Arwin sat beside the anvil, studying the rivers of lava as they rolled by in the floor around him. After Wallace’s proclamation, the dwarf had just gone off to the corner of his workshop and started fiddling with a piece of metal. It didn’t seem that he planned to give Arwin any more help until he got stuck.
That was fine with him. Wallace had basically said exactly what he needed to do. Arwin needed to find a way to fill lava with his intent and make it an extension of himself, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t something that would only come through practice.
A bead of sweat rolled down the back of his neck and he wiped his brow. The heat in the forge was oppressive, and it only grew worse with every passing minute. It was almost impossible to completely focus himself on his task when it felt like all the water in his body was doing its best to escape him. Even though the lava had cooled from running through the passageways, it was still hot enough to singe the hair on his arms.
Arwin formed a gauntlet of [Soul Flame] around a hand and dipped it into one of the rivers of lava, scooping a palm-sized puddle of it free. The thick molten rock was like taffy in his hand as he squeezed it.
What kind of intent am I supposed to be infusing this with? It’s not like I’m trying to make something in particular. I’m just trying to connect with the stone… but it isn’t magical, so Stonesinger won’t let me cheat and just speak right to it with a vision.
He sent his thoughts forward, probing the hot stone to see if there was any sort of feeling or thought he could get from the stone. There was a flicker of something within it — the faintest acknowledgement that there was indeed something, but he got no real response. His brow furrowed and he focused harder. Arwin pressed his mind into the stone, opening it to try and pick up on anything that it may have been willing to share.
A dancing sea of light flashed through Arwin’s head. Flashes of thought and desire flitted about, vanishing before they could properly form. It was an avalanche of different materials, all mashed and melted together into a conglomerate.
Arwin stiffened and jerked his head back, nearly spilling the lava in the process. There were too many voices. Too many desires. The lava wasn’t a single material that he could reach out to. It was like someone had mashed a thousand different souls together and destroyed them all in the process.
I don’t think I can speak directly to this. There’s no way I can handle all these voices at once. I’m not so sure the lava actually has something it desires to be… and even if it did, it’s not like I’m actually making the lava itself into anything. I’m just using it as a tool.
He was so caught up with his success that he didn’t even realize that Wallace had walked over to check on how he was doing.
“So, have you figured out that you need to knead the lava until…” Wallace started as Arwin’s lips parted to reveal a ball of bright pure-yellow lava he was chewing on. The dwarf stared at him, aghast, and his mouth dropped open in disbelief. “By the Earth Father’s bedridden mother-in-law, are you