A loud crash echoed through my room, snapping me awake in an instant.

I looked around the room in a panic. What’s going on? Are we being robbed?

My eyes looked at the ground, only to see my airship shattered in a million pieces on the ground. No! The string must have been weaker than I thought. I hopped out of bed and attempted to gather the pieces off the floor.

The door to my bedroom cracked open and Lyra popped her head in. "Hey Feathers! It's too early keep it down!"

"I don't wanna hear it, you Harpy. My airship broke!" I said. Lyra fully opened my door and walked in.

"That thing? I thought you left that at your parents."

"No way, it's my first real creation after all. Anyway, I don't just barge into your room! Get out!"

Lyra stuck her tongue out at me and left my room. I took the pieces to my airship and placed it on my desk. I'll repair it sometime this week. I changed my clothes since I had accidently fell asleep in my garb I usually wore while working. Just a simple white shirt and pants, plus my apron. I didn't keep my leather armor on like Lyra did. I felt no need to show off my work like that.

I took my journal out of its hiding spot and slipped it in my pocket. With that done, I left my room and headed down the stairs. The Master was fiddling around with his armor-thing and Lyra was at the main forge herself, steam bellowing as she dipped metal into water.

"What are we doing today? Working on the armor?" I asked.

"It's not armor lad, and not today. While there's much to learn by assisting me, if you really want to improve your skills you gotta craft on your own. Forge not only a weapon, but your own path!" The Master said.

"That's a new one, Master. Been thinking of new sayings?" I said.

"New for you maybe, I've been hearing it ad nauseam since you left, Feathers." Lyra said.

"Whoa, you learned a big fancy word like 'ad nauseam' too, Lyra!" I said.

Lyra scowled at me, "I'm gonna kick your ass in the courtyard later for that."

I gave her a grin which only seemed to bother her more judging by the now louder whacking of her hammer on metal. Ha! She's totally gonna beat me later but that was worth it.

"So boy," The Master began. "Got any ideas for a project?"

"Well... Not exactly."

"Not exactly? You had enough time to think of something on your trip!"

"I know! It's just..." I looked away.

"He spent more time daydreaming and drawing in his little journal than coming up with real designs." Lyra said. Now it was my turn to scowl at her. She gave me a wicked grin in return. Damn her, but she wasn't wrong though. Most of my trip, other than finding people to buy from, was spent with me drawing various landmarks.

"You and that journal, lad. Are you sure you didn't want to be an artist instead?" The Master asked.

"Yeah! That's just a hobby, I like making things the most!" I said, getting fired up. I really did enjoy forging, coming up with things to make though was honestly hard for me.

The Master smiled. "That's what I like to see! The passion for the forge doesn't shine to often but I can see it in you! Sadly though, without an idea such passion can be extinguished easily. Why don't you help Lyra out with her project till you come up with something lad?"

The Master gave me a hearty pat on the back and returned to his own project with new concentration on it, like he was never interrupted in the first place. I walked over to Lyra.

"Whatcha making, Harpy?" I asked.

"I can't believe you even remember that nickname, you haven't used it in forever." Lyra said.

"Is it surprising? You still call me 'Feathers'."

"Because you're still as flimsy as you were when we were kids. Anyway, I'm making a new weapon for my expedition tomorrow."

I gave her a curious look. "Expedition? Are you going on another ruin dive?"

"Of course! That's where you can find the best ancient human stuff!" Lyra said excitedly.

"I'll never really get your obsession with past junk, especially humans, they're gone for a reason."

"What reason though, Feathers? Nobody knows! Wouldn't it be cool to discover that?"

"People have been diving ruins for thousands of years now though,” I pointed out to her. ”I seriously doubt anyone is gonna find anything new anytime soon."

"Not with that train of thought. You never know, maybe our next dive will be the big one! Plus, the general finds we get usually makes it worth it."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, so what can I help you with?"

"Oh right, The Master did send you here to-" Lyra coughed and made air quotes with her talons. "'Assist' me"

"Just tell me what to do!"

"Here," Lyra gave me a couple bars of iron. "Melt those down for me and put it into that mold there. I'm almost finished with the hilt, so while you do that I'll be done with my part."

