Chapter 21 - Glove

Days passed without incident, as Alon seemed to have kept his word. Silent patrols during the day, and sigil drawing at night consumed Tetsuo’s schedule. Despite Eleanor’s orders to keep all work from the workshop at the workshop, his discovery threw everything she told him into question.

The ‘mandatory’ sigil, that was ‘oh so important’ to always start with, seemed to act as a limiter that both reduced the efficiency of Ficium, and made it unusable to Alvanians. Tetsuo knew he’d have to use her private breaks in their teaching sessions to test and prove this. When Eleanor said it would be dangerous for the commonplace to have access to these tools, he began to wonder if this is what she had in mind. That being said, as long as the kingdom controlled the means of production, no unlimited Ficium weapons would be created anyways. This, along with the kingdom's need for a constant influx of weapons for Earthens who weren't permitted to use them, left many answers to be desired.

He was afraid of what Eleanor would do once she found out. After everything he had done, all the late nights studying, and all the allies he had forced himself to make. All of it unraveled over a simple sigil mistake.

Upon receiving a correspondence from Wilbur, asking Tetsuo to return to the workshop unarmed, it seemed like this time had come. He was allowed to finish his duties early for the day as it was marked with the utmost importance. Figuring it best to comply rather than to fight back, Tetsuo stood in the courtyard of the workshop, ready to face his arrest.

“Oi.” Eleanor bellowed behind him with an exaggeratedly low pitch voice. “What are you doing, standing there all solemnly?”

Tetsuo turned and saw she was holding a metal gauntlet, matching the design he had given her. The only difference was a short spike protruding from between the center of the knuckles like a claw. The rotating finger tips were cut to such a degree of precision, that if the sigil wasn’t split in two, the seam would have been invisible.

“So? I’m pretty incredible aren’t I?” Eleanor beamed proudly as she handed the gauntlet to Tetsuo. “Pop quiz, do you know why we don’t make Ficium armor?”

Tetsuo responded instinctively. “Because it slowly pulls Ars from… the… user…” He stared at the gauntlet, realizing he just effectively made a prototype for a gauntlet that he’d never be able to wear for longer than a few minutes. Considering that he couldn’t control Ars in the atmosphere like Alvanians can, he’d need at least eight lunches and four dinners every day to complete one patrol.

“When I saw your design I recognized that would be a problem immediately, thanks to my overbearing gift of knowledge. Because of that, the only person who uses Ficium armor is the blizzard knight, as she was born with issues regulating Ars within and around her. She needs to constantly wear Ficium gauntlets to avoid freezing the people around her to death.”

Tetsuo shivered at the thought of Lunette without her gauntlets. As if she wasn’t already dangerous enough.

“Even then, it’s not efficient enough. Strong emotions tend to still freeze her surroundings. That’s the kind of output you’d need to be able to wear Ficium, even if it was just the size of a single gauntlet. You’d be so drained all the time you’d never be able to actually use it.”

Eleanor helped Tetsuo slide the gauntlet onto his arm, fastening the leather straps around his forearm.

“Course I’m a genius. Those kinds of problems are what I deal with. Wanna try it out?”

Eleanor ran into the workshop before returning with a training dummy made of sticks and straw. She set the dummy up in the center of the courtyard, dusting it off. She took a few steps back and signaled for Tetsuo to come closer.

“So, to make sure you aren’t always being drained, I made a few tweaks to your design. Clench your hand into a fist.”

Tetsuo clenched his right hand into a fist.

“Um…” For a brief moment Tetsuo could feel the pain in her eyes. “The gauntlet hand…”

Sheepishly, Tetsuo obliged and was surprised by the cold sensation that appeared on his knuckles when he did so. Eleanor smiled proudly at his reaction.

“When you clench your fist fully, it pulls the leather away from the top of your hand and allows for your skin to touch the metal. That way you can keep it on, and activate it whenever you need. I also added a spike to focus the output for some of the sigils you had asked for on it. Try it out!”

Tetsuo clenched and unclenched his fist, feeling the leather sliding in and out of place. He twisted the tip of the index finger until the sigil was completed. Although it slid smoothly, its weight kept it secured while he moved his hand. Tetsuo reached out his hand towards the training dummy, and formed a fist. The metal touched the bridge of his hand and he concentrated, imagining the Ars travelling through his hand and to the gauntlet. He was amazed to see the sigils on the gauntlet begin to illuminate. He shielded his eyes, as the tip of the gauntlet began to illuminate. Even through his fingers he could still see the quick bright flash he had been expecting. Against his best efforts, Tetsuo smiled with the energy of a child receiving a new toy. He gave a quick jab at the mannequin with his gauntlet, and was surprised as to how comfortable the impact was.

“You like it?” Eleanor asked knowingly.

“It’s incredible. Thank you.”

“Oh well… I guess I am…” Eleanor cleared her throat. “Ahem, anyways. As amazing as it is, we can’t distribute this to the public. The versatility and manufacturing challenges that come with it, make it too dangerous to allow common Earthens to use.”

“I had a feeling.” Tetsuo smiled to himself. “It’s alright, this design was actually meant for me.”