Half an hour later.

Crubraum returned with information for the head jewelcrafter.

"Take ten minutes." As she noticed Crubraum enter into the room, she advised the other two crafters to take a break.

They cancelled their spells and went outside the room to recover a bit.

"So, what is going on?" The head took a dry towel from a rack and began to wipe the sweat away from her face.

"Yes, Master. This is the response as was given by the Curo family." Crubraum handed the letter over to her gently.

The seal of the Curo family held the letter closed tight. Removing the seal, the head chose to read out loud for the other people in the room.

- To Mrs. Wing.

Thank you for complying with the request to create a gem for the Grand Mage despite having no recommendation letter.

This letter is to serve as confirmation that a request has been made by the Master Smith: Jererbal, to retrieve a

gem of appropriate size to be placed into the pommel of a special weapon made specifically for the Grand Mage. Any

resources needed to make this gem shall be allocated as per your request. This letter may be carried by the Smith

apprentice and treated as a recommendation letter.

The Curo Family -

With confirmation, Wing now had a little more fire in her belly as she called Castion and Blane back from their break.

She handed the letter to the Smith apprentice and they resumed the gem cutting procedure.

Another half hour passed, followed by a ten minute break, then another half hour before completion of the gem crafting.

"Well done everyone, I believe this will be my crowning achievement." Mrs. Wing polished the gem gently and checked for any scratches.

After confirming that the gem itself was crafted as close to perfection as possible, she gently wrapped it in non-abrasive cloth and placed it back into the jewel encrusted box.

"Crubraum and the boy will lead the way, Castion and Blane follow from the back." Mrs. Wing gave the order as they all walked out of the room and headed out of the jewelcrafting guild area toward the forging room.

Of course an entourage was not necessary just to bring a singular gem to the Smith, but Mrs. Wing had already confirmed that this was for the Grand Mage. If anything went wrong because of the lack of personnel, such as an accident, she would not forgive herself.

Upon arriving at the forging area, the Smith apprentice introduced the head of the jewelcrafting guild to the Master Smith's personal polisher.

"I know who she is ya dummy. That is me wife." The middle aged man went and kissed the cheek of his wife before taking the box from her hands.

"Husband... I am going to present this to the Master Smith myself!" The vein re-appeared in her forehead as she strong-armed the box away from the polisher.

"Honey... I have to inlay the gem. At least let me see the size." The husband tried his best to convince his wife to show the gem.

After some hesitation and coaxing from her fellow jewelcrafters, she gently opened the box and showed the gem.

"Haunting..."

The light reflected against the facets of the gem, but the polisher was only looking deep into the swirled gem.

Perturbed, the head jewelcrafter closed the box.

As the box clasped shut, the entranced polisher was left in a slight daze, mumbling to himself.

"What to do... What to do..." The polisher was pacing back and forth, talking to himself.

"What happened. Jare, tell me what happened." Mrs. Wing was incredibly concerned for her husband as she placed the box inside her purse.

"I saw it. I see it. The gem. It cannot exist. It has to be destroyed." Jare was scratching at his arms until they bled.

"Stop, what are you doing!" Mrs. Wing held his arms against his side until the Smith apprentices who heard the events could come to help her.

"I saw it. My love. I saw your death. It showed me. It showed me everything. I have to die, if I die you live. It promised." Jare was now resisting against the many hands that held him down, yelling to his wife.

"It is not real. Please, stop. Let these people help you." Mrs. Wing let go and backed away from her husband while gently holding her purse.

"Catherine. Please. For me, destroy it." Jare had begun convulsing, repeating his wife's name over and over.

"What is happening!" Catherine kept screaming while clutching her purse tight.

"Head of jewelcrafting. Hand me the box." The Master Smith, bothered by the commotion outside, witnessed the events after the box had been closed and stored away.

Unlike the Master Smith who was looking at the face of Mrs. Wing, everyone in the room was looking at the purse. Even the Smith apprentices and attendants who held down Jare were staring at the purse with a voracious grin.

"I... No. I cannot. I made it for the Grand Mage. Yeah! Only he can have it, none of you can have it. I have to protect it for him." Catherine knew what she was saying made little sense but she felt a motherly instinct to protect the gem at the cost of her own life if necessary.

"I am the only one who has not seen the gem. Please let me help you." The Master Smith spoke calmly, but his heart was beating rapidly.

In the current situation, even he could tell that something was going on that he could not understand. Before anyone got hurt, he had to at least try and get the gem away from everyone in the room.

"You are lying. You just want it for yourself. No. I have to protect it. I was the first one to find it in the mines. It chose me. I must protect it no matter what." Catherine took out her wand and began to chant. "Sprint!"

As she casted the spell, the attendants and apprentices began to dive at her with a hungry look in their eyes. None of their hands reached the purse, as her wind spell allowed her to exceed the limits of human speed to dash to a safer location.

