B6C14/B7C4B7C15 Smithing Skill

When he fell, Cinder was behind him, crouched down with something new in her hands. I had a second to gasp before she thrust up, and the sword we'd found in Vacuo – Watts' sword – pierced through my armour, my chest, my ribcage and then then my skin again. It erupted from my back with a sickening squelch.

[...]

Forge…

Forge.

My hand, still clutched around Watts' sword in a death grip, tightened imperceptibly.

My cracked lips moved.

"S-Stoke… the Forge…"

Pale blue light flickered fitfully behind my eyes.

[...]

It was the sound which alerted her, a sound like steam pouring from a boiling pot. A hissing that heralded something far hotter than even her brightest flames burning on contact with naked air. Cinder turned, eyes growing wide as she watched the man – the boy – place one hand down onto the ground and push himself up onto one knee.

Steam poured from him. It obscured him. His skin shimmered and sweat ran down exposed flesh. The gaping wound in his chest, the one she had imposed, was gone. So, too, was the sword. In its place, an expanse of pulsing silver remained. Living metal.

–B6C14


"Unfortunately, she was able to steal the weapon we found from Vacuo, the one granted to the King of Mistral as our part of the peace process. It was heavily enchanted and powerful. It was able to pierce through my armour, even when it was molten, and tear through, or near, to my heart."

"It did not kill you?" someone asked.

"I… I think it did kill me."

–B7C4


"His life is already mine to take."

"Then why are you so insistent he make a wish upon you? If his life is yours to take, then take it."

Salem made no move to do so. Her eyes did not even glance towards me. In the silence that followed, I wasn't sure what to feel or think. Did I dare to hope that she actually couldn't kill me? But why? How? She'd had no problem whatsoever before and I'd only survived in Vacuo because of my Purify Object Skill.

Had I purified myself? No. I wasn't an object. The only things that had changed since then was my being kidnapped by Raven, the problems with the Guild and the end of the war.

My eyes widened. My hand flew to my heart. It beat quickly, evident of my fear, but more than what it did, I knew that it contained something it should not. Watts' sword, the sword that Cinder had run me through with.

"Cinder killed me." My heart beat against the palm of my hand. "Cinder killed me during the attack. My heart stopped. I died trying to save Vale. I died a hero."

And then, I'd come back.

But I had died.

I'd fulfilled the terms of the wish.

—B7C15