Hammer Time

  Kim lay face down on a thick bed of pine needles, the bruising on her back a stark reminder of the knife edge they balanced on.

  George's hands glowed faintly, sweat beading on his brow as he pushed it to the limit, channeling the healing energy directly into Kim’s abdomen and spine.

  Annette sat with her hands clasped, effort etched into the worry lines shadowing her face.

  Jaime brought a subtle warmth and protection as she watched anxiously, desperately trying to help.

  The rest of the camp was a construction zone.

  Dan worked in grim silence, reinforcing the perimeter and clearing obstacles.

  Jimmy, despite his lingering aches, helped wherever he could, a whirlwind of productivity.

  Chris sat by the fire, a dull brown gemstone, resting in his palm.

  Eyes aching from staring at it for hours, mind wrestling with that glimpse of insight, fully focused on the self-assigned homework.

  It’s just the tip…

  The thread he followed was vast and deep, threatening to draw him into the void.

  Pulling back with a shiver, “Screw all that noise, the tip is just enough.”

  At its base level, it was about connections and interactions.

  “If things are similar enough, I think I could ‘connect’ them…”

  The dull gemstone bounced in his hand.

  “Hey Dan, can you get me two rocks from one of the elementals? One longer and thinner, handle-like. The other one just needs to be a nice size, and solid.”

  “What you cookin’ up over there?” A sweaty Dan asked with furrowed brow.

  “I’m going to make you a dumbbell,” Chris answered with a smile.

  “Ahh, okay, sure.” Dan hurried off, steps hastened with excitement.

  He returned shortly with suitable dense, dark stone.

  One was a jagged, squared off, football-like piece.

  The other a sharp two inch slab of granite.

  “I figure we could try to cut a strip off for a handle, and we will have more for more pieces of equipment.” Dan explained with excitement.

  “I'm not making workout equipment, you idiot, I'm making you a hammer.”

  Chris was deep in thought, chin in hand.

  “Just now I got to figure out how to work it…”

  “What if you concentrate on just heating little bits of the outside of it, then I'll freeze it, cracking it off?” Dan asked with a thoughtful baritone.

  Chris didn't move or say anything for a few moments.

  Squatting down, he started heating a little strip of the granite slab.

  “Yeah, now who's the idiot?” Dan asked triumphantly.

  After a few hours, they had a rough square-ish handle, four feet long and about two inches wide.

  The ‘head’ of the hammer–the jagged football–they didn't do much to.

  After knocking off any extreme peaks, they flattened the sides, and the bottom where the handle will go.

  Kim had awoken while they worked, to quiet fanfare.

  With not much to do, she cultivated and watched them work.

  As they started to move forward, she called them over.

  “Let me see that handle. Just set it on the ground–yeah that's fine.” Kim directed from her stomach.

  She proceeded to surround the handle in a bubble of water.

  It worked up into a torrent, but not a drop of water escaped.

  Tiny granules of stone rained, pinging off the rock, drawing Luna scrambling over.

  Kim waved her off, “It's not food, back off.”

  Ten minutes later the bubble calmed, and lowered, dispersing into a puddle.

  Revealing a smooth oval shaped handle.

  “I was forced to watch a lot of Forged in Fire... I know the handle shouldn't be too round.”

  “That's awesome Kim… thanks.” Dan said somberly.

  “Yeah, thanks Kim!” Chris called cheerily over his shoulder as he hurried over to the fire.

  Settling in with excitement, Chris got to work channeling heat from the raging bonfire, which Dan threw some more wood on.

  The heat concentrated on the flat bottom of the head, and on the slightly smaller end of the handle.

  Sweat poured down Chris’ face, both from effort and the rising heat.

  When both pieces glowed dark red, he kept going.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  When it glowed cherry red, he kept going.

  As his face took on an orangish-yellow cast, George hurriedly rushed to start healing his burning skin.

  It reached a blinding yellow, Kim filled the air with moisture, dousing flames on Chris' clothing and putting a film of water across his skin.

  Jaime’s Aura flared, trying to protect everyone, all at once.

  Chris grabbed the pieces with Qi infused hands, pressing them together.

  Focus on structural integrity… fuse.

  Using his manipulation of heat, and his budding understanding, he worked to align the heated crystalline structures.

  When both stones felt like one piece of a whole, they lurched like magnets, fusing.

  Satisfied, he slowly and evenly pulled the remaining heat into his seed, making any adjustments where needed.

  Sweat soaked him through, smoke rising from singed clothing.

  The smell of burned hair filled the camp.

  “Okay, thanks for the help everyone! Let's do this one more time for the gems!”

