Crafters New and Old [Hailey POV]

“No, no, no, no, you MAYFLY, that is NOT how you do that!” Enki was beyond agitated, dashing around Hailey in a manner that was, ironically, quite akin to a buzzing fly. “You have greater tools than I ever had and all you can do is swing a hammer at it?! Oh, if Mother Chaos could return in her prime, she would go insane again upon seeing your ineptitude!”

“Demz reduction words.” Hailey opened up the Guild Hall console. Just the threat of her finger hovering above the slider had the former god of stars shut up instantly.

Did the enigma engineer feel good about using what was effectively temporary brain damage to make someone shut up? No, not particularly. It was, however, the only real recourse any of them had when it came to wrestling Enki into submission. It was either this or threatening his allowance, which typically was a lot less effective.

“What I am trying to say,” Enki continued, “is that you must strike the metal with the **** of a falling star and the rhythm of air friction.”

“That ain’t makin’ any sense, En’,” Hailey drawled, then resumed what she had already been doing: beating a small piece of Astrotium with a hammer made of ice. The tool was conjured from that magical attachment to her soul and spine, manifesting as an unobtrusive blue strike down her median furrow. If she hadn’t been reminded of it every now and again by others or the occasional backside view she took in a mirror, she would have forgotten it existed.

The piece of Astrotium before her was no larger than a coin and barely thicker than one. Just getting it into that shape had taken Hailey tremendous effort.

Another swing of her hammer had the tool explode into a myriad of pieces. With a sigh, Hailey dismissed her control on the magical ice. Without the magic, it soon began to melt. In its stead, she manifested a pair of tongs, picked up the coin, and moved it to the Heartkiln.

The fusion of Guild Heart and Starkiln opened. Segmented pieces at the base of the construction spread like a gaping maw, revealing a smooth stream of mana within. Once the Astrotium was inserted, the stability was compromised. Arcs of plasma connected to the edges of the coin, dancing like liquid lightning. The Heartkiln closed. A pop-up asked Hailey whether she wanted the piece reshaped, enchanted or simply made malleable. She picked the last option.

Though the Heartkiln automated many processes, Hailey needed to be able to do this by hand if they wanted to get the most out of the material. The plans Lorelei had spoken of required the unicorn-horn-looking piece to be worked entirely by hand for the proper level of detail and rune carving.

“Now, remember, if you can hear the celestial song, it is at the proper saturation of particles,” Enki said, very slowly, as if he was explaining a simple concept to a child.

“If ya had a physical body, I’d bonk you over the head,” Hailey responded. She tilted her head back, looking at the familiar sphere atop the Heartkiln. It looked like a large, silver-blue jewel atop an upscaled sceptre. So much mana channelled through that object at any given second. If Hailey could have had free access to it, the wonders she could channel…

Alas, in the Abyss excessive power often came with a narrowed scope of its application. That incredible well of magic could be utilized only in ways that the mechanics of the Guild Hall permitted. The mana had its own will, in some form.

Hailey often found herself wondering what exactly mana was. Nia seemed to have a concrete answer, but whenever she tried to say it, everyone around got a splitting headache. What Hailey did understand was that mana was a god-particle that effectively hung out in the places where the electrons in an atom did not. It was a sort of gap-filler of the universe. By the ways of magic, that undefined god-particle could be tilted this way or another or it could be introduced into an environment.

Mana was technically speaking not energy, nor was it matter. It was the potential to be either of those things. It also was influenced by… everything around it, even thoughts. It made the flow of mana practically unknowable, though a sufficiently advanced mind could theoretically calculate it all.

In theory.

Hailey withdrew the Astrotium from the Heartkiln. The metal vibrated softly, like a windchime and a xylophone mixed into a continued stream of sounds. At least this time, what Enki said made a lick of sense.

The sound of Hailey hammering the metal once more reverberated in the centre of the Guild Hall.

“Hailey!”

The shout got through the crafter’s trance. “Hmm?” she hummed, turning towards the source of the voice. Since she kept chattering, it wasn’t difficult to find her.

“Soooooo absorbed in your work anyone could have snuck up on you, ey? You got negative survival instincts, bwahahaha!” The bratty laughter of the alchemical maid was endearing these days. Knowing that Delicia was always there when it counted neutralized the little bits of genuine annoyance her overbearing tone could cause. “Come on, slowpoke, we got the expected visitors.”

“Ain’t no need to hurry me, not like I was down here for ‘ours,” the country gal responded.

“You might wanna double-check your clock.”

Hailey stopped halfway through rolling her shoulder. Turning on her seat at the workbench, she grabbed the phone that had been placed out of harm’s reach. The display spelled it out: she had been smacking that little piece of metal around for almost three hours. “Dang,” she cursed. “Time sure flies when ya havin’ fun.”

Leaving behind the workstation built around the Heartkiln, Hailey joined up with Delicia at the edge of the room, then followed her fellow craftswoman. They chatted casually about inconsequential things. Serious conversations would occur soon enough.

‘Well, with Famine around, every conversation is like whistlin’ past the graveyard,’ Hailey thought as soon as she spotted the pale rider.

All three of the current members of the prophesized Four Horsemen were present. Instinctively, Hailey shuddered. Though she had converted to the faith of the Lady, she had done so in acknowledgement of Gaia’s sovereignty over reality, not as a casting away of her previous beliefs. Jesus Christ and his messages retained an important place in her heart. Meeting actual Riders of the Apocalypse in person remained an interesting feeling.

Unlike other mythological entities she had encountered so far, she couldn’t ease her nerves with the certainty that she could fold these people in half either. Though she hadn’t been there for much of it, being busy creating Nextloaolli, she knew that Zelos, at his weakest, had fought Claire to a standstill. That fight had never reached its conclusion. Hailey did not need that data to know that she couldn’t stand up to the ostensibly weakest member of the trio.

