Rise of the Living Forge

“You have to be kidding me,” Arwin said. “Nobody? Nothing at all? It couldn’t tell that I was just having a conversation?”

Lillia shook her head. A worried frown crossed her lips and creased her brow. “No. The only presence at this table was you. If there was someone else… they’re strong enough to completely evade my senses. That’s not good. I suppose I’d have no way to know for sure, but even Selen got revealed to me. I’ve never seen someone strong enough to completely slip by undetected, much less have a full conversation right under my nose.”

“Fantastic,” Arwin said, pinching his nose between his fingers and repressing a sigh. “Well, to give you the long story short, there was a woman here fishing for information about us. She knew that we’re going to the Proving Grounds, but not which members would be attending.”

“Hostile?”

“I’m not entirely sure. I didn’t get the sense she was,” Arwin admitted. He scratched the back of his neck. “If anything, it felt like she was annoyed that she had to be here. Probably working for someone. It didn’t feel like she wanted to get rid of us or the like. More than she was just curious.”

“Curious but strong enough to waltz past my defenses,” Lillia observed. She pursed her lips. “Anything else important?”

“She had long black hair that covered most of her face. Nothing else that really stuck out. She wanted to know what our goals were. I answered honestly that we wanted to help people and she didn’t buy it. That was just about it.”

“Interesting. I’ll keep an eye out, then. Nothing really changes, though. We keep on as we are. There isn’t that much time before the tournament, and I doubt that anyone is going to be able to properly prepare for what we’re bringing to the table.”

Arwin chuckled. “No, I don’t think they are. I’m quite looking forward to seeing how everyone performs. I kind of want them all to win.”

“No, but that doesn’t stop a man from dreaming.”

***

The rest of the night went by without any further interruptions. Arwin managed to keep his mind off work for the vast majority of it, electing to simply enjoy dinner and take a few hours off before retiring to bed together with Lillia late in the night.

And, as it always did, the following morning arrived. A large portion of the Menagerie gathered for breakfast — though many of them were still out on their respective tasks — but the remaining members quickly went off to work as soon as they finished eating.

Arwin was no exception. There were two days left before the tournament. He had quite a number of things that he could work on to ensure their teams had the highest chance of success, but the foremost of them arrived through the door of the Devil’s Den no more than a few minutes after everyone had finished breakfast.

Kien’s eyes were wild and his clothes, which Lillia had given him a replacement for, had once again gotten ripped to shreds. His hair hung low around his face but did nothing to conceal the faintest of smiles that had taken root on his lips.

He didn’t say a word before stepping inside and checking to make sure there wasn’t anyone else in the Devil’s Den that could overhear them. Only once he’d confirmed it was safe did he speak.

“I did it,” Kien said.

“That quickly?” Arwin asked in surprise. “I was expecting it would take you at least today as well! Then… you completed the Quest without too much difficulty?”

“I don’t know about without difficulty, but I won,” Kien replied. He drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sharp huff, looking down at his knuckles. “Things did not go as I was expecting. It’s been a long time since I had to fight like that.”

Arwin followed his gaze. He couldn’t keep his eyes from widening slightly. They were completely torn up. It looked like Kien had spent the last day punching a piece of solid steel. His hands were stained red and several of his fingers looked broken.

“Godspit,” Reya exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her chair. “What happened to you?”

“I did not have a weapon yet, and it felt… wrong to take on the Quest Arwin assigned with anything but something he made me,” Kien replied with a shrug. “So I used what I was born with.”

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“You… beat the monster to death with your hands?” Arwin asked. “What the hell was it?”

Kien’s smile fell away. “I would prefer not to speak of it. The Mesh did not make the fight easy. It pushed me to limits I did not know I had. In truth, I won the fight several hours ago. It just took me some time to muster the energy to move again.”

“Did you at least get your Class?” Reya asked. “Did it work?”

Kien nodded. “Yes. I received what I set out to get. I must say, it was not what I was expecting. Not from the fight, nor from my goals. Does the Mesh enjoy playing jokes on people?”

“I think you’d be surprised to find how useful odd classes can be,” Arwin said slowly.

Kien nodded. “I am not displeased. As odd as this new power is, I believe it will suit me very well.”

