[solo] eberrite

[Talon]

25 Ash 120 Steel

The ring of the hammer striking the surface of the black stone filled the workshop. Talon had the full expanse of his Semblance assisted vision focused on the process in front of him. He followed the lines of the aetheric pathways within the starry black ore upon his anvil, striking carefully so as not to shatter the already fragile material. As the hammer came down, he tensed as the lines within the dark ore shimmered, glowing hotly before dimming. He released a breath that he had been holding and proceeded to continue hammering away at the ore. The full power of his aetherforge was funneling itself into the work that was at play within his workshop. Nearby, Velkan was standing by, his goggles upon his face as he watched Talon work diligently. Talon extended a hand wordlessly and immediately Velkan stepped up with a pair of tongs.

Tapping the surface of the black ore, Talon grabbed one of the aether lines within the ore and pulled it into better alignment. As he maneuvered it into place, he hammered the pathway into its new alignment in order to stabilize the ore’s internal structure. He tensed again as the saw a miniscule deviation in the flow of power within the ore. He extended his hammer and tongs to Velkan who swapped them out for finer tools that were more befitting a jeweler. Carefully, Talon grabbed the small stream of aether that was pushing away from the main vein that he had created. With a tiny chisel and hammer, he began carving a new set of symbols into the surface of the ore.

“Tonal fork, please. Quickly.” Velkan grabbed the tonal fork and placed it in Talon’s hand. As soon as it was in his grasp, Talon tapped the tonal fork upon the surface of the ore. He listened closely and watched the reverberations of aether. He studied them, watching and listening for exactly the right fluctuation and pitch that would help him bring out the highest refinement of the material he was working on.

[Talon]

“Velkan?” He spoke without looking up. His apprentice stepped up. Talon placed the fine chisel on exactly the spot that was causing the undesired fluctuation in both aetheric reverberation and pitch. “Take up the hammer and tap my chisel when I tell you.”

In his peripheral he could see a flare of nervousness ripple across Velkan’s aura. He looked up then to give his apprentice a smile.

“It is alright. If we make a mistake, we will begin again. This is as much an opportunity for me to learn as it is for you.”

Velkan’s wings fluttered nervously before the young man nodded. He brought up the hammer, resting the head upon his chisel prompting Talon to return his attention back to the ore.

“Do you see the crack in the aether flow?” He focused his attention on the flaw that needed to be corrected.

“The wisp that is flapping?” Talon nodded.

“That is what we are working to fortify. If it is not corrected, my hammer strikes will cause the ore to crack and all of our work will be lost.” Talon positioned his chisel. “Tap.”

Velkan tapped with just enough force to allow for the carvings to set in. This alternated for some time as Talon repositioned his chisel carefully while Velkan tapped. It took some time but eventually the pictograph that Talon had in his mind was taking shape. When it was finally complete, he righted his posture and rolled his shoulders. Stretching his neck, Talon set his tools aside. He continued with his stretches and let out a few steady breaths in order to shake off the discomfort from having maintained a strict position in order to stay focused. He spread his wings then inspected the ore in front of him. The aether had ceased flapping wildly and was now flowing smoothly with the rest of the pathways that he had carved out. Looking to Velkan, Talon smiled.

“Well done.” He pat his apprentice on the shoulder. “Eberrite is one of the more difficult materials in the world to work with. When refined however, it is nigh indestructible.”

He stepped away from the anvil to one of the nearby workbenches in order to browse over his schematics for a few moments. Velkan took the opportunity to refresh himself with some water and a light snack.

“What are we going to forge with it, Master?” Velkan posed his question. Talon took a drink of water before answering.

“My father approached me. The Queen of Antiris is looking to present a gift to her eldest son for both bonding with his dragon and for coming of age, next year. One piece will be for him. The other two will be for other things.” He was grateful for the trust and opportunity. Eberrite was not cheap, costing a fortune to get even a small amount of the precious material. The fact that they had approached him to forge the blade meant that the reputation of his forge was at stake. He was determined to be diligent and careful in the manipulation of the material. They only had to get past the refinement stage and then the ore would be perfectly malleable toward whatever project he desired. It had taken him nearly the entire day just to get the current stage and he had been working nearly non-stop in order to properly smooth out the rough spots on the material.

