The calloused hands moved with the practised precision that only time and skill together could achieve. Mana radiated from the small stone tablet in waves, and only the enchantments on the surrounding walls prevented its power from reaching outside the building. The hands were so close to completing the final rune in the enchantment. Using his dominant hand, the dwarf applied the slightest amount of pressure to the marble’s surface. He paused, waiting for something, anything to happen, but nothing did. An odd mixture of relief and disappointment flooded him. Had he done something wrong? Had his translations been incorrect? He thought back on his theories and methods up to this point. So deep was he in thought that he missed the almost imperceptible glow that began to emanate from the tablet in front of him. When the glow began to get brighter and brighter, however, he was pulled from his ruminations. Looking down, the intricate symbols that covered the tablet seemed to shift together, almost as if trying to form something. A feeling of panic began to well up in him. Bright light was beginning to shine through the room.
Immediately and without hesitation, he reached down and fumbled with a small leather pouch on his belt. Obtaining what he sought, he lifted up a small gem. It was cold to the touch with a deep crystalline grey exterior. Just by holding it, he felt it drawing mana from his body and the environment. A sliver of cold ran down his back as his mana was forcefully pulled into it. Bringing it to the tablet on his workbench, he prepared to drain the tablet of mana. But just as he was about to, a buzzing static seemed to ring out, and for a moment, the rune stopped shifting, showing the picture of a strange-looking symbol on the tablet's face. Then came the explosion. The dwarf was thrown back with such force that he was out cold before even hitting the wall behind him.
…
Sarah was not one to be surprised. As a seven-year veteran of the city guard, she had thought herself accustomed to surprising things. Show her a vicious thug caring for an abandoned kitten or one of those haughty nobles being discovered at the local brothel and she wouldn’t blink an eye, but as the building she had been assigned to watch over, the building filled with nothing but an old dwarf and even older scraps of paper, exploded, even her stubborn self could admit she had not expected that. She was thrown off her feet.
She lay there a second, still trying to process what had just happened. Physically, she was fine, her iron body skill saving her from any real damage. It would take a lot more than this to scratch her. But mentally, she was confused and disorientated. She had been about a second away from knocking on the door to the once-building after hearing a strange static resounding out, and now said door lay atop her.
“What... Pridgen, shit…shit…shit, shit.” Throwing the door off herself, she leapt to her feet. Taking in the surroundings, she only felt her panic for the gruff old dwarf grow. The immediate area had been flattened. The area where the simple stone building had once stood was nothing but rubble. Scraps of paper lay scattered everywhere, but she couldn’t see the dwarf anywhere.
“PRIDGEN, PRIDGEN. Gods dammit, DAD WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?” she yelled, her panic seeping into the call.
Her head darted from left to right as she looked for the old dwarf. I swear if you're dead I’m going to kill you. She felt the tears beginning to well up at the back of her eyes but held them back. What would Clara do if she were here? Think, Sarah, think.
“Here… over here.” The voice was weak but was no less a sign of life.
She didn’t have to think for long before her hearing picked up something. In an instant, Sarah was beside the pile of rouble that the noise originated from; she hefted stones like they were pebbles from the pile that used to be the building’s back wall. Soon, her efforts were rewarded as she uncovered more and more of the dwarf.
“Healing...” She didn’t even let him finish his words as she ripped the healing potion from her belt and practically shoved it down the old man’s throat. Realising her mistake too late, she pulled the vial from his mouth. Pushing her away, the dwarf sat up, the high-quality potion already doing its job. A healing potion, unfortunately, didn’t remove the need for oxygen, and as the vial’s contents ran down every passage in the dwarf, Pridgen coughed violently, red liquid spraying from his nose. Cursing, he stared at Sarah, who had enough grace to wear a sheepish expression.
“Gods, girly, learn to be a little gentler, won’t you?” Pridgen said, his reprimand filling Sarah with relief. If he was lively enough to reprimand her, he was certainly lively enough not to be dead. Just as his tone was turning lecturous, he felt leather-clad arms wrap around him in a hug.
