Hailey grabbed my arm and led me back into the blacksmith’s tent.

Dörien was leaning over her workstation fidgeting with a strange tool. Laying across the table was a long angled blade. Its hilt consisted of an extraordinarily long handle that was wrapped tightly in a grooved black-leather, a slender angled pommel, and was missing a guard. The hilt was a dark ebony black, that looked like it absorbed the light around it.

The blade of the sword had the same ebony color through the first half on the back of the blade, and then was elegantly given way to a dark gray steel edge along the flat at the midway point. The tip came to a point with a sharp angled curve. The entire blade arced very subtly from the pommel to the tip in an almost unnoticeable ‘S’ curve.

Rhia hovered over Dörien like a gargoyle, her eyes were glued to the blade. Hailey and I crept closer, trying not distract them from their sword crafting ritual.

Dörien shouted something I couldn’t understand, then brought a long metal stamping tool out. With one of the fangs in her hand she channeled some magick until it glowed a bright red, she then placed it onto the blade, lining up the stamping tool. She brought a hammer out and struck the metal stamp down onto the fang.

A brilliant flash of light spilled through the tent followed by a loud high-pitched ringing. Hailey and I both brought our arms up to cover our ears but the ringing didn’t lessen in its intensity.

Dörien laughed with wild abandon.

"No use in ye’ tryin’ to stop tha’ ringin’ there Commanders."

The light faded down and the ringing stopped.

Rhia was now practically drooling over the sword, which had taken on a dark crimson glow. Blood-red runes were etched along the flat of the blade. Their glow pulsated down the edge in a breathing rhythm.

Rhia’s hands trembled over the blade.

"It’s… perfect!" she looked up and saw Hailey and I, "Oh good you’re back—with great timing." She motioned for us to come forward, "Come on, take a look! I already sharpened the blade before Dori did her thing, so it’s ready to go. Give it a swing."

I looked down at the blade, measuring the handle size with my eyes. I grasped the blade with both hands.

It was incredibly light, but the balance felt off. I switched stance and held it in just my left hand.

That’s much better.

The handle was long but the sword had been balanced to definitely be a one-handed blade.

I raised the blade up and swung out in front of me. My arm felt a strange pressure build up, and without any warning—the back of the blade erupted in a dark-crimson flame.

"Eeep!"

I let out a yelp in surprise and the three others jumped behind the workstation for cover as I stood there holding a burning sword.

Oh wow! What do I do? Is this going to burn down the tent?

I looked over at the three women for help. But wasn’t met with any. Hailey cowered behind Dörien, who was behind Rhia.

Rhia’s eyes were wide in amazement. She stared at the sword and whispered.

"It’s… incredible."

"Aye, It’s a masterpiece ‘alright. But doncha’ be burnin’ down ma’ forge!" Dörien exclaimed.

Hailey remained silent, in awe of the glowing flames.

I inspected the blade with a tap of my wrist. Maybe there was something about the weapon’s attributes or details that will help me handle it.

LOOTABLES

Woah!

The stats on this weapon were incredible. The master smiths in Axio could make items like this, but they would cost a fortune. This sword could be worth more than most noble’s manors.

It looked like the flames were activated when the blade was wielded. So maybe if I just set the sword down… I gently set the sword on the workstation and the flames subdued.

"Phew!"

I wanted to find out what the SOULFIRE effect did. It sounded interesting. And I wasn’t sure what it meant by ‘Bound’. I tapped my rune and a new visual came into view.

"Ooooo…"

I was practically drooling while reading the dancing words on the interface. Hailey placed a hand on my shoulder and waved a hand in front of my face.

"Airis, is everything alright?"

She snapped me out of my trance.

"What? Yeah, it’s just… this weapon is beyond incredible." I turned around to look at the two responsible. "Really, it's incredible. I can’t thank you enough for this. It’s leagues above what I was imagining."

Rhia bowed sincerely, "No, thank you! If it wasn’t for you, Dori and I would be trapped in that city… Or worse."

"That’ll do a ‘ell of a lot more damage than tha’ splinter on ‘yer back."

I chuckled, "It sure will. I truly appreciate your work."

The doorway to the blacksmith’s tent came open and Mitchell and Julius stepped inside.

"Ahh, we finally found you." Mitchell called out. He walked over to Hailey and after saying something quietly, they stepped outside.

Julius came over to me and let out a whistle.

"Looking like a proper Commander there, Airis. Nice to see you in something that isn’t so ragged. The Knight-Lieutenant and I got a tent and…"

His voice trailed off when he got close enough to see the blade laying on the table

"...and—what is that!?"

