Chương 2: Lord Orn's Work
An hour later, he was walking in the streets of the lower city. The Earthkins looked at him weirdly. The Earthkin had small bits of stone poking through their skin, their bones were made of stone and often gems or stone went through their skin.
"Oie, Longhair."
"You talking to me?"
"Yeah, who else," Three Earthkin walked up to him, "What you doing around here? Trading? Travelling?"
"I need to find someone who can tell me about Lord Orn."
"Orn? Lord Orn?"
"Yes, him, Lord Orn."
"Yo, Jimmy, maybe King can help this Longhair."
"Who is King? A leader?"
"No, it's his name, because of his Earth's Mark."
"Follow us, Longhair, no other Earthkin is gonna help you, if you know, anything about us, we hate strangers."
"And you guys?" He said as he followed them up the streets.
"Us? I don't know, you look like an interesting guy."
"Fine with me," He said as they continued walking up the streets, "Why did you call me a 'Longhair'?"
"That is what all the old call the strangers, we just pick it up, Longhair."
"Who is this, King?"
"A city elder, he's been around as long as we've been alive."
"How old are you guys?"
"17 summers."
"Are all three of you 17 summers?"
"Yeah, there, right there, King's place, just tell him Jimmy told you to go see him, he'll understand."
"Here," Vidian gave the three boys a bronze sand each, "Thank you for your help."
"Thanks, Longhair," They said as they left him. The heat battered down on him, he wiped his forehead again. He walked up to the small, curtain of a door of the house.
"Is King here?"
"Yes, what do you want?"
"Jimmy told me to come see you."
"Come in, come in, I am King," An old looking man said, he had stones emerging around the top of his head making a crown like pattern. Vidian sat down on the stone stool at the table where King was sitting, "What did you come here for, Longhair?"
"I came to see Lord Orn."
"Lord Orn? What for?"
"To talk to him."
"To talk to Lord Orn?! You know that Lord Infernus and Lord Fyre guard him, there is no way a human could pass those winds during the climb, you would either die of heat or fall off and then die, no, but really, what are you here for?"
"To see Lord Orn."
"Brother, I know humans are crazy, but you are going to die, there is no way you are going to even get close to him, he is heavily guarded by Lord Infernus and Lord Fyre, both are deadly to any being, you'll never make it."
"Tell me how to get there."
"Brother, you know, for a few coins, I'll show you."
"Here," He slid a silver cobra on the table, "Good enough?"
"Yep, come this way, he lives on the highest peak of the Molten peaks, Orn's Peak, the one right in the middle of the mountain range, if you head up the street and all the way down the path call, Orn's Reach, you'll be at the foot of his mountain, are you equipped to climb?"
"Nope, but I'll manage."
"I never knew humans were that crazy."
"Thanks, old man."
"Tell us how he is doing, the people will definitely want to know, if you return."
"No problem, I will," He waved goodbye to King and jogged up the streets of Gubalrock and soon arrived at the last street of the city.
He stopped and looked ahead of him, the heat was nearly unbearable but there it was, Orn's Peak, the tallest peak of the Molten Peaks, standing high above the rest. Smoke gushed out of the massive pillar of stone and two streams of lava ran down from it, and lined both sides of the road before entering the city. As he walked he saw the heat raise from the lava as it ran down through the valley and into the city. He walked slowly, trying to fan himself with his hat. The sun was blocked out in this region because of the massive amount of smoke.
He soon arrived at the foot of a literal wall of stone. There were small spikes that stuck out of the wall that seemed built to make a path to the top of his mountain. He looked up and wondered if he could actually climb it, then, he had an idea. Eternum's blessing. He looked down at his arms and tried to make them change. They slowly changed into reptilian hands with large, curved claws. He grabbed one of the spikes and smiled as his finger wrapped around it perfectly and his claws locked to hold his hand in place. Some of the Earthkin who were there were laughing as he began to ascend. They tried to call him back down but he continued. He used his modified arms to grip the spikes and slowly pull himself up. The ground slowly got further and further away and the wind slowly increase along with the heat. He tried not to focus on it and continued to climb blindly as more wind hit him, burning wind, the Scorched Winds, created by Infernus, the God of the Scorched Winds and by Fyre, the God of Fire and Heat.
