To the Stars End- Original Soul

by Demetri Grim

  “Did you seriously steal all my bloody clothes old man!” she shouted down the stairs as she worked to not trip on the way down. Her fists balled up with cloth to lift the offending hem from dragging as she stomped into the main room.

  “I did no such thing.” He countered waving a spatula at her as he emerged from the back kitchen. “Yer friend was in shock at the state of yer clothes and volunteered to wash them and get them stitched up. I may have pointed out yer laundry chest, and may have implied if there was anything else in need of repair that ya would be most appreciative of her efforts.” He snorted and grinned at her, dropping a plate of eggs in front of her as she plopped into her chair with a sigh. She felt like an irritable rats’ nest of tangled hair and lumpy cloth.

  "Please Uncle, stop helping." She deadpanned and glowered at her plate. “What's with all the eggs?” She scrunched her nose and poked at the unappetizing scramble.

  “Ah well Lady Perry, came in the other day to have her knives sharpened. As you know I always let her barter instead of pay for the work so she left a basket of three dozen or so eggs as payment.” He shrugged and dug in to his own plate.

  “Aww, no bagels this month?” She pouted, he only shrugged and took another bite. “So where is the spear?” Beka asked, stuffing a bite of egg in her mouth and swallowing before she had to taste it.

  “Dropped it behind the shelf in the back, figured no one would look there for it while I was out fetching yer caretaker.” He grinned devilishly at her and pointedly chewed noisily at her. She wrinkled her nose and scoffed at him.

  “I think I'm done.” She pushed her hardly-eaten plate across to her uncle.

  “Bah, it's not that bad,” he said, as he dumped her plate onto his and continued eating.

  “Can I see the spear?” She asked, standing from the table and eyeing the entry to the forge. Her legs shook a little and she realized she was actually nervous about holding it again. The experience of forging it gave Beka pause, not to mention the body-aching pain she had felt this morning still lingered. Curiosity was still getting the better of her, however, and the headache had started to fade.

  “Don't see why not, it's as much yer work as it is mine.” He waved his open hand at the door. “Just be careful, we don't know what enchantment has been set in the blade. I haven't had time to test it and I don't want ya gettin in over yer head.” She nodded at him and left the room. Her excitement growing as she practically skipped into the forge.

  The spear was right where her uncle had said, it's braided silver shaft and red ring poking out from behind a crate, the rest of the weapon hidden behind a stack of iron ingots. Not exactly hiding in plain sight but if she had not been looking for it she might have easily overlooked the thing for the shinier bars of steel, silver shavings, and gold leaf on the shelves above it. “Dumping it behind a shelf seems a little barbaric, Uncle. You needed better hiding places.” She considered the vault-like hidden compartment for the hammer. “I really do need to ask Uncle how it works,” she mumbled to herself. The way the runes and sigils hung in the air when she activated it, even the odd way the runes for Strike formed along the blade to lay the enchantments. “How does a hammer know where to strike.” She scrunched her nose and pushed against an overly heavy crate blocking her from reaching the spear. The entire enchantment process, now that she had seen it, reminded her of a game she used to play with Lizzy as a kid. She shook her head; those were questions for another day. Shifting the box aside, she was careful not to touch the weapon. Using her long sleeves to cover her hands, she pulled the spear free of its hiding place.

  The weapon glinted in the dim light of the forge. The metallic crimson of the razor sharp blade had an almost fluid, eerie red glow that flowed along the length of the blade. With only the thin cloth of her sleeves between her and the weapon she could feel a tingle of excitement start her heart fluttering. The etherium-laced weapon did not make her arms go numb this time and she lifted an eyebrow. It was affecting her less than working with even the raw etherium wire now. Had the enchanting drained it?

  “I Have to test it.” Smiling to herself and taking a deep breath, she reached out and took hold of the weapon with her bare hand. Sure enough her heart began beating rapidly, as her breathing quickened and her focus narrowed to razor sharp clarity. Her quickened pulse instantly brought her headache back however and she had to let the weapon go.

