Gwen gathered her courage as she approached the forge, a steady ringing echoing from within. She could do this. Enveloping herself in a shroud of confidence, Gwen opened the door like the place belonged her. It was a normal forge, nothing special, or at least as far as she could tell. All the tools looked alike to her. Her focused was immediate drawn to the source of the noise. A shirtless Gerald had his back to her, his hammer ringing out a steady rhythm on the anvil. The hammer fell two more times in a shower of sparks before he turned toward her.

“Gwen,” Gerald said simply. It was both a question and a greeting. He was so cool like that.

“H, hey,” Gwen said, then scolded herself. She couldn’t afford to fumble her words here. “I didn’t get a chance earlier to say congratulations on becoming a true cultivator.”

He just looked at her, then gave her a small nod. “Same.”

Argh! How did he convey so much with a single word?! Quickly she pushed herself to ask the question she came here for.

“I was going to head out for my attunement. Want to come along?” She was sure he would give another profound single word answer.

“No.”

The reply was simultaneously crushing and final. Her heart sank, but she didn’t let it show.

“Why not? We’re both liquid cultivators we should stick together. Nothing could stop us.”

“Busy.”

Gwen frowned at the response. What would convince him? She looked around the forge for inspiration. There was nothing that made what had happened immediately obvious. She’d heard the rumors, but dismissed them. A kin of Gerald’s stature would never fuck a human. However, the signs were there. The place was a little too clean. A few a touches that only a woman would think of. Then, there was the smell. She didn’t notice it at first. It was faint, over a day old and partial covered by heated metal, but it was there. It seemed to get stronger the long she breathed in. The reek of sex tainted with that of a human.

“YOU FUCKED HER DIDN’T YOU?! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D SOIL YOURSELF WITH A FILITHY HUMAN!”

Gerald didn’t yell. He didn’t appear to get angry at all. That was not his way. He instead gave her a hard look that did all the shouting for him.

“Out.”

The word hit her harder than any rant. She wasn’t even worth more than a single syllable in his mind. Why did she think it might be different? She was just so certain he was flirting with the human to make her jealous. Gwen never considered he actually wanted the bitch when he could have her. Rage mixed with disappointment nearly overwhelming her. She clenched her fists trembling slightly in fury. Then she suddenly went cold. The darkness was calling to her, like it had many times. She would feel better if she let the monster out. Why was she trying to be normal anyways? That wasn’t for her. The violence, the pain, those could make her feel alive again. Make her feel whole. It would fill the void. She foolishly thought Gerald could do that. No, he wasn’t the answer. Out there mages waited for her… special touch. They were the way. All she had to do was answer the call. Why shouldn’t she? The mages all deserved to die. They were a blight on the land just a terrible as the mists. She was the cure. That was her path. With the thought, came the final piece of clarity. She knew what her attunement would be. What it had to be. What her destiny was.

Gwen turned and left. She didn’t storm out. The coldness wouldn’t let her. She could feel alive again once her claws were parting flesh. Nothing would be real until that time. Gwen moved in a daze past kin who congratulated her. She ignored them going to the supply room. The Magebane said she could take anything she needed. The items she had in mind would help in so many different ways.

The stock room was not much more that a deep tunnel with a series of shelves. All were packed with varies goods from the mana forest and those taken from various mages over the years. In front of the expanse a rabbit-kin sat behind a desk, cultivating. Gwen slammed her fist down startling the cultivator.

“I want two dozen mana dampening shackles…”

Gerald stared after Gwen for a long moment before getting back to his work. He wasn’t great with words. Perhaps he could’ve made things go over smoother if he had spoken more than a single word at a time to her. Perhaps not. Gwen was difficult to deal with after all.

He shrugged, turning back to his work. On the table lay several pieces of metal. Mostly iron but a few rarer pieces here and there. Most wonderful was the orichalcum and the small bar of mythril. He looked over the metal fondly before returning to the forge. There he lifted out a small piece of iron that would soon be a hoe for a local farmer. He didn’t use tongs to raise the heated metal. Rather he used his ki. It was difficult. The metal wobbled as it floated toward his anvil. He nearly lost control before setting it down atop it. With his favorite hammer in hand, he began pounding away with gentle taps. Last time he had splattered the metal all over the place like it was butter. He had to get his strength under control. Azura seemed to have a natural instinct for ki. Perhaps it was all the years she had controlling mana or the fact she had a naturally awakened pool. No matter. He was getting better. Besides he always concentrated best when working. As his hammer steadily rose and fell he thought about his attunement. There were a few good choices to achieve his goal as a ki smith. The first was obvious, ‘metal’. It was here right in front of him. He regarded the piece he was working on only to notice he had complete squashed the fool thing.

