The claw tore through the stone floor with a sound like a mountain splitting open.
Fragments of black rock exploded across the chamber.
Drake raised one arm to shield his face while the crimson hatchling dug its claws into his shoulder.
The Origin Hammer trembled in his grip, not from fear, but from the surge of energy flooding through the forge.
Below them, something laughed.
It was not a human sound.
It came in broken, wet bursts, as though several creatures were trying to laugh through the same throat.
“Vulcan,” Drake said, backing away from the widening crack, “what exactly is coming through that floor?” The ancient guardian dragged his damaged leg forward and raised his colossal hammer.
“Designation unknown.” “That is not reassuring.” “Containment records are corrupted.” The claw struck again.
More stone collapsed.
This time, part of an arm emerged from the darkness below.
It was covered in mismatched armor-like scales.
Some were crimson.
Others were silver, black, or translucent.
The scales did not fit together naturally.
They overlapped at wrong angles, as though someone had forced pieces from several beasts onto a single limb.
Thick black veins pulsed between them.
The hatchling hissed.
Through their bond, Drake felt instinctive disgust.
Not fear alone.
Recognition.
Whatever waited below was related to the Origin Forge.
“Failed creation?” Drake asked.
Vulcan’s helmet turned slightly.
“Confirmed.” “How many failed creations are down there?” “Exact number unavailable.” “Give me an estimate.” “More than one.” Drake stared at him.
“You may be the least helpful guardian ever forged.” A second claw appeared.
The stone beneath it cracked.
The creature began pulling itself upward.
Vulcan stepped between Drake and the breach.
“Candidate must proceed to the Heart Chamber.” Drake tightened his grip on the hammer.
“You just said I need materials we don’t have.” “Materials can be gathered within the forge.” “Then why did you say they were unavailable?” “Unavailable in current chamber.” Drake’s jaw tightened.
“One day, I’m going to repair you just so I can teach you how to explain things properly.” The blue flames inside Vulcan’s helmet flickered.
“Repair remains unlikely at First Ember rank.” Before Drake could answer, the creature below slammed its head through the opening.
The floor burst apart.
A malformed face emerged.
Drake’s stomach twisted.
It had the skull of a wolf, but the jaw was too wide and split vertically into four sections.
Each segment contained several rows of uneven teeth.
One eye burned with green fire.
The other was a cluster of smaller eyes, all blinking separately.
Three broken horns protruded from its forehead.
The creature inhaled.
Then screamed.
The sound struck Drake like a physical blow.
He staggered backward.
The blue crystals lining the walls flickered.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The hatchling buried its head against his neck, and a sharp spike of pain entered Drake’s mind through their bond.
The scream was affecting it more strongly.
Vulcan moved.
His colossal hammer descended onto the malformed skull.
BOOM!
The creature’s head snapped sideways.
Black blood sprayed across the floor, hissing wherever it landed.
Yet instead of retreating, the failed beast laughed again.
Its broken jaw twisted upward.
One of its claws seized Vulcan’s damaged leg.
The guardian’s metal frame groaned.
“Structural pressure increasing,” Vulcan said.
Drake rushed forward.
He brought the Origin Hammer down on the creature’s wrist.
Clang!
The blow struck one of the silver scales.
The impact traveled through his arms and numbed his fingers.
The creature turned its many eyes toward him.
For one terrible moment, Drake sensed something through the forge mark.
Pain.
Not his own.
The creature’s.
A flood of broken emotions struck his mind.
Confusion.
Hunger.
Rage.
Fear.
And beneath all of them— A plea.
End.
Drake froze.
The creature lunged.
Vulcan tore his leg free and smashed the hammer into its jaw again.
Teeth scattered across the floor.
“Candidate hesitation detected.” “It spoke to me.” “Failed creations do not possess stable minds.” “I felt it.” “Residual soul fragments.” The creature clawed at the opening, forcing more of its body through.
Its shoulders were too broad for the breach.
Bone cracked as it pushed upward.
It did not stop.
Drake felt sick.
It was destroying itself just to reach them.
“Why was it created?” he asked.
