Sachihiro

"Sachi."

"Hiro."

"Ma, da." I nod to acknowledge them both as each grabs my attention.

We have been travelling for the past two days having left the mountain at nightfall the night of the reported sighting and have been on a constant jog ever since. Occasionally stopping because we are lugging along some of the latest celestial steel weapons, heavy responsibility.

It somehow seems irreverent to consider carrying them 'lugging'. I'm just so excited about the fight ahead that I can hardly contain myself. Not everyone is with us from our original trip, all 8 young men stayed as apprentice smiths with a few of the veterans learning the basics of the dwarven ore smelting techniques but most of us are almost home now.

"Are you sure you are ready to fight?" Ma asks the question da won't 'cause it would sound like him questioning my manhood. From ma it just seems more acceptable, though still annoyingly overbearing.

"My hand is ok, not much gripping power, okay it still sometimes spasms if clenched too long but it's good. I will use my right arm to carry my shield and the left as my primary weapon. I've been practicing, you know this da," I defend myself. There is no way I'm not fighting, no way.

There is absolutely no ways I am letting this fight go. I look around our little rest camp. There are 18 tribesmen huddled in two groups around two small fires. It's the middle of the night so we have a few guards on patrol outside the camp perimeter and my turn is coming up soon. Why would you trust me to guard you from dangers in the night but not trust me to keep myself alive in a conflict anyways.

Among us are the 12 dwarf observers. Apparently they are to observe the fighting, and helped build semi permanent trade amongst our peoples. Not sure how 12 people are to build trade but what do I know?

"That's not what I mean dear," ma sighs and huddles into my side in an embrace.

"You've never seen war before and this will be war, not just a battle," da says, nodding to himself. "Our people fight and kill for it is the highest honour we can give our opponents, a glorious death in battle. We have no hate in us as a people. We fight because it is in our blood, because it is our warrior spirit needing to be unleashed, to test ourselves with the ultimate stakes. Most of the tribes are thus anyways son," da says looking into my eyes.

Most people don't live by the sword on an everyday basis and fight even amongst themselves. We Barbarians have lives outside combat. That is, in most tribes except the Savage Tribe.

It is said the Savage Tribe produces unequalled warriors because they all live by the sword all the time. Theft and discord are not tolerated amongst them. But if you want something that belongs to someone else you challenge for it in holmgang. Ritual combat to the death. No warrior can challenge non-warriors to holmgang, but the Savages are all warriors.

"I am very nervous and excited da. Of course, I will listen to your wisdom and advice," I say, nodding. Not really sure what the difference between battle and war is yet but I'm sure I will find out.

"Do you know why we named you Sachihiro? It isn't a Scandinavian word." Ma asks, seemingly randomly.

"'Sachi' means happiness and wealth while 'hiro' means vast or very big. You are the vast happiness of the Norse Tribe of the Barbarian people of the Tundra," ma says smiling, ruffling my stroking into my hair.

Or the vast wealth of the Norse Tribe, I snort internally trying to keep the flushing heat from reaching my face. I feel like everyone is watching me being treated like a kid but no one seems to be paying any attention to us.

The rolling hills, the fields of trees, the rocky streams, the open meadows spread from horizon to horizon until one reach the Titans. These all make up the Tundra. Our lands for generations now, our home.

"Before you were born your ma and I travelled out of the Tundra, you know this. We travelled the lands to the south and the east. They have a sickness; it's not easy to notice at first but its there." Da looks up at the beautiful night sky, the stars scattered and numerous. Too beautiful and awe-inspiring to be fully understood.

"They have hate in their hearts these people. They are lacking something normal, and we just don't want you to have hate in your heart son." Da finally says. I nod my apparent understanding. These opponents surely need my help in reaching the peaceful release in death.

"Come, let us have some ale. I like this dwarven ale." Da says as he clasps my shoulders and leads me to the fires before my guard shift.

*

 

The run to the village takes us three more days. I'm genuinely surprised the dwarves were able to keep up but it seems I've underestimated them.

Dwarves are naturally strong and have a lot of stamina, so they can push themselves. But the pace and their 'light' armour was definitely an impediment.

We head straight for the longhouse as that is where most families sleep during times of strife. I look around and greet a few people I know. Hoping to see Teá and Ava, but alas we get in the presence of the village Chief Daen son of Tribal Chieftain Stomm the Bloodletter and a few elders and veteran warriors.

This batch of weapons is to be distributed between our village and another led by the nephew of the previous chief. Representatives from that village are present and waiting for the unveiling.

The weapons are brought forward for inspection after some introductions with the dwarves. I lean forward as well reflexively, not having had a chance to admire them on the trip.

This batch of weapons is made mainly of swords, but there is a small tomahawk single-handed throwing axe that I covet immediately.

My eyes fall onto the leather-bound handle, the curved half-moon blade that the dwarves favour for their axes, the dull silver finish on the blade that will help limit reflecting light, the decorative dwarven pattern on the blade. It's beautiful. The simplicity of its design makes it unique amongst the pile.

The swords are great as well and almost everyone is admiring them. They are of superior craftsmanship than our usual swords I won't lie. The dwarves are by far better smiths.

There are 16 particularly beautiful long swords, each with a gem encased in the metal of the crossguard. The gems seem to have been incorporated during the forging process and not added afterwards as decorations or additives but as actual parts of the swords now impossible to remove.

