Master Luke placed a metal pot over a beautifully crafted golden sword fitted with a set of six blue and green gems that crisscrossed around the hilt. The blade of the sword was vertically embedded into a large metal stab set in between two brick pillars set along the back wall of the kitchen. Lightly grasping the hilt, his fingers tingled as the blade burst into the blazing ball of fire, causing the blade as well as the table to glow a bright orange. The sound of bubbling echoed throughout the room as specs of water jumped out of the pot. Letting go of the sword, he grabbed a wicker basket filled with an assortment of different vegetables and carefully dumped them into the boiling water.

The sound of copper bells rang from the other room down the hallway. “Anyone here?” a man yelled, with a low, rough, almost scratchy tone.

“Can you get that Mira,” Master Luke said, looking over to a girl dressed in a formal black and white dress. Mira looked like any typical girl around the age of sixteen. She had long black hair that would have dropped down past her shoulder if it were not tied into a neat bun. She had a relatively average height of five foot six inches, with a lanky frame. Her one defining feature, or a curse as she would call it, was her pale gray skin that, in the right light, gave off a marble complexion.

“Yes, master,” Mira replied, handing him a board of freshly cut meats. Master Luke was a tall man, standing at exactly six feet. Even though he was a shop owner, he wore an overly large cream colored shirt, which was never tucked in. His pants, which he called ‘pajama pants,’ were loose fitting gray trousers that flowed past his ankles threatening to trip him if not for the weird looking shoes that barely gave him enough height to stop the excess fabric from flowing under. His shoes were a light gray color that had several holes cut into them. Mira had pondered long and hard for why Master Luke would need holes in his shoes, but besides outright asking him, her best guess was that it made the shoes lighter. He had thick brown and black hair which he kept combed to the side only because he hated getting hair in his eyes.

Washing her hands in a metal basin set along the wall next to the stove, she made her way down the hallway to a brightly lit room filled with an assortment of shelves. Each shelf was lined with a variety of different items ranging from weapons that were great two-handed axes to small daggers that easily sat six or more on each shelf. Behind the counter were specially made half-cut containers, each one divided into a set of four by eight grids. In each grid sat a flask or vial of different colored liquid. Bright reds, blues, and yellow liquids sat in one of the containers while an adjacent one housed vials that were darker in shades. In the middle of the room sat four sets of gondolas each line perfectly straight with two on both sides, leaving a large gap in the middle.

“How may I assist you?” Mira asked, looking over to a man that towered above her, her head barely reaching his shoulders. He wore a set of metal armor that would have been striking had it not been for the thick plaster of dried mud and blood covering the intricate golden filigree of some undefinable guild crest. Strapped to his back, Mira could see a massive two-handed sword, the blade of which was dull and chipped like it had been used to break rocks. To his right was a sack that was presumably brown but was now a deep rusty red from a red liquid dripping all over the floor.

“I would like to sell this,” the man said, placing the bag over the counter. Reaching in, he pulled out the head of a monster It had two sets of dark horns that twisted behind its head like a ram. In its mouth were sets of sharp needle-like teeth, each one two inches in length. A tough dark leather skin covered the monster's head barring the large gaping hole between its eyes.

“I’m sorry sir, we can’t accept this,” Mira said in a polite tone as she watched the blood slowly seep into the counter. Even though the beast, or just the head of one, was overwhelmingly frightening, she could feel the anger and annoyance start to boil up as the blood was now making it way to the edge of the counter threatening to drip into the glass enclosure where they stowed all the valuable items.

“Isn’t this the Gold Sink General Store?” the man yelled. “I was told you guys would buy anything.”

“We do, but not in this state,” Mira said, keeping her cool as she knew all this yelling was a scare tactic set up to cause her to cave into his demands.

“What do you mean not in this state? Do you know how many days it took me to kill this thing and drag it back to town?”

Coming out from the back smelling like cooked meats and vegetables, Luke paced up to the counter. Eyeing the man and the large head sitting on the table, he gave Mira a light tap on the shoulder letting her know he would take care of the situation.

“I see you have a Kyrog or the head of one,” Master Luke said in an inquisitive voice. “My question to you is, why not turn it into the guildhall?”

“I tried,” the man said, the volume of his words settling down to something more bearable. “But since it’s not an official bounty, they won't pay a single copper for it.”

“Ah... I see. Where did you come upon such a monster?”

“Do you know the small patch of woods between here and Alhiem?”

“I do,” Master Luke said with a nod.

“This guy had been festering there for a couple of years now. It was only hunting animals up until this year where it started attacking any caravan that came within its territories. I was hired by a couple of merchants to kill it and was paid, at the time, a pretty generous reward. That was until I figured out that I was barely going to break even after getting my weapon and armor fixed,” the man said nervously tapping his toes against the wooden counter.

