Astral Threads, Ch 32: The Meaning of Fire (Patreon)

The magma channel was divided into twelve sections when it entered the base of the forge, each of which could be opened or closed to change the intensity of the heat. Enchantments on the forge channeled the heat and concentrated it as well, and Sam spent some time studying them to make sure he knew how everything worked.

It was an elegant forge, although not as responsive as his own. With a touch on the runes, he was able to activate one lava channel or up to all twelve and the enchantments helped to ensure that the heat was spread evenly. They also drew in the heat and intensified it beyond magma's natural temperature. There were runes that could be activated to help harden or soften a material, reinforce it, and more.

The result of forging with this wasn’t the same as enchanting an item directly. Instead, the forge itself was able to create a material that was more durable than normal, which made for a better base. Then an enchantment could be added to that, resulting in a much improved item. It was similar in some ways to how he refined an item in his aura and created a base material before enchanting it.

Master Smith Boren and Krana waited nearby as he familiarized himself with the forge. He took his time to understand the parts, which got him a grunt of approval from the smith. When Sam finally looked up, he noticed that the viewing areas were filling up with dwarves.

“Word is spreading that you’re here, Titan,” Boren said with a rumbling chuckle. His arms were crossed as he waited, but his eyes were intent on Sam’s every motion. “You’ve got the attention of the crafting hall already and now people are pouring in from the city to watch too. But don’t worry, no one’ll be allowed to rush you. They just want to see what you make. It’s not every day a smith from a legendary race wanders by.”

“Legendary race?” Sam’s ears tilted as he looked over at Boren, the question automatic. A sense of alarm and curiosity both warred in his chest.

“Aye, the World Law protects certain races,” Boren said agreeably, unbothered by Sam’s reaction. “There’s no need to be so guarded about it. I can’t tell what race you are and I won’t ask. I have my suspicions, but even if I knew, the World Law wouldn’t confirm it. You may not think of yourself that way, but that’s what folks have taken to calling people like you. Besides, dwarves are good with secrets. It’s an honor to us that you’ve come here, and we won’t forget it.”

The master smith’s words confirmed something that Sam had wondered about, and it made him a bit more confident in walking around in public. If the World Core protected the information of other races in the same way, it was good news for him. He might be able to hide the information about Astral Titans in the crowd.

“No one quite knows why it protects those races, but they’re all powerful and extremely rare,” Boren added when he noticed that Krana was looking at him with a question on her lips. “You didn’t know, lass?”

“I knew the Hunter was from a rare race,” Krana said slowly as she looked at Sam and then back to the master smith, “but I didn’t realize that information was hidden for all legendary races.”

“Aye, many believe that they’re the descendants of World Spirits or visitors from beyond the world,” Boren said with a companionable nod. “But no one knows for sure.”

Sam considered the smith’s words as he turned to look at the materials available on the table. He was sure Boren had brought the point up deliberately, perhaps as a way of fishing for information, but the dwarf’s attitude left him confident that it wouldn’t be a problem. Perhaps it was his way of saying he was trustworthy.

The tables held an assortment of items useful for smithing and enchanting, with ingots of iron, steel, mithril, silver, gold, and ebonsteel, as well as rarer materials including full bars of embradium, argentine, and bloodsilver, which looked like polished silver except that it had a dusky crimson hue in its depths. There was also the normal supply of common metals like tin, lead, and copper.

A series of trays to one side held gemstones, with everything from the common sapphires, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds to the semi-precious stones that were useful for specific enchantments, like blood-ore diamonds and argentscale quartz. There were even some of the wild moonstones that he’d used during the Alignment of the Three Moons to good effect. Many of them were very large, probably the product of the mines in these mountains for which the dwarves were famous.

The rack to the side held tools of all shapes and sizes, from tongs to smelting cauldrons, chisels, and hammers, but he only gave those a glance before he went back to studying the materials and the forge itself.

Everything a smith might need to forge and enchant a basic item was here. The question that was imbued into the anvils and glimmered in the heat of the lava was what he would do with it. He needed to make something that impressed the dwarves, which it meant it couldn’t be anything common. With their long lives and history, they had seen all of that and more.