“Unknown.” “Who made it?” “Records sealed.” “Everything is sealed!” The beast shrieked and tore free of the floor.
Its full body emerged.
It stood on six limbs.
The front pair resembled armored lion legs.
The middle limbs were thin and insect-like.
The rear legs bent backward like those of a bird.
A serpent’s tail dragged behind it, covered in mouths that opened and closed without sound.
Its chest glowed faintly.
Inside the translucent ribs, several beast cores had been fused together.
None pulsed at the same rhythm.
Drake’s blacksmith instincts reacted instantly.
The creature was not merely ugly.
It was structurally impossible.
Every part of it fought against every other part.
Its body was collapsing even as it moved.
The failed beast lowered its malformed head.
Then charged.
“Move!” Vulcan commanded.
Drake threw himself aside.
The creature collided with the guardian.
Metal screamed.
Vulcan was driven backward into a pillar.
The stone cracked behind him.
The hatchling launched from Drake’s shoulder.
“No!” It opened its mouth and released a stream of blue flame.
The attack struck the creature’s cluster of eyes.
Several burst.
The beast reared back, shrieking.
A wave of satisfaction passed through Drake’s bond, followed by sudden alarm.
One of the serpent mouths on the creature’s tail snapped shut around the hatchling.
Drake’s heart stopped.
The tiny dragon screamed.
The failed beast whipped its tail upward.
Drake ran.
He did not think.
He did not calculate.
He leapt onto the creature’s side, grabbed a ridge of black scales, and pulled himself upward.
The monster twisted violently.
He nearly lost his grip.
“Let it go!” He struck the tail with the Origin Hammer.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The mouth holding the hatchling tightened.
Pain flooded through the bond.
Drake saw flashes of darkness and teeth.
His own vision blurred.
“Drake Ashford,” Vulcan said, struggling to free himself from the broken pillar, “target the chest cores.” “I’m not leaving it!” “Destroying the cores will disable the body.” Drake looked toward the creature’s rib cage.
The fused cores glowed beneath layers of translucent bone.
Too far.
He could not reach them while clinging to the beast’s back.
Another surge of pain struck him.
The hatchling’s movements weakened.
Drake’s fear became cold.
Focused.
He remembered Gareth’s voice.
A hammer is not powerful because it is heavy.
A hammer is powerful because the blacksmith knows where to strike.
Drake examined the creature.
Not as a monster.
As a failed construction.
The serpent tail attached to the lower spine through a ring of dark bone.
The joint was reinforced by metal threads, but several had already snapped from the creature’s violent movements.
A weakness.
Drake crawled toward it.
The beast bucked and slammed its side against the floor.
His shoulder struck stone.
Agony flashed through him.
He held on.
The creature twisted again.
Drake hooked one leg beneath a scale and raised the hammer.
The mark on his hand burned.
For a moment, thin glowing lines appeared across the beast’s body.
Stress points.
Flaws.
The same vision the Origin Flame had granted him during Vulcan’s trial.
Most faded immediately.
One remained.
The tail joint.
Drake struck.
The Origin Hammer hit the exact center of the dark bone ring.
Crack!
The creature screamed.
The tail loosened.
Drake struck again.
CRACK!
Black blood sprayed across his chest.
The serpent mouths opened.
The hatchling fell.
Drake released his grip and dropped after it.
He caught the tiny dragon against his chest an instant before hitting the floor.
The impact knocked the air from his lungs.
He rolled across the stone and shielded the hatchling with his body.
The severed tail crashed nearby, twitching violently.
The failed beast turned.
Its remaining eyes focused on them.
Drake pushed himself up.
The hatchling trembled in his arms, but it was alive.
Several scales had cracked along its side.
Blood darkened its crimson body.
Rage passed through their bond.
Not Drake’s.
The hatchling’s.
It tried to stand.
“No,” Drake whispered.
“You’ve done enough.” The creature looked up at him.
Together.
“Not this time.” The hatchling growled.
Drake placed it gently behind a chunk of broken stone.
“Trust me.” The bond went quiet.
Then a small, reluctant feeling entered his mind.
Trust.
Drake stood.
Across the chamber, Vulcan tore himself free from the pillar.