“To date, it will be one of only a handful of eberrite weapons that I know of in all of the Northlands of Karnor.” He turned, returning to his anvil, moving on to another piece of ore that was in need of preparation before he placed them all in the kiln to have various properties added to the material before melting it down to viscerite. Picking up his tools once more he set back to work. Talon opened up his senses to the flow of aether, observing the aura of the eberrite material in front of him. He sifted through the surface level information until he found the underlying structure of the ore. Setting his chisel and hammer into place, he began chipping away at the impurities that rest within the ore, sorting through all that was mere dirt and rock until there was only the pure eberrite remaining. He took his time, being conscious of his every movement so as not to slip and break away a portion that would ruin the whole piece of ore. He swapped out the hammer for the tonal fork as he prepared to optimize the internal aetheric pathways in order to bring out the ore's highest potential. He worked with Velkan, swapping between different tools here and there in order to make the most of his progress. While he was certain that he was likely being far more cautious than was necessary, as he was not intimately familiar with the material he did not want to chance it.

Little by little, he whittled away at the flaws he could see until finally he had three pieces of eberrite ore that had been heightened to the highest degree he could make them before putting them in the aetherforge. Setting down his tools, he wiped a little bit of sweat from his brow. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked over to Velkan who looked like he was about to fall asleep where he stood from how much the two of them had been working back and forth. While it was not particularly laborious in terms of work, this was requiring a great deal of concentration and attention to detail. Talon chuckled and pat Velkan on the shoulder.

“Go home, Velkan. Get some rest. I can finish the remainder of the work myself. I have just a few more pictographs to apply before setting these in the kiln.” While the young man did not outright say it, he could see the relief on Velkan’s face.

“Thank you, Master Talon. I will be back bright and early.” Talon nodded, watching as Velkan removed his goggles then shuffled away up the stairs in order to make his way home. Talon returned to his work, picking up his hammer and chisel once more in order to apply more carefully place pictographs to the final piece of eberrite ore. It was a slow process but he kept at it. It was only when he had been staring at the final piece for a solid five minutes without moving or performing any action that he blinked, rubbed some of the weariness from his eyes and set his tools aside. That was a signal to himself that it was time to move on to another phase. He picked up the three pieces of eberrite ore and brought them over to his aether kiln. One by one he set each of the pieces of ore into the kiln in a wide circle. Behind the first piece he inserted a piece of magmatye sorcerer’s glass. Behind the second piece he inserted a piece of lytirisyte sorcerer’s glass. The final piece he inserted a piece of frostrylyth glass. The passing of these three types of energies through the eberrite ore would imbue the properties of the dragonshards into the eberrite ore. Aided by the careful reconstruction of the ore’s internal aetheric pathways and the pictographs littering their surface, each piece of ore would absorb the properties and retain them. After that, he would melt them down into the aether forge and reshape the ensuing viscerite into a sword that was worthy of the Prince of Antiris and his status as a dragon rider.

Talon closed the lid on the aether kiln, activated it and then removed his apron and gloves. He tidied up his workshop then dimmed the glow lamps, closing the doors to the shop before heading home. He would return in the morning and from there he would melt down the empowered eberrite into viscerite then proceed to the work of forging the sword.

---

26 Ash 120

Talon stepped up to the aether kiln and deactivated the flow of energy that was swirling inside of it. He watched the runic marking across the kiln continued to glow. It would take a little while before he was able to safely open the lid and retrieve the eberrite pieces from inside. While he waited for the kiln to cool down, he set about tinkering on a few projects around the workshop and overseeing some of the others being seen to by his various associates. He was not one to hover too much over the various experts that he had hired for the simple fact that he did not hire people who were inept or who had no interest in mastering their craft.

The chime of a bell announced the completion of the kiln’s cooldown. Removing the lid of the kiln, Talon smiled. Inside of it he saw the pieces of eberrite radiating soft aura’s infused with the different powers that he had assembled to flow into them.

“Time to make the viscertie?” The voice of Velkan drifted from behind him. Picking up his tongs, Talon removed one of the pieces of eberrite.

“Not quite. Eberrite has the unique property of being able to have magic applied to it at any stage in the creation of the item. As it will serve as the foundation of what we make, it will receive all of the magic effects beforehand. Then we will create the viscerite and forge the actual weapon.” Talon brought the first piece of eberrite over to one of his workbenches. He placed the first piece inside of one of the many runeforging circles etched upon its surface. He placed the other two pieces beside the first.

“But, that will be for another day. There are still more reagents to collect before we can imbue the items with their final forms and powers. Come, Velkan. Today I will teach you how to fold structural integrity into an item that has already been enhanced. There is a batch of weaponry headed to the Sky Guard in need of reinforcement.”

Talon took Velkan over to a crate that had been delivered to the shop that morning. It would be a simple day of handling some of the more run-of-the-mill work of a runesmith but these fundamentals were important. The foundation of enchanting was patience and a firm grasp on the foundations yielded far more powerful results when one sought to accomplish much greater things.