Harnio waved his hand and watched as the hatch opened above him. He climbed out and waved his hand again causing it to close. He looked at his hands and arms. "It looks like I'm getting more skilled using these abilities of mine." He smiled and walked out of his small room and stopped as he saw the long line standing outside from the forge.
"Ahhh apprentice you're back. Did you see the long line lad?"
Harnio nodded silently and scratched his arm looking down at the ground. "I hope they're not looking for me?"
"No lad… They all want armor and weapons made from us so that they can go to the capital for the ritual."
Harnio nodded. "Lots of work for us to do then?"
"Yes. There is. I've got my new apprentices taking the orders from them. You can go in the back and rest after your short trip. I hope it was uneventful and you didn't go touching things you weren't supposed to?"
"My trip was a success. I placed the… you know what, in the place… you know where for the… you know who."
"Hahahaha… Lad, you're funny. I trust you with my life, but with secrets, you need to learn what to say and how to say it."
Harnio felt his face turn red. He scratched his arms and looked at the busy forge with people coming and going. "I'll start working on the requests in the evening. That's way too many people for me to handle."
"Yes lad. I already told you to go rest up and relax. I'll get an apprentice to hand you the order request once they're down for the day."
Harnio nodded and turned around heading back to the small room in the back. "Harnio."
He stopped and turned around looking at the belt buckle of the blacksmith. "I like your belt buckle. It's very sound... Is that the right thing to say, if you think it is good?"
"Hahahaha… I see you're trying and that's good. I just wanted to say thank you again kid."
He watched the blacksmith���s back as he walked back into the forge. He smiled and walked back into his small room at the back of the forge and sat on the bed closing his eyes and relaxed.
"Come…"
Harnio opened his eyes and looked around the room nervously. "Wwwwhosss there?"
"Come…"
Harnio looked at the cover in confusion. "It's coming from there. Who are you?"
"Come… Weak… dying…"
"Who are you? Why are you dying?"
"Come… Then talk… Please?"
Harnio sighed and looked around. He stood up and walked to the hatch and waved his hand, waited for it to open and then climbed down the stairs. "Sorry blacksmith… I'll be back soon."
He walked along the tunnel and called out. "I'm coming… Where are you?"
"You… already… know…"
Harnio stopped walking and opened his eyes wide, "The scythe… Why should you be dying you're a scythe? A very sharp weapon powered by the wind of the surface."
"Weapon… strong… I'm… spark… dying…"
Harnio frowned. "How did you get in the scythe?"
"Forced… in scythe… hurry."
Harnio frowned. "Too many questions I want to ask… How can I help I wonder?"
He started to climb up the iron ladder opening the hatch to the surface and closed it behind him with a wave of his hand. He stepped out of the ruins ignoring the wind around him and walked directly towards the scythe.
"I'm here… What do you want? How can I help?"
"I… want… to make a deal…"
"A deal?"
"I'm a spark… Was forced into this… I hate blood… I wish to be free of this…"
"So how do I get you out of there?"
Harnio took a step towards the scythe and saw it covered in inscriptions. "Do I remove the inscriptions on the scythe?" Harnio raised his hand.
"Wait… Let me talk… first."
"When I leave this… I'll die and fade to wind… It'll return to original state… Take it… Use it… to protect…"
Harnio frowned. "I don't know how to use any weapons. Last time I used a dagger I destroyed a wall."
"Even better… Originally not a scythe… Blood lust in previous owner changed it…"
Harnio took another step forward. "What's the original form?"
"I… don't… know."
Harnio looked at the scythe in confusion. "If you were forced into the weapon, then you should know all about it?"
"I… was… forced… It takes my energy… I'm just fuel to it…"
"So why don't I just destroy it?"
Harnio stopped walking and stared at the scythe with his hand raised.
"It can… help you… that's… all I know… Before I fade… I shall give you all the knowledge about the weapon…"
He sighed and started to pace while scratching his arm.
"Do… you… agree?"
Harnio turned and looked at the scythe with an annoyed look. "Let me think things through for a bit. I don't like being rushed."
"Please hurry… All I wanted to do was read and learn more about Athlos… I was trapped in… experiment… changed to spark…"
"You were human once?"
"Yes… Back then classmate trapped me and changed me…"
"What was your name?"
"I… was called… Souka… I think… Been too long… tired."
"Being trapped in a terrible experiment that turned you into a spark… Who did it?"
"I can't… remember… their… name… So, do you… agree?"
Harnio nodded. "I agree… What do I do?"
"Touch the handle. It'll change when you touch it. After it changes… release me so I can fade…"
Harnio took a step forward with his hand stretched out. He frowned. "Is this going to hurt?"
"A… little… I... think…"
Harnio closed his eyes as he touched the handle of the scythe. He felt a bolt of lightning hit him from the scythe, searing pain and a burning sensation coming from it.
"No… blood lust in you… good. Now release me…"
Harnio nodded with his eyes closed and started clenching his other hand. "Ahhhhhhhhh!"
He kept fighting through the pain, and could feel blood leak from this mouth. He felt the lightning in his body go through his memories and it stopped at two memories. "Books… friends… Blacksmith… armor."
He felt the memories being touched by the lightning. He kept writhing in pain and holding on despite the smell of burnt flesh on his hand. "Spark… be released." He muttered through his clenched teeth. He bent over and coughed up blood as he felt the lightning fade from inside him.
He sat on the ground panting heavily and opened his eyes. He looked at his hand, and saw no burns on it. "That's the least I can do… Thank you."
