Rise of the Living Forge-Chapter 418: I know that aura

As it turned out, Arwin’s materials weren’t the only ones capable of creating Visions. After he agreed to Koyu’s offer, the Lich had instructed him to sit down and make himself about as comfortable as one could be while sitting on the stone floor of an armory.

Koyu had then put a hand on Arwin’s head — and the world had burned away in a swirl of roaring white flame.

What formed to take its place was a damp cave. The first thing that Arwin noticed was the heavy scent of standing water and moss. It covered the walls around him in thick patches, plump and thick enough to act as a comfortable bed.

The moss glowed with gentle light that illuminated the entire cave in its soft embrace. It rolled over the stalactites that hung from the ceiling and left shadows only in the crevices of the jutting stones at the edges of the room, which was a little larger than the Infernal Armory.

A small lake sat still and silent in the back corner of the cave. There was a formation of jagged quartz above it and a gap between the wall and the water implied that this was only the edge of the lake, and the rest of it was off somewhere beyond the stone.

At the very center of the cave was a large rock formation. Strands of stone and metal wove together into something between an anvil and a large goblet. The structure stood just over four feet tall and spikes jutted out from its corners, curling up toward the ceiling like the maw of some snarling beast.

There was a pool of dark, murky liquid within the cup of the goblet. Arwin couldn’t quite tell what it was from where he stood.

Arwin stood at the edge of the cave, one of his feet lodged directly in a stone. Koyu stood just beside him, hands crossed behind his back as his cold blue eyes drank in their drab surroundings.

“Where are we?” Arwin asked, glancing around the cave. This was similar to the visions he’d had before… but it was also strikingly different. Something about this one almost felt fake. Like it was recorded rather than he was actually a part of it.

He lifted his foot, and it passed clean through the stone it was inside as if nothing were there. Arwin’s brow furrowed.

I can’t interact with the environment.

“The past,” Koyu replied. “The very distant past. Why do you look confused?”

“Wouldn’t you have had to be here for us to be seeing this?” Arwin asked. “This is something that actually happened, right? You said you were here for it.”

Koyu waggled a hand from side to side. “Memories are funny things. Much of them are actually created by our minds. I was indeed here. Just not yet.”

“Not yet?” Arwin frowned. “Then how do you have memories of the cave already? Shouldn’t we not be in it yet?”

“My mind filled it in. I thought it prudent to arrive a bit before I did so you could take in the surroundings before the memory properly starts,” Koyu said. His features darkened. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss anything. We will not be watching this memory again, so I suggest you pay close attention.”

Before Arwin could ask why, a red strand squirmed through the air before the goblet. It twisted in upon itself, weaving loops into its length as it rapidly expanded. The scent of acrid smoke prickled against Arwin’s nostrils as the forms of two people twisted into being.

The first was an uncomfortably tall man. He was easily eight feet, standing so high that his head nearly brushed the stalactites hanging from the high ceiling of the cave. The man was lanky and thin enough that his collarbones threatened to pierce through his pallid skin. Strands of gray hair clung to his skull, few and far in between. He may as well have been bald. The man leaned heavily on a twisted wooden staff with a black gem at its top.

Alongside him was another man, this one of a much more average size. He had brilliant silver hair and sharp, noble features with brilliant blue eyes. Arwin recognized him instantly. Even though the years had aged Koyu, his eyes were unmistakable.

“Me,” Koyu said, indicating the silver-haired man before turning his gaze to the one who stood beside him. The man’s back was to them, so Arwin had yet to see his face. “And my teacher. Shade.”

“Does the edgy name come before or after becoming a Lich?”

Koyu’s lips twitched in amusement, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere. “After. Liches do away with all remnants of their prior life in their rebirth. Shade was not his original name. Now pay attention. I will give you the context that you need.”

Shade and the younger Koyu approached the goblet. Arwin shifted to the side to get a better view of them — and he nearly swore in disgust as he caught his first glimpse of Shade’s face.

Ragged strands of flesh hung from his features like they had been clawed apart by a massive cat. Huge portions of his skull were visible through his tattered face. And yet, there wasn’t so much as a drop of blood on him.

His skin was shriveled and drained of all fluid. Even his eyes were sunken and wrinkled. The man looked like a specter of death itself.

