Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 483-484 (Patreon)

“What exactly is Sunsetting a class?” Arwin asked as he followed Two through the plain halls of the building. There really wasn’t anything p

“What exactly is Sunsetting a class?” Arwin asked as he followed Two through the plain halls of the building. There really wasn’t anything particularly standout about anything in his surroundings. But, even if there had been, he probably wouldn’t have noticed. His attention was fixed solely on the man before him. “And I don’t mean that in the figurative way. I know that it makes you stronger. But how?”

“It’s a realignment,” Two replied. The two of them turned a bend and drew up to a stairwell lit by lanterns hanging either side of the arching entryway above it. Two headed down without a moment of hesitation.

“To bring your class closer to what you currently desire, right?” Arwin asked. “I already have that bit. But why can you only do it once under other circumstances? There has to be a reason, but everyone I’ve spoken to about this has made it sound like Sunsetting a class is something that can only be done once.”

“That’s because it is,” Two said. They continued down the winding stairs, no apparent end to them in sight. Light from the lanterns reflected off the glossy white armor covering Two to dance across the walls in shimmering patterns. “Sunsetting your class isn’t just realigning yourself with you. It’s the Mesh. Do you know the manner in which magic works?”

“I’m going to answer no, on account of the fact that I suspect anything I say will be wrong.”

Two let out a quiet snort. “It wasn’t a trick question. The Mesh depends heavily on concentration. You know this, yes? Dungeons are the most common example.”

“Yeah. Monsters are attracted to areas in which the Mesh layers over itself,” Arwin said. “What does that have to do with Sunsetting?”

“It’s the layering that matters,” Two said. They finally reached the bottom of the stairwell. It, somewhat unsurprisingly, led out into yet another stone hallway that they started down. “Your class is like that. A very specific layering and bunching that allows the Mesh to flow and gather in you. If that weren’t the case, power would just go right through you and continue into the world. You wouldn’t hold any of it.”

“Sure,” Arwin said. “I can buy that. And Sunsetting… what, modifies that layering?”

“It smooths it out.” Two paused to glance back at Arwin. “As you can imagine, crumpling the Mesh up isn’t the most efficient way to store power. There are wrinkles that do nothing. They store power you don’t use or restrict you from channeling power you do need. Those imperfections come from a lot of things, but the biggest one is when your desires and focus doesn’t completely align with what you’re doing.”

“I see. And nobody notices because it’s all they know,” Arwin guessed. “So why is this a one-time procedure?”

“Because once you yank everything smooth once, the next pull makes it flat,” Two replied. He started off again. “And we’ve already discussed what happens if you’re flat.”

“No magic,” Arwin concluded. “That’s it? You think I’ve still got wrinkly bits?”

Two let out a bark of laughter. “Everyone has wrinkly bits, Arwin. But those aren’t what I gather you’re talking about. You — and Lillia — you’re different. Your classes weren’t properly Sunsetted.”

“What do you mean by that?” Arwin asked.

“Sunsetting a class is an enormous shock. Doing it without preparation is certain to kill you. There’s a reason Setting Sun is such a small guild. We only recruit members whose classes have been Sunset. Normally, the process is incredibly extensive. We vet people’s personality. Their abilities. Their history and their goals. That filters out most of our possible recruits. Of the ones that remain, we then spend months rigorously strengthening their minds to withstand the strain that comes with Sunsetting a class. Those preparations… they’re too much for most people — and too much for anyone to do twice.”

“You’re telling me it’s the prep-work that can’t be repeated?” Arwin asked, blinking. “The stuff leading up to Sunsetting your class is what stops people from doing it twice?”

“Yes. Once I show you what I mean, you’ll understand. If you don’t want to go through with Sunsetting your class at that point, I won’t blame you. Many of our other recruits have decided against it as well.”

“We’ll see,” Arwin said noncommittally. “But if this is the case… what makes Lillia and I special?”

Two drew to a stop as the hall came up to a closed stone door. It was plain, with no apparent handle or other way to pull it open. He turned to look back at Arwin once more. A faint smile lingered on his lips.

“A number of things. But for what I’m here to show you today? It’s fairly simple. You died.”

Arwin stared. “What?”

