"Good to see you again, Alexander." the man amicably said.
"Thank you for your repeated help, Mr..." I left the sentence hanging in the air.
"oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Earl Kent, a senior member of the order, so technically, your senior."
he turned to leave "follow me, Alexander, Tobias, you two have a contract to sign, and an identification bagel, to create. There's a custom in our order, each newly initiated member will forge a metal bangle with your own blood, this tradition is to identify you as one of our own, in encase you become. Unrecognisable. in either life or, death"
he led us into a building, the building would usually be a dedicated blacksmith for the shipyard, and to one side of a large beaten desk was a pile of contracts, reading them the conditions were quite simple and easy to understand, with no hidden, malicious content.
The first clause stated that the new member must not violate their code of secrecy, keeping everything, they learn to themselves solely.
The second clause stated that the new member must not attack another member, without a sufficient reason, such as self-defense, the validity will be checked by the disciplinary hall.
All the clauses were bound by the contract, any violation will alert the disciplinary hall, to be examined, the other clauses not mentioned were all simple things, such as a new member of five years or less must, every month complete a compulsory mission, and every year set out on a harder, scaled test.
Seeing nothing amiss in the contract I paid my tuition, and signed the contract, toby following suit, that out of the way Earl welcomed us warmly as newly initiated members, he told us some basic information about the order, with a fond familiarity.
He led us through the old blacksmith building to the forge room, inside he told us to use iron or silver one hundred millimetres of blood, looking through the forgery I found only the cheapest materials, stacked into variable mountains of scrap.
Whilst flipping the place over, looking for usable materials, toby stared evidently repressing laughter, choked snorts rang, as his hands covered his snickering mouth.
Eventually, I got annoyed turning to him asking for an explanation, he told me through his chuckling that he had come prepared, taking out various precious materials from his bag, he told me he can lend me some.
I graciously accepted his generous offer. He also informed me of the tradition of using something unique in the bangle, something personal. But before handing it over he wisped to me voice hushed, "these, bangles are a sign of submission, remember that. Submission to the principles of the order and their higher, more noble branches."
The materials I 'borrowed' were namely silver and a rod of blue-tinted perotite, a rare and expensive commodity any normal noble would have a hard time finding, as for the 'something unique' I saw toby use a strange black crystal, looking at its inky blackness hurt my eyes, it radiated a bleak aura, ominous and pestilent, in its multifaceted darkness.
Thinking through the collection of things on me, I decided to use the fossil I found just off the river's cliff, looking closely at its glossy, ivory whiteness and the mysterious, overwhelming power it emitted, it seemed the perfect candidate.
Wearing it on my wrist would keep it safe, whilst I still have no clue what creature it originates from and have no way to find out.
Creating the bangle was tiering, I have no prior experience with this kind of thing, but I know it's important to do it by myself, so I avoided asking Toby's help, sadly the only experience I have with blacksmithing was what I'd seen online on earth.
The first task I set was to create a silver chain, making each link individually took a while, I had to melt the silver into a long ingot mixing it with blood, pulling it through a wire-making device, I forgot the name, then I cut appropriate lengths of it with a guillotine looking creation, bending them together.
Once the chain was finished, I put it aside making a large hoop, out of the robust perotite, I did that for hours, straining my muscles, rhythmically pounding a heavy ledened, titanium hammer.
Then for the fossil fragment, well it was closer to a bone, a bone as old as a fossil, I grasped it wrapping it in the remainder of the silver wire, then I got the chain using to link the bone and bangle. It was finally done.
The final product looked stunning; the bluish tint of the perotite gleaming radiantly, before fading into a dullened blueish silver, reacting with the air, The chain however was crude, blighting the beauty of the milky bone, wrapped in its constricting contorts.
Putting it all together, it made for an interesting mix of rustic and noble.
picking it up I wear it lightly on my wrist, hiding it in my long-frayed sleeves, nothing visible.
Looking over I noticed Toby, listlessly slumped in a chair, he looked to be sleeping on his wrist was a newly crafted bangle, his was made of platinum, it had a locked clasp, and embedded into it was the black gemstone from before, it looked simple but well-made.
The space outside the window was dark and shadowy, the green radiance of the moon was mottled, by the starlight, the bone fragment hanging suspended caught the light, fluorescing emerald.
Looking back over at Toby I decided to leave him to sleep, feeling tired myself I found myself an old dusty blanket used for protection the mountains of metal, a chair, and a small table to rest on, it wasn't long before I was out cold.
Waking up I felt a stinging in my nose, rubbing it with the back of my hand, "ha, that's what you get for sleeping in a blacksmith."
the strong voice of Earl bombarded me, "you know the very same thing happened to me once, not warning you is a type of hazing I guess."
my eyes adjusted to the ambient light as I saw, Earl leaning over me, his seven-foot-tall bulky frame casting a shadow, besides him was Toby evidently still tiered, rubbing his red eyes, "Good morning senior Earl." I greeted listlessly.
"Good morning little junior, we've got traveling to do. So, clean yourself up and meet me outside. You to Toby." he looked at my wrist "interesting choice, perotite, well I hope you live up to its connotations, strength, and integrity. That bone feels formula, it reminds me of the eldritch serpent."
The way he looked at my bangle changed as he said "well since its forged with your blood, it will be linked to you, remember to be careful with that bone.
I don't know what it is but it's powerful." he walked out of the room.