Harnio saw a faint glowing in front of him of a student wearing the robes of the tower. Harnio nodded. "You're welcome…"
"Before I fade… Look at the scythe… It's yours now… Take care of it."
Harnio nodded and watched as the spark faded into the wind. He turned and looked at where the scythe was and saw a blacksmith's hammer and a book.
"That's strange. At least it's not a scythe anymore."
He picked up the hammer and held it in his hands and smiled. "This feels like it can make some beautiful things…" He looked down at where the book was and saw it fade into nothingness. He frowned. "I must have made a choice, without knowing it."
He looked at the plain looking hammer and put it in his belt. He smiled. "Together we'll make masterpieces."
He looked around him and noticed the wind had died down in this area. "The scythe must have made this wind here… I better head back before the blacksmith starts getting worried."
He walked through the ruins with the belt on his side smiling. "I wonder what he'll say when he sees the hammer. I'll have to say I found it in the ruins or something…"
He opened the cover and walked down the ladder making his way towards the hatch in his room. He stopped walking and looked at the hammer in closer detail. "Hmm… There's a strange inscription on its head I've never seen before… I'll do some research about that…" He looked up and kept walking smiling once he saw the ladder to his room. He climbed up and opened it before closing it behind him and walking around his messy room.
"Harnio… I've been calling you for a while now… The list… The blacksmith told me to give it to you."
Harnio jumped and walked to the door. He opened it slightly and took the list from the apprentice. "Ttthankyouuuu."
He opened the list and looked through it with a smile on his face. "With this hammer I'll be able to make something special for all of these…"
He opened the door and took a step back before closing it quickly.
"Bang!"
"Ahh… I came looking for you… Sorry for surprising you."
Harnio sat against the door holding his pounding heart. "What do you want made tribes-person? Are you here to ask for your bow? If so, the blacksmith has it."
"Ahh. You remember me… I need your help with something."
"Is the blacksmith there?"
"He's in the forge… He told me to go see you."
"What's the problem? Why don't you go talk to the blacksmith about it and not me?"
"It's about strange batterys I've found in beasts…"
"They ate them. What's so special about them?"
"They didn't eat them. They were found where the beasts' heart were supposed to be. Also, they're green without any switch on them."
"You mean these batterys were the beats hearts?"
"I don't know… Please open the door and have a look at them…"
Harnio felt his curiosity rise within him. He stood up and looked at the door. "Put them on the ground and go back to the forge. Wait with the blacksmith. I'll look at them. Ask him to show you the storm bow. It's waiting for you."
"Thank you."
He listened at the door until the footsteps faded. He opened the door and looked at the small bag in front of it. He picked it up and looked inside at the green batterys shinning at him. He closed the door behind him and sat on the bed while he pulled out one of the batterys staring at it.
"No inscription patterns on the case, yet was found at the location of the heart…"
Harnio frowned as he looked over it. "If this is what I think it is… I wonder who was able to make it? They would've had to kill a lot of people to make these."
He looked at his new hammer. "It seems the research has gone further then just making sparks…"
He put them back in the pack and opened the door. He walked to the forge and saw the blacksmith and the tribes-person standing together looking over their new storm bow.
"Do you like the bow we made?"
"Yes… I love it. The design and feel of it is incredible. Better than the bow you let me use before. What is it's name?" Harnio looked at the blacksmith's buckle. "Let me answer that for him. It's called the Storm bow. It has a fierce temper, and will suit you much better than what you have now."
Harnio lowered his head and placed the bag on the ground. "Where did you get these terrible things from?"
"As I said… From inside a beast. It also didn't have any scars to show it was implanted into the beast. I guess it was born with it."
Harnio looked up at the bow she was holding. "Born… with it… These batterys are evil."
"Do you know what they are lad?"
Harnio nodded at the blacksmith. "I know what they are. I also know that whoever made them had to kill many people just to make one of them. Yet you have several…"
"So, what are they? How do we kill the beasts that have them inside them?"
Harnio pointed to the design table. "Can you draw what the beast looked like?"
He watched her back as she started drawing on the table. He started pacing and frowning while she drew. "Harnio… You need to relax and calm down…"
Harnio looked towards the blacksmith and scratched his arm. "I'm trying blacksmith… It's not easy when these are around here… Tribes-person. Where were the beasts that you found?"
"I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling me tribes-person and called me by my name… Star."
Harnio nodded. "Why? You are a tribes-person and he is a blacksmith. A professor is a professor. I am just calling you by what you are. Anyway... Where were the beasts?"
"Fine then... Call me what you will. The beasts were in the forests near the trading towns. When we were hunting, they attacked us. Yet when we stood on the paved road they left."
Harnio shook his head and cursed. "Harnio. I've never heard you curse before… How bad is this?"
Harnio felt his face heat up. "These are called soul batterys. It seems whoever made them were able to get the soul to retain their memories and knowledge… To make these batterys, you need to kill people and extract their inner being, and then trap them in the battery. If they're born with the battery inside it means that these batterys can replicate from an original source…"
Harnio shook his head.
"Done… This is what the beast looked like."
Harnio walked up to the design table and looked at the beast. "It's evolving… Whatever it is. Someone has done some terrible experiments with people." He held the hammer in his belt holding its handle tight."
"How to stop these beasts from destroying towns and cities?"
"We need to find their parents… That's the only way I can think of, and the person who made them."
"Do you think it could've been someone from the tower?"
Harnio shook his head and looked at the forge. "No… I don't think so, but I'll look around there as well." He turned to the design table. "We need to find the parents before they evolve too far and become too strong." He looked at Star's clothing and frowned. "You need armor…"