Several armor plates had bent inward.
His damaged leg dragged uselessly.
“Guardian combat capacity reduced to thirty-one percent.” Drake spat blood onto the floor.
“That still makes you stronger than me.” “Correct.” “You don’t have to sound pleased.” The failed beast charged again.
This time, Drake and Vulcan moved together.
Vulcan stepped directly into its path and raised his hammer.
The monster slammed into him.
The guardian’s feet carved trenches through the stone.
Metal joints groaned.
But he held.
“Now,” Vulcan said.
Drake ran toward them.
The creature’s chest was exposed.
The fused cores flickered beneath the translucent ribs.
He could hear them.
Five different rhythms.
Five different pulses.
None aligned.
Drake raised the Origin Hammer.
The glowing flaw lines returned.
Too many.
The entire chest was unstable.
But striking blindly could cause the cores to explode.
“How do I disable them?” Drake shouted.
“Separate synchronization lattice.” “Where?” “Central anchor.” Drake searched.
Between the cores, thin golden threads connected everything to a small black crystal.
The anchor.
The creature noticed him.
One insect-like limb stabbed toward his chest.
Drake twisted.
The pointed leg tore through his shirt and cut a burning line across his ribs.
He ignored it.
The black crystal was inches away.
He swung.
The hammer struck the translucent rib cage.
It cracked but did not break.
The creature screamed.
Drake hit the same point again.
The fracture widened.
A claw raked across his back.
He fell to one knee.
Pain exploded through him.
“Candidate injury severe,” Vulcan said.
“Still alive.” “Temporarily.” “Helpful as always.” Drake pushed himself upright and struck a third time.
The rib shattered.
His hammer passed through.
The head connected with the black crystal.
For an instant, the chamber became silent.
Then the synchronization anchor broke.
The five cores lost their connection.
Their pulses became chaotic.
The failed beast convulsed.
Vulcan released it and stepped back.
Drake stumbled away.
One core burst.
A wave of green fire erupted from the creature’s shoulder.
Another cracked, freezing half its chest.
The third released lightning that tore across its spine.
The monster fell.
Its six limbs struck the floor in different directions.
The malformed head turned toward Drake.
The remaining eye burned dimly.
Through the mark on his hand, Drake felt the broken soul fragments again.
Pain.
Confusion.
Relief.
The plea returned.
End.
Drake approached slowly.
Vulcan raised his hammer.
“Stand clear.” “No.” “Failed creation remains dangerous.” “It asked me to end it.” “I will perform termination.” Drake looked at the creature.
“At least let it see the person doing it.” The guardian remained silent.
Drake stopped before the beast’s head.
Its four-part jaw opened weakly.
No attack came.
Only a low, trembling sound.
Drake placed one hand against its cracked skull.
The scales were cold.
“I don’t know who made you,” he whispered.
The green fire in its eye flickered.
“I don’t know what they were trying to do.” The soul fragments shifted.
Images flashed through Drake’s mind.
A dark chamber.
Hands wearing black gloves.
A hammer covered in red runes.
Creatures screaming from separate cages.
Someone speaking.
Perfection requires disobedience to nature.
The vision vanished.
Drake’s breath caught.
This creature had not been an accident.
Someone had built it deliberately.
He tightened his grip on the Origin Hammer.
“I’m sorry.” The beast’s eye slowly closed.
Drake struck the damaged skull.
Once.
Cleanly.
The creature stopped moving.
For several breaths, nobody spoke.
The blue flames within the Origin Forge settled.
The cracks across the chamber stopped spreading.
The hatchling limped from behind the stone and approached Drake.
It pressed its head against his boot.
He knelt and lifted it carefully.
Its pain entered him through the bond.
Not life-threatening.
But serious.
He looked toward the nearly empty vial of Life-Mending Essence.
Only a few drops remained.
He used them without hesitation.
Silver liquid spread across the hatchling’s wounds.
The cracked scales repaired themselves slowly.
Its breathing steadied.
Vulcan watched.
“Resource conservation failure.” Drake looked up sharply.
