Depthless Hunger

"How can there be an Insanity on Deadwaste?" Zae Zin Nim asked. She stared at the shard of metal as if she expected it to attack or explode at any moment.

"It's called the True Metal." Omilaena began walking around it, her eyes alight again. "It appears in some legends, supposedly a piece of metal that fell from the sky and inspired everyone else to create metals in imitation. I'd have dismissed it as a myth except that there have been credible reports over the years about weapons formed from a metal that seemed impossibly strong and sharp."

"Didn't you say Irunian steel uses Essence to strengthen itself? It's useful, it's not an Insanity."

"I do not know this term," Tusquo said, "but you may be right. Let me tell you about the secret history of Irun and you can judge for yourselves."

They quickly assembled to listen. Kai had never even heard a whisper of this, which he supposed just meant it was a well-kept secret. Tusquo cleared his throat and then began.

"The earliest tribes of Irun stumbled on this shard and discovered that, when exposed to mana, it created pools of liquid steel. It granted them abilities that became the Path of Steel, so they forged the tribes into a nation. Everywhere they took the shard, it created more pools. Never ending, never diminishing, it seemed to have infinite strength."

"That sounds like an Insanity," Omilaena said. "But I assume it didn't last."

"Correct. After centuries, we began to notice a slight weakening. In the beginning it created endless powerful pools, almost more than could be managed. This abundance faded over time, then the pools became less potent. We saw fewer Truesteel results and Bronze appeared for the first time. Now, in just the last century, the number of pools themselves began to decline."

"Far beyond anything we have, but not infinite," Zae Zin Nim said thoughtfully. "If the Insanities aren't truly divine objects, then perhaps that makes sense. Is it possible that one day, the First Crest could simply... run out of power?"