He could make a beautifully crafted item that was highly polished and refined, but while that might get a nod of approval from Master Smith Boren, he didn’t think it would be enough to actually impress him. It would just be a worthy piece of work from a visiting smith.

He needed something that would actually awe the dwarves, something that would last through the ages as an inspiration to the smiths here...something that was worthy to come from the hand of an Astral Titan. Thoughts for what that could be surged through his mind in a tide as he considered and discarded one idea after another.

After a little while, when he was content that he was familiar with everything, his attention turned to the pool of magma at the center of the room, the true heart of the Hall of Magma. He walked toward it slowly as he studied the channels that were carved into the floor. They were made of stone and enchanted for durability and to retain heat, which let the magma flow easily and without cooling. The channels made a complete circuit around the hall and then returned to the pool, like arteries returning to the source.

The heat of the magma radiated from the channels, but it was buffered by the enchantments to a prickling warmth. That was important to protect the smiths here, but he couldn’t help a sense of frustration when he felt it. The fire that was part of him wanted to touch the real thing.

Show me the meaning of Fire, he thought as he walked up to the edge of the pool and looked down into the bubbling magma. Boren might have been just challenging him to do his best, but the words rang in Sam's mind as he looked at the molten stone and sent him down a unique path.

He felt for the source of the heat below, following the vein of the magma down into the earth. Crystal Focus gave him a thousand feet to explore, but the magma went down even farther than that and he was forced to rely on his other senses. He was attuned to fire and to aura, and that was the path he followed as he felt for the center of it all and descended deeper.

Time blurred as he continued his search and when he looked up again, he noticed that the viewing stands were completely filled with dwarves. Even more were trying to look in from the hallways outside. There had to be nearly four hundred of them watching what he was doing.

As for the other two dwarves who were forging when he arrived, he felt them become tense as they began to work even more carefully. They had gained a much larger audience than they’d expected. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything they could do about it unless they wanted to abandon their projects.

He let the presence of the spectators fade out of his mind as he went back to studying the magma pool. He had been searching for auras for the relic and with the intensity of the magma, he could feel that this was almost enough. If he were willing, he might be able to concentrate the magma and refine it to something that the relic could use.

As soon as he thought of that, however, he dismissed it. He wasn’t going to ruin the dwarves’ forge. If he did that, this pool of magma would grow cold and lose most of its power, since it didn’t have enough strength to lend, and that would be a deep insult to Runekeld. What he needed was an area so intense with aura that it wouldn’t miss what he borrowed.

Nonetheless, it gave him an idea.

The aura in the magma was pure and strong, a source of vital flame that imbued the items the dwarves crafted, giving them strength and durability beyond what the materials could otherwise offer. What if....the thought trailed off into a grin as his fangs appeared.

He knew just what to make the dwarves to impress Boren. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but he was definitely going to try. He returned to the work table as he began to rummage around in the materials on it and gathered a few things.

Embradium for the strength of magic. Ruby for the heart of flame. Mithril for the dwarves and their home. Argentine for an enchantment that would last through the ages without tarnishing. Garnet to embody the earthen element in the magma, which he would fuse into the others. He set the items one by one along the edge of the work table.

Together, those items would make a good base, but they wouldn’t be enough for what he had in mind. That would require something else that only he could do. He didn’t pay attention to the shocked gasps from the dwarves as he pulled an Aura of Burning Stone from his storage. He still had a few of them from the Flaws near Highfold.

The ethereal red sphere swirled in his hand as he held it near the materials and evaluated them all with a critical eye. He considered adding another aura, but after a moment he shook his head. There was something that would work better. This aura would just stand in for the consumable part of the process.

With a flicker of his will, the bars of metal and gems floated into the air on a current of wind and followed him as he headed back to the pool. Crystal flame surged out from his skin and swept around them in widening arcs as he began to purify them. He took one in his hands and then the next, letting the others hover there.

He could feel the spectators’ eyes on him, but he ignored them. Let them see the golden titan surrounded by swirling elements and remember the day the Chaos Smith visited Runekeld.

Once the materials were purified, he took the Aura of Burning Stone in his hands and began to modify it. He pared away the parts that didn’t suit the magma here and when that was done, he knelt by the side of the pool as he held the swirling aura above the surface of the lava.