I gave Lyra a questioning look. "A mold? That's gonna cause so many imperfections. You're not getting lazy on me now are you?"

"It's fine, I was gonna adjust it after it came out, now quit questioning me and do what I asked!"

With a shrug, I did as I was told and got to work. I took some tongs and used them to shove the iron onto the grate above the fire. The irons turned red under the extreme heat. I added more coals to the flames to increase the heat more; the irons began turning white and melted soon afterwards. I used the tongs to grab a metal container to collect the molten iron.

I poured the metal into the mold. It was a top down mold, which meant I couldn't really see the shape of what was being made. Usually in plays or literature you see or read about an open ended flat mold. At least Lyra had enough sense to not use one of those since while it may seem cool, it would give you an uneven blade; especially if you're using a material like iron. Casting iron makes it quite brittle, so one would usually not make a sword in such a way. If she were making something such as a cooking pan it wouldn't matter, but a sword? I hope whatever 'adjustments' she wanted to make afterwards would help.

I took the cast and dipped it into some water. The casting fell apart from the differences in temperature, leaving just the iron blade behind. It looked a little off though, the point was misshapen and there was still the issue of brittleness... I pulled it out of the water and stuck it back in the flames. Tempering even shortly should help harden it. I pulled it out until only the tip of the blade was heated to an orange-red color.

I took my hammer and placed the blade on a nearby anvil. The point of the blade was misshapen in a way that had it off in one direction rather than the direct middle. I gave it some well placed taps to realign the point, finally I took a wire brush and descaled the blade a bit. When I was done with that, I showed the result to Lyra.

Lyra wordlessly took the blade and inspected it closely, she ran her talon up and down the flat side of the blade and gave a curt nod. "Nice work, Feathers! You even hardened it for me, that saves a ton time. Looks like you are good for something after all!"

"Gee thanks, I really appreciate it." If she noticed the sarcasm in my voice she ignored it, too focused on attaching her blade to her fancy hilt. The final result was a simple straight iron sword, the edge was still rough as it came from a mold, but that's nothing a little sharpening couldn't fix. It's hilt, as I mentioned, was quite fancy. It had a criss cross pattern of two colors of leather, one dyed black and the other white. It had a hand guard as well, which with Lyra's style of fighting, would help her somewhat.

Lyra inspected her now complete weapon once more, she stood up from where she was sitting and gave it a couple of trial swings. I stood back so I didn't get whacked in the head...again.

"It's got a good balance, after some finishing touches it should be a great weapon." Lyra concluded. "Now I just need to sharpen and make sheath for it."

Lyra sat down at the grindstone and began sharpening it. Sparks flew as she used her foot to increase the speed.

"You know," Lyra began. "About what The Master said, you shouldn't take it to heart."

"What?"

"You know about being an artist, it's good to have a creative eye about things. You've always been better with doing all the creative project stuff when we were kids rather than just straight weapon making. It's not a bad thing." Lyra said.

"Well thanks." A compliment was rare from Lyra. I guess she did appreciate me helping her out. She wasn’t wrong either, I did like making things like the airship when were were younger. A spark flashes in my mind. "You just gave me an idea!"

"Really? What is it?"

"Well-"

"Drat!" The Master said, cutting me off. "Lad, come here!"

I shuffled over to The Master. "What's wrong?"

The Master took a piece of paper, quickly wrote something and shoved it into my chest. "Here's a list, boyo. I need you to go out and buy these for me."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Good! While you're out you can buy some materials for your own projects, I'm sure helping the lass has inspired you now."

"Actually she did, I have an idea but I'll probably need some mana shards. Do we have any here?"

The Master shook his head. "Used them all on my project, here." The Master gave me a bag of coins. "If any of the shops you visit have some you can buy em."

"Thank you!" I bowed at The Master and exited the workshop.

"That's gonna be ten pieces in total." The clerk said. I handed him the money. The Master had given me a laundry list of materials, I had to go to several shops but this one should be the last.

"Hey you wouldn't happen to have any mana shards would you?" I asked.

"Sorry, all sold out. The Tower's upper levels opened, so adventures bought them all up." The clerk said. Damn it, just like all the other shops I visited they were out.

