Soulforge Legacy Series

The silence was killing me. Ever since we left the spire, not a single person has said a fucking word, and it was driving me nuts. “So,” I gave up and decided to ask about this newcomer. To figure out who he was and maybe even learn what he meant when he said mate. “My name is Kyren.”

Yeah, awkward, I know. I was never all that good at starting conversations. “Pendragon.” He huffed out.

I waited for him to continue, only to find myself disappointed. Still, I wasn’t going to stop. I wasn’t going to let the silence take over once again. “How did you two meet?”

Xander let out an exasperated groan while Ginger actually blushed. Pendragon looked off to the side. As though he was deciding what to say. Finally, he started to talk. “If I recall right, this little foxy lady decided to go out to hunt on her own. Something about needing to practice a skill.”

“I will have you know that skill,” Ginger interrupted. “Well, it failed. But the skill that I did develop that day works great against demons.”

“Whatever you say.” Pendragon’s chuckle was low and I had to turn as the two shared a brief kiss. How they could kiss and walk, I had no idea. “Still, that skill was a bit on the loud side and attracted quite a few of the more annoying beasts. It also attracted every demon in the area.”

I needed to remember that. Loud explosions might not be a good thing. Then again, my little experience with bunnies should have beaten that into me. I shuddered at the thought of adding demons to the mix.

“How else would you recommend I test out that spell?”

“In the testing range like everyone else?” I didn’t know this city had such a place until Pendragon mentioned it. It was pretty smart of whoever designed the city to have added such a place.

Actually, scratch that. It would be a bad idea if the spells got too large or too powerful. Or did they have shields? Something to look into.

“Nope. Not going there to test anything.” Ginger sounded annoyed at the suggestion. “Too many shady people watching. I don’t need everyone to know what I can do.”

Pendragon let out a grunt that sounded somewhat like he was agreeing with her. “Anyway, the noise, stream of monsters, and all that attracted the attention of our scouts. Given the numbers they were seeing, none of them felt comfortable heading in, so I was dispatched.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” She huffed. “Fucking pussies.”

“While they were feline shifters, I don’t think a small army is something to scoff at.” Of course, he didn’t mention how much that was. Like that told me anything about their numbers. “By the time I got there, the army had turned into a veritable mob. Monsters and demons stood shoulder to shoulder as they raced toward this blur of death. Even as her claws sheared through everything that came close, she tossed spell after spell into the surroundings.”

My eyes took in her hands. They were little better than human hands. In fact, now that I got a good look at them, her fingernails were fairly decorated. Something I doubted someone would do if they used them as a primary weapon.

Ginger, probably having noticed my glance, answered the question floating about in my head. “Partial shift.” Her hand blurred and the next thing I knew, the hand was replaced by something more beastlike. Claws and all. “It is a useful skill. One that I recommend you learn. After all, one can never have too many weapons.”

Still, while the claws were impressive, they were little more than an inch long. “How did you keep from getting grabbed by monsters with the short range those give you?” Hell, I had a hard time with my sword.

Instead of replying with words, her lips curled up as mana flared. Glowing copper mana extended from the base of her claws. Growing in length until the mana formed a point over a foot away. And something told me that wasn’t it either. That she could extend those quite a bit further.

“Okay, how can I do that?”

“As I said, you will have to learn to partial shift.”

“I don’t even know if I can shift.” Not that I had tried.

“Oh,” Ginger looked a bit taken by surprise. “I keep forgetting you only recently used your SoulStone.”

“I can introduce you to someone that can help,” Pendragon spoke up. “He owes me a bit of a favor anyway.”

Instead of agreeing, I just shrugged and tried to change the topic. “Please, continue the story.”

“Where was I?” He took a second to continue. “Ah, I watched her dance between bodies as she massacred the things. However, what she didn’t know, at least at the time, was that the number was only going to continue to grow. That if she didn’t run, she wouldn’t be able to and would find herself overrun.”

“I could have gotten out of there at any time.” She huffed before her body flickered and vanished. An arm wrapped around my shoulder was the only warning I had before she spoke into my ear. “Foxes love their little tricks, and being able to get out of a situation is one of those things all of us have to learn.” I didn’t know if that was a warning or a hint at what she expected me to learn.

“So you keep saying.” With one hand, he reached over and pulled her back to his side. “That doesn’t change the fact that I obliterated most of the creatures with one well-placed spell.”

“You forgot to mention how you also obliterated everything for quite a ways. Making more noise with your one spell than I did with my entire fight.”

“I don’t remember any creatures popping out of the forest to pick a fight. Do you?” She scoffed but didn’t answer. “Anyway, in my rush to save her, I might have done a bit of damage.”

“You destroyed my armor. Do you know how hard it was to get that replaced?”

“Yes as I was the one that had to go find someone to do the work and pay for it.”

Something told me that these two were either going to find a secluded spot and make out or they were going to explode. “Get a room already.” Xander groaned. Apparently done with the two of them.

“We already have one.” Something about how Pendragon sounded made me think they would be looking for that room sooner rather than later. “And I look forward to having my mate on it. Under…”

“OKAY!” Jesus. “Back to how you met. PLEASE.”

A small giggle escaped from Ginger as Pendragon continued. “As you can imagine, when I landed, I was a bit shocked to find a completely naked woman glaring at me. Instead of scrambling to put something on, she threw a few bits of her armor at me and demanded that I replace the thing.”

Ginger turned bright red and seemed to almost squawk at his words. “While it wasn’t like I was going to say no or anything before, but the moment I got close enough to catch her scent, I was done. After that, I refused to even let her walk back to town on her own.”