  “Are you sure, Son?” George gestured at his haggard appearance, “You don't want to take a break?”

  “Nope! Good to go!” Chris hacked a dry cough, flashing a thumbs up.

  He got a few grumbles, and a couple “Warning would be nice.”

  But soon enough Dan got the sputtering fire roaring again.

  After another application of heat, water, and healing, the two gems were sunk into the sides of the hammer.

  Once it was cooled, Chris called Dan over.

  “Okay, now I want you to flood this with your complete understanding of your Affinities and path-WHEN I TELL YOU TO- jesus man.”

  The budding crafter rubbed his tired hooded eyes.

  “So, WHEN I tell you, carefully flood this thing. I will help guide it. Saturate the stone of the hammer first, and end with the gems, fill it as densely as possible. Got it?”

  “How do you know this?” Dan asked suspiciously.

  “I don't know man, I just feel it. You can crush stone with your bare hands, just give me this.”

  Dan grumbled but had a satisfied look on his face, “Yeah, who cares about fireballs?” He muttered quietly.

  “What was that?” Chris asked, distracted.

  “Oh nothing, so I can start now?” Dan kneeled next to his hammer.

  “Yeeeeah. You're good.”

  Chris took an anxious step back.

  Dan channeled his Core, and frost crept up the haft of the weapon.

  As the rime grew, so did the pull of the hammer.

  Once the stone was fully encrusted, it crept over the gems.

  These, unlike the stone, seemed to resist.

  Beads of sweat formed on both Dan and Chris, despite the growing cold.

  “No.” Dan muttered so softly no one could hear, as he flexed all his will.

  Chris’ eye twitched as he worked last minute, subtle manipulations.

  Finally with a snap, they frosted over.

  With a relieved sigh, they sat back, letting the frost recede with their efforts.

  The hammer was revealed in all of its glory.

  Not much changed, except the stone had a slight blue cast to it in the right light.

  Also the once dull brown gems were now a deep blue-black, casting a dark glow.

  Congratulations.

  You have crafted an enchanted weapon.

  You can now name it.

  “Hell yeah, name your hammer!” Chris announced with joy.

  “Uh-Uh- Heavy Hammer of Frost?” Dan thought aloud.

  Chris was aghast, “What? No. You gotta come up with something epic–”

  “Um… oops.” Dan scratched at his beard.

  Congratulations. Uhuh Heavy Hammer of Frost? created.

  Chris grew concerned, glancing at the weapon “What’s up? Something wrong?”

  “Um… no, everything's fine.”

  Dan set the hammer down.

  A soft, final thud.

  Like the world had been holding its breath.

  A smooth, three foot handle, tapering gently until it fused seamlessly with the jagged football shaped head.

  Deep blue gems twinkling with their own inner light.

  Chris stepped up, resting his elbow on Dan's shoulder.

  “She's a beut.”

  Luna padded over, sniffed, backed away, and sneezed a frosty cloud.

  Jimmy adjusted his glasses.

  “...How are we going to make a bow out of light...?”

  They were all wrecked: eyes like sandpaper, legs jelly, Qi flickering like dying bulbs.

  Dan rubbed his neck and groaned as he took in their rough shape.

  “Everyone get some rest. Luna keeps a good enough watch for all of us. I'm done pretending.”

  Kim smiled at the brown and white pup.

  Paintbrush tail swooshed.

  Then stilled.

  Luna's head snapped to the fissure.

  The ground pulsed.

  Not a shake.

  A heartbeat.

  Deep, slow… searching.

  Everyone froze.

  Another pulse, stronger.

  An eyelid cracking open.

  “What the hell is that?” Chris whispered.

  Dan grabbed the Uhuh Heavy Hammer of Frost? with two hands.

  They moved without thinking, up the rise, shoes kicking up dust.

  Red light bled through the trees, as the sky took on a heavy gloom.

  The Fissure.

  What was once brooding and dark, it now glowed like a chasm to hell.

  Gusts of hot air, rich with sulfur, blew dry pine needles across the rocky terrain.

  The hot gusts dried their shocked, wide eyes.

  Two hulking silhouettes emerged out of the glow.

  They moved smoothly, steps causing minor tremors.

  The temperature spiked.

  A new sun dawned.

  Slabs of shifting, cracked basalt.

  Lava seams pulsing, just under the surface.

  Twelve feet tall.

  Footfalls leaving smoking black rings.

  A furnace in the shape of a man.

  Small dry plants burst into flame.

  The hammer in Dan's hand hummed, vibrating up his arms like a warning.