The Forge

V

I had to get out of the Pit, the walls were in my own head closing in on me but it was daylight out and I didn’t want to be too damn far from Butch, just in case. Destination in mind was my personal forge, I almost felt clearer just coming to that obvious conclusion. Finding a scrap piece of paper and a pen I scribbled a note for Butch and left it on the coffee table by the couch where I knew he would find it. Simply stating where I was and my phone would be on me. Heading down through the underground tunnels after I locked the Pit up I came to the door leading in and punched in the code that would release the door and stepped in and locked that fucker behind me. My eyes closed instantly as I inhaled the familiar smells of the space that encased what others would consider hell. I stripped my black T-shirt off and tossed it in an empty corner of the room and stepped over and fixed the settings on the hyped up forge. It wasn’t long before the heat enveloped the room and I was sweating profusely but the good kind, the kind that in time would be added with more as I worked and beat away with the hammer to create. I grabbed up the long tongs and set them on the work bench as I went to pick out just the right piece of steel, this was something else altogether different then the daggers I made. I was in a mode to go bigger, something more. Choosing a large one I grabbed up the tongs and locked the piece in place and it was just in time because the forge was hissing with the need to eat away at the material. I placed it in and the flames licked away instantly, swirling around the metal and there was always something poetic about the scene, it was in here I was able to relax and let everything else stay outside the door. This was primal, back to the times that many didn’t survive; there was always a part of me that missed that fighting from the old days, and the lessers than had been a challenge, easily taking a chunk of your hide before you could take them out. The bloody battles were something to feel a sense of pride about, knowing with each gash and broken bone that you had come out the victor because you were superior in your skills. Just like the now forming blade heating up, it would have been the main weapon used then, no guns, just hand to hand combat. I waited long enough between turns until the whole piece was glowing as yellow and bright as the sun I could never be under again and only then did I pull it out and taking just the few steps to the over-sized anvil. I knew my eyes were glowing with the intensity of the heat and power surging through me and I laid the deathly scalding steel down and my free hand knew without looking where to find the hammer and I gripped it like I would one of my daggers, comfortably and knowingly. At first I started working on both sides of the illuminating piece, switching it swiftly from one to the other so that it wouldn’t distort under me and once I had it to the point of staying semi how I had it shaped, I concentrating on the flat side. As I worked the sledge down to work out the bevels I couldn’t help but think of the fighting now, how the lesser were only surviving because of mass recruiting, it in no way was because they knew how to handle themselves in a fight and that fucker the Omega knew that. Which is why he was drawing in the masses of scum from the dredges of the streets, they were careless bastards that were damn near making it impossible to keep the war out of the human eyes. I worked the blade over, making sure as fuck it didn’t bend too much or it would be useless as hell, once I had it semi how I wanted it I replaced it back in the fire. My eyes drawn to the sight, it was almost hypnotizing in its effects but as my brain sifted and swayed with the movements of the flames, I was open completely and before I knew it I saw the robed figure hovering over Butch, the hooded form moved in closer as it totally envelope him and before I knew it I heard the most horrific sound pelting off the walls, vibrating the very ground I stood on. And only when my hand lost its grip on the heated metal tongs did I realize the sound was coming from me and in that sudden clarity every muscle in my body tensed up and within second my hands touched, gripped, threw and beat the fuck out of anything I could find. Tools that hung on the wall waiting to be used were now strung out and broken on the ground, the table that held my supplies as I readied everything before starting a project was cracked down the middle and left in shards. Nothing escaped my rampage in that room, even the fire felt the abuse as I ripped my glove off and immersed my hand inside causing the already over the top forge to crackle and hiss under the pressure until the seams started to pop out the specially made screws that held it together. I fell to my knees in front of the inferno, my blazing hand falling at my side, my whole body covered in a thick sheen of sweat, chest heaving under the exertion and my head bent down in defeat and all I could manage was a strangled broken statement. “I’m losing….control.”

Wrath

[My fingers skimmed over pages and pages of requests from the noble houses. They seemed to think that I should be doing everything from keeping them safe to wiping their asses. I set the papers aside with a heavy sigh and took off my wrap-arounds. I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned over the desk. This was exactly the kind of thing that I had wanted to avoid and the very reason why I didn’t want to step into office in the first place. The overwhelming urge to round up all of the glymera and flog them was something that I seemed to fight on a daily basis. My thoughts were cut short by an annoying beeping sound. I grabbed up my shades and slid them back on. I had to swivel around in my chair to track down the source of the noise. I couldn’t remember there ever being a need for me to use the small panel of monitors that Vishous had installed. Not as like they did me much good, all I ever saw was blurred images. The blinking red light on one of the screens seemed like a clear indication that something was going down. I ran my finger along the raised braille and immediately wished that I could see the image on the screen.] The forge?… Curious. [I got up and slid my fingers through my hair.]Only one way to find out. [I passed Fritz on the way to the tunnels and told him to stand by with a fire extinguisher and possibly an entire hose, hoping that I wouldn’t really need either. The exasperated sound that came out of the doggen was almost worth it though. The smell hit me before anything else did and it almost knocked me back. Anyone in their right mind would know to stay away from the area. When I got to the door, it refused to open easily for me and I was forced to use some more creative methods to break it down. The heat that assaulted me as soon as the way was clear had me taking a huge step backward and shielding my face instinctively.] Vishous?! Are you in there? What’s going on here?

