As I watched the roach fall into two pieces, I lowered my sword into a relaxed grip, and a line of golden light ran down from the blade and quickly covered my whole body. In seconds, the many slashes that the last roach had inflicted upon me healed, as well as the fatigue that I had suffered during the battle. After the light receded, I felt good, even better than I had before the battle. This ascender thing rules! I thought to myself. Magic powers and getting healed after a battle, Awesome! That being said, I was still very confused as to why it happened and began to speculate why that light hadn't helped me out while I was being stabbed to death. Before I had a chance to think it over, I heard some rustling over by the second roach corpse, and with a burst of effort, it was shoved to the side, revealing none other than the lunatic himself, Mr. Mask. I locked eyes with the fool for the very first time, or at least I locked eyes with the mask's eye lenses, but it was the thought that counted.

The first to relent was Mr. Mask, who glanced away, then slowly removed the mask from his face, letting it rest on the floor. He moved to a kneeling position, placing his forehead on the floor and saying,

"My name is Siegfreid. I am a probationary master divine smith of the Isle of Arknosis. Thank you for saving my life, great ascender. I am in your debt."

I stared at Sieg for a moment longer before saying the first thing that came to mind, "Are you an idiot?"

In a flash of anger, Sieg rose from his reverential pose to stare at me with rage in his eyes. "What did you just call me?"

"I asked if you were an idiot, did I stutter."

"No, I heard you loud and clear, golden boy. I'm just making sure you knew you were insulting a master divine smith of the Isle of Arknosis!"

"Are we in Arknosis?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Also, aren't you a probationary master divine smith?" With those words from me, Sieg visibly deflated. In a second, all the many choices that he had taken in his life flashed before him. He must have never really faced this kind of frank dismissal of his person with so little regard for his position. So, it was there and then that the prideful, would-be divine smith broke down and began sobbing. This action stunned me and made me instantly feel terrible. I had just wanted to take the arrogant young man down a peg, not completely break his confidence. Also, without the mask and sobbing profusely, I came to the realization that this stocky guy was most likely a few years younger than myself. Not knowing what else to do, I did what had always worked when my sister started balling, I gave Sieg a hug.

At first Sieg recoiled from my touch, but then gave in. For the young man who grew up hard on the streets and transitioned into the demanding life of a smith, he had very little experience with being comforted. That being said this was his time of need and he was able for the first time to tell his story to another. When I say his story I mean his whole story, it when like this

Sieg was a probationary master divine smith of the Isle of Arknosis. Orphaned at a young age, he was discovered by a traveling Arknoin smith and found to have the potential to become a divine smith. Arknosis is a small island nation known for its craftsmanship. It is said that the best craftsmen in all of Ragnaros can be found there, and among them, the divine smiths are the most prestigious. They are the only ones who know the secret of how to forge divine artifacts, and their importance to Arknossis is so great that they hold not only cultural significance but also the outright rule of the island nation. Needless to say, a street rat who was not native to Arknossis being accepted as an apprentice was a big deal.

Sieg threw himself into his training and quickly rose through the ranks at a breakneck speed. He was once one of the most promising students in Arknoin history. However, he got a bit too full of himself. He decided, against his master's wishes, that he was ready to construct a divine artifact, which was the test to become a master. He had spent over a year at the peak of journeyman and only needed to construct a divine artifact to be considered a master in his own right. He begged his master for months to let him attempt the forging process, but his master always told him that patience was a virtue necessary for becoming a master smith. But Sieg didn't listen. Being a headstrong young man, he snuck into his master's forge with a pilfered divine essence and began the artifact construction process. He believed that once he succeeded and showed the others how talented he was, they would be crazy to reject a talent like himself joining their ranks. After hours of labor, he was indeed successful in constructing the artifact, but this was much to the council of Arknosis grandmaster's disapproval.