Threads of glimmering red light began to flow around him, spiraling into the aura in his hand. It was a slow process as he pulled on the magma, intensifying it and engraving its unique signature into the aura he held. Moment by moment, the Aura of Burning Stone changed, the heat in it taking on a new quality.

It had held a rough texture before, like flame in a desert with the flavor of sand and stone, but as it bathed in the aura of the magma, that sense changed. It became brighter and hotter. The sand melted, fusing together into a molten clump, and then it grew hotter still as the stone in it became liquid. Eventually, the aura in his hand was almost the same as the aura in the pool. It just needed another touch.

A series of shocked exclamations resounded through the chamber as he sank his hand into the center of the magma, taking the aura with him. He was immune to fire, but the magma was a mix of earth as well. He could feel his skin trying to flake away under the force of the element, threatening to crack as the stone boiled around it.

It wasn’t enough to make him stop.

His Elemental Manipulation ensured that it wasn’t going to harm him as long as his essence endured. With the heat removed, it was just like having his hand trapped in a stream of rock that was constantly grinding away at it. Pressure to endure.

The natural aura here was more intense and he pulled threads of it into the one in his hand, until the Aura of Burning Stone finally changed its shape. That wasn’t enough for what he wanted, however, so he kept in the magma as he searched for the sense of endless heat that fueled the forges.

Bit by bit, he pulled that endless renewal of fire into the aura he was working on. Eventually, it changed again and he pulled it out of the magma. His hand was stinging, but the aura had taken on a bright red-gold color as it swirled, its strength rising and falling in a cycle. It was the same as the pool of magma, but more condensed. The new name sprang into his awareness.

Aura of Endless Magma (Epic).

He released the aura to float in front of him as he stood up. The materials that were gathered by his side joined it, each of them floating on a separate current of wind. He looked back at the forge behind him, but shook his head as he returned to studying the magma pool. For his purposes, this would work much better.

With a wave of his hand, the bars of metal and the gemstones began to swirl above the magma pool. They floated at different heights as his aura wrapped around them, focusing the heat to the right temperature for each to melt.

The embradium melted first. It was attuned to magic, but its structure was weaker than the others, which was why it was only ever used as an inlay or coating. The argentine was next, its silver hue darker than ever in the light from the magma. The two metals began to spin around one another in shimmering grey and silver streams as they flowed through the pattern of a focusing rune.

It was the rune for magma.

Other runes flickered around the materials as he imbued them into the flowing metals, and as they fused into the structure, he continued to have the metals spin through the same rune for magma. The rune was creating a resonance with the magma pool, which began to bubble more strongly as the heat in it increased.

Like above, so below.

They were twin sources, each speaking to the other, one of natural aura and the other of pure essence. His energy flowed out as he poured it into the rune to increase the intensity, and then he called the last metal over. A moment later, the bar of mithril melted and a current of molten silver-blue joined the rune.

The new addition began to spin around the others, thinning out until it split into dozens of small mithril runes and formed a spell circle rotating around the center. The magma rune was no longer alone, but the heart of a nascent enchantment as the spinning metals became a three-dimensional pattern.

Next, the three garnets and the ruby he’d selected floated up from beside him and hovered near the enchantment. For a time, they absorbed the energy that the runes and the magma pool were emitting, but eventually they began to glow as their internal structure became attuned to the aura. They shimmered with a warm red light.

He raised up the Aura of Endless Magma in his hand and called the gems to it. The ruby came first, flying into the center of the aura where it flared with light, and then the garnets followed, orbiting around the outside of the aura like three moons. With their addition, the aura was finally stable enough for him to release it. With a flicker of will, he sent the aura and its gemstones back into the heart of the enchantment above the pool.

His hands came up around the edge of the enchantment in the air and he began to add more runes. They flickered from his fingertips as he created another spell circle around the outside of what was already there. Distantly, he could sense the dwarves staring at him, their eyes fixed on what he was crafting, but he was focused on his work.

Runes for endurance, strength, and imbuing the elements of magma, flame, and stone flowed around him as he added them into the spell circle. The heart of power was nearly complete, but it needed a framework if he wanted it to work the way he intended. It had to be able to grant power as well as focus it.