“You old fart, you promised me no more explosions.” Remembering having made said promise after the time he had dropped a chest containing an unstable mana crystal causing it to explode, his words died in his throat. Peering beyond Sarah, he looked back over his workshop, or more accurately, what used to be his workshop. That time had been blown up part of the wall, it had been nothing compared to this. Priceless papers, documents, books, all lay in various states around the blast zone. His sigh deepened. He was going to get an earful from Velo about all the destroyed artefacts. Imagining the high mage furiously yelling at him as he wept over the lost writings was already starting to give Pridgen a headache. They were all nothing but copies anyway. But when he thought about the tablet that had exploded, even his mostly blasé outlook was tinged with regret. That chunk of grand marble had been a gift from his future son-in-law. Could he classify something he had traded his marriage blessing for as a gift? Probably. Besides, if Clara didn’t want to marry the boy, she wouldn’t have threatened him to accept beforehand. Thinking about how she had looked him in the eye and threatened to shut down his favourite tavern had almost made him crack a smile, almost. You never mess with a dwarf’s source of alcohol.
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“…Pridgen… PRIDGEN.” Sarah’s calls broke him out of his thoughts. That was the second time today; he really had to try to pay attention more.
“S-sorry, lass, what was that?” he stammered out, looking at her. She had finally released him and was staring at him in concern.
“I said, what the fuck happened? Why did the workshop just blow up?” People had gathered around now, drawn by the sight of the ruined area. It was lucky that his workspace was a restricted area, so only he and Sarah had been caught in the blast. The worried bystanders surrounded them now.
“Ahem, daughter, this is err… not the place.”
She only rolled her eyes in response. A scream rang out, and both their heads shot around to see a woman covering her child as something under the rubble glowed.
“Everyone get away,” Sarah screamed as she got up and ran towards the rubble. She dived for it, planning to reduce the explosion with her own body. She would be fine, after all. She had a skill to protect herself, but the people around her didn’t.
After a moment of nothing happening, she looked below herself. The blue glow hadn’t subsided, but diving on the rubble had shifted it enough to reveal its source. Some sort of stone tablet with a strange symbol on it sat beneath her. The tablet itself looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Clara would remember what this was, she thought sourly. Wait, Clara? Doesn't this thing resemble that stone that her boyfriend gave Pridgen? Not letting the weird glowing object leave her vision, she lifted her head and shouted over to where she had left Pridgen.
“Pridgen, isn’t this that thing that Vic-” A calloused hand clasped over her mouth, stopping her words.
Following the conjoined arm to its source, she found the dwarf staring at her with an exasperated look.
“Daughter, might I remind you that officially we have no connection to certain… individuals?” he whispered in her ear.
She nodded her head in understanding.
“Okay, but this thing definitely looks like that thing her boyfriend gave you,” she said, grabbing the tablet and holding it out to him.
Pridgen’s eyes would have turned into dinner plates if it were physically possible. What Sarah held was the grand marble tablet. But it was so much more. The tablet had somehow survived, and more importantly, the engraving on it had been completed. He could only stare in shock. Even from the beginning, he had never intended to create an authority artifact, but only to learn more about the process of their creation. With an application of his will, the notifications that he had silenced earlier washed over him. Among the several that notified him of his near-death, there were two in particular.
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*Notice *
You have created an artefact of the ‘Church of Unity’. You have gained an uncommon Title, ‘Novice Enchanter of the Unity’.
Effect: You have a greater ability to enchant artefacts that are related to the ‘Church of Unity’.
*Notice*
You have created an uncommon item.
Name: Replica Initiate’s Entrance Token for the Church of Unity
Description: A poorly made replica of an initiate’s entrance token engraved in grand marble. It may give its holder the authority to unlock specific doors related to the Church of Unity.
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Dear god, he had done it. After studying those ruins for years, he had finally done it. He had created a key possibly capable of opening the ancient doors. Not only that, but he had even gotten a title. A fucking title, for god’s sake. Sure, the effect was a little niche, but he could already feel his potential being bolstered by its power.
“Oh, do you want me to get rid of it or…?” Sarah said, straining her patience as he did nothing but gawk at the object in her hand.
“Certainly not, give that here,” he said, snatching the tablet from her hand, offended at even the thought of throwing away such a precious object. He held it close to his chest as if it were a defenceless babe. Sarah realised he was sheltering it from her and felt her annoyance growing.
“Come, we are leaving for Lockton Mine this instant. You there,” he said, pointing at a guard in the surrounding crowd. The guardsman pointed at himself as if to ask, "Who, me?"
“Yes, you. Run to the Castle and tell High Mage Velo to get his ass over to the Ancient Gates. He will know what I'm talking about.”
“R-Right away, Sir Pridgen,” the guard said, obviously uncomfortable about how he addressed the high mage.
“Come, daughter, we are off.”