Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 6]

Ruby reached into her cloak and drew forth an ingot. I hadn't even seen her buy it. In fact, she hadn't bought it today, which meant she must have been sitting on this request for a few weeks, no doubt planning how to go about it and backing off at the last second each time. I reached out to take it and weigh it in my hand. It was a mineral composition I hadn't worked with before, something of a mixture of steel, Vacuan Silver and something else, something that felt cold like Atlas, and probably came from there.

Without answering Ruby's question, I took it in both hands and concentrated. My eyes flashed for a moment, but to Ruby it must have seemed like nothing happened. At least for a few moments, anyway.

A gasp from the Reaper revealed otherwise, as the metal began to turn cherry red in my hands and my fingers sank into it. I could feel her eyes on me but she didn't speak, too afraid of distracting me. She needn't have. Something like this… it was second nature by now. I worked the metal between my hands, bereft of forge, coal or any other material. As the air around it warped and shimmered, my skin refused to buckle. Fire from the Forge kept me safe; my useless Passive.

The metal stretched as I worked it. It became thinner, longer and wider, flatter, and I raised it up before me and let it flop down on either side of my hands. A quick glance to Ruby, considering, and then I was working again. Thicker in places, but not too much so. The metal began to take shape and curve, the edges smoothing unnaturally as I ran a hand over it, working out any perfections with the palm of my hand.

Water hissed as I dunked the piece down, dashing it in the oasis for ten to twenty seconds, before I drew it back out one final time, heating my hands to bring the temperature higher again, but not as high as to smelt it.

Ruby watched in awed silence as I worked, and her eyes met mine as I placed the piece down, allowing it to cool in the sand. A single pauldron, curved to fit over her left shoulder with a raised ridge to protect her neck from any cuts from the side. There were slots for leather straps but I'd also forged a linked chain that would let it be strapped atop her outfit for now. It was the best I could do without the leather.

—Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 6]