Famine, also known as Limos, was a barely upright, malnourished skeleton of a vampire. His unnaturally pale skin was too taut over his bony form. A sorry rest of hair sprouted from his head, the bone of his cranium exposed in places where the clean rot of malnutrition had caused it to decay. The rest of him was thankfully hidden from view, covered by the armour that would only fit a more rejuvenated form.

Glory, also known as Zelos, was a wraith of opulent appearance. The semi-translucent memory of his body was a handsome ghost, showing beneath it the thoroughly decorated bones. Rings and jewels were set around the marble white, fit around each rib and each segment of his deliberately exposed chest and fingers. His armour was every bit as overdesigned, a white-gold showcase of his title.

War, also known as Ares, was a ghoul, though a ghoul that had been conserved well. His features were bloodless, yet his eyes managed to be red from swollen vessels, diminishing what had been an attractive face in life. He had long, rust-red hair, matching his grim armour that appeared to be caked in dried blood at all times.

Hailey approached the three undead with long strides. Though her soul shuddered in their presence and though she would not be able to defeat them herself, she all the same met them with confidence. She was an empress of Fusion, an apple of the eye of the future Apex, and she was here with her fellow women in the heart of their power. None would dare lay a hand on her here.

If they did, Scarlett had Eliana, Lyndell and Nia on speed dial.

“Finally, the last actors arrive!” Zelos declared, shaking his head dramatically. “You make us servants of **** wait? After we so graciously shimmied down from our tranquil, frozen home to these lands of endless activity?”

“Shut up,” War growled at his leader. “This is my operation, let’s not draw it out.”

“I… am rather… interested in… how they knew… we were coming…” Famine wheezed, directing his gaze at Lorelei. “You saw…?”

“Revelation was bestowed upon me and upon revelation we shall act,” the seer stated. “Now that we are all unified, I kindly request that you follow me. The call of our medium reached the rider of War and it ought not be denied.”

The three Horsemen followed Lorelei, the crafting crew right behind them. Scarlett, Delicia, Lee and Hailey, Enki in tow. The silver reconstruction of the god was quietly observing, curious enough to shut his gob for the time being.

“You shall not be informed how we came about this material,” Lorelei continued her explanation as they walked. “We acknowledge that the draw of the Lady’s will has brought you here, but understand that we are under no obligation to share our plans with you.”

“That is fine,” Ares responded. “I am here to forge. These two are here for security."

“…and… boredom…” Famine groaned.

“How dare you insinuate the Necropolis is a place of boredom!” the white rider disagreed vehemently with his comrade. “Why, we have the honour of serving the greatest of all lords, the ruler of the grave and of the eternal soul!”

Hailey knew that behind Lorelei’s tranquil exterior, a religious argument was forming and getting put away. The seer was not an aggressive proselytizer – except when it came to pushing the status of Saint for John.

They did not have to walk far. Their shared complex was a small industrial area unto itself, but the core of this project was stored in the shared centre. What seemed to be just another workbench revealed itself to be an arcano-tech chest. The lid began to rise upon recognizing Lorelei’s magical signature. Layers of enchanted metals peeled open, until the rather small compartment in the middle became visible.

“That’s-“ War began.

“Impossible!” Enki declared.

Lorelei was holding up the spiralling fusion of Astrotium and Mithril. “Are you aware of this object?” the seer asked.

“They’re just flabbergasted by its make-up,” Scarlett stated.

Enki hovered closer now, getting a close look on the object for the first time. “Why did you not tell me of this sooner?” he asked.

“Because we knew you’d get fascinated by it and we needed you to teach Hailey for a bit,” the leader of the crafting crew responded, crossing her robotic arms. “You’re barely listening to me right now.”

“What? Your impure voice bounced off my mind, enchanted as I was by this blend.”

War was also stepping forwards. “Astrotium doesn’t mix with other metals,” the rider stated flatly. “Yet there it is, welded to Mithril. How was this done? Is this a secret you will keep?”

“It’s not,” Lee chimed in. “We all agreed that we don’t want to overstate our capabilities, Fusion is seen as enough of a threat by everyone without us adding stupendous lies to the ridiculous facts.”

“We found it like that,” Scarlett added. “That’s what we can tell you.”

‘Fact that Enki ain’t rememberin’ it is quite interestin’,’ Hailey thought, green eyes lingering on the projection of a dragon head. ‘Means he didn’t make it or at least doesn’t remember.’

“Ares,” Zelos raised his voice, the drama cut right out of his tone, “if you help with this weapon, it will be one of tremendous power – one that will be in their hands.”

“I don’t care.” War hooked a finger into the air next to him. Ripples spread through space, the telltale sign of large-scale dimensional magic being at work. A fragment of the rider’s arsenal appeared on the other side of a blood-trimmed portal. Swords, axes, and all manner of other armament hung from the endless wall, collecting rust and history. His Innate Ability, retained in his state of undeath, unlocked a unique process of forging. Rather than just shape materials, Ares created an esoteric circumstance that culminated in truly awe-inspiring enchantments.

“It matters quite a lot,” Zelos insisted.

“It does not. The material sings with celestial intent. It must reach its proper form. I will not stand for anything else.” War pulled a mighty toolbox from his arsenal, placing it on the floor to the rattling of a hundred chisels, hammers, and other utensils. “The Lord Reaper has put me in charge of this, despite what I told him. You have no right to stop me.”

“…It would not be right of me to question our Master’s wisdom,” Zelos relented, then looked to the crafting crew. “Tell me, at least, what is the intent for this weapon?”

To that, Lorelei offered just a single word.

“Comeuppance.”