Miyuki yawned while trudging down the hall. She didn’t have the best night. The different scenarios and results of the next few days constantly messed with her. As she was walking, she heard footsteps coming from an intersecting hallway.

  She also heard Sarah’s voice from the hall. “Where are you taking me now? Or are you not going to tell me?” Miyuki heard a growl in her tone. Maybe they wouldn’t have to deal with a scared kitten.

  Miyuki saw Logan first. His body was tense, and his expression was complicated. It looked like a mix of self-recrimination and concern. She could guess the reason for the self-recrimination. The concern was unexpected. Following him was Sarah dressed like a Hunter-class carrying a strange sword. She was about to say something when Logan beat her to it.

  “We’re going to a smith named Gorgos. He’s probably the best in the Americas and I’m hoping he can tell us a little about your…gift.”

  Miyuki caught up to them and saw what the gift Logan mentioned. “Where’d the sword come from?”

  He glanced at her while continuing down the hall. “Hm? Oh, good morning. Apparently, Durga decided to leave her something.”

  Miyuki shook her head. She must have still been drowsy and misheard. “Wait, Durga, as in the goddess Durga?”

  “That’s the one.”

  She paused, falling a few steps behind the pair. She recovered and caught up to them. “How is that possible? Does this mean the seal is failing?”

  “I don’t know. I want to stop by Gorgos before taking it to Master Sigurd.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sarah cut in, “I’m pretty sure I should be involved in this conversation.” Her previously intimidated body language turned aggressive and confrontative when she met Miyuki’s eyes.

  “That information isn't mine to give out,” Logan said over his shoulder. “Please be patient, everything will be explained eventually.”

  Sarah only gave them a mollified grumble.

  The three of them entered the smithy and immediately felt the near unbearable heat of the enchanted forge. Miyuki was thankful that her species’ innate resistance to fire made her immune to the sudden temperature change. The large smith continued his work, not even twitching at their appearance. He continued to pound away at a glowing metal rod with an absurdly large hammer. The massive thing had to have been twenty kilograms and he swung it like it weighed nothing.

  The cyclops was named Gorgos and stood well over two meters tall with enough muscles to crush coal into diamonds. His heavily scarred leather gloves and apron showed how hard he worked at his passion. She knew that even with Gorgos’ singular eye, he was practically clairvoyant when it came to who and what was in his smithy. They stood and waited patiently. The rhythmic clanging continued for another minute before he put the partially shaped rod aside, hung his hammer up on a nearby rack, took off his gloves, and acknowledged his three guests.

  He went to Logan while wiping his soot covered hands with a cloth and wearing a large smile. “Ah Logan, it’s great to see you,” he said with a booming voice. If Miyuki’s fox ears were out, they would have flinched at the volume. The combination of massive lungs and partial hearing loss from the centuries of working a forge made a voice loud enough to almost hurt.

  Logan smiled, “it’s been too long, old friend. I wish this was for pleasure, but we’re here on business.”

  Gorgos didn’t even need to shift his weight to look at the two women. “Don’t tell me the little fox is trying to convince me to make her kitchen tools again. I said it before and I’ll say it again. I only make real weapons.”

  Miyuki laughed. She had attempted to persuade him to make her a set of throwing knives. When he refused she entered a six-month long campaign to be a near-daily nuisance until he accepted. She only stopped when he tried to brain her with his hammer and promised he wouldn’t miss a second time.

  “That would make my life easier,” Logan said. “No, I need you to do an appraisal for me.”

  “Appraisal?” Gorgos said looking very interested. “Anything interesting?”

  Logan put his hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “This is Sarah, she has recently become beast-cursed and has received a sword in an…unusual fashion.”

  “Really?” he laughed good-naturedly at the still gawking Sarah. “First time seeing a cyclops?” She blushed a little at the call out. “Well, if you’re a friend of Logan, you’re a friend of mine. Let me see that sword of yours.” Without a word she handed it to him. Gorgos took the weapon and started examining it while in its sheath. He made his way over to a large workbench and sat on a stool with a thud.

  While Gorgos was examining the sword, Logan shifted to Sarah. “Let me see your old clothes.”