  “Damn, definitely not as bad as when I was enchanting it, but I still can’t take it with this headache,” she muttered to herself, feeling her mind start to race. Even with the headache she had felt clear-minded and focused, not the same obsessive nature as the etherium wire. This was a much sharper sensation if she had to put a word to it. “I wonder if the effect somehow sharpens my aim, and focus to hit things.” Taking the spear in hand again she felt her focus sharpen once more, making it hard to break her gaze from whatever she set her eyes on. “I doubt tunnel vision is what it’s enchanted to do, that's probably just me.” She bit her bottom lip and eyed an old wood mannequin in the corner. They used it to fit and fix armor and was the perfect height for a test dummy. “Perfect.” Locking her eyes on her target the room around her seemed to dim, everything else in the forge room turning hazy. Only the mannequin remained in crystal sharp focus. For a faint moment, a flicker of red light flashed around the wood mannequin, a rune sparking and vanishing in the time it took her to blink. Beka brushed it off as another weird side effect of the etherium-laced weapon touching her skin and readied the spear into a lunging position, tucking the shaft under her arm and digging her boot into the floor. Ready to charge.

  Springing forward at the mannequin Beka sprinted across the room, intent on driving the spear into the wooden heart of her mock foe. Nothing else mattered but the will to drive the blade into her target. The gleaming spear in her hand made her feel unstoppable. That is until her skirt snagged under her foot and she fell forward. Landing on her face with a painful smack to her forehead, the spear clattering free of her hand and sliding a few paces away from her. “ Gah! Ow ow ow!” She sat up and clutched her head, groaning as the pain started to blossom. She felt her eyes water, her nose stung a little and she carefully touched the tender tip with her fingers. No blood, at least she did not break her nose with that stupid charge. Her head was pounding now even worse and she cringed. Turning to glare at her own traitorous legs, she yanked hard at her offending skirt, still tangling her foot.

  “The hell ya doing in there girl?” Her uncle called to her, his chair creaking as he no doubt stood to come and investigate the racket.

  “I just dropped it Uncle, it's ok, it's heavier than it looks.” She lied and quickly turned away from the door, scanning the room to see where the spear had slid. She noticed that she had only taken at most a handful of steps before she fell. “I guess it doesn't make you any faster,” she grumbled under her breath, and looked to the spear. It had slid a good way across the room and sat wedged under a stool near the central anvil. She couldn't help but notice it was still pointed directly at the mannequin she had been targeting. “Well that kind of looks like it grants superior accuracy.” She stooped to retrieve the weapon, both hands once again wrapped in her long sleeves.

  “What are ya muttering to yerself in there girl?” Montgomery shouted at her from deeper in the shop, the clatter of ceramics marking his presence in the kitchen, likely dropping off his dishes in the sink.

  Ignoring his remark, Beka bit her lip. Looking at the armor mannequin, she clenched her fists around the spear and jabbed at the center. The spear easily thrusting into the hard wood of the mannequin and out the back with little resistance. After a few solid strikes, she leaned in to inspect her work. She frowned and scrunched her nose, “Damn, I thought I was hitting the same spot.” She pouted. There was not much of a pattern to her strikes at all. The thin holes piercing the solid wood of the mannequin were all over the place despite her efforts to aim.

  “Guess it does not improve accuracy then, and I'm a terrible sho
t.” She looked at the blade. A glint of crimson light shined from the weapon instead of the usual silver mirror shine, catching the flicker of flame from the forge. “Well it was all fiery-looking with my aura,” she mumbled to herself, her mind turning to what she saw when the hammer revealed her aura. The warm flickering of power, like embers and flames that danced across her body as she held the hammer. “Why is my aura not silver?” Her father’s and uncle’s aura were both silver, imbuing everything they made with the silver mirror shine the shop was named after. This spear was different, it did not shine the same light, or ripple with a pool of light when touched. This weapon just glowed a steady crimson that flowed along the length in a constant fluid motion. Very unlike the forge’s other blades. The spear’s light pulsed and glinted in a very ominous way if she had to be honest about it. Pleased with what she had helped create but unnerved by it nonetheless. “Well.. if my aura is based in fire magic...” She tapped her chin. That would be ironic, the daughter of a smith using fire magic. She would never need to light the forge again once she was in charge. She giggled to herself. ”So if I do fire magic and it was forged in dragon fire, I wonder if it shoots fire or burns things when hit?” She looked over the holes in the mannequin and the deep clean cuts. “I guess not.”

