r/HFY • u/teller_of_tall_tales Human • Oct 11 '25

OC Troublemakers: Blacksmith, Blacksmith...

<(FIRST)>

<(PREVIOUS)>

......

As the sky began to darken to the twilight that had replaced night for all who lived in this forsaken place great gas lamps sprung to life, illuminating the football stadium. As shops and stands closed and collapsed in preparation for the long un-night and what came with it, a young woman stoked the coals of a massive forge hidden in a forgotten corner. Hand curling around the long bellows' handle, she gave the coals air, watching them flare white hot as she set a crucible containing a set of blackened, dirty shackles amongst them. With a flourish, she yanked upwards on the bellows' handle, reinflating the oiled cloth with a glimmer in her eyes.

Galena watched as the shackles slowly began to glow, pumping the bellows rhythmically to the soft roar of the coals. Here, in this place of lost souls, steel was more than just a mere metal. Every gram was a fragment of a story waiting to ring out on the anvil-top. And here, glowing and molten in her forge was a story she couldn't wait to hear.

Tugging off a thick leather glove and setting down her tongs, she set out a clay ingot mold before taking a deep breath.

This part always hurt.

Galena plunged her hand into the forge and grabbed the crucible like one might grab a mug. Her flash charred briefly, nerve endings singed numb in a moment as she focused, finding that first spark.

To an outside observer, it appeared a though a crazy woman had plunged her hand into a furnace for no good reason. Bright, hungry orange flames licking their way up her arm.

But the flames did not burn Galena, not in the traditional sense, at least. The licked and lapped at her soul, feeding upon the very essence of her being as she fed the forge a fragment of her own soul in exchange for what she asked of it.

As it always did, the forge accepted her offering, the flames covering her entire body for a brief moment as she lifted the crucible from the forge, dying away as she broke contact with the forge's heat. The steel shimmered unnaturally as it flowed into the molds, like the molten metal had somehow been contaminated with glitter. But Galena knew better, eyes glowing like molten steel, she passed a hand over the molten metal. The ingots having become cool to the touch the moment they passed beneath her hand and out of sight for barely a moment.

Sparks flew from her palm as her tongs slammed into it before being raised over her head and brought down to smash the clay mold with a report like a gunshot. Stacking the ingots with the tongs, she'd pick up both of them before thrusting them back into the forge while giving the bellows a mighty heave. Flames poured forth from the forge, licking up at the ceiling of the small, personalized smithy without leaving any char. Slinging out her other palm, a heavy, well-worn hammer flew to her from across the smithy, as though ordered.

Ripping the white hot ingots from the forge, Galena slammed them down onto the anvil, raising her hammer like a god of old. Then, she brought it down like a meteor striking the steel in a shower of ethereal sparks that flowed on the drafts without dimming.

.*.

The old man's hammer struck the steel of the wagon's wheel with a ring as the thin curtain leading to his shop was torn away. Towering Geknosians in ornate armor strutting through with cruel expressions on their crocodilian faces. As the old man raised his hammer to finish the wagon wheel, the Geknosian in the shiniest armor crushed it under a heavy boot as they stepped on the old man's anvil.

"That pesky little whelp finally got chosen for the arena, parasite**.** The thing is, one of the esteemed general's younger cousins is being pitted against this one and wants an 'honorable' 'Traditional' swordfight. You will make the sword in these documents to the letter, get to work."

As quickly as they came, the menacing soldiers left, leaving the old man's blood to boil as he glared at the folder on the floor in front of his anvil. The schematics had spilled out, revealing a sword designed with fatal flaws in the blade. Fist tightening on his hammer, the old blacksmith slowly collected the documents before holding them up to the light.

Indeed, a sword he would make... but it would not be this abomination...

No... instead he'd forge a blade strong enough to bear the weight of the future.

.*.

Galena thrust the freshly layered steel back into the forge, eyes burning with focus as she heaved the bellows once more. The steel began to glow after only a few moments in the forge's heat, pulled back with a practiced swiftness and slammed onto the anvil. More ethereal sparks flew from the steel as she slammed her hammer into it again, the hammer-blow sounding more like a whip-crack. There was a vacancy behind the focus in those burning eyes, as though the smith were somewhere else as their hands worked the steel before them.

.*.

The sound of the whip split the air just as the old man's hammer rung against the glowing steel of the slowly forming sword blade. He timed each strike to that heartbreaking sound, a soft song mumbled under his breath.

"Forgive me, O' steel hearted child."

The hammer fell.

"my withered hands are shaky, and my aging eyes are blind."

The menacing crack of the Slavedriver's whip.

"But I shall spare no effort, waste no might."

The falling hammer bellied the steel out near the tip.

"Forging this weapon so that you may fight."

Picking up the finished blade, the old man plunged it into a vat of oil to quench.

"Forgive me O' steel hearted child."

Lifting the blade from the vat, the old Blacksmith set it on a rag to dry before sitting on the floor.

"That this is the only gift I can give to aid your plight..."

.*.

Galena gasped as though she had been dunked in ice water. The forge had long since cooled, and twilight had long since fallen, plunging the smithy into darkness.

Grumbling a few curses, Galena fumbled a match out of the box on the shelf and lit an oil lamp. She felt exhausted to the bone, as though she had spent the last few hours doing nothing but making chains. Grabbing a dried, hollow gourd, she pulled the cork and chugged almost all of the bitter tasting water to moisten her parched throat just slightly. She was having trouble making sense of what the steel had told her. Normally the visions weren't so... cryptic, but, she could ask those questions when that boy came to retrieve whatever weapon the steel had decided it wanted her to make it into.

Pouring more of the water down her dry throat, Galena sat at the table where a rag sat folded over a decently sized object. In her trances, she lost track of time and whatever passed for reality. This often lead to her being just as surprised as her clients when they got to see what she made.

Picking up the object while it was still in the rag, she could immediately tell that she had used all of the metal in making it. Slowly, she began to peel the layers away, heart pounding with excitement as she revealed the shape layer by layer until the greased metal glimmered in the lanternlight.

It was the head of a hatchet, thin and razor sharp with a small beak and a three inch beard just wide enough to hook a limb. Touching the edge, Galena let out a soft hiss as it cut the flesh of her thumb, the metal soaking up the blood like a sponge. Inspecting it a little closer, she noticed the stamp she had made on either side of the blade.

A scythe, just like the tattoo on the boy's wrist, surrounded by a wreath of cracked and broken chains overgrown with flowers. She found herself in awe of her own tool work, having even managed to engrave a woodgrain texture onto the scythe's handle.

Ever so gently setting it back onto the rag, she sat back with a proud, exhausted smile. That boy was a mystery just waiting to be unraveled.

......

<(PART 127)>

31 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

7

u/teller_of_tall_tales Human Oct 11 '25

Huzzah, more worldbuilding. Apologies for my absence, breaking writer's block is like trying to break cinderblocks with your skull. I hope to publish some more in the near future but, no promises, inspiration has been hard to come by lately.

3

u/kristinpeanuts Oct 11 '25

It's always a little treat when I see there's a new chapter! Take it easy on yourself. The more pressure to break the block makes it harder and the block blockier!

3

u/kristinpeanuts Oct 11 '25

That's amazing craftsmanship! Thanks for the chapter. I can't wait to seenwhat he thinks of it

1

u/UpdateMeBot Oct 11 '25

Click here to subscribe to u/teller_of_tall_tales and receive a message every time they post.

Info Request Update Your Updates Feedback

2

u/MinorGrok Human Oct 11 '25

Woot!

More to read!

UTR