The Ethersmith [Runesmithing Progression Fantasy]

The pen fell from Vivi's hand. "He's… awake?"

Senith nodded. She smiled, the type of smile one inch of happiness away from tears. "Your grandpa is awake. But, um, he doesn't speak Fimian. We're still searching for a translation skill. I also think he's a bit… upset?"

Vivi forgot the drawing of Thorn Sword behind her. Anything to do with science and skills disappeared from her head, replaced by a rush of emotions and adrenaline. She pushed past Senith and Lucas, running out of the building. Once outside, she added ether to her legs, running straight past the parked carriage, into the busy streets of Shivenar's middle levels.

She bumped into traffic and didn't bother apologizing. If traffic blocked her way, she jumped, running straight to the Lowmoor district.

She was there in minutes, uncaring of the looks she may have received, and burst straight into the Runes and Rain Company, and upstairs, where Grandpa was sleeping. Vivi slammed the door open.

There he was. Sitting upright on the bed. The same wrinkled face, just a little pale—and his beard was gone. Without it, he looked more frail than usual. He was clad in a simple white shirt. Lortel stood next to him silently and protectively.

Seeing her at the doorstep, his eyes opened wide. "Vivi?"

Vivi blinked a tear off of her eye. She ran and wrapped her arms around him. He was warm and sweaty. Lucius hid within her.

The hug was eventually broken as Grandpa coughed. A frail cough, though it looked painful. One became two, and he coughed for a solid ten seconds. "Fuck," Grandpa managed to say in between, until he finally calmed down.

"Holy mother of all runes," Grandpa said. His voice was as harsh as always, yet his eyes were in awe at the sight of her dress. "You've grown!"

"I have not," Vivi said, wiping another tear from her eyes, smiling. "I'm not even eighteen yet."

Grandpa only grinned, a happy and disbelieving grin, as they looked at each other. It felt like ages since they'd last seen. Where could Vivi even start telling all that had happened?

"Sorry, Viv," Grandpa finally said. "I couldn't defend you from the hunters. Those assholes decided to throw me to prison."

"The hunters won't be a problem ever again," Vivi said. "There's no need to mention them."

Another quick cough escaped him, but that didn't stop him from grinning. "Only my daughter could survive alone on the fourth level. As expected, you've grown strong."

There was so much Vivi wanted to say, she struggled to form any words at all. "A lot has happened…"

"We both have tales to tell, and work to do." He stretched his back, testing his limbs, then grumbled, "Ahhh, fantastic. I feel absolutely goddamned awful. Did I fall asleep in a burning building?" He scratched his chin, clearly upset that his beard wasn't there anymore.

"Sorry, your beard had to be shaved to take care of you better," Vivi said. "It'll grow back. Do you remember what happened?"

"Vaguely." Grandpa glanced at Lortel suspiciously. "And who the—" His next word trailed off, which Vivi guessed would have been hell. "—is that?"

"That's Lortel," Vivi said. "My friend. She's a seamstress and a healer."

"And why is she standing there without saying anything?" Grandpa asked.

Vivi glanced at her.

Lortel said, "I would leave you two alone for a reunion, but his condition is still unstable. I will watch over him."

Vivi nodded, turning back to Grandpa. "She's a demon… She doesn't speak the language. She looks scary, but she's responsible for saving your life. You should thank her."

"Tell her I'm the most grateful man to see the surface." He groaned as he lifted a foot above the bed, trying to get up.

"Lie down!" Vivi said, placing her hands back on his shoulders. "You still need rest."

"And you're still not eighteen," Grandpa grumbled through gritted teeth. "And we've got ether to earn. I've secured a contract now. Soon, we can start earning ether. Where's that goddamned rat Andre?"

"Grandpa…" Vivi said. You idiot, how do I tell you this? "Andre is gone. You won't have to work for him anymore."

