Rise of the Living Forge

Arwin stood silently as Wallace’s gaze burned into his skull. He watched the dwarf with wary eyes, waiting to see how he would react. The outlook didn’t look too favorable. Making a cursed item when he was trying to represent his soul felt like the worst possible result he could have possibly gotten.

Sure, the item didn’t seem to be completely evil, but that was hardly a compelling argument. Arwin’s expression didn’t shift, but energy swirled within his chest. It might have been selfish. It might have been wrong. He didn’t care. If Wallace decided he was a threat, Arwin had no plans of going down peacefully.

He’d fought too hard to get here. He had too much that he had to protect. After everything that he had gone through, even if it meant that he was evil, he refused to let someone cut him down. He refused to abandon his guild. He refused to leave Lillia alone.

Wallace’s hands tightened around the hilt of his hammer. Arwin’s fingers twitched. His armor was only a thought away. He wasn’t sure how much good it would do against someone as powerful as Wallace, but —

The dwarf lowered his hammer. Its head clinked against the stone ground of the Infernal Armory and Wallace released the weapon to cross his arms in front of his chest. It took every scrap of self-control in Arwin’s body to keep from blinking in surprise.

“I… passed?” Arwin asked hesitantly.

“Passed is a strong word,” Wallace rumbled. “You confuse me, Arwin.”

“I’m not so certain that’s a good—”

“It’s not a good thing,” Wallace snapped. “I like to be confused by my wife, not by — whatever you are. Never before have I met your like.”

“Is the cursed item really that bad?” Arwin glanced down at the bracelet in his palm and ran his thumb over its rough surface. It was still warm to the touch from the heat of the flame. “It seems like there’s a chance it won’t turn out evil. I didn’t mean for it to be this, by the way. It was an accident.”

“I ain’t even talking about that damn ring of yours,” Wallace said with a shake of his head. Something about the way he spoke shifted. Some of the sarcasm that seemed to permanently infuse his tone slipped away to reveal a deadly serious interior with a dash of what might have been fear. “I’m talking about you.”

“What about me?” Arwin asked carefully. He decided not to mention the fact that he’d made a bracelet, not a ring. This just didn’t seem like the time to go about addressing it. The way Wallace was talking almost made it seem like—

“How many people have you killed, Arwin?” Wallace asked. “Why? How?”

A tight pit formed in Arwin’s stomach and a hand clenched his chest. Wallace knew. Not everything, but the dwarf somehow knew about what he’d done. Arwin’s hands tightened at his sides, so slick with blood that he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to see them beneath the sea of red if he looked down.

“I—”

“And how many did you save?” Wallace pressed on, not giving Arwin a chance to answer. The dwarf took a step forward. He left his hammer behind him as he approached Arwin, craning his neck back to keep eye contact. “How can one man simultaneously be savior and devil alike? And how is it possible that I have no idea who you are? Where could such a bloodbath could have occurred, and how does one such as yourself end up as an Apprentice smith?”

“It’s a really long story,” Arwin said. “One that I’m not keen on sharing, and one that I don’t think you’re going to want to hear.”

“I think you’re going to be more than eager to share it,” Wallace said softly. “I’m not asking here. My curiosity and judgement of your character wars with my logic, boy. I will not be the dwarf to forge a smith who paints the Kingdom of Lian with corpses.”

They stood in silence for a second. Arwin was loathe to share his past with anyone he didn’t completely trust, but if he had been in Wallace’s shoes, he wouldn’t have been any less willing to compromise.

He didn’t know how much information Wallace had learned about him, but the dwarf somehow had a way to know of all the innocent demons that had died at Arwin’s hand. It was little wonder he was so concerned.

If anything, I’m actually slightly surprised he hasn’t attacked me. When I was the hero… if it were me in his shoes, I think I would have already gone for a killing blow. Lives aren’t weighed. Killing a thousand men and saving a thousand others doesn’t undo the damage I caused.

“I will share it if you insist, but you might regret hearing what I have to say,” Arwin warned, all too aware that the warning was completely pointless. “If you’ve seen my character, then—”

“Not happening. The only reason you still live is because everything I see before me does not match up with the monster I should see. Prove to me that I do not understand. That I’ve missed something key that would change what should be fact. Because, if you can’t, I will have no choice but to carry out my duties and purge you from—”

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“I’d think again,” Lillia’s voice carved through the air like a blade. Arwin and Wallace both spun in surprise as the door flew open and Lillia strode into the room, a roiling cloud of darkness swirling above her. “I’m pretty damn sure I already told you what would happen if you so much as thought of trying to fight us.”

“Lillia?” Arwin blinked in surprise. “What are you doing here? I heard you leave!”

“I closed the door when I was still inside the room, you loveable idiot,” Lillia said, striding up to stand beside him and stare down at the dwarf. “I doubt it actually fooled—”

Wallace’s mouth, which had dropped slightly askew in surprise, snapped shut. Arwin nearly laughed despite the situation. The dwarf had definitely been fooled just as badly as he had been.

“Of course I knew,” Wallace snapped. “Oldest trick in the book, that. I was just playing along.”