“It was hurt.” “Essence supply limited.” “I don’t care.” “Future injuries may prove fatal.” “Then I’ll make more.” “First Ember cannot create Life-Mending Essence.” “Then I’ll become stronger.” The guardian’s blue gaze remained fixed upon him.
After a moment, Vulcan lowered his hammer.
“Response accepted.” Drake frowned.
“Was that another test?” “No.” “You are a terrible liar.” “I am incapable of lying.” “That somehow makes you more suspicious.” A metallic chime echoed from the dead beast.
The fused cores inside its chest began crumbling.
Most dissolved into ash.
One remained intact.
A pale silver core rolled across the stone floor and stopped near Drake’s foot.
Vulcan examined it.
“Pure beast core detected.” Drake stared.
“One of the materials for the Heart Rune.” “Confirmed.” A thin golden thread rose from the dead creature’s chest.
It drifted through the air like a strand of silk.
Unlike the black soul fragments he had felt earlier, this thread radiated quiet warmth.
Vulcan extended one hand.
The thread curled above his palm.
“Living soul-thread detected.” Drake’s eyes widened.
“Two materials.” “Confirmed.” “What about the bloodline catalyst and heart-metal?” Vulcan turned toward the corridor beyond the broken floor.
“Stored within the Heart Chamber.” Drake looked at the damaged guardian.
“And the failed creations between here and there?” “Unknown.” Drake sighed.
“Of course.” The chamber trembled again.
Not from another creature.
From the forge itself.
Golden runes appeared across the wall.
A circular doorway emerged from the stone, sealed by five empty symbols.
Vulcan placed the pure beast core into the first symbol.
It sank into the wall.
He guided the soul-thread into the second.
Two of the five symbols ignited.
“The Heart Chamber will open when all material conditions are fulfilled.” Drake studied the remaining marks.
Bloodline catalyst.
Heart-metal fragment.
Willingly offered memory.
The final symbol resembled a human eye surrounded by flame.
His chest tightened.
A memory.
Something precious enough to shape the hatchling’s identity.
Something he would never remember again.
Drake looked down at the creature in his arms.
It stared back with golden forge-flame eyes.
Trust flowed through their bond.
Absolute.
Unquestioning.
He thought of his childhood.
His parents, whose faces had already begun fading from memory.
His grandfather teaching him how to hold a hammer.
The first blade he had ever completed.
Winter nights beside the workshop furnace.
Gareth laughing after Drake accidentally burned off one eyebrow.
Each memory felt small until he imagined losing it.
Then each became priceless.
Vulcan turned toward the dark corridor.
“Movement detected.” Drake followed his gaze.
Far beyond the forge, several pairs of eyes opened in the darkness.
Red.
Yellow.
White.
Too many.
The dead creature had not escaped alone.
The hatchling growled weakly.
Drake lifted the Origin Hammer.
“How far is the Heart Chamber?” “Three sealed sectors.” “How many failed creations?” “Unable to determine.” “Give me another useful estimate.” The darkness shifted.
Claws scraped against stone.
Vulcan raised his damaged hammer.
“Enough to kill a First Ember.” Drake looked at the two glowing materials already sealed inside the doorway.
Then at the hatchling.
Then toward the approaching eyes.
He could retreat to the surface.
He could search for help.
He could pretend none of this had happened.
But sunrise was approaching.
The forge’s barriers were failing.
The Seven Orders might soon detect him.
And the tiny creature in his arms possessed no Heart Rune.
Its future remained unstable.
Its very identity unfinished.
Drake set the hatchling on his shoulder.
Pain pulled at his back as he straightened.
He ignored it.
“All right,” he said.
The Origin Hammer’s silver veins began to glow.
“We get the remaining materials.” Vulcan’s blue flames sharpened.
“We seal the forge.” The hatchling opened its mouth.
A tiny blue flame flickered between its teeth.
“And then,” Drake continued, staring into the darkness, “you’re going to tell me who created that thing.” The first pair of eyes began moving toward them.
Vulcan stepped forward.
“Survive the Heart Chamber.” Another growl echoed from the corridor.
“Then ask.” Drake raised his hammer.
The failed beasts charged.
And the path to his first true creation opened in blood and fire.
To be continued…