“Hence why you're here,” Master Luke said. “May I ask, where is the rest of the body?”

“Strapped to a cart sitting outside of town. The guards told me that unless someone actually had a need for it, they would not let me drag a decaying corpse through the middle of the streets. I get it though, the smell coming off that thing was like shoving brimstone up your nose.”

Grabbing the horns of the monster, Master Luke attempted to lift it off the counter. Mira had to hold back a smile as he was barely able to get it an inch off the table, before giving up. Master Luke was pretty strong, compared to her single box, he could easily lift several boxes of supplies delivered to the shop each week. Watching him barely able to lift the head off the counter, Mira wondered how strong the man standing in front of her was, and how heavy the entire body must weigh.

“What’s your name?” Master Luke asked in a wheezing voice.

“My name is Greg, open mercenary for hire.”

“Alright Greg, here’s my offer.” Rummaging through a small pouch of coins, Luke pulled out a single silver piece and sat it down on the counter.

“That’s it?” Greg said with an irritated tone.

Holding out a hand, Luke walked to a back shelf and pulled off an ornate sword that was held in a beautifully crafted white leather sheath. “Here’s the deal, I won’t take the monster if it’s still covered in blood and stinking. I will pay you a silver to go take the head and body to the stream outside town and give it a good rinse. Then once you return, I will trade you this sword and pay to have your armor repaired at the smithy down the road.”

“Hmm...” the man contemplated. “May I inspect the sword?”

With a nod, Luke placed the sword on the counter in front of Greg. He grasped the sword with both hands immediately liking the heft of it. Pulling it out from the sheathe, he could see that this was no ordinary sword, but something that had been finely crafted with the greatest of care. As he took a couple of swings, he could feel the balance of it was finely tuned, its weight distributed perfectly to give him the maximum amount of momentum.

“It’s a deal,” Greg said, placing his hands across the counter.

“Give me a second to get you a writ so the body can be transported into town,” Master Luke said, giving the man a firm shake of the hand. Already knowing that she was going to have to write up the paperwork as Master Luke was in the process of teaching her how to read and write, Mira grabbed an official piece of parchment stowed under the counter. Carefully filling out the required information, she passed the sheet over to Greg which at this point was beaming with joy from the deal. Taking the sheet of parchment, he stuffed it into a crevice of his armor as he picked up the still oozing sack and made his way out of the store.

“That was quite generous,” Mira said, grabbing the sword and placing it back on the shelf along with the tag treading “500g” Master Luke had conveniently knocked on the floor.

“I know,” Master Luke replied, scratching at the back of his head. “That thing has been sitting here for almost as long as I’ve had this store. Unless a king or a noble walks in, I don't think anyone will ever have enough money to buy it.

“When did you get the sword?”

“Hmm…” Master Luke pondered. “I’ve had this store for almost nine years now, so the sword would be around eight.”

“What did you do to get it? Did you have to slay a dragon?” Mira asked excitedly as she grabbed a cloth from under the counter.

“No, nothing so fancy. Here, let me clean the floors, you keep the stew going and I'll tell you the story of how I got the sword while we're eating.”

“Okay,” Mira nodded, unable to keep down her enthusiasm. For the three months she has been working at the store, she could only recount a handful of times where Master Luke would disclose any information about himself. She knew he was not from here, but from somewhere far away past the ocean and further even passed that. She knew that he was a smart man, maybe even smarter than anyone on the King’s council. One of the crazy things she knew to be true from her first-hand experience of how well of a cook he was. Master Luke would always come up with the weirdest recipe, even inventing ones that would baffle nobles and commoners alike.

Grabbing two bowls from a shelf placed next to the stove, Mira scooped out the thick liquid, making sure not to drip any of it on the floor. With nimble dexterity, she quickly placed both bowls on the circular table set in the middle of the room. “The stew is ready.”

“Great, let’s eat,” Master Luke said as he grabbed the bread which had been warming inside the oven and quickly tore it in half. Handing Mira the bigger piece, he took a seat in the wooden chair across from her. Taking occasional glances at Master Luke, Mira took a slow meticulous sip of her soup.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No, no, nothing like that. The slower I eat, the more time you have to tell the story,” she said with a smirk.

“Oh… let’s see; this was maybe a year of me moving into town,” Master Luke recounted as he crossed his arms trying to make sure every detail was correct. “I had barely scraped up enough coin to purchase this place, and keep in mind it was a pretty run-down place. There were several holes in the roof and it had rats and bugs running everywhere.”

“I can’t see it,” Mira remarked, looking about the room and wondering how such a warm and cozy place could be what Master Luke had just described.