He felt, gust after gust, each drop of sweat roll down his forehead, and plummet to the ground below. Each movement seemed to wear down on him more than ever as massive gusts of wind blew against him. He stopped. There was a gap, between the path he was on, and the path to continue up. He looked down, he could barely see the people below, and then looked back up, it seemed like there was still an eternity to climb. He sighed and closed his eyes, finding a firm footing, and taking a deep breathe. He opened his eyes and focuses on the two spikes he wanted to grab. He pushed off of the spikes and propelled himself towards second path. He dug his claws into the spikes and stopped himself, hanging over emptiness. He pulled himself up and found a spike to gain a foothold. The wind had seemed to stop as he jumped and now began blowing again to the same level as before. He sighed and continued to climb, pulling himself, closer and closer to his objective. He loved climbing trees as a kid, but this was a different level, he was climbing a gigantic mountain that towered over the molten peaks, some of the highest peaks in the world and some of the most dangerous peaks.
He continued to scale the stone wall as the path became more and more separated, with larger distances between each handhold for Vidian. He had to nearly jump to move up, with the wind hitting him nearly constantly. He looked down again, he couldn't believe his own eyes about how high up he was. The heat blurred the floor as he saw sweat fall from his body and accelerate towards the floor, sizzling as they hit the floor. He looked back up and continued to climb up the wall of the mountain as the air became heavy and the heat near unbearable and the power of the wind increased. He wondered how Orn would be, he heard of him be called the ram God of the Forge, but he didn't know what that could mean. He looked up and realized that the mountain's wall was nearly at an end, he was near to his goal and only needed a little more, it seemed like he had been climbing for an eternity and his arms and legs were beginning to feel heavy. The wind had decreased but the heat had seemed to increase and he began sweating more and more as he continued to climb higher and higher, closer to his objective.
His hand reached over and he pulled himself over, onto a flat platform near the top of the peak. He got to his feet, and then realized where he was. A massive flow of lava flowed into a massive forge and then flowed out and down the mountain. He saw a massive figure behind a giant's anvil. Black, ram horns curled on the giant's head. A massive, reddish beard grew from its chin. Large leather clothes covered most of the creature's chest, a hammer beat down on a piece of red, hot metal, and this was Orn, the God of the Forge. He walked out from behind his anvil and sat down on a massive, forged metal throne and snorted and looked at Vidian, making Vidian uneasy as his red, glowing eyes stared right through him.
"A mortal arriving all the way here," His voice sounded more like a growl, "What are you here for? I don't think I need to kill you, you don't look like a threat," Vidian's arms returned to their human form.
"I am Vidian, I am here to ask you for your blessing."
"My blessing?" He raised his left eyebrow, "For what reason does a non-Earthkin need my blessing, it grants you the possibility to resist fire and flames and makes your skin like iron, tell me, Vidian, what is your reason for such a request?"
"I, Vidian, I was approached by Eternum, Lord Eternum, and he talked to me about the Death of the World, the beast that you imprisoned, along with your 11 godly brothers and sisters, but those seals you made are breaking, slowly, but they are breaking, I was approached by Lord Eternum to end the Death of the World."
"The Death of the World?" Orn laughed, "I assume I need to help you get stronger than you are, for my blessing, you will need to do one thing, you already showed your guts by scaling my peak, and you survived Infernus and Fyre, but that isn't enough."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Long ago, I was a half-powered god, with Wolvarian, he empowered the Death of the World, long, long ago, before anything was built here, he is still alive, I have shown pity on him, but to get my blessing, I need you to do one thing, just one thing for me," His voice bellowed through the air, "Kill him."
"Kill him? Where is he?"
"Chippers will bring you to him."
"Who is Chippers?"
"The heart of the forge," He smirked as a black-scaled, red-spiked, gold winged dragon emerged from the cave that housed Orn's forge. He slowly lumbered forwards making the ground shake with each step. Its gold eyes stared at Vidian, it was tiny next to Orn but still, much larger than him, "Chippers, bring him to Wolvarian, his time has come."
Chippers screeched and placed its tail so that Vidian could climb up onto its back, Vidian removed his bag and tossed it on the floor. A tiny, elegant, crimson goat scurried out of the forge and picked up the bag and put it to the side, Orn chuckled as Chippers took off. The dragon spread its golden wings and slowly ascended into the sky. Vidian looked around at the peaks as they flew further from the city. Chippers beat its wings powerfully as they sped towards a circle of peaks that created a black, spike prison. He screeched as they arrived, telling Vidian that they were there. He landed in the center of the peaks and Vidian hopped down and looked around.
