Editing The Forging of The Promise (section)

==The Ordeal==

High above the volcano, thermal vents of superheated air whipped sparks past two figures standing opposite one another on a narrow platform.  Between them, atop an anvil of stone from the heart of a five mile tall mountain, was a seven foot long mold, three feet wide.  The crucible of Orichalcum alloy was being lifted into position.  On one side, the sorcerer took three vials and set them on the edge of the mold.  From one, he removed a lock of hair and placed it in the depression, from the second, a drop of blood, and from the third he released the lid and gently wafted it over the stone.  He whispered a few words over the elements of Nameless Ravine, then released the flow of alloy into the mold.  Fear's Umbra's enchantments held; the mold did not melt to slag.

At a signal from Spring's Inevitable Betrayal, the two pace long sword was placed on the anvil.  Twin hammers began striking the metal, and burst of sparks like rays of sunlight splashed over them.  The bursts of light revealed the faces of the twin smiths in alternating flashes.  Betrayal's mask of green wood was bent low over the anvil, his breath coming in ragged gasps as his long arms lashed upward and fell, again and again, binding into the sword all the dreams of a new age rising from the molten shards of the old one.  Rivers lifted his arms, drenched in sweat, huffing raggedly as he tried to keep up with the god.  Essence rolled off of him in sheets of blue flame, and the hammer fell with unerring precision, as though each strike was the prototype of all hammer strikes from the beginning of time.  High above, Storm of Amber stood on the lip of the of the volcano and prayed for the Sun's blessing on the birth of the blade, but in the heart of the Volcano the two smiths worked unceasingly for three days straight, letting it cool for for four hours, then reheating it and working for another three days.

---

1. [[The Promise]]

2. [[Heaven's Mandate]]