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Gerald sighed. At least he hadn’t ruined his hammer and splatter the metal all over the forge like last time. This could be salvaged. He began lifting it with ki when he stopped thinking about his second choice for attunement ‘fire’ or ‘heat’. It was an indirect choice for his path. Any good smith could tell you heating the metal well was almost as important as the metal itself. Almost. Letting the now squashed metal go Gerald instead sent an extra surge of ki into his arm down to his hand reinforcing his natural ki flow. Hesitantly he reached out and poked the metal. He waited to see if he’d burn. The heat was intense, however it just seemed to roll off him… or off his ki. Amazing. Gerald looked as his hand coated in a glove of ki that flowed continuously out of him and back in. He confidently picked up the squashed metal then dunked it in the water bucket. Steamed hissed around his fist as water boiled. He wanted to laugh but a hot gust of steam pelted his face. If he was still using mana he would’ve been badly scalded. Perhaps not so badly if his pool was inverted, but still. Now with ki constantly flowing through him all he felt was damp. Removing the metal from the bucket he sat it down on the table with the other pieces.

He looked at the gather metal like an audience judging him as he considered his third choice. This one was an idea he had for a while, but was unsure if it was possible, ‘creation’. He’d been thinking about it ever since Hamal told him about how Azura’s ki had changed. Now, he didn’t think it was possible. Azura said that he would cultivate the essence of his attunement. That had three parts, physical, magical, and spiritual. He didn’t think creation had the physical part. So really, he had two choice. He looked down at the metal that seemed to call to him. In each one he could see the possible shapes take form. The potential of what each piece could be. With that realization he had his answer. Metal it was. It was a simple straight forward choice, which fitted him perfectly.

The decision made Gerald moved on to the final part. He reached inside drawing a single piece of his solid ki out. Or, tried too. The resistance was so fierce that he lost control, the ki slipping from his mental fingers. He blinked. Azura had made it look easy. Perhaps he wasn’t giving her enough credit.

Gerald took several calming breaths focusing his attention the same way he would when cultivating. He once again grasped the ki bring it forth. This time he was ready for the resistance. The ki fought him as he gradually drew it out. Sweat, that the heat of the forge couldn’t force out of him, began dampening his fur as he refused to yield. It took nearly a minute to force the ki out of his body. There it was. Gerald marveled at the glorious speck so similar to what Azura had used on him. That seemed a lifetime ago. Then he placed the ki onto the first piece of metal.

He waited. Then waited some more. Gerald frowned. Why wasn’t anything happening? Then he remembered. Azura had taken her ki into the bodies of many kin. Perhaps he need more. Gentle he removed his ki atop the first piece of iron then onto the next. However this time he forced the ki to burrow inside the metal to better expose it. He expected some difficulty. Instead it easily sunk into the metal block. Frowning he looked more closely. There was a small pin size hole. The metal had offered no resistance at all.

“Damn…”

This time as he focused on the solid ki as a two faint possibility grew. He frowned. They were small and indistinct. He couldn’t tell them apart. They were too similar. Perhaps he needed more. Gerald moved his ki to each piece of iron. Each time his ki took on a more of a grayish color as the two choices slowly grew in potential.

Gerald realized it wasn’t potent enough. Then he moved on to the orichalcum. The difference he felt was immediate. One of the choices grew enormously while a new one was added. Gerald intently focused on the one that grew. Yes this was it, metal. Perhaps the other two were specific to the metal itself? But why did the orichalcum have such a massive impact to his attunement? The iron had barely effected it earlier. Maybe the iron was too weak. What was the difference? Perhaps the orichalcum had more of the ‘essence’ than the iron? Yes, that seemed likely. It was a more magically active metal. Then…

Gerald regarded the small bar of mythril telling himself it was for his attunement. Regardless he felt bad about damaging the valuable metal. He did it anyways. The ki gently sunk into the metal. The ki rang out to him like his hammer on the anvil. Not an ear splitting noise, but one that he found comforting. The ki resonated with a deep part of himself.

Son of the hard earth? Is this who you are?

Gerald hesitated. It was close. He could accept this, but he didn’t want to. He wanted, more. Instead he picked up his favorite hammer. Gerald was about to turn to the forge to think, then he paused. He looked back at his ki with its unanswered question. Instead he asked it one. Will you join me? With surprising ease, he moved the ki to his favorite hammer allowing it to enter the head. Then he began to forge. For long minutes he hammered away shaping the metal, creating. He didn’t notice but with each blow a subtle change to the ki was made. Just as the metal he was shaping changed, so too did the ki. It wasn’t a violent or forceful change, but willing alterations to be better fit to the bear-kin who whom it was a part of. By the time Gerald was done with the simple metal hoe, his ki too was ready. The question that it had been waiting for an answer too, now altered.

This this what you seek to forge? Is this who you are?

“Gladly,” Gerald said. He wasn’t sure what had changed but it felt right as the altered potential became reality. Immediately he lost control of his ki as it sped home. Before Gerald could do anything the ki was back in the central of his ki spiral. Gerald mentally dove back into his ki spiral where in the center he saw all his solid ki had a metallic silvery sheen to them.

Gerald smiled. He’d done it. Now… how to use it…