Another enchantment circle appeared as he added runes for engraving, control, and for sensing the will of a smith. Some of these enchantments were borrowed from his forge, their patterns engraved in his mind as clearly as the stars in the night. When those were complete, on the spur of the moment he added something else, a pattern that he’d been studying from the golems in the relic. His eyes gleamed in the magma light as he completed the final circle.

Boren had asked him for the meaning of flame, and he intended to give it to him.

He had to stop and combust a few auras from his storage to provide enough energy for the last step, since his essence pool was nearly drained now, but he had enough for his work. The Outsiders had been generous. Each of the Epic auras held 100 essence when they were fully intensified and the First Evolution ones went up to 150. Six of them burned away to restore his essence pool.

When that was complete, he took out the half-full globe of Earth mana from his belt pouch that he'd used on his bracer and a stream of shimmering silver-white droplets poured out into his hand. A tremble went through the room like an earthquake as the dwarves realized what he was holding, and some of them had to seize their neighbors to keep them from rushing forward for a better view. Shocked words rumbled through the room.

Master Smith Boren had to grab one too-curious dwarf by the arm and fling him back across the chamber to keep him from reaching Sam, but with that example, the rest managed to restrain themselves.

The Earth mana droplets shot forward like miniature suns as they flew into the enchantment and fused into the structure. They were spread evenly throughout every part as a patina of silver-white mana coated the metals, aura, gemstones, and the enchantment circles with the Earth’s blessing. He studied the result with a careful eye as he adjusted the alignment of a few runes, keeping all of the various parts rotating in a sphere above the magma. Then he nodded.

It was almost time.

Crystal flame tinged with astral energy flared out of his hands as he channeled the entire 642 points of his essence into the nascent artifact. At the same time, he reached deep into the pool of magma to where its fire was born and intensified that channel of energy as he transferred it up into the spinning structure of the artifact.

A fountain of golden-red magma roared up from the pool like an erupting volcano as it engulfed the enchantment, pouring its energy and aura into the artifact in a blaze of fire.

“Heart of Magma!”

The words rolled out of Sam’s mouth in a roar like thunder as he drove his hand into the fountain of molten stone and touched the ruby at the center. In a blaze of power, the circles of enchantment activated. They began to spin faster, rotating in the air as they whipped around the central gem. The ruby began to burn with a bright golden-red light and the garnets around it took on their own shades. One was a bright golden hue, the second was a mix of golden and red, and the last was a pure, dark red.

The enchantment flared outward as it spun through the fountain of magma and gathered the energy that was all around it and then it collapsed inward, shrinking into the center. The runes and enchantment circles fused into the mithril that was supporting them, and then they melted into the argentine and the embradium. The three metals merged together as they became traceries of an inlay that fused into the gems.

The fountain of magma quieted as it fell back into the pool and a moment later, there was only a bright red ruby shining as it floated at the center of the hall. It was imbued with a nearly invisible tracery of metals that formed runes throughout its structure, both inside and out. Glimmers of mithril and argentine shone from the depths of the gem and an outline of embradium hugged the facets with a nearly imperceptible web.

The three garnets floated around the ruby, each of them imbued with the enchanted metals in a similar fashion, like three moons around Aster Fall herself. They hovered there with no need for external support, floating on their own current of energy as they orbited the ruby in slow circles.

Although they looked separate, the gems were all part of a single artifact, and as long as they had a trace of mana left in them, they would never fall from the air.

Notifications rang in Sam’s mind in a cascade of bell-like tones, but he paid them no attention as he reached out a golden, taloned hand to gently touch the ruby that was floating above the magma. His body felt as empty as a desolate plain and his veins burned with the expenditure of essence, but his eyes were clear and bright as he looked upon his work.

There was a flickering sense of awareness in the gem that was unlike anything he’d created before, something that came from his study of golems and the relic.