“Your first Sunsetting,” Two said. “It killed you. The Mesh brought you back. And that means you weren’t prepared. You didn’t go through the damage that a mind and body experience in preparation for Sunsetting. And that means you have a chance to do it again.”

Arwin shook his head in disbelief. “What in the world are you doing to people that they can only survive it once?”

Two placed both palms of his hands on the stone door. Dim light lit within it, scrawling throughout its surface as if veins of energy ran just beneath its surface. There was a distant click. Then the door open swung open soundlessly.

Searing golden light cut into Arwin’s dark-adjusted eyes. He raised his hands before himself with a curse. It took several seconds before he could squint through his fingers and make anything out.

The floor of the room before him look like someone had pinched a soft piece of dough and given it a twist. It spiraled up and came to a peak several feet in the air, where a chair had been chiseled into it.

The strange formation was illuminated by a beam of molten gold. Even from where Arwin stood, the intensity of the power clawed across his eyes and seared the hair on his arms. It was magic. Pure, unfiltered magic.

Something inside Arwin’s chest twisted in discomfort. His stomach flipflopped. A wave of dizziness passed over him and his balance faltered. He grabbed onto the wall to keep himself from falling.

Power coiled from his body. His reserves were draining themselves. It was like someone had brought an enormous, magic-hungry magnet right next to him.

“What is that?” Arwin breathed, a knot forming in his throat.

“I think you probably already know,” Two replied. “Or do you really not recognize the Mesh’s presence?”

“That’s the Mesh?” Arwin whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the intense light.

“It’s a Leyline,” Two said. There were equal parts reverence and fear in his voice. “A direct connection to the Mesh. One of the few this close to the surface of the world. It’s pure magic. Pure Mesh.”

“You’re telling me you prepare yourself to Sunset your class by sitting in that?” Arwin asked.

“Yes,” Two said.

“For how long?”

“Depends on the person. I was on that chair for a day, but Eleven only needed a few hours,” Two replied. Then he winced. “it took me a dozen times and attempts before I managed to stay within the Mesh for long enough to truly let it work, though. If you bail out too early… nothing happens. Your efforts are wasted.”

“Shit,” Arwin muttered, still squinting past his fingers to try and get a good look at the chair. “What will that do to me? If I sit on the chair.”

“Beyond the pain?” the corners of Two’s lips twitched, but it wasn’t in amusement. It was pain. “It will soften the connection between your body and the Mesh. Loosen up all those wrinkles. So, when it comes time to Sunset your class, everything is malleable. You’ll keep all the parts of your class you want and remove the ones you don’t.”

“Wait. That’s why I lost so much from when I was the Hero?” Arwin asked.

“Did you? That doesn’t surprise me. Your Sunsetting was like taking a knife to your soul. It just cut all the shit away instead of trying to preserve and improve,” Two said. He blew out a sigh. “Probably hurt a hell of a lot less, though. You ever cook before?”

“No. That’s more Lillia’s domain. Why?”

“Because this is just about the same thing as beating the life out of a chicken breast to make it tender,” Two replied.

Arwin grimaced. “I see.”

“It’s your choice,” Two said, moving to stand in front of the door and blocking out the light with his back so he could lock eyes with Arwin. “I do not want to understate just how painful this is. You’re deconstructing core connections between yourself and your soul. If you can’t withstand it, your mind could break. This is not without risk. Good people have died on that chair. We will still aid you against the Adventurer’s Guild, even if—”

Arwin raised a hand.

Two closed his mouth.

“I have seen pain,” Arwin said. “And there’s nothing the Mesh can do to me that I haven’t already gone through. Is this the only method to prepare for Sunsetting a class?”

“No. But it is the most efficient one we have found,” Two said with a shake of his head. “Your guild may utilize it as you like. Eleven has vetted all of you. We will stand true to our word.”

Arwin nodded slowly. “The process to Sunsetting, after my body is forged on this chair is it prepared?”

“That’s the easy part,” Two said.

“Good,” Arwin said. Then he moved Two out of the way.

Golden light slammed into his face. Arwin could have sworn he heard an angry hiss from his hair burning, but he ignored it and pressed on. He strode into the room, leaning forward to press his palms against the twisted stone for balance.

