“What?” Schirmer spat out that night three months before Alexandra and Ekkehardt traveled to Nordfell. He was the only one in Rasmussen’s operating room who said anything after Messerschmit said that he knew of a sword that could break a moon dome.

“I normally would never talk or even care about anything like this, but I know of a sword that could break a moon dome. I’ve never seen it myself, but after everything I’ve seen and heard today I don’t know what’s real anymore,” Messerschmit explained. He took a sip of wine before starting his story.

“I never cared much for legends, fables, or whatever you want to call them, but I had an uncle that was very emotionally invested in that sort of thing. He was the kind of man who always had his head in the clouds; never married or had any kids. A few years ago he passed away and I inherited his property. Among his possessions, I found an old codex about sword-crafting that I took an interest in. At first I was confused, since I never imagined that someone like him would ever invest so much money in something that was purely for his professional development. Once I started flipping through the damn thing, it all started making sense: Much of the codex was dedicated to either historic weapon designs or weapons from myths and legends. Typical Uncle Ludger...” Messerschmit said before pausing to take another sip of wine.

“I ended up keeping the codex, since some of this historical information was useful for my work. While studying it I came across a reference to a supposedly magical sword from around the time of the fall of the Occidental Reman empire. It piqued my curiosity, partially because the codex said it was a ‘heaven sword’,” Messerschmit explained.

“A ‘heaven sword’?” Alexandra asked.

“It’s a sword that has been forged of celestial iron, also known as meteoric iron. Do you know what a meteor is?” Messerschmitt answered.

“I believe it’s a rock that falls out of the sky. Some scholars from long ago said that they were omens of sorts, but I don’t think the church ever said anything about them officially,” Alexandra replied.

“Well, I don’t know anything about ‘omens’ or the church’s dogma, but that part about rocks falling out of the sky sounds about right to me, your highness,” Messerschmit responded, “Now, the reason why I care about them is because they are made out of a special kind of iron ore. I have no idea why this is, but for some reason any tool or weapon made out of the stuff will be more durable and hold an edge better than if it was made out of normal iron. It doesn’t seem to rust either.”

“Hmm… I’ve never heard of any sort of iron like that,” Schirmer remarked, “Surely if it were that good more people would use it, right?”

“Well, the thing is that meteoric iron comes from meteors and there aren’t that many meteors out there to begin with, so this stuff is very hard to come by. Due to its rarity and value, there are probably only a handful of blacksmiths on the continent that will get the chance to work with it in my lifetime. I don’t want to brag, but as the premier blacksmith in the empire, I wanted to learn more about this material since there is a good chance that I will be one of those blacksmiths.” Messerschmit responded.

“I see…” Schirmer said as he nodded his head, “So, what makes this sword so special other than what the type of iron was made out of?” he then asked.

“Well, according to legend, this sword was the personal sidearm of Guntram Aust…” Messerschmitt answered, causing everyone in the room to be taken aback.

“You mean my ancestor, Guntram Aust? The man that established the Adler dynasty?” Alexandra interjected.

“Yep. That’s the one. According to the codex, he killed something that was described as an ‘evil shape-shifting creature’ using the sword. It said that sword was capable of overcoming any defense the monster presented, because it was blessed by not only the last of the pagan arch-druids, but also Saint Fredrick himself. The only limit to the sword’s power was that it could only be wielded by a descendant of Guntram; not a terrible deal if you ask me,” Messerschmit explained before taking a sip of wine.

“The last thing the codex said was that the sword was supposedly lost when the Bergman horde came to Yerb,” Messerschmit concluded.

“So, this sword story is just a dead end?” Ekkehardt asked.