“I name you ‘Heart of Magma,’” he said to it gently. His words were quiet, but they were filled with a power that echoed across the chamber and brought a wash of heat to the stones. “You are a gift to the dwarves of Runekeld, an enchantment of flame to last the ages. With each passing cycle, you will grow stronger as you are renewed by the heat of Aster Fall herself. On this first morning of your existence, know that you were made by the Chaos Smith and that you hold the virtues of Fire and Stone. Aid the dwarves in their crafting, and share with them your aura to imbue what they create.”

The ruby shimmered in response to his words and the garnets spun faster, bumping against his hand in acknowledgement. The pool of magma below rumbled as the gems moved, bubbles of aura and heat rising from it in response to the artifact. They were tied together now, but not in a way that would harm either of them. With a nod to the gemstone, Sam turned toward Boren and spoke.

“Take good care of him and he will infuse what you create far beyond what was possible before. Make sure not to ask for too much when he is young, although he should know well enough how to aid you, since it is his nature. His power will grow through the years.”

“What...have you created?” Master Smith Boren spoke with a low reverence as he stepped forward to the edge of the pool and looked at the artifact. The ruby shimmered with its inlay of metals as the garnets floated around it, slowly weaving around their orbits as if they were testing out their range of motion. “A gemstone of magma? I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s a...construct?”

“It is a blessing, an artifact that will focus the aura of the magma here and aid you in imbuing it into things that you create.” Sam’s answer was calm as he nodded at Boren. “You’ll need to begin with an enchantment for fire or stone as you work on an item, but once the pattern is laid, just ask the Heart of Magma to help. It will enhance what you create and make it stronger. The tier of the enchantment you’re working on should increase, the power it can channel will become stronger, and the mana that you can infuse into the item should be greater as well, which will increase the charges it can hold.

“You said that the magma here has blessed items in the past. The Heart of Magma will increase that effect. You might also see other attributes being added to items, true blessings of flame and stone, if the gem has the interest and the energy to spare. It is new, so you’ll need to show it what you can do, but the more it sees, the more it will find ways to help. If you treat it well, it will be of great help here.” Sam looked from Boren to the gemstone as he considered what the dwarf was thinking, and then he added a few reassurances. After all, it was their ancestral hall.

“Do not worry about the magma pool. The Heart’s presence here will make it stronger than ever. You can take the Heart away if you wish and the hall will be the same as it ever was, but if you leave the two together, they will continue to grow stronger over time. Think of it as a focusing artifact.”

Boren was silent as he studied the gemstone. After a moment, he held out his hand to it, like Sam had done. One of the garnets looped wider to bump into it and bounced off the stout dwarven finger. It returned to orbiting the ruby and then it came back again, followed by another garnet. This time, both of them bumped into the dwarf’s hand before they moved off.

Boren let out a rumbling chuckle as he held his hand there and they did it again. A gleam of wonder was in his eyes, and not just because of a dwarf’s love for gemstones.

“You have created an artifact that many a dwarf will marvel over,” he said at last. “Not only was it born of the earth as a gemstone, but its creation is a marvel of crafting and it is unique. I do not know if another of its like could ever appear, but I know that it would not be by my hands. A dwarven king would be proud to have such an artifact in his halls, and I believe Runekeld will be all the more famous for it.”

Boren nodded as he turned back to Sam. There was a serious expression on his features as his beard rattled. His voice rose as he spoke loudly enough that all the crowd could hear.

“I, Boren, High Artisan of Runekeld and Dwarven Master Smith, announce that the Chaos Smith, our Friend and Honored Guest, has crafted an item worthy of praise in the Hall of Magma. He passes the Trial of Crafting with the highest marks and I grant him Honorary Elder status in the Crafters’ Guild.” He turned back to look at the Heart of Magma for a moment and then he nodded.

“For crafting an artifact that will serve as a demonstration to the future crafters of Runekeld, one of equal worth will be granted to him. I will personally search the oldest vaults for something that will honor what he has given us.” With that, Boren nodded, and then he waved to the crowd around the room.

“Now, all of you, do not bother the Chaos Smith! He is tired and will want to rest after these last two days of crafting, which he did without break or sustenance! Instead, go and carry word of what has happened here and bring your apprentices to see the new addition to the hall! The artifact will remain in the Hall of Magma and whoever threatens to damage or move it will earn the wrath of Boren!”

