Daniel stepped out of his room and into an aircraft hanger. After his initial gasp at the unexpectedly huge space outside of his room, he took in more detail and amended his statement. This was the kind of aircraft hangar the pope would build if the catholic church took over the world through the power of steroids and genetic engineering.
The vaulted ceiling was far above his head, and without Quick Mind in the background, Daniel could only place it at over ten meters. The space was lit by candles half as tall as he was on sconces, and they appeared to be more of the self-lighting ones posted along unlit walls. With no lighters standing at attendance, it was an easy guess to make.
There were benches too, cushions coming to just under his shoulders. It seemed as though everything besides the door he’d just come through had been scaled up by a factor of two, making this space already impressive before the change.
Then, there was the part of the hallway that was not hallway. Hammer stood in the center of the corridor with both hands outstretched, and he was back to being as tall as when he’d appeared in Aughal. Twice as tall, at least, as him. A thought suddenly occurred to Daniel but was interrupted when Hammer looked back and smiled like a dad working on the car in the garage, only for his son to make an unexpected appearance. It seemed Daniel would at least be spared from holding a flashlight. I need to stop making dad analogies about Hammer or I’m going to gaslight myself.
“Ah, I see you at least prefer the robes. Good! I can also allow your room to return to its section of the pavilion.” The smaller door, indeed half the size of one that suddenly appeared in front of Hammer, shot away down the side of the wall in the opposite direction.
Wait, we’re moving? Daniel was seized by a sense of vertigo as the candles, doors, and other furniture around him shifted at incredible speed before slowing to a just faster than running pace. He’d remained on the carpet the whole time and hadn’t gotten rugburn. Aside from yet another display of divine power, probably for his benefit, Daniel noticed the style of his surroundings had changed. They had the same basic structure of self-lightning candles and everything else, but instead of hammers everywhere there were scythes, black curtains shading almost all the light out of windows, and a decidedly goth take on divine supremacy.
“If you would like, I could at least return your full stature.” Hammer looked at him hopefully, nudging one of his palms upwards.
“I’m good. Dad.” Thanks for asking this time at least. The hallway continued shifting like this was some kind of auto scroller and Daniel’s background sense of curiosity overloaded. Hammer shrunk my entire room, with me in it, without me noticing, and is now writing this hallway into reality while doing something with transmutation to make it so that I don’t have carpet burns as he drags me along with him. At this point, Daniel just accepted that if Hammer could make this stuff here, he could make anything anywhere.
“Very well. I had hoped giving you an aspect of my appearance would help shield you from what is to come, but I will respect your preference.” The doom and gloom ended around them as the hallway shrunk to half of its original width. The top half was replaced by either glass or just magic holding the same shape. Either way, it was translucent, and reinforced that Daniel was currently high in the sky. What’s more, the structure was massive and formed in the rough shape of a circle.
“We’re above Rikendia?” Daniel asked, wishing he could look down out of these windows, but he was stuck at toddler height.
“Yes. But that is not what we should speak on first, little one. We must discuss your class.” There was a frown in Hammer’s voice that Daniel didn’t care to make an analogy about, especially since he did not want the god dragging him through the megastructure they were creating to be mad. “Do you know of what I speak?”
“Yes?” Daniel ventured though Hammer was keeping his face unreadable save for faint disappointment. “One of the first things I learned in this world was that I was an Artificer. I came into it with the class.” Hammer sighed, and a little bit of that burst into a mixture of elements, including those Daniel couldn’t guess at. One exploded like a miniature firework in a strange circular pattern, colors rapidly shifting. Is he losing control or is that just for effect? The miasma of elements didn’t shoot off into the background, so at least Hammer was containing the cloud.
“A class foremost rooted in Star.” Hammer waved away the elements and turned back ahead while continuing to talk. “Not to give the wrong impression, my child. We are allies and respect each other, in our own ways. Though it could also be said we are each other’s opposites, balancing the Octyrrum upon that axis. For one like you to appear with his mark on you is disappointing.”
The hallway widened again but did not take on a motif. It was plain white from floor to ceiling with outlines instead of any fixtures. Hammer seemed to sense Daniel’s confusion and continued speaking unprompted, now with a more distant tone. “Cloak. He always prefers to see to the details of his accommodations, I merely provide the space. Be wary of him, little one. His ways are circuitous. Despite his domain, he is adept at using the truth to lie. Though, he is in no way our foe.” Hammer snapped a finger and an ingot of metal, primarily blue but speckled with white and gold, appeared in the space next to Daniel and remained next to him on the ground despite the rest of the hallway still moving.
This is going to give me vertigo at some point. Daniel assessed the magical metal and wished Analyze Material was working. “This is for me?”
“Yes. Please, remake your Focus. I have repaired your mana structure and have, for the time being, sealed the functions of your Spoke. I apologize, but it is necessary until we conclude our meeting. I am only glad to see you have either not noticed, or are perfectly well despite this.” Hammer fell silent at that, continuing his sculpting of monochromatic reality while Daniel took the only vibrant color nearby into his hands.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
My mana flow, he realized, tuning in on the movements of magical power within him. Daniel had yet to reach the proficiency everyone normally did with their seventh sense by level 2 and only now understood what Hammer had meant. While he couldn’t freely manipulate the flow aside from using powers, Daniel had been able to sequester mana into the loop around his heart to reach Bridge Space. It was like using an ability backward, moving the mana first to trigger the power.
