Chapter 2: Gathering Storm

Following: Atlas
Time: 11:43, 27 of Early Fall, 2338 AF
Place: Dego Forge, Dagria, The Ten Domains

         Atlas knew this recruit would be harder to persuade, but he needed her in the group, so despite his uncertiness (and his bitterness for Dragonborn), he continued driving down the road, towards the great structure known as Dego Forge. The building was massive, creating a great shadow against the nearby hills. There was molten lava flowing down the sides, showing itself as if it was for some sort of use, but Atlas knew it was just for show.

As he approached the forge in his van, he noticed a few homeless Dragonborn sitting outside, blocking themselves from the sun as if the structure was a giant umbrella. They were all very dirty, and of all different types of dragons. They all wore ripped clothing, one was even wearing a potato sack. As he drove by, heading towards the entrance, they all stared at him.

Dirty Lizardpeople, Atlas thought to himself. He did notice one thing when looking at them. There wasn't a Gemborn around. That was odd, as the Gemborn population was practically the same size as the regular Dragonborn population before he was imprisoned. What happened in the 500 years he was gone? Well, whatever the case, he knew they weren't extinct, at least, because the person he was hunting for right now was, in fact, a Gemborn. An amethyst one, to be precise.

Atlas parked his van in one of the spaces outside of the entrance. As he exited the vehicle, he admired the newly painted van. It was now dark red, making it harder to spot in the dark, as well as a few surprises he had, in case he ever got caught by the law.

He strolled to the large doors separating his second member from the outside world. Before he tried to open them, he heard a whistle coming from his left side. He turned, to find an opening in the wall, with a young white dragonborn shouting at him.

"Yo, sir! Over here! " He heard the young lad say. Atlas walked over to the opening, leaning on his cane to give him a sophisticated look, a way of manipulating younger and weaker people to do what he desired. "You're supposed to check in with me before you go strutting around like ya own the place," he said. If Atlas wasn't trying to do this without the law being alerted, he would have snapped the lad's neck after making that comment. But unfortunately, there are some things that you have to do without eliminating those who don't respect you.

"Many apologies. What might I have to do in order to enter?" Atlas asked politely.

The Dragonborn responded, "Well, you'll have to tell me the reason ya want to enter in the first place,"

"That's none of your business,"

"Erm, actually, It is,"

"Says who?"

"My... boss?"

"Fetch him then, I'd like to speak with him," Atlas said, raising his chin.

"Um, sir, I'm sure whatever the problem is, we ca-" Atlas stared at him until he shut up. "Right, I'll get him right away," Atlas smirked. Slitting throats and torturing good, honest people were his favorite things to do, but scaring innocents was a close second. As he stood there, waiting for the boss to come, he took a closer look at the forge. He noticed that some pieces of the walls were chipping, as well as some vines and moss were creeping in on the corners.

"What is going on 'ere?" A strong voice said. Atlas turned around to find a tall, sapphire gemborn towering over him. So there were still at least some gemborns roaming around the world. "I'm the Metalmaster of this fine forge, and Wiggles 'ere tells me you're being uncooperative, that true?" Atlas steals a glance at the white Dragonborn's nametag. It did, in fact, read Wiggles. For a second there, just a second, Atlas felt bad for Wiggles.

"Of course not, sir, I simply wanted to visit a friend, and Wiggles here started harassing me! I must insist he gets fired, or at least demoted, "Atlas smirked a little. He felt sorry for Wiggles, but not that sorry.

"Mister, you have no right to come in here, and start ordering things!" The "Metalmaster" snarled, showing a set of sapphire teeth. One was chipped, while the rest were dirty with the remains of this morning's breakfast. Atlas stiffened his smile at the sight of this. The man had no self-care, his esteem was low. He could play off this.

"Why don't I? You obviously don't take your job seriously," he commented. He fingered the runestones in his pocket, his backup plan, in case things went off the rails. Runes were the way magic users cast spells in the 10 Kingdoms. Almost everyone wanting to spellcast, has to do it through runes. The only people who didn't need to were demons and fiends, but those guys are jerks, and barely show their faces in the 10 Domains.

Runestones were usually regular rocks with two runes infused into them. The first was one of the 14 available elements; the other was the specific thing you wanted the element to do. The caster could activate the rune remotely from wherever they placed it. There were also a few odd runes that didn't have anything to do with the 14 elements, but they were only used by the skilled casters. Right now, Atlas had two runestones in his pocket, each one capable of doing major damage to the Forge, thereby distracting the guards.

But that hasn't happened yet.

