A Blacksmith's Tale

A Blacksmith’s Tale
Boom! Thousands of pounds of molten rock erupted in a spout of glory from one of the hundreds of volcanoes in the Tumulos Volcano Range. Another one erupted, and the three more. In all, about thirty or forty giant monsters blew there tops.
“Look at what I have done! A masterpiece. Soon the Land of Light shall bow down to me and join it’s rightful place in the burning inferno that will be known as The Dark World!”

Chink, chink, chink. Benedict Herum, a six foot, dark haired blacksmith, slaved away at his newest order for an ornate sword. He had been working at it for hours. The process seemed to melt together. Smelt, hammer, shape, smelt, hammer, shape. But soon he had finished his work of art.
“Amiculum. Come and see how this looks.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Will you do me a favor, and put in the rubies and emeralds?”
“Surely.”
Herum sat down and picked the coin out of his pocket. He flipped it over in his hands a few times as he recalled his incredible stumble upon it and the amazing powers the coin bestowed upon the bearer. It all started when he was taking a break from a most laborious piece of work, and took a walk down to the Potamous River. He was looking down at the ground when he thought he saw a glimmer in the corner of his eye. He backed up to look in the river, and noticed it again. It twinkled in the clear water like a star twinkles in the sky. Ben dived into the river to retrieve the artifact. He dug it up with great care and discovered the intricate carvings on a gold coin. When he resurfaced, he examined it with utmost interest. All of a sudden, he saw a mysterious man emerge from over one of the higher mounds in the rolling, green Montis Hills. Ben felt scared and wanted to run away, for this man was not friendly looking. He wished he could turn into a fish and swim away in the protection of the water. Almost in an instant, he felt exhilaration and excitement as he noticed when he looked around he was surrounded by water. So that’s what this unexplainable coin did. It allowed the owner to adopt the appearance, and traits of any animal they want…
“Hey, Ben. How is this? Ben was startled by a ruffle in his dark hair. “I hope it’s fine.” The small, light haired Amiculum called out in the middle of Benedict’s day dream. He got up hastily, went to go look at his apprentice’s handiwork.
“It looks terrific, Amiculum.” Ben realized that he had taught this poor boy well.
“Thank you mas…” Boom! The massive bang shook the little shop and all the rest of the mighty city of Polios. The great buildings that made up the city rocked on their foundations while more explosions almost brought the city to its knees. Ben and Amiculum ran outside, almost synchronized with thousands of other city people. The two blacksmiths noticed with sheer horror as he saw the essential Silvard forest burn. Then with more bangs he noticed that some twenty volcanoes were exploding in the distance.
“What the….”
“Everybody run! The Tumulos Volcanoes! Their destroying the world! Ahhh,” an innocent bystander screamed. The city was flung into absolute chaos. Finally, after everyone was hiding inside, the explosions ended. But in the near distance the citizens saw a sight that made their hearts sink to their feet. Over half of the Silvard forest had burned to the ground. Now all that was left was smoke and fire. An even more dreadful thing that they noticed was that everything beyond the forest had turn a sick, dead twist land, and the volcanoes had doubled their amount.
“Amiculum? Do you know what this means? We are going to go out of business from lack of wood. We needed that forest Amiculum! I, I just can’t take this. I’m going for a walk. By myself!” Ben stomped off in anger, regret, sadness, and even resentment. Ben thought to himself of a little shop, that resembled a blacksmiths place, with a closed sign on its door.
When he got to the Potamous River, he sat down at the spot at which he was pretty sure he had found his lucky coin.
“What the heck. I guess your not so lucky after all, stupid piece of junk.” With that, he flipped the coin into the river.
“Now why would you do that? Do you know how long it took me to make that? It is not some piece of junk!” A mysterious hooded man sat down besides Ben and scolded him for his actions.
“Who are you? How did you get here? I didn’t see anybody when I came here. Wake up Benedict, wake up.”