"What?" Grandpa asked in a louder tone. "What about the contract? The hunters finally saw the potential in my swords. We finally have a chance to earn ether. Hopefully enough to clear your debt! Maybe I can still get back to him."

"Grandpa, you idiot, I'm not in debt anymore!" Vivi said. "We're not on the surface. This is Shivenar."

That made him pause. Something didn't seem to register in his head.

"You'll see where we are soon." Vivi sniffled and smiled. "How much did Andre pay you for the swords?"

Grandpa stared at her for a moment. "He promised to pay exactly a hundred thousand once you were saved."

"He tricked us both," Vivi said. "He told me you were dead…"

"And he told me you were stranded and captured on the fourth level."

The tears started to come back. All the awful memories and emotions of Andre's lies still lingered in her head. She'd never truly gotten over the grief. Seeing Grandpa again, alive and speaking, resparked the memories, but in a whole different light, as if it had all just been one long bad dream.

"Your dream," Vivi said, "to sell your swords to the hunters… I'm afraid I've ruined it."

"Bah," Grandpa said. "Turns out, the hunters are all still junkies."

Vivi let out a laugh, wiping her eyes again.

"You must have a lot of stories to tell," Grandpa said with a wide grin. "You've seen the world. You've traveled the underground. A lot happened to me as well. Mostly boring stuff. Like that one time that Randolf ass face tried to steal my roll of toilet wipes, or when Wert tried to get me to draw a strength rune into his spoon for an escape."

"Mm," Vivi said, nodding. She took a moment to gather herself and to calm down. "I was in prison too. An ether facility."

From there, tales spread. Vivi began from the moment she woke up on the fourth level. She described her very first fights, some of her arguments with Lucius, her first meals, and her encounters with the surge hazards. She told everything with much more detail than she had with Coshi. If anything at all seemed notable, she said it.

Grandpa's look grew increasingly concerned when Vivi got to Zand, but he was also curious. He didn't interrupt her once, just calmly listened as Vivi told tales of how she almost died a dozen times over, how she found the hidden dungeon, and how she learned to fight with Lucius's claws.

When her tale got to her first encounter with Andre, as well as her first runesmithing session underground, a vague grin appeared on Grandpa's face.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I only crafted a single-runed sword in his smithy," Vivi said. "But it was still enough to survive from Andre's attack."

"That fucking rat," Grandpa said. "He actually tried to kill you?"

"I did also back down on the deal…" Vivi said.

"This same asshat tried to convince me that he needed me to craft him the best runeswords in the world to save you from the demons," Grandpa said. "He tried to kill you!"

Vivi was the one to smile now. She continued the tale. By the time she had mentioned everything that happened in Zand, two hours must have passed. Her throat was getting sore from all the words she spoke.

"I'll want to see this Abyss Destroyer," Grandpa said. "Sounds like it might be your best work yet. The cat gave it the stupidest name I've heard, though."

Lucius's presence flickered, but he stayed silent.

Vivi chuckled. "It's a venerium sword. You'll get poisoned. I crafted an even better sword later. Just you wait."

She mostly skimmed through the adventure through the blight. That was one memory she didn't want to live through again. She did mention Boblin, and her arrival to the fifth level, as well as how she nearly died of thirst in the desert until a kind noblewoman saved her.

When her story moved to Shivenar, Vivi's chest started to feel tight. For some reason, she felt nervous talking about how she opened her own smithy in the legendary city of runesmiths. Telling Grandpa a story about killing monsters was easy, simply because Vivi was a more experienced hunter. Grandpa couldn't argue against her decisions, as he had no idea how hunters operated.

But running a smithy and crafting swords was his expertise. He could scrutinize Vivi for her ways of running the smithy. If she'd done a better job, she could have been way more famous by now.

She started the tale anyway, mentioning how she visited Vanhalla—she described their masterpieces, mentioning how she believed she could craft something better. So she started her smithy.