“Well, not exactly,” Messerschmit responded, “I was reading the codex at the front counter of my shop when a mercenary entered to pick up some swords for his employer. I got up to get his swords, but when I came back, I found the man’s eyes glued to the codex. He suddenly asked me to tell him what the codex said about the sword. When I asked him why he wanted to know so badly and he said that he had seen the sword before. I asked him which codex he had seen it in before, but he told me that he never saw it in a codex, but in real life! He told me that he was from Nordfell and the sword was just resting in some cave over there! He then said that he and his brother found it while exploring some spooky cave. It was just sitting in a vertical position within a stone that had a slot for the blade carved into it. When his brother tried to pick it up, he started convulsing and crying out in pain. When the man’s brother came to his senses, he just grabbed his brother by the arm and dragged him out of the cave like a runaway horse. The mercenary said that his brother was so traumatized by the experience that he never told anyone exactly what made him start convulsing.” Messerschmit then paused to take another sip of wine.

“I thought that interaction was strange, but I didn’t really care much about it at the time. I honestly haven’t even thought of it until just now. I genuinely believed, even after hearing that mercenary’s story, that all of this talk of magic swords was bullshit, something that some wise-ass made to swindle money out of people like my uncle; I mean the design of the sword didn't even look right. It looked more like contemporary swords than those of the late Reman period, but here we are: talking about moonmen, magic medallions, and a conspiracy in the imperial palace. I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Messerschmit said with a sigh. There was a brief silence in the room.

“This codex, do you still have it?” Alexandra asked. Messerschmit nodded.

“Yeah. I do. I guess I could show it to you sometime… well… I guess I could if the circumstances were different. I can’t exactly just have a courier carry it to the imperial palace and have them take care of the rest,” Messerschmit responded.

“Actually, I think we should have that issue squared away, does anyone have any idea where her highness and I will be able to hide out in the short term? We just need a place to hide while we figure out a plan to escape from the country,” Ekkehardt inquired.

“I have a friend, a yeoman farmer who might be symp…” Rasmussen began only to be cut off by Alexandria.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘escape from the country?” Alexandra asked as she glared at Ekkehardt.

“I mean flee to somewhere safe. The best bet would probably be Zollernia-Hohenia, since it’s relatively nearby, we don’t have to cross much territory that is ether mountainous or directly controlled by the empire to get there, they have a strong enough military to prevent the empire from trying to bully them into giving us over, and there is a good chance that Alena will believe us,” Ekkehardt explained. Alexandra shook her head.

“No. We’re not going to just leave Alexander like that, especially not… with her!” Alexandra shot back, “We have to do something about this!”

“Yeah, and what would that be? Do you think that we can take on the whole empire just by ourselves? Maybe we could try to get to his majesty, but the odds are that Agripina has already sent the fastest messenger in the empire to tell him her version of events and we both know which one of you he’s going to believe,” Ekkhardt responded.

“Well, if all of this talk about moonmen and magic swords is real, which it appears to be, then maybe we should send somebody to go to Nordfell, get the heaven sword, kill the moonman, and bring back his blood so that Rasmussen can make a cure for Alexander. Once that happens, we just need to find someone who is willing to infiltrate the imperial palace and give Alexander the cure,” Alexandra argued. Schirmer nodded in approval and was about to say something, but Ekkehardt quickly interrupted that attempt.

“You’re forgetting that the sword, if it is even real, can only be used by someone from Guntram Aust’s bloodline. That means that we would have to find a farmboy somewhere in the empire who's a descendant of some royal bastard and convince him to go to Nordfell on our behalf. I don’t want to be rude to you Alex, but unless you know someone who is Guntram Aust’s descendant and is willing to go to rectum of the empire to save Alexander, you need to shut up!”

Alexandra stepped backwards and looked away. She felt as though Ekkehardt had just punched her in the gut with his words. Ekkehardt noticed it almost immediately. In an instant his anger evaporated and guilt filled his body. He felt as though he had just kicked his cat while stumbling around in a dark hallway.

The room was silent. Suddenly Alexandra looked at her friend.

“Alex, I…” Ekkhardt began.

“I know someone who can help us with the sword,”

“Huh?”

“I know someone who is a descendant of Guntram Aust, is willing to travel to Nordfell, find the heaven sword, kill the moonman, and return with its blood.” Alexandra said, speaking without a hint of levity in her voice while she stared at Ekkehardt.

“Who is this person?”

“Me.”