“That’s not important right now. What is important is that that coin is the last chance of saving the ‘Land of Light.’ There is a sister coin to that coin that allows any natural disaster to occur. There is a man named Diffomous who has found this coin to use at his power. He started out as a regular person who discovered it’s power. Then he used it to his advantage. That is what’s causing those volcanoes to burn the forest. His plan is to destroy everything essential to Imperius. Then he shall create a new world called the Dark World. Since this problem has started to grow, officials on the board of Emperors, have decided to call this the Land of Light. Now since you are the only person who retains the coin, you are the only person who can kill Diffomous, destroy the Dark World and restore piece and happiness to the Land of Light. Now the way you can do this is by uniting your coin and the bad coin, and throwing them in a lava pit. The most effective pit would probably the one in Mount Castrum. The only way to enter the Dark World is through Mount Ad Caligo Aether. This is very dangerous, so be careful and take Amiculum with you.” Ben was dumfounded. He just did not know what to say.
“But what about….” And just as Ben was getting ready to ask his question, the man disappeared. So Ben sat there for quite some time mulling this over and racked his brain for some ideas on what to do. He knew that this was the right thing to do, but was it the smart thing to do? He was putting his life in jeopardy, but he knew he had to do this task. Then, he jumped into the river to retrieve his lost coin. This coin made him more proud than he probably should have been. Ben raced back to his shop to fetch Amiculum.
“Get your sword. We’re going on an adventure.” The small, skimpy boy jumped up from his seat and yanked his sword from it’s place on the wall. Then the two of them ran out the door.
“So why are we in the forest at, oh, one o’ clock in the morning?” Amiculum sarcastically asked. Ben explained to him what the plan was trying not to forget one single detail. “Oh. So we’re on a quest to destroy a piece of gold?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Then in that case, I’m gonna’ sleep.”
“Night, Amiculum. Oh, and here. I think I am gonna’ just give this to you to hold onto tonight,” Ben said as he took out his coin one last time to look at the inscription again. “This coin’s magic, do not devour, for it will give you terrible irreversible power.” Ben loved that warning on the coin. With that, he handed Amiculum the coin. Then he lay himself down to get some quality shut eye.
Then in almost one second, he felt himself being jostled around. He felt a stinging sensation in the back of his head. He moved his hand to his neck and noticed he was bleeding badly. The world was spinning around him. He was losing blood fast, but in the distance he heard a screaming.
“Ben, Ben. Help me Ben! Ahh!” Amiculum was being whisked away by one of Diffomous’s warriors.
“Amiculum, Amicu...” And with that, he passed out. Ben woke up about an hour later to notice that his bleeding had stopped and he was fully conscience. That is when he realized not only that his friend was missing but his precious coin, too.
“I don’t think I can go on with out the coin. I won’t be able to do it. If I can’t disguise myself then I won’t be able to get passed the guards. But I have to, I have to go on in the name of Imperius. It has to be down, it has to.” Ben grudgingly decided he would go on even though he knew he would not be able to do it. Then he got up and started into a fast jog.
Ben had been running for a long time when he decided he just had to sit down. “I think maybe I should be practicing my sword fighting skills.” So Ben drew his sword and got into the starting position. He advanced and retreated swatting away leaves and branches that got in his way. He moved his wrist with the utmost grace while he whacked the small tree so hard that it cut in half. He thought he was a little rusty and decided to take a break from that and eat. He drew out his bread and put some butter on it. It looked disgusting because it was black and hard. But he knew he had to eat it, so he held his nose (and his breath), and took a bite.
Boom! They was another loud eruption, and Ben dismissed it as another volcano (it had been erupting quite frequently now that he had gotten closer to the Dark World). Normally, he would have kept eating until he looked up and saw the biggest forest fire he had ever seen rushing toward him. There was enough heat and pressure in those flames to kill him in an instant.
“What the heck is going on? I told you I could not go on without that stupid coin!” Ben made a mad dash for it back the way he came, and was desperately looking for an opening in the thick forest walls. Finally he found a speck of light in the trees. He ran over to it and cleared away the brush. He ran out the forest and kept on running until he was blocked by a mountain. He was not that far away and now he could see where the fire started. There was molten lava flowing down the side of one of the outer volcanoes directly in front of the forest. He knew he would have to go on. In order to save Imperius, not just get the coin back. That would be only if there was time.
He gathered himself back up again and was going to go forward when he noticed he could not, for he was at the foot of a huge mountain. When he was a small boy his father had told him about this mountain range. Ben had made it a point one day to familiarize himself of the famous mountains. He knew that this was the only way into the Dark World. It was a treacherous pass, filled with snow and volcano peaks. He knew he was at the foot of Mount Ad Caligo Aether, the way through was Portum Pass.
