30th of Frost, 119th Year of the Age of Steel
Talon examined the ashes for a moment. Within the confines of the small leather pouch that he had collected them in, they seemed dull and ordinary. When brought closer to the open flame of one of the nearby candles, a slight red sheen glistened in the burning light. He felt the feathers on his wings fluff up and a shiver went down Talon’s spine. He remembered well what it felt like to be possessed by the wraith that had seeped into his veins. It had been so easy for the dark spirit. Talon hadn’t even felt it enter his body. It was a sobering thought to know that there were still beings out there that could so easily manipulate the shells of mortals. In the end, Talon knew he would have burned up had it not been for the connection he shared with Riven.
Choosing not to dwell on what might have been, Talon turned to his workbench and upturned the pouch so that the contents poured into the mortar resting at the center of his pictograph. He positioned the aura glass stands so that he could view the aether of the ashes. As soon as he was able to perceive the aethereal essence, Talon sighed heavily. He rest both of his elbows onto the edge of his workbench and placed his face in his hands. The Avialae rubbed his face with an almost weary groan. The ashes were a complete mess. He couldn’t honestly say that he was surprised but he had hoped that there would have been less of an uphill battle with them.
He set the mortar aside bringing out two of the three illumite dragonshards that he’d purchased. The purifying properties of the dragonshards were exactly what he would need in order to complete this process. Placing one of the shards in the center of his pictograph, Talon took out his tools to begin the steps of drawing out the highest potential for aether within both of them. He tapped the first shard with the tuning fork and was moderately pleased to note that it wasn’t disastrously out of tune. Through the lens of the aura glass he could see that it wouldn’t take too much effort to get the aether pathways in a good working order. Bringing up his hammer and a pair of forceps, Talon began tapping at the aether pathways and tugging them so that they fell in line or he worked out a clump of distorted aether. When he was satisfied with the state of the first shard, he moved on to the second.
Repeating the steps of tuning, tapping, tugging and realigning, Talon worked on setting in place the foundation he would need. When the second shard was adequately aligned, Talon tapped its surface with his tuning fork and listened to the sound reverberate softly. Nodding to himself, the Novalys heir then deposited both dragonshards into the mortar where the ashes rest. Setting the mortar in the center of his pictograph, Talon checked the integrity of the elaborate pattern. Breaking down a dragonshard outside the security of an aether forge was always temperamental work. Illumite shards were among the most benign due to their properties but Talon didn’t want his shop or his materials to explode if he could avoid it.
One of the principles of every runeforging practice was in controlling the reactions that took place when working on the materials at their disposal. A defining ideology was that it was never a matter of stopping a reaction from occurring but rather, controlling the reaction itself. Talon had learned many times that once he began working on something, it was almost impossible to prevent a change from happening so rather than devote energy toward doing the impossible, he was careful to observe how he could redirect that energy toward productive ends. When he was confident that he had all the necessary precautions in place, Talon picked up the pestle and began crushing the dragonshards in the mortar. He watched as sparks of energy crackled with every snap and pop of the crystal being broken down.
The mortar and pestle themselves, which were outfitted with pictography of their own, helped to contain some of the energy being released. The pictograph drawn around Talon’s workspace further reinforced his immediate work. So the most that he observed was some fiery and golden light mixing into the bowl of the mortar. An aurora of the two hues drifted up from the bowl and seeped into the air around him. Tendrils of the misty essence were drawn into the sorcerer’s sand and redirected back to the mortar to continue to be worked on.
It was as he was working on this particular step, Talon recognized just how useful alchemy would have been in the refining of his materials. It wasn’t necessary to continue the work but it would have added another layer of refinement to the process that would have drawn out even more unique properties. Talon made a mental note to explore some of those ideas in the near future. He also reminded himself that he was working on a schedule that was already slightly behind. So he continued grinding away at the ashes and the shards until they had been broken down into their aethereal state. The prismatic liquid that rest in the bowl of the mortar almost looked to be wreathed with golden flames. That was certainly a start but Talon still had one more step to do.
Turning from his workbench, Talon retrieved the steel and silver bars that he had purchased earlier in the season. He brought them over to the table. Bringing up a steel bar he set it in his workspace then drew out a simple cutting knife. Talon concentrated on his own aether. He channeled it through his rune of Kinetics then focused on gathering that aether into his left hand. He concentrated, winding the aether tightly into the flux of his hand so that it became saturated with the power of the magic. Then he took the cutting knife, pricked one of his fingers until it drew blood then let it drop into the mortar to mix with the rest of the aethereal essence sitting there. Talon took a small strip of cloth, winding it around his finger so that the small cut wouldn’t interfere with his work. He mixed the aethereal essence in the mortar, ensuring all of it set properly before bringing out a brush.
One by one, Talon began working on the steel and silver bars. He dipped the paintbrush into the mortar then applied it to the surface of the bars. With a pair of forceps he guided the latent aether into the appropriate pathways that were woven throughout the structure of each bar. He was slow and attentive, pausing, tapping the surface of a bar with a hammer so that he could rework an aether pathway wherever he felt it was necessary. Then he returned to the slow process of applying the aethereal essence from the mortar. The intent was to reinforce the metal with fireproofing properties. Ultimately he would combine that with the magic of his kinetics to draw and forge the metal down to its most razor sharp point as well as reinforcing the structure of the blade itself. He would have to refine the benefits of that into the blade but he had several ideas as to how it would be useful.
Talon worked quietly and diligently until the clock that he had hanging on the wall chimed. It was late into the afternoon. Talon finished working on the steel and silver bars, eyeing them carefully until he was satisfied that the aether he had worked into them would take hold properly. He stood up from his workbench, allowing the materials to settle with their intended properties on the workbench while he went about tidying up his shop. Patience was key. He supposed he could have immediately taken the bars from the workbench and then brought all of the reagents to his aether forge in order to begin making the viscerite. He would give the items time to set however, that way he could spend a few days making absolutely certain that the aether pathways within each of the reagents was not going to be disrupted and cause a failure in the forging itself.
Once his shop was tidy, Talon stretched. He rubbed at the back of his neck and beheld the products of weeks of work. Each of the reagents were nearly as good as they were going to get. He simply needed to take the final steps to actually forging the sword itself and drawing out the actual details to make a cohesive set of enchantments. The raw fundamentals were in place, the next part was where mastery of the craft truly came into play. Talon left the materials sitting on his workbench as he left the runeforging laboratory. He brought out the journal where he took down all of his notes, going to his small office noting that Alyssum wasn’t presently there. He sat down at his desk and began to write, going through the motions of his thoughts and each step that lay ahead. He was in for several long days at the forge. But it would be worth it.