"At first, my customers were junkies looking for trouble," she said. "It wasn't much different from running the smithy back home. But a few days in, adventurers started to show up."

She still remembered the early days of opening the Lost Raindrop. Grandpa's nods looked satisfied as Vivi told him of their customers. His eyes opened wide when she mentioned how much her first swords sold for.

"You earned over fifteen thousand ether?" Grandpa asked. "In your first week, selling one-runed swords?"

Vivi grinned. "Wait until you learn how much ether I have now. And wait until you hear of Shivenar's runesmithing competition."

Grandpa's expression was fully serious now. He wore the same expression he did when examining Vivi's runeswords, or when observing her technique to offer tips.

She described the competition in extensive detail, how she entered last second to barely have a spot within the square, how all the outside-carvers laughed at her and her sack of ether roots. Grandpa grinned, hearing of her rise from the bottom to the top, though he frowned when Vivi mentioned her disqualification.

That frown turned truly appalled when Vivi mentioned her smithy had been destroyed. "Who the hell," Grandpa asked, "in their right mind, would ever destroy someone else's smithy!?"

"It's fine, Grandpa, it's all rebuilt now," Vivi said. "Do you remember the kind noblewoman I mentioned? Senith. She and her brother helped fix everything. I may have been disqualified from the competition, but Shivenar's nobles and warriors still saw the strength of my sword. I finally started to receive competitive offers for my swords. How much do you think Senith's brother's team offered for Blossom?"

"Must have been at least a hundred thousand," Grandpa said.

"The first offer I received was ten million ether."

Grandpa's mouth froze open. "Ten? Ten million?"

"I currently have forty million ether," Vivi said.

Grandpa leaned forward for a moment. He pressed his face against his palms, then grinned. "Holy mother of ether… How much did Blossom sell for in the end?"

She laughed awkwardly. "I actually traded it for a favor… You see, I saw Andre's men using one of your swords in Paradise… Then I learned you were alive. And you needed to be saved. So I asked for help. In return for saving you, I offered Blossom for the Luminary, Coshi Dala, to help me save you. We stole you back from the hunters." And the humans now hate me even more.

Grandpa blinked at that. "You mean… You traded over ten million ether worth of swords just to save me?"

"I had to," Vivi said. "I mean…" You're the only family I have…

"I'd call that a stupid deal," Grandpa said. "However… It seems like this Coshi is acquainted with you. The leader of Shivenar of all places knows of our swords." He paused, then said, "Ah, and could you ask your spirit, Lucius, to show his face."

Lucius perked up. He was listening, of course, but for some reason, he'd been hiding.

Well? Vivi asked. Is something wrong?

"No, of course not," Lucius said. He showed himself from Vivi's core and floated next to her with his paws crossed. "Hello, Vivi's grandpa."

Their disapproving expressions matched as the two stared at each other. Grandpa lifted a hand, then poked Lucius in the cheek. "I don't know if I should thank or scold you, spirit."

Lucius leaned backward.

"My daughter nearly died tens of times because of you," Grandpa said, frowning. "But you've also brought her to Shivenar."

"I apologize," Lucius said. "But Vivi was present at the hunters' examinations. I believed she wanted to be chosen."

"It's in the past now," Vivi said. "Lucius has helped me a lot. I wouldn't have survived without him."

Lucius looked away.

"Looks like you two get along." Grandpa lifted his feet off of the bed, preparing to stand. Vivi was about to persuade him back to rest, but Grandpa stood without issues. Lortel studied him curiously, but she didn't stop him. After watching him for a few hours, she must have decided he was healthy enough.

"I'd like to assess your work," Grandpa said. He stretched. "As a hunter, you're no doubt one of the best in the world. As a runesmith, however, you still have ways to go. It seems you haven't yet attempted four-runed swords."

"Yes…" Vivi said.

His eyes found his black raincoat on the hangers; the one he'd been wearing when he was captured. "Show me your smithy. And show me the city of my dreams."