V

My back was hunched over as I sit there with the forge’s heat blasting me from the front, still yet I didn’t move, felt no need to or more to the point I didn’t want to. I had come down here to gain control of all the things that were running rampant like a disease in my head, only to break and realize full on that I was losing all the control. I barely raised my head when I heard the intrusion on the heavy as fuck metal door sealing the remnants of the space from the hall. It wasn’t until the Voice of the King came through that I looked up fully and seen his large frame filling the opening. My mouth opened to say something, what, I have no damn clue so I just shook my head. Using my hand that was not vibrating with the last embers of my powers, I pushed off the ground and stood up, retrieving the discarded leather glove as I did. I rolled my neck around some, cracking the tight knots in it some while I slip the glove back on my hand and switching the controls to the Forge off. Clearing my throat out some I stepped closer to the doorway. “Just fucked up a blade I was working on, what brings you down to the pits of hell anyway?”

Wrath

[I turned my head from side to side as the intense heat abated. My sense of the room came into focus better now that I wasn’t being blasted in the face.] Nice to see you too. I half thought I would come down here to find nothing but a glove and a charcoal outline. You set off all the bells and whistles upstairs. [I backed away from the door to let Vishous through but something bothered me about what he’d said and I stopped.] You don’t fuck up blades. [I pinned him in an unfocused gaze.]

V

Once Wrath had stepped back I moved into the hall and pulled the door closed behind me, even though the big guys’ sight was for shit, still every now and then he could get a clear picture and his damn senses were too fucking sharp to boot. I leaned back against the still warm to the touch metal door and almost flinched as my back heated up even more, but I stayed there and just shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. “Everyone has an off day, I stake claim on this one.” My head rose a notch under the scrutinizing glare that I knew was going on behind them shades and I just stared back unflinchingly. “I fucked up the temp, damn thing must have set the sensors off, shit will cool soon so all good, feel me?”

Wrath

An off day? [I folded my arms over my chest and just watched V.] Not everyone’s off day is equivalent to a nuclear bomb. You and Butch have been volunteering for a lot of patrol duty lately. Perhaps you could use something more ‘relaxing’. I have a stack full of requests to improve security systems that you will be relieving me of. [Since there didn’t seem to be a need to call in the fire trucks, I turned and strolled back down the hall. Waving Fritz away when he came down with an armful of fire extinguishers.]

V

The full ramification of what Wrath said hit me hard as fuck and I had to control the urge to say fuck you and your security assignment. I pushed off the door and went down the hall after Wrath, the whole time drilling it in my head to keep shit calm, last thing I needed was some full on inquisition. I stepped in to tune with Wrath and kept my tone controlled “Look right now is not a good time for me to be out of the Manse, can’t this stuff wait till next week or some shit?”

Wrath

[I stopped abruptly and turned to face V once more] Most of these have been waiting for months as it stands. Would you like to share with the class why now is a particularly bad time for you? Or are you going to continue pissing on my leg and telling me it’s raining? I give you a lot of leeway Vishous but your secrecy gets very tiring.

V

I stopped when Wrath did, even that close was too much, and how the fuck could I stall this I kept asking myself. Leaving Butch for too damn long unattended was taking a bigger gamble than I cared to admit to myself. “Look facts is I do my job and more, so what I do on my down time is my shit as long as it doesn’t fuck with the Brothers.” I cocked my head and crossed my arms over my chest, trying like hell to appear more chilled than I felt, this felt like jogging across a mine field with a with a kick ass worthy opponent on the other side waiting for me to slip up. “I’ll get to the houses or you can get someone else on it now but I need a few damn days of down time.”

Wrath

I’m disappointed in you, Vishous. [shaking my head slowly] I would think that by now you would know that I’m not here to screw you over. We are Brothers, you and I. We have fought along side each other through countless battles. [I paced a slow circle around V much like a predator sizing up his prey.] This cold front you put up is quite familiar to me. I don’t usually push you unless I think it’s for your own good. What happens to one of us effects us all. [I stopped in front of him again and tilted my head slightly.] Are you being plagued by visions again?

V

I didn’t relax my stance even as the word ‘Disappointment’ pummeled through me like a battering ram, anybody else I could give two fucks about, but Wrath was another story. Drawing in a slow deep breath I kept my icy gaze forward even as he moved about me, arms hard as steel stayed across my chest and legs never wavered as I stood straight, I even managed to keep my tone on the down side as I spoke. “The visions never leave, just came to a lull. but I didn’t realize asking  for a few days down would incite such a coddling speech, next time I will try and schedule some days off without incurring the full on bullshit.”

Wrath

[I held back a low growl and the side of my lip curled upward.] Now you are just being rude. I suppose that is what I get for trying to be nice to you. If I find out you are hiding something that you should have reported to me, this conversation will be revisited and it will be far from pleasant. I let you have more than enough time with your new Hellren and you didn’t see me complaining about it. Even though I was catching a raft of shit from the Scribe Virgin over it. Get your shit straightened out and do it quickly. This war doesn’t stop because you are ‘having a bad day’. [I didn’t wait for another line of crap. I turned around took long strides out of tunnels and back to my office.]

V

I waited only long enough for that broad back to disappear from my view before I let my arms loosen their hold over my chest and hang at my side. The only word that came to mind was FUCKED, in all ways but physically. Shit if I laid the facts out on the line then Butch was fucked and I wasn’t willing to take that risk. Last time Butch’s mind came into play with Wrath the man almost hauled him from the Manse himself and we had to go toe to toe. I shook my head and went back to my Forge just to make sure that the fucker wouldn’t be on ends to explode after what I did. Stepping in the room the heat was still overbearing but manageable but the space itself was destroyed, again all I could do was shake my head, just fuck it I thought. Double checking the settings and making sure the door was locked down I left with my shirt still sitting in the corner amongst the rubble and headed back to the Pit with more shit stacked up in my head to figure out.