“Uhh. This stinks. I told you I couldn’t go on.” Ben whined as he slipped from loose rock on the mountain. After one day hiking, he was three quarters of the way up the treacherous mountain. He had only passed two of the four volcano peeks on his way up and had not even run into any snow. Soon then, he felt a terrible shaking on the ground, and the rocks slipped beneath his feet. He figured it was a volcano, but he could not hear it, even though mountains usually have marvelous acoustics.
He got up to the upper part of the mountain quickly, well as quick as you would expect one blacksmith to go. So soon enough he was at the snow crusted peak of the mountain. This was also the part where Portum Pass started.
The peak split into two separate peaks, and the division in between this was the pass. It made the journey quicker, going through fewer snow drifts and banks. This, Ben figured, would reduce the risk of getting trapped in deep snow. What he did not know was that the ice was considerably thin.
“Why do I have to be cursed with this task? Why? Why? Why?” Ben muttered to himself as he trudged through the knee deep snow. By now he figured he had been tramping through the snow for about three or four hours. What he had been worrying about, though, was that when he enter the pass, the snow was up to his waist, but now it was getting more shallow. This gave him hope that he was getting through the miserable pass, but this could also mean that he was nearing ice. If he fell through, he knew he would die because of no way out. He had heard of stories of famous explorers who had dared to venture into this range( before it became the dark world and the mountains were not terrible volcanoes) and failed to come back out again because of ice that was thinner than expected. He reassured himself that this could not happen to him because if the explorers had died, then how did the story get out. It was probably just local legend or some kind of hoax. As Ben was thinking this to himself, he heard a terrible crack. He looked down below him and saw the snow getting sucked into a huge crevasse that had just open up beneath his feet. Now he was standing on thin ice. There was no chance to say or think anything, so he just ran. He scrambled to get out of the Portum Pass. He thought he could see the end and tried to run faster, but it was very hard to run on ice. Ben fell to his knees and felt an excruciating pain in his legs.
Finally he had come to a stop. When he got up, he noticed a sight that made him jump with joy. He had successfully made it through that awful pass. Ben carefully side stepped down the side of the mountain. It was much steeper than the other side. When he had hit the snow at the peak, he was almost blinded by the light that was reflecting off of it. On this side , it was considerably darker. After all, he was in the Dark World now.
He had reached the foot of the giant mountain, and got up to attempt to dry himself off. He was soaking after his “unique” journey through the pass. As he pulled himself up and surveyed the land around him, he knew that he had entered the Dark World, for ground was charred and dead. The was no life around him at all. He could see why the people would not want their land to became this. In the distance he saw another huge mountain. From recent stories, he knew that this was Mount Castrum, the castle mountain. This is where Diffomous the traitor had lived.
Ben set forth to the “castle mountain.” In the distance it would look like the mountain is close, but it really was not. But finally, he found himself standing in front of the mountain and, lucky him, a hidden stairwell. It was very steep, but he knew he had to do it and gave himself the usual pep talk.
As Ben approached the landing, he almost fell from tiredness. He climbed over the ledge, he was filled with even more relief when he saw that he had, in fact, reached the lair in which Diffomous lived. His long and tiring journey ended right here. There would be no more forest fires, no more kidnapping, no more climbing treacherous volcanoes.
Ben had entered the castle through the back. He thought that that was odd considering that Diffomous was the greatest super villain his world had ever faced. Already he had run into some guards who were, luckily, facing the other direction. Ben drew his sword, even though he was filled with resentment, and sliced off the guards breast plate. They were taken by surprise, and when they saw Ben, they drew their swords too.
He advanced and retreated, skillfully twirling his wrist and his arm. He was surprised that he could take on two guards at once, but they really were not that good. Finally, he had managed to push one back against the wall and knock him out. He easily then took on the other guard and had him in his hold in seconds.
“Scream, you worthless pig. Scream for mercy, and I will consider sparing you. You heard me now scream at the top of your lungs! And tell me where Diffomous is!” Ben demanded as he held the guard back against himself with his own sword touching his neck. The guard let out a loud shriek as Ben dragged him back to the entrance he had come through. When they got outside the guard told him everything.
“Diff… Diffomous is in his lair. It is by the stairwell with the griffin on it. When you get to this place say the words ‘retsam.’” The guard squealed.