The closer he drew to the pillar of Mesh passing through the chair at the peak of the mound he climbed, the more intense the light became. It burned past his skin, past flesh and bone, to pierce right into his very soul.

Arwin didn’t so much as slow.

Inch by inch, he climbed up the mound. He pulled himself up to the platform and the beam of intense golden light enveloping the chair upon it. The hair on his arms was definitely sizzling now. He ignored it.

Arwin turned.

For an instant, his eyes locked with Two’s.

Then Arwin sat down, and all that remained was the Mesh.

Chapter 484

Arwin’s teeth chattered in his head. His entire body felt like it had been strapped to the back of a very angry dragon. He clenched his jaw as every bone in his body shook and lurched in attempts to free themselves from the fleshy cage that contained them.

His hair stood on end and his skin rippled with waves of goosebumps. Raw magic seared into every part of him, pushing its way into his body without any regard for the weak meat in its path.

This was about as close as one could ever become with the Mesh. He may as well have been a part of it. Arwin’s thoughts were a tiny dinghy adrift in a sea of pure, relentless magic. Waves slammed against that boat in attempt to capsize it and wash his mind away.

Arwin reached deep within himself. He reached past the magic searing through his being and into the very core of who he was. Power crashed against him in relentless waves, growing stronger by the second.

The longer he sent within the Leyline, the closer he felt himself coming to the Mesh. Magic rushed through his entire body like it was nothing more than the bed of a riverbank. It filled everything from his heart to his fingernails.  

 “Resist it!” Two yelled over the thunderous crash filling Arwin’s mind. “You have to hold strong! Don’t let the magic overwhelm you. But don’t sacrifice yourself for this. You can try again! The Leyline will be here. This is not a sprint. It is a battle of endurance, and you can only win if—”

“Could you be quiet?” Arwin asked. His eyes snapped open and he looked down at Two, staring through the pillar of golden light enveloping him. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

Two’s warning ground to a sputtering halt. His lips worked for a moment as he tried to process what he was looking at. Then he blinked.

“I — what? Did you just—”

“Please?” Arwin asked, a flicker of annoyance shooting through him. The waves of magic crashing against his mind showed no signs of ceasing, and they were really starting to get annoying.

This almost tickled.

At some point, Arwin imagined it would have hurt. But that point would have been before he’d been plunged into a literal sea of magical black lava. It had burned him to his very soul, and he hadn’t gone through that just to emerge the same as he had been before.  

That very magic still churned within him. It always would. And in the face of that power, the Leyline was little more than a nice massage that sizzled a bit more than he would have liked. His skin burned, his hair tingled, his eyes watered — and that was it.

Arwin felt no pain at all.

Even just walking up to the Leyline had been less comfortable than actually sitting in it. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the golden light, it wasn’t even that bad.

“What?” Two asked, staring at Arwin with his mouth agape in disbelief. “Concentrate, man. This isn’t about putting on a good show. We’ve all been where you are. If you’ve got the mental fortitude to resist the magic to this degree, then just keep at it. You might actually have a chance of completing the preparations on your first try.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Arwin said. He leaned back in the chair in an attempt to get a little more comfortable. There was only so much he could do when he was sitting on stone, but he still gave it his best shot. “This doesn’t hurt. At all.”

“What do you mean?” Twelve asked. “How could it not hurt? That’s the whole point. The veins of magic within you are getting softened. This is like taking a chisel to cleaning teeth plaque. How could it not hurt?”

“It’s your damn chisel,” Arwin replied. “You tell me. Maybe its broken.”

Two strode into the room, holding a hand up in front of his face to protect his eyes. He clambered up the hill toward Arwin, then reached out to poke a finger into the beam of golden light.

He let out a pained hiss and yanked his hand back, nearly slipping back down the hill in his haste to get away from the Leyline. Two retreated all the way through the door of the room before sending an accusatory glare at Arwin.

“What is wrong with you? It’s working perfectly fine!”

“Is it?” Arwin cocked his head to the side. The tingle had gotten a little stronger. He still certainly wouldn’t have considered this as anything nearing the word painful. “I’m not feeling much at all.”

The annoyance evaporated from Two’s expression as he realized that Arwin was dead serious.

“Wait. Do you really feel nothing?” Two asked.

