The Aftermath Of Mount Woe Chapter 41
More Power
By Nanaki
12,001 B.C.
"Well, I've got an odd work order this morning." Melchior said, walking into his shop. Mune looked up with interest as Masa continued to stoke the forge.
"What is it and who's it from?" He asked out of habit.
"It's from Prince Janus." Mune's eyes took on an air of curiosity. "He wants a weapon for Schala that will allow her to regain her powers."
"Now that is a tall order." Masa grunted as the flames leapt up.
"Not just tall, nearly impossible." Mune frowned. "Unless we take some wild guesses with magical theory that just happen to be correct, then we have no way of getting Schala her old powers back. Not without a lot more research on Lavos' wavelength."
"Then what can we do for her?"
"Let's get Spekkio's input on this." Masa suggested. "He's a pretty good fighter."
"Pretty good?" Mune grinned widely. "He could kick your butt easily!"
"Yeah, well..." Masa went back to working on the forge.
"Did I hear someone mention me?" Spekkio bounded into the room.
"Gaaah!" Melchior, Masa, and Mune exclaimed collectively. "A little warning would be appreciated next time." Melchior put his hand up to his chest.
"Sorry about that, O guru of geezerhood." Spekkio bowed as well as Nu could bow.
"You are so annoying." Melchior stated succinctly.
"Ditto. That's why I hang out with Gaspar. He has a sense of humor. So why did you guys want me here anyway?"
"We need some way of giving Schala more power." Mune stated evenly.
"Um... In my experience, giving dead people a load of power doesn't turn out very well."
"She's not dead. Not entirely." Melchior reprimanded him. "Do you know of any way to overcome Lavos' wavelength?"
"Sorry. Gaspar and I have been having the same problem. Lavos seems to have a nearly unlimited amount of energy on that wavelength, and for some reason, humans, Nus, and... well, whatever the hell you two are," he nodded at Masa and Mune, "can't use it or even figure out how it works. Except for the few who are under his control."
"So there's no way we can increase power in her or the dagger?"
"Not that I no of, no. Sorry." And with that, Spekkio abruptly disappeared.
"Well, guess that's the end of that." Masa sighed and turned around.
"Hold on. Don't be selfish Masa." Mune looked thoughtful.
"What are you talking about? What else can we do?"
"Anchoring."
"Oh no, not that!"
"What's anchoring?" Melchior butted in.
"Okay Melchior, prepare for a little history/biology lesson about our race."
"But, I thought you told me your ancestors were humans."
"They were. WE, however, are finori. We've been this species for a few million years. Well, actually, whatever's on Earth by this time is probably vastly different. But in the era we're from-"
"It's gonna take all day if you explain it." Masa interrupted him. "The bottom line is that finori are shapeshifters by nature. We've always been able to turn into anything we want, since we stopped being humans anyway. In the past few thousand years, the finori evolved the ability to planeshift."
"Planeshift?" Melchior got a puzzled expression on his face.
"The ability to travel to different planes of existence simply by force of will." Mune took back control of the conversation. "Now this is where anchoring comes in. In some planes, a finori will get sucked right back to the plane they came from. We don't know why it happens, or if it's physical or magical in nature. Anyway, a finori can prevent that from happening by "anchoring" itself to an object in that dimension."
"And this is one of those types of dimensions? But, what are you anchored to?"
"We were all anchored to our ship. That's why it took me and Doreen so long to heal when we got hurt. Since then, we've anchored to large rocks on the surface. It's safer that way. Now, as to how this relates to additional power for Schala-"
"If we put anchoring force in a weapon, it gets really strong." Masa interrupted again.
"Er, yes." Mune said, P.O.ed. "So if we anchor with the dagger, then it'll take an awful lot to stop it."
"More than Dalton's got?"
"Oh yeah." Masa grinned.
"More than Lavos's got?"
"That, I couldn't tell you."
Melchior grimaced. "Let's give it a try."
"How are you going to find the dagger? I'm sure Zeal has it hidden away pretty good."
Melchior reached behind his belt, then procured the bright red dagger. "Janus got it. Don't ask me how. When that boy actually wants to do something, well, he does it, and does a good job." Then he looked up. "Do we need the forge for this?"
"Nope. Just let us handle it." Mune shut his eyes, and Masa reluctantly did too. They began to flicker, and then appeared to ripple in the air. They became foggy, and finally vanished. There was a bright flash, and then they were standing just as they had always been. "Go ahead, try it out." Mune gestured toward a stone pillar in the middle of the room. Melchior used it to test a weapon's strength. The more it damaged the pillar, the better the alloy. Melchior swung the dagger hard into the pillar. It did as much damage as he would have expected a Dreamstone weapon to do.
"I didn't see anything special." He said, frustrated.
"That's because we didn't activate the power yet." Mune explained. There was another flash of white, and Masa and Mune disappeared again. "Now try it." Mune's voice drifted from the weapon.
"If you say so." Melchior grimaced, then swung hard at the pillar again. Sparks flew as the stone shattered. Then the severed top of the pillar went flying through the air, where it crashed into the wall. Masa and Mune reappeared.
"Oh yeah! That's gonna cramp Dalton's style!" But Melchior groaned.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Mune questioned.
"Quiet!" Melchior hissed. But in a few seconds, he heard feet running down the hall, and Dalton appeared in the doorway.
His eyebrows arched in surprise. "Well, well. It looks like we've been engaging in a little illicit activity." He strode forward and seized the dagger. "I could go a long time without seeing this thing again. Melchior, I'm afraid I'm going to have to report this."
"And what's going to happen? You know making weapons is my job!" He demanded angrily.
"We'll leave that up to Zeal. This is no ordinary weapon, after all. Come along."
Masa and Mune looked ready to jump back into the dagger, but Melchior held up a hand. "No. I want to see what happens, actually."
"Smart move." Dalton nodded. "Let's go, old man."
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"Wield your sword with full knowledge of the consequences." - Melchior
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