Chapter IV.XLI (4.41) - The Lamp
Kizu spun a spear over his head and lunged forward, jabbing the blunt tip into the neck of a practice dummy. He retracted the weapon with a swift movement and turned on his heel, ready to plunge it into the dummy’s companion, but nearly tripped as someone stood in his way. He stumbled, his balance off as he narrowly missed the very real, living person standing in a sandy courtyard beside him.
“Don’t sneak up on me,” Kizu hissed. “I could have seriously injured you.”
His new companion was a gorgeous woman with dark skin and hair that fell over her shoulders in thousands of ringlets, like the links of chainmail. She wore a circlet with a ruby gem at the center of her forehead. Lahel crossed her arms and glared at him. He already knew what she wanted to say. She’d said it a hundred times already. But she’d never invaded his practice before. It felt like she’d interrupted him while bathing.
“It’s not time yet,” he said.
“Zanye Ali! You need to use this advantage!” she insisted. “It’s been one month. What do you think will happen? Are you waiting for another sign from the heavens before you even consider acting?”
Kizu licked his chapped lips and avoided her eyes. “I looked into blacksmiths.”
“The sacred stone is under your bed right now gathering dust!”
“You searched my room last night?”
“You fell asleep early,” she said dismissively. “What else was I supposed to do?”
That was…embarrassing. He’d spent over twelve hours on shift though. Of course he’d been tired. He’d barely been conscious.
His internal excuses did not alleviate his embarrassment.
“What do you want from me?” Kizu asked.
“For you to decide something! Every night is another night the Shades might discover your treasure. Every minute you waste, you risk throwing away our greatest opportunity in generations!”
She wasn’t wrong. Kizu had been putting this off for too long. He didn’t want to deal with it though. A part of him would be relieved if the Shades did steal the rock from him. Then at least it wouldn’t be his problem any longer. But…the other part of him would be crushed by guilt.
“Fine. In three days we are assigned to patrol up to Bahardan. I’ll ask around for blacksmiths in the city.”
Lahel smiled. “Finally! A decision. I was worried the sands would take you before you decided to finally act. I’ll likewise ask my connections for any information about blacksmiths in Bahardan who might be sympathetic to the cause.”
“Be careful,” Kizu warned.
“Ali. When am I not careful?”
“When you leap in front of my spear in the middle of my practice routine,” he said dryly.
Then the world began to fade around him. It collapsed into a foggy mist and Kizu felt himself being ripped out of his current body. Now he floated in the ether, staring into the eyes of the body he’d inhabited until this moment. His real memories crashed forward in his mind.
“This was an important moment,” Zayne said. “It was the first step.”
He sounded wistful as he spoke and weighed the spear in his hand. He began absently spinning the spear. Then he snapped it forward and continued the flowing movement of the routine Kizu had just been experiencing.
“So you found a rock,” Kizu said, watching as Zayne twirled and twisted with the spear in hand. “And you used it to build a weapon? Something to fight the Calamities?”
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“That was our intention.” Zayne pivoted on a heel and struck at an invisible enemy. “But fate brought us in a different direction.”
“Show me.”
Zayne kneeled down and let the spear roll from his hands, engulfed by the misty ground. He bowed his head. Then mist around him rose up, forming walls. Kizu felt himself melding back into Zayne’s body. It felt like sliding into a well worn boot.
“You don’t understand,” the blacksmith said, shaking his head in frustration. “This metal is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I can work with it, but it has a mind of its own. Perhaps a Shade might be able to—”
“No,” Kizu said quickly. “Tell me what you can do with it.”
The man rubbed his scruffy chin and frowned. “Like I said, it has a will to it. Definitely a magical material. It almost feels…joy when exposed to light. As if it craves the brightness. When I throw a blanket over it, it goes completely silent.”
Kizu didn’t press the man. He let a silence lap as the blacksmith considered, lost in thought for a minute while he pondered over the rock’s properties.
“An oil lamp,” the blacksmith said at last. “Perhaps I could forge it into a lamp. An object designed to harness light.”
“Not a spear?” Kizu asked, disappointed. “A spear tip gleams in the sunlight.”
“No…not a spear. Not something designed for killing. Death doesn’t suit this material at all. In fact, it almost seems like it wants to contain life, safekeep it.”
That didn’t sound at all like a lamp, but Kizu reluctantly let the blacksmith take a portion of his star to forge a lamp. This had been his best lead so far. Every other blacksmith he’d visited for the last four days had been utterly stumped by the metal. One had tried to forge a piece of it into a dagger for Kizu and lost the tips of two fingers for his trouble. If this man thought he might be able to make something out of it, Kizu wasn’t going to stop him.
Tomorrow, his patrol was scheduled to return home. He’d already managed to postpone their journey twice, claiming illness, but a third excuse would rouse suspicion and inspire questions. He needed this man to make something out of the metal as quickly as possible. If he thought a lamp might be possible, then Kizu was desperate enough to accept. At least that would be something to show Lahel. And it would only require a tiny amount of the material to create. The blacksmith insisted it would be less than two percent of the rock, so long as he formed it into an alloy.
The scene shifted again. Kizu felt himself splitting from Zayne. But, before the split could be completed, the mists around them resolidified again. The same building, though now things had been shifted around. Tools reorganized, the blacksmith now disheveled and proudly presenting to Kizu a golden lamp.
The lamp glowed. Not from any fuel inside, but the metal itself emitted a soft, radiant light. Kizu admired it.
“Not bad, eh?” the blacksmith said proudly. He wiped sweat from his brow with a dirty wrist and beamed at Kizu.
Not bad was an utter understatement. The lamp was gorgeous. It looked almost more like a teapot than the normally flat, clay lamps Kizu was used to. A curled handle led down into the sleek body designed to hold the oil, with a cap on top. Then, finally, it led into a thin spout where the wick would normally be. Intricate details were carved into the metal. They swirled like liquid at first glance.
Kizu reached out and tapped the lamp’s side. It was warm to the touch, as if still cooling from the furnace. And yet, the blacksmith had finished it hours ago.
“What can it do?” Kizu asked.
The blacksmith simply shrugged. He knew no more than Kizu. Perhaps even less, without the knowledge of where the metal had originated.
Kizu paid the man and slipped his lamp into his pack. It was time to return.
As he walked through the city’s streets, a shadow nearby stirred. Kizu nearly tripped over his own feet at the sight.
An eye. It blinked at him, then vanished once more into the darkness.
Kizu hadn’t done anything illegal. He was a simple spearman returning to duty. No reason for him to stand out or be watched.
The lamp felt heavy in his jacket.
Then a thought occurred to him. These lamps were created to fend off darkness. The very essence of their oppressors. Perhaps the star’s metal had been put to good use after all.
As Kizu shook off the dread and stepped forward again, he found himself walking out of the street and back into the mist.
“Who are the Shades?” Kizu asked Zayne once he regained his composure.
“The first Calamity. The one closest to the heart of Sekai. The guardians of the underworld.”
“Blood Lord, Kitsune, Dragons, Oozes, and Shades.” Kizu reviewed what he knew of each of the Calamities. So far, three of the five had been released. And two of those three had resulted in genocide and pain on an unprecedented scale.
“Those are the five children of Sekai,” Zayne agreed.
“Kizu.” Anata’s voice cut through the fog. Faint at first. But then it repeated, louder and louder. “Kizu. Kizu! KIZU!”
“Our time is over for now,” Zayne said. “Remember, what you have seen is the path we chose. Not the path you must follow.”
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