  Taking a step away from the armor mannequin, Beka crossed the room and peered out the forge door towards the kitchen. Her uncle’s back clearly visible. He was standing in front of the water basin washing the plates. With a nod she stepped back inside and moved to face the forge. The fires of the day before still burned hotly, though not as intense as the coal and iron wood-fueled inferno of the spear’s forging. The iron wood coal glowing brightly, living up to its reputation and keeping the forge burning hot. Beka clutched the spear harder, not wanting to drop it this time, and she took a wide stance, pointing the spear at the flames.

  “Fire ball!” She quietly exclaimed under her breath and thrust the spear at the forge. Nothing happened. “Flame slash!” She tried again, this time sweeping the blade in an arc. Again nothing happened, but the flames flickered a little in the wind of the weapon’s passing. “Stupid bloody spear... do something!” She shook the spear and growled, her hand slipping free of the cloth and instantly she felt the rush of her heart once more. “Damn! Do I need to be touching it directly?” Her mind racing, she once again she took her stance in front of the forge and held the spear aloft. With her heart racing, she willed the spear to strike, to shoot, to do anything. She started swinging the weapon wildly the air in front of her again and again, thrusting, chopping, slashing. Nothing.

  She tried swinging harder, changed her stance, thrusting, chopping, slicing, again nothing. Eventually she relented, removing her bare hand from the coiled silver shaft and red etherium veins winding through it. As her focus came away from the weapon she realized she was not even winded. All the chopping and slashing should have worn her out at least a little but she was not even breathing hard. “Perhaps endurance is its speciality?” The sounds of her uncle moving from the kitchen interrupting her thoughts. Turning to face the door, Beka’s mouth turned down into a pout. What was wrong with this thing, was her weapon faulty, did she fail to set an actual enchantment when she took over? The first weapon she ever enchanted and it did nothing! “Stupid bloody thing, just shine all eerie red and give me heartburn then.”

  She glared at the weapon as an idea hit her and she nearly dropped it. Her eyes focused on the filigree she had placed, the same filigree as the hammer. “Do you need to be activated?” The glow of the blade began to pulse. A steady thumping vibrated down the handle. She blinked in surprise as the spear reacted. Lifting the blade to look into the filigree she took two deep breaths as she had with the hammer. The pulsing light became a steady rhythm, Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump. “A heartbeat?” she said, before reciting the first thing that came to mind. “ Awaken, Heartseeker.” She blinked, eyes wide as she held the spear away from her body as the glow erupted around the blade, forming an etherium-colored aura. The blade flared again and a rune appeared in the center of her vision. It hung in the air before her just as the hammer had. Somehow she knew this rune before her meant Heartseeker, though she had never seen it before. She didn't even know if there was a rune for that word. The magic of the spear manifesting her will into a rune on its own. She felt a grin begin to spread across her face. “Don’t have the will for it he said, HA!”

  Slowly Beka reached out and touched the rune. She was expecting to see her aura as before with the hammer, but it seemed as if the spear had its own power to draw from. The rune flashed a redgold like etherium and vanished. A heartbeat later another rune appeared out of the corner of her vision. This one she recognized as the rune for Life, or Living, she was not sure exactly which but it was part of all the signs doctors and healers used to mark their trade in the market row. Within her vision the glowing red rune almost looked like it was stuck to the wall on the far side of the smithy, pulsing with a steady beat. “Isn't that the kitchen?” Turning towards the distant rune she felt the spear twitch in her hand. Testing the sensation she clenched her hand harder around it and lifted it towards the mark. The glowing mark brightened as a set of runes spiraled into her vision and hovered just within arms reach, just as the hammer’s had. “Well that's convenient, hmm the runes for Seek, Lock, and Release. At least I think that's what they are.“ Beka scrunched her nose, deciding she wanted to try them out before her uncle came in.