“Not nothing. Just… not much of anything either,” Arwin replied. He resisted the urge to yawn. That felt like it would have just been rude. “Mildly uncomfortable would probably be the best word for this. Can you turn the concentration up or something?”

“Turn the—” Two cut himself off with an indignant sputter. “That’s a Leyline! A connection to the Mesh itself! Godspit, man. What do you mean, turn it up? It’s raw Mesh! There’s no more up to go! Would his majesty prefer I reveal we actually have a second room with two inexplicably intersecting Leylines perfectly ready to super-charge you?”

“That does sound like it might be more effective.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Two muttered. “I can’t believe this. Even One struggled immensely to withstand the preparations. Are you really certain you feel nothing? And you’re sitting in the chair properly?”

“It’s a chair,” Arwin said flatly. “How do you sit wrong in a chair?”

“I don’t know!” Two snapped. “I’ve never had a conversation with someone undergoing the preparations before. It never came up!”

“What should I do, then?” Arwin asked. He scratched at his neck, taking a moment to enjoy the magic beating against him. It really did feel rather nice now.

An aggressive massage. Starts a bit uncomfy, but it really gets the kinks out of you. At least, I think it would. I’ve never actually had a massage. Maybe I should ask Lillia if she wants to go get one sometime.

“Are you okay?” Two asked urgently. “Are you zoning off? It’s imperative you remove yourself before you fall unconscious. If you pass out in that chair—”

“I was thinking about my girlfriend,” Arwin said.

Two coughed. “I — uh, right. Whatever keeps you going.”

“Not in that way, you pervert,” Arwin snapped. “I — oh, never mind. How long do I have to sit here? This is just ridiculous.”

“I don’t know. This has never happened before.” Two ran a hand through his hair. “Can you feel your magic changing?”

Arwin’s brow furrowed. He reached within himself. There was definitely something happening. Every one of his organs tingled, and he could feel magic flowing through his veins. Two’s earlier explanation of how the Leyline worked did seem to fit.

“I kind of feel… a bit tenderized, I guess?” Arwin guessed.

Two threw his hands up. “Tenderized. You feel tenderized. That thing nearly killed me!”

“Sorry?”

“I — oh, forget it,” Two said, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I suppose I’ll go let the clean-up crew know that they won’t be needed.”

“Clean-up crew?” Arwin asked.

Two just shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”

“Fair enough,” Arwin said with a shrug. “So what now? I just sit here until the tenderization is done?”

“I don’t know,” Two said. “Normally, it would go until you felt a real shift. Like the final piece of a puzzle moving into place but not quite slotting itself in. That last step comes with Sunsetting. It’s normally a very easy moment to spot given it’s the first time your body decides to stop trying to kill you.”

“Maybe it’s easier for me because I’ve already been Sunset?” Ariwn guessed.

 “Unlikely. If anything, it should be worse,” Two said with a furrowed brow. “The damage your old class took from that forcible Sunsetting should mean you have even more bumps and cracks to smooth over. I think this is above my paygrade. You think you can sit there for a while longer?”

“Don’t see why not,” Arwin replied.

Two shook his head. “Then… do that. I’m going to go consult with One. He’s not ready to meet you yet, but he needs to hear about this.”

Arwin shrugged again. “Sure thing. I’ll be here. If anything like that happens, I’ll get up. Maybe it just takes a moment to kick up to full strength. The tingling has been getting a bit stronger.”

“Tingling,” Two muttered. “I nearly screamed my lungs out the first three times I sat on that chair. And you’re worried about tingling. Keep your ass on that chair until something breaks, Arwin.” The other man blew out an exasperated, disbelieving breath and turned on his heel, starting down the hall.

“Oh, hold on,” Arwin called.

Two spun back to him, nearly racing into the room. “Yes? Are you feeling—”

“Could you bring me a glass of water or something, though?” Arwin scratched at the side of his neck. “I’m thirsty.”

“A glass of water. While you’re sitting in a Leyline. Enduring what has literally killed warriors an entire Tier above your stage.” The white-armored warrior stared at him for a long second as if trying to determine if this whole thing was some giant prank.

“Is that a no?”

Two heaved a heavy sigh. “I’ll bring you some water on the way back.”