Emily took a deep breath as she entered the building. It was about the size of a two-story house, although it looked more like a factory. Inside it was just one large room with various machines lining the walls and littering the floor. It looked extremely chaotic, but Emily was sure it would make sense if she understood it. A river of molten metal ran through one corner, apparently being spit out from one machine to be absorbed by another. On the opposite wall from the door, with a maze of machinery in between, a man was hunched over a workbench. He turned to look her way, and Emily's hands shot to her mouth in shock. She had seen men before, even had a boy touch her face once, but this man was old. His dark-skinned face was wrinkled beyond anything she could believe was human, with scraggly white hair dangling from half of its surface. His entire head was bald, like Emily's had been when she'd been sick as a child. He was wearing a headband with a strange mechanical lens attached to it. The lens was flipped up, away from his eye, allowing Emily to see that it was green. His other eye apparently didn't have a pupil or iris, instead having a network of unusual symbols littered across its surface.
"Astarotte?" He asked in a weary tone.
Emily bowed as deep as she could, as if having her head raised higher than his was some great sin. "Yes, Esteemed One." she said, forcing herself to stay calm and keep her voice from wavering.
"You need not pretend, child." the man scoffed, "I know your kind despises me, false respect is meaningless. My name is Terrance, use it."
Emily raised her head. She wanted to protest that her respect was genuine, but doing so would mean revealing the book. "Then please, sir, call me Emily." she offered as a compromise.
Terrance raised an eyebrow, "Alright then, Emily." he tried it on, and almost looked surprised that he had said it, "Did you bring the offering?"
Emily nodded, and held out a small vial of milk. She'd been offered two options, but only one was truly open to her. The sickness had taken the other before she was even old enough to understand it. Unfortunately, the option lost to her was also the easier option. Preparing this offering had been difficult and time consuming.
Terrance pointed towards a table and said, "Sit." He joined her in going over to it, and took the offering once they were both there. "They told you of what must be done?"
"Yes." Another choice, this one not restricted by her sickness.
"And which do you choose?"
Emily blushed, "Mouth." She'd been told the other option would be more powerful, but this was already embarrassing enough.
"Very well, your shirt?"
Emily unbuttoned her shirt, going quickly for fear than if she delayed at all she would lose her nerve. Once her chest was exposed, Terrance reached out and touched it. His hand was surprisingly cold, and Emily recoiled at the touch. Terrance waited for her to acclimate to the situation before her continued. He reached up with his other hand and pushed his fingers into her mouth. She was expecting his hand to taste of sweat and soot, but instead found it tasted of strawberries. She belatedly realized that his hands were cold and strawberry-flavored because the workbench he'd been at was actually sink; he'd just washed them.
The symbols on Terrance's eye glowed, slowly shifting between combinations of red and blue with no apparent pattern. She had been prepared for this when she came to the forge, but experiencing it was still violating. Eventually the patterns settled into one configuration and Terrance released her.
"Ehman." he called out over his shoulder. A young boy, eight at the most, emerged from behind one of the machines. Terrance went over to guide him, bringing him over to Emily. "Ehman, this is Emily."
The boy didn't respond, but he did look at her. Emily started to smile back, but his eyes didn't meet hers. She flushed bright red again as she realized where he was looking, and quickly pulled her shirt over herself. Ehman didn't react.
"Emily, Ehman may be making a great sacrifice for you." Terrance didn't have to explain, Emily understood the process, "I know you think him lowly, but please thank him."
"Thank you, Ehman." Emily said dutifully, this time successfully looking Ehman in the eyes. She thought she saw Terrance raise his eyebrow again, but it was too brief for her to be sure.
Terrance handed Ehman the offering, and the boy drank it. He was left sitting on the floor while Terrance went deeper into the forge, the process would take time and Terrance needed to apply the pattern he'd learned.
"Emily." Ehman's voice startled her.
"Um, yes?" Emily felt a cold bead of sweat on her forehead, she felt uncomfortable talking to the boy without Terrance present to officiate.
"You're pretty."
Emily thought back a few minutes and wasn't sure she wanted the compliment.
Ehman didn't notice her discomfort and continued, "I don't want you to get hurt, I want you to stay pretty, so I'll do my best, okay?"