That loop had been broken when Hunter died, along with almost every magical item he’d been wearing. Even with time having grown confusing at best in the moments afterward, Daniel had keenly felt the loss along with his friend. That was also the moment both of his Foci broke. The loop was back, which must have been what Hammer had meant.
The loop was shutting out my Spoke powers. Someone put it there to do just that. It wasn’t that hard of a conclusion to draw. Daniel already suspected his Encyclopedia power had been designed partially to prevent him from developing his seventh sense, which in turn had delayed when he had been able to find Bridge Space and his other self on Earth. That an old man in robes with questionable views on consent had already adjusted his powers confirmed that something like this was possible long before Hammer had shown up.
Daniel filed that away before it became something else put in front of getting Hunter back. Regaining his Focus? That was important enough to do now. The metal in his hands felt heavy, and he would have struggled to pick it up with one hand if not for the fact that he still had his attributes. Daniel was a balanced level 2 Blessed, not suffering from any level disparity. Strength was one of the first he’d gotten above twenty and he had kind of forgotten how strong that had made him aside from one unfortunate curtain incident.
The last time he’d lost his Focus he’d struggled to make the other one. Now, Daniel was very glad Hammer couldn’t see into his head, or he’d have set the god off. He centered his mind on his family, though instead of the picture he’d used the last two times, he chose something else. Bridge Space had allowed him to have a face to face, so to speak, but it had also let him coerce his Earth self into showing him images of his current family. In his mind, he took those and added his last memory of his real father, along with the un-Hammered self he’d seen in the mirror earlier. This kind of customization might have been possible the other time, but all Daniel had cared about was restoring his powers ahead of the lightning dragon fight.
He had more ambitious goals now. This wasn’t an image to represent the past, but the future he would work towards. Daniel was about to commit the image and create his Focus when he paused. His family was all there, but something was missing. It wasn’t his clone, Daniel had no real desire to give his family a second set of twins. It was Hunter. He considered each and every one of his other friends and couldn’t find the same feelings. Hunter though?
I’ll get you back, he thought. And if I ever find a way home, I’ll take you with me. The metal shifted as he imparted his will, his memories, and his soul into it to create what so many people in this world mistook for a hand mirror. The case took most of its color inspiration from the metal, a sea of blue with white patterning like stars, a drop of gold in the center of each. The same color set as Hunter’s fur, and the feathers he could no longer grow.
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Password?
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Focus v2.0
Use of exotic material has added additional benefits to your Feature: Focus Enhancement. These benefits will be lost if your Focus is remade with other material.
? Level: 10 durability
? ???
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Uh. Daniel honestly hadn’t expected this degree of bonkers from the metal Hammer had given him, even if whatever special effect from the metal was disappointingly blocked. “Hammer?” he asked, his voice going up an octave. “Was that level 10 metal? How could I even touch it?”
Hammer scowled as he turned around. “Torch.” Daniel recovered from panic when he saw the god was looking at his new phone. “Why do you hide this from my child? What do you think to keep from me, removing these records?” The movement in the hallway stopped and Hammer sat for a moment. Daniel just remained motionless, ready for the god of libraries to come crashing through the white walls and kick off a crusade. “Hmm. We will discuss this later.” The hallway began to move before Hammer stood up. “My child, I am sorry. Torch is protective of knowledge and as I have my domain, she has hers.”
“It’s ok.” Daniel tried to project confidence as if he had any control over the situation. “But, what about the metal? I’ve tried to hold heliorite before and I only managed it for seconds.”
“That was elemental essence,” Hammer explained, somewhat downcast. “Specifically, the essence of you. It took some of my true power to create, but for you it is barely a thought. Levels are meaningless when it comes to what you are, or at least, they should be. I had hoped your unique nature would produce something truly impressive for my companions to see.” In what could only be described as a sheepish gaze to the side, Hammer laughed at himself. “I might have overdone it.”
“So, you’re fine with me having a class?” Daniel could have guessed that after being given what might be the highest level material he could dream of to make his Focus from, but at the same time, Hammer could get embarrassed and just melt it down. Reading the god was still difficult. Daniel had at least judged that Hammer wouldn’t strike him down or make random changes so long as he played into the whole ‘father-son’ thing. “Dad?” he added a few seconds later.
“It is what makes you special. One of many things. Spokes were not meant to be like man, and yet you appear as two in one, somehow. There is more, but since it is clear you are unaware of many things regarding your nature, I shouldn’t provoke Torch further.”
“That makes sense. Something bad isn’t going to happen if she does get angry, will it?”
“As I have said before, little one, there has not been one like you in the history of this world.” Hammer’s voice grew possessive and worried in equal measure. “Some may argue you should not have been in the first place.” Daniel wanted to object to that but the motion of the hallway stopped abruptly and he did get a little queasy, endurance finally failing him. The pure white space met with an already constructed corridor.
“It is done, and with little time to spare. Ah, but it is not my right to ask time to bend to my desires. Come, child, we must greet Torch. Do not fear her, but do not test her. Your fate will depend on the will of the majority, no matter how hard I protest against any action. If they wish it, you could be taken from me.” Hammer walked up to him in less than a second, cupping a hand against one of his cheeks. “Please, little one. For the sake of your existence and my heart, this must not come to pass.”