Duality

Prologue - The Beginning

The hammer slammed down upon the ring, striking it with such force that the hot metal shifted slightly on the iron anvil it was set upon. The blacksmith murmured words under his breath as he worked, and the flames of the forge dimmed, yet the heat remained.

The gold ring, glowing from the heat, continued to be shaped, before the blacksmith picked a simple silver ring out of the pile of metal scraps. He waved a hand over it, revealing glowing light blue symbols, twisting over the surface of the ring like a river cutting through a canyon.

The blacksmith held it near the gold ring, and the two snapped together, like magnets. The blue runes on the silver ring faded, and bright orange runes burned into the gold ring. After a while, both rings, now simple and unadorned, with no trace of the magic used to make them, were picked up by the blacksmith. He tried to pull them apart, but it was in vain.

He took off his gloves and tried again. The two rings separated easily, as if they were never merged in the first place.

"So all it needed was human touch, huh.."

The blacksmith set the silver ring in a small strongbox, shutting and locking it, before putting the gold ring in another strongbox, following up with the same procedure. Finally, the man moved a board under his feet, setting both strongboxes in the space so they were packed tightly together, before replacing the board and nailing it down firmly.

"Won't be long now." He said, looking to the stairwell. "I have been banned, after all."

As thumping echoed with many feet tromping down the stairs, the man crossed to a chair and sat down while armed soldiers flooded the room.

"Harald Gygnes!" A voice cut through the din of the now-crowded room as a man made his way to the front. He was tall, of that there was no doubt, standing so tall it was a wonder he didn't hit his head on the doorframe coming in. The man was also muscular, a feature only accented by the armor he wore and the sword at his side. He took off his helmet, revealing a face with a full beard and a scar crossing over his right eye.

The man produced a scroll from behind him. He unrolled it and began reading it aloud.

"Former royal blacksmith, spy for the queen, and blood brother of King Alistair the eighth-long may he reign-you have been accused of tampering with the arcane knowingly and willingly, using it to create weapons and then selling them to the highest bidder. Said weapons were then used to massacre large portions of the public here in the capital city of Earlsteel. Do you deny these accusations?" He looked up from the scroll, single blue eye burning into the blacksmith's soul.

Harald was silent for a long moment, meeting the captain's gaze evenly. The soldiers around them shifted uneasily. Then he laughed.

The men started, hands inadvertently sneaking to the swords at their side as the Harald Gygnes let loose a long, bellowing laugh that seemed to echo through the basement they were standing in. After about a minute, the blacksmith stopped, the laughter suddenly replaced with silence yet again. His voice cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

"No. I don't deny these accusations. All I hope is that you'll at least give my colleagues some grace as you end their meager lives as well." All the mirth was gone from his expression, replaced by a hard, calculating stare.

The commander drew his sword, pointing it at the blacksmith. "Don't say we never warned you that this would happen."

"Oh, you didn't." Harald said, leaning back. "Something else did."

And he laughed again, and this time he didn't stop, not even when the commander plunged his sword through the blacksmith's chest. The room was only silent when, with a cry of rage, the commander swung his sword at the blacksmith's head, severing the head from the body. Panting, the commander set his sword on the ground.

"May you rest in peace, brother."

BTW, this is foreshadowing for the story. It WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER

K so I have no idea how many people are going to like this, but I was inspired, so here it is.

... I have nothing else to put here.

If people like this, see ya in the next part, I guess?

-Ferg