"Just... tell us why you wanna visit our Forge, aight?" The Gemborn rubbed his eyes. It was clear he had stayed up all night, and needed some sleep.

"I want to visit a friend, if that's such a crime," The victim card, not respectable, but it works.

"Fine, fine, if I take you to see 'em, will ya leave peacefully?"

"Of course!" Atlas gave him a bright smile.

The Gemborn nodded at Wiggles, who stuttered for a moment before giving up and going back behind the opening in the wall and ducking behind his desk. Before turning to the giant doorway, Atlas heard a faint-creaking noise. The doors swung open slowly, and the smell of embers blasted Atlas in the face like a lightning train. The sight of molten lava flowing along the walls and the sounds of hammers crashing against heated metal, shaping it into all kinds of deadly weapons; the sounds of burning swords being dunked in water, eternally sealing their shape. The Gemborn strolled inside, with his hands grasping each other behind his back. He motioned for Atlas to follow.

He tipped his hat at the staring Wiggles, and followed close behind. The Forge was huge, with several levels of blacksmiths, testers, and steel melters. The Forge was very dark, only getting light from the huge amount of lava flowing from the ceiling to the floor, and probably even lower. Most of the Dragonborn were wearing goggles in order to protect their eyes. Atlas thought for a second if he should also be wearing one, but shook his head. He wasn't metal working, plus, they'd ruin his style.

"She's a blacksmith," Atlas called to the Gemborn. He just nodded, and made a sharp turn towards a nearby lift. The doors opened automatically, and the two of them strutted inside before the doors closed behind them. The ambience of Dego Forge was muffled behind the doors of the lift. The Metalmaster spoke something in a language Atlas couldn't understand but expected it to be Draconic. The lift jerked up after a couple of seconds, and brought them to the third floor of the Forge. The doors opened, and introduced Atlas to the Blacksmith area of the Forge, the area where swords, hammers, spears, and almost anything a warrior could dream of. The sound of metalworking had gotten louder, while Atlas found himself staring at dozens of anvils and Dragonborn, working tirelessly to shape metal into weapons. The stations were packed together like sardines, and the Dragonborn barely had any room to move.

He spotted a couple of other Dragonborn fetching fresh clumps of metal for those who were finished with their last creation. Among the crowd, Atlas found exactly the woman he was looking for.

"You can leave me now. I will exit your Forge when I'm done with her," Atlas motioned at an amethyst gemborn, a hulking figure currently working on the head of a war pick.

"I hope you know, if you dare cause any trouble, you will have the full might of Dego Forge on the hunt for your head," and with that, the Metalmaster closed the doors of the lift, staring right into Atlas's eyes until it was fully closed.

He approached the amethyst figure, studying her closely and carefully, until he was standing in front of her work station.

"Fine day, isn't it?" Atlas commented as he placed a hand on the table to lean on.

"What do ya want?" She scowled, without even looking up from her work.

"A new employee," he responded.

"Good luck findin' one,"

"Actually, I was wondering if you were open for a job. One that pays better than... "he motions all around him. "This place,"

"If you don't leave right now, I'll throw you out myself," and to show she was serious, she hit the maul head with her hammer, causing an echo to travel throughout the forge.

"You wanna do it the hard way? Fine, let's do it the hard way," he pulled out a folder from inside his coat and set it in front of her. She eyed it for a second, before setting her hammer down and opening the folder. Inside were several pictures of a shadowy figure jumping from roof to roof, clutching leather bags of gold, etc. There was also police paperwork describing what happened in each incident.

"I questioned an onlooker on what happened. Apparently, he was knocked back by an invisible force after the shadow roared at him. Weird, right? " The Gemborn sighed and rubbed her temples.

"What do ya want from me?"

"Did I not make myself clear? You, of course! You're so strong and capable, and not afraid to kill when things go south! " To prove his point, he removed a photo of a small pile of dead bodies from the folder. They were all ripped to shreds, like pulled pork.

"So what happens now?" She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Now, you come and work for me, and if you don't, this folder leaks, and don't even try to destroy it, I've made copies."

"How much are you paying?"

"How much are you paid here?"

"5 gold orbs a day," she lied.

"Nice try, I know a fib when I see one. Lucky I looked before I arrived. You get paid 2 gold orbs a day, and so I'll pay you 4 a day, as well as free lodging and food, "

"I don't even know what the job is,"

"It's an assassin... of sorts,"

"Works for me," She handed the folder back to him. "The name's Zerra, good ta meetcha, boss," She firmly shook his hand.

Atlas smirked.