“I don’t care what you were doing,” Lillia said flatly. The darkness swirling around her extended to blanket the entire room. Dim lines traced through the air behind Lillia, outlining wings. Arwin wasn’t even sure if she knew what it was doing. Her attention was completely focused on Wallace. “I welcomed you under my roof. You think you can just kill who you want? Who deemed you executioner? What gives you the right?”

“Lass, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You didn’t see—”

“I didn’t see?” Lillia snarled, a curl of shadow rolling off her back and rising up like a flame. “I was there, dwarf. I waded through the blood. I held so many limp hands and I watched life fade from far too many eyes. Where were you?”

“Lillia, it’s fine,” Arwin said, putting a hand on Lillia’s shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. He didn’t blame her for her anger in the slightest. He felt some of it himself, but Wallace just had no way to know what they knew. It would have been incredibly concerning if he did. “He had a way to look at my soul. He got a snippet of the truth, but not everything. Imagine what things would look like if someone only knew the numbers and not the story.”

Lilla tore her gaze away from Wallace to look back at Arwin. Her jaw worked and her hands unclenched, but only slightly. “Perhaps, but do you know what people do when they have suspicions? They speak. They don’t threaten. You didn’t discover this five seconds after meeting us. I fed you. We spoke. You and Arwin spoke. Can you not take the measure of a man with your own eyes?”

“This is about more than just me,” Wallace replied evenly. “The reason I have not acted is because of all the ones you just stated. But… you claim to have been there as well? An Innkeeper?”

Lillia watched Wallace silently. The shadows in the room hadn’t relented, but they’d stopped growing. The dwarf’s eyes suddenly widened in realization.

“The war,” Wallace muttered. “That is what you speak of. Where else could so many die? But… you are a smith. A smith could not kill so many with their own hands.”

“I was not always a smith,” Arwin said. “And Lillia was not always an Innkeeper. You are correct. There was a time when we were both unwilling participants in the war that still ravages the kingdom.”

“How? The number of deaths that weigh on your shoulders are far too great for you to just be conscripted warriors. You should be far greater than Apprentice as well. Grandmaster — no. More. Archon? There are precious few in the kingdom at such a level of strength.”

“I never said I was conscripted,” Arwin said. “I never knew what I was doing. I may as well have been born into the war at the behest of those with ulterior motives. If you want to hear the story, then we will share it. I think it’s only fair.”

“Born into the war…” Wallace’s brow furrowed and his gaze drifted to the side. He was silent for several seconds. Then his eyes snapped back to Arwin and went wide as dinner plates as he drew in a surprised breath. “Earth Father. The child soldier — the Hero?”

The wind vanished from Arwin’s sails and his next sentence died on his lips. Lillia wasn’t caught nearly as off guard.

“You knew?” Lillia exclaimed. “You were aware a child was waging a war for the kingdom and you did nothing to stop it?”

“I — I was not in a position in which I could act,” Wallace stammered, off guard for the first time since Arwin had met him. “When I learned about the Hero’s past, he was already in his twenties. There was nothing that could be done. It was a vile thing, but I have seen drawings of the Hero. Even if he were not dead, you do not look like…”

Wallace trailed off. He squinted at Arwin’s face. He turned to look at Lillia. Then he turned back to Arwin.

I think the gig might be up.

“Yes. It’s him. No, he didn’t die,” Lillia said, then added, “and yes, you did just threaten to kill the Hero.”

“Former hero,” Arwin corrected.

“I can’t believe it,” Wallace said. His mouth worked for a moment in search of words before he finally managed to gather them. “And you — you’re no mere demon. Yer’ the damn queen.”

“I’m… wait.” It was Lillia’s turn to blink. “You knew I was a demon?”

“Figured it out pretty quickly when I saw you had a functional tail,” Wallace muttered, only half hearing her question. He ran his hands through his hair and took a step back before pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t understand. This can’t be true. It makes no sense. You’re both dead… and yet, my magic does not lie. The Mithril does not lie. It fits. Nothing else could.”

Arwin opened his mouth, but Lillia raised her hand to put a finger to his lips and shook her head slightly. She sent a pointed look at Wallace and arched an eyebrow.

“You want the story? Apologize.”

“Tell me what happened first,” Wallace said stubbornly, his features pallid with shock. Arwin was surprised to find that he wasn’t looking at Lillia with anywhere near the amount of suspicion that a normal adventurer would have regarded the Demon Queen with.

The dwarf was stunned and surprised beyond belief, but he wasn’t looking at Lillia any differently than he looked at Arwin — and as much as Arwin liked people treating Lillia well, that didn’t make any sense at all.

“Hold on,” Arwin said. “You first. Why aren’t you worried about Lillia? Don’t get me wrong — she isn’t evil — but you accepted that way too easily. Why?”

Wallace’s features twisted into a grimace. “Shit, boy. You’re digging in places you shouldn’t be. Guess that’s my fault. Let my guard down. But if you are who you claim you are, then I suppose it’s only my place to reveal it.”

“Reveal what?” Lillia asked.

“I’m surprised you don’t know yourself,” Wallace replied. “But I expect I’ll find out soon enough.”

“Just fucking spit it out,” Lillia exclaimed. “What do we not know?”

The dwarf blew out a slow breath and lowered his voice. “I may have been a bit deceitful. Despite what I may have implied, I know demons aren’t mindless monsters. I’ve sold to just as many of them as I have to humans.”