“It’s true. It took me several days to repair the damages and to haul out the rotted furniture and fixtures.”

“Why didn't you just hire a bunch of people to do it for you.”

“You underestimate how poor I was at the time. I was working at the apothecary on the southern wall and was eating anything I could forage outside of town. The only reason I decided to purchase the place was that I knew, in the long run, it would be roomier and safer than one of those mud houses on the outskirts of town.”

“Which apothecary are you talking about? I know every establishment in town, and I have never seen an apothecary on the southern wall.”

“That’s right,” Luke said. “They moved the shop to the upper vistas a year after I started working there. The place used to be called the Swamp Cauldron but was renamed to Grey’s Elixir.”

“I never knew you worked for the Grey household; they run a shop in every major city up to the Morvail Coast.”

“Yeah, I learned a lot from working with Madam Grey. She taught me how to turn beak roots into not only healing potion but also stamina potion if you grind down the roots after boiling them. I digress though,” Luke said, taking a bite out of his piece of bread.

“So, after I decided to open up the shop, and keep in mind I was only selling the most basic of stuff at the time. I had an adventurer come in looking for a new weapon. He told me his current weapon, while strong, just doesn't suit his taste. I told him I didn’t sell any weapons but could help him find one if he described to me what he was looking for. He said that while swords were cool, a majority of the monsters he fought were tough and had thick rocky exterior. He wanted something that was sturdy and could pack a punch.”

“Isn't that a club?” Mira said, chuckling at the notion.

“That’s what I thought too, so I recommended he try a mace.”

“What then?” Mira asked, not even touching her stew at this point.

“After several days, he came and told me he had purchased a mace but still didn't like the feel of it. I asked him what he specifically did not like about the weapon. He told me that while the mace did do what he wanted it to do, it wasn't… how did he put it, not bloody enough.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I had no idea myself until I asked him if he could show me an example.”

“What did he do?”

“The first thing he did was take out his sword and bash it against my counter. He looked at me and said, `See, not very showy.’ I was still confused but nodded my head. What he did next, I will never forget, because for the next half hour I was plucking splinters out of my face after he put a large hole in my counter with his mace. ‘Do you see what I mean now?’ He said, describing that he wanted something that could do that but bigger.”

“So, what did you recommend him?”

“Nothing. I was so mad that he had just destroyed part of my counter, I told him to leave. But I kept thinking about what he was looking for and a weapon did pop into my head. I went to a few weapon shops around town and asked them if they had any in stock, but they had no idea what I was asking for. So, when I got home, I drew out a pretty simple idea of what I wanted and went to Master Geld.”

“The blacksmith that works at the forge down the road?”

“Yeah, he and I would often grab a drink together after work when I was working at the apothecary. He would often come by to drop off weapons to get enchanted, and I was always the one to deliver them back to his workshop.

“So after I laid out plans for the weapon, I had Master Geld craft it for me. He told me this was the silliest thing he had ever made. So, a couple of days went by, the guy came back to the store and apologized for what he did. He even paid to have the counter repaired. After we talked for a bit, I told him I had the perfect weapon for him. When I handed it to him, he looked at me like I was crazy, but I told him to give it a try and to see if it was something that might suit him.”

“So, what happened after that?”

“He came in the next day and was screaming and hollering like a crazed animal telling me how cool all his buddies thought the weapon was. He asked me how much for the weapon, and I told him it was free of charge. He told me nonsense and handed me his sword as payment, and that pretty much where the story ends.”

“Wait, you can't just end the story without telling me what the weapon was.”

“Oh, it was a flail, that thing that looks like a stick with a ball hanging off of it.”

“You're the inventor of the flail?”

“I wouldn't say inventory, but sure?” Luke said with a shrug.

“Who even was the guy that kept asking you for recommendations?”

“If I recall correctly, his name was Kor.”

Getting up, Mira slammed her hands over the table, almost knocking over her half-eaten bowl of stew. “Are you talking about Kor, the Obliterator, the dwarf who single-handedly killed the Great Devourer?” Rushing to the front of the store, Mira pointed to a large splotch on the counter where the wood had been roughly cut and replaced. “Are you telling me that Kor made this hole in the counter? And this sword over here, this was Kor’s sword?”

“I never knew he was so popular,” Luke said with a heavy chuckle as he watched Mira jump about the room exactly like Kor had when he had animatedly described using his weapon for the first time.

“What do you mean? When we went to the market the other day there was a minstrel singing about him. How did it go again…?”

His fiery, fiery, spheres.

Will wipe away all of your fears.

His weapons so bright, they shatter the light.

His fiery, fiery, spheres.