“A greater lich,” Koyu said, moving to join Arwin. “Shade was among the most powerful of our kind.”

“You were his apprentice?” Arwin asked.

“He had many. I was but one. The others were all off fighting at the time of this memory,” Koyu said. “That is why I was fortunate enough to have experienced the creation of the weapon.”

“Ready the vessel,” Shade said. The man’s voice slipped from his exposed jaw like the scream of sickly wind clawing through a dead forest.

The younger Koyu reached out. He dug his hands into the air and pulled at it, gritting his teeth in concentration. Swirls of dull blue magic dripped from his fingertips to splatter to moss by his feet.

A pained hiss rose from the moss as it shriveled and withered, the light coming from within it fading and dying.

There was a wet pop as a sickly portal tore into existence before the young Koyu. Murky energy swirled inside it, but he didn’t seem to care. Koyu’s younger self plunged his arms into the portal.

And from within it, he pulled a heart.

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It definitely was not a Dungeon Heart. The organ was far too small for that. It was a bit too small to even belong to a human. The heart, along with Koyu’s arms, dripped with the sick looking blue liquid even as the portal faded away.

Arwin grimaced as the heart pulsed.

“What is that?” Arwin asked. “It’s not a Dungeon Heart, is it?”

“Trust me,” Koyu replied. “You don’t want to know. It is not something I wish to speak of. And it is not something you will need… so long as you are not attempting to use Soulmancy in this manner.”

There was no room for question in his voice, and Shade hadn’t stopped to study the object. He’d just extended his hands to let them rest on the surface of the goblet.

“Insert the vessel,” Shade commanded. “Then stand back.”

“I want to watch, Master. I want to learn Soulmancy,” the younger Koyu said. There was so much reverence in his voice that it brought bile to Arwin’s throat.

“You will watch,” Shade said with a nod. “But that is all. You are too fresh. Your soul has not yet consumed enough power. Perhaps, in some years, I will teach you the next step. Until then… you will not interfere.”

The younger Koyu inclined his head. He approached the goblet and lowered the still-beating heart into the still liquid within it. When his hands came free, they dripped red. He didn’t even bother to wipe them off. He just took a step back before turning his expectant gaze to his master.

Shade closed his eyes.

“The liquid in the basin is his own blood,” Koyu told Arwin. “It is the method in which he forcibly links himself to the soul of the being he is attempting to warp.”

This is the equivalent of me chewing lava, then? I definitely prefer my way.

With a roar, Shade plunged his hands deep into the depths of the goblet. Blood splattered up its sides, but it didn’t spill from within the bowl. It bubbled and hissed furiously as if it had suddenly started to boil.

Something prickled against Arwin’s mind. He wasn’t sure how, but he could almost feel Shade’s intent as it drove into the heart. This was no simple command. Shade was almost building a lattice of will, encircling the heart with his commands and binding it down tightly.

“What is this?” Arwin whispered, uneasiness filling his mind.

“Soulmancy. It is a manner of contract between two souls,” Koyu said. “But if you are weak, then the contract will work in both ways. It will consume you as much as you consume it. He must ensure there is no room for struggle. No way to escape. Only his will can remain.”

Vile. Absolutely vile and reprehensible.

“Slavery. That’s not a contract. That is slavery.”

“It is,” Koyu said with a grim nod. “But it is worse. There is escape from slavery. But, unless there is another Soulmancer, there is never escape from this. It is eternal.”

Arwin’s hands tightened at his sides. Shade was the type of monster that he should have been fighting. The manner of being that did not deserve to live. Who rotted the world from the inside out. If the Guild had turned their attention to killing things like this, then perhaps they never would have lost their way manufacturing wars.

“Why can I feel what the heart feels?” Arwin asked, forcing himself to focus. He couldn’t risk losing information. He had no plans of ever doing what Shade did — but he could find a different way to use Soulmancy.

Arwin could already think of one. If it was a contract, all he had to do was find a way to make an equal partnership with the materials he was working with. This power was being abused. It had the potential to be a partnership that benefitted both the creator and the will of the materials he worked with.