The master smith’s words echoed out across the hall in a rousing wave that crashed against the viewers, and like sand fading before the incoming tide, they began to disappear, flowing out of the hall moment by moment. Before they left, however, each of their eyes settled on the gem and then on the golden titan who was standing next to it.

Eventually, the room was empty except for Sam, the master smith, and Krana. Even the other two dwarves who had been forging in here had disappeared at some point during his creation of the Heart of Magma.

“You don’t do things by halves, do you?” Krana said with a quiet chuckle as she stepped up to next him. “I didn’t expect that you’d make something for the crafter’s hall itself when I brought you here, but you’ve definitely impressed the city. The council will certainly hear about this.”

“Aye, they will,” Boren said with a laugh of his own that shook the walls. “I’ll make sure of that! Not that I’m going to need to do much. You may not have noticed, but several of them were in the crowd watching. They came as soon as it was obvious that what you were making wasn’t normal. I am confident that your wishes will be granted by tomorrow, once they get done talking about this new artifact in the hall. That’ll distract them for a while. Dwarves love a worthy gemstone.”

Sam just nodded as he looked at his work. The ruby was shining with a warm red-gold light that played over the magma below. It was already radiating more heat than it had a moment before as it concentrated the aura. Eventually, it would be so intense that anyone not immune to fire would risk their life approaching it, at least if it didn’t like them. The heat washed over his skin with a pleasant tickle of familiarity as the World Core’s notifications jumped into his mind.

Congratulations, Chaos Smith. You have created the Heart of Magma (Epic Aura Artifact, Unique, Earth Blessed).

The Artifact is currently able to grant the following effects:

Blessing of Magma: Adds 20 Strength, 20 Constitution, and infuses an internal heat that will defend the bearer by lashing out at anything which attacks them. Chance of Infusion: 5%.

Blessing of Fire: Adds 20 Strength, 20 Agility. It will speed the bearer’s steps and increase their damage when attacking. Chance of Infusion: 5%.

Blessing of Stone: Adds 30 Constitution, 10 Wisdom. It will infuse the bearer with the fortitude of stone in body and mind. Chance of Infusion: 5%.

These blessings can currently be granted once a month, if there is a suitable item to receive them and if the smith has the approval of the Heart of Magma.

As a Blessed Aura Artifact with an inborn spirit, the Heart will continue to grow in strength over the years, as long as it remains in a place that is hospitable to its growth. Auras related to Flame and Stone may be infused into the Heart to accelerate its advancement.

For crafting a unique artifact with lasting value to Aster Fall, you are granted bonus experience.

You gain 2,500,000 Class experience.

You have gained 12 Class Levels and 12 General Levels. You are now a Level 72 Chaos Smith and General Level 172.

Class Experience: 12,089,500 / 12,175,000.

General Experience: 12,171,500 / 12,175,000.

You gain 24 Strength, 24 Wisdom, 24 Intelligence, 24 Aura, and have 48 free attribute points to assign.

It was a big boost in experience, but if anything, the true mark of his advancement was the Heart of Magma itself. The artifact floated in the air with light glinting from its facets and he felt the young awareness that was inside of it. It was the first time he’d ever created an artifact spirit and he felt an attachment to the Heart that was far beyond any other item he’d made.

Be good to the dwarves, he sent silently to it. The return impression from the Heart flickered with agreement and a sense of playfulness, as if it held the bubbling humor of young magma. After that, there was a wave of gratitude, as it thanked him for bringing it into existence, and a request for him to stay and keep it company.

I’ll stay with you for a bit, he agreed as he nodded to the gem. I have some auras that I think you’ll like to eat. Even when I leave, don’t worry. I will still be around and I'll come to check on you in the future. I hope that you will grow strong. Always remember who you are and that you were created by me.

A garnet swooped out from its orbit around the ruby and bonked into Sam’s horns before it swooped back to its place. There was a sense of agreement and little crackles of mirth, like it was chuckling at him.

In the distance, just at the edge of Sam’s awareness, he could feel a crowd building near the entrance to the Crafting Guild as the dwarves clamored to see what he had made, but he ignored them as he stepped closer to the Heart and pulled out an Aura of Burning Stone to feed it.