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For not only did Sieg steal the divine essence from his master, but the artifact, while very well-made, was lacking in the eyes of the council of Arknosis grandmasters. The artifact was a mask attuned with the element of light, with its primary use being disguising the wearer and making them impossible to recognize. The council saw this as a useless artifact and wondered what kind of light element-based ascender would be interested in such an artifact. Due to this reason, and the theft, Sieg was sent on a quest for redemption. Upon the quest's completion, Sieg would be recognized as a master, but until then, he was put on probation and lost all of his status. To complete the quest, he would have to find a divine essence to replace the one he stole, and he would have to do it alone. Apart from minimal supplies, all he was allowed to take with him was his journeyman's hammer and the divine mask, which the other masters saw as useless, so they saw it as a good way to dispose of two failures. He was also told that if he could not find another essence, he shouldn't bother returning, for he would no longer have a home in Arknosis.

Divine essences are extremely rare and are found in some of the most dangerous places in the world. Not to mention that even if one survives the area, there is always a creature of some sort that guards the essence. These creatures are known as divine guardians and are naturally infused with divine energy from the essence they guard.

Strong as he was from years of smithing, Sieg was no warrior, and even if he was, the hunt for divine essences took the lives of countless adventurers over the years. As further punishment, he took an oath preventing him from smithing until he completed his quest. So, it was with a heavy heart that he left Arknosis, knowing that the grandmasters didn't expect him to succeed, and this was just a slightly kinder way of exiling him. For a while, he thought of discarding his dream of becoming a legendary smith, but he ultimately decided that he would complete his quest or die trying. After a little more than a year of searching, he was able to find the probable location of a divine essence. It seemed to be in a cave complex infused with shadow. Knowing that this was his only chance, and most likely his end, Sieg strode into the caves, his hammer clenched in his hand, and determination on his face.

Through all of his poor decisions, Sieg did have a plan to obtain the divine essence. The true use of the Mask he had made was to make the user unnoticeable to the degree that they could walk around as if they were invisible. He possessed no divine energy of his own, but lucky for him, after its creation, a divine artifact was filled with power that would last for a time. So, even though he personally could not refill the mask, he hoped it still had enough charge from its creation so he could slip right into the guardian beast's lair and take the essence without it noticing.

Not really the best of plans due to the fact that it's doubtful that the artifact's power could conceal the fact that he was sneaking out with the guardian beast's most prized possession, but you have to give the guy some points for resolve. As a bonus, the mask even granted Sieg a sort of dark vision while active. That being said, Sieg drastically overestimated the charge the mask had left, and his goose was pretty much cooked when it gave out while he was walking by the super roaches. All he was able to do was quickly turn on the glow lantern he had purchased for this expedition and quickly break the crappy sword he had on a Superoaches leg. This would have been the end for our risk-prone smith, if not for the swift intervention of one reckless young benefactor (me).

Even when banished from Arknosis itself, the masters were just extremely disappointed in his choices rather than dismissive of him entirely. In fact, had his gamble paid off, many of the masters would have even supported him. The problem was he had failed. Failed to the point where he was nothing more than monster chow in some underground cave. He was worse off now than he had ever been as a street rat, and it was no wonder this ascender treated him like a fool, because that's what he truly was.

As he finished his story, I hugged him again, letting him know that I was there for him. I told him that he had a lot of potential and that he just needed to believe in himself. I also reminded him that I was an ascender, and told him of my own foolish actions that had gotten me into this predicament. Though I was truthful, I’m certain he didn't fully believe me, that said he did understand I wanted to help him.

Sieg finally looked up at me with a small smile on his face, and I knew that he was going to be okay. I picked up his mask fully admiring it for the first time. It was quite clearly of very high quality. The design was almost reminiscent of Shredder from the ninja turtles with no facial features apart from the eyes and V shape on the forehead. Unlike Shredder the color of the mask was different shades of gold with two green gemstones for eyes. For a moment both of us just admired Sieg’s handiwork. Then we both realized that we were stuck in an underground cave and that we needed to find a way out.