Terrance returned before Emily could say anything in response. He carried a jar of silvery liquid with a similar consistency to paint. The living metal that would be shaped into Emily's holy weapon. Terrance set it at her feet and Ehman crawled up to it. There was nothing more to be said, so Ehman simply went ahead with the ritual, placing his hand into the jar. The metal stirred violently at his touch, lashing at his arm and drawing blood. Were it not for Emily's offering, it would have killed the boy outright. Only Esteemed Ones could handle living metal safely. Eventually Ehman had bled enough to sate the metal, and it went still. Ehman passed out from the exertion, and Terrance covered him with a blanket.
"Is he..?" Emily ventured.
"No, your offering was adequate. He will be grateful." Terrance smiled softly at her, "Your concern is genuine, isn't it?It has been many decades since last I believed one of you truly cared. Thank you for a glimmer of hope."
Emily felt a hint of elation jump up inside her as she realized she'd successfully spread a virtue. She'd been feeling lost ever since she found the book, and for the first time it seemed the damned thing had helped her achieve her goal instead of making it more difficult. She returned Terrance's smile and nodded almost imperceptibly, fearful that any more response would do something to sour the moment.
"Your weapon is ready, would you like to complete the ritual alone?" Terrance prompted her after she was quiet a little too long.
"No, I can do it here." Emily steeled herself for the final step.
Terrance handed her the jar, and she stuck her hand in just as Ehman had. Instead of attacking her, it leapt forth. It formed a sphere in the air in front of her, and then began to reshape itself. Emily tried to guess as what it would be as it went. It started to shape into a point, and she thought she might have been stuck with a simple dagger. What happened next made a dagger look ideal. The metal launched towards her, piercing her chest before she could react. She felt a sharp pain shoot through her heart as it was penetrated, and further agony prickled through her chest as the weapon spread its influence within. She couldn't feel anything else, least of all the passage of time, but later on Terrance would (much too calmly) inform her that she'd writhed in agony for three hours.
When all was said and done, a nail was resting in her chest, having pierced her heart. It had stopped hurting, but she was still pretty disturbed. She knew that holy weapons sometimes integrated themselves into the body, but she hadn't expected it to happen to her. Terrance told her that she possessed the element of Spirit, and hinted that if she wanted to active her power, she would need to work up the courage to pull the nail out. He sent her on her way with a final word of advice, "Don't let war steal away your kindness. Ehman has seen many beautiful women, it is your heart that he found attractive." Emily hadn't bothered asking how he knew about that brief conversation.
She had to wonder if she'd ever see Terrance or Ehman again, there was no reason to visit a forge twice. She found her goals had changed very suddenly. She still wanted to spread the virtues and share the knowledge of the book, but not merely for the sake of doing those things. She needed to do it because Ehman and Terrance had entrusted their hopes to her. She owed them for the power she now held, and she vowed to use it to pay them back.
Monika and Kira
Mack fell for Kira's feint, swinging her bat up almost like a golf club. She didn't seem bothered, letting go of the bat before Kira had finished solidifying her scarf to prevent it being uncomfortably wrenched from her grip. She stepped in past the bat and scarf, pushing her forward leg between Kira's and twisting it slightly around to prevent Kira from backing away. She caught Kira's scarf hand by the wrist, and snatched the other arm around the elbow. Mack was stronger than she looked, and she looked pretty strong, her grip was too tight for Kira to wrestle free. Mack brought her head forward, threatening to smash Kira's nose with a headbutt.
Rather than a headbutt, Kira was instead assaulted with a kiss. Mack's tongue wormed its way between Kira's lips and she found herself involuntarily gasping in surprise. That's when something caught in her throat. Mack twisted Kira's wrist and she lost her grip on the scarf, causing it to revert back to normal. Mack let go and spun to retrieve her bat before it fell to the ground, tripping the choking Kira with her entwined leg in the process. Kira's scarf floated gently to the ground a few feet away, too far for Kira to just reach out and grab.
Bat held upside down and in a reverse grip, Mack faced Monika, who had just entered halberd range. She didn't have time to adjust her bat before Monika could attack, so whatever response she made would have to be done with her weapon positioned extremely awkwardly.
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Topic: [IC] Remembrance (Read 52474 times)