The hilts are longer than usual for more gripping options I assume, with a round pummel at the end. The hilts are then encased in a strong woody material that is then wrapped in katari metal fibres and finally wrapped in what appears to be snake skin leather.

"The mud lizard hide is naturally resistant to water. It runs right off and leaves the lizard completely dry. It was tested and it does the same with blood. You will never lose your grip because of sweaty or bloody work with these babies." One of the dwarves says helpful.

"Only ever seen mud lizards in the Dawn, deep in the Dawn. Makes them rare and they not easy to kill." Another dwarf grunts and moves away to the back.

The gems are different for each blade I notice from afar. Kyanite which enhances communication and psychic abilities.

Labradorite on another blade for aura protection and enhanced awareness of multiple realities. And clear quarts which amplifies energy are the only gems I clearly identify from here. But even if I can't identify the gems the rest of the blades I can see just fine.

Besides the 16 double-edged long-swords, there are a few others that stand out for different reasons and even a mace amongst the weapons. All in all, there are 112 dwarven forged weapons. All are made of celestial steel, one of the rarest metals on Gaia, one of the most precious metals.

I didn't really know much about metals and absolutely nothing about gems before spending time with the twins but now I find myself cataloguing them reflexively.

Steel is a superior metal that if taken care of adequately can last a warrior a lifetime. It can hold an edge very well but the edge has to be maintained with sharpening after every use in battle.

Meteoric steel or sky steel is usually black in colour but can vary. It can make weapons slightly tougher than normal steel; it also conducts mana better resulting in theories on how to effectively enchant it. We have plenty of sky ore mixed with the deposits of celestial.

Mythril is a very light very strong metal that soaks up mana like a sponge. It is so light that it can be worn as armour with minimal effects on weight. It's hardly ever made into amour though because it is so difficult to work, or even extract from the ground. It is said only Awakened smiths can work it effectively, and though it cannot conduct mana it is easy to enchant compared to regular steel but not as easily enchanted as celestial or even sky steel or iron.

Mythril is approximately 10 times stronger than steel yet 3 times lighter. A Master Smith amongst the dwarves is elevated by showing the ability to work mythril.

Adamantium is all about strength. It is said to be stronger than diamonds and very heavy as well. If a person ever manages to get a cutting edge on adamantium that edge is there to stay, no sharpening ever needed. With enough strength, you can theoretically cut into a stone mountain without even chipping an adamantium edge.

There is apparently nothing magical about it, but it's superiority in strength to every other metal in the seven worlds is without question. But it's inability to be smelted only makes it a fantasy metal though that doesn't stop the Grandmaster Smiths who attempt to work it every few decades.

There are other metals with very useful or unusual and unique attributes according to my teachers. Metals like katari metal that can be bent or twisted or folded but is as difficult to cut or break as steel, or orichalcum that is completely magic resistant. And other metals that float or have other affinities.

What makes celestial steel special is its ability to be bound. It isn't an easy concept to understand but celestial steel is practically identical to meteoric steel; that is, until spiritual energy is infused into it.

Infusing celestial steel with spiritual energy results in it hardening and becoming lighter to the wielder. It can eventually become as strong as mythril depending on how powerful the spiritual energy of the person is and how strong the connection to the weapon gets over time. The longer the constant infusing of spiritual energy the harder the metal becomes to break and the heavier it gets in other people's hands.

Only after the current wielder dies does it revert back to 'normal' meteoric steel, waiting to be infused again. And of course, one doesn't need to be an Awakened to have spiritual energy, hence my strange brother Daewon is hanging with the seers. But besides the seers, most barbarian warriors have strong spirit energy. Probably another reason that ugly hag witch picked Om, Harold, Dee and I to feed on or whatever it was doing.

Celestial ore can only be found in meteorites, even then maybe one out of ten times. Thus, we are now friends with the dwarves. No one could have been able to resist the allure of working with celestial ore, and especially the dwarves I realize now that I know them a little better. And to be given over a ton of the precious material? They would have forgiven us anything.

The average weight of a long sword is 4 to 5 pounds. So I imagine the dwarves could make almost a thousand celestial steel swords from one ton of celestial ingots.

When the twins told me that little fact, I understood why they think barbarians are stupid in trade. And why ma is worried the world will come to the Tundra in never-ending droves for the ore. We have too much. We have to find a way to distribute it or hide it or something. 'Cause if we don't, we will never stop fighting and though that doesn't sound so bad to some, our people would never recover.

It will be a glorious few years though. I hope the other expeditions found as much fortunate with the other races as ours had with the dwarves.

I'm very interested in the elves, the orcs and the fae. Especially the orcs. Creatures said to be as fierce as Barbarians and stronger to boot, I can't wait to meet one.

 

I didn't get the axe; it didn't even stay in our village. But there are still thousands of veteran warriors in our tribe that need to be armed first. I know this, but then why do I feel so disappointed?

I'm travelling with a few warriors to the battle site chosen by the seers. Apparently, the youth are to fight first to bloody the southerners, that's where Ava and Teá are.

It is said the tribes were arguing because the southerners only brought an estimated 30 thousand warriors. Which ends up not being enough for a true challenge? So the 'kids', which are the least experienced fighters from the combined tribes, will bloody them until they bring a proper army.

Even completely green youths who have never even been on a raid will be given this chance to kill southerners. It will take us, the late arrivals a few days to get there. I hope I don't miss the fighting.