Chapter 7

Okay so, hear me out. We all know what you should get out of mixing ice with fire right? They cancel each other out at best. The ice would melt and then snuff off the fire leaving you with that smudgy muddy thing behind. RIGHT?! 

I knew this was all a fever dream. Maybe I had eaten something interesting or bad before going to bed. Or, something I still couldn't believe, this was all truly a survival game. Still, shouldn't some rules apply at least? Like, there was no way what I had just seen actually happened. My eyes were literally ready to pop out of my head like some old cartoon character and my head burst. My jaw was touching the ground.

"What?!" My occasionally friendly blacksmith looked to take offence at my obvious disbelief and glared. I would never doubt his abilities, I had seen them in action more than enough these few days of nonstop torment he inflicted on me. But this was logically and illogically impossible, surely he could see that!

"H-h-HOW?!" My brain had malfunctioned. I couldn't go past the basest of the questions as I shouted and moved my outstretched arms to show him the absurdity on his working counter.

"What do you mean how? I showed you how!" He growled defensively. No, you really didn't! I wanted to reply but I could see that he was willingly turning a blind eye to the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing. His grip on his creation was getting harder and harder by the moment and the amazed and proud twinkle in his eye when he had seen it materialize in his hands, was starting to resemble something like a weird resolve. I was fighting a lost one-sided battle.

I sighed like a popped balloon and dropped back on the high wooden stool I was only allowed to use for rest in certain occasions. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to see what we now held in our hands, even if the "we" was more like wishful thinking because Erlong didn't look remotely ready to unhand the handle. But as I was gaining some confidence in my cooking and even some basic blacksmithing abilities after a few days of intensive exposure to the labour behind it, I was suddenly thrown for a loop. I could not figure this out at all. Nothing made sense.

I wasn't even sure how the idea had popped into my head when Erlong had given me the freedom to choose the materials we were going to use to make something today. I had almost completely forgotten about their existence anyway and there was no way we could actually do something with the broken pieces of icicles from the Ice Snakes, right? How would they even be forged when the hammer could break them into even smaller pieces and the white hot forging fire was well...fire. That one didn't even need explaining and the thought should have been short-lived. 

The moment Erlong, however, had taken a look at my uncertain and dumb faraway look, he had steeled himself for the challenge. Get it? Because he-. Anywho, he had put the icicles inside the forge and before either of us could take the essential steps needed for in-game blacksmithing, a bright light had blinded us both. The next thing we knew, Erlong was holding the most badass sword you have ever seen. This was what dreams and nightmares were made of.

Since "we" decided to not question it anymore, I at last let myself fully take in its beauty and absolutely useless appearance. Maybe it was the apprentice blacksmith in me that was talking, I really hope it was because I hadn't seen any actual progress these days, but the sword didn't look functional at all. I, for one, would have no bloody idea of how to even swing it? Which side was the sharp side? Did its end point even qualify as a handle? You think I am being a downer, don't you? Well, I had been hoping for something I could actually use the next time I came across weird ass monsters. Even then, the whole impossibility of the sword, made it more and more tempting. If you started to look, you kinda couldn't stop and started drooling. 

It was a marriage between ice and fire, though more like they were trying to get a divorce. They weren't intertwined but they were trying to get away from each other, creating a frozen crystalline and deadly waterfall from one side and something that looked like solidified lava from the other side. Maybe the fight between the two kinds of Snakes had influenced the both-. I wasn't even gonna try to use logic on this one. This sword looked deadly. What you couldn't tell was if it was more likely to kill the bearer's enemies or the bearer themselves. Even trying to touch it looked like it could cut you deeply.

"Here" I dunno if Erlong heard my last thought and decided to check for himself, there was no other logical explanation on why he would hand me over the thing he looked ready to go to war to keep. I instinctively held onto it just enough for the blade to hover inches above the ground so as not to risk harming it in any way. It was so damn heavy. 

"Do you want me to hold onto this so that you can find a proper place to put it in or-" I asked him uncertainly. He looked at me gravely. My palms started sweating and the sword almost slipped. I was getting less and less confident of my ability to not get cut, or you know killed by Erlong for damaging the sword.

"It's yours now" He so didn't believe a word he said. He looked ready to bite me and snatch the sword back. I almost gave it to him just cause of the aura he was emitting.

"Why though?" I asked baffled.

"It's rightfully yours. Your icicles. You are the adventurer." He started grumbling and crossed his beefy arms in front if his chest while looking away.

"Have you seen me? How am I even supposed to hold it upright?!" His annoyance flew at me like sparks but I just raised my eyebrows incredulously. What was even happening? He looked forced to do all this. Something wasn't right. 

"I believe in you" He gritted like he wished to tell me to go fuck myself. A pit opened in my stomach but still, spend enough time close to the fire, you get some of the heat or you get scorched. And the dude had been growing on me for real but I was tired of getting burned everytime I reached out.

"What's your problem? Didn't I do everything you asked? Didn't I try genuinely? Didn't I show you my determination to do this right and see it through?" I forgot the weight of the sword as I brought my face closer to his and didn't shout but let out some of the tension that had been building as he pulled and pulled me taut like rope. His expression darkened.

"Unnatural" He muttered like an accusation. I had no idea what this was about but it still stung. "Your job here is done. Well done, adventurer. You have completed your training. You are now a..." His falsy cheery voice faltered as he refused to call me a blacksmith. I couldn't understand what was going on. It felt like the rest of the world was in its own frequency that everyone could access one way or another but I was always lost in translation. "This sword is your reward! This quest has come to its end" Hearing words like "quest" from his lips as if he really was nothing but a character felt like a sacrilege and a punch through my gut. What had I been getting worked up for? None of this was even real.

"Erlong, wait-" Like a fool, I reached out my hand once again. He turned his back on me and just like I had been swallowed whole into that pocket world, I was spit back out into the icy floor. I felt more like chewed out. 

Okay then. If that was how this was going to be, I would be back to being a loner. I didn't need anyone else. And if I was ever stupid enough to long for the company of another again, I would go try to tame a polar wolf or bear or whatever. That should teach me to stop being an emotional idiot.