The next morning, he woke again to the sound of an alarm.

Getting out of bed, he noticed that it was earlier this time than when he had been woken before.

He went to the shower and spent about fifteen minutes cleaning up before he got out and dried off.

Returning to his room, he went over to the armoire and opened the door and was surprised to find a new section labeled ‘Combat’.

There was no apparent difference between the two, but he decided to go with the new ones anyway.

Heading down to the kitchen, he had a large breakfast before remembering the book that he had seen last night. He went upstairs to retrieve it.

It turned out that the book was titled On Archery, which was, of course, all about archery, its history, various shooting postures, and many other things besides.

Deciding that he ought to leave the book reading for later, he went and retrieved the strange pocket knife before heading to Bart’s.

Arriving at the school, Aeron went straight to the forge, hoping that he could get answers about the knife.

As soon as he walked in, Jake dropped what he was working on.

“Whoa, Aeron, where did you get the armor?”

“Armor?”

“Yeah, the enchanted clothing that appears to be shape-changing.”

“Oh, I found this stuff in my armoire this morning and decided to try it on.”

“Try saying ‘armor’. That is the default activation code.”

As soon as he said it, the clothes became white steel and black iron.

“Wow, dragon steel and primordial iron. Very strong combo.” Jake said. “And what about the pocket knife that you were supposed to bring?”

Bringing it out, he handed it to Jake, then changed his armor back into clothing.

“Well, the blade is made mostly of Shadow Steel, while the inlay along the back edge is made of Olympian Gold and Mountain-Bronze. The edge is lined with Enchanted Silver. Meanwhile, the handle is made out of Dragon Steel on the pale side, and Adamant on the bluish side. Joining the two halves is Orichalcum, that pinkish metal that you see. The blade lock is made of Primordial Iron. At a guess, I’d say that it was forged in the fires of the River Styx, and cooled in the River Lethe. The obsidian is certainly enchanted, though I’m not sure how, and I can detect several enchanted gemstones embedded within the blade.”

“Wait… what do these all do again?”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Shadow Steel is only mined in the Underworld; Olympian gold must come from Olympus; Mountain Bronze comes from the Ourea; Enchanted Silver is made for killing were- creatures; Dragon Steel must be made by combining powdered dragon eggshell with iron, and must be heated in Dragonfire; Adamant is only found in the deepest mines, is nearly impossible to find, and even then only in trace amounts, in addition, it is nearly unbreakable; Orichalcum is very rare nowadays, seeing as it can only be mined on the island of Atlantis, which sunk beneath the waves thousands of years ago; Primordial Iron is only mined near the Pit of Chaos, which is inside the pit of Tartarus. The River Styx is the River of Oaths, and the River Lethe is the River of Forgetfulness. They represent 2 of the 5 rivers of the Underworld.” Jake explained.

“Wow, can you tell what the enchantment is for?”

“Well, one of the enchantments changes it from a pocket knife to some other blade, we’d have to activate it to be sure what, and the other one I’m not sure about. You’ll have to ask Miss Smarts.”

“Ok, first, how do I activate it? And, second, where can I find her?” Aeron asked.

“You’ll have to ask her about that, and you should find her in the library,” Jake told him, turning to pick up his project.

Interpreting that as a dismissal, Aeron went to find the library.

Entering the library, Aeron almost immediately saw Ms. Smarts sitting in one of the chairs.

Looking up, she said, “Hello, Aeron, what brings you here?”

“I need you to tell me about an enchantment,” he said, pulling out the knife.

“Oh, my,” she said, hurrying over.

“The first enchantment is one that changes the shape and is activated by you flipping it out as like a switchblade and saying 'activate,' and reversed by the same thing, except you say 'deactivate'.”

“And the other enchantment?”

“The second enchantment comes in two parts. The first part is that any wound from this blade is nearly impossible to heal. The second part is that any wound made by this blade is able to be healed by direct contact with the hilt. The only other way that it could be healed is through divine intervention.” she told him.

“Whoa, that’s overpowered. And did you say the second enchantment? Are there more?” Aeron asked.

“Yes, one more,” Ms. Smart said, “This blade has been named Σκότος or Skótos. In English, that means darkness. The third enchantment allows you to call the blade to you by saying its name while your hand is outstretched.”

“Wow, I think I need to try that,” he said, already itching to do so.

“Well, you should probably try it at some point before we go for the trip to kill the Arachnates.” Ms. Smart told him.

“Oh, that reminds me, I’m expected for training in the arena.”

As he arrived at the arena, he figured that he ought to see what weapon it would turn into, and so he gently flicked his wrist to see what would happen.

He watched in awe as the knife changed shape until it looked like something crossed between a battleax and a sword.

As he walked into a room labeled armory, he noticed a very similar shadowsteel sword hanging on the wall, though it wasn’t enchanted. How did I know that? he thought.

Then, he thought, I’d better use that blade instead of my own, I don’t want anyone to be permanently hurt.

As he got it down off the wall, he noticed a silver and gold trim running down the cutting edge of the blade, and what looked like writing engraved on the blunt edge. Probably supposed to be ceremonial and still remain functional, he thought. Retrieving the scabbard, which was just as ornate and ceremonial appearing as the sword was, he slung it over his shoulder and left the armory.