Death Smith - Book 2 - Chapter 15 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Icarus Several days later. Late-April, 14 AR. United Kingdom, London. “I mean. I am not going into the Rifts, per se. But the job we do here is vital, you know?” the man asked, his voice loud enough to carry the distance. Lance simply nodded as he pulled on the hood of his GRRO issued raincoat, hoping it would lessen the chance of the man, Stefan, to continue his boasting. More than once, Lance had been tempted to reveal his status as a veteran and a level 23 Rifter compared to Stefan’s single digit. Luckily for Stefan, Lance had supressed that urge, pretending the hood was mostly for the constant downpour. Lance had asked Daniel for a favour in hooking him up with a job as a ‘debris collector’. Although GRRO personnel would do most of the collecting after Rifters had cleared a Rift, they occasionally hired Rift survivors to help in finding or identifying objects. For many survivors that never wanted to enter a Rift again, this occupation would offer a decent income, not to mention get similar benefits that actual Rifters had. These collectors were quite a boon for the GRRO, but also a liability. They could easily store valuable items in their inventory without the GRRO finding out. Quite a few shards, mana stones, or weapons had been ‘lost’ in the hands of a debris collector, only to end up in an underground auction somewhere. As expected of a typical British day, the weather was atrocious. Lance had started his shift as a collector four hours ago in the rain, and it had not lessened one bit. He wasn’t enjoying working in this weather, but it couldn’t have happened at a more fortunate time. “Got something, guys!” Lance barked, seconds later pressing on his radio device that was fastened on his shoulder. He had alerted the GRRO personnel that were huddling near a heater underneath a tent. A moment later a woman, Amira, approached him. The rank on her uniform listed her as a senior, marking her as someone who had some weight and authority on the site, but was still a rank lower than site overseer. “I think it used to be a weapon,” Lance commented as he placed both hands underneath a small rock, sliding it to the side afterwards. With the rock now gone, Lance could see the dented weapon. It surprised him the weapon had travelled this far when the Rifters had exited the Rift. Still, remembering how far a Rift had propelled him himself at one point, he let that thought rest. “It is definitely made out of Rift material,” Lance said as he placed a hand on the item, seeing the notification on his screen about the choice to store the broken weapon. He did so before he brought it out again, away from rocks and dirt. [You have retrieved an item from the inventory.] Lance suppressed his grin as he noticed Amira appear to be startled for a minute at the sudden materialisation of a weapon in Lance’s hand. No doubt the woman had seen it before, but seeing such an act up close was another thing. “The system lists it as just damaged, so I think the owner can still get it repaired,” Lance said as he handed her the weapon. “Great find. We’ll contact the owner once we figure out who it belongs to. Do you want a break and some coffee?” Amira asked. “Coffee would be good. But I don’t need the rest for now. Where do I need to go next?” Lance asked as he stepped closer, allowing him to have a better look at the digital map she had on her handheld device. He watched her fingers trace the lines marked on it, away from the location of the Rift. Cameras had recorded the Rifter’s, debris and other items being expelled from the Rift. It had been a tough one to deal with according to the Rifters. Due to it being an initial Rift, there had been some loss of life. The Rift had spawned in a park, so thankfully the incident had only claimed three people, alongside numerous animals. “Grid 23-A. Analysis shows a high grouping of projectiles going in that area. Do you want Stefan to help you out?” Amira asked as a knowing smile formed on her features. “No! No, no. I am sure Stefan is busy at his own grid, saving the world,” Lance replied, desperate to put some distance between Stefan and himself. Although the man was a Rifter like Lance, the man had never stepped foot in a Rift after his initial one. Lance did not devalue the man for not going into Rifts, seeing as plenty of survivors were traumatised, injured, or simply not suited for the life as a Rifter. But Stefan seemed to elevate his position as debris collector akin to something a Rifter like Dieter was doing. Amira chuckled at that as she stored the device. “Noted. You head on over to the next grid while I’ll fetch you a cup of coffee.” Nodding, Lance made his way over to the next grid and began searching for things the Rift had expelled, be it weaponry, rubble, or the bodies of animals. Although the GRRO would no doubt rate them in that line-up, Lance was more interested in the latter. An animal that had survived a Rift was a rare sight, with dogs such as little Hans being incredible finds. There were plenty of cases of Rifters reporting animals inside of an initial Rift that had come from Earth, such as rabbits or birds, but because of their wild nature, they would stay away from Rifters. Sadly, this meant that they would end up getting shot out of the Rift when the Rift-event closed. Often, the GRRO would find red smears of animal carcases around the Rift site. ‘Another one,’ Lance thought as he jumped down a small boulder and noticed another smear of gore and feathers. ‘I think a pigeon?’ Lance mused, picking up a feather and rolling it with his fingers. A second later, he noticed the small white shard in the bloody pulp that had once been the pigeon’s body. The pigeon had survived the inside of the Rift because of its ability to fly, and the Rift had awarded the animal a white-shard, only to die upon arriving back on Earth. Luckily for Lance, he did not need the animal, just the shard. And a white-shard was one of the strongest materials known to man. [You have stored an item in the inventory.] He added the shard to his collection of animal shards. “Got something,” Lance said when Amira returned to Lance with a warm cup of coffee. “Thanks. I found this little fellow. I am not sure about the shard, perhaps it bounced off a rock or buried itself in the ground. Want me to start digging?” Lance asked as he took a sip of the coffee. “No, we are paying you too much for that. Best we mark it with a flag and let one of the interns do it. That or Stefan,” Amira said with a smile as she grabbed her device again and explained to Lance that there should be at least three more projectiles in the area. Finishing his coffee, Lance continued his work, feeling bad for taking advantage of Amira’s shown trust in him. * * * * * A few hours after his shift as a collector, Lance was back at home, drinking some warm tea in an attempt at heating his rain-soaked body. He took another generous sip as he glanced at his side, seeing Ash sitting in a seat and watching TV while wearing some old clothes Lance had given him. He could have simply equipped Ash with the R.A.M. uniform, but Lance wanted Ash to learn as much as possible, including being able to dress himself properly. Seeing Ash watch TV so intently might have been endearing, had it not been for the fact that Ash was sharpening the edges of a bear trap while watching a children’s program about learning how to count. ‘That is so messed up,’ Lance thought, wondering why he had thought it was alright to combine both activities for Ash to do. Lance had bought four bear traps in the workshop from someone Noel had recommended. They looked like your average bear traps, with thick metal teeth, but obviously thicker and durable. Each trap contained far more compressed force hidden behind a sensitive trigger. Each had set Lance back at least 5000 pounds, but he had seen first-hand how effective they could be during his runs with the White Clovers. The best part was, Lance could reset and retrieve them as often as needed. Ash still lacked the strength to arm them without using a tool. “Ash, what is five?” Lance asked as he placed the cup down and made his way over towards Ash, doing his best to ignore the children’s program. He smiled when Ash held up five fingers, showing the correct amount. “Good. Seven?” Lance asked, only for him to grin when Ash held up the correct number of fingers. He was teaching Ash to count, write simple things, and communicate using hand signs. “Keep up the excellent work,” Lance commented as he made his way over to the table where Lance had an assortment of white-shards. “Sorry, Amira,” Lance said as he picked up the first white-shard that had belonged to a small goldcrest. The shard was tiny compared to Lance’s, but even then, it was incredibly tough. Lance had tried destroying it with a hammer, only for the hammer to crack. He had gained Amira’s trust because he worked hard, was returning every expensive item he had found and had come with Daniel’s recommendation. Lance figured the loss of a few white-shards that had belonged to some unfortunate animals would not be a major loss for the GRRO. [Unknown template. Base 5% chance of discovery when destroying this item.] [Do you wish to destroy this item?] [Yes] [No] Lance watched the notification pop up when he had opened the additional screens and pressed a small icon at the bottom. ‘Like I feared,’ Lance thought. He had seen a similar event back in the museum, where an unknown item had a far smaller chance of resulting in a template. Items he was familiar with had a much higher chance, such as the javelins he had made. Even then, it had cost Lance several javelins before he had gained the ‘Crude javelin’ template. He had named it himself, figuring it would help him keep track of what was what. ‘Here goes nothing,’ Lance thought as he clutched the shard tightly. [Yes] He waited a few minutes as a timer ran out. When it was finally done and the item destroyed, Lance felt it disintegrate in his hands. His mood soured when he spotted the failure notification. ‘Dammit! Let’s try it again.’ [Failure] [Failure] [Failure] [Failure] [Success] Lance was about to throw his hands up in the air out of frustration when he realised it had worked. ‘It worked?’ he thought as he suddenly jumped to his feet. “Ash, it bloody worked!” Lance yelled, rushing over towards Ash as he slapped him on the shoulder as if they both had been just as eager. Ash watched Lance with a confused look before he returned to sharpening the bear trap’s teeth. “Alright, so… What was it again? One gold crest, three pigeons, one crow… the last one was the crow, right?” Lance asked out loud as he went over his notes on how he had organised the shards. He had started with eight of them, with him now having three left. He then grabbed the next shard and waited for the notification. [Item can be forged. Templates available: 1] [Required black-shards: 50. Do you wish to proceed?] [Yes] [No] With every fibre of his being, Lance pressed yes and agreed to the forging process. He lost it when the notification turned into an active countdown. It was all he needed as he exploded into an ecstatic state. He even jumped over his sofa towards Ash, nearly setting off the bear trap as he lifted Ash off the ground and forced his poor pale companion into a confusing victory embrace. * * * * * A few hours had passed since then. Several empty energy drinks lay discarded on the table in front of Lance and Ash as the two of them watched the television. Lance was half dozing off but had instructed Ash to nudge him in the ribs whenever he fell asleep. Next to the empty energy drinks were several pieces of paper that held strange and erratic sentences, although they made perfect sense to Lance. Some held notes about his javelins. Lance could now make them from his inventory, and they were identical to one another. Regarding the javelins, he could choose what materials to use for them. This included the head, the binding material, or the shaft. Lance had made several notes on the paper about how he could only use materials made of dead things, be it bone, horn, leather, or other things. He had added a question mark to this due to him not being 100% sure of this. “Ash, Beta is in the way again,” Lance commented as he rubbed his eyes, seeing the grey crow on the table that blocked Lance’s line of sight. The animal, like Ash, was devoid of pretty much every colour except grey. It behaved similarly to how Ash had acted in the beginning, falling frequently or staring at things in the room as if it might hold some answer to its existence. “Just put him next to Alpha,” Lance said when Ash picked up the grey crow, afterwards placing it next to a similar crow that was on its back on the floor, struggling to get back up. “Thanks,” Lance commented as Ash sat back down next to him. While they were waiting for Lance’s inventory timer to tick down, the two of them were watching an action movie. It was about a pair of heroic Rifters that were clearing a Rift that had occurred in the White House, hoping to save the president. It wasn’t Lance’s natural choice, but he had once again felt a strange pull inside of him, as if some memory of Thomas demanded to be heard. That feeling had subsided when Lance had given in and picked that movie. The crows had entertained Lance the first few hours, with him calling the first one Alpha and the second one Beta. They were placeholders until he found something better, but the names were growing on him. It was amazing to see him create something out of white-shards. Although they differed from Ash, at the same time they were quite similar. They were essentially blank slates that looked to Lance for guidance. Lance had done this as a test, to see if Ash was simply a one off, or if his class as a Death Smith allowed him to create more. The price of each crow had been fifty black-shards, putting quite the dent in Lance’s reserves. He checked the timer on his last forge, seeing it nearing completion. This one he was the most curious about, seeing as it wasn’t a crow. The template he had gained per chance had been one based on a crow. The shard he was using now was one of a Peregrine Falcon, or so Lance thought. He had made a few pictures of the carcass he had pulled the white-shard from, but he was 90% sure he was right. Upon using this shard, he had the ability to use the crow template, or risk a 5% chance of getting another template. Seeing as Lance only had one chance, he chose to use the crow template. Finally, Lance paused the movie as he got up, seeing the timer near the double digits. “Almost done, Ash,” Lance said to his companion, watching him get up and fetch Alpha and Beta, placing them on the table in front of him. Lance, noticing the gesture, felt somewhat reassured by it. Both Ash and the crows appeared quite calm around one another, as if sensing a sort of kinship. “People say it is the fastest bird on the planet. It apparently can reach speeds between three and four hundred kilometres per hour when it dives,” Lance said, entertaining Ash as he tried to keep himself busy. It wasn’t just that he wanted this bird as an ally, although he figured it would be an amazing boon. He was using a different template on this white shard, something he had never done before, or had the chance to do so. ‘Please work!’ He thought repeatedly. [You have finished forging an item.] “It worked? It bloody worked!” he exclaimed finally as he placed his hand above the table between the two crows. [You have retrieved an item from the inventory.] Mere moments later, a grey bird sprung into existence as it wobbled on its feet before it fell over to its side. As Ash picked it up and placed it on its feet again, Lance looked at a picture on his phone of the Peregrine Falcon and this one. Despite the lack of colour, it appeared to be the same bird. “I think it is bigger?” Lance said out loud as he guessed their sizes. The crows were still bigger than the falcon, but apparently, the crow template had mixed some of their traits, resulting in a sort of hybrid in terms of size and wingspan. ‘Would that be the case with humans as well?’ Lance thought as he watched Ash place the falcon back on the table after it had fallen off it. “Now, what to call you?” Lance asked as he inspected the bird closer, seeing its streamlined features. This, coupled with the state he had found the original bird in, Lance gently picked it up and activated the option to rename the item. [You have named this item ‘Icarus’] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author: Osirium Copyright: 2022 OsiriumWrites Released: 2022