feet. With the help of Boneshaker we destroyed all but one item of her hoard and drained her of as much magic in battle as we could stand.

I was so afraid the hatred she had absorbed would make it so we would have to destroy her entirely but in those last moments she had come back to herself. I would have to tell the last of Crafter’s story some other day. It was not the end of her hatred.

“You seem sad sir,” said the youngest of the children.

“Just remembering another somber story that I’ll tell some other night. For now it is getting close to dinner time and you all have yet to help with a chore to earn your food so run along.” I made a shooing motion with my hands and smiled at them to hide my sadness.

The children grumbled and sighed as they attended their chores to help out the town. The longhouse grew crowded with strangers that had earned a meal to warm their spirits before returning to the road and rain. That night there was some hardy liquor opened to celebrate the coming of the supplies and many got drunk.

I turned down the advances of a young unmarried woman and kept it secret from the town. To take such advantage of a woman would make me feel like scum. Especially since I wouldn’t be staying. I fell asleep deeply and dreamed of my story.