“Please tell me you didn’t fuck each other in the woods?” Xander sounded annoyed. “Actually, I don’t want to know.”

“I will have you know I tossed one of my larger shirts on her and took her back to my place.”

“It wasn’t like I was going to let you out of my sights until you followed through with your promise.”

“Oh, I know.” He sounded proud. “Why do you think I asked for the smith to take his time?”

“Is that why he kept delaying?”

“Admit it, we had fun together.” God, these two needed to go get their needs out of their system already. Of course, that was when the mood seemed to sour. “Then you had to go and run away.”

“What did you expect?” She huffed. “We both know that a foxkin has no reason to hang out with one of the few dragons in the city.”

“That…”

“Plus, who else would they have sent on those missions? Everyone else was already off looking for the source of the demonic hordes. Speaking of which, do we know where they are coming from?”

“The only thing we can tell is that they are coming from somewhere in the mountain range. But everyone knows how impossible it is to search through that place. It is a maze.” He let out a small growl. “As for this whole dragon and foxkin issue. Let people complain. There is nothing they can do about it. Not when you are my mate. Chosen by fate itself.”

Before I could ask about the whole mate thing, we arrived at the jeweler’s shop. Behind the counter sat the dwarven man as he cleaned something. His eyes lifted to check out the group before returning to his work.

“Your collar is done. Just let me finish up what I am doing and we can move forward with the next step.” What next step? Wasn’t it a simple piece of armor? Albeit one with a bunch of enchantments.

It took him another minute to finish polishing the small pile of palm-sized, star-shaped blades. Each of which slid into a space inside a box made from cherry pink wood and decorated with trees and various animals. As he slid it under the counter, he pulled out a different box.

Unlike the last one, this box was made of a titanium-like metal. While most of it was blue, there were traces of rose red, gold, green, and even some purple mixed in. Instead of opening it, the man passed it over.

The surface was smooth. Not glass smooth, but smooth nonetheless. It also looked and felt like one solid piece of metal. There were no traces of a hinge, a latch, or even a spot to slide it apart. Tendrils of mana pushed out from my fingertips as I tried to get a feel for the metal. To find the trick to opening it. Yet there was nothing.

While I could tell it wasn’t enchanted, I couldn’t see inside. The metal, whatever it was, rejected my mana. As I doubted it was designed with my mana in mind, I had to assume it would reject any mana that tried to pass through. But was it designed to keep something out, or to keep it in?

The man reached over and pressed his fingers down in two spots while sliding another across the top. A seam appeared as a quarter of the top slid to the side. “I find that Chinese puzzle boxes are pretty decent at keeping things hidden. Especially when everyone assumes mana is the best and only option available.”

I didn’t know what to say because the man was right. There was little chance that others would figure out how to open this box and those like it. Even if they knew what it was, figuring out the puzzle would take them a while.

With one hand, I slid the top the rest of the way off. Under the metal was a plush, deep purple fabric with an odd circle of interwoven wires. Each wire was no thicker than a single hair, and no two strands were the same shade.

While blue dominated the mixture, there were some platinum, gold, and red. In fact, the shades reminded me of the color mixture of the box. Throughout the metal weave, tiny gems sparkled and shone. And while the whole thing sounded like it would be a mess, it wasn’t. In fact, it was perfect.

Well, almost perfect. There was a spot where the threads twisted and bunched up. Creating a space for something to sit.

“The orb goes there.” The man's words caused me to stiffen. And I wasn’t the only one surprised. But unlike me, Xander had conjured a black blade and was pressing it against the man’s throat.

Instead of doing anything about the blade, he continued. “Once it is installed, the collar will bond with it. Forming a bond that will grow as the two cycle mana between each other. Go ahead, look at the system information.”

I hesitated for a moment as I wondered if there was a way to manipulate the system information. Then again, what would be the point? It wasn’t like he had anything to gain here.

When I finally looked, I groaned at the information displayed. Not only was it another unique item, it was also named. Ihre Last Tragen, or, according to my AI, Bear Her Burden. An apt name, as it would be carrying around something that could be considered a burden.

And, while the collar was soulbound to me, it was also sealed. Whatever that meant. With that and the one special ability allowing it to travel between worlds, I would have been content. But that wasn’t it. The damned jeweler went and added a bunch of mana storage, the ability for it to adjust to my size, and a bunch of unknown others. Likely locked to some prerequisites. Oh, and it had an odd active ability called ‘Bell’, whatever that was.

And to top it off, the description had a message. “While this is a mere trinket, I hope that it is able to help you carry your heavy burden.”

Reading that, I knew there was nothing I could do but accept it. It was just too perfect. So, with a hand, I gestured at Xander for my orb back. The hand not holding a knife twisted through the air as he pulled my orb from somewhere.

I didn’t even have to look to know that Pendragon’s eyes were locked upon the object. Especially when he started to pester Ginger about the orb. Continuing to ask her question after question, even as she refused to answer a single one.

The orb slid into the recess without issue. Settling there as if it was always meant to be there. Slowly, the various strands twisted and moved as they secured the orb in place before settling down in a new position. With the new position, a seam appeared along the opposite side. As though the collar wanted me to put it on.

Everyone watched as I slowly lifted it up. No one spoke. No one even seemed to breathe as the collar reached my throat. Then, as though they had been coiled up, ready to strike, the threads shot out. wrapping themselves around my throat in such a way that I was fairly sure was permanent.