"Oh, this? Just my new favorite thing in this world. Sorry Julius, you’ve been replaced."

I picked the Crimson Blade back up and gave it a quick slash through the air, sending the dark flames into a rage. Julius stared for a while and finally mouthed a single word.

"Fantastic."

"Commander, would you come here a moment?" Rhia called out from her workstation. She brought up a dark-scaled scabbard, strapping it onto the attachment fittings on my belt.

"I used the scales you brought with you. They should be resistant enough to the flame that it will be safe to sheathe your blade."

LOOTABLES

In awe of the blacksmith’s work once more, I bowed to her in appreciation.

"Again, Rhia. I am incredibly thankful for your work."

I sheathed the blade and the flames rescinded once again. I looked at Julius, who still looked a little awestruck, and motioned for us to leave.

Hailey and Mitchell were still talking, but upon seeing us emerge from the tent cut their conversation short.

"Airis, I have to go take care of a situation with the Consulate members. I guess they didn’t appreciate me sending them all away earlier, and a few of them have been causing a scene at the command tent. Give me a few hours to get things calmed down, meet me there?"

"Sure thing, Hails, no worries. I’ll show Julius around some of the places you led me through, so he can get his bearing on the camp."

We departed and I walked Julius back through the camp. There were a lot more people around this time, the sun was starting to go down and the camp residents were settling down for the night. I elected to forgo any introductions with the camp residents to Julius. The both of us weren’t social creatures after all.

As we approached the training area Julius stopped me.

"Hey, If you’re really eager to get a chance to use that new sword of yours. We can give your sword skills a little practice."

It wasn't that I didn’t focus on combat skill training. It had more to do with my administration duties, that always outweighed any need to train in martial weapons.

I had some basic courses while in the Academy at least.

I nodded my head at Julius in agreement.

"They could use it. It's a good thing I know a really great swordsman."

A smirk grew on Julius’ face and he let out a light laugh, "Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you already had planned to ask me to show you some ‘cool sword skills’, huh."

"So what if I did," I stuck my tongue out at him, "You are my best friend. You’d never say no to me."

The training site was cleared out, save for a few guards. We found a small area near a free wooden dummy and he began to show me some basic stance poses and a slash attack.

After an hour, I felt as if I was about to collapse. My breathing was heavy, my arms ached, and I was drenched in sweat. I slumped against a tree stump nearby and sent a mental call.

I’m ready for death. Take me now, Gemini. I’m ready—Julius threw a water canteen at me.

As I hydrated and waited for my breathing to catch up, I reviewed my new notifications.

» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:

» STRENGTH HAS INCREASED TO 25

» TOUGHNESS HAS INCREASED TO 8

» VITALITY HAS INCREASED TO 23

» ENDURANCE HAS INCREASED TO 9

» STAMINA HAS INCREASED TO 26

» AGILITY HAS INCREASED TO 9

» SWIFTNESS HAS INCREASED TO 12

» PERCEPTION HAS INCREASED TO 6

» REFLEX HAS INCREASED TO 11

» DEXTERITY HAS INCREASED TO 27

» FINESSE HAS INCREASED TO 8

» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOU HAVE LEARNED NEW SKILLS:

» NEW ACTION CLASS COMBAT SKILL, BATTLE STANCE

» NEW ACTION CLASS COMBAT SKILL, BLADE SLASH

"Great work. You’ll be a master swordswoman in no time."

Julius hadn’t broken a sweat at all, even though he was doing the same work I was doing. I had a ways to go before I could call myself a master anything. In between breaths I managed to get out a mangled word.

"T—thanks…"

When we arrived at the command tent we were assaulted by the pleasant fragrance of fresh bread and an unplaceable spicy aroma.

We greeted the guards and were told that Hailey had finished her meeting so we were welcome to head inside.

The meeting table had been converted into a dining table, complete with a large covering cloth and silverware. A meal had already been prepared. From the meaty smell, it was likely wild game brought in from the hunting parties.

It smells good, whatever it is.

Hailey was fussing over the placement of a candelabra with one of the attendants when she noticed us come in.

"Airis! Good you’re back! Take a seat and dig in! I’m sure you’re hungry and—Oh, you’re filthy."

Her face went from cheerful to worried in a split second.

With a quick gesture another attendant brought over a wash basin and a towel.

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment and I gave my face a quick scrub.

"Less of a mess?"

"Much better!" she clapped her hands, "Now dig in, we have a lot to discuss after dinner."