Chippers screeched and flew off, leaving Vidian alone in an arena of stone, he looked around and saw nothing. He stood motionless in the center of the arena as he saw Chippers circle the prison of stone. A massive bolt of lightning struck the ground and the silhouette of a massive person formed. He wasn't as tall as Orn but still was two heads taller than Vidian, who was already a tall person. He wore a black bear's pelt and had two sets of metal claws attached to his fists. He had four sharp, revealed, metal teeth that stuck out of his mouth. He wore pelt based clothing covering his legs and nothing on his chest. His eyes were crimson red with golden centers. His body seemed to be entirely muscle, he snarled like a dog revealing all his teeth, sharp, jagged metal teeth.
"What do you want, human?"
"Orn sends me."
"Orn? He still remembers I am alive? What did he send you here for?"
"To kill you."
"You are blunt, human, what is your name?"
"I am Vidian."
"I am Wolvarian, let's get this over with, I can't be bothered to spend much time dealing with you," He smiled revealing his metal teeth again. He charged towards Vidian. Vidian jumped out of the way and saw Wolvarian rip through the stone floor with his claws. He turned around to face Vidian again. His eyes were filled with rage and he was breathing heavily and quickly. He flexed his muscles and bolts of electricity jumping around him and then stopped before he leapt once more at Vidian. Vidian changed his right arm into a long, curved-tip blade and slashed it as he rolled under Wolvarian's attack. He got up and slashed at the back of his knees as blood flowed to the floor. Wolvarian seemed unaffected by the attack and licked his teeth as he walked towards Vidian. His pelt had changed to a tiger-like pelt and the metal claws extended on his fists. He closed the distance with Vidian and began slashing furiously at Vidian, who did his best to dodge the attacks using his smaller size to duck under most of the attack. Wolvarian showed no sign of stopping. Vidian rolled between his legs and slashed the other knee. Wolvarian fell to his knees for a moment before getting back up again, his pelt changed to a turtle's shell and his claws merged together and curved around his fists. He leapt at Vidian and slammed his fist into the floor, barely missing Vidian, who rolled out of the way. He turned his body violently and tried to slam into Vidian, missing once more. Vidian used this opening to turn his arms into two spikes and leapt onto his back and slammed them both into the back of Wolvarian's neck. They dug into his flesh and Wolvarian's body fell nearly limp to the floor. Vidian jumped off as his pelt turned into a scarlet bird's plumage. Wolvarian rose slowly and stared down Vidian. He roared to the sky and leapt towards Vidian, missing before crashing into the wall of the arena, cracking it. Vidian turned one his arms back into a human arm and the other into a curved hook. He pushed off of Wolvarian's legs and spun, slashing through the pelt, ripping it with the hook, causing him to roar in pain. He met the back of Wolvarian's fist and was sent crashing to the stone ground. He turned his arms back to their normal state and got back to his feet. He turned and saw Wolvarian walking towards him, limping and weak. He lifted his massive clawed hand and then froze. Vidian covered himself, anticipating the blow, but nothing hit. He walked slowly to the side of Wolvarian. His eyes were blank, and the bleeding had stopped from his cuts. He wasn't moving, frozen, dead. Vidian tapped him and realized that he had turned to stone. He wondered what to do, but Chippers made his choice for him, landing smashing through the dead Wolvarian, turning him to rubble. It ignored where it landed and allowed Vidian to climb onto his back again, screeching loudly as they began to take off again. Chippers flew back towards Orn's peak, powerfully beating its wings.
It landed heavily on the floor of Orn's Peak. Orn was still sitting in his throne, he had barely move since Vidian left. Vidian climbed down from Chippers' back and stood in front of Orn. He looked down at Vidian and his voice bellowed through the silence.
"I assume you killed Wolvarian," He laughed, "You have proved your might and will, I think you are worthy of my blessing, the Blessing of Stone," He snapped his massive fingers and two tiny, crimson rams came out of nowhere, carrying his bag and a small, crimson stone. He grabbed his bag and flung it on his back and picked up the tiny stone. He looked at its shape and realized that it could fit in his amulet. He revealed it and placed it, at the top of the amulet as it sealed into its place. Orn eyeballed the amulet.
"Your next god to visit is, let me see that, Structania, the Celenstial goddess, if I remember, of civilization, her city, if it hasn't changed, is to the south west, the city is called Luminosada, ask the Earthkin where it is, they should tell you the path," He said as he pet one of the tiny goat's head, "There should be a straight path for you to descend, I'll tell Infernus and Fyre to help you, not hinder you, I wish you good luck."
"Thank you, Lord Orn," Vidian said bowing his head before turning around and walking to the ledge he had climbed up. A small path had been built, that was next to the wall, allowing him to easily walk down the massive wall of stone. He felt no wind, nor extreme heat as he walked down. It was as if the wind and the heat that he felt when going up the wall of stone was just part of the test, nothing else.
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