"Stay back!" Catherine took a defensive stance as she pointed her wand toward the people heading in her direction. Castion, Blane and Crubraum each took out their wands and began chanting their own offensive spells in the direction of their Master.

"ENOUGH!" The Master Smith grabbed the pendant around his neck and pressed his thumb into it until it bled all over the gem.

A flash of light emitted from the pendant, which bathed the room in blinding radiance. As the brilliant light slowly waned, a figure could be seen in the middle of the room.

"Grand Mage, I beseech you, the gem held by that person may be a cursed object." The Master Smith's head touched the floor as he kowtowed toward the figure in front of him.

Willem's Crystal Body looked toward where the Master Smith was pointing. A middle aged woman, roughly five and a half feet, with gentle wrinkles on her face, set herself to a defensive posture. Her skirt and blouse wrapped tightly around her figure, as her legs were slightly bent in a lunging position.

Being devoid of most emotions, he could clearly tell that they were all about to attack this woman.

"Kneel." Willem's Crystal Body issued a single command to all the people in the room, forcing them to one knee, unable to move in the slightest. "Master Smith, please explain the situation."

"By your command. A special weapon aside from the twelve you had instructed was being forged for your personal use as a gift, the gem held by that woman was meant to be placed in the pommel of the weapon. When I came out to see the commotion, I ascertained that everyone had been affected by some kind of curse as they were all attacking her who held the gem." The Master Smith did his best to explain the situation as he understood it.

"You were right to signal me. Well done." Willem's Crystal Body walked over to the woman and took the purse from her. Her eyes pleaded with him to return the gem, but she could not protest as he would not allow her or anyone else beside the Master Smith to speak.

Before Willem opened the ornate jewel box, he looked at the Master Smith.

"In order to ascertain what they are affected by, I will need to see what happens for myself. Would you be willing to allow yourself be taken?" Willem looked the Master Smith eye to eye.

Without hesitation, the Master Smith obliged. "I am at the will of the Grand Mage."

"Very well." Willem's Crystal Body opened the jewel box and took the gem in his hand. The gem had no affect on him, whether it was because of his overwhelming magical power or lack of specific emotions remained to be seen. "Tell me what you feel."

"I feel... Nothing. I am eternal. I am one with the soulless." The Master Smith's eyes were as glass, completely glossed over.

Willem now understood this 'cursed' item, as he had now seen it in action. Of course it had no affect on the Crystal Body, as it was essentially powerful mind magic.

The Crystal Body's pseudo mind was pure magical power, not an actual brain with an amygdala. Therefore the emotions he 'felt' was a thoroughly processed action to a series of specified events and not a reaction to external stimuli. This was precisely why it had taken Willem all day to create the Crystal Body, he was programming the pseudo brain on how to respond to events.

For the gem to be able to cast magic like this, it must have a will of it's own. Whether the soul was using the gem as a vessel or souls were sacrificed to make the gem, one thing was certain, it could cast mind magic.

"Release me from my mortal coil. Let me be with my brethren in the gem of souls." The Master Smith begged in no small words to be killed and placed inside the gem.

"That is enough." Willem's Crystal Body revolved the magical power within itself and channeled it through his palm into the gem, expunging the currently active mind magic from the gem by overpowering and dispersing it.

As the mind magic was expunged, everyone began to wake up, yet they were still bound to kneel by the Crystal Body and could not yet react.

"Master Smith, how do you feel." Willem's Crystal Body confirmed the situation before releasing everyone.

"I am okay now, but I remember exactly how I felt and what I said. Just being entranced for that those seconds makes me feel awful. I cannot imagine how the head of jewelcrafting is going to feel." The Master Smith gave his honest opinion.

"Release." Willem's Crystal Body released the command to kneel.

As soon as he did, Catherine Wing began screaming at the top of her lungs. Both her hands were placed upon her head as she begged to die over and over.

The Crystal Body was not omnipotent, and he could not ease the pain that Catherine was feeling. Unsure of what to do, he sent an emergency request to Willem through the connection they shared.

In Paradiso Rosso.

Willem had received the emergency request from his Crystal Body while he had been helping teach some children new runes to play with.

The shared connection was not always active, since Willem was essentially living his own life apart from the Crystal Body. The connection however, was always passively there, and could be connected by either Willem or his Crystal Body.

"I will be back later." Willem nodded to the children and to Ashkatar whom had joined him for some fun.

"Very well." Ashkatar continued doting on the children who kept playing their favorite games together.

Slipping through the Void, Willem quickly arrived at the Private Sanctum, utilizing his potent magical energy to surpass the speeds of the denizens of the Void and essentially attracting but outrunning them.

Arriving at the Smith shop, Willem could clearly see the situation for himself, as the Crystal Body shared almost instantaneously everything that had happened in the last few minutes.