“What exactly did you get — and, possibly more importantly, what kind of weapon do you want? We don’t have all that long before the tournament. The sooner I can get to work, the better. You’ll also need time to get used to it and get as strong as you can before the Proving Grounds start. Two days really isn’t that long. Don’t forget that you’re going to need to get achievements before you advance if you want to avoid crippling yourself.”

Kien raised his hands before him, a faint smile pulling across his lips. “Thank you for your concern, Arwin. But you do not need to worry for me. We cannot change what fate holds in store. I will be prepared. But for the weapon… I believe it may be easier to show you what I desire than to speak of it.”

Arwin shrugged and rose from his chair. “No reason to delay, then. Let’s get to it. The sooner we get this made, the better.”

Kien cleared his throat and glanced over Arwin’s shoulder, to where Lillia sat along with Reya.

“If I may, could I have some of your time as well?” Kien asked. “I believe my request will involve things related to you. It is a bit of an interesting one.”

Lillia blinked, then stood and brushed her clothes off. “That’s fine with me. I’ve already got breakfast cooking for everyone waiting outside. Reya, do you think you could get things moving?”

“Sure thing,” Reya said with a salute.

She headed off to start letting the breakfast crowd in, while Kien turned toward the entrance of the Devil’s Den’s cellar.

Arwin and Lillia exchanged a mildly amused look before following after him.

I don’t know what it is he wants, but something tells me that this is going to be interesting. I was definitely right in recruiting him to the Menagerie. Kien has some issues to work out, but so do the rest of us. He’ll fit right in.

***

Kien’s request was as he had said it would be.

It was interesting.

The weapon he’d asked for wasn’t exactly what Arwin had been expecting. It was simultaneously rather boring and quite unique. Amusingly enough, that lined up quite well with his new class as well.

And so Arwin had gotten to work. He and Kien had headed to the Infernal Armory no more than a few minutes later. Over the course of the rest of the day, they’d worked to forge Kien a weapon imprinted by his soul.

The task wasn’t an easy one. But, with the aid of the Infernal Armory and Arwin’s steadily growing experience in this new field of smithing, they finished it with several hours of daylight left to spare.

It was probably one of the plainest items Arwin had ever made. But, despite that, Kien had accepted it with immense gratitude. He’d clutched the weapon to his chest, staring at it like a mother looking upon her child for the first time, before wrapping it in bandages and striding away to prepare for the Proving Grounds.

They’d finished their work right on time. Only around an hour after Kien had left did Melissa show up along with Raen — and a cartload of metal. The look on her face told Arwin everything that he needed to know.

The Montibeau family had joined forces with the Dawnseeker guild to fund Art’s team. And so Arwin had gotten right back to work. Kien was set, but if Art and Vix wanted to make it far in the tournament, they’d need equipment as well.

Of course, they weren’t full members of his guild. Arwin wasn’t about to hand everyone he allied with the keys to the most powerful weapons he had. He didn’t plan to make them anything that was soul imprinted. And so, he spent the rest of the day and much of the next preparing normal, enchanted equipment for Vix and Art.

That wasn’t to say the equipment was weak. Vix’s armor would help her stay to the shadows and provide significant benefits to her speed, while Art’s was focused on being as light and protective as possible. His work would be good, but it was nowhere near the level of his other pieces — and that was just fine with him.

Arwin did manage one more thing. He took a trip to Wallace’s smithy, where he spoke with the dwarf about the Proving Grounds and the information he’d discovered about it.

What he found concerned him — but it also gave Arwin several ideas. He returned to the smithy alone, beginnings of a plan beginning to form in his mind. He spoke with Lillia and Rodrick of it, but much of their action would depend on what happened in the tournament. There was nothing they could do yet. There simply wasn’t enough time.

And then, just like that, their time to prepare was up.

The next day was upon them all of them.

Selen arrived with it.

For the first time in a while, the entire group had gathered in the common room of the Devil’s Den. Every member of the Menagerie, Raen and Melissa, the Phoenix Circle, Art and Vix, they were all there.

“It seems you’ve gathered quite the crowd,” Selen said, a smile pulling across her lips behind her veil as she looked over them all.

“We’ve been looking forward to this,” Arwin replied simply.

“It’s a bit unusual for two teams to be present beside each other before the start of the Proving Grounds,” Selen said. “But it is of no matter. Are all the participants prepared?”

“We are,” Olive said.

Art nodded as well.

“Then it is time,” Selen said. “Prepare yourselves. We go to the Proving Grounds.”

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