[Lorraine POV]
Covering my eyes from the bright light, I see my soon-to-be master walk out from the flames Seeing them in person, I felt a little scared and anxious. I would be spending a long time with this person.
"It's been a year, you finally accepted."
I was a little shocked hearing the pleasant voice of a woman. I couldn't tell who they were based on the learn hood and cloak they wore, but I thought the person who sent the message would be old. A funny, old man or woman maybe. But just from her voice, I could tell that they definitely weren't that old.
"What's wrong? Not what you were expecting."
"Uh! No!... Not at all, I just thought someone that strong would be on... on the older side."
"Well, you're not wrong. The people who run the show are all old artifacts...Well, are you ready?"
Hearing the question, I turn around and look toward the only family I've known my entire life. Clutching the locket that was hanging beneath my shirt, I turn back around and firmly nod my head.
"YES!"
Seeing my results expression, my master could help but shack her head.
"You know don't try that hard."
Grabbing hold of my hand, we slowly make our way into the fire. It was strange, the fire didn't feel as hot as before, more cozy and warm. Still, that was at the back of my mind, as my master walked into the fire, I turn around one last time and waved goodbye to my family.
"I'll be back, better than ever!"
With that, I walk into the fire and everything went white.
...
[Arius POV]
As I sat back in the wagon, I looked around at the familiar surroundings. However, just I have changed a little bit, the scenery has as well. Looking out into the fields, I could see areas of open ground where new houses were being made.
"Big Brother Jaque, who do think are building those houses?"
"I don't know, perhaps some noble look interest in these luscious fields and decided to build their vacation home here."
"A noble, huh? Isn't that what Stella is?"
"Yeah, I guess, but real nobles are a lot different from Stella and her family."
"What do you mean, Big Brother?"
"Arius, do you know what territory of Euqolia we live in?"
"The human one?"
"Yeah, this territory is simply called the Kingdom. As it is a kingdom, we still use a very old nobility system. At the top, there is, of course, the royalty. After that, you have a long ladder of various titles of nobility until you get to Baron, which is what Stella and their family are."
"So Stella's at the lowest level?"
"In terms of Nobles, yes. But, you don't really care about these things. Nobility is just a title given to fulfill a role, such as managing a town."
"Do think we'll ever meet royalty, Brother?"
"Who knows? If you ever go to the capital, you could catch a glimpse during a celebration."
"We should go to the capital then!"
...
As we continue to talk, we passed in and through the forest with no accidents or incidents. After a quick break where we ate lunch and played in the stream nearby, we soon saw the familiar gate to my favourite town.
Erlabyn.
Quickly entering the town, we soon made our way to the workshop. As always, the smell of sweat and the loud noises of hammering rung from inside. Walking in, we made our way to Master Doherty's room where I saw even more weapons more display and tons of papers everywhere near his desk. And behind the desk was the person we were looking for. He was drinking from my cup and ready a letter when we looked up and saw us. Slamming the cup on the table and throwing the letter away, he stands up from his chair with a smile on his face.
"So, it's been a year. You ready to learn now."
"YES!"
"Then let's get right to it!"
Not wasting any time, Master Doherty signals me to follow him. As he walks past Big Brother Jaque, he gives him a part on the back.
"Jaque, you're free for today. But tomorrow you're going to have to start doing some commissions."
"..."
Not waiting for Big Brother to respond, he walks ahead and I run to catch up to him. We soon arrive at a single room with tons of equipment and bags of things all around the sides.
"Where are we?"
"This is one of the many private forge rooms given to my apprentices. This one will be yours."
"Really? All for me?"
"Yes, now take this piece of Kartin and make it into a flat plate!"
As Master Doherty walked around, he took a black ore from one of the many bags and slammed it on the table in front of me. After hearing his request, I simply started at the ball then at Master Doherty, then the ball again. I was truly dumbfounded.
"L-like right now?"
"Yes."
"But I don't know how to yet."
"So what. I like to have a very hands-on teaching lesson. You forge then learn."
With that, Master Doherty took a chair from the corner of the room and sat down. He stared at me staring at him. Breaking the stare, I look back at the lump of ore. Walking up to the small lump of ore, I hold it in my hand. I look back at Master Doherty one more time before I start to think about what to do.
Thinking back to what I saw when I entered the workshop, there were mostly just people hammering metal but a few people were putting ores into the furnace. With that in mind, I walked toward the back of the room where the furnace was.
The furnace was similar to the furnace/stove that we had at home, there were two large openings for you to light and place stuff inside. There were also a bunch of smaller holes but I didn't really care about them. The furnace was already lit so I go over to throw the ore in.
When I got close, a giant hand suddenly appears and grabs the ore from my hands. Turning to my left, I see Master Doherty holding the ore.
"Common sense number one, never try to place anything in the furnace with just your hands."
"O-ok."
Placing the ore back in my hands, I see Maste Doherty once again step back. Putting the ore on the ground, I look around to try and find something to help me place the ore in. Walking up to the various tools on the wall, I look back to Master Dohety to see if he'll nod or something. All I got back was an unimpressed stare. After trying that a few more times, I could tell that Master Doherty would tell me anything so I simply looked around.
Eventually, I spotted something that could work. Taking them off the side, I went ahead and put on these big black gloves. I look back at Master Doherty again, and I still get nothing. So I go back and pick up the ore and toss it in. As expected, I didn't feel anything through the gloves.
'Wait a minute, I get to get out too.'
The moment the ore went into the furnace, I realize a big mistake. I didn't have anything to take the ore out. No way I was going out to reach into the furnace to try and get the ore. The gloves aren't that big! Seeing the ore already starting to glow with the outside layers breaking off, I jump up with a new source of anxiety. Frantically looking around, I see a large shovel in the corner of the room. I quickly go to get it.
"Offf."
Lifting up the shovel, I was surprised by how heavy it was. It was probably completely made of metal. Never minding the weight, I quickly brought it over and saw that the ore was now red hot. Bringing the shovel into the furnace, I scoop up the ore along with a bunch of other things that were in the furnace. Placing everything on the ground, I use the shovel and pick up only the hot ore. Then I quickly bring it to the anvil.
Looking around again, I take a hammer off the wall and start hammering the ore like I saw the others doing.
Bam bam bam bam bam...
Probably only a few minutes into smacking the ore, it cools down back to its grey colour. However, I did do some serious pounding on it. Probably too much, I was sweating and panting from all the work. The final product: an uneven, five-centimetres thick pancake with many bumps and holes on it.
Still, no matter how it looked, I was my work. So I grabbed it and brought it to show Master Doherty. He simply picks it in and gives it a glance before looking at me with a smile.
"I got a lot to teach you."
...
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The Country of Euqolia is comprised of many territories and regions. Originally these were independent territories of the various races but now they're united as a country. Still, it was decided to keep certain borders and areas for races to allow for their cultural heritage to stay rooted. Various small nations were fused though, such as the countless human kingdoms forming The Kingdom. Other territories can include The Forest, The Coalition and many, many more.