  “Uh, sure.” She said while handing them to him.

  Without another word Logan took the clothes, walked over to the forge, and tossed them in.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” she yelled and ran up to see the state of her already disintegrating belongings.

  “We needed to get rid of all evidence.”

  “And fire is the easiest and cleanest way of doing that.” Miyuki added. “Personally, it is my favorite method.”

  Sarah glared at her. “That doesn’t mean you can just-.”

  “Logan, I know you didn’t just throw something into my forge!” Gorgos thundered over to them.

  “Don’t worry, nothing’s hurt. If it can deal with your stubborn ass then it can survive some cheap clothing.”

  “It was not cheap,” Sarah growled.

  Gorgos closed the forge’s door. “That still doesn’t mean you can just throw whatever you want in there.”

  “That thing runs hot enough to disintegrate everything but the zipper. Anyway,” Logan said. “What do you think of the sword?”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Gorgos shrugged. “I can’t really say. I couldn’t even take it out of the sheath. As far as I can tell it’s enchanted so that only the designated person can only draw it.”

  Logan raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Gorgos handed Sarah the sword. “Can you draw it for us?”

  She glared at Logan. “I don’t know why I should after you burned my stuff.”

  Miyuki nudged her. “Oh, come on, don’t be like that. Now pull out your long, hard and curved weapon and let us see.”

  Sarah gave her a weird look before easily drawing the sword in one smooth motion. Gorgos’ singular eyebrow rose at the sight of the blade.

  “Can I hold it?” he asked before she handed him the weapon.

  He took it and returned to his workbench. The three visitors followed him and watched as he examined it with multiple tools and mana aspect scanners.

  “Fascinating,” he said, pulling down a poseable magnifying glass and peering through it. “As far as I can tell there are absolutely no impurities in the blade while having some sort of mana severing aspect. There’s no spell circles so the effect doesn’t come from an enchantment. The effect has to be from the metal itself. The tiger head has its own effect I can’t identify with what I have here. It also has the perfect combat edge. Not too sharp to weaken the blade while sharp enough to cut into whatever you want.” He pulled back. “I have never seen a sword this perfect in a very long time. Where did it come from?”

  Miyuki could hear in his tone that he suspected the sword’s origin. She was initially unsure if Gorgos could be trusted with the origin. That feeling quickly left when she remembered who they were talking to. The big lug was one of the most trustworthy beings she knew. You didn’t get to smith equipment for top rankers by being a blabbermouth.

  Logan also hesitated momentarily before coming to the same conclusion. “It is a gift from Durga. The Hindu goddess.”

  “What?” Gorgos asked, visibly disturbed. “How is that possible? I thought all the deities were-.”

  “Yea, yea,” Miyuki interrupted. “We’ve already gone over this. They shouldn’t have it because of reasons that are too complicated to get into right now.”

  Gorgos frowned at the blade as he handed it back to Sarah. “As I thought, a deific weapon. Only legendary smiths and gods can create anything near this. Be warned, this kind of weapon is always powerful and difficult to handle. Usually the wielder has to be extremely careful so they don’t get influenced or controlled by the weapon. It’s weird that I don’t get that feeling from this one. I’m guessing it was altered by the goddess to make it so you can use it. Whatever the case is,” he leaned in close to look Sarah straight in the eye, “never lose this sword and protect it with your life. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if The Light got their hands on it.”

  Sarah started rising to Gorgos’ challenge. Logan placed his hand on the big man’s shoulder. “Alright, I think she gets the point. Now that we have some answers we need to go.”

  Sarah sheathed her sword.

  “Thanks for your help” Logan shook Gorgos’ the ham-hok sized hand. “We need to meet with Master Sigurd.”

  “Of course, if you ever need anything, let me know.”

  Logan nodded in thanks before leaving the room with Sarah and Miyuki in tow.

  Miyuki still couldn’t believe that Sarah received a god’s weapon. Whenever anything god-crafted was discovered, it was of the highest priority to collect them. No matter what they were to be collected, contained, and analyzed under the strictest of tests. To have a god’s sword within arm’s reach of her was kind of a shock.