"Well thanks anyway." I said, taking the bag of items with me and exiting, nobody seemingly had any shards left. I'd have to get them in a harder way... I sighed, looks like I had to go ask a certain someone for help. I took a pocket watch out of my bag, it was still the middle of the day and the bakery was nearby. Maybe Amelia was around? I walked down the street in the direction it was at.

When I arrived they were already experiencing a bit of a rush, many people eating and chatting outdoors. I went up and ordered a black tea before finding an empty seat outside and waited. A server walked up to me. Strange, usually Amelia handled the customers on this side of the store.

"Here's your black tea, sir."

"Thanks, but... Where's Amelia at?"

"Not here today, sir."

"Eh? She's not here?"

"Fraid' not. Took a personal day." The server said while handing me my tea. Drat. I came here for nothing. There's a part of me that wants to get up and go now but I already ordered. I took the hot tea cup and took a sip while slumping back in my chair. Might as well relax I suppose.

Crowds of people, dressed in suits of armor made of leather and metal, were mulling about. It was time for The Tower's higher levels to open apparently, and the bakery was quite close to it.

If I remember correctly, Amelia said the location was chosen because 'After a nice adventure you're gonna want some refreshments!' …Or something like that. I guess that's why they're having a sale soon, to maximize profits from the influx of the adventures. I never personally kept track of that sort of stuff myself; it wasn't too important to me an apprentice. I looked up to the sky and gazed at The Tower.

I took out my journal, along with a piece of charcoal and pencil and began sketching it. Scala Tower, referred to just The Tower by locals, was an impossibly massive structure. It pierced so high past the heaven that the top was obstructed by the clouds.

Nobody really knows who built it or why, just that it's always been there. In fact, the city was built around the structure. Which I question, since the thing is infested with creatures who would eat you alive. Ironically enough, that was the primary reason Chronos was built up around it. We Fallen just can't get enough of battle it seems like... The monsters never leave The Tower though, so I guess it isn't that bad.

My musing was interrupted by a commotion going on. I looked down and saw someone at the gates of the Tower in front of the guards. A small crowd formed around the person, onlooking the scene. The person in question seemed to be female, with an odd black garb that was regal in fashion, she also had purple tipped feathers on her plumage and wings. I would have pegged her as the 'magicky' type if not for the unique saber at her side. The sheath was a fancy design I've never seen before, dark purple with gold stripes, covered in various runes.

The weapon however was the real interesting part. She was pointing it at the guards so I could see it. It was jet black, other than it being speckled in white dots. It reminded me of the night sky. Normally I'm not the type to praise weapons, but this was such a work of art. I had a desire to sketch it!

…Wait she's pointing it at the guards?

The act made the guards go on the defensive. They started to bark at her but I still couldn't quite make out the words. Curiosity over took me so I left my seat, not forgetting to leave a couple of coins as payment for my tea, and approached closer.

"…if you don't there'll be consequences!" The lady said.

"And there'll be consequences for threatening a guard! You need a pass showing proof of a month of residence! I cannot permit entry otherwise." The guard shouted back. The lady lowered her weapon and put it back in it's sheath.

"Fine. I'll find another way in." And with that the lady turned around and walked away. The crowd moved aside to let her through and so did I. As she moved through, I could have sworn her eyes lingered on me for a moment.

Strange.

By the time I made it back to the shop it was already getting late. The Master was still tinkering with his project.

"Here's the stuff you wanted."

"Great! Set it down over there, lad." He pointed at a nearby desk. I put the materials down.

"Where's Lyra at?"

"In her room, doing what though? I have no clue."

"Thanks Master." I left the main workshop room and headed up the stairs. I approached Lyra's door and knocked on it.

"Come in."

I opened the door. What greeted me was various rusted or damaged nicknacks all over her room. Odd chains, flat cards and even weird coins. The most eye catching however, had to be the statues of bipedal figures. They resembled Fallen if they lacked fur and feathers and didn't have claws or paws or small beaks.

'Humans' they were called. Lyra always was fascinated by them, ever since we were young she talked about how cool it would be if she could talk to a human. I remember at one point she wanted to learn magic to transform into one, but lost interest once she found out that idea was impossible.

"Feathers? What did you want?"

"Is your offer for going out with you and you... friends still valid?"

Lyra gave me a wide smile.