“Because his soul is so immensely powerful that its motions are impossible for those attuned to the soul to miss,” Koyu replied. “Each thread you feel him weaving is another command. It has magical energy within it that will force the bound soul to change its shape and form until it fits his will.”

“Disgusting,” Arwin muttered. He could feel how effective Soulmancy was, and he wasn’t even the target. It was like being covered in a smothering blanket of molten metal that forced you to melt into the shape it demanded.

It would have been difficult to describe, but now that Arwin could literally feel it happening, he could almost see how he could turn this to his own purposes. Never in the manner in which Shade used, but Arwin could merge what he knew of Dwarven Smithing with this.

I could communicate with my materials using their song to figure out what they want. To establish the terms of our contract. Then I can make that contract — one we both agree on — with Soulmancy. Instead of forcing something into the shape I demand, I can give it a path to become what it wants.

“What happens when he finishes?” Arwin asked.

“This particular weapon has been in preparation for a long time,” Koyu said. “We are only witnessing the final step. I was not present for the others. Once Shade completes binding the soul, it will connect to the other pieces he has prepared and the weapon will be finished. Do you feel—”

“Yes,” Arwin said. “All too well. I will never do this, Koyu. Not this way. I swear it.”

“Good,” Koyu said. “I can feel your disgust. I would have abandoned you in this vision had you felt anything else. I will not allow myself to be the reason another Soulmancer like Shade comes into being.

Arwin paused for a moment. “You can do that?”

“You let me take you into a world of my creation,” Koyu said. “And I was a Lich of some power. There are a great many things I can do with this much access to your soul.”

Arwin grunted. He couldn’t take his eyes off Shade — or stop the constricting presence of the Lich’s magic from searing itself into his mind.

“If I had looked like I wanted to become anything like this monster, then I’d hope you’d seal me away and lock away the key. I will never become this.”

And Shade was an idiot. A partnership where both parties are working together will always be more powerful than one where one is forced to obey. He’s not just evil. He’s also missing out on potential power… but I suppose someone like this would never even consider taking the will of his materials into account. That goes doubly so when your materials are living souls.

“Ready yourself,” Koyu said. “It is almost complete. Shade is weaving the bindings together. Once they are fully connected, they will set. The weapon is almost complete.”

Sickly power twisted through the entire cave like intangible tendrils of some wretched eldritch monster were trying to squirm into being. Even though the cave looked completely normal, Arwin could feel just how wrong this magic was.

I can see why Koyu said he’d only do this once.

He didn’t let his focus falter. This was the only chance he was going to get — and the only one he wanted — to determine what Shade was doing. The level of control the Lich had over his soul was terrifying as it was incredible.

Even knowing what he’s done, it’ll take me time to actually get my control to this level… and I’m not even trying to control anything. Just creating such a complex mold for the soul to fill is going to be incredibly difficult, so I need to make sure I’ve got all the context I can get.

Arwin watched intently as Shade slowly brought the soul closer to his desires. The bindings filling the room tightened. Power gathered around the basin before him and the blood within it started to drain away, flooding into the heart as it turned darker and harder.

Its physical form was changing.

Shade was forcing it to form into something new.

And then, layer by layer, Shade peeled his will back. He paused each time. The Lich was likely checking to make sure the shape of his creation was exactly as he wanted it to be before peeling back the next one.

The liquid continued to drain away until nothing but the heart’s warped shape remained. Shade peeled the final layer of his will away. Then he reached into the basin and raised his creation from within it, holding it up as his damaged lips split into a crazed smile.

The heart no longer even resembled an organ. Soft flesh had turned hard and polished. Sharp faces covered its surface, and it had turned a deep grayish black.

It was a crystal.

But not just any crystal.

Arwin’s breath caught in his chest as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Koyu said something, but he didn’t process it. His entire being was too focused on the crystal before him. Glistening words twisted into the air above it as the Mesh revealed the newly made creation.

Soul of the Devouring Tyrant: Artifact Quality

Familiar energy poured out of Shade’s wretched masterpiece.

It felt hungry.

Arwin had felt this before. It had a different name, but he knew this crystal well. Or, at the least, he knew something that had once been connected to it.

This was the exact same aura that the Heart of the Devouring Prism had possessed before he’d transformed it into his bow.