  Her training was screaming “get that dangerous thing away from her and lock it up somewhere.” She heavily agreed with this response but held back because of how it was received. If Sarah had found the weapon along with the artifact, there was no way they would even come within miles of each other for years. Now that Gorgos told that it was modified and weakened specifically for her there was less of a problem.

  The elevator ride to Sigurd’s office was more than a little tense. The atmosphere only thickened when they stood before the double doors once again. After a deep breath Logan knocked.

  “Who is it?” asked a little speaker to the left of the door Miyuki hadn’t noticed before.

  “It’s Logan, sir,” he said to the speaker.

  She heard the exasperation in the Councilors voice, “very well, come in.”

  With a push they returned to the spacious office.

  The Councilor was typing away at his computer with a speed one would not expect by someone born long before electricity. After typing for another ten or so seconds, he stopped and turned to his guests. “Why are you still here?” He asked gruffly. “Shouldn’t you already be on your way to the airport?”

  Logan bowed slightly. “Yes sir, but we ran into something that I think you should see.”

  Sigurd leaned back in his chair rubbing his forehead. “Isn’t there always. Alright, what is it?”

  Logan motioned for Sarah to step forward and show the sword. Sigurd frowned in a mix of confusion and wariness. “I’m guessing that's not one of Gorgos’ works.”

  Logan nodded. “Yes sir, it appears that Sarah was given the sword by the goddess Durga herself.”

  “This is indeed worrying.” He returned to typing on his computer. “I will put in an emergency order for agents to check on the seals.”

  He was taking the news surprisingly well in Miyuki’s opinion. She didn’t know whether it was from his mental stoicism or that he was so done with everything, what was one more monumental event?

  “If that is all, you are dismissed,” he said, sounding completely unconcerned. “Your flight is being loaded now.”

  Miyuki and Logan were surprised at Sigurd’s response. “Are you sure master?” Logan asked hesitantly.

  “Yes,” he answered, “I’ll handle it. Now go.”

  They started to leave but Sigurd called out. “Actually.” They all stopped and turned back to him. “Logan, I need to speak with you briefly in private. You two wait outside.”

  Miyuki bowed and left the office. Sarah hesitated but Miyuki grabbed her arm and guided her out. Both Logan and Sigurd were silent until the door closed and whatever privacy enchantments the room had blocked all sound from bleeding through the thick door.

  Her mind was still on why Sigurd wanted to talk to Logan alone. She glanced at Sarah only to find her staring at her sword. A white-knuckled grip holding it like a lifeline.

  It wasn’t long for Logan to come out even more concerned than he was before. She was going to ask until he met her eyes and shook his head.

  They rode the elevator down to the loading bay in which they were taken in one of the same cars as yesterday back to the airport. Instead of a private plane there was a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy Carrier waiting for them.

  The monumental airship was complete with four engines, an open head, and a loading bay large enough to hold multiple tanks. When they arrived the last of a line of supplies were being loaded onto the aircraft. At first glance the cargo seemed to be average supplies like food or toiletries. That changed when one crate literally opened a mouth and tried to bite its mover.

  Miyuki sighed as she looked at the transport. It wasn’t bad enough that she would be stuck in a confined space with a newly cursed being, she also had to deal with passenger seats that probably haven't seen a cleaner since they were installed. As she was reaching into the back of the car to retrieve her duffel bag, she heard a grunt and a shout.

  On instinct she turned, drew her left revolver and found the source. Sarah had full out sucker-punched Logan in the kidney and was making a run for it. She was aiming to round one of the hangars and disappear. Miyuki raised her gun, spun the cylinder to the lightning enchantment and began channeling mana into forming a bullet. As she was aiming for one of Sarah’s legs, Logan stopped her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw many of their escorts doing something similar, some aiming pistols or beginning spells while others getting ready to pursue.

  “Hold,” he ordered as he watched the fleeing figure. She was reminded of the amount of respect and authority Logan had when all the Guardian-class escorts halted instantly.

  “What?” she asked. “She’s too unstable. If she runs, she could-.”

  “I know,” he interrupted, “she could cause a massacre.”