“Thank you, young sire. I shall be back to deal with you later,” Ben said as he rushed back into the castle. He ran around a corner and hid in a little cove where no one could see him. Just as he wished, about thirty guards came rushing out the back door. This would provide him with unbeatable(he hoped) evasiveness.
Ben hopped around the corner from his cove and immediately set out to the griffin staircase. Ben found it instantly, by a grand fireplace and said the password. “Restam!” But the griffin did not move aside. “Retsam! Retsam!” But still it did not move. Ben pondered about why the statue would not budge. He then started to think of any alternate passwords.
He got up and yelled, “Caligo Aether!” To his surprise, the griffin actually moved out of the way. “Caligo Aether. Quite clever. The Dark World? Is that what it means? Yes, it has to be,” Ben thought to himself, as he ran up the staircase. He was stopped by a monstrous wooden door with no knob or keyhole. All that was on the door was a small little shelled out area. It was circular, and Ben recognized it instantly. It would fit the coin. But he did not have his coin. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I just knew I needed that coin!” Ben pondered again about how he could get into the lair. Then a thought struck him. Diffomous had no real powers of his own. It would not take magic to open the door. If he could just get something the sized of the hole and get the door to open, then he was positive he could get in. Ben pulled out the last of his bread, and tore off pieces until it fit into the hole. He pushed in the stale bread, and heard a click, followed by a grumble. The door was sliding open.
As Benedict entered the room, he saw sights that he hoped to never see again in his life time. He saw bubbling, boiling pots spewing up some kind weird liquid. On the wall he saw a disfigured being hanging off a board.
“Frankenstein’s monster,” he muttered to himself.
“Hello, Mr. Herum. Please, please come and sit down. We’ve been expecting you.” Benedict drew his sword just in case whoever said that was against him. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, Mr. Herum. There will be no need for violence. I just want to bargain.” Ben cautiously followed the voice into a lounge room. When he got in there he sat down on a chaise lounge. “Would you like a drink? Maybe a margarita, or may I offer you a Bloody Mary, perhaps?” All of a sudden a dark, hooded figure stepped out from the shadows. “Look Mr. Herum, I don’t want to have to hurt you, so why don’t you just give me that coin, and I will give you your friend.”
“But I don’t have the coin. I swear I don’t!”
“ Then I will have to kill you.” Just as this man said this, Ben jumped up out of his seat and thrust his sword into him, and wounding the villain.
“Don’t deny it, Diffomous. I know you have that coin. I entrusted it to Amiculum the night you captured him.” He said this coolly while slowly drawing the sword from the ghost-like man.
“You underestimate my power, Benedict.” Then, just like that, sparks flew around the wound. Then, it was gone.
“Benedict! Ben! The only way to kill him is to push him into the lava pit of the Mount Castrum Volcano! You have to do it!” Amiculum desperately called this out from his cell. This gave Ben hope, and he advanced on Diffomous. He did it again, and again, until they were at on opening in the ground. They had reached the lava pit.
Diffomous drew his sword out slowly, and they clanked together. Ben battled this deformed man who was consumed by evil.
No one got even a scratch until Ben pushed Diffomous and he hit the edge of the crevasse, then he sliced off his hand as his sword flew into the pit and was consumed by flames.
“It’s over for you Diffomous! It’s time for your empire to fall!” Ben was trying to yell over the roar of the lava. He had to hurry up and get Diffomous out of the way, because he could see that his hand was growing back.
“That’s what you think Mr. Herum! I will be back for you!” With that Benedict stabbed him in the heart, and Diffomous went tumbling over the edge. Just before he landed in the pit, Ben saw two shining dots fall from his pockets. Then they were consumed by the flames. The coins were gone, and all the pride that came with them. Ben could live with that.
“All praised Benedict the Brave!” The mayor of Polios yelled into the crowd.
“Praised be he who falleth the oppressor of the time! Praised be him, and mayeth the lord look down on this d ay as a great one!” The crowd sang out form there holy books. After the crowd had finished there chant in the main square, the mayor pinned three pins, bearing the symbols of a lion, an eagle, and a shark, onto Ben. Amiculum was standing next to him on the stage in front of the entire mighty city. He had just received a medal of courage.
“And now, as I don the Three Pinn award to this mighty hero, I say, let’s celebrate!” The mayor yelled in jubilation.
There on out, Benedict the Brave (that was his new name) and Amiculum were the celebrate as heroes. They would go in the history books and live forever.