Rise of the Living Forge

“See?” Arwin asked, taking a step back and crossing his arms in front of his chest. “It makes no sense.”

“Yeah. I’m picking up on why you’re having trouble with this,” Lillia agreed with a frown.

The two of them stood in the Infernal Armory. It had formed a pedestal on which Arwin had set two of Twelve’s black blades — one of the normal ones and one of the ones that could cut through magic.

For the past few minutes, Arwin had gone through all the tests he’d done on the weapons to bring Lillia up to speed. He had high hopes that she would be able to spot something that he might have missed and help crack the code of how he could replicate their anti-magic effects.

“I don’t think it’s a property of the metal,” Arwin said as he picked up both of the swords and held them up to the light of the fire cracking in the hearth to their side. “I couldn’t feel anything special when I spoke to it. It’s got desires and goals just like any other metal, but that’s it. Nothing in particular about not liking magic in the plain sword.”

“What about the other one?”

“I can’t speak to it,” Arwin said dryly. “It cuts through my magic.”

“You know, I probably should have guessed that,” Lillia said through a laugh. She crossed her arms in front of her chest to mirror Arwin’s pose and tapped a foot on the ground. “You’re right that it couldn’t be from Twelve’s class. Anything like that would have evaporated when he died. Maybe there’s some form of treatment done to the blade? Like an oil?”

“That’s an interesting idea,” Arwin said. He grabbed the normal sword and scratched at the edge of the blade of the other for a few seconds, but his efforts earned him nothing more than the annoying shrill of metal on metal. Neither sword was even slightly affected. He straightened and shook his head. “If it was a treatment, then I’m not seeing any visible results of it in the surface. I’d assume at least some of it would come off, or it would have come off during all the tests — but it looks and feels exactly the same. There’s no marring or other signs of external material.”

“Hm.” Lillia scratched at her chin and picked the sword up. “Well, I suppose we could go through a few of the tests I tried when I was figuring out my own powers back in the tavern. Maybe one of them will apply.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

***

The next few hours of their efforts were unsuccessful.

Arwin wasn’t sure if that was because boiling a sword didn’t work quite as well as boiling an egg, or if it was because the sword didn’t fit in any of Lillia’s pots.

That wasn’t the only test they tried, of course, but after running the weapons through a dozen different trials and tribulations, they were unable to glean anything about its origin other than the fact that it was supernaturally tough.

Lillia even brought the weapon into the Devil’s Den to scan over it with her abilities and see if it would reveal itself to her. That didn’t work either. Just like Arwin’s tries to speak with the blade, the magical effect encasing it kept her from sensing anything more than the fact there was a magical gap where there should have been a blade.

The two of them then found Esmerelda in her incredibly suspicious shop and showed her the weapon. She pored over it for a few minutes, only to conclude that it wasn’t cursed and while it reminded her of a few things, none were identical. It was just too far from her area of expertise.

They next brought the blade to Rodrick and Anna to get their thoughts on it. Rodrick had a few suggestions, but none of them turned up anything. He and Anna had never heard of a weapon with its properties and were just as baffled as everyone else was.

There was only so long Lillia could dedicate to helping Arwin, and with more than a little reluctance, she was forced to bid him good luck and head back to the tavern to get back to her own work for the day. Ｒå

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Arwin was left sitting in the Infernal Armory, one of each of Twelve’s swords in his hands, and tapping his foot on the ground.

This is a pain.

He only had a single idea left, and it wasn’t one he suspected to be wise.

“Call her back,” the Infernal Armory said, red mist rising up from the ground beside Arwin. “I enjoy her presence. It makes your mind warm.”

Arwin glanced away from his swords. “You know what my mind feels like?”

“I can sense it every time you enter my domain. It is normally very frigid.”

“Thanks,” Arwin said dryly. He nodded to the swords in his hands. “I miss her too, but that isn’t going to help me right now. I don’t suppose you’ve got any ideas as to what I could do with these? I really want to master making this anti-magic so I can work on a core.”

“I do not know anything that—”

“I don’t,” Arwin finished with a sigh. “You could at least try to toss something out there, you know. Why can you say that you miss Lillia?”

“Because you do.”

“Very helpful. Thank you.” It was harder to complain when he knew the armory was correct.

He was just about entirely out of ideas. None of the tests he’d gone through had given any fruit. The swords secrets were completely locked up within itself. There was a chance that Wallace would have been able to give him some useful thoughts on it… but that would have involved showing someone Twelve’s weapons.

Even though Arwin trusted the dwarf a lot more than he once had, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to reveal such a dangerous secret. That was the kind of thing that was just better to keep completely within the guild.

And that only leaves me with one option. Ugh. I’m glad that Twelve used two weapons rather than just one.

Arwin set the normal sword down and cradled the anti-magic one in flat palms, lifting it up to the light. He sniffed at the blade.

It smelled like metal.

The urge to sigh again tugged at him, but he ignored it. There weren’t any more options that he could think of. Not if he wanted to get anything done anytime soon. If there was one thing that would let him know what the sword was and how it worked, it was this.

And if it didn’t work, at least he would know and could explore different ideas. There was no point sitting on it forever. An advantage that couldn’t be capitalized on was nothing but a shiny distraction.

And that was how Arwin raised the weapon of a deadly assassin that could cut through magic itself — and took a giant bite out of it.

A part of him had expected to accidentally stab his own mouth. Its anti-magic had blocked the rest of the abilities that had been tried on it, but instead, the metal melted in his mouth like jelly.

It worked?

Something bubbled up in his stomach. Arwin wasn’t sure if it was magic or indigestion. He decided not to take the risk on the former. With several swift bites, Arwin ate the rest of the blade, hilt and all, leaving absolutely nothing of its passing.

A shimmer of gold passed before his face.

Arwin’s eyes went wide.

Hidden Milestone of [Curb the Hunger] has been unlocked.

??? Milestone: Still the Hungering Maw.

??? Reward: A moment of complete silence.

There’s no way… a secret milestone? But it makes sense! Eating anti-magic must have caused the Hungering Maw to take on that property for a moment, removing the hunger completely until its effects wear off.

But what’s a moment of complete silence?

No sooner than Arwin’s thoughts had finished passing through his mind did he feel something prickle against the base of his spine. A strange sensation passed over his entire body, as if the world had been submerged into a sea of static.

Darkness encroached at the edges of his sight. Almost instantly, Arwin realized what this was. A vision. But this one was different from the ones he’d had before. It was not a forceful advance so much as an offer.

The visions usually come after I try to craft something, though. This is new. I haven’t had one show up before I started crafting. That must be what the reward from the Mesh is. Access to the vision early.

He accepted that offer without a moment of hesitation. If the vision could give him even a moment of insight into either Curb the Hunger or the sword he’d just eaten, then any threat it might have posed would be worth it.

The world fell away. Arwin barely managed to sit down before he found his soul flying through a sky of endless black, leagues away from his body.

Distant shapes moved in the shadows surrounding him. None of them bore enough form to identify, but he could tell they were there.

Arwin waited to arrive at wherever he was being sent, but arrival never came. He simply remained in the empty void, surrounded by nothing.

He blinked as he realized that his body was working again. He lifted his hand, surprised to find that he could see it even in the lack of any light.

“Where am I?” Arwin asked. His voice rolled through the darkness and vanished into the nothingness.

“That,” a familiar voice said, sending chills down Arwin’s spine. “Is exactly the question that I was going to ask.”

Arwin spun. He wasn’t quite sure how — there wasn’t any ground to support himself on — but his body spun nonetheless.

And, floating in the dark across from him bearing a pair of twin black blades, was Twelve.