  Reaching out for the first one, Seek, she pressed it and watched as the blade pulsed. The rune on the far wall vanished for a moment before reappearing, as a faint glow from her chest made her look down. There floating above her heart was the rune for Life. She was sure that only she could see these marks, just like the hammer hid its magic from sight, but was confused why she ended up with one. “Okay so Seek works like the first one but includes the wielder, thats handy if I ever want to stab myself.” She snickered and shook her head, realizing the runes had vanished after she selected one. “Damn, how do I make them come back.” Repeating her gesture from the first time, she pointed the spear at the distant rune. Sure enough, the set of runes flickered back into her vision, spiraling out from the filigree of the blade. “ Next up is Lock.” This time she felt the spear jerk in her hand as she pressed the rune. The spear becoming fixed upon the distant rune, she tried to move the spear but the blade seemed to resist her movements. It pivoted in mid air as she lifted and turned the handle, the blade remaining locked on the distant mark. She could move it easily enough as long as she was trying to move towards her target, but it refused to point any other direction. “Wow, I guess it really does help with aim.” Suddenly she felt the spear move, the spear tip following the distant rune in her vision as it began to slowly move across the wall. “This is so wrong.” Beka watched as the rune grew closer, and larger, the spear shifting in her grasp. She heard her uncle's footsteps as the floorboards creaked near the table just outside the door. A moment later the door to the forge swung open. She met his surprised look with a wicked grin.

  “Hey now girl! Watch where ya point that thing!” He said raising his hands in mock surrender.

  “Uncle it's amazing! It can sense living targets and track them all on its own!” She gestured to the spear with her eyes noticing the rune for Release remained, drifting idly next to the hand that held the spear. Reaching forward to touch it she felt the spear fall slack in her grip and she pulled the tip away. The glow vanishing as the runes flickered away, replaced instead by the first one. “Heartseeker”

  “Well I'll be damned girl.” He whistled and took a step into the room. She squealed and laughed, throwing her arms around him.

  “My very first weapon uncle! And it's amazing!’ I have to show you how to work it! It's just like the hammer but you have to call out its name instead! “ She took a step back from him. Lifting the spear high with one arm she struck what she hoped was a heroic pose. “Its name is Heartseeker!”

  Chapter 8: Brother in Arm
s

  Her pose did not last long, the long heavy spear tipping forward and she grasped it with both hands and stumbled forward. The bottom ring slamming hard into her shin and making her wince. Her uncle stepped aside, moving forward quickly to avoid her flailing, and grabbed the spear.

  “Quit that, Ya damn fool girl. This is a weapon, not a bloody broomstick to go waving about. If ya want one of those its out in the damn cupboard.” He teased her gruffly and yanked the spear free of her tenuous grip.

  “A Broomstick! You’re such a jerk!” She puffed her cheeks, feeling them flushing slightly, and aimed a kick at his shin.

  Ignoring her kick at him he ran his hands along the blade, admiring the flowing crimson glow. “Heartseeker ya say.” He turned it into the light and rubbed at his chin.

  “Yea, you just have to say “Activate Heartseeker”. It’s just like you tell the hammer to activate, then a rune appears. I think it's the rune for its name. When you press it you see a rune for marking things in your vision, then you can target them, and look for more life near you including yourself for some reason. Then you can lock the spear onto your target with one and release it all with another.”

  “Oh, hold on there ya little spaz.” He chuckled. “Yer running off on me. What do you mean by ‘a rune appears when you call to it?’” His eyes widened and he lifted an eyebrow. Beka was not sure why he was so surprised. The hammer did it, and he's been using it for years.