Chapter 6: Sparks in the Dark
The forge's heartbeat echoed through the mountain.
Deep within the cliffs of Bloodstone Hold, Aerion stood before a half-formed rune-slab, dragonbone inlays pulsing crimson. The chamber stank of smoke and raw magic. Sweat trickled down his brow. Each movement was deliberate: the slow carve of a glyph, the channeled breath of Fire-Tongue incantations, and the forging sparks that danced like stars in the underworld.
Skill Gained: Rune Engraving Lv.1Runes may now grant passive enchantments to basic equipment.
He stepped back, surveying his work: a breastplate of blacksteel etched with warding runes — his first true armor. Not for show, not for court, but for survival.
"Soon," he whispered, "I will forge armor for war."
The Girl with the Emerald Eyes
Vaena Qelarys arrived the next morning.
Not announced. Not escorted. Just a flicker of green-and-gold robes and sea-salted hair breezing past the guards.
Aerion found her in the forge hall, turning over his dagger prototypes as if they were trinkets. She didn't flinch at the heat. Didn't startle at the hiss of living flame.
"You're smaller than I imagined," she said.
"You're bolder than I expected," he replied.
She smirked. "I bring trade opportunities. And a warning."
Aerion raised a brow. "Which comes first?"
Vaena set down a dragonbone-hilted knife. "Word is, House Zertharion seeks vengeance. The boy you humiliated in the dueling ring? His older brother is returning from the Dragonfront. And he's not pleased."
"Let him come," Aerion said, voice cold.
"You should make allies faster than enemies."
"I am." He handed her a contract sealed in obsidian wax. "Trade and protection. Spice for steel. Mutual profit."
She read it. Paused. Then smiled like a cat.
"You're dangerous, little lord."
"I intend to be."
Embers Beneath Mantarys
Aerion left Bloodstone three days later with a small caravan bound for Mantarys. He needed metals, rare components, and contacts.
Mantarys, one of the lesser dragonlord cities, was known for its beasts and its madmen — and its forgemasters. The streets stank of alchemy. Markets overflowed with scaled hides, wyvern eggs, and void-black ore pulled from beneath smoking craters.
But Aerion came for one thing: a shard of Urithar's Heart — a meteor fragment said to pulse with magic.
He found it beneath the tower of Master Kelrax, a half-mad smith who spoke to his tools and wept while forging.
Aerion bested him.
Not with strength. Not with gold. But with innovation.
He showed Kelrax his rune-bound gauntlet — steel etched with fire-warding sigils and embedded heat-flow enchantments. The old smith laughed until he cried. Then he gave Aerion the shard and begged to apprentice under him.
Quest Completed: Trial of FlameReward: Urithar's Heart (Forging Catalyst), +3 Smithing, Rune Engraving Lv.2
The Black Pact
That night, as Aerion returned to his chambers in Mantarys, he found a shadow waiting.
The figure stepped from darkness, skin painted in cult sigils, eyes like coals.
"We watch you, flame-born," the cultist said. "Your spark will feed the coming fire."
Aerion moved.
His blade — Wyrmshear — hissed from its sheath.
The cultist bled out moments later, but not before whispering:
"The Doom watches. The Doom listens. You cannot run."
Aerion knelt over the corpse. His hands were steady, though his heart raced.
Then came the system prompt:
"Doom Cult Encountered — Faction Discovered: The Children of Ash"
*+2 Awareness, New Objective Unlocked: Prevent Ritual of Sundering (???) *
The Spark That Defies Fate
Aerion returned to Bloodstone Hold with new materials, new allies, and the knowledge of darker forces lurking beneath Valyria's perfection.
He forged day and night.
The forge was no longer just a place — it was a sanctuary of defiance. His runes sang. His blade hummed. His system leveled.
And in the dead of night, he stood alone atop the highest spire, looking at the horizon.
"Fifteen years…" he murmured. "And you will burn."
He clenched his fist.
"But not me."
End of Chapter 6