Chapter 314 - A Staccato of Stealth (1/2)

Aegin could hear it as they left. Could hear it as they walked out of his cave and made their way back the way they'd come. He stood for a long time, just listening to them, then he looked over his shoulder at the blade he'd been trying to make. He'd had the idea some time ago but had never been sure it would work. He'd never exactly been motivated enough to actually try it either though.

Those months alone had been an eye opener. It had all started when he'd met a group of survivors in the south of the Blue Suns Tribe.

Like the Red-Eyed Snake Tribe, they'd been quite welcoming. It wasn't until he'd been in their company for a fortnight though that Aegin had met their elusive blacksmith. He'd been on a trip to the Triad cities, and had come back with objects that Aegin would have rather never seen again.

He came with an assortment of Charms.

Still, even if he had not wanted to be there, the blacksmith had offhandedly commented that if charms such as their could be used for defence, why not offence? That perhaps the one who had made them was holding back.

Aegin knew he was, but he mentioned nothing of it. In fact, the comment had made him think of something else entirely.

An ordinary blade, no matter it's origin, could not harm the Djinn, but what about a blade that had runes carved into it? He'd seen the Vanguard defeat the Other, surely a Charmed Blade would have a similar if not more proficient result?

Aegin had learned what he could of black smithing, but it appeared metal was easy.

The Evanine was easy to come by in the West where crystal veins were high in quantity and quality. But few had paid attention to the Evanine ones. Aegin was able to buy several crates worth of Evanine for a low price. He'd brought smelting equipment and tools, but it became clear that the Evanine would not cooperate as metal did. It took a very high temperature to come even close to melting it, a temperature that ordinary forges had no hope of achieving. Aegin had been ready to give up his idea as a lost cause.

Then he'd found the cave. It hadn't been as big or wide as it was not, and in all honesty he'd just been passing by to see how Tigin and the Red-Eyed Snake tribe were doing. He'd had no intention of sticking around. But the cave released an unusual heat, and it became clear as soon as Aegin investigated. In the depths of that cave, far below, was a river of fire, so hot that Aegin was positive that if he fell in, he would die even with his healing abilities.

Hot enough to kill him, and maybe just hot enough to forge the blade he'd imagined.

He'd been thrilled to melt the Evanine for the first time, but simply melting it was not enough. He had to learn to cast it and mould it, and sharpen it. He had to learn about how it worked and what would break it. After all, if the blade shattered easily, there was little point in making it.

He'd been so engrossed, he hadn't realised that weeks had passed until Sevis found his cave while out on patrol. He��d been shocked to say the least, and Aegin hadn't exactly been desiring guests, but once it happened, and once Sevis got what Aegin was trying to achieve, he let him be.

Still, the blade he'd imagined seemed like a far off dream considering how many times Aegin had tried to forge it. The blade he had here…they'd all been reforged themselves at least a dozen times. Aegin could never get the blade thick enough not to shatter, but still manoeuvrable enough to swing. He needed something strong to reinforce the crystal, but that would compromise the purpose of the blade; to be inscribed with runes.

Aegin looked down at the blade he'd been sharpening and sighed. This one…it was technically the closest he'd come to a completed blade. But he was pretty sure that it would shatter too easily, that it wouldn't help him in the fight against Yashi.

Aegin clenched his fist, then picked up the rock he'd been using the sharpen the blade. Just because he'd failed the first time, doesn't mean he would always fail. Everything he'd done would be a failure if he didn't even try to test it.

***

Black Sands City was one of the largest outposts in the Hava Rastellan. You could easily fit ten Red-Eye villages into the city. That wasn't all either, Black Sands built up. They'd taken to building houses that were more modernised than the Beins that most Tribes built. Resembling boxes of Sandstone, sometimes towers of it, rather than the usual round huts.

Honestly, after taking it all in from a distance